What was your watering schedule during the drought?

Did you ever leave anything on the lawn overnight? Anything at all that might smother it or reduce the flow of air over the lawn?

What was your winter like? Did you have much of a freeze?

Where do you live?

I live in Jacksonville, FL. Nothing was left on our lawn, barely any foot ttaffic on it either. During the drought we started watering 2 times a week for an hr. This past winter was a cold one, dropping to the 30s for about 1-2 weeks. Most of our neighbors lawn is fully green where we still have the patches. I was thinking of adding cornmeal, read that it can help.

Yes, corn meal should help you out. I have been successful with it for 15 years.

You were watering at least twice as much as necessary. Here's more...

Watering: Deep and infrequent is the mantra for watering. This is for all turf grass all over the place. Deep means 1 inch all at one time. Put some cat food or tuna cans around the yard, and time how long it takes your sprinkler(s) to fill all the cans. Memorize that time. That will be the time you water from now on. My hose, sprinkler and water pressure takes 8 full hours to fill the cans. Your time will likely be less. I like gentle watering. As for watering frequency, that depends on the daytime air temperature. With temps in the 90s, deep water once per week. With temps in the 80s, deep water once every 2 weeks. With temps in the 70s, deep water once every 3 weeks. With temps below 70, deep water once a month. Note that you have to keep up with quickly changing temps in the spring and fall. This deep and infrequent schedule works in Phoenix and in Vermont, so it should work for you. The reason for deep and infrequent is to grow deeper, more drought resistant roots and to allow the soil to dry completely at the surface for several days before watering again. If it rains, reset your calendar to account for the rainfall.

To put this into perspective, we had several inches of rain in the Texas Hill Country last May, and I did not water again until some time in late July. My soil probably holds moisture better than your soil, but the point is you are better off stretching out the watering interval than shortening it up. Deep watering develops deep, drought resistant roots.

Thank you soo much for your input dchall_san_antonio.