Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design Re: Brisbane returf project 21Jun 13, 2013 7:53 pm FU you converted to coco! Update. I started my first feed since last Saturday of laying the turf down. Today the rain cleared so i did the following. 1) I "inncoluated" the soil with the myco defence. I forgot to put it into the soil when laying and this would have been much better but i top dressed sprinkled it. The dude from Myco said its ok but water it in good. 2) I molassased/seasole/powerfeed today too. Now for you cosmopolitan CBD boys (me) the seasole and powerfeed is some stinky stuff. Ie your neighbors, wife, girlfriend will complain it smells like a fishery. However here comes the molassas. Its very stong in smell like the powerfeed but plesent. Sort of like the brewery when they are hopping, sweet, very sweet smelling. The good thing is if you go all 3 in one mix all it smells like is molassas. The stuff i got from farmcraft is a little liquid and mixed quite well with water. I mixed about 2-3L of water to 2/3 of molassas on the bottom. About 90ml P/F and about 90 Seasol. I then fed that into my horto spray mixer (http://www.hardwareworld.com/files/pi/l1/W/38H2.jpg get it at ugly green shed $20) setting 10 and hit the grass. The after smell is rather sweet and not unplesent. 2/3 molassas in 2-3L makes a fairly liquid mix and will draw though the sprayer. I dont have one of those hose connector power packs but you chould use that too. over 70sqm i had to fill up 5 odd times and used a fair bit of water. Next time i will make 1L water mix and hit it and then free water in from the hose. In all it was a long process maybe hour or bit. But now i know some bacteria growth is happening im happy. I will update photos on a month to month basis but i feel almost compelled to roll it. Thanks for everyone's help and if anyone wants to come by and have a look/chat (bring merlot) im at 3 Telopia Ave Wavell Heights. Please dont park out front and perv. We have children and my wife will come out with a fry pan. Come knock at the our door. Re: Brisbane returf project 24Jun 13, 2013 9:44 pm I didnt want to use powder as i was scared of getting some leprous bacteria lung infection so i got the granules. It was $80/1kg delivered but i kept it in the fridge until i wanted to use it. I still used a face mask thou!!. Nic who you should call (at myco) suggested 500gm to 1kg for my area. I think you have to remember that some myco comes from the seasol and powerfeed and seamungus. Keep in mind i didnt use bactivate. So i recon you could get away with 500gm for my area. Re: Brisbane returf project 25Sep 10, 2013 3:45 pm Bit of an update. Its been a solid winter when the turf guys said its ok to lay it during this cold period. I managed to keep it stable and grow ever slowly during winter i believe if i can do this then only benefits will come in the spring and summer. I followed the weekly seasol/powerfeed/ molasses routine. I always just free measured it in the dispenser, but it was about 1-2 cups of the molasses maybe ¼ to ½ cup of the liquid. I mixed it with water sometimes and sometimes with wormtec compost tee. Nothing too regimented. After a month or two i did find the gaps between slabs showed very slow cover and i used left over compost soil and filled in the big gaps. About 1-1.5 month ago hit it with sand even though i was not suppose to as it looked really uneven and I had to do something. Even now its still far from level but its getting there. http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/837/lf1g.jpg this is with the sand just spread out and levelled a bit before watering in. Nothing fancy like a levelling board just a plastic rake and did it by eye knowing that I would have to do it again 2-3 times still anyway. http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/42/ijwq.jpg This is after watering in the sand as you can see it went to all the lows and all the green parts are obviously high. It looked impressive to see it so level. I was hesitant to see some of it buried but I knew it would come back. I have not mowed since laying it down but did run my flymo cylinder hand mower around which didn’t do much 2 odd times but nothing from going edge to edge like a proper full mow. Took it off tips here and there. Nothing to write home about or take pictures of. Just tried to hit the taller stuff and keep promoting it to fill in the lows. 1 month ago i hit it with alfalfa pellets and ¼ strength of eco88 as i read some good info out of the USA with the soil getting fats and protein to feed the microbes. I don’t know if its the warmer weather but i think the alfalfa has really sparked the growth. I used about 1/2 a laundry buckets worth over 60sqm. Eco88 is stinky stuff and I used about ¼ icecream containers worth I think I did some seamungus few week prior to the alfalfa. The alfalfa is interesting stuff that's for sure. Its hard and when you wet it you come back next day and it puffed up and then when you water it it falls apart into the soil in power form. Noticed the bird liked it a bit but nothing like major bird attack or anything. Of note on every water session a am noting very little water run off and if i hold the water in one spot for 10 seconds and then stop, all the water