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Top Dressing with sand/compost questions...

5K views 11 replies 8 participants last post by  Richard Slater 
#1 ·
Planning my second round of sand leveling (1/4") in the front (~750 sqft)next week but wanted to add some compost into the mix. Here is my timeline so far:
4/1 - Starter Fertilizer (24-25-4)
5/1 - Top Dressing/Leveling 1/4" mason sand (.5 yard) with full bag of milorganite (5-4-0, 36lbs)

What ratio of sand/compost would you guys recommend? 80/20?
Or
Would it be better just to top dress with the sand and throw down another full application of the starter fertilizer a few days before the sand?

Thanks!!! :thumbup:
 
#3 ·
Ridgerunner said:
I think the consensus is that if you are leveling, you don't want to add organic matter.
That is interesting... Can someone explain why you wouldn't to include organic matter into your top dressing material of choice?

For me adding organic matter to say sand which has none, would only be beneficial especially if it falls into the time frame of feeding your existing lawn. I am just on the fence whether to use compost or a synthetic fertilizer. I am sure either or could be used but wanted to see if anyone had any experience with one or the other :thumbup:
 
#5 ·
Yes. Many forms of OM will continue to decompose changing the level of the soil. Plus you can't work it much w/o it separating the OM and sand. I'm assuming you are leveling for reel mowing. If you are just filling in ruts, holes or gullies that would be a different situation IMO. I use sand for that and I do add OM (peat moss). I find it to take little effort to revisit a few holes that settle and top them off.
There are a few cool season folks that reel mow, but the only one that I'm sure has leveled is @wardconnor. He'd be a good source for advice on this.
Or maybe one of the warm season guys like @Ware would give you advice on this.
Or @Pete1313 :D :thumbup:
 
#6 ·
Like mentioned above, I would just use sand and like you plan no deeper than 1/4". Here is a thread where I leveled with sand but went too deep at 3/8". It turned out fine, but recovery took longer.
 
#11 ·
probasestealer said:
If you mix/blend well I don't see any problem here. Yes OM will break down, but distributed evenly won't cause an issue... If you can spread easily add find quality compost. It's hard to find fine compost
I think thats the key... Fine compost to mix in with the sand is hard to find. My plan is to just throw down my second app of starter fert (24-25-4) to continue to strengthen and feed the grass before i level her out for the second time with 1/4" mason sand :thumbup:
 
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