b62bear – posted 05 June 2006 07:50
I reside in Greenville South Carolina. I just installed Tif-Sport Berumda 8 days ago and thus far all seems to be doing ok. The main concern that I do have is the random weeds that have been coming up in the last two days and the fact that I had two mushrooms the size of a quarter yesterday.
I have yet to indentify the weeds, but they have a long stem and very tiny root base and consist of 3 leaves. The other weed looks like a foreign grass. Single thin blade.
I have read contraditing stories about pulling weeds in new sod and would like to hear what advice you guys may have to offer.
Some other questions:
1) At what point is it safe to use a weed killer on new sod?
2) Should I continue to water twice a day at 1 hour intervals and at what point should I gradually cut back to once a day and then to 2/3 times a week?
3) The ideal height for mowing Tif-Sport Bermuda is 1/2″ or? At what point should I consider the first mowing?
Lastly, as you can tell I am a newbie when it comes to lawns, but I have a desire to have a beautiful lawn. If there is a recommended annual program anyone could direct me to I would appreciate the assistance.
By the way…. I did everything that I could as far as preparation before the new sod was delievered.
-Sprayed Round-up one week prior to tilling up the yard. (So this makes me think that the weeds came in the sod) Don’t get me wrong there are not alot of them, but would like to address the problem early before it becomes a major problem.
– Tilled the yard and discarded ALL debris.
– Leveled the yard to ensure there was no drainage problems.
– Installed double filtered Top soil at 1/2″ to 3/4″ depth.
– Applied starter fertlizer.
– Applied Miracle grow peat moss.
– Watered and evened out one last time.
– Layed Sod.
I didn’t roll the sod, but it is rather flat with very little bumps etc.
I have been keeping quard with shot gun in case dogs, kids etc. walk across it the first week. (JK)
I took 3 days off of work to try and get this yard prepared and don’t won’t to take a chance on anything going wrong. SO all suggestions would be welcome.
Thanks in Advance
kcr6419 – posted 05 June 2006 14:42
I’m in the Charlotte, NC area I put down 600 sq ft of tifsport 19 days ago. I killed everything with roundup first, they tilled in peat moss, composted manure and very fine soil conditioner. I leveled and rolled then evened out high and low spots.
I didn’t till in starter fertilizer but applied it later and watered it in.
I haven’t used weed killer on it yet so I don’t know what harm it will do if any.
Because I’ve heard farm grown sod typically already has a lot of fertilizer in the soil, I applied a light coat of some starter fertilizer after I put down the sod. I then applied a full dose of scott’s starter fertilizer and watered for about 30 minutes at day 14 because I was showing low nitrogen.
You didn’t mention how many square feet you put down but I typically only put down about 1/4″ to 1/2″ per day for the first week. enough to keep the sod and top 1/2″ of soil moist but not too soggy.
I started with on heavy 45 minute watering, rolled then watered twice a day, 10 minutes per watering (only 600 sq ft of sod) for about 7 days. I then cut back to one 15 minute watering in the morning for the next 7 days. I plan on watering every 2-3 days for about 15 minutes per watering for the next week then I’ll go to once per week or so when the grass looks like it needs water.
This sod roots fast. I put it down within 24 hours of it being cut and it was already developing roots on the pallet. It was well anchored to the ground in 5 days and at 9 days I couldn’t pull it up any longer.
Using my John Deere greens mower,I started mowing at 3/4″ at day 9 after I could no longer pull up the sod with a good tug. Make sure you don’t mow right after watering or you’ll leave foot prints in the soft soil. I plan on slowly moving down to 1/2″ after the grass has thickened up some more.
I had one weed grass. It consisted of long light green leaves but I’m not sure what it was.
This is my first attempt at a hybrid bermuda. I’ve kept daily pictures of progress and so far it looks great and is filling in nicely.
Hope this helps.
[This message has been edited by kcr6419 (edited 05 June 2006).]