jeffc said:

I'm transplanting some grass from healthy areas of my lawn that I'm trimming
back, to thin areas in several spots. The grass is thin and not really
growing probably due to rocky soil (heavy gravel left there from
preconstruction)

And, you're transplanting some sort of 'magic' grass, that will ignore, and
somehow overcome the fate of it's predecessor?

and also probably due to shallow roots from some pines.

If the pines are still there, I'd venture a guess that you'd find /most/ of
their roots, "shallow".

If
I'm cutting up small areas (several feet square in several places) how do I
best cut out these roots?

Why would you want to cut them out? They're there for a reason, you know.
The trees' roots are shallow because that's where the food is (and the
water, and the air, etc). If they're actually pines, that may be part of
the problem. Pine needles can raise the acidity of the soil to levels that
most grasses just can't tolerate. So, the transplanted sod will die for the
same reasons the old sod was dying, and the trees will suffer damage, for
no reason at all. Seems pretty much a waste of time, energy, and sod
'transplanted from the healthy areas of your lawn'.


They are 1/4" to maybe 3/4" in size. Tried a
tree pruning saw but it curves the wrong way. Other saws, or something else
altogether?

Add some quality, fine compost, and maybe a bit of lime? (A soil test would
be a good idea). Oh, and if you /really/ want nice turf under your pines,
get a lawn vac that will pick up the needles.

--

Eggs

Do Amish people get one phone call when arrested?