Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY and what has become many things turf 461Oct 29, 2010 8:10 pm Plate compactors and slopes; computer says no. I have a slope to my yard and it was a nightmare making the compactor go up, even across the slope it was ok but sliding a all over the place. It did a fine job on leveling the bumps but it's not a "quick lap" 1 hr plus for 100m2 before going back over to work on problem spots. I couldn't face hours of hard machine work after laying so I just got a roller to flatten the turf down. It works great on wet sod but the compactor did the hard yards getting the base sorted. So the moral to my story is if you have any slope the compacting time blows out dramatically. Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY and what has become many things turf 462Oct 29, 2010 9:38 pm You'll love the results though. Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY and what has become many things turf 463Oct 31, 2010 6:38 am I stumbled across this site which has some great non bias info about turf and buffalo grass especially. http://lawncareadvice.com.au Hope you don't mind Fu. I found it a great read especially the difference in varieties and the spin the growers put on them. Backs up a lot what Fu has been saying. Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY and what has become many things turf 464Oct 31, 2010 12:47 pm An interesting read from that site..... Not that I even considered synthetic grass. Quote: Disadvantages Of Synthetic Turf Expensive Requires regular vacuuming to clean Requires regular washing to clean Requires machinery to lift the pile of the leaf blades as they squash down over time A very hard surface, laid on crushed rock Decomposes and leaches chemicals and plastic residue into the environment No environmental benefits Advantages Of Real Lawn Cleans pollution from the air Converts carbon dioxide into oxygen Soft and inviting for play, relaxation. children and families Cools the home - reducing air-conditioning costs Clippings naturally fertilise and compost garden beds Significantly more environmental benefits than any detriment created by using the lawn mower once every few weeks. Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY and what has become many things turf 465Oct 31, 2010 10:09 pm Hi guys, I've been following Fu Manchu's advice on turf laying religiously and doing some soil prep. I have very clayey soil here in Sydney and used gypsum (80kgs for approx 250sqm..not sure if enough?) and my soil pH is around 8.4. After adding in the new soil, its still around 8 or high 7s. I have some sulfate of ammonia and my question is that should I apply this 2 weeks BEFORE I lay the turf? This way I can balance the pH first before the turf is laid? I also have alot of powerfeed and seasol I purchased and not sure if this should also be applied 2 WEEKS BEFORE turf is laid. Or should these products only be applied immediately before the turf is laid? Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY and what has become many things turf 466Nov 01, 2010 3:30 pm Fu Manchu Empress is much more vigorous and can be a handful in domestic applications. It really is a beautiful turf though, like Sir Walter and Palmetto and Empire Zoysia. These are all very good turfs. I prefer the Empire only because it takes less to do more. I would prefer seeing folks make choices based on what they take to look good when it counts. EZ just needs less than any of them. It goes a bit crap in the winter for the first few years (only if it gets really cold) but will always bounce back tougher year after year. If you care for it using more organic means then it will be super strong You be mowing Empress every week but the Zoysia is far slower growing. Hi Fu, Can you help? I was talking to my neighbour about EZ and he was concerned (after doing some reading) about its "aggressive underground rhizomes" invading his gardens next to the fence (where we're laying the turf) - is there anything we can do to prevent the invasion of rhizomes? Are they a problem with EZ? We are keen to maintain good relations with this neighbour.... so would consider changing to Palmetto to make things easier for him (he has poor mobility but is a keen gardener). Thanks Never argue with an idiot they drag you down to their level & then beat you with experience - Dilbert View Thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=19733 Contract signed 14Sept Slab 30Sept Bricks laid 1Dec Lock up 26Feb Keys 10Jun Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY and what has become many things turf 467Nov 01, 2010 7:44 pm xhilr8 Hi guys, I've been following Fu Manchu's advice on turf laying religiously and doing some soil prep. I have very clayey soil here in Sydney and used gypsum (80kgs for approx 250sqm..not sure if enough?) and my soil pH is around 8.4. After adding in the new soil, its still around 8 or high 7s. I have some sulfate of ammonia and my question is that should I apply this 2 weeks BEFORE I lay the turf? This way I can balance the pH first before the turf is laid? I also have alot of powerfeed and seasol I purchased and not sure if this should also be applied 2 WEEKS BEFORE turf is laid. Or should these products only be applied immediately before the turf is laid? You should not use it at all. It will harm the soils micro organisms and create a sick lawn that has poor root development and a good chance of falling over as soon as it gets hot. It will significantly increase your chances of having unfavourable fungal disease. I see it every week. The majority of the