Short answer: for most established Houston lawns, yes. From roughly November through February your grass is dormant or close to it, and a sprinkler system running on a set schedule is mostly watering a lawn that isn't growing. The City of Houston even runs a campaign around it: Houston Public Works asks residents to turn off automatic sprinkler systems from November 1 through February 28 to save water and money.

"Turn it off" can mean three different things, though, and only one of them protects your system from a freeze. Here is how to handle winter the right way.

Why Houston Lawns Need Very Little Water in Winter

St. Augustine, Bermuda and Zoysia are warm-season grasses. As temperatures drop they slow down and go dormant, and a dormant lawn simply isn't using much water. Watering will not green it back up in cool weather. Extra water in winter mostly feeds weeds and keeps the soil wet, and constant moisture sets the stage for fungal problems such as brown patch when the weather is mild and humid.

A common rule of thumb among Houston lawn guides is to taper watering in the fall, down to about half an inch a week in November, and to skip supplemental watering in December unless it has been unusually dry. Rain covers most of the rest. For the full year-round calendar, see our Houston lawn watering guide.

"Off" Is Not the Same as "Winterized"

• Controller off: stops scheduled watering. It saves water, but does nothing to protect pipes, valves or the backflow preventer from a freeze.
• Irrigation supply off: closing the irrigation shut-off valve means a controller glitch can't run the system on a freezing night.
• Winterized: lines drained and exposed parts insulated. This is the extra step before a hard freeze. Our Houston sprinkler winterization guide walks through it.

How to Set Your Controller for Winter

1. Use the controller's Off, Rain Delay or seasonal adjust setting instead of deleting your programs. Your zone run times will still be there in spring.
2. Make sure your rain sensor is working, so any watering you do keep is skipped on wet days.
3. Set a reminder for early March, when the lawn starts to green up, so the system doesn't stay off all spring.
4. After a power outage or Wi-Fi reset, check that your controller didn't fall back to a default schedule.

When It Makes Sense to Water in Winter

• Long dry spells. If weeks go by with little or no rain, give the lawn one deep, light watering on a mild afternoon. Skip it if overnight temperatures are forecast near freezing.
• New sod or fresh ryegrass. New sod needs regular moisture until its roots take hold, and winter ryegrass is actively growing. Both are exceptions to the shut-off.
• Newly planted shrubs and bed plants. Hand-water or use a drip zone until they are established.

One note: the November to February campaign is run by the City of Houston. If you live in Katy, Cypress, Sugar Land, The Woodlands or a MUD, check with your water provider for local guidance. The lawn side of the story stays the same.

Use the Quiet Months to Fix What You Can't See

A system that is switched off will not show you a leak. On a mild day, run each zone for a couple of minutes and look for broken heads, geysering spray, or soggy spots. Fixing them now means a system that is ready on day one of spring. These guides can help: signs you need sprinkler repair and sprinkler repair costs in Houston.

If you don't have a system yet, or yours is past its prime, the off-season is also the easiest time to schedule an install. See why winter is a smart time to get a sprinkler system, or get a free estimate for Houston sprinkler system installation from our licensed, insured team.