Dead soil?

Learn how improving your soil can lead to a better looking lawn
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GeorgiaDad
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Dead soil?

Post by GeorgiaDad » September 20th, 2016, 5:12 pm

I've got a spot in my lawn that is puzzling me. When I did my renovation in 2011. I dug up a tree that was dying. I made a nice island and transplanted a dogwood tree that was living, but in a too shady area. The transplant did ok for a year. Then the next year never leaved and looked dead. So in 2013 I dug it up. But the roots still seemed to have life so I planted it in another spot. It's thriving today. I bought another dogwood and planted it there. It lasted one year. The next year it never leaved out. I dug it up and transplanted it but it died. So last fall I decided to just let that end of the island fill in. It did except for the same spot my trees kept dying in. Not even weeds will grow there. Any ideas why?

Original island...
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How it looks today...
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Re: Dead soil?

Post by kbgfarmer » September 20th, 2016, 5:34 pm

Maybe would be worthwhile to send a soil sample from just that area for analysis. Maybe it has toxic levels of some micronutrient or sodium? Could also try to add some gypsum just to the area and water the crap out of it to see if you can leach out whatever is causing the problem.

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ken-n-nancy
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Re: Dead soil?

Post by ken-n-nancy » September 20th, 2016, 8:46 pm

A soil test would be intriguing to maybe find out if something is wrong there, but it sounds like you already have your answer -- there's something in that soil that is keeping anything from growing there, even weeds. Chances are that a traditional soil test wouldn't even reveal the problem, as it's probably not over-abundance of a plant macronutrient or micronutrient, but rather some other chemical.

Even though diagnosis would be intriguing, the solution will probably end up being the same. I'd suggest digging out that soil to a depth of 8" and replacing it with new soil. It doesn't look like a horribly large area. One cubic yard of soil would fill a volume of 54 square feet to a depth of 8 inches.

You're at the perfect time of year in your location to replace the soil, spread some new seed, and have it look great in 6 weeks!

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Re: Dead soil?

Post by andy10917 » September 20th, 2016, 9:23 pm

+1. Almost exactly what I planned to write after reading the original posting -- answers are interesting, but solutions rule...

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Re: Dead soil?

Post by Billy » September 20th, 2016, 9:29 pm

I'm not convinced this is a soil chemical problem. Never say always, never say never. But, soil chemical problems don't usually happen in patches like that. This sounds like a soil physical problem (and maybe a cultural/planting issue) to me.

When trying to plant something in this spot, pay close attention to the physical characteristics in that spot. I think therein lies your answer.

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andy10917
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Re: Dead soil?

Post by andy10917 » September 20th, 2016, 9:38 pm

Was the original tree larger, and ground down to the soil when it was removed?

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GeorgiaDad
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Re: Dead soil?

Post by GeorgiaDad » September 21st, 2016, 6:59 am

Billy wrote:I'm not convinced this is a soil chemical problem. Never say always, never say never. But, soil chemical problems don't usually happen in patches like that. This sounds like a soil physical problem (and maybe a cultural/planting issue) to me.

When trying to plant something in this spot, pay close attention to the physical characteristics in that spot. I think therein lies your answer.

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If this was pre-2011. Before I found this site I would agree with you. But I removed and transplanted trees there after reading on this site how important soil structure was. When I removed the tress, I put the top 5"-6" of soil to one side. I also tried to replace the soil in the order it was removed.
andy10917 wrote:Was the original tree larger, and ground down to the soil when it was removed?
Here is the original tree. It was there when we bought the house in 1998. It was smaller than the other two trees in the yard. Almost looked like it had only been there a year. In the 13 years it was there, it never got over 6'-7' tall. It was a sweet gum tree. I dug the tree out. Took out as many roots as possible. If I remember correctly. I went down ~3'. As I said above. I was as careful as possible putting the soil back in the order it was removed. The only thing different was I added soil from another spot since the trunk/roots took up a lot of space. I also added top soil. Now before anyone jumps up and tells me "Well there's your problem. You added soil." Something in there stunted the original tree and killed it.
Image

Last night I went back over some old reno documents. I added a sprinkler system at the same time as the reno. I found the sprinkler drawing. On it I had add the utilities the county marked. The gas main runs 3' inside my lawn from the street. This hole is 6' to center from the street. Other than that. Everything else seems normal. Well except for the dead spot.

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Re: Dead soil?

Post by LoneRanger » September 21st, 2016, 6:58 pm

GeorgiaDad wrote:The gas main runs 3' inside my lawn from the street.
Are you speaking of the main for the subdivision or your T-off to the house?

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GeorgiaDad
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Re: Dead soil?

Post by GeorgiaDad » September 21st, 2016, 7:55 pm

Main for the subdivision.

ENVY23
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Re: Dead soil?

Post by ENVY23 » September 21st, 2016, 10:29 pm

Where does the gas line run to your house? Maybe it got a small nick in it or something either when doing irrigation, planting/removing the tree or at some other time? Would a small gas leak cause this? I hit one at my house once, didn't nick it, cut completely through it so it was obvious it was leaking. lol

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LoneRanger
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Re: Dead soil?

Post by LoneRanger » September 22nd, 2016, 2:24 am

^ That was my reason for the question. You may have permeation of the gas line, from previous damage.

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GeorgiaDad
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Re: Dead soil?

Post by GeorgiaDad » September 22nd, 2016, 5:43 am

Other end of the property

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Re: Dead soil?

Post by HanLawn » September 25th, 2016, 12:03 am

Decades ago,when I was in college,I changed my cars coolant and spilled the entire catch can of it on the lawn......4 years later the brown spot remained,and even weed free LOL.

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