Lawn Care – Aeration & Over-Seeding
How to Grow Newly Planted Grass Seed
Everything you Need to Know to have Success with your Seeding
We recently seeded your lawn. Now, your lawn needs YOU!
Success or failure will be determined in the first few weeks after seeding. A little attention will go a long way towards providing years of beauty and enjoyment in the future. This article will provide you with instructions about your newly seeded lawn and watering schedule (watering is the most important part). We will also explain how to properly mow the young grass plants and a few other tidbits.
How to Water a Newly Seeded Lawn?
WATERING: When grass seed has been scattered over a lawn, either for a lawn renovation or at the time of an Aeration with Over-Seeding, the most important requirement is watering. Keeping the new seed damp– either by rainfall or irrigation– will allow the grass to start growing.
The first watering should be done as soon as possible. It should moisten the soil to a depth of one to two inches, but gently. Be careful not to apply the water with such force that it washes away the soil or dislodges the seed.
If the water begins to run off, stop watering for a half-hour or so to allow the ground to absorb the water, then begin watering again to get the moisture to the desired depth. The total time required to water an area should be no more than ½ hour for this initial watering.
After the initial watering, irrigate the newly seeded area lightly and frequently– two or three times a day, if possible– until the grass begins to become established and mature (the hotter and drier the weather, the more frequently you will need to water). At this point, 15 minutes of watering should be sufficient. (Keep in mind, the grass does not have roots at this point, so deeper watering will not add much benefit.) As the grass continues to develop, increase the length of time of each watering to encourage the roots to grow down.
After the first month, the grass can be watered just twice per week. However, the amount applied at any one time must be increased to approximately one inch. This will encourage proper root growth. After two months, one inch of water, applied one time per week, should be sufficient in most weather conditions.
Watering at night is never recommended. Watering at night can leave the grass blades wet for many hours – and this can cause disease problems. Ideally, watering should be done between 5:30 AM and 11:00 AM. The old-wives-tale that watering in the heat will ‘burn’ the lawn is false. The only problem with watering in the heat is a lot of the water evaporates before the grass can use it. Hopefully, Mother Nature will do some of this work for you!
How Soon Can Your Walk on a Newly Seeded Lawn? The grass seed and newly emerging seedlings are very tender. Unless you have an irrigation system you will need to walk on the lawn to move sprinklers and water the lawn. Do your best to avoid any unnecessary activity on your lawn for at least 3-weeks. If possible, another week or two is even better.
When to Mow Newly Seeded Lawn?
With an over-seeding of an existing lawn, you will need to mow the lawn when it gets too long. Hold off on this as long as possible – but that will likely be about a week or so, at best. The wind from a lawn mower can pull out young grass seedlings – to prevent this, set the mowing as high as it goes. Keep it at that height for the first two months.
If you do not know how to adjust the height, let us know & we will come out and show you.
When mowing, follow the rule of thumb of never removing more than 1/3 of the grass blade at any one time. Remember also, that it is very important to keep your mower blades sharp. A dull blade rips and shreds the grass instead of cutting it. Mowing heights should be as follows: Spring and Fall: 2 ½ – 3”, Summer 3 – 4”
For more information on how to mow like a professional, click here.
And most of all, follow through with our lawn care program for best results. The program will provide proper nutrients, weed control and *insect control which are very much needed to establish a good lawn.
All of our programs are based on the principles of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) which is an environmentally friendly and effective approach to controlling damaging insects, diseases and invasive plants. For more information about IPM click here.
We certainly appreciate your business and will be glad to answer any questions you might have.