New roll out lawn advice - primarily irrigation installation questions.

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#1245229 23-Feb-2015 21:58

You use hummus (compost etc) when you also want to aid nutrients, in a lawn you want to control nutrients. You also want to avoid materials that will decay and slump. Pumice adds macropores but won't decay.

mentalinc

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#1245230 23-Feb-2015 22:00

Just saw the below which you might find interesting....
not sure what else it needs to make it work but seems like a fun gadget...

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/02/how-i-upgraded-my-gardens-ugly-drip-system-with-a-sexy-opensprinkler/

CPU: AMD 5900x | RAM: GSKILL Trident Z Neo RGB F4-3600C16D-32GTZNC-32-GB | MB: Asus X570-E | GFX: EVGA FTW3 Ultra RTX 3080Ti| Monitor: LG 27GL850-B 2560x1440

Quic: https://account.quic.nz/refer/473833 R473833EQKIBX

Niel

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#1245324 24-Feb-2015 07:17

insane: I contacted woolgrow about two weeks ago, no response thus far, bit disappointed.

Probably should have waited for them to commit to doing my lawn before killing it all with weedkiller... Luckily the Mrs never liked the lawn anyway.

Sadly, that is the norm. I've contacted them a few times about info and they only really responded when I was ready to buy. Their work is okay, but I'd suggest either DIY or get a contractor to install it. Not hard at all, just follow instructions on the web site. As for me, I'm not that good with hard labour and was in a hurry so I got them to do it.

You can never have enough Volvos!

keriboi

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#1245330 24-Feb-2015 07:39

To be honest if you just seed it in March in Auckland you will have little green shoots in a week and after 4 weeks should have pretty good cover. He has 60m2 lawn
Seeding at 50g/m2 he needs around 3kg seed @ $10 a kg. Add some starter fert and you have a lawn for under $100. It usually starts raining again in March so there shouldnt be too much need to irrigate it all the time.

Jeeves

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#1245412 24-Feb-2015 09:51

insane: I contacted woolgrow about two weeks ago, no response thus far, bit disappointed.

Probably should have waited for them to commit to doing my lawn before killing it all with weedkiller... Luckily the Mrs never liked the lawn anyway.

What were you contacting them about? For them to install for you or just to buy some of the stuff? We're prepping an area to sow with woolgro in the next month or two, but we'll just do it ourselves. Hoping that I can actually get some of the stuff though.

keriboi

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#1245428 24-Feb-2015 10:15

Here is some Ryegrass I seeded 6 days ago. It was scarified into some sprayed out kikuyu. Of note this has not been irrigated during the day and only received water at night. No significant rain either.

MikeAqua

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#1245434 24-Feb-2015 10:25

Hummus - a dip made from chick peas and Tahini - yummy
Humus - naturally decaying organic matter - not yummy

Neither to be to confused with Hamas - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkBGS_M1HVQ

Glassboy: You use hummus (compost etc) when you also want to aid nutrients, in a lawn you want to control nutrients. You also want to avoid materials that will decay and slump. Pumice adds macropores but won't decay.

Mike

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Hatch

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#1245435 24-Feb-2015 10:25

keriboi:

Here is some Ryegrass I seeded 6 days ago. It was scarified into some sprayed out kikuyu. Of note this has not been irrigated during the day and only received water at night. No significant rain either.

That looks good. At the moment the main issue for me is going to be prepping the soil. I don't want to spend the money on 100mm of sand so my compromise will be to incorporate pumice sand into some of the existing clay, perhaps at a ratio of 1:1. Will do this to a depth of say 150mm. Would this be ok Keri?

Will finish with a 20mm layer of topsoil and then turf. Hell if I get to this stage I could even consider sowing seed or going with woolgro mats as it appears results will be better.

keriboi

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#1245442 24-Feb-2015 10:42

Never really heard of amending pumice to clay but it can only add space for macropores I guess. Try mix in some gypsum.
I dont think 20mm of topsoil would be enough on clay. What ever you do dont work the clay when its wet and try not to compact it.

Glassboy

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#1245446 24-Feb-2015 10:53

MikeAqua: Hummus - a dip made from chick peas and Tahini - yummy
Humus - naturally decaying organic matter - not yummy

Neither to be to confused with Hamas - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkBGS_M1HVQ

Glassboy: You use hummus (compost etc) when you also want to aid nutrients, in a lawn you want to control nutrients. You also want to avoid materials that will decay and slump. Pumice adds macropores but won't decay.

Both are decaying plant material, and should not be eaten by pregnant women.

MikeAqua

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#1245449 24-Feb-2015 11:15

Hatch, I have similar stuff at my place: Thick clay with the added bonus of random lumps of rock further down - 'subdivision soil' we call it. We never dig we bore/pick/crowbar! I have roll-out lawn at the back of the house and hand sown lawn out the front. Both with clay underneath a shallow topsoil layer and both grow beautiful grass if I water/feed them. Grass is very hardy.

