Water Long and Deep

Have you ever noticed that your lawn looks the best after those long, all day St. Louis rains? And it keeps growing and is green for at least a week after. There is a reason for that. The water really drenches the soil and penetrates deep. A few days later when the surface is dry. There is still moisture in the soil below. This encourages the roots to dig deep.

Do: Water your lawn once a week very heavily, trying to replicate that all day rain

This will encourage deep root growth and a healthy stand of grass

Don’t: Water everyday for short periods of time

This will encourage the roots to stay near the soil surface, knowing that water will be available everyday. The soil does not have time to dry out, and this will cause various lawn fungus and disease.

Sometimes lawns in St. Louis will go dormant

Sometimes it doesn’t matter how much you water. Lawns in St. Louis will go dormant. Fescue and bluegrass are not made for long periods of extreme heat. It is perfectly natural for them to go dormant and turn brown during the hot times of the summer. Remember that no matter how much water you put on your lawn, it is the heat that makes it go dormant, not the lack of water. As soon as the cooler weather comes back to St. Louis, your lawn will green up in no time.

Lawns will be very stressed from the hot weather. Be sure to put a fungicide down at the first sign of stress and disease.

As always, mow your cool season grasses at about 4″. Use sharp blades, and try your best to stay off when the lawn is stressed out.

If you ever have any questions about the best watering tequeniques in St. Louis, we would be happy to answer your questions.