|
| I am trying this "new" product. There is a spray called Penmax that claims you do the spray instead of roto tilling, and then I put a layer of their "Turfmax" soil amendment, and then a layer of St Augustine Sod. I am doing a very small area to see if works. How long after laying the sod will if be rooted, and how can I check? |
Follow-Up Postings:
|
- Posted by texas-weed 7A (My Page) on Sun, Oct 7, 12 at 11:56
| 7 to 10 days. To check lift the sod up. If you can lift it, no roots. |
|
- Posted by dchall_san_antonio 8 San Antonio (My Page) on Sun, Oct 7, 12 at 19:49
| Please let us know how the products work. Anything the keeps people from rototilling is already a great product in my book. And tell us where you live. Sunset zones are only slightly better than the USDA hardiness zones. Neither one is of any value with lawn issues. Your real location is the only thing that helps. If you know about Sunset zones, you probably have the Sunset Western Garden Book. Read the part about installing new lawns and you'll see they don't recommend rototilling. At least my SWGB from 1970 does not. Can't imagine they would have changed their mind on that. |
|
| OMG! It Worked!! After 2 weeks, it was well rooted, and growing! So I went around scraping up what St. Augustine sod I could find in stock at my local nurseries. I guess I added about 130sf. That was one week ago today, and it is doing well also! I am in Van Nuys California. My yard was just dirt, I don't think I could even call it soil. An inch deep layer of puffy dust, (that the dogs LOVE bringing in the house), on top of hard clay. Not even a weed in sight. The prep I did was rake up stray leaves, and then spray the Penmax. After it dried, I added 1/4 inch layer of Turfmax and slapped down the sod. We had a pretty good heatwave, so I watered 2-3 times a day. I will likely do the rest of the yard in the spring when St. Augustine is more readily available. WOO HOO! |
|
- Posted by dchall_san_antonio 8 San Antonio (My Page) on Mon, Oct 22, 12 at 21:41
| The soil softness test is to take a screwdriver and see how deep you can stick it into the soil. With hard soil it might not penetrate at all. With really soft soil you might get as much as a 36-inch rod to go down. I'm very glad the Penmax worked for you. At the risk of really bursting your bubble, Penmax's active ingredient is a non-ionic surfactant called Poly(oxy-1,2-ethanedial) as well as many other names. It is very similar to the ingredients used in food preparation to keep the food moist. It is also used in shampoo and other household cleaners. Rather than paying $100 per gallon for a product like Penmax, for the past 6 months or so we have been talking about using shampoo itself to soften soil. Most shampoos have anionic surfactants. Baby shampoos have nonionic surfactants. Both seem to work equally well as long as there are no conditioners in the shampoo. My last shampoo purchase was Alberto Vo5 for a dollar a bottle. A 15-ounce bottle will cover 5,000 square feet. |
|
| There is no research that supports or disclaims the affect of surficants and changes in soil characteristics. The bottom line is what results occur to the quality of the turf. I have had mixed results using surficants and at best, minimal. Nothing approaching conclusive. I have observed significant improvement in turf after aeration. Neither seems to give continueing/permenet results. Curently I am experimenting with adding calcium to reduce "compaction"/soil hardness. We'll see. |
|
| Wouldn't shampoo kill beneficial bugs and worms? I'll try the screw driver test and let you know. |
Please Note: Only registered members are able to post messages to this forum. If you are a member, please log in. If you aren't yet a member, join now!
Return to the Lawn Care Forum
Instructions
- You must be a registered member and logged in to post messages on our forums.
- Posting is a two-step process. Once you have composed your message, you will be taken to the preview page. You will then have a chance to review the contents and make changes.
- After posting your message, you may need to refresh the forum page in order to see it.
- It is illegal to post copyrighted material without the owner's consent.
- HTML codes are allowed in the message field only.
- No advertising is allowed in any of the forums.
- If you would like to practice posting or uploading photos, please visit our Test forum.
- If you need assistance, please Contact Us and we will be happy to help.