lawn watering

we just laid new grass it is in rolls and is the san agustin type. i am writing from mexico. we put the grass in about a month ago and 3 weeks later fertilized............we water every day about an hour but the grass is so yellow and dry ( like hay) the next day ,(we water at night) are we over watering or under watering ......we are new gardeners . we just do not want to kill the grass, or can anyone tell us how to water for best results..... thanks

What type of soil do you have? If you have clay soil, you may be better off watering the grass a couple times a day for a much shorter length of time, what happens sometimes is the water can't be absorbed fast enough by the soil and it just runs off and is wasted. Even with a better soil than clay watering it for an hour at a time is probably too much and some is running off. My other question is did you use a roller or something to press the sod down really firmly against your soil? If the sod isn't pressed down well to your soil, then its roots can't get down into the soil which is where they need to be. My guess is it's underwatering, either because all the water's running off or because the roots aren't in contact with your soil and don't have anywhere to absorb water from. Or I guess it could be fertilizer burn too--if the grass wasn't rooted properly or if you applied too much fertilizer by mistake that could cause it to look that way too. It's a little hard to tell if the grass is still at a point where you can save it or not, a picture would help, as well as some more info from you on how it was installed, type of soil, etc to figure out which one (if any) of the possibilities I suggested might be what happened.

we pressed the grass down with our feet, and the type of soil we used is , am not sure of the name but it is not black it is a brown. I really think that what you say about watering a few times a day would be better because even the soil we used gets really hard when it is dry. The grass is not completly dry but in many spots it is, i really do not think it is the fertilizer because it is the same as when we applied it. We thought that it would inprove with the fertilizer, but remains the same............and I do believe that it may be that it was not pressed down enough.could it still be pressed down or could putting good black soil, if we can find it, help.

OK, if it was already brown before the fertilizer then that definitely wasn't it. If your soil is really hard when it's dry it could be clay, which means definitely you shouldn't be watering for an hour straight, probably only the first few minutes worth of water actually goes to where it's supposed to. Here we have a lot of clay soil and what you're supposed to do is water several times a day, but only for a short period of time each time. Honestly, even if you don't have clay, you're probably better off watering several times during the day for shorter times, otherwise you're alternating between drowning the grass and letting it dry out in the sun, and it's better if you can keep it more consistently moist.

If the grass is still alive (which I'm not really sure it is at this point), changing the watering could help as could making sure that the grass is pressed down well enough (here, the pros have some sort of roller that they run over the sod when they're done to make sure it's all pressed down, if you did it with your feet there are probably some parts that were pressed down well enough but other parts that weren't). I have to be honest though, at this point there is a decent chance it's already dead in which case none of these things are going to help.

Here's a reference on installing sod if you end up needing to do it again, the way you prep the area is just as important as how you install the sod and how you take care of it afterwards
http://www.brampton.com/article_betterlawn.php

if your in mexico and your only watering for an hour i'd say you're not near watering enough especially if it is dry like hay i wouldn't fertilize it until it gets well established
sod takes lots and lots of water.much more than seeds. water it until it starts to run off. then stop until it soaks in. water so it stays moist. don't flood it. probaly a nice slow soaking. dont necessarily give up on it cause it is brown. good luck

I am in GA and I planted some Bermuda sod towards the end of our hot season last year. It is coming up well again in full sun on 1/2 of the yard. The other 1/2 of the yard is spotty. I have a Giant Schauzer that likes to pee there. He is really "special" as I can not get him to take walks and pee. He only goes potty when he is off the chain in my back yard. I live in a townhouse so it isnt like I have a HUGE area. Any ideas about helping this grass. I don't know if there is something I can put on it to nuetralize it or what. I have been watering the yard regularly since it has gotten soo hot and we have not had much rain.

There are products out there in the form of treats or food additives that you can give dogs which will help neutralize the urine, I think there are also some spray products that you can put directly on the grass. Try googling lawn saver and dog and I bet you'll find a bunch

ecrane
thanks for the advice I found some stuff for my lawn and I already cook for my dog, so it says I can add yeast. I will give it a try!!
here is a pic of some of what I am working with, only pic of the lawn I had already, dont mind my little 1.