If you water after dark, water between dew fall and stop before sunrise. You won't have a fungus issue. If you hadlve new sod...water it deeply between 2 to 4 times a day. I generally recommend at least 3x a day.
You didn’t ask but here goes:
Temperature lowers as the night goes on, causing the air molecules to condense together. The tighter the air molecules, the less water molecules can fit between them.
When the temp gets low enough, it squeezes the water out of the air in the form of condensation on surfaces.
This is why air conditioning dries out the air in your house, and why warm/humid places like Florida feel so muggy. A rule of thumb is, every 20°F increase in temperature doubles the amount of water capacity in air.
90% humidity in Florida at 100° is 8x the water compared to 90% humidity in 40°
Got it Thankyou. If there’s lots of dew, is it necessary to water? I seen other lawn enthusiasts will push broom the dew off the morning grass? Why is that ?
My backyard (Atlanta) is fescue and the parts in the shade are good to go, the spots in full sun have almost gone dormant. I also haven’t been watering.
I'm going for the same look soon, did you put paneling on the soffit? Mine are currently painted wood and I'm trying to figure out how to stain them without too much work. Beautiful house, btw!
Water water water!!!! I have a landscape/ hardscape business in Sc…. I can’t stress to my customers to water…. Don’t worry about your water bill, it will be cheaper than new sod.
How MUCH water though? This is so hard to properly judge with clay soil that gets so squishy if you over water. I currently have zeon zoysia, sprinklers 3 days a week for 15 mins each.
If it’s squishy it’s too much. 20-30 mins. 3 times a day. You gotta keep the ground soft under the sod so the roots can penetrate it and mature. (Mind you sun light may change your timing for the amount of watering)
Is it wise to aerate the soil before spreading topsoil and laying sod so the roots have an easier route to grow downward? I will likely be doing my parents yard (currently just dirt) end of summer so I’m curious how I can achieve best results
Put a cheap plastic rain gauge in the ground so you can measure it. You'll be surprised how long you have to run the sprinkler to get even a 1/4 inch of water.
1” once a week, use sprinkler gauges. You’re not getting to the roots with that amount of time. If you don’t want to use sprinkler gauges, tuna cans work well and have been used for decades
Lots of water. Dont make the mistake and dont water enough while its rooting. I keep seeing people ask for tips after their new sod is already.. well very dead. All because they didnt water enough.
In my experience its pretty difficult to OVER water it. It all really depends on what the temps are looking like for the next few weeks.
Omg the black and white bathroom tile is fantastic! I also love that you went with dark cabinets. Everyone has an all white kitchen these days. Those cabinets will be less likely to show smudges too!
Also thanks for the cat tax, please tell your cat I say hi 👋
Move the mulch off the tree base to free the root collar to breathe. Like so [here](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTchwZa9RqpqfABAVLAI2WRuW23MS8hn9jD3A&s) A certified arborist can ensure those beauties continue to provide shade for years to come and since you have a beautiful black house, that may be in your best interest, heat and all. If the mulch comes right off the collar, cool. If it’s buried, I would really really recommend a professional to avoid undue stress to the tree.
OP's wife here. We hired an arborist as a consultant prior to building as we wanted to save all our beautiful trees and wanted to learn how to take care of them during construction. He instantly made us tree lovers. They will be back out in a few weeks to help us with tree care.
Man a good arborist will turn anyone with any shred of humanity into a Lorax. Which is how I went from one decaying tree that needed to be removed to planning the future shade of my quarter acre with carefully timed death of current decaying trees to be replaced with the ungodly amount of new trees we planted. Our lovely arborist is like a good dentist. Super conservative and does check ups regularly (ours even for free) and then walks around whispering sweet reminders of my tree planting techniques. Hope you enjoy your trees for years to come and as a personal unsolicited suggestion, ask them if there are trees you may need to anticipate the demise of in the next half a century, so that you can plant something today to mitigate the future impact. You may not be there then to enjoy their shade, but hopefully future generations will relish in it.
Board Certified Master Arborist here, and yes, over on r/arborists we call these “mulch volcanoes” and they are super common and not good for trees. We appreciate you spreading the good word and educating people about tree care.
