Fu Manchu's Guide to Soil Prep & Laying Turf

Oh yeah fully aware of that. Need something to keep me occupied now that footy season is finished. Over analyzing is my speciality.

We laid our turf on monday. We ended up going with Empress Zoysia. It has all the attributes of Empire but looked a lot neater as it is a small leave variety.

We have these brown 'leaves' growing on the top of our empire zoysia. Are these normal? My wife is concerned that this is some kind of weeds. I have attached pictures.

Also, how long after the lawn being laid is it ok to start mowing the lawn?

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please someone help me stay motivated with all this stuff.

I've been looking into getting all the products so we can start our front yard and even though I'd love to just do a lovely ground cover and forget about lawn my husband isn't on the same page.

So... I'm trying to get all the products listed and its a disaster really. I cant find zeolite, bioasis bactivate or spongolite. I can get organic soil but not certified. We have a clay soil (I think lol) well it dosn't look anything like the WA pictures of sandy soil that I've seen. I thought I could do without the betonite for this reason but then I'm sort of confused about that too. And am I supposed to be mixing in sand as well?

The empire zoysia is available thankfully and shouldn't have any problems getting that.

I don't know what to do as I'd love to get it all right and have beautiful healthy soil thats kind on the environment but then its hard to get the stuff and my husband says the neighbour who's yard is the same size as ours got the whole lot done for $800 soil and turf. EEEEK!!

We want to do it ourselves but maybe we should get wait a while and get a landscaper who knows what they are doing.

I hear ya!! I was so pleased last Friday when I managed to track down some Molasses and then I saw Seamungus at the local Bunnings which is really good to use too. We have clay soil as well so I am going to skip the bentonite and use Powerfeed to break down the soil and have already started that. Zeolite is supposed to be available from the pool section at Bunnies so will check that out, Olsens Green Bio - I am trying to track down and I'm going to ask Bunnies to order it in for me instead of using Bactivate (I've only found this interstate and they can ship it to me for $44 incl postage for 3kg which sounds expensive - and Perlite - I need to track down through a hydroponics shop. From what Fu says if we can't get all of these things even some of them esp Molasses, Powerfeed & Seasol will make a tremendous difference. I've found some Jeffries certified organic compost (it has sand mixed through it I believe) at Wood n Logs so that's a big plus as they are not far away. We are going to do our back garden ourselves - lawn and plant beds and we don't think it will be too hard. The developer has laid grass on the verge and put natives in the front garden so that's one less thing to worry about.

Let's keep each other motivated!!

Thanks Mclaren,

I feel better already. LOL We decided it has to be done either this month or soon after the new year because but it was a toss up between a much needed air con or the front lawn this month and unfortunatley the air con won. So this means we can't do the lawn until the new year. There's too much to pay for in Nov and Dec as well. So I just I know its only october but I want to get into it and have all the info and stuff ready so we can get it done quickly once we start.

There's a part of me that wants to push through and get it done properly given that it would all be a waste of time and money if the soil isn't right and I've seen so many neighbours over the years see their lawns go to ruin. I think I might try to do some ground covers anyway, just in small sections or something.

I found the perlite at a local nursery for $8.70 for 5 litres which I thought was pretty good.

We're not actually going to buy the full amount of turf for the front as its too expensive. We've decided we're going to get about 30mtrs of it (instead of about 100mtrs) and break it up and spread it around and watch it grow that way. We figure if we put all our money and effort into the soil then the grass should grow no problems.

So yep, I just have to come to terms with a crummy looking front yard for about 3 months.

You know what you could do - sign up with Mulchnet and either buy some cheap green mulch or if lucky get some free and pop that on your front garden with all the other good stuff added to your soil and then when you are ready to put the lawn in the soil should be really humming .. what do you think? Would look better than nothing. Our front garden at the moment has tiny plants and lots of mulch so not much to look at but it looks tidy.

