Overseeding is one of the surefire ways to thicken your lawn in South Dakota and fill in the patchy areas with fresh grass growth. If you recently scheduled an overseeding service and want to ensure your lawn gets the best care afterward, there are several things you can do! First, you want to follow a strict watering schedule to give them enough moisture to promote germination and root development. You'll also want to wait about 2 to 3 weeks after your lawn has been overseeded to mow it and ensure the deck height is the highest setting when you do. It's also best to avoid any foot or machine traffic for 2-3 weeks to prevent harming the seeds.

Follow a strict watering schedule after overseeding your lawn.

After overseeding your lawn, you need to care for it by following a strict watering schedule. Water is one of the most important resources the seeds need to germinate and develop roots, so you'll want to make sure you're providing the right amount! Here's a good watering schedule you can follow for your newly overseeded lawn:

  • Water your lawn 2 to 4 times daily for the first 2 weeks. Watering your lawn frequently but lightly during this time keeps the soil moist to ensure the grass seeds don't dry out and kickstart their growth.
  • Water your overseeded lawn once to twice per day for the next 2 weeks. Deep but infrequent watering is key to ensuring the grass seeds develop deep, strong roots.
  • After a month, switch back to your normal watering schedule. By this time, the seeds will have germinated and taken root in the soil. You can water your newly overseeded lawn as you do normally to sustain its tip-top health.

Mowing Tips After Overseeding Your Lawn

Aside from a good watering schedule, another way of caring for your lawn after overseeding is to know when to mow your grass and how to do it right. Typically, you'll want to wait 2 to 3 weeks after overseeding to mow when the new grass is about three inches tall. When mowing for the first time, you'll want to put the lawn mower's deck height to its highest setting so you don't cut off too much from the top of the grass blades. This will prevent causing any stress to your lawn while ensuring there is enough surface area in the grass blades to photosynthesize.

Make sure your lawn mower's blades are sharp when mowing your newly overseeded lawn to create clean cuts on the grass blades and avoid tearing them.

Avoid foot and machine traffic on your lawn after overseeding for 2-3 weeks.

In the first few weeks after overseeding your lawn, the grass seeds that have been sowed are in the process of establishing a good foundation in the soil. During the first 2 to 3 weeks, you'll want to avoid any kind of foot and machine traffic on your lawn. This is crucial for preventing any kind of harm to the sprouting grass seeds. That's because they are still fragile during this time, and any stress can disrupt their growth.

Call us today to sign up for our overseeding service!

If you want to turn your patchy lawn into a lush one, we can help. Our team at Sharp Lawn Care offers an overseeding service to commercial and residential properties, as well as HOAs, in Sioux Falls, SD, Sioux City, IA, and surrounding areas in South Dakota, like Tea and Harrisburg. We offer this service in the fall as part of our lawn aeration package. We will overseed your lawn with turf-type tall fescue seeds after aerating it to ensure they have the best chance of germinating. If you're in the Sioux Falls, SD area, call us today at (605) 251-6880 to sign up for this service! If you're in Sioux City, IA, you can reach us at (712) 253-8024 to get started.