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New sod installed over 40% dead or dying

18 years ago

I had new fescue sod installed, supposedly the soil was prepped over 3" with topsoil etc. I water regularly a couple times a day since I live in a extremely hot and dry area in southern california. The lawn looked great for about a week and a half then it began to turn brown in large sections. The browning is entire pieces of sod dying in rows. What if anything can I do to try and save whats left of my lawn ? and how do I patch the dead areas with-out tearing it all out and starting from scratch ? I'm under the gun with my HOA over the brown grass.

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Comments (3)

yarddoctor
18 years ago
Dear Paz.

Thank you very much for your inquiry. The first thing I would do is to look under the brown areas. Is it wet or dry? How does it compare to the areas that are still green? Something is obviously different and you need to be a detective and figure it out. If the watering is with an underground system, the coverage of the water would be a likely suspect.

Can you send a picture? We can do this together.

Again, thanks for the question and let me know if you have more.

Respectfully

Trey Rogers, The Briggs & Stratton Yard Doctor, YardDoctor.com
reedyj_hotmail_com
17 years ago
I am in the exact same boat as Paz... Hot So Cal, Sod looked great, and now it's browning - quickly. I watered like crazy at first - 3 times a day, then 2x a day for next week, then daily for a week, and then every other day - "deep watering" each time. Since it started browning, I cranked the water back up and still getting worse.

Well prepped soil, starter fertilizer and put regular grass fertilizer after a month ( per sod company's instructions.)

Help! I can't afford to redo!
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ositamom_yahoo_com
16 years ago
similar problem here- not 40% YET! our sod began drying/dying from a very small patch and is spreading... over the past 1 1/2 weeks, doubled in size. all other sod in yard is lush, growing healthy. fertilized/watered per directions. dug dead area for grubs- no sign. purchased 'seven-5' and contemplating this treatment but without signs of grubs, don't want to if unnecessary. have photos- please help

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