Mission Elite Sod & Turf: Sod Installation, Sprinkler Systems and Drip Irrigation for Homes, Builders and HOAs
Licensed, insured sod and irrigation across Mission, McAllen and the Upper Rio Grande Valley — grading, soil prep, sprinkler and drip systems, and a 30-day establishment guarantee. Free estimates, se habla español.
- ✓Licensed & Insured
- ✓Sod + Irrigation, One Crew
- ✓30-Day Establishment Guarantee
- ✓Se Habla Español
Why Mission Chooses Mission Elite Sod & Turf
- ✓Sod and irrigation designed and installed by the same crew, one scope, one warranty
- ✓Soil test and water test before the quote — canal, well and city water are not the same
- ✓Caliche probing on the higher ground north of Mission before anything gets planted
- ✓Builder and subdivision turf packages taken by the phase, with as-built zone maps at turnover
- ✓Raleigh, Palmetto, Floratam, TifTuf, Tifway 419, Celebration, Palisades, Emerald and Zeon
- ✓Written 30-day establishment guarantee with a follow-up visit
- ✓Se habla español
How It Works
1. Soil test, water test and design
We measure, check sun hours, test the soil and look at your water source, because canal water, a shallow well and city water are three different chemistries. Then we design the irrigation and pick the grass to match, and give you one firm number for both.
2. Strip, grade and probe for caliche
Old grass and weed mat come out with a sod cutter. We probe for caliche on the north-side lots, break or remove what we find, then grade so water runs away from the slab instead of pooling against it.
3. Irrigation, amendment and install
Zones and heads go in before the grass, tested and adjusted while we can still see the ground. Compost and sand get tilled into the top four inches, then sod goes down tight in staggered seams and gets rolled for soil contact.
4. Program, feed and establish
We program the controller ourselves — short cycles three times a day for ten days, then a taper — write the schedule down, apply starter fertilizer, and come back inside 30 days to check root pull under the establishment guarantee.
Our Sod Installation Services in Mission, TX
St. Augustine Sod
St. Augustine sod is still the most requested lawn grass in Mission and the Upper Valley, because it takes the heat, tolerates the partial shade under a mesquite or a live oak, and puts down a thick blue-green carpet that keeps weeds from getting a foothold.
Bermuda Sod
Bermuda sod is the water-smart choice for a full-sun yard in Mission, and with Upper Valley rainfall running near 21 inches a year that argument gets easier every summer. Hybrid Bermuda uses noticeably less water than St.
Zoysia Sod
Zoysia sod is the upgrade people ask for once they have owned a St. Augustine lawn and grown tired of feeding it — it grows slowly, so you mow less, and it grows densely, so it crowds out most weeds without a spray program behind it.
Artificial Turf Installation
Artificial turf installation earns its keep in Mission in a short list of places: a side yard the sun never reaches, a dog run real grass has already surrendered, a courtyard too small to bother mowing, and commercial islands surrounded by hot pavement where irrigation never worked properly anyway. Everywhere else real sod is cheaper to install and cooler to stand on, and we will say so before you spend the money.
Commercial & HOA Sod
Commercial sod installation across Mission, Sharyland and McAllen is where most of our volume goes, and it is a logistics job as much as a landscaping one. We install and irrigate turf for HOA common areas and entries, apartment and multifamily properties, retail and medical campuses, school grounds, city parks and detention basins, priced by the pallet on anything over 10,000 square feet.
Sports Field & Athletic Turf
Sports field turf is judged on two things only: whether it drains and whether the surface is true. We build and renovate soccer pitches, football and multi-use fields, baseball and softball outfields and practice areas for schools, leagues and city parks around Mission and Hidalgo County, almost always on Tifway 419 Bermuda with the irrigation designed as part of the same scope.
New Construction Sod Packages
New construction sod packages are the fastest way to turn a lot full of construction spoil into something a buyer will walk out onto, and around Sharyland and north Mission we take them by the phase rather than by the house. One crew handles finish grading, soil correction, irrigation and turf, so the closing date does not depend on three trades pointing at each other.
Sod Removal & Lawn Demolition
Sod removal is the step people try to skip, and laying fresh grass over an old lawn is the most reliable way to waste two thousand dollars in Hidalgo County. We strip the old turf, root mat and weed layer with a sod cutter and haul it off, so the new sod meets soil rather than thatch.
Land Grading & Leveling
Land grading and leveling is the invisible half of every lawn we install, and in Mission it is also where the caliche shows up. We laser-grade to a fall of roughly a quarter inch per foot away from the slab, break or remove the hardpan we find on the higher lots north of the expressway, and cut a route for water to actually leave the property.
Topsoil & Soil Amendment
Topsoil and soil amendment is what you are really paying for when you buy a lawn, because the four inches under the grass decide nearly everything that happens afterwards. Upper Valley soil tests come back alkaline as a matter of routine, often pH 7.8 to 8.3 with free lime and a salt load from years of canal irrigation, which is exactly why new St.
