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There have been no rain the last month and it's now illegal to water the lawn. It's been a week since I last watered the lawn, and the long-term forecast predicts no rain the coming two weeks.

I live in a place where it normally rains a lot. May is usually the driest month with about 13 rainy days and 100 mm total precipitation. It was no rain at all this May. The average daily maximum temperature in May is normally about 15-20 oC. The last two weeks however it's been about 26-30 oC. All weather records have been shattered this year.

The soil isn't deep (I don't know exactly how deep), and the lawn is just one year old. The grass is cold season grass.

Should I mow the lawn, or it's it better to leave it alone during the drought?

Stewie Griffin
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2 Answers2

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I do not water my lawn during a drought; if it's cold-season grass, then it will go dormant and turn brown, but the lawn will recover when it rains again or when you can water again - given a minimal amount of moisture during that time

Here's a link with some useful information: http://extension.illinois.edu/lawntalk/weeds/managing_lawns_during_drought.cfm

Let me call out one quote from that link: "Taller turf allows more shading of the soil, conserving what moisture is in the soil."

Jurp
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  • allowing a lawn to go dormant is not at all healthy for that crop of grasses. Training the roots to grow deep makes lawns drought tolerant. Lawns are an investment and for any authority to jump in and say STOP watering your landscape is seriously wrong. The landscape is a huge part of the value of the home. Learning how to water properly would make rationing moot. – stormy Mar 19 '19 at 04:40
  • @Stormy - you cannot be serious. Allowing bluegrass to go dormant in drought is environmentally responsible and does not harm the lawn. http://www.american-lawns.com/grasses/bluegrass_ky.html – Jurp Mar 19 '19 at 12:32
  • Stormy - as noted in the link, bluegrass is a SHORT-ROOTED grass - its roots will never grow deep enough. I agree with you that, should you water, water well and water not very often (an inch of water once a week - and only ONCE a week), but it's definitely okay to allow the grass to go dormant during a drought if you choose to. In many parts of the country, water restrictions go into effect during a drought, so dormancy is the way to go. – Jurp Mar 19 '19 at 15:21
  • Really? A short rooted grass mixed with deep rooted grasses? I don't think so, Jurp. You have to train your grass crop to be able to be drought tolerant. I have worked with cool season grass for decades...one decade for commercial maintenance of lawns and landscape alone. This is a lengthy article on Poa pratensis. Rhizomes that actually start growing in response to drought (times between watering) and they are called 'Tillers'....blue grass can survive with other grasses that have adaptations to grow big roots to get at water. They are not shallow rooted. Not okay to allow dormancy. – stormy Mar 19 '19 at 21:52
  • I hope my link is included or I'll go find it again. Dormancy is a major stress to any crop. Do not forget that a cool season lawn is always a mixture of 4 or 5 or more species. Training roots is very cool, Jurp. The lawns I maintained never went brown during a hot, dry season nor with water restrictions. Do not have to allow a crop of grasses to go dormant when you've trained their roots to be deep and have access to water shallowly watered grasses can not. Shoot. This was my CAREER, Jurp. High stakes to impress rich owners! – stormy Mar 19 '19 at 21:59
  • https://wiki.bugwood.org/Poa_pratensis – stormy Mar 19 '19 at 21:59
  • Stormy, dormancy does NOT damage lawns. I'm surprised you think that, given that you've gone through winters in Idaho. My grass right now is 100% dormant and will green up just fine in 4-5 weeks. It doesn't get this dormant even in a dry summer. And then it greens up just fine when it rains. Dormancy is a natural reaction to adverse growing conditions, and is genetically programmed into the grass. Same as roots - if a plant can genetically grow roots only 6" deep, no amount of training will cause them to grow deeper. But I agree - 1" of water per week, preferably all at the same time. – Jurp Mar 28 '19 at 01:39
  • Jurp, yes, dormancy is a huge stress to grass crops. 95% of all roots of all plants are within 4 -6 inches of the surface...Idaho is my home baby cakes. Where I got my degrees and L.A License...I am an airforce brat and living in ONE state for 17 years is a big big deal. Sorry, healthy grass can deal with a few dormancies other wise it sucks the vitality out of your grass crop. Heck, I never allowed my grasses to go dormant. Knowing what I know I 'trained' the roots by watering deep and only when the grass was slightly dehydrated. Green all year everywhere I've lived. – stormy Mar 29 '19 at 02:29
  • From The Lawn Institute: https://www.thelawninstitute.org/pages/education/lawn-maintenance/let-your-turfgrass-go-dormant/ And from Purdue Univ (which also says to stay off dormant grass - no mowing) https://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/outreach/2012/120628PattonLawn.html. Sorry, Stormy, I like my horticulture science--based whenever possible. – Jurp Mar 29 '19 at 11:02
  • Those lawn institute dudes aren't out there everyday mowing and fertilizing and maintaining real lawns. How cute...I hope you take a Master Gardener's course...they've already sifted out the bs from the truth. Staying off of dehydrated grass leaves and their crown helps to protect the crown of the grasses. Same thing applies with frost and freezing. Why would anyone mow dormant grasses? I swear just by watering infrequently and very deeply lawn grasses do not need to go dormant...cool season grasses. Warm season grasses almost need to go dormant. So very different. – stormy Mar 30 '19 at 00:15
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You have to send a picture of your lawn, exactly where you live...need to know whether your lawn is warm season grasses or cool season grasses. Huge difference. I am guessing you have cool season grasses which will go dormant in the winter and with proper training, fertilizing and mowing practices should easily resist droughts.

