i would ask for a full refund or have them take it all out and start over, needs to be leveled try st augustine instead or bermuda grass they are drought tolerant, warm season grasses that dont require alot of water.

Dchall thank you for responding. I'm in Richardson near Dallas. The installer told me to water everyday in the morning for two weeks 1 inch per week for an entire month. Richardson city gave me permission to do so. I've been watering since installing but it look so dried out now. It didn't look like this when it was installed but I don't know much about sod appearance especially zoysia. But I believe you're right, the sods may have been on the truck too long. I feel the installer didn't know what he was doing-not a seasoned professional.

I'm going to monitor for two more weeks cause I'm seeing some sprouts.

Hi Southern calif.

Yes I agree with you. The installer didn't level the ground or properly prep it in my opinion. This is a zoysia grass. I thought it was drought tolerant but look at how the grass looks like. So frustrating.

I'm going to wait 2 weeks to see if it can be salvaged. If not I'll ask for a refund.

Dallas is still under a water restriction so I'll look into your grass suggestion (Bermuda or St. Augustine).

It's interesting that Zoysia was chosen - from what I've heard around here, Zoysia is usually only laid down in higher-end neighborhoods with little lawn traffic. Not to say anything about your house or lawn, but I'd expect someone who's laying Zoysia sod to know not to have seams line up and know to level the yard.

Might be a pain, but I agree with previous poster - call landscaper and ask for a refund. Probably won't get it, but they'll most likely agree to come out and re-do it.

Zoysia is getting popular because of the drought tolerance from what I heard. Dallas has been in a perpetual severe drought for almost two years. Not as bad as California now but it's bad. Maybe the reason zoysia variety is going beyond higher end neighborhoods. I don't know about grass variety.

I looked up how it's supposed to be applied and that doesn't look like a staggering brickwork. I'm not really knowledgeable about seams.

I have called the installer and he'll asses this week. If there's no recovery in a couple of weeks I'm going to request a refund or have them redo it

mcv11, honestly just get the refund dont have them redo it you'll prob get same result. How much did they charge for that job? Hire a professional landscaper instead, I've never seen a new lawn look like that.

Southern_cal He didn't charge much. But I realize that error now. :-/

Just to clarify, you used something like cups or a rain gauge to confirm at you were watering enough?

Is the soil moist underneath the sod if you lift a few pieces up?

Zoysia is drought tolerant. So is bermuda. Normally St Augustine does not tolerate drought.

Now let me explain what that means to the lawn owner. If you stop watering and it does not rain, both zoysia and bermuda will brown out but come back to life when it rains again. Normally (meaning when you mow it below 4-5 inches(!)), St Augustine will die off unless it gets water every month. In some climates and soils, like Las Vegas, it will not survive a few weeks without water. HOWEVER, if you want any of those grasses to look green in the summer, you will need to water them about 1 inch per week when the temps are in the 90s. So if you were expecting to install zoysia in Richardson and never have to water it, that's incorrect.

I have experimented with the idea that deep rooted grasses will tolerate heat and drought much better. I have a lawn in George West, Texas (on the east edge of the desert). I moved in back in September of 2011 and immediately stopped mowing the St Augustine. In addition I went from watering 3x per week to only watering the parts of the lawn that looked wilty. There is one part of that lawn under a tree on the east side of the house which has not been watered one time since 2011. The grass is 32 inches tall. It is in full shade 100% of the time due to the tree and house to the west. It survived the 2012 drought and the 2014 drought until the semi-weekly rains returned late last fall. So to make the blanket statement that St Augustine is not drought tolerant does not capture the entirety of the subject. I have further experimented with that lawn at different heights. I'm fairly convinced that 9-12 inches is a great height to maintain St Augustine. That height will allow you to water very minimally. The hardest part about that height is that no mower will mow at 12 inches. I use a string trimmer. If you had a small area, that would be no problem at all.

Bringing all this back to you, your zoysia will recover if you do nothing but water it. Sure they did a poor job installing the sod, but they didn't kill it.

My first choice for Richardson would be St Augustine. Second choice would be bermuda. A distant third would be zoysia. In fact I might try a prairie grass like hybrid buffalo or mix of wheatgrasses before I went with zoysia.

Thank you dchall. I'm glad you posted this info. I'm doing the waiting game right now and yes I have been religiously watering. If it doesn't work out I'm probably redo it and personally select Bermuda sods. I'm just furious. I didn't know how sods are planted and now look how lumpy my yard. An expensive in imo mistake in allowing inexperienced people to apply the sods this way.

Grasshole yes I have the correct measurements. I have tried to lift the sods but majority are stuck to the soil below. It's getting ample water.