Planting grass plugs from sod - Additional information

Introduction: Some additional information to Planting grass plugs with sod. This includes herbicide use, watering, and a few other items.

Watering new plugs

The picture below shows is a nice square planting zone that can be totally covered by one sprinkler

Here I have set up 2 sprinklers, and 1 line with micro-sprinklers attached to drip line irrigation
Then I used a multi-zone timer to so I can control all 3 sections easily

You don’t have to use drip line irrigation
- I could have used a sprinkler. There would just be some over spray into the woods

If the area you plugged is small and you have the time, you can pull up weeds by hand
Most weeds will pop up during the 1st month after plugging, because you are watering the area so much
At that time the weeds will be small and the soil will be wet so they aren’t too hard to pull up

Pre-emergent herbicides work by preventing weed seeds from germinating
Ronstar is the only pre-emergent herbicide that you should use on new plugs
- Other pre-emergents can prune new roots which isn’t great for new plugs
If you apply it shortly before plugging, it does a great job preventing weed seeds from germinating
It is a little expensive, makes a big difference

These work by killing weeds that have already sprouted
The herbicide you use depends on the weeds that are growing
I will give you examples of the weeds I commonly see when plugging Zoysia, and the herbicides I use
- Crabgrass → Quinclorac
  - Crabgrass is by far the most common weed I deal with. I keep some Quinclorac with the emulsifier they recommend mixed up in a bottle. I will usually need to spot spray 2-4 weeks after plugging. Thereafter they will come up less often, because the area is dryer, but I may need to spray some spots once a month. I have been very impressed with Quinclorac in killing even very established crabgrass.
- A multitude of broadleaf weeds including wild Garlic, wild onion, dandelion, clover, and plantains. → Southern Ag Lawn Weed Killer with Trimec (2, 4-D + dicamba + mecoprop)
- Wild Bermuda → Fusilade II + Turflon Ester
  - Bermuda is a tough weed to kill in zoysia lawns without harming the zoysia. Fusilade II works the best for this. There is a study that showed that adding Turflon caused less harm to the zoysia than fusilade alone. So, I combine them.
- Sedge weeds → Sedgehammer
When plugs are young you can often times spot spray the weed, while missing the plugs
You can visit the following link (and many other sites) for more information on herbicides with particular grasses:
- https://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheet/managing-weeds-in-warm-season-lawns/

They are very wordy, but they have important information like…
- Adding a surfactant for better performance
- Not spraying during the heat of the day
- How long you need to wait before watering
- How long you need to wait before mowing
Be especially careful to water plugs according to your schedule when you are applying herbicides
- Water will help your grass bounce back from herbicides

When you first plant your plugs they will probably look pretty grey and dead for the first few weeks
- It will probably take a month before they start looking really good
I have made plenty of mistakes by not watering enough or by letting weeds grow to where you couldn’t even see plugs
- When these things happen it usually slows down the plugs from optimal growth but they don’t die
- Once you get things back under control they can go back to optimal growth

I wouldn’t recommend trying to plug more than 1,000 sq ft in a day
- Even that can be difficult if you soil is too dry, or it is your first time plugging
- There is no harm in starting with maybe 500 sq ft at first, and then doing more when you get the hang of it

One pallet of sod (usually ~450 sq ft) can be used to plug 1,200 sq ft easily
- 6 weeks later, it will be ready to plug again
- This time and thereafter since the sod is more firmly established you can plug closer to 1,600 sq ft.
Plugging 1,600 sq ft every 6 weeks, while maintaining watering and weed control is a decent amount of work. Particularly if you are new to it
- Once you get the hang of the process it does become a lot easier. At that point you can always buy more sod if you want to move at a quicker pace

The end of the plugger comes slightly sharpened from our factory
We don’t sharpen it too much or it will likely bend if you hit rocks
You can sharpen it more yourself, but you will usually only see benefits from that if you are plugging through very dense grasses
- Like Emerald Zoysia for example, or any grass where a thick layer of thatch has developed
- It will most likely bend as you plug if you hit rocks, and then you will need to resharpen it
To sharpen the end of the plugger you can use various instruments
- A file
- Various grinding bits on an electric drill, dremel tool, or pneumatic drill.
- Bench grinder
- Belt sander
We sharpen the outside diameter of the tube in the factory, but you can sharpen the inside or outside of the tube