Proper Topdress material used??

[docj78]

I had my yard topdressed by a local company on Tuesday this week. I'm a little dismayed by the type of material he used.

For the first load, he used a compost "mix", but there are A LOT of twigs and sticks, and even more small pieces of bark--almost like mulch:confused:

The second load was simply white sand, which seems to be the material of choice for some people--not too concerned about that.

I'm a little confused b/c the larger twigs/sticks (3-6" long) are not going to break down any time soon, will be hell on my mower, and won't fill in the low spots over time as well as finely grated/sifted material. Same concern with the chunks/pieces of mulch/bark.

I'm wondering if he used the cheapest stuff available, or at least used stuff that was less than optimal...Any feedback would be great.

[Kiril]

Personally, I would have skipped the sand and just use compost. That said, from what it sounds like the compost was not properly finished. No one in their right mind would attempt to fix grade problems with compost or pure sand. Post a pic.

[docj78]

Kiril--The lawn wasn't neceessarily graded wrong. It was just really lumpy/rutty from the sod installation a few years back.
Again, i have read that a lot of folks use some type of sand and/or sand/loam/compost mix.

My main question was regarding the larger sticks/twigs, mulch type material used b/c it will be a long time before that stuff "sifts" and settles into the low spots.

[Kiril]

Kiril--The lawn wasn't neceessarily graded wrong. It was just really lumpy/rutty from the sod installation a few years back.
Again, i have read that a lot of folks use some type of sand and/or sand/loam/compost mix.

My main question was regarding the larger sticks/twigs, mulch type material used b/c it will be a long time before that stuff "sifts" and settles into the low spots.

Can't really comment on the compost unless I see a set of test results or at least a picture of it.