LSU Soil test results came in. What to add before laying sod?

Don’t over think it. Get a bag (or however much you need to cover your area) of something like a 18-24-12 and put it out accordingly. At 1 lb/P per 1000 sq ft, you would need to put down 4.2 lbs of product per thousand square feet. A 50 lb bag would cover about 12,000 sq ft. All of the other numbers on your soil report look good. If you’re trying to establish sod, you’re wanting to establish those roots and not push a bunch of top growth. Water management will really be more important for the first couple of weeks. Once it gets pegged in and well rooted, then you can start worrying about fertilizing for growth with something like a 24-2-11 with an extended slow release nitrogen capability.

Hope that helps.

I sodded Palisades Zoysia in April this year. I top dressed before I sodded. My soil sample showed absolutely nothing beneficial in the native soil which sucks. It started taking alright with regular watering and nothing else. I put down a round of 28-0-0 SR about 3 months after sodding and it thickened up a WHOLE LOT. Then another 3 months I applied some 15-5-10 SR and it has been the most lush green lawn I've seen. I'm on a well, and I've been watering the piss out of the sod every day all summer. But I couldn't be happier with the progress. The one thing I didn't really do all that well is establish deep roots, so next fall I plan on watering less frequently but longer.

My suggestion would be to top dress the lawn with a good dairy manure compost or something else rich in nutrients instead of applying fertilizer. This may be a bit more expensive, but my personal experience started with this and I probably wouldn't do anything different if I did it again. However, I'm far less educated than Ronk and Crawdude (I think those are the grass guys here).