Warning: Your Lawn is Located in a Drought Area

Prolonged drought stress will kill your grass. Several days of persistent drought stress will cause the grass blades to turn brown and die off. If the drought stress continues, death of the whole plant may occur, leaving a dead spot on your lawn.

Here is some helpful information to identify areas of drought stress and suggestions to help manage the risk to your lawn.

Frequently Asked Questions Regarding Drought Damage

How do I test for drought stress?

Use a soil probe or a garden spade. Pull a core of soil from the plant’s root zone and test the moisture content. Feel the soil in your hands. Soil that has adequate moisture content will remain clumped together. Dry soil will sift through your fingers and blow away like dust.

Check both good and bad areas. To better visualize the difference between dry soil and moist soil, check healthy-looking green areas and compare the soil to the unhealthy brown areas.

What is the proper way to water my lawn?

• Water deeply and infrequently, applying 1/2 to 3/4 inch of water per session. In most cases, this takes 20 to 30 minutes for pop-up spray heads and 75 to 115 minutes for rotor heads. Supplement dry areas with hand-watering.
• Follow your local watering restrictions. We all must do our part to conserve our most precious resource.
• Check your system monthly. Irrigation heads, pipes and controllers can break down. These problems may go undetected until the lawn shows signs of drought and brown spots occur.

Supplement dry areas with hand-watering. 

Irrigation systems are supposed to enhance the benefits of regular rainfall. However, some areas of your landscape may show signs of drought stress between scheduled irrigation cycles. Rather than running an additional cycle, you can hand-water these “hot spots” with a hose and watering nozzle to reduce stress until the next scheduled irrigation cycle. Apply 1/2 inch of water to these areas.

I water all the time. Why do I still have brown spots in my lawn?

Localized dry spots can occur in lawns that receive regular irrigation. Dry spots can occur in areas where irrigation water is blocked by obstacles or redirected by wind.

Use this method to test your sprinkler system for even coverage:

1. Place rain gauges or other water collection devices throughout the lawn. Be sure to place them in localized dry areas, as well as in healthy, green areas.
2. Run the sprinkler system for 15 minutes to determine the evenness of water distribution.
3. If irrigation is uneven or obstructed, it is necessary to supplement the dry areas with additional hand-watering.

You may find that water is being distributed evenly, but drought symptoms persist. In this case, you should check the soil to determine the sand content. Coarse sands may require supplemental hand-watering every other day to maintain proper soil moisture. Chinch bugs or grubs may be actively feeding in the damaged areas.

If you have any questions, please contact us at 888-2MASSEY (262-7739) and our Customer Care team will be able to help you with your questions.

Irrigation License #SCC131151531.