With much of the Western U.S. experiencing drought conditions this summer, it’s important to consider how you should care for your lawn while conserving water.

Summer is finally here, but in some areas of the United States, this summer is also bringing an unexpected heat wave and drought conditions. When these circumstances arise, it is important to ensure that we are not wasting any water when we water our lawns. The good news is that the Ring to GREEN process is naturally water-conservation friendly, as it encourages less watering each day in order to prevent fungus growth. Over-watering leads to fungus growth, especially during warm summer months, because fungus thrives when the soil is warm and wet.

It is important to make sure your lawn gets enough water to survive summer heat, yet not too much water.  Please be sure to review the Ring to GREEN blog page entitled“A Guide to Preventing Over-watering While Using Ring to GREEN”. This article will give you great tips to make sure your lawn is hydrated, but not overwatered.

Some cities and counties are requiring every-other-day watering to conserve water.  If your city or county requires this, please refer to the info at the end of this article to learn how to water your lawn every-other-day using Ring to GREEN.

We still encourage you to water your lawn every day in the Ring to GREEN process, unless your city or county requires you to do otherwise. Watering for less time each day is equally as effective in conserving water as watering every other day. Here’s a few guidelines for choosing how to water your lawn and conserve water during times of drought:

• In 90-100 degree high temperatures in the summer, a lawn needs 1/4” of water per day to survive.  Less than 1/4” of daily water will put the lawn into stress, and will eventually burn the lawn. 
• If a lawn is watered every-other-day, it will require 1/2” of water every other day (the same amount of daily water as the previous example). The lawn needs 1/4” of water per day, no matter if you water daily, or every other day.
• Many homeowners who water every other day or every third day tend to overwater in summer heat, due to the fact that the sandy and rocky soil in the Mountain West does not hold water well for 2 or 3 days, and thus they overwater to prevent their lawn from burning up over a 2 or 3 day period.
• Bonus summer lawn care tip: In warm summer months, it is best to leave your grass longer. Raise your cutting height on your mower to around 2.5 - 3 inches long to keep your grass healthy and conserve water at the same time! Longer blades of grass hold more water and are more effective at maintaining a cool soil temperature by shading the soil from the sun. This may allow you to reduce watering times. For more details, check out our blog post “A Guide to Preventing Over-watering While Using Ring to GREEN”.

To summarize, the Ring to GREEN process encourages water conservation by watering smaller amounts of time daily, thus eliminating overwatering and preventing fungus.  If you have any questions about how to conserve water with the Ring to GREEN process, please call us at 801-918-2541.