# Sand Top Dressing after Aeration



## Art James (Jun 18, 2019)

I'm going to core aerate for the first time ever on my hybrid Bermuda lawn. Also planning on leveling at least 2x this year. My question is, should I sand level after the core aeration? Will filling the holes with sand just re-compact the lawn? If not, what benefits will I get from top dressing with sand after aeration? I'm looking to aerate within the next 3 weeks and just coming up with a game plan. Located in San Antonio Tx. Lawn is waking up pretty well. Haven't pushed it yet with fertilizer since I was planning on an early leveling. Also plan on dropping some carbonpro-g, and sulfur after the aeration. So it's gets deeper into the soil quicker.


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## SCGrassMan (Dec 17, 2017)

Keep it below 1 ton per 1K square feet sand. If you can't get proper golf course leveling sand, make sure its masonry sand and not playground sand. It will not re-compact, no. There are a lot of fancy tools out there, but honestly, for me a push broom has been my most effective tool for leveling, along with a proper landscaping rake - thats the aluminum one thats like 3 feet wide and flat on one side, with metal teeth on the other side. Then water the crap out of it. Not just with irrigation - like water it in there with a hose.


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## jayhawk (Apr 18, 2017)

Why not, if leveling is in el plan?

Running common residential aerator ...and sand will help dethatching (Tickling the top 2-3 inch). I now question aeration (warm season grass) ROI as a res practice, personally.


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## Art James (Jun 18, 2019)

Good info. Would there be any reasons to wait till the holes closed up prior to sand leveling. I think I once read that if you too dress with sand after aeration then it helps with water drainage but I'm not certain. I guess I'm trying to weigh the pros and cons of sand top dressing after aeration vs waiting till waiting till the holes close up.


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## SCGrassMan (Dec 17, 2017)

One of the things I heard about leaving the holes open is it lets more nutrients and bacteria in that break down stuff. Honestly what I might do next time I do mine is peat moss or some kind of organic material. Course sand will drain really well.


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## Art James (Jun 18, 2019)

Yeah, I will definitely be taking advantage after the core aeration. Will be dropping sulfur for my ph correction as well as carbonpro-g. I have some Next products so those will be sprayed as well. All with the intention of getting them down deep into the soil prior to leveling.


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## Jeremy3292 (Apr 30, 2020)

There is no reason to use sand after core aeration. If you fill the holes with sand you just defeated the purpose of aeration which is to let the soil/roots breathe and to relieve soil compaction. Golf courses add sand to greens after aeration bc of playability reasons and bc the greens base soil is sand (for drainage reasons). Also if you noted (good) golf courses don't add sand to the greens immediately after aeration - they wait a bit.


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## MasterMech (Sep 24, 2017)

You'll get even more benefit too dressing post-aeration than just the leveling would provide. Rent the heaviest aerator you can find, pull cores as deep as you can. I'd go two passes, if you can approximate a 2.5 x 2.5" pattern (most aerators produce a 5x5 for one pass) that's awesome. The sand will fill in the holes and help provide a semi-permanent channel for all the goods to reach the root zone.


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## Art James (Jun 18, 2019)

Seems there are different schools of thought on top dressing after core aeration which is why I posed this question. Maybe a good compromise for me would be to wait a few days after aeration before top dressing. That would give time to get air and water into the root zone and still give me some kind of channel after top dressing.


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## Tmank87 (Feb 13, 2019)

Jeremy3292 said:


> There is no reason to use sand after core aeration. If you fill the holes with sand you just defeated the purpose of aeration which is to let the soil/roots breathe and to relieve soil compaction. Golf courses add sand to greens after aeration bc of playability reasons and bc the greens base soil is sand (for drainage reasons). Also if you noted (good) golf courses don't add sand to the greens immediately after aeration - they wait a bit.


What about if you're trying to fix the fact that your soil doesn't drain particularly well? I think filling the holes with sand would be beneficial in that regard.


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## Jeremy3292 (Apr 30, 2020)

Tmank87 said:


> Jeremy3292 said:
> 
> 
> > There is no reason to use sand after core aeration. If you fill the holes with sand you just defeated the purpose of aeration which is to let the soil/roots breathe and to relieve soil compaction. Golf courses add sand to greens after aeration bc of playability reasons and bc the greens base soil is sand (for drainage reasons). Also if you noted (good) golf courses don't add sand to the greens immediately after aeration - they wait a bit.
> ...


