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Lawn Care Tips (2 Viewers)

bradyfan said:
It is important to set the lawnmower at the right height (not too short). This prevents crabgrass seeds from germinating and won’t put your grass in stress and open the door to weeds.  Cover the bald spot with plenty of grass seeds and top with compost after you get rid of the crabgrass so it won’t grow back next Spring.
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I am thinking of digging each one up and filling with either sod or soil and seeds.  Thoughts for 95 degree days?

 
Forgot the pre emergent.  Huge mistake.  My neighbor does not care he lets crab grass overtake his lawn and it has slowly invaded mine.  He has a crew come and cut it and I think the seeds were thrown into my yard.

 
ragincajun said:
Forgot the pre emergent.  Huge mistake.  My neighbor does not care he lets crab grass overtake his lawn and it has slowly invaded mine.  He has a crew come and cut it and I think the seeds were thrown into my yard.
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I'm surrounding by people that don't take care of their lawns.  You just have to make sure you use a rotary spreader and treat 3-4 ft of their lawns in addition to yours.

 
offdee said:
I had 4 pallet sized squares of dirt i want to be grass.  A couple weeks ago i laid seed, but realizing I wish I would've just laid sod and have been done with it.  My question is, any harm in laying sod over areas that were seeded but only showing very sparse and patchy areas of grass presently?  Will the ungrown seeds in the dirt hurt the sod eventually, or could it actually help for more eventual fullness?
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shouldn't be an issue.

 
offdee said:
I read online somewhere and some guy said not a great idea as the unborn seeds could rot below the sod and create bad soil for the sod to be healthy.   Any truth to that you think?
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If it's brand new, no....I wouldn't throw sod over an already established yard though.  If it's a concern, till it up and then you don't have to worry about it.  Doesn't seem like a large area.

 
The Commish said:
If it's brand new, no....I wouldn't throw sod over an already established yard though.  If it's a concern, till it up and then you don't have to worry about it.  Doesn't seem like a large area.
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Stupid question...but "til it up".  It's 4 pallet sized squares so definitely not a big area.  Can I do this with standard tools and not having to rent a machine or anything.  Is "til it up" just mean break up the soil, remove any present grass, rocks, etc?

 
offdee said:
Stupid question...but "til it up".  It's 4 pallet sized squares so definitely not a big area.  Can I do this with standard tools and not having to rent a machine or anything.  Is "til it up" just mean break up the soil, remove any present grass, rocks, etc?
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Yeah....just break it all up.  Doing that will destroy the roots that were starting leaving the underlying soil some food etc.  Can be done with a shovel and a rake.

 
this seems like a reasonable place for this...

we have a bush near our pool that bloomed this year with little white flowers, and the bees LOVE 'em. now, I'm not anti-bee, per se, but I don't really want them around the pool when we have pool parties, kids over, etc.

I was thinking I could lop off the branches to remove the flowers, but then it would look pretty ugly. any other options to keep bees away?

 
The Commish said:
Is there a viburnum species that grows in your area?  We have them and they grow REALLY fast and get REALLY thick.
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After some more extensive research, looks like Arrowwood Viburnum is the winner!  

Grows up to 10 ft tall/wide, multiples quickly grow into dense shrub, hardy down to zone 2 (im in zone 5), deer resistant, flowers, berries, leaf changes to bright colors in fall. Only negative i can find for my situation is that its deciduous, so leaves eventually fall off, but not until the very cold mid-winter months where we wont be outside much anyways for dumb dogs to bark at us.  Assume the dense leaf-less branches will be a decent enough barrier for those few months.  

 
offdee said:
After some more extensive research, looks like Arrowwood Viburnum is the winner!  

Grows up to 10 ft tall/wide, multiples quickly grow into dense shrub, hardy down to zone 2 (im in zone 5), deer resistant, flowers, berries, leaf changes to bright colors in fall. Only negative i can find for my situation is that its deciduous, so leaves eventually fall off, but not until the very cold mid-winter months where we wont be outside much anyways for dumb dogs to bark at us.  Assume the dense leaf-less branches will be a decent enough barrier for those few months.  
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:thumbup:

Obviously, down here, they don't lose their leaves, but glad you found something that will work.  They take some maintenance when getting them "trained", but once they are, pretty easy to keep in line

 
The Commish said:
:thumbup:

