Well that certainly is West Texas. I lived in Plainview north of Lubbock for awhile and they referred to their location as West Texas. Okay... Despite what the promotional material says, I believe your grass is better adapted to the cooler temps and rich soil of the Panhandle than it is to the heat and rubble soil of El Paso. It will be interesting to see how much water it takes to keep it alive. As for getting it established, squishy seems like an awful lot of moisture. This seems to be the year of the rototiller. Where did you get that advice? Generally rototilling is not a good idea for grass. As the fluffed up soil forms a new structure, it will settle unevenly leaving you with a bumpy surface. Wait a full three years before you level it. It takes that long to form a structure. The tilled in compost adds a complexity factor to the way it ultimately will settle. That compost will "evaporate" completely leaving zero residual volume. Same for the peat moss. What I would have done to prep it would have been to ensure the drainage was good by scraping off surface soil, filling low spots, and then putting down the sod. I'm truly anxious to see how this goes. I can't remember anyone from Texas with Reveille turf writing in, so that must mean they don't have any problems with it.

Looks like there's a fungal issue.

If you're watering the plant "when the top soil feels a bit dry", you're over-watering. Try monitoring soil moisture levels like this: Over-watering saps vitality and is one of the most common plant assassins, so learning to avoid it is worth the small effort. Plants make and store their own energy source – photosynthate - (sugar/glucose). Functioning roots need energy to drive their metabolic processes, and in order to get it, they use oxygen to burn (oxidize) their food. From this, we can see that terrestrial plants need air (oxygen) in the soil to drive root function. Many off-the-shelf soils hold too much water and not enough air to support good root health, which is a prerequisite to a healthy plant. Watering in small sips leads to a build-up of dissolved solids (salts) in the soil, which limits a plant's ability to absorb water – so watering in sips simply moves us to the other horn of a dilemma. It creates another problem that requires resolution. Better, would be to simply adopt a soil that drains well enough to allow watering to beyond the saturation point, so we're flushing the soil of accumulating dissolved solids whenever we water; this, w/o the plant being forced to pay a tax in the form of reduced vitality, due to prolong periods of soil saturation. Sometimes, though, that's not a course we can immediately steer, which makes controlling how often we water a very important factor. In many cases, we can judge whether or not a planting needs watering by hefting the pot. This is especially true if the pot is made from light material, like plastic, but doesn't work (as) well when the pot is made from heavier material, like clay, or when the size/weight of the pot precludes grabbing it with one hand to judge its weight and gauge the need for water. Fingers stuck an inch or two into the soil work ok for shallow pots, but not for deep pots. Deep pots might have 3 or more inches of soil that feels totally dry, while the lower several inches of the soil is 100% saturated. Obviously, the lack of oxygen in the root zone situation can wreak havoc with root health and cause the loss of a very notable measure of your plant's potential. Inexpensive watering meters don't even measure moisture levels, they measure electrical conductivity. Clean the tip and insert it into a cup of distilled water and witness the fact it reads 'DRY'. One of the most reliable methods of checking a planting's need for water is using a 'tell'. You can use a bamboo skewer in a pinch, but a wooden dowel rod of about 5/16” (75-85mm) would work better. They usually come 48” (120cm) long and can usually be cut in half and serve as a pair. Sharpen all 4 ends in a pencil sharpener and slightly blunt the tip so it's about the diameter of the head on a straight pin. Push the wooden tell deep into the soil. Don't worry, it won't harm the root system. If the plant is quite root-bound, you might need to try several places until you find one where you can push it all the way to the pot's bottom. Leave it a few seconds, then withdraw it and inspect the tip for moisture. For most plantings, withhold water until the tell comes out dry or nearly so. If you see signs of wilting, adjust the interval between waterings so drought stress isn't a recurring issue. Al

Awesome! I'm glad everything worked out and the lawn looks great. Yep, it's time for a good (organic) feeding if you have one and your sod is going to be very hungry all fall, so you can drop monthly right up to October 1 if you want and if it's warm enough to be out. The long-range says it should be, but... In mid-late October or November, give it a good synthetic fertilizer whenever your last mow is to get it through the winter and encourage it to get up early next spring. It won't interact with the organics, and any organics that are left next spring will keep decaying at that point at a really low level. Then feed well in late May with whatever you want after the spring flush of growth is long over and you'll be set for summer. While watering next summer is technically optional...I would, at least enough to keep it out of full dormancy. That lawn is kind of young. You don't have to go into hysterics about it, just try to keep it from looking like a hay field. If it's patchy hay, that's fine. Basically, something that looked like mine this summer would be more than sufficient--heavily stressed, but kind of awake. You can actually go considerably further than this and let more slide dormant if you wish.