New Bermuda sod going yellowish brown after 2 weeks

9 years ago

So brand new to this forum. I was looking at old postings but could not find a direct answer. I just had a house built. A bermuda grass was used in the rear. The installer also installed a type of polyemer that helps retain mostiure. I have been watering it to his schedule. Every other day for about a half hour (using a wand style hose sprinkler). The Sod was really green at first but now it is starting to go yellowish brown. I have two squares that I know pretty much died although some green is coming through again. I spent money to get this done and I have never dealt with sod (first new house). I did not do an automatic sprinkler because my yard is way to small. The parts that the wand cannot get too I water by hand. Does grass go into shock like this since it was dug up then put back down and rolled? I can post pics in a little bit as I assume that would help. I have pulled up corners and the soild benith the sod is moiste and there are roots coming through, not many but roots are coming throught the sod.

Second question, the builder did the front yard and did the single most grayish sod ever. Not one spec of green. I complained, they now tell me they will install new grass but after watering it for 2 weeks green is coming through. I spent money to get the front pulled (next day after initiall install) to get the polyemer applied. Should I just keep going with this crap they gave me or should I just say install new stuff?

I have tried calling the the land scapper but he does not really contact me back, first because I don't think he likes me and secondly he did tell me he is know going through a family issue. Any help would be great!

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Comments (13)

rager_w
9 years ago
The good news is that tan Bermuda is simply just dormant. Its not abnormal after laying new sod. Gray is bad, usually means dead. The pic shows when I installed a pallet of TifGrand. It now looks really good.

If you're not getting rain, you really should be watering a couple times a day until it roots. You could apply some root stimulator, but that's $$$.
Vandy58
Original Author
9 years ago
Here is a pic, more coming
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Since zygolia is not a word in the English language, and since RTF is associated with fescue, I'm going to assume this is fescue because you have too much shade for anything else except St Augustine - and this isn't that. Apparently your sprinkler puts out way more water than your sod installer was expecting. The idea of watering new sod is to just keep it moist, not to make it soggy. Try running the sprinklers for 3 minutes, 2x per day for a couple days to let the soil dry out some. It should be moist but not soggy. I'm guessing the wall with the fireplace on it faces west. That would account for the dead looking grass up against the hot wall. Where do you live in California? Please be specific - SoCal is not nearly specific enough.
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There is a gents named texasweed who is a retired sod farmer and lurks the board. I used his method when I had bermuda sod laid twice. It definitely appears to be under watered. I'm not sure it's to late, but maybe he will jump in and give his opinion now. -The area should have been moistened up before the sod arrived. -Once installed, a deep watering to about 6" -Then 2 to 6 times a day (I did 6) moderately to keep soil moist -After 2 weeks, check that the grass is "rooting" by pulling around the lawn. Back off watering to do the first mow. -Then water about 3X's per week in the morning for 2 weeks deeply as you are now trying to drive the roots deeper. -After that, deeply once a week. It worked perfectly for me.
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Agree. I'm 99.9999999999% sure you have Tif 419. It is the most affordable turf in the industry and is used by contractors and landscapers all over the South. I'd change the watering to 10 minutes. About all you have to do is keep the top inch cool - not saturated by any means. Once the sod has knit into the soil below, you're off to the races. Don't judge anything until you have that accomplished, you start backing way off on water, and get some fertilizer down. Eventually you'll be watering about an inch all at one time. Measure that with cat food or tuna cans to find out how long it takes your sprinkler system to put out that much water. Some do it in 20 minutes and some take 8 hours. You need to know that. In the cool months you'll only need to water once a month. In the warm months you'll be watering weekly. Drop your mower one notch every week and mow it every other day. After a week drop it one more notch. You will scalp just a little off each time. Bermuda grows blades out from stems. When you mow down below the stems, it looks scalped. But it IS bermuda. It comes right back. By the time you get to the bottom notch, it will have cooled off enough that the lowest setting is the one to keep. If you want it to look much nicer, get a reel type mower and set that down to 1/2 inch. At that point it no longer grows stemmy. It takes on a completely different growth habit called prostrate. At that point it becomes the coolest carpet of grass ever. Picture a putting green. I would wait to fertilize with chemicals until you have the grass mowed down all the way. Why? No real reason other than to give it that extra time to knit into the soil. In the mean time you can use organic fertilizer. Which ever one you choose, start at about 10 pounds per 1,000 square feet. Then in a month you can up that to 20 pounds and then up to 30 or more if you like and can afford it. Bermuda can take 50 pounds per month if you can do that. Most people opt for chemical fertilizers to simplify the fertilizing.
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I did roll the sod after laying it. That's good for the sod, but if you were thinking that would help with the leveling, it's still going to settle for 3 years. I see the low spot fairly well. When you fill that with sand, if you want a faster recovery, be sure to use a broom or rake to lift the grass blades up through the sand. I've seen hybrid bermuda lawns smothered and not recover for 2 years after covering with ... compost! Nobody would predict that, but it was right around the corner from me. They've since converted to St Augustine. Dry edges on a roll of sod is not unusual. It will recover.
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Vandy58
Original Author
9 years ago
This is the front! Believe it or not there is more green then two weeks ago!! Thanks for the reply already! What do you think with the pics?
jacksnife
9 years ago
What do you think with the pics?

