Sod to Splendor: How to Improve Sod Installation Success with Starter Fertilizer

Has your North Dallas lawn been beaten down because of pet damage, heavy foot traffic, or the incorrect grass type planted in the wrong spot? Is it infested with weeds and needs total rehabilitation?

It may be time to get sod installation from College Fund Landscaping. Sod gives you an instant lawn that rolls out like a carpet. You get immediate results.

Since sod installation is a significant investment, you’ll need to take steps to give it a great start and to get it anchored into the soil. You’ll need an application of starter fertilizer that has a high potassium content to help sod roots establish deep into the soil.

The starter fertilizer also has a low-burn organic nitrogen source to give sod the nutrients it needs without it burning in sunny areas this spring.

In this blog post, you’ll learn

• When to apply starter fertilizer and irrigation for best results
• College Fund Landscaping’s recommendations for lawn maintenance
• How you can have a thriving sod lawn.

When to Apply Starter Fertilizer and Irrigation for Best Sod Results

Sod installation provides you with a green lawn right away, but it also requires immediate care to ensure that it develops strong roots securely fastened to the soil.

Learn More: Sod Types and Installation Tips in North Texas

Also, we assure you that we’ll install the right sod type for the area it’s planted in. For example, we won’t install Bermudagrass sod in a shady area since Bermuda turf needs full sun. We want you to be successful with your sod installation.

Plus, you want the sod’s roots to go deep into the soil to look for water during summer, particularly during August when it’s hot and dry.

When to apply starter fertilizer? Right before sod installation.

If the ground is firm enough for a spreader, we at College Fund Landscaping can apply starter fertilizer the day before sod installation.

After we put down the starter fertilizer, you’ll need to water your lawn deeply for at least 45 minutes to activate the granular fertilizer.

Remember the cycle-and-soak method, where you turn on your water sprinkler for 15 minutes and then allow the water to percolate into the soil for 15 minutes until you reach 45 minutes.

However, if the soil is too wet after irrigating in the starter fertilizer, we’ll need to reschedule your sod installation.

Once your sod is rooted in the soil, we’ll put down another fertilizer application if you belong to our Fertilizer and Weed Control program. We recommend adding another fertilizer application if you haven’t signed up for our lawn maintenance service.

Our College Fund technicians will water your sod the first day to get it started with anchoring into the soil.

You’ll need to keep the soil moist, not saturated, until you can’t see the seams anymore and the turf is fully rooted.

Applying fertilizer soon after sod installation provides a food source for the turfgrass, helps to lower turf stress, and promotes grass growth.

College Fund Landscaping’s Recommendations for Lawn Maintenance

After we apply the starter fertilizer and install the sod, it’s your turn to take care of your new lawn until our next scheduled visit.

You want to do your best to take care of your sod investment because it’s more expensive than planting grass seed. But you don’t have to wait a year to get the satisfaction of having a thick, green lawn, either.

Learn more: North Texas Sod Installation Gives You an Instant Lawn

You want to avoid the following to increase the sod’s ability to provide a green, dense lawn:

• Avoid heavy foot traffic, especially the first few months after installation.
• Reduce thatch build-up on the sod lawn by cleaning up leaves and avoiding trampolines and swing sets on your new turf.
• Stay on top of fungal and pest control lawn treatments, and do not over-water your lawn to prevent fungal diseases and insect infestations.
• If you have poor drainage, hire us to grade and put in landscape drainage solutions before we install sod for you.
• Don’t over- or under-water your lawn. Instead, employ the cycle-and-soak method by setting your sprinkler system’s timer to water for 15 minutes at a time.

You can start mowing your new lawn after the sod is firmly rooted and you can’t lift the sod off the ground. You should only cut a small amount of turfgrass at the first mow.

You can lower the mowing height with each mowing until the turf’s height is at your desired length.

To keep your sod turf healthy, follow the 1/3 mowing rule; you never want to cut more than 1/3 off the top so grass grows thick, crowding out weeds.

On our lawn maintenance page, you can read more about specific mowing heights based on the type of turfgrass growing in your lawn, such as zoysia, St. Augustine, and Bermudagrass.

How You Can Achieve a Thriving Sod Lawn

You can achieve a beautiful green lawn when you hire us to install sod on your property. Our technicians know which grass types grow best in shade, part sun, and full sun. Our sod comes in the following varieties:

• Bermudagrass
• St. Augustine
• Zoysia.

You may think that all you need to do is to order sod, and we’ll come to your home and lay it down. However, there’s a process to sod installation that we employ every time:

• We remove all old grass and weeds to prepare the soil for sod
• We’ll add a soil amendment if needed for optimal growing conditions
• We’ll grade the soil to level it and provide good drainage
• We’ll install sod using the industry’s best practices
• We’ll set up your water sprinklers to ensure that your sod receives the right amount of water
• We’ll visit your property if you’ve signed up for one of our lawn maintenance packages to ensure that your new sod anchors into the soil and produces a dense green carpet aboveground.

Summing Up

We install healthy sod to your lawn, whether you live in North Dallas, Richardson, Murphy, or anywhere else in our service area, using industry standards. We’ll first prep the soil to receive sod.

We highly recommend our starter fertilizer before we install your sod. We recommend that you water your lawn for 45 minutes and use the soak-and-cycle method to help the sod get anchored into the soil.

We recommend ongoing lawn maintenance from College Fund Landscaping to ensure that your new sod lawn grows healthy, emerald, and dense. Remember not to mow your lawn until the seams disappear and you can’t lift the sod.

Contact College Fund Landscaping Today to Schedule Your Sod Installation & Starter Fertilizer

Ready to transform your Allen or Frisco lawn with thick, green sod? We at College Fund Landscaping specialize in top-notch sod installation and lawn maintenance services.

Now that you know when to apply starter fertilizer right after sod installation for the best results, it’s time to take the first step toward a new, healthy lawn.

Contact us today to schedule your sod installation and discover the difference we can make in your North Dallas lawn. Get started today by calling us at 972-985-0279 or filling out our contact form.

We serve the following cities: Allen, Frisco, McKinney, Murphy, North Dallas, Plano, Richardson, Sachse, and Wylie, Texas.