nitrogen will not be used by your lawn and instead leach into the environment and further contribute to suffering river and creek systems and their biodiversity. Don't fluff about with the pH. You will tie yourself up in knots for many years to come and burn a big hole in your wallet. The pH's we have here on the West coast make your look good. The very best and sustainable way to overcome unfavourable pH is to add more organic material. Organic material acts as a pH buffer and makes pH less and less relevant. If you research sulphur I don't think you'd be using much around the garden The advice many come across is older horticultural information and if you wish to go the way of chemical fertilisers as a means of maintaining your turf well yes pH is very relative and you step onto the merry-go-round of problems and it will do your head in. We are at a point now which is critical that we change how we choose to care and maintain domestic turf. I know a few commercial turf surfaces also going this way with stunning results As for the gypsum, it won't sow you any love for many years to come. In the mean time pump up the soils organic content and get into powerfeed It will do the job of gypsum much faster 10ltrs of Powerfeed will to what 1 tonne of Gypsum will achieve The power of liquid composts should never be under estimated Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY and what has become many things turf 468Nov 02, 2010 11:56 pm stonecutter1309 Fu - I know EZ is supposed to be very slow growing - we mowed last week, and only 1 week later we've had almost 1cm of growth! And the seed heads are back. Is it just the time of year and the growing cycle? I haven't given it any powerfeed, molasses, seasol or seamungus for about 5 weeks (yes, naughty I know!) - shouldn't be those products causing the growth. I missed this one It is very slow growing but in the right conditions will get going. You seem to have created a monster Just back off on the composts and liquid soil feeds. In fact I doubt you'll need to touch it more than one or two times with some molasses from now on and if you don't use a catcher on the mower then maybe not even that You are home and hosed The soil will be teaming with life and with rain means it will grow maybe a bit too fast for now. That will change and start to neglect it, which is where this stuff comes into its own. In autumn, maybe look at getting molasses and seamungus on and continue in the Sydney winter every month Then come spring, back off again Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY and what has become many things turf 469Nov 03, 2010 10:50 am Has anyone laid turf right up to a driveway? Im wondering how best to do this because the paved driveway has a concrete band around it which id probably only 3-5cm below the top of the pavers. Do we just put a very thin (2-3cm) layer of soil over this and lay the turf on top (I cant see how it would survive)? Surely this is a common problem? Thanks Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY and what has become many things turf 470Nov 03, 2010 10:52 pm Don't fluff about worrying, just lay the stuff and be done with it, it will be fine. So many think about how thick the turf is and how much soil there needs to be and how much below the edge does it need to be done. Well in the end just get it down, in years to come it will be higher than the drive anyway so it's cool Just get the soil down and mixed through with what you have, then add the soil amendments outlined in this thread and firm the soil and lay the turf and then firm again It will be fine Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY and what has become many things turf 471Nov 04, 2010 11:09 am Fu Manchu Don't fluff about worrying, just lay the stuff and be done with it, it will be fine. So many think about how thick the turf is and how much soil there needs to be and how much below the edge does it need to be done. Well in the end just get it down, in years to come it will be higher than the drive anyway so it's cool Just get the soil down and mixed through with what you have, then add the soil amendments outlined in this thread and firm the soil and lay the turf and then firm again It will be fine Thanks Fu, thats good to hear. Have just finished installing the agpipe for downpipe drainage. I have already spread 5m3 of the compost from gardeners direct around and purchased 4 bags of Zeolite, 4 bags of Spongolite, 4 bags of Kitty Litter (Attapulgite Clay), a large tub of seamungus crumble and casks of seasol and powerfeed concentrate (just need to find molasses now). I have a cultivator hired for Saturday to mix it all. I will then use my metal rake and soil spreader to level the soil. Next I will be installing the retic (Hunter XC controller, netfim techline dripline, Hunter MP rotators). Then I will get 5m3 of mulch from mulchnet for the garden beds. Then I will hire a compactor to firm up the soil, get my 140m2 of EZ, lay and recompact. Sound good? Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY and what has become many things turf 472Nov 05, 2010 10:41 am For those in WA, I just got all my stuff from Little Loads in High Wycombe. 