LAWN LESSONS

• Published: Jun 30, 2009

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Depending on what kind of grass you have, your lawn may be doing better than you think this dry summer.

“If not watered in the summer, Bermuda grass will usually go dormant,” said Allen Owings, LSU AgCenter horticulturist. “It will begin to grow when rain returns.”

Other common lawn grasses, with the exception of Centipede, will tolerate drought conditions with weekly watering once the lawn is established.

“Allowing a low-quality lawn to go dormant will not hurt it and may even improve the lawn,” Owings said.

“Crabgrass often is shallow rooted and will die out when drought stress becomes too severe,” the horticulturist said.

The decline of the undesirable crabgrass will allow the deeper-rooted Bermuda grass to better establish itself later.

St. Augustine and Seashore paspalum displayed drought resistance, along with Bermuda, in studies done at Texas A&M, Owings said.

“Centipede grass, common in the Baton Rouge area, is the most drought susceptible lawngrass,” he said.

 Water established lawns well every week or two. Some automatic sprinklers irrigate daily but not long enough, Owings said.

“This encourages shallow root development, which makes the grass more susceptible to heat and drought stress,” he said. Check to be sure automatic sprinklers are aimed correctly. Automatic sprinklers may fail to reach their targets on a windy day, Owings said.

A healthy lawn may require watering of no more than an inch a week. Put a straight-sided can — a tuna fish tin is ideal — under the sprinkler’s pattern. When the can fills, assuming the sides of the can are one inch tall, you’ve watered enough. Remember how long it took for the can to fill. That tells you how long to leave the sprinkler on, unless you just like putting the can out.

Watering at night reduces the amount of water lost to evaporation and reduces the effect of low water pressure in a neighborhood brought on by watering the lawn.

Watering during the middle of the day doesn’t hurt the grass, Owings said, but it’s not a good practice. At many homes, 80 percent of the water used outside goes on the grass in the summer.