Have read of this advice on soil from Yates. http://www.yates.co.nz/gardening/tips/what-is-soil/

Because you are installing dripper lines, the coarser the soil, the more the water will head down, rather than across the soil profile and the closer spaced your dripper lines will have to be to ensure even watering. Your clay will act as a pan stopping the water escaping too far down, but grass roots aren't that deep, so you will need to be careful how deep you go when modifying the soil.

Best of luck.

Hatch:
The clay soil I spend hours digging up and breaking down was completely void of any life. It was like digging into partially set concrete. No worms or roots structures at all. I think that if you have a clay based soil which holds water really well than a more aerated upper level will encourage good root growth. I'll do some more research but I think adding pumice is a good idea in my case.

Mike

richms

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#1245455 24-Feb-2015 11:42

I looked at opensprinkler but ended up getting a couple of there controllers for $50US a piece - http://www.ebay.com/itm/IrrigationCaddy-S1-Refurbished-/231312073736?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35db462408- cheaper and ready to just work

Works fine but is 24VAC like most irrigation stuff so my existing 12v valves need swapping out till I can get everything running on it.

While the opensprinkler has more things I can mess around with on it, it has more things I can mess around with so is more likly to end up in a state of not working leading to plant deaths.

Richard rich.ms

Glassboy

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#1245569 24-Feb-2015 14:33

MikeAqua: Hatch, I have similar stuff at my place: Thick clay with the added bonus of random lumps of rock further down - 'subdivision soil' we call it. We never dig we bore/pick/crowbar! I have roll-out lawn at the back of the house and hand sown lawn out the front. Both with clay underneath a shallow topsoil layer and both grow beautiful grass if I water/feed them. Grass is very hardy.

Have read of this advice on soil from Yates. http://www.yates.co.nz/gardening/tips/what-is-soil/

Because you are installing dripper lines, the coarser the soil, the more the water will head down, rather than across the soil profile and the closer spaced your dripper lines will have to be to ensure even watering. Your clay will act as a pan stopping the water escaping too far down, but grass roots aren't that deep, so you will need to be careful how deep you go when modifying the soil.

Not all clay is a clay pan. A clay pan is a particular structure. You also do not want have no drainage down through the clay. In the event of torrential rain etc water has to go somewhere, the last thing you want is your lovely lawn washed off a hard subsurface.

MikeAqua

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#1245655 24-Feb-2015 15:35

Sorry - I was speaking figuratively, I wasn't specifically referring to a clay pan.

OP's clay is permeable to some extent since it dries like concrete. He will also have to break it up down to dripper depth to install the lines so there will be grades of hardness from the grass and top soil to the worked layer to the underlying clay, rather than an abrupt horizon.

Water runs off a flattish lawn well, or it ponds. Unless the lawn is very steep it would take a major event to scour dense grass off. You would need to have a stream of water flowing across your grass.

Whatever depth can be sensibly worked down too, there will be clay underneath it. There is a balance to be struck between how deeply the soil is worked/improved, how far water will creep up from the drippers and how far the roots will grow down.

Glassboy:
Not all clay is a clay pan. A clay pan is a particular structure. You also do not want have no drainage down through the clay. In the event of torrential rain etc water has to go somewhere, the last thing you want is your lovely lawn washed off a hard subsurface.

Mike

Hatch

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#1246070 25-Feb-2015 08:08

MikeAqua: Hatch, I have similar stuff at my place: Thick clay with the added bonus of random lumps of rock further down - 'subdivision soil' we call it. We never dig we bore/pick/crowbar! I have roll-out lawn at the back of the house and hand sown lawn out the front. Both with clay underneath a shallow topsoil layer and both grow beautiful grass if I water/feed them. Grass is very hardy.

Have read of this advice on soil from Yates. http://www.yates.co.nz/gardening/tips/what-is-soil/

Because you are installing dripper lines, the coarser the soil, the more the water will head down, rather than across the soil profile and the closer spaced your dripper lines will have to be to ensure even watering. Your clay will act as a pan stopping the water escaping too far down, but grass roots aren't that deep, so you will need to be careful how deep you go when modifying the soil.

Best of luck.

Thanks subdivision soil is exactly what have. I think my plan would be to lay the driplines say 5 inches down. I would prep my soil to a depth of 5 inches, meaning anything below that would just be plain unamended subdivision soil. from 5 inches to 1 inch below the turf I would have a mix of existing clay soil with a good percentage of pumice sand perhaps 30-40%. Top layer would be new topsoil. Turf goes on top. I want to something better than just laying new turf over compacted soil. Don't want to go as far as replacing completely the clay soil I currently have. Hopefully this will work as a decent compromise. Cheers

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