Compacted sand soil, need help fixing for lawn

10 years ago

I have been doing some searching on Google and everywhere else and I have come to a point I simply need expert advice after 3 months of trying to get everything I need to at least understand most things that could be done.

My soil is 95%-99% sand from all the jar tests I have done. 3 inches of sand in 2 minutes, 2 hours gives 1/16 to 1/8 inch of loam and very little clay settling out in the next 6-10 hours when water has gone clear. I have done numerous tests from surface to 18 inches down with the same results. The further down I go the larger the rocks get. Organic matter is descent and I leave my clipping from a rotary manual mower when I mow most of the time. Thatch is minimal if there is a layer at all.

My grass "grows" in places and in others it is bare ground. Drainage is horrible, I know, opposite of what sand should be but it is. A hole filled with water for a second time took more than 12 hours to drain. Water that pools on the surface without prior watering takes 4-5 hours to drain. The surface is rock hard and that is before I reach the level with the rocks in it which is only 2-3 inches down. Water puddles on the surface in any low spots summer or winter.

I know the soil is acidic here, last test I did had it at about 8.5.

I don't want to til and I won't unless I have to. I have read about the shampoo method but I am reluctant to try it but leaning toward giving it a shot.

I have started a couple patches of grass where I dug a hole and did a couple different methods to start the grass seed. All have done well but doing the entire yard this way would be a lot more work than I am ready for. I can and will do it if there is no other solution but I prefer not to tear up my yard with the amount of rain we get every winter. I suspect that most of my work would be ruined by December if I really did a lot of tilling and amending.

So the question is: How do I fix my soil so that the soil better supports grass without tilling the whole thing? I am leaning toward plug aeration, compost, course sand, coconut coir and peat to slowly fix the lawn over the next 2-4 years. All of this will be added on top of the soil after aeration and allowed to fill in the plugged holes. Am I on the right track? Maybe leave out the sand or will sharp sand help fix my problem?

Should I seed at the same time with Fescue and Kentucky Bluegrass? The seed mixes I have used so far have a total of 7 different Fescue and Kentucky Bluegrass. I figure the more variety the better.

I know the best time to seed and do everything is fall when the rains come but the soil is soo bad I want to get a head start on amending so everything doesn't wash away when the rains come and don't end for 5 months.

Comments (8)

grass1950
10 years ago
I think you may be mistaken in your observations. Your jar pictures appear to show silt from mark "2" and above.

How was the PH determined? Was a soil test done? If a soil test was done, what was the ratio of Mg to Ca? (btw anything over 7 is alkiline, not acidic). For additional information, place some soil in a plastic jar (not glass) and suspend the soil in vinegar rather than water and observeif there is a reaction--fo safety, leave the lid off after shaking.
fish_4_all
Original Author
10 years ago
Sorry, it was 6.5, not 8.5. too much time worrying about wording and everything and got the numbers wrong. I tested it with both a liquid reagent and a digital tester, both came out close to the same, Liquid reagent was 6.3 and digital was 6.6

I have not done a calcium or magnesium test but I will.

Why not a glass jar? Just curious. Just for the possible explosion possibility?
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fish_4_all
Original Author
10 years ago
As far as having loam, all that settled out did so in the first 2 minutes so I assumed it was all sand. It would make me feel much better if it is loam. Will make amending the soil a lot easier knowing all i really need is something that will hold water to help the lawn thrive and hold nutrients.

I am going to do the test with the vinegar as soon as I find a plastic bottle.
grass1950
10 years ago
Yes, the possibility of preasure build-up. You can forget that test as your soil is actually acidic. A soil PH between 6.3-6.8 is ideal for cool season grasses, so you are in good shape there.
My soil is a 50/50 sand and silt and exhibited some of the same symptoms--water obsorbtion and rock-like hardness. I used the aeration and topdressing process with good results. I prefer to use peat moss as it is a more stable (nearly completely decayed) OM source and will remain in the plug holes to hold water and nutrients.
Shampoo can help, but i'd advise judicial use as you have sandy soil.
grass1950
10 years ago
I didn't see your 10:21 post. Sand, silt and clay can be divided according to size from larger (sand) to smaller (clay) (albeit ignoring other important characteristics like element/chemical content and physical structure-clay being platelets) . It appears to me that your jars are showing a distinct horizon between particle sizes and the "2" mark. I may be wrong. The differences are important as to the different characteristics. For instance, among other traits, sand imparts no structure, has poor water retention, high leaching, low TEC (nutrient holding capacity); while clay has high (but slow to absorb) water retention ability, large capacity for holding nutrients, and its structure holds together so well that it is susceptable to compaction.. Your soils TEC is likely to fall in the 7-10 range. Guessing is fun, but not very useful.
I hate to keep advising people to spend money, and I have no connection to any lab, but it is always advantageous to get a soil test (loganlabs.com) so you have as much reliable information about your soil as possible to help in making decissions rather than guesses. There is a guy who visits now and again who is very knowledgeable on all things soil. If you do get a report from logan and post it, he might give you some pointers--or not. Worth a try.

This post was edited by grass1950 on Mon, Aug 12, 13 at 16:50
fish_4_all
Original Author
10 years ago
Soil leeching is very common here if a person doesn't really keep up with things on a regular basis. I have been told that some tests show that the soil is almost completely void of all nutrients and the only reason their lawns even grew was they left the clippings.

I did kill sheets of moss a few months ago and that has helped some.

I will see what I can do to get a really close picture of the jar test so maybe you can give me an idea of particle sizes to look for. To me, sand is anything that is grainy and it doesn't sound like that is the right description for this purpose.

Absorption and retention of moisture is Definitely a serious problem in my yard. I will see if my local extension does soil testing and see if I can get it done. I think I did a few years ago and I think it was free but things change and I may just be completely wrong.
fish_4_all
Original Author
10 years ago
There are at least 3 different particulate sizes, if I really want to get nitty gritty there are 5 but that is far too much information for me to digest right now so 3 will have to do.

To me the jars still show very little of anything but sand but with the information you p[provided I did the following:

Here are my best estimates:
Jar 1 50% sand, 29.2% loam, 20.8% clay
Jar 2 58% sand, 29% loam, 13% clay
Jar 3 60.7% sand, 28.6% loam, 10.7% clay

Jar 3 had laundry soap added so that likely effects the results and more or may not be more accurate.

These are guesses at best and the 3 jars have different settle patterns that may throw things off also. This is my best guess where the particle size seems to change uniformly. I will do more measurements later today and tomorrow and refine those numbers. Hopefully everything settles out a little better and makes things easier, yah right but one can hope can't one....
fish_4_all
Original Author
10 years ago
Well I am going to try the shampoo method for now, maybe it will work well enough that this fall and winter will result in deeper penetration of rain and a little more fertile lawn.

Any suggestions are still needed to help, even if it means I need to plug my lawn.

Compacted sand soil, need help fixing for lawn

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Compacted sand soil, need help fixing for lawn

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