Watering Schedule

How much water does Bermuda grass need?

Although Bermuda grass is a great drought-resistant grass, providing it with too little or too much water can make it prone to disease and pests. So, how much water does Bermuda grass require?

Bermuda grass requires 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch of water every one to three weeks. During summer, the grass will need 1 to 1.25 inches of water every week to survive. If the Bermudagrass lawn is established on sandy soil, provide 0.5-inch of water as often as every 3 days.

The claim that Bermuda grass is drought-tolerant is only true in the sense that it can withstand long periods of drought without dying out. However, the grass will still turn brown if it does not get adequate water.

How often to water Bermuda grass

Water your Bermuda grass lawn deeply with 1 inch of water only as often as once every week. This frequency helps roots grow deeper, which will be an added advantage for saving water during summer.

It’s advisable to water your Bermuda grass deeply and infrequently. Since this turfgrass species typically needs an inch of water every seven days, consider irrigating the lawn with an inch of water on just a single day of the week, every week. This is as opposed to applying a quarter inch of water for four consecutive days.

Infrequent but deep watering helps to condition the Bermuda grass roots to grow deeper into the soil profile. With deeper root establishment, Bermuda grass can benefit from increased moisture access.

Best time to water Bermuda grass

The best time to water Bermuda grass is between early morning and mid-morning to allow the water on grass blades to dry before sunset. Avoid watering your lawn at night because temperatures are low at this time, allowing moisture to settle on grass blades for too long. Moisture increases the risk of turf diseases.

Observe your lawn closely to make sure it is not deprived of water. You’ll notice changes on your turf that will mean it is time to irrigate.

Here are the signs Bermuda grass needs watering:

• Curling or wilting leaves
• Leaf blades turning into a dark bluish – gray color
• If there’s been an extended period of dry hot weather

With these signs, you may be tempted to overwater your lawn to compensate for the drought. There are some side effects of that as I’ve elaborated below.

Can you overwater Bermuda grass?

Overwatering Bermuda grass is not a good idea because it clogs the root area, keeps the lawn overly moist for prolonged periods, and interferes with root development. An overwatered lawn is prone to fungal diseases as well as pest attacks.

Signs of an overwatered turf include:

• Lawn fungus (brown patches)
• Shallow roots
• The ground feels spongy
• Buildup of excessive thatch

For starters, overwatering will most likely create soil compaction problems, which then prevents the turf from springing back under heavy foot traffic unless you aerate and dethatch adequately. As such, you end up with foot marks on your lawn. The same applies to mowing after overwatering, as you’ll end up with unsightly lawnmower tire tracks on your lawn.

Soil compaction by way of overwatering occurs when runoff water droplets form tight bonds that seal off underground air pockets. This also cuts off the supply of oxygen to the Bermuda grass root zone. As a result, the Bermuda roots die out as the soil compaction due to closed air pockets inhibits their spread, with the lack of oxygen worsening the situation.

Luckily, you can remedy lawn soil compaction of this nature by combining dethatching with core aeration.

Overwatering a Bermuda turf can also lead to lawn disease. Harmful fungi like dollar spot and brown patch fungi love to breed in consistently wet conditions and will be easily attracted to an overwatered lawn with runoff water/puddling.

These fungi leave dead spots on your Bermuda grass blades, leaving you with ugly-looking sections on the lawn.

Finally, overwatering also causes microbes to penetrate into your lawn soil, consequently hampering root growth and development. These bacteria prefer moist conditions and will cause the Bermuda roots to decay.

Remedy for Overwatering

To avoid overwatering your Bermuda turf, allow the lawn to dry up after every irrigation session. This will help lessen the chances of runoff water causing soil compaction and pathogen problems.

You should also avoid applying more than one inch of water per irrigation session, as chances are that your turfgrass won’t have dried out by nightfall if you irrigate it that much at one time.

Watering Bermuda grass in spring

During spring, Bermuda grass does not require as much irrigation as it would during summer months. However, newly sodded grass may require a little more water to faster growth and spreading into a thick turf.

Here’s a Bermuda grass spring water maintenance guide:

• Spring water requirements: 0.5 to 0.75 inches water
• Watering frequency: once per 7 days

During the spring months of March, April, and May, Bermuda grass requires 0.5-0.75 inches of water every seven days, as an existing Bermuda grass turf doesn’t normally require too much water at this time of the year.

You can however increase the amount of water to one inch per week if you notice that the leaf blades of your Bermuda grass plants are curling/folding and yellowing due to lack of water.

Summer Water Requirements

During the summer months of June, July, and August, irrigate your Bermuda lawn with at least 1 inch of water every seven days. This is because as the temperatures rise during these summer months, there’s increased possibility of drought stress affecting your Bermuda turf.

A regular summer irrigation schedule will help to prevent this from happening. Remember, too, that the amount of water needed, and the summer irrigation frequency can be adjusted depending on the soil type and the environmental conditions in your region.

Fall Water Requirements

During the fall months of September, October, and November, you should continue irrigating your Bermuda lawn to prevent drought stress. If Bermuda dormancy sets in early in late fall, you can reduce the frequency of watering.

