# Sand for Bermuda



## alcredeur (Jul 28, 2018)

I'm in south Louisiana with about a 5K square foot section of Tifway 419 Bermuda. Next spring, I plan on getting some good sand hauled in to flatten everything out and begin mowing REELY low. I know that mason sand is the proper sand to use for that, but I may have an opportunity to get all the sand I want off of a horse racing track because the place is closing down permanently. My question is will this free sand suffice or should I just splurge for the mason sand?


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## Tellycoleman (May 10, 2017)

There is no telling if you don't know what type of sand it is. Even if the size is small enouph you need to try to compare it to mason sand or play sand. 
Also if the sand is made out of limestone you don't want to use that.


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## Thor865 (Mar 26, 2018)

Tellycoleman said:


> There is no telling if you don't know what type of sand it is. Even if the size is small enouph you need to try to compare it to mason sand or play sand.
> Also if the sand is made out of limestone you don't want to use that.


What's wrong with crushed limestone sand?


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## daniel3507 (Jul 31, 2018)

Thor865 said:


> Tellycoleman said:
> 
> 
> > There is no telling if you don't know what type of sand it is. Even if the size is small enouph you need to try to compare it to mason sand or play sand.
> ...


It would alter the pH of the soil.


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## JRS 9572 (May 28, 2018)

Thor865 said:


> Tellycoleman said:
> 
> 
> > There is no telling if you don't know what type of sand it is. Even if the size is small enouph you need to try to compare it to mason sand or play sand.
> ...


I'm in the water treatment business for a living. We use limestone (in a different form) as a filter media to raise the pH of acid well water.

The limestone stand will dissolve and it will spike the pH of the soil.


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## alcredeur (Jul 28, 2018)

JRS 9572 said:


> Thor865 said:
> 
> 
> > Tellycoleman said:
> ...


I understand. I may have to just check out exactly what type of sand it is and the size and all. I was trying to save a few hundred bucks if I could, because this stuff would be free. I'm fairly certain it's not a limestone sand. My dad was the one in charge of maintaining the track while the training center was open, and I remember him mentioning that they would have to constantly spray round up all around the outer edges because grass was aggressively trying to creep onto the track surface.


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## N LA Hacker (Aug 17, 2018)

LA has acidic soils anyhow. The limestone sand wouldn't hurt.

Never mind. Mire is one of alluvial areas of LA. Got the good flood plain soils higher in pH.


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## Smokindog (Jun 20, 2018)

Just throwing this out there as I did in another thread. Extra info to me is always useful and can always be ignored.

I was told by multiple professionals, including golf course folks, to not use pure sand. Golf courses do it because their base soil is very sandy by design. Most home lawns are not. A layer of sand on top of a more dense soil can create runoff and water retention issues and can also promote shallow roots (that's what I was told).

I used a sandy loam top soil from a local supplier that was recommended. Turns out it's only a couple miles from my house so I can get it by the pickup load. It was about $30 a yard and very well screened. It spread very easily.

I did a couple smaller areas to learn and evaluate. I've put down 2+ yards, one on 8/4 and I added another yard to those areas on 8/13 because the recovery was going so well and the areas needed to be raised more. There is more than 1" in the deeper areas of these "repairs".

I was also told to NOT cut the grass low as I was adding more than 1/2" in the deepest parts of these areas. I let the HOC go up about 1/2" in the two weeks ahead of the first application. The material was "thrown" with a transfer shovel, spread with the back of a garden rake, and final rake/"sift" with a plain old metal spring garden rake which helped pull the stolens to the surface. I also gave everything a shot of 13-13-13 and watered daily. We had some VERY heavy rains in the time frame that I credit to pushing the dirt down and accelerating recovery.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it, YMMV!!!

Pick one is 08/04 after first yard of top soil and pick two is this morning. Both close to the same time of day.


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## alcredeur (Jul 28, 2018)

Points all well taken. Another question: Should I aerate prior to spreading the topdressing? I was going to aerate next spring anyhow, but is that something that should be done before topdressing?


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## Smokindog (Jun 20, 2018)

I guess I missed the point about getting the "sand" from a race track based on the title. I think the race track surface is probably a lot closer to what I'm buying than anything else. I'd take as much of that stuff as I could get for free all day long. I neglected to mention that what I'm purchasing comes with a strong aroma of the horse stables in the area 

I'm guessing your getting something heavy in sand with clay and other conditioners mixed in. Do you know? Just make sure it wasn't a synthetic track.

I'm now jealous!


alcredeur said:


> Points all well taken. Another question: Should I aerate prior to spreading the topdressing? I was going to aerate next spring anyhow, but is that something that should be done before topdressing?


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## alcredeur (Jul 28, 2018)

Smokindog said:


> I guess I missed the point about getting the "sand" from a race track based on the title. I think the race track surface is probably a lot closer to what I'm buying than anything else. I'd take as much of that stuff as I could get for free all day long. I neglected to mention that what I'm purchasing comes with a strong aroma of the horse stables in the area
> 
> I'm guessing your getting something heavy in sand with clay and other conditioners mixed in. Do you know? Just make sure it wasn't a synthetic track.
> 
> ...


It's definitely not synthetic. For years, the track surface had been regarded as the best in the southern region and one of the best in the country. It's been a few years since I've walked on the track, but from what I remember, it's almost like beach sand w/ a little clay mixed into it(not much).


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## Smokindog (Jun 20, 2018)

Any way you can get a yard or so now and try some on a patch of your lawn? I'll bet it's got more clay than you think maybe 60 sand/40 clay but I'm just guessing. If you got some now you could also saturate some on a bowl and get a better idea by how muddy it gets and how it settles..


alcredeur said:


> Smokindog said:
> 
> 
> > I guess I missed the point about getting the "sand" from a race track based on the title. I think the race track surface is probably a lot closer to what I'm buying than anything else. I'd take as much of that stuff as I could get for free all day long. I neglected to mention that what I'm purchasing comes with a strong aroma of the horse stables in the area
> ...


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