Any Lawn Guys??

[2CRUZ]

Hi Fellas
Are there any lawn guys out there. My lawn looks like ****. I have tried as hard as I can to get grass to grow. I have put down several pounds of grass seed and bags of Scotts feterlizer to no avail. My neighbors hire a lawn service to come and spray ther lawns, and yes they look great, but I just can't afford to pay someone $800.00 to spray mine. Can some one tell me what it is that they spray to make their lawns look so good? Thanks guys for any help.

Mike

 

[Knuckle Buster]

Hi Fellas
Are there any lawn guys out there. My lawn looks like ****. I have tried as hard as I can to get grass to grow. I have put down several pounds of grass seed and bags of Scotts feterlizer to no avail. My neighbors hire a lawn service to come and spray ther lawns, and yes they look great, but I just can't afford to pay someone $800.00 to spray mine. Can some one tell me what it is that they spray to make their lawns look so good? Thanks guys for any help.

Mike

What location are you in? Soil is different from one area to the next. For example, here in parts of middle Tennessee,.. ''you don't want to put anything on the lawn'' because grass grows like hell without any help. It is a heck of a job keeping up with the lawn mowing as it is.

 

[pop pop]

Yeah, here in Va the first thing you have to plant is a sprinkler system! Different needs for different areas.

 

[SGKent]

Any lawn needs to start with soil samples sent to a lab. A&L in Memphis is who I use. Next you want to follow their recommendations as to how much of different minerals etc to add. Once you get the soil balanced then you can worry about other things that can be in the lawn like fungus etc. If you just add the junk that the people in the nursery's tell you to add you will spend a fortune and maybe end up with worse growing conditions than when you began. Trust me on this one. Start with a soil test. You may find that all you need is a little lime (or gypsum), potassium and nitrogen. We have the greenest lawns in the neighborhood with the least weeds and only fertilize a couple of times a year. Everyone asks how I do it - soil test and then only add what is needed. When you seed your lawn you will want to choose a blend that does well in your area.

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

I don't know if I'm a "lawn guy" but I generally have a "green thumb". The easiest way to have a good looking anything: plant, shrub, lawn, etc is to be using the right plant for the exposure it receives and to water it properly. Grasses are just many smaller plants.

There are warm season and cool season grasses. I don't know where you live (you should put it in your name info) and you need to be using a grass that is better suited to your climate. SoCal, Florida, the Southwest: generally you'll have a better lawn with less work if it's Bermuda, Zoyia, St. Augustine, etc. These are generally a courser grass (though hybrid Bermuda is fine, i.e. golf course) that need HEAT and water to grow strongly. Cooler climates need turf type grasses like ryes, fescues, bluegrasses or hybrids - these are typically the ones with copyrighted names like "Marathon".

I could go on and on but you need to get a lawn book from Ortho or similar and READ IT. It'll tell you to check the pH of your soil, how to amend it, how to plant it and care for it.

BTW, here's mine so you can see where I'm coming from. Not perfect but presentable:

 

[Gary S]

For a low maintenance lawn, use Roundup.

As you can tell, I hate lawn work.

 

[Dmaxman]

Its that time of year. I was just looking at my front lawn and thinking what a mess. It was nice years back but with all the laws here banning all the good stuff i now have the white grubs. Atleast the birds have aerated the lawn to get at them. I also had some bad creeping charlie taking over but i hit it with some stuff i had bought over the border last fall. I will soon see if anything grows back as it may have hurt the grass too.

 

[olytdi]

Agreed that where you are and the makeup of the soil you have will determine a plan of action. That said, keep away from "weed n feed" type products. They're crack cocain for lawns -- quick dirty high then a crash. You'll get much better results using a slow-release type granulated fertilizer and your local stream will thank you for that.

Lawns also need live soil. Too many people disregard the fact that the soil needs to be tended to over time. Top dressing with compost every other year or so and aerating the soil are things tha help immensely. Granulated (not powdery) lime helps with acidic soils and helps breakup clay soils. As mentioned above, a simple soil analysis will instruct you. Mosses and blight thrive on poor soil. Fix your soil and you fix your lawn.

Lastly, it's really easy to do mechanical weed control (picking weeds with a tool) so that you don't have to spray weed killer on the lawn (again, your local stream will thank you).

Good luck!

 

[AndyL]

Dunno about where you are, but up here, there's at least 2 garden centres I know of that do test lawn soil (think it's about 25$, results in an hour). Might not have the micronutrient makeup, but it covers the basics NPK/pH/Fe/(what's the one I'm forgetting?)