Obviously, down here, they don't lose their leaves, but glad you found something that will work.  They take some maintenance when getting them "trained", but once they are, pretty easy to keep in line
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Tell me more about the maintenance and training.  What does that involve? 

 
offdee said:
Tell me more about the maintenance and training.  What does that involve? 
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A hedge trimmer and some patience.  That's about it.  You'll need to trim them a couple times a year for the first few years....especially on top.  Some people get out there and string up guide lines to cut by.  I don't.  I eyeball it.  I don't know what the planting instructions are, but I googled pictures of the species you mentioned and it looks like those tend to grow naturally into a ball.  The ones I have will tend to grow straight up, much more like a tree.  So if I were you, to help fill in quickly, I'd plant them closer together than what they suggest.  If they say they grow to x feet in diameter I'd plant them X - 1.5 feet apart.  They'll grow into each other better that way.  

 
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The Commish said:
A hedge trimmer and some patience.  That's about it.  You'll need to trim them a couple times a year for the first few years....especially on top.  Some people get out there and string up guide lines to cut by.  I don't.  I eyeball it.  I don't know what the planting instructions are, but I googled pictures of the species you mentioned and it looks like those tend to grow naturally into a ball.  The ones I have will tend to grow straight up, much more like a tree.  So if I were you, to help fill in quickly, I'd plant them closer together than what they suggest.  If they say they grow to x feet in diameter I'd plant them X - 1.5 feet apart.  They'll grow into each other better that way.  
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Everything I'm reading about planting distance on them is to take the max width and divide it in half.   So if they can grow to 10 ft wide, should then plant them 5 ft apart and will fill in to a hedge.

Also reading on planting them in a slight stagger (double row hedge) so they have a bit more visual interest when they grown into each other...not a totally solid/straight front hedge, but more of a subtle forward and back balls.   Read doing this is also actually a better sound and visual barrier as it's almost two layers of shrubbery.

 
offdee said:
Everything I'm reading about planting distance on them is to take the max width and divide it in half.   So if they can grow to 10 ft wide, should then plant them 5 ft apart and will fill in to a hedge.

Also reading on planting them in a slight stagger (double row hedge) so they have a bit more visual interest when they grown into each other...not a totally solid/straight front hedge, but more of a subtle forward and back balls.   Read doing this is also actually a better sound and visual barrier as it's almost two layers of shrubbery.
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That works too.  Just make sure you can physically get to it if you stagger.  If you make it too wide to trim, then you've screwed yourself.

 
The Commish said:
That works too.  Just make sure you can physically get to it if you stagger.  If you make it too wide to trim, then you've screwed yourself.
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"if you make it too wide to trim, then you've screwed yourself"....not sure I'm following this statement?

Are you saying make sure I can still walk behind the hedge to trim the ones that are set back?

I'm planning to plant these approx. 5-8 ft in front of the white trash neighbors fence to allow room for it to grow into the fence but not totally go into their yard space.   And ultimately if it does grow into the fence and onto their property a bit they can trim, if they want (but they won't because they don't trim much of anything).  We have all kinds of vines and crap growing into the fence and onto our side of the property already.

 
offdee said:
"if you make it too wide to trim, then you've screwed yourself"....not sure I'm following this statement?

Are you saying make sure I can still walk behind the hedge to trim the ones that are set back?

I'm planning to plant these approx. 5-8 ft in front of the white trash neighbors fence to allow room for it to grow into the fence but not totally go into their yard space.   And ultimately if it does grow into the fence and onto their property a bit they can trim, if they want (but they won't because they don't trim much of anything).  We have all kinds of vines and crap growing into the fence and onto our side of the property already.
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My only point was if they get to be say 10 feet in diameter, and you stagger, then you're looking at 14-15 feet wide because they will be offset....does that make sense?  Just make sure however you plant, it doesn't end up being so wide that you can't get to parts of it.  That's all.

 
Getting really frustrated with my lawn.  It's been neglected over the past few years so I'm really babying it this year... but can't get it looking good.  I'm very impatient.  Trying everything LCN is preaching, and it does look "better", but still embarrassed. :(  

 
Keerock said:
Getting really frustrated with my lawn.  It's been neglected over the past few years so I'm really babying it this year... but can't get it looking good.  I'm very impatient.  Trying everything LCN is preaching, and it does look "better", but still embarrassed. :(  
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I'm with you.  This is first year with a dog and as I walk around the neighborhood, I see a lot more lawns with normal grass/no weeds than mine.  Fortunately, mine is also far from the worse.  I've been slowly surely tackling the weeds.  First cleared all dandelions, now working on clover, wild violet (stubborn) and then crabgrass. This is my first year out of the 10 we've been there where I'm frequently walking the yard with bottles of Bayer Crabgrass or Crossbow. I'm also spot planting new grass in deadspots and that takes a lot of patience. I think I'll need to open up the wallet and get Drive XLR8 to attack the crabgrass. 

