first mow on new sod – it was wet!!

eadlman – posted 12 June 2009 18:10

hi guys,

so i waited 3 weeks and couldnt wait any longer as the grass was so tall and thick it needed a mow. It has been raining here on and off for the past 4 days. It didnt rain for about 12 hours before my cut.

When i cut the lawn it felt very wet, the mower was stalling and it did NOT do a good cut. my brand new lawn now looks beat up, there are tracks in it, what looks like pockets of smooshed grass, dirt patches and pressed down grass, i am very scared its ruined

will this fix once the grass dries a little and i do another mowing? I didnt cut the lawn to the height that i wanted, it is still ong but I stopped mowing as it was now working properly.

shoudl i let the grass dry and then do a light rake?

please help

any ideas?

Turfguy_UF – posted 14 June 2009 02:21

Where are you located? What is your soil type? How much rain are you getting a day/week? (in a guess inches).

If you are in a clay soil and sodded with a sand based sod I would be concerned.

But if you have a sandy profile with a sand based sod I would fear compaction of the sub surface layer.

Water should go through the soil profile some what fast, even if you are getting heavy amounts of rain if you have a sandy soil.

If you have a sandy soil content below the sod, I would strongly recommended you looking into soil compaction and the process of alleviating the compaction. With new sod this can and is difficult.

Do you use a riding lawn mower or push?

If you use a riding is there any one you can borrow a push mower from?

If you have or can borrow a push mower I would mow with that and mow at proper setting and see if that can help with the tracks.

Best of luck,TurfGuy

eadlman – posted 14 June 2009 07:21

I live in the northeast in New York on Long Island.

What do you mean when you say soil compaction? I still see a good amount of the tracks are pressed down hard, and a good amount of the mulch created has compacted the blades of grass. I went thru the grass yest with a blower to try and blow out the dirt and clear the blades, that didnt help much. The fact is, the ground was WAY too wet to mow when I did.

I use a push mower and my property is failry small, prob a 700 sq ft area we are talking about.

We prob got about 2-3 inches of rain (totally guessing) in the last week.

If I took a picture would that help?

I feel once the ground and grass dry out a bit, it will stand back up and come back to life?

or do i need to let it grow again and maybe after 2 or 3 more mows it will come back?

Turfguy_UF – posted 14 June 2009 17:23

When I say soil compaction I am talking about soil being compressed by weight, that leads to a decrease in air in the soil, water movement, and nutrient availability. All of these things can lead to a decrease in growth or death of your grass. But it seems for now water movement is a number one problem.

Now you might not have a compaction problem for the first 4-5 inches, but there could be a compaction of soil 6-8 inches lower causing the rain water to pool or puddle on the surface 3-4 inches. You can test this out by digging a small hole with a post hole digger and looking at each section you pull out to see if you have a drastic change in soil characteristics and if the lower parts are a lot drier than the upper parts. (This might mean the water is not able to move down b/c something is holding it back) Like does it go from loose clay to really hard clay. Or sand to clay. Just give it a look over. You dont need to go lower than a foot.

Also I assume you have a clay soil in New York. Clay can take awhile to filter all the water, especially from a heavy rain fall event. But 2-3 inches in on week should have moved easily through the soil.

If you still have clippings from your last mow, I would rake those and remove them. Then I would wait like you said until the grass dries out a little more. Then mow. Grass can be pretty resilient and dont see why this would kill off your new sod, but if this is a problem b/c of soil compaction of soil type this is going to keep happening. I would strongly look into finding the real problem for this poor water infiltration.

A picture might help.

TurfGuy

Send a picture of your grass, soil type, and maybe the post hole diggers soil.

[This message has been edited by Turfguy_UF (edited 14 June 2009).]

eadlman – posted 14 June 2009 19:38

I will def take a picture and send it over tomorrow.

Basically, the lawn just looks choppy, like it didnt cut evenly and there are clumps.

I dont think there is much compaction going on, just in some places when i mowed the ground turned a sticky black color, like the existing grass got stuck under this gook. you think the grass will grow thru this?

There are a ton of wet heavy clippings, i began picking some up but will try to rake them out tomorrow.

the water did NOT puddle, not puddling happened, just was soggy underneath certain areas but I think thats from not having the lawn perfectly level.

how often should I be watering at this point? I had the watering down perfect during the first 3 weeks, but now feel I should pull back to once a day, every other day?

should I put down seed in the areas that gooked up? to try and grow new grass?

eadlman – posted 15 June 2009 20:41

how can I post pics here for you to see?

can you see these? http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=16ucd9en.458a257r&x=0&y=-8ys9ua&localeid=en_US

pic # 4,5 & 7, especially #4 show waht I am talking about.

THANKS!!!!!

Turfguy_UF – posted 15 June 2009 22:12

Thanks for the pictures. Your house looks very nice.

Couple of questions to start it off.

