Question
I have recently had a very large oak tree removed from my front lawn.  The grass is in terrible shape. It has chips from the stump covering a large area, and is in overall bad shape.  I was considering sod.  Do you have any advice on how to treat the soil prior to laying the sod?  Also if you might know how much it would cost to purchase or to have it done professionally?  I live on Long Island, in Plainview.  Thank you for your help.

Answer
The problem with removing large Trees, unfortunately, is they never seem to come out completely.

Landscapers don't want to be bothered.

Tell me please that the company that removed the Tree got out most of the roots and all of the stump.

Because if they didn't, your Lawn is never going to recover.  Never.  Never.  NEVER.

I am not kidding here.

O.K.  It will take maybe 100 years before the wood in the old Oak stump is gone.  Then you can grow Grass there.  See?  Never.

I could explain it all but hopefully they did the right thing and got it all out, hook line sinker etc.  Can you tell?  This is critical.  If you had a contract, please review it, and see how much of that Tree legally they are supposed to remove.  It matters.

Rake up the chips and hopefully this is the only problem you are going to deal with.

You can do Sod, but I think you are better off with a new Lawn.  New Grass gives you more control over the Seed you use.  Sod is tricky; if the installation goes wrong (you don't water it propertly for instance) they are not liable and that's money out the window.  In addition, you don't really know how healthy the Sod is when the lay it out.  Sure, it looks green and fresh.  But so do flowers after you cut them and stick them in a vase, and they are going to be thrown out in 2 weeks or sooner.  Just be careful if you do the Sod thing.  Drive around the neighborhood and find someone who seems to be doing a good job -- they're all over the place.  Old Brookville and Westbury have some distinguished looking houses where they'll spend a ton of money on their Lawn, but you can get the same guys and they'll do the job for you too.  They are usually reliable and do quality work which is why they got picked for the Brookville job.  Get someone you LIKE.

But the most important thing is to make sure that wood is out of the ground completely.  If it isn't, get it out.  No Grass can grow if Wood underground -- and that includes 3, 4, 5 feet down -- is still down there sucking up all the Nitrogen in the Soil.  Oaks have BIG root systems.  Check.  Then get back to me.  Thanks for writing.

L.I.G.