Oftentimes grasses are very pot bound with the roots thickly girdled around the inside of the pot, especially large grasses. When they are like that it takes a long time for them to root into the surrounding soil and sometimes they never do, they just sit there needing a drink often because they might as well still be a potted plant. When planting, its a good idea to shake the outside soil ball loose and even cut through roots if they are forming a solid mass because those roots will continue to just girdle in the ground rather than rooting into the surrounding soil. I've even dunked them in a bucket of water trying to shake out most of the potting soil to loosen the roots or trim them when necessary.

In the past I had many grasses just sit there doing nothing all season due to the problem of being to pot bound. Often in the nursery its best to buy a punier, smaller grass that is less developed even though a big bushier one looks like a better deal due to size or that it will give you a head start on growth. Wrong.

For the last several years I only buy 4" starter plants when it comes to grasses. They establish much faster and form a gallon sized plant within a month, plus they are less expensive. Even so, some grasses grow faster than others even when planted at the same time. Patience is key.

Whatever the case, grasses need to work on putting energy into roots when transplanted, sometimes it looks like nothing is going on but underground it might be and that is where it counts.

Thank you so much for your reply. After considering what you said I remembered planting this darn thing and not loosening the soil like I did the other. It was getting late and I rushed it in the ground. So last night I decided to dig it up, it was root bound, along with also being suffocated with so much damp compact soil surrounding the rootball. I cleaned it off real good, gave the roots some room, made a few cuts here and there and put it back in the ground. Now I'm hoping that might just fix it; fingers crossed. Thank you so much.

That makes sense. I've done the same thing before. I did learn its a challenge sometimes to get the roots to start growing into the surrounding soil, especially with grasses. I dug out a struggling salvia yesterday. After an entire year it still had a pot shaped root ball, some kind of spongy soil that was like a sponge that wouldn't come apart. I moved it to another spot & replanted it.