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If you’ve ever admired a neighbor’s flawless, lush, green yard, it’s a good chance it’s made of sod. It’s nearly impossible to achieve a perfect lawn with anything except sod—which is why golf courses almost exclusively use sod. Sod can be a great way to get the yard of your dreams, but unfortunately, there’s a lot of misinformation about sod flowing around. The first is that it takes more water to support sod, and that simply isn’t true (at least not after the first two weeks).
This myth likely began because it’s critical to fully soak the yard as soon as sod is laid. Watering should continue on alternating days for more weeks as well. This can certainly make it seem like sod is a water hog, but when the sod roots have developed into the soil at two weeks, the watering reduces dramatically. In reality, sod requires less water than a natural lawn once it’s been established. Sod just requires a lot of water early on to make sure it doesn’t dry out. It does take a few months for sod to fully establish a turf, and you might find yourself watering a little more during this period. However, in under one year, sod will become the least thirsty of any established lawn possible.
You may have heard that sod requires a lot of chemicals, and that isn’t true. In fact, fewer chemicals are used with sod when compared to seeding a lawn. Sod is simply strips of grass that were professionally grown to be weed- and disease-free. Sod is a mature and hyper-healthy turf, so you don’t need as much fertilizer to get it established. Since sod is weed-free, you won’t need to use any herbicides and most homeowners can easily “catch” and remove any weeds that might form in future months right away. When you seed a yard, weed invasions happen because the soil has weed seeds—that isn’t the case with sod. Plus, young seedlings are more vulnerable to bacteria and fungi that cause disease compared to mature seedlings found in sod.
You’ve also probably heard that sod is expensive. It’s true that sod is going to cost more than seeds, but at what ultimate cost? Seeds are inexpensive because they can’t guarantee an even, healthy, attractive turf. In the long run, you’re going to spend a lot more on seeding than that first bag of seeds. Seeding requires ongoing and costlier maintenance and management, plus more water and chemicals, in order to achieve a decent-looking yard. Experts estimate that, when considering your yard as a “long game,” seeding and sod actually cost about the same. The big difference is that you get an immediate, perfect lawn with sod that will never be possible with seeds.
Sod has many benefits, including enhancing the environment by minimizing sediment loss and runoff. Ready to find out more about sod options for you and your yard? Connect with The Dirt Bag today.
