Seven steps from bare dirt to ready for pallets. Written by Todd Broussard, Louisiana Sod Farms. Start two to three weeks before your delivery date.
Kill old grass (2 to 3 weeks out). Remove dead vegetation and debris. Fix grading and drainage. Till the soil 4 to 6 inches deep. Soil test and amend. Final grade and light roll. Pre-water the day before delivery.
Skip any of those seven steps and the sod will tell you. You will see lifting edges, dead patches over low spots, or roots that never drive down into the soil. None of that is a grass problem. It is a prep problem. The work you do before the pallet arrives is the work that keeps the lawn alive for fifteen years.
Fresh sod is the easy part. Todd Broussard has been running statewide sod deliveries across Louisiana for years. The calls he gets three weeks after delivery are almost never about the grass. They are about the ground under it.
Louisiana soil is not forgiving. You have heavy Vertisol clay in Jefferson and St. Tammany parishes that cracks in August and ponds in April. You have coastal muck in Terrebonne and Lafourche that drains sideways instead of down. You have piney-woods soil in Sabine and Grant parishes so acidic it will thin St. Augustine to nothing in two seasons.
Good sod dropped on bad prep fails fast. Dirt prep done right gives you a lawn that looks the same at year three as it did on delivery day. Every hour you put into the seven steps below saves you two hours of repair work later.
See the delivery process page for what happens on the day your pallets arrive. The prep below is everything you handle before that truck pulls up.
Start here, two to three weeks before your scheduled delivery. Do not skip this. If you lay new sod over live grass or active weeds, the old vegetation fights back. Nutgrass, Bermuda stolons, and crabgrass will push through a fresh St. Augustine pallet in two months.
Glyphosate is the standard choice for most Louisiana homeowners. It is non-selective, meaning it kills everything green. Apply it on a calm day with no rain in the forecast for 24 hours. Most formulations need 10 to 14 days to work root-deep on established grass.
A few notes for Louisiana yards specifically:
Organic alternatives exist for homeowners who prefer not to use glyphosate. Solarization (clear plastic sheeting over the lawn for six weeks in June or July) works well for late-summer sod jobs in South Louisiana. It takes longer but kills seeds too.
Once everything is browned and dead, start clearing. You want bare, clean soil before you do anything else.
Rake first. Pull up dead runners, thatch, and dried root mats. Bag or haul it out. Do not till the dead material into the soil without removing the bulk of it first. A heavy thatch layer tilled in creates nitrogen lockup as it decomposes, which starves your new sod in its first four weeks.
For yards with an inch or more of accumulated thatch, rent a power scarifier (also called a dethatcher or vertical mower). Run it in two directions at 90 degrees to each other. This machine rips the thatch layer out far faster than hand raking on anything over a quarter acre.
The goal when you finish this step: walk the yard and see nothing but soil. If you can see what is underneath, you are ready to grade.
This is the most important step for Louisiana yards. Drainage kills more new sod in this state than any disease, insect, or drought. Water that ponds for more than 24 hours after a rain drowns your sod roots. Louisiana gets 55 to 65 inches of rain a year in the southern parishes. This step is not optional.
The rule on slope: grade the surface so every inch of yard flows water away from your foundation. A 2 percent slope away from the house (2 inches of drop per 10 feet) is the minimum. More is better if your neighbor's yard is higher than yours.
How to fill low spots: use topsoil or a topsoil-sand blend, never just sand alone. Bring low areas up to match the surrounding grade. Tamp lightly and recheck with a level or by watching where water puddles after rain.
When to consider a French drain:
A French drain installed before sod delivery costs a few hundred dollars and saves you from relaying a thousand square feet two years from now. See the Terrebonne Parish page and the Jefferson Parish page for drainage specifics on those soil types.
Tilling breaks compaction and gives sod roots somewhere to go. Sod roots spread horizontally first, then drive down. Compacted soil stops them at an inch or two. That is why you see brown patches that never green back up three weeks after a delivery on untilled yards.
Target depth: four to six inches. Deep enough to break the hardpan layer that forms on most Louisiana clay soils. Not so deep you pull up subsoil that has no nutrition.
Equipment choices:
When to skip tilling: if your topsoil is already loose, well-draining, and you confirmed the grade is correct, tilling adds cost without benefit. Sandy loam yards in Tangipahoa Parish often fall into this category. Check by pushing a screwdriver six inches into the soil with hand pressure. If it goes in without much force, tilling is optional. If it stops at two inches, you need a tiller.
Till in two passes if the soil is hard. First pass breaks the surface. Second pass (at 90 degrees to the first) breaks the clods down to a workable seedbed texture.
This step costs less than $20 and saves you from years of fighting a lawn that will not respond to fertilizer because the pH is wrong. Louisiana soil varies more than most homeowners realize. Do not guess on this.