4m3 Premium Fine Compost (Cert organic i believe) Zeolite and Spongolite You can even hire compactors and rotary hoes.....Brilliant! Not affiliated with them, just a local who has used them a fair bit. http://www.littleloads.com.au/ Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY and what has become many things turf 473Nov 05, 2010 5:16 pm gobrien182 Fu Manchu Don't fluff about worrying, just lay the stuff and be done with it, it will be fine. So many think about how thick the turf is and how much soil there needs to be and how much below the edge does it need to be done. Well in the end just get it down, in years to come it will be higher than the drive anyway so it's cool Just get the soil down and mixed through with what you have, then add the soil amendments outlined in this thread and firm the soil and lay the turf and then firm again It will be fine Thanks Fu, thats good to hear. Have just finished installing the agpipe for downpipe drainage. I have already spread 5m3 of the compost from gardeners direct around and purchased 4 bags of Zeolite, 4 bags of Spongolite, 4 bags of Kitty Litter (Attapulgite Clay), a large tub of seamungus crumble and casks of seasol and powerfeed concentrate (just need to find molasses now). I have a cultivator hired for Saturday to mix it all. I will then use my metal rake and soil spreader to level the soil. Next I will be installing the retic (Hunter XC controller, netfim techline dripline, Hunter MP rotators). Then I will get 5m3 of mulch from mulchnet for the garden beds. Then I will hire a compactor to firm up the soil, get my 140m2 of EZ, lay and re compact. Sound good? If that techline is going under turf make sure you have the right things in place to prevent contamination of your drinking water or the ground water from pesticides and chemical fertilisers. You will also need to re learn ways of caring for the turf because water won't be coming from the surface but under the roots so fertilisers won't be very effective in many cases as moisture must be the carrier of the nutrients. Luckily if you have a search on both topics I have the answers in here Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY and what has become many things turf 474Nov 08, 2010 11:22 am Fu Manchu linelefty, I sometimes use their Premium compost. That is lovely stuff. Go with that, it won't bother natives, I can vouch for that This had better work Fu. Just spent two long hard days of soil prep for 100m2. Added 4m3 of cert org compost, zeolite, spongolite and olsens. The whole lot then had to be tilled. Due to my leach drains I wasn't willing to use an rotary hoe so I did it with a "manual linear hoe". Then spent the rest of the afternoon compacting and then screeding. But seriously, you could lay ceramic tiles on that surface! I have now officially spent more on soil prep and irrigation that I will on the EZ. Does that sound reasonable?!!? Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY and what has become many things turf 475Nov 08, 2010 11:53 am Re soil prep, can anyone provide any advice about rotary hoes. It seems that I can only hire ones that will dig to a depth of 175mm. This doesn't seem deep enough. Are there any other options? Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY and what has become many things turf 476Nov 08, 2010 11:58 am You'll find some of the big 8hp ones will do 300mm. Pretty tough going though. But yeah I understand your confusion, Fu advises 300-400mm but your local hire joint wont have a cultivator that can do that (mine didnt) Go the shovel! Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY and what has become many things turf 477Nov 08, 2010 1:45 pm bclare Re soil prep, can anyone provide any advice about rotary hoes. It seems that I can only hire ones that will dig to a depth of 175mm. This doesn't seem deep enough. Are there any other options? Do several passes over the same area to dig it deeper than the 175mm. Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY and what has become many things turf 478Nov 08, 2010 7:47 pm bclare Re soil prep, can anyone provide any advice about rotary hoes. It seems that I can only hire ones that will dig to a depth of 175mm. This doesn't seem deep enough. Are there any other options? FYI, I have raised a thread here. viewtopic.php?f=19&t=38007 Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY and what has become many things turf 479Nov 09, 2010 12:49 am linelefty Fu Manchu linelefty, I sometimes use their Premium compost. That is lovely stuff. Go with that, it won't bother natives, I can vouch for that This had better work Fu. Just spent two long hard days of soil prep for 100m2. Added 4m3 of cert org compost, zeolite, spongolite and olsens. The whole lot then had to be tilled. Due to my leach drains I wasn't willing to use an rotary hoe so I did it with a "manual linear hoe". Then spent the rest of the afternoon compacting and then screeding. But seriously, you could lay ceramic tiles on that surface! I have now officially spent more on soil prep and irrigation that I will on the EZ. Does that sound reasonable?!!? There is a little saying, "Always spend the money on the soil and never the plant" You will be glad you did it in 4 years when your mates and neighbours are wondering why they have issues and you don't as much I mean it won't be perfect from time to time but it's going to pants what everyone else is experiencing Lots of seamungus green over the turf once layed or seamungus blue before laying and molasses and seasol once it is down. Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY and what has become many things turf 480Nov 09, 2010 12:51 am Oh and as for 300-400 deep soil prep, if you have the access, a bobcat, dingo or kanga will make light work of that with a ripper on the back I'm about to put down some Merbau. Is it necessary to oil underneath the boards before laying? 0 1938 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 4329 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 11647 |