What are some lawn care problems? Watering problems are one of the top lawn care and maintenance issues. Water grass less frequently (except sod), but drench it deeply. That means turning the sprinkler on for at least a half hour once a week.
Merrideth Jiles, who is the garden center manager at The Great Outdoors Nursery and Landscaping Center in Austin, Texas, says, "Like most plant issues, about 50 percent of peoples' lawn problems are watering issues- over watering or under watering. When you put down a fresh sod lawn, it does have to be watered just about every day for about two weeks. And, particularly with the newer lawn, if you don't water it, it will die. It has to be watered pretty regularly and then you slowly wean it. The biggest mistake I see people making is over watering, and over watering is a function of watering too often. You can't really water something too much at one time, although some people do run the sprinklers for too long. But typically when you water something - this is a plant or your lawn or anything - when you water it, you want to water very well so that the soil gets nice and drenched down to a good depth and then you want to let it dry out before you water again."
Jiles goes on to comment, "People want to keep their grass really nice and really green so they run their sprinkler for five minutes every day. What happens when you do that is you encourage a very shallow root system on your grass because it is dependent on a very, very regular supply of water. The biggest downside to a situation like that, is that families vacation in the summer and so you get your sprinkler system set up to go off everyday for five minutes. You go out of town for two weeks, but the day you leave, your power goes out and your sprinkler system goes down. Now your lawn doesn't get any water for two weeks. That grass is going to die because it is used to that little bit of water right on the top of the soil everyday." This is also true during a drought, when water restrictions often take place. Being dependent on the frequent watering can do more harm then good, when your grass isn't strong enough to survive without it.
Jiles advises, "If you get on a regular schedule of less frequent, but deeper watering, it will encourage the grass to root deeper, look for water, and establish a better root system. For most people, what I would probably recommend is watering about every five to seven days for a good 15 to 20 minutes, so that it really soaks the soil. A lawn of that nature in the same situation of going out of town for two weeks with sprinklers down, will survive without water for two weeks. When you come back, you'll have grass that doesn't look good. It's going to be stressed, but it has developed a deeper root system and is able to tolerate the drought much better."
There are, of course, other lawn care issues that may arise. These include under fertilization, improper fertilization, insect infestation and disease. All of the specific remedies for these issues depend upon where you live, what type of grass that you have, the time of the year and other various factors that differ from lawn to lawn. In most cases though, if your lawn does not seem to be at its healthiest, the first thing you should do is reevaluate your watering schedule because as Jiles states, "The number one mistake people make is watering too often and not long enough."
