Sod vs. Seed

Sod

Advantages of Sod:

Your yard can instantly be transformed from dirt into a beautiful lush lawn with an established root system in a matter of hours. All of our sod has been nurtured into a mature turf during its highly maintained growing process before being removed from the fields. The decision of sodding a yard versus seeding will save the customer years of hard work, frustration, and additional expense while trying to achieve a similar result.

Because sod is fully mature at the time it is installed, it serves as immediate erosion control eliminating the chance of heavy rains causing permanent washboard damage to the lawn. This is a major advantage over seeding, especially when dealing with slopes or swales.

Sod is much less susceptible to invasion by weeds, as compared to seeding, since the thick turf mat acts as a weed barrier to sprouting weed seeds.

Sodding has less water requirements versus trying to grow new seed, plus when you do water you won’t be washing away the new seed and sprouted seedlings.

A sodded lawn is ready for mowing and various recreational activity 2-3 weeks after installation.

Disadvantages of Sod:

The initial cost of sodding is considerably more expensive than seeding, however; many find that choosing to seed can often end up being the more expensive option in the long run.

Sodding an area is much more labor intensive than seeding. The grading requirements are more difficult for sodding, and the sod rolls can range from 20-50lbs each.

Seed

Advantages of Seed:

The initial cost of seeding a yard versus sodding is usually much less.

Certain varieties of seed can be chosen to best suit extremely shady areas of a lawn.

Seeding is less labor intensive compared to installing new sod.

Disadvantages of Seed:

A seeded yard can often take 1-3 years depending on the soil and growing conditions before it can be compared to a newly sodded yard.

If a lawn becomes eroded prior to becoming fully established, it may need to be totally redone.

Seeded lawns are not uniform in height and color and can appear patchy until all areas properly fill in.

Seeded lawns cannot handle a great deal of traffic throughout the first growing season.

A seeded area is much more prone to weed invasion compared to a sodded area.

New seed requires much more water and fertilizer than new sod before reaching a state of maturity.