Converting to native grass after sod harvesting?

Brad6260

Brad6260

New member
A neighbor that has a wholesale sod business has offered to take my 6 acre fescue field and bring in his sod cutting equipment and cut sod as a possible alternative to spraying and potentially a better way to get a real good kill from the follow up round-up spray I would lay down as the new growth came back.

Good idea? Bad. I frankly don't see the sod value as it has been fallow for three years and has a thick thatch built up. Would the sod removal take so much of the top soil to cause issues with good seed germination and growth quality.

Thanks for your thoughts.
 
How much topsoil do you have? Where I live we have about six inches, and I wouldnot give up any of it. I have seen places where they have six feet. That probably would not hurt much in a case like that.
 
Seems to me the only advantages of taking off the sod would be you wouldn't have to break up the sod for new planting, black dirt is valuable to. You'll still need to work the seed bed.
All that humus would be gone. Erosion could be a problem. No matter how deep the soil, the best stuff is the top soil.
For me I would leave the sod, spray Roundup after green up, work the ground, then another spay at the second green up.
 
I agree with the theory that I would not want to remove sod off a site with thin topsoil. But I sure think it's a novel idea and has some merit for a certain fescue removal. If the topsoil depth could stand it, as a veteran of the fescue wars, I'd probably give it a try. Massive, and multiple chemical applications may or may not be effective, ( trust me).Even if you get a good start, if the neighbors surround you with a healthy fescue stand, it will almost immediately begin to pioneer into your field, it will be a constant effort. If he going to pay you for the sod, it sure helps with the costs of conversion.
 
oldandnew said:
If he going to pay you for the sod, it sure helps with the costs of conversion.
Click to expand...
x2. I couldn't see doing something like that unless there was compensation for the topsoil he's taking away (not so much the CSG sod, since you'd be killing that in either case).

IMO you're better off going the chemical route for a year and then seeding.
 
I too would probably leave the sod. And I would NOT work the ground prior to planting your NWSG. All that is going to do is waste a lot of time and fuel and stir up all the seed thats in the seed bank in your ground and then you'll have to fight that stuff. Use a no-till NWSG drill instead. Ground prep is the key to a good stand of NWSG and even with good prep its no guarantee. I'd spray with RU in the fall, make sure you have a good kill, let it sit over the winter then burn it late winter early spring, probably more toward early spring, then let it grow back about 6 inches of fresh growth and hammer the crap out of it with RU and Plateau, then plant your NWSG in May with a no-till drill. JMO
 
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