 
I dug up 5 or 6 huge crabgrass clumps yesterday.  Today I am going to get some good topsoil centipede seed and some compost and fill em up.

 
Brony said:
Keerock said:
Getting really frustrated with my lawn.  It's been neglected over the past few years so I'm really babying it this year... but can't get it looking good.  I'm very impatient.  Trying everything LCN is preaching, and it does look "better", but still embarrassed. :(  
Click to expand...
I'm with you.  This is first year with a dog and as I walk around the neighborhood, I see a lot more lawns with normal grass/no weeds than mine.  Fortunately, mine is also far from the worse.  I've been slowly surely tackling the weeds.  First cleared all dandelions, now working on clover, wild violet (stubborn) and then crabgrass. This is my first year out of the 10 we've been there where I'm frequently walking the yard with bottles of Bayer Crabgrass or Crossbow. I'm also spot planting new grass in deadspots and that takes a lot of patience. I think I'll need to open up the wallet and get Drive XLR8 to attack the crabgrass. 
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Everything I want/need to do supposedly shouldn't be done until the fall... so I'm playing the waiting game.  Aerate, de-thatch, overseed...

 
Planted new seed in an approx. 64 sq ft area (not large) where old owners used to have pallets as a vegetable garden.

About 1 month ago spread seed (pre-mixture of 4 different grass varieties), added add'l topsoil and straw over top and have been watering daily.   It's growing, but looks like a bad patchy hipster beard....some areas 5 inches long and other area still just brown soil with no green blades peaking through at all.   

I'm mad at myself for not just spending $25 and laying sod in the first place, and tempted to just dig it all up and do that now to be done with it.  But wondering if this is normal growing patterns and eventually all will fill in nicely and to just be patient now?

 
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offdee said:
Planted new seed in an approx. 64 sq ft area (not large) where old owners used to have pallets as a vegetable garden.

About 1 month ago spread seed (pre-mixture of 4 different grass varieties), added add'l topsoil and straw over top and have been watering daily.   It's growing, but looks like a bad patchy hipster beard....some areas 5 inches long and other area still just brown soil with no green blades peaking through at all.   

I'm mad at myself for not just spending $25 and laying sod in the first place, and tempted to just dig it all up and do that now to be done with it.  But wondering if this is normal growing patterns and eventually all will fill in nicely and to just be patient now?
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Pretty normal from my experience.

Did you put down any starter fertilizer?

 
 
offdee said:
Spread this below seed, then covered it with this below fertilizer and then covered in straw and watering daily

https://express.google.com/u/0/product/11284374241748956725_5484615430452146779_10046?mall=WestLosAngeles&directCheckout=1&utm_source=google_shopping&utm_medium=product_ads&utm_campaign=gsx&dclid=CNvIkt3o4tsCFRVXAQodHCgIdQ

https://m.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=90468996&KPID=23836681&cid=CAPLA:G:Shopping_-_Bags&pla=pla_23836681&k_clickid=183d0586-3fcb-a368-7aaf-0000416486d1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI_e-iluji2wIVkFx-Ch3eWgO4EAkYCSABEgJtavD_BwE
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Gotcha.  Never used either of those.  I'm always skeptical of those "all in one" solutions because I don't trust that I could spread it consistently or that it's mixed evenly.  It's possible that's why you have patchy areas.

I tilled and removed a ####-ton of rocks from about a 300 sq ft area about 3 weeks ago.  Put down Pennington Smart Seed tall fescue, lightly raked soil back over top, put down Scott's New Grass fertilizer and then covered with straw.  Watered like a madman and it's come up very well.  For the most part, it's full and growing at the same rate.  Not patchy like I've seen in the past.