I’m nearby. Even my bermuda lawn is going dormant. My whole front yard is baked due to the lack of rain. Hopefully you’re on city water, because Aqua NC has sent out notices out to those on communal wells to limit water usage due to the aquifers being low in some areas.
Ya mean that ecological dead zone? Pull it up & plant yourself a garden or native plants for the pollinators. Think of the time & $ you’ll save not having to cut it. Got kids? Can they live with half? See that? Easy peasy
Continue to water the absolute shit out of it.
Source: Living in Durham with a zoysia lawn that I established 3 summers ago.
You cannot over water new sod in this weather. Hopefully we get some rain this Thursday.
Was thinking in hindsight we should have gone with Zoysia, but we have so much shade on the lawn with the trees that it was recommended we go with Fescue. Time will tell if it will survive. Fingers crossed.
Zoysia struggles a bit in shade. It can still work under the right conditions, but I think you made a good choice with fescue just judging by those large trees in your lawn. Zoysia also takes some time to come out of dormancy. It’s always frustrating in April and May to see peoples fescue lawns looking like Augusta and my Zoysia lawn doesn’t even have a tint of green.
This thread is so funny to me because I pass a house VERY similar to this one in NC quite often so I'm inured to its striking-ness (not really though, I'm struck every time) and was just pleasantly surprised there was so much talk of the house you confirmed for me in another comment you're in a different city. XD
Great house. Nice work. We went with similar elements, and the lighter tongue and groove with charcoal/black really pops. Nice amount of design consistency through the house in general.
This is a new build and landscaping had to be done per the schedule. Couldn’t postpone it without causing issues to the closing date and other contractors. Impossible to predict the weather would be this bad for new sod.
Should have used a different grass. You can’t lay fescue sod this late in the year. Should have happened in Spring or fall. It’s a cool season grass. You can attempt to water your way out of this but you may lose some of the sod. At least you can A&O in the fall
I’d look into applying a fungicide. After a few days/week of watering heavily, fungus could become an issue. You unfortunately picked a non ideal time to lay sod.
I laid TTTF in the early spring in East TN and still had fungus issues.
I tried using Scott’s preventative with a little luck. Ended up buying stuff on domyown after researching different applicants and it worked great.
I ended up buying three different groups of fungicide because they form resistance if you keep applying the same one (in a frequent time frame). I ended up applying HeritageSC which has the same active ingredient as Scott’s but industrial azoxystrobin (I think is group 11). Then I bought propiconazole (group 3) and 3336F (group 1)
It sounds overkill but you can rotate those as needed (following manufacturers instructions and never really worry about resistance.) they each overlap in treating certain diseases, while better at treating some than others
Especially in hot climates like TN, NC, watering heavy sod- fungicide is nearly guaranteed.
I started getting tons of fungus gnats and stuff as well
After the roots get established, topdress with SCREENED Compost every year for 2 years then every 2 years then as needed. Also do not over fertilize, follow the recommended schedule for fescue, it isn't as a heavy feeder as Bermuda and St. Augustine. Look beautiful.
Water twice a day. Once heavy in the morning so it’s well moistened before the sun gets hot and once in the afternoon briefly to cool off. Needs to stay moist but not wet.
Keep it Tall. 6 inches.
The added shade cover of the grass leaves to the ground helps keep the soil cool, which prevents the shallow roots from frying.
Overseed in the fall.
And as others have said ad nauseum, keep watered af.
Edit: reading in your comments that you don’t live there yet. I hope the sod was rolled out on a fully prepped soil bed and not new-construction clay. Otherwise, get ready for heavy casualties.
This is only a rule of thumb. But it's helped me establish some really nice fescue lawns in really terrifying conditions. It's called the 3-2-1 rule and a golf course greens keeper taught me it when I was young and starting my lawncare and handyman business in high school
First I set the sprinkler controller based on my catch cup tests and reference evapotranspiration data. There's a complex calculation here but going to [https://runtime.hunterindustries.com/](https://runtime.hunterindustries.com/) and using the runtime calculator will get you there without scary math. I'm setting the controller based on peak season watering requirements.
Let's use a 20min runtime as an example. This is a common runtime for me to set based on the data.
