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| Built a house on Long Island in 06 ran out of funds and never did the lawn or a thousand other things.Its mostly beach sand and some other junk. theres just tons of weeds and other junk. What should be done first?We thought about napalm but the town opposed :) so we cut everything down with a brush mower. Shoukld we spray everything with weed be gone? Topsoil? Please help! Thanks |
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| What do you mean when you say. "it is mostly beach sand and "SOME OTHER JUNK'"? A good lawn can be raised on sand. It will require different watering and fertilization than a lawn grown in optimum soil (more often application, but lesser amounts at each application as both water and nutriants will leach faster). As a quick overview: Use Round up to kill everything and after everything is dead, scalp the lawn. Wait a couple weeks and spray anything that comes back. Late August plant your turf seed and use a high phosphorus starter fertilizer. Keep the seed damp until it germinates. Germination time will depend on what type of turf seed you plant. How large a lawn are you planning to put in? How much sun will it get daily? Are you looking for a showcase lawn or just a decent lawn of grass cover? |
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| Hey Thanks Grass1950.! It was graded with mostly beach sand and RCA or "Item 4" and reg clay dirt in some spots. You can see it on Google earth 33 Kirk Ave Montauk NY. I didn't know grass would grow in sand.I was thinking to cover the area with about 6" topsoil about 125 yards. So you saying this is not neccesary? Looking for a good grass cover. Re Round how would I apply to a large area? Thanks!! |
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| Hey Thanks Grass1950.! It was graded with mostly beach sand and RCA or "Item 4" and reg clay dirt in some spots. You can see it on Google earth 33 Kirk Ave Montauk NY. I didn't know grass would grow in sand.I was thinking to cover the area with about 6" topsoil about 125 yards. So you saying this is not neccesary? Looking for a good grass cover. Re Round how would I apply to a large area? Thanks!! |
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| Hey Thanks Grass1950.! It was graded with mostly beach sand and RCA or "Item 4" and reg clay dirt in some spots. You can see it on Google earth 33 Kirk Ave Montauk NY. I didn't know grass would grow in sand.I was thinking to cover the area with about 6" topsoil about 125 yards. So you saying this is not neccesary? Looking for a good grass cover. Re Round how would I apply to a large area? Thanks!! |
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| Yes, turf grass will grow in sand. I know this from both personal experience and the testimony of others on this and other sites. Google Earth shows a beautiful double lot and a quite large L shaped two story hone and a lot of trees around the boarders. Even with the best soil, it is not easy to grow a good stand of turf in heavy shade. You may want to consider a combination of gardens, landscaping and turf. You do appear to have some sunny areas in front of the home and to the North. There is at least one person who posts here, who I believe lives in Conn. who has a lot of knowledge of turf cultivars and I believe is also experienced in growing thick turf in shade. Hopefully he will advise you about what to use in both the shady and sunny areas for that region of the country. No mater what you end up doing, you want to prep the lot and get rid of the weeds and unwanted growth. So as to your question: It appears that you have a lot that is about 25k sq ft., less home, pool, patio/deck and what is being used for driveway, I'd say you have about 10k sq ft for landscaping and turf. Applying Round Up using a canister or backpack sprayer is suggested. Round Up can also be applied with a hose-end sprayer, although great for large open areas, hose-end spaying is not easily controled around plantings that you may not want to kill in your or your neighbors lawns. |
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| so after we kill all all the weeds is it better to cover this with topsoil and if we do how much soil and when should we place it? Thanks again!! |
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| I know Montauk well. Depending on what part of Montauk you're in, you have either a coarse (slightly orange) sand soil or a very-fine lightered-colored sand soil. Which is it? Sand is OK, and shade is OK. But the combination of sand and shade is very challenging, especially if you're not very experienced in growing lawns. Where would you have the topsoil brought in from? Most topsoil is actually fairly local, but much of the whole South Fork is very sandy. I'd hate for you to pay for topsoil just to get more highly-sandy stuff. |
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| Nycstev, I was about to post with information I have gleaned from various university turf programs about soil horizons and topdressing with finer material over coarser soils (more FYI than advice) but saw that andy10917 had posted. A couple weeks ago I searched andy10917's name (at his suggestion). I read a lot of his and a poster named tiemco's past posts. Andy10917 knows his stuff, you are in good hands. The problem is he doesn't seem to post here very often. |
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- Posted by dchall_san_antonio 8 San Antonio (My Page) on Sun, Jun 24, 12 at 13:37
| Andy10917, tiemco, texas-weed, and I are all moderators on another forum which cannot be mentioned here. Not only is it poor sportsmanship to troll other forums looking for members, GW has a specific software rule in place which does not allow the mention of that other site. The name of the other site happens to be the same name as a former lawn guru here who was banned after an incident in a cooking forum. So there is a lot of ill will on this side toward the upstart forum that took most of the talent away. In any case, as is sometimes mentioned here and elsewhere, all golf course greens are built on 100% sand. In fact they go to lengths to keep out that nasty organic matter that the rest of us try so hard to incorporate into our soils. But there are some differences in sand. If you have salty beach sand, the salts generally need to be washed out. That's not hard if you do it before you get it. There are also differences in sand particle size and whether particles are rounded or faceted. I know there are differences but I don't know if they make a difference in growing great grass. For my money I will probably never buy topsoil again. I much prefer sand. I've got both in my San Antonio lawn. The grass in the sand always looks the best. If you bring in topsoil or sand, it WILL change the drainage of your lot. Proper drainage is extremely important to keeping water out of your basement or foundation. If you have proper drainage now, when you bring in topsoil, it is nearly impossible to continue to have proper drainage. In my case our house had all the soil washed out down to the tree roots. There was a 4-inch drop off from the front walk way and a 6-8 inch drop off in the back. I needed something just to bring everything up to level. I used 20 yards of topsoil in front and 8 yards of sand in back. The topsoil was back breaking while the sand was smooth as silk to put in. Years later after remodeling, we had a situation where rain runoff flowed toward the house and sat up against the foundation. Once again I brought in sand. Needed 9 inches against the house and feathered it out to the driveway. That was another 2 yards. I love sand. |
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