How to Lay Sod (1 Viewer)

[Joe Szott]

Probably easier to till the damp soil, go for it. I know I compacted it into 2 days of intense effort in my post, but you could easily do the moss/tilling one day, then wait a few days (or a week) to lay the actual sod. Just be sure to really wet down the dirt before you lay the sod, water saturation is key in the first 48 hours of laying.

Pretty much the only time constraint is once you pick up the sod from the place, you want to get it down within about 24 hours. Otherwise, the sod will weaken and die right on the pallet/roll. They have sod delivered every day, it doesn't last very long off of the ground.

 

[ChristopherG]

I'm thinking a couple of drinks, some soft lighting, and mood music????

Sorry - I am wasting time at work today

 

[Ron-P]

Grass stains Christopher, not a good thing.

 

[David McGough]

When finished its good to get a roller.
Roll it out... Its a good investment..
The rental places have one

 

[Drew Bethel]

Whew! Finnally finished laying the sod tonight. I'm so bloody tired I couldn't even think straight to get the last final rolls down. I started at 11am and didn't finish until 11pm. I worked solo and my wife came out after 8pm to lend a helping hand. My back hurts, toes, knees, arse, lats, fingers, neck...I would not wish this on my worst enemy. But then I get to look over the yard and is gratified by the "instant" lawn advantage of sodding.

This lawn had better flourish otherwise I'm gonna throw a few sticks of dynamite at it! Thanks for all the tips, especially from Joe. They really came in handy.

 

[Joe Szott]

Cool, I'm so glad it helped. I did this on a much smaller spot of lawn than you (one 20'x15' patch) and it still took me two 5 hr. days. Take some aspirin, take a hot bath, watch some movies and drink some beer.

Next time I'm going to get a buddy drunk and trick him into helping me with any sodding work. What a pain in the ass it is!

 

[Drew Bethel]

Joe, you're right: I took a long soaking last night and my wife agreed that we throw a nice movie in tonight.

Having said that, I have about 10 rolls leftover since I intentionally over-ordered. There's a spot on the side of my house that can use about four rolls but I'm not sure if the sod will be any good. I have the remaining rolls in the garage. It's the 60's...plus I sprayed the remaining rolls lightly with water. I don't know if i'll get to this small area but I also hate to see 10 rolls go to waste.

I also went over the lawn and filled any gaps with peat moss...I figured that would help to keep the moisture in place.

 

[Colton]

Astroturf, baby!

- Colton

 

[ChadM]

DUDE - don't you have any friends?

 

[Bob-N]

Nice job. I would second not overfertilizing but you can't overwater in the first couple of weeks. After the first 30 days or so, you should have good root growth. Gently pull up the corners and see where you're at before you go at the lawn with a mower. I let the grass grow to about 5-6 inches just to the point where it started bending over before I did my first mowing.

I did about 1700 sq ft with the help of my wife and kid. The hardest part was pulling out all of the rocks and rototilling our clay based soil. I rototilled two times to get about 9-12" of nice ground soil in the first session. Pulled all rocks and roots out. Then mixed with starter fertilizer and redwood compost in the second session.

I love the results. Get some rest, you earned it.

 

[Drew Bethel]

Apparently not. I think you quickly find out who your real friends are as soon as you ask for help! :rolleyes

 

[Joe Szott]

Unless my friend was Eva Langoria, I don't know if I would be willing to help someone sod for two days straight. There needs to be some serious bribing going on there to get that level of commitment.

 

[Drew Bethel]

Joe, is it ok if we water thoroughly in the morning and again in the evening? I'm talking 1-2" per time.

My wife is getting a little sick of me calling home every hour asking if she has the sprinkler going!

 

[Joe Szott]

As long as it feels like you are walking on mud if you step on the sod, there is likely enough water. You don't need standing pools or anything crazy like that

The golden rule of sod is to never let it be dry in the first two week, ever! That's why you water so much. You cannot drown it, but you can dehydrate the roots to death easily and quickly. They like to stay wet all the time while growing.

I'd say just dowse it in the AM and PM and you are good to go. If it shoots up to 80-100 degs in the next week or two though, maybe a little wetting down in the day to be safe would be prudent.

 

[Philip_G]

you think you're bad drew, I planted grass seed a week ago, then it spiked up into the 90s, luckily it cooled off and 8 days later I've got a little fuzz growing, I coudn't keep the surface moist and was concerned I had burned up the seed (bout 100 bucks worth)

 

[Drew Bethel]

Wow Philip, how much area did you have to seed witgh $100 worth of seed!!!????

I have one of those oscillating sprinkler thingies that you have to move back and fourth and reposition. The damn thing was not cooperating this morning so I disconnected it and went back to hand watering - which took me a while but at least I knew I hit all the corners and stuff. Now I need to go to home depot to find a really nice one - the problem is they all cost about $20 and are not that great!

 

[Philip_G]

I have two of those sprinklers, they cover my yard but I don't have enough water pressure to run them both at once so I have a time running one and the other I flip to and hit the timer manually.

Not much, 16 pounds of seed is needed for ~1000 sq ft. of the stuff I used.

 

[Drew Bethel]

The sod is coming along beautifully. I would like to post some pics but don't know how :frowning:

Tomorrow will make two weeks and the grass is growing tall and starting to produce those seeds on the stems. Is it okay for me to mow at this point or leave it for another week? I plan to mow at the highest possible length.

I've also been watering twice a day (morning and evening) and will go to just morning for the rest of this week and then 2 times per week for the rest of the month.

 

[Ted Lee]

drew, you can upload your pics to a free service like imageshack -- then link to the url from your post using the "img" button.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Slip a couple of rufies into his drink?

(Things seem to be going well enough with Drew's lanw that I'm willing to risk a little crude humor - besides, variants of that line cross my mind ever time I see this thread title and I needed to get that out of my system. )

Regards,

Joe