How To Care For Your Newly Seeded Lawn in Idaho

Caring for new grass is kind of like taking care of a baby. Except you get to sleep through the night.

Your newly seeded lawn needs extra attention, special food, and lots of patience.

But you only have to sing lullabies if you want to.

How to care for your newly seeded lawn in Idaho?

Shhh, while it’s sleeping, let’s take a look.

Caring for New Grass: Water, Water, Water

New grass seed has to stay moist so it can germinate. It needs more frequent watering than mature grass does, in smaller amounts.

Don’t go crazy and blast the seed away — aim for light, steady watering two or three times a day.

If this somehow seems wrong to you, you’re right. You’re used to us advising you to water your lawn less frequently, for longer periods of time. But that’s what mature grass needs. Caring for new grass means frequent light watering.

After four to six weeks, you can transition to longer periods of watering, but fewer times. That way your grass will have to search for water, sending its roots deeper into the soil. That encourages the roots to grow longer and deeper, which means your new grass will be healthier.

sprinkler head watering newly seeded lawn

Keep up your good watering habits next summer, too.

Cool-season grasses like bluegrass need regular watering their first summer to continue to establish a good root system.

Caring for a Newly Seeded Lawn: It’s Hungry

Your new grass seedlings are hungry. Their tender roots need quick access to nutrients. And just like babies, they need different food at first.

Apply 16-16-16 fertilizer to newly seeded lawns to promote new top growth and healthy root systems. Your goal: two treatments about 4-6 weeks apart.

This helps your new grass get healthy and established before you put down any type of herbicide. (More on this in a minute.)

As your baby grass matures, it benefits from the slow-release nutrients in regular fertilizer.

lawn care technician fertilizes grass

Once the lawn gets established, use fertilizers that contain more iron and more slow-release products to keep the grass greener for longer. But when it's newly seeded, the green color isn't necessarily the goal, which is why you use the 16-16-16 at first.

Don't Apply Weed Killer to New Grass

We know, the thought of ugly weeds invading your precious baby grass is hard to bear.

But don’t rush to apply weed killer. It’s tempting, when you see those pesky invaders sprouting in your new green lawn.

lawn care team spraying lawn
But wait until you’ve mowed at least four times before treating grass with weed control. That weed killer will also kill your tender new grass. So be patient, and wait.

Hold Off on Mowing

Caring for new grass? Hold off on mowing until your new grass is about three inches high. Make sure your mower blade is nice and sharp, and mow when the grass is dry.

Idaho lawn care professional

Don’t mow it too short. Only remove about a third of the height. Taller grass helps a lawn grow thicker and stay greener.

Take it easy at first. You don’t want to damage that tender new grass.

When Can You Walk on a New Lawn?

You can’t wait to wiggle your bare toes in your soft new lawn, right?

Patience, please.

Avoid walking on your newly seeded lawn until it’s three inches tall. Your tender new grass is easily damaged, or even uprooted.

Caring for a Newly Seeded Lawn Continues

You don’t stop taking care of your kids once they grow into toddlers, right?

lawn care technician inspects grass
Don’t neglect your new lawn once it’s established. Be sure to follow up with a professional lawn maintenance program that includes fertilization and weed control, as well as other services your lawn will need down the road, from de-thatching to aeration.