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soil over existing lawn

15 years ago

Last fall my husband put about a foot of clay soil over the existing lawn. he did not kill the existing lawn before he did this. (he put the soil there to prevent water comming into the basement) Anyway... the neighbor down the street told him that our lawn would die (get some kind of fungus or mold) because he didnt kill the existing grass that was there.

so, my questions are

will the lawn die?(its not looking good, brown spots in areas)

what is the fungus or mold that will grow.

is there anything we can do for the lawn at this juncture

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Comments (4)

heimert
15 years ago
Seems more likely that the foot of clay soil is what's making your new lawn not very healthy. Clay without organic matter mixed in is not great for growing anything. It holds water and doesn't allow the water to sink into the ground, meaning the roots on plants and lawn are shallow.

The old lawn is buried too deep below to matter. But even if it were not, it would probably contain good organic material for growing. In fact, some people turn over their lawn and just leave it in place for purposes of planting a garden, hedges, whatever.

(If I understand what you said correctly you now have your old lawn buried under 1 foot of soil on top of which you've planted new lawn.)
captaintom
15 years ago
If you really have a foot of new soil over your old lawn, you in effect have a new lawn. Very likely the new soil is different than the underlying soil. You probably need to get a soil yest and see what amendments may be called for. What kind of grass seed did you put down on the new soil.

The old grass won't cause any problems - its just organic matter, which is good.

Capt Tom
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I feel you are asking for trouble by trying to cover over grass with stone. It should be removed and the entire area covered with landscape fabric to keep weeds from poking through. You say you are doing this due to settling around the foundation due to the "build". I suggest that you may have drainage / erosion problems that need to be addressed. I would have a competent landscape designer / contractor look at your situation and see if there are grading issues that need to be addressed or drainage corrections required. I'm sorry, but filling in the holes and putting stone on top may be a band-aid that will "solve" the problem only temporarily.
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Yes that is a literal term.... Bedsprings work great for level off your yard and to work up rocks and fill in low spots.. Get a small chain and drag with the springs down behind a lawn tractor or ATV Works great. Were to find !!! If you have an old bed laying around or go to the nearest Rent to own store they may have an old one you could buy for 10 or 20 dollars rip it apart down to the springs and you are in business. The most important thing to remember is put alot of seed down after you are done seeding you should be able to see seed everywhere without looking hard. I just did my yard about 1.5 acres and put about 400 pounds of seed down. there is about 45,000 square feet in an acre. also straw not to much but not to little enough to cover the ground so you can't see the dirt. and water very little often 10 min. at a time about 3 to 5 times a day 5am 9am 1pm 3pm and dusk just for the first two weeks then increase to about 20 min three times a day 5am 1pm dusk after two weeks twice a day for 30 min 5am and dusk after two weeks once a day 30 min 5am after 4 or 5 cuttings water 1 time every 3 days for 30 to 45 min. hope this helps. water times and amounts may vary after the fist couple weeks depending on how hot it is out and what type of soil you have. GOOG LUCK
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joepyeweed
15 years ago
Your neighbor doesn't know what he is talking about...
windyz
Original Author
15 years ago
yes heimert that is correct we have about a foot of soil over the old lawn and I know clay isnt the best but thats what we have to work with in this area. and I thank you for your comments

Captntom and joeypy I thank you also... while I was worried about the lawn .. the neighbor seemed to take such delight in saying that our lawn would get some wierd fungus (I had visions of it sliding off onto the street on some moldy layer of goo) Im even happier that I now know she is truely full of it.

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