What grass seed to spread?

pburchett

Member
I live in a place called sand hill and it is true to its name. It is one large sand rock. Before I arrived there some places have been cleared and the dozer exposed what reminds me of strip mine ground. It is mostly sand and shale. I am sure there is zero nutrients in the soil as google earth shows the dozer work was done sometime around 2004 and it is still barren today. What kind of grass seed do I need to spread on the ground to establish some kind of cover?
 
I am by no means an expert, I have seen this type of grass planted along Lake Michigan shore line with good results. Read and look for what might work for you. joe
here
 

You will spend millions of dollars putting enough seed on it for it to hold adequate moisture to go three weeks without rain. It would be a lot cheaper to spread loam or get composted manure and mix it with the sand. If you were to share your location there may be a member in the area that may be familiar with soil conditions.
 
First off you need to tell us where you are. Tons of types of grass
seed and sensitive to climate. Here in SJ it is a giant cat box of
sand and you are going to need to do some work. If you can get REAL
TOP SOIL and not some mixed up crap. Spread it around at least a
couple of inches thick. Use the seed appropriate to your conditions.
Keep WELL watered till it is 4 to 6 inches high before you even think
of mowing it. See if there is a sod farm near you and talk to them
about what to do. The sod farm near me even has a commercial store
operation that sells stuff in bulk. Reasonable prices. They have all
kinds of seed mixes and also sraight rey grass. The rey grass or oats
makes a very fast growing and soil binder to start a lawn. Then you
over seed with what a sod outfit or what others on here will recomend.
You might do better with just soding the whole place. Just remember
that a lawn should be the most picture perfect "Hay Field " a farmer
could ever hope to plant. You want it as smooth as silk. NOT ROLLED
,but I used a lawn drag to smooth everything like a slick sheet of
paper. Piece of heavy duty 6x8 foot chain link fence behind my garden
tractor. Narry a bump anywhere. The lawns in the whole of the US would
add up to a little bigger than the state of Pennsylvania. Another tip,
a lot of my lawn is that Zoysia grass. Stuff is incredibly tough once
you get it established. If you buy it the stuff will come in sheets
like sod. You cut it up into "plugs" like one inch square that you
plant. Keep it well watered for the first year and you should see it
slowly starting to spread. Stays short and is very soft under foot.
Once it gets going you can cut chunks out of it and do transplants
else where. My first sheet of plugs i have heen able to spread over
half of my lawn. It does brown out as winter hits but not that bad.
Soon as it starts to warm, early April it goes Zap and greens right
back up. Very tough and strong in drought.
 
I and the neighbors have reclaimed some rail road right of way,just about the same mess you have. I planted rental house trailers and he planted hay. His first thing was to haul a lot of natural fertilizer, fresh from his cows. A lot of green there now.
 
Oh snap! You could have soil with traces of
coal in it. That would make it acidic and or
sulfur problems. Maybe even more. Soil test
time. Plenty of lime to start. That might be
why nothing grows. As I said go check with a
sod farm cause they gotta get thier grass to
grow so they should know what works in your
area. Really! Here is a picture with my big
bad Husqvarna when I was getting ready to
change the rear tires to Agg bar type tires.
That is the zoyia grass as about as high as
it gets. I was just getting ready to mow it.
Mow maybe 5 or 6 times during a summer.
Great stuff. It spreads with rhizomes
instead of seeds. It over grows a section of
my sidewalk every year and I just use a
shovel to cut along the edge and pick that
chunk up. Move it over to another part of my
place where the old grass is and transplant
it. A few weeks latter it has grow into its
new home.
a151768.jpg
 
Some types of that stuff were developed just a few miles away from Atlantic city. They have been shipping it all over the US for beach stabilization projects. Never gets very pretty looking but does have very long roots. Has held the dunes along the coast quite well so far.
 
If i had a bad spot i use red clover. That
will almost grow on concrete its also good
for attracting wildlife and insects. I had
ground that was hard to plow it mellowed
right out after clover.
 
Last year I plowed it a little with the cultivators and then spread 31 fescue on it. Nothing to show for the work at all.

Most places where I try to dig a post hole I only find 2-6 inches of loose dirt/sand before I hit sandstone.

I think I will have to do a soil test, fertilize and then try something else maybe orchard grass, clover and Bermuda or whatever else the farm store has. Something might come up.
 
(quoted from post at 08:33:48 02/17/17) Last year I plowed it a little with the cultivators and then spread 31 fescue on it. Nothing to show for the work at all.

Most places where I try to dig a post hole I only find 2-6 inches of loose dirt/sand before I hit sandstone.

I think I will have to do a soil test, fertilize and then try something else maybe orchard grass, clover and Bermuda or whatever else the farm store has. Something might come up.

Unless you will be able to water it really good everyday, you need something to hold some moisture.
 
I live in coastal N.C. and a most around here have centipede grass. It is all sand and very
poor. the worst thing is we have sand spurs and the are terrible but they love poor soil.
 
I tried Centipede grass on a new lawn on the Gulf Coastal area. I wanted lots of runners and a short, thick grass. I left before it had time to fully materialize into what I planned, but for the first two years I would have done better with Common Bermuda at a much lower price.
 

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