BLSC - u gotta be kidding me!

Learn how improving your soil can lead to a better looking lawn
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UrbyTuesday
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BLSC - u gotta be kidding me!

Post by UrbyTuesday » November 14th, 2017, 10:18 am

On a whim I mixed up some BLSC ($2.99 VO5 from Rite-Aid - 2oz rate) Saturday before last and treated a few areas of reddish, hard as hell compacted soil along the side of my long straight narrow driveway that my kid's 80 year old piano teacher has made part of her regular route home in her big Cadillac.

As long as I have been at this residence, these areas have seemed just about like concrete...and I'd pretty much resigned myself that nothing could possibly grow there. You know the drill...you drop seed on a spot like that, and it BOUNCES. The screwdriver test damages tools and sprains wrists, right?

Well, on Sunday afternoon (8 days following treatment) I went out to water the area . I girded myself as usual, assuming a position where I could place my entire body weight on the sprinkler and do an elbows to knees yoga-stand on the spike for it to penetrate just enough to hold the head.

HOLY CRAP. :shock: The spike went in 6 inches. Like warm butter. I then tried 3 other treated spots. Same thing. Spike sunk to the hilt.

Now, I have a hard time believing that the answer to years of futile efforts to grow grass in these areas was simply due to a slight shortage of cut-rate drug store shampoo and a dusting of yucca. But I am still taken aback. I was able to take a wet, thin stick and "write my name" in the top 1/2 inch of soil like it was a prepped garden bed.

If I'd done a treatment or two of BLSC prior to over/repair seeding, I may have been able to grow it THICK and LUSH in these areas. That's something I will certainly be looking at next year.

But my question is whether what I am seeing is remotely possible/expected and or whether I am just in the midst of a massive, placebo induced fog of self satisfaction brought on by my obviously superior lawncare skillz? Have any of you guys experienced similar success in such a short period of time with so little effort? Will it harden back up within the week? I am literally concerned now about making the soil TOO soft!

For now, I am chalking it up to the most recent 3/4 inch of water I applied and perhaps my rookie-induced success coma. But my hope is that I have truly struck upon something that can be seriously transformative for some areas of my lawn I previously felt had NO hope!

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MorpheusPA
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Re: BLSC - u gotta be kidding me!

Post by MorpheusPA » November 14th, 2017, 1:39 pm

Toldja so. (doing the Toldja So dance).

Some deflocculated (fallen-apart) soils will whip into shape quite quickly when given their marching orders using BLSC. Some take a lot more time. Yours, apparently, was of the fortunate former.

It will re-harden over time, but we're talking months to years rather than weeks. And it's not possible to get it too soft, and it will never turn into quicksand and start eating neighborhood children and animals. No worries there.

Adding organic material, including Kelp Help, will help with the re-hardening and stop that from happening. A soil can't re-harden if there's no easy way for it to stick together.

UrbyTuesday
Posts: 41
Joined: June 13th, 2017, 2:52 pm
Location: Charlotte, NC
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Re: BLSC - u gotta be kidding me!

Post by UrbyTuesday » November 14th, 2017, 1:50 pm

Well that is just NUTS. Seriously. I'd already kinda put away the kelphelp and BLSC for the year (JUST got everything in the mail) but with probably another 4 weeks of growth ahead (highs in the 60s this week), I'm thinking I'm gonna do another app or two! Thank you!

lVlrBoJang1es
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Re: BLSC - u gotta be kidding me!

Post by lVlrBoJang1es » November 16th, 2017, 9:55 am

I had a similar situation on the neighbor's driveway side of my lawn. Neighbor's wife is good for a (unintentional) compaction treatment down a good 1 ft strip on my grass about every other week.

This year I applied the BLSC bi-weekly until the compaction was resolved. Unfortunately, now when she drives down that strip, it leaves behind a 4-6 inch tire wide trench because the soil is so soft.

I anticipate having to re-pipe and replace every sprinkler head in my new irrigation system come spring... :blackeye:

UrbyTuesday
Posts: 41
Joined: June 13th, 2017, 2:52 pm
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Re: BLSC - u gotta be kidding me!

Post by UrbyTuesday » November 16th, 2017, 10:47 am

Lol! Our driveway is long, straight and narrow, so I completely understand, but GEEZ. I had to 'learn' to back out properly when I first moved in. I keep thinking of that scene from Modern Family where the lady backs out of Mitch and Cam's driveway and runs directly over the trash cans.

There should be a thread called "What did your NEIGHBOR do to your lawn today? encompassing nightmare stories of Bermuda grass invasion, errant chemical drift, seed overspread, uninvited driveway trenching (like yours) and the myriad utility service re-landscaping projects and seedings! Google fiber and AT&T come to mind :shock:


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bernstem
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Re: BLSC - u gotta be kidding me!

Post by bernstem » January 6th, 2018, 2:35 pm

I always put down a fresh dose of pre-emergent any time some utility or construction contractor digs on or near my lawn. I always ask them not to seed. 75% of the time they seed with crap seed full of coarse looking fescue, annual rye and other undesirables. I actually had one of them come back 2 weeks later and apologize that none of their seed germinated in my lawn after utility work (even after I asked them not to seed). They offered to sod the area ( I can't imagine how that would have turned out). I smiled and told them not to worry and I would take care of the problem. They looked at me a little funny, but were probably happy they didn't have to deal with it. A couple dozen turf transplants and the area improved enough to get by. I missed one area another time and am still dealing with ugly fescue two years later. Fortunately it pulls up in big clumps and the bluegrass fills in.

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