How Do I Level My Existing Lawn
Use Your Roller In Moderation
When using a yard roller on a lawn that’s already been established, take great care not to overdo it.
Too many uses can compact your topsoil, making it difficult for your grass’s roots to absorb the right amount of water and nutrients.
If your soil does become compacted, however, you might be able to get it healthy and loose again by aerating it.
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Should I Roll Or Aerate My Lawn First
Always aerate your lawn after using a roller. Heres why this is so important.
Soil contains a lot of air: up to half of your grounds volume could be made up from tiny open spaces in between particles of soil. These little gaps fill with water and air, which grass roots need to grow.
Too much roller activity can lead to the earth becoming too compacted. This squashes the soil into all these essential little air gaps, and the end result is that the grass will struggle. It can also lead to the lawn becoming waterlogged, which again, isnt good for the grass.
So, if youve run the roller over your lawn to smooth it out, youll need to put those air pockets back in afterwards. If you have a modest-sized lawn, you can aerate with a garden fork. Simply stick the tines right in, give them a little wiggle, then pull them out again. Repeat all over the lawn.
If you have a larger lawn, you hire a coring machine, which pulls out little plugs of soil. After aerating, leave these plugs on the lawn, as they will help to enrich it. In general, aeration is best carried out when the lawn isnt too wet or dry. Because rollering is best carried out on a dry day, your lawn may need a light water prior to aerating.
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Why You Should Not Roll Your Lawn
Healthy soil is made up of about 50% open space that gets filled with air or water, depending on the moisture level in your soil. Grass roots actually grow in this empty space between soil particles, not “in the dirt”.
If you don’t have enough pore space in between your soil particles, you won’t have healthy roots. If you don’t have healthy roots, you can guess what your lawn will look like.
Here’s a graphical example of a healthy soil:
Why Do People Roll Their Lawn
Rolling the lawn is a topic thats argued fiercely within the lawn keeping community.
A healthy lawn will have a lot of air and empty space in it.
Rolling your lawn will compact this space and compress everything into your lawn.
The most common time to roll your lawn is right after seeding.
The compression will firmly press the seeds into the soil, giving them a better chance of germinating and growing.
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Do I Have To Buy A Lawn Roller
No. You can buy popular brands, including Brinly-Hardy, Agri-Fab, Ohio Steel, directly from the company or at local distributors. You can also rent one from many local home improvement stores, lawn care or garden centers, or tool rental houses. Save the space in your garage and rent one if you feel the need, says Harold Carver of Carver Bros. Turf in Roxboro, N.C.
Why Lawn Rolling Can Cause Lawn Problems
Good soil for lawns isnt just dirt. Air pockets make up about a quarter of healthy soils Rolling a hundred-plus pounds over those air pockets can crush them, denying your grass roots a chance to grow. As the University of Kentucky Extensions lawn guide states, Rolling is not often considered a regular maintenance practice. In fact, rolling wet, heavy clay soils will cause soil compaction and decrease soil aeration. However, on well-drained, medium, and coarse-textured soils, rolling may help:
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Check Your Roller’s Weight
You want to be sure you don’t select a tow-behind grass roller that’s too heavy for your mower.
If you own a powerful garden tractor or a commercial-grade zero turn mower, you might be fine using larger yard rollers.
If, however, you’re going to be using a lawn tractor or a consumer-grade zero turn mower, your roller should not weigh more than 300 pounds.
Also, it’s recommended that you avoid using tow-behind lawn rollers on hills with steep inclines greater than 10 degrees. Always be sure to tow your rollers across hills and not up and down them. The added weight of a lawn roller can make rolling on inclines challenging and possibly dangerous.
Not An Annual Necessity But Useful In Specific Circumstances
As we have said, rolling is not something you need to do every year it is something that should be done only in specific circumstances or to rectify very specific problems. Remember that lawns are made up of thousands of tiny plants, and passing a big heavy roller over them compacts the earth and puts those plants under a lot of stress. For this reason, you should think carefully about whether you really need to roll your lawn at all.
Dont forget to pin it
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Rolling Lawn After Overseeding
ForsheeMS said:As long as the rollers are applying enough pressure then it will work. If not just use the tires. I use my zero turn for rolling in the seed and it works just fine. Takes a little longer than a pull behind roller since I’m only doing 24″ at a time but the money I save not renting or buying a roller is money I can spend on other lawn care stuff.
