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Why Spring or Early Summer Is the Best Time to Plant Sod

We are full swing into summer, and a lot of Florida homeowners are wondering if it’s too late to plant sod. While you can plant sod at this time of year with careful planning, preparation, nurturing, and maintenance, it is not the best time to do so. Ideally sod would be laid in late spring or early summer. Here’s why. Lower Moisture Sod needs to be watered frequently when first installed so that the roots can take hold and grow deep, but you can also give sod too much moisture. From mid- to late-summer Florida gets a lot of rain, severe storms, and even hurricanes. All of that added humidity in the air and precipitation on your lawn creates a breeding ground for disease that can kill the sod. Spring and early summer have occasional rain, but not nearly as much moisture in the air.

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Top Ways to Prevent Disease in Sod During High Humidity

Investing in a new lawn can be exciting. But if you want a healthy lawn, you can’t rush the process. Especially during the height of summer, humidity and heat provide a breeding ground for fungal diseases in the new sod. While you can’t do anything about the Florida humidity, you can take measures to ensure that your new sod remains healthy until fall. Ways to Prevent Disease in Sod During High Humidity Pre-Installation Preparation Doing the proper prep work before installing fresh sod is extremely important, especially in the hot and humid summer months. You should only trust experienced professionals, such as ourselves, to handle the preparation and installation of your sod. This way you’ll be sure that all of the necessary preparation has been completed correctly.

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How Higher Humidity Can Affect Your New Sod

If you’re a long-time Florida resident, the summer’s heat and humidity aren’t a surprise. But most people aren’t aware of how this humidity affects nature, and that includes your grass. If you’re planting new sod during this time of year, it is important to understand how humidity will affect your new sod and what you can do to help keep it healthy as roots develop. Higher Humidity Causes Disease Even in a well-established lawn, humidity and heat can be a breeding ground for fungal disease. New sod is especially susceptible because it does not have established roots. There isn’t really anything you can do about the level of humidity in the Tampa area, but there are some things you can do to try to protect your grass.

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Choosing an Appropriate Variety of Grass for Tampa Area Lawns

Are you ready to lay new sod on a Tampa area property? Florida’s tropical climate is only appropriate for certain types of grass, but there are still many varieties to choose from. For most Tampa area lawns, St. Augustine, Bermuda, or Zoysia sods are most appropriate, but your particular lawn and maintenance requirements will ultimately decide what grass variety you choose. The Best Sods for the Tampa Region There are several different brands of St. Augustine and Bermuda grasses, and we carry a few other types of sods as well. However, we do have our favorites for the Tampa region. 

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Methods for Implementing or Improving Lawn Irrigation

Improving Lawn Irrigation Did you recently buy a home, or did you recently have new sod installed? If so, you may be working on implementing your lawn’s irrigation system. Current homeowners may also need to think about improving or upgrading their system. Whether your goal is a beautiful lawn, water conservation, or both, you’ll be able to make progress with these steps. Ways to Improving Lawn Irrigation Assess your landscape. You can visually assess your landscape yourself, or you can hire a professional to do this for you. Before you can design an effective irrigation system, you first have to understand what areas of your lawn actually need watering. The grade or slope of your yard could have a lot to do with this. Your lawn’s features may also allow you to use fewer sprinklers if water from rains can be redirected to drier areas.

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What New Florida Residents Need to Know About Watering Your Lawn

If you are new to southern Florida, you may not be used to the tropical climate. There are a lot of things unique to Florida that make lawn care much different from other parts of the country. One of the things that differs is how much you need to water your lawn. Florida has a long rainy season, and as such we have to mow our lawns more frequently and water less frequently during those times. Here’s what you need to know about watering your lawn in Florida. What New Florida Residents Need to Know About Watering Your Lawn How often should you water your Florida lawn? This will depend somewhat on the time of year, the weather, and how rain affects your lawn. Some lawns are designed so that water from rain just runs off the property, preventing it from over-soaking or eroding the soil. These lawns will need to be watered twice a week, even if there is rain.

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How to Take Advantage of Rain in Poorly Irrigated Areas

If you’re working with a budget for your sprinkler system and lawn maintenance, you might be looking to minimize the number of sprinklers on your property. While this is entirely possible, it does require some careful planning. With the right resources, you can easily design irrigation to take advantage of rain while limiting the number of overall sprinklers. Poorly Irrigated Lawn? Leverage Rain Instead? Assess your lawn’s natural irrigation. If you don’t use sprinklers, how does water distribute and run through your yard when it rains? What areas of your lawn are damper or spongier after a good rain? Are there any areas of your lawn that don’t seem to get much natural water at all? All of this information is necessary for determining where to place your sprinklers.

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Why Planting Sod Is Better Than Seeding

While planting grass seed is unarguably more inexpensive than installing sod, there are a lot of reasons to plant sod instead. When you choose to plant sod, especially when it is grown in the area, you know that you will have a lawn that you can be proud of immediately, not in a season or two. This is the biggest appeal of planting sod. However, there are many additional reasons to consider. Why Planting Sod Is Better Than Seeding? Low Maintenance, Low Effort Sod installation also requires very little maintenance or effort on your part, while growing grass from seed takes patience, time, and a lot of maintenance. When you spread grass seed, you often have to spread more seed later on down the road, as some seed is washed away or taken by birds and other critters. You’ll also have to make sure that you water it well and frequently, as well as fertilize more aggressively.

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Watching the Weather and Your Sprinklers

Most people who want to have a well-manicured and healthy lawn will use a sprinkler system as a method of irrigation to keep the soil moist as necessary for growth and maintenance. You may have even researched exactly how much water and how frequently you should run the sprinklers for your climate and type of grass, but many people do not think to adjust their sprinklers according to the weather. Most grass and turf will become diseased and rotted when it becomes overly saturated. It is important that you are not overwatering your lawn during periods when you are getting a lot of rain. Florida weather is infamous for its rainy seasons. While you don’t want to completely turn off your sprinkler system during these months, you should be aware of the weather and ready to make adjustments to the system at any notice. Smart Sprinkler Use Based on Weather Conditions

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What Happens to Grass if You Don’t Mow Your Lawn

You know that you are supposed to mow your lawn on a regular basis, usually at least once a week in the spring and summer, but lately there have been movements trying to eliminate mowing for a month at a time. While this could be tempting, it is important that you continue to mow your lawn if you want it to remain healthy. Here’s why. What Happens to Grass If You Don’t Mow Your Lawn? Infrequent Mowing Hurts the Grass When Cut The longer the blades of grass become, the more resources it becomes used to consuming. If you suddenly cut the grass by a few inches all at once, it’s going to be shocked as it suddenly needs fewer resources. This can sometimes kill your grass if it is unable to recover. Sometimes it needs additional irrigation to recover fully.

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