My new bermuda sod is dead…..I think?

monteen53 – posted 06 September 2006 04:44

I had 10 pallets of sod laid down about 3 weeks ago. It was doing fine until about 5 days ago – the entire yard turned yellow/brown. I have a hill for a yard and it is clay soil. The only preparation we did was to have the entire yard graded and the sod was laid the next day. I know we have a run off problem but I have no idea what happen to the sod. Can I bring it back to life? How?

tommy – posted 06 September 2006 13:35

Lift up some sod and see what up! You need to determine what kind of water penetration your getting. You may have to do a lot of frequent, light applications in order to get the water down. Bermuda doesn’t kill very easily, so it should come back!

monteen53 – posted 06 September 2006 16:45

Okay I lifted a couple of pieces up and it seems to have begun to root. It is very wet underneath and all pieces have 2-3 hard red worms in it. I live in Augusta GA where it is still 90 degrees during the day

tommy – posted 07 September 2006 15:22

You should be ok…….the sod probably stayed on the pallet too long before being laid. If the sod hasn’t been fed yet, give it some fertilizer. Any lawn food will do, but go easy on it……you don’t want to dump too much on stressed turf. Use half the recommended rate to start. and use the second half two weeks later. I don’t live in the southeast, so I am not familiar with the type worm you described. Maybe a local nurseryman could help you out with that.