Our hydroseeding system makes establishing your lawn a lot easier and more reliable than conventional methods. There remains some ongoing care that you need to understand. After we leave, the success of your new lawn is in your hands. The following aspects need to be adhered to in order for our guarantee to be valid:
WATERING YOUR LAWN
You will need to ensure your lawn is kept moist at all times, using frequent sprinkling. Ideally 3 times per day for the first week or until germination. Then watering can be reduced to morning and night as midday watering can burn the juvenile grass. As a rule of thumb, if you put an ice cream container in the middle of the sprinkler stream, when this has 1cm depth in the bottom of the container, this should be sufficient for one water.
Make sure all corners and edges get adequate water (if puddling occurs before this time, reduce the amount of water but increase the frequency of watering). Puddling can rot and move the seed. Continue to water morning and night until you get sufficient rainfall (ie Autumn/Winter months). Your lawn is like an extension of your garden so needs daily watering to maintain its luscious green look (a good quality lawn requires more maintenance than any garden).
The first 3 weeks are vitally important as the germinating seedlings cannot be allowed to dry out. If the mulch is too dry the sun could burn the seed causing poor germination, resulting in a patchy lawn. Ongoing water to your lawn is a requirement and will need to be addressed with your lawn care professional.
CUTTING YOUR LAWN
Once your new lawn reaches a height of around 60mm (2 ½”) it is time for its first mow. If the ground is too wet from initial watering and feels soft underfoot, stop watering for a couple of days until the ground dries enough to prevent any sinkage. Once you mow your lawn you can start watering again if needed.
Your should mow your lawn weekly for the first few cuts. This strengthens the grass blades and promotes healthy root growth. Cutting your lawn too short will damage the grass and encourage weeds – on the other hand, keeping it too long can promote disease. A good height is around 40mm – no shorter. Do not use a mulching mower until you mow your lawn 5-6 times with a conventional mower.
FERTILISING YOUR LAWN
Your hydroseeded lawn comes with a starter fertilizer which keeps your lawn a nice dark green colour for the initial growing period. Every new lawn is extremely hungry for nutrients when it is growing and establishing. When it starts to discolour (yellowing or lighter green) it will need another good dressing of a Nitrogen rich lawn fertiliser, which includes most well-known lawn fertiliser brands.
Keep this up every month in the Spring and Autumn growing seasons and maybe once or twice through Summer and once in Winter. Detailed advice will need to be customised with your lawn care professional.
WEEDS & DISEASES
No matter what you do, weeds are inevitable and will appear in your lawn at some stage. They can come from wind, bird droppings, or from the top soil. A healthy well watered and well fertilised lawn will promote healthy grass which leaves weeds little chance of getting established.
Weeds that appear in the early stages of growth should be removed by hand. Once your lawn is more established weeds and diseases can be controlled with a herbicide, fungicide or pesticide as recommended by your lawn care professional.
COMMON MISTAKES
Under watering – means your grass will die or struggle.
Over watering – will rot your grass and promote moss and disease.
Cutting the grass too low – will kill the grass and promote the weeds.
While the after care and maintenance instructions above are relatively straight forward we recommend the most effective way to get a great lawn is to invest in an after care and maintenance plan. Why not have a professional keeping an eye on your lawn in the early stages when your lawn is at its most vulnerable. We are happy to recommend a lawn care professional in your area.
