Can I Place St. Augustine Grass Sod Over My Current?

Keeping Sod Healthy

• If you have a pallet of sod delivered and you haven't prepared the site, you must keep the sod moist until you can lay it. However, you must lay the sod within one or two days after having it delivered or it will die even if you keep it moist because it will not have the light it needs to stay healthy.

Preparing the Soil

• The grass is removed using a sod cutter or a shovel, which takes a lot of time and work. After removing the grass, rocks and weeds, the soil is amended with compost or topsoil using a rototiller. The surface of the soil must be 1 inch lower than a sidewalk because St. Augustine sod comes in rolls 1 inch thick.

Watering

• After laying the sod, you need to keep the St. Augustine sod moist so the roots grow downward into the soil. Depending the on the weather, you will water the grass one to two times a day for the first one to two weeks, applying 1 inch of water each day. During the second and third weeks, watering is reduced to every other day. If you would have grass under the sod, the water still wouldn't be enough for the sod roots to penetrate the grass.

Mowing

• St. Augustine sod is mowed when it reaches a height of 3 to 4 inches and the sod roots are established in the ground underneath. Before mowing, gently lift up on a corner of the sod. If it doesn't lift up, it has root establishment and you can mow it. If you have grass underneath the sod, the sod roots won't establish in the ground. When you mow the sod without root establishment, you take a chance of ripping the sod up and killing it.