When To Stop Watering New Grass Seed?

Watering grass seed is important - doing it well will result in nice even germination followed by a thick lawn space, however getting the watering right is not easy. You have to water the seed regularly, multiple times throughout the day for the entire germination period and even then it is not so simple.

In this video, I explain how long to water grass seed per watering session and how long to water your grass seed over the germination period to ensure even coverage across your seed bed.

►► Important Message To YouTube Subscribers

I have a number of supporting videos (and blogs) already published answering as many of the common questions as possible. Take a look below for more info on how to do this right and what to do after your grass seed starts growing

Helpful follow-up info:

How Long Does Seed Take To Fully Grow

After Seeding Do This

Can You Overwater Grass Seed

Don't Mess Up An Overseeding Project

When To Mow New Grass From Seed

Perennial Rye Start To Finish

When To Stop Watering New Grass Seed

When Is It Too Late To Put Grass Seed Down

How To Overseed A Lawn

◙◙◙◙ More About Me & Other Related Links ◙◙◙◙

(My Other Channels)

My Latest Yard Tour

My Lawn's Change Log

All About Me & What I Do

Premium Content Available Here

I'm Also On Instagram

[iwayned]

Thank you Brian. I have found out that I OVER water my overseeding and patches too much. Good information. Thank you.

[souflikar]

I just seeded Bermuda, about 5000 square feet. I used peat moss to cover it about 1/8 inches. Watered it 3 times a day for 10-15 minutes. I had baby grass in 5 days which is rare for Bermuda. After 2 weeks, it’s about 1.5 to 2 inches tall. This was fairly cheap Common Bermuda I bought from Lowes, made by Scott’s. I’ve seeded Bermuda before, same brand but didn’t use Peat moss to cover as I just raked it in. That took 14 to 21 days just to germinate. I really believe the peat moss is the best seed cover to keep the seed moist. Only 5 days to see baby Bermuda is the fastest I’ve ever seen grass grow. And Bermuda isn’t easy to grow. I must have purchased a magic bag of seed. :)

[soulbrother]

Answered every question!!! Perfect!!! Following you!! Thanks!!!

[Yussel]

Hi: After trying to get some bare spots planted on my own, I found a national lawn franchise to over seed and fix my patches. They guarantee germination and use RTF Rhizomatous Tall Fescue which has good reviews for my area in Colorado. We are now at 16 days, and I am beginning to see some germination. They told me to water every day, twice a day at 15 minutes each sprinkle zone. They told me I should do that for 30 days and not cut the grass until it reaches 4 -5 inches. I hope all this information is correct. My water bill is going to add to the cost of the seeding several hundred dollars. They are coming back at 30 days and will reseed as required. This is a very expensive renovation but if you figure all the money I wasted in trying to do it myself, it should be a good investment.

[alandickson]

Good info and detail from Brian.Always through and precise. No nonsense here.

[Johnnykgb-nsa]

I've caught myself over watering. Turn the sprinkler on, get busy doing something and forget it's on. It doesn't generally take long, just keep it moist, not soaked. I've had germination in as little as 5 day's with United Seed tttf. Usually it's 5-7 day's.

[Troy-Echo]

Watering anywhere near correctly is absolutely key to successful germination. It really annoys me that people rate grass seed on Amazon and other sites so lowly, when as a lawn care nerd, I can easily see they didn't prepare the soil at all or water. I just planted the cheapest Ryegrass I could find on Amazon (Scotts...likely an older cultivar) and did a 600 sq. ft. test patch. I also threw down some Outside Pride Midnight KBG for the fun of it. My soil pH is 5.3, and although the nitrogen and phosphorus were good, the potassium was very deficient. I killed with glyphosate, mowed to 1 inch, thoroughly scored the ground with my SunJoe dethatcher and really loosened up the top 1/2 inch of soil. My last patch I just pulled backwards, and it left some nice little ruts for the seed to fall into. Then I put down my balanced fertilizer. I added Mesotrione (Tenacity) the following day for a helping hand with the pre-emergent properties and I saw my first few Ryegrass sprigs popping up at 50 hours. At about day 10 I started seeing some KBG breaking the top layer of soil. And this was in high temperatures in the mid to upper 90's, with an 8 day stretch of 96-98 degrees. I can't really wait to plant because when I put down the seed, I was about 7-8 weeks from the first hard freeze, so I just watered through it. I mowed at 14 days, and again at 23. Now the KBG is filling in and looking like it is establishing well. I've also planted my front lawn with Zenith Zoysia seed. The soil tests came back very nice, and with that seed, I saw Zoysia start to sprout at day 7, and a lot more on day 8. That was a few years back, and it has filled in excessively thick. On 6/2, I moved a 2" Zoysia plug to my back yard of weeds where I had a fire pit on pavers in a 24 x 24 area, and put the plug there. I had an issue where I think one of my dogs stepped on the oscillating sprinkler and no water was hitting my plug, so on 6/10, I started watering twice a day for about 10 minutes. It took a few weeks to fully recover as it was down to 3 or 4 blades that were still green, but now (9/18), that 2" plug is about 18 inches side to side, about 14 inches the other direction, and the 2" plug itself is about 8 inches of very thick grass. Gotta love self spreading/self healing lawns. I enjoy test patches, and like how you do so many tests at once in your pots. I was looking to see how much this Rye and KBG will stick under my mower. My weedy back lawn is going to be fully upgraded next year. I'm trying to figure out which is better for my backyard with 2 dogs running and playing. I'm leaning towards Zoysia for thickness and self healing, and if I get busy and can't mow as quickly as I like, Zoysia won't grow very tall. That 3 month old plug - I've intentionally not mowed it at all and it's staying at 3-4 inches. Great channel!

