Sod company lays down roots in Kona

Rob Nelson stands just outside the arc of a sprinkler and looks over 18,000 square feet of new turf that will be ready to harvest this week.

The manager of Southern Turf Hawaii, which first put down roots on Kaiminani Drive in November, Nelson just needs a customer.

As the sprinklers soak 3 acres of new grass at the farm, Nelson isnt worried about finding someone interested in purchasing his 2-by-4-foot squares of green, which run between $2 and $3 a square foot. Thats because Southern Turf Hawaii the biggest sod farm in the state with operations on Oahu and Maui has been shipping sod over on barges to meet Big Island demand.

The landscapers are busy, said Nelson, whose background is in golf course management on Oahu, Kauai and Lanai.

The Southern Turf Hawaii sign is a new sight on Kaiminani, but the company isnt new to the state. In business for two decades, stores on Oahu and Maui specialize in sod for residential, commercial, retail and golf course projects, including two current projects for golf courses on Maui and Lanai. And while Southern Turf Hawaii is used to having landscapers reserve sod by thousands of square yards months in advance, it also offers single 2-by-4-foot squares to the do-it-yourself homeowner.

The company supplies Lowes in Kona and The Home Depot on both sides of the island.

The 5.5 acres of leased land used to have plumerias growing on it. The property has been graded and covered with a layer of fine gravel, plastic and sod. A home on the lower acreage serves as Nelsons residence and a barn is in the planning stages. A water tank serves as an emergency backup in case county sources fail. Sod would be dead in three days if water sources failed, Nelson said.

People are stopping by now, asking questions. How do I do it? Were here to help, Nelson says. This is foreign to a lot of homeowners.

One method called plugging can help landscapers save money. By cutting up the sheets of sod into plugs, theyll only need a fifth of the turf that would be needed for a full layer. Once in the ground, the sod will spread quickly to cover bare ground.

Come buy only what you can put down in one day, Nelson recommends.

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Sod company lays down roots in Kona