preping soil before installation

Installation and Lawn Care

Hey at Emerald Turf we KNOW how to install sod, and we love to do it.  We’ve installed football fields, soccer fields, parks, playgrounds, and hundreds of homes.  We enjoy the big and the small jobs! 

If you have a bad back, a weak heart, or no time, let our crew do the work for you.  We can install large rolls or small slabs, whatever works best for your job.  We bid the job before we begin so that you know exactly what it will cost before we start.

Fertilizing

After the lawn has become established, then it can be fertilized. This is at least after a time period of two weeks. It has been fertilized here, at the farm, so it can definitely wait that long before another feeding.

Fertilize it with a good starter fertilizer such as Scotts Starter Fertilizer, and then water, water, water! (All About Lawns, Ortho).

Fertilize every four weeks starting in late February. Use a starter fertilizer such as 10-10-10 or 16-16-8 in February. Then starting in late March and once a month throughout October, use Urea (46-0-0) on your lawn. Use 2.5 lbs. /1000 sq.ft.

Apply the fertilizer with a broadcast spreader (not a drop spreader). Water in immediately. In Late October or early November, use the 10-10-10 or the 16-16-8 again to slow the growth and winterize your lawn. Once a year in May or June use Iron-Sol (granular) on your lawn as our soils in Utah are low in available iron. These can be purchased at IFA or at any other lawn and garden store.
Mowing: After 2 weeks of extensive watering your grass will have sufficient roots and will need to be mowed. Begin mowing at your mowers highest setting. This will ensure that your grass will not be shocked when it is mowed. 2 to 3 days later you may mow your new lawn to 2 1/2 inches, which is the recommended height.

The turf can be mowed shorter, but this does affect the drought tolerance of the sod. Keep your mower blades sharp to allow for a clean, crisp cut. You should be mowing twice a week, when your lawn is properly fertilized.

Mulching vs. Bagging

If you are mowing 2 or more times per week you may leave the grass clippings on the grass. Small amounts of clippings will decompose themselves and add nutrients to your soil. If you have large amounts of clippings rake them off of the grass. You can create a clipping pile to compost or bag and dispose of your clippings.

preping soil before installation

Watering

For the first two weeks of your lawn water 3 times a day (May, June, July, Aug, Sept) for a total of 1 inch of water per day. For installations in March, April, October or November water 1 time per day for a total of 3/4 inch of water. An inch can be measured by placing an empty tuna can on the lawn while sprinkling and measuring the amount in the can. Once the lawn becomes established, you can begin to approach a normal watering schedule.

To keep your lawn healthy and green in todays drought conditions you must train your lawn to live on less water less often. This schedule will provide an 8 week conditioning of your lawns roots. Your lawns roots can reach a depth of 8-12 inches if trained to. At the end of 8 weeks you will be watering once every 5 days. Keeping both your lawn and your wallet green.

Normal Watering Schedule

After 2 weeks of extensive watering, the sod will be rooted to your soil. For the next two weeks (weeks 2 to 4 of having your lawn), water once every other day. You still need to put 1 inch of water down during this one watering, so still use the tuna can for measurement.

Weeks 5 and 6

Water every 3 days. For example, of you water on Monday, water again on Thursday. Put down a total of 1 inch of water each watering.

Weeks 7 and 8

Water once every 4 days. You still need 1 to 1 ¼ inches of water at a time.

After week 8

 From now on, water once every 5 days, putting on 1 ½ inches of water at a time during the summer months, a little less in the fall. Follow this schedule throughout the summer and fall. Continue to water in the late fall until the natural storms take over for you.
Note: If you have extremely sandy soil, you will have to water more frequently as the sand cannot hold the water. If you have extremely clay soil, you may have to divide your inch of water per day into two sessions on that day so that the water will have time to penetrate the soil.