On Jun 5, 10:33*am, ianh wrote:
Hi,

I'm in need of some advice re my newly laid lawn. It was laid last week
by a friend who 'supposed' to know what he was doing.

It was really hot when it went down but he said that I shouldn't water
it until the sun goes down or else I'll scorch the grass.

That's your first clue that your friend doesn't know what he's talking
about. Surely you've seen turf after a brief thunderstorm. Ever
see it get scorched? There are vaild reasons for not watering
ESTABLISHED turf during the day. Those would be that more water is
lost due to evaporation due to heat. And wind is usually higher
during the day, which increases evaporation and can also blow
sprinklers off course. But that does not apply to newly laid sod,
which should be thorougly watered and soaked immediately.



It was
completed about 3:00pm ish and then I went out.

When I came back to water it at about 7:30 when the sun had started to
set, all the turf had shrunk by at least 1 inch in between all the
sections. I watered it for about 1 1/2 hours that night and when I got
up in the morning it was worse. I watered it again in the evening,
again when the sun had gone down (as he'd told me to do) but the gaps
had got bigger 2 -3 inches.

So now you should know for sure he doesn't have a clue.


He came around the next day whilst I was at work and said he'd fixed
it. He'd pulled all the sections together again. But now I noticed it
was going yellow in a lot of places. I would say about 30 - 35% of it
now is yellow.

Its quite a big plot, 110 square meters and all the joining lines have
gone yellow as well as the first 3-4 runs of the longest side.

I've continued to water it every evening when I've got home from work
but it doesn't seem to be having any affect on it at all.

Also a lot of the joins between the sections are now overlapping were
he's moved them to join the gaps.

So, he thinks overlapping sod is a good idea too.



I really don't know what to do next the whole lawn is just a mess.

First, don't let the idiot touch it anymore or listen to his advice.
Second, stop overlapping it and shifting it around. Third, water it
every day for the first week. During mid-day, when it's hot is the
best time, as that gives it some relief from the heat too. After the
first week, you can start backing off to every other day for another 2
weeks or so, then every 3 days for another month, etc. Each time you
want to put down enough water so that the soil is kept thoroughly
moistened.

Given that you listened to clueless, you may have other problems
related to how the site was prepped too. Didn't you get instructions
with the sod? If not, some googling should produce plenty.





Can anyone give any advice please?

Thanks in advance, Ian

--
ianh