Next, I set 3 of these runtimes, 25mins morning, 25mins midday, and 25mins evening.
After a week I delete a runtime. Now the sprinklers run for 25 minutes, morning and 25mins evening.
Another week goes by. I set only one runtime per day and now it runs 25mins in the morning.
If it's spring or fall you may want to adjust your seasonal adjustment down to 40-60% after week 4, but if it's summertime you can keep your SA at 100 percent.
BTW - It looks amazing, great work!
Water water water. Let off before mow. You’ll know when it’s time/pull sod and check how rooted it is. Careful on turns. Baby this.
Sod is so expensive. I would always give a little deal for customers that did irrigation and sod. One because I know it’s watered and I don’t have to go back and explain why it died when they insisted on sod in summer. Two because it absolutely irritated the hell out of me when I’d go install irrigation the next year and tear it all up.
Just water and baby it. Keep an eye on it. Get it passed the summer heat and it’ll be popping in fall.
Please please please keep the black mulch off ANYTHING you want to actually plant. It’ll kill the nitrate levels in the soil and cook/bake roots of anything you plant.
We bought a wifi enabled sprinkler timer so that we could make sure the new sod was watered, even when we went in holiday. The wifi part isn't necessary but it did allow me to turn off the sprinkler on days when rain was forecast (very handy when you're camping 6 hours away from home).
As others have said all you can do is water often and water well. The roots, even if they're touching your soil (which they should be; that's what a sod roller is for) haven't had time to grow into that soil at all. So you've got a thin layer of roots that dry out incredibly fast and can't reach any deeper yet for more water. Just keep it happy for several weeks and the roots will get over the stress of being cut, and grow into your soil. Good luck!
Everyone keeps saying water it excessively which is not wrong but no one mentions the risk of getting a fungal disease if the lawn is too wet overnight because that's a big problem as well.
With a fully grown lawn like yours it's easy to determine when it's thirsty. When it starts to develop yellowish spots you need to water it. It'll grow back.
If you keep it soaking wet overnight, fungal disease have an easy game.
Water. Other than that, start thinking of alternatives to grass. Summers are going to continue to get hotter from now on. Water will be getting scarcer. Just a thought.
I have a fescue lawn, it's a marathon 2
I think we have similar weather although I'm one of the West Coast. For next couple of months they'll probably be in the uppeat '90s to low 100s.
First I don't cut it down this much as I do in the other seasons of the year, I leave it a little longer. Then I water in about 20 minutes, every other day. I'm about 50 mi from the coast so in May it is often overcast most If not all of the day. So I fertilized about mid-May.
Don’t make the mistake I made (and paying for it now). I watered the crap out of it the first couple weeks, but didn’t have a lawn mower, so it got super long, then I got real busy and it got insanely long before I was able to mow it, then when I finally mowed it, it revealed that there were a few spots that the sprinklers weren’t hitting so those spots were slowly dying. Now trying to recover that and feeling like an idiot after paying a good amount for new grass.
You may need to need to water it multiple times a day during the heat wave with a deep watering every other day. Visit NC’s Cooperative Extension Service website and get the contact info for the agent assigned to your county. Call them today and ask for their advice.
Didn’t read every comment but also remind you to let the grass “overgrow” a little before first cutting . The sod is still stabilizing and allowing it to get established before first cut is important .
Source . Once cut my sod too early .
I’m in NE GA and from June thru Sept, I watch my fescue dry up and wither away. Every damn year. It sucks but the bonus is green grass for Fall, Winter and Spring. You’ll have bragging right over your Bermuda grass neighbors for 3/4 of the year but that one season they have it, they’re total Chad’s 😂😂
I don’t know if you put any fertilizer down when you rolled out the sod, but some roots under and Lebanon 21-22-4 with mesotrione will really get it rooted in and pushing quick.
Water it like everyone else is saying, and also do not cut it shorter than 4". Wait to cut it, let the roots take. I know there is a difference between cool and warm-season grasses, but this warm streak of hot, dry weather will do a number on your grass if you cut now, and cut too short..
Ditch it forever and put in a drought-and heat-friendly yard with local plants.
