Advice on TifGrand struggle

Bermuda, St. Augustine, Zoysia, Centipede, Bahia, Paspalum, etc
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BubbaSwine
Posts: 1
Joined: June 5th, 2020, 9:56 pm
Location: Upstate SC
Grass Type: TifGrand Bermuda
Lawn Size: 5000-10000
Level: Novice

Advice on TifGrand struggle

Post by BubbaSwine » June 8th, 2020, 7:45 pm

Have a year old TifGrand lawn that the builder installed. Have areas that are struggling when construction entrance was and where drainage runs off from driveway. The soil is very thin, probably only as thick as the sod when it was laid. Can I top dress with screened top soil to build up the areas to give grass more “base” to work with? It needs to be leveled anyway and I don’t know of pure sand would help other than being smooth. I have pushed a screwdriver into these areas and I run into small rock and hard pack about an inch or so. It’s not in good enough shape to cut the sod and either add top soils or dig out the rock. Advice?
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Dchall_San_Antonio
Posts: 3341
Joined: December 17th, 2008, 1:53 am
Location: San Antonio, Texas
Grass Type: St Augustine
Lawn Size: 5000-10000
Level: Advanced

Re: Advice on TifGrand struggle

Post by Dchall_San_Antonio » July 25th, 2020, 7:44 pm

So you have soil there, just not perfect soil. It's not like you have 1 inch of soil on top of concrete, right?

You can soften that soil by spraying it with shampoo. Spray at a rate of 3 ounces per 1,000 square feet and follow that up with 1/2 to 1 inch of water. The water will start to runoff after 15 minutes so stop watering and let it soak in for 15 to 30 minutes. Restart and alternate watering and resting until you get the 1/2 to 1 inch. You can use any shampoo that does not have conditioner in it. All the clear ones are good. You cannot overdo the shampoo so don't worry if the bottle spills out on the grass. 3 ounces, 6 ounces, whatever. Just get it done.

At the same time or right after, apply some organic fertilizer to the grass. The overall idea is to get roots to penetrate the subsoil and loosen it. The shampoo will help to loosen the soil by promoting subsurface temperatures and moisture content perfect for the beneficial soil microbes. Those will help to soften the soil, too. Organic fertilizer is food for the beneficial microbes.

To me this looks like a lawn that's being overwatered. By now, with bermuda, you should be fully into deep and infrequent watering. Deep means 1 inch every time you water, so the shampoo treatment is important for water penetration. Infrequent means no more than once per week this time of year. As the temps cool off in Sept you can back off to once every 2 and then 3 weeks.

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