BitterBlue New Sod

Sandy@brickyard – posted 25 October 2003 13:21

I have new sod turning brown. Does Bitter Blue need as much watering as other sod and how much for how long? The cracks need to be filled in and the contractor did not scrap the old dead grass, so will this cause problems? The soil feels moist near the top, but we are only watering 30 min per zone nightly in Central Florida. Thanks, Sandy

Dchall_San_Antonio – posted 27 October 2003 10:07

I would shift to watering no more than once per week and do that for an hour, IF AND ONLY IF, your grass shows signs of wilting after a week. If it does not show signs of wilting, then hold off on the watering.

Given the frequency of your present watering program, your sod may not make it a full week without watering. Just look for wilting and don’t water until the grass looks wilted in the early morning. Then water for an hour per zone and leave it until it gets wilty again. Dampness of the soil is not a good way to tell when to water for a couple of reasons. It works in potted plants but not in sod. Let the grass tell you.

The reason your grass is turning brown is probably due to watering (1) too much, and (2) at night. If you do what I suggested in the first paragraph, that will take care of (1). If you water after the sun comes up in the morning, that will take care of (2). What you have is a fungus disease.

You can get rid of the disease by applying ordinary corn meal at a rate of 20 pounds per 1,000 square feet of turf. Get the corn meal in 50 pound bags at feed stores for about $6.50. It takes about 3 weeks for the healing effect of the corn meal to be seen.

rgjack – posted 28 October 2003 10:55

If the new sod is really new, as in laid this week, you should water frequently for short periods every day. I can’t find the link right now but I installed bitterblue sod last year (April) in central Florida and watered three times for 20 minutes every four hours during daylight hours… 8 am, 12 and 4 pm. Once you can not pull up a sod piece (the roots are established in the soil), then go to longer, less frequent watering. Caution – If the soil was not adequately damp at least 6″ deep before the sod was laid, you should not wait for signs of leaf stress to water…make sure the subsurface soil is damp before the roots get there.

jr – posted 28 October 2003 16:40

With a watering schedule like the one mentioned above, your roots will never establish because they will rot off. New sod should be watered once daily for the first ten days or so, for about 45 minutes to an hour, and not during the day. Watering at night is preferable, but only after dew has set in, and have the watering done by sunrise or shortly thereafter. This minimizes the risk of fungal attack, because the grass is already wet during these hours. Don’t increase the time the grass is wet by watering after sunrise and during the afternoon. With the weather we are having now, you should be able to go immediately to watering once a week, an hour per zone, particularly if you’ve already been soaking your grass as you described.