Don't underestimate the hippy stuff... I've gotten into spring applications of CGM (Corn Gluten meal) - summer sugar beet, fall kelp biostim... Costs about the same, but the results, way better than any scotts lawn around.

Not sure how this new place is gonna go though, looks like it'll be a project...

 

[2CRUZ]

Hey Guys
I live in Southern Illinois. The ground in my yard is like clay its kind of light gray in color. Like I said the guy across the street his lawn is great he has the guy come and sprey it from a truck. Last week he was spraying and I walked over there and asked him what he would charge me to do my lawn he walked it off and said $800.00. My nabors all have nice lawns but they don't do anything else but work on there lawns and there all starting to give me dirty looks. I guess I'll have to brake down and pay someone to do it.
Thanks guys

 

[Eagle Point]

PM sent to you............

 

[71flh]

I have brown thumb and suggest you go with the roundup solution posted above. Nice grass is a pain in the ***.

I'd guess you're right if the dirt is gray, its clay. Sorry for the wording. Down here the clay is red. You'd probably want to scrape some of it off, then add some sand, and organic material. Adding stuff will raise the height so that's why I say remove some material.

You till the 3 parts together to make better topsoil.

Then install sprinklers if needed and waste money watering. Back in Ohio we had trouble keeping the grass from growing more than anything so sprinklers may be unneeded.

 

[enrare]

You may want to check out www.lawnsite.com , It's like Garage Journal for landscape and lawn care guys.

 

[Jakester]

It all depends on what kind of grass you have, and where you live. Generally speaking, however, there are some basic tips you can follow to make your lawn greener and weed-free. I use professional grade products, not the stuff at home depot. I buy from DoMyOwnPestControl.com. They have a section for lawn products. They have some good info about fertilizing, here.

Do you know what kind of grass you have?

 

[trbomax]

Scrape about 4" off and get rid of it. It will be easier to do if you till it first,not with a hand tiller,rent or borrow a rear mounted tractor tiller.Find a stable and haul in enough of LAST YEARS manure to make up the 4" you took off.Equine manure is not hot like cow or chicken poop and if you have an aggressive tiller it can be current year manure.Give it a light dose of granulated lime. Till it again and spray with round up. Let sit 2 weeks. Till again but only 4" deep. Seed with the seed that is appropriate for your climate at 300%. Roll the whole lawn and straw it.Keep it damp,not wet untill it comes up,then water every 3 days. Do not mow untill its 4" or so high,and when you do,do not bag it,it needs the clippings and chopped straw to keep it from drying out.After about 6 weeks you can start bagging and cut back on the watering to every 4-5 days. Continous watering will produce a lawn that is shallow rooted and you dont want that.

That is/was my method for up here where we are 100% yellow/black blow sand.I have about 2a of lawn and did it in 3 sections,1 per year. I just did one of my paddoks last week this way,but w/o the straw (too much area and work).I just tilled the hell out of it,leveled it out,tilled it again and seeded/rolled it.No watering out there,nature will have to take care of it!

edit) do not use an anual grass,get a perinal. Up here I use tall fesque because of its deep roots, and perenial rye because it becomes established fast. I mix the seed in a garbage can with a drywall mud mixer at a ratio of 25% rye / 75% tall fesque.This mix does well in areas that are shade up to about 30% per day,but thrives in full sun.

 

[theoldwizard1]

If it is really bad and you want it to look really good, start over !

Wait until fall, September. Kill it all (I used the Walmart equivalent to Roundup. Works slower, but gets the job done.) Wait about 10 days, and hit anything that did not die the fist time.

Cut the dead grass as short as possible. Rototill the whole yard. Now is when you need to fertilize. 12-12-12 "farm" fertilizer. Rake it. Seed.

Don't waste you money buying fertilizer and seed at you local big box store. Find a small town nearby and buy it from the local co-op/feed store there. 50 lbs of bluegrass seed cost me about $80 and will cover a HUGE area. (Get a handheld grass seed/fertilizer spreader. Worth the money.)

If you want "green" quick, add some "winter rye" (double check the bag and make certain it is the real thing) at a ratio of about 1-2 lbs/10 lbs of bluegrass. (If you buy a big bag from a feed store, do NOT store it outside, unless you are going to triple bag it in plastic. Mice love it !)

New seed needs to be watered 2-3 times a day. New seed loves cooler (below 70F, above 50F) weather and will require less watering


Here is the real trick. In spring, once the temp is above 50F (March-April) fertilize with 20-20-20 "farm" fertilizer. Usually there is enough rain in spring you don't have to water. Once night time temps are above 50F, you can use the rest of your seed to fill in the thin/bare spots. Before temps get to 80F (May), hit it again with 20-20-20.