[tycox]

I imagine an _overseeded_ lawn requires more water—or tolerates more water—than a bare plot. My experience has been that the existing grass uptakes its share; therefore, misting is not enough. I apply a 1/4 inch of water once a day until the new seedlings are at least two inches tall and the older grass needs trimming. I let the ground dry a couple of days before mowing, then water as needed.

[conduffenheimer]

Thanks for the info. Nice shirt, hoping my seed takes soon out here in Bonanza.

[stratupdude]

Thanks for the knowledge, have a great day 👏

[scottpreble]

I find on most irrigation systems around here in ma you need 15- 20 min to get good germination 2 times daily.

[PhecdaPlato]

😂😂❤ OMGOSH! YouTube is at it again. How ever, I don’t believe it was reading my mind, I was Just thinking to myself “gosh it’s been 22 days and now sprouting, SHOULD I ADD MORE SEED”…
And here you are ❤ appreciate your video, and am impressed that Google algorithms are also working 😂

[lifeisgood]

I’ve never had a fescue germinate that quickly. Most of the fescue I’ve gone has taken around 21 days to germinate. The fastest I ever got was soaking it in a bucket for five days and then once I spread it on the ground it was germinated within seven days so that’s a total of 12 days. I do cover all my seed with a little layer of peat moss, so perhaps I’m not seeing germination until two days later or something. With only a little water I’ve seen germination after about 30 days. I’ve also found the wetter the seed the quicker it germinates. Presoak in the seed being the fastest germination but also significantly harder to spread

[thedealer]

All grass seed is different. Environment plays a big part in how long you need to water new seed. Water enough to keep the ground moist through the day even if it's hot (summertime). Doesn't need to be super deep just a decent watering as many times a day as needed. Once you see the seeds start to sprout keep up for about 3-4 days. Again all grass seed is different. Then you can start to taper off so that roots are trained to look deep for the water. This will give you a strong hardy lawn. Don't over flood your seeds/sprouts or they could float away. Happy seeding ❤️

[kbolyoly]

Hi ya Brian, question. I renovated my front lawn 5 1/2 weeks ago, I reseeded the bare spots but they havent filled in all the way. I was wondering when I could overseed this lawn and level it better? Thanks, you da man.

[kenrobi]

I wonder if he realizes that when he talks he makes chicken noises. Pretty cool if you ask me!

[Guitarzan]

I think where you’re located has a lot to do with grass type and amount and length of water. I live in zone four, the Minneapolis area. I checked your About section and read all the comments but I can’t tell where you are. I think if you live in a different zone then this might not apply as much to me. Where do you live?

[positivevibrations.]

I really like this video. Teach me alot

[ryanfassett]

So nailing down the the just right watering routine has been my challenge with my overseed as well as fighting squirrels. I’ve been watering 2 to 3 times a day with hose end oscillating fan sprinklers and most of yard seems to be just the right amount of wet except for a couple of spots that get soggy even with just 10 minutes. I don’t know if that’s because those spots happen to be the more bare spots with peat moss covering or what. Thinking about just using the eye and touch test to determine if I need to water or not and possibly just hand watering because my front yard is less than 1k square feet and the back is about 2k. Thoughts?

[richsellskc]

Nice video. I have a question....day 19 today after new quality fescue was planted under a light bed of peat moss, about 1800 sf lawn area. I planted a little early to avoid the piles of leaves we expect at about day 30.
The new grass started appearing very recognizably after about day 7.
It came up to about a good inch and a half or two at day 10 or 12.
Since then, it appears to have stopped growing.
It gets a lot of KC sun for 5-7 hours and with little to no rain, I would run the sprinkler system once, even twice a day to avoid the peat moss from drying. Not really excessive water but more than enough.
On the other side of the driveway, the grass is flourishing, mostly over seed but 30% new seed.
Can you address the apparent "stunted growth" on the one section of new lawn?
Thank you.