Patchy thin Bermuda left as my oak trees have cut out much sunlight.

About 1000 square feet.

Do I need to scrape up the existing Bermuda or can I just sod St. Augustine over it?

Do you recommend paying a service to do it or laying yourself?

Yes, I could Google this, but you guys are generally spot on.

Thanks!

You definitely need to kill the bermuda. Kill it dead. It will come back if you don't. Roundup and scrape.

Kill everything, lightly till, level, lay sod.

Artificial Turf

Reminds me of some joke about a fat girl and a pallet of sod........

Use a roller on it and water the **** out of it.

Prepare for an insanely high water bill if you water it properly the first month. Our bill went from $100 to over $400 last July when we re-sodded the sides of our yard - not even the larger front and back zones.

Out of curiosity, would zoysia or st Augustine be better in a shaded yard? I'm guessing OP is in north Texas, like me.

Quote:

---

joke about a fat girl and a pallet of sod

---

Well.... what's the joke?

Palmetto St Augustine.

Just had this done. 2200 sq ft sod. 1000 for you could lay yourself with one extra person. Much more and it would be a long and painful-back day.

Roundup all weeds: no 365 roundup either. The instant kill. Hack up remaining weeds. Good top soil. Plant. Water water water.

Grass outlet $150/pallet excellent quality. Very pleased.

Yeah, palmetto st augustine is generally going to be the most shade tolerant options, although st aug does come with it's own set of challenges.

I would recommend Roundup and then rake the hell out of it with a very heavy duty rake (I have a big-ass rock rake from HD that is great for this). In general, I'm not a fan of tilling because it creates so many air pockets which causes new sod to dry out very quickly, then it oftentimes settles unevenly. If you do till, do it very, very shallow. It's more of just an aid to get the old stuff out and score up the surface a bit. Don't worry about getting the soil perfectly bare.

And that advice about trimming the trees above is no joke though. Regardless of what you put int, make sure you get them trimmed adequately which should let some light through; otherwise, the st. augustine will disappear too. Just more slowly than bermuda would.

Trees were trimmed last year. I get them done every 5 years

Unfortunately i have done this a few times. Its not technical work, so its a DIY if you want to. Simply spray roundup once or twice over a 2 week period. Once its good and dead, use a lawn mower to cut it as short as possible. Then use a tiller to get any more roots, rake those up. Then level and slope it as needed. May need to bring in some additional good dirt. This is a great opportunity to get your yard nice and level.

Then have the sod delivered in pallets. Each pallet holds about 450 sf i think. Laying it is fairly easy. Make sure and water it in immediately. Use some leftover soil to fill in any gaps between grass. Then water about 50% more than normal for about 2 weeks and then adjust based on visual observation.

Enjoy!

To piggyback, I have rye in my backyard that I planted late last fall. It's done great, but I know it won't last so I want to sod. Do I need to roundup that too or just till? I've heard both ways on it.

Bulldog73 said:

---

To piggyback, I have rye in my backyard that I planted late last fall. It's done great, but I know it won't last so I want to sod. Do I need to roundup that too or just till? I've heard both ways on it.

---

Just till and sod...no need to use roundup on rye.

I wouldn't recommend tilling. It's more work and it's not necessary, unless you're worried about severely compacted soil. If you do till, rent a roller and do that before you lay sod or you're gonna have a lumpy yard in time.

Be prepared to be sore. Very very very sore. Even if you workout 6 hours a day you will use muscles in places you didnt know you had them. I will never ever lay sod again. Ever.

One last question (for now) if I plan on laying sod next month, can I still put pre-emergent out? I'm pushing the date for that, for sure, but I could put it out tomorrow if it won't mess up the St. Augustine growth.

Bulldog73 said:

---

One last question (for now) if I plan on laying sod next month, can I still put pre-emergent out? I'm pushing the date for that, for sure, but I could put it out tomorrow if it won't mess up the St. Augustine growth.

---

It won't impact the San Augustine growth at all but you may be too late on the pre-emergent depending on where you're located as it should have been put out by now.