Both beginners and experienced gardeners, gardeners and lovers of indoor flowers are sure to come across such a concept as sod land. Many people are literally lost in conjectures, representing a dogwood, often abundantly covered with grass, which can be used almost in this form. However, in reality, this is not entirely true. Sod land is often part of substrates that have already been prepared by someone, which are sold in garden and flower shops and are intended for planting a variety of plants. But, as you know, the substrate can be bought or prepared by yourself, and it is still not known which will be better. So the sod land can be purchased by paying decently, or you can cook it yourself, spending some time and effort.
Sod land is a specially prepared substrate based on grass-covered sod. Farmer Burea-Uinsurance.com DFB
Contents:
The advantages of turf land in the composition of the garden mixture
What is the difference between garden mixes?
To begin with, let’s talk about the obvious differences between garden mixtures, because their composition is sometimes very different. Given the main ingredient in the garden mixture, you can tell if the mixture is acidic or not. For example, if peat is present in the garden mixture and there are no deoxidizers such as dolomite flour, then there is a high probability that the soil will be acidic.
And if sod soil is present as a basis, then this may indicate that the soil has a neutral reaction of the environment (but this is not 100%, therefore it is still desirable to check the acidity of the soil by analysis).
What is sod land good for?
It is especially loved by flower growers, because it contains an abundance of nutrients, is rich in minerals, is considered light soil and moisture-permeable, although the values of the latter properties are rather average.
Very often, it is sod land that is the basis of many soil mixtures, and such mixtures are readily acquired by people who do not accept the acid and “uselessness” of peat.
The amount of sod land in the soil mixture
Typically, the amount of sod land in the composition of the soil mixture can vary greatly and vary from one third to one half of the total mixture. However, do not forget that in the turf mixture, despite its nutritional value, there may be quite a little nitrogen, as a result, additional introduction of this element will be required.
If we talk about the acidity of sod land on average, then sod land is usually (but not always) close in this indicator to compost soil, because sod is often formed from the same “substances” as compost, only over a longer period of time.
How to prepare sod soil yourself?
Sod land harvesting sites
Cutting the soil into pieces and collecting them is easiest in any deciduous forest area. The sod forms there the fastest. But it is not “under every tree” you can collect sod land, it is better to use the soil of linden alleys, maple soil and various fruit plants for this.
As for such crops as, for example, willow or oak, it is better not to take sod there. The thing is that the sod, for the most part, is formed from the leaf mass of these plants, and therefore the sod soil that you will receive from the sod in the future, is literally saturated with tannins, which always act in the same way – they inhibit the growth and development of any plants trapped in such soil.
Sometimes you don’t have to go far to collect sod to obtain sod land – the nearest forest or even a park area, here are a couple of suitable places for collecting such land. Why? Yes, because, in fact, sod land is a layer of sod from a couple of centimeters to five centimeters thick, depending on how long trees have been growing in this place, whether it is an artificial planting or a forest.
This layer is literally pierced with small twigs, dried leaf blades, blades of grass and the remnants of their parts. At its core, it is the basis for preparing turf soil, suitable for growing a wide variety of crops and ideal for growing flower crops.
A place for harvesting sod land at the edge of the forest. Farmer Burea-Uinsurance.com The Woodchuck Canuck
Sod soil types
There can be several types of sod soil, depending on the place where the sod was taken to obtain it. Basically, it is the mechanical composition of the soil of this site that plays a role. For example, you can prepare light-sod soil, it will consist of clay and dust particles in a volumetric amount of about 30%, the rest, as we said above, is almost ready-made humus from twigs and other things.
The second option is heavy sod soil, in which the amount of clay and dust particles can reach 60 and even more percent.
Time of harvesting sod land
Of course, this is not winter, not early spring or late autumn, the best option is May, that is, late spring or late summer, that is, the month of August. Sod soil is harvested from turf, that is, the soil is literally cut into squares up to five centimeters thick (in rare cases, they take more), up to 15 centimeters wide and up to twenty centimeters long.
After the cut pieces of sod are taken to their final destination, they are stacked in stacks, preferably in a place where the sun is peeking, but no more than a couple of hours a day. Further, these sods, in order for them to turn into a full-fledged sod land, must undergo a kind of “ripening”, and this requires specific conditions.
For example, let’s take a sod brought from a forest. It can be stacked in a stack of absolutely any length and width, but it is better not to make this stack more than one and a half meters high in height. Stacking sod in stacks is best done closer to autumn or at the very beginning, therefore, spring harvesting is less appropriate, it is better to focus on autumn.
What to do after harvesting?
After harvesting and stacking the sod in piles, it is necessary to moisten it with slurry, usually a bucket of slurry is needed per square meter of sod half a meter high. It must saturate the sod, which is necessary to start and activate the fermentation processes and accelerate the preparation of sod land.
The second option for cooking sod land
Its essence is a kind of sod laying. They need to be stacked in rows, too, in stacks, but so that the parts overgrown with grass, those that looked up, are directed inward, that is, the grass in the stacks is turned towards the grass.
