That looks like absolute crap. Sorry to sugar coat it. Topsoil from a nursery with that kind of a price tag should be screened through a 1/2-1" screen. What's all that black stuff? The charred remains of a burnt building? Geez.

Take that picture back and show it to them.

Here is another picture. The black stuff is mulch mixed in as the soil is described as "Leaf Grow / Screened Topsoil Blend".

Thanks for the reply, Toxcrusadr.

I would not worry about the rocks as is, as I have boulevard hill with such rocks and larger and the mower has not picked one up twenty some years.

I would send the unused part back.

No, Lloyd. I don't have pre-Sandy pictures. But the seller's website has something similar: http://www.hclandscapesupply.com/soil_delivery_Howard_County_Columbia_Maryland_MD.php
It actually looked dark and without visible rocks. We didn't look that closely, though. We would've rejected the delivery if it looked like this then.

Another good reasonj to look at what you are spending your money on before paying for it. Since the only definition of "topsoil" is the top 4 to 6 inches of soil from someplace you need to have in mind what it is you want and not to take what the seller tells you.
"Topsoil" should not contain anything except soil.n talking with people over the years I find most people expect "topsoil" to be loam and it most often will not be.

Is it possible they delivered the

"Clean Topsoil Unscreened: a good price alternative to screened some small rocks and dirt clumps. Fill Dirt: used for a sub base not for planting"

by mistake? Looking at your pictures I find it hard to believe that your stuff was screened, especially finding rocks even over an inch.

Lloyd

It's always a good idea to personally check out dirt and compost before buying, and that includes feeling it for rocks.

I have purchased some very good leaf compost with a surprising amount of small rocks and small wood chips. I suppose the rocks are not very harmful for a one time only application. However, it is depressing to have to deal with other people's carelessness.

I just talked to the seller. He initially refused to acknowledge that his soil had larger rocks, even accusing us of putting the rocks in after he delivered (ridiculous - who would have time to do that and why would I?). Said he used 3/4" screens and because there are leaf compost, he can't use too fine a screen. But the fact is I found one or two rocks of 2" to 2.5" in every patch area my husband has spread it to. In the end he offered to come out and check. If he finds larger rocks underneath the pile that is still sitting there, he will refund everything less the $40 delivery cost. We'll see how that turns out.

Thanks, everyone!

Even if you get reimbursement, maybe this should be reported in each of the five Maryland counties they serve. Hope others can suggest to whom the reporting should be made. It could have been a mistake by the loader, but the responsibility still lies with the owner.

Phone: (443) 277 - 5014

Please call for same or next day delivery
Phone Hours: 8am - 9pm

Now delivering to Northern Anne Arundel County, parts of Baltimore, Montgomery and Prince Georges County & all parts of Howard County Maryland

I hope it was just a mistake. If the seller makes good on it, I see no reason not to just let it go. People make mistakes, but if they rectify the problem, I don't see a purpose in trashing them. I'm interested to hear the outcome.

Lloyd

My brother who used to run a landscape co. said the best way to do grass seed is to thatch the bare areas, sprinkle down the seed, and then cover with a good COMPOST. Keep moist until sprout.

Cover the grass seed with how much compost? !/8 inch? 2 inches?
It is not always necessary to thatch the lawn. If there is no tatch buildup, which will not happen if your soil is good and healty, there will not be anything there to dethatch.

Lloyd, I thought the OP might consider reporting this, based solely on this: "I just talked to the seller. He initially refused to acknowledge that his soil had larger rocks, even accusing us of putting the rocks in after he delivered (ridiculous - who would have time to do that and why would I?)"

That is such an unseemly response from the Landscape Supply Co. Waiting to hear the outcome from Snowang. It's obvious that rocks in excess of 2" didn't go through a 3/4" screen.

I can see some stones possibly being scooped up during loading if the pile was not on concrete or asphalt. When I screen my compost (5/8ths inch screen) it is piled onto basically dirt and there are stones in that dirt. When I load people with the skid steer I may be scraping up a bit of dirt and the odd stone. I try to be careful but....

I also have small bits of stone in the compost itself, there is no inexpensive way to get them out that I am aware of. They are in some of the leaf bags when people rake the leaves off their gravel driveway or, mixed in with the rootballs of potted plants.

Lloyd

kimmsr asked:

"Cover the grass seed with how much compost? !/8 inch? 2 inches?"

