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mike_oliver39

St. Augustine sod job going bad again - Photos

Mike Oliver
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago


Hello, I live in Florida and I am in a battle with my bak yard. Me, my landscaper and my lawn treatment guy are trying to figure out what exactly keeps making my St. Augustine sod start off great and then thin out and die after a month. The first job was extremely overwatered based on what the sod company told me to do and it drowned. I then did a soil test and it came back ok.

We then started checking the moisture and we realized my drainage is horrible. I could water it for 30 minutes and it would remain at a 10 for days in Florida summer heat. The surface would be dried out, but the soil meter took 8-10 days to get down to mid range of 5 or so with no additional rain or watering.
This last batch we put down 4 weeks ago started off great and rooted in 2 weeks with Scott's starter fertilizer, and 15 minutes of watering a day the first week, and then 15 minutes every other day, and now 15 minutes 2 times a week. The moisture meter on this regimen still hangs at around 7-10 at any given time. The day after the sod was installed my lawn guy applied the anti-fungal and insecticide.

We did a test yesterday and it said it is extremely alkaline, reading out at a 8+ everywhere. My treatment guy plans to add iron sulfate tomorrow and we will see if that helps.
Can anyone think another reason it starts off great, it is thick, green, soft and then it starts to thin out and get really patchy. Now there are some sod pieces that are 75% dead looking with random healthy grass sticking out of them. Any ideas what the heck we are doing wrong? I can not afford to replace it again and I am hoping we can bring it back. Attached is a photo showing the sod at 2 and 4 weeks. Thank you.

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