Clay ground.....compost or topsoil???????

[New Image Lawn and Scapes]

I have a customer whos ground is pretty nasty. It is that clay sand like crap. What should I do to ammend it? It is about 10,000 sq. ft. How much will I need? Thanks in advance.

[PSUturf]

Is it soil around new construction? Can you feel grains of sand if you rub the soil between your fingers? If it really is a sandy clay there is a slight risk of plugging up what little pore space there is with organic matter. It's harder to say without a particle size analysis. I would go with a 2" layer of compost tilled into a depth of 6-8". Avoid working the soil when it is wet. That might be how it got to be so bad (rough grading was done when the soil was mud). Good luck. I have a similar job coming up that is only 900 sq ft. Customer wants us to replace 8" of soil. That's a lot of money.

[sheshovel]

I disagree..there is no risk adding compost to sandy clay..you won't fill any remaining pore space with it.All you will be doing is improving the soil structure.
I recommend at least twice that amount of compost or more.

[timturf]

Going to all that work, GET A SOIL TEST FIRST!!!

Don't add topsoil ontop of that concrete (clay sand mix)

Add the proper nutrients to correct soil chemistry, add well decomposted compost, 2-4 inches, till in well to depth of 6-8 inches.

1 yd will cover 108 sq ft at 3 inch depth.

It's the sand in the mix that is the real killer

[PlantSolutions]

Never add topsoil to anything. You never know where the soil has come from. It comes mainly from construction sites. Definitely use compost or something like mushroom soil which has a lot of nutrients in the soil.

[sheshovel]

Nobody said anything about adding topsoil that I read here... oops sorry it is in the title.

[timturf]

Never add topsoil to anything. You never know where the soil has come from. It comes mainly from construction sites. Definitely use compost or something like mushroom soil which has a lot of nutrients in the soil.

By definition, topsoil is the most outer soil, that's why it's call topsoil.

Topsoil on a beach along the water, proably all sand!

just because you buy topsoil, that doesn't mean it is good!