The LSU AgCenter runs soil tests through your local extension office. Mail in a sample from four or five spots across your yard. Results come back in about a week with exact lime or sulfur recommendations for your specific soil and grass type.
What the results tell you and what to add:
For parish-specific soil tendencies: Caddo Parish (piney-woods acidic), Rapides Parish (mixed central Louisiana soil), Tangipahoa Parish (sandy loam, less amendment needed).
The last thing you do before delivery is clean up the surface and firm it up. This step only takes an hour or two on most residential yards and it matters for how tight the sod seams sit when the pallets go down.
Rake the surface smooth. Walk every section. Pull out any rocks, root chunks, or clods bigger than your fist. Break up large clumps with the rake tines. You want a surface that is consistent in texture and firm enough to walk on without sinking more than half an inch.
Check grade one more time. Walk the perimeter. Look for low spots that formed after tilling. Fill with a light topdressing of topsoil. Lightly tamp by hand or with a board.
Light roll with a lawn roller. Rent a lawn roller from a local equipment yard. Fill it about one-third full of water (heavy enough to firm the soil, light enough not to recompact it). Roll in two passes. Do not roll wet clay. Wait until the surface is firm and just slightly damp, not muddy.
Why roll? When sod goes down on an unrolled, fluffy tilled surface, the edges sit at different levels. You get a bumpy lawn by week three as the soil settles unevenly under foot traffic. Rolling ahead of time sets the seedbed at the right density before the pallets arrive.
The morning before your pallet arrives, run your sprinklers or hand water the entire area. You want the soil moist two inches down. Not soaked. Not mud. Just damp.
Why does this matter? Fresh sod is a living plant under stress. The moment it gets cut from the farm, the roots are exposed to air and start drying out. When that pallet hits your driveway, the sod needs to feel moisture at the contact zone the instant it goes down. Dry, powdery soil pulls moisture up out of the roots through capillary action. That kills new sod fast, especially in South Louisiana in July and August when ground temps hit 95 degrees.
What moist looks like: push your finger two inches into the soil. It should feel cool and slightly damp, not crumbling and dusty, not squishing and muddy. That is the target.
If rain is forecast for the night before delivery, you may not need to water at all. But check the forecast the morning of delivery. If the soil dried out overnight with wind and sun, run the sprinkler for 15 minutes before the truck arrives.
Once the sod goes down, watering schedule changes completely. See the full guide on watering new sod for the first 30-day irrigation schedule. Also read how long sod takes to root in Louisiana so you know what to watch for in weeks one through three.
Louisiana soil is not the same north to south. Here is what changes by region.
Heavy Vertisol clay. Jefferson, Orleans, East Baton Rouge, Ascension parishes. The drainage prep step is not optional here. Water tables are high, clay swells in winter and cracks in summer, and low spots pond for days. French drains pay for themselves on any yard with a chronic wet section. Grade carefully. Roll with less water in the roller to avoid recompacting freshly tilled clay.
Sandy loam is the dominant soil type. Drains fast. Dries fast. The prep checklist is shorter here because compaction is rarely the issue. Tilling is often optional. Your main concern is holding moisture long enough for roots to establish. Amend with organic matter if your soil tests below 2 percent organic content. Water more frequently in the first ten days than you would on clay.
Terrebonne and Lafourche run alluvial coastal muck near bayous, mixed loam-clay on higher ground. Salt influence from tidal areas can push soil pH alkaline and add sodium that hurts grass establishment. If your yard is within a mile of tidal water, test for sodium content and salinity before you order. Gypsum can help break sodium in coastal soils before sod delivery.
Bienville, Claiborne, Sabine, Grant, and Winn parishes. Acidic sandy soil, often pH 5.0 to 5.5. If you are laying St. Augustine, Bermuda, or Zoysia in north Louisiana, lime is almost always on your amendment list. Centipede handles the acidic piney-woods soil better than any other variety. Get the soil test done first. Do not assume because your neighbor's lawn looks fine that your pH is fine.
You do not need to buy most of this. Equipment rental yards across Louisiana carry everything on this list. Call ahead and reserve the tiller and roller two to three days before your prep date. They run out fast in spring.
Tools most homeowners already own:
Tools to rent (one-day rental is typically enough):
For contractors on commercial and new-construction installs:
Ordering multiple pallets? See our bulk orders page for contractor pricing and delivery coordination.
Most Louisiana homeowners handle prep on yards under 2,500 square feet with a weekend, rented equipment, and a friend. Over that size or in these situations, hire it out.
We work with landscape contractors across Louisiana. If you need a referral for your area, call us at (985) 206-8585 and we will point you toward someone we know does the work right.
The pallet truck arrives. Here is what needs to be ready before it does.
The delivery truck needs a clear path to the drop point. Move vehicles, toys, and anything else that blocks the driveway or the yard access. A fork truck cannot navigate around a parked boat trailer. Give us clear access and we get the pallets exactly where you want them.
