Cover Your Sod

• Sod is a plant, and plants need two things to grow: water and sunlight. You can cover the sod you want to kill with virtually any type of covering, including thick blankets, plywood, plastic tarps (not see-through), cardboard, weed cloth or layered newspaper and receive the desired results. Cover the sod completely with your covering of choice, and weight the covering down so that it cannot blow away. Leave sod covered for several months, and sod will die completely. You can use cardboard or newspaper layers covered in mulch to create a lawn-killing cover that will disintegrate and biodegrade into additional nutrients for your soil.
  
  

Vinegar

• White vinegar will kill grass and sod. If you are not trying to kill a particularly large section of sod, you can put white vinegar in a spray bottle and spray it liberally onto the grass you want to kill. Continue reapplying until the sod dies.
  
  

Homemade Herbicide

• Herbicide sprays can be used to kill your sod but may also damage your soil and make it difficult for new growth to become established. You can make a homemade sod herbicide by mixing vinegar, salt, soap, water and acidic oils such as citrus or lemon. The mixture you need varies, depending on the type of sod you have, the type of soil you have and how hardy your grass happens to be. Experiment with different mixtures until you find one that works for your sod. You can pick and choose ingredients to add and remove, but make sure to use the vinegar or citrus oil as a base. Leave the salt out if you do not want to damage the soil, because increased salinity in the soil can make it difficult for new plants to grow. A basic starting mixture could contain 2 cups of vinegar or citrus oil, 1 cup of water, half a cup of liquid soap and half a cup of salt. Spray mixture on a test area of sod and adjust the mixture based on the results seen after applying the mixture to the sod for several days.
  
  

Remove the Sod

• If your sod has been laid recently or has not thoroughly taken root in the soil beneath it, the easiest way to kill it is to simply pick it back up off the ground. Sod comes in small square sections that are laid out across your lawn. If it has not established a root system into the ground, you can remove the sections and stack them on pavement or wood. It will die as long as you do not water it.