Transplanting Grass to fill a bare spot? See latest update 9/26

[Don2222]

Hello

Was digging out a space in back. The grass seems to always grow better in the back then where I want in the front!

Anyway, the patches of grass was so nice, I tried transplanting 2 patches into a bare spot in front. See pic below

Does anyone have good luck doing this??

 

[soupy1957]

Saturday, I have a whole row (a dozen) of shrubs I'm pulling up (roots-n-all), leaving a rectangular patch of dirt that will be 25 feet or so, by 2 feet wide. I'll use grass seed, thank you.

-Soupy1957

 

[MasterMech]

I transplant sod all the time. The key is water, water, and more water. Also if you pull a sun-loving grass from the back yard and put it in your shady, cool front yard (or vice versa) then it's a gamble as to what might happen.

Also, why is the grass struggling out front? Trees, excessive shade, traffic, poor drainage? You'll continue to have trouble until you understand why the front yard is struggling in the first place.

 

[fishingpol]

I'm doing the same right now. Like mastermech said, it needs water. When I cut a sod patch in, I lay the new piece over the area where it is going to go. I use a flat spade around the edge of the new piece to cut in the rectangle in the lawn, pull back the new piece and remove the lawn to the outline. This assures a tight fit and is less obvious. I find that skunks and other critters love to dig the perimeters of the new sod. Using the cut in method, the edges don't seem to dry out as much. Good luck, this is a good time of year to do this project.

 

[Don2222]

I transplant sod all the time. The key is water, water, and more water. Also if you pull a sun-loving grass from the back yard and put it in your shady, cool front yard (or vice versa) then it's a gamble as to what might happen.

Also, why is the grass struggling out front? Trees, excessive shade, traffic, poor drainage? You'll continue to have trouble until you understand why the front yard is struggling in the first place.

I changed the tree landscape in front from Pines,Magnolia and Oak to mostly Maples with the Maples being closer to the street to provide more shade and keep out the crab grass. So it is working but the grass that was in sun, now in shade is dying out. The patch I got from back in the pic was in shade so hopefully it will work out!

See https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/76947/

Thanks

 

[billb3]

I've done it for patches.
Too big a spot and you can end up a bit lumpy.



Maples can give you too much shade when they get older. I've seen some people trim half the branches out and others just cut them down at 25 years and start over when the lawn under gets way too thin.

My neighbor cuts his lawn way too short and he's got nothing but crabgrass.
His lime green lawn turns brown at the first frost.
and he puts his mower away.

I've got more than usual. It seems to have had rather perfect growing conditions this Summer.

 

[mayhem]

Every time the wife wants me to make her a new garden it always seems ot be right where the lawn grows especially well, so I always pull up the sod and transplant it to a spot thats not so good. Water the heck out of it regularly for the first few weeks and it usually takes off nicely. I also wind up tamping it down or rolling it later to make the area even.

 

[lukem]

Do it all the time. No sense in wasting good grass when you have a bare/low spot somewhere else in the yard. This time of year you need to water, but I don't bother watering in the spring/fall.

 

[Don2222]

Hello

In this yard it is harder I would say, and now I found out that it is due to the intense sun and poor sandy soil.

So after the transplant I put Super Rich Top soil, starter fertilizer and new seed around it.

I could see the parts that did not green up starting to green up! amazing what nice rich top soil can do!

See new pic below!

Click to enlarge - Almost hard to see the edges now! So it was transplanted on 8/16/2011 and today is 9/26/2011 so about 6 Weeks tomorrow!!

 

[jimbom]

We used to sprig disturbed areas on construction projects. Quicker than seed. Sod was not available. Prepare the soil bed then take plugs or sprigs of the grass you are transplanting and place them every 4-6". Needs to be the type of grass that can withstand this treatment and will spread by runners. Works great if it gets water. Probably a lost art stateside since it is labor intensive.

 

[Don2222]

We used to sprig disturbed areas on construction projects. Quicker than seed. Sod was not available. Prepare the soil bed then take plugs or sprigs of the grass you are transplanting and place them every 4-6". Needs to be the type of grass that can withstand this treatment and will spread by runners. Works great if it gets water. Probably a lost art stateside since it is labor intensive.

Hello

Yes that sounds like a great way to get grass. Cheaper then seeds and the birds do not eat it!

Labor is the issue, people want green grass without the fuss, that is why most of my neighbors have true green. Some of the chemicals in true green are like steroids for grass, if the conditions are not the best for grass true green does make the grass much better. However when true green is stopped then the grass reverts to not being as good. Very frustrating. My neighbor has a giant oak tree with acorns in the middle of the front yard and must pay true green every year to get ok grass.
So that is why I spent years replacing the acidic trees (Pines and Acorn) with nicer trees (Maple etc) for shade and a green grass. Well it is finally working, my grass is getting better without the expensive Roids

 

[MasterMech]

We used to sprig disturbed areas on construction projects. Quicker than seed. Sod was not available. Prepare the soil bed then take plugs or sprigs of the grass you are transplanting and place them every 4-6". Needs to be the type of grass that can withstand this treatment and will spread by runners. Works great if it gets water. Probably a lost art stateside since it is labor intensive.

Sounds like Zoysia grass. Very popular in the southern states as warm season grasses are dormant sept - may up here. Have a neighbor with zoysia and as soon as the daytime highs drop into the low 60's his lawn goes bright tan. Only things that grows & spreads on rysomes here are Creeping Red Fescue, Kentucky Blue, and of course, Crabgrass! Summers are a wee bit hot in southern NY for Kentuckey blue to stay green without frequent watering. Fescue thrives.

 

[fishingpol]

Here is a good video from This Old House on lawn restoration. We had so much rain this summer, I've got mushrooms growing here and there. But, the grass is green.

(broken link removed to http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/video/0,,20051898,00.html)

 

[muncybob]

I started laying down some corn gluten meal in the early-mid springtime that I get from our local feed store. I'm using it to control annual weeds before they germinate and I think it's working fairly well. A beneficial side effect of this is that as it decomposes it provides a natural source of nitrogen to the soil. After 2 years I can definately see a big difference in the deep green color of the grass where it was applied compared to the rest of the yard that did not get it. I wish I could spread it everywhere but it's a little cost prohibitive with close to 3 acres of lawn.