Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY - FU 41Oct 06, 2009 12:33 am Hi Fu. . . I've just read this thread and now I'm exhausted! So much information (really really good info). . . I think I took about 5% of it in, so I'm going to bookmark it and read it again about 19 times! My fella is thinking of using Kikuyu. . . We're building in South West Sydney and the land is CLAY! We're going to have to turf the front garden ourselves as it's 600 sqm and we just can't afford to have someone else turf it for us. So obviously cost is an issue. . . would Kikuyu be suitable or should we be going for something else? We've just planted a couple of trees down in the back corner of the block. . . we had Trevor the bobcat man dig us a couple of holes (thanks Trev) when he was excavating and we just had to fill them in again. . . manually. . . which wasn't helped by the torrential downpour AND the fact that we'd asked him to make each hole about 1 metre cubed. . . should I trade my car in for a bobcat? Are we crazy trying to do anything with clay? Maybe we should just concrete the whole acre????? hahahaha! (I ache, by the way). We've decided not to tamper too much with the grass in the back yard. It's in big tough clumps, but basically it's just going to be the doggies playground anyway. . . we'll keep mowing it of course (well, Phil will) and may try tossing some grass seeds or some kind of lawn food at it and just hope for the best. . . but I suppose we'll have to make much more of a manual effort with the front. . . GULP Thanks. . . Jo. Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY - FU 42Oct 06, 2009 11:35 am Hey Fu. Got another Q for you... Was thinking of going with Sapphire buffalo to do the front & back yard (150m in total), but the local turf supplier has stopped growing it in the last couple of months & has replaced it with Kings Pride Buffalo. Have done a little searching on the net about this turf & the reviews look promising. Can you tell me if you've had any dealings with it... the Good & Bad etc. Cheers, Mike. My Blog... http://ahouseonthehill.blogspot.com/ Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY - FU 44Oct 12, 2009 12:05 pm Firthy_26 Hey Fu. Got another Q for you... Was thinking of going with Sapphire buffalo to do the front & back yard (150m in total), but the local turf supplier has stopped growing it in the last couple of months & has replaced it with Kings Pride Buffalo. Have done a little searching on the net about this turf & the reviews look promising. Can you tell me if you've had any dealings with it... the Good & Bad etc. Cheers, Mike. I just bought Sapphire buffalo from HG TURF 4 weeks ago. $10.00 per roll. $77.00 delivery. Your supplier is full of it! HG Turf will have it! They deliver anywhere! Kings Pride Buffalo? Never heard of it!! Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY - FU 45Oct 12, 2009 1:46 pm Thanks Moody.. I knew it was still sold at other turf farms but the local one here (Amco turf, Cranbourne) told me they no longer do it. I would have liked to compare the Sapphire with the Sir Walter before I ordered it to see the differences. Tell me, are you happy with the look of the Sapphire? What was the reason for choosing that over other buffalos? Any pics??? Cheers, Mike. My Blog... http://ahouseonthehill.blogspot.com/ Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY - FU 46Oct 13, 2009 9:13 am Firthy_26 Thanks Moody.. I knew it was still sold at other turf farms but the local one here (Amco turf, Cranbourne) told me they no longer do it. I would have liked to compare the Sapphire with the Sir Walter before I ordered it to see the differences. Tell me, are you happy with the look of the Sapphire? What was the reason for choosing that over other buffalos? Any pics??? Cheers, Mike. Hey mate I wanted empire Zoy but they didn't have it in season yet. I picked Sapphire as it was drought toll and had fine leaves as the kids will be playing on it I didn't want sharp/hard leaf turf. Prob the best buffalo you can get. Well that's what the sites say. I am happy with the look but it's a little bit brown at the moment as they all are after you lay it. I'm happy though. Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY - FU 47Oct 14, 2009 2:43 pm Just ordered 2m3 of the compost for the lawn from gardeners direct. the lady was most helpful and deliver is prompt with it ariving tomorrow. One thing tho.... when i asked her what she was up to on the w'end, she was "busy" and could not help me spread it.... lol Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY - FU 48Oct 22, 2009 4:06 pm This stuff is the bomb. The lawn has come up sensationally, and that was after 5 days or so. Cant wait till it has all watered in. Strongly recomend using Garderners Direct product. I will get some pics up of the dif it has made. Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY - FU 49Oct 23, 2009 6:49 pm Hi, I am about to embark on laying turf through the front yard, back yard and down the side of my house. The area is between 200 to 250sqm. I want to use shredded lawn. I was originally going to use Palmetto or Sapphire buffalo grass but have seen the Empire Zoysia which looks good. I have been told by one lawn place that it would take up to 18 months for it to fully cover the area while another place said 3 to 4 months. Fu, I was wondering how long may it take, if I get the soil right, to grow the shredded Empire Zoysia in Perth? Is there any tips you could suggest for good growth. Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY - FU 50Oct 23, 2009 7:23 pm Ever raced snails? Well they are faster than the Zoysia so the first mob is right on the money. The stuff grows so slow compared to any other turf, that ultimately means a heap more time to you for things better than mowing, fertilising and watering Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY - FU 52Oct 24, 2009 6:48 pm Not really my style of car though Glad to have helped with the lawn though. Pretty easy to keep like that too Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY - FU 53Oct 25, 2009 8:21 am Fu Manchu Not really my style of car though as I said "very average looking" Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY - FU 54Oct 27, 2009 12:57 pm My Buffalo sapphire is starting the green up but there are rolls that are still brown next to fully green rolls. Whilst the brown rolls have started to grow green under them what happened? They are right next to each other!! My wife said it is because I used a compactor instead of a roller. But I didn't over do it. I just went lightly over it all once. The ground is pretty