And between these layers of grass, to speed up all the processes of decomposition of the turf and increase its nutritional value, including enrichment of the nitrogen component, to lay cow or horse manure in a layer of 11-12 cm every 30-40 cm (in height) and so on until meter or one and a half – maximum. If you managed to prepare the sod, but it is acidic, then when laying, you can mix the manure with lime, it only needs 40 g per square meter of sod.
Ripening of sod land in a stack. Farmer Burea-Uinsurance.com Agrostory
What are the stack sizes?
The most different, most importantly, no more than one and a half meters in height, because higher is corny inconvenient to work. As for the width, it is optimal up to 110 centimeters, and the length is up to two meters. In large piles, in addition to the inconvenience of their maintenance, air exchange is usually much worse, and the decomposition of the turf itself is greatly slowed down.
What to do with a stack in winter?
It is best not to touch it at all, leave it as it is, not cover it, just wait for the warmth to come, and as soon as the air warms up to 5-8 degrees above zero, moisten it with a mullein solution (3 kg per bucket of water, this is per square meter of a stack).
During the summer, warm period, among other things, the stack must be mixed several times (two or three times). It is best and most convenient to use ordinary garden forks for this. Mixing the stack will accelerate the transformation of the sod into a full-fledged sod land and will allow more evenly distribution of the “recharge” over the entire mass of the future sod land.
If in the summer there is weather devoid of natural moisture, that is, there is no rain for a long time, then it is imperative to moisten the stack with plain water from a hose, trying to water it so that it is completely wet.
In some cases, two seasons are enough – that is, the first season – stacking the stack in spring or autumn, the second season is its tedding and by the end of the warm second season the sod land is ready. But sometimes, if the sod has clearly not decomposed, then it is necessary to repeat all the procedures for one more season, and already at the end of its sod land can be safely used.
If you need a little turf land
It is worth noting that if you need sod land in a modest size, for example, to renew the top layer in a flower pot a couple of centimeters thick, then you may not need to cook it in such a long way.
To obtain a small amount of sod land, it is permissible to cut off the sod layer, spread a plastic wrap and, holding the sod by the grass, shake the soil from a piece of sod onto the film.
Quite a lot of soil is obtained in this way when cutting sod in meadows, however, if you notice that sedge or horsetail grows in this place, then be sure that the earth here is acidic, but if legumes grow, then it will be quite suitable for use …
To obtain a small amount of sod land, you can, by cutting off a layer of sod, simply shake the soil out of it into a container. Farmer Burea-Uinsurance.com Superdom
How to use sod land?
What to do with turf ground before use?
Sod soil before use must be passed through a fine-mesh mesh, building something like a rumble familiar to all gardeners and gardeners. In this case, all large fractions, as well as those parts that have not decomposed, will roll down the screen, and the smallest parts will pass through it, forming a uniform free-flowing mixture.
After that, the sod soil can be folded into wooden boxes or plastic bags (as from sugar) and must be removed to a room inaccessible to sunlight. It is better to keep the bags on their side so that the mixture does not get compressed.
On the site, that is, literally “in the open air”, ready-to-use sod land should not be left. Under the influence of rain, sun and wind, as well as changes in day and night temperatures, the sod land will lose some of its nutritional properties, become less porous, less elastic and naturally less suitable for further use as a component in the preparation of nutritious soil.
Preparation of the resulting sod land immediately before use
Usually sod land is not used in its pure form. True, if you have the opportunity to do a chemical analysis of the soil in a laboratory, and the data show that there are sufficient main components in the soil you brought, then, in principle, such soil can be used without additional enrichment.
As a rule, various kinds of “impurities” are added to the sod land – often these are complex fertilizers, say, nitroammofosk, 10-15 g is enough for a bucket of sod land. You can add wood ash, it contains up to 5% potassium, it needs 500 grams per bucket of sod land.
The introduction should be accompanied by thorough mixing until a homogeneous composition. Sometimes, to increase the amount of sod land and some of its loosening, river sand is added in the amount of one part of sand for three parts of sod land.
Further, we strongly recommend decontaminating the sod land, because it can contain, in fact, anything, and the fact that it lay in the form of layers in the frost for one or two winters does not give a complete guarantee of the destruction of the ovipositor of pests or disease spores.
By the way, the procedure for disinfecting sod land must be carried out initially, before mixing it with fertilizers or river sand. The best option is to spill it with boiling water. To do this, you need the largest colander, into which you should pour turf soil and spill boiling water from a kettle. Of course, in this way you can destroy the beneficial microflora, but in this case the risk is justified and necessary.
Sod soil must be passed through a fine mesh before use. Farmer Burea-Uinsurance.com Superdom
Sod land application
Sod land is usually used for growing a wide variety of indoor plants and seedlings, for forcing green crops or growing vegetables in winter for the sake of harvesting “off-season”.
The main thing is to use the sod land correctly, loosen the top layer more often, water it, apply fertilizers, if necessary for this or that plant, and when laying in a container, it is imperative to initially put a drainage layer there, the role of which can be played by expanded clay, broken brick, pebbles or other small pebbles.
