[angiek123]

Sod was laid about 7 weeks ago. Watering is down to 3x a week (about .25-.5" per watering). Temps are in the mid to high 80s. I fertilized about a week ago and added Bountiful Earth Humate. We have terrible clay soil, but added 3" of topsoil prior to laying the sod.

Screwdriver isn't going in very deep in these areas. (Maybe 1-2"). 5+ inches in other areas. Compacted soil? Or some sort of fungus? How do I fix this? (Sharpening the mower blades tomorrow.)

Thanks!!! (One closeup shows the more healthy/green areas.)

 

[GrassFarmer]

3rd pic looks like it needs water

 

[nclawnguy]

3rd pic looks like it needs water

+1

 

[Green]

Agreed...bad drought stress. Next step after watering is to figure out why the screwdriver won't go in too far. I would soak that area with a hand sprayer.

 

[angiek123]

Weird. I wonder if it's soaking up less water due to compacted soil? If anything, the dead areas seem to be getting MORE water than the greener areas. Thank you. I will try more water in the affected areas and see if it helps.

 

[g-man]

Sod was laid about 7 weeks ago. Watering is down to 3x a week (about .25-.5" per watering).

For sod that is not enough water. With the summer temps an established lawn could use from 0.15 to 0.20in of water per day. I would recommend 0.25in of water daily in the morning (right before sunrise), until the roots start to hold. Don't water in the evening /night to avoid fungus problems. Place tuna cans (or something flat with straight edges) and measure the amount of water so you know it got at least 0.25in.

 

[angiek123]

Will do. I just started to cut down watering 3 weeks ago. (Was doing 2x a day, then down to 1x, then every other day). I was under the impression that cutting down to longer and more infrequent watering once roots were down was the way to go.