If you have a really clay soil, I would mix some sand through it with the cultivator and try to break it up as well as some good compost. And yep, give bentonite a miss, you dont need it like we out west do!

As mentioned, zeolite from pool shops or from Bunnings in the pool section (product called zeobrite). If you cant find Bactivate, ask for Olsens biogreen (I am led to believe that Bunnings stock it).......and fwiw Mclaren, bactivate costs me $30 for 3kg locally. But bear in mind that 3kg has a coverage of 100m2 so it goes a long way.

So you think we can prepare the soil now and then get the turf on next year? I like that idea but it still costs money.. we'll see how we go. LOL so much to pay for all at once when you move house.

You're preaching to the converted! I think I am officially money free........until the end of the month


Yeah, nothing to stop you prepping it now, but why not just pick up zeolite this month, bactivate/olsens next month etc and in 3 or 4 months you'll have it all to hand and then just go bang. As long as you can stand having a dirt yard in the meantime I guess.......

Hi Deeps,

Sounds all normal to me and just the lawn seeding. You might be feeding the lawn too much K or potassium?

I personally would give it a month before mowing and only take up off a third...

Have fun!

Hey there,

Where abouts do you live?

Forget about olsens there is no more.... Besides it's the same thing sort of...

Use bactivate and forget about Bunnings they don't have access to it.


Olsens/Bactivate contains 5 specific bacteria to fight disease and salinity.
Bactivate Grow or Plus contains 3 microbes and a humate.

Bactivate is unfortunately ATM only available in 25kg bags where as Bactivate grow is readily available in 3kg tubs for $25 so $44 is a bit steep!

Fyi for the forum The term bioasis bactivate is wrong, Bioasis is just one of the distributors in VIC like "Healthy Plus" is the distributor in WA.

It is a phenominal product that is used in agriculture and now also available for the home user. I have used it for the past 3-4 years in all sorts of applications and have had outstanding success in pure sand to good soil and pots.


So cheerupcharlie stay strong do it yourself and take pride in a job well done when your finished! Muggy's idea of building up supplies is a great one and depending on where you are and what type of soil/sand your dealing with there are products available ready to use to assist you.

Regards,
Mattrix




Hope that helps.

Hi Mattrix, I have had emails back and forth with the distributors of bactivate and they don't have an agent is SA - the best they could do was put me in touch with someone in Vic who is charging me $32 plus $12 postage for the 3kg bactivate grow. I am also going to get hold of some seamungus, perlite, zeolite and some certified organic compost which together with the molasses, powerfeed and seasol should get things humming in the garden! It would make it a lot easier if there was a one stop shop somewhere - can't someone on Home One get that organised? They would have lots of customers ...

Mclaren, let me do some digging for you in regards to SA.

Thanks Mattrix - I've already paid for it and it's on its way but would be helpful to others. Cheers Annette

I am sorry for repeating what others have probably asked but baby doesn't give me time to read 11 pages.

We just built I'm on 1 acre they did a big site scrape to flatten out the front and back. The soil seems a bit sandy but it looks nice and rich when we dig it up, there is bits of grass growing all over it.

We need top soil the fill they dug up fromt he tanks is filled with rock. Do we need to scrape away the top of what is down currently?

Not sure what grass we are getting, I have no idea what our options are I just want normal grass lol we have about 1000sqm or so to turf. Do I put stuff in the soil then on the turf. Help meeeee

Hey guys I got the following question:

My lawn has been laid about 6 months ago. I understand that it is going through its first spring and it is normally during the warm season that the lawn grows. But I also have the weeds popping through here and there. I have been pulling them out from time to time but will this stop after a while or is it on on-going thing that will last forever?

Anyone know where to get bactivate in Sydney. Is GoGo juice a good alternative as it is readily available?

IMO your much better off with a granular form ie Bactivate. It should be readily available in the independent stores, I'll make an inquiry for you.