bermuda grass stems

bandwgn09 said:

What fertilizer should I use? It's going to be 95-100* the next week. With the heat I'm afraid too high nitrogen content might be counter productive.

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Did you apply any fertilizer prior to or after the sod installed? Typically a starter fertilizer is a good choice even with new sod. So if you skipped any fertilizer application I think you would be safe to go that route. Fertilizing in the hottest periods of summer is sometimes not recommended for established lawns but if you have brand new sod or seed you need to give it a kick start.

If you already applied starter fertilizer I would consider looking into other factors (mowing or irrigation practices first) and then maybe in another week or so you might apply a general turf fertilizer or milorganite

What's your irrigation schedule like?

Is that the worst area of the whole project? If so I would say it looks like the new sod is going pretty well.

Is the area level? If not best advice might be to raise the HOC until next season just to let the grass recover and stay healthy until you can get the area more level.

bandwgn09 said:

I put some organic fertilizer on the ground before I laid the sod, but no fertilizer since.

I water for 12 minutes every other day.

The area is not level as I have an area that is scalped and 1 inch away I have grass 1.5 inches tall.

I am planning on planting perennial Rye in October as shade becomes a big issue from October to April. When that time comes I'm going to have to cut the grass short. So you're saying I should keep the grass the length as is until then? I have hybrid Bermuda so it does better when it's short. There is a reply earlier that says I should cut it down to the length I want now so it only get stressed out once. I'm a bit confused.

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Yes TifGreen is a very aggressive grass and meant to be cut short, its a popular choice for golf greens even. I'm surprised the sod was delivered at such a high initial cut. I was just being cautious on your behalf, as i don't know your climate very well and would rather you not lose the investment. If the sod has taken root, and you are getting full sun on the area, and have several weeks of warm temperatures left it should recover just fine from a scalping no problem. I would scalp at a height lower than your target HOC. So if you want to maintain at 1" you might need to set your reel mower to 5/8" and then it should green up from there. Others may weigh in with other options. or you can also call the sod farm to get there opinion.

A complete fertilizer like the 16-6-8 or something close to a 4:1:2 ratio would be a good choice for a new lawn in my mind. If not i also like the idea of using milorganite as you will get a little Phos for early growth and root development of the lawn.