Can I use reclaimed sod for starting my green?

Q: The golf club where I work is renovating their putting green and the old sod is all rolled up and there for the taking. It was only cut today, and since I dont have to grow it from seed, I would like to use in my backyard. Would it take OK if i built a base and system for it to take and grow in the backyard? I have done some landscaping before so I think I could manage the rest (hopefully).

A: The short answer is: Yes. Absolutely, using used sod from a green is a great way to inexpensively get turf on your green. A couple of things you need to know though, first, time is of the essence. At 15 to 20 degrees Celsius (58 to 69 F) rolled sod will only last about 2 days before it starts to die off. At temperatures around 30 degrees (86 F), it needs to be put back down in one day. That means if it was recently cut, you need to get it rolled out as soon as possible. If the green or other location isn’t ready yet, you can still roll it out on bare soil and keep it moist temporarily. The roots won’t take so you would have time to prepare the final destination, and can pick the turf back up and lay it there.

Second, as you can tell from the first point, make sure you keep it moist. You have to remember the roots are very short, so the plants cannot look for moisture deep in the soil yet. That means the water reserve available to the plant is extremely small.

When you are laying it for the final time make sure to add some starter fertilizer (the phosphorous or middle number needs to be the highest and the Nitrogen or first number should be fairly high). You may find the surface is very uneven. You will need to take the time to try to get soil under the holes in the sod and after it takes, start cutting fairly high, and gradually lower the height of cut along with lots of topdressing. The topdressing will both help even out the surface, and by adding material at the base of the plant, you are effectively creating a shorter plant with out the need to cut it lower.

So I would say go for it. Watch that you get the turf down soon after it has been cut, if you see it has gone brown, with mold starting to grow mycelium you are too late. If it is only yellow, it may still survive. I have worked at courses that rebuilt greens, but didn’t want a different texture with a new turf species, so they cut the turf from the hole to be renovated, laid it in the nursery and replaced the same grass back on the green after the renovation was completed.


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