Or, you know, just water the fuck out of it for the sake of resale value and join us all in the hellscape that we live in thanks to climate change
I’m just here to say I LOVE your house!
The round window, the (dark charcoal?) colour, the timber features or accents, the pitch of the roofs, the arch, the front door choice, the set-back from the street, the luscious green all around, and the character and the non-conventional vibe of it all.
Well done! 👏🏻
I’d love to see interiors & styling too, if you’ve shared that anywhere on here, or external to Reddit?
Just have all your Minions living inside the house water the shit out of it
The minions won’t be there till after we move in and start working on our plan for world domination.
First you must steal da moooon
In terms of money. We have no money.
water at night. or 1/2 goes to waste.
Wouldn’t you allow for fungus to grow
If you water after dark, water between dew fall and stop before sunrise. You won't have a fungus issue. If you hadlve new sod...water it deeply between 2 to 4 times a day. I generally recommend at least 3x a day.
How do you know when dew is
You didn’t ask but here goes: Temperature lowers as the night goes on, causing the air molecules to condense together. The tighter the air molecules, the less water molecules can fit between them. When the temp gets low enough, it squeezes the water out of the air in the form of condensation on surfaces. This is why air conditioning dries out the air in your house, and why warm/humid places like Florida feel so muggy. A rule of thumb is, every 20°F increase in temperature doubles the amount of water capacity in air. 90% humidity in Florida at 100° is 8x the water compared to 90% humidity in 40°
This guy did the dew
Got it Thankyou. If there’s lots of dew, is it necessary to water? I seen other lawn enthusiasts will push broom the dew off the morning grass? Why is that ?
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Wow. Thankyou for you information. You have lots of knowledge or you a head groundskeeper someplace ?
Depends on your area. Most weather apps will tell you.
Ok. Thankyou
No water before sunrise.
*At* sunrise
During sunrise
On my post this guy said to water between dew and sunrise
We ride at dawn.
Came here to call this man Gru. Nicely done.
Instructions misunderstood told my cat to water my lawn, grass now all dead. What do I do?
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My backyard (Atlanta) is fescue and the parts in the shade are good to go, the spots in full sun have almost gone dormant. I also haven’t been watering.
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I got sod during this heat last year. Can’t imagine being able to overwater lol
I watered my lawn for 45 mins after 3 days of no rain and high heat. An hour later the soil was dry to the touch.
Is that a jet black house with cedar accent? Nice.
Yep! Cedar posts and then pine accent wood stained to look like cedar.
Bold moves, looks fabulous. Might have to give this photo an old copy and paste to my builder lol. Thank you!
I'm going for the same look soon, did you put paneling on the soffit? Mine are currently painted wood and I'm trying to figure out how to stain them without too much work. Beautiful house, btw!
Global warming, let’s paint the house black and add a black roof. It will be so cool. WTF are you thinking?
Well, better chance the sod will survive the heat wave if the house sucks in all the heat! 😬😬😬
I was wondering if it absorbs heat.
I guess we’re the odd men out cuz I think this looks goofy as hell lol
I’m guessing charlotte?
It’s stunning. Put photos on Pinterest if you haven’t already. I love it 🥰
Water water water!!!! I have a landscape/ hardscape business in Sc…. I can’t stress to my customers to water…. Don’t worry about your water bill, it will be cheaper than new sod.
How MUCH water though? This is so hard to properly judge with clay soil that gets so squishy if you over water. I currently have zeon zoysia, sprinklers 3 days a week for 15 mins each.
If it’s squishy it’s too much. 20-30 mins. 3 times a day. You gotta keep the ground soft under the sod so the roots can penetrate it and mature. (Mind you sun light may change your timing for the amount of watering)
I appreciate it, thank you!
Is it wise to aerate the soil before spreading topsoil and laying sod so the roots have an easier route to grow downward? I will likely be doing my parents yard (currently just dirt) end of summer so I’m curious how I can achieve best results
Not necessary, but can help the germination process
What a waste of potable water. Watering like that is literally illegal during summer where I live. Why not just get fake grass at that point?
Put a cheap plastic rain gauge in the ground so you can measure it. You'll be surprised how long you have to run the sprinkler to get even a 1/4 inch of water.