In summer, I use the cheapest lawn fertilizer I can buy. I still use 20-20-20 in late fall and early spring.

 

[R6 Racer]

I have been able to get grass to grow anyware. Keeping it growing is another thing altogether.

To get grass to germinate easily & quickly... mix in a wheelbarrow, 1 Lg. bag good quality top soil, 2 gallons of peat moss, a 1/2gal of grass seed & a cup of fertilizer (10-10-10 or something close, just keep all 3#'s the same ). Mix well & spread over a 6'x6' area. Water twice daily & your grass will germinate like you have never seen before!
I have done about 2/3 of my 3/4 acre lot like that in small 12x18 sections & it works great. I do small sections so I can keep up with the daily watering. Otherwise without a sprinkler system I couldn't keep up the watering & the newly sprouted grass would die out. Once a section is established I move on to a new section.

Depending on where you are... Killex will kill off all broad leaf plants & that can help you get a good weed free canvas to start your section of grass on. It WILL kill any flowers, bushes & small trees that you get it on! Spray it only on non windy times of day (8am & 8pm around here work best). Do not get carried away with this stuff it should only be used at most 2 times (Altho 1 time is preferred) a year on any plot of land.

As for grubs... nematodes! A natural parasite that feeds on grub larva. Can be bought at most gardening centers. They need to be applied in the spring & fall (too late now for a spring app.) They cant be applied in the dry & must be watered completely in to the ground. I apply them with a large pump bottle sprayer when its raining or about to rain. (PS they can NOT be applied right before or after killex, it will kill them! No killex for 4 weeks either way!

Cut your grass LONG!!!! never shorter than 3" (I cut mine to 4&1/2' & I don't let it get longer that 6" ever)

If I have missed anything you want to know, ask!


Steve

 

[MoonRise]

If the soil is "poor', you can either spend lots of time and money always dumping 'fertilizer' on the lawn, or you can just bite the bullet and rototill everything and amend the soil to make it 'better'.

Kind of what some of the posters already said.

So don't really start at the 'top' but start at the 'bottom' with getting (or 'making') good soil. That may involve adding a bunch of organic material such as peat moss or compost or various manure(s), rototilling them into the existing 'dirt' and trying to make better soil to grow things in.

After the 'dirt' is good (or better), then you can get to the phase of actually putting seeds/plants into that dirt.

For 'instant' lawn, you can go with sod (of the appropriate grass type for your area). Then you have to make sure you water the new sod well and often.

For starting from seed, see above for first step of making 'good' dirt. After the dirt is 'good' then pick the appropriate grass seed 'type (or mix) for your area, apply, and water well. Don't apply (or try to start) grass seed in the 'hot' times, most of the time you can't keep the seed moist enough to get it to grow without drying out (again, RTFM for the seed type as to what/when/how to apply and get it to germinate and grow).

 

[sirsloop]

Step 1: Collect a soil sample and send it in to your county extension lab.

Step 2: Use soil sample data to determine what you need to promote lawn growth (lime, dirt, etc). If you put down weed control type fertilizer at this point you cannot overseed for 6-8 weeks so I would hold off on that.

Step 3: Walk around and pull out weeds by hand. If it doesn't look like grass you should yank it. If your lawn has a ton of moss or thatch in it now rake it out. That's a good way to clean out the weeds you just pulled too. Choose a seed that suits the region and the sun level. HEAVILY Core Aerate, overseed, lay down *starter fertilizer. By heavily, I mean your yard should look wrecked. It should look like a flock of 100,000 geese crapped on it for two weeks straight.

Step 4: Water twice daily for three weeks, don't mow, try to stay off your lawn completely. The holes you created with the aerator will be filled with seed, and new grass will grow all over the lawn inside those holes.

Step 5: After three weeks set your mower for the highest level setting and start weekly mowing. If you see more weeds pull em. The starter fertilizer will help EVERYTHING to grow so you may be promoting some weeds to grow along side your grass.

Step 6: After 6 weeks use soil sample data to select proper fertilizer regime. You can use weed control at this point to help inhibit future weeds growth. Continue through the summer as recommended on the package. If you have a watering system use it. I don't water my back yard, only my front... and it shows. In the summer months keeping the grass tall will help it survive the heat.

Step 7: In the fall before it snows, use a winter fertlizer product on the lawn and overseed again. This should help kick start your lawn next spring.

Step 8: Next