Total Lawn Kill

SW Florida – posted 04 July 2004 11:55

We bought a house where the previous owners were quite successful in growing everything (ie weeds) but grass. We have decided to do a total kill using a pest control company. I believe they are using Prosecutor or Finale to do the deed. We want to sod the yard but still have a couple lingering questions.

How long should we wait before installing new sod (Bahia)? Should the yard be scalped of the dead growth down to the soil, or can the sod be placed right on top of the dead growth? And having read about the corn meal fertilizer, should we blanket the yard in advance of the sod being installed with corn meal or wait until it has been installed?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I want to make the yard an attractive and safe place for the kids to play.

Thanks..

ted – posted 04 July 2004 16:10

you can sod immediately- there’s no pre-emergent effect to Roundup. take the grass down to the soil- you may also need to soil test and correct any problems.

cohiba – posted 06 July 2004 13:43

Good advise ted. Just make sure you scalp a week or two after roundup. You may even want to treat with roundup, wait a week and retreat your misses with roundup again. The soil test is a necessity. Treat any defiencenies the test finds and, by all means, skip the cornmeal until after the lawn is well established.

Good Luck…………………