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Lawn Care Tips (1 Viewer)

shuke said:
If you already have weeds, also get Bayer weed/crabgrass killer for lawns concentrate and a one or two gallon sprayer.
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I bought this stuff. Dumb question coming: do you use this as a spot weed killer or do I spray on the whole lawn and it kills the weeds and leaves the good grass alone?

 
Looking for ground cover in an area with a bit of water gathering that has killed off my zoysia and bermuda that I've ettempted to get in place there. 

I've worked in a drainage but it can only do much due to surrounding terrain. Building up isn't really an option given I will be selling the place within a year and don't want to tie up a ton of money in it. 

So... good ground cover ideas... be it greens, stone/rock, etc.  Memphis TN area. Moderate shade. High water exposure. 

Pea Gravel is always an option but kinda sucks. I saw a volcanic looking red rock at a buddy's house that looked solid. I'm sure there are ground cover greens I could use as well. 

Catch: It's near a gate, so I have to be able to walk through / drag lawn mower through. I'm good with paver tone sections if greens turn out to be the best option. 

:popcorn:

 
[icon] said:
Looking for ground cover in an area with a bit of water gathering that has killed off my zoysia and bermuda that I've ettempted to get in place there. 

I've worked in a drainage but it can only do much due to surrounding terrain. Building up isn't really an option given I will be selling the place within a year and don't want to tie up a ton of money in it. 

So... good ground cover ideas... be it greens, stone/rock, etc.  Memphis TN area. Moderate shade. High water exposure. 

Pea Gravel is always an option but kinda sucks. I saw a volcanic looking red rock at a buddy's house that looked solid. I'm sure there are ground cover greens I could use as well. 

Catch: It's near a gate, so I have to be able to walk through / drag lawn mower through. I'm good with paver tone sections if greens turn out to be the best option. 

:popcorn:
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I would advise on not using popcorn.  How big an area?

 
Beef Ravioli said:
I bought this stuff. Dumb question coming: do you use this as a spot weed killer or do I spray on the whole lawn and it kills the weeds and leaves the good grass alone?
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This is always a quantity question.  If you have a ton of weeds, buy the treatment that goes on your garden hose.  Treats about 5000 square feet per bottle.  Use that to get it under control, then use the sprayer treatments to maintain going forward.

 
Do we have any Florida FBG in this thread?  Wondering what my best option is to get away from that crunch St. Augustine grass.  I am thinking of a Zoysia of some sort, but not sure which.  Might be best to wait til I am actually there before trying to figure this all out, but I can't help myself.

 
Beef Ravioli said:
I bought this stuff. Dumb question coming: do you use this as a spot weed killer or do I spray on the whole lawn and it kills the weeds and leaves the good grass alone?
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Spot treatment.  But if you have a lot I guess you can spray the whole yard.

 
[icon] said:
Looking for ground cover in an area with a bit of water gathering that has killed off my zoysia and bermuda that I've ettempted to get in place there. 

I've worked in a drainage but it can only do much due to surrounding terrain. Building up isn't really an option given I will be selling the place within a year and don't want to tie up a ton of money in it. 

So... good ground cover ideas... be it greens, stone/rock, etc.  Memphis TN area. Moderate shade. High water exposure. 

Pea Gravel is always an option but kinda sucks. I saw a volcanic looking red rock at a buddy's house that looked solid. I'm sure there are ground cover greens I could use as well. 

Catch: It's near a gate, so I have to be able to walk through / drag lawn mower through. I'm good with paver tone sections if greens turn out to be the best option. 

:popcorn:
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I have 2 things;

-rubber mulch pad, cut to need.

-plastic grass (it's green).

 
The Commish said:
Do we have any Florida FBG in this thread?  Wondering what my best option is to get away from that crunch St. Augustine grass.  I am thinking of a Zoysia of some sort, but not sure which.  Might be best to wait til I am actually there before trying to figure this all out, but I can't help myself.
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I'm a yard idiot and just now learning all of this stuff. We have bahia, which is great for those that don't want to take care of the yard. It's drought resistant, blah blah blah. We just hired a guy to start coming out and throwing out fertilizer and treating for insects and he highly recommends zoysia. For the record, he discourages St. Augustine.

