Guide · Sod care
The watering, mowing, and feeding schedule we leave with every install, written out. Follow it for the first month and the sod roots. Skip it and no guarantee in the world saves the lawn.
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Water it.
Then water it
again.
By the Sod Friend crew. Delivery and installs are done by the crew at Loera’s Landscaping, who have laid sod across Dallas-Fort Worth since 2010. This is the same schedule our crew hands over on install day.
Water within 30 minutes of the last piece going down. Soak until water runs through the sod into the soil; lift a corner and check the dirt underneath is wet. Keep people and pets off it.
Water every day, and twice a day in July and August (early morning and late afternoon). The sod should never dry out while roots are reaching down. No mowing yet.
Every other day, deeper each time, so roots chase the water down instead of sitting at the surface.
One or two deep waterings a week depending on heat. Give the sod a gentle tug: if it resists, it has rooted. First mow at 2 to 3 weeks, on the high side of the range, and never take more than a third of the blade.
Bermuda 1 to 2 inches, weekly in season. Zoysia 1 to 2.5 inches, every 10 to 14 days. St. Augustine 2.5 to 4 inches, weekly in season; keep it taller under trees.
Wait 3 to 4 weeks after install, then a balanced starter fertilizer. Bermuda and Zoysia like feeding late spring through summer. St. Augustine prefers lighter, less frequent feeding; skip heavy nitrogen in peak heat.
No pre-emergent on new sod until it has been mowed 3 or 4 times; it stops the sod from rooting too. Hand-pull early weeds. A dense, well-watered lawn is the best weed control.
Brown patch (circular tan rings) hits St. Augustine in cool wet weather, usually from evening watering: water in the morning. Chinch bugs cause dry, yellowing patches in hot St. Augustine lawns near driveways. Armyworms strip Bermuda fast in late summer: look for moths and chewed blades. Grubs make turf lift like a rug. Call us at the first sign.
All three grasses go tan from roughly November to March. That is normal, not dead. Water lightly during dry winter spells and expect green-up in April once soil warms.
Under mature trees, thin the canopy where you can, mow St. Augustine tall, and water less often but deeper. If a spot gets under 3 hours of sun, no grass will thrive there; consider a bed.
Keep dogs off new sod for two weeks. Hose down urine spots right away. Bermuda and Zoysia recover from wear; St. Augustine repairs slower.
Sod is laid tight in a brick pattern and rolled. If small gaps show after a week, sweep in a little topsoil. Settled low spots get a thin topdressing once the sod is rooted.
Test every zone before delivery day. New sod needs head-to-head coverage; a dry corner shows up as a dead strip within days.
Install within 24 hours of delivery. In summer heat, keep the stack shaded and damp; the middle of a stacked pallet yellows first.
At two to three weeks, once the sod resists a gentle tug, which means it has rooted. Mow on the high side of the range for the variety and never take more than a third of the blade in one pass. Mowing before it roots pulls the seams apart.
Wait three to four weeks after install, then use a balanced starter fertilizer. Bermuda and Zoysia like feeding from late spring through summer. St. Augustine prefers lighter, less frequent feeding, and you should skip heavy nitrogen in peak heat.
Usually not. From roughly November to March all three North Texas grasses go tan and dormant, which is normal. In the growing season, brown patches on new sod are almost always a watering problem: a dry corner from poor sprinkler coverage, or sod that dried out on the pallet. Circular tan rings on St. Augustine in cool wet weather are brown patch disease, and evening watering causes it.
No pre-emergent until the sod has been mowed three or four times, because the same chemistry that stops weed seeds from rooting stops your sod from rooting. Hand-pull early weeds instead. A dense, well-watered lawn is the best weed control you will get.
Send us a photo. We would rather talk you through a dry corner in week one than replace a lawn in month two.
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Water within 30 minutes.