Putting In A Lawn

[ollylama]

My garden has gone to hell. It's now a dirt lot, just waiting to turn to a mud puddle when the rains come. Time to lay down some grass I guess.

It's about 100 square meters. I'd like to use the more hardy ice-grass variety (ya malay?) instead of the fancy soft stuff which will surely die a cruel death under my watch.

how much should it cost? who can do it for me? should i just mash up the dirt, sprinkle seeds in and hope for the best? or is pregrown sod required?

thanks for your kind and generous help.

[lannarebirth]

Ya malay the way to go unless you've got sun all day long and an endless supply of water to irrigate. I bought some last year at about 17-18 bt/meter². Eirther youy or someoneelse will have to do abit of prep work. My advice let5 someone else doit and give the 1-2k baht for their trouble. Enjoy your lawn. BTW, when's the BBQ?

[WinnieTheKhwai]

I would wait for the rainy season. Normally all you have to do is rough up the dirt parch a bit, then drive out to Kham Thiang market, or the grass shop opposite Wat Jed Yod, buy enough grass (tell them how many square meters) and then lay it down and step on it regularly. however this being the dry & excruciatinly hot season, you would be watering A LOT. So it's much easier to just wait 2 months.

[lannarebirth]

I would wait for the rainy season. Normally all you have to do is rough up the dirt parch a bit, then drive out to Kham Thiang market, or the grass shop opposite Wat Jed Yod, buy enough grass (tell them how many square meters) and then lay it down and step on it regularly. however this being the dry & excruciatinly hot season, you would be watering A LOT. So it's much easier to just wait 2 months.

To be avoided IMO. That lady has tried to cheat me twice. Haven't been back since.

[huskymowers]

Malay Grass is far superior to any thing else in this fair land. Good preparation is essential to get the dirt as smooth as possible to facilitate mowing at a later date. Please wait until the first sign of rain . We usually get a few good showers at Songkran. Then get enough runners to plant at about 3 cm deep and at 20cm centers /intervals. As soon as the new runners show a little growth then a light covering with a 15 15 15 fertilizer will work wonders.

You will be amazed how quickly the ground will cover and then you will have green and lots of it. There is no such thing as green fingers, Just water, either from above of through a hose.

[T_Dog]

Is Malay grass the stuff with leaves about 1-2 cm wide? Never seems to get too long if this is the variety I am thinking it is.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

Malay Grass is far superior to any thing else in this fair land.

Yes, I changed to Malay grass for my lawn as well, though some people don't like the style. It's a but rough, but covers well and is fairly easy to keep alive. But if you want a manicured lawn, Malay grass is not the way to go.

[noise]

Malay Grass .......... plant at about 3 cm deep and at 20cm centers /intervals. As soon as the new runners show a little growth then a light covering with a 15 15 15 fertilizer will work wonders. You will be amazed how quickly the ground will cover and then you will have green and lots of it.

Probably my fault (poor technique) but even putting in wall to wall sod ended up with dead spots that I had to resod. I think the problem was that all the sod I have ever gotten (10 different times over the years) had next to no roots. The roots that are there are definitely not 3 cm long. And you can not tell until you unroll it. All this sod would have maybe 50% real roots and 50% didn't seem to have any dirt stuck to it at all.

Too late now, but ..... when I originally put in the lawn, I wish I had put in at least 6 inches of good soil, then tilled in lots of peat moss/mulch, rolled to flatten and compact, and then laid the sod. Like all (?) homes, the fill around my house is rice paddy mud or some such clay. Even with the 3 inches or so of top soil added, the clay absorbed the soil and now has swollen and shrunk over the years. While my lawn looks OK, it is hard and uneven. Once a spot dies for what ever reason, risomes just do not seem to be able to "dig in".

In my yard, if I take out a bush, no way will the surrounding grass ever cover it.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

Like all (?) homes, the fill around my house is rice paddy mud or some such clay.

