California – Kern County
Celebration Bermuda
Sod was laid out February 1st. Been watering every day except I shut it off a day before I mow the lawn on weekends. Been mowing on the highest setting. Waited 3 weeks after the sod was laid before the first mow. Besides mowing and watering, do I need to be adding fertilizer or ironite any time soon to keep a lush and dark green color?
by DickSmotherz
9 Comments
Water like hell. 3-4x a day
Looks like you may need to sharpen your blades
Keep it WET all the time until you can grab a piece of it and you can’t pull it up from the dirt. Then you need to water deeply about twice a day and slowly ween it off. As we approach summer, you need to stay on watering all year to make sure it takes.
Anytime I lay sod all I worry about the first year is watering and making sure the grass takes. Next year you can worry about fertilizer. There’s good stuff online but water is really the most important thing right now.
If you’ve already given it a trim, sharpen your blades. I see some frosted tips.
Buy new blades or sharpen them
Fertilize with high ratio potassium and phosphorus for root development. And water it!!!! The roots are not very deep and will dry out quickly
Since you are moving into wk 6. It’s ok to start weaning off your watering. You got past the hard part. Watering daily once the grass is established will promote shallow roots. You want the roots to seek out water deeper into the soil. Consider going to 2-3 times a week for 7 days, then move to weekly watering. At 6-8 weeks, you can do your first fertilizer treatment. Make sure to mulch the clipping during mows.
Follow the 1/3 rule and mow with a sharp blade. Make sure you don’t let it go dormant from drought this year to get it established. Do a soil test. Don’t be tempted to push it with nitrogen in the first year. Focus on potassium or correcting any micronutrient deficiency in your soil. Iron and magnesium go a long way in keeping turf green without forcing top growth for example. There’s plenty of N in it from the sod farm.
Maybe I missed something but if you ordered celebration Bermuda this isn’t it. I’m not a warm season guy but Bermuda is dormant right now. Did they overseed it with perennial rye before they harvested it?