Best Time to Water

The Best Time Of Day To Water Your Lawn 

What is the best time of day to water your lawn? This is a  very common question that just about everybody with a lawn wants to  know. I have heard of and seen many practices regarding this topic, and I  have come to the conclusion that many people have it wrong. Even people  who have done research and combine the research with their common sense  often get it wrong.

Your lawn needs about one inch of water per week. Too much water or too  little water is not healthy for your lawn. The best way to accomplish  this is with one really thorough soaking at the right time. Watering  every day a little bit, or walking around your lawn spraying your hose  every day may actually spray your lawn with the required inch per week,  but your lawn still most probably will not be getting the required inch  per week. This explains why daily watering is pointless. Your lawn does  not require that much water anyway. Watering your lawn a thorough inch  every day will only be detrimental to your lawn, and spraying it every  day a little bit is completely pointless, since it will just evaporate  when the sun comes up.

The best time of day to water your lawn is at about three or four in the  morning when the water pressure is the highest. This way you will  accomplish two vital things:

1. The water will have a chance to sufficiently soak into the topsoil.

2. Whatever water is left over will be evaporated when the sun comes up,  thereby not giving the water a chance to create any fungi or molds  which come about when water just sits around on the surface of your  lawn.

If you have an automatic sprinkler system, it is very easy to set it at  the right time for the right amount of water. However, if you have a job  which allows you to sleep at night, waking up at three thirty in the  morning to water your lawn may not be the best way to keep that job. I  would certainly never even consider waking up that early in the morning  to water my lawn.

The next best thing which will still accomplish these two vital effects  is to water your lawn as early in the morning as possible BEFORE THE SUN  COMES UP. This way most of the water will still soak into the topsoil,  and whatever water is left over will be evaporated as soon as the sun  comes out and starts heating things up. This early morning time can also  be very challenging, since most of us either need to get ready for  work, eat breakfast, drive carpool, or do one of the other million  things we all need to do in the morning hours.

If watering your lawn in the early morning hours is not possible, the  next best time of day to water your lawn is in the evening after the sun  has already cooled down significantly. This will allow the water to  soak into the topsoil properly. However, the leftover water will lay  around all night long until the sun comes out and evaporates it. This  can cause various fungi and molds to grow in your lawn, but it is still  better than nothing.

The worst time of day to water your lawn is in the afternoon when the  sun is beating down at full strength. The water will evaporate almost as  quickly as it lands on your lawn, making this watering completely  worthless. I see automatic sprinklers going on in the middle of the day  all the time, but let me assure you that this accomplishes nothing  unless the sprinklers stay on for hours at a time. Watering your lawn in  the afternoon in such a way that will provide an ample amount of water  to soak into the topsoil takes significantly more time and water than  watering in the early morning, and is therefore almost always completely  pointless. For this same reason, walking around with a hose and  spraying your lawn is also basically pointless, since your lawn will not  get anything close to the inch of water that it requires. The water  will instead evaporate almost instantly.

The best way to figure out if you lawn is getting the required inch per  week is to put out a few empty cans next to your garden or lawn and to  see if it fills up an inch high of water. If you have a sprinkler  system, this is a good way to see how long it takes for the sprinklers  to soak your lawn with an inch of water. However long it takes to fill  up the cans with an inch of water is a pretty good indicator of how long  it takes to soak your lawn with an inch of water.