Month old sod turning brown
Yardley
11 years ago
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jdo053103
11 years agolast modified: 9 years agoYardley
11 years agolast modified: 9 years agoRelated Discussions
New sod turning brown
Comments (2)I would water 15 minutes at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Watering in the middle of the day will not burn the grass. It will cool the grass. Water like that for a month. Then start to back off on the frequency and increase the duration until you are more toward once per week for 45 minutes to an hour (approximately 1 inch of water per week - all at one time). Are you sure the spot in the middle is not a low spot? If water is puddling under the sod, you might have a disease problem under there. Is there an obvious crown in the middle or could it be low? Not rolling may have been a mistake. Rolling is the most important thing to do once sod is down. YES! Walk all over it especially if it was not rolled down. Don't play soccer on it but walk on it....See MoreNew Sod Laid - Turning Brown after 2 days. (Help!)
Comments (5)If you are watering 3x per day for about 5 minutes each time, then you are watering properly. Recently someone wrote in who was told to water 3x per day 45 minutes each time. I wrote back to say it was probably 3x per day 4 to 5 minutes each time. Big difference. Do you know how long the sod sat on the pallet before putting it on the ground? And I'm confused about the topsoil, too. Why did you need topsoil at all?...See MoreNew Sod - 1rst Mowing, Turned Brown
Comments (2)Do you have a pic? That might help. What I've noticed, if you let grass grow too long and then cut it, you get brown spots. You might need to keep up with more frequent watering. It takes time for the sod to grow deep roots to be able to handle infrequent watering. Also, was the soil properly prepared before they laid the sod?...See More3 month old St. Augustine sod dying
Comments (11)Barry I'm so glad you bumped this back up. Not sure how I missed it (repeatedly), but I disagree with much of what has been said. I don't mean to confuse you, but differing opinions usually do, so sorry in advance. St Aug should be very easy to grow in Houston. It will plow over under around and through any other grassy plants you might get including bermuda. All you have to do is mow it at the mower's highest setting every week or two. Currently it looks like you're mowing at the lowest setting. St Aug never needs to be mowed at anything lower than the highest setting. Some riding mowers will go up to 6 inches and some only go to 2-3 inches. If you're mowing at the mower's high setting now, you need a different mower. St Aug can grow up to 32 inches high and look fantastic (if you like the flowing wheat look). The taller it is the deeper the root system it gets and the (MUCH) better drought resistance you get. There is the occasional weed that will get into a thin spot, but usually you can spot spray those out with atrazine. How many thousand square feet do you have to mow? This looks below average for a new lawn, but when the lawn is so big, anything can happen. The big problem is mowing too low, but it does look like the sod went in with some bit of fungal disease. The 3rd to last picture shows some fungal lesions. I have been using ordinary corn meal to take care of fungal disease in St Aug for the past 13 years. It works for me every time. The application rate is 20 pounds per 1,000 square feet. I get it at the local feed store. It takes 3 weeks to see an improvement, but since you've already applied a chemical fungicide, corn meal won't work. Chinch bugs? You absolutely cannot see them from a photo. However, you can wipe your hand across the surface then they will flick up in the air. Put a piece of paper down and see if you can flick them up on it. There are some good YouTube videos showing how to do that. They hit the hottest part of the soil first, so that's usually next to asphalt or concrete. Then almost never begin in the middle of the yard unless you have watering issues. The first place to check would be in your last photo. And just because you might have one insect pest does not automatically make you a candidate for the full catalog of insects. And don't apply insecticide because you see bugs. Insects are not only normal, they're required for healthy soil and turf. You do have watering issues. I assume for such a large lot you have a system in the ground. It needs to be tuned up, because it is missing spots. Place some tuna or cat food cans around in the dry spots and in the green spots. Then time how long it takes to fill the cans. Some high flow systems can fill them in 20 minutes, so keep an eye on them. But some of your cans are going to be pretty dry for a long time. Eventually you want them all to fill at about the same time. Then use the time it takes to fill them as your new watering time for every zone. That's 1 inch of water. The idea is to apply a full inch all at one time. Then wait until the grass is ready for the next drink. Generally speaking when the temps are in the 90s, water once per week. With temps in the 80s water once every 2 weeks, temps in the 70s water every 3 weeks, and once a month the rest of the year. This also promotes deep roots. You don't have clay soil. You might not have perfect soil, but clay is not the issue. Usually the problem is a salt imbalance that causes soil to act like clay. Even sand can act like clay. If you really want to know all about your soil, send a sample to Logan Labs (not TAMU). For $25 they will send you a detailed report. Post that report here and morpheuspa will read it for you telling you what you need to apply, where to find it, how much, when, and how. That's another $200 value for free. Fertilize in May, late September, and again in late November. Don't try to jump the gun in the spring. If you want info on organic lawn care, let me know. I think you should, but not everyone agrees. If you go to a full chemical program, then I would suggest at least once a year to use an organic fertilizer (ordinary corn meal, again) to keep your soil biology happy. So in the long run, taking care of St Aug is easy. You water it depending on the temperature, mow at the highest setting, and fertilize 3x per year. If you do these simple things, you should never need herbicide, insecticide, or fungicide. If you see weeds in the early spring, don't use a weed-n-feed. Use a herbicide with atrazine. Read the label 2x and follow the directions carefully. Photo tip: Take garden pictures on a cloudy day to minimize contrast between bright and shadow....See Moretiemco
11 years agolast modified: 9 years agograsshole
11 years agolast modified: 9 years agoYardley
11 years agolast modified: 9 years agoYardley
11 years agolast modified: 9 years agoYardley
11 years agolast modified: 9 years agoYardley
11 years agolast modified: 9 years agodchall_san_antonio
11 years agolast modified: 9 years agoYardley
11 years agolast modified: 9 years agotiemco
11 years agolast modified: 9 years agoYardley
11 years agolast modified: 9 years agolittlesprouts
11 years agolast modified: 9 years ago
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