Understanding some of the foundational strategies for watering your lawn is crucial for maintaining a healthy and beautiful turf. The following guidelines serve as a starting point for understanding when the best time to water your lawn is, including frequency, timing, duration, weather considerations and water retention. While the following information is a helpful guideline, all lawns are unique and have different influences that will affect our recommendations. If you need help with your watering practices, start with what we have outlined here and then adjust accordingly. By implementing these strategies thoughtfully, homeowners can nurture their lawns effectively while contributing to sustainable water usage practices.

Frequency:
We advocate for the practice of deep watering. Deep watering allows your soil to dry out between watering cycles, prompting your lawn’s roots to delve deeper in search of nutrients and moisture. This process fosters a robust root system and promotes the overall health and strength of your turf. Deep watering happens when you water every other day, which if you follow the City of Bozeman’s watering guidelines you would already have this practice put in place. 

Timing:
The best time to water your lawn is in the morning, ideally between 5 am and 8 am. During this period, the temperature is still cool enough to minimize water loss through evaporation. Additionally, the weather is typically calm, reducing the risk of water being carried away by wind. Morning watering allows the lawn to dry as the day warms up, mitigating the risk of fungal diseases like leaf spot or mushrooms. Starting your sprinklers around May 1st, even with expected rainfall, can help protect your lawn against diseases and drought during the summer months.

Duration:
Your lawn requires approximately 1½” of water per week, typically beginning around May 1st. A general guideline is to run each zone for 30 minutes. This should equate to .5” of water every other day when doing deep watering. If you’re unsure whether that is happening or not, ask your Yard Guard technician or send a note to our office that you would like a Yard Guard measuring cup. Placing this cup in various lawn zones can verify water distribution. Alternatively, a small tuna can may serve as a makeshift measuring device. Adjusting sprinkler times based on individual needs can optimize water distribution and avoid  overwatering or underwatering certain areas.

Weather Considerations:
When considering weather conditions, the primary focus should be on ensuring your lawn receives the required 1½” of water per week. Coordinating watering schedules with rainfall can be beneficial, provided the lawn receives the right amount of moisture.

Water Retention:
Given escalating concerns about water retention, it’s crucial to water your lawn as efficiently as possible. Beginning early in the season is advisable to avoid trying to compensate for water deficits once temperatures rise. One trick we recommend is turning your sprinklers on early in the year and monitoring the rain. When it rains the equivalent of ½”, you can skip the next watering! Maintaining a consistent supply of organic material is essential for soil health, as organic-rich soil can retain more water and reduce compaction, facilitating proper water absorption. This is one of the main tactics in our Blended Organic Program.

In response to water retention efforts, we had planned to test a water-saving product this year on our test plots in Beall Park. However, due to the anticipated high drought conditions, we will be offering this service to our clients starting in 2024. Although the products claim you can reduce watering up to 50%, industry standards fall more in the 20-25% range. Many of our industry friends have reported positive results with this product, and ongoing tests will provide more precise retention data. For more information about this product, click this link.

We hope this information provides a helpful jumping off point for nurturing your lawn. If any of these points brings more questions to the forefront, give us a call and we’d be happy to talk through this with you. Remember that it’s not a one size fits all plan. It’s important to start somewhere and adjust accordingly to your properties preferences! Your lawn is a living, breathing thing and will have its own particular desires!

At Yard Guard, our mission is clear: to accelerate the transition to a sustainable landscape, starting here in our own backyards. While water retention and soil conditioning products have been available for some time, we’ve waited for a solution that truly aligns with our mission. And now, we’re excited to introduce a product and service that does just that.

In 2024, as we witness a limited snowpack and an increasing need for water retention, it’s more crucial than ever to understand how lawns hold water and how we can optimize watering practices.

How lawns hold water & how much to water
Watering your lawn properly requires you to understand your property’s unique characteristics. Things like soil health and structure, sun exposure and grass height will all influence how much water your lawn holds and requires to be healthy. In order to learn these characteristics, we recommend adopting the practice of deep watering. Deep watering encourages the roots to grow deeper, resulting in a healthier plan. This means you water your three days a week with a ½” of water each time. Analyze your lawn and adjust the watering time (increase or decrease) depending on what your lawn needs. 

As a side note: It’s essential to adjust your sprinklers in spring and again as summer approaches to account for changing conditions.

For more detailed information on how to water your lawn properly, check out our blog post dedicated to this topic here.

How Moisture Retention Products Work
Moisture retention products help the soil hold more water, reduce surface tension to evenly distribute the water, and to pull water from the atmosphere. The product we are choosing to use is a surfactant that’s bonded to compost, mimicking the natural water-retention properties of organic soil. 

Every sprinkler system has some sort of inefficiency. That may be due to needing an adjustment or maybe your lawn isn’t level all the way through, either way you will probably have some areas that receive more water than necessary and some areas less. This product breaks the surface tension of water which brings us closer to equilibrium on water distribution throughout. 

You’re probably familiar with the moisture absorbing packets that are placed in shipped goods. The product works similarly to those where it pulls moisture from the humidity in the air and holds it in the soil. 

The application needs to be applied and watered in before drought conditions, and the product we use lasts for roughly 90 days. Therefore, we will put it down in June so we can get through the hot summer months.

