OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums General Discussion Forum Lawn Care & Maintenance Velvetene Lawn

Hi All,
I have recently had installed a velveteen lawn (paspalum vaginatum).
It has been installed quite lumpy. It is a disgrace and its eating at me!
It has been in for about 8 weeks and seems to be growing quite good, a few brownish spots, but I think that may just be from my 2 labradors doing their business all over it.
I have just purchased a cylinder mower as I've been told this is going to be a much better option than my rotary mower.
I now have a large job ahead to try and flatten the lawn out. I would really love some help and direction in regards to achieving this goal. I thought my first step might be, mow with the new reel mower, screed some lawn sand into any holes and then fertilise.
Does this sound like a good idea?
My next questions are, how short should I go? which mower, cylinder or rotary? any tips on the type of top fill to use and fertiliser? Is the lawn too young? or is it the weather not right yet, to top dress?
Any other feedback would be much appreciated.

Regards,

Evo

Hi Evo,

I must admit that I haven't even heard of this type of lawn before, but reading some of the specs on it suggests it is the perfect lawn for everyone, well we've all heard that line used before as that's how Santa Ana was originally marketed as and it's all lies. You only get out of it what you put into any lawn. There's no such thing as the do nothing and have a perfect lawn scenario.

The first question one has to ask is this a seed type lawn or a self rejuvenating type lawn which Kikuyu, Buffalo and Couch is ?

One thing I will say though is that many of these contractor / installers do very little in surface prep and just flatten it out and lay the rolls out onto the freshly screeded surface. Now once the ground underneath settles and compacts then the lawn will follow it down, thus showing a shoddy job, something that you are now the victim of it seems.

Once I know what type of grass this is then I'll be able to give you some advice.

Cheers,
BB.

I have attached so information that might be of some help to your questions.

Thanks Bruce

Hi Evo.
Congratulations on your choice of lawn. In my opinion, Velvetene is the best on the market.
I have had it in my backyard for 14 years and it looks as good as it did in the first year. It doesn't invade the garden beds, doesn't thatch, quite drought tolerant and recovers very well from abuse. I've just replaced my front saltene lawn with Velvetene as it was invaded by Kikuyu. I spent 4 hours screeding in preparation as per photos attached.
Now that your lawn is 8 weeks old, I would recommend a hard scalp with a cylinder mower at it's lowest setting. Mow east and west, north and south and both diagonals until you're not producing any more clippings. Fill any dips with Special Lawn Mix soil and screed with a straight edge. Hopefully the dips aren't too deep as you don't really want to be putting more than 4cm of fill in at a time. Ordinarily with a top dress I would only add a few mm.
You may need to repeat this process a few times over the next year but I'm sure things will smooth out.
All the best.

Hi Sbtragic,
Thanks for your advice. I am scarred I am going to take quite a few chunks out of the lawn as it is so poorly installed, but I think I am going to follow your advice.
I guess ill just have to see how it goes and deal with what happens.
Your front lawn looks great.

Hi Evo and Sbtragic,

I'll have to say that this must a bit of a WA lawn as I haven't heard of it in SA.

Now since Evo has only had it laid around 8 weeks ago it really hasn't had time to mature and be manipulated at such a young age.

It seems like it is very much a couch style lawn as it's self rejuvenating and has runners that will invade outwards, thus I'd let it go for the season and let it fully establish before you start scalping an already struggling plant trying to get its roots going.

Next season I'd scalp it completely and top dress the low spots, but no more than 3 to 4cm in thickness at any one stage. If it requires more then wait until it has fully established itself in those localised areas.

This not a process that you can solve in 10 minutes, but if you did want to do this in a short time frame then I suggest that you remove the section and re-suface the base and then stitch a new section in just how they do it on AFL / Cricket Grounds like the WACCA or Subiaco (since you are in WA)

Cheers,
BB.

Thanks BB,
That sounds like a good idea, as much as it is annoying me, I think I should let it have some time to settle in before I hit it too hard.
I am a little bit concerned whether my 20 inch SB is going to run a ground in some of the uneven patches. Do you think it may be best to use my rotary mower on it this season to avoid any scalping that may occur with the SB?
As I am yet to use the SB i'm not sure whether it will be ok on the highest mow height or whether the highest mow height is still very low compared to my rotary.
Also, do you think it would be ok to dress some of the holes that don't require scalping?
Regards,
Evan

Hi Evo,

To be brutally honest if your surface is not dead smooth then a cylinder mower is a bit of a waste and will do nothing more than cut lines into the final finish.

Yes I'd be using a rotary for current mowing and also as a scalping machine providing the height adjuster can be forced to get down to dirt level or just above.

Cheers,
BB.

PS. Here's a photo of my freshly planted front lawn (last Season) after its first ever scalping which was around 5mm above ground surface using a Masport rotary.

Thanks BB,
Brilliant. That gives me a really clear plan of attack.
Regards,
Evo