New sod care: the first 30 days decide everything
Sod is the most expensive way to get a lawn and the fastest way to lose one if the first month goes wrong. The roots that came with your sod are shallow stubs — your whole job is keeping them alive while they knit into the soil below.
Weeks 1–2: keep it wet, stay off it
Water daily — sometimes twice daily in heat — so the sod and the top inch of soil beneath never dry out. Lift a corner to check: the underside should be damp, the soil dark. And stay off it; foot traffic shears the baby roots you're trying to grow.
The tug test
Around day 10–14, gently tug a corner. Resistance means roots are knitting; lifting freely means keep watering and wait. Don't mow anything that fails the tug test.
Weeks 2–4: transition
Once rooted, taper to every other day, then push toward the deep-and-infrequent routine in our watering guide — this is what drives roots downward. First mow: when blades reach about a third taller than target height, with a sharp blade, never removing more than a third (heights by grass type in our mowing chart).
The classic killers
- Gaps between rolls (edges dry out first — butt seams tight at install)
- Watering at night (fungus loves wet sod after dark)
- Fertilizing too soon (wait 4–6 weeks)
- Mowing unrooted sod (it shifts like a rug)
Once your sod passes 30 days, it's a regular lawn that wants a regular schedule — that part we can take from here.