Lucky bugger! I WISH I had rice paddy mud! My yard is sand and grit that looks like it's blasted out of a mountain. Horrible. Rice paddy mud would be excellent, and just fine for grass. (If rice can grow on it, so too can grass.)

[DavidOxon]

you need the fine leaf grass for very sunny places,

it doesn't do well in shady areas and vice versa for the broad leafed grass that doesn't like too much direct sunlight.

I have both, and am considering replanting in a shady area where the fine leaf grass is disappearing.

David

[DavidOxon]

another small tip

water it well to let the weeds come, then spray them with glyphosate before laying the sods, saves having lots of weeds coming through your grass later!

[Cnxforever]

just put in a lawn of Bermuda grass - what they use on golf courses I was told - had no choice the only seeds available - the lawn is 1700 sm2 so it would have cost a lot to buy the grass and lay it down. Have done this the first time and was not sure what the the result would be - the seeds are 580 baht a can for roughly 400 sm2.

It has been 4 weeks now - lucky I have a lake there which feeds from underground - a pump and a homemade sprinkler system did the trick - after the first three weeks I added some fertiliser and the result was unbelievable - the grass grows like mad now and I already had to cut it - there are some "bald" spots in between though - but it looks like it is slowly spreading and covering these areas as well.

Edited March 8, 2011 by Cnxforever

[richard10365]

Does anyone know where you can buy grass seed in Chiang Mai?

[anonymouse]

Does anyone know where you can buy grass seed in Chiang Mai?

Kham Thiang market

[richard10365]

Does anyone know where you can buy grass seed in Chiang Mai?

Kham Thiang market

Thanks for that info anonymouse. Do most shops sell the seed?

[Asmerom]

Thanks for that info anonymouse. Do most shops sell the seed?

I would try first those shops with great piles of turf stacked up outside. I have found grass seed only available in big packs of 400 baht ++

Also available at AFM at Sansai ; some distance up the 1001 Phrayo Road on the left. Can't remember how far up, but the addess is Sansai :

http://www.afmgroup....mpany/index.htm

399 Chiangmai - Maejo Road, Nonghan, Sansai,

Tel. 66 533 53810-5 Ext 301

[Cnxforever]

Does anyone know where you can buy grass seed in Chiang Mai?

Kham Thiang market

Thanks for that info anonymouse. Do most shops sell the seed?

there is a shop that sells grass and grass seeds when you come from the superhighway turn into the road leading to JJ Market - turn left at the first traffic light as if going into Tesco Lotus - do not turn left to Tesco parking space but turn right to the flower market - and the shop is on your right - just to the right of the shop that sells wooden furniture and lamps - you can see the grass stacked outside - thats where I bought the Bermuda grass seeds.

[malcolminthemiddle]

Any one tried using Seashore Paspalum grass for their lawn. It can often be found on the fairways of some high class golf courses here in Thailand. Hear it needs a lot of TLC.

[noise]

Like all (?) homes, the fill around my house is rice paddy mud or some such clay.

Lucky bugger! I WISH I had rice paddy mud! My yard is sand and grit that looks like it's blasted out of a mountain. Horrible. Rice paddy mud would be excellent, and just fine for grass. (If rice can grow on it, so too can grass.)

The only problem is rice is planted by physically "stabbing" the roots into flooded paddies. A lawn is usually just laid on top of the ground either after or before watering. Whether before or after, the wet zone is only a few centimeters at best as the water just does not soak in. So the roots, at least in my yard, have a devil of time digging in.

So when I try to replant an area, lay new sod, I have to really prep it first digging up some clay and adding amendments.

[Joop50]

My lawn (8 months old now) is of the fine type of grass and has a clay underground too and it is doing very well, I water it regularly. There is only one thing I dislike, there are still coming up a lot of weeds and my back is not so happy with that. I wonder if there is a shop where I can buy fertilizer with herbicide?.

[Asmerom]

Thanks for that info anonymouse. Do most shops sell the seed?