 
UncleZen said:
I'm a yard idiot and just now learning all of this stuff. We have bahia, which is great for those that don't want to take care of the yard. It's drought resistant, blah blah blah. We just hired a guy to start coming out and throwing out fertilizer and treating for insects and he highly recommends zoysia. For the record, he discourages St. Augustine.
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Looks like we'll be relatively close.  We'll be in the Deland/Debary area.  Been reading about the Emerald Zoysia....we had Zoysia in our back yard in Cincinnati of all places and it was awesome until it went dormant.  Don't think it will get cold enough to go dormant in Florida though.  It's my leader now.  Of course, my BIL will probably be the one I rely on the most.  He's a landscape architect in south Florida and owns a sod farm.  I'll be picking his brain for sure.  Thanks for the info :thumbup:   

 
Everyone is pretty excited about fixing their lawn up in the Spring, but the absolute best time of year to get it turned around is coming up soon in the early Fall once this heat dies down.

 
Garrett said:
Everyone is pretty excited about fixing their lawn up in the Spring, but the absolute best time of year to get it turned around is coming up soon in the early Fall once this heat dies down.
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Every Spring, my yard looks awesome. Then come late June/early July, it looks like ####. Weeds everywhere. I have no idea what to do. I put down Scott's Weed and Feed and Turf Builder in the Spring. I've used Ortho and Bayer weed sprays to just spot shot some weeds. I keep my grass as tall as my lawn mower will let me. Yet, none of it matters once the Summer comes.

 
MattFancy said:
Every Spring, my yard looks awesome. Then come late June/early July, it looks like ####. Weeds everywhere. I have no idea what to do. I put down Scott's Weed and Feed and Turf Builder in the Spring. I've used Ortho and Bayer weed sprays to just spot shot some weeds. I keep my grass as tall as my lawn mower will let me. Yet, none of it matters once the Summer comes.
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What kind of weeds?   I battle against a bunch of stuff that weed and feed won't touch:  crabgrass, clover, nutsedge, nimblewilll, japanese stiltgrass and dallisgrass.   Other than the dallisgrass which appears to be unstoppable, there's different stuff that will kill each.

 
MattFancy said:
Every Spring, my yard looks awesome. Then come late June/early July, it looks like ####. Weeds everywhere. I have no idea what to do. I put down Scott's Weed and Feed and Turf Builder in the Spring. I've used Ortho and Bayer weed sprays to just spot shot some weeds. I keep my grass as tall as my lawn mower will let me. Yet, none of it matters once the Summer comes.
Click to expand...
Seriously...the only way I've found to make it look good is to pay the pros to treat.  The box store weed killers aren't as good as the stuff the pros use.  I used to do fertilizer myself 3x/year, then spot spray weeds.  Never made a difference on the weed side.  Now I pay Scotts/TruGreen to do it all.  It costs about the same as me just buying the fertilizer, and they do both and they do it for me.  Their equipment will blanket spray your whole lawn, getting even the little weedlings that you can't see.  I still have some crabgrass, but pretty much everything else is gone.  Not a dandelion on my 2.5 acres.  I used to look like a flower field.  Bonus is that I got my neighbors hooked on it too, so less risk of spreading weed seeds from their place.

 
Prior to moving, I was having a major battle with nutsedge, to the point where I was thinking of killing off the entire yard and starting over in the fall.  I got this stuff called sedgehammer and it changed my life.  I recommend it to anyone who's having to deal with nutsedge. 

Now, I am in central florida and having to learn the grasses down here.  I have mostly weeds mixed into some St Augustine.  My BIL swears St Augustine is my best bet for the environment I live in.  He does this for a living, but I am wondering if I should hire one of those lawn companies for a year to help get the weeds under control.  :oldunsure:  

There is a TON of work to do around here from weeding to cutting back a lot of things the former owner let go.  It's going to take a year to get it manageable I think. 

 
NutterButter said:
What kind of weeds?   I battle against a bunch of stuff that weed and feed won't touch:  crabgrass, clover, nutsedge, nimblewilll, japanese stiltgrass and dallisgrass.   Other than the dallisgrass which appears to be unstoppable, there's different stuff that will kill each.
Click to expand...
Pretty much all that stuff. Crabgrass, nutsedge, and clover are the biggest offenders.