hard though in places. Should I put some soil wetting agent on it? Or just leave it? Pls don't validate my wife Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY - FU 55Oct 27, 2009 5:28 pm You can tell your wife... I think she is a lovely lady na, rollers are not anywhere as effective in achieving even firmness. You end up with a lumpy bumpy finish. The soil stays too soft as well which means when it is walked on for a while after laying you get depressions from feet. I recently used a roller on a job but that was because of ease of access and me working alone on it. No way I was able to carry a compactor up all those stairs Overall, the roots have taken faster on some sections than others. I wouldn't be concerned at all. Once you get some warm weather-if you get warm weather - your lawn will look fantastic. water won't be your hassle just now. warm temps are. You will need a good 6-8weeks of consistently warm days and as grasshopper said, warm nights. warm nights are the absolute key to your lawn taking off. Don't stress, it will happen. Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY - FU 56Nov 03, 2009 8:47 am hey fu my couch (i know you hate it, it was mums idea and i listened before researching), has come up a treat after its first mow from the clyinder mower and at this stage is really green after the seasol and last weeks rain so its going great. i tried molasses in the seasol spray container and that was an interesting experience, havent perfected that yet but it looks like you need a very small amount of molasses watered down for it to work, stuff's bloody thick! im going to put on some top dressing and saturaid this weekend, was wondering if you could provide some tips for top dressing, i know you stress to use organic soil so i'll grab some of that, but do you throw it on very thin and can i mix in the saturaid, and then do i water it straight away? im top dressing to start levelling the turf laying uneveness and give it some great soil to start living in on top of whatever the builder threw at it. Blog - http://snakedr.blogspot.com/ Build Thread - viewtopic.php?f=31&t=12084&p=307406#p307406 Status - PCI 15/10. Things nearly done. Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY - FU 57Nov 03, 2009 10:08 am When you are topdressing, you don't want to lift the height of the lawn. Just rake it in thin with a wide plastic rake. Some good rakes will have a raised plastic blade on the back of it. That is good for moving soil around. I use a soil leveller which is like a broom but with a series of bars instead of a brush. You can hire them. Get it so as much of the leaf comes through as possible. Then of course concentrate on the low spots and get them right. The lawn will grow through them no worries. Water it really well and that will wash the organic soil in through the foliage of the lawn as well as give it a good soak. As the lawn grows give it a light rake once to a few times a week and keep the levels good. You can chuck on the saturaid or chosen wetting agent at the same time. As for the molasses in the seasol container, well it's an awesome idea. Can't say I have done that, but if you want to get it to dilute a bit easier, use luke warm water, or just let it sit for a while with cold water and then give it a stir with a stick or something. Then click it on and away you go. Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY - FU 58Nov 03, 2009 10:15 am cool thanks ill give it a crack, the seasol stuff is great, so quick and easy as well, the lawn and I are loving it. whats the deal with using grey water through a sprinkler. i know all the information says to route it under ground these days, but for rural properties its still just sprinkled. is there any actual research to show sprinkling laundry grey water at night would cause any issue's? Blog - http://snakedr.blogspot.com/ Build Thread - viewtopic.php?f=31&t=12084&p=307406#p307406 Status - PCI 15/10. Things nearly done. Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY - FU 59Nov 03, 2009 10:30 am wow, now there is a controversial topic for some. Maybe give that a miss in this thread Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY - FU 60Nov 04, 2009 10:27 pm Many thanks to Fu and others on the thread. The collective knowledge and shared product experience has been a great enabler for a novice like me.The content changed where I focused. The focus shifted to the preparation of soil area Soil Prep - Actioned in an elapsed 3-4 week period using the weekends only. Preparation investment was approx $1200 ( included bobcat + dingo to level, then churning 12m3 of organic soil through soil area which had a bit of clay, and deploying assorted products such as seasol) plus the addition of heaps of goodwill from mates and family for certain tasks and some well timed rain for our 210sqm area. The rain we had came after we leveled it and it was heavy. It provided great compaction pressure for the area. I reckon by the end of this phase I was confident the prepared area would meet a Fu spec. Turf - We decided on Sir Walter. Location is 100 metres from the surf/salt and others in the area had success with Sir Walter. Others had Shademaster from 5-7 years ago and they indicated the "purple haze " over winter months was okay but an unexpected "feature" and often required explanation to visitors, passer-bys, me etc that it was really an expected part of of the annual cycle. One guy thought he would be better off just putting a sign up ...... The cost for 210sqm of Sir Walter was $1545 delivered. 4 pallets. Interestingly no Zoysia available at the time in Wollongong area, $7 for Sapphire, $4 for Eco Kikuyu. DDAY the actual laying of the turf was all over in 2 hrs ( with 4 guys)! Two areas 160m2 and 50m2. Framed on two edges, then brick pattern, and then finalised two edges of frame at closed out. For cutting in some of the shapes we found an old bread knife proved to be effective. Honeymoon 5600 litre watertank fully deployed during day 1-2. Watered day and night since. Has been over a week and looking good. Rain today was great after yesterday's high temp. Takeaway - 40% of costs in prep but requires 90% of effort. gongbuilding Have some black tiles in our bathroom on one feature wall laid on top of the waterproofing. What I think is efflorescence or white chalky looking grout has turned the… 0 2654 I'm about to put down some Merbau. Is it necessary to oil underneath the boards before laying? 0 2716 Hey There. No problems re jumping in. My original question was "should I have waterproofed" the concrete slab before putting batons down. We have been told we should… 7 4938 |