From

Location

Message

Date Posted

Indianapolis,Indiana

i have this large area were Im going to grow my gisnt pumpkins. but first I have to remove the sod. I dont want to break my back doing so, so any info will be greatly appreciated! thanks

3/16/2006 4:46:05 PM

West By God Virginia

If the soil underneath isn't rocky here's an easy way. Get a linoleum (sp?) knife (it's kind of hook shaped) and cut the sod like carpet. The run the blade under the sod to severe the roots as you go. Roll up the sod like a carpet and put it in your compost pile. I hope this helps.

3/16/2006 5:09:58 PM

Wilmington.Ma.

Rent a tool has a sod cutter thats easy to use.

3/16/2006 5:38:09 PM

Follansbee, Wv

My garden is approx 7000 sq ft. It used to be a wild field. I just cut it as close to the ground as I could and tilled it under. Any lumps of sod that came up were thrown out.

3/16/2006 5:43:04 PM

Paradise Mountain, New York

Why would you want to remove the sod? Plow it under. Removing the sod your just throwing away a lot of valuable stuff. Plow it under............

3/16/2006 5:43:51 PM

Williamsport, Pa.

i agree with pumkin brat, if you cant till it, use a shovel and turn the way they did it before they had tillers

3/16/2006 6:26:42 PM

Syracuse, NY

i would definitely hit the area with massive Roundup
wait till its brown and then till it in like there's no tomorrow---i would think there would be additional organic matter retained this way...

3/16/2006 7:30:31 PM

Plymouth,ma

use the sod cutter, if you turn the turf over the roots will still take and you will have a mess. the grass growth in your patch will not pull out like weeds would because of the grass root system. i would stay away from lots of round up, this could tend to stay in your soil for a while.

3/16/2006 8:33:24 PM

roundup and till,,,use what you have for OM,,, roundup has nothing to do with the soil,,,run a google and find the facts

3/16/2006 8:50:29 PM

Sioux Falls, SD [email protected]

. . .there ya go Josh
sometimes the advice here all falls in line
sometimes it don't

i don't know about round-up residual
i didn't think there was much but not sure

but either way i think you want to till everything in
i did the sod removal trick for a garden once
the garden ended up 2 in. low
had a rainy stretch and it went to puddle

3/16/2006 9:00:57 PM

Whidbey Island WA

Josh, that's valuable organic matter. However, you can safely use Roundup and not lose any appreciable nutrients or have any residual "chemicals" in your soil. Remember, you are mostly H2O, and that's a chemical. Roundup is relatively benign. I asked this question to a PhD from OSU and she agreed that Roundup was not a problem. She is a compost tea advocate, and I was the principal operator of the compost facility that was awarded the "Composter of the Year" from the USCC. Go for it. I'll bet your earthworms will thrive...

3/16/2006 10:47:49 PM

Indiana

Roundup

3/17/2006 12:36:05 AM

Syracuse, NY

yeah,'soon as it touches anything organic that's not green,
it becomes neutralized. anything green, done deal!
soil, i would think, is organic, made mostly of once-living material. just buy a gallon of RTU, ready-to-use and
go to town, but avoid any breeze whatsoever---drifting vapors will kill or damage your other plants in the yard/field..so, keep it down, literally.

3/17/2006 1:20:47 AM

Mill Bay, British Columbia

As stated, use a mower first and take it down as far as you can then till the rest of it over and in. You'd be wasting all that great top soil if you remove anything.

Can't comment on roundup....never have used it.

3/17/2006 2:37:37 AM

ENGLAND

Josh
Many years ago there used to be a widely used practise of cutting Sod into 2ft X 2ft squares and stacking it in big piles green side down and covering with old wheat or barley straw to exclude any light. After 12 months this big pile of, what is now loam, was used as a high fibre potting soil in many Victorian Gardens. What i am trying to say here is dig, or till, that sod into the soil underneath and just as several folk above have said don't waste that valuable OM in that sod.

3/17/2006 3:26:53 AM

ENGLAND

P.S. To above
If you want to use Roundup to kill off the living sod, before digging or tilling in, remember that the grass needs to be actively growing to enable it to absorb and translocate the roundup to the roots. If you are worried about any residual effects of using Roundup just spray a test sample of fresh garden soil in a small tray with Roundup and leave for 2 days. Mix the soil up and then plant some raddish seeds in the soil and watch them germinate.

