Levelling the lawn

[Anthony5]

As the title says, I want to level my lawn, by spreading builders sand over it to lower the clay content of the top layer and create better drainage and at the same time fill some washout areas.

Should I do this in the dry season or better now.

Edited August 14, 2015 by Anthony5

[NeverSure]

Sand is heavy and will work it's way down into the clay over time. Clay is expansive and as it changes moisture content pumps its way to the surface.

Can you instead find compost to till in? Compost will absorb the clay while breaking up the texture and will allow the clay to absorb water and oxygen. It will greatly improve drainage. There is food value in compost. Well rotted rice straw, rotted manure and even some ashes are good for the soil.

Cheers.

[Anthony5]

Sand is heavy and will work it's way down into the clay over time. Clay is expansive and as it changes moisture content pumps its way to the surface.

Can you instead find compost to till in? Compost will absorb the clay while breaking up the texture and will allow the clay to absorb water and oxygen. It will greatly improve drainage. There is food value in compost. Well rotted rice straw, rotted manure and even some ashes are good for the soil.

Cheers.

I understand that for the compost to work in I have to dig up the lawn, which mean I will have to lay new grass sods.

My intention was to add something that works in itself.

[Pdaz]

From my reading on the net, most sites say you should mix sand and compost ( in various ratios depending on your soil ) and use that to top dress and level. I just stripped part of my lawn, backfilled and rollered it before re-turfing. The other areas which wern't so bad I have just topdressed where needed to make it even. It's a slow process as it takes time to add the sand mix then roller it level.

The local garden place brought a roller but I've had more success with a plastic 200 litre drum filled with water..

Edited August 15, 2015 by Pdaz

[Anthony5]

From my reading on the net, most sites say you should mix sand and compost ( in various ratios depending on your soil ) and use that to top dress and level. I just stripped part of my lawn, backfilled and rollered it before re-turfing. The other areas which wern't so bad I have just topdressed where needed to make it even. It's a slow process as it takes time to add the sand mix then roller it level.

The local garden place brought a roller but I've had more success with a plastic 200 litre drum filled with water..

Did you roll the parts that you top dressed also?

Is it best to do this in the wet or dry season?

When high clay content, which of both substances should have the overhand in the mix?

Don't know if you are in the Pattaya area, but where to get compost, and what kind of compost you used?

[Pdaz]

Yes rolled the entire lawn. I'm still filling the odd dip with sand/dirt mix. I'm near to Pattaya and laid the new turf about a six weeks ago. The compost came from a local gardening company, they produce it themselves. It's easy enough to find at the plant market opposite BKK Pattaya hospital on Fri/Sat.My wife just asked around for a supplier.

We had to throughly soak the ground to make it easier to roller in the turf. So I'd say wet season is best time to lay new turf as less chance of it drying out. We used the "Yaa Yepun' Japanese small leaf variety. The original lawn at the back is still okay but I'm going to bring some seed in from Oz and over sow it, hopefully to thicken it up.

[Anthony5]

Yes rolled the entire lawn. I'm still filling the odd dip with sand/dirt mix. I'm near to Pattaya and laid the new turf about a six weeks ago. The compost came from a local gardening company, they produce it themselves. It's easy enough to find at the plant market opposite BKK Pattaya hospital on Fri/Sat.My wife just asked around for a supplier.

We had to throughly soak the ground to make it easier to roller in the turf. So I'd say wet season is best time to lay new turf as less chance of it drying out. We used the "Yaa Yepun' Japanese small leaf variety. The original lawn at the back is still okay but I'm going to bring some seed in from Oz and over sow it, hopefully to thicken it up.

Your lawn looks great.

I know for laying turf wet season is the best, but I have no intention of laying new turf, only top dress the lawn.

Did you wet the top dressing also before rolling? I suspect that would make it all stick to the roll, not?

[Pdaz]

Thanks. After spreading the top dressing, I raked it in. Waterered the lawn, then rollered it. It was all new to me as never had a lawn to care for until last year. So just been reading online. I've been raking the grass regularly and slowly adding feed and topdressing the uneven areas. We had some sort of insect infestation that thinned out one area badly, hence the new turf. The other areas were looking good but also thinned out because of the dry months. They are coming back to life now with the recent rain. Even with auto reticulation it still seems a lot of work to keep the lawn in good shape.

I'm interested to see how the new area does in the next few months.. At least it is level now.

[cooked]

I think that only the English roll their lawns and this is a mystery to me. Compacting a lawn's drainage layer must be counter productive? In 40 years as a lawn specialist, amongst other things, our procedure was: work over the surface with hollow tines, removing earth from a small hole about 6cm deep.Remove the earth. Distribute and brush in sand (ok compost doesn't do any harm but it will all be gone in 6 months). Water and a little fertiliser does the rest, the results are rapid. Sand will work its way into the clay even if it is lighter than the clay, through the action of worms, ants and so on, but this takes some time.

