The stuff you are reading about 'topdressing' applies to either greens on golf courses, or warm season grasses like Bermuda or St. Augustine.

For you and me, cool season grass lovers both of us, the principal goal should be to raise the level of topsoil, and keep some grass growing on that newer, higher, level of topsoil. KBG (and it's pals, PRye and TTTFescue, grow upward more than outward, generally speaking. The roots will do fine, they need topsoil to grow in: not sand. The crowns will do fine, they need to be about a half inch above the soil (not sand).

Sand screws up a bunch of things, when dealing with clays and cool season grasses. One does not, unless you are a greenskeeper, need to fool around with sand, although it is surely true that if you have an elevated platform (odd enough) and grow bentgrass (even more odd) that you want to keep 'maximized' (odder still) with huge amounts of fertilizer, one can certainly get it done by adding sand to get up to a half inch (usually less) of height, here or there.

But you're looking at an elevated green on a golf course. A half inch seems like the Cliffs Of Dover, and an insurmountable challenge, if you are a golfer or a greenskeeper. You and I are not.

We're talking about dirt. We're talking about dirt in the yard. If you've got a low spot, and there are a few, for lots of good reasons that I won't go into here, you want a 'permanent' raise in the height of that spot, and you want bluegrass growing over, looking basically level, or on the same slope as the rest of it. "Permanent" should mean only one thing to you: NO PEAT. No organic material. No 'compost'. No 'super' soil. No 'enriched' soil. All of that happens in the top two inches of soil, where the grass is. The stuff down below is just dirt. And, if you're lucky, it is not sand. It is native topsoil, and looks just like the rest of the neighborhood's native topsoil. And, since there's no peat, there's nothing to rot away, and goof up your level.

So here's the best way to achieve that, in my yard and yours. Cut your own sod. Cut the sod, with a shovel, so that each piece is about two to three inches deep, at whatever size is comfortable for you to move twice. My fave is about 9" x 9", and about three inches thick. At that point, your roots have their soil attached. And are very happy.

Move the sod. Fill the low area with native topsoil, thus leveling the area, filling in the low spot, bringing the grade up to where it should be. Then put back the sod squares, at their new height. Tamp them with your foot.

You're done.

As usual, very well said philes 21. I agree with everything, but I think you can add soil to the top rather than adding it from the bottom. The reason for the small amount of sand/topsoil is to prevent covering the blades of grass. If your grass is growing, then 1/4 to 1/3 inch per week should be fine. Once you apply the top dressing, use your push broom to sweep the top dressing off of the blades of grass and down to the rest of the soil. Use the broom to lift the blades out. Then water it and wait a week to reevaluate.

I have leveled with sand, topsoil, and 100% clay kitty litter. All worked fine. Sand and kitty litter are much easier for me to work. "Topsoil" in San Antonio comes to us as a very unworkable pile of clods. I have used tens of yards of sand over my limestone rubble soil to provide proper drainage. Just no peat or other organic materials.

Thank you both very much.

Philes, I really like the idea of getting the whole job done one Saturday, and I'm not looking forward to tarping, untarping, and retarping, not to mention looking at, a big pile of topsoil on my driveway all summer. But, and I know I didn't mention this, one of the benefits I am imagining about topdressing is Poa control: the area I want to raise has been infested this spring, and now that the seed heads are petering out, I am thinking that it would be pretty elegant to be able to raise those spots while burying all of those Poa seeds an inch or three below the surface at the same time. Talk about pre-emergent! So I'm inclined to topdress if I can do that without hurting my grass (and if it will actually help control the Poa). Does that change your thoughts at all?

David, I assume you are growing a warm season grass. Have you ever tried topdressing KBG? Also, are you concerned at all about burying the soil microbes that live in the upper layers of soil? I'm still hoping to feed organically until fall.

Thanks again,
Paul

I'm in, Paul.

But which one am I in for, now that I've volunteered? If it's a patch of Poa, RoundUp it, thus killing it, fill the area up to grade, and re seed. No Poa. Nice, new seedlings.

If it's not Poa, why do we want to cover it and kill it?

There is another technique, and yes, I use it. First, place the topsoil to be used as topdressing loose on the driveway, so it can dry out, thoroughly. The closer to powder, the better. Perhaps an open bucket of topsoil in the garage. Spread the dry soil, 1/4 to 1/2 inch, and rake or broom it down. I don't repeat that more than once a month. Most of the grass will grow through.

I want you to remember this: the existing grass plants will likely die. I have not checked this, I'm just blowing smoke. But my belief is that the existing plants/crowns, that you just buried, will die. Before they die, they will shoot out runners, upward, and that new, higher, runner will create a new plant, with the crown the proper height up above the new dirt level, and will likely grow. If you don't give it enough time, it can't be successful. My supposition is also that KBG would be far more successful than PR or TTTF at that endeavor.

Lay down on your living room carpet, on your back. Using only your elbows, crawl up toward your head, thus dragging your feet along, and Congratulations! You have moved your whole body upward, about half your height. All your systems work, you can breathe, digest, and your circulatory system works fine. All of you is intact, you just moved upward a bit.

Grass can't do that.

Hi Philes,

Thank you very much for your post. I am concerned that if I Round-up and re-seed, yet again, this year, in the fall, I will just be encouraging even more Poa. I am planning to stop that with pre-emergent, as best I can, so re-seeding is problematic.

That said, I am inclined to try gradual topdressing along the lines of Dchall's posts.

When you say "if you don't give it enough time, it can't be successful" I totally hear what you are saying, but what, exactly, is enough time? If that can't be expressed in days, can you provide any insight into what to look for in the grass itself to help me time future applications of topsoil?

Thank you again,
Paul