# How to grow grass in N. Michigan sand



## Downriver Tackle (Dec 24, 2004)

A local farmer gave me this tip and so far into year #2, the results are amazing!!! 

I live in the NE MI sand bowl. 30-60' of nothing but sand over shale. Almost impossible to grow grass without bringing in soil.

What I did was plant winter rye(field crop) in the spring, spread it just like grass seed. As soon as it starts to sprout, lay down regular rye grass seed. The root structure of the field rye, along with it being fast growing with wide blades, keeps the real grass seed shaded and moisture in the soil. As long as you keep the field rye mowed, it keeps growing. The field rye that does die off, though not much in 2 years, can be thatched and mulched into the lawn for compost, leaving the real rye grass to eventually take over with some descent organics in the sand to support it. 

The winter rye is CHEAP also! $20 per 40 or 50# bag. Only thing though is to not let the field rye get too tall. If you do, then mow it, it will yellow or die. Keep it mowed like a regular well-kept lawn and it stays thick and green.


----------



## Burksee (Jan 15, 2003)

DT, our camp is up your way near Grand Lake/Long Lake and have a couple of plots that mirror your conditions. As mentioned we started planting rye, mow it and turn it over, plant rye, mow it and turn it over, been doing that for several years now and the results have been amazing. The real trick is to also introduce some rye to the system back at camp after the works done! :yikes: :lol: :lol: :lol:


----------



## bucko12pt (Dec 9, 2004)

Downriver Tackle said:


> A local farmer gave me this tip and so far into year #2, the results are amazing!!!
> 
> I live in the NE MI sand bowl. 30-60' of nothing but sand over shale. Almost impossible to grow grass without bringing in soil.
> 
> ...


You might contact The turf guys at Boyne Mtn, or some of the courses in the NLP. Working with MSU, they developed a mix that will grow fairway quality grass on almost pure white beach sand. The advantage to sand is it drains so quickly after a rain , it can be played on immediately. They rarely use topsoil anymore on sandy courses, instead selling it or making mounds/ moguls on the edge of the fairways.


----------



## ENCORE (Sep 19, 2005)

The above is good to know, as I live in the same damn sand bowl. Of course I'm right in the middle of the woods, with the poorest top soil one can have, other than plain'ol sand. Its nothing but dust. I'm heading over to Miller's tomorrow


----------



## sbrickne (Feb 25, 2013)

Planting some myself this year for the first time in my sandy michigan soils. DblTree has an excellent thread on the benefits of Winter Rye. Definitely worth the read. 

A couple quotes from his thread

"Rye in repeated forage testing has proven to be higher in protein then wheat or almost any fall planted cereal grain and it is important to understand that we are talking about digestable protein as well as crude protein.

Rye has many more important attributes then that however and for those that would rather not spend their money on herbicides and expensive fertilizers but still build up their soils...rye is for you!"

"It not only provides deer with a source of protein that exceeds wheat but recycles nitrogen and helps control weeds!

Many landowners are not aware of the importance of taking care of and improving their soils that will in turn provide higher quality forage to produce bigger, better and healthier whitetails and other wildlife.

Rye can grow literally anywhere and it's commonly seen along new road construction for that very reason, it can tolerate extremely low PH, needs no fertilizer and can survive the toughest droughts and harshest winters."


----------

