This is our first spring in a new house. We lost quite a bit of grass (St. Augustine) due to lack of watering in the transition from previous owner to us last summer.

I am starting Lemmon's lawn treatment schedule this spring. I put down the pre-emergent Wednesday. So next step is the fast acting 15-5-10.

My question is how do I need to time the laying of new sod with fertilizing? Fertilize before or after laying the sod? Does there need to be a time between them? I'll probably put an entire pallet down. It won't cover all the dead spots, but it will get close.

Also, how much do I need to prep the ground before I lay the sod? Is raking enough? Or should I get a tiller and loosen up the top couple of inches?

I'm in Fort Worth if that matters.

I also live in Ft Worth, and I recommend you hold off on fertilizer and sod removal/replacement until May and or June.

Let's see how much rain we get in the next few months and let the soil warm up.

I put down 6 pallets of st augustine last June and of course, that was at the beginning of a heat wave and drought, but fortunately, I could water daily due to our water well.

I would fertilize it after your first cut.

Anyone that lives in north Texas should subscribe to Neal Sperry's email news letter for lawn and garden information. Go to Neal Sperry.com to sign up.
It is probably 6 weeks or so early to lay new sod in N Texas.

eag2412 said:

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This is our first spring in a new house. We lost quite a bit of grass (St. Augustine) due to lack of watering in the transition from previous owner to us last summer.

I am starting Lemmon's lawn treatment schedule this spring. I put down the pre-emergent Wednesday. So next step is the fast acting 15-5-10.

My question is how do I need to time the laying of new sod with fertilizing? Fertilize before or after laying the sod? Does there need to be a time between them? I'll probably put an entire pallet down. It won't cover all the dead spots, but it will get close.

Also, how much do I need to prep the ground before I lay the sod? Is raking enough? Or should I get a tiller and loosen up the top couple of inches?

I'm in Fort Worth if that matters.

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In my opinion, fertilizing before grass is actively growing - nighttime temps consistently 60 degrees - is a waste of time and money.
If you think a pallet is pretty close to all you will need - unless it is all in one place - I would start fertilizing in late April 1x/7-10 days, alternating ammonium sulfate and urea, and grow your grass back. St. Augustine will cover pretty quick with fertilizer and water. If by mid June you think you need to sod, there is still time.

Fertilizing in N TX is more of an April 1 activity. You want to be mostly clear of the last freeze

Just clear the spots. Tilling is not necessary and creates air pockets that dry the sod out + doesn't always settle evenly.

I'd wait about a month before fertilizing after laying the sod. You want to roots to get established before you stress it with growth that fertilizer encourages.

Maybe ntx is different than the real world.. aka houston but putting sod down after average last freeze date will help AND I would not fertilize sod until a month after its down.
Down here you keep sod soaked first week then back down some week 2 and then normal water after (unless you do it dead summer which I'd question your intelligence anyways)
As for prepping soil so long as its a good base you should be fine. If you want to lay down an inch of soil then sod that cant hurt anything or at least top dress it when laying helps too
I did about 8 pallets of san Augustine in Houston 13+ years ago and it's still rocking and thick so maybe I got lucky but what I've worked

Hope this link works and as suggested above, sign up for Neil Sperry's news letter, he covered all of this in the last one.

https://neilsperry.com/2023/02/gardening-this-weekend-february-23-2023/

Green side up