will go into the soil almost immediately. Good draining soil. http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/32/pcse.jpg this is how it looks as of a week or two. It has grown more quite rapidly but not vertical just filling in the gaps more horizontally. It is struggling around the back along the fence line a bit but still green leaves are present. Ive asked a horticulutural friend where to go from here on the organic line. I have been suggested nitrophoska blue which is a good NPK and TE compound fertiliser. He did mention that these are synthetic thou. Scott lawn builder is another one mentioned. In the organic hes suggested blood and bone or dynamic lifter but are lower in N + K and will need more dosing. I have been told to look into nutritechs solutions azobacter to kick along the legumes ive added to fix atmospheric nitrogen pulling it into the soil. Whats a suggestion for now to december and in the summer period. One thing I haven’t found on this site is a maintain schedule for once the turf gets established. Ive had no brown out in winter and it just held its own over that period but did grow very very very slowly. It wants more top dress and once its filled in more in the next month im going to screed board it again with a quality organic fine top soil instead of sand. Anyway thanks everyone for you help. I will keep updating this over the year end and into summer if anyone is interested. Re: Brisbane returf project 26Sep 21, 2013 1:23 pm Ha, glad I finally found your thread. Have been reading up on Fu's method for weeks and trying very hard to source everything here. You must be just around the corner from me as we share the same post code. Will give Farmcraft Acacia Ridge a call on Monday, hoping to stock up on Zeolite and Perlite, definitely some good prices there. I assume you also gave up looking for spongolite or Richgro Aquatic plant mix and replaced with Perlite instead? Seems impossible to get over here. Still toying up if I hire someone in to do the prep work, although most people with a Kanga or Dingo don't seem to have a rotary hoe attachment, only a ripper. Will this be sufficient to get everything mixed in nicely? My main issue is levelling i think, don't think I'd have trouble using the rotary hoe, just getting everything nice and flat afterwards might cause me a headache. As for the turf laying itself, is it really that much work? I've got about 150sqm to cover so quite a bit. Is that doable all by myself in a day? Oh, and I'm planning to put in a pop up sprinkler system at the same time, MP Rotators, the design is done and all bits I need are safely stored in an online shopping basket, but haven't pulled the trigger yet. As for that coco stuff, is that basically a substitute for certified organic soil or did I not get that right? We have an existing couch lawn which I have now glypho'ed away, the ground underneath looks pretty much like yours did. Welcome any feedback from anyone, and thanks for starting this thread, Hpqld, good to know I'm not the only Queenslander taking on a 'WA Project'. Re: Brisbane returf project 27Oct 17, 2013 8:43 pm I assume you also gave up looking for spongolite or Richgro Aquatic plant mix and replaced with Perlite instead? Seems impossible to get over here. I didnt look for the other 2 products. I didnt read that it was required Still toying up if I hire someone in to do the prep work, although most people with a Kanga or Dingo don't seem to have a rotary hoe attachment, only a ripper. I ended up buying a 4 stroke victa. Its a beater but it works. If you want you can borrow it Will this be sufficient to get everything mixed in nicely? Depends on your soil. Im experimenting again and doing all the organics and then leaving it to heat up and get settled. My gripe last time is the soil is just too soft and i have alot of grading to do over the next year My main issue is levelling i think, don't think I'd have trouble using the rotary hoe, just getting everything nice and flat afterwards might cause me a headache. Compactor works well, but you really shouldnt walk on it once done as i had that problem. Doing is 150 by yourself is not a one day job. I had 3 guys helping me and i did 70sqm. One on compactor One bringing the slabs and another laying and cutting. Each slab gets surprisingly heavy once you have brought in 50 odd As for that coco stuff, is that basically a substitute for certified organic soil or did I not get that right? No, i used compost too at the rate indicated. But i also added cocopeat as there was some good research around using it as a soil amendment. Some suggested using it as a sole amendment but i wasnt game to try + its a bit of a pain hydrating it if you had to add 80-100mm of it. Thats alot of blocks. On another note im having a slight issue along the retaining wall line. I have followed the seasol, powerfeed, molasses program and 95% of the turf is growing really well. But its starting to die off along the wall. It first thinned out and it was getting water like everywhere else. Do i have a fungal issue? Grub? Its only doing it along the fence line. The back fill along this edge was more sharp type sand but my amendment proportions where still the same as else where. 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