How does your grass look? Green and lush or brown and bad? June is a good time of year to get new sod started. We'll go over the basics in this blog.

The first two weeks are critical for new sod. The roots aren't established and at risk of drying out in the late spring heat. The key to getting the grass going is, of course, water, about a half-inch a day. It's best to split that up into two periods, day and night. You can do that by turning on your irrigation system for 12 minutes a period. Once before the sun comes up in the morning, and again when it goes down in the evening.

After 10-days of double watering, it's time to change the schedule. The roots of the turf are close to the soil now and can take more water at fewer intervals. Update your irrigation time to 24 minutes in the morning only. The young grass is still getting a half-inch of water a day; now, it's all at once; the better the soaking encourages the roots to grow deeper. Keep this schedule for five days.

By now, you've become pretty familiar with your irrigation clock, and that's good because it's time to change the schedule again. After about two-and-a-half weeks, change your timer to go off every other day for 30 minutes. Like before, this extra water helps the roots grow even deeper. Keep this up for two weeks.
Now that your new grass has been growing for a month, it's time to set your irrigation to its usual setting. Check with your county to determine your watering days.
Water twice a week for about twenty minutes.

Set your irrigation timer to run either in the pre-dawn hours or at night. The sun is irrigation's enemy; warm weather speeds the evaporation process. Also, it's usually less windy at these times, preventing water from blowing onto areas that don't need it, like sidewalks and driveways.

We hope this blog helps you get your new sod growing. It's a lot of work, but lush green grass is worth it. If you would rather hand this job off to the experts, we at ELT Landscape can help. We can bring the sod to your home, lay it down the right way, and set your clocks, so the roots take hold. Contact us any time.