I currently live in Argyle, TX. This is the worst drought I have seen in years. Please God give us rain!!!

This is brutal. Lake levels low, watering restrictions in place, high heat and no end in sight.

It hasn't rained in 4 weeks at my place and we just exited one of the wettest months on average. On track to have 3-4 months without rain.

Having to put the soaker hose on my magnolia. Haven't done that in years. In 15 minutes the grass literally "pops" up where the soaker lies.

Yes this is really bad. Here in Fort Worth near 820/35 and we've missed every one of the few rain occurrences here over the last month. Missed another last night. 103-105 forecasted high next 14 days with no rain in sight. Water prices in Fort Worth are crazy high too, so difficult to water lawn as much as it's needed without a water bill over $300/month.

2011 was bad - grass went dormant by early June. 40 straight days over 100 degrees. Ended with a 6" rain spell.

How did someone not see this coming? Fort Worth show ends early after grass fire.

https://www.fox4news.com/news/fourth-of-july-fireworks-shows-in-dallas-fort-worth-draw-big-crowds

Addison was able to pull theirs off just fine. I guess the amount of solid surfaces surrounding theirs made it ok.

I have several narrow strips of grass between the street and side walk that are going to be toast. Just too much heat from the concrete to keep it adequately watered.

I'm predicting a water bill of about 500 dollars.

How much are y'all watering? I've always done 3 days a week, but that obviously needs to change. Starting to get brown in some spots. I'm not even mowing really cause its not growing very much

wangus12 said:

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How much are y'all watering? I've always done 3 days a week, but that obviously needs to change. Starting to get brown in some spots. I'm not even mowing really cause its not growing very much

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Watering once every 6 days with Bermuda.
Some brown spots here and there where my sprinklers' coverage is a little weak, but mostly green.

I started watering every day about two weeks ago. Put down an entire new lawn in March and do NOT want to lose it. I've even been hand watering spots that my sprinkler system misses because they were getting pretty crispy. It's hanging on okay, but there are a few brown spots despite my efforts. Scared to see my next water bill.

Yikes, I'd be doing the same thing with a new lawn.

I've been doing 2x a week and running each zone twice in the mornings those days. Also let it grow a little longer, not like anyone other than the yard guys are walking on it these days.

Coates said:

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Yikes, I'd be doing the same thing with a new lawn.

I've been doing 2x a week and running each zone twice in the mornings those days. Also let it grow a little longer, not like anyone other than the yard guys are walking on it these days.

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This is my schedule and in normal years does well.

Grass is doing ok(ish) but I don't know if this is enough to keep it green much longer...its noticeably fading.

As mentioned previously, the grass between sidewalk and street is already gone...the heat too much...

Man it is bad if you try and maintain a green lawn. I water every other day and still have spots where the sod gets no relief from the sun. Where I have shade the grass is green and lush. I am gonna mess with my sprinklers but not sure it will change unless we get rain or I up the min/days of watering.

Same. House is on the side of a hill. Back door started sticking. I'm not pleased

ryange05 said:

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Man it is bad if you try and maintain a green lawn. I water every other day and still have spots where the sod gets no relief from the sun. Where I have shade the grass is green and lush. I am gonna mess with my sprinklers but not sure it will change unless we get rain or I up the min/days of watering.

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Water 2x week. Water deeply and less frequently. An every other day program promotes shallow root growth. Of course that won't solve your irrigation coverage issues but it will improve the overall health of your lawn.

bco2003 said:

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wangus12 said:

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How much are y'all watering? I've always done 3 days a week, but that obviously needs to change. Starting to get brown in some spots. I'm not even mowing really cause its not growing very much

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Watering once every 6 days with Bermuda.
Some brown spots here and there where my sprinklers' coverage is a little weak, but mostly green.

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That's pretty good for right now. Looks like most of your yard is shaded by 5:30? That's probably a good reason for it. My front yard gets sun from 11am until sunset. Just cooks.

Law Hall 69-72 said:

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In 1980, the day the high temperature was 113, Garland lost all power. Driving home with the traffic lights not working was an adventure. I remember sitting in a chair with a wet towel over my head waiting for the air conditioning to come back on. It finally did that evening. From then on, the summer didn't get much better.

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Even when the AC was on back then, the coolest it could possibly get was in the mid to high 80s. AC units couldn't cool as efficiently as they can now.

IIRC, 1980 was the first summer I cleared the 10 account level in yards to mow. I stumbled upon a street with like 4 houses with elderly residents and when I got one and mowed it the first time, the other three asked me to do their's. That had never happened before -- I practically had to beg for yards back then.

Well, wouldn't you know it, the heat made me rethink when I mowed. Even late afternoon or evening was still brutal. So I would go over and do 2 yards one day VERY early morning (starting at like 6:30 or whenever daylight started), park my mower at one lady's house, then go over the next day and do the other 2. I was a half mile away from my house, so pushing that mower and other tools around was not fun, but I did what I had to do.

Then, the neighbors complained that I was mowing so early. My dad told me to blow them off so I did. Probably bad for business, but I guess they got used to it. No one came up to me to complain after the first couple of weeks.

Right, most of that front yard is shaded, but the side yard is not at all and is looking decent.

I do the cycle & soak method through a Rachio controller, mow every 5 days to not cut off more than 1/3 of the blade, and am currently mowing high for the grass to retain more moisture.

As mentioned above, I think a key to drought tolerance is watering deep & infrequently to develop good root structure.

Probably time to consider moving on from grass. I know that's sacrilege, but seems like a waste and water is going to get iffy. I put synthetic in our back yard when we moved into current house 6 years ago, and would consider same for front yard or just xeriscape the whole thing.

If we stay here, I'm going to work that into my plans going forward.

We've gone with drought tolerant plants, but I think my wife's insistence on a couple elephant ears probably offset those water savings.

Well that and the 9,000 sqft of grass.

FincAg said:

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We've gone with drought tolerant plants, but I think my wife's insistence on a couple elephant ears probably offset those water savings.

Well that and the 9,000 sqft of grass.

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Yeah, I pretty much only landscape with Texas natives at this point aside from some outliers I put in pots.

One thing I have learned though is that "Full Sun" is a lie in heat like this unless it's desert stuff.

YouBet said:

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FincAg said:

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We've gone with drought tolerant plants, but I think my wife's insistence on a couple elephant ears probably offset those water savings.

Well that and the 9,000 sqft of grass.

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Yeah, I pretty much only landscape with Texas natives at this point aside from some outliers I put in pots.

One thing I have learned though is that "Full Sun" is a lie in heat like this unless it's desert stuff.

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Yea. I have to mist the flowers out front at 4pm everyday to keep them alive.

I learned something new about watering and will try. Been doing three times a day and will adjust. Appreciate the thread here.

This heat is brutal. No issues in home last year. AC guy said we had a lemon outside unit even though the house is 2018 (bought in 2029).

107 outside. AC can't cool past 75 right now when set lower. Hate to bite the bullet but might need to drop the money.

Any deals or good people you recommend?

I thought systems were designed to be 20-25 degrees colder than outside air? If it is 107 then anything below 80 is pretty good.