Yep, the front yard is 2000 sq ft; there's a bunch of lawn you're not seeing on either side of the house.

Some of the depressions were a few inches deep, at most. Those spots grew in slower than the rest of the lawn that did not end up completely covered. However, bermudagrass is so aggressive that it quickly filled in even the deepest spots. I didn't have any really wide deep spots, though; mostly, it was just bumps in the sod.

The slope was a slight issue in that the water would seep through the sand down to the sidewalk, leaving that sand wetter than the sand at the top of the slope. Other than that, the sand didn't flow that much because we didn't water it enough for it to become a problem.

I doubt I can paint the fire hydrants as I am pretty sure the city wants them painted that way. I guess I've just gotten used to it. :-P

The sprinkler heads were not raised above the sand. At first the sand did cover the sprinkler heads, but as soon as I turned on the irrigation, it quickly washed away from the nozzles, leaving them completely uncovered. Every once in awhile I go outside to check them all and make sure they aren't jammed; this is a good idea, regardless. Infrequently, I use my Japanese sickle weeder to chop away any grass or weeds growing around the sprinkler heads. This helps to keep them unobstructed.

3 cu yd of sand was around $280 with delivery (sorry, I don't remember the exact amount). The delivery was actually quite expensive, but unfortunately I don't own a truck and trailer.

As is shown in the pictures, my landscaping is already quite sloped; In my opinion, I did not significantly change the drainage profile of my property with respect to where water flows. My lot is small for the size of the house; the elevation slopes away from the house on all sides by at least several inches.

I knew up front that not scalping the lawn would likely mean it wouldn't be perfectly flat. However, I realized that my lawn is big enough and our summers hot enough to where I can't reasonably keep it maintained at 0.5"; in other words, there was no need for me to level it perfectly. You're right in that I could've just filled in the depressions, but the problem was the whole yard was filled with them.

The sand is still quite loose. I took my sickle weeder and jabbed it into the ground in several spots and the sand moved easily. Would it be advisable to scalp right now with the powered reel mower and then re-level? I can turn off my irrigation so that the sand dries out.

Oh, and thanks again for all the advice, dchall. I don't want it to seem like I'm ignoring it. I tried my best given the situation. I honestly wish I had felt the significance of scalping to the ground more than I did. If I could go back in time and rent the machine, I would.

I have never SEEN a reel mower for rent.

Never even actually heard of one.

I can't imagine being willing to rent one. I won't even loan mine out and I have two of them. If you want to borrow one of mine, I'll be glad to bring it to your house, I'll be willing to mow for you, and I'll let you try it out. The thing is, I'm going to look around first and make sure you don't have things in your lawn that I don't want my reels to cut.

Hi, David, and thank you very much for the kind offer. Before I take you up on it, I'd just like to get dchall's opinion on whether that's something I should undertake at this time, and if it is, what exactly to do once you/I mow. This is pretty new territory for me.

I'll be headed to Houston over the Labor Day weekend and it wouldn't be all that far out of the way. When you see Dchall, ask him if that will be too late.

One thing I have noticed as the summer has progressed is that there are brown patches developing in my front yard. You can see some of them faintly in the pictures above. The spot in the very last picture is worrisome. It's definitely growing, and the grass there appears completely dormant. I'm wondering if all the sand I put down has substantially negatively impacted the soil quality. Perhaps the sand is preventing the grass roots from acquiring any nutrients from the real soil below? I'm watering 1" per week so I don't think it's a lack of water, and bermudagrass supposedly loves the kind of heat we've been experiencing. I hope my using so much sand isn't going to kill my lawn over time.

Amending my previous post, here are some pictures of the spots that have developed. Before leveling I got a soil test and the results said my soil lacked organic material. I am thinking of running out to the garden center to buy some organic compost and spreading some over these problem areas to see what happens.

How deep can you stick a screw driver into the ground in those spots?

This picture shows the big brown patch from the side, right next to my driveway. The brown grass underneath the green looks really bad.

Oh Lordy, Lordy. I just did the screwdriver test, as you asked, and--holy cow--in the brown spots, I couldn't even get it 1" down! I went over to a green, healthy area and the thing sank right in like butter!

Does this mean my soil is compacted? Could that have to do with the drought last year and my soil's lack of organic nutrients?

Holy cow, I wish I had done this ages ago. Thank you very much for asking me to try!

Have you always had issues in those areas?

I'm not sure how Austin is, but here in San Antonio, I have limestone bedrock a few inches beneath my topsoil.

