Bought what was supposed to be St. Augustine off Facebook Marketplace. The guy had pics and said it was fresh, just looked a little dry from sitting on the pallet. I’m not a grass expert, so I went ahead and had it installed.
A few days later, it’s looking thin, patchy, and has no runners. Doesn’t look like any St. Augustine I’ve seen. I looked up pictures and it honestly looks more like Bahia.
Here’s the kicker — I just called the guy and he swears up and down that it’s 100% St. Augustine. Said I’m overthinking it and that it’ll green up.
What do you guys think? Did I get played or am I just being paranoid? And if it is Bahia… is it even worth keeping?
by Zlothy1
30 Comments
That was already dead on the pallet imo
I can’t believe you even took that off the pallet.
A closer picture would improve your odds of a proper identification. But from what I can see, yes, it looks like St. Augustine.
You installed dead sod
Looks like it will need a prayer from a Saint to bring it back to life.
Some of it looks like Saint Augustine, some of it does look like Bahia, hard to tell in the pic and it’s definitely barely alive. That stuff is dry dry and looks like the pallet sat for 2 days at least. I’ve seen big box hardware store pallets look like this. Buy from a reputable local sod supplier and you’ll get way better quality sod. Water the ever loving piss out of it, like 3 times a day for a few days and see if it starts perking up at all. Even IF you get this to root your yard is going to look thin and shitty for awhile and will need a lot of fert, water, growing time, and weed control. Honestly it’s shit quality sod though hope you didn’t pay too much. Let me know if you have any other questions I’m a certified pest operator in Florida and advice is free.
Looks like poor quality St Augustine
Looks like my st Augustine to me. But looks like they left it rolled up on a pallet so long that a bunch of it has died off.
Looks like St. Aug to me. I’ve seen much worse come back to life in 2-3 weeks so I wouldn’t give up yet. Water twice everyday. Make sure sod is making good contact with soil.
It’s not dead. It’s not healthy though. It is St. Augustine.
It can be brought back to near perfect condition but will take some work.
Personally I hate grass that doesn’t seed itself.
Water it down
Looks like st Augustine but also looks like chit. I don’t think it’s dead it’s just like not really filled in, looks like a bunch of runners. St Augustine spreads pretty fast though so I’d just keep watering and feeding it and I’d assume it’ll come back, by next year it’ll look ok. I just sprayed St Augustine with MSMA to try and get it out of my Bermuda and that shit turned white and 2 weeks later it’s back and thriving.
Ask him to pass the deal on he got on that shit pallet of grass to you.
Guess what? He won’t.
He will claim he paid full price (he didn’t)
Next time refuse the delivery and charge it back. That sod was cut a few days before delivery. A big no no in the sod game lol.
Whatever it is supposed to be, it’s a was now. Stuff was DOa
It’s st Augustine but it’s in a bad way, you need to kill it with water for the next couple weeks. Some will probably take most of it wont but if you maintain it some will spread.
I only say this because it’s installed now so it’s yours. You should have told them Nevermind before they unloaded it.
It was
Don’t buy sod off marketplace.. find a sod farm
It’s low quality St Aug. Water the bejeezus out of it and it will be fine. Fertilize first of September.
Could recover with a lot of care but the worst time of year to resod
It is St Aug. But its dead. You got took
Why would you buy this lmao
Hank Hill would still be proud of you for trying.
St Augustine isn’t my zone but I do know it tends to grow outward from central plugs. So it may not be fully developed in its coverage but may expand quickly and fill in over time. Wish I could be more definitive. Good luck
Don’t listen to the haters. Hopefully you got a good deal. This is salvageable. St Augustine thickens up great. Make sure to water properly
Yes that is St. Augustine and yes it’s in pretty bad shape. Probably sitting on the pallets for a couple days which is not ideal. The sod supplier by me will sell old pallets like this for half off, $95 a pallet last time I picked some up. I’ve bought some in similar shape and after very frequent watering it comes out perfect. I disagree that this is a bad time to sod St. Augustine. It wants to root and spread this time of year and will do just fine as long as you water it enough. 3 times daily for a week, twice daily for the next, daily the week after, and every other day the fourth week. If it starts looking dry, add additional waterings. Water heavily enough that the soil underneath is moist but not soaked. No need for fertilizer for 30 days. The roots aren’t established enough to take in the nutrients and sod generally comes well fertilized from the farm.
It does but needs to be planted quick and watered quick. St Augustine has a shallower root system than a lot of other grasses.
Looks dead
Why would anyone put down sod in early August?
With lots of water, fungicide, and nutrients you may be able to save it. I got called out to do a St Aug new sod treatment with similar looking grass because the sod company let it sit for 3 days on the pallet after cutting before sending for install. Looks like this 28 days later.
https://preview.redd.it/zoeknpx62ogf1.jpeg?width=4284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a89f9782dd9e21d0de5ee542f971fa7835954f7a