How often to water new grass seed just planted in your lawn? Starting a new lawn from the beginning is a big commitment because you will have to water it a lot.
In this article, we will discuss watering the soil before, during, and after the germination of seeds. Keep reading as you would also find out other important things that you need to know before sowing new seeds for a lush lawn.
Contents
How Often To Water New Grass Seed?
Water new grass seed six to seven times per day until they germinate, this is because if a grass seed is left dry for a while, it dries and doesn’t germinate. The new grass seed takes from one to three weeks, and you must water it six times a day.
– Before Seeding
Start watering the soil before reseeding it with new seeds. This is an significant part of preparing the soil to provide the most healthy growing environment. Three to four days before reseeding, hydrate the soil to a depth of at least six to eight inches.
Let your sprinklers stay on for about 20 to 30 minutes straight, so the water seeps as deep as possible. After watering, check if the top six inches have been saturated properly. Insert a screwdriver into the soil to see if it goes down this depth without resistance, as this is a way to check the moisture level.
You may even check it with a mixture meter, which is a cool gardening gadget that helps grow grass. It is inserted into the soil at whatever depth you want it to.
A screen then tells you about the level of moisture present in the soil. With the help of a moisture meter, you can avoid over and under watering the lawn so that the medium is perfect for the germination process.
– After Seeding
Water the soil right after seeding so that they get the moisture that they need to germinate. Water freshly sowed seeds for 10 to 15 minutes in one session until they germinate.
Keep the seeds from drying throughout the upcoming germination period. In hot, sunny, and dry weather, you must water germinating seeds several times daily. The same goes for lawns in windy regions because winds have a drying effect on grass seeds as well.
For most grasses, the germination period lasts one to three weeks. After grass blades sprout, you will still need to keep watering countless times daily for one-quarter of an hour per session, which is basically six times a week.
This intermediate period lasts around one to two weeks. Afterward, you can reduce watering to only once per week, and that too only at a depth of one inch into the soil.
– Cautiousness of New Seed Watering
Of course, several factors must be kept in mind before planting grass seed and watering it properly. You must be mindful of these factors and adjust your watering schedule and technique accordingly.
Temperature matters a lot when watering grass seed in the lawn. You will need to water seeds more frequently for warm-growing grasses germinating during the late spring to summer. Most water evaporates during hot, sunny weather, and the soil dries faster.
The more sunlight your lawn and turf receive, the more water they need, as the sunlight would naturally and quickly let the water evaporate.
This factor is especially important for warm-season grasses, as their germination coincides with peak sunny days. Similarly, for cooler grasses, you will need to hold back on watering if the duration of sun exposure is less.
You can hold off on watering if your neighborhood receives frequent rainfall. After it rains, use the screwdriver method to see how deeply the soil has been moistened. If the topsoil is still moist, only water it if it is drying.
In addition, note that the humidity matters a lot when determining the water needs of new seeds. In areas with low air humidity levels, water will evaporate quickly from the soil, and you will have to water more often.
Living in a windy area means that your seeds are at an increased risk of drying out and dying. This is especially pertinent in areas where the wind is not usually followed by rain.
What Are Ways To Water New Grass Seed?
Ways to water new grass seed are adopting a watering schedule to achieve the germination process. In addition, you can even set sprinklers to accomplish watering new grass seed properly without causing different problems such as overwatering your green sprouts.
– Watering Schedule
It doesn’t matter how often you water a newly seeded lawn if you are not doing it correctly. Your watering needs to have an impact and contribute towards the speedy germination of seeds.
Keep an eye out on the weather forecast, and do not water whenever rain is imminent. Otherwise, you will only end up watering the seeds too much, so this is an important factor or reason why you need a schedule.
There is little benefit in watering during the hottest part of the day. Most of the water will evaporate before the soil, or the seeds, have had a chance to absorb it.
You better wake up and water your new seeds before nine in the morning, this is because the sun is still not very warm at this time of say. Some turf owners prefer watering late in the evening, which is a very unhealthy habit.
The downside is that this water takes all night long to absorb fully into the soil, increasing the risk of rot and fungal attacks. When watering as frequently as six to seven times per day initially, use a small volume of water. The soil should be moist after watering, but never soggy or runny with extra water.
– Using Sprinklers
Sprinklers are the best investment you can make toward keeping a lush lawn. Some of our favorite ones are the nelson traveling sprinklers, the Gilmour spot sprinkler, and the rain bird rotor sprinkler. All of them are equally effective when it comes to watering a lawn evenly.
Always invest in the best quality sprinklers and steer clear of cheap rip-offs in the market.
Low-quality ones need to water the lawn evenly and instead create problematic puddles in the lawn, as this may happen without your consciousness.
Oscillating types of sprinklers are the best when you want to water grass seeds before germination. It comes in handy in larger lawns where it is on and off oscillating motion helps different water parts of the lawn without creating pools in any particular spot.
– Cautiousness of Watering
Sometimes you want to fill up empty or barren patches of grass on your turf without disturbing the rest of the lawn. Over seeding helps you sprinkle seed over an existing lawn without disturbing the grass growing there.
The problem with watering over seeding is that if you water these seeds six to seven times a day like normal seeding, you will overwater the existing grass. The mature and healthy grass will get swollen from water, begin to turn yellow, and might become infected from fungal and bacterial infections.
For the first four days after over seeding, you can take a risk and water twice daily. Use very little water and only carry light watering to keep the seeds from drying. During the next five days, switch to watering lightly every other day.
By the next week, your seeds will have germinated well enough to survive being watered twice a week. However, if you live in a very hot and dry neighborhood, you will naturally have to water it more frequently.
FAQ
– What Are the Water Needs Of Different Grass Types?
All common grass types need more or less the same lawn care when seeding. Still, these grass types also differ regarding preferences for water. Bermuda is a hot season grass that you will need to water its seeds every day.
Sometimes, you will need to water Bermuda multiple times each day. Every watering session must last only five minutes each to avoid over-saturation. At any rate, you must not allow these seeds to dissipate under the sun.
Tall fescues seeds like to be kept properly wet during their germination period. We usually start by watering it thoroughly early in the morning, before nine am.
For the remaining part of the day, you will need to water it four to five times more, with each session lasting at most 10 minutes.
Kentucky bluegrass is a cool-season grass, seeded very early in spring or fall. This weather during this time is relatively cooler, and you can get away with watering it only one time each day. If the winds are dry, a second watering session might be given. Check how dry the soil is before each session, and then water evenly for five to ten minutes straight.
Perennial ryegrass is a fast-growing cool-season grass that needs a little more watering than similar grasses. To avoid overwatering, keep your watering sessions confined to three to five minutes every time. The soil must be saturated at a depth of one inch per week.
Conclusion
As our parting words, given below is a summary of the most important points, you need to keep in mind when watering new grass seeds.
- Newly sowed seeds need a lot of watering sessions because they must be prevented from drying out.
- Warm-growing grasses need to be watered five to six times every day.
- To avoid oversaturation, use a small amount of water when watering seeds and ensure that each session lasts barely five minutes.
- When watering seeds only once daily, such as perennial ryegrass, water them a bit deeper for 10 minutes.
In this guide, you have learned how often and when to water a lawn that has just been seeded. If you follow the guidelines that we have given, you will have no problem getting the lawn that you have always dreamt of.
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