Located on the gulf coast. Just moved into my new house. It’s a newly built house and this is the crappy sod they laid down a month or so ago. Photos shows both right after a rain and the next day.
How on earth do I fix this? It’s laid over a little dirt and then compacted red construction clay/dirt. I built flower bed this week and it’s definitely compact. Digging a hole just to plant a few flowers and lay garden soil was an effort.
Do I just water heavily right now? I figured I should wait to fertilize until it’s a little stronger? Should I aerate?
I need budget friendly options (just bought the house… that’s expensive) but I don’t mind manual labor.
I don’t know much about grass. What kind of grass is this even?
by User13245768109
14 Comments
i’m somewhat in the same boat as you. new construction home, crappy sod. it looked just like yours the first few weeks. I bought a tripod sprinkler and watered the yard twice a day for 30 mins at a time. on top of that, I seeded the sod with Pennington Tall Fescue Seed (red bag). In about ~2 weeks, it looked much better, way greener. Now, the yard was compacted with construction backfill (clay dirt, rocks), so while my yard is coming in nice and green, I do get an abundance of rocks that work their way to the surface.
idk if seeding over the sod is normal, but it did in fact germinate and turned out fantastic for me. i may not know as much about grass as most people in here, but thats what worked for me.
What is the turfgrass? Do you have an irrigation system?
Looks like it needs wayyyyyyy more water. Sod needs tons of water
You just gotta water the hell out of it.
The ideal plan would be to aerate the entire thing then lay 2-3 yards of fine compost across it. Do that 1-2x/year for a few years and then you’ll have lush soft soil.
Looks like cheap bahia(?)
Aerate and fertilize…..
You need to water enough that it soaks through the sod and gets the soil underneath it wet as well , so the roots reach downwards
Do a regular watering and pull a corner up and check it out
You want a few mows in before applying anything to the yard. No milo, no fertilizer, no nothin. You want the roots to dive and establish into the ground. Next year I’d add a layer of compost and apply some milorganite. I’d wait until the following season to apply something like a 20-0-0 fert. And spoon feed it once a month to not stress it out.
Trust the process and water.
I tried using a manual aerator from Home Depot and it was terrible, I even used silicone lubricant and the plugs always got stuck. Do not waste money on that. Also I think you have Bahia (it would be very helpful to confirm this). You will be very disappointed with Bahia over time. I was in your exact same position 5 years ago, I got a new home and they installed Bahia in the backyard. I basically just watered and mowed and hand pulled prickly plants and fertilized 15-0-15. After I was able to save up some money I resodded with Zoysia. This was the best investment to the house so far. Family is able to enjoy our backyard barefoot and the grass is lush and green.
https://preview.redd.it/lyi40rs9eqzg1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1d829895bf684fe34bde05ad0cc914eec0105ed8
This lawn needs some delicious San Pellegrino.
Seed between the sod seams with RTF fescue
People suggesting to aerate a month old sod? I am no expert, but that sounds stupid?
1. The grass type looks to be St. Augustine
2. Is this issue all over, or just in shaded areas. In the picture, there is a lot of shade.
3. How frequently and at what volume are you watering? It’s almost impossible to overwater new sod. You cannot allow it to dry or otherwise it will die. The watering advice in this thread is spot on.
Finally, if this issue is due to watering, you can still salvage it by increasing the water amount. It looks like there is still some life left there — however, you are very close to the end here.