All Sod is NOT Created Equal

Being that I spend quite a bit of time in the lawns of newly constructed homes, I thought it might clear up some confusion if I helped you understand that all sod is not created equal! One of the biggest complaints I hear from new homeowners is how awful their lawn looks, and I completely understand. You just spent a lot of money, time and energy into building this beautiful home only to have a lawn that looks like it’s almost dead. Don’t let it discourage you too much. There are some things we can do to help, but it will take some time.

Why Does My New Lawn Look So Bad?

Let’s start with the construction process. Even if the contractor put good sod on your lawn, it has still had a lot of heavy equipment and foot traffic on it for the last 6 months or more. Starting with when they leveled the lot, there were bulldozers, tractors and dirt-pans compacting the soil. In some cases that equipment completely removed that precious top layer of soil where most of the nutrients are. It doesn’t matter how good the sod is when you scrape off the top layer of soil. The earth beneath it can be as hard as a brick which makes it very difficult for the sod to lay down roots.

Good Sod vs Bad Sod

It’s pretty easy to tell the difference between the two. Sometimes, it’s not that the grass is bad, but the installer left it rolled up too long and the grass started dying before it was ever installed. It’s best to lay sod the same day it was cut. Each day it sits in a pallet or a roll, it starts dying.

When I say bad sod I mean one of two things have happened. One, they didn’t cut enough dirt with the grass. This makes the sod real thin and it struggles to root in. Sometimes this is because the grower has had the field in production too long and sometimes they cut it that way on purpose trying to make the field last longer. There are only so many years that you can cut and inch or two of top layer off your soil and still be able to grow healthy grass.

The second type of bad sod is grass that hasn’t been treated for weeds and fertilized properly. This results in weed pressure early and you lawn will get off to a slow start.

What To Do About It?

It’s highly unlikely that you’ll prevail in having your lawn re-sodded so the best thing to do is to take really good care of it from the first day it’s in your possession.

First, water it. It’s best to water grass first thing in the morning, but if you see it drying out during the day, go ahead and put some more water on it. Really baby it for the first few weeks until it begins to root in. Just don’t keep the ground saturated. Make those roots go looking for water by watering once a day deeply (30 – 45 minutes). Once the grass is rooted in, cut that back to every other day. Eventually, you just want to make sure it’s getting 1 to 1.5 inches of water or rain per week in 2 to 3 watering events. I like to put down .5 inches of water each time I water my lawn.

Don’t be afraid to mow it. Grass likes to be cut. It encourages growth. So when it needs to be mowed, mow it. Don’t scalp it, but do use the 1/3 rule. Never remove more than 1/3 of the plant any time you cut it.

Let it breath. Have it aerated once it has rooted in. It usually takes 6 to 8 weeks for the roots to firmly attach to the ground, but once it has go ahead and schedule an aeration. You’ll be surprised by how much your lawn will like having holes poked in it.

Feed it. Make sure you have a balanced fertility program in place that feeds the grass when it needs it. Not all fertilizer programs are created equally. Do you homework and make sure you are giving your lawn the proper nutrition.

I hope this helps you have a better understanding why your new lawn may not look the way you want it to. Just know that 9 times out of 10, you can get it where you want it to be with a little bit of work. In the meantime, let us know if we can help you and we’ll be glad to.