Nicely done. Looks leveled as well. Going to look amazing.

 

10/6 - 1 week old today.
Despite my watering efforts the color seems to remain dull. The roots are continuing to extend so maybe it’s just the time of the year. I will probably mow in a few days to clean up the random stringy growth here and there.

 

I wouldn't stress about the color. It's very late in the sesaon, so coloration may not come around. Just make sure it's well rooted before you mow it. I laid celebration down in the backyard, and then got a freeze in the upper 20's . It went dormant, then came to a few weeks later. Just keep taking care of it, and it will eventually come around. Just realize that eventually may be next spring.

 

I laid my Tiftuff in early September, didn't fully green up until the 3rd week. I did apply starter fertilizer as recommended by sod farm.

Just replaced my St Augustine with Tiftuf Bermuda

Looks so much better already. Now I just need to find someone to reel mow this when its time. Until EGO releases a reel mower. St Augustine was thriving in the backyard but it required a lot of water and it was too tall. Does well in the shade. Let's see how the tiftuf is. Just

www.thelawnforum.com

 

That looks totally normal for one-week-old sod. It'll look stressed for several weeks even if you lay it in the middle of the summer. The fall is fine for putting down sod but you just have to be patient.

 

Day 9 - cool front moved through and got us into the low 60s at night. Going to go back to mid 80s in the day this week then some needed rain hopefully. Pieces are too difficult to pull up so roots are still growing.

here’s the before:

 

Very nice and looking good! I really like the dark mulch. What kind of grass does your neighbor have between their driveway and your yard? Whatever it is, it's going to be Celebration by the end of next season. 😂

 

Thanks Redtwin! They have a small sliver of st Aug/weeds. My hope is it’ll get taken over by the celebration haha.

 

10/9 - added some more Bifen XTS because I was noticing some small moths buzzing around.

 

Day 11. Backed off watering some. Hope I can mow soon. Blades are still very short . I’ll probably hold off posting for a while

 

At this point maybe even not doing anything is the best move. It'll have maximum strength for the springtime activities.

 

And by that do you mean no mowing, herbicides, etc? Just water as needed?

 

My Celebration is still going strong here in central CA. I actually scalped the front out of anger a week ago and then dropped a cocktail of the tail end a few different granular fert bags that I had left and it's rallying back. Next week is the mid 80's so I might drop some Ammonium sulfate just to see if can come back 100%.

I scalped the backyard back in early sept and it's a nice dark green, cut at .6" still w no signs of dormancy. I have cut back on watering though.

Maybe try foliar spray that's rich in potassium and phosphorus to get that stuff going before winter hits. Some foliar iron spray for a color pump up too!

 

A manual push reel is a gentle ay to cut the new stuff. Earthwise 7 blade is perfect.

The only other thing is that your next project might want to be some sort of barrier between the grass and your flower bed. It's gonna spread laterally and it will drive you mad in the spring/summer.

Honestly I am liberal with the ironite and foliar sprays during the warm season and my Celebration responds nicely.

 

Day 23
I’ve mowed a couple times so far but only taking a tiny bit off the tops and only in a few areas. Still minimal top growth and hasn’t really greened up much. I’d say everything is definitely rooted in though. Added some ironite today and put down some root hume/humic acid yesterday. Had some cool temps but still mid 80s in the day so hopefully I can get some greenery before winter

 

That's looking good, @Geauxtigerz!

 

Week 4 mark. Hand pulling weeds as they come up. Another mowing taking off only the tops. More and more mole crickets dead every day

 

dormant shot of the new sod. Tempted to put down pre M in late February but I hesitate since the sod will still only be 5 months old

 

I put down pre-em post sprigging after ~6 months. I think you will be more than fine with sod as it is ever faster to establish solid roots. However, some others may have better advice!

 

February dormant picture:

April green up picture:

Sand level yesterday:

Applied some cheap 29-0-5 and have been watering in the sand.