Sprinkler System Installation
Sprinkler system installation is the half of a new lawn that decides whether the other half survives, because nobody hand-waters a yard three times a day for two weeks in a Valley July. We design zones on head-to-head coverage and matched precipitation rates, sized against the pressure actually measured at your meter, with a backflow assembly, a rain sensor and a controller that can run a ten-day establishment program on its own.
Drip Irrigation & Water Saving
Drip irrigation is the cheapest water you will ever buy, because almost none of it is thrown away to wind drift, evaporation or the sidewalk. We install pressure-compensating inline emitter tubing in beds, hedges, tree rings and narrow strips across Mission and Palmhurst, and convert existing spray zones to drip at the valve for less than most people assume.
Canal & District Water Systems
Canal and district water systems are how a lot of Hidalgo County properties irrigate for a fraction of what treated city water costs, and if your lot has a delivery right, using it is usually the single biggest saving available on a landscape. We design, filter and automate raw-water irrigation for homes, HOAs, orchards and commercial sites across Mission, Palmview and Sullivan City.
Drainage & French Drains
French drain installation is the fix when a Mission yard is still squelching two days after a storm, and standing water is the number one reason we get called back to a lawn somebody else installed last year. We build real drains — consistent fall, washed drain rock, perforated pipe laid holes-down, filter fabric wrapping the whole assembly — not a corrugated pipe dropped in a ditch and covered over.
Winter Rye Overseeding
Winter rye overseeding is how Valley properties stay green from November through March while dormant Bermuda goes straw-colored, and it is the reason HOA entries, hotels and Winter Texan communities around Mission book us every October. We seed annual or perennial ryegrass into existing warm-season turf, and the lawn is green within a couple of weeks.
Lawn Maintenance Programs
Lawn maintenance programs decide what your grass looks like in year three, because a new lawn is an asset for about two years and after that it becomes whatever the mowing and the controller made it. We run mowing, edging, aeration, topdressing, dethatching and monthly irrigation checks for homes, HOAs, builders and commercial properties across Mission, Palmhurst and McAllen on weekly, biweekly or monthly rotations.
Fertilization & Weed Control
Lawn fertilization and weed control in Mission goes wrong on timing more than on product, and most of the fertilizer spread in this county lands at the wrong moment, at the wrong rate, out of the wrong bag. We start with a soil test and then run a season-long schedule of slow-release nitrogen, correctly timed pre-emergent and grass-specific herbicides, applied under a Texas Department of Agriculture applicator license.
Chinch Bug & Lawn Pest Control
Chinch bug treatment is the call we take most often between June and September: an irregular yellow-brown patch in the hottest, sunniest strip of a St. Augustine lawn that keeps expanding and does not respond to more water.
What Mission Customers Say
They found caliche about eight inches down that two other bids never mentioned, broke it up, then put in the sprinklers and the sod together. Second summer and the lawn has not thinned once.
We had one zone that never worked right and I had been running the whole system longer to make up for it. They fixed the zone, reprogrammed the controller, and my water bill dropped. Then they laid the new Bermuda.
Did turf and irrigation for our whole phase. Stayed on the builder schedule, staged the pallets out of the way of the concrete crew, and handed over zone maps at turnover. Warranty calls on landscaping basically stopped.
They tested our canal water before quoting and put in a proper sand filter. The old drip lines used to clog every spring. Two seasons now with no plugged emitters.
HOA entry looked terrible every winter. They overseeded with rye in October and managed the transition in spring so the Bermuda came back strong. Board voted to keep them on contract.
New grass kept going yellow. They actually pulled a soil sample instead of just selling me fertilizer, showed me the pH, and amended the bed before laying Raleigh. It stayed green all summer.
Mission Elite Sod & Turf is a licensed and insured landscape contractor with over 15 years of experience installing sod and irrigation for residential, builder and commercial properties in Mission, TX. Our work covers Raleigh and Palmetto St.
Augustine sod, Floratam, TifTuf and Tifway 419 hybrid Bermuda, Celebration Bermuda, Palisades, Emerald and Zeon Zoysia, artificial turf, sprinkler system installation and repair, inline drip irrigation, canal and irrigation-district water hookups, smart controllers and rain sensors, sod removal and old-lawn demolition, land grading and leveling, topsoil and compost amendment, French drains, winter rye overseeding, fertilization and weed control, chinch bug treatment and full maintenance programs.
We install by the pallet — roughly 450 to 500 square feet each — from single front yards to whole subdivision phases.
The Upper Valley is a different lawn problem from the coast. Rain here runs closer to 21 inches a year, the irrigation water carries salts, the delta clay loam tests alkaline enough to lock up iron, and the higher ground north of town hides caliche that will stop a root cold.
So we soil-test before we quote, design irrigation against the pressure actually available at your meter rather than a plan sheet, correct the bed, and lay fresh-cut sod within about 24 hours of harvest.
