My plugs fall apart, is it me or is this common?

[wild eyed willey]

I have permission to hunt an old school yard and have been trying to keep neat plugs, but they just fall apart most of the time. I have done the best I can to keep the area neat, but I was wondering if other people have the same problem.

 

[worldtalker]

How dry is the soil? GodBless Chris

 

[jeff of pa]

Yes I'd say Either Ground condition, or your digging too shallow of Plugs.

In all honesty, after over 40 years,
I still have those days.

Sometimes it's just the ground or grass
won't hold together no matter what you try.


Sometimes it's so dry it just crumbles

 

[cactusrat]

One thing you can try is to poor a little water on the spot you want to dig the plug. It might help hold it together. Yes it’s a lot more work and trouble, but it’s better then getting ran off the property.

 

[Normsel]

I try to skim off the sod and lay it aside and then dig and place dirt on a towel, when done fill the hole and replace the sod and stomp it down. I usually cut the sod in a rectangle and fold it back.

No matter what you do sometimes the plug or sod will break up. Sometimes the grass has lots of surface roots and it's hard to cut and it breaks away from the soil

 

[gerryk]

Of your skimming the sod it will die as the roots are not deep enough. But if your skimming the roots may grow and new grass come up. When you cut your plug cut it deeper than the object is unless it is deeper. If you need to go deeper hen remove more dirt and a towel will help for that in areas you need to be extra careful in.

 

[wild eyed willey]

Thanks for the advice, I'll just keep plugging away, no pun intended.