Question
Hi Ronald. We live in Connecticut and put down sod 5 weeks ago on freshly dumped topsoil. The irrigation system went in just ahead and there's plenty over water, though we had to go every other day because it's been wet. Weather has been nice, in the 70s. Some circular areas of dead and dry grass appeared and I reseeded. Recently however, certain strips of sod have been getting lighter and liter, with some yellow at the base of the blades and lime instead of dark green like some other strips. If you look down from the roof, these coloration differences, starker and starker, are perfectly rectangular, as if some inferior strips of sod were mixed in. We now have a large coloration variance on 40% of the lawn in specific edged patterns. Today I put down some fall fertilizer. Anywhere I go i can pull up the sod strips still (roots haven't really taken) but it's most pronounced in these areas. I've been told I'm both underwatering (sod needs to be wet all the time) and overwatering (thirst will make the roots get out of the strips). Any suggestions? Thanks.

Answer
You have shown that the strips which are lighter in color are the sod pieces which are not rooted in. The watering that you are doing now is keeping the sod alive so do not stop it. In the meantime see if you can run a roller over the area to press down the sod firmly on to the soil. If you cannot, wet the area thoroughly and stamp down on the sod to press it down. I hope that you fertilized it right or it might burn the grass. However you water the area, make quite sure that the grass blades would be quite dry before the sun goes down.
I think that you will be OK but concentrate on getting the sod rooted in.