[Deltahedge]

Yesterday was a long day of yard work with a heat index of 111 degrees.

I ordered 21 tons "Fairway Topdressing Sand" from a local sand company that supplies golf courses with sand. It was delivered at 6 AM and then it was time to get busy.




After the sand was delivered, I mowed and caught the clippings. Then, I drove to the local rental place and rented a 19" Ryan aerator and the diesel Toro Dingo.

I got back home and aerated the 17k sqft reel cut section of yard. I expected there to be a lot of hard work on a day where I'm mowing, aerating, and sand leveling, but I did not expect to get so exhausted by operating the aerator. It constantly wanted to pull to the left, so I had the muscle it right to keep it on a straight line. I assume there was some type of operator error, but It was a beating.


I think I would be kidding myself to ever think I would be able to collect the plugs from an area this large. So I just left them out to dry in the sun with the hope that they would break up once I get the drag out.

Now it was time to get the sand onto the lawn. I bought a used ECO-250 a few weeks ago. It's not in the greatest shape, but the engine starts on the first pull, so I can't really complain. The plan was to have a buddy help me, and use the Dingo to load sand into the ECO-250. While I was out in the yard spreading with the ECO, have the Dingo take a load out on to the yard itself and dump it. Then we would both meet back at the sand pile and do it all over again. The dingo is much lighter than a traditional skid-steer, but it was still too heavy to drive on the yard without making an indented track through the yard. So we scratched that idea and just used the dingo to load the topdresser. It saved so much effort having the dingo do the heavy lifting. I can't really imagine shoveling 21 tons of sand into the hopper.



I got all the sand spread out on the yard, and now it was time to drag it around to get it moved over the low spots. I had a very well built and heavy pallet laying around, so I screwed some 8' 2X4s to the bottom of it to use for a drag.



I pulled the drag with my Bad Boy Zero Turn until about 9pm, at which point my wife let me know that it was time to call it a day and stop making so much noise.

I set the sprinklers to put out 1/2", two times over night. And I'll drag it some more this afternoon.
Here's what it looked like this morning, after 1" of irrigation.


Things that went well.
1. The Dingo is a must have when dealing with this much sand. I'm not sure what I would consider the cutoff. Is it worth having if you're doing 1 ton of sand? No. 5 tons? Maybe so. I paid $270 for a single day rental.
2. The pallet drag worked really well. I think this is because the pallet weighed over 100lbs before I added the 2X4s.
3. The ECO-250 worked well. It was nice having a way to move 500lbs of sand with a self-propelled cart. A gorilla cart behind a 4-wheeler or lawn mower would do just as good, although with less material per load.

Things that I will do differently next time.
1. I will not mow and aerate on the same day as a sand level again. I will mow and aerate the day prior next time around. Walking behind a reel to mow 17k sqft is a decent workout on it's own. Fighting an aerator over the area was too much for a warm up to a sand leveling job. It was nice being able to rent the aerator and the Dingo at the same time, but next time, I will be renting the aerator the day before, and I'll pick up the Dingo as I am returning the aerator.

 

[Deltahedge]

Here is the lawn 2 days after the sand went down.

 

[rjw0283]

Nice! That's a lot of sand! Looks like it could have taken more!
I leveled a small area (about 2300 sq ft front yard) First time I did 4 tons and it ate it all. A year later I did the same amount and it was way too much! Which is a good sign.
It's a never ending battle, every time I level my HOC lowers, every time my HOC is lowered I notice more areas that need leveling. :lol:
The cycle continues.

 

[Deltahedge]

Nice! That's a lot of sand! Looks like it could have taken more!
I leveled a small area (about 2300 sq ft front yard) First time I did 4 tons and it ate it all. A year later I did the same amount and it was way too much! Which is a good sign.
It's a never ending battle, every time I level my HOC lowers, every time my HOC is lowered I notice more areas that need leveling. :lol:
The cycle continues.

