Some of the sod sat on the pallet too long and got a fungus disease. I would scatter ordinary corn meal at a rate of 20 pounds per 1,000 square feet over the entire sodded area right away. If you don't you will continue to see new grass come up in the bad areas but it will soon die. Eventually the spot will become bare. You can get corn meal at a feed store. It should cost a lot less than $10 per bag. Corn is cheap this year. You can repeat the corn in 3 weeks, but wait 3 weeks to see how it looks.

I would back all the way off on watering. St Augustine is very forgiving with watering. Once a week is likely far too much, too. Here's the full skinny 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 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.

Where do you live?

Call the guys who put the sod down and ask them to replace the dead patches. There should be no problem in having them do that.

I live in Houston, TX. The sod was cut the day before it was laid down. May I ask what indications you have that the entire yard needs to be treated with corn meal? What does corn meal do for the yard exactly?

Also, why do you think I should stop all watering? The sod has only been down for a month. Wouldn't that hinder the necessary root growth?

Wouldn't that hinder the necessary root growth?

If there's always water available at the surface then that's where the roots will grow. You don't want shallow roots. Allowing the surface to dry will stimulate the plant to grow roots downwards towards the deeper areas which still have moisture.

Everyone is going to give you a different opinion. I would ignore the Nutsage for now and focus on the grass. For 4 weeks I would think the sod should be well rooted and you would have throttled back big time on the watering. I was down to normal once a week watering on my Bermuda by 4 weeks.

We just got world record amount of rain in Houston. There's no reason you should even have your sprinkler out. With all the rain we have been getting and you continuing to water, you are doing more harm than good at this point.

I would put the sprinker up and let it dry out. Let it breathe.

Houston residents get Microlife ocean harvest & that stuff is an instant cure-all for sod. I'm in love with that stuff!

Thanks again for all your help guys! I had a couple more quick questions...

Even though the grass is on the "thin" side, it grew enough in height that I could cut it for a second time this week (6 days between mowings). I set the mower so that I only cut about a 1/2" off the top. I wanted to get it cut before this round of rain we're supposed to get this weekend and hopefully to stimulate more growth and filling out up top.

Do you guys feel its wise to keep doing this or should I let it grow more?

Secondly...as mentioned before, I've stopped all watering due to the amount of rain we've received. We had two good days (yesterday and the day before) without rain. I noticed that the blades began to fold in on themselves a little which I thought was an indication of the need for water. Having said that, I tested the soil and its pretty moist at a 6" depth and the pieces have all taken root to where I can't lift them. If we get some dry days after this rain and I see the blades folding in again, should I continue to hold off on watering and let the soil dry out even more?

Sorry for the newbie questions...just waiting for the grass scares me =D I guess it takes some experience to learn its better to give the grass what it actually needs vs. what you think it needs.

We have had ludicrous amounts of rain in Houston & they're predicting more this weekend. Your sod is getting a very strong start on life!

The blades may be folding over because they are weakened from disease. Mine were folding over with the grey leaf spot I have right now. Do the tips of the blades look scorched? It is definitely not dry even after the last two days of no rain. We have more rain in the forecast so you should not be watering.

@reeljake -- I am glad we've had plenty of rain for the new grass...I just don't want it to be riddled with disease because it can't ever dry.

@dmt4641 -- I'll look at the tips when I get back home today and see.

I did apply a healthy amount of corn meal to the yard so we'll see if that helps out.

Corn meal should help, just try to avoid chemical anti fungal unless things get really bad. St. Augustine gets a lot of fungus around here but as long as you maintain plenty of beneficial fungus & bacteria by using cornmeal or other grain based fertilizer a few times a year, it should pull thru. A light dusting of baking soda in the bad spots is another option before switching to the chemicals, but only if you're sure it's fungal problem.

A quick update...its now been 7 weeks since the sod was put down. I've had corn meal on the yard for 2 weeks. We've had little rain in that period, and I've watered once (approx 1") during that time. I haven't seen any improvement...if anything it looks a little worse. I've also been mowing he grass slightly lower and bagging the clippings to hopefully get the diseased clippings off the lawn. I really want to do everything I can to get in front of this before it destroys all of my new sod.

Could it be possible that, due to the fact that we had nearly 10" of rain two weeks after the sod was put down, the soil could be lean on nutrients which is preventing the grass from rebounding properly?

I have a 40lbs back of Microlife 6-2-4. Since this has slow release nitrogen, should I go ahead and apply the fertilizer and see if that helps at all?

Some other options would be to apply Actinovate or go with a Daconil as a chemical solution.

I can post some more pictures if that would be helpful, but the grass does look thinner.

I might put a little compost on the bad spots & see if they perk up within a week. If not, I'd run down to Houston garden & slap a fresh sod square on top of the compost layer--They're only a dollar or so per square. I'm not saying to give up though, Your methods are sound & you'll get better results once the roots have had time to develop for next season. Sometimes there's just a few bad spots that need a new skin. I only wish Bermuda sod was that easy to buy by the square!

the problem is that its not just those few bad pieces. I see what I believe to be grey leaf spot scattered throughout the yard...even in the healthier parts. I say "healthier", but everything looks much thinner than i believe it should.

That's why im so concerned...

I see, I thought it was just a few bad spots... fungus is just a fact of life with St. Aug in our humidity, so don't get too discouraged. Remember it only roots straight down & only spreads horizontally ABOVE ground. This is a big distinction & the reason I suggest giving it some dirt/compost on top to grow into. Adding to the top creates new runners better than any other method we've tried & the new runners can be guided or placed anywhere you want. However if a spot is too far gone to make any new runners, it generally needs to be replaced or covered with a new square. Microlife is a little pricey to use for this so I suggest compost.