5 Easy Tips to Take Care of Your Lawn After Laying Sod

Everyone wants nice, lush, green yard. Not only is it appealing to the eye, but it also adds to yard ecosystem you have.

Laying sod can dramatically change the outlook of your lawn to acquire this incredible yard of your dreams. It may seem expensive initially, but consider it an investment that will end up saving you money in the long run. It allows homeowners a quick solution to improve the landscape of their homes without the need to wait for months in order for the grass to grow through seeding the lawn.

A sod lawn functions as well as a natural lawn and is perfect for barbecues, play area, and other great outdoor activities. But for the sod to remain healthy, homeowners need to take some cautionary measures. The following tips will help maintain a healthy, green sod lawn for years to come.

How often should you water sod?

For the first 2 to 3 weeks, make sure to water the sod properly 2-3 times a day, ideally early in the morning. As the roots become established you can slowly start to decrease the number of times you water the lawn. Initially reducing it to once a day for a few weeks then to watering every other day.

How much water should you apply to the sod?

Watering sod often is important, but not as much as the quantity of the water. Some homeowners make the mistake of lightly watering their sod. With light watering, the water easily evaporates from the blades of the grass, not reaching the soil. When the sod is initially laid, you want to ensure that you give it enough water that it reaches the depth of the soil, down to about 6 inches. Otherwise, the sod will start to look wilted and its life will be impacted.

How often should you mow sod?

Like normal grass, you need to mow the sod to ensure it stays healthy and doesn’t get out of control. When the grass reaches 2.5 inches or more, it is recommended that you mow it back down to 1.5 or 2 inches. You do not want to cut it down any lower than that. Cutting it too short would result in the food-producing blades of the sod to be damaged and possibly completely removed which will eventually lead to the grass starving. You want to trim the sod ⅓ of its height at a time so you don’t cut too much of it by mistake.

When should you apply more fertilizer?

To ensure the health of the soil and in turn the sod, you need to test the soil each year in the spring. Fertilizing the soil should be done in the spring, summer, and fall which is usually the time when the grass actively grows. Slow-release granular fertilizer should be used because it will be hard to evenly spray liquid fertilizer onto a sod lawn.

How can you maintain for moss and grass thinning?

At times when the sod doesn’t receive enough sunlight, it may start to develop moss or the grass begins to thin. For moss control, you can spray the grass with moss killer. Then to help with the thinning of the grass, you can power rake the lawn which will remove the dead grass then, proceed to overseed to patch up those dead spots. You can also put some turf blend soil which would cover the seed. This should be done in the spring when the grass can grow easier and faster.

Having a lawn covered in sod is much more enjoyable and easier to upkeep than a regular lawn that you start from scratch. Make sure that your fun summer activities can be played on your own yard this year by considering laying sod and following these tips.

Author’s Bio:

Kym Preslar is a bit of a gardening and home improvement fanatic. She’s been working on her garden for over 5 years and loves writing about everything landscape-related. Whether it’s keeping care of sod or the greenhouse, she’s been there and done it all. Currently, she’s enjoying her time working at SodLawn as their Content Manager.