Let me know if you can see the photos. For some reason they are not showing on my end. Thanks!

The pictures are fine. Where do you live?

The brown spots are typical of too much water. Twice a day for 30 minutes was NEVER the right amount of water. It should be more like twice a day for 5 minutes. By now you should be watering no more than once per week, but you can't just go cold turkey. Start by watering once a day for 15 minutes for a couple days. You should not be able to lift the sod. Are you saying you can still lift it? If so then water once a day like that until the sod knits down to the soil. Then start to back off again on the frequency and go up on the duration. This time of year I'm thinking the grass will go dormant before it gets a chance to fully connect. That brown grass might already be dormant.

Thank you! The sprinklers I am using are high efficiency and don’t put out as much water as a standard rotor so that’s why I chose to water a little longer. I live in Pensacola, FL. When I pick up on a corner it is starting to knit down. I’d have to pull it pretty hard to lift it up. I’ll start to reduce the watering.

Pensacola, thanks. I thought you might be much farther north. You should have time for the roots to grow some, but still, being zoysia, I'm not optimistic about the brown pieces becoming green this season. They should be fine in March or April.

Would you describe your soil as sandy or is there some less sandy dirt fill on top?

Also it is an optical illusion or is your soil higher in the middle of your yard?

I would say it’s pretty sandy. The yard is on a hill but it doesn’t raise in the center.

Ok, great news. Yes you were over watering but with sandy soil, at least you were not causing other problems. I used to attend a conference on Pensacola Beach and did some sightseeing. It seemed like everything was sand.

Give the grass and soil some time to dry out (2 days?) and then do a test on your sprinkler system. Put some cat food or tuna cans out and turn on the sprinklers. Time how long it takes to fill all the cans. That will become your watering time from now on. For some perspective, my oscillator sprinkler on full sweep takes 8 hours to fill the cans. Whereas my neighbor with the high flow in-ground system takes only 20 minutes. You'll be somewhere in between those limits. It is important to know what it is for your setup so you can home in on a comfortable watering regimen. Watering frequency depends on many factors such as daily high temperature, humidity, grass type, grass height, root depth, soil type, wind, shade, direct sunlight, and some more. The predominant factor is daily high temperature; however, soil type seems to be a rather large factor when it is pure sand or pure clay. But I would call the soil type more of an adjust factor and not the primary guidance factor. Typically I would say for temps below 70 degrees F, deep water no more than once per month. For temps between 70 and 80, water once every 3 weeks. For temps between 80 and 90, water once every 2 weeks. For temps between 90 and 100, water once per week. The idea with deep infrequent watering is to grow grass with deep roots. When the soil dries out at the surface and roots have to get moisture from deeper in the soil, they will extend deeper. In your case with sandy soil, water percolates through the soil faster. You'll have to come up with an adjustment for your situation, but the main point is that you should not be watering every day just because every single other person in FL is watering every day. It seems the irrigation industry is calling the shots on sprinkler system setup in FL and in CA.

What I just wrote applies to mature turf. You don't have that yet. You need to wean the grass off of the frequent watering and move toward a more mature turf approach. As long as you are mowing grass, you can make these adjustments.

Also in sandy soil I would never use anything but organic fertilizers. The soil microbes have a tough time in the sand without more binders to hold onto, so the organics will help them along the way. Any leaves that fall in your yard should be mulched into the turf. Any leaves you can collect from your neighbors should be mulched into your turf. These become a micromulch which helps slow evaporation and retains dew. Eventually these organic materials will decompose completely, so no need to worry about thatch buildup.

Wow. Thank you so much for the response. Its greatly appreciated. I ran a test with tuna cans and it took a little over an hour to fill them. I’ll start using that as my watering time once every week or two since it stays pretty hot here. Brown spots are still there so hopefully it’s just the grass going dormant. When do you think I should fertilize? I did mulch leaves a few days ago as you recommended. It’s been a little over a month since we laid the sod.

Now is a good time to fertilize for the winter. Use either organic or chemical. Be sure to wash it in if you use chemical.