Was the grass rolled when laid?

I see a few future problems around the fence, shade, and buffalo grass cannot tolerate shade.

You need to check these things off your list:
Buffalo grass needs clay or loam with low fertility, and very little water.
It does very poorly in sandy, wet, fertile, alkaline soils.

So if you have sandy, wet, alkaline soils, you will have problems like you are experiencing. I would check the PH right away, because if it is high your Buffalo grass is going no where except to compost. Sorry but I cannot tell anything from the pictures, other than it looks like it was not rolled.

Keep in mind Buffalo grass is very slow to grow and establish, so if it was not rolled to make good contact with the soil, it might be dormant from thirst.

TW--I thought I'd read in the past that buffalo grass does well in alkaline soils and that is why it is so common in the west. After reading your post, I googled and found some articles saying that it does poorly in alkaline soils and others saying it thrives in neutral to alkaline soils, so now I'm not sure.

I agree with the other things you said about it. In fact, when I saw that nutrients were added, I thought there could be problems. It used to be recommended that no N be added at all, but recent research suggests that 1/2 lb to 1 lb a year can be beneficial. Any more than that can be detrimental.

I noticed that the brown spot in the last picture looks very circular. Was anything sitting on top of the grass there? Is there a bay window that is reflecting directly on it and burning it? Buffalo grass loves sun, but if you're getting a magnifying glass effect, that's a different story.

I looked at weather.com and you've already had a day that got over 100, so it should be warm enough for it.

How much did you water it? It could be overwatering that is giving it problems.

I'm concerned about a different symptom that may have something to do with the overall poor quality of the installation. Picture three shows a drop off from the concrete driveway. There should be no drop off anywhere. That is a pretty amateur mistake for a professional landscaper. Did your landscaper come with references?

Why did you pick buffalo grass? What are you going to use the area for and what are you expecting from the grass?

BP Buffalo grass is a native High Plains. High Plains soil is either clay or loam of slightly acidic to neutral. All my books echo what I said.

As for fertlizer you are absolutely right. It is not that fertlizer is bad for Buffalo grass, it is just not needed. Since it is so slow growing if you fertlize it often it allows other invasive grasses to grow and take over like Bermuda grass.

Thank you all so much for your responses. IÂll be printing them all up for my landscaper. Fortunately he guarantees his plants & grass for a year after installation.

Here are some answers now:

Texas weed:
- The grass was rolled twice.
- Thanks for the info on the shade.
- I think the problem might be too much water. IÂm going to change the sprinkler settings today.
- Noted the soil types. IÂll ask the landscaper what kind he put down.
- Will check the PH.

BpGreen:
- Thank you. I think it is getting too much water.

DChall:
- What issues do drop-offs pose to buffalograss?
- Yes, he came with two references.
- We chose buffalograss because my girlfriend loves it. No particular intended use for the grass, other than something nice to look at and a snack for our cat ;-)

Again, thank you all very much. I'm going to head down to Medina Valley Greenhouses and talk to the owners today about my quandary. Any more info is always appreciated.

I had no idea grass would be this complicated. Apparently the landscaper never laid buffalo before. If the grass dies, it'll be an expensive lesson for him since he'll have to re-plant on his nickel.