How to keep a lawn green during a drought with water restrictions
Strict water bans and extreme heat make maintaining a green yard during a drought nearly impossible without violating conservation rules. Homeowners are forced to choose between heavy fines for exceeding water limits or watching their beloved turf completely dry out.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1following strict watering schedules
- 2laughing at neighbors' high water bills
- 3accepting crabgrass and dormant yards
- 4holding off on fertilizer until temperatures drop
- 5watering consistently
- 6Waiting until fall to apply top soil, seed, and pre-emergent
- 7Cutting grass shorter for extended periods
- 8Avoiding watering the lawn in the afternoon or late afternoon
- 9Applying fungicide at the first sign of issues and rotating fungicides monthly
- 10Adding iron supplements for color
- 11Waiting until the hosepipe ban is lifted or it rains every day before scarifying and overseeding
- 12Trying to pick a resilient turf type or drought-tolerant hybrid sod that can handle limited watering
- 13watering heavily to maintain green color
- 14waiting until mid-September to fertilize due to high temperatures
- 15planning to apply fertilizer despite the heat
- 16Waiting for natural rain
- 17Delaying overseeding until later in the fall
- 18Using wetting agent pellets
- 19Raking
- 20Patch of aeration
- 21Reseeding and topsoiling repeatedly
- 22Watering
- 23killing off existing turf entirely and reseeding with drought-tolerant or certified grass varieties
- 24Accepting brown or dry lawns during summer
- 25Watering frequently
- 26Running in ground irrigation every other day
- 27Hiring a professional to fertilize and weed kill
- 28Considering dethatching, aerating, or adjusting watering schedules
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Central Texas can't. We are currently in stage 3 drought. I love my lawn but I love having water more.”source ↗
“In central Texas, this homeowner is almost certainly violating water restrictions… by a lot.”source ↗
“$400+ water bills and drought restrictions made keeping it watered pretty unviable, so hoping this variety holds up better through our summers.”source ↗
“Here I am post 9/11 and we still have a water ban without knowing when it will end.”source ↗
“And here we are currently, as pictured.”source ↗
“Also, I just noticed a lot of the "green grass" is this long vine like grass/weed.”source ↗
“Unfortunately; due to the water restrictions, I haven’t been able to keep up with my labradors urine spots. I’ve got about 6 spots that are totally dead and will need resodding.”source ↗
“I have reseeded and topsoiled the in Apr>Sept>Apr, and with it being a very large lawn (and still a novice at it) I don't want to keep on paying out the expense and effort of getting it back up to scratch when it just dies like it has the last two summers.”source ↗
“I need help figuring out how to get my lawn to green up, I’ve been watering consistently for 2 weeks now and parts are starting to get green but only patches.”source ↗
“It’s a pain and i wish i know how to get rid of it 😵💫”source ↗
“With the heat her in Georgia, it’s all I can do to keep mine from dying.”source ↗
“Any advice on whether this will eventually grow back or is it just best to scarify it, overseed then cover with some top dressing?”source ↗
“Hosepipe ban didn't help either”source ↗
“Damn not even allowed to use the hose lol.”source ↗
“Hm. I am pretty regular with fert. I have been watering the shit out of everything to keep it green. Ill prolly add some fert next week”source ↗
“At this point I'm just waiting for rain. Dallas County has yearlong watering restrictions and we haven't had rain in 59 days”source ↗
“Same boat in the northeast. Total disaster. I’m planning on being all prepped to throw seed on 10/1 and go from there”source ↗
“Down here in Atlanta area, it’s so damn dry and hot it’s hard to keep it half as green.”source ↗
“My grass looks like this throughout my yard. I have in ground irrigation that runs every other day. Granted, it’s been very hot this summer (Midwest) but unsure why my grass is dying.”source ↗
“Not sure if I need to de-thatch or over water aerate or all of the above.”source ↗
“I’ve had a guy come out to fertilize and weed kill 4 times this summer. First 2 applications the grass was looking great and now it’s looking pretty rough”source ↗