DES MOINES, Iowa — While you can still water seed and sod placed this year, CIWW is asking people to pump the breaks on planting new grass or sod. But that request, along with the ban on lawn watering, is dealing a blow to local sod and landscaping companies.

AJ White, owner of Don White and Sons Sodding, says they’re only able to lay sod at houses that are being sold or homes being built. White says sod is a perishable product that requires a lot of water, and currently the company has a whole list of homes that are waiting for sod once the ban is lifted. For now, White’s just hoping things continue to improve.

“Another thing that we’re scared about is that the sod that we are laying down on the houses that they’re letting us, if this doesn’t get any better or something happens, it could get worse and they could have a total ban and then we can’t water the sod that’s already down. And then that means that they’re going to lose their money and they’re going to have to replace it again,” said White.

White says if that does happen, builders will hesitate to lay sod on homes being under construction.

Meanwhile, Bentley Ridge Tree Farm & Nursery says that the ban doesn’t affect plant material as much, but the company does stress the importance of knowing how much water you’re using when it comes to watering your plants and trees.

“Go out and hand water, use a watering can, don’t go out and just let the hose run. And these are all things that we kind of support anyway when it comes to kind of plant watering, is fill a five gallon bucket know how much water you’re putting down on your tree. And so I guess in some regard, this ban might kind of help us with our customers to show them, hey, it is important to go out and know how much water you’re putting on the tree,” said Jimmy Juergens, sales manager at Bentley Ridge Tree Farm & Nursery.

Both companies said they were surprised by the ban, but White says that he is grateful to still have work to do.

“I’m surprised they’re doing it for what they’re doing, but I’m very happy they are that they are letting us lay new sod on houses that are closing because that would completely shut us down if not.”

Juergens says while they haven’t been as impacted, the ban has changed the companies watering habits.

“I’m telling my staff like, hey, don’t water unless it’s dry. I mean, we’ve had times before where it’s like, here you got the morning watering and the evening watering and that’s your shifts. We’re doing a lot more of the same. Fill it out. I mean, feel it. Feel those soils individually, spot water, those kind of the statements are kind of being made a lot more to make sure people are doing it the right way there. And we’re not wasting excess water.”

Juergens and White both said they are continuing to monitor nitrate levels from updates shared by CIWW, and hope the issue is fixed within a few weeks.

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