Our Advice on Watering
Established Kentucky bluegrass lawns need about an inch of moisture weekly, including rainfall. Lawns need less moisture during the spring and fall when temperatures are not so extreme. Keep in mind that an inch of water in April will accumulate faster than an inch of water in July due to evaporation, so your sprinklers will need to run longer in July to achieve the same amount of moisture applied to the ground.
We recommend watering with at least a 1/4 of an inch of water per watering. Many irrigation systems are measured in minutes, so put something like a tuna can out on your lawn to check how much water each zone is actually putting out during the programmed time. You can use this knowledge to adjust your timing for each zone. One of the easiest ways to check the output of your system is to set something flat-bottomed with short sides in the lawn (like a tuna can) and see how many minutes it takes for at least a 1/4 of an inch to accumulate.
Use common sense and adjust your watering to the weather conditions because, like it or not, mother nature is in charge. Indications that your lawn needs water are:
You can see footprints after walking across the lawn
The grass blades are folded or rolled
The grass is turning a bluish/gray color and wilting.
Timing
Once your sod is established, water in the very early morning. In a perfect world, your watering cycle should complete as the sun is coming up to maximize water absorption during the day and minimize the effects of evaporation. We prefer that homeowners water deeply a few times a week, rather than daily. Deeper, less-frequent waterings will help promote root development.
Things to Watch
Make sure that all of your sprinkler heads are the same type (fanning vs misting, etc). Remember that sprinklers that are only watering a semicircular pattern (such as along a driveway) will need half the amount of time of sprinklers watering in a full circle. Remember that not all areas need the same amount of water, for example, you may have a low spot in your lawn that collects water from the surrounding area, or you may have a sandy hill that always dries out faster than the rest of the lawn - adjust your watering amounts based on these observations. Make sure you have a rain sensor installed and activated on your system so you aren’t watering when it is raining!
ESTABLISHING NEW SOD
New sod requires a different style of watering care, such as more frequent watering and watering during the heat of the day to minimize stress. For more information, click here.