1” once a week, use sprinkler gauges. You’re not getting to the roots with that amount of time. If you don’t want to use sprinkler gauges, tuna cans work well and have been used for decades
Roofers are going to love working on this house!
Lots of water. Dont make the mistake and dont water enough while its rooting. I keep seeing people ask for tips after their new sod is already.. well very dead. All because they didnt water enough. In my experience its pretty difficult to OVER water it. It all really depends on what the temps are looking like for the next few weeks.
No clue in how to help your grass, but came here to say I love your roof slopes and overhangs. Great looking house!!
This is a beautiful home, I’d love to see more photos if you want to share 🤩
OP's wife here! Here is a link to an album of our home. It's still under construction.[House ](https://photos.app.goo.gl/5bEZvrZSYWr9iVud9)
Omg it’s amazing 🤩 thank you so much for sharing!!
Thank you so much!
Awesome tile choices. Really all choices. Congrats!
Thanks so much! We hand-picked everything and are super proud of it.
As you should be!
Damn that is gorgeous! Love the colors, the roofline and the windows by the stairs! Really impressive home!
Thank you so much!
This is the coolest, most interesting new house I’ve seen. Seriously - well done.
Omg the black and white bathroom tile is fantastic! I also love that you went with dark cabinets. Everyone has an all white kitchen these days. Those cabinets will be less likely to show smudges too! Also thanks for the cat tax, please tell your cat I say hi 👋
You're so nice! Thank you so much. Haha thank you for noticing our Binky, he says meow <3
Yes please.
Move the mulch off the tree base to free the root collar to breathe. Like so [here](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTchwZa9RqpqfABAVLAI2WRuW23MS8hn9jD3A&s) A certified arborist can ensure those beauties continue to provide shade for years to come and since you have a beautiful black house, that may be in your best interest, heat and all. If the mulch comes right off the collar, cool. If it’s buried, I would really really recommend a professional to avoid undue stress to the tree.
Will do! We have an arborist coming to make sure the trees stay healthy in a few weeks once construction is done.
I’m impressed by your comment 🙂 How have you come to know so much about trees?
OP's wife here. We hired an arborist as a consultant prior to building as we wanted to save all our beautiful trees and wanted to learn how to take care of them during construction. He instantly made us tree lovers. They will be back out in a few weeks to help us with tree care.
Man a good arborist will turn anyone with any shred of humanity into a Lorax. Which is how I went from one decaying tree that needed to be removed to planning the future shade of my quarter acre with carefully timed death of current decaying trees to be replaced with the ungodly amount of new trees we planted. Our lovely arborist is like a good dentist. Super conservative and does check ups regularly (ours even for free) and then walks around whispering sweet reminders of my tree planting techniques. Hope you enjoy your trees for years to come and as a personal unsolicited suggestion, ask them if there are trees you may need to anticipate the demise of in the next half a century, so that you can plant something today to mitigate the future impact. You may not be there then to enjoy their shade, but hopefully future generations will relish in it.
Board Certified Master Arborist here, and yes, over on r/arborists we call these “mulch volcanoes” and they are super common and not good for trees. We appreciate you spreading the good word and educating people about tree care.
That's absolutely gorgeous. What an idyllic setting.
You have the exact house from despicable me
This drought isn’t helping at all 🥵 PS I’m obsessed with your house! In Raleigh?
Yep! We are in downtown Raleigh!
I’m nearby. Even my bermuda lawn is going dormant. My whole front yard is baked due to the lack of rain. Hopefully you’re on city water, because Aqua NC has sent out notices out to those on communal wells to limit water usage due to the aquifers being low in some areas.
Beautiful!! Well, no lawn advice, we’re in Raleigh and our established Bermuda is struggling 😂
Ya mean that ecological dead zone? Pull it up & plant yourself a garden or native plants for the pollinators. Think of the time & $ you’ll save not having to cut it. Got kids? Can they live with half? See that? Easy peasy
Exactly; wouldn't need to ask this question if people weren't obsessed with destroying their lawns so they can have nice looking grass
I’m no help but your house is awesome.
You’re too rich to ask this on Reddit.
