New to this and need some help - laying SA sod

12 years ago

OK- so we have decided (thanks to your help) that SA Palmetto is the way to go with our backyard. I have never done this before and the internet is full of contradicting advice and instructions on what to do. As it is now, I have pulled all the weeds (and there were ALOT!), and now the yard consists of patches of dirt and patches of sparse, somewhat dead existing SA. What do I do next? Do I need to spray Round-up? If so, do I spray it everywhere? Do I need to till or aerate the yard? If so, how deep? and do I do the whole yard? Do I cover the yard with compost? Is there a brand or type you recommend? Do I spread it over the whole yard? How deep of a layer? Do you recommend plugs or sod? Is it ok to lay sod over the existing SA? I'm sorry I am asking so many questions, I just really want to make sure I'm doing this right. Thanks so much for your help!

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (4)

candicem81
Original Author
12 years ago
OK - so after reading several posts, it seems that I should go ahead and clear out all of the exisiting grass along with the weeds. I am planning to use Round Up a couple times over the next two weeks to be sure everything is dead. My question then is... do I need to put a top dressing/compost down before laying the sod??? If so, is there a certain kind of top dressing/compost I should use? Do I need to lay any kind of fertilizer before sodding? If so, what kind?
I know I need to roll the sod after laying and water 3 times a day for 10 min, but are there any other tips or pearls of wisdom anyone can give me? I just really want to make sure I'm doing this right. Thanks!
magoo1
12 years ago
I'm a Bermuda guy, so I won't be much help, but Lou from Midlothian and David Hall in San Antonio can help you....look for them in these threads so you can e-mail them. I'd trust what they say implicitly.......Good Luck!
Related Discussions
New sod at brink of death, need help.
Q
Comments (2)
Most Nurseries and fertilizer dealers have a good granular Potassium fertilizer, such as 0-0-22 with minors. I would ask around for that, or something similar. The potassium improves cell turgor, which will help the lawn recover faster by retaining more of the water you put down. The minor nutrients, such as iron, will also help with the color. The question that comes to mind for me, is which part of the State are you in? If you've had cooler temperatures lately, that can stunt St. Augustine enough to discolor it. Lack of water shows up initially with wilting, rather than discoloration. This is easy to see in St. Augustine, because the leaves will fold up tightly right at the mid-rib, as the grass tries to increase the transpirational pull on the roots. If it didn't do this prior to losing color, then it's either reacting to winter temperatures, or there is a nutrient deficiency. Either way, a good potassium fertilizer with minor nutrients will help your cause. One last note, make sure not to use fertilizer blends that include weed killers. St. Augustine is very sensitive to a group of herbicides, phenoxy acids, that are frequently found in weed and feed products. Look for active ingredients like 2-4-d or mecoprop (mcp) and avoid these. Here is a link that might be useful: Serenity Lawn Service
...See More
Can you lay new sod over sheet mulch?
Q
Comments (3)
No, sheet mulch isn't soil. One thing you have to consider is that a lawn that has had nothing done to it for so many years is probably deficient in many areas. Since you are laying sod next year, you should get a soil test done now to see what condition your soil is in. Sod is grown in good soil, with pleny of nutrients. When it's harvested it's roots are cut, which is stressful to the grass. Putting this sod down on soil that has improper pH, or is deficient in nutrients/organic matter will result in poor results, and some cases the sod will die. Those new roots also need to be able to move into their new home fairly easily, so if the area is hardpan you need to fix that as well. A soil test is very inexpensive, a lot cheaper than having to resod.
...See More
Need organic help! on el toro sod new install
Q
Comments (11)
I'm in Pensacola, Fl (though I'm not really new anymore!!). We had 36 pallets (yep! ..a lot!) of El Toro installed in the Spring of 2010, and it is/was INCREDIBlY beautiful. But I've had my ups & downs. The ups are that I treated it organically only, so far, by not using any chemicals, but I did fertilize it 3 times over the spring and summer with rabbit food pellets (alfalfa pellets). The alfalfa pellets helped the roots take exceptionally fast, except along the house where there's shade, and under 2 large oak trees, where there's only about 4 hours of sun/day. So, where I had a lot of sun, and had put down alfalfa, it grew TOO well!! I was mowing twice per week, and (are you sitting down?) I was doing all this all summer long with a Fiskars Reel mower, the new orange one that came out that throws the grass forward, with NO catcher!!) Let's just say I was always mowing!! Every day, I would mow for about 1-2 hours, and use that as my exercise. After the large $$$ investment in the grass, I didn't see fit to buy a riding mower....just yet anyway. Actually, I LOVE the Fiskars mower, but I have almost an acre, and if the grass would grow more slowly, I think I'd be ok with it. So, although it greened up and took root, and was LUSH and THICK and quite possibly the prettiest grass in all of Pensacola, the down-side is that I don't think I can possibly repeat all that work again this coming summer. And the 1 other main problem I had was my own fault. On July 1st, with family/friends coming over for the July 4th weekend, I decided to cut the grass short so I wouldn't have to mow for the whole upcoming week. MAJOR MISTAKE!! I cut the 3" grass down to about 1". It looked FANTASTIC for the next week...and then, boom! It all turned brown! It took about 3 weeks for all of it to come back green again, but meanwhile, the weeds crept in, especially in the shaded areas under my 2 oak trees in the front yard. The side yards and back are in full sun, and though some weeds did get in, there aren't too many that I probably couldn't go in and hand-pull. But the weeds in the shaded area in the front yard (for all my inquisitive neighbors to gawk at) are getting worse throughout the winter and have pretty much taken over the zoysia. My question would be, when and what should I do, for either/or a pre-emergent, and/or post-emergent, even though I hate using chemicals. The alfalfa pellets were so amazing and even my roses and flowers on side beds were phenomenal, once I used alfalfa. I do have very sandy soil, and have been warned that if I ever go to using chemicals, I will kill off the GOOD nematodes, and will end up helping the BAD nematodes, and once I have the bad nematodes, this grass is pretty much a permanent bye-bye!! (Another neighbor about 10 yrs ago lost all his zoysia to bad nematodes) The only other problem I've had over the last 6 months or so, are mole hills and tunnels, and I've heard that I can use dishwashing soap in the water-sprayer to get rid of the bugs that attract the moles in the first place. I still have a bunch of mole hills/tunnels in the front yard, where there's shade and weeds. I've not really had any mole tunnels in the super sunny areas. So my questions are: 1. should I use chemicals for the weeds, and if so, what and when? 2. When should I scalp the grass this spring? And how short should I scalp it? 3. Should I keep using alfalfa, and when, and what else would help as far as fertilizer? 4. Any other thoughts?
...See More
Weeds in new sod, need help with a plan!
Q
Comments (15)
There's no crabgrass in your pictures, so don't get something specific to crabgrass...yet. That might be orchard grass or barnyard grass, but it isn't crabgrass. Crabgrass sprouts about now at the earliest and could not possibly be that tall. Besides that just doesn't look like crabgrass. Historically the advice on first fertilizer FOR BERMUDA is to apply after the second time you mow real grass, not weeds, in the spring. This is only for bermuda, because it can take it. It will speed up the normal spring flush of new growth, so get ready to mow 3x per week. The reason for not applying before the 2nd mowing is that the roots are not awake yet to take up the fertilizer. You would be wasting it. After 2 mowings the grass is fully awake. It doesn't look like the contractor rolled the sod down after laying it. Have the roots grown down into the soil? Can you lift any corners up? Is that a live oak tree in the front yard? If so the bermuda underneath will eventually die out as the tree grows up to provide lots of shade.
...See More
dchall_san_antonio
12 years ago
Candicem81, THANK YOU for doing some homework! That's great!!