Yep, I totally get it and see why people level Year after year. This is my first year mowing with a reel, and my normal HOC this year has been 0.550" because it scalps if I go any lower. I'm fact, it is too bumpy to even scalp at all because some places will just dig into the ground. So, the sand level this year will help me do a proper scalp next year so that I can do an even more proper leveling job, so that I can lower my HOC to 3/8ths.

 

[Boy_meets_lawn]

Looks like that was the best way to level that amount of space. Let me know if you need a hand next time, I've got a friend with a Classen aerator which in my opinion is easier to operate then the Ryan.

I collected my cores and dont know that I would do it again, took me like 4 hours with a backpack blower.

Why did you choose zoysia over say celebration for that smaller front area?

 

[Deltahedge]

Looks like that was the best way to level that amount of space. Let me know if you need a hand next time, I've got a friend with a Classen aerator which in my opinion is easier to operate then the Ryan.

I collected my cores and dont know that I would do it again, took me like 4 hours with a backpack blower.

Why did you choose zoysia over say celebration for that smaller front area?

I might take you up on that Classen next time. It would at least be good to try something different to get an idea. As far as I can tell, things seem to be going pretty good without having picked up the cores. I think the only way I would ever attempt to pick them up is if I had some equipment to do it, some type of lawn sweeper or a used golf course core collector.

In the renovation section, I just want to do a test plot of zoysia to see if I like it. It's an easy enough space to redo whenever I want, so I could see myself changing it to a different Bermuda in a few years. I already have a few Zoysia plots under some trees where I can compare it to Bermuda, but it's to early to tell if it will live in shaded areas where Bermuda cant live. I have about 2 acres that aren't irrigated or planted with any type of grass, so this is all a test to reno those areas sometime down the road.

 

[Boy_meets_lawn]

I will be trying a lawn sweeper next time I aerate this year but if doesn't work out ill just leave them.

Sounds like you have a good plan.

 

[Deltahedge]

Today is the 4th day since the sand went down, and it is growing back quickly. We just got about 1.3" of rain, but it seems like it was gentle enough not to wash anything away.


And, I even noticed some grass peaking its head up from beneath 2" to 3" of sand near one section of concrete. The lawn was well below the concrete before the sand leveling. I thought about cutting out the sod, adding sand underneath, and then putting the sod back. But instead I just covered it in 2-3" of sand.


I can already tell that in 3 or 4 days I am going to be fighting the urge to get out there and mow. I want to wait as long as possible to minimize sand in the reel. But yesterday, it also got its first shot of fertilizer this season and I'm sure it's about to take off.

 

[SeanBB]

Yea baby! lookin good!

 

[Deltahedge]

It's been two weeks since I sprayed the renovation area. So I sprayed it with the second round of glyphosate and Clethodim, this time I remembered to add surfactant. It's pretty brown for the most part, but you can definitely see greenish areas where the Bermuda was going to hang on and make a comeback. The greenish streaks look like my spraying ability could really use some improvement.

 

[Lawniac]

Looks good! The front also looks to be filling in quickly after the topdress.

 

[monsonman]

Nice work!! That is going to look fantastic ones it recovers

 

[Deltahedge]

Nice work!! That is going to look fantastic ones it recovers

Thanks!

 

[Deltahedge]

Here's the sand leveling with one full week of growth. From this angle, it really looks like it is growing back in nicely and very dense and green in a few spots. The further away you are, the better it looks. The grass at the far end of this photo looks like it's dense from this far away.


But here is a close up photo of what the nicest looking dense green spot in the entire lawn looks like standing right on top of it.


I'm not worried at all. It's still just one week of growth, and this project will be totally worth it. I think the next month will show some amazing results.

 

[Boy_meets_lawn]

Get the PGR ready!

 

[Deltahedge]

Get the PGR ready!

I went to siteone in katy and bought the 2.5 gallon jug of T-Nex for $301, I asked them to price match Domyown, and they even beat them by $20.