I'm assuming we are talking about native clay soil which is prevalent in the south/warm season grasses. When you add a bunch of sand into native clay soil, you are not really changing the composition of the soil. The base clay soil is still the base clay soil; you didn't materially change anything. You are actually probably creating a worse "brick" type soil (clay + sand). 
If we just think about in theory, the water would drain through your tiny 4-5" sanded aeration holes and then what happens? It would just puddle once it hits the native clay soil which is still everywhere, right?

But that is why you aerate annually - to relieve the compaction and let the roots breathe. It is especially important in native clay soil as it does not drain well like we've said.

The reason golf courses do things differently is because they are built on a sand base when constructed bc they inherently need to drain well and then they also have drainage systems underground. If you have a bad drainage problem then you would need to construct a french drain or something else. Filling aeration holes with sand does nothing IMO.

Happy to hear other points of view!


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## SCGrassMan (Dec 17, 2017)

This just in, aeration and topdressing with sand doesn't change the soil composition! LOL


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## jbow03 (Sep 19, 2019)

@Art James Here in Houston I for sure aerate twice a year, especially since my home is only 2 years old and I'm trying to remediate the carnage that's left after a builder leaves the lot. Hopefully, I can get that down to once per year in the future.

When I aerate in the spring (last weekend in fact) I do a very light top-dress with leaf mold compost just to get some good organics down into the soil early on. 



Then, once the real growth is pushing in the summer heat I'll aerate and top-dress with sand. I also throw down some fert right before sand and then water steady and the recovery is amazing. The picture below was too much, too soon in the year in my opinion. It took far too long to recover, because it hadn't built enough growth "momentum" 


I learned from experience that while the Bermuda will definitely recover from an early spring sand leveling, it takes much longer than when it's in prime growing conditions in the summer. I woke up yesterday to 40 degrees and while the yard is green and looks good, it's barely stretched it's legs for the season!

As far as aeration, I agree with some of the previous comments. Get a good, heavy machine from the rental house. Make a double pass (you'll run out of energy before you can do too much damage to your yard, those things are punishers to the lower back). Then, do your top-dress of choice.

Here's a link for the product I use from a local yard for my organic treatment in the spring, there may be something similar available near you - https://thegroundup.com/leafmoldcompost

Good luck!


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## Tmank87 (Feb 13, 2019)

SCGrassMan said:


> This just in, aeration and topdressing with sand doesn't change the soil composition! LOL


Definitely bent my brain trying to figure out how it _couldn't_, but I guess I don't _really know_. Filling 3'' deep holes with sand every few inches would have to change the composition, I'd think.

Also, what is the average root depth of a lot of these residential lawns? A few inches max?


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## HungrySoutherner (May 29, 2018)

In my opinion the answer to your question depends on what it is you really want to accomplish with your lawn. If you haven't leveled or done anything other than lay sod you have a golden opportunity now while you are closest to the clay underneath. I'm sure @Greendoc can chime in and prove me wrong but when it was my lawn I would get the longest tine core aerator you can find and beat the turf to death with as many holes as you can, as deep as you can go. Remove those cores and as quick as possible top dress with sand to fill and level the turf. Getting as much of the clay out of the root zone is going to really help with drainage and bermuda health overall. The goal for me would be to build up a sand cap on the turf, in this case you have the advantage of being close enough to the clay to get some out and replace it with sand to open it up and help keep it open until you have a healthy cap of sand on the lawn. Golf courses will aerate and fill in the same day if they can especially on greens. They are actually trying to remove organic matter from the greens and get sand back into the rootzone to keep the greens draining and predictable. Over years I've got 6+ inches of sand on my turf, with red clay underneath all of that and the turf drains and grows much better now. The trade off for the better drainage in the soil is you will need to irrigate if you get a dry spell, but the water penetrates the sand and doesn't run off the way it does on clay.


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## mjh648 (Sep 1, 2020)

jbow03 said:


> @Art James Here in Houston I for sure aerate twice a year, especially since my home is only 2 years old and I'm trying to remediate the carnage that's left after a builder leaves the lot. Hopefully, I can get that down to once per year in the future.
> 
> When I aerate in the spring (last weekend in fact) I do a very light top-dress with leaf mold compost just to get some good organics down into the soil early on.
> 
> ...


did you buy supersacks and have them delivered. Just finished doing 4 yards of leaf mold in the flower bed and yard. Wasn't too bad in terms of labor but price sure does add up.


