Sod FAQS
Tall Fescue is both heat and drought-tolerant with a coarse texture and medium to dark green color. It is a thick-bladed, fast-growing, perennial grass.
Depending on the temperature outside, you should be watering once or twice a day. The hotter it is, the more you want to water your new sod. The goal is to keep the soil underneath moist but not too soggy throughout the day. Keep doing this for two to three weeks until the sod is rooted.
A newly installed lawn is vulnerable to external stressors until it has had time to establish itself properly. This can include weather, drought, disease outbreaks insect infestations, fertilizer burns, and weeds. For this reason, applying weed control to your new lawn isn’t recommended. Instead, it’s best to hand remove any weeds until you’ve mowed your lawn at least five to six times.
To figure out how much sod you need, measure out the area: measure the length by the width in feet. Multiply these two numbers together to get the total square footage.
The great thing about big box stores like Home Depot and Lowes is you can buy. just about anything there. But most of the time, big box stores don’t buy locally and instead get their sod out of state. Just think, the sod farm cuts it and delivers it to Home Depots or Lowes warehouse and then it’s delivered to the local stores. Then if no one is buying it right away or only buying one or two pieces the rest of the sod is drying out and dying. They say you want to lay your new sod within three days of cutting it out of the sod farm. Home Depot and Lowes usually charge double than a local sod farm, which isn’t as fresh.
The short answer is no. The long answer depends on your vehicle’s payload, but even so, it still may be best not to.
“But it’s just some grass…how heavy can it be?”
An average pallet of sod can weigh around 3,000 pounds, and if it has rained recently, it can weigh even more!
Mower Type: Most Professionals Use A Reel Mower
Cut Height: 1 - 1 ½ Inches (Rotary Mowers Can’t Cut That Low)
Mulching: It is recommended to bag all clippings from Bermuda and Zoysia grass when you mow to prevent the buildup of thatch and debris in the lawn.
Core Aeration: It is important to aerate it annually. Make sure that you are aerating while the lawn is actively growing (Late Spring – through the Summer)
De-Thatching: These lawns need a good de-thatching in the spring and fall (to avoid diseases and pests) and they like a regular fertilizing schedule.
Watering: When out of dormancy (when green and actively growing), Zoysia grass typically requires 1 inch of water per week. During very hot weather, Zoysia may require as much as 2 inches per week.
There’s a reason why 99.9% of residential and commercial properties in Missouri uses a Tall Fescue Turf Type blend instead of Zoysia or Bermuda. Tall Fescue costs less, is less maintenance and a lot cheaper to maintain.
