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How to plant St. Augustine sod?

15 years ago

Hi,

My landscaper installed St. Augustine sod this weekend. I'm concerned that he did not install it correctly because it is starting to turn brown over about 40% of the yard. My landscaper had the yard scraped with a tractor and then he laid the sod on top of the dirt. My landscaper did not use a lawn starter, till the yard, or use a roller after installation. Is that an issue/concern?

Thanks,

Jerry

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Comments (5)

skoot_cat
15 years ago
Sound like they did everything correct, expect roll after the installation.

Have you watered it since it was installed?
texasjerry
Original Author
15 years ago
Hi,

The landscaper set my sprinklers for 20 minutes per day and said that would be sufficient. I doubted that, after the second day of browning, and increased it to 60 minutes per day and the yard is now saturated.

Should I roll it when the sod is saturated or do I need to let it dry some beforehand?

Thanks,
Jerry
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Willy for some reason your other post has the comments turned off. You might want to repost. I have let St Augustine grow up to 32 inches high, which seems to be the limit of growth. Then I "mowed" it back down with a string trimmer and kept it at 12 inches tall with a string trimmer. So there is nothing going to happen if the grass gets too tall. The taller it is the deeper the roots go. The deeper the roots go the less irrigation you need to apply. My tall grass St Aug went for 36 months with no irrigation, and it looked fine(ish) through all the droughts we had. As soon as the rains came again the grass, of course, perked up. The point is the taller it is the better it will make it through the summer. I just trimmed my current lawn down to get the few pieces of weed stems out, but I tried not to cut the actual grass. This is on a south facing slope in the heat of Texas, so I'm trying to keep it alive with once a week watering allowed around here. It looks very good considering the situation. I attribute that to the length. So you can mow if you want to. If you decide not to mow right now, then when you finally do mow, bring it down by about 1/3 with a string trimmer for your first cut. Give it a couple days to rest and regrow, then bring it down to the final height or by another 1/3 if the grass got pretty tall. Then mow at the mower's highest setting all the time. There is never any reason to mow St Aug at any other setting.
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I don't disagree with Barb - the more prep you can do the better. But, when our St. Augustine was laid 25 years ago, it was done much the same as you describe. Our lot had already been graded down to the clay for the build of the house, and all they did was use a rake to loosen the top 1/4(?)" or so. No amendments, no nothing. It didn't seem to be a problem, the grass grew fine, although with no good soil we had to water an awfully lot. The next year we aerated the soil and added a compost and top soil mixture as a top dressing and that helped retain moisture better. Even if you aren't into organics, it might be a good idea for a year or 2 to make 1 or 2 applications per year of an organic fertilizer containing molasses. Both products will help with microbial activity in the soil to help improve tilth. You will probably be ok. If they quoted you a price and didn't indicate they would do soil prep and you didn't ask, you probably won't be able to get them back to redo.
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Only if it's dry. It's certainly optimal not to allow the grass blades to stay consistently wet, but it's absolutely critical that the sod stay moist for the first few weeks until it roots solidly (then back off watering slowly to give the roots time to adjust and grow in). So in a balance between the two, if the sod is dry, it must be watered regardless of the time of day. If moist, water at another time and try to go into the night-time period with dry blades. But realize you're going to end up with dew in all likelihood anyway and, frankly, a lot of the ballyhoo about wet grass is mostly applicable to very hot weather and consistently watering at night. Which you clearly have no plans to do. :-) I'll tell you a secret. You know, just between us here on the Internet, nobody else will see. :-) I water at night because the Sun is down, the winds are low to zero, and evaporation is near-zero. But since I'm only watering every fifteen days--absolute maximum (I actually watered exactly once in 2019)--I'm risking exactly nothing in terms of fungal disease on my lawn. It simply doesn't happen often enough to matter and I've established deep enough roots for my lawn to take care of itself (bluegrass, in Pennsylvania, a very different prospect to yours). It's not the fact of doing so that matters. It's the frequency.
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skoot_cat
15 years ago
The roller is only 1 part of the problem.

First you need to adjust your irrigation schedule. For the first few weeks you want to keep your sod moist not saturated. Lets assume your sod was laid today.

Week 1-2 - Irrigate 3 times a day with 1/4" of water.(Early morning 5-6am, noon, and early evening 5-6pm)

Week 3 - Irrigate 2 times a day with 1/4" of water. (early morning and late after noon 3-4pm)

Week 4 - Irrigate 1 time a day with 1/2" of water.(early morning)

Week 5 - Irrigate every other day with 3/4-1" of water(early morning)

Week 6 and ongoing water Once, but no more than twice a week with 3/4 to 1" of water.

To determine the amount of water your irrigation system is applying you need to calibrate your sprinkler system, which is very easy. Link below.

If you can rent a roller, do it tonight. Lightly water the lawn for about 15-20mins first. You dont want the sod/soil to be saturated, just moist. Fill the roller 1/2 to no more than 3/4 full. Go over the entire lawn, making only 1 pass with the roller in a slow to moderate pace. Be careful when making turns, it will tear up new sod.

As for fertilizer: Its not necessary at this time, but if you wanted to you could safely apply Milorganite 6-2-0 at or slightly below the recommended rate. Then, in November apply another dose of fertilizer with as close to equal amount of potassium as nitrogen. ex. 20-0-18 No phosphorus is need at this time.

Here is a link that might be useful: How to calibrate your sprinkler
texas_weed
15 years ago
Every thing was right except rolling and you water schedule. Soak it and keep it moist for 3 weeks.
texasjerry
Original Author
15 years ago
Hi,

Thanks for the help... it's most appreciated!

Take care,
Jerry

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