You can see in the last picture I posted that there is, indeed, quite a layer of rock underneath at least that section. When I edged with my EdgeHog, it cut through solid rock in some places. From other anecdotal experience around my front lawn I can tell you there are other spots that are somewhat rocky beneath the soil. Now that I think about it, I did have an issue last year with the really brown-looking spot. I always thought it was because I was cutting it too low because of the shape of the landscape, but this year I am positive that's not the reason.

Is there anything I can do about this? It appears as though the screwdriver is just penetrating the sand I added and not any deeper than that. I've heard about aerating or using shampoo to make the soil more able to absorb water. Should I dig down with a trowel to see if there is rock underneath that section?

I went back outside and poked and prodded a bunch of different areas. I am shocked at how many spots are hard as rock! It seems to me that as the hot weather progresses, I may be in danger of most of my front lawn going dormant.

Help!

Well, there you go. I know a thing or two about Bermuda. I had a spot that looked like that once and I had a gigantic rock about an inch below the surface. It was about the size of a human body. For me, it was a matter of digging a little and renting a jack hammer.

Look around for the shampoo threads. Or, Google "BL Soil Conditioner" for a little more sophisticated version of the same thing.

Thank you. I am definitely going to proceed on at least one of these ideas. :)

If it's not rock, then I use one of those 2 prong manual aerators that punch 4 inch cores. I then spread compost and use a soaker hose for about 24 hrs. It has really helped. Again, as long as its not bricks or rock.

That's pretty much what I've always done, Rager. Organic material in the soil solves compaction problems. By the time I heard of the shampoo treatment, my problems were already solved. It's just that the shampoo is a lot less work and expense and, now that I know about it, I'd at least try it first.

No need to re level it.

The grass is extremely stressed but it will recover. Is it possible your sprinkler is not hitting those spots as much as elsewhere? Put tuna cans out there and see what they catch.

Soil conditioner as mentioned or shampoo are the fastest way to soften hard soil. Compaction is not the problem, hard soil is different from compaction. Apply at 3 ounces per 1,000 square feet every other week with a lot of water. You'll notice a difference after the second app. The longer you apply the deeper the soften effect (as measured by a really long poker).

The loose sand just doesn't have grass knitting it together yet. Give it a few months to get surface roots, stolons, and rhizomes as well as organic matter.

Sand is excellent base for bermuda. 10,000 golf courses can't be wrong. It will get better and better. If you want to improve the organic matter in the soil, the roots will do that for you but you can speed that up with organic fertilizers like alfalfa pellets, corn meal, corn gluten meal, or soybean meal. Visit your local feed store and see what's on sale (it will be alfalfa pellets or rabbit food). Apply at 20 pounds per 1,000 square feet. The more you apply the faster the grass will respond. The app rate is 20 pounds per 1,000 square feet. You can apply once or once a month or once a week. The improvement begins immediately, but you won't be able to see the improvement for 3 weeks. These are a lot more cost effective than compost. The cost of alfalfa is about $4.00 per 1,000 square feet. The cost of compost ranges from $35 to $75.00 per 1,000 square feet. And I contend that the value of organic fertilizer is 10x better than compost. Why? Because compost is made from the components of fertilizer. If you piled up 50 bags of alfalfa you would eventually have a small pile of compost with very little fertilizer value.

My yard in San Antonio is built up of white limestone rubble that ranges from minus 1 inch deep (protruding rock) to 18 inches deep where they needed the most fill. If you have a sublayer of rock near the surface then this could always be a problem. My worst soil is where I brought in topsoil. The best is where I brought in sand. Should add that I've been using nothing but organics since 2002.

Not to hijack the thread, but David, where in SA do you get your alfalfa at? $4/1000 sq ft is pretty inexpensive.

Last time was Ful-O-Pep Feeds on Rigsby at WW White on the SE side of town.

I paid $13/ea for two 50 lb bags at Gaddy's in Pflugerville. Unfortunately, after searching Google I couldn't find many feed stores so I decided to save a bit of time and hit up the closest one. I applied 20 lb/1000 sq ft yesterday so we'll see what happens.

I think I will apply the alfalfa every two weeks. Hopefully the soil's absorbency begins to improve. Around the neighborhood I am seeing a lot of lawns going dormant.

Uh, note what grass you're looking at in the Austin area. St Augustine does not go dormant. It goes directly to dead. Zoysia goes dormant, but it won't come back until April. Bermuda goes dormant.

Here's the math on cost per 1,000 square feet.