I sprayed everything a week or so again with the Bayer Weedkiller with Crabgrass. Pretty sure all it did was change the color of my crabgrass to red.

 
The Commish said:
Prior to moving, I was having a major battle with nutsedge, to the point where I was thinking of killing off the entire yard and starting over in the fall.  I got this stuff called sedgehammer and it changed my life.  I recommend it to anyone who's having to deal with nutsedge. 

Now, I am in central florida and having to learn the grasses down here.  I have mostly weeds mixed into some St Augustine.  My BIL swears St Augustine is my best bet for the environment I live in.  He does this for a living, but I am wondering if I should hire one of those lawn companies for a year to help get the weeds under control.  :oldunsure:  

There is a TON of work to do around here from weeding to cutting back a lot of things the former owner let go.  It's going to take a year to get it manageable I think. 
Click to expand...
This.  I initially hired them to do the full 7x/year treatment.  f-ing expensive, and unnecessary.  I've cut back to 3x/year now that my weeds are under control.  That's plenty for my yard.  Some may be able to get by with less.  I think I could go back to self-treating now and be OK, but the cost/benefit just isn't there as it'd still cost me about the same as them doing it.

 
MattFancy said:
Every Spring, my yard looks awesome. Then come late June/early July, it looks like ####. Weeds everywhere. I have no idea what to do. I put down Scott's Weed and Feed and Turf Builder in the Spring. I've used Ortho and Bayer weed sprays to just spot shot some weeds. I keep my grass as tall as my lawn mower will let me. Yet, none of it matters once the Summer comes.
Click to expand...
This

Fat Nick said:
Seriously...the only way I've found to make it look good is to pay the pros to treat.  The box store weed killers aren't as good as the stuff the pros use.  I used to do fertilizer myself 3x/year, then spot spray weeds.  Never made a difference on the weed side.  Now I pay Scotts/TruGreen to do it all.  It costs about the same as me just buying the fertilizer, and they do both and they do it for me.  Their equipment will blanket spray your whole lawn, getting even the little weedlings that you can't see.  I still have some crabgrass, but pretty much everything else is gone.  Not a dandelion on my 2.5 acres.  I used to look like a flower field.  Bonus is that I got my neighbors hooked on it too, so less risk of spreading weed seeds from their place.
Click to expand...
...and this.

Lawn looks great in spring and looks like dog dirt right now. All different varieties of weeds and regardless of what pellets or spray I use the weeds laugh at me and multiply. The only thing I've managed to get a hold of is the crabgrass with XLR8. The worst of the bunch is a thick blade neon color grass that grows much faster than the regular grass. I cut the lawn and it looks decent because it's all the same length but two days later patches of this ugly thick neon crap is sticking up above everything else.

Think I'm going to have to suck it up and bring in the pros.  :kicksrock:

 
MattFancy said:
Pretty much all that stuff. Crabgrass, nutsedge, and clover are the biggest offenders.

I sprayed everything a week or so again with the Bayer Weedkiller with Crabgrass. Pretty sure all it did was change the color of my crabgrass to red.
Click to expand...
Crabgrass and clover are easy. One application of drive will annihilate them.  This stuff is the best.  LIke commish said, sedgehammer will wipe out the nutsedge.    

 
Buzzbait said:
This

...and this.

Lawn looks great in spring and looks like dog dirt right now. All different varieties of weeds and regardless of what pellets or spray I use the weeds laugh at me and multiply. The only thing I've managed to get a hold of is the crabgrass with XLR8. The worst of the bunch is a thick blade neon color grass that grows much faster than the regular grass. I cut the lawn and it looks decent because it's all the same length but two days later patches of this ugly thick neon crap is sticking up above everything else.

Think I'm going to have to suck it up and bring in the pros.  :kicksrock:
Click to expand...
THat's probably dallisgrass.  That stuff is the devil.  I have no idea how to get rid of that other than roundup.   I'm trying multiple of rounds of drive this summer to see if it does anything.  This weekend is round 2.  I'll report back.   

 
NutterButter said:
THat's probably dallisgrass.  That stuff is the devil.  I have no idea how to get rid of that other than roundup.   I'm trying multiple of rounds of drive this summer to see if it does anything.  This weekend is round 2.  I'll report back.   
Click to expand...
Is this the stuff that has singular long blades and pulls up really easy?  I've got this bright green grass, it almost looks like ornamental grass.  Long green blades with no splits.  Grows out of a soft white root and pulls up really easily, but it grows via runners, so if any of the root is left, more will pop up.  It's spreading in my landscaping like wildfire.

