I believe Floratam gets that coloration when it is very healthy and in FULL SUN. Your grass is not looking healthy and not in full sun. I would apply 2 pounds per 100 square feet of any dry dog or cat food to that area, wait 3 full weeks, and then look for the colors in the grass. Dry pet food is a great organic fertilizer. The only reason I don't use it all the time is it costs too much. I had a problem with my dog's food getting moldy. I kept dumping it in one spot out front and now that area is gorgeous. I mentioned before on another thread that your grass looks a little unhealthy. I would say it looks like it has a fungus, but your pics are too fuzzy and distant to really tell. If it is a fungus, then getting it established will be very touchy. You don't want to water the fungus, but the roots need to be damp. Since that is brand new sod, you should only be moistening the top layer of soil with your daily watering. The idea is to moisten the soil where the roots are penetrating to the underlying soil and nothing more. I would not water longer than 5 minutes a couple times a day and get ready to back off. If you have not tried any kind of chemical fungicide, I would hit it with 2 pounds of ordinary corn meal per 100 square feet. Corn meal has never failed me as a fungus killer in my St Augustine. If you get yours at a grocery store, you do not want to get the corn meal that is ready mix for tortillas. It has other stuff you don't want. Look for unadulterated corn meal. Feed stores also carry corn gluten meal. That is different. You want plain ground corn. Cracked corn will work. Whole corn will give you a corn field as it all sprouts. I get ordinary corn meal in 50-pound bags at the feed store. Call first to see if they have it.

I can tell you the pH of your soil. It is 8.0 just like everyone's between San Antonio and Dallas. You live in the limestone desert. It's several hundred feet down, 200 miles across, and 500 miles long. There is nothing you can do to change the pH for an entire lawn. The solution is to grow grass that is adapted to the situation. St Augustine is THE grass if you have any shade. Let's go back to the trouble you had keeping yours alive. It should not be that hard to keep it looking excellent. How often did you water and for how long? How high do you mow? How often do you fertilize and with what? Also please be more specific about your location. Are you in an Austin suburb or to the west in the trees?

YES! I love it when advice comes together. Bermuda works best when the soil is really warm. Down here in George West it is probably warm enough already. Up in Austin, maybe not quite yet. I'd wait 3 more weeks to be sure. Every spring we get people who bought their bermuda seed in February (when Lowe's first stocks it) and try to seed. Then they write in here asking what went wrong. Go ahead and wait. When it comes in it comes in fast. Generally you can sow seed in other grasses. Only the seed that touches the soil will take root, though. It is best if you can scalp away everything to get the seed onto the soil. Then you should roll the seed down to make sure it is in good contact with the soil. You still have several weeks to figure out how to scalp it down. Look up the concept of a power rake.

Thanks waicklen, well since you asked...why yes, I do! This pic was taken on 6-20-10: 7-2-10, note the huge pile of crabgrass to the left...I pulled this out of the Bermuda and it's only a drop in the bucket! There was virtually no crabgrass in the Turfallo (probably because I put the cardboard and newspaper down in March - just the right time to prevent the seeds from germinating): I wasn't sure how it would respond to mowing so I had the 2nd patch (not the original test area) mowed first on 7-14-10: 7-23-10, original test patch is pretty shaggy looking at about 6-8 inches tall, 2nd patch looks good after mowing: 7-24-10 Baby's first haircut: 7-28-10, couple days after the first mowing, grass is brownish, all the green tips were cut off, I was worried... ...but it turned green again pretty quickly as you can see in the background of this pic taken on 8-12-10: I am very happy with it, it has weathered this heatwave well with very little attention, I think I watered it maybe 3 times this summer and I probably could have avoided mowing completely if I wanted to.