How to Choose Which Sod Is Best for Alkaline Soil

Test your soil, or have it tested, for pH balance. Grasses that tolerate alkaline soils may need special support from soil amendments. St. Augustine grass, for example, will grow well in alkaline soil up to a pH of 8.5 but can easily develop iron deficiency and appear highly stressed. Further, delicate plant roots need to bond with soil on which the sod is laid. This can mean adding sand or garden soil to the sod bed to make fragile root growth easier. Testing will tell you what is needed for good grass growth.

Note climate conditions that may affect your choice of sod. Heat and cold tolerance matter almost as much as pH balance in choosing the right sod. You should examine both general regional conditions and the microclimate close to home; frost dates can vary by several degrees within only a few miles; and knowing there's always a breeze at the lake (therefore reducing heat by several degrees) may expand or decrease your choices. St. Augustine grass and Bermuda grass both do well in warm, alkaline soil and have high salinity tolerances. St. Augustine, however, does less well in heavy humidity and chronically damp soil.

Especially if you are new to the area, contact your local County Extension service, which will bring you up to date on generally good performers and local sods and seeds that do particularly well under your growth conditions. County agents can provide information on the best ways to set and establish sod as well. County Extension services are available to residents living in cities and the suburbs as well as more rural areas.

Search out varieties that stand up to cold as well as heat in your region. North Dakota, for example, has hot summers combined with bitter cold winters that Bermuda and St. Augustine cannot tolerate. Introduced varieties that manage temperature extremes and alkaline soil conditions include blue gamma, buffalo grass, dichondra and beach grass. Several wheat grasses do well, especially tall wheat grass, which is bred to revive and restore disturbed alkaline soil areas. Native grasses, including canary and switch grass, are divided into warm- and cool-season grasses.

Do thorough soil preparation to ensure the success of sod on either alkaline or acid soil. Advice varies on the amount of tilling needed once old sod is removed and the bed is rough-graded; amendments can be tilled in to depths as shallow as 4 inches and as deep as 12 inches, depending on local conditions.

Monitor the success of new sod very closely. Meeting water requirements is supreme in helping new sod bond with the sod bed. Some experts suggest installing an irrigation system as part of new sodding. With or without an irrigation system, some varieties of sod require as many as three waterings a day. The critical period for establishment of most sod varieties appears to be nine to 10 days. At that point, tug on sod to determine whether roots have bonded with underlying soil.