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| Hi, i'm getting my butt kicked with this lawn.
I laid KBG sod last year. I found the soil to be mostly clay in Colorado springs. I tilled down 8" then compacted with a roller, added a 40% top 60% veggie compost which was about 2-3" thick. i added sprinklers. their is no shade. the front edge never did root last year. this spring i pulled up the sod and dug down 12", replaced the soil with a mixture of sheep & peat (Use to help break down heavy clay soils), bags of top soil,and native soil from what was dug out. i then laid new sod. i kept the soil moistened, i did make the mistake of applying some quick release fertilizer to the whole lawn.maybe i burned the new turf? the neighbors lawn which was awesome last year died from winter kill, it was a dry winter. he had a company over last week installing new KBG sod and I had him take a look at my lawn, he pulled up the dead sod and said it was from little black ants drinking all the water, i did what he told me to do and applied bug b gone granules. their is a lot of springtails in the soil as their was last year but i think they are harmless. no other bugs present, just earthworms. a few days ago i did also apply scotts ready-to-use lawn fungus control just in case that is the problem. today i decided to test out scotts e-z seed on a patch and see what that does. im about to do a soil sample as my next step. oh yeah i also have a couple large spots that are on the edge of dying, large patches that are drying out and looking like their about to die. i now water 1.5"-2" once a week. any ideas? thanks. gonna try to add pics |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by JayColorado none (My Page) on Sat, Jun 11, 11 at 22:17
| http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i238/jaysonstewart78/DSCF1891.jpg guess you cant edit once you post? |
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- Posted by JayColorado none (My Page) on Sat, Jun 11, 11 at 22:35
| im sorry but im having issues with the pics. please copy and paste, its not easy adding pics here. scotts e-z seed close up of grass http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i238/jaysonstewart78/DSCF1910.jpg http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i238/jaysonstewart78/DSCF1909.jpg http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i238/jaysonstewart78/DSCF1902.jpg patches http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i238/jaysonstewart78/DSCF1890.jpg |
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| I fixed them for you. scotts e-z seed
close up of grass
patches
From what it looks like, the only parts dying are right along the sidewalk. Obviously it gets hotter along the sidewalk, so it could just be a matter of not enough water along there. What is the soil like under that sod that is dead? I read how you tilled up all the soil, but how close did you get to the sidewalk? Often when laying a sidewalk or road the base is usually gravel and crushed stone, which is a poor medium for holding water and allowing root growth. Stick a long screwdriver into those areas and see how much resistance you get. If you can go in 8 inches or so fairly easily then it's not the soil, but if you are met with resistance after a few inches then that might be your problem. If so, then one solution is to dig up the area adjacent to the sidewalk, removing all the rock and gravel, and filling it in with good quality soil. Then you can keep the area well watered and the KBG should fill in the area within the growing year. I would get rid of that EZ-seed before it germinates. It's garbage, and will be an eyesore compared to your sod. |
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- Posted by JayColorado none (My Page) on Sun, Jun 12, 11 at 16:56
| Thanks Tiemco, and i did just replace all the soil 12" deep 24" wide along the sidewalk, pulled all that gravel out you mentioned, did it all by hand after i pulled up the dead sod few mo. ago. its good quality stuff under that dead strip near sidewalk, maybe too much organic, theres alot of decomposing going on under that dead strip. the ammended soil may be draining faster compared to the clay of the rest of the lawn which holds moisture better, but then again i can go out several days after i water lift up the dead sod and its very moist. and i wasted alot of money on 2 bags of e-z seed, very disapointing. guess i will just re-sod and cross my fingers but this routine of re-sod is getting old. i think the new sod is just cooking up before it roots no matter how moist the soil is. maybe fall is my only window to get it right. thanks. |
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- Posted by dchall_san_antonio 8 San Antonio (My Page) on Sun, Jun 12, 11 at 17:14
| It really does look like a sidewalk heating problem but with wet soil several days after watering, it has to be a drainage problem. 2 inches per week is more than anyone I know might use. Even in Las Vegas sand during the heat of July that might be a lot. I would back off to 1/2 inch of water, once a week, and see how the remaining grass does. The ultimate solution may be to replace that soil you 'improved' with the unimproved topsoil you had to begin with. What kind of grass is that? Do you have KBG, too? |
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- Posted by JayColorado none (My Page) on Sun, Jun 12, 11 at 18:11
| yes its KBG, the soil i took out from that problem area was full of gravel, some glass, chunks of clay, nasty stuff. and i would love to go 1/2" a week since water is so expensive here. the place i got the sod from told me to water 2" so ive been getting mixed signals and ive been trying to dial it in, by sticking my finger in the ground a couple inches throughout the week to see when the soil dries. does the soil for KBG need to always be somewhat moist or can it dry out completely towards the end of the week? i water sun mornings at 0400 currently. |
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- Posted by dchall_san_antonio 8 San Antonio (My Page) on Mon, Jun 13, 11 at 2:24
| The sod farm was correct in that you needed 2 inches per week. What they did not say was that new sod and established sod have different requirements. They should have told you to back off after two weeks until you were watering only 1 inch per week (more or less). If the grass looks good on Saturday night before the sun sets, then I would be very comfortable backing off by at least 1/2 inch to start. Water at that rate for 2 more weeks and back off another 1/2 inch. Ideally the grass will just start to be stressed by Saturday evening and then you will water on Sunday. Hopefully that amount will be about 1 inch or less per week. |
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- Posted by JayColorado none (My Page) on Mon, Jun 13, 11 at 15:02
| Good info! Thanks |
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