floratam sod gone bad

borris34 – posted 26 June 2010 17:11

I live in west Palm beach Florida.I purchased some Floratam sod 1 month ago.Since, the sod has looked worst and worst.Prior to installation,I removed weeds and debris…also as much rocks as possible..Then I added 10 bags of compost and 10 bags of top soil.My yard is about 400 sqf.I also added a starter fertilizer(1 pound) and a little bit of lime.I tilled and mixed everything.The next day my sod was delivered.It was supposed to have been delivered the day prior.Not sure if it sat on the truck overnight.The sod company just could not deliver it the day it was supposed to.I lightly watered the soil and installed the sod.The first 2 weeks I watered religiously.40 minutes early morning…and 40 minutes late afternoon around 630pm.The sod starting to grow with lots of weeds in it.The main weed covering the sod had a long green stem with 4 green leaves at the top.Then came the brown patches all over.From day one,the stolons were brown and never greened up.The sod never started to thicken.Just some sparse green blades of grass with weeds in betweem.You could see the brown stolons underneath.Now the patches are not greening up at all.I stop watering as much..now just 2 days a week for 30 minutes.It has been very hot here.daily temperature averages 90.I was told that I may have a fungus due to no proof of bugs(could not see any inside the stolons or blades).So I purchased a granular fungiside called spectraside.I covered the lawn with about a pound a week ago, still no improvement.I should have tested my soil prior to starting this project.I decided to do it 10 days ago.The results came in:PH: 6.3Phosphorus: > 246 (ppmP)Potassium 53 (ppmK)Magnesium 189 (ppmMg)Calcium 3952 > (ppmCa).Not very sure what all this means.But the tought of starting over is giving me a heart attack.IT was a lot of work invested in this project(all done my me..myself and I).Is it dead and hopeless? Or is there a little bit of hope to restore this garden of good and evil???? Please help