Cost per 1,000 = Cost per bag * usage (pounds per 1,000) / bag size
Plugging in the numbers...
Cost per 1,000 = $13 * 20 / 50
Cost per 1,000 = $5.20

Obviously the cost per 1,000 for you depends on your cost to buy the bag. Back when corn meal was $3 per bag it was really inexpensive.

Visual, I use a lot of cotton seed meal. $14 per 50lb bag around here (Wichita Falls). It's the same 50 lbs of OM as in alfalfa but higher protein content. Higher protein equals higher Nitrogen when it breaks down.

I've been using organic fertilizers for 8 yrs or so in my back yard. The soil is notably softer than my front yard. I'm watering once per week and the screw driver test is like butter.

Wow, folks! After only two weeks, my liberal application of alfalfa pellets has completely greened up the dormant spots on my lawn! I just got done with the second application and I can't wait to see how much greener my lawn gets!

From what I've seen, the stuff really does work. Sprinkle some by hand, if necessary, on any trouble spots and don't be surprised when the trouble spot turns into the lushest, greenest spot on your lawn!

After ten years of telling people about the use of grains and alfalfa, it is still fun to see people discovering that it really works.

I've used a lot of alfalfa too...then the rabbits invade!

I love it when a plan comes together!!!

Visual, I was one of dchall's earliest converts. No one, and I mean no one, was more skeptical than I when I first heard about this. I've been using organic fertilizers on my Bermuda lawn for about 8 years now. I can tell you that your lawn will only get better and better the longer you do this. I still use chemicals on my front lawn and there is a striking difference between my front and back lawns. The organic lawn is softer and much slower to dry out. I think you spend more for organic fertilizers but you make that up on the back end with less water.

Do yourself a favor and get some cotton seed meal (CSM). You'll get more of a nitrogen kick out of it than you get with alfalfa. The cost around here is $14 for 50 lbs. I tend to rotate between CSM, CGM, alfalfa about once per year, and soy bean meal (SBM)on occasion. I would use more SBM but it's a seasonal thing around here and hard to find at times. In past years, I've used Milorganite about once per season but I'm experimenting with using it more often.

The good thing about organics is that it's hard to go wrong. You can't overuse it unless you smother the grass.

Keep up with it a while and see what you think. Many will tell you that organics and Bermuda are like oil and water. I've decided otherwise but can't find any like minded Bermuda guys.

I still don't get it. OM is measured in volumn. What is the volumn of 20 lbs of alfalfa, CGM or CSM? 2 cubic feet maybe? How can 2 cft be the OM equivalent of 27 cft (1 sq yd) of compost?

Volume of OM has nothing to do with fertilizing the lawn. If you had pure sawdust you would have 100% OM but still not be able to grow anything, because sawdust has no fertilizer effect.

Compost is a depleted material like peat moss. It has only minor fertilizer value, because all the original feedstuffs (those that contained protein, carbohydrates, and vitamins), have been decomposed. What is left is essentially undigestible by any of the normal soil microbes. If there was something in the pile which was freely digestible, then it would be considered unfinished compost. The microbes that do the decomposing in compost are themselves decomposed by other microbes. Near the end of the composting process, there are three categories of materials left: end of cycle microbes (dormant), the compost equivalent of straw, and organic by-products which have no (or very slow) decomposition cycles. Some of the remains are very likely to be convertible into plant food by microbes in the soil.

Lets say you applied 27 cubic feet per 1,000 square feet of compost to the lawn. All that is sitting on top of the soil. When you take a soil test you are digging the soil down about 6 inches. If any of the compost is still on top of the soil, then that counts, but typically you are not going to have all the compost translate into OM.

The OM in the soil comes from the roots of the grass. Grass is one of a few types of plants that replaces its root system every 3 years or so. That means the old roots are sloughed off by about 1/3 every year. These roots are what become the macro OM in the soil. Microbes are still the micro OM. If you want to improve the measurable OM in the soil, then growing grass with more or longer roots is the logical answer.

If you have not tried organic fertilizer, please try this: Many stores sell the generic dog or cat food in bins where you measure the amount and pay by the pound. Buy a heaping double handful and dump it on one spot on your lawn. If it is heaped up so high to cover the grass blades, then spread it out a little. Water it enough to make it a mush that will sink down to the soil surface. Check it in 3 weeks. Finally compare your reaction to VisualCSharp's comments posted Thu, Jul 12, 12 at 20:39.

Ok, dchall. So you are saying it is the use of alfalfa pellets as a fertilizer which in turn increases root growth and that when those roots eventually die off they will improve soil OM. You are not saying that the OM content of alfalfa pellets is a better cost unit source of OM content than compost.

