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applejr

Bermuda lawn stays soggy

applejr
10 years ago

Often 3-4 days after a rain, my backyard stays damp. Not standing water, but it just seems like the soil doesn't drain or dry out, mad I always feel like walking on it is hurting the lawn. Will aerating help this? Or should I put something like lime down? Any help you could provide would be awesome, trying to get ready for spring. I'm in atlanta.

Comments (6)

  • applejr
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    I should mention I don't think it's a grade issue, the yard has a very gradual slant towards the property line.

  • applejr
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Bump...any help would be awesome!

  • dchall_san_antonio
    9 years ago

    When you posted the second message that released the message to drift down in the forum. Unanswered messages stay near the top for hours to days.

    Anyway you might want to have a good soil test done to see what you have and what might help. The best soil test lab is Logan Labs in Ohio. For $20 you'll get a much better test than any land grant university test. Once you get that you will find out how much lime to use, if any, and which kind. I don't read these soil tests, but I know a guy. I can't tell you how to contact him on this forum (technical violation of the rules), but I can hook you up if you write to me from my member page.

    But really 3-4 days of softness is not a huge issue. 3-4 days of standing water is a huge deal. There is an interim project you can undertake. It's easy. Spray the soil with 3 ounces of baby shampoo per 1,000 square feet. If you have 2,000 square feet of lawn, put 6 ounces of baby shampoo into a hose end sprayer, fill the sprayer bottle with water, and spray at any setting. Spray as evenly as you can to get full coverage. Then water the lawn with a full inch of water to get the soap down into the soil. The next week repeat the water without the soap. The week after that repeat the soap and water. That's all. If that opens up the soil then it wasn't very hard. If not, then you really haven't lost much and certainly have not done any damage. This process is replacing aeration around the Internet lawn community.

    When you get into watering for the year, you should be doing it deeply and infrequently. Deep means 1 inch all at one time. Infrequently means once per week during the hottest heat of summer and less often the rest of the year. In the winter it should be once per month.

  • applejr
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Great...thanks for the response.

    If it was just soft I wouldn't be concerned, but the first couple of days my foot sinks in the soil...I just worry its hurting the lawn anytime I walk on it.

    I will try the shampoo solution and see how it looks.

    Thanks!

  • anidra
    9 years ago

    Hello,

    I have a similar issue with our lawn and it gets worse. Every spring, the lawn at one side of the yard is soggy with areas of standing water. Would you plese share if the shampoo method worked for you? Thanks!

  • sherm1082
    9 years ago

    I hope you don't have the problem I do and I doubt you do. I had a similar problem on the side of my house and long story short, I think I have a natural spring under my house. I should have taken pictures. It was crazy. One day I finally decided to dig around to see what was going on. I have NEVER seen that much water come up from the earth. I almost flooded my neighbors yard. I ended up installing a French drain and running the piping out of the back of my yard. It was a lot of work but it stays dry now.