Re-sodding my lawn, any tips?
 

I think it's time to bite the bullet and resod. My house has the same bermuda that was installed when it was built, some 6 years ago. The prior owners never fertilized or did anything but mow periodically. Thus, the grass was not healthy when we bought the house and already was infested with crabgrass. I tried to pull the crabgrass, but it seemed to keep coming back even stronger. Plus, the bermuda that was there was not healthy enough to fill in the holes quickly enough to stop the crabgrass from coming back.

Anyhow, after two seasons of battling with this turf, I have decided to just start over.

I am going with a full lawn re-sod for the front yard, we live in the D/FW area so heat tolerance is a must. I do not like St. Augustine, or any other wide bladed grass for that matter. I don't want anything super high maintenance like Tif and I want to be able to cut it with a standard rotary mower. Having said that, obviously I would love to have a nice, lush lawn.

Currently I am thinking either some form of Zoysia or Bermuda. Anyone have any thoughts?

I personally love Bermuda. If you do re-sod all I can tell is to WATER it constantly until it establishes. A fertilization schedule is a must. True green is the easiest route, but you can find DIY lawn maintenance programs on-line. Good luck.As for what type of grass, try bermudagrass.com for info on maintenance requirements, turf quality, etc.

I dont know what grows where you are, talk to a nursery or sod farm and they will know exactly what's right for you.

I think the simplest way to install is to rent a tiller and then rake up and grade the yard. A load of topsoil wont hurt either. Get the sod delivered and have them put the pallets around the yard, tip the driver $20. Make sure you use metal staples if you have a slope or it just wont stick.

Water it and water it some more. Then water it again.

There are some products you can use to kill the weeds and crabgrass and doesn't kill the bermuda. MSMA is one, I believe and there are others. You might be able to use that and overseed. Would save a lot of work.

St. Augustine is all we have around here that will live! My advise, pay someone to scalp your old yard and lay the sod. They have this machine that will remove your old grass and leave a nice flat layer of dirt. You will be happy you did....so will your back.

You can rent the sod remover, not a bad idea. Laying sod is a young mans game, I know my back wouldnt work for a few days if I tried it now.

If you want to kill everything first, lay Visquine over the existing grass for several hours, move to another section, and so on. It will get so hot under there it will kill most everything. Works out here, and you got lots of sun.

I just went thru this with my front yard, the back will get done after I recover some.

Someone mentioned tilling, raking, and adding more topsoil. Thats the route I took. I thought it important to get all the old stuff out.

Using a 1/4 inch screen I built a huge 6 x 3 foot seive with a couple 3' legs on one end and cross members for stability and just tossed the dug up stuff onto the screen and used a hoe to pull it from the upper end down to the lower end. all the nice dirt would fall thru on the way down and when it got to the bottom all I had left was the junk that I tossed.

It took two weeks working on it part time until the yard was ready.

Don't bring in the sod until you are ready for it. It shouldn't sit around waiting. It needs to go down right away.

Its like laying tile, only feels better on the knees.

Water twice a day, AM and PM, get it soaking wet, The key is to give it more water than you think it needs, it can handle it. Give it a couple weeks to take

I only used 4 pallets, 60 - 2 x 5 rolls on each. Have some strong backs there to carry the stuff, it seems to get heavier as you go.

I used tall fescue, it does well here.

Good luck

Heh, you guys overestimate my desire to do manual labor. I will be having this stuff installed for me!!

The plan currently is to pull up the old stuff, then till the dirt up and probably put down an inch of new topsoil. Then the yard will be leveled and the new sod will go down.

After a bit more research it looks like my best choices are Belaire Zoysia or possibly Tifway 419 Bermuda. The Tifway is a bit less shade tolerant which might be an issue on my side yard. The Zoysia is more shade tolerant but a bit less tolerant of heat.

Hrm...decisions decisions.

Installed!

In that case I'd get one of those tall chairs that the lifeguards sit in with a big umbrella and a cooler.

Just to keep an eye on whats happening.

LOL

I seeded tall fescue in my front yard 4 years ago. Weed and disease resistant. Very happy with it. I think Marathon II was the brand. Probably not cheap via sod.

Also installed 3 zones of sprinklers while the soil was turned.

Tall fescue, $90/pallet

I picked it up and saved delivery charge. The sod farm is 20 minutes from my house. Made two trips.

Actually $97/pallet. I'll gett $28 back when I return the 4 wooden pallets.

419 is a pretty good turf grass for this area. When I was growing up (Irving), the neighbor had 328 that was great for an aspiring young golfer like myself. He cut it with a reel mower, and I made sure he had plenty of divots to fill in weekly.:D

I'm not a fan of bermuda unless it's cut short. When compared to St. Augustine, it doesn't stay green as long, and rye overseed sets in too well when it becomes dormant. I hate overseeded lawns, its hard on the grass in the transitional stage.

Mark your sprinkler heads (surely you have a system?) before the heavy equipment comes to tear up your yard, it might save you tons of repairs later. Having said that, also remember if you raise the height of the lawn, the heads need to come up as well.

Soil Test
 

Here's a recommendation you can do (an easy one that will significantly help your new lawn).

Once you figure out what kind of turf you are going to go with, contact your local cooperative extension and see if they do soil tests. They normally provide a small box that you can put a sample in (taken from multiple points in your yard), specify your type of turf and they will provide an analysis and recommendations in a few weeks. Here in Virginia, the standard is adding lime (getting proper soil PH for your turf).

Something to consider - you can easily add/till in lime or other supplements to your topsoil to give the new turf a great start and keep it strong so weeds don't have the opportunity to take over.

Gordo

gordo is correct. get the soil tested. time and money. spend it wisely

Green side up !

Gordo makes a good point. Texas A&M is the place to send your soil samples to be examined. It used to be a free service. IIRC, Nathans' dad, you have some sort of tie to TAMU right? The king of turf grass lives in Bryan/College Station, Kent Potts. His son Craig is the assnt superintendent for the ball fields, ie. Kyle Field.

I can get you in touch with either one, as I have known both personally since I was very young. Let me know if I can help.

Sod off! :p

Hey, watch your language or we'll ship you off to Soddy Arabia.