Rule of thumb is an inch of water a week. Subtract any rainfall from that amount, and you then know how much to add on a weekly basis. How often depends on the weather. If it stays cooler than normal, probably watering every 4-5 days will do. If it gets warm and/or windy, you will have to water more often. Until the grass roots grow and knit down into the soil, it will dry out easily. As for how long, I'd check on the root growth after 2-3 weeks and see how it's going. Just grab a section and pull. If it lifts up easily, it hasn't knit down into the soil yet. Once it has, you can taper the frequency of watering to one good watering a week as needed (when rainfall isn't sufficient).
In a normal year, we'd be almost in our meteorological autumn here in Minnesota. By mid-August, average temperatures decrease and the regular rainfalls return. It has run cooler than average so far this year, but we'll have to wait and see if the rains come, or if we'll end up with another long dry autumn. If we do, keep watering regularly all the way to frost.
Do you mean: walk on it to flatten it like the roller would have, or simply, can you walk on it at all? It's best not to walk on newly-laid sod if you can avoid it. It doesn't have to be rolled.
The very best time to fertilize it was just before it was laid. Had a new lawn fertilizer been applied to the soil prior to the sod going down, it would have significantly shortened the time needed for the sod to establish. Phosphorus does not move downward into the soil very quickly, so applying a starter fertilizer to the sod now won't do much for the roots. Can't hurt, just won't help all that much. The best thing you can do is not let it dry out.
Agree the key is you want to taper down the watering over a couple months. The 1" a week is a general guideline, obviously what's good in Oct may not be enough for July. I would say applying the 1" a week in two 1/2" waterings is probably better for more soils than just once a week. Here, NJ, typical lawn won't make it a week in hot summer with one watering and in hottest periods, probably need more than 1" to keep it looking real good. But it also depends on soil, type of grass, etc.
Thanks for the info. I'm watering twice a day right now, and I think the city is still coming by from time to time, so it's probably getting more than your suggested 1" a week right now. Other than sending a lot of that water down the newly refurbished sewer system, I don't think I'm doing any harm, and looking at the state of the sod on some of the neighbors' yards, I think I'll keep doing what I'm doing.
The 1" a week guideline is for *established lawns* and average conditions, not summer high heat/sun. New sod is going to need more.
Other than sending a lot of
Sounds right. There is some potential harm to over watering though. If you keep turf constantly wet, especially overnight, it creates an ideal environment for fungus and disease. So, ideally you should water an established lawn in the early AM hours, starting whatever time allows for it to be watered and done by 6AM or so. Even with new sod, I'd avoid watering at like 8PM, when it would stay real wet all night.
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