XiolaOne said:Not OP, but would one of those rollers that you fill with water be heavy enough to get good seed to soil contact? Especially if the existing grass was short enough and you watered before to soften up the soil some? Think it gets about 270lbs
FuzzeWuzze said:
XiolaOne said:Not OP, but would one of those rollers that you fill with water be heavy enough to get good seed to soil contact? Especially if the existing grass was short enough and you watered before to soften up the soil some? Think it gets about 270lbs
Thats what most people use, so i would say yes I dont think you typically fill them up more than about half way, you dont want it so heavy it compacts your soil.
Noob question – do you roll before or after Pete moss?I assume this is done after seeding/fertilizing but before Pete Moss?When would you spray Tenacity? After rolling but before Pete moss?Thanks and sorry for thread hijack.
Can I Just Throw Grass Seed Down On Existing Lawn
Overseeding is spreading grass seed over an existing lawn. Done right, it’s a straightforward process that gets results. As grasses mature, thinning is normalespecially if you enjoy your lawn and use it often. Overseeding keeps your lawn competitive and steeped in youth and vigor, without starting over from scratch.
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How Do You Fill Large Low Spots In Lawn
When you are dealing with a low spot more than an inch lower than surrounding grass, lift any sod that is still present. Fill in the hole in lawn with soil, mounding it about 1 inch higher than the surrounding grade. Replace the grass, pat it lightly into place, and water. The grass should eventually settle into place.
Lawn Care Tips Rolling Your Lawn
2 min read
Lawncare tips Should you ever roll your lawn?
Rolling your lawn We often see groundsmen and greenkeepers rolling green velvet cricket pitches, tennis courts and sports fields. But should it be something we do at home?
does rolling do more harm than good?
Lawncare tips rolling your lawn what does lawn rolling do?
Aerating our lawns, worm casts and frosts will create an irregular lawn. Rolling is one way to correct it.
But before you begin hauling a roller around your garden, you should take note of a few things. Firstly, rolling can only ever correct an irregular lawn. Secondly, a medium weight roller will only compress the top few centimetres of the soil. So if there are even moderate differences in the level of the lawn, dont expect to fix them in this way. Top dressing or completely renewing the lawn would both be much better ideas.Third consideration is the soil type. Free draining sandy soils will withstand rolling time and again. Their structure makes compaction less of a problem, but rolling clay soil even once could cause the soil to compact. This will prevent the grass from growing well, inhibiting drainage and require a lot of time and effort to put right. This could be a problem on any soil type if the roller used is too heavy or the soil too damp at the time of rolling.
Lawncare tips rolling your lawn when do you roll your lawn?
So rather than going out and buying a roller, be thankful you have one thing less to do.
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So How Do You Fix A Lumpy Bumpy Lawn
The best thing you can do for a bumpy lawn is to:
- Aerate your lawn regularly
- Topdress, apply a thin layer of soil, granular compost, or sand over the top surface of your lawn, when necessary
- Consider overseeding when needed,
- Manage pest infestations proactively
- Keep your lawn thick and healthy
Bumps are usually the result of uneven growth and poor health. When the lawn thickens sufficiently, these bumps are much less pronounced.
How To Properly Roll The Lawn
Weve mentioned that its important to know how to roll properly so that the lawn in sports centers wouldnt be damaged.
That actually goes for all lawns. So, check out these tips on how to properly roll the lawn:
1. The ground should be damp
You have to know the difference between damp and soaked because it is necessary when trying to roll the lawn.
The ground should be damp because rolling on dry land will not effectively press the lawn. For example, if you are rolling after sodding, the sod will not be properly pushed to the soil.
On the other hand
The ground cannot be soaked. Remember when we mentioned that the soil will become compact?
Soil compaction has a terrible effect on the lawn. Rolling on the soaked lawn will result in soil compaction, so avoid at all costs.
2. Do it during spring, but not every spring
As mentioned, this is the perfect time to roll the lawn because the grass is just coming off dormancy. The roots are active.
Also, dont roll the lawn every spring. Remember, you want to avoid soil compaction.
3. Dont roll clay soil
Clay-heavy soil is already compact enough. Rolling it will just damage the lawn.