How much illegal is it to water your landscape? If you trained your cool season grasses properly you would only need 1" of water applied to your lawn. Allowing grasses to 'die' or go 'dormant' to the point of live crowns and dead grass might work ONCE. One dormancy other than winter, which is never brown btw., is all a grass crop can handle without succumbing to weeds, compaction, hydrophobic soil. All that work to make a beautiful lawn will be wasted.

What do you mean there is not much soil? How much water is legal? What are the parameters used to call a critical no water your landscape order? There are many reasons why this order is simply wrong. Remember the dust bowls in central America? Watering of cool season grasses when done correctly can save water and still allow green grass that is using up CO2 so our planet doesn't become a Venus...I am being very facetious. That is not a problem.

When this stupid order is called off by the city 'experts' on water and landscaping in cities...grrrr...we can teach you how to train your grass crop called a lawn to be drought resistant to survive the next ban. Your lawn if cool season grasses can be trained to be luscious and vigorous on 1 inch of water per week. If you train your grass by watering properly.

Grasses (cool season) have basic maintenance practices every lawn owner should be aware and using. Warm season grasses are an entirely different deal. Cool season grass lawns are far easier to cultivate and manage to never ever need any other chemistry applied other than fertilizer. up to 4X per year. Did you fertilize before the ban? Do NOT FERTILIZE now. At all.

Your lawn should be mowed once per week. Mowing will not hurt or help your grass during drought. I am hoping your grass height is kept at 3 inches MINIMUM. 3 1/2 is best. If your grass is shorter than 3" do not mow. Aeration by pulling plugs of soil out of your lawn bed leaving them where they fall is a good idea to do now. If you have warm season grasses this answer is irrelevant.

