How to water the lawn in spring?

If spring brings regular rainfall, turn off your irrigation system entirely. Do not add supplemental water when nature is providing an inch or more per week. Resume irrigation only when a dry stretch causes visible wilt.

Instead of watering on a fixed schedule, watch your lawn for the first signs of drought stress: a blue-gray color change, footprints that remain visible for more than a few seconds, and leaf blades that fold or curl lengthwise.

Replace your basic sprinkler timer with a smart irrigation controller (like Rachio, RainMachine, or Hunter Hydrawise) that adjusts watering schedules based on local weather data, soil type, and plant type.

Place a simple rain gauge in an open area of your yard (away from trees and structures) and check it after each rainfall. Subtract the recorded amount from your weekly watering target.

Sandy soils need more frequent but lighter waterings because they drain quickly. Clay soils need less frequent but slower applications because they absorb water slowly and hold it longer.

Most homeowners have no idea how much water their sprinkler actually delivers. The tuna can test reveals both the output rate and the uniformity of coverage. Uneven distribution is the number-one cause of brown spots in irrigated lawns.

Schedule irrigation between 4:00 AM and 8:00 AM. This is the window when water pressure is highest, wind is calmest, evaporation is lowest, and the grass dries quickly as the sun rises.

Aim for approximately 1 inch of total water per week during spring, counting both rainfall and irrigation. In cool spring weather (April to mid-May), most cool-season lawns use about 1 inch per week. This increases to 1.5-2 inches in summer.

When you do need to water, apply enough to wet the soil to a depth of 6-8 inches in a single session, then let it dry out before watering again. For most soils, this means applying about 1 inch of water per session.

Resist the urge to turn on sprinklers as soon as the lawn starts greening up. Allow the grass to emerge from dormancy on natural rainfall alone. Do not begin irrigating until dry conditions cause visible wilt that lasts more than one day.