Many people think that when the grass comes up and is a good cover …nice and green…that all appearances indicate the grass is done and on its way to being self-sufficient….needing not too much attention.
The new grass looks just great and ready to go. The new grass can be two inches tall …BUT…the root is immature to the extreme and often less than one quarter of an inch into the ground. One day of hot sun will dry that thin purchase that the root has grasped and kill the planted grass and the stage is now set for crab grass.
People want to know how just watering the new grass helps to prevent crabgrass.
The explanation is as follows.. The dense cover of new planted grass shades the bright sun out at the soil root level. Crabgrass thrives best in bright hot sun.
New grass is wiped out in a single hot summer day without water. Crab grass loves hot dry soil and has an incredible root system that allows it to thrive once the planted grass is killed. Crabgrass roots are a marvel of nature and survival. Compared to the root of a planted rye or fescue (common lawn grasses) crabgrass roots with multiple root strands extend out two of three inches in the length of time that it takes a common lawn grass to grow a quarter of an inch of a single strand into the ground. Religious watering of your planted grass will discourage crabgrass from getting a foothold.
Today many people are working two jobs and don’t have time to water the lawn. If the lawn won’t be watered twice a day with a real sprinkler for at least twenty minutes or even longer… good planning for a very late even November planting will get a lawn established.
