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How long you should water the lawn depends on the outside temperature. On a cloudy day at 20 degrees, the sprinkler is used less frequently than in blazing sunshine and sweltering heat. It is important to start watering in good time.
How long should you water the lawn? The temperature determines the frequency
To ensure the lawn stays a lovely green even in the summer heat, it needs to be watered regularly. A lawn sprinkler is often used for this purpose. In this section, you’ll find all the important and useful information you need about watering your lawn.
- How often you water your lawn depends on the temperature and amount of sunshine. At 20 degrees Celsius, less moisture evaporates from the lawn. In this case, watering every ten days is sufficient.
- At temperatures of 20 to 25 degrees, switch on the sprinkler every seven to ten days; at temperatures between 25 and 30 degrees, watering is needed every five to seven days; and from 30 degrees upwards, every two to four days.
- It is important to let the sprinkler run for at least 45 minutes. Also, start watering in good time and not only once the grass has already started to wither. The first signs of wilting leaves and a slight greyish tinge are good indicators that it is time to water.
- The early morning hours are best for watering the lawn. Due to the morning coolness, very little water evaporates. By midday, the moisture can seep deep into the soil. If you water in the evening, you risk leaving the soil very damp, as hardly any water evaporates. This can attract snails and other creatures.
- Tip: A newly sown lawn should be watered briefly several times a day in extremely dry conditions. This keeps the top layer moist, allowing the seeds to swell properly and the lawn to thrive.
Alternate between watering by hand and using a sprinkler: save water, save money
A lawn sprinkler distributes 500 litres of water per hour. That’s a huge amount. You should therefore water your lawn as water-efficiently as possible.
- Where possible, opt for automatic watering systems. These allow you to set the water volume precisely. You should also water the lawn with a watering can once a week – provided the lawn is a manageable size.
- The reason is that a certain amount of water simply evaporates into the air when using a sprinkler. Furthermore, the sprinkler should be set so that it waters only the lawn and not, in addition, house walls, pavements or other plants that do not require watering.
- Furthermore, deep watering with a watering can prevents the lawn’s roots from growing too close to the surface. This means the blades of grass dry out more slowly.
- You should also avoid watering the lawn in the midday heat. Evaporation is particularly high at this time, meaning less moisture penetrates deep into the soil.
- Speaking of which: you can tell whether you’ve watered sufficiently if the lawn’s roots are also moist. To check this, take a spade test about 15 centimetres deep after watering. If the soil is dark in colour, the water has seeped deep enough into the ground.
- Extra tip: Use rainwater for watering your lawn. This not only saves you money – tap water is, after all, very expensive – but also protects your sprinkler, which often copes less well with hard tap water than with rainwater.
