Your Warm Season Grasses – How Much Water Do They Really Need?

warm season grasses

July is Smart Irrigation Month, and it’s a good time to water your warm season grasses wisely.

How healthy is your lawn?

Is there a drought in your region?

How much water do your warm season grasses need?

Watering Your Warm Season Grasses

If you live in the southern or western states or the temperate zone of the U.S., then you have warm season grasses growing in your yard. Warm season lawns grow best in hot temperatures ranging from 80ºF to 95ºF.

Plus, these types of grasses are developed for regions that experience drought, which are in hotter climates.

How much water does your warm season lawn need?

Here are four warm season grasses with their drought tolerances:

  • Bermudagrass, a popular turf variety, is heat, drought, foot traffic, and salt tolerant. Bermuda grass grows best in full sun and lawns with good drainage.

Bermudagrass also grows well from southern Virginia to Florida, westward to Texas, and southern California.

  • Bahiagrass requires more maintenance than the other three warm season grasses but is heat tolerant. It does well in the Southern Coastal Plain and the Gulf Coast region.
  • Zoysiagrass grows in temperate and southern states. It’s a versatile warm season turf that’s salt, wear, and drought tolerant. Zoysiagrass can handle some light shade. Its other benefits include low water needs and low maintenance.

Read more: How to Keep a Healthy Lawn during the Summer

  • Centipede grass grows well from South Carolina to Florida and along the Gulf Coast to Texas. Centipede grass can handle a moderate amount of shade. Its low maintenance and needs less fertilizer compared to other warm season grasses.

Two Tips for Warm Season Grasses’ Care over the Summer

Just like their cool season cousins, warm season grasses need certain growing conditions to survive and thrive in your yard. Here are two lawn care tips for your warm season turf:

  • Warm season grasses need a lot of sunshine. Warm season lawns need more sunshine than cool season ones. Shade-tolerant warm season turf doesn’t need as much sunlight as sun-loving turf that needs six to eight hours of full sun.
  • Soil type and the local climate play different parts in your warm season grasses’ health. When it comes to watering your lawn, stick to the early morning hours when there’s less wind.

Avoid night-time watering or overwatering your turf at all costs because it causes lawn diseases to develop on warm season lawns.

Different soil types absorb and hold water longer depending on their makeup. Here are three types of soil with their water-holding capacity:

  • Sandy soils need watering more often and will only hold water for about a day.
  • Loamy soil, the perfect dirt for lawns and other plants, hold water well and won’t cause any runoff during gully-washers.
  • Clay soil holds water the best, but it takes longer for water to percolate deep into the ground. Clay soil is also prone to ponding and runoff during a heavy rainstorm.

Learn more: How Often Do You Need to Water Your Lawn This Summer? +12 Tips for Responsible Watering

4 Quick Tips for Effectively Watering Your Warm Season Grasses

Like it was stated above, the type of soil that houses your warm season lawn plays a big part in water retention. There are other watering tips you should follow to keep your warm season grasses healthy, green, and dense:

  • Remember, your region plays a big part in when you water your lawn. For example, if you live in Florida or Texas, you may have restrictions on when and how much water you can use per week for your lawn and landscape.
  • An in-ground sprinkler system complete with a moisture or weather sensor, Bluetooth technology, and a timer will help you control how much water your lawn gets at a given time.

If you have an older irrigation system, get it retrofitted with the newest technology and sensors, so you’re only watering your warm season grasses when it needs it.

  • Make sure you have the right sprinkler heads attached to your lawn sprinkler system. Direct spray heads at an angle and makes sure that you’re using a pressure regulator to lower the water pressure.

Invest in rotary heads that put out water slowly and evenly. And check your sprinkler heads to make sure that they’re popping up, there’s no overhead spray, and there’s no puddling.

Finally, check spray heads to ensure that they’re covering only the grassy areas and not any hard surfaces, such as a sidewalk, patio, or driveway.

  • If you don’t have an outdoor sprinkler system, invest in soaker hoses, which emit water directly at the turf’s root zone. There’s less water waste, and you can buy a timer to attach to your soaker hose to shut it off at a specific time.

How Brinly Helps You Keep Your Warm Season Grasses Healthy All Summer Long

Good lawn care practices are the secret behind a beautiful yard and conserving water. At Brinly, we have lawn and garden attachments that make taking care of your warm season grasses a joy rather than a chore.

Consider investing in one of our lawn and garden attachments for all of your lawn care needs:

  • Dump carts
  • Garden sprayers
  • Lawn rollers
  • Lawn sweeper
  • Push spreaders
  • Spike/plug aerators
  • Tow dethatchers
  • Tow spreaders
  • ZTR attachments.

You can buy your next Brinly lawn care and garden attachment online. If you have any questions about your Brinly lawn care product, contact our customer service today by dialing 877-728-8224 or filling out our contact form.

Sources:

BioAdvanced.com, Summer Watering Guide: Steps to a Great Lawn.

Pennington.com, All You Need to Know about Warm Season Grass.

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