I've dropped the ball. My new lawn was seeded in the middle of the week and we decided to go the hose+sprinkler route rather than irrigation system. I've tried my best with the little free time I have outside of work to rig up something that covers parts of the yard, but there are areas that are getting no attention since the application.
How long before those areas are completely lost to me and I'll have to reseed?
If they are done for, what are my options for next steps?
First thing to do is call the company that did your hydroseeding. What is their mixture of seed, their recommendations for care (they should have made sure they got to you in the first place)...automatic irrigation is NOT that great. An oscillating cheapo sprinkler is best for a lawn that isn't too huge. It allows deep watering without washing everything away. A newly seeded or hydroseeded lawn needs to be continuously moist for at least 11 or more days. They should have explained this to you. Was your lawn area rolled before hydroseeding? Critical for soil/seed contact. How long since your lawn was hydroseeded? Hydroseeding is far superior to hand seeding on new lawns. Fertilizer and moisture retention are included. There are cheapo timers one can use for their sprinklers and I am very adamant that manual irrigation works far better than automatice, installed, irrigation. Gets the humans involved and watching and noticing when water is necessary! New lawns need lots of shallow 'wetting' until established. Once established one needs to start watering deeper and less often until the lawn has been trained to have deep roots. Then it is about 1" of water per week...saves lots on water and your grass won't jump into dormancy too quickly. Your hydroseeding company is not off the hook when it finishes hydroseeding...they should have given you directions to be successful. Call them first...