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## Art James (Jun 18, 2019)

I see there's a few ways to go about this. I'm definitely reluctant to go with a heavy sand application so early in the year. I don't have clay soil to deal with so that's a plus. Very good to hear everyone's experiences.


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## Jeremy3292 (Apr 30, 2020)

IMO aerating and filling with compost is by far a better option than sand. You can then do any leveling with sand as the temps are consistently warmer if needed.


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## HungrySoutherner (May 29, 2018)

Jeremy3292 said:


> IMO aerating and filling with compost is by far a better option than sand. You can then do any leveling with sand as the temps are consistently warmer if needed.


I'm curious why do you think top dressing and filling the aeration with composted soil would be better than sand considering it's clay? You previously said you can't change the clay so what value would it provide over sand?


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## Sbcgenii (May 13, 2018)

I thought one of the Benefits of aeration was the removal of organic material. I think I have watched every gold green aeration video on YouTube. I like this video because the guy shows his whole process and pulls a sample in the beginning and you can see the where they aerated in the past. The channels of sand looks like it would benefit my yard greatly.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8qrHgY2ZdkM


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## jbow03 (Sep 19, 2019)

mjh648 said:


> jbow03 said:
> 
> 
> > @Art James Here in Houston I for sure aerate twice a year, especially since my home is only 2 years old and I'm trying to remediate the carnage that's left after a builder leaves the lot. Hopefully, I can get that down to once per year in the future.
> ...


Yes, my first time with the super sacks and I'll never go back.



6 yards of material and no huge mess. 2 yards garden soil, 2 yards leaf-mold compost and 2 yards mulch. Best $150 delivery fee I've ever paid. They could have fit 2 more sacks on the truck for the same fee, but my back couldn't take it!


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## TN Hawkeye (May 7, 2018)

Jeremy3292 said:


> IMO aerating and filling with compost is by far a better option than sand. You can then do any leveling with sand as the temps are consistently warmer if needed.


This strategy may be ok the first time you aerate, but if you do this a second time you'll be creating layers of soil profile which is not a good idea. Once you sand you are all in on sand.


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## Jeremy3292 (Apr 30, 2020)

HungrySoutherner said:


> Jeremy3292 said:
> 
> 
> > IMO aerating and filling with compost is by far a better option than sand. You can then do any leveling with sand as the temps are consistently warmer if needed.
> ...


If you are dead set on doing something, adding organic matter would be preferably over sand.


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## Jeremy3292 (Apr 30, 2020)

TN Hawkeye said:


> Jeremy3292 said:
> 
> 
> > IMO aerating and filling with compost is by far a better option than sand. You can then do any leveling with sand as the temps are consistently warmer if needed.
> ...


That is why I prefer just to aerate and not fill the holes with anything and let nature run its course. If you need to level the yard then just level it with sand later.


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## HungrySoutherner (May 29, 2018)

Jeremy3292 said:


> HungrySoutherner said:
> 
> 
> > Jeremy3292 said:
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This doesn't really answer the question of why he would prefer organic matter over sand. If soil drainage is a consideration in this case, then choosing sand over top soil will provide long term benefits. Especially if the process is repeated until a sand cap is established. Coring the clay and filling with sand will provide long term paths for water to drain deeper. Sand won't breakdown like organic matter, so it provides that path for much longer. If you've ever seen a soil profile of clay filled with sand over the years you can see the streaks and space maintained in the clay but the sand, which soil won't do as it breaks down. The other consideration of getting out ahead of things with the sand is that the sand is going to turn black with organic matter really quick as root cycling occurs. That organic matter build up is precisely why golf courses are constantly aerating and topdressing the holes with sand to remove it. Regardless its your lawn, try something and then try something else out. Keep it fun, its bermuda so its going to grow.


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## Jeremy3292 (Apr 30, 2020)

HungrySoutherner said:


> Jeremy3292 said:
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> 
> > HungrySoutherner said:
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Again, I said I would NOT do anything. Core aerate and then just let nature run it's course. If you want to use sand year after year and plug the holes then sure go right ahead...just not something I would do. Bermuda lives and thrives regardless lol. I just don't believe you can materially change the soils profile so why spend all the money, time, and effort year after year?


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