A few weeks ago I pulled quite a few 2" deep bermuda from my backyard to transplanted to another area. I filled the holes with the dirt removed from the transplant area and sand. Now the area in the backyard where I removed the plugs is really thick and is growing faster than the surrounding areas (I am on a PGR routine).

My original thought was that the holes allowed more water and nutrients down deeper. I pulled sample core plugs last week and again tonight and can see no difference in soil moisture down to ~6." I was expecting moisture differences with the faster growing area having more moisture. I found no difference down to 6," since my roots don't go that deep anyway what gives? We have not had any rain since February, all irrigation is accounted for. Last watering was a week ago. Temps have been mids 90's.

The core plug area are within 1 foot of each other and had all looked/performed similar prior to the original plug removal.

3 sample plugs next to each for comparison

This hole is in the original plug zone and corresponds with the 1st plug in the above picture. The grass is thicker and greener in this area.

This corresponds to the 2nd plug above. The grass is less dense and more pale. This area is just 1 ft outside of the plug area.

This hole corresponds with the 3rd plug. It is a dead area. It was a weed patch that I nuked a while back and the area is slowly filling in. I chose this area because it seemed as if the soil here would be more dry at 6", but it wasn't.