At this time of the year when Bermuda turf growth stops, you still need to water the lawn, albeit less often, to prevent desiccation/dehydration.

Winter Water Requirements

During winter, your Bermuda lawn will most likely be lying dormant already. However, to prevent loss of Bermuda turf due to winter drought, you still need to water your Bermuda lawn at least once every three weeks.

Should you water dormant Bermuda grass?

Bermuda grass is a warm-season turfgrass and normally goes dormant during winter, with the turf turning brown. However, this doesn’t mean that it doesn’t need to be irrigated, as Bermuda grass roots require moisture to prevent desiccation.

Nevertheless, dormant Bermuda grass still doesn’t need as much water as a Bermuda turf that’s at the active growth stage. Basically, dormant Bermuda lawns need about 0.5 inches of water every 14-21 days. Therefore, when there’s frequent winter rainfall, you can avoid irrigating the lawn.

How Long Should You Water to Get 1 Inch?

Now that you know how much water and how often to irrigate Bermuda grass, how do you measure the amount of water you’re applying to your lawn when using sprinklers? How long should you run your sprinklers to get 1 inch of water?

Here’s how:

1. Position about five plastic cups in in your lawn and turn on the sprinkler for about an hour. Then, measure the depth of water collected in each cup.
2. Add up the total depth and divide by five to determine the average depth of water in inches applied per hour by your sprinkler system.
3. Now, divide one inch by the above average figure to gauge how long it’ll take you to irrigate your Bermuda lawn with one inch of water.

For instance, if the average depth per hour is 0.5 inches, it’ll take you two hours to irrigate your Bermuda turf to a depth of 1 inch.

References

• Fred Yelverton et al, Extension Specialist (Turfgrass/Forage Crop Weed Mgt) Crop & Soil Sciences, NC State University: Bermudagrass Lawn Maintenance Calendar
• The University of Arizona, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences: Phoenix Lawn Watering Guide

ZOYSIA AND FESCUE

As one of the most common lawn grasses, fescue is often grown alone or mixed in with other grass seed varieties in general lawn mixes. Fescue remains green during cooler weather, only dying off during the heat of summer or the bitter cold of winter. Zoysia, on the other hand, thrives during long, hot summer days, only going dormant in response to cooler fall and winter temperatures. A lawn containing both fescue and zoysia will remain green year-round in areas that don’t experience freezing, or will only brown during winter in colder climates, as long as you follow the correct summer watering schedule to meet the lawn’s needs.

STEPS FOR WATERING WISELY

1. Check the water flow from your sprinkler. Place a shallow can, like a tuna can, in the center of the lawn and run your sprinkler for 15 minutes. Measure the depth of the water in the can to determine how much water is delivered during that 15 minute period. If it only fills up ½ inch, you must run the sprinklers for 30 minutes to supply a full inch of water.
2. Water early in the morning, when possible. Afternoon irrigation evaporates before it soaks into the soil, and evening irrigation can lead to fungus problems in zosyia and fescue.
3. Irrigate every two to three days when summer temperatures are below 85 F, or every one to two days when temperatures are higher. Infrequent, thorough waterings encourage deep root growth and grass that’s better able to withstand drought.
4. Provide up to 1 inch of water at each irrigation for zoysia grass in the summer, and up to 2 inches for fescue. If you are growing a blend of the two, 1 to 1 ½ inches of water is usually sufficient. Remember zoysia may still brown and die out during the hottest weeks, but it will quickly green up once the temperatures cool.
5. Keep an eye on your grass. If it starts to look wilted, give it a drink. If your lawn ever starts to turn yellow, stop watering it for a couple of weeks. Too much water in the soil will rob the grass of nitrogen and oxygen and may cause rot. This won’t happen if you follow these guidelines, however.
6. To keep your tall fescue lawn healthy, you must continue care through the winter months as this cool season grass is actively growing.

MAXIMIZE YOUR IRRIGATION

All the irrigation in the world won’t keep your fescue and zoysia green if you don’t combine it with other good cultural practices.

• Maintain a grass height between 2 1/2 and 4 inches tall throughout summer. Longer grass shades the soil, preventing rapid moisture loss from evaporation. Mowing too closely, or scalping the lawn, is going to cause the zoysia and fescue to burn and dry up.
• Decrease mowing frequency during long, hot periods or in times of severe drought. Mowing too frequently stresses the grass, and increased watering may not repair the damage quickly enough. As a general rule of thumb, cut off no more than 2 inches of the grass blade length while maintaining the 2 ½ to 4 inch grass height.
• Dethatch and aerate both fescue and zoysia lawns regularly. Generally, if the layer of dead grass and debris, or thatch, is deeper than ½ inch, it’s time to dethatch. Annual aerating in spring punches small holes in the soil, which better allows moisture to penetrate to the grass roots.
• Avoiding water stress doesn’t just keep the lawn looking better, it also helps to prevent diseases, pest problems and weeds. A watered lawn is a healthy lawn.