There seems to be a lot of smart people here regarding lawns so I guess I'll ask here.
We have a new house that we moved into the end of Nov. They put in the sod in Oct, ran the irrigation system, and winterized it. They came back last week to get it set up for summer, but now it's literally running every day, and I thought that was over kill. I know the sod is still "new" but should I continue with that schedule or run it every other day?
Thanks!
I moved into a new construction house 4 years ago during the month of June and had to deal with a newly sodded lawn.
I always made sure the lawn received at least 1.5 inches of water each week. I don't have an irrigation system so I tracked rainfall with a rain gauge and supplemented with hose-and-sprinklers. In the heat of summer I was usually watering 1/2 inch on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
I mowed tall - 3.5 to 4 inches.
Applied Starter fertilizer in early April
Aerated and crabgrass preventer in late April
Milorganite in late May, early July, and mid-August
Grub preventer in mid-June
Mid-September was aerate, overseed, Starter Fertilizer, and Milorganite
Late October was Milorganite
Repeated all of this for 2 full years and have been pretty happy with the results.
After the 2 years, I don't water like that anymore and I don't aerate in the spring. I mow a little shorter (2.5-3 inches) but otherwise I still follow this same script.