We built a new home and Im getting ready to lay new sod tomorrow. Any tips? Im laying bermuda sod. Laid new top soil sunday. New to the whole grass care concept. Browsed over the Randy Lemmon site but its a little overwhelming for a newb not knowing much. Thanks

Invite some friends. Pay them with beer. Hope they're better friends than mine were.

I put down 8 pallets on Saturday. It sucked.

Lay it down, water it in well and roll it to pact it down and level it out. Keep it from drying out by watering as needed and do not apply any fertilizer until after the 2nd or 3rd mowing. Sit back and enjoy watching it grow...gonna take lots of beers during the process!

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I put down 8 pallets on Saturday. It sucked.

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We are getting 36 pallets of tif (?) Bermuda installed on Thursday. I can't wait... Hoping it is good grass!!!!

Im getting 20 pallets of tif bermuda too. It got delayed because all of the rain, so they didn't cut the fields today. How long should you wait before cutting or fertilizing? I am hiring a few hispanic guys for a couple days to help lay and also help clear brush. We have two 3 acre lots so I have plenty of work to keep them busy lol

I have read you shouldnt fertilize it for at least 6 weeks. Water the first week as much as possible without having standing water. Back off on the water a bit for week 2. By week 3 you should start see the grass and soild firming up. Safe to mow once the roots of the new grass "grow into" the soil. Good luck!

As said already roll it in. You can rent a grass roller at lowes. Also for the first 5 days make sure to water heavily. Also make sure you lay the grass in different directions not just in straight lines. Good luck!

That's a lot of tif bermuda. You fellas are in for a ton of upkeep if you are keeping it at the recommended height of below 1-1/2 inches. At peak growth rate thats a minimum of mowing every 4 days. That is unless you guys are planning on growing hay.

you are signing up for a lot of mowing if you are doing bermuda. It loves to be mowed a lot. It is great for traffic and drought tolerance but to keep it thick and hearty you do need to mow it 2x per week.

Every 5-6 days works for me in Austin. If I can't get to it during a week day rotation I'll mow high on Friday afternoon and low on Sunday evening.

Mowing doesnt really bother me. Just got a new gravely 52" commercial, so it could use the work. I work for the fire dept so have quite a bit of free time. My choics of bermuda over st aug was our property size. I would nt be able to sod it all completely using either, so at least with bermuda i could seed out past what i sod

A few things here. First, there is no such thing as Tif Bermuda seed. The seeds that they produce are sterile and they only can be propogated by sod or plugs. If you ask for bermudagrass seed, you will get Common Bermuda which has a lighter color, more course texture, and is kept at a higher mowing height than all hybrids like Tifway. With that said, you can shop for Princess 77 Bermuda seed which has similar color, appearance, and mowing needs. Just FYI.

Secondly, make sure that your mower can cut within the recommended height range of 0.5"-1.5" with as many increments between. I know many Gravelys can cut down to 1" and have 0.25" intervals between settings and that will do just fine. There are also some Gravelys that only cut down to 1.5" and this can be problematic for a couple of reasons. One, you cannot scalp the turf at the start of spring greenup and are missing out on one of the best practices to condition the lawn for the growing season. Two, with this scenario you cannot afford to miss a single mowing. If you allow the grass to even come close to 2" in height at any point in time, the grass stolons will turn vertical to fight for sunlight. Once it stops creeping along the ground, it is hard to get it trained back down until the next spring scalping. The mowing needs will go up immensely since the stolons grow faster than the leaves. Thatch will build fast since the stem clippings decompose much slower than leaf clippings and will require you to bag. Furthermore, your lawn will lose density since it is not regenerating and color will be brown everytime you mow since only the top layer will stay green (the layer you mow off each time). If your lawn loses density, then cue the weed problems and so on and so on. Common bermuda does not show this sort of temperment until it rises past 3" but you have a hybrid variety on the way so you have to be diligent. It cannot be stated enough. Mowing height is paramount.

However, if properly taken care of, Hybrid Bermuda make for a striking lawn that is practically invincible outside of constant mowing.