I just moved to my new property. According to the town of Wharton I had to build the house 5 feet high for flood purposes. In doing so I had to haul in a lot of dirt and then I had to put down sod or the hill turned into mud. The sod was laid down last Friday and I have been giving it a good thorough watering daily. It's not looking great but the guy that laid it assures me it will perk up in a month or so. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
Trying To Keep Sod Grass Alive
What kind of grass is it? St Aug, Bermuda, etc?
Carla
Yes. If it is St. Augustine, you will probably have to water twice a day heavily to keep it alive in this heat until the roots take. St. Augustine really is a partial shade grass in Texas and really shouldnt be planted in full sun since it is such a water waster.
Bermuda may brown on you but will rebound and then invade your very existance. DONT PLANT THIS GRASS!!!
Zoysia will brown and rebound as well.
If you are lucky, they planted the new improved buffalograss mixes that never need to be mowed and will flourish here in Texas. They will brown with no water but then green up as soon as they get some moisture.
I got St. Augustine.
I love my SA. If cut at high levels of your mower it will help with evaporation during this horrible heat. Mine grows as well in the sun as in the shade. It does require watering, but once established can take abuse and bounce back.
Good to know about the height. Right now I'm just praying it will make it. I heard we might get some rain this weekend.
I'm with Sheila -- I love my St Aug. At this point, just make sure that the roots stay wet and are in contact with the soil beneath them. St Aug is a very hardy grass, and if babied through this heat, should do very well. When it is established, mow it high (I mow mine on the highest setting of my mower), mulch the clippings, water it 1" per week during the hottest times of the year, and it should do very well for you.
Carla
I am not putting St. Augustine down. I have some in my front yard that has lots of shade and it does wonderful there. However, it is very itchy if you lay down in it, it requires more water than native lawn grass and needs to be cut often.
The benefits to Turffalo or Buffalo grass is that you pretty much never have to water it once established. If you dont mow it will grow to 6-8 inches and lay over into a pretty mat that is very soft and doesnt itch if you lay on it and doesnt need to be fertilized.
I am just promoting it if someone does a new lawn soon. I planted my backyard with plugs last year in the worst of the drought, watered them for 3 weeks and stopped. They are still alive and spreading. I would only plant them in full sun.
I agree with juju that SA is itchy. I am from the North and never had any SA in our area. When I first walked on it at my brothers house it felt like it was plastic. BUT because of the heat here not many grasses we grow in the North would survive here. My main purpose for this grass is to keep the hill from erosion and as long as it stays green I will be happy.
My St Aug is soft as silk underfoot. I love the feeling of it. I don't know what variety it is, though. Good luck with your St Aug, Fancyflea.
Carla
In addition to grass, you can try those Silverberry bushes. They add nitrogen to your soil, love heat and drought and are used for erosion control. They also produce an edible berry.
I don't like it well enough to plant in the front yard, but here is what we have in the far back.
We have a flooding problem in the lower part of our yard. Since we allowed the native horseherb to cover the area, it has held on to the soil much better. It is shown at the bottom of the picture.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/134856/
I didnt allow the native horseherb to grow in my yard. It TOLD me it was going to grow there. I didnt even get a vote in the matter. Pretty tiny yellow flowers.
LOL! I understand. That is the reason it is still growing where it is, I finally gave up.
We have St. Augustine that has slowly crept over from the neighbor's and taken over the Bermuda, which is fine with me. I grew up with St. Augustine, and like it a lot. Ours does better in full sun than in shade.
Before you put down any sod it is best if you spread a thin layer of peat moss to hold the moisture where it is needed the most. You can also add a then layer on top and water it in. It really will help in the first few weeks. Also using a 0-20-0 will help the grass to grow them roots. It doesn't take much.
So far so good. The grass is showing some growth where it used to be brown. I water it a good hour every other day.