These past few weeks in southwestern Ohio have been incredibly hot and dry. We have had a few sprinkles, although not enough to keep lawns lush and green. It is obvious that the best way to keep lawns green during drought is to water them.
The best way to water your lawn is to water to the depth of the roots a few times a week during drought conditions. It is important that you start watering right as you start to see signs of drought stress such as wilding, darkening, and footprints remaining after walking through the lawn. Depending on your situation, it might be impossible to water your lawn whether it be budget, or site factors.
Some people might think that since their lawns have turned brown, the grass is dead. Your lawn is most likely made up of cool season perennial grasses, and going into dormancy is how they defend themselves in drought situations. If your lawn has already gone into dormancy, it is best not to start watering to bring it back into a lush green state as this depletes root reserves of energy, instead allow for nature to take its course for the rest of the summer.
The only issue with leaving your lawn in a dormant state due to drought is that there could be increased weed pressure as there is no competition with the lawn grasses. Make sure to manually remove weeds that arise in your lawn if it is already in a dormancy state.
