Critical for fresh sod to be rolled?

I just had 1500 sq ft of Zoysia sod laid Friday and the crew did not bring a roller (even though I requested it). Is it critical for the sod to be rolled after laying it? If so, is there a cutoff for when it should just be left alone? E.g., is it okay to roll it a few days after considering the roots haven't taken hold yet? I swear no one does anything properly around here. They weren' even going to water the soil before putting the sod down, so I did it myself.

 

Its not critical, I have laid many yards of sod and never rolled.

Just give it a good soaking and you'll be good!

 

The builders I painted for in fla always used sod and never rolled it. That was both on run of the mill homes and higher end homes. As Marq said, getting it well watered is the main thing.

 

I know MossMan has been trying to properly prepare for all of these events on his addition so I wonder if the underlying soil was rototilled before the sod was laid ?

If it was mechanically fluffed up, then I think it would benefit him to rent a roller and fill it with water, hook it up to the back of a lawn tractor and pull it around "carefully" over all of the recently laid sod. Enough money and planning has been put into this project that neglecting this step when you're down at the 1 yard line would be unfortunate.

If the ground was rototilled in advance, then you'll see a distinct change in the lawn as the roller passes over each area.

 

I have never rolled when installing sod. It just needs to be laid flat so the root side is in contact with the ground and watered... watered and watered for the first week.

I don't water the ground before laying sod as it makes a muddy mess. Immediately after laying the sod though I turn on the sprinklers for a thorough soaking.

 

The soil was not rototilled, but they added an inch or two of topsoil/compost prior to bring the grade up. I'm confident the grass will take hold. That's not my concern. My concern is having a nice flat/consistent lawn. The sod came in 16"x24" sections, so I essentially have a checker board. I figured rolling it would help squish all the edges down evenly. Otherwise I'm concerned I'l have a bumpy yard and will have to follow up with top dressing to fill in all the voids between the pieces.

 

As long as the sod was laid tightly to the next one that shouldn't be a concern.

 

That probably ruled out the concept of any careful; rolling activity.

How do they suggest you deal with the weeds which will want to develop in the intervening sections ?

 

They said they'd come out and roll it as soon as they could. Hopefully rolling it several days after doesn't hurt anything. I've watered it well and it's been raining quite a bit here. I'd hate for the roller to do more damage than good. Based on the below photo, should I tell them to nevermind?

I'm not concerned at all with weeds. Zoysia is basically a weed and essentially chokes out everything, which is one of the reasons I love it so much

Here's an elevated view:

 

In fla [back in the 80s] bermuda and st augstine were the 2 sods most commonly used. As long as the sod was watered well and took hold - weeds weren't a problem.

 

I'm glad to see the entire area filled in with sod. When you wrote "checker board", I envisioned something like this. where the Owner tries to save money by only covering 50% of the lawn with sod:



Hence, the concern about weeds !

Something that might be referred to as "False Economy" !

 

Yikes, that would be a nightmare!

 

That is awful looking for being laid out 3 days ago. Some squares brown, some yellow. I hope you held back some $$ and did not sign off as completed. Find the owner and ask him/her to come inspect.

 

When I lived in Florida I checkered boarded a lawn like the lst picture. Filled holes with sand and lawn was complete within 6 months.

 

pugsl - was it St Augustine sod? any problems with weeds?

 

This is Zoysia sod and it is just coming out of dormancy around here. It's getting greener by the day.

 

mossman....my apologies. Learned something.

 

No worries......