Mountain Sod Farms

Mountain Sod Farms

Mountain Sod Farms, is a second generation sod farm and has been in business for 49 years! They have between 230-300 acres of production sod and rotate these fields every 2-3 years. To grow harvestable sod it takes 16-18 growing months or harvest in its third year. Usually seeding occurs in May or June. At times though, they seed in late August depending on the season. They use a blend of 90% kentucky blue grass and 10% fescue. However, there has been an increase in demand for a more drought and hardy type of grass. The Mountain Sod Farm has met this demand by providing an increased fescue content in their grass, yielding a more drought and hardy type of sod. 

Mountain Sod Farms is located on the Red Deer side of Innisfail, and they serve customer within approximately 100km. After you purchase sod you have about 24 hours, or one night to lay it. This beautiful sod is watered by an irrigation system. It is only watered when absolutely necessary, as it is piped from a river 2.5 miles away. They use a mixture of phosphate and potassium fertilizer after seeding and then add nitrogen to the mixture once the roots are established. 

Sod cutter

Sod is best cut very early in the morning. This machine (above) cuts the grass and then rolls it. Once there is a pallet load the machine drops the rolls. As the cutting occurs, the driver can check the quality and discard any that do not met standards. The photo below shows how a minimal amount of soil is sent with the sod. This is why it is necessary to place top soil down before laying sod. 

One pallet of sod