Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY - FU 62Nov 06, 2009 3:09 pm Fu, any experience/views on laying a lawn using viro-cells? From my limited reading, it seems this is a pretty cost effective method if you are not in a hurry for an instant lawn? Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY - FU 63Nov 06, 2009 3:35 pm Depends on the turf variety. I know here you can get trays of Palmetto plugs. Each tray has 100 plugs and they cover a recommended 25m2. Takes about 6-12 weeks for a good coverage to start occurring. I'd only do this with Empire Zoysia or any Buffalo variety. The others are not worth poking with a stick IMO. The "virocells" are just one product of many claiming superior root growth. The pretty sure the ozbreed folks have chosen that particular tube product to sell their turf plugs in Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY - FU 64Nov 06, 2009 5:50 pm Hi Fu, can you please explain why you don't recommend wintergreen couch. A lot of my friends have it and to be honest i think the feel of wintergreen underfoot is much nicer than other varieties. Is it mainly a maintenance issue? Thanks Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY - FU 65Nov 06, 2009 6:43 pm a quick search using the search function would reveal a whole stack of posts made by me on that very issue. search.php?keywords=couch&terms=all&author=Fu+Manchu&fid Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY - FU 66Nov 06, 2009 7:02 pm and your in WA I see Nearly all the major landscapers use it for the landscape packages for one reason. It is cheap and increases profit margins for them. It is renowned for being the "toughest" to kill. It is too. But the stats are not relative to seeing a nice green manicured lawn just one that isn't dead If we didn't use so much couch, the reduced impact on our environment would be significant. I say this from many many years of knowing and understanding how the average home owner uses and cares for this turf. Heaps and heaps of water to keep green, looks crap for most of the winter so people pump fertilisers into them more than any other turf. They get more pesticides pumped into them than any other turf by the average gardener. They require an enormous amount of mowing to keep looking good. They are among the top 3 invasive plants in the world. They also get growing in our national parks easier than any other thanks to people illegally dumping. They need more fertiliser than any other turf to stay green. Gets into the garden beds and the amount of weedkillers then put into the environment as a result is huge! Not only that you will get very little out of those contact weed killers This city in particular is a huge consumer of couches. Has been for a very long time. Previous to that, every house in Perth had a buffalo or Kikuyu lawn. We also use 30% of the entire nation fertiliser supply's on gardens and the majority of that goes on our lawns. That includes agriculture and now we are seeing it's use in other states increase So any turf that in reality allows the average home owner to naturally use less water and less fertiliser is a very good thing Couch is very good in the right application by trained or horticulturaly educated people that is for sure. Eg. Golf Courses. To me the average homeowner having a couch is like giving a teenager a beautifully built formula 1 car and trusting they drive it responsibly around the streets. Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY - FU 67Dec 13, 2009 5:53 pm Fu Manchu 4. add spongolite and zeolite if you can. These help hold nutrients and do some other things too. 5. I suggest using "Olsens green bio" as well. Fu - Do I do these for the garden beds too? Should I dig this through when I dig the new soil into the existing one even though it could be a few months before planting or wait until a few weeks before planting? Also, how much of the olsens green bio do I need per sqm? I've been looking at th is one for the zeolite amount viewtopic.php?f=19&t=26144&p=359842&hilit=zeolite#p359842 Oh and does a normal garden bed (ie not lawn) need to be compacted? I'm hoping that the answer will be No and that it will just compact itself down over the time between bringing it in, digging it through and planting 'A bottle of wine contains more philosophy than all the books in the world.' Louis Pasteur Vegie garden: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=27637&start=0 My Backyard Adventure Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY - FU 68Dec 13, 2009 6:09 pm Each bag does about 100m2 but I have used far more than that before over that area in some cases. Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY - FU 69Dec 13, 2009 6:48 pm Fu Manchu Each bag does about 100m2 but I have used far more than that before over that area in some cases. What size bag? Also Pssst there were more questions 'A bottle of wine contains more philosophy than all the books in the world.' Louis Pasteur Vegie garden: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=27637&start=0 My Backyard Adventure Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY - FU 71Dec 13, 2009 8:08 pm Thanks Southies! Sounds like I only need 1 bag then, did you put it everywhere or just where the lawn is going 'A bottle of wine contains more philosophy than all the books in the world.' Louis Pasteur Vegie garden: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=27637&start=0 My Backyard Adventure Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY - FU 72Dec 13, 2009 10:02 pm This kid just found out what Southies has done with the zeolite Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY - FU 73Dec 14, 2009 7:09 am lisanne Thanks Southies! Sounds like I only need 1 bag then, did you put it everywhere or just where the lawn is going everywhere - hope that was OK we were so exhausted, we just threw it around without regard to where the turf ended & the garden beds started Built the Eden Brae Cambridge 34 Family with Boston Corner Facade Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY - FU 75Dec 15, 2009 5:52 pm I know Fu is very busy, but -sniff- he is ignoring my other questions 'A bottle of wine contains more philosophy than all the books in the world.' Louis Pasteur Vegie garden: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=27637&start=0 My Backyard Adventure Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY - FU 76Dec 15, 2009 11:03 pm Oh No don't compact a garden bed The reason why a turf area needs to firmed up with a plate compactor is so you don't end up with a mess after laying. The ground is going to be walked on and stepped on by yourself and others who are carting around additional weight with turf rolls and wheel barrows etc. the last thing you want is big lumpy bumpy areas from foot prints. The first mow and you will get a mess and have to top dress to fix and possibly again as well. You don't need to compact like a road base or paving area but get it firm under foot pretty much. A few laps is all that is needed Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY - FU 77Dec 15, 2009 11:38 pm Rock minerals like zeolite and spongolite are essential additions in any soil no matter what grows in it I emphasise their use in regard to turf because turf has a much higher impact on resources than any other part of the garden in some cases. As for how much olsens to use, I'd be pretty liberal with it. They suggest a bag covers 100m2 but I use it at far higher rates. Like 1 bag over 50m2. Prepping your garden beds can be done when ever you like. You will get a few weeds come up if you do it ages before but to me that is a good thing because you can dig them into the soil and they add nitrogen and organic material back in No they won't come up everywhere as a result Mulch over the top and they rot down easy as. They will germinate in the first place not because the products have weeds in them but because weed seeds can lay dormant for years and when you disturb the soil they can have the outer layers broken and water gets in and they pop up Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY - FU 78Dec 16, 2009 6:56 am Thank you Fu!!! 'A bottle of wine contains more philosophy than all the books in the world.' Louis Pasteur Vegie garden: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=27637&start=0 My Backyard Adventure Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY - FU 79Dec 21, 2009 9:28 am Can anyone advise - should I add the olsens bio green and the zeolite (if I can find some) BEFORE I add the new soil in or does it not really matter? I plan to get a garden fork to mix it the soils together anyway but just wondering if it would be better to put it on before adding the new soil. I figure if I am mixing it in from the top it probably doesn't really matter. I will at least go and get some gypsum today to spread over the current soil before the new soil is added tomorrow 'A bottle of wine contains more philosophy than all the books in the world.' Louis Pasteur Vegie garden: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=27637&start=0 My Backyard Adventure Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY - FU 80Dec 21, 2009 1:24 pm Ok I have 1x 25kg bag of gypsum, 2x 25kg bag of zeolite and 2x 3kg bag of olsens green bio! However they are all still in the car as they are bloody heavy and I can't be stuffed getting them out just yet! After speaking to a person about the zeolite, I've decided that I'm going to spread out the gypsum tonight or in the morning onto the existing soil before the new soil is added. Over the course of the next few days I will spread out the zeolite and olsens green bio and dig them through when I dig the soil into the. Oh and I also sprayed with powerfeed yesterday and will do so again sometime soon 'A bottle of wine contains more philosophy than all the books in the world.' Louis Pasteur Vegie garden: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=27637&start=0 My Backyard Adventure I'm about to put down some Merbau. Is it necessary to oil underneath the boards before laying? 0 1939 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 4337 Depends what you're current inclusions are, but we're not including wardrobes and will just use second hand ones until we can save later on to get them built. Also have a… 3 11650 |