---

How deep does it say on the bag of seed?

THAT much.

---

Also, nothing to thatch?

How about grass clippings that weren't picked up?

Kevin

Depending on what kind of screening machine they are using, rocks could potentially go through into the product, maybe? Although I can't think how that would happen with either a shaker table or rotating drum machine. It certainly would be possible to get clumps of soil to go through into the waste stream with the rocks, but this would be the other way around.

Grass clippings do not make the buildup of plant material in lawns known as thatch. Perhaps the link below might be of some help to some.
Most grass seeds need a light soil cover which helps with the moisture those seeds need to germinate. Very few of those seeds need to be buried very deeply however, and even 1/2 inch might be too much.
The people I have talked with around here that sell soil tell me the standard screen mesh they use is 1/4 inch, therefore stones of the size in the pictures would not be acceptable.
Any time someone is going to purchase something called "topsoil" look at what you are puchasing, feel what you are purchasing, smell what you are purchasing, and do not accept that the seller has the same idea of what "topsoil" is as you do. Have in your mind what it is you want this "topsoil" to be before you buy it.

Here is a link that might be useful: About Thatch

Snowang, please feel free to email me if you would like the contact info for a couple of reputable nurseries in Howard County that deliver topsoil and LeafGro.

kimmsr:

Since you want to play the game of semantics---

thatch (thÃÂch)
n.
1. Plant stalks or foliage, such as reeds or palm fronds, used for roofing.
2. Something, such as a thick growth of hair on the head, that resembles thatch.
3. Dead turf, as on a lawn.

#3 good enough for you?

---
Btw, to the original poster:

Sorry for the thread hijack. In my initial reply to your post, I was just trying to supply a little info. that might help in your quest for success.

Kevin

Wow, thanks everyone for chipping in! While I'm waiting for the election results, I thought I'd provide an update to y'all. We got the issue somewhat resolved yesterday. The guy came out and checked out the rocks. He still insisted that he used a 3/4" screener and those larger rocks were not from his delivery, but were there in our yard originally, when it was clear that only those 20 or so small patches where my husband applied this soil contained those rocks. We have paid a lot of attention to making our lawn right and are 100% sure those rocks were not there before. He also said that he would use the exact same soil in his own yard. My husband got tired of it and said plainly that he didn't have time to play games. The guy then took a few rocks and said he would go back and check whether they were from his place. I'm not sure if he actually performed forensic evidence examination on the rocks but in less than 30 minutes he called me back saying that he would come back to pick up the soil and refund me everything other than $40 delivery. Now I have to watch out that my lawn is not damaged by his equipment since he talked about getting the 1/4 that's already been applied out from my yard.

At one point I actually thought about working with this soil, since we are not going to be able to recoup the delivery fee or the $50 we spent on a bulldozer to push it down into the back yard before Sandy, so it didn't run off our driveway. But every time we took another look at the stuff, we were like "no way!"

I don't want to completely trash this particular vendor since I don't know the quality of their other products. It took some effort to reach an acceptable resolution but better than my experience with Verizon customer service by a large margin (fresh memory of spending over 20 hours on billing issues). I would definitely follow everyone's suggestion to physically check out the soil before making the order. I have bought some Scott's Overseeding Lawn Soil from HD and it seems to contain just organic materials. No rocks! Hope it works better.

Thanks for the update, glad things worked out for you.

Lloyd

I only buy top soil by the bag from Home Depot or Lowes for less than $2 per bag and have never been sold any rocks in those bags. How can you let grass grow through those rocks? The picture seems to show base for use under patio blocks.

Hi, Little lare but if anyone expwriences wgat you did with ”poor soil delivered,” here are some ideas.

When you wish to buy ”top soil or filler soil” for gardenibg or a new lawn , you need to go inspect-look at it before they deliver it. many suppliers are tryibg to sell ”unfiltered soil tgat has garbage in it and very large rocks.” I had a large truck dump it in my yard w/plastic bags, plastic oieces and tons of large rocks. It took an extra day of full work with 2 people to sift through it and throw away all the garbage & rocks.

From the same supplier, I requested ”filtered soil,” for the next dump. It had few rocks & no garbage.

Another suppkier sold a year later ”filtered soil,” better than both loads from first supplier- but second suppliers soul was higher quality, same price as first load of garbage soil.

Shop around is my recommendation.Be careful.