Proper Care for Hydroseeded Lawns

Watering

The First Week is the most critical time for a newly hydroseeded lawn. This is the time in which the seed is trying to initially germinate. During this time, the mulch (paper/cellulose/wood fiber) must be wet at all times. There is no avoiding this, as this is a critical time for the seed. This means watering multiple times a day, ensuring that the hydroseeded area stays wet. If for some reason the newly seeded areas are able to dry out, the seedlings can potentially die, thus leaving a bare area. It is ideal to water more frequently throughout the day in lesser amounts as opposed to one or two heavy waterings. The heavy watering can wash out the seed and again, leave bare spots. These bare spots can potentially lead to weeds.

Second Week – During the second week, you continue to water the lawn as you would have prior, however the lawn doesn’t need to be AS saturated as it was in the first week. It DOES still need to be wet however.

Third Week and beyond – Normal watering, once per day. This can be a little tricky, the homeowner must be aware of there own yard as well as the weather. If the weather dictates heat and humidity, up the watering. If it will be cooler out, under 70, then a lighter water should suffice for the day. Again, this is up to the homeowner to determine.

Fertilizing

The initial mixture either had a water soluble starter fertilizer or a manually spread on starter fertilizer with tupersan(crabgrass preventer). These fertilizers will last during the first 4 weeks. It is recommended to fertilize the lawn again 5-6 weeks after initial seeding.

Mowing

The lawn should be cut as soon as it reaches 3 and a half inches. It should be cut to 3 inches and the clippings should also be bagged. Each subsequent mowing should be done at a different angle to prevent mower marks in the new lawn.

Weed Control

During the seeding process, it is very common to have weeds. You shouldn’t panic about this fact. Most weeds will disappear after a few mowings. You SHOULD NOT try to kill the weeds with chemicals. Attempting to do so can damage the lawn. New seed is very susceptible to chemicals when it is trying to establish roots. Crab grass is unfortunately very common, it feeds off of heat and new lawns. Crab grass will usually die off in the fall as the temperature goes down. This is an ideal time to add any seed in bare spots (if you have any). Do not attempt to kill or pull the weeds.

Other Notes

While you are watering your new lawn, it is very common to see rocks come to the surface. Loam can be 100% smooth, screened multiple times but when you spread it you will never see a rock. As you water and the loam washes out, the rocks can come to the surface this is not uncommon at all. When it is time to do so, the rocks will be picked up/raked.