With water restrictions becoming more common and concerns about water conservation growing, finding ways to maintain beautiful lawns with less water is more important than ever.
What does train your lawn to use less water mean?
Training your lawn for heat and drought requires two significant changes:
- Less supplemental watering
- A shift in perspective
Gradually reducing watering as temperatures increase helps lawns develop resilience. This conditioning enables your lawn to withstand summer heat and recover from heat stress - much like how athletes train to perform better under challenging conditions.
While conditioning your lawn for heat and drought is relatively simple in practice, it can be quite challenging to embrace. With less supplemental water, your grass may not stay picture-perfect green year-round. This is why training your lawn requires a shift in perspective about what a healthy lawn looks like during the peak heat of summer months. A slightly golden lawn in August isn't failing - it's adapting!
How to train your lawn to use less water
Audit your watering
Auditing your irrigation system or checking how much water you're currently using is the essential first step to cutting back. Many homeowners unknowingly overwater their lawns.
Aim for your lawn to receive around 1-1.5 inches of water per week, including rainfall. Spread this amount over just 2-3 deep watering sessions, not daily sprinkling. Early morning watering, before 10 am, minimizes evaporation and water waste.
Only water if you need to
Once you understand your watering patterns, skip unnecessary irrigation. If it has rained recently or your lawn still looks healthy with good moisture, skip supplemental watering completely.
Consider installing a simple rain sensor or smart irrigation system that automatically adjusts to weather conditions. Even manually checking the forecast and turning off scheduled watering before rain can help save hundreds of gallons each month.
Sunday Tip:
Learn to "read" your lawn - shady areas naturally require less water, while sunny or exposed areas might need slightly more. Adjust accordingly rather than watering everything equally.
Train your grass roots to grow deeper
Deep and infrequent watering encourages roots to grow downward in search of moisture, creating naturally drought-resistant lawns.
This Sunday watering method, or applying water less often but for longer periods, helps moisture penetrate deeper into the soil. The result? Grass roots grow deeper and become significantly more resilient to heat and summer stress.
Follow water restrictions
Check with your local municipality to make sure that you're in compliance with your allotted watering days and times. Besides avoiding potential fines, following these restrictions helps your community conserve water during critical periods.
Being a good water steward creates that feel-good summer vibe while keeping your lawn alive.
Water enough to keep it alive
During peak heat periods, shift your goal to "survive, not thrive". This means watering just enough to keep your lawn alive and getting down with a yellow lawn during the hottest weeks.
You can typically maintain a lawn by applying just 1/10 to 1/4 of an inch of water every three weeks during extreme heat stress. This minimal watering prevents the loss of established grass completely while still conserving water.
Sunday Tip:
If your lawn enters dormancy (turns brown or yellow), don't panic and start overwatering to fix it. This natural protective state actually helps grass survive, while forcing it out of dormancy stresses the plants more.
Let nature do its thing, and your lawn will recover faster when conditions improve.
How to use less water on lawns with Sunday
With increasingly warmer temperatures and prolonged drought conditions across many regions, we need to reevaluate the role and use of water within our lawn care routines.
Simply put, we are committed to conserving water in yards. By training lawns to survive on less water and adjusting our expectations for just three or four months of the year, we can do a whole lot of good for the planet while preserving our lawns for generations to come.
Sunday products are specifically formulated to optimize water usage in our backyards—here's how:
Seaweed extract
Many of our lawn nutrients contain powerful seaweed extract that naturally supports heat tolerance at the cellular level. This sustainably-sourced ingredient also reduces the need to water by helping your soil stay saturated for longer, meaning each watering session delivers more benefit to your lawn.
Sunday Tip:
Sunday's Lawn Aid formula works with your soil's natural biology to support heat resistance.
Drought prevention
Sunday's Drought Defense is a liquid lawn treatment that enhances your lawn's drought resilience. Using advanced surfactant technology with seaweed and potassium, it supports water retention and distribution in soil. This helps save up to 20% on water usage during dry periods.
Drought Defense Lawn Treatment
- Enhances drought resiliency
- Saves up to 20% of water use
- Ideal for drought-prone areas
- Made for any grass type
- Zero pesticides
Drought tolerant grass seed
Many of the Sunday grass seeds are A-List approved. A-List Approval is a rigorous process to test grass seed for lower maintenance and is bred to withstand lower levels of fertilizer, water, and pesticide once established.
Additionally, Sunday seeds are lightly coated with water-saver technology, which helps new seedlings establish more easily (especially if you miss a watering after planting!). This gives you better results with less stress and water waste.
Let's get growing
Our lawn engine uses satellite data to map out your lawn size and determine things like average rainfall, common weeds, and pest activity.
Cited sources
Seaweed Extracts Enhance Salam Turfgrass Performance during Prolonged Irrigation Intervals and Saline Shock. National Library of Medicine.
Turfgrass Water Conservation Alliance. TWCA.
Water-saving strategies for home lawns. University of Minnesota Extension.
Water Wise Lawns. Cornell University Extension
Solutions for Environmentally Friendly Turf. A-List Turf.
