The number one mistake people make that hurts their lawns and landscapes in the spring is turning off their sprinklers in the winter. Last spring I saw more damage to bermuda lawns than any year in recent memory. Typically in North Texas, bermuda grass is tough and reliable and by late April has come out of dormancy and is thriving. That was not the case this past spring. I saw many lawns that were usually lush, with big dead areas as we headed into May. What had us puzzled was why some of the lawns looked great while others were struggling, yet all of them were receiving the same fertilizer treatments.
Eventually a patterned emerged – almost without exception, when we checked the sprinkler controllers for the lawns that were struggling we discovered that the owner had either turned their sprinklers off for the winter or had under watered.
It is a common misconception that you don’t have to water in the winter since the lawn and landscape isn’t actively growing. The mindset is if it’s dormant during winter, why water? That’s a bad idea most years but last year it was a really bad idea. We had the warmest winter on record and my professional opinion is the water evaporated out of the soil more than usual and when the lawns were ready to come out of dormancy, there was no water at their roots to support the growth.
The forecasts for this winter is it’s either going to be really warm, or really cold (weather forecasting in North Texas is a tough business!)
Since we never know what kind of winter we’ll have, the best thing you can do is follow our normal winter watering guidelines. What does that mean for your lawn? In the winter water roughly 10 minutes each week (20 minutes for sprinklers with rotary heads,) unless it has rained recently.
If you want a great lawn this spring, don’t forget to set your sprinkler system for winter watering in the next week (winter is officially here next Thursday, December 21st.) Without fail the best lawns we see in the spring are the lawns that were given consistent water twelve months out of the year.
That really is the secret to making sure you have a great lawn this coming spring. You can download our free winter watering guide at the below link.
Download Our Winter Watering Guide
As always, if you have a question regarding your lawn and landscape give us call at 972.495.6990 or email me at [email protected]. I love to answer your questions and often turn them into Quick Tips to help teach our customers how to make sure they have the best lawn and landscape in the neighborhood!
