Skoot_cat, As far as fertilizer goes... I brought in about two inches of compost when I tilled and leveled the yard prior to laying the sod. I also put down Scotts starter fertilizer per the instructions on the bag. Since then, I've decided to try the organic approach since I have a dog, a 2 year-old, and a 5 year-old. This past weekend, I spread soybean meal at the rate of 20# per thousand square feet. I had already considered putting a light layer of compost on the dead spots. I was just concerned between that, and the layer of dead grass, the new growth beneath might become smothered. Thanks for everyone's replies. I'll keep you posted and post pics if I ever get around to taking some. (And morpheus, how is the new front yard going? I was really enjoying your post along the lines of, "Now the Nervousness Begins," but it seemed to have died. I haven't had a chance to browse around and see if you had any updates on the progress.)

You could do 50/50 of soybean meal and alfalfa pellets (not meal) at the rate of 30lbs per 1000 sqft to feed the microherd in the soil. You will have to spread each separately with rotary spreader. Use the highest setting for alfalfa pellets and probably halfway between highest and lowest for soybean meal. Do you have ortho-dial? You could get unsulfured blackstrap molasses and APPLE VINEGAR (not the fake one). again 50/50 at the rate of 4oz per 1000 sqft after you've spread soybean meal and alfalfa pellets. Mow at the highest setting. Water deeply whenever large area are wilting. Try to go as long as you can between watering.

On a cloudy morning take another picture or two. Get down so you're camera lens is 3 inches away from the grass blades and take a picture of the blades where they are turning from green to brown. I strongly suspect the grass was flooded and you have a disease. Some diseases can be treated with ordinary corn meal. I suspect yours is caused by flooding and will require a chemical fungicide. Post the new pictures and we can tell more. New Orleans, with highs in the low 90s, is more humid than hot. While it might be the most uncomfortable place in the US, the grass doesn't see it that way. Phoenix, at 115 degrees, is hot. The big difference is you don't get nearly enough evaporation in NO to justify watering so much to saturate the soil. All that you needed was to keep the surface of the underlying soil moist so the roots would grow down into it. Watering 3x per day, 5 minutes at a time, for a total of 15 minutes per day would have been more in the ballpark. Is there any chance the place you took the picture of is a low spot where there is standing water? Once the sod is knit to the ground, you can back way off on the frequency and go deeper. Here is a lot more on watering for mature grass. 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 daytime air 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. With new bermuda or St Augustine sod, you can start treating it like mature turf much sooner than they do with the grasses in the north. I would transition as quickly as possible to watering 1/2 inch every 3-4 days until the temps drop back into the mid to low 80s. Then go to 1/2 inch per week and see if you can go to 1 inch all at once every 2 weeks.

You may have had bugs. Something at the root it appears. There are several. Clemson and several schools publish articles on the grass care.