For those of you live in a northern climate, when is it time to stop watering your lawn, and when is it time to winterize your irrigation system? I live in Montana, and the temps during the day are in the high 60s and dropping at night to the low 40s. The first hard frost is expected next week. Thoughts?
I stopped years ago (northeast Wyoming).
Sure, not the answer you are actually looking for, but we were in a years-long drought, had watering restrictions, and I thought to myself… “Why am I wasting all of this potable water to try to make a non-native plant stay green most of the year?”
So now I don’t.
Prior to that, though, I usually stopped most lawn care right about now (beginning/middle of October).
I live in SE Michigan and have never watered my lawn, yet it grows green and I have to cut it weekly. I have many neighbors that water their lawn and I shake my head at why they do so.
IMHO if people live in an area that requires that you water your lawn in order to grow grass they should seriously consider stop doing so and plant landscape that is native to the area and doesn’t require additional watering (except maybe for potted plants).
We don’t water our lawn. Any vegetation that needs more water than what falls out of the sky wasn’t intended to survive here.
If anyone ever fields a ballot initiative that would make it illegal to water your lawn, they’ve got my vote.
I’m another anti-lawn wateringite. It’s because watering makes grass grow and if grass grows it needs mowing.
Well, i don’t water my lawn, either. But i do have an in-ground irrigation system i installed to water my raspberries, currants, and blueberries.
The answer is going to depend on your climate. I haven’t watered in ages, because we had a fright, and now we have more than enough rain and nothing needs the water. I usually water when things look dry, not on a schedule. But i don’t generally drain the irrigation system until there’s a threat of a hard frost. A light frost isn’t a problem for it.
But today is pleasant, so maybe I’ll drain the system today.
I don’t water except when I’ve planted new grass.
I watered today. I like my lawn to be green.
Now, get off of it.
mmm
I live in NW Oregon. Water the lawn? Your words are strange to us. The lawn will get water practically every damn day starting any day now and ending, maybe some time in June.
Right now. Just stop.
This. I’ll water plants and shrubs, and if it’s really dry, I’ll even water the established trees. But not the grass. It’s on its own.
Okay, nobody likes grass. I get it, but I live in a nice neighborhood, and all of my neighbors have nice lush lawns, and I have no plans to rip my grass out. While it doesn’t rain much during the summer, we have more water from snowmelt than we need. The rivers are full and much of that water eventually flows into the Pacific Ocean. There are not now, nor have there ever been, water restrictions or conservation measures enacted. They just aren’t needed.
I like having a well-manicured yard, and I mow my lawn weekly starting in June and through most of October. If I just left the lawn unwatered, it would turn brown and die. I’ll start to reduce both the number of days during the week and the amount of time watering. Since it’s supposed to start getting colder next week, I will plan to winterize the irrigation system soon.
Vancouver, BC. Rain forest country. Today they extended the watering restrictions to the end of the month and are saying be prepared for more restrictions. Used to be a nice planet.
I like grass, i just let it cope on it’s own, except when i plant it. I grow varieties of grass that don’t need much water, and every so often, we have a nasty drought and i lose the part in full sun. In normal years, i have trouble keeping the grass from crowding out my other ground covers.
But no one as far away from you as i am can tell you when the fall rains will be adequate for your grass. I can only tell you to keep an eye on the weather forecast, and winterize before a hard freeze hits it.
I found one article that said 30 degrees, but I found more that said 40 degrees. You definitely don’t want to put too much water on your grass in the colder temps because the lawn won’t have a chance to dry out between waterings. Also make sure you’re monitoring rainfall and adjusting the amount of water based on that.
Also do let your lawn go dormant when it goes dormant. Let it get brown and stay brown during the winter. It doesn’t need water then.
I water my trees and shrubs right up till the timers are in danger of freezing. So, it’s getting close. But you never know around here. It’ll be snowing next week, then 80 on Thanksgiving.
Minneapolis. Myself and a bunch of neighbors had ours blown out the last week of September. Still have a few neighbors running theirs.
Grass generally stops growing once temperatures drop to below the range of 50-55 degrees Fahrenheit or reach above 90 degrees Fahrenheit. Since soil takes longer than air to lose and retain heat, it will take a period of a least a few days for a temperature change to impact the growth of grass. Consistently warmer or cooler temperatures send signals to the root system of the grass that it is time to become dormant.
https://www.greenandblackmn.com/about-us/blog/how-does-temperature-affect-my-lawn/
When grass turns brown, it’s not dying, it’s going dormant. Not sure how bad things have to get before it actually dies.
My mother lives in Denver. I installed the sprinker system in 1978 (god I’m old). I’ve worked for and had my own irrigation company years, and years ago.
A properly designed system only needs the main line and back flow preventers drained, I’ve never blown out my moms system. No need for it, never had an issue.
To the OP - a hard frost should not be a problem.
Now Montana will experience cold sooner then Denver. I usually shut my mom’s system down around Halloween.