New Bermuda Sod – how to root properly?

Miles267 – posted 29 May 2006 21:36

Hi! Just moved from FL where I had high-maintenance St. Augustine lawn into a new home in NW Arkansas. Since the soil here is predominantly red clay, our landscaper put down and watered a layer of top soil before fully sodding our yard with Bermuda. After reading about how durable and drought tolerant Bermuda is once it’s established, I was reassured but 1.) what should I do to ensure the Bermuda roots properly and 2.) how will I know when it has?

The sod was put down exactly 2 weeks ago (mid-May). Since then, temperatures have been consistently in the mid to upper 80F’s with no rain (never fails). However we had a sprinkler system installed prior and, up until this point, it’s been running every morning, starting between 4:00 and 5:00 AM and watering all 6 zones for 20-30 mins per zone on average. This was an arbitrary figure set by our landscaper from day 1.

Since the lawn appears to have rooted — at least I can tug at it and it holds — I’ve begun reading about necessity for DEEP root system. 80-85% of yard is green with exception of combo of some “dead” sod squares and others that may be coming out of dormancy.

This morning I did an ad hoc container test to determine approx. amount of precip per zone (turns out, not all zones are equal). Since I’ve been watering ad hoc so far (and seem to have been fortunate or lucky?), where do I go from here? Rather than over-analyzing my sprinkler schedule, what watering schedule should I use? Am going to be traveling and trying to find a set-and-forget schedule. Thus far, I haven’t mowed yet nor have I applied any fertilizer.

Here’s the rough data I gathered from my homemade precip test. Filled bowls I had in kitchen, then poured them into tuna cans as my control. Have normalized my precip rates.

zone 1 – 0.5 inches per 7.5 mins.zone 2 – 0.5 inches per 30 mins.zone 3 – 0.5 inches per 30 mins.zone 4 – 0.5 inches per 15 mins.zone 5 – not using, no flowers in bedzone 6 – 0.5 inches per 20 mins.

Is 1.5 inches of precip per zone per week enough? If so, should I just break 1.5 inches per week across Mon, Wed, Fri and be done w/ it? For example, my logic was that zone 1 would be 0.5 inches per day X 3 days (M,W,F) = 1.5 inches of precip for th week.

What next? Sorry for so much info. This has been driving me crazy. Thought more info would help vs. less.

Thank you all in advance for your recommendations.

sws – posted 31 May 2006 17:15

Hello,

Welome to NW Arkansas. I cannot assit you on your situation but would be interested in any results you find. I have just purchased a new home in Fayettteville and will be putting in sprinkler system and sodding in two weeks. I would also be interested in who you used for the sprinkler system and sodding, assuming you were satified with there work.

Regards,