3/17/2006 3:34:33 AM

Anamosa, IA [email protected]

Josh,
If you use Roundup, make sure the grass is good and dead before you till it in. If you gon't give it at least 2 weeks of warm weather, the roots could survive and give you problems. Then you will need to add some nitrogen fertilizer, as the decomposing grass will tie up a lot of nitrogen. I learned from experience, having yellow sweetcorn plants after tilling up sod. You don't have to worry about residual problems from Roundup, unless you use some of the lawn and garden products that have an added residual herbicide. You want the active ingredient to be only glyphosate. I use Clearout, which is another glyphosate herbicide and cheaper than Roundup.

3/17/2006 8:23:07 AM

Menomonie, WI ([email protected])

Solarization works very good also with turned over sod.

3/17/2006 10:04:21 AM

addison Il

we tilled last spring right before our very first season and all the sod was just tilled in any big clumps we threw out but most ended up in the patch looks great to us now.

3/17/2006 8:26:39 PM

Salmon Arm, BC

Hi Josh,

jeez your enterprising!! How big is the area? For 20x 25 spaces i cut through with an edger into squares and then slam the sod squares out over the plot of any soil hanging on till im left with a thin carpet of grass root and leave it back sunny side up on the lawn for a couple days and into the compost she goes...Then i replace the space with old compost...lots of work but always rewards me....

3/18/2006 4:31:14 AM

Salmon Arm, BC

keep in mind this is my first time with pumpkins but always works for veggies over the years.

3/18/2006 4:33:41 AM

Ohio

Same problem with me Josh,Im in a completly new area and I almost rented a back-hoe to take my first top 3 inches of field grass & (top soil) out but decided to till it in.Ill leave all that good organic matter in there and play close attention to the Nitrogen levels as the grass decays. For me,ripping up 6000 sq feet of field grass is just way to much work then I cam handle right now and I know Ill have to put up with alot more weeds poping up this year. There is just not enough light in the day to get things done between kids,putting up fencing for horses,cows, ect ect, or I myself would have removed the grass.

Brooks

3/18/2006 5:21:16 AM

Ontario, Canada.

Spring patch additions Per 1,000 of new ground. The incorporation of large amounts of organic matter into Atlantic Giant patches greatly enables the grower’s chances for a larger pumpkin and a ticket to “Heavy Hitter” status. New healthy, fertile soil is a mixture of water, air, minerals, and organic matter.

Soil Test first. Hard work and a strong back go hand in hand as spring patch preparations begin the moment you can get your backside out of bed. I don't like to remove the sod either and I have just simply turned it over and let the sun roast the sods roots. Last year in a 1500sq.ft. addition I just threw everything on top. It will take much longer to mix the layers this way.

Roundup, hand turning and double digging is best but certainly this back breaking effort is not a requirement for entering the Land of the Giants.

Then equal amounts Shredded Leaves, Compost and Grass clippings. Well rotted Manure of any type in a 3 to 4" thick layer. Mixed in with 10Lbs molasses, 5 to 10 Lbs Urea, 10Lbs Jersey Greensand, 20Lbs Kelp meal, 20Lbs Alfalfa meal, 10Lbs Corn Meal then supplements if needed to adjust levels as required.

Adding biomass to the soil is the last spring step we can take. Certain grasses, grains, and legumes are used in gardening to gain an advantage on Mother Nature. Some types of cover crops pull nitrogen from the air (Fix Nitrogen) while others consume nitrogen. The fixers help put atmospheric nitrogen back into the soil while the consumer’s conserve and prevent leaching of the elements to the surround watershed. When rototilled back into the soil they give back the nitrogen. Broad leaf crops like Buckwheat are best planted after frost, early to mid summer. It may be a good idea to get buckwheat up and growing in new patch soils. The benefits are rapid growth and phosphorus fixation from the soil. I plant a nurse crop Buckwheat and hand pull the stems for mulch between the rows just ahead of the running vin

3/18/2006 7:23:59 AM