Mission Elite Sod & Turf is fully insured and bonded, carries a Texas Department of Agriculture licensed applicator on staff, belongs to the Texas Nursery & Landscape Association, and backs every install with a written 30-day establishment guarantee. Free estimates, and se habla español.
About Mission Elite Sod & Turf in Mission, TX
Mission Elite Sod & Turf has spent over 15 years putting in lawns and irrigation across Hidalgo and Starr counties, and the two jobs really are one job. A pallet of perfect St. Augustine on top of a system with a dry zone is a very expensive way to grow a brown triangle. We would rather fix the water first and sell you slightly less grass.
The Upper Valley has its own quirks. Rain here is thinner than down at the coast, most of the irrigation water in the county has been through a canal at some point and carries a salt load with it, and the delta clay loam tests alkaline enough that new grass goes yellow from locked-up iron rather than hunger.
North of the expressway the ground rises and caliche shows up, which stops roots and perches water at the same time — an impressive trick for a rock. Then February 2021 came through and killed St. Augustine outright across the Valley, which taught a lot of people the difference between dormant and dead.
So we test the soil, test the water, probe for caliche and design the irrigation before anyone talks about grass. We install Raleigh and Palmetto St. Augustine, Floratam, TifTuf and Tifway 419 Bermuda, Celebration, and Palisades, Emerald and Zeon Zoysia, and we do the sprinkler systems, drip zones, drainage and grading ourselves rather than subbing them to whoever is free that week.
Most of our volume is builder phases, HOA common areas, apartment properties and commercial campuses around Mission, Sharyland, McAllen and Edinburg, with a steady stream of front yards in between. We are a licensed and insured landscape contractor, bonded, a member of the Texas Nursery & Landscape Association, with a Texas Department of Agriculture licensed applicator on staff. Every install carries a written 30-day establishment guarantee. Se habla español, and the estimate is free.
Recent Projects Across the Upper Rio Grande Valley
Service Areas
Mission Elite Sod & Turf serves Mission, TX and surrounding communities including:
Commercial Turf & Irrigation in Mission, McAllen and the Upper Valley
Most of our work west of McAllen is commercial and new construction: subdivision entries, HOA common areas, apartment properties, medical and retail campuses, school grounds and city parks, plus the irrigation that keeps them alive. We build the system and the lawn as one scope so nobody is blaming the other trade in August. That includes zone design against the actual meter pressure, controller programming, backflow assemblies, and turnover documentation the property manager can hand to whoever maintains it next.
- ✓Subdivision and builder turf packages by the phase
- ✓HOA entries, common areas and detention basins
- ✓Apartment, retail and medical campus lawns
- ✓Irrigation design, install and controller programming
- ✓School grounds, city parks and Bermuda sports fields
- ✓Pallet-rate pricing on jobs over 10,000 square feet
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does sod installation cost in Mission, TX?
Most residential installs run $1.50 to $3.50 per square foot with removal, haul-off, grading, soil amendment, the sod and the roll all included. Bermuda sits at the lower end, Zoysia at the higher end. Adding a sprinkler system is a separate line and depends on zone count and how far the mainline has to run. Builder and subdivision work over 10,000 square feet is priced by the pallet. Estimates are free.
Do I need a sprinkler system before new sod?
Effectively yes. New sod needs light water three times a day for about ten days, and nobody keeps that up with a hose and a sprinkler head for two weeks in July. If you already have a system we test it first, because roughly half the systems we inspect have a dry zone the owner has been compensating for by overwatering the whole yard. Fixing that zone is cheaper than replacing dead grass.
Can I water my lawn with canal or irrigation district water?
Sometimes, and it depends entirely on your property and your district. Raw canal water is cheaper than treated city water but it carries silt and salts, so a drip system on it needs proper filtration and a turf system needs a strainer and a periodic leaching schedule. We test the water before designing anything around it. Where it works it can cut an irrigation bill noticeably.
Why does my new St. Augustine turn yellow?
Almost always iron chlorosis, not a lack of fertilizer. Upper Valley soils commonly test above pH 8.0, and at that pH iron is chemically locked up even though it is physically present, so the leaf goes pale between the veins while the veins stay green. Chelated iron greens it up temporarily. Amending the bed before install is the fix that lasts.
When is the best time to lay sod in the Upper Valley?
Warm-season grass roots fastest in warm soil, so anything from March through October works if the water is there. October and early spring are the easiest on both the grass and the water bill. A July install is entirely doable and we do plenty of them, but it needs three short cycles a day for ten days without a miss. If your irrigation cannot deliver that, we will tell you to wait.
Do you do builder and subdivision work?
That is a large share of what we do around Sharyland and north Mission. We take turf and irrigation by the phase, coordinate around the concrete and utility trades, install to the plan or value-engineer it, and hand over controller programming and as-built zone maps at turnover. Certificates of insurance, W-9s and lien waivers come without being chased.