[Pdaz]

We (The English ) aerate lawns too. With a similar hollow spiked device or a spiked roller. The rolling is just to make the ground flat.. Not to be confused with the upright cylinder lawn mowers that have a heavy roller to give the lawn the quintessential 'stripes' after cutting

[Anthony5]

Thanks. After spreading the top dressing, I raked it in. Waterered the lawn, then rollered it. It was all new to me as never had a lawn to care for until last year. So just been reading online. I've been raking the grass regularly and slowly adding feed and topdressing the uneven areas. We had some sort of insect infestation that thinned out one area badly, hence the new turf. The other areas were looking good but also thinned out because of the dry months. They are coming back to life now with the recent rain. Even with auto reticulation it still seems a lot of work to keep the lawn in good shape.

I'm interested to see how the new area does in the next few months.. At least it is level now.

Been to the garden market today, but couldn't find any compost.

Asked around, had it translated into Thai on my phone, but none of them could offer me some.

What I found were rice husks, burned rice husks, shredded and grinded coconut, cow manure and black potting sand but I don't think any of that is considered compost.

So what is that you actually used and may be where you got it?

[Pdaz]

My Mrs has corrected me.. We used the bagged dirt (Dok Mai brand) under the grass which came from the market. The compost came from our gardener who collects all the garden cuttings etc, makes compost and then sells it bagged up like the dirt. The Mrs also says that there are various types of bagged dirt, some finer than others and with less large chunks which can be used to make up the top dressing.. Hope that helps ?

We bought the grass, dirt etc from a 'pitch' right at the bottom or the garden market ( end furthest from McDonalds ) there were two sellers with grass there.

[pigeonjake]

anthony5,

if you can ask round for mushroom farms near you they will give in most cases old compost from there growing,

i get it free round here, but i pay them 10bht a bag to bag it for me, its better for me this way easy to store ect, but it is very good stuff for everything,

going back to the other poster saying the english roll there lawns, yes we do at the start to get it nice and level so it looks good, we also scarafi and airiate,

dont forget lawns are english old chap,,lol

[Anthony5]

My Mrs has corrected me.. We used the bagged dirt (Dok Mai brand) under the grass which came from the market. The compost came from our gardener who collects all the garden cuttings etc, makes compost and then sells it bagged up like the dirt. The Mrs also says that there are various types of bagged dirt, some finer than others and with less large chunks which can be used to make up the top dressing.. Hope that helps ?

We bought the grass, dirt etc from a 'pitch' right at the bottom or the garden market ( end furthest from McDonalds ) there were two sellers with grass there.

Could you point me to your gardener who sells the compost, as that is what I'm interested in.

Feel free to send PM if you don't want to post it on the forum.

[cooked]

Well, lets try again. Compost will not be of much use to your lawn and I rarely used it in 40 years. Sand (and now I come to think of it, you must have river sand, which is slightly acidic. Calcareous sand can set as hard as concrete) does wonders for a lawn. Stop worrying about spent mushroom compost which has absolutely no nutritive value whatsoever and will collapse into nothing. Deal with that by planning regular doses of fertiliser.

[Anthony5]

Well, lets try again. Compost will not be of much use to your lawn and I rarely used it in 40 years. Sand (and now I come to think of it, you must have river sand, which is slightly acidic. Calcareous sand can set as hard as concrete) does wonders for a lawn. Stop worrying about spent mushroom compost which has absolutely no nutritive value whatsoever and will collapse into nothing. Deal with that by planning regular doses of fertiliser.

And where do I find river sand?

[cooked]

Well, lets try again. Compost will not be of much use to your lawn and I rarely used it in 40 years. Sand (and now I come to think of it, you must have river sand, which is slightly acidic. Calcareous sand can set as hard as concrete) does wonders for a lawn. Stop worrying about spent mushroom compost which has absolutely no nutritive value whatsoever and will collapse into nothing. Deal with that by planning regular doses of fertiliser.

And where do I find river sand?

In our district, Buriram, ordinary builders sand is river sand. If you leave a pile to get wet, and it sets fairly hard, it is calcareous (not suitable for children's sand pits).

[chiang mai]

Presumably the OP has farang grass and not malay (?), I have the latter and would like to top dress but I suspect it's impossible to do given the nature of malay. Regardless, a good top dressing mix would be one third coarse sand, one third compost and one third loam, for clay soil increase the sand and reduce the loam.

