How Often to Water New Sod? Tips to Care for New Turf
Nowadays, many people prefer to plant sod/turf instead of planting grass seed for their lawns. If you learn how to handle sod, it can become a beautiful lawn in a short amount of time. If you decide to grow a new sod lawn, it’s good to know how often you should water it and how to take care of it.
You should water new sod as often as twice a day, as a general rule. By doing so, the sod’s new root system begins to embed. It’s essential to take care of new turf and avoid walking on it for a few months. Caring for newly laid sod includes watering, mowing, and regular maintenance.
In this article, I’ll explain how often you should water sod and how to care for your new turf. I’ll also discuss how long you should wait before mowing new sod or allowing pets or family to walk on it.
Get more tips for outdoors and home projects here.
How Often To Water New Sod
The first watering session should be within the first half-hour after successful sod installation.
After that, develop a basic watering schedule. Water the sod two times daily. The amount of time you spend per watering session should be approximately 20 minutes for each zone of the sod.
If you’ve planted some sod on steep slopes, water it at least three times daily. Sod planted on a sloppy part dries out quickly.
The daily watering cycle should go on up to the second week.
Once the sod is rooted, you could reduce the number of times you water it to a maximum of 3 times per week. When the turf develops a deep root system, you can reduce the watering to once a week.
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Tips for Watering New Sod
As mentioned earlier, new sod starts to develop shallow roots within the first two weeks.
Because of this, frequent watering of the new sod is very critical in the first few weeks. If you don’t give it sufficient water, the new sod roots could dry up. Below are some tips for watering new sod:
Use Sprinklers or Irrigation Systems
For best results, use a sprinkler system to water sod. A sprinkler waters every area of your lawn uniformly. You could install an automatic lawn irrigation system.
This system ensures that the moisture depth of your new sod is adequate. You could also use portable hose sprinklers to move to different parts of the fresh grass.
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Water During Daylight
The best time to water new sod is during daylight hours, between 6:00 am and 8:00 am.
In the morning, the sun is not hot and wind speeds are lower, so there’s less loss of water.
Water sod again in the afternoon so that the water is absorbed entirely by late evening. If the lawn is damp overnight, it could get disease, pests, or even fungus growth.
Avoid Excess Watering
Sod requires deep watering to develop strong roots.
The soil in all areas of your new lawn should therefore be well saturated after watering. However, you should ensure the water doesn’t run off or form a puddle.
Excess water in the grass roots could prevent proper growth or even cause rot.
How To Know if Your Sod Is Getting Enough Water
You can know if your sod is getting enough water by monitoring it constantly. For instance, look out for dry spots or broken pieces of sod, especially on the corner of the sod.
If you find any of these, it could mean that the sprinkler doesn’t reach some areas. You could rectify this by watering those parts using a handheld sprayer.
How To Tell if You’re Overwatering Sod
You can use a finger to test the amount of water below-turf soil surface. If you’ve been overwatering the turf, there will be muddy, wet soil.
Also, if you notice rotting or discoloration on some parts of the sod, it could be a sign of overwatering.
You should therefore provide small amounts of water to that lawn area for some time.
When Can You Mow New Sod?
You can mow new sod when its shallow root system has developed; this could be approximately three weeks after installing it.
Mowing keeps the turf neat and helps it to become velvety and thick. Using a walk-behind mower with super sharp blades is the best way to mow new sod.
How Long Does It Take for Sod To Root?
It takes about two weeks for sod to develop shallow roots after laying it and taking good care of it. After approximately six weeks, the sod starts to grow deeper roots. Sod may take longer to root if you plant it in late fall or the winter months.
The cold in these seasons is not suitable for sod or any other grass. The tender roots of sod can be affected negatively by thawing and freezing of soil.
How Long Before You Can Walk on New Sod?
Wait as long as three months before you walk on new sod.
Stepping on the turf in the early growing season could increase soil density and reduce the air volume in the soil.
As a result, the roots may take a longer time to take hold. To water it, use laying boards when installing.
How Long To Keep a Dog Off of Newly Laid Sod?
Keep a dog off the newly laid sod at least six weeks or until it develops a strong root system.
Dogs can interfere with the health of the sod by digging holes in the sod, thus leaving broken pieces of sod. Also, a dog’s urine has harmful salts and nitrogen that can affect soil moisture absorption.
Tips To Care for New Turf
Apart from ensuring that your new sod has enough moisture and keeping pets and others off of it while rooting, there are other things you should do to take care of the lawn.
Here are some additional tips for caring for new turf:
Fertilize the New Turf As It Grows
It’s good to use some fertilizer on the new sod because it makes the roots of the sod healthy and robust. As a result, the sod grows quickly.
However, too much fertilizer could turn the turf brown or burn it. Always follow the manufacturer’s instructions when applying fertilizer to new sod.
Keep Turf Clean at All Times
If debris and fallen leaves accumulate on the new turf, they can affect its growth. For instance, they could prevent the turf from getting sufficient sunlight for proper growth.
They could also prevent adequate ventilation for the turf, thus leading to disease or decay. So, keep the turf clean at all times.
Conclusion
Now that you know how often to water new sod and have some idea of how to care for new turf, you can confidently install it on your property.
Sod/turf is a good investment as it adds beauty and value to your property, plus it gives your family and pets a place to relax.
It’s also easy to plant, easy to maintain, and grows fast. If you can meet its water needs and take good care of it, you could be basking in your lush green lawn a few weeks after installing it.
