Watering new turf

Hi,

I laid new turf on Sat and I was wondering if anybody had any advice on watering it. Currently, Iâ??m watering it twice a day (7am and 8pm) for 45min at a time. Coverage is good for the majority of the garden, but as thereâ??s a slight decline the lower part of the garden does get slightly water logged but appears to soak away very well.

Any useful advice is appreciated.

Cheers
Gary

 

Hi Gary, we laid a new lawn in march and i watered once a day, gave it a good soaking once the sun had gone...

 

You don't need to water twice a day. But you do need to make sure that it gets a decent soaking when you do water.

In the heat of Summer I would water in the evening, so that the strong sun does not evaporate most of the water put on it :thumb:, but this time of the year, with cooler (or even cold?) nights I would be concerned that wet-feet at night might upset the new turf. On balance I would water in the morning if that is possible, failing that during the day.

Put a flat bottomed dish down in an "average" part of the sprinkler's range so you can see how much water you are putting down. I would aim for 1/2" to 1" per watering. (That may be a longer duration than you have been watering, but less frequently)

Lift a bit of the turf up and feel how moist / wet the soil is underneath [that may also help you gauge how much water is running off, rather than percolating in, on the slope]. I would think [at this time of the year] watering every second day is fine, and if its overcast / cool then every 4th day would be enough.

(I'm sure its obvious, but lifting the turf stops it rooting :thumb: so I only mean to do that as a test so you can gauge how well the water is reaching the soil under the turf)

Our soil here is bone dry. The lawn, green all summer, has gone yellow during September. But if I started watering a section regularly it would not need repeating often as the soil would get decent moisture, and then not evaporate quickly in the Autumn temperatures.