Photo credit

Setting Realistic Expectations

Companies claim that you can reduce your watering up to 50%, we think that is a little bit of a stretch. It depends on what kind of soil you have, how much organic material is present, how hot/dry the weather is, and the quality of your irrigation system. We live in a dry climate and we all struggle to give our lawns enough water in the hot summer months. This application is only going to help keep more available moisture for the plant and reduce drought stress. 

If you are satisfied with your watering practices, we would recommend cutting water around 20% as a starting point once you receive your Water Saver application. 

What Moisture Retention Products Don’t Replace
This isn’t a magic solution – if you have poor soil, no or poor irrigation, or poor mowing practices this will not save your lawn, but you can definitely expect reduction of problem areas and the overall ability to hold over 20% more moisture. 

Who Could Benefit:
Everyone who lives somewhere dry and windy, aka Livingston! But really anyone. This service is primarily for lawns, but similar products could be used for planter boxes or perennial plants. Even properties that have great sprinkler systems and good soil. We live in a dry climate and moisture retention products are a great way to give your plants a little bit of an edge to hold more moisture.

How Much do Moisture Retention Products Cost?
One time applications start at $129 for a “normal” in-town property (less than 5,000 square feet of turf). This is for a one-time spring application that lasts through the summer.

So are you ready to start reducing your watering by 25%? Text “Water Saver” to 406-222-1152 and one of our customer service representatives will get you a custom quote for your home! 

While we are excited to offer this service, we would be even more excited to see long-lasting results. If you haven’t been adding organic material back to your lawn, mowing at the tallest height or watering properly, we would love to see you add those into your regime so we don’t see temporary fixes. If you’re unsure on where to start, give us a call and we are happy to walk you through that!

Your trees represent one of the most significant investments for your property, yet they are sometimes quickly forgotten once they are considered “established.” While there are various ways to care for these beautiful trees, let’s highlight the most crucial step that you can take without relying on the assistance of a lawn and tree care company – let’s discuss the proper method of watering your trees.

There’s an overlooked aspect worth noting: we’ve planted trees, which typically flourish in forests, into a residential lawn area and then anticipate the same successful growth despite the significantly different conditions from their natural habitat, which clearly isn’t going to happen. In a forest setting, trees benefit from shaded soil which helps retain moisture, receiving rich nutrients from decomposed material in the soil, and importantly, they don’t compete with lawn turf for nutrients and water.

As a general rule, trees typically require a minimum of 10 gallons of water per week per inch of Diameter at Breast Height (DBH). However, there’s often an assumption that trees will receive adequate water during a regular weekly lawn irrigation schedule. Unfortunately, the lawn tends to absorb most of this moisture before the tree roots can access any significant amount. Unless you have a drip irrigation system specifically directed toward your trees and shrubs, it’s almost certain that your trees are not receiving sufficient water. The diagram below shows how to measure DBH.

This blog is broken out to show how to water your trees per season in Southwest Montana. 

Spring Watering:

In spring, it’s crucial to water your trees before they begin to bud and produce leaves. Around mid-March (depending on the weather), start watering your trees weekly. Typically, this means pulling a hose to your trees, turning the water on to a steady trickle, and leaving it to run at the base of the tree for about 30 minutes. In the weeks following, check the soil. If the top 3-4 inches around the tree are dry, it’s time to water them again.

Encouraging slow, deep watering helps your trees’ roots grow deeper, enabling them to draw more nutrients from the soil and become more resistant to drought and disease.

Summer Watering:

Continue the same watering schedule from spring. If you notice the leaves appearing limp, it’s a sign that they may need more water. Once again, check the top three to four inches of soil, and if they’re dry, give the trees a thorough drink by turning on the hose.

Fall and Winter Watering:

During fall and winter, focus primarily on watering your evergreen trees. Deciduous trees typically enter dormancy by late fall and will likely have shed their leaves and require much less attention at this time. Because evergreens retain their needles throughout winter, they need more water to prevent drying out from the severe winds and cold temperatures experienced in Montana. If they become dehydrated, they may suffer from “winter burn,” where the wind and cold weather strip them of moisture, kind of like windburn. This issue is especially prevalent in the Livingston, Montana area.

Starting in October and continuing through November, water your evergreen trees twice a month, dedicating approximately 30 minutes per tree. Use a gentle flow from the hose to facilitate deep watering. This serves two crucial purposes. Firstly, as the trees prepare for dormancy, the water assists in transporting nutrients to their roots, crucial during the winter. Secondly, it provides a reservoir of water for the trees to access, rather than relying on moisture from their needles as a last resort.

Watering your trees properly is going to prevent them from being susceptible to disease and drought now and for years to come. Make sure to give your trees a good drink to bring them to life in the spring and then continue that throughout the summer and early fall. Once you start getting into late fall and winter, specifically October and November, make sure to water your trees at least twice for each of those months! 

If you are watering your evergreens properly and you’re still seeing winter burn, we do offer a service that helps hold in moisture that we do twice a year, once in the fall and once in the winter as weather permits. Please call our office to find out more or to get on the schedule for our Winter Burn Prevention service. 406-222-1152

Happy watering!