My neighbor told me I was watering my lawn wrong for 5 years straight

Honestly, I always just set my sprinklers to run for 20 minutes every evening after work. My neighbor Bob, who's like 70 and has the greenest grass on the block, finally said something last month. He told me I was doing it all backwards, that watering every day just makes the roots shallow and weak. He said I should be watering deep once or twice a week for like an hour, early in the morning before the sun comes up. I felt pretty dumb but I switched it up and it's only been a few weeks but the grass is already looking way darker green and not browning at the edges. Has anyone else had to unlearn bad lawn habits after getting roasted by a neighbor?

3 comments

3 Comments

vera_robinson361mo ago

Well actually I'm going to push back on the deep watering thing because I've done the opposite for years and my lawn looks just fine. My grass stays greener in July than my neighbor who does the whole once a week soak, probably because frequent light watering keeps the soil cool and moist during hot spells. Nobody's grass died from watering every day, so maybe Bob's method works for him but it's not the only way to get a good lawn.

mia7001mo ago

Rolled my eyes so hard at "nobody's grass died from watering every day" that I almost strained something. Guess we're just ignoring root rot and fungus now, huh?

charles_mitchell1mo ago

In my experience, your mileage may vary, but I've got a patch of St. Augustine in my front yard that gets a sprinkle every single morning. It's there because my sprinkler head overshoots a new flower bed my wife planted, so it gets watered daily by accident. Three years in, @mia700, and that grass has never had a hint of rot or fungus, and it's the thickest part of my whole lawn. Meanwhile, my back yard that gets that deep weekly soak has these thin, scraggly spots every August. Seems like a lot of this lawn care stuff depends on your soil type and how hot it gets where you are, not any one magic rule.