I am going to be laying 1800sqft of sod next week, and am bringing in 3" of soil for ground prep. Do I need to till in the "Sod Soil" in, or should I just spread it out, level, and lay the sod? The soil is pretty good for Tucson Arizona, and I was thinking that tilling the new soil could be just a waste of time. I am new to laying sod, and on the first job I did, for a friend, we just spread out 2" of manure and layed the sod. The sod looks great a year later, so is tilling a waste of time?
Have fun I just go done with 5200 SF last week and I have another 10k SF next week Im not sure if it is a waist of time I have tilled in the past and had good results and I have been pinched for time and not tilled and had decent results as well I guess It depends on your base soil In Florida we have crap soil but St Augustine grass seems to grow either way. One thing I did either way was to add a bunch of worms (about a pound per 100SF) before I placed the sod down and it seems to help a bunch. You can get a bunch of live worms at fishing supply store
.The amount of prep work is a case by case situation. Certainly the more good soil you have the better sod will do with a proper watering and fertilizing program.On some properties with patchy/sparse grass areas and decent s oil I have just aerated and layed sod. Next month I will be Killing off, Harley Raking about 8K SQR FT because of a mix of clay soil and weeds then applying sod. Prep work is a great source of extra money when called for. It is up to us to explain to the customer the pro's and cons of each as it pertains to their specific property and budget.
I Would lightly till and add soil...compost topsoil if you can get it...or screened with adding compost on yur own......dont till to deep tho because the ground will get very soft on you fast... Chuck
Wow, this thread sure does illustrate the differences from one part of the country to another! Around here, the bidding on laying sod has become so cut-throat that no one even tries to do a good job of prep, or even bother instructing the immigrant workers in the normal accepted sod laying practices. The result is just junk, crap, rough lawns that are difficult to mow well, even in high end neighborhoods. All the result of ignorant homebuyers--that don't know enough about the product they are looking at, to ask for a quality product instead of looking only at the price.
Thanks for the info. I have learned so much on this site, and appreciate the help. What do you use to cut the sod? I have been using a utility knife and it works pretty well, but was wondering if there is something better. I thought about using Corona clippers, but thought the dirt would mess them up.
