water schedule for new sod

lanshark – posted 05 May 2006 10:19

i had sod laid last saturday, it took about 4 hours. i was not able to start watering until the installation was complete. at the time i had 5 sprinklers to cover the 10,000 sqft area. the sod installer said to let the sprinklers run for 5 hours, 24 hours a day until wednesday. i deviated from this approach because i could not run more than 1 sprinkler at a time and i didnt want sod waiting up to 20 more hours to get water. so i cycled the sprinklers for almost 2 hours each at first, then increased to almost 4 hours each until wednesday. this just so happens to be the time when i read that i may be watering too much and i shouldnt be watering at night. wednesday i changed the schedule and updated the sprinklers (and timers due to a timer failure). now i have 4 spinklers covering the area, 3 cycles, each run for 1 hour from 4am to 4pm DAILY. my plan is on saturday to cut down to 2 cycles for 1 hour from 4am to 12pm DAILY. after a week on that schedule i plan on cutting down to 1 cycle from 4am to 8am DAILY. the week after cut down to 1 watering a week for an hour (each sprinkler). this ‘plan’ i have combines information for the ‘setup’ of the sod from the company that provided the sod, the sod installer, and various information found on the internet. by reading this forum it appears i am watering way too much. but it has been stressed to me to water alot during the first couple weeks. between that, the lack of water during the install, the timer failure, and the brown spots that appear; i am concerned.

im not sure what kind of grass it is, but most landscapers around here use a mix of tall fescue and *something* (sorry). overall there isnt too much brown, scattered at the seams, maybe 10% of the lawn effected. some pieces of sod are very green, some areas arent as ‘deep’ green. im not sure but i could say that there is a blue or gray tint to some of that grass (im not good with colors).

im in VA and it has been hot and dry. there has been no rain since the install and who knows when we will really get rain. temps have been cool at night but up to 80 during the day.

i believe i read here that it should be more like every other day for an hour TOTAL, for the first couple weeks? should i cut way back on the watering?

Grassguy – posted 11 June 2006 02:12

deeply and infrequently for a deep root system assuming your soil is decent and properly adjusted.

Gizmo – posted 22 June 2006 22:21

The watering u are doing is just not correct. You will be watering every day for 20 mins a zone after sunset. It will take up to 4 to 6 weeks. In no time just a few days your grass will be green. Just wait and see.

Gizmo – posted 22 June 2006 22:31

I’m sorry I forgot to say if u water in the sun it will burn the grass. We built a new home with new sod and we had to do it 20 mins a zone after sunset.