 
Buzzbait said:
Lawn looks great in spring and looks like dog dirt right now. All different varieties of weeds and regardless of what pellets or spray I use the weeds laugh at me and multiply. The only thing I've managed to get a hold of is the crabgrass with XLR8. The worst of the bunch is a thick blade neon color grass that grows much faster than the regular grass. I cut the lawn and it looks decent because it's all the same length but two days later patches of this ugly thick neon crap is sticking up above everything else.

Think I'm going to have to suck it up and bring in the pros.  :kicksrock:
Click to expand...
My actual grass doesn't look bad, but my yard needs to be cut because of all the damn weeds. Plus, my backyard seems to grow much faster and thicker than my front yard. I hate lawn care lol

 
Fat Nick said:
Is this the stuff that has singular long blades and pulls up really easy?  I've got this bright green grass, it almost looks like ornamental grass.  Long green blades with no splits.  Grows out of a soft white root and pulls up really easily, but it grows via runners, so if any of the root is left, more will pop up.  It's spreading in my landscaping like wildfire.
Click to expand...
Believe that is the nutsedge

 
Buzzbait said:
This

...and this.

Lawn looks great in spring and looks like dog dirt right now. All different varieties of weeds and regardless of what pellets or spray I use the weeds laugh at me and multiply. The only thing I've managed to get a hold of is the crabgrass with XLR8. The worst of the bunch is a thick blade neon color grass that grows much faster than the regular grass. I cut the lawn and it looks decent because it's all the same length but two days later patches of this ugly thick neon crap is sticking up above everything else.

Think I'm going to have to suck it up and bring in the pros.  :kicksrock:
Click to expand...
Pros may not be able to help you much with that.  I believe it is a type of grass, and not a weed.  Can't kill that off unless you want to kill off all the grass around it.

 
Fat Nick said:
Is this the stuff that has singular long blades and pulls up really easy?  I've got this bright green grass, it almost looks like ornamental grass.  Long green blades with no splits.  Grows out of a soft white root and pulls up really easily, but it grows via runners, so if any of the root is left, more will pop up.  It's spreading in my landscaping like wildfire.
Click to expand...
The lawn of the devil.   As matt said, I think you may be talking about nutsedge.

 
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Fat Nick said:
Yup.  Just googled an image.  That's what that #### is.  Now that I know what it is, I'm gonna get some sedgehammer and go to war.  My TruGreen doesn't cover my landscaping, and that's where it's bad.
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Just curious, what do you pay for TruGreen for the year?

 
NutterButter said:
THat's probably dallisgrass.  That stuff is the devil.  I have no idea how to get rid of that other than roundup.   I'm trying multiple of rounds of drive this summer to see if it does anything.  This weekend is round 2.  I'll report back.   
Click to expand...
Just googled both dallisgrass & nutsedge. What I have is the dallisgrass and Drive XLR8 won't help. I used XLR8 to kill crabgrass last year and it worked extremely well but doesn't do anything to the dallisgrass. The dallisgrass multiplied this year and is beginning to take over the lawn. I need to find something stat to nuke this stuff.

 
Buzzbait said:
Just googled both dallisgrass & nutsedge. What I have is the dallisgrass and Drive XLR8 won't help. I used XLR8 to kill crabgrass last year and it worked extremely well but doesn't do anything to the dallisgrass. The dallisgrass multiplied this year and is beginning to take over the lawn. I need to find something stat to nuke this stuff.
Click to expand...
I don't think there's anything if you have a cool season grass.  There's some stuff like msma and revolver, but those kill cool season grasses.   My only hope outside is that multiple rounds of drive at 2 week intervals can do it.  Otherwise, I've had some success with painting the blades with roundup, but that's tedious.   If you have just a few blades, you can probably get away with digging those out before they form rhizomes.  

