Advice needed: seeding and cutting off water

[gardenpants]

I'm in the middle of a reno growing buffalograss and blue grama from seed. Last night the city had a main water line break, and the city is asking people to use water for essentials only, including no outdoor irrigation until Tuesday, when the line is supposed to be repaired.

I'm at 3.5 weeks into my reno. I just reduced my watering at the start of this week (Sunday) from 3X a day to 2X a day. Weather is sunny, in high 90's. I'm really worried that the grass isn't going to last until Tuesday without water. Should I be sneaking out at night to water?

[Dchall_San_Antonio]

Has any grass sprouted yet? Once you get significant germination then you can cut back on the watering frequency.

Did you use a seeded or sodded buffalo grass?

[gardenpants]

It has had significant germination—in fact, it just had its first mowing—which is why I started reducing watering. I was planning on decreasing water in steps, 2x a day(this week) to 1x a day (next week) to twice a week (week after that), to 1x a week to close out the year. It just seemed like going from watering 2X a day to a 4 day “drought” might be a lot to expect from seedlings. Thanks for your advice.

I used seeded ”Sundancer” buffalo-grass.

[bpgreen]

David, he planted buffalo grass seeds.

Native prairie grasses are pretty resilient. Best practices for maximum establishment would be multiple times per day for weeks. If you've had any germination, you're probably ok waiting until Tuesday. High 90s is hot for most grasses, but I dormant seeded some blue grama and only watered every three weeks this summer. That was more for the other grasses in my lawn. I'm pretty sure the blue grama would be green even without that. I don't have buffalo grass, but I think the same holds true. Once it's growing, you should be good. Some may go dormant and some may even die, but most should survive.

[gardenpants]

Thanks everyone for your help. It's now Sunday afternoon, and except for one corner where the sidewalks meet, the grass continues to look OK. I'll take a watering can to the dry spot. Thanks again.

[bytore]

I started a zenith zoysia reno in my backyard in Wylie 2.5 weeks ago and was in same situation as you. I take it your in the same area? All my neighbors still had their irrigation times on . I still hand watered until yesterday when we finally got some rain.

[gardenpants]

bytore, I hope your lawn is looking better after the rain. : )

Yes, we're in the same general area-I'm actually in the north part of Garland. The city didn't mention anything about enforcement of the restrictions, so if it came down to it, I was going to water rather than let my new lawn die. In my neighborhood at least, people tried to be good citizens. I only saw one person running their sprinklers.