Fu Manchu's Guide to Soil Prep & Laying Turf

Hey Fu,

Got a bit of an issue with the empress zoysia (The one in Edgewater, if you remember), with all the rain lately and trees and house to the North she stays wet most of the day. I have started to get rust fungus on the leaves, and it seems to be spreading.

The plan is to mow quite regularly over the next few weeks and collect all clippings, keep giving it heaps of seasol and molasses, and maybe mow i a bit lower and use an aerator. Is this a good idea??

The other thing I wanted to ask you was about thatching, she seems to be starting to get a little spongy. the plan was always to mow down before spring get some organic soil and top soil, compact and get it really flat. What is the best time to do this?
And should I get it detatched?

Sorry about all the questions.

Its that cold soil. The shadier spots won't warm well but it will change soon. The warm weather isn't far away. It will sort it self out fine.
Yes aerate the area it will help.
If the rust is a concern you can use "EcoGarden" fungicide which you can get from Dawsons down the road or the other place.

By all means de-thatch it when we get some hotter weather. (Late November) However I'd just see how things go. Even apply some Mycorrhizal fungi from http://www.maiaustralia.com.au/ and then top dress with Eureka Premium compost and leave it that. Just hold off till it warms up at night. 10-15 at night on a regular basis and then the soil will warm up. (25-30c Day temps won't warm the soil if it gets cold at night)

You won't need to compact it. Just rake it once a week. It will come through fine.


You have done well to have water hanging around in Perth.

Fu you are a legend!

I will mow slightly shorter, aerate and treat with the fungicide. Once it gets warm enough I will De-thatch and top dress. The only reason I was going to compact was to try and get rid of some of the little bumps and lumps, she is pretty close to flat I think the lawn has become a bit of an obsession...Haha.

Thanks mate...really appreciate your help.

Which one of the mycoapply would you recommend for turf?

I've done Spongolite, Zeolite and now i've done kitty litter. Lots of hard work but hopefully it will be worth it.

Now, I don't think I will have the time to acquire and lay certified compost, so from everything available at Bunnings, what would be the best compost to buy? Can I just use sheep/chicken/rabbit manure?

And can I just put some over the lawn once it's in? Or does it really make a huge difference to mix it in prior.

I do stress that I am very particular about using fungicides and their impact on soil health and our health. The "Eco Garden" is the only exception I feel even remotely sort of comfortable recommending.
Please avoid the use of other fungicides.

I would use the endo because you already do some good work getting the beneficial bacteria happening.
Still have a chat with them, they are very helpful.

Could do it any more expensive????
Mate I would be very strongly suggesting using a bulk compost as a few bags is going to be a waster of money and effort.
All the components are as important as each other and without one the others have little effect.
Many may read this stuff and skim over it and create their own version. I understand that happens. However this is very important as a lawn is not a cheap thing to do anymore. Those days are over.

Why so many use or recommend manures as a means of soil prep confuddles me. They serve very little purpose in building a soil structure. They do however have some temporary benefit when used on an already well established soil structure rich with organic content. You still find an endless line of Horts and landscapers and garden centre people recommending animal manures as a means to prep a soil for planting. It really is a poor call.

If looking for bagged soil there is only one, "The naked Farmer" which would be one of the least understood soils sold in Australia by those selling it. There are many other rich composts sold but this really is a basic element in creating a strong soil. Nothing else sold in Australia can do what it can. Use this for planting a few plants, doing a little garden bed or similar. If you have say, 50m2 of turf you'd need 30-50 bags of compost. That is an enormous sum of money for what you get.

EurekaCompost.com.au
TheGreenLifeSoilCompany.com.au
DSATCO.com.au
GardenersDirect.com.au

They are the very few I'd be getting soil from. (and even some of them will recommend a "lawn mix" )

Oh and I might add that after garden fertilisers, something else right at the very top of the list as a source of nutrient contamination of our rivers and ground water is manures.
The use of chicken manure in particular is heavily regulated by most SW and Perth councils.
Overall if they are going into the rivers and buggering them up, then that amounts to one hell of a volume of these that is not being used by our garden plants. If that is happening then just imagine how much money is being wasted along with it If the plants don't use it why would you continue the practice?

Always choose a slow release, low impact nutrient. (If you feel the absolute need to use one)

I don't think there will be time for delivery and me putting it in before the lawn is due to go down. Can I topdress once the lawn has gone in?

You can, yes but the effectiveness of it is somewhat limited and will be a process that carries over several years to get sort of close to doing it now.

Overall you are still way ahead of some poor soul who has just been told to use brickies sand, lawn starter fert, and a densified poultry product of no particular brand name.

Hey Fu...
Just a couple of photos of the front of our place... using the Empire Zoysia (with your recommended soil prep) and Mulchnet mulch for the garden beds...

Looking good there BP, that was s huge load of mulch that got delivered!

I reckon you will be pleasantly happy with how that comes on in the coming years compared with how other gardens in the street have
That is a heap of hard work that's been done

Wrexter... tell me about it! We ordered 5cubic metres and got 8-10 as "once the truck is full its difficult to empty part loads".......... but we managed to do our place, the neighbours and only had a trailerload left that went to my folks.... and one trailerload to the tip which had stuff we picked out....

Fu... not so much hard work as rather time consuming, am lucky I had my dad to lend a hand at times! All thats left now is to plant a grasstree in the front section. Looking forward to seeing the benefits of my investment this summer and the years after!

Fu, can you give me any advice on vertimowing/dethatching? Should I get the professionals do do it, hire one, or just do it on the cheap with an old victa and new blades. Looking to do this late October, get some good fungi/bacteria, organic soil, saturaid, seasol, molasses. Any tips?

For yours, do the victa and new blades.
I reckon you'll be fine to top dress it though. Or top dress on spot with a bag of something, see how you go and if you're not happy, go the vertimow. For a vertimow, you will need a small skip and just hire a vertimower. Wait till the stuff is growing again though before you do it.

I might be able to pop round and take a look if ya want.

Wanted to say a big thank you to Fu for wealth of information here. And to wrexter for summarising it so that lawn prep doesn't seem quite so daunting!

We've just spread 3 cubes of piggy post, 7 bags of zeolite and 6 bags of spongolite onto our 90 sq m of western australian sand that we're prepping for turf. Hanging off adding the Bentonite till just before we cultivate the soil (rotary hoe booked for Tuesday) because of expected rain - was worried it might clump up too much before we get a chance to mix it all through.

I've booked the hoe for 4 hours (can't help but childishly giggle at that). Can anyone tell me whether that should be enough time to do 90sq m? My hubby's going to drive it & is fairly handy with things like that.

TIA!!