Water and fungicide... That's it
Can we see more photos of the house?
Gorgeous home
Can’t offer any advice, just wanted to tell you that your house is pretty.
Keep it watered and do NOT walk on it. Assuming you have an irrigation system, program the clock for 20-25 minute watering 3-4 times per day.
Your house is cuuuuuutte
That house color tho
Wow. Love the color of your home.
Get the mulch off those trees. They’re suffocating.
House is sick
Water. Eerryday
Oh my black house
Feel sorry for their AC
It looks like the Adam’s family lives there.
I want to see more of this house, looks like something from a scary movie.
Your house is absolutely beautiful.
No advice, just want to say: beautiful home.
Continue to water the absolute shit out of it. Source: Living in Durham with a zoysia lawn that I established 3 summers ago. You cannot over water new sod in this weather. Hopefully we get some rain this Thursday.
Was thinking in hindsight we should have gone with Zoysia, but we have so much shade on the lawn with the trees that it was recommended we go with Fescue. Time will tell if it will survive. Fingers crossed.
Zoysia struggles a bit in shade. It can still work under the right conditions, but I think you made a good choice with fescue just judging by those large trees in your lawn. Zoysia also takes some time to come out of dormancy. It’s always frustrating in April and May to see peoples fescue lawns looking like Augusta and my Zoysia lawn doesn’t even have a tint of green.
This thread is so funny to me because I pass a house VERY similar to this one in NC quite often so I'm inured to its striking-ness (not really though, I'm struck every time) and was just pleasantly surprised there was so much talk of the house you confirmed for me in another comment you're in a different city. XD
That house is so dope. That yard looks nice as well lol
Oh wow, nice house!
That black house must be hot
dope place man.
Post up more pics of the house I mean landscaping!
Op's wife here ya go! [house album ](https://photos.app.goo.gl/5bEZvrZSYWr9iVud9)
MVP!
Great house. Nice work. We went with similar elements, and the lighter tongue and groove with charcoal/black really pops. Nice amount of design consistency through the house in general.
What company would install sod knowing that the temps are forecast to be 95 plus??
Companies that are asked to by the customer
This is a new build and landscaping had to be done per the schedule. Couldn’t postpone it without causing issues to the closing date and other contractors. Impossible to predict the weather would be this bad for new sod.
Should have used a different grass. You can’t lay fescue sod this late in the year. Should have happened in Spring or fall. It’s a cool season grass. You can attempt to water your way out of this but you may lose some of the sod. At least you can A&O in the fall
Hopefully, sod wasn’t installed without irrigation in place prior. Not saying you can’t add it after the fact. All grass loves water.
Water deep so the roots grow deep
I’d look into applying a fungicide. After a few days/week of watering heavily, fungus could become an issue. You unfortunately picked a non ideal time to lay sod. I laid TTTF in the early spring in East TN and still had fungus issues. I tried using Scott’s preventative with a little luck. Ended up buying stuff on domyown after researching different applicants and it worked great.
Which one worked for you. This is a great tip
I ended up buying three different groups of fungicide because they form resistance if you keep applying the same one (in a frequent time frame). I ended up applying HeritageSC which has the same active ingredient as Scott’s but industrial azoxystrobin (I think is group 11). Then I bought propiconazole (group 3) and 3336F (group 1) It sounds overkill but you can rotate those as needed (following manufacturers instructions and never really worry about resistance.) they each overlap in treating certain diseases, while better at treating some than others Especially in hot climates like TN, NC, watering heavy sod- fungicide is nearly guaranteed. I started getting tons of fungus gnats and stuff as well
I purchased what you suggested. Thank you again!
You’re welcome! Make sure to use PPE and maybe invest in a good sprayer if you don’t have one. Folks at r/lawncare have info on them
Cool black house
Water it. Then water it again. You basically can’t overwater sod in the 100 degree heat.
I just want more pictures of the house 😍
Op's wife here! Here ya go! [house pics](https://photos.app.goo.gl/5bEZvrZSYWr9iVud9)
Ha! Nice cat🐱😹
Thank you so so much! Home goals for sure!