 
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Keerock said:
Brony said:
Keerock said:
Getting really frustrated with my lawn.  It's been neglected over the past few years so I'm really babying it this year... but can't get it looking good.  I'm very impatient.  Trying everything LCN is preaching, and it does look "better", but still embarrassed. :(  
Click to expand...
I'm with you.  This is first year with a dog and as I walk around the neighborhood, I see a lot more lawns with normal grass/no weeds than mine.  Fortunately, mine is also far from the worse.  I've been slowly surely tackling the weeds.  First cleared all dandelions, now working on clover, wild violet (stubborn) and then crabgrass. This is my first year out of the 10 we've been there where I'm frequently walking the yard with bottles of Bayer Crabgrass or Crossbow. I'm also spot planting new grass in deadspots and that takes a lot of patience. I think I'll need to open up the wallet and get Drive XLR8 to attack the crabgrass. 
Click to expand...
Everything I want/need to do supposedly shouldn't be done until the fall... so I'm playing the waiting game.  Aerate, de-thatch, overseed...
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Applied more Milo and weed killer last night... :tapsfoot: 

 
Keerock said:
Getting really frustrated with my lawn.  It's been neglected over the past few years so I'm really babying it this year... but can't get it looking good.  I'm very impatient.  Trying everything LCN is preaching, and it does look "better", but still embarrassed. :(  
Click to expand...
Lawns don't improve in one year.  Just keep at it.

 
shuke said:
Keerock said:
Getting really frustrated with my lawn.  It's been neglected over the past few years so I'm really babying it this year... but can't get it looking good.  I'm very impatient.  Trying everything LCN is preaching, and it does look "better", but still embarrassed. :(  
Click to expand...
Lawns don't improve in one year.  Just keep at it.
Click to expand...
Thanks GB.  Did some research and looks like I may have leaf spot fungus.  Most everything I read says to put down an organic "curative"... essentially a shock fert treatment to grow the fungus out of the lawn (as opposed to treating with a fungicide)... also better for the environment.  Added benefit of rapid greening.

 
Keerock said:
Thanks GB.  Did some research and looks like I may have leaf spot fungus.  Most everything I read says to put down an organic "curative"... essentially a shock fert treatment to grow the fungus out of the lawn (as opposed to treating with a fungicide)... also better for the environment.  Added benefit of rapid greening.
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If you are sure you have fungus, I would go straight for the fungicide.  As long as the conditions persist, fungus can get out of control quickly.  Anything with Propiconazole generally does a pretty good job and isn't terribly expensive.  It just stops the problem, you will still have to grow out/green up the damaged spots before it starts to look better.

 
Garrett said:
If you are sure you have fungus, I would go straight for the fungicide.  As long as the conditions persist, fungus can get out of control quickly.  Anything with Propiconazole generally does a pretty good job and isn't terribly expensive.  It just stops the problem, you will still have to grow out/green up the damaged spots before it starts to look better.
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Agree.  I had horrible leaf spot caused by fungus on my Japanese Lilac tree and on my cherry tree.  I tried to clean up old leaves, remove old mulch, increase air flow, etc.  Nothing worked.  I sprayed the lilac 2x with some fungicide and it's been fine ever since.  The cherry tree has taken a few seasons of diligent spraying (much bigger tree), but I think I almost have it under control.

 
Anyone use humic acid to treat your lawn/soil?  May people swear by it's ability to create a healthy growing environment for grass.  I have many very hard/compacted areas in my lawn that I'm going to try it on.

 
Copied from my "Products You Believe In" post since it might be more useful here.

Wire Tek 1001 EasySet Mole Eliminator Trap

After paying a pest control service the past 2 years for mole removal, I finally Googled "mole trap easy to use" and found this set.  I read the reviews and bought a 2-pack of traps.  I like that the traps are incredibly easy to set (no digging) and easy to remove.  And most importantly, they work.  I caught my first mole within 2 hours.

 
Keerock said:
Anyone use humic acid to treat your lawn/soil?  May people swear by it's ability to create a healthy growing environment for grass.  I have many very hard/compacted areas in my lawn that I'm going to try it on.
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I'm getting ready to try it out for the first time in a week or two; I'll report back.

 
PlayaHata said:
Copied from my "Products You Believe In" post since it might be more useful here.