I would try first those shops with great piles of turf stacked up outside. I have found grass seed only available in big packs of 400 baht ++

Also available at AFM at Sansai ; some distance up the 1001 Phrayo Road on the left. Can't remember how far up, but the addess is Sansai :

http://www.afmgroup....mpany/index.htm

399 Chiangmai - Maejo Road, Nonghan, Sansai,

Tel. 66 533 53810-5 Ext 301

An apology : AFM SEEDS in Sansai about 4km beyond the 121 going North on the 1001 Maejo Road does NOT sell lawn grass seed only ornamental grasses. Sorry for wrong info. Hope no one was inconvenienced

Kamthieng is the place to go as recommended by others.

[janverbeem]

just put in a lawn of Bermuda grass - what they use on golf courses I was told - had no choice the only seeds available - the lawn is 1700 sm2 so it would have cost a lot to buy the grass and lay it down. Have done this the first time and was not sure what the the result would be - the seeds are 580 baht a can for roughly 400 sm2.

It has been 4 weeks now - lucky I have a lake there which feeds from underground - a pump and a homemade sprinkler system did the trick - after the first three weeks I added some fertiliser and the result was unbelievable - the grass grows like mad now and I already had to cut it - there are some "bald" spots in between though - but it looks like it is slowly spreading and covering these areas as well.

Since the grass sods are at an incredible inflated rate at the moment,around 80 Bht/m² I have been looking into the seeding option and consider to purchase the Bermuda grass seeds as they grow quickly.

My only concern is as how much maintenance it needs.

Since there are members who have the Bermuda grass,can you please inform me how often you need to cut it?

[jackr]

May I suggest ripping out that scraggly lawn and replace with a combo of dwarf mondo grass and pathways/stones? The climate and soils here are just not conducive to maintaining a good lawn. You have excessive dry followed by excessive heat followed by excessive wet, together with largely clay/silt soils (should ideally be equal parts clay/silt/sand) over laterite and typically need to religiously water when away from rainy season and also continually top-up after the fact. Good soils (very hard to find here and not natural in one's backyard), along with nutrients, eventually get washed away and you're left with a scraggly mess. Have had a half-decent one but they don't last and are never as deeply green or uniform as back home. You also have to continually maintain the thing (buying mowers/strimmers), or pay some geezer - who doesn't really know what he's doing - to oversee a similarly clueless bunch to butcher your beloved every month.

Mondo, on the other hand, will grow right out of clay, needs practically zero maintenance (only grows a few inches), needs very little water, goes deep green, can be split up, and you can walk on it. No need to keep topping up soils, just throw some mulch and nitrogen on every now and then (if you really must), and absolutely no cutting or paying monkeys to make a mess.

[janverbeem]

May I suggest ripping out that scraggly lawn and replace with a combo of dwarf mondo grass and pathways/stones? The climate and soils here are just not conducive to maintaining a good lawn. You have excessive dry followed by excessive heat followed by excessive wet, together with largely clay/silt soils (should ideally be equal parts clay/silt/sand) over laterite and typically need to religiously water when away from rainy season and also continually top-up after the fact. Good soils (very hard to find here and not natural in one's backyard), along with nutrients, eventually get washed away and you're left with a scraggly mess. Have had a half-decent one but they don't last and are never as deeply green or uniform as back home. You also have to continually maintain the thing (buying mowers/strimmers), or pay some geezer - who doesn't really know what he's doing - to oversee a similarly clueless bunch to butcher your beloved every month.

Mondo, on the other hand, will grow right out of clay, needs practically zero maintenance (only grows a few inches), needs very little water, goes deep green, can be split up, and you can walk on it. No need to keep topping up soils, just throw some mulch and nitrogen on every now and then (if you really must), and absolutely no cutting or paying monkeys to make a mess.

And Mondo grass seeds are available in Thailand at......................?

