• Number 1, and most important : Do not water your sod while it is still stacked on the
pallet. When you do, you create a microwave effect and the sod cooks from the inside
out.
• Water the ground before laying the sod.
• We recommend that you have a spray service inspect new sod for fungus and other
diseases within three days.
• Sod should be watered at least 4 hours per day (2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in
the evening) for the first two weeks during the summer unless there is sufficient
rainfall. Each time you water you should giving the new sod approximately 3/4" of water.
A good way to measure how much water you are giving the area is to place an empty
tuna fish can or anything flat that can hold water and turn your sprinkler on. When the
water reaches the top of the tuna fish can or the equivalent on another container you
will know how long to run your water for. Most people overestimate the amount of time
they are actually watering so if your sod starts turning brown after the second day of
watering, you may need to reassess your watering time. You also dont want to
overwater, so cut back it you get standing water.
• Sod needs to be fertilized within two weeks with a 100% organic fertilizer. The most
common types of organic fertilizer are ironite and milorganite and they can be
purchased at any home improvement store. Do not use a chemical fertilizer until the sod
has rooted into the ground. Chemical fertilizers can burn the roots of the sod, killing
it. After initial fertilization, use 16-4-8 fertilizer at recommend rate in March and
September. During the summer use only an organic fertilizer such as those listed
above.
• During the late spring, summer and early fall we require that you put fungus control on
your new St. Augustine grass. We can almost guaranteed that it will get fungus and we
feel it is better to pretreat (but this will not completely prevent) than to potentially lose
your new grass because of it. We recommend Scotts Lawn Fungus Control because it is
a granule and will stay around longer than a liquid.
• If you still experience fungus problems after repeated treatments, especially in
saturated areas, you need to have a spray company come out that can use higher
strength fungicide. Do not let the fungus go: you can loose your entire lawn!
• Long Term Care - There is a lot of information available and it would take up an
enormous amount of space to list it here. Please visit the University of Florida
Extension Website for detailed information or call our office and we will send you a copy
of care information broken down by the seasons.
• We recommend that you visit the St Johns River Water Management District website in
regards to the amount of water your established grass needs
