Overwatering your lawn, just like overwatering your houseplants, is one of the easiest ways to cause these otherwise tough plants to die. Unlike overwatering, signs of overwatering generally only appear after the problem has developed to the point where immediate mitigation is required. Below you can learn what these signs of trouble from overwatered sod are as well as why they’re a problem.
Common Signs of Overwatering Grass (The Short Answer)
There are 2 easy ways to tell if your grass is overwatered before it accrues damage. First, if you water your lawn in the morning and it’s still wet at or after 3pm, you’re adding too much water. Second, any puddles or signs of standing water around the base or roots of your grass means your lawn is overwatered.
Signs of Overwatered Grass (9 Signs in More Detail – How to Spot)
It’s easier than you might think to damage or even kill your lawn simply by adding too much water. It’s common for anyone new to lawn care to wonder, “Can you over water grass?” And the answer is a simple, “Yes.” The risk of overwatering your lawn increases by quite a bit if you have clay soil, little natural drainage, or live in an area with low sunlight or average temperatures.
Below are the 9 major signs of overwatering grass that you should keep an eye out for.
Standing Water and Puddles
The biggest and easiest to spot sign of an overwatered lawn is the sudden appearance of puddles that don’t go away after several hours. While it can be normal, with heavy clay soil types, for puddles to show up just after you water your lawn, they should disappear within an hour or two.
If the puddles remain well into the afternoon or even longer, skip your next watering session if you are watering daily or every other day, or cut your watering time in half if you are on a once-a-week deep watering schedule.
Water Droplets That Never Go Away
Before those puddles accumulated, your soil was slowly saturated time and again with too much water. During this time, your lawn would have been exhibiting another sign of overwatered sod- persistent water droplets.
If humidity is high and evaporation is low, the water you use on your lawn may stick around for longer. In these conditions, you should be using less water on your lawn. If you are using too much, your lawn will stay wet all day. If you water your lawn at the recommended time, an hour before sunrise, and your lawn is still wet at 3pm, you have a problem.
Mold, Algae, and Mushrooms
While a few mushrooms in the wetter seasons are a sign of a healthy lawn with access to plentiful reserves of moisture and nutrients, too many mushrooms can be a sign of too much moisture. If you have a few scattered mushrooms, things are likely fine.
If, however, you have several dense circles or “fairy rings”, you should cut back on how much or how often you are watering your lawn. This will slow or interrupt the growth of mushrooms and prevent the mycelium from creating a mat under your sod.
Algae and mold are always bad and definitive signs of too much moisture on and around your grass. While an algaecide or anti-fungal could help to get rid of this problem for a week, it will keep coming back again and again unless you improve drainage and reduce added moisture.
Mildew
While mildew is closely related to mold, algae, and mushrooms, I’ve separated it out here to note a special type that often infects overwatered or consistently wet lawns. Powdery mildew is a dusty, white or gray powder-like substance that settles and multiplies on damp lawns.
Sometimes a lawn infected with powdery mildew will have a “dusty” appearance and be mistaken as dry. More water is then applied, compounding the problem and leading to root rot and other diseases. If your lawn appears gray and dusty, check for signs of mildew and mold before deciding that it’s just dry. This can help you avoid a lawn care disaster.
Yellowing, Rotted Spots, or Bacterial Infection
If your soil seems healthy and isn’t dusty and the blades of your grass are well-hydrated but still have yellowing, burnt brown tips, or rotten spots then you may have overwatered your lawn just enough to lead to a bacterial infection.
Darkening (Deep Green or Black)
Bacterial and fungal conditions caused by overwatering can lead your lawn to turn dark green suddenly and then, for a few days to a week, it will turn almost black in patches. Occasionally there will also be white streaks near the roots of these patches of grass. While you cannot save this grass as it is heavily contaminated with a fungal infection, you can break the cycle and kill off the fungus by improving drainage and not adding any additional water for at least 2 weeks.
Limp or Rotted Roots (Grass That Uproots Easily)
Grass that uproots easily is a sign of overwatered grass. If, when a section of your lawn is uprooted, those roots are limp, weak, or 1” in length or less, you may have a root rot problem. Root rot is a difficult problem to solve once you have it but, as with any other malady caused by overwatering, the first step to a cure is to cut back on the water.
Frogs, Slugs, Snails, and Other Pests
An often overlooked sign of an overwatered lawn is an abundance of frogs, slugs, and snails. All of these pests are attracted to cool and damp places. If your lawn is chronically overwatered, it qualifies.
Soft, Mushy, and Limp Blades of Grass
As with the root rot discussed above, the blades and stalks of your grass can also begin to rot if they are exposed to too much constant moisture. If any patch of grass seems to be sticky, oozing, or turning to slime when you walk on it, it’s likely that your lawn has been overwatered so much or has been exposed to standing water for so long that it is beginning to decompose.
Why Overwatering Your Lawn is a Problem
Overwatering your lawn is a problem as this excess water that cannot be absorbed by your lawn invites pests, bacteria, and disease to your lawn and creates an ideal habitat for them. All of these things will then feed on your lawn as they thrive and multiply.
Often, the only way to fix the situation, once something has made your lawn its home, is to dry it out. This treatment, though often effective, will also be a difficult process for your lawn to go through. This is why knowing the signs of overwatered grass is so important.
The earlier your spot the problem, the easier it will be to dry things up and the better shape your lawn will be in to bounce back.
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