I overseeded and filled in some patches on my lawn at the start of October. My seed mix has Kentucky Bluegrass (KBG), so I watered several times a day until about 3 weeks ago. Since then, I’ve cut back to twice a week, giving about 1 inch of water each time.
The weather in my area (zone 7a) is expected to be in the upper 50s during the day and mid-30s at night for the next 10 days. Does my young grass still need regular watering? It hasn’t rained here in over 40 days, which is a record.
Thanks for any advice! Also, I mulched my leaves for the first time this year, thanks to tips from this community and our expert here!
One more question: why does Australia get its own post flair? Is it because the grass grows upside down?
Rio said:
Yes I would keep watering until there’s consistent frost. I aerated and overseeded first week of October. I’ve been watering in the morning since.
You can start dialing that back. You want deeper and less frequent watering once the grass has started to establish. I over seeded October 9th and I’m now doing once every 3 days and with this rain coming in my area I’m not watering at all.
@Rio
Been working late tonight and it took me a solid hour to realize the sound coming from outside was rain and not just the wind. Haven’t heard it in a solid month!
Not much but at least I won’t be watering tomorrow morning!
Yup, keep up on water until your lines need to be blown out. After that don’t worry about the lack of water. The colder temps and lack of water will signal to your grass for it to go dormant.
PS all of this of course, as long as you can keep your water from falling off the globe into space.
Yeah long as the soil temp is above 50 it will grow. Worked on a golf course and there would be frost on the grass every morning and we would wait until it melted then go cut. Doesn’t grow as fast but you can definitely tell. Might as well keep it happy and the roots healthy.
Mulching leaves into the lawn is tremendously beneficial for several reasons:
provides organic matter to the soil (good for nutrient and moisture retention, alleviates compaction, and improves drainage in the long term)
provides the lawn with many nutrients that are difficult and expensive to supply otherwise… Particularly, but not limited to, all of the micronutrients. (Trees are just way better at taking up nutrients than grasses are)
is an incredibly effective form of pre-emergent weed control… Extremely effective for preventing broadleaf weeds, and can even prevent/reduce future poa annua and crabgrass.
According to MSU, up to 6 inches of leaves can be mulched into a lawn at one time. That number partially depends on your mower performance… But even in the worst case scenarios, it might just mean going over the leaves multiple times. (Still quicker than raking or bagging)
Tips for mulching leaves effectively:
go into fall at a high mowing height… Its too late to change that now, but it helps.
use an actual mulching blade (most new push mowers come equipped with mulching blades. Mulching blades are the ones with the curved cutting edge and the blade has curved surfaces on top to generate uplift)
plug the side discharge chute. Push mowers usually have a flap that’s easily closed. Riding mowers often require a separate accessory to plug the chute.
don’t let the leaves pile up. Most of the time, weekly will be enough, but if you have windy days, you might need to get out there an extra time or more.
do it when the leaves are mostly dry. It can actually help if they’re a LITTLE wet… But dry is certainly better than too wet.
Yes you can safely mulch pine needles and walnut leaves. It’s a myth that pine needles acidify soil. There’s insufficient proof that juglone from walnut trees is actually allelopathic… Regardless, spread out over a lawn, that wouldn’t be a concern.
if you notice clumps of matted leaves… Knock them loose. I usually just kick them, but a rake or blower works too.
The classic argument against mulching is “they’ll smother the grass”… Simply put, if you smother the grass, you’re doing it wrong (especially that last step)… Unless you’ve got a lot of poa trivialis or poa annua… Mulching leaves can actually smother those… In which case, that’s usually a good thing… But even then, they’ll still fill back in next year.
Note: Don’t mulch leaves if you plan on dormant seeding… The weed prevention thing I mentioned above also PROBABLY applies to ungerminated grass seed… Probably. Inconsistent data on that one.
3 times so far. Last 2 times were a week apart from each other, set 1/2” higher than previously, and also mulched my leaves. I made it well over 3 weeks after seeding before needing to mow for the first time.
@Cairo
Fwiw. 3 times should be good, that’s been my experience with cool season grass in zone 7b, only time I failed with fall seeding was when I planted too late and didn’t get enough mowings.
2" per week might be a little much. 1" per week should be good, you want the roots to find water deep in the soil. 1x 1" per week should get you there!