My first thought was, did they roll it? then I thought what a nice job they did laying it out... surely these were pro's and they must have rolled it good. The my final thought is that it's thirsty and needs water more often (not to be confused with more water)

This post was edited by jacksnife on Thu, May 9, 13 at 22:17
texas_weed
9 years ago
Where are you at in TX? What I see is dormant Bermuda. North TX has the coldest spring on record and many parts the Bermuda has not woke up from its winter slumber.
Vandy58
Original Author
9 years ago
@texas weed I am in Austin. Apparently the first pallet was even worse, this was the better one! We are getting a lot of rain today and tomorrow so I will see what it looks like in the next couple of days

As to watering more often I cannot for two reasons, first I work as does my wife, second and more importantly Austin is in a sever drought right now with insane water restrictions. With new sod I get some exceptions but not a lot! As it stands I can only water every other day for 1 more week then it is 2x a week for a couple of weeks then I am on full restriction. Every Sunday before 10am OR after 7:00pm. That is why Bermuda is now the only grass to code. No more st. Augustine.
texas_weed
9 years ago
Austin should be pretty well greened up. Do the restrictions allow hand watering with a hose? If so all you need is enough to keep the sod moist.
Vandy58
Original Author
9 years ago
I can hand water, which I tried a couple of days ago and things did get greener so I am sure that is it!

Do you think that front is in remission? It was worse then that when they installed!
dchall_san_antonio
9 years ago
Get a programmable Orbit hose timer. It's the one that takes batteries - about $32 on Amazon.

Your water restrictions are plenty sane. In San Antonio we are limited to 7 hours per week all on one day, and my St Aug is doing great...with the timer.

We've heard that the rest of the cities in Texas are looking at San Antonio as the model for good water restrictions. Ours are supposed to become a little more realistic so you don't have to be up at 3am to start your watering. That part of the program necessitated the use of something programmable. But they are doing away with that. Don't know what the final changes will be.
texas_weed
9 years ago
If you see green, there is hope.
Vandy58
Original Author
9 years ago
Kind of funny, after all this rain the past two days the back has gone very green and the front has even more green! So looks like it was just water!

I will get one of those hose timers!

When can you start mowing sod? The front was really long when installed and I am not sure if that slows down the growing process with Bermuda? I am from Colorado so I know Kentucky blue not Bermuda
lou_spicewood_tx
9 years ago
Bermuda does not tolerate late mowing very well. Have to mow consistently to keep it looking decent. If you wait too long and it gets too tall, you end up with brown spots after mowing. St Augustine grass is much more tolerant on that. It's kind of dumb that 'Floratam' cultivar is not allowed considering that it is very drought hardy. Zoysia 'Palisades' would have been better choice than bermuda for it's shade tolerance if you have trees. Look for Texas Weed's Bermuda Bible on how to care for bermuda. Kinda demanding if you want it to look decent.
Vandy58
Original Author
9 years ago
So mow after a few weeks? Week three starts this week

New Bermuda sod going yellowish brown after 2 weeks

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New Bermuda sod going yellowish brown after 2 weeks

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