 
NutterButter said:
I don't think there's anything if you have a cool season grass.  There's some stuff like msma and revolver, but those kill cool season grasses.   My only hope outside is that multiple rounds of drive at 2 week intervals can do it.  Otherwise, I've had some success with painting the blades with roundup, but that's tedious.   If you have just a few blades, you can probably get away with digging those out before they form rhizomes.  
Click to expand...
I tried Drive and it did nothing but maybe it's so resistant that it requires multiple treatments at 2-week intervals. I'm not hopeful because Drive is pretty potent and one application turns crabgrass brown in just 2-3 days. You'd think that if it Drive could kill dallisgrass that it would at least provide some kind of impact/evidence after one application. My experience is that it looks just as vibrant and ugly while the crabgrass next to it is shriveling. 

I'll try multiple treatments at 2-week intervals as you mentioned just for kicks. Can't hurt to try.

 
Buzzbait said:
I tried Drive and it did nothing but maybe it's so resistant that it requires multiple treatments at 2-week intervals. I'm not hopeful because Drive is pretty potent and one application turns crabgrass brown in just 2-3 days. You'd think that if it Drive could kill dallisgrass that it would at least provide some kind of impact/evidence after one application. My experience is that it looks just as vibrant and ugly while the crabgrass next to it is shriveling. 

I'll try multiple treatments at 2-week intervals as you mentioned just for kicks. Can't hurt to try.
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Even something like MSMA which has been proven to treat Dallisgrass takes 3 treatments 10 days apart so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.  This is the mother of all weeds we're talking about.  Its not going down without a fight :)  .  My approach this summer is to experiment with drive on all my weeds.  I originally used a separate clover killer and Drive has now replaced that so one other chemical down, 3 more to go.

 
NutterButter said:
Even something like MSMA which has been proven to treat Dallisgrass takes 3 treatments 10 days apart so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.  This is the mother of all weeds we're talking about.  Its not going down without a fight :)  .  My approach this summer is to experiment with drive on all my weeds.  I originally used a separate clover killer and Drive has now replaced that so one other chemical down, 3 more to go.
Click to expand...
Out of curiosity what's your level of concentrate with Drive, water and surfactant?

 
About a month ago my lawn looked better than it ever has.  All of a sudden the last few weeks it is getting brownish dead spots about 2x2 feet in 4-5 areas.  I checked for grubs and did not find anything.  Fungus??

 
Da Guru said:
About a month ago my lawn looked better than it ever has.  All of a sudden the last few weeks it is getting brownish dead spots about 2x2 feet in 4-5 areas.  I checked for grubs and did not find anything.  Fungus??
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Google brown patch and dollar spot in lawns and see if either look like what is going on.  If so, yeah a fungicide is the way to go and should knock it out pretty quickly.  It would also help to bag instead of mulch until it's cleared up if you aren't already.

Also try to only water earlier in the day if possible so it's not damp overnight.

 
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So a TruGreen guy came out yesterday...referred by a friend.  You'll remember I am wondering if I should "do it myself" or have him do it.  Each treatment is $100 for about .6 acres.  That includes the fert and bug control as well as weed control.  I've never used one of these groups before.  On the surface, that seems like a decent deal.  I'd pay just over $100 for fert treatments alone and I've never actually treated for bugs in a lawn before.

Thoughts?

 
The Commish said:
So a TruGreen guy came out yesterday...referred by a friend.  You'll remember I am wondering if I should "do it myself" or have him do it.  Each treatment is $100 for about .6 acres.  That includes the fert and bug control as well as weed control.  I've never used one of these groups before.  On the surface, that seems like a decent deal.  I'd pay just over $100 for fert treatments alone and I've never actually treated for bugs in a lawn before.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...
On the surface that doesn't sound too bad. I know for me, I have a .25 acres, I typically spend $50-70 for seed each year, plus another $80-100 on fertilizer, $50 on weed spray, and another $50 or so on lime. So I'm usually in for at least $200 on the year for lawn maintenance. So if TruGreen can do it for around $300 or so for the year, that's definitely worth thinking about.

 
MattFancy said:
On the surface that doesn't sound too bad. I know for me, I have a .25 acres, I typically spend $50-70 for seed each year, plus another $80-100 on fertilizer, $50 on weed spray, and another $50 or so on lime. So I'm usually in for at least $200 on the year for lawn maintenance. So if TruGreen can do it for around $300 or so for the year, that's definitely worth thinking about.
Click to expand...
Seed will definitely be extra.   Probably the lime as well.  

 
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