2019 Lawn leveling Project

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Spacklerstyle
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2019 Lawn leveling Project

Post by Spacklerstyle » March 22nd, 2019, 1:21 pm

After much research and discussion in the past, I decided to take on a lawn leveling project this week. I will be posting progress pics and learnings here for anyone interested. I know there have been a ton of posts in the past about this (many recommendations I actually incorporated). However, this will be a bit more specific to a Central Texas / early spring type of case study.

A little background, I live in Central Texas over a limestone plateau (hit solid rock ~4" deep). My spoil is therefore calcareous, has a higher clay content (T.E.C. of 15.6), with little OM present (I'm following Andy's guidance this year to continue improving the condition). My lawn is ~6,000 sq ft of Hybrid Bermuda, new construction built 4 years ago. When our home was completed, the lawn was a mess. Site prep wasn't good, builder did not do a good job leveling the soil, the sod install was half-assed, etc - which resulted in a very uneven lawn. The previous 3 years I have been aerating 2x per year, adding top dressing, and doing other things to improve the quality of the soil. I also hand filled as many holes as I could find with ~4 yards of top soil early last spring (2018). This helped some, but obviously did not provide the smooth lawn surface I needed to mow my Bermuda low (3/4") with a reel mower.

Which brings me to this year's leveling project... Temperatures in Central Texas were very mild this winter. In fact, I started seeing some early green up in mid-late February. We did have a late freeze in early March, which lasted 2 days and slowed me down a little. However, after 4 days temps were back up in the 50s-60s. Starting 2 weeks ago (March 10th), I scalped and bagged the lawn, core aerated, and added ~3 yards of compost/top soil mix, which was very modest. I watered in aggressively over the past week and then ran the mower again the day before we began laying sand to break everything up as fine as possible. I then applied my first balanced fertilize app and watered again to complete the site prep.

Now, on to the sand! I ended up hiring some help for this... Me and two other guys spent a total of 6 hours filling wheelbarrows with sand, dumping the loads in even piles spread symmetrically across the lawn, and spreading the sand with a lawn leveling rake and coarse bristle push brooms to work it in deep. We did not use a drag mat/screen, although they have been recommended. It might have been less time consuming to drag one behind a mower, but I was pleased with the outcome. Also, for a 6K lawn, it wasn't "horrible" - meaning I survived without sustaining any injury... just pretty sore today! This cost me $480 in labor (2 guys for 6 hours each, @ $40/hr), plus a 12 pack of beer... not bad. We used a coarse fill sand @ $35/yd. and ended up using 6 yards total. Fill sand is cheap. All in all, the project came in at under $1,000 including aeration, compost/topsoil, sand, labor, fuel to haul the trailer, etc. From an effort perspective, including scalping/bagging, laying compost/topsoil, and laying the sand I probably spent a total of 15 hours myself over a 3 week period (plus the hired labor of another 12 hours).

Now, some may be asking why only 6 yards of fill sand for 6K of lawn..? Well, this surprised me. I originally purchased 10 yards (math at .5" depth came to a little over 9 yards). However, we did not use it all (fortunately was able to return the rest! however, it was wasted effort for sure). There were a few reasons for this I guess. The biggest was fear of smothering the grass before it has really taken off for the year. Yes it is growing and greening... but nowhere near June/July rates of growth. Another reason was due to a large number of high spots in the lawn, requiring little to no sand. The last reason is probably due to inexperience... the old eyeball test told me it looked good and I would subjectively say we created a very level surface @ 1 yard per K. That said, I suspect due to settling, etc, I'll be left with a less than perfect result this year. However, my thought process was "better safe than sorry." I can always do it again next year.. but potentially smothering the grass in March before it was ready for this kind of "abuse" (if you there is such a thing with Bermuda) wasn't a risk I was willing to take.

Here are some pics. As mentioned, I'll post progress. Wish me luck!




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Spacklerstyle
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Re: 2019 Lawn leveling Project

Post by Spacklerstyle » March 23rd, 2019, 8:44 pm

Here are some pics of the finished product, before watering in.


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Jakemauldin
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Re: 2019 Lawn leveling Project

Post by Jakemauldin » March 23rd, 2019, 9:00 pm

Did yall receive any of that rain today? I imagine that will help work that sand down into the grass. I also noticed what looked like a Bryan Fire Dept shirt, are you a firefighter? It's always a plus having buddies around that can help!

