What is Sod?
Simply put, sod is grass (also known as turf grass). It is grown as a crop to be harvested and transplanted as an instant lawn. When sod is harvested, the grass is rolled along with a thin layer of soil or organic material held together by the shallow grass’ roots system into rolls much like a carpet.
What is Sod used for?
When landscapers or developers want a green lawn but want a quicker alternative to seeding they will often opt for sod. It can be laid out within a day and transform the look of the landscape within minutes. Golf courses commonly use sod to initially establish a course as well as replace or repair areas of dead grass. Construction sites will also lay down sod to for erosion control and flood prevention. Laying sod, or planting other ground covers, as an alternate to bare ground can help improve air and water quality in an area.
Why choose Sod?
When customers want a green lawn, laying down sod provides the desired effect much faster than seeding the ground and is less prone to the difficulties that go along with that. When seeding an area, the grass seed can be blown away by the wind, washed away by too much water, or dry out and fail to germinate if not watered enough. Additionally, once sod is laid down it only takes two to three weeks to establish good root systems and users can walk on the grass much earlier than a lawn waiting on seeds to germinate. Sod provides immediate erosion prevention, which can be especially helpful in areas of excessive water run-off where seed would likely wash away before root establishment.
What are the Environmental Problems with Sod?
Aside from being more expensive than grass or flower seeds, grass growing and the sod industry at large as environmental concerns that ought to be addressed. While many homeowners may dream of a lush, green lawn surrounding their dream home, grass is not a native plant in all environments. Take Southern California for example, some grass species in this area (fescue and Bermuda) require approximately 45 gallons of water per square foot of lawn every year. Unfortunately, with many sprinkler systems, about half the water run to water lawns is lost to evaporation, not to mention to most consumers using about twice as much water on their lawn as is necessary. This all adds up to one square foot of lawn using 135 gallons of water a year. To put this another way, if you have a 100’ x 100’ lawn, it takes 6,230 gallons to provide the lawn with one inch of water (the generally recommended weekly water use during dry conditions). In areas with enough rainfall to naturally water grass, sod is an excellent choice. Unfortunately, in dry areas like Colorado and California, homeowners still choose to fill their yard with sod that could never survive without unsustainable irrigation. Sod can be an excellent choice in areas that receive 1”-1.5” of natural rainfall a week, but it should be a last choice for areas accumulating mere inches of rain a year (Colorado measures 17” a year, California receives 21.44” a year, Nevada gets 10.2” a year). It is highly recommended that landscapers and homeowners alike research native plants to incorporate into their lawns and landscape as a more sustainable option.