[Codysmom]

Do you top dress zoysia grass with sand or black cow i have alot of clay underneath the sod
Thank you

[kcrazorbackfan]

I've top dressed spots my yard everywhere I've lived; however, the grass I've had in these yards have either been Bermuda (in Arkansas and Louisiana) or bluegrass (Illinois and Missouri). I hope someone with knowledge about zoysia answers you so I can find out if it can be done here. Don't think sand would work since there is no nutritional value to sand and it's hard to hold moisture.

[autumnspring]

To make any difference you need to apply a lot of manure. If, I recall one inch is 700 pounds per 1000 sq foot. As you have said, our problem is that they laid sod on top of sandy clay. They should have added organics into the top 6 or 8 inches of soil before laying the sod but didn't. Actually for me they refused to do it. You need to get the organic matter into the soil to matter. If, you top dress there is no reason for the manure to move into the soil where you want it. Put some soil, and some manure in a glass jar add water and you will see the soil sinks and the manure does not.
You can, as I did, use a good quality rechargeable drill attach it to an extension bar or an old long large auger bit drill holes every 6 inches or so and fill them with manure. IT IS A LOT OF WORK. Once you do it, you will need to apply less water and less fertilizer. We put 70 fifty pound bags of manure into our 5,000 sq foot lawn. Be careful not to go deeper than 6 inches. All your in ground sprinkler pipes, cable TV and power are down 8 inches. Having a drill with a clutch meant that if I hit anything it would not damage pipes etc. You do a little at a time. We took two years to do our lawn.

[gap2415]

We are presently working with our landscaper fighting to keep our lawn at our a year old house alive.

[JoMar]

We used Adam Neusbaum, 1-855-Cow-Poop. He uses a mixture of manure and sand depending on what you need. He aerates before the application. He leveled the low spots and the yard really came back well.

[garrywheeler]

What a crappy job LOL

[Bogie Shooter]

Originally Posted by suesiegel

To make any difference you need to apply a lot of manure. If, I recall one inch is 700 pounds per 1000 sq foot. As you have said, our problem is that they laid sod on top of sandy clay. They should have added organics into the top 6 or 8 inches of soil before laying the sod but didn't. Actually for me they refused to do it. You need to get the organic matter into the soil to matter. If, you top dress there is no reason for the manure to move into the soil where you want it. Put some soil, and some manure in a glass jar add water and you will see the soil sinks and the manure does not.
You can, as I did, use a good quality rechargeable drill attach it to an extension bar or an old long large auger bit drill holes every 6 inches or so and fill them with manure. IT IS A LOT OF WORK. Once you do it, you will need to apply less water and less fertilizer. We put 70 fifty pound bags of manure into our 5,000 sq foot lawn. Be careful not to go deeper than 6 inches. All your in ground sprinkler pipes, cable TV and power are down 8 inches. Having a drill with a clutch meant that if I hit anything it would not damage pipes etc. You do a little at a time. We took two years to do our lawn.

Wow!

[autumnspring]

Originally Posted by JoMar

We used Adam Neusbaum, 1-855-Cow-Poop. He uses a mixture of manure and sand depending on what you need. He aerates before the application. He leveled the low spots and the yard really came back well.

Using a power aerator before applying manure is far easier than the way I did it with a drill. But, his machine only goes down an inch. My way, I went down 6 plus inches. No prof could do it my way as it takes far too much time.

His way is surely more effective than simply dusting some manure on top of the grass.

[autumnspring]

Originally Posted by gap2415

We are presently working with our landscaper fighting to keep our lawn at our a year old house alive.

You need first to understand that your lawn will mostly do what it wants-not what you want it to do. For example, if you have zoyzia it will go dormant in the winter.
Your one year old lawn is sod rolled out on sandy clay. Translation, if, you look you will find the roots are mostly in the top one inch of soil that was the sod that was rolled out.

More is not better. Too much fertilizer will cause your grass to need more water. Since the roots were cut off the sod, the grass has little ability to search deeper for water.

Solution-apply only slow acting fertilizer. Fertilize more often but at half rate or less.

Secret-if you want your lawn to look GREENER without fast growth from too much fertilizer apply one of the iron products. Just be careful to clean it off your house and sidewalks-IT WILL LEAVE RUSTY STAINS.