Spacklerstyle
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Re: 2019 Lawn leveling Project

Post by Spacklerstyle » March 23rd, 2019, 11:14 pm

We didn’t get any rain! Ugh... I was counting on that (actually scrambled to lay my pre-m yesterday before it was supposed to hit.

I am the one taking the picture. My associate who helped me out (in the picture) is a fireman and has his own lawn business too. He’s a solid dude for sure.

Jakemauldin
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Re: 2019 Lawn leveling Project

Post by Jakemauldin » March 24th, 2019, 2:09 am

I didn't get any rain either, and they were calling for 90%. I just remulched and fertilized my privacy shrubs, so I had to go hand water them this evening. I'm also a firefighter and little did I know when I got into this business not only do you work as a team on the fire ground but you work as a team on all your projects at home. It's a blessing to have the extra help when you really need it, even if it takes a little beer for encouragement to get them to the work party. The lawn looks rather level to me. Good Job


Spacklerstyle
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Re: 2019 Lawn leveling Project

Post by Spacklerstyle » March 24th, 2019, 10:59 pm

Here are the pics after being watered in.


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Spacklerstyle
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Re: 2019 Lawn leveling Project

Post by Spacklerstyle » March 24th, 2019, 11:05 pm

Closeup of the type of sand I used. Fill sand has a larger grit to it, which I felt was needed given the steep grade on my lawn (for reference, the stone patio is flush with the ground on the right hand side, but is built up ~3 feet on the left)

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Spacklerstyle
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Re: 2019 Lawn leveling Project

Post by Spacklerstyle » March 28th, 2019, 11:15 am

Progress pics at 1 week (no rain)...

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Spacklerstyle
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Re: 2019 Lawn leveling Project

Post by Spacklerstyle » April 5th, 2019, 3:28 pm

Week 2 (still no rain)


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Deano80
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Re: 2019 Lawn leveling Project

Post by Deano80 » April 22nd, 2019, 9:09 am

Looks great! I leveled mine last year and it made a huge difference in the quality of cut. I plan to buy a few 50lb bags from lowes and doing some spot leveling this Spring since I had a little settling and wash away from last year.

Spacklerstyle
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Re: 2019 Lawn leveling Project

Post by Spacklerstyle » April 29th, 2019, 5:47 pm

Week 5. We finally got some rain... maybe 2.5" total over the past 3 weeks. I went ahead and cut it for the first time at the lowest setting (3/4") on my rotary right before these pics were taken. There were a few patches that had grown up a bit too much and got shaved pretty good. We'll see if I can maintain this HoC for the rest of the spring.

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ryanlaschober
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Re: 2019 Lawn leveling Project

Post by ryanlaschober » April 29th, 2019, 10:36 pm

I'm planning on leveling in 2 weeks. Question for y'all. I don't have a sprinkler system and use the lawn water tractors (see picture below). Do you think this will be OK to water in the sand or is the tractor moving across pulling the hose going to mess with the sand?

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Spacklerstyle
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Re: 2019 Lawn leveling Project

Post by Spacklerstyle » April 30th, 2019, 1:28 am

If you use a coarse fill sand I think you’ll be okay. Sure it will move it around a little... but I’m guessing you'll walk on it, animals will run across it, rain will move it, etc. My advice - don’t let perfection become the enemy of really good... because you won’t achieve perfection (at least on the first attempt). You can always go over “bad spots” again at a later date and/or smooth it over again with your leveling rake.

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Dchall_San_Antonio
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Re: 2019 Lawn leveling Project

Post by Dchall_San_Antonio » May 1st, 2019, 5:53 pm

Do I understand this right? You dropped the sand and leveled it one time. Correct? You did not water it to settle and then apply more sand to the new low spots? This is going to be very interesting to follow up on.

Also, for someone else doing this, NEVER apply an organic compost under the sand. No matter how hard you try to apply perfectly, the compost will be applied to an uneven depth. When it decomposes the sand on top will drop down more where the thicker compost was.
The grass is coming through very nicely. That's a bit of a pleasant surprise. Generally we strongly suggest people wait until June or July for leveling bermuda, because the grass is at its peak growing rate.

