New Sod + New Seed

These are general guidelines for average temp and average soil conditions.

The goal is to keep your lawn moist for the next 3 to 5 weeks. The keyword being moist.

First things first, if you have a sprinkler system and plan on setting and forgetting it that will not work. Ideally, you could do that but your lawn will be needing more attention than that to flourish.

Keep in mind that all areas of a lawn follow the same rules. For example, the shaded areas will need less water than areas with full sun. Temperatures and rainfall will also be a factor in this. Items to keep in mind, brown spots will appear 3-5 days in, that is the time to make tweaks or your grass/sod will die. Once it’s dead it can’t be watered back to life.

As we mentioned before, temperatures factor into how much you’ll want to water your lawn. You’ll want to use some common sense. If it’s 95° vs 60° degrees, new sod/seed will need to be watered 3x a day with 95° but may only need water 1x a day with 60° degrees.

 

 

Care Instructions

AT THE BEGINNING:

3 – 4 week window
  • For new seed and sod – water 2 – 3 times a day
  • If using a sprinkler system:
    • Mist Zones (small) – 6-8 minutes
    • Rotor Head (big) – 15-25 minutes
  • Avoid watering in the middle of the day as much as possible.
  • Don’t be afraid to shut the water off for a day to let roots work downwards.

 

WHEN YOU’RE READY TO MOW:

sod – 4-5 week window | seed – 4-8 week window
  • Shut off watering 2-4 days ahead of 1st mowing to allow your lawn to dry out.
  • Once sod cannot be pulled up it is ready to mow. Bag it and mow on the HIGHEST level possible.
  • Seed is ready to mow basically when you can’t stand it. The longer you can allow it to grow without cutting it, the better chance for success it’ll have.

 

AFTER YOUR FIRST MOW:

4-7 week window
  • You should be able to go to water 1x a day or 4x a week.
  • At the 7 week mark, you should start to transition to a longer, deeper watering less frequent with the end goal of watering only 1x a week giving your lawn 1 inch.

 

IMPORTANT ITEMS TO CONSIDER IF YOU’RE USING AN IRRIGATION SYSTEM

  • Not all irrigation systems are created equal, some will miss more spots than others
  • Heads can be adjusted and added if needed
  • May need to alter timing on certain zones
    • Less time – If shade or north side of house
    • More time – If sun or south side of house
  • If it rains, shut off your irrigation system
    • Rain sensors are not dependable. They’ll still go off if it rained the previous day, causing your lawn to be overwatered.
  • Wifi controls are available
    • You have the ability to delay watering for a set number of days, as well as automatic seasonal adjust. Your sprinkler system won’t go off when it’s raining again.