 

[Deltahedge]

Here's an update on the 500sq ft renovation area that im changing from Tifway 419 to Zeon Zoysia.

On the morning of 6/2/2021, this is what the area looked like before its first round of Glyphosate and Clethodim


6/10/2021


6/16/2021
Round 2 of Glyphosate and Clethodim

I then applied 150lbs of Sulfur (300 lbs/M rate) and 5lbs of citric acid (10lbs/M rate) to try to bring my 8.2 soil pH down.

After some grading work on 7/11/2021


This week I am going to add another 50lbs of sulfur and 5lbs citric, which will bring the entire amount added to 400lbs/M and 20lbs/M.

Plan for the next couple of weeks.
Week #1.
Sulfur, Citric, Glyphosate, and Clethodim. At this point spraying Gly and clethodim seems unnecessary. The site looks like a nuclear wasteland. But, I'm going to spray anyway just to be sure there's nothing trying to live through this torture.

Week #2
Irrigate

Week #3: Sprigs in

Since its a small area, I can basically sprig with whatever rate I want. I plan on 1,000 bushel/acre rate. Which comes down to only needing 11-12 bushels of sprigs. Which I will make with a pro-plugger and wood chipper.

Add 1" sand cap and level.
Continue to irrigate renovation site so that the soil has moisture in it. Continue to irrigate the site that will furnish the plugs/sprigs
10-20-10 Fert down at rate of 1 lbs N/M

July 28th,
1. Rent Wood Chipper in the morning.
2. Pull 230 plugs in the afternoon. (The pro-plugger pulls 2" diameter plugs, every 4 plugs is 1 sqft, and 5sqft of sod makes 1 bushel of sprigs. I'll get the kids to keep them hosed down and wet in buckets and gorilla cart while I pull the rest of the plugs)
3. Wood chipper the plugs into sprigs
4. Hand spread the sprigs until they're all gone
6. Sand top-dress the sprigs with the Eco-250
7. Drive over the area with Zero Turn mower to crimp the sprigs in.
8. Roll with JD 260SL with full crass catcher
9. Water every hour totaling 1"/day for 2 weeks.

Thanks to @Greendoc and @osuturfman for information on how to make sprigs and rates to spread them, and rolling and watering . I've probably messed it up somehow, especially with the order of top dressing and driving on with zero turn, but I think I've got the general idea.

 

[Boy_meets_lawn]

Sounds like a great plan. Your pH in that section section should be looking good. Have you been spraying the citric acid on the rest of the yard?

 

[cglarsen]

Wow great journal. Now I understand your desire to supplement potable water irrigation. Nice to see the sweat equity you've put in, I can definetley relate doing it on a large scale! How fast does that top dresser throw sand out of the hopper? Looks like it holds a 1/2 yard or so right? I'm working on a 12 yard delivery by hand so perhaps on the next load I'll rent one of those.

I may have missed it by why are you converting Tifway to Zoysia in areas?

 

[Deltahedge]

Wow great journal. Now I understand your desire to supplement potable water irrigation. Nice to see the sweat equity you've put in, I can definetley relate doing it on a large scale! How fast does that top dresser throw sand out of the hopper? Looks like it holds a 1/2 yard or so right? I'm working on a 12 yard delivery by hand so perhaps on the next load I'll rent one of those.

I may have missed it by why are you converting Tifway to Zoysia in areas?

Thanks. The top-dresser can hold about 500 lbs of product. It has a gate that opens and closes to adjust the rate of application. With the gate wide open (which is how I have always run it), it can throw out 500 lbs of sand in about 20-30 seconds.

As far as the 500 sqft Zoysia renovation, there's really not a great reason for it. I'm kind of just using this little section as a test plot to determine if I like it more than Bermuda. I have a few other sections of Zoysia planted next to Bermuda, and it typically looks more green, and also seems to be doing better in the shade under some of my trees than the Bermuda. But, I want to give it all a little time before I make a decision on changing anything in the rest of the yard.