[Anthony5]

Presumably the OP has farang grass and not malay (?), I have the latter and would like to top dress but I suspect it's impossible to do given the nature of malay. Regardless, a good top dressing mix would be one third coarse sand, one third compost and one third loam, for clay soil increase the sand and reduce the loam.

No I have Malay grass as well, but why would this grass not be suitable for top dressing?

[chiang mai]

Presumably the OP has farang grass and not malay (?), I have the latter and would like to top dress but I suspect it's impossible to do given the nature of malay. Regardless, a good top dressing mix would be one third coarse sand, one third compost and one third loam, for clay soil increase the sand and reduce the loam.

No I have Malay grass as well, but why would this grass not be suitable for top dressing?

Malay grass puts out horizontal runners in order to spread, it doesn't all just grow upwards like farang grass. So, when you top dress malay, it's very difficult to do so without covering and killing the runners.

[xen]

I think that only the English roll their lawns and this is a mystery to me. Compacting a lawn's drainage layer must be counter productive? In 40 years as a lawn specialist, amongst other things, our procedure was: work over the surface with hollow tines, removing earth from a small hole about 6cm deep.Remove the earth. Distribute and brush in sand (ok compost doesn't do any harm but it will all be gone in 6 months). Water and a little fertiliser does the rest, the results are rapid. Sand will work its way into the clay even if it is lighter than the clay, through the action of worms, ants and so on, but this takes some time.

I agree with both of your posts Cooked. I think some of the confusion is between thinking top dressing is to fertilize the turf when it's main purpose is to level any dips and high points . Also i have never been an advocate of rolling which seems to just accentuate any dips and ridges unless the the soil medium and profile is of the same density, as in a bowling green. I personally prefer sharp / river sand spread evenly and then use a level lawn tool - either one like this one for small yards but there are larger one that are towed behind tractors for larger areas. This will work the sand in evenly. Doing it regularly is better than one huge amount. Also if you are able to aerate the turf before topdressing then the sand will fill the pore holes and aid drainage , water penetration and aeration. If you a problem with clay then a few regular applications of gypsum will help .

Edited August 16, 2015 by xen

[Scuba 1st]

Also can use dolomite limestone otherwise known as claybreaker. This binds the clay particles together into sand type sizes which is better for air, root and water penitration, In conjunction with spiking and sand fill.

[cooked]

Also can use dolomite limestone otherwise known as claybreaker. This binds the clay particles together into sand type sizes which is better for air, root and water penitration, In conjunction with spiking and sand fill.

It is true that many calcareous additives (including lime and even cement) will break up clay, causing it to flocculate together and thus improve drainage. However grass, generally, needs a slightly acidic environment, which is why I always used quartz sand.

I turned a garden that was almost unusable (heavy, sticky mud in the rainy season, baked hard as concrete in summer) into a healthy thriving garden here in Isaan. They don't sell dolomite limestone around here as it is counter productive, the soil is already to calcareous, 50 Km further on you can buy it, different soil. Depends where you are living of course, soil type etc. Up to you!

Edited August 20, 2015 by cooked

[chiang mai]

Has anyone ever seen a leveling tool for sale in Thailand, if so where?

[xen]

Has anyone ever seen a leveling tool for sale in Thailand, if so where?

All golf courses would use them , and bowling greens too. If you want one you could either talk to the grounds staff or make one for yourself - they are not too complicated to make or else order on in from a place like David Golf (http://www.davidgolf.com.au/category/14/general-maintenance/ ) . ( under BMS turf tools you will find them .)

Other than that use a stiff yard broom to level the top dressing out -- not as efficient but will get the job done .

Edited August 21, 2015 by xen

[cooked]

I used to use a 2 meter wide length of chain linked fence with a few paving slabs thrown on top. Mind you, I did have a tractor.

[chiang mai]

I used to use a 2 meter wide length of chain linked fence with a few paving slabs thrown on top. Mind you, I did have a tractor.

Maybe I can get the wife to pull it!

[weegee]

Anthony5....I have just done a piece of topsoil here....Local dirt sand mix...watered it in,over the top of the clay beneath, and already it's growing like mad.

This time of the year has always been the right time for me to do this....We get a storm daily lately. Everthing has started to take off and i am mowing every 4- 5 days at present...

Cooked has a point worth taking....use course sand and rake it in with one of those cheap Plastic leaf rakes.....job done.

BTW.....the NPK (16-16-16) you put me onto...works, but the urea is a heck of a lot better...so I am back to UREA every 2 months.

The OZ guy next door is trying out the NPK on one area, and another stuff we got, that smells like Dolomite, on another area....we will keep you posted.

Put your top dressing on now mate....

Rgds

weegee