Another New Lawn Question

[J.A. Michel]

Hello all,

I am trying to grow a new tall fescue lawn. We seeded it last fall with less than satisfactory results. We ended up with a lot of bare spots and grass that did not come up at all. We planted late (Oct1) gambled, and lost.

I had a professional lawn care company come overseed it this spring with the machine that plants the seed in the ground. That was exactly two weeks ago. I'm getting a lot of new growth coming up now, which is good.

My question is, once most or all the seed is germinated, how much should I water? I had been watering 4X a day to keep the seed bed damp at all times as instructed by the lawncare company. I have a sprinkler system, so watering is no problem.

I know I should cut back on the water once the grass sprouts, but am not sure by how much. I don't want to give the grass that I do have a fungus or disease by watering too much.

Any suggestions? Thanks,

J.A. Michel

[Punk]

1" a week

[jeffc]

4 times a day sounds like way overkill to me. It's just not necessary. For the first week after it germinates, once a day. After that 2 or 3 times a week for the next couple weeks. But I don't know where you live or your soil, so I assume it goes without saying to check with the company you bought from, or the seed company.

[Dave]

4X a day may not be too much. Other than soil type and geographical location. Depends on whether there's overcast/cloudy all day, humidity, direct sun all day, direct sun exposure time, actual temperature, weather aided moisture with rain/drizzle and so forth. Bare soil is difficult to keep moist on the immediate surface in most conditions. That's where the seed is. Dave

[J.A. Michel]

When I said 4X a day, what I meant was running each station of the sprinkler system for 5 minutes, 4X a day. Just enough to keep the seed bed damp and and nothing more. We have clay soil here that doesn't absorb very much water before it runs off. (especially if the ground is bare) The soil dries out incredibly fast, especially with no plant cover to hold the water.

J.A. Michel

[trader4]

4 times a day for 5 mins should be just about right for the first 2 weeks. Now you want to gradually decrease the freq, but increase the duration. I'd go to 2X a day for 10 mins for a week, then once a day for 20 mins for a week, then once every other day for 20 mins for a week, then once every 3rd day for 30 mins...

Then I'd probably keep it at 30 mins every 3rd day through the summer for the new grass, but extend every second watering to get 3/4 inch so it goes deep for the existing grass. If you have temps over 80, I'd increase to every 2nd day. You may need to adjust this based on sun, wind, temps, the actual flow rate of your sprinklers, how fast the soil appears to dry out, and how the grass is doing.

Come early fall and decreasing temps, and you can go to giving it about 1/2" every 4 days.

[Data]

Just an add-on observation - Fescue type lawns are best sown in the Spring, for your Fescue grasses are not all that hardy in first winter. Regards Data