Water is the most critical factor for turf grass survival as well as for any trees or plants. Weather patterns that are hot (90 degrees +) and dry will begin to affect grass quickly, usually within a week or so. Turf grass only cares about the amount of water it has received within a 7 day period during these hot and dry conditions. Irrigation systems are a great supplement for lack of rain fall but they cannot replace it. You should be watering at least 1-1 ½ inches per week during the growing season, however depending on the conditions this may need to be doubled or tripled to have lush and green growing grass. Water heavily when you do water to encourage a deeper root system and do not water too frequently. The 1-1 ½ inches needs to be put down at once not spread out to every other day. It takes approximately 624 gallons of water to equal one inch of rain water on 1000 square feet of grass

( 10,000sq ft lawn = 6,240gl). It is very important to measure your irrigation system so you know how much water you are getting on each zone. Some areas of the lawn may be ‘hot spots’ which may require more watering time or supplemental water with an end hose sprinkler. These areas will dry out quicker due to soil inconsistencies. If left alone these areas may die. Heat increases the plant’s need for water just as our bodies need for water when we are in 90 degree plus temperatures. If we perspire out more water than we take in, we’ll be overcome with heat stress or worse heat stroke. Grass loses water through transpiration, much like our perspiration ( it cools the plant down ). It also helps the plant pull water from the soil. When the rate of transpiration exceeds the rate that the plant can pull water from the soil, or if there isn’t any water to pull up, the plant has a problem and it begins to wilt and stop growing. If it does not receive adequate water quickly at this point the grass will die. Keep in mind that the condition that the grass is in going into the dormant season is usually the condition that it will green up in during the spring transition. So if your grass is stressed or damaged at the end of summer then it may be slow to green up and have bare areas the following spring. Even if you’re watering and you still have heat stressed areas Mother nature is telling you that these areas need more.