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How Do You Fix A Sunken Lawn
Leveling Deeply Sunken Lawn Areas The trick to filling deep holes is to compact the soil gently and give it some water to settle it as you fill up the hole. If you simply pile on some loose dirt and plant your seed, the soil will settle, and you’ll be left with sunken area covered with nice, new grass.
Does It Help To Roll A Lawn After Seeding
Again, it seems to make sense that rolling your lawn after seeding would help the seed-soil contact . However, it would be better to take a leaf-rake and lightly rake over the seed to incorporate it into the soil. You do not want to bury the seed you should still see the seed after raking the raking will just give the seed more contact with the soil. Rolling over the seed will compact the soil which will make it harder for the new grass roots to grow into the soil.
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When Is The Best Time Your Roll Your Lawn
After reading the reasons why you might roll your lawn, one thing is obvious: most of the problems are associated with winter or planting new grass.
This means that theres really only one good time to roll your lawn in the spring.
Rolling your lawn in winter will do nothing for you. The ground will be too hard and frozen.
In the hot summer months, your grass might be struggling and the soil might be baked, so thats not a good time to do it either.
That leaves fall and spring.
If your lawn chemistry is dialed in, and its well fertilized, spring is the time of year that your grass is just going into the growing phase.
That means you can roll it and it still has a chance of recovering from the stresses associated with rolling a lawn.
The best day in spring to roll is when your lawn is wet but not soaking wet. This could be after a light shower or after you water the lawn a little.
If the grass is overly saturated, the rolling process will compress it too much and ruin your lawn.
So How Do I Level My Lawn Without Rolling
There are only two reasons why you may wish to level your lawn, but both have safer alternatives to rolling. The first is to smooth over the worm casts after winter. The best way to smooth these is to put the lawn roller away and, on a dry day, brush them away with a stiff broom or a long cane. Secondly, to eliminate large bumps or mounds. The way to fix these is to operate on your lawn, removing soil underneath the turf as required. I will cover this in more detail in a future post.
For the longer term, an annual top dressing is a fantastic treatment to apply to your lawn to keep the minor cracks and dips filled in, keeping your lawn level and maintaining a good quality soil texture.
If you would like to discuss if you should roll your lawn, top dressing, or would like me to measure your lawn for compaction, then please dont hesitate to get in touch.
Kris Lord
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Do You Use A Lawn Roller When The Soil Is Wet Or Dry
Related Articles
Lawn rollers are weighted rollers used to compact the soil when you’re planting new grass. They are typically used on dry soil wet soil can become so compact that grass seed or sod roots can’t become established. However, there is a time when rolling slightly damp soil is key to proper grass growth.
Tip
The best time to roll a lawn with a weighted roller is when the soil is dry to avoid too much compaction however, in some cases, rolling slightly damp soil is beneficial.
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One Of The Most Common Questions We Get This Time Of Year Is Should I Roll My Lawn
It seems like a great idea to smooth out the bumps and valleys but it may damage your healthy turf. In Rochester we have many areas with clay soil composition. Rolling clay soils will cause compaction and decrease the turfs ability to absorb water and air. Most soil and grass in the Rochester area can be raked to flatten the area without the worry of weakening the turf by rolling.
How Do I Level My Yard Without Killing The Grass
How to Level Your Yard Without Killing the Grass
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So When Should You Roll Your Lawn
With all these reasons why you shouldnt roll, it might seem like rolling is something that is best avoided. However, there are a few special situations when rolling is required.
One time when rolling can possibly be recommended is after seeding. If you spread new seed over a patch of bare lawn, rolling it can ensure the seeds are forced into close contact with the earth, which aids germination.
Check out this video to see how and why its done.
However, a similar effect can be achieved by raking, so rolling isnt essential, it is simply an optional technique that can be beneficial.
Another time when rolling is recommended is when laying new sods of grass. This will help the grass take root and will also encourage deeper root growth. For these reasons, this is one of the times when rolling your lawn is actively recommended.
Rolling may also be helpful after a winter that brought particularly changeable conditions. A winter with lots of mild periods mixed with colder snaps may cause soil heaving, and rolling is one way to rectify this problem.
Finally, another time when rolling is helpful is after significant mole activity. If moles spend the winter burrowing through your lawn, a good rolling session will help even out the bumps they have created.