Pallets go on the driveway, as close to the yard as possible. One pallet of sod weighs 2,000 to 3,000 pounds depending on moisture content. Putting it on soft prepped soil or turf compacts the seedbed under it. Hard surface only. Mark where you want them with chalk or flag tape before we arrive.
Fresh sod starts deteriorating the moment it leaves the farm. In Louisiana summer heat, you have 24 hours from delivery to install before the sod on the bottom of the pallet starts to degrade. Have your installation crew, helpers, or contractor standing by for the same day or the following morning at the latest.
Your irrigation system or hoses need to be functional the hour the first piece of sod goes down. Do not wait until the yard is fully installed to check your sprinkler heads. Fix any broken heads the day before delivery. The first watering happens immediately after the last piece of sod is laid.
Laying sod without a soil test is the most common mistake Todd sees on repeat installs. A yard that gets re-sodded twice in four years almost always has a pH problem that was never corrected. The LSU AgCenter test costs less than $20. It takes one week. Do it every time.
Louisiana gets rain. If your delivery date falls after two days of heavy rain, call and reschedule. Laying sod on soggy, muddy soil destroys the grade you just set, compacts the seedbed under the weight of pallets and foot traffic, and creates anaerobic conditions at the root zone. Wait 48 hours after significant rain before installing.
If your yard is in Jefferson, St. Tammany, East Baton Rouge, or any parish with heavy Vertisol clay, and you skip the grade and drainage work, water will pond. Ponded water kills sod roots in three to five days. No grass variety is immune. Grade comes before everything else except killing the existing lawn.
Tilling deeper than six inches pulls up subsoil in most Louisiana yards. Subsoil has little to no organic matter, poor nutrition, and often worse drainage characteristics than your topsoil. If your tiller is going eight or ten inches deep and pulling up grey or orange clay, you have gone too far. Back off to four to five inches.
Adding a full dose of nitrogen fertilizer before you know your pH wastes money and can burn new sod roots. Use a low-nitrogen starter fertilizer only, worked into the top two inches before delivery. Save the full fertilizer program for six weeks after rooting is confirmed.
This is not a prep mistake but it is worth stating here. Once your sod arrives, install it. Do not let it sit on the pallet in the summer heat for 48 hours while you finish the grade work. The grass on the bottom of the pallet will be dead. Prep first, order second.
Prep done. Now order the right sod for your soil, sun, and traffic. These are the varieties we cut fresh from Louisiana farms.
The dominant sod type across Louisiana. Floratam for mixed sun, Palmetto for deep shade. Works on clay and sandy loam. Not drought tolerant, but thrives in Louisiana's wet climate.
View St. AugustineEmpire Zoysia for high-traffic yards. Slow-growing so it stays dense. Good drought tolerance once roots establish. Popular in newer subdivisions statewide.
View ZoysiaTifTuf Bermuda for full-sun yards. Handles Louisiana summer heat and drought better than any other variety. Fast establishment on well-prepped sandy soil.
View BermudaLow-maintenance choice for north Louisiana piney-woods soil. Prefers acidic conditions that match the native soil in Sabine, Claiborne, and Bienville parishes.
View CentipedeStart two to three weeks out. Glyphosate needs 10 to 14 days to kill existing grass down to the roots. You want dead vegetation fully browned before you rake and till. Rushing that step is the most common mistake we see on failed sod installs.
In most Louisiana parishes, yes. The heavy clay across Jefferson Parish, East Baton Rouge, and the Capital Region compacts hard. Tilling four to six inches breaks that crust so roots can drive down in the first two weeks. Sandy loam yards in Tangipahoa and the Florida Parishes are the exception. Push a screwdriver into the soil with hand pressure. If it stops at two inches, till. If it slides in six inches without much effort, tilling is optional.
Yes, but you need to prep the drainage first. Clay holds water. Sod roots drown in standing water faster than they dry out. Grade so water runs away from the house. Fill low spots. On the worst clay yards in the NOLA Metro and Capital Region, a French drain before sod install saves you a redo two years from now.
Target 6.0 to 7.0 for St. Augustine, Zoysia, and Bermuda. Centipede wants 5.0 to 6.0. Get an LSU AgCenter soil test done before you order. Results come back in about a week with exact lime or sulfur recommendations. Guessing on pH is money wasted.
Driveway as close to the yard as possible. A pallet of sod weighs 2,000 to 3,000 pounds. Putting it on soft wet soil or lawn kills the grass underneath and compacts your seedbed. Keep pallets on hard surface and install within 24 hours of delivery for best results.
Get your yard prepped, then call us. Fresh Louisiana-grown sod cut the day of delivery and dropped on your driveway. Statewide delivery. Contractor pricing on volume.
Monday through Saturday, 7 AM to 6 PM · Statewide delivery · How delivery works · Contractor pricing