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ken404_gw

What type of Sand is used for Bermuda to spread quickly

ken404
9 years ago

Can anyone help me please tell me what type of sand is used and is there anything that's mixed with the sand to cover bare spots. I've seen sand on a few neighbors lawns in spots but they won't tell me anything about it. I notice their bare spots seem to fill in quickly with the sand.

I went to the big store to check out this sand and ask questions about the sand but I get a lot of different answers and there's all kinds of sand there. What should I buy for the bare spots?

Comments (4)

  • dchall_san_antonio
    9 years ago

    It's not the sand, it's something else they're doing. Tell us about your situation.

    Where do you live in GA?
    How often and how long do you water?
    How high/low are you mowing and how often?
    When were the last two times you fertilized and what did you use?
    Have you used any herbicides, insecticides, or fungicides this year? If so, what?

    Sand is a golf course thing. When people see it going onto golf courses, they think it must be important to do. The reason golf courses do it is to improve water penetration. Their grass is under extreme stress with golfers on it every day. They want it to look perfect so they overfeed and mow every day. You don't do that so your grass is not stressed. Under that stress golf course grass will become hydrophobic and shed water. Sand seems to be a simple solution for that. It has nothing to do with spreading.

    Besides that adding sand or topsoil is a really bad idea for home owners. I have pictures of lawns that are 10-12 inches too high because they've gotten 1/4-inch of topdressing every fall...for the past 40 years. Any amount of sand or topsoil ruins your drainage. Just put it out of your mind. If you want a perfect lawn, we can help. Just be a little patient. Answer the questions and we can get you on track.

    In the mean time, search Google for "bermuda bible." The first hit is the most recent revision. Memorize it. And as I recall it never mentions sanding. You don't need it.

  • neilaz
    9 years ago

    If you want to use sand just to cover bare spot and make it grow better that won't do it. If you want to add sand because that spot is low then some soil or sand will work. The sand you want from the big box is the stuff that comes in the 100lb bags. Should be a medium and coarse. Either is good. 100lbs to heavy then get the sand they have in the pool section for sand filters. Very much $$$ but only weighs 50lbs.

  • ken404
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Okay great to know. I'm in South Georgia. You wonderful folks have already gotten me off to my start. I was inquisitive about this sand some of the folks here in my Subdivision are using. There's 3 competitors here I've gotta pounce on and I'm slowly but surely gaining traction this is truly exciting. My lawns looking better every day nice and green using the Bermuda Bible. I've already started my fertilization once a month and mowing 1.5 inches 2-3x per week and I'm really gaining traction on my lawns density. Did my soil test too. It's just one spot that seems to be moving slowly and I've seen those guys using sand it seems to really take off from there.

    If you say let it be then that's what I'll do. I was just wondering why it fills in so quickly like a week or so after their application of that sand? I'm paying close attention to the tuna can watering system I'm off to an excellent start and it's only been about 5 weeks in. I was over watering before I couldn't figure out why my lawn looked worse every time I watered. I even called the City asking if something was wrong with the water or if they'd been recieving complaints.

    I just wanted to be sure I'm not missing something with the sand thing.

  • dchall_san_antonio
    9 years ago

    I suspect the tuna cans will take longer to fill in the poor spots, but we'll see. Try this: Stick a screwdriver into your soil in various locations including the very best spots and the very worst spots. See how hard it is to push the blade in. If it is significantly harder in the poor locations, report back.

    It sounds like you're on the way to trouncing those guys. Since this is a competition, you should spend $25 on a soil test from Logan Labs in Ohio. When you get the results back, post them here and ask for morpheuspa to read them for you. He can tell you what you need, how much, how often, when, and where to buy it. In your case the point of the soil test would be to improve the color, improve the ability of NPK fertilizer and other micronutrients to do their jobs, and to make the soil chemistry better for the soil microbes.