questions about grass and soil

19 years ago

hello,

I have some questions about my soil. I have a small space, about 200 square feet, in which I have been trying to grow buffalograss. I sowed seed last spring, some of which came up, and then early in the fall installed plugs. Between the two of these, I"m hoping the grass will fill in. There are also wildflowers sown sparsely in this area.

The area was quite bare to begin with, except for some horseherb, and I have pulled most of it out. It is also very heavy clay. I amended/tilled the soil as best I could both times I planted, added compost, etc. But after our heavy rains for the past couple months, many parts of it have become heavily compacted because it was so bare, and so the grass is struggling to grow and has only filled in about 20% of the area. In addition I had a soil test last month that told me I was low on nitrogen and needed to spread about 4 lbs/1000 ft. The test also reported that I was very high on phosphorus so to avoid phosphorus for a few years.

So my question is twofold--1. can anyone suggest a way to keep the soil from being so compacted while the grass is growing/spreading? and 2. most organic fertilizers have some nitrogen. What source should I use to get more nitrogen in my soil? I spray my landscape with seaweed/humic acid mix every couple weeks. I really want to baby this area because it is a really center piece in my backyard--the only place that gets full sun. I know buffalograss doesn't like to be babied but I want to at least get it to the point where it's not just little plugs everywhere.

Any suggestions welcome... I'm a new gardener--

Amy

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Comments (3)

austinwildflower
Original Author
19 years ago
oops I meant to say that most organic fertilizers have some phosphorus--so how can I avoid phosphorus and just get nitrogen in?
bpgreen
19 years ago
I looked into buffalo grass some time ago, and if I remember correctly, it doesn't need much nitrogen. At one point, the recommendations were not to add any nitrogen at all, but later studies showed that it benefited from a small amount of nitrogen every year or so (but certainly less than 4 lbs/1k sq ft). I seem to recall that fertilizing it too much made the weeds outcompete the buffalo grass.

Buffalo grass spreads by stolons. I think it takes a while for it to start filling, but that once it does, it fills in rather aggressively.
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dchall_san_antonio
19 years ago
In all your exuberance you are making this too hard. First of all, you tilled the soil. There are a lot more good reasons not to till than there are to till. Second, you did a soil test AND you are relying on a TAMU soil test that is completely inappropriate for an organic program. If you really must test your soil, send the sample to The Texas Plant and Soil Lab in Edenburgh. Be sure to tell them you are on an organic program; however, I would not even do a test. Just start using corn meal, coffee grounds, alfalfa, or soy bean meal at 10-20 pounds per 1,000 square feet and make it simple. Forget about everything else.

This 200 square feet you have: it is on the south, east, and west side of all buildings, fences, and trees between it and the horizon. I'm not sure how you can have only one spot that gets full sun. Do you have a 200 square foot south-facing peninsula jutting out away from the buildings, fences, and trees?

Buffalo grass makes a poor center piece plant. It's generally thin, weedy, and a pale blue-green. The only one I've seen that I like is called Tech Turf, from the Turffalo company in Lubbock. It's dense, dark green, and grows rather quickly in full sun. In less than full sun it sucks like the rest of the buffalo turfs.

You are half right about why your soil might be compacted. The heavy rain did the compacting, but had you not tilled it first, you would not have had the compaction. You might also watch for erosion. The buffalo grass, by the way, is not going to tenaciously hold the soil down like you might want it to. Thin grass allows the raindrops to hit bare soil and pound and splash and generally wear away the soil. If you've ever seen the caprock up in the panhandle, that is the result of millions of years of bare soil. The photo at
shows the caprock under cut by erosion. But before I digress too far, buffalo should be at home in compacted soil.