Malay grass

[ralphlsasser]

Yesterday I bought and laid down Malay grass. I did as the midget at the garden place told me. After laying it down, I watered it and it looked great.
This morning I watered it again and noticed brown spots in it. This afternoon there are a lot more. It looks like it's dying.
I know replanting plants get shocked for a few days. Is it normal for Malay grass to turn brown over night?
Is there anything I can do?
If any of you know, please educate me on this type of grass. The midget at the garden center doesn't have a clue about anything. Thanks

[Simon43]

Fairly normal, especially in the hot weather. My Malay grass took a few weeks to settle down and start growing

[shaggersback]

I put some down around five years ago and its still looking good. (Phuket)
Malay loves a good watering and not too much strong sunlight , so planting some shade trees or palms around the areas that do get long sun exposure will keep the grass green.
Malay shoots out runners that spread and root over the surface of the soil rather than under it , so makes it easy to keep trim around the edges and stop it becoming invasive.
We had problems weeks after it had settled with the gardener cutting too short.
The sun can then cook the runners and kill it off , so keeping the grass blades as long as practical saves the runners , and feels good between the toes too!
Good stuff.

[ralphlsasser]

Did any of yours die? Will it all turn brown before it settles down?

[ralphlsasser]

I put some down around five years ago and its still looking good. (Phuket)
Malay loves a good watering and not too much strong sunlight , so planting some shade trees or palms around the areas that do get long sun exposure will keep the grass green.
Malay shoots out runners that spread and root over the surface of the soil rather than under it , so makes it easy to keep trim around the edges and stop it becoming invasive.
We had problems weeks after it had settled with the gardener cutting too short.
The sun can then cook the runners and kill it off , so keeping the grass blades as long as practical saves the runners , and feels good between the toes too!
Good stuff.

That's one reason I bought it. It's a broad leaf grass, which I wanted and growing properly, it's feels like carpet. Looks good too!

[aging one]

Ralph,

It sounds like you got old sod. Some of ours did not take and we noticed immediately it was mostly roots rather than leaves. Got it replaced. Give it a awhile as the stuff creeps and may grow over and fill in any gaps. I just came up from a break working on ours. The one place where it is too shady it is dying, and the freaking poodle dug it up. On this area we are going to build up the dirt and try one more time.

They say it will grow in the shade, but it does have to have some sunlight. Best of luck.

[Attilla the Hen]

Ralph,
They say it will grow in the shade, but it does have to have some sunlight. Best of luck.

Yes, agree with that.

Once it has taken, it is virtually indestructible. During the dry season, all the leaves turn brown and die. When the rains come again, three days of rain and its all back to being green. Seems the roots can survive long periods of drought.

[ralphlsasser]

Thanks AO and all. I was shocked that it turned brown over night.

My midget bought it off of the truck that was supposed to be cut the day before. But TIT so who knows when it was cut. Some of it had quite a lot of soil with it and other pieces didn't have hardly any.

How much should I water it?
How long does it take to take root and be out of danger of dying?

May thanks to all of you for your comments.

[Attilla the Hen]

I'd water it at least once a day, when the sun goes down.
Don't water in the day-time, otherwise you'll just boil the roots.

[aging one]

^ what he says. Mine which was put in about two months ago, grows too damn fast. If we have rains and then a few days of sun it literally grows like a centimeter a day. 55. I

[ralphlsasser]

Thanks Atilla and AO I appreciate it.

[FailSafe]

For the first few days I would water it three or four times per day, especially the sections in direct sunlight (as Atilla said avoid the hottest part of the day)- newly transplanted grass needs a lot of water.

[Loy Toy]

Sounds like they cut the grass too thin and damaged the roots.

Did you notice some soil on the underside of the turf?

I'd say let the supplier take a look and if it dies off he must replace it.

Having said that grass is really a glorified weed and weeds are tuff so I suspect everything will settle down and look good within the next few weeks.

And Atilla is 100% correct about not watering the grass during the day. Best in the early morning or late evening.

Good Luck.

[dirtydog]

As failsafe said, got to water 3 to 5 times perday when first laid, we used to do it for the gardeners we used when we were building, saved them journeys everyday.

[ralphlsasser]

I was trying to be a "cheap Charlie" and plant it my self. But the way it looks, I may have to get a professional to do it. It's now getting really thin and brown, so I guess we'll see. Thanks guys.

