# Improve Sandy Soil



## Mark102 (Oct 6, 2018)

Any suggestions on how to improve sandy soil? I live in the Northeast and have a mix of fescue, rye and ***. I know the best route would be to remove a few inches and add in some really nice top soil but that is a project my wife would never be ok with. I know that top dressing with compost is good and using organic fertilizer is good. Any other suggestions? Humic acid? I would like to start a program that would slowly over the course of a few year really improve the soil. Thanks in advance.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

Compost and compost and compost and mulch mow and mulch the leaves. With time it will improve, but don't expect perfection.


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## viva_oldtrafford (Apr 4, 2018)

How sandy are we talking? Any idea of the CEC? What are you trying to accomplish by amending? Humic acid has yet to be proven to have any real significant impact on soils, so I'd look at other options like OM or calcined clay before throwing money down the drain.


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## Mark102 (Oct 6, 2018)

The top 4-6 inches isn't super sandy but there is definitely some sand in it. Under the top layer is all sand 100%. Would you suggest topdressing 1/4 to 1/2 inch in the spring yearly? Luckily the backyard gets tons of leaves and I do mulch as many as possible and I never bag mulch. I use ringer in the spring to add even more organics.


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## Mark102 (Oct 6, 2018)

The CEC is 8.1 meg/100g. No idea how bad or good that number is. I'm pretty much just trying to get the soil to hold the nutrients and water longer.


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## jessehurlburt (Oct 18, 2017)

I have sandy soil and a very low CEC ~3.5.

In the worst spots of my lawn where it was very sandy I used a spade fork and Black Kow compost. I would stand on the spade and work it down 5-6 inches and make a bunch of holes then rake the compost in. It seemed to work well for me.

My backyard seems to be worse than my front, so I blow the leaves from the front to the back and then mulch them in. Mulching leaves is the first and easiest thing to do. (much easier that bagging too!)


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## Delmarva Keith (May 12, 2018)

Mark102 said:



> The CEC is 8.1 meg/100g. No idea how bad or good that number is. I'm pretty much just trying to get the soil to hold the nutrients and water longer.


Eight is definitely fine to grow in. I don't even flinch until I see a plot with less than five. If you feel like you just need a project to work on, a regular program of compost topdressing (once or twice a year) will infiltrate down into the soil over the course of years. It's a lot of work and too much can result in a heavy "muck" soil. Is there a specific issue you're concerned about?


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## summithorn (Jul 23, 2018)

3 is high where I live. Good luck getting customers to pay for topdressing. If your a homeowner, get the shovel out. When my customers will pay for compost, I like to aerate then follow up with compost to get the compost down. I also do this when applying lime. I have turned a few yards around doing this over the years. Mulch clipping and take advantage of leaves. Leaves work, but it takes time. I'm not sure what to do if using a reel. I guess reel for grass and rotary for leaves. Yes, leaves will acidify the soil, but the soil will neutralize after decomposition. Encourage an environment for earthworms and they will compound the process for you.


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## Mark102 (Oct 6, 2018)

I just know that I have sandy soil and it's been hard to get my lawn to thicken up. I just did my first soil test and everything was fine except the K was low. I areated and fertilized the whole yard and over seeded the front yard. I find the backyard tends to die and thin out every summer. Just trying to prove it.


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## slomo (Jun 22, 2017)

Check out the in-ground storm shelter companies. They haul truck loads of topsoil off to the dump.

slomo


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## Mark102 (Oct 6, 2018)

It's the project its self that my wife wouldn't be a fan of. The money of course is part of it but I am sure she would care more about the amount of labor it would take to add a few inches of sop soil over the whole yard.


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