Compost Topdress, mixed with sand or straight

[DeepGreenLawn]

I was wandering, I was out pricing for compost at a local landscape supplier, they had something called Erthfood or something like that, It was about $20/30lb bag I believe. It wasn't cheap. They also sold it in bulk, which they were out of, and they sold it as a "topdress" with sand mixed in.

When you do a compost topdress do you use straight compost or do you use the compost/sand mixture? I blieve that the mixture is used for leveling your yard.

Does anyone here do that much (topdressing with sand)? I have had customer after customer ask if I performed that service but I have always been told you need a certain machine to do that to get it level in all the spots. That is something I have never done and never been around but I like the idea of being able to offer it, especially with all the inquiries that I have recieved.

Thanks,

[mbucuk]

We use a leaf compost/sand mix for topdressing. Its about 85% compost/15% sand and screened to 1/2". The mix spreads much better than the straight leaf compost, especially if the moisture content is too high which is generally the case with the material from our local suppliers.

As far as the process: First we core aerate the lawn, then we use a topdresser to spread the material. Once the material is spread we generally have to go through with a drag mat and rakes to work it into the lawn.

The process has been working pretty well. This is my first season in business, and we aerated and topdressed about 64,000sf of lawn this spring. I've been charging out core aeration with topdressing and overseeding at $100/1,000sf this season, but I think that will probably increase in the future.

[mbucuk]

Oh yeah, around here straight leaf compost is around $21/yd and the compost/sand mix is $22-25/yd

[DeepGreenLawn]

what kind of topdresser do you use?

[mbucuk]

turfco self propelled. I think they call it a mete-r-matic. You can find them used from golf courses, they use them to topdress the greens with sand.

Mike

[DeepGreenLawn]

awesome, there are plenty of golfcourses around here.

[fastcat]

is it ok to use mushroom compost to top dress fescue.

[DeepGreenLawn]

I asked about this before and if I remember correctly the problem with mushroom compost is that it is pretty nuetral, not much good or bad stuff inside.

[treegal1]

we live in florida, the sand capitol of the world, even our worm casts have sand in them. wake up take a shower and you will still have sand on you some how. its like the orange color from your soil, it never ever goes away!!


and sand and rock dust are very much needed in a health soil, compost alone is not the only way or the best way in my opinion. there needs to be a diverse mix of compost feed stocks along with minerals and other soil building stuff. whats the soil test say that you need??????????

[fastcat]

i thought that mushroom compost had a lot of nutrients in it.

[DeepGreenLawn]

OH COME ON! why do you have to go and complicate things? That's what I hate about this stuff, you think you got it and then someone makes a post and your back to not nowing s#@&!

"compost alone is not the only way or the best way in my opinion."

What are you talking about? Compost is suppose to be the miracle solution, it will fix anything. Soil test? Who needs a soil test? BLAH! (by the way, your just talking about a basic, NPK, soil type test right?) I don't need any soil tests! (the kind I can go get at the local extension office?) That is just a waste of time and money! (I have already sent off two or three, just trying to figure out the best way to approach when and how to do it, how to charge the customer. Still havent got this part down, I take it this is what you should do first thing so you know what needs to be done?) I think those are just a scam!

- I'm just kidding, you just help to put me in my place when I start thinking I know something. I think the soil test is the miracle process that explains what you need to do to get the perfect healthy lawn going, or at least it points you in the right direction.

Fatscat, I don't think so if I remember right, but... others here will correct me if I am wrong. I don't think there is much in mushrooms to begin with...

[treegal1]

compost is like.......... beer that will work beer.

some beers are just mill water, spunky, flat, old, not what you want to drink!!!!!!!! then there a fine pale ale, or lager, some thing made with the finest ingredients, not an accident, careful planned, well cared for, top shelf brew that your old man would be proud to have a pint with ya!!! it is not cheap, an some times you have a taste that you can not get out of the bottle. so you brew your own beer, honey wheat, cherry malt, dark pilsner. then you can make what you want how you want it to taste, and save some cash in the process

[DeepGreenLawn]

So, compost is the correct "miracle product" as long as it's the right one. I know there is good stuff and trash, just like everything else.

Am I wrong in mushroom compost being on the more trash side of things due to the lack of nutrients, etc.?

[treegal1]

we love trash, don't talk bad about trash. there is less N in the mushroom compost, so for fruit production its ideal, or if that's what your soil needs, based on the tests, soil and compost tests!!!!!!!!!!

[DeepGreenLawn]

compost tests? that is what the supplier is suppose to have for you, unless you do your own. I bet that test is a little pricey.

