Summer Drought Restrictions Impacts Your Lawn

Summer Drought Restrictions affects your Expectations

To prepare for the Summer months its important to understand the Summer Drought Restrictions and have realistic and reasonable expectations for your lawn.  Bozeman experienced an incredibly wet spring and early summer but we are seeing the hot and dry season and its effects begin to emerge.  

Bozeman Designated as Doubt Prone Climate:

Due to our climate being officially recognized as “drought prone,” the City of Bozeman enacted permanent watering restrictions. This is to ensure a reliable water source for the remainder of the season and the future. These watering restrictions were permanently set in place by the City of Bozeman as of June 16th 2022. Please visit the City’s Permanent Watering Restrictions Webpage to learn more!

Our irrigation team has been performing system audits on our properties to ensure that they are optimally set up for the summer drought conditions and in compliance with the City ordinance. These water restrictions will impact property turf differently from property to property with some home’s experiencing areas of dryer grass. Our Mowing team has been keeping an eye on all of the properties we service and letting us know if any areas are experiencing severe grass dryness that needs watering attention. 

My Grass Looks Brown?:

We want to give you peace of mind by saying dry/brownish grass is NOT dead grass. Grass will start to lose its green color in order to protect itself when it becomes too hot. The loss of color and dryness is simply a stage in the grass growth cycle where growth is slower and the grass is more dormant. This stage is nothing to worry about as it is a natural protection mechanism to prevent your lawn fully dying. 

Summer drought restrictions impacts your lawn
The grass plants may appear significantly brown to the naked eye, but deep inside the plant, there is an area (called the crown) that is still alive. Once this crown gets moisture again, it will come to life and the turf will green up in 10-14 days.  You see this each year when heading into winter when your lawn turns fully dormant in order to protect itself and return just as strong in the springtime.

Proper Irrigation is So Important!:

By keeping your irrigation system running during the evenings and early mornings, it will allow the important parts of your grass plants to stay moist during the day.  Again, we are under watering restrictions within the City of Bozeman and this will significantly limit the days and times that a system can run.  If your lawn is pulling water from a well then the City restrictions do not apply to you.  You will be able to spot these systems around town as their lawns will be significantly more green throughout the dryer periods of our summer.

If you have any concern about the health of your lawn, the timing and/or setting up of your irrigation clock, dry spots that are not being hit by your sprinkler heads, etc.,  we would be happy to provide an irrigation repair service to take a look at things and resolve these issues. Click HERE to view our irrigation services webpage and to contact us.

Thank you for choosing Bozeman Site Services!  

To explore all of the services that BSS can provide for your property please review our Services Webpage.