Need help, new sod install = weeds!

[rat_race_engineer]

Hello all,

I just received a call back today for what I though was a very succesful sod installation completed about 4-5 weeks ago. It was 650 sq ft in the front yard with a concrete walkway splitting the area right down the middle. I installed Tall Fescue sod from the local sod farm (harvested that morning) and the left side of the walkway looks good but the right side is totally overgrown with this 1 type of weed. The blades are long, wide and lighter green and have grown twice the height since the last mowing as the surrounding tall fescue. I looked at my Lesco weed identifier chart and it says the weed is Tall Fescue "which sticks out amongst thinner blade fescue species". How exactly does this Tall Fescue weed relate to the tall fescue sod I installed? I can still see the sod below it and it looks healthy just the whole one side of his front yard is covered with the Tall Fescue weed sprouting up twice the height of the sod. Needless to say it looks like crap and I need to fix it. Is there a weed killer that can target it without hurting hte tall fescue sod?

As far as prep goes, i scalped the original lawn down to nothing with a 21" bagger, cultivated the area with a heavy duty walk behind cultivator and raked out all the clumps. Rolled the soil, applied sod, rolled sod and watered. The sod was all harvested at the same time and from the same location and I followed the same procedure on both halves. I can't explain why 50% of it looks good while the other half doesn't. I need to call the guy when he gets home from work tonight and need some treatment options.

I'd appreciate any suggestions or advice you can offer.

Thanks!

Jason

[racerkxv]

I think your problem with the sod install is that you didn't use any new loom. If you used the existing soil and it had any weed seeds in it, than they would have germinated within a week. Just try to pick the weeds out!!

[lorenzo piedra]

If you want an intelligent answer about your issues you are going to have to post a close up photo of the pest in question.

[Mike J]

I had a similar problem, but I don't think mine was a dramatic as you described yours. I pulled mine came out nice and easy, just small patches.

[rat_race_engineer]

Thanks for the tips. I will go back and take a digital photo (didn't have my camera with me the first time I stopped by) and post it. I just couldn't explain to the customer why 1 half of his sod was perfect and the other half was ****e since the same prep process and sod material lot was used. I will go back and hand pick them all out. I've also been told by the local Lesco manager that I can go back and paint all of them with Glyphsophate (Round up). Either way sounds a lot easier than resodding it.

Thanks!

Jason

[hardboiled]

I don't do sod so this is just from some book learnin', not experience. And it is after the fact so just file it away for later use. Unless someones says I'm wrong then file it in the wastecan.
I'm guessing there was the courser tall fescue (if that is what it is) in the original area, whose roots survived the tilling and reestablished. Glyphosate would have been the thing to apply beforehand. Can you recall if there were clumps of this in the lawn before the scalping? I think tilling without killing it off just made many more small clumps and spread them around. Those that wound up close enough to the surface took off again with all the water and fertilizer. I could be wrong, but thats my thought on it.

[rat_race_engineer]

That sounds highly likely and I can definitely see it happening. It is just so odd how 1/2 came out fine and the other 1/2 is weedy. It's almost like someone sprinkled weed seeds in a perfect square on 1 side of the lawn only but both sides got the same prep. I will be going back Saturday morning to manually pull out all the weeds. Anything that comes back will be painted with Round-Up using a brush so as not to kill the underlying sod. Sounds like a pain but still easier than resodding the whole thing.

Best Regards,

Jason

[Ric]

Rat Race

I am in Hurricane Heaven, so I will not try and tell what to do on Fescue. I will only add that I used to sell a pest control and fert program to all my sod jobs. I rolled in all into a package deal and charged more for it as a guaranteed Sod job. Not only did I have a better margin but also a prepaid spray customer for a year.

[hardboiled]

I like that idea Ric. If you ever had to replace some sod, then you have an extra profit to draw from, to cover the cost.

Jason,
Pulling them now should be easier before they really take hold. Even if it were severe enough to spot spray, it will fill in if the rest of the job is healthy. I've used that approach to get rid of unwanted bermuda (without pulling) and coarse clumps of fescue (pulled or dug out if not sprayed)) in my own lawn.

[Ric]

I like that idea Ric. If you ever had to replace some sod, then you have an extra profit to draw from, to cover the cost.

HardBoiled

It actually works to your good in many ways. First from a marketing stand point. "Sod Replacement Guaranteed for one Year". Most having sod replaced have a management problem. So they like the Idea that it is guaranteed and will pay more. Second it not only increase your Profit Margin on that job, but gets you a reoccurring income that is prepaid the first year. If you do a good job renewal is highly likely. I have never had to replace more than a couple of strips and would of had that problem even if I didn't Guarantee it for a year, Mostly bad piece of sod that never took hold.

At the already high price of Sod Replacement why not spend a little more to get an insurance policy. Of course I would also pick up mowing. But Then I had a pretty tight contract to CYA in case of a major problem be on my control. Irrigation is the biggest problem I faced on these Sod Jobs. Yes I had Customer Lose turf because of irrigation, I make a real point both on paper and verbal to let them know how important it is. I had one customer who wanted to sue be over it, I told them to get a good lawyer. I guess the lawyer read the Guarantee. They ended up paying me up front to reinstall the sod. Homey doesn't play the I'll pay you later game with upset customers.

[rat_race_engineer]

Thanks for the feedback guys. I spoke with the customer and he was pretty cool about it - he liked the fact that I got back to him when I said I would and didn't just leave him high and drive after taking his money.

I'll be weeding the lawn first thing tomorrow morning - I asked him not to mow it so it would be easier to spot all the weeds sticking up above the sod.

Here are two pictures of the problem side:





Here is a picture of the other half which came out OK except for all the mushrooms that popped up:



Its my first time posting pictures on Imageshack - hope they came out OK. In any case, am I correct in identifying the weeds as Tall Fescue (in tall fescue sod, WTF?).

Thanks & Best Regards,

Jason

[rat_race_engineer]

Let's try this again with bigger pictures for you guys:

Bad Side:

[img=http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/61/dsc044839lc.jpg]

[img=http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/1691/dsc044843ko.jpg]


Good Side:

[img=http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/2151/dsc044810er.jpg]

Sorry for the double post - I hope these pictures come out better.

Thanks,

Jason

[rat_race_engineer]

One more time - I promise this is the last one.



Bad Side:

[img=http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/9318/dsc044836bb.jpg]

[img=http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/1691/dsc044843ko.jpg]

Good Side:

[img=http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/4918/dsc044812cn.jpg]

Apparently, cutting & pasting URL links is more difficult than I thought.

J

[rat_race_engineer]

I give up - the full size links still didn't work.

Jason

[hardboiled]

That's ok Jason, if someone double clicks on the photo it will enlarge. Try it from you're end.