New sod changes the fabric of your landscape and adds value to your home. Father’s Day is just around the corner, so consider getting Dad new sod. Now, if you’ve recently laid sod and want your new lawn to flourish, you may be wondering what’s next? Stick around and learn some maintenance tips for a beautiful, lush lawn that takes root and thrives.
Tips to Maintaining New Sod
There are three main tips for maintaining new sod: fertilizing, watering, and mowing. First and foremost, the most important thing about a newly installed lawn is having patience before using it, to allow for the sod to get established. This usually takes a few weeks.
Fertilization
Applying fertilization is essential for a thriving lawn. It establishes a sustainable root system that keeps your new sod healthy. To ensure new sod does well, a good guideline to fertilize is following the holidays of Memorial Day, Labor Day, and Halloween. You can apply another round of fertilizer in the early spring. If you apply sod in the spring or the early fall, fertilize your new lawn the next holiday so that spring would be Memorial Day; fall would be Halloween.
Watering
Thirty minutes after installing new sod, start watering at least 1 inch of water, so the soil beneath the turf is wet. Ideally, 3”-4” of soil beneath the surface should be moist. It the weather is especially dry and hot, it may be best to start irrigating the sod before it’s all laid. Continue watering the sod twice daily, in the morning and afternoon. Deep, thorough watering is best until the soil is saturated, not puddling. Windy conditions cause the sod to dry out quicker, so increase watering if you face these conditions.
Don’t water in the evening, since water left on the lawn can promote fungus and disease. Once the sod starts rooting into the soil, you can back off on watering as much. Several weeks after installation, start watering deeply and infrequently, which helps encourage roots to grow deep; this helps the turf be more drought tolerant.
Mowing
Start mowing your lawn about a week after installation. This gives it enough time to start getting roots established. If possible, use a walk-behind power mower with the cutting set high (3 inches.) Note that riding mowers are too heavy, and the powered wheels can tear up new sod, so stick to push ones. Approximately three weeks later, regular mowing can begin. This is typically when sod fully roots. For best results, keep the mower blades sharp and never cut more than ⅓ of the grass blade per mowing.
In spring and fall, increase your mowing since those are the times’ grass grows the most. You can also leave grass clippings on the lawn, which returns nutrients to the soil.
Need a Gift for Dad?
Having new sod installed for Father’s Day may be the perfect way to honor Dad this year. At Monarch Sod, we are taking orders for delivery and installation. Let our experts lay high-quality sod while you’re preparing your first barbecue of the season. Visit our website and get a free quote or email us. We serve Utah and Salt Lake Counties.
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