Most of our customers have St. Augustine grass, and it needs a different approach than other lawns. The biggest mistake we see locally isn’t actually about the sprinkler system — it’s mowing height. A lot of lawn services cut St. Augustine too short in the summer, which exposes the roots and stresses the grass. St. Augustine uses noticeably more water when it’s mowed too short, and it becomes more prone to fungus and disease. If your lawn is struggling despite a well-running irrigation system, mowing height is often the real culprit — not your controller settings.
When it comes to watering itself, St. Augustine generally needs about one inch of water per week, whether from irrigation or rainfall, and it does best with a deep, infrequent schedule rather than short daily cycles — watering deeply enough to soak the soil 4 to 6 inches down encourages roots to grow deeper, which makes the lawn more resilient during dry stretches. Early morning, roughly 4 to 10 a.m., is the best time to water, since the grass can absorb it before the day heats up and evaporation takes over.
If you’re not sure whether your system is delivering the right amount, we can help calibrate your run times to hit that target — mowing height and watering depth work together, and getting both right is what actually keeps St. Augustine lawns healthy through a Texas summer.