1) Do you live near a lake or river?

2) Do any of your neighbors lawns seem wet or damp to the touch?

2.5) Are you still receiving heavy rain in your area? And did you have this wetness issue with your previous lawn?

3) Has your lawn dried up at all? Or is it sill feeling very wet under your feet?

4) Do you use a electric mower or gas?

5) Did you mow the grass at the highest setting or what setting? (in inches please)

6) What type of sod did you lay? I am guessing Kentucky Bluegrass but my cool season ID is a little foggy

7) Bonus question: How sharp is your blade on your mower? I would make sure you have a very sharp blade.

Your grass looks healthy other than the tracks, length, and wetness.

I would have to assume your grass will make a full recovery once your are able to mow consistently and smoothly.

A couple of responses to my questions.

If you are using an electric mower, I would consider trying a gas powered one once to see if that does a better job. The little extra power might help with a cleaner cut, and bring the height down a little more.

I understand just getting a gas mower isn’t easy, but possibly a nice neighbor or kid who has one that wants to make a few bucks.

If you didn’t mow the grass at the highest cutting height last time I would try that also. Then gradually over three to five mows to reduce the height down to what you want.

Once you respond to those questions maybe we can solve this problem.

One last question: You didnt tell me your soil type. Do you have clay, sand, or a mixture of those?

Turfguy

eadlman – posted 16 June 2009 14:09

Turfguy – i must first say thank you for ALL your help and continued responses, you are a huge help. thank you for the compliment.

1) Do you live near a lake or river? eadlman: I do live near the long island sound, though a few miles from the water.

2) Do any of your neighbors lawns seem wet or damp to the touch? eadlman: my neighbors lawns dont feel wet like mine, just my direct neighbor who also did his new sod the same time I did. his lawn looks as good as my front lawn does. all the sod was laid the same day and prepared the same way.

2.5) Are you still receiving heavy rain in your area? And did you have this wetness issue with your previous lawn? eadlman: We are still getting rain daily though not as much. i do not recall the condition of my previous lawn, it was so ugly i never paid attention

3) Has your lawn dried up at all? Or is it sill feeling very wet under your feet? eadlman: the lawn has not dried up much, it still feels wet to the feet. even the front lawn feels a bit wet though the fornt, as u saw, is in perfect shape.

4) Do you use a electric mower or gas? eadlman: I used a gas mower

5) Did you mow the grass at the highest setting or what setting? (in inches please) eadlman: I cut the lawn on the highest setting, i would guess prob 5 inches or so

6) What type of sod did you lay? I am guessing Kentucky Bluegrass but my cool season ID is a little foggy eadlman: it is most likely a bluegrass

7) Bonus question: How sharp is your blade on your mower? I would make sure you have a very sharp blade. eadlman: it is a brand new self propelled front wheel mower that i got as an early fathers day gift (my first fathers day )

my only concern is that the “black” spots, some very big, were not from the mowing and were probably there before i mowed. do you think thats fungus? will the grass ever come back in those places?

i also notice that some peices, in the middle of the yard, have corners that did not take yet.

i will also add that this backyard doesnt get a “ton” of sun so maybe that is a compounding issue.

additionally, when i laid the sod, the ground was super hard, i wet it down with a ton of water to soften it up as well as gave it a good raking, but it surely wasnt as if the ground was tilled.

it just boggles my mind that the backyard didnt do so well as both the front, side and backyard were prepared and laid the exact same time.

Turfguy_UF – posted 16 June 2009 15:45

Alright. Thanks for the responses there.

To get my head around this.

Your backyard is the only bad area at the moment, and not your whole yard?

If it is just your back yard, then yes the shaded areas will stay wetter longer.

Are you getting about 4-6 hours of direct sunlight back there or less?

You said the soil was really hard at planting so I am guessing you have clay soil under the sod back there. The factors of shade plus clay is going to reduce your drainage. I am curious to know if you can still pull up the sod with your hands? Dont force it just a little tug will do.

If it has yet to root, something under the sod is going on, and you might have to consider fixing that.

I do not know about the fungus because I dont have a picture. You described it as a “muckish” like feeling? That sounds to me like a heavy, heavy organic matter content that is really soggy. Same as like a swamp or wet lands.

This is a tough problem because you are not over watering your lawn, but rather getting really poor drainage, and limited sun light.

If your ok with it, you might try pruning your trees to allow for more sunlight into that back yard. I would consult a pruning book to make sure you do it properly and make it look nice.

If you can pull the sod up still, I would remove say two or three pieces, and till the underlying soil to about 6 inches, and place the sod back on, and see if that area dries out.

Again this is a tough situation to just solve over the internet.

My personal opinion: There is compaction in the sub soil, and with the lack of sunlight is causing the sod to stay wet, and soggy.

Hope it helps.

TurfGuy

[This message has been edited by Turfguy_UF (edited 16 June 2009).]