GardenBanter.co.uk - View Single Post

Lawn Guy · 15-02-2010, 03:39 PM posted to alt.home.lawn.garden

wrote:

Bluegrass may be an even worse choice because it has higher
nitrogen requirements than other grasses. So, to try to
make it grow, you'll be applying fertilizer.

He's already trying to grow grass under a tree. Don't you think the
tree will already be depleting the soil anyways?

Anyone who wants a thick, healthly lawn will already be applying
fertilizer. Your argument is a red herring. His problem will a
reduction in sunlight starting in mid-june until fall. You put any
other type of grass there and it will thin out quickly.

Guess what else wants that fertilizer and other nutrients?
Those pesky thin, dense, tree roots from your Maple.

So what's wrong with fertilizing your trees?

So, they will start extending up into that nice new topsoil
too. And in a year or two, you'll be back where you started.

Unlikely. I've got several large maples (silver and sugar) and the only
surface roots I see are large and woody and would easily be burried for
years if I covered them with an inch or two of topsoil. It's the
cotton-woods and locusts that grow agressive surface roots much faster
that are more troublesome.