New turf looks like its dying

michelle.edkins17

Hi we have laid some new turf down and it appears to be dying. We put black sheeting down after turning over the soil and put compost and top soil down before laying the grass. Can anyone suggest how to revive this. We have watered it every day since it's been laid. 

Borderline

When you say you put black sheeting down, is it porous? If not, how thick did you lay new soil & compost? It could be a drainage issue or poor contact with soil due to lack of tamping down and watering, especially during the summer months. Watering should be in the evenings or early mornings at this time of year, otherwise, you will be watering all day due to evaporation.

michelle.edkins17

The sheeting did say it was suitable for laying turf so I can only assume it was porous. The new soil and compost is about 2 inches thick like we was told by the company we bought it from. I've watered it in the evenings as I don't want the sun to burn it. Only time I've watered it in the mornings is before the sun has come into our garden so that's been about 7:30am. How would I be able to tell if it had a drainage issue? What I don't understand is how some of it, is growing ok but not all. When we bought it it was cut fresh that day. 

Borderline

I'm not familiar with this sheeting. I would have thought that once you have levelled the soil, you pour sieved top soil and then slowly walk over the whole are to make sure all air pockets are removed. This is all done before laying your turf on. The patches suggest it is either not making contact with parts of the soil underneath. At just 2 inches, there is a risk some hollows may appear in places, leaving your turf with nothing to 'bond' to, so ending up drying out.

I would peel back the areas worst affected to see if there is enough soil underneath. I feel 2 inches underneath is way too shallow for your lawn to survive long-term.

Hopefully more members will have their opinions, but I think that may be the issue.

michelle.edkins17

Ok thank you. Would you suggest maybe buying a miracle grow and see if that would help it? 

Borderline

I don't think Miracle Grow would help at this stage. The grass looks matted, either dried or compacted. I think watering at this time of year is still important, so continue with that, but I think the issue is the layer underneath that needs checking. Depending on how long you have laid the turf, it may be worth raking the area to see if that helps to get air into the base. But I would not recommend this until the lawn has settled down to around 6-8 weeks.

KT53

I've never heard of putting down what sounds like weed suppressing sheet before laying turf.  You might want to speak to the turf supplier and see if they have any thoughts on the cause and, more importantly, a solution.