link to bad patch pic http://picasaweb.google.com/jack.s1234/20090503#5333586449333305522 link to good patch pic http://picasaweb.google.com/jack.s1234/20090503#5333585992825297554 Link to closeup http://picasaweb.google.com/jack.s1234/20090508#5333590141666111202

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?

Looks perfectly normal for new sod to me. You should be watering it for 5-10 minutes, 3x per day (breakfast, lunch, and dinner time). It only needs enough water to keep the underlying soil moist at the surface. After a week test a corner of a piece of sod to see if it is knitting down into the soil. If you cannot lift the corner, then it will be time to back off on the frequency and water for longer times. Eventually for new sod in the summer you will be watering a full 1/2-inch, twice a week. More on watering established turf at the bottom of this reply. If the installer did not roll down the sod, then you should walk on it, every inch of it, to ensure you have good sod-to-soil contact. Roots will not grow through the air to reach the soil. Walking on it will press it down. As you're walking on it, if the soil feels soft or squishy under your feet, get off of it and let it dry out first. It should be fairly firm underfoot if you're watering right. Something else you can do this time of year to help green it up is to apply organic fertilizer. It's too hot for chemical fertilizer, but organic will be fine. We like to use animal feed fertilizers like soybean meal, corn meal, alfalfa pellets (rabbit chow), corn gluten meal, or Milorganite. These all go down at 15 pounds per 1,000 square feet. They do not interact with chemical fertilizers, so you can use them now even if the contractor used a starter fertilizer. Watering for established lawns: Deep and infrequent is the mantra for watering. This is for all turf grass all over the place. Deep means 1 inch all at one time. Put some cat food or tuna cans around the yard, and time how long it takes your sprinkler(s) to fill all the cans. Memorize that time. That will be the time you water from now on. My hose, sprinkler and water pressure takes 8 full hours to fill the cans. Your time will likely be less. I like gentle watering. As for watering frequency, that depends on the daytime air temperature. With temps in the 90s, deep water once per week. With temps in the 80s, deep water once every 2 weeks. With temps in the 70s, deep water once every 3 weeks. With temps below 70, deep water once a month. Note that you have to keep up with quickly changing temps in the spring and fall. This deep and infrequent schedule works in Phoenix and in Vermont, so it should work for you. The reason for deep and infrequent is to grow deeper, more drought resistant roots and to allow the soil to dry completely at the surface for several days before watering again. If it rains, reset your calendar to account for the rainfall.

Bermuda does not turn brown due to shade. It thins out and the soil looks brown, but the grass itself still struggles. Besides that, Celebration is supposed to be more shade tolerant than the other varieties. I'm going with overwatering. I assume the sod is knit down to the underlying sand. Try to lift a corner of the sod. With sand you can always lift some but you're looking for a firm tug to get it up. If it peels up like a carpet, like no roots have formed into the underlying sand, then you have a problem there. The sod never rooted. With the water you gave it there should be full, rooted, connection to the soil/sand. Once the sod is connected you can back off on watering exactly like you already have. But you did not go far enough in backing off. Do you know how much water your sprinklers put out? At this point you should be putting out no more than 1 inch per week. I would back it off to 1 inch every 3 weeks applied all at one time. Measure 1 inch by setting out several cat food or tuna cans and turning on the sprinklers. Time how long it takes to fill all the cans. Mine takes 8 hours but I had a neighbor whose high flow system filled them in 20 minutes. Every sprinkler system will be different. Once you have the time to fill, use that time every time you water. Here's more on watering. Watering: Deep and infrequent is the mantra for watering. This is for all turf grass all over the place. Deep means 1 inch all at one time. Put some cat food or tuna cans around the yard, and time how long it takes your sprinkler(s) to fill all the cans. Memorize that time. That will be the time you water from now on. My hose, sprinkler and water pressure takes 8 full hours to fill the cans. Your time will likely be less. I like gentle watering. As for watering frequency, that depends on the daytime air temperature. With temps in the 90s, deep water once per week. With temps in the 80s, deep water once every 2 weeks. With temps in the 70s, deep water once every 3 weeks. With temps below 70, deep water once a month. Note that you have to keep up with quickly changing temps in the spring and fall. This deep and infrequent schedule works in Phoenix and in Vermont, so it should work for you. The reason for deep and infrequent is to grow deeper, more drought resistant roots and to allow the soil to dry completely at the surface for several days before watering again. If it rains, reset your calendar to account for the rainfall.