Top Soil

Danger_Ranger

Danger_Ranger

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 24, 2008
Location
Star NC
I have a customer wanting me to put top Soil back where I'm going to grind a bunch of stumps so they can get some grass growing pretty soon. What's a good top Soil to use? I've never bought any. But, I do have a massive pile of stump grinding shavings and dirt that I've brought to my house, it's been there for around 2 years I think. It's pretty black now, would it be good to use?
 
Not sure where you are, but Wallace Farms in the Charlotte/Concord area makes the blended top soil that you buy in the bags at the store. You can go to Wallace Farms and buy it by the cubic yard. They dump it in your truck or trailer.
 
I'll go on a topsoil kind of rant for you, lol. I've been in the landscape world most of my life, I'm 59 now. ANY mixed bulk "topsoil" is junk. They usually mix local fill dirt with sand and some type of organic material which may or may not be composted. Organic matter that's not composted eats nitrogen, therefore starving the plant of a much needed nutrient. Sand just sucks unless you have sand as your base soil anyway and then you don't need more sand. Sand mixed with clay takes on properties that doesn't resemble good characteristics of sand nor clay.
In My Opinion I think your best bet is a screened local soil that YOU incorporate composted organic material and then even some mushroom compost or composted manure, either cow or chicken, but it's got to be well composted or the cow will grow weeds and the chicken will burn. Your sawdust will be a barely composed carbon that will need a lot of nitrogen so it can break down so the plants can utilize it.
None of this is any good with out a soil test to see what pH and other needs this Topsoil may need. It's not rocket science but it is science and soil tests are easy and cheap.
BUT people want what they want and sometimes you have to give them that and move on... Buy them a $500 load of "topsoil", do the job, and move on.
And yes Wallace Farms is legit, they have good product.
 
Not sure how close you are working to Asheboro but...

If you only need a few yards I have had good luck with gold hills compost looks like they have more options now and the price is a little higher. But i added some to our garden and bare spots in the yard years ago. It was pretty clean soil with a bunch of earthworms in it.

goldhillroadmulch.com

Goldhill Road Mulch

We carry everything from Pine Bark to Top Soil, Wheat Straw to Pea Gravel, and we will save you money on all of it.
goldhillroadmulch.com goldhillroadmulch.com
 
Danger_Ranger said:
Gold Hill is about 25 minutes or so from me, so not too bad. @RQ, is there something I can do to turn my pile of shavings into good soil? I have an unlimited supply of chicken and cow manure, my grandpa has chicken houses and cows.
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I don't think you can turn it into soil but you can turn it into good compost by turning it and mixing it up. The center will compost but once that part is done it won't work its way out. Have you ever seen a pile of mulch smoking? It's composting, the anaerobic bacteria is breaking down and the molecules are working overtime against each other creating heat. Landfills can catch on fire due to composting because the heat gets so intense. Take a 6' x 6' pile of your shavings. Throw about one third of the cow or chicken manure in, add some water to it, Even get a box of Rid Ex septic tank additive and add it in, Its's the bacteria that compost needs to get working and watch it go. Once it stops smoking, turn it and add more nitrogen material. Even fertilizer with nitrogen will help. If you have a tractor with a front loader to mix it with, do it on a larger scale. You have the makings for some great compost!
 
83oldyoda4x4 said:
Is there a general rule of tumb? I thought someone told me equal parts of dark and green materials or something? IDK
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The dark is carbon and the green is nitrogen. 15%-30% nitrogen plus some moisture, not soaked but enough to dampen it real good, It should clump if you grab it and squeeze in your hand. . Compost is fun to learn, becomes a PITA once it's a chore! lol
 
Just use whatever local dirt they have that's dark and not red mud.
Mix in as much chicken shit as you can without it smelling like chicken shit.
Stump size spot .... about a coffee cup ... mix it good and run like heck.
They'll stop and spit every time they mention your name for the next 2 years and then go get the weed eater out so they can
cut the grass where those #%$@&^*&$#@%& stumps used to be!
 
R Q said:
I don't think you can turn it into soil but you can turn it into good compost by turning it and mixing it up. The center will compost but once that part is done it won't work its way out. Have you ever seen a pile of mulch smoking? It's composting, the anaerobic bacteria is breaking down and the molecules are working overtime against each other creating heat. Landfills can catch on fire due to composting because the heat gets so intense. Take a 6' x 6' pile of your shavings. Throw about one third of the cow or chicken manure in, add some water to it, Even get a box of Rid Ex septic tank additive and add it in, Its's the bacteria that compost needs to get working and watch it go. Once it stops smoking, turn it and add more nitrogen material. Even fertilizer with nitrogen will help. If you have a tractor with a front loader to mix it with, do it on a larger scale. You have the makings for some great compost!
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The city of Raleigh does this on an industrial scale. They collect people's lawn clippings, compost it, and sell it back to them. You may have something similar available closer to you.
 
I was reading the reviews of the bagged topsoil on the Lowe's website, and a lot of the reviewers complained about pieces of plastic bags and other trash in it lol.
 
There is lots of overcomplication here. You know my number lol.
You don't want to use compost to backfill a ground stump. Find a local material yard and get a yard of blended topsoil for lawns and send it. If there is no actual soil content to their topsoil mix in some screened fill so that the soil will actually pack.
If it is a large hole track it in as you go in lifts.

Too much mushroom compost or chicken shit will ruin the immediate area and kill what is around it as well as will not grow anything. If the cow shit is too fresh it will grow weeds. If your grindings havnt sat long enough they will not grow anything either.
The absolute best blended topsoil for lawns etc I have found is from soil supply. Everyone else has way too much filler and organics to truly use it for anything other than tilling into garden beds.
 
My big pile of grindings has Bermuda grass growing in it now. But that shit will grow just about anywhere lol, so that's probably not saying much.
 
To bad your not near Morganton, Morganton water works has free organic compost and it is some pretty good stuff
 
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