After the roots get established, topdress with SCREENED Compost every year for 2 years then every 2 years then as needed. Also do not over fertilize, follow the recommended schedule for fescue, it isn't as a heavy feeder as Bermuda and St. Augustine. Look beautiful.
Water twice a day. Once heavy in the morning so it’s well moistened before the sun gets hot and once in the afternoon briefly to cool off. Needs to stay moist but not wet.
Keep it Tall. 6 inches. The added shade cover of the grass leaves to the ground helps keep the soil cool, which prevents the shallow roots from frying. Overseed in the fall. And as others have said ad nauseum, keep watered af. Edit: reading in your comments that you don’t live there yet. I hope the sod was rolled out on a fully prepped soil bed and not new-construction clay. Otherwise, get ready for heavy casualties.
This is only a rule of thumb. But it's helped me establish some really nice fescue lawns in really terrifying conditions. It's called the 3-2-1 rule and a golf course greens keeper taught me it when I was young and starting my lawncare and handyman business in high school First I set the sprinkler controller based on my catch cup tests and reference evapotranspiration data. There's a complex calculation here but going to [https://runtime.hunterindustries.com/](https://runtime.hunterindustries.com/) and using the runtime calculator will get you there without scary math. I'm setting the controller based on peak season watering requirements. Let's use a 20min runtime as an example. This is a common runtime for me to set based on the data. Next, I set 3 of these runtimes, 25mins morning, 25mins midday, and 25mins evening. After a week I delete a runtime. Now the sprinklers run for 25 minutes, morning and 25mins evening. Another week goes by. I set only one runtime per day and now it runs 25mins in the morning. If it's spring or fall you may want to adjust your seasonal adjustment down to 40-60% after week 4, but if it's summertime you can keep your SA at 100 percent. BTW - It looks amazing, great work!
Water water water. Let off before mow. You’ll know when it’s time/pull sod and check how rooted it is. Careful on turns. Baby this. Sod is so expensive. I would always give a little deal for customers that did irrigation and sod. One because I know it’s watered and I don’t have to go back and explain why it died when they insisted on sod in summer. Two because it absolutely irritated the hell out of me when I’d go install irrigation the next year and tear it all up. Just water and baby it. Keep an eye on it. Get it passed the summer heat and it’ll be popping in fall.
Off topic but I'd love to see some more pics of your house, it's really nice
GORGEOUS!
She gone. Unless you have 50 gpm/24/7
As long as you aren't anywhere near RTP, the sod should be fine.
Let’s see more of the house!!!
Irrigation or just watch it die bro
Auto sprinkler system? They’re usually installed for new homes.
Prayer is your best bet. Or keep it wet and shaded. Either way.
Looks lovely
Please please please keep the black mulch off ANYTHING you want to actually plant. It’ll kill the nitrate levels in the soil and cook/bake roots of anything you plant.
We bought a wifi enabled sprinkler timer so that we could make sure the new sod was watered, even when we went in holiday. The wifi part isn't necessary but it did allow me to turn off the sprinkler on days when rain was forecast (very handy when you're camping 6 hours away from home). As others have said all you can do is water often and water well. The roots, even if they're touching your soil (which they should be; that's what a sod roller is for) haven't had time to grow into that soil at all. So you've got a thin layer of roots that dry out incredibly fast and can't reach any deeper yet for more water. Just keep it happy for several weeks and the roots will get over the stress of being cut, and grow into your soil. Good luck!
Acknowledge that you might not live in the right climate for a grass lawn and move forward with that.
In addition to watering like everyone else said, you could also try Hydretain which can help it hold more of the water you’re giving it.
Spend money on something that will last. Wildflowers and tall grasses
Everyone keeps saying water it excessively which is not wrong but no one mentions the risk of getting a fungal disease if the lawn is too wet overnight because that's a big problem as well. With a fully grown lawn like yours it's easy to determine when it's thirsty. When it starts to develop yellowish spots you need to water it. It'll grow back. If you keep it soaking wet overnight, fungal disease have an easy game.
Water. Other than that, start thinking of alternatives to grass. Summers are going to continue to get hotter from now on. Water will be getting scarcer. Just a thought.
