Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Property Projects & Construction grass planting

I am trying to plant some grass at end of Aug around newly constructed dam and body of water for erosion control and need some ideas of what to plant where I can still run an ATV over the top of my roads while growing? Also it is clay with no current nutrients. I am wondering if I should pay to have some topsoil brought in or foot the bill on spreading fertilizer?

I am getting ready to plant my house pad with bermuda grass because its the fastest growing in my area. I will be using erosion control mats over the seed to keep the seed in place and moist.

I just put some Bermuda sod around part of my pond. I had a soil test and fertilized per A&M's recommendations. Watered it in for a month or so but it still didn't grow. This was planted on dirt(clay) that was pushed out of the pond when we deepened it. I'm not sure what the trick is but I didn't have any luck. I would break the grown up some with whatever you have available, then seed and put the erosion control down on top. I don't know how much area you're covering but you may need to mix some topsoil in to get the grass started.

I don't know what it is like in your area, but here any type of grass seed planted now without supplemental irrigation will sprout and die during our hot summer. We have the best luck planting grass seed in the fall after it cools off and there is more natural moisture. Then the plants have time to finish establishing their root system the following spring before they get stressed with hot and dry conditions.

On my daughters pond that I finished this spring, we just spread some oats and wheat to give some temporary cover, then will seed the grass this fall.

But that is a "here" thing. Your area may be completely different.

Going to have to agree with snrub on this, I'm in Ontario. We've been lucky this spring with rain and I was late planting and I will still have to water the new grass on my birm.

Mixing with oats is something I always do when planting new grass its cheap and helps prep the soil also gives shade to helps the soil stay moist longer.

As for the type of seed I would use a self repairing rye grass. Usually used on sports fields. Great roots, great in dry conditions. Will hold up against your ATV generally. I just planted two hundred pounds of seed this year and its looking good.

It's been my experience that it's hard to get any decent grass to grow in clay... IMO, I would opt for some topsoil first. Best of luck to ya

Yeah, get at least 1 inch of topsoil down before seeding. Clay without and organic mix is too dense for grass roots to penatrate and it dies quickly in drought. I haave lots of almost bald spots from areas washed clean of topsoil. The bare clay just doesn't support grass well.

Gypsum may help with the tough clay.

I'm not sure how much area you have to plant, but when I planted on my back birm which is mostly clay, I spread a thin layer of straw over the seed. (15 bales) This helps hold the moisture in if you are not able to water. It also helps seeds germinate that may not have been covered by dirt. Worked great for me!

X2 on the difficulties of growing grass on clay. You're going to want to do as indicated above - get some soil spread before you waste the money on seed. I've got a section of my levee that has NEVER grown grass right, despite several attempts at seeding and watering. I'm about to have someone come back in and redo that section. It never had enough topsoil on it, and clay just won't grow grass.