[Greenside]

Since the grass sods are at an incredible inflated rate at the moment,around 80 Bht/m² I have been looking into the seeding option and consider to purchase the Bermuda grass seeds as they grow quickly.

My only concern is as how much maintenance it needs.

Since there are members who have the Bermuda grass,can you please inform me how often you need to cut it?

80 baht seems way over the top unless it includes preparation and laying. In November we were quoted 28 baht/m² for the actual turf (malay) which itself is up a lot from the 16 baht we paid a couple of years back. The floods and fuel cost, we were told.

[janverbeem]

Since the grass sods are at an incredible inflated rate at the moment,around 80 Bht/m² I have been looking into the seeding option and consider to purchase the Bermuda grass seeds as they grow quickly.

My only concern is as how much maintenance it needs.

Since there are members who have the Bermuda grass,can you please inform me how often you need to cut it?

80 baht seems way over the top unless it includes preparation and laying. In November we were quoted 28 baht/m² for the actual turf (malay) which itself is up a lot from the 16 baht we paid a couple of years back. The floods and fuel cost, we were told.

That is also what I was quoted in November,but a few weeks later it was hard to find grass sods and prices went through the roof in a short period of time.

Reason for the price rise seems to be that many of the farms got flooded..

Of course taking advantage of the people who are reinstalling their garden after being flooded for months is not in play here.

[Greenside]

Well, we're planning to wait it out or sow seed, even though it's not the first choice variety. Surly malay grass seed must be available from somewhere? What do the turf producers use?

[elektrified]

May I suggest ripping out that scraggly lawn and replace with a combo of dwarf mondo grass and pathways/stones? The climate and soils here are just not conducive to maintaining a good lawn. You have excessive dry followed by excessive heat followed by excessive wet, together with largely clay/silt soils (should ideally be equal parts clay/silt/sand) over laterite and typically need to religiously water when away from rainy season and also continually top-up after the fact. Good soils (very hard to find here and not natural in one's backyard), along with nutrients, eventually get washed away and you're left with a scraggly mess. Have had a half-decent one but they don't last and are never as deeply green or uniform as back home. You also have to continually maintain the thing (buying mowers/strimmers), or pay some geezer - who doesn't really know what he's doing - to oversee a similarly clueless bunch to butcher your beloved every month.

Mondo, on the other hand, will grow right out of clay, needs practically zero maintenance (only grows a few inches), needs very little water, goes deep green, can be split up, and you can walk on it. No need to keep topping up soils, just throw some mulch and nitrogen on every now and then (if you really must), and absolutely no cutting or paying monkeys to make a mess.

And Mondo grass seeds are available in Thailand at......................?

It is sold in "clumps" for 2.5-3.5 THB/pp

Available pretty much anywhere. At least 5 or 6 different shops in Kamthieng have it.

[janverbeem]

Well, we're planning to wait it out or sow seed, even though it's not the first choice variety. Surly malay grass seed must be available from somewhere? What do the turf producers use?

That's exactly the reason why I replied to this thread.Bermuda grass seed is available as well as Zoysia japonica ( japanese grass).

I have the intention to seed Bermuda as it germinates a lot faster than the Zoysia.

Only concern I have is that I will need to cut it every week and hoped someone with the Bermuda grass could give me an answer about that.

[MESmith]

Well, we're planning to wait it out or sow seed, even though it's not the first choice variety. Surly malay grass seed must be available from somewhere? What do the turf producers use?

I believe they propagate it from plugs - it spreads fairly quickly. I have malay grass, about 1000 sq m in shady & sunny areas. No problems but needs a lot of watering. OK if you have your own borehole. I also have a water tower, so even though I water a lot, the pump isn't running all the time. Submersible pump runs for a short time to fill the tank.

Turf producers can be found here 18°45'23.65"N, 99° 9'8.93"E and across the road to the south.

I laid my turf in the dry season. Just make sure you saturate the soil before you lay, & roller it. Then water it every day until the roots bed in.