You need to break the habit of continually adding top dressing. For one thing it will change your drainage in unpredictable ways. Generally it forms a dam that backs rainwater into a building somewhere. You did mention that you have a sloped lot, so the rain will probably not back up into the house, but it might be redirected toward another bad spot. Secondly, it is impossible for a homeowner to get top dressing down evenly. Unless you go through the gyrations of leveling, the top dressing will not be 'level.'

The best things you can do to improve your soil are 1) proper watering (deep and infrequent) and 2) organic fertilizer. Normally I would also put something about a soil test in this short list, but when you live on limestone that's 1,000 feet deep, there is literally nothing you can do about that. I suppose a good soil test from Logan Labs might tell you something about the salt balances, and those could be tuned up. But with bermuda on limestone, more and more fertilizer is what you need. If you use chemical fertilizer to get the boost of nitrogen, that won't do anything to improve the soil. It is the organic fertilizer that will improve the soil. Adding more top dressing soil of questionable quality further prolongs the time it takes to improve the soil.

More out of curiosity, but where are you in Central Texas? Central Texas is larger than many states in the northeast. The reason we ask for location in the profile is to home in on soil types and weather patterns. Giving a region instead of a location is helpful, but not to the extent we were hoping for.

Spacklerstyle
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Re: 2019 Lawn leveling Project

Post by Spacklerstyle » May 1st, 2019, 9:34 pm

Dchall, I will try to address your questions/comments one at a time.

I did a full level (dropped 1 yd per K) this year. I actually did water it in immediately after (forgive the separate post of images after watering... I could only add so many pics per post). However, I did not add more sand after settling. There honestly wasn't much discernible difference after watering. I had extra sand, but it didn't seem like it needed it. The previous year I did a lot of spot leveling which probably helped. However, your point is taken - we'll see how level it is in a few months. I suspect I will need to repeat the process next year. For now (after 6 weeks) it is very level, no scalping at a 3/4" rotary cut.

Very good point on adding the compost topdressing ahead of time. I actually considered this in advance, but was trying to do too many things at once I suppose (addressing soil test deficiencies after soil test, prep for leveling, etc). Although I used very little compost top dressing ~ 2 weeks ahead of the leveling project, I suspect it will likely add to the need to do it again next year. Lesson learned.

Regarding the timing, this is an interesting case study for early leveling. I chose not to do this in July for 2 reasons. 1.) it's way too hot... forget that. 2.) after enjoying a wonderful green lawn April/May/June it would just be too psychologically draining to scalp it all down again and start over! So, I figured, what the hell... After 6 weeks the lawn is almost fully grown in. Sure... April looked rough, but I get to enjoy the green for the rest of the season (and they "heavy lifting" was done while it was still cool out). That said, the early green up we had this year helped make this a more palatable decision.

Thanks for the suggestion on the top dressing apps (I hate it... it's so much work and $$$). I do water deep and infrequent (long time Texas native - I've read your posts on watering and fully subscribe to that approach). With the heavy clay content we have in the topsoil (TEC ~15.5) I run the irrigation cycle for less time per zone, but make three passes each watering- which prevents run off. I am running with Andy's recommendations from my soil test from Logan. See my post in the soil forum if interested. I'm using balanced chem apps 1x per month + bag rate Milo off-cycle every month. Soil is calcareous (as you guessed) with P&K deficiency. OM is bad at 2.2%. I am using Lesco 14-14-14 as my synth. Is there an organic approach you would recommend instead of the Lesco for a 6K sqft lawn? I am open to it, especially if it means no more topdressing...

I am in the Dripping Springs area (Edwards Plateau).

Thanks!

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HoosierLawnGnome
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Re: 2019 Lawn leveling Project

Post by HoosierLawnGnome » May 1st, 2019, 10:26 pm

Good stuff. Love the read.

3/4" and no scalping with a rotary is a respectable, level, soil. Rotaries scalp much easier than reels. I bet your lawn would look amazing cut with a powered reel. The cut with a powered reel at lower heights is significantly better than a rotary, if you don't mind the extra maintenance and work that comes with maintaining it.
Is there an organic approach you would recommend instead of the Lesco for a 6K sqft lawn?
Did we do your analysis? Gosh we see so many I can't always recall.

