So the most important step to follow after laying down your fresh new sod in the Las Vegas area is to program your irrigation control clock. Not performing this step will result in your fresh new sod going caput, for lack of a harsh term, (dying).
If you are planting new sod during the summertime weather in Las Vegas, you should have your clock set to water FOUR TIMES DURING THE DAYLIGHT PART OF THE DAY! If you are planting your sod in the cooler season, 2 to 3 times per day should work.
Just gauge how moist your lawn is staying throughout the day and re-adjust your start times as needed. If it is staying really wet and mushy when you walk on it, then back off the watering. If it is completely drying out before the next watering start time goes off and is looking stressed from dryness, then increase your watering frequency by adding another start time.
New Sod Watering Schedule
Here is the proper watering schedule for newly planted sod in Las Vegas starting with each start time during the day:
- First start time-6am, water for 4 to 10 minutes, everyday of the week.
- Second start time-9am, water for 4 to 10 minutes, everyday of the week.
- Third start time-12pm, water for 4 to 10 minutes, everyday of the week.
- Fourth start time-4pm, water for 4 to 10 minutes, everyday of the week.
On some severely hot days during the summer you could even add a fifth start time at like 7 or 8 pm to give the grass a nice refreshingly cool drink of water and to cool it off during a super hot day…
You want to make sure that that your clock is set to go off for every single day of the week-Sunday through Monday… Don’t take the risk of missing just one day to try to conserve water or something. Your goal here is to get your new sod started right and the only way to do that is to keep it wet throughout the day.
If you have other landscaping like plants and trees newly or already existing, you should isolate your lawn/fresh sod sprinkler irrigation to a separate program on your clock so that your entire landscaping irrigation is not going off four times a day with your newly sodded lawn.
Most clocks have at least two separate programs. Program A and Program B. For example: you could put your sodded lawn irrigation program on program A and your drip irrigation for your trees, plants and shrubs on program B. this will separate the two completely different watering programs. Grass and plants have two completely different watering systems delivering water to them; grass having a sprinkler irrigation system and plants having a drip irrigation system.
Your drip system is rated at gallons per hour (GPH) and your sprinkler system is rated at gallons per minute (GPM) So for example; your sprinkler system that is delivering water to your grass/sod should only water for 4 to 10 minutes at the most, your drip irrigation system should water at 20-40 minutes plus because it is a slower rated irrigation system. So now that you see the difference between these two systems, this is why they should be set on different programs (A and B).
Las Vegas Lawn burning myth dispelled
There is a myth that is floating around out there in Las Vegas that says “if you water your sod/grass during the middle of the day while the sun is beating on it, you’ll burn your grass”
While this myth is only half way true, it does not apply to most situations in Las Vegas. I think that it might be based on watering your lawn in a climate that is both hot and having a high humidity index outside like Georgia for example or some parts of California and Florida. What I mean by this is well.. let me ask you a question… Have you ever been to one of these places with high humidity and wearing either a short sleeve shirt or bathing suit you’ll notice how fast and easy you’ll get a sun burn or feel the sun burning your skin just by being outside for a short period of time? It’s because the UV-light rays are intensified while piercing through all of the moisture molecules in the air.
The same concept applies to your lawn or grass in these areas of the country where you have a mixture of hot weather and high humidity. So, yes, your lawn will burn in this situation just as your skin will burn. Adding water to your lawn during the day will only intensify what is already taking place in the climate that you are living in.
Now, as far as Las Vegas, Nevada goes…. You don’t have to worry about your lawn or your freshly planted sod dying or burning because you are giving it water during the middle of the day and here’s why… Las Vegas is a DRY, HOT , DESERT! If you put water down on your lawn during the day when it is a hundred plus degrees outside, yes, you will create a bit of a humid environment depending how big of a grass area you are dealing with. If you are dealing with a small grass area like what is typical in most track homes in Las Vegas then you have nothing to worry about, seriously. Now if you are dealing with large bodies of grass like the size of what you would find on a golf course, then that’s a different story and yes, you could burn a golf-course sized grass area if you water it during the day hence this is why most golf-courses water their lawns during the middle of the night during the summer time, not to mention golfers playing their game during the day.
So back to you and your lawn that you are concerned about burning in your Las Vegas landscaped property. Don’t worry about a small patch of grass getting burned by some water. Remember, you live in a desert and this is precisely why your fresh sod NEEDS WATER DURING THE MIDDLE OF THE DAY. If you don’t give it water during the middle daylight portion of the day, the sun, mixed with the DRY climate will simply dry it out. When a new plants soil goes dry for a small period of time the leaves on the plant will start to wilt and the tree, plant or shrub will appear to be parched for water. This is when you need to give your tree, plant, shrub or lawn a drink of water… BECAUSE IT’S DRY OUTSIDE.
Ok, I hope I have made my point here… I hope you understand the differences between the two climates described in this post and I think I may have dispelled the myth of “burning your lawn by putting water on it”… It’s obvious that this myth has come from people that live in the hot-humid climates described in this post and I guess, to the people that have moved to Las Vegas from a humidly-hot climate that it is in fact not a myth but a fact. That didn’t sound contradictory or anything… 😉 It is a myth if you beleive that truth applies to Las Vegas and the beautiful desert landscapes you will find in this town.
If you have any questions feel free to comment or ask them down below.
Talk soon
Nick