Calculators Topdressing and sand
How much topdressing sand do I need?
Area times depth, which sounds obvious until you are standing at the landscape yard trying to convert millimetres into cubic metres in your head. Works for sand, soil, compost or a blend.
Not sure? Measure it here.
5 to 10mm for a light levelling pass. Deeper than about 15mm at once risks smothering the grass.
Topdressing is for levelling, not for building soil. Go thin and repeat. A 5 to 10mm pass lets the grass grow back through in a week or two. Bury it deeper than about 15mm and you kill the low patches you were trying to fix.
Bulk is much cheaper than bags past about half a cubic metre. A cubic metre of washed sand is roughly a tonne and a half, so check your trailer's rating before you load it.
The longer version
Filling actual holes
For a real dip of 30mm or more, do not fill it in one go. Fill halfway, let the lawn grow through, come back. Or lift the turf, fill underneath, lay it back.
What to use on Perth sand
Straight washed sand levels well and matches what is already under most of Perth, but it adds nothing. A sand and compost blend levels just as well and improves the soil's ability to hold water and nutrient, which on our sand is the whole battle.
Timing
Topdress when the grass is growing hard enough to push through, so spring through summer for kikuyu, couch and buffalo. Do it in winter and the sand just sits there for months.
The app does this and keeps score
This works out one order. The lawn app holds your lawn's details so you never re-enter them, and it tracks the nitrogen you have already put down this year so later doses shrink instead of pushing you over the cap. Free, no account, works offline.