# Lawn leveling



## Jamiern123 (Apr 8, 2018)

Ok. I have been scouring the web and here looking for ideas on this. I am in a new build, Lamar Smith Home, and the lawn work they did is horrible. Ill vent in another thread maybe one day about that. Anyways, front yard is centipede grass and has some mostly bare spots but does not appear to have any weeds in it. Another spot hold a lot of water and does not grow well. I tried laying some "top soil" from scotts and seeded those areas and followed all the directions on the bag to a T and not a dang thing has grown up there. its been a little over 4 weeks now. My plan to fix this is:

I bought some Brown Kow and orange sand to mix and I am thinking a 50/50 mix and add it to the bare spots and rake it in etc. then come back and add some seed on that and gently rake that.

Then on the low parts maybe add a little more of the mixture and add seed?

And water it etc. I know its a little late in the season but from what I have been reading you an seed centipede into mid to late july with decent results

Am I missing anything?

any input from you guys?


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## Jamiern123 (Apr 8, 2018)

oh yea forgot I am going to fertilize with a southern lawn food fertilizer


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## dfw_pilot (Jan 28, 2017)

I know you don't have Bermuda, but see what you can glean from this thread.


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## Tellycoleman (May 10, 2017)

Are the bare areas really compact?


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## raymond (May 4, 2018)

I'm not clear from your title if you are trying to fill bare spots or level low spots.. or both... centaped should grab in so any bare spot with water and fert


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## Jamiern123 (Apr 8, 2018)

Tellycoleman said:


> Are the bare areas really compact?


they dont appear to be but I am not sure. They stay wet and squishy for days after a rain


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## Jamiern123 (Apr 8, 2018)

raymond said:


> I'm not clear from your title if you are trying to fill bare spots or level low spots.. or both... centaped should grab in so any bare spot with water and fert


Both. The spots where it is bare there is some growth across but not enough if that makes sense. The spots where it is low it tends to stay wet. it puddles when it rains or if I water it. I have laid fertilizer but nothing really grows well there


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## starkus (Mar 12, 2018)

Seeding centipede likely wont get results. Centipede seed is hard to get to germinate in sufficient quantities and has a very long germination time compared to other grasses.

If the spots are fairly large, your best bet is to use a Pro Plugger. If the spots are small healthy centipede grass will fill in bare spots, but it might take time.

If the area is never drying out you will need to do something to get rid of the water or grass will never grow. Leveling, French drains, or dry wells are all options.

With regards to the fertilizer make sure the middle number is a 0. Only put down 1 lb of nitrogen per 1000 square feet twice a year. I do that in Mid May (once all the grass is green) and July.


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## Jamiern123 (Apr 8, 2018)

I thought I added a bunch of pictures to this thread. Not sure what happened. Here is the before. This was about 2-3weeks ago before adding some sand and black Cow compost


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## Jamiern123 (Apr 8, 2018)

These are a lot of bare spots but the really dark brown spots is Black Kow, fertilizer and sand to level and prep for seed. Next pictures are a few weeks later. Not much growth from the seeds but the grad grew in plush and thick


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## Jamiern123 (Apr 8, 2018)

The one brown spot is where I realized the irrigation doesnt cover at all and gets ZERO water.


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## Jamiern123 (Apr 8, 2018)

It's funny because the yellow parts are where I added nothing at all. Black Kow is amazing stuff. I am sold for life on it.


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## CenlaLowell (Apr 21, 2017)

What is this black Kow stuff?


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## BlakeG (Jul 17, 2018)




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## Jamiern123 (Apr 8, 2018)

CenlaLowell said:


> What is this black Kow stuff?


its cow manure compost. The smell really isnt bad at all. There was a slight sulfur smell when I brought it home in Terrain but it was easy to work with. I am sold on this "crap"


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