Growing grass in North Carolina

Jaws – posted 10 February 2002 20:56

I have a home about 2 years old and I have had a hard time getting grass to grow in my yard. The soil is red clay and I have not had any luck getting anything to take. I would greatly apreciate any advice.

seed – posted 10 February 2002 22:05

Jaws, we need more info: State or Province? Type of grass you have tried? Planted by seed, sprig, or sod? Any seedbed prep work before planting? Irrigation? What exactly happened? Did seed germinate and then die? Did the sod fail to root? Did nothing happen?

Thanks, Phil

wdrake – posted 11 February 2002 03:07

Here is a good reference for starting a lawn in your part of the world:http://ipmwww.ncsu.edu:80/urban/horticulture/carolina_lawns/text.html

45498453 – posted 22 March 2003 13:27

quote:Originally posted by Jaws:I have a home about 2 years old and I have had a hard time getting grass to grow in my yard. The soil is red clay and I have not had any luck getting anything to take. I would greatly apreciate any advice.

As you know we’ve had a long drought in NC. I had the same type of problem. I found that it helped when I seeded sections of my yard and applied a 1 inch cover of topsoil or processed manure (the type you can get a Home Depot for $3 for a 25lb. bag). It covered the seeds and kept the moisture in, and allowed for micro organisms to grow in the ground. Southern red clay is very poor in micro organisms once its cleared out for home development. Through reading, I found that these little bugs are very important to overall soil health. This spring you can see the difference between the side of my yard that I treated and the one I didn’t