[Attilla the Hen]

When you first lay the turf down, there should be a thin layer of chicken-shit for nutrients.

[Kwang]

^ Have you took any precautions for the weeds that are gonna come through ?
You should water the soil well to get the weeds to come through first, then blast them with some Round Up

[Attilla the Hen]

Weeds don't come up. They can't get through the sod.

[ralphlsasser]

I sprayed roundup on the weeds before I layed it.
Update; Well, my water pump went out early this morning as I was watering the grass, so no water. All day long I've sit and it seems to be dying fast. The repairman will be finished in a little while and I will soak it, but honestly, it looks too far gone to do any good. We'll see. As Loytoy said, they are glorified weeds, so maybe they will come back.
Loytoy- some had dirt on it, but some didn't.
Atilla- Isn't chicken shit too strong? I put some around some tomato plants one time and burnt them up. Had to sleep in the garage for a week because of the hell raising the midget was doing.

[aging one]

Ralph it should have had like 1 centimeter of nice black soil attached to the sod itself. No bare roots at all. The top should have been a very very dark green from being rolled. When its laid out in the first few days it will remain the same. You can see the areas not taking as they are brown.

Then it turns a very vivid lighter shade of green. After a couple of months you see where the turf has too much shade as it will begin to die. Either cut back the shade or change the landscaping. We have ended up using stones to fill in some blanks.

[ralphlsasser]

Thanks AO.
Some of it had around an inch of soil on the bottom, but some didn't at all. It was a dark green at first and a few places still are but looks sick and wilted

[Loy Toy]

I sprayed roundup on the weeds before I layed it.

That's a big worry mate.

How long ago did you spray and did you put top soil on the base before you laid the turf?

Did you roll the turf after it was laid pushing the root system into the top soil?

[aging one]

LT is exactly right. We used round up to kill all the weeds in our yard before laying new turf. Its about a 2 week process. Then laid anywhere from a few inches to a few feet of new soil before laying the new turf.

[ralphlsasser]

LT and AO- I sprayed the weeds with round up about two weeks before I laid the grass. I would think that would be long enough not to kill the grass.
The midget at the garden center told me to spread a light coat of sand before putting the grass down. I ask about the fertilized soil they sell in the bags. She told me it was not needed, just sand. She said it was more for leveling the ground than helping the grass.
As I said before, She acted 3 bricks shy of a full load, but I did as she told me.
No LT I didn't roll it. I have seen that done before though. We did walk a lot on it though. If that counts.

[Christopher John]

LT and AO- I sprayed the weeds with round up about two weeks before I laid the grass. I would think that would be long enough not to kill the grass.
The midget at the garden center told me to spread a light coat of sand before putting the grass down. I ask about the fertilized soil they sell in the bags. She told me it was not needed, just sand. She said it was more for leveling the ground than helping the grass.
As I said before, She acted 3 bricks shy of a full load, but I did as she told me.
No LT I didn't roll it. I have seen that done before though. We did walk a lot on it though. If that counts.

Malaysia grass (broadleaf carpet grass) has many ecotypes. It is really the luck of the game that you buy a robust type at your local garden centre. Some types are just the weedy indigenous types, others are the improved selected types. It is common to buy the rubbish types.

Browning is very common with fresh turf that has very little soil attached. Often the grass sections are clean shaved right to the plant stolons and these are hard to get to strike new roots.

Watering first thing in the morning (5 am to 6 am) is very important. Water again in the evening. Maybe top dress some good soil planting mix across the new sections now to give the stolons something to root into.

If bare patches appear later on. then pull out plants near verges or fences and plant these directly into the bare patches. Trim the leaves before planting.

Fertiliser with NPK after it has become dense. Fertiliser now is a waste of money.

For those of you that hate regular mowing try to buy some Primo Maxx growth regulator in Bangkok. It will stop the stems from becoming upright, make the plants become prostrate and spread out, give the plants an even more deeper green colour, make the lawn dense and you only have to cut every 20 days or so in the wet season. Google Primo Maxx to find out if you can buy it in Bangkok. Should be able to as it is used on most good golf courses.

I use it on my lawn with excellent results.

Do not mow too close to the ground. A cutting height of 4-6 cm gives a good thick dense lawn of Malaysia grass.

Good luck in Nakhon Panom.