Half of these issues would go away if you mowed higher than 1".

Hmmm...
"Half of these issues would go away if you mowed higher than 1"."
Now why do you say this? Are you familiar with carring for hybrid Bermuda? 1" or less is the standard for cutting this type turf.

Half of these issues would go away if you mowed higher than 1".

Oh please tell us more.

"Half of these issues would go away if you mowed higher than 1".

Great idea! I'll implement that program starting tomorrow. I'm sure our 3,000 golfing members will just love me for that.

Bermuda greens? Might make putting a challenge, but image how well the greens will hold aproach shots.

Any picture updates?

Bermuda greens? Might make putting a challenge, but image how well the greens will hold aproach shots.

How would you tell the green from the Rough or Fairway?

Bermuda greens are common in the south, not sure what you are talking about Grass1950.

One. Meant to write 1" Bermuda Greens. At least that's what I think I meant. That was fricking 2 months ago. I only stand behind what I say for short term memory periods of 24 hours or less. Long term is 25-26 hours. Either respond to a comment within a reasonable period of time or put a cork in it.
Two. I have no idea what they do in other countries. I keep to the United States proper, which is boardered by the Great Lakes, Penn., Ind., and the Ohio River. What the rest of the insignificant world does is of no interest to me.

dchall_san_antonio:

You say to scalp low, but if you scalp during the summer before leveling (say from 1.5" to 0.5") won't that severly stun the Bermuda and make it slow to recover from the sand?

Thanks.

Cansari,

I've been wondering the same thing. I recently read a post by texasweed where he told someone not to scalp before leveling with sand but rather leave it a little shaggy. I don't remember if it was on this forum or somewhere else.

i remember texasweed saying something like that but i think the reason why he recommended to leave it a little shaggy was to not stress the bermuda in extreme heat.
I think if you scalp to .5 and level you should be fine unless its 100+ out there...Even then bermuda would recover

Texasweed correct me if im wrong

I know TW said that, and I'm not an expert like he, but I think it depends on your process. The service that did mine (late July) first cut it with a Walker and then a reel right down to the dirt. But then they aerated and spread fast release fertilizer. Of coarse, then they dumped the sand mix and dragged it. The picture was after the first watering. It came back completely within 4 weeks or so.

Hi all, great info in this post! Would this same method be OK to use with St. Augustine? Not the scalping, but the application of coarse sand to fill out low spots. I'm in extreme SE Virginia.

VisualCSharp,

In looking at the photos and the way you describe the brown patches being very hard to put a screwdriver through is very similar to the way my yard is. The builder of my home and others seem to do the same practice of dumping a huge load of gravel to use as a temporary pad for the dumpster, concrete trucks, etc. when they are done they level the yard along with all of the rocks. It makes me sick to see it but nothing I can do as I wasn't here when they did mine.

That said I have top dressed with a mix of sand and topsoil. I'm afraid to go straight sand as I felt due to the poor nutrient retention of sand I would start to kill the grass. I have areas you can feel the rocks as you push the screwdriver in. I imagine your builder like mine didnt care much about leaving mountains of rocks in you lawn.

We purchased our house back in Dec 28 2013 and the builder installed Bermuda grass. We live in Atlanta, GA and had several freezes shortly after they installed the sod. We are now in June and I believe most of my sod is dead (winter kill?) some spots are growing and no longer dormant but 90% dead. I hired a company to spray fertilizer and post emergent as we had weeds to help fix the problem with no success. I watered plenty but the water runs off quickly and does not penetrate. I am able to still pull up the slabs of Bermuda and no roots are connected and they look black underneath and the dead grass just breaks apart in your hands. What would you recommend? Plugs? Seeding? I do not want to spend lots of money (5000 sq ft ) with re-sodding ($200/pallet x8)...I'm fighting with the builder (Dr Horton) to get this replaced but they have mentioned landscaping is not warrantable. Ultimately I want a healthy lawn, want to aerate and sand as necessary to look as great as the pictures above. What steps should I take to get my lawn alive and well ? I read a post about using alfalfa pallets to stimulate root growth? I am new to this and these posts help out tremendously . I appreciate you time and help! All feedback is welcome. Please see the attached picture.

Hey neighbor! I would love to be able to read about your experience, as we live south of Austin. Unfortunately, it seems a lot of your thread was cut off... maybe from when houzz took over GardenWeb? Anyway, is there any way you can repost? I hope you still have access to everything you wrote! I've seen other people repost their long posts as a thread and then continue the text in comments. If this has already been done, can you post the link here? Thanks for the consideration!