Does anybody have advice on the scalping portion of lawn leveling?


What are the odds that the grass doesn't recover?

Can you level a lawn with sand and just do a low cut and not scalp?

Martels Hammer said:

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Does anybody have advice on the scalping portion of lawn leveling?


What are the odds that the grass doesn't recover?

Can you level a lawn with sand and just do a low cut and not scalp?

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There's a 0% chance it doesn't recover as long as it's established and you water it. If you're going to level then you need to scalp first to make sure the sand/soil you're adding gets down to the low spots and not stuck in the canopy.

Assume you're talking about bermuda grass?

I wanted to level for several years and finally did it last year, roughly 10k square feet.

I scalped, aerated, raked up the cores, and then spread a nice screened top soil as opposed to sand since I had some bigger valleys I was trying to fill in. I plan on doing it again this year. Scalping is important since it clearly exposes those spots that need leveling and is easier to rake in. It also promotes horizontal growth, exposing more sunlight to the nodes for growth. I have never seen any lawn leveling video or article that does not mention scalping or cutting low.

If you do have a riding mower, I advise getting yourself a drag you can pull behind. I ended up getting one off Vevor's site for a reasonable price and it worked pretty well and saved me a lot of work. I also have a lawn leveling rake that is pretty fun to use, but it can be a pain and I would not want to use it as my only tool.

What are the signs that a lawn needs aerating?

Grass type is really important here.

I'd also listen to TMFrisco

Martels Hammer said:

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What are the signs that a lawn needs aerating?

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Serious turf growers will do this every year. For the common man, it's mainly to loosen up compacted soil, but it's a good idea to do this every few years.

I will follow your advice.

The primary driver here is I use a reel mower for the front and the bumps and drips in a few areas look bad and in a few spots make the mower difficult to use.

What tools would make this easiest?

Martels Hammer said:

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I will follow your advice.

The primary driver here is I use a reel mower for the front and the bumps and drips in a few areas look bad and in a few spots make the mower difficult to use.

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If you are mowing with a reel mower - definitely don't need to scalp. I can understand the guys on here advocating for scalping/low mowing in a yard mowed at 2"-3", but you are plenty low already.

Also, since you are already mowing low, the need to add material in smaller amounts is even more important.

Add material, let it grow through, repeat until you get the desired results.

Seeing as you are using a reel mower, I would lean towards sand or the finest soil you can get with good, screened compost.

TMfrisco said:

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Martels Hammer said:

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What tools would make this easiest?

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Wheelbarrow, grain shovel and either a 36" landscape rake - has a straight edge on the back and makes leveling easy. The best would be a level-lawn like this

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this is a nice workout. I did this to my lawn last fall. Mostly Kentucky Bluegrass with 5 tons of USGA sand.

My lawn is more level than before, but still could probably use another pass or 2. Mine is 30"x10", I think anything bigger would have just worn me out quicker and been too heavy to move.

Thank you

Just had a crew from Big Event do this for us Saturday. 15k sq ft of St Augustine that I aerated first with a stand on aerator that I rented. Then spread a top soil/compost mix with my tractor throughout the yard and then had 7 Aggies rake it all in the best they could and finished with a deep water. Biggest problem I've had is the truck that brought the dirt had some river rock mixed in there.

What kind of grass?
What is your current height of cut?
What height would you scalp to before leveling?
Are you talking about spot leveling small areas or spreading something over the entire yard and smoothing that out?

IMO these all need to be answered.

Following...is this necessary for basic St. Augustine grass?

Not required, but it's a "quick" way to level your yard and if you use a topsoil/compost mix, you are adding a ton of great organic material to your dirt that'll help your grass thrive. Sand has no organic material, it's simply just for leveling and works well. Just keep in mind if your yard isn't flat and if you ever have any runoff from rains, it'll take that sand right with it.

Tons of content on YouTube about leveling and top dressing your grass.

I just completed a leveling project and did an absurd amount of research on the topic.

Regarding scalping, if you have Bermuda it is probably a good idea. I have Saint Augustine and just cut it a little lower than normal.

This is my first true leveling project. The last two summers I did some spot leveling in low spots (spots where I noticed there was standing water when it rained). I've owned my house for 5 years and I feel like the lawn has never been leveled since it was built in the late 1990s.

I bought 2 cubic yards of mason sand and then also bought 20 bags of compost and 12 bags of topsoil. I'm in DFW and didn't want to do pure sand for the first leveling project (since it's heavy clay soil), but for the next one I will use just sand.

I'm really happy with how it came out. It was pretty lumpy and I didn't expect to get it perfect with just one pass. With Saint Augustine you don't want to add more than half an inch to an inch at a time or you'll bury the grass. I just used a wheel barrow and shovel to spread it, and then I found a push broom worked best to spread it evenly. I bought a leveling rack to spread it, but found that a push broom worked better.

If I had Bermuda and the grass was healthy I'd probably just go pure sand. I bet a leveling rake would work great on Bermuda.

Use one of these…

https://landzie.com/product/landzie-compost-peat-moss-spreader/

Planning on 10-20 yards of screened topsoil later this month for 2nd annual lawn leveling, approx. 10k square feet of highlander bermuda.

I have also had a heck of a time with KR Bluestem infestation and just spot treated my yard with glyphosate, ready to reseed those spots and overseed the rest.

Alot of work but kind of cathartic....