How to remove sod?

JBBVD

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Jun 4, 1997, 3:00:00 AM6/4/97

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What is the best way to remove sod? For our parents birthday we bought
them a professional landscape designer to create a plan for them. It is
now their job to do the actual planting and such. Anyway they have to
remove a large portion of sod from their back yard. They want to kill it
with Round-up and then till it into the soil. I say rent a sod cutter.
Which is better? Can you still plant shrubs and things after using
Round-up? The round-up people say yes, I don't trust them. I will
appreciate and respnses and experiences.

Seed Man

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Jun 4, 1997, 3:00:00 AM6/4/97

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Go with the sod cutter. Then bring in a little extra soil. Who would
want Roundup mixed in with the soil they are about to plant new shrubs
in?

Pat Kiewicz

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Jun 4, 1997, 3:00:00 AM6/4/97

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In article <19970604145...@ladder02.news.aol.com>, jb...@aol.com
says...

>
>What is the best way to remove sod? For our parents birthday we bought
>them a professional landscape designer to create a plan for them. It is
>now their job to do the actual planting and such. Anyway they have to
>remove a large portion of sod from their back yard. They want to kill it
>with Round-up and then till it into the soil. I say rent a sod cutter.
>Which is better? Can you still plant shrubs and things after using
>Round-up? The round-up people say yes, I don't trust them. I will
>appreciate and respnses and experiences.

I'd rent a sod cutter and remove it. If the sod is at all thick, it
will, even in death, hold together in strong clumps and resist tilling.

To replace any 'good stuff' you remove with the sod, till in some compost.
I use cut pieces (if the sod is good) to patch weak areas, and put the
rest out at the curb with a 'free sod' sign on it to recycle what I can't
reuse.

--
Pat in Plymouth MI

Dennis Anderson

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Jun 4, 1997, 3:00:00 AM6/4/97

to JBBVD

JBBVD wrote:
>
> What is the best way to remove sod? For our parents birthday we bought
> them a professional landscape designer to create a plan for them. It is
> now their job to do the actual planting and such. Anyway they have to
> remove a large portion of sod from their back yard. They want to kill it
> with Round-up and then till it into the soil. I say rent a sod cutter.
> Which is better? Can you still plant shrubs and things after using
> Round-up? The round-up people say yes, I don't trust them. I will
> appreciate and respnses and experiences.

My response is to use the sod cutter. Although again it would depend on
what type of grass you are removing and intending to plant. Grasses
like Bermuda, Zoysia, Bent, St. Augustine have root systems that
generally grow deep and lateral. These are very difficult to remove
with a sod cutter and not have them come back. if you have fescue or
blue grass and you're planting fescue or blue grass again i would
suggest the sod cutter. I've used the sod cutter and you'll have it
removed in no time. spraying with RoundUp can take several weeks and
repeated applications, depending on the type of grass, and then will be
very messy removing the dead grass.

A word of note, if you use the sod cutter, make sure the lawn has been
watered the day before. don't try and sod cutter on a dry hard pack
soil. Doesn't work to well.

good luck,

--
_____________________________________________________________________________
Dennis W. Anderson
Product Manager
http://www.gardenmart.com

Dave Toth

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Jun 5, 1997, 3:00:00 AM6/5/97

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jb...@aol.com (JBBVD) wrote:

>What is the best way to remove sod? For our parents birthday we bought
>them a professional landscape designer to create a plan for them. It is
>now their job to do the actual planting and such. Anyway they have to
>remove a large portion of sod from their back yard.

Now I know why I never married and had children, I suggest that they
by each of you a good spade for your birthdays and let you remove the
sod. ;-)
---------------------------------------------
.............Dave Toth..............| RIGHT NOW!
Grimsby,Ontario,Canada.| SOMEONE, SOMEWHERE
........border USDA 5/6.......| is putting your name
dave...@sympatico.ca.| on a mailing list!

CavuMine

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Jun 5, 1997, 3:00:00 AM6/5/97

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I'd go for the sod cutter route. You can rent one for one day, and get
the whole thing done, and compost the stuff, or patch up bare spots on
other parts of the lawn. It's not exactly "light" work, even with a
motorized sod cutter, but I don't trust spraying my lawn with something
that will kill....especially if I plan to plant something in it's place.

Paula
Paula O'Buckley
Horseheads NY Zone 5

Gary Slusser

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Jun 5, 1997, 3:00:00 AM6/5/97

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I've been told that when you use Roundup to clear a large area, you should
wait at least 6 wks before planting anything. Use the sod cutter or you
won't have much growing season left to grow anything! Linda Slusser