[ICT Bill]

$90 or less, not bad for a big pile of compost

Mushroom compost can be a lot of things you have make sure you know what you are buying. It can very high in salt, the medium is normally sterilized before use so it is not biologically diverse like other compost. It can be an okay filler for other uses just make sure you know what you are buying

Compost RULES

[DeepGreenLawn]

no, but it better be a BIG pile to be cost effective, I don't see any piles like that happening any time soon.

[treegal1]

75$ dollars is what we pay for an out side test, that usually covers about 50 yards of compost that we make, no test it does not go into the Field. the stuff we make could go for as high as 150$ a yard. the tests we got on our special blends are out of this world.

[ICT Bill]

TG I have got to introduce you to a friend in milwaulkee he makes the most kick butt compost I have every seen, the soil food web tests are off the charts. he has some witchery that he does to REALLY kick it up. He walks the walk and believes in sustainable, excellent (but eccentric) guy

I believe he will be coming down with us around the 19th of June, you will love his input. It is so simple it's simple

[treegal1]

we welcome all, please feel free to come on down!

we will have fish if you like.

[ICT Bill]

In the pond or on the plate

Both are excellent

[fastcat]

were can i get it and what should i get to top dress my yard with. i live in monroe nc. part of my yard is hard clay, and the other half has decent soil and the grass looks great i just need to get the hard clay side in better condition.

[treegal1]

on the plate, only out of the water long enough to cook.

[DeepGreenLawn]

if your talking about compost your local landscape suppliers usually have their own form of it. Just want to do some research and see what kind of shape it is in, what it is derived of, where it came from, how long it has been composted, and make sure it doesn't stink, when it stops stinking you know it's good to go.

[ICT Bill]

I learned this trick from Paul Tukey and love to play it on non believers

It is played when someone says that their yard is as hard as a rock and it is difficult at best to grow grass

I tell them to take some decent compost and pick a place in your yard that you can ignore for 4 or 5 months, put down 4 to 5 inches of compost in an area 2 feet by 2 feet. Before you start try to get a shovel into the ground, 4 to 5 months later come back and see how far your shovel goes into the ground.

I have played it on many and have only gotten a few responses and it is always the same. "I didn't believe you, the shovel goes 5 or 6 inches into the soil with no problem"

Now if you had put down an inch or even a half inch every fall with compost teas you will have the most wonderfully spongey turf, its like walking on a heavily padded carpet

[cgaengineer]

I learned this trick from Paul Tukey and love to play it on non believers

It is played when someone says that their yard is as hard as a rock and it is difficult at best to grow grass

I tell them to take some decent compost and pick a place in your yard that you can ignore for 4 or 5 months, put down 4 to 5 inches of compost in an area 2 feet by 2 feet. Before you start try to get a shovel into the ground, 4 to 5 months later come back and see how far your shovel goes into the ground.

I have played it on many and have only gotten a few responses and it is always the same. "I didn't believe you, the shovel goes 5 or 6 inches into the soil with no problem"

Now if you had put down an inch or even a half inch every fall with compost teas you will have the most wonderfully spongey turf, its like walking on a heavily padded carpet

I am working on my compost pile as quickly as I can, this was my exact intentions for my compost. Hopefully the shovel trick will work for me because right now only a jackhammer can break my lawn. Of course I wont be putting down 5 inches on top of my lawn.

[DeepGreenLawn]

i might try that just to see it work first hand, and sell my partner to organics completely. He has to see it to believe it. Then maybe we can drop our traditional customers all together. Or convert them to organics and just take a hit on the price, we shouldn't be loosing to much, I don't know, there are only like 15 of them I think, enough to be a nuisance.

[treegal1]

if you make it your self from waste it should be an income source and a waste cost reduction, we just got paid to take some year old horse manure, this stuff was full of earth worms, and smelled so sweet, like black gold.

the chems are not free, the loss will be made up by the fact that you saved money on the chems.

show you partner the soil/ compost trick, we where shown that by Todd Harrington, helped convert us, tea will do the same after time. lots of tea!!!!!!

[Smallaxe]

Here, a full size pickup load is less than $50 for the leaf compost. Even cheaper for the manure.

A regular application of decent compost can easily replace chem apps. in a quick change appearance of the lawn. Has lasting effects in the soil and holding capacity for nutrient and water.

If I can get distribution over the lawn process to be quick and easy I may just do the compost monthly and let the winterizing happen naturally. Springtime compost would actually help the roots grow in all directions, rather than a springtime syn.fert. that encourages 'surface root growth', only.