What the Drought Means for Your Lawn and Property Right Now

Florida is in the middle of its worst drought in decades, and Volusia County is sitting in the extreme drought category. A few afternoon showers don't change that. The aquifer doesn't recharge from scattered storms, and the drought index doesn't reset overnight.

Here's what that actually means on the ground, and what we'd suggest doing about it.

Fire Risk

Volusia County is under an active burn ban. No campfires, no fire pits, no burning yard debris. Violations run up to $500 and 60 days in jail. Dry vegetation ignites easily right now, and dead material piled near your home is fuel. If you've got debris staged for pickup, do yourself a favor and get it to a transfer station instead of letting it sit.

What to Do With Your Lawn

Mow higher than normal. Taller grass shades the soil and slows moisture loss. Cutting short right now accelerates decline and makes recovery harder when the rain does come back.Don't prune healthy plants. Pruning signals new growth, and new growth needs water your plants don't have access to right now. Only cut diseased or dead material.

Refresh your mulch. It's the simplest thing you can do. Mulch holds whatever soil moisture exists and buys your plants time.

Hold Off on New Plantings

Sod, new plants, landscape installs -- Phase III water restrictions have tightened the rules on watering newly planted material. If you don't have a solid plan to keep new installations alive under once-a-week irrigation, wait. Material planted right now without adequate establishment water will fail, and that's a frustrating way to spend money.

The Bottom Line

The rainy season will come. But right now, the goal is protecting what's already in the ground, reducing fire risk on your property, and not spending money on landscaping work that won't survive the conditions.

If you have questions about what makes sense to do now versus wait on, feel free to reach out. Happy to talk it through.