Wire Tek 1001 EasySet Mole Eliminator Trap

After paying a pest control service the past 2 years for mole removal, I finally Googled "mole trap easy to use" and found this set.  I read the reviews and bought a 2-pack of traps.  I like that the traps are incredibly easy to set (no digging) and easy to remove.  And most importantly, they work.  I caught my first mole within 2 hours.
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This man speaks the truth.  My area is plagued with moles and these things are legendary in backyard BBQ talks...

https://imgur.com/a/BhTYVsP

 
Garrett said:
Keerock said:
Anyone use humic acid to treat your lawn/soil?  May people swear by it's ability to create a healthy growing environment for grass.  I have many very hard/compacted areas in my lawn that I'm going to try it on.
Click to expand...
I'm getting ready to try it out for the first time in a week or two; I'll report back.
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I put some down about a week ago... obviously nothing to report as of yet, but I'll also let you all know if I notice any change.

 
Keerock said:
I put some down about a week ago... obviously nothing to report as of yet, but I'll also let you all know if I notice any change.
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I put together a mix of...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000NCUUXM/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

and

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N198NMI/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

From what I know about bio-stimulants they help deal with the most stress inducing times of the year.  For me in the transition zone, that is coming up in a couple weeks; so we will see if it helps.

 
My yard is a GD mess. It was in a good enough condition last year, not perfect, but mostly green with a few undesirable grass patches. Then we did an extension and the whole yard got torn up with the construction vehicles. I got a guy in to move some dirt around and a lay top soil, then my sprinkler guy cam and rebuilt my system, but with delays on their end, by the time I actually got seed down it was mid-late july. Now i have sections of grass but mostly crab and other thick, high grass that is just all over the place and places where nothing took at all. I may have overwatered the new seeds and caused the crab grasses to take advantage of it 

Any suggestions on what i need to do going into the late summer and fall? I'd hate to start over again
 
 

 
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So, have Quackgrass sprouting up in patches recently.    After doing some initial research online basically sounds like not much you can do for it other than spraying it with Roundup and killing it and every other good grass surrounding it.   I did read about using a paintbrush to paint Roundup on the leaves to have it be more targeted to that specific patch and not as much surrounding...so guess I could try that.   If anybody has any wonder tips on this, let me know!

 
glvsav37 said:
My yard is a GD mess. It was in a good enough condition last year, not perfect, but mostly green with a few undesirable grass patches. Then we did an extension and the whole yard got torn up with the construction vehicles. I got a guy in to move some dirt around and a lay top soil, then my sprinkler guy cam and rebuilt my system, but with delays on their end, by the time I actually got seed down it was mid-late july. Now i have sections of grass but mostly crab and other thick, high grass that is just all over the place and places where nothing took at all. I may have overwatered the new seeds and caused the crab grasses to take advantage of it 

Any suggestions on what i need to do going into the late summer and fall? I'd hate to start over again
 
 
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I'd aerate and reseed/overseed.  July is a bad time to seed so you were behind the 8-ball to begin with.  Mow what you have super low (2.5"), pull some plugs and put down more seed IMO.

 
Keerock said:
I'd aerate and reseed/overseed.  July is a bad time to seed so you were behind the 8-ball to begin with.  Mow what you have super low (2.5"), pull some plugs and put down more seed IMO.
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I can do this now? or should i wait

also, how deep do i aerate? or is there just a standard depth.

thx! 

 
Keerock said:
Depends on where you are.  I'm in MI and will wait until mid Sept. Want the daytime temps between 60-75.
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New York, Long island

daytime temps still in the 80's + here. So i guess I should just wait. 

Should I try and pul the undesirable grasses or just mow them with the rest of the lawn?

 
I'm in the same boat right now.  We moved about a month ago and its a small year, but the previous family completely neglected it.  There is a lot of really nice Bermuda runners thru out the yard, but the yard is mostly clover and that chunky Johnson grass stuff.  

I hit the entire yard with a heavy dose of MSMA a few weeks ago.  That stuff is amazing.  the entire yard browned, but the Bermuda bounced back pretty fast.  It didn't tackle the clover like I had hoped.  Read that you need to use 2, 4-D for the clover, but don't use it if its over 90 outside....which will be at least another month.   

How soon should I fertilize the yard after hitting it with the poison?  I figure since the weeds are dying off I need the Bermuda to go crazy.  

Also have started to aerate the yard.  Ordered this the other day and its pretty slow going.  I'll probably just aerate this year, but then next summer do it again and get a topping of sand on the yard.  

Come Fall I'll probably go with the Scotts Fertilizer plan.  Anyone do that?  

 
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