A truly grains-focused, organic approach means spreading lots of compost-like things. If your goal is spreading less stuff, more synthetic approaches are the way to go. Some things like milorganite and Sulfate of Potash supply nutrients in a gentler way to the soil. Some synthetics are harsher on the soil biology than others.

The synthetic N will definitely help that turf push through and fill in this summer.

Spacklerstyle
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Re: 2019 Lawn leveling Project

Post by Spacklerstyle » May 2nd, 2019, 9:27 am

HoosierLawnGnome wrote:
May 1st, 2019, 10:26 pm

I bet your lawn would look amazing cut with a powered reel. The cut with a powered reel at lower heights is significantly better than a rotary, if you don't mind the extra maintenance and work that comes with maintaining it.
Yes... I want one bad.

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Dchall_San_Antonio
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Re: 2019 Lawn leveling Project

Post by Dchall_San_Antonio » May 13th, 2019, 6:46 pm

Dripping Springs. We ate at Pieous on Saturday. We're scouting the area to retire in - coming from Bandera.

Have you tried shampoo to soften and open up your soil? Apply from a hose end sprayer at 3 ounces per 1,000 square feet. Say you have 6,000 square feet, then put 18 ounces of shampoo into the sprayer. Fill the bottle with water and stir it around. Then set the dial to anything and spray evenly to cover the entire place until you run out of shampoo. Follow that up with 1/2-inch to 1 inch of rain (or irrigation). It takes about 3 weeks before you notice that the soil is much softer and absorbs moisture better. This is a setup to an organic gardening regimen.

I've used nothing but organic fertilizer since 2002, but I don't have bermuda. When this forum was first set up, all the images in the showcase were organic lawns. Organic was not a prerequisite, but it just so happened all the great pictures were of organic lawns. So what to use? There are people on this and other forums who use alfalfa pellets (rabbit chow) successfully every month or two on bermuda lawns. Wet alfalfa pellets do not have a fresh aroma, but it goes away after a couple days. And the results are very worth it. I use alfalfa pellets almost exclusively. I mix it with ordinary corn meal on occasion. You can find what you need at your local feed store. Call first for availability and price. Be sure you tell them rabbit sized or else they will assume horse cubes. 50 pounds of alfalfa should be under $15 and corn should be well under $12 (really under $10). If the first store you call doesn't have it, ask them who does. Any store catering to livestock should have it all. The application rate is 15-20 pounds per 1,000 square feet. Frequency? Start about 3 weeks prior to your last frost date. I'm guessing that would be March 30, so start the first week in March. Apply again on Memorial Day, Labor Day, and Thanksgiving (FOR SURE), but bermuda likes continual feeding all summer long.

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Re: 2019 Lawn leveling Project

Post by Bowman » May 13th, 2019, 11:20 pm

Great post guys. I am in the same boat as Spacklerstyle, brand new home that was sodded with Bermuda in Nov. 2018. The ground is as unlevel as any I have ever set foot on. Most of my questions regarding the leveling have been answered here, but am I understanding correctly that Dchall_San_Antonio is recommending leveling in June or July?

If so, is it recommended to scalp the bermuda prior to applying the sand?

Thanks in advance for the help.

Spacklerstyle
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Re: 2019 Lawn leveling Project

Post by Spacklerstyle » May 14th, 2019, 9:25 am

Yes, you definitely must scalp (and bag) it as low as you can before applying the sand. Otherwise the leveling tools you use (leveling rake, drag screen; etc) won’t be effective in creating a level surface.

June/July is recommended b/c that is when the turf is growing the fastest and will come back sooner (I opted for a slower recovery in lieu of the heat and having to scalp the lawn back down again in the summer).

If you go that route, I would recommend taking the lawn height down gradually over a couple weeks. For example, depending on your HOC, you could cut (mulch) at 2”, then 3-4 days later mulch at 1.5”, then 3-4 days later mulch at 1-1.25”, etc until you reach your mowers lowest setting. Bag the clippings on the final scalp and be ready to lay sand the following day at the latest.

If it were me, I might wait a season or two to allow the turf grass to establish itself (following all the good guidance in forum - especially the soil remediation. Builders are notorious for taking all the good nutrient rich soul and leaving you with junk).

Good luck!

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