Have you just laid new lawn and not quite sure what to do to ensure it gets off to the best start in life? Well you've come to the right place. Our lawn establishment guide will give you all the information you need to establish your lawn quickly.
Water coverage
When setting up your irrigation, ensure each sprinkler throws to the next. This is known as head to head coverage and is vital in ensuring you get complete water coverage on your lawn. Without it, you will end up with dry patches.
Your new lawn needs to be kept moist at all times during its establishment. Frequent, light watering to begin with is much better for the lawn than drenching it then allowing it to dry out before drenching again.
Contact the Water Corp and apply for a watering exemption. This can be done online via the Water Corp website here.
Watering Guide
Week 1: 3 times a day – Before dawn, 10.00am and 3pm
Week 2: 2 times a day – Before dawn and again around noon
Week 3: Daily – Before dawn
Weeks 4 – 8: Every second day before dawn
Week 8 Onwards – Twice a week before dawn
On extremely hot days in a heatwave increase the number of watering sessions.
After 8 weeks, if temperatures exceed 35°C on consecutive days, additional watering sessions will be required.
If establishing lawn during winter, use common sense in accordance with rainfall so as to not allow the grass to dry out.
Nutritional Guide
New turf has different nutritional needs to established turf. Higher amounts of Phosphorous for strong root growth along with Potassium for keeping the plant healthy and Kelp for root and shoot growth.
Our Establishment bundle has all of these qualities. You can put 2Spec Establish down under the turf, prior to laying or on top after laying. Kelpro and Hydrolink Advance round out the package. You can reapply the liquids monthly at their full rate or using half the recommended rate and applying fortnightly can be a good option to spoon feed the turf as it is receiving much more water than usual and this can flush nutrients out.
Fertech Stimulus is also a great addition for those wishing to push root growth quickly. It contains Phosphorous derived from Phosphoric Acid which is readily converted to Phosphate, supporting root growth, photosynthesis and respiration. This is important as not all P values on liquid fertilisers will act in the same way within the plant. Phosfighter for example also contains a high P value but it is derived from Phosphorous Acid which has fantastic disease management properties but does nothing for root growth.
Finally, to keep your new lawn safe from pests, treating it with Acelepryn will offer long term protection and will not effect the turf's establishment. It is also not recommended to apply any pre-emergents until the lawn is established. Prodiamine (Spartan/Barricade) especially will require at least 3cm of root depth to extend below the pre-emergent barrier.