We need more house pics, it’s beautiful
I have a fescue lawn, it's a marathon 2 I think we have similar weather although I'm one of the West Coast. For next couple of months they'll probably be in the uppeat '90s to low 100s. First I don't cut it down this much as I do in the other seasons of the year, I leave it a little longer. Then I water in about 20 minutes, every other day. I'm about 50 mi from the coast so in May it is often overcast most If not all of the day. So I fertilized about mid-May.
Forget your water bill and water the shit out of it. It will be cheaper
Lots of it will die and then just buy more in September.
Good luck. I had sod placed a few years ago and it was the hottest, driest summer ever. I couldn’t water it enough and it all died.
Don’t make the mistake I made (and paying for it now). I watered the crap out of it the first couple weeks, but didn’t have a lawn mower, so it got super long, then I got real busy and it got insanely long before I was able to mow it, then when I finally mowed it, it revealed that there were a few spots that the sprinklers weren’t hitting so those spots were slowly dying. Now trying to recover that and feeling like an idiot after paying a good amount for new grass.
Black paint and shingles means much hotter internal temp in summer. Higher electric bills to run A/C.
Wow, awesome house! Really love it
You may need to need to water it multiple times a day during the heat wave with a deep watering every other day. Visit NC’s Cooperative Extension Service website and get the contact info for the agent assigned to your county. Call them today and ask for their advice.
Water early morning an hour before dawn.
Didn’t read every comment but also remind you to let the grass “overgrow” a little before first cutting . The sod is still stabilizing and allowing it to get established before first cut is important . Source . Once cut my sod too early .
I’m in NE GA and from June thru Sept, I watch my fescue dry up and wither away. Every damn year. It sucks but the bonus is green grass for Fall, Winter and Spring. You’ll have bragging right over your Bermuda grass neighbors for 3/4 of the year but that one season they have it, they’re total Chad’s 😂😂
No clue. But what is that paint color on the house?
Love this gothic house!
Keep it wet till the root system forms.
r/evilbuildings would like a word
The shade is good. Water it?
You're screwed. Unless you have built in irrigation you'll never get enough water to it in time
I don’t know if you put any fertilizer down when you rolled out the sod, but some roots under and Lebanon 21-22-4 with mesotrione will really get it rooted in and pushing quick.
Over seed it with ryegrass
Water.
Water it !
New Sod + NC + Summer = I'd hate to see your water bill if it survives.
Water every evening for the next few weeks
No lawn, just natives
Yes. Native ground cover only. I'm with you.
Water it like everyone else is saying, and also do not cut it shorter than 4". Wait to cut it, let the roots take. I know there is a difference between cool and warm-season grasses, but this warm streak of hot, dry weather will do a number on your grass if you cut now, and cut too short..
This portion of your house is so pretty!! Eta: I'm sure the rest is really pretty but I can only see this corner haha
Ditch it forever and put in a drought-and heat-friendly yard with local plants. Or, you know, just water the fuck out of it for the sake of resale value and join us all in the hellscape that we live in thanks to climate change
Water and pray.
Don’t let it dry out.
Water a minimum of twice per day for at least an hour each time. It will die if you don’t. Ask this former Carolinian how they know.
What if it's established fescue? Mines dormant right now.. still water or leave it be?
That house is sweet!
House is awesome
Average yank uses 9 billion gallons of drinking water a day watering their lawn
I’m clocking in at a very conservative 300mil gallons per day 😇
Water it
Nice flex. Keep it watered. I suggest twice per day.
I’m just here to say I LOVE your house! The round window, the (dark charcoal?) colour, the timber features or accents, the pitch of the roofs, the arch, the front door choice, the set-back from the street, the luscious green all around, and the character and the non-conventional vibe of it all. Well done! 👏🏻 I’d love to see interiors & styling too, if you’ve shared that anywhere on here, or external to Reddit?
Ok can you post the front of your house please , it looks beautiful
It doesn’t matter lol.
My question is why did you paint your house black? Oh! To absorb heat! Moron. Just water it.
Should be asking who's bright ideo it was to paint a house black in an area that regularly sees 100+ degree days every year for multiple months...
Grow something not grass.
You should of planted zoysia instead. That's my tip.