Well, after you’ve invested your money, energy and time to plant new grass seeds, the question is what next? It’s quite obvious, you need to start watering them, right?
As you’ll realize, you might need to employ an equal amount of energy in watering the grass seeds as you did when planting them. Consequently, your dream spectacular lawn will be almost guaranteed. BTW, chances are you already know nothing good comes on a silver platter! Watering a new grass seeds site is no exception.
So, how do you go about it? A good watering schedule may come in handy in your bids to turn your to be lawn into that beautiful green grass you’ve always looked forward to see. But, first things first.
How Often to Water New Grass Seed?
Guys, water is life. We all know that no living organism can survive without it, right? This is also a very important component when planting new grass seeds.
Before casting out your new grass seeds, it’s prudent to start with watering the ground. Naturally, seeds respond to moist surfaces and this makes it easier for them to start germinating into very healthy seedlings. Check out these timings in determining how often you should water new grass seed.
- Watering new grass seed shortly after planting new seeds.
This is a practice that has proven successful and most importantly, necessary. Water the targeted area and ensure the water goes down to a depth of around 6 to 8 inches.
How do you determine whether you’ve achieved this depth? Simply use a long screw driver or even a stick and push it down. If it easily dips for 6 to 8 inches, chances are your ground is well saturated with water.
- Watering grass seeds after seeding
Few days after planting, result to watering your new grasses for 5 to 10 minutes. This will ensure you maintain the much needed moisture thus preventing them from drying up and eventually dying due to lack of water.
- Watering with regards to amount of rainfall in the area
Truth be told, this highly depends on the amount of rainfall experienced in your location, especially after seeding. If the region is receiving less rain, you might need to water 2-3 times per day to maintain the moisture levels required for proper germination.
The most recommendable time to water new Grass Seed
This got to be the morning and evening. This happens to be the coolest parts of the day thus giving time for the ground to absorb the water and minimize the chances of evaporation.
If need be, you can set a watering timer to remind you about your watering schedule. This eases the hassle and increase efficiency in watering your newly seeded lawn.
Points to note when watering your new grass seeds
- There are different moisture and temperature ranges for each grass variety.
- Variation of the moistened conditions might cause the seeds or the newly sprout seedlings to dry since they are pretty vulnerable. Your main mission then, is to provide enough moisture at any given time.
- Lack of adequate moisture before the new grass seeds sprout is even more critical. Therefore, be consistent and very committed in watering your new grass seeds.
- Depending on the type of grass planted, it may take 5 to 30 days for the seeds to germinate. During this period, the soil in contact with the new grass seeds must always be moist, not soggy but moist at all times.
- The vulnerability of your new grass seeds reduces when germination process starts. However, this doesn’t mean that you can now relax from watering your new grass seeds. You will realize that the sprouting process happens gradually and therefore if you’re not keen, some of your new grass seeds might dry up and eventually die if you are not consistent with watering after the first sprout.
Factors to consider in determining how often to water new grass seeds
Well, there are various factors that affect soil water retention capacity at any given time. For instance, a sunny or windy day dries out the soil surface. Also, when over-seeding a lawn, the current lawn grasses might provide inconsistent shade to the new grass seeds therefore affecting their uniform moisture retention ability at any given time. Let’s now take the time to go through these factors and how they affect how often to water new grass seeds.
- Over-seeding an existing Lawn
Basically, a lawn should be watered deeply but the frequency is dependent on the other underlying factors. However, in this case, you must water new grass seeds twice daily. Set automatic time for about 5 to 10 minutes in the morning and evening. The amount of time depends on the gallons per minute that your sprinkler releases.
When you use hose-end or hand sprinkler, you have to be very consistent and apply the water evenly to ensure same amount of water is provided throughout but less amount should be provided in shady areas. This should be done two times in a day until the new grass sprouts then continue with this schedule for one week then you can reduce to once per day. This pattern can be adjusted depending on the season and temperature demands.
- Patching of a bare lawn
The method to be used in watering will depend on the size of the lawn that you are targeting. Hand watering is practical and less costly for a small area and a normal watering schedule is appropriate every day.
If you’re patching a large area, you might need an automatic sprinkler to make it easy to water your lawn evenly at any given time. You can as well increase the frequency on the bare areas to encourage healthy germination of your new grass seeds by ensuring they are moist at all times.
- Sowing grass seeds for a new lawn
When preparing a new lawn, the soil should be tilled to make the ground loose for the new grass seeds. This will increase the soil water retention capacity and also allow the water to enough depth thus facilitating moist environment for your grass seeds.
However, it is advisable not to over- water. This process should be done 2 or 3 times a day for 5 to 10 minutes depending on the prevailing weather conditions.
Risk Factors Associated with watering new Grass Seeds
In as much as water is a basic necessity for seed germination, there are circumstances where it becomes a risk factor. What are some of these circumstances that risks that watering our new grass seeds.
- Over-watering: At first, too much water might float the seeds and therefore make the grass to grow unevenly in the targeted area, this might eventually cause patches.
In the later stages when the germination process starts, over watering might choke the seedlings by causing insufficient oxygen to the roots.
- Uneven watering: If your sprinkler is clogged, water might be distributed unevenly in the designated area. It’s therefore very important to check your sprinkler and do necessary adjustments and corrections before use.
- Under-watering: Your new grass seeds need adequate water and therefore under-watering will pose as a big risk to the germination process. This might lead to drying off of seedlings.
When it’s all said and done, how often should you water new grass seeds? Well, if often was absolute, there could probably be a definite answer for that. Unfortunately, often in this case is relative. As such, water your new grass seeds as advised above. However, as a rule, never over-water nor under water your grass seeds.
