Kansas City Sod –
Briggs Turf Farm…
New Sod Care:
New sod is
perishable and must be installed immediately to ensure a successful,
healthy lawn. It is
not necessary to water the dirt prior to laying your sod. (This just
makes you work in the mud).
Water your new sod immediately after installation.
Kansas City Sod
Care:
AFTER NEW SOD HAS
BEEN INSTALLED – BEGIN WATERING IMMEDIATELY!
Please stay off
new sod until after the first mowing. Proper watering of sod is
essential for root establishment. The day of installation, enough water
should be applied to penetrate the sod and 3 to 4 inches of soil.
From this point
on, keep your sod and soil moist throughout the day.
The roots are short so the sod cannot withstand large amounts of
water at a single time. Other than the first day, the ground under the
sod should never be soggy. Usually watering four to six times during the
day, for approximately ten to fifteen minutes each time, is required
until the roots have been established. Root establishment will usually
begin within seven to fourteen days depending on the time of year your
sod is installed and your environment.
The length of
each watering cycle and how often you need to water will depend on your
soil type, outside temperature, wind or sunny vs shady conditions.
You will also need to water more frequently in areas beside
driveways, sidewalks and other hardscape features, and near buildings
(these reflect heat that will dry out the sod).
A clay type soil may need five minutes, four times a day compared
to a well-drained soil which may need seven minutes, five times a day.
You have to judge the minutes given, but here is a tip: If the water is
standing under the sod for more than just a few minutes after an
irrigation set has finished or if the soil is soggy, you are probably
giving the sod too much water at one time.
The goal during
the first few weeks is to keep the sod and soil beneath the sod moist at
all times.
The first mowing
should be approximately 14 days after the sod has been installed. In the
cooler months you may need to wait longer for the roots to establish
prior to mowing. Mow your
new sod on the tallest mower setting on your mower. Be careful when
walking across your sod to mow – it may not be fully rooted and you
don’t want to move the sod.
Kansas City Sod
Care - After Two to Three Weeks:
If the weather
allows you can start to reduce the frequency of times you water at a
gradual pace. You can validate the establishment of the roots by pulling
up a corner of the sod, and if you feel some resistance – now is the
time to start watering longer times to water deeper.
In another couple
weeks or so you can repeat this process until you are only watering just
once a day. Deeper, less frequent watering will help roots stretch down
deeper and establish quickly into the soil.
Fertilize your
new sod approximately four to six weeks after installation to ensure
continued establishment of the roots.
Now your sod is
fully rooted----don’t just quit taking care of it.
Once your new
lawn is well established, you’ll want to develop a long-term maintenance
program. It is important to
know when and how to mow, fertilize, aerate, control thatch levels,
monitor and control weeds, insects and diseases, and irrigate your new
lawn.
Water and
nutrients are essential to all life to stay healthy!
Phone: 913 - 681 - 2500