Frequently Asked Questions

There are many advantages to a sod lawn. Here are a few:

• Allergy free, pollen free
• Sod requires less water than seed
• Sod quality can not be found in seeded varieties
• No waiting- Instant lawn!

The best time for grass removal is during it's active growing season of May thru August. Begin by applying a vegetation killer such as Round-Up to the existing lawn. After the lawn has yellowed and appears dead, lower mowing height to scalp the remaining leaf blade. Water your lawn as usual to encourage growth. If the lawn starts to grow in again, apply another treatment of vegetation killer. The goal is to kill all grass including the root system. Please keep in mind, established bermudagrass lawns can be up to 12" deep. It could take up to 3 applications before the lawn is completely dead. We recommend to wait at least 5 days from final treatment before installing fresh sod.

We recommend incorporating soil amendments such as gypsum, mulch and starter fertilizer and tilling to a depth of 4 to 6 inches deep.

You'll want to fertilize your lawn every 30 days to maintain a healthy lawn. Good turf nutrition is the key to a weed and disease free lawn. We suggest using a fertilizer with a 21-7-14 or 16-8-4 ratio.

Check out our watering guide on the install page of the Do It Yourself section.

You can begin mowing approximately 14 days from installation. Be sure to remove only 1/3 of the leaf blade to avoid scalping your new lawn. You may have to mow every 3 days to reach your preferred mowing height.

Unfortunately not. However, you do have the option of over-seeding your sod lawn to remain green throughout the winter months.

Performance St. Augustine is the only shade tolerant grass available in California. St. Augustine will grow only in partial shade and still requires a minimum of 4 hours of sunlight per day.

The most resilient grasses would be Tifway, TifTuf or Aloha Paspalum. These varieties will withstand heavy traffic and will recover more quickly from damage.

Check out our spring transition page.

We recommend dethatching when the thatch build up is 1/2" or more. The best time to dethatch or aerify is during the lawn's most active growing season, usually June thru August. Dethatching at that time of year will help the lawn recover more quickly.

If you have over-seeded your lawn, we suggest watering 2-3 times per week for approximately 15 to 20 minutes, some low volume sprinklers may require as much as 45 minutes. If your lawn is dormant, we suggest watering once per month in the coldest months unless there is adequate rainfall.

Contrary to popular belief, it is not the acidity or sodium content in the dog's urine. It is a high concentration of nitrogen. You may notice a ring of dark green grass around the spots. This is because urine burn is identical to over fertilizing and burning your lawn. The spotting can depend on the size and sex of the dog. If the dog is large, the spots will be larger only because a larger dog will urinate more than a small dog. Also, both male and female dogs will cause urine burn, but, the female will cause a darker spot. Since female dogs squat, the urine is more concentrated in one area as opposed to a male dog that tends to spray. There are two ways to prevent urine burn:

• Lower the level of nitrogen in the urine by changing the dog's diet to a food lower in protein, or dilute their food with water.
• Sprinkle the spots with Gypsum pellets and spray with water.