Whether you need more soil is hard to answer without seeing the layout. Chances are you already have too much topsoil because, while many people topdress, hardly anyone removes any soil from their garden. Bringing in more topsoil always changes your drainage and usually that change is for the worse. I never suggest bringing in more topsoil unless you've had a wash out.

I would not put anything down first. Everything goes down on top of the new grass. That includes compost and fertilizer.

Don't fertilize for several weeks. The grass will have been recently fertilized before packing onto the trucks. If you fertilize again, you stand a good chance of over fertilizing and creating a fungal disease problem for yourself. In fact, I would not do anything except water until Memorial Day...if you lay the sod now.

Did you read enough to know that you back off on the watering once the grass is tall enough to mow? By back off, the rule is deep and infrequent. Infrequent means monthly in the cool months and weekly in the hottest heat of summer. Deeply means 1 inch, all at one time. Do not spread out your watering over the week. That is an invitation to weeds.

Mulch mow at your mower's highest setting. That should be at least 4 inches high. That's perfect. In the heat of summer, when the grass becomes stressed from the heat, stop mowing altogether for a month. Tall St Aug can withstand MUCH more heat and drought than scalped St Aug.

Hope this helps.
candicem81
Original Author
12 years ago
dchall_san_antonio,

That is pretty consistent with what I had read. I plan on having a sprinkler guy come out and take a look at all the sprinkler heads and replace them and make sure all of them are working properly, then do the tuna can thing to see how long I need to run the sprinklers to get 1 inch of water. My husband was pretty thrilled that he can mulch mow and and not go back and rake everything up! I already told him to be sure and mow once the grass gets high enough and to mow on the highest setting. I am really hoping that I do everything right and only have to do this once - I am quickly realizing that lawn guys do not make enough money for what they do! Thank you all so much for you help!

I have sprayed round up once, but it has been raining and won't stop until Monday, so I plan to rake up the dead grass with a dethatching rake, spray round up again to be sure I got it all, rake again, level a few areas using dirt from the old garden mound instead of getting new top dressing, laying the sod, renting roller and rolling the sod, then water and wait - have I missed anything?? How long should I wait before my kids can play on the newly laid sod??

Thanks again for your help! It is greatly appreciated!

-Candice

New to this and need some help - laying SA sod

Comments (4)

candicem81
Original Author

magoo1

Related Discussions

dchall_san_antonio

candicem81
Original Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

New to this and need some help - laying SA sod

Comments (4)

candicem81Original Author

magoo1

Related Discussions

dchall_san_antonio

candicem81Original Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

candicem81
Original Author

candicem81
Original Author