# ever heard of top dressing with clay?



## ktgrok (May 25, 2019)

I saw a youtube video from someone in Australia where he was mixing clay and compost into the native sandy soil to improve the water retention. As someone who has very sand soil I was intrigued, but obviously I can't actually mix any into the soil without ripping out the grass. But it got me wondering if anyone has ever used a mix of clay and compost for top dressing their sandy soil? I know people top dress clay with sand, but never heard of the other way around.


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## Greendoc (Mar 24, 2018)

Do not ever put clay or mixes of clay + organic matter on top of sand. That very thing is what I end up having to remediate by putting more sand on top of it.


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## ktgrok (May 25, 2019)

Greendoc said:


> Do not ever put clay or mixes of clay + organic matter on top of sand. That very thing is what I end up having to remediate by putting more sand on top of it.


I figured it couldn't be that easy, lol. What's your best (hopefully at least a little budget friendly) suggestion for hydrophobic sandy soil? I tried the cheap and easy soap in the hose end sprayer trick with no real luck. Next day soil was the same way all over again. Water literally beads up in the bare spots and you can't even mix the water in with your hands if you try.

I'm having a weird combination of issues/weather where we have about 5 minutes of rain here and there, if that, just enough to cause tons of humidity so that the morning dew takes forever to dry, blades are always in humidity, etc, but the soil is dry. Can't figure out if/when to irrigate as I'm seeing both drought stress and leaf spot, and when I do irrigate I feel it isn't very efficient.


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## Greendoc (Mar 24, 2018)

You need to irrigated deeply in the mornings. No water after 4 PM. How much soap did you use? People have told me that 4-8 oz of the blue dishwashing liquid in a hose end sprayer helps with water repellent soils. Key is to water that in after doing it.


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## ENC_Lawn (Sep 9, 2018)

@Greendoc

For those of us that have a very heavy clay soil ( I have had 2 soil scientist look at my lawn) what do you recommend to amend the soil to were it will NOT hold so much water?

Thanks


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## Greendoc (Mar 24, 2018)

I would look into sand capping the lawn.


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## ktgrok (May 25, 2019)

Greendoc said:


> You need to irrigated deeply in the mornings. No water after 4 PM. How much soap did you use? People have told me that 4-8 oz of the blue dishwashing liquid in a hose end sprayer helps with water repellent soils. Key is to water that in after doing it.


I actually was watering early AM, around 4:30am, which was fine until this recent humidity/no breeze crap. Now if I do that the lawn just sits damp until nearly 11am. So I was thinking maybe in that situation, with a Front yard faces west so gets better sun in the afternoon and more breeze in the afternoon than in the morning, should I change that up so the grass doesn't sit wet so long?

I did 3oz per thousand of soap I think, but I may not have watered it in enough afterward.


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## Greendoc (Mar 24, 2018)

In actual water repellent conditions I have used up to 16 per 1000 with heavy watering after.


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## ktgrok (May 25, 2019)

Greendoc said:


> In actual water repellent conditions I have used up to 16 per 1000 with heavy watering after.


Ah..okay. So given that you can stir water into it and it doesn't actually mix in or get damp, 3oz wasn't near enough. Should have done it today before the big rainstorm.


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## Green (Dec 24, 2017)

Greendoc said:


> Do not ever put clay or mixes of clay + organic matter on top of sand. That very thing is what I end up having to remediate by putting more sand on top of it.


Interesting...does that mean I made a huge mistake using this product on sandy loam?
https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=7983&p=140297&hilit=attapulgite+clay#p134578


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## Greendoc (Mar 24, 2018)

@Green No. Sandy loam already has some clay in it. Pure or mostly sandy soil is the special case.


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## Green (Dec 24, 2017)

Greendoc said:


> @Green No. Sandy loam already has some clay in it. Pure or mostly sandy soil is the special case.


Interesting. Thanks.


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