stormy
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  • I don't have the opportunity to send a picture now, unfortunately. I have cold season grass (I didn't know there was a difference until now). The water supply is running critically low, so the water must be used as drinking water. All use of water outdoors is forbidden. There has _never ever_ been a drought here before (an island in western Norway). The ground is rocks and gravel covered with a layer of soil that is just deep enough for grass to grow. I don't know how thin the layer of soil can be for grass to grow, but that's how much we have (the developers saves money where they can). – Stewie Griffin Jun 03 '18 at 11:05
  • Grass can grow in just a few inches of soil. Do others on your island (would I love to SEE this island) have thick lawns? How is your water supply regenerated? We are in a Grand Solar Minimum right now and we'll all be getting colder for a few decades, at least. Is that a good thing for your water supply? – stormy Jun 03 '18 at 13:45
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    @stormy, which do you consider more important: water for drinking, or water for keeping lawns green? There are parts of the world with very limited water reserves, and if the rains don't come when expected, all non-critical use of water needs to be stopped so that they don't need to import water. – Mark Jun 03 '18 at 18:53
  • Why then aren't there measures in place to prepare for water rationing? How does any community allow a 'critical' water situation? There is a great need for bigger thinkers in the city employ. Mark, if people knew how to manage their landscape plant needs, how to train their lawns to be drought tolerant and use but 1" per week of water and be thriving, healthy during any drought. I wouldn't allow problems to become problems in the first place. Insane. Allowing a lawn or landscape plants to die is not a solution. Feast and famine need to be changed into preparing for famine. Stop waste. – stormy Jun 04 '18 at 03:43
  • @stormy you forgot that you need to treat grass like a cover crop that will protect the soil, and hold moisture in the ground. – black thumb Mar 19 '19 at 04:09
  • Hey there bt! Lawns are not true cover crops. A cover crop is an annual that if not allowed to go to seed it will provide great organic matter that needs to be chopped up and turned under first thing in the spring. A lawn is an entirely different creature! Cool season grass crops are easy to train to be drought tolerant by proper watering practices. Huge root systems. A cover crop is planted in the fall and in early spring it is knocked down, covered and allowed a month to decompose before planting. Lawns are perennial grasses. Cover crops are annuals. – stormy Mar 19 '19 at 04:29
  • @Mark I am much more into prevention than trying to fix things too late in the game. It is strange that this OP was able to water the landscape and then all of a sudden completely stop watering. Not at all cool. They should at least give warning so people can at least drought proof their plants and lawn. If they taught people HOW to water and manage their landscape soils there wouldn't be any need for a ban that will literally kill plants, weaken them greatly, reducing the value of the properties. Deep soil greater than 4 inches is not necessary to have a beautiful lawn. Grows in gravel – stormy Mar 19 '19 at 04:46
  • ...and conserving fresh water for drinking is very important. Much more effective to protect drinking water way before having to ration water. I would worry about where our poop is being dumped. Also what they are dumping in our drinking water pretending it is good for our teeth? Very interesting to learn what is in the water you are drinking. Municipalities only care that people don't die too quickly. – stormy Mar 19 '19 at 04:50
  • @Stormy - DIRECTLY FROM THE AMERICAN LAWN ASSOCIATION: :Kentucky bluegrass develops a shallow root system that is not drought tolerant and will go dormant during extreme conditions. If given intermittent watering during prolonged drought conditions, it will come back." Note the SHALLOW ROOT SYSTEM in the quote. – Jurp Mar 19 '19 at 21:59
  • Where is your link, Jurp? I want to read it! – stormy Mar 19 '19 at 22:01
  • I've had to train sod companies on how to grow these crops! This is interesting. Perhaps the rhizome attribute kicks in to cover 'normally' rooted pratensis. Otherwise, blue grass has similar to deep root system. Not shallow at all. – stormy Mar 19 '19 at 22:03
  • https://wiki.bugwood.org/Poa_pratensis Don't know why this isn't showing up after 3 pastings. Wanna know why golf courses use Poa annua? Because that plant is shallow rooted and seeds like crazy. It can be mowed brutally short because of the shallow rootedness. But those seeds really make a mess of all the blue grass mixed dark green lawns of the owners all around the periphery of the golf course. Lots of money lots of clients needing their lawns replaced! I took lawns out! – stormy Mar 19 '19 at 22:08
  • Also the big sales pitch for Kentucky Blue is because of its root system, rhizomatous root system. It may be more drought susceptible but it's root system is WHY Blue grass is included in the mixture of grasses for sod production. Because those roots hold the top 2 inches tightly together. 'Shallow' is subjective in this instance...better word would be 'adaptable' because of its root system. If it goes dormant the entire lawn will still be green. But because of its large, SHALLOW root system it will survive. How is that? – stormy Mar 19 '19 at 22:17
  • @Jurp Do you see the difference between short rooted and dense wide roots? – stormy Mar 28 '19 at 01:23
  • Stormy - I can see your point with the dense, short, wide roots. No issues with me, but that applies to most lawn grass, too. I wouldn't use the phrase "huge root system" to describe it, though. You definitely misunderstand municipal water systems and water use planninng, especially in arid areas. – Jurp Mar 28 '19 at 01:37
  • Yeah, Jurp, you are a bit wrong that I don't understand municipal water systems. That is simply crazy talk. I worked for CEDA Clear Water Development Association, one of my best friends was the head of the water departments in 4 counties. I dealt with buildings, permits, utilities for ummmm....4 decades. I am glad you understand that shallow but dense root systems are classified as HUGE. Grins! I did these demonstrations for master gardeners to show people roots and soil and all of that stuff...sure I do not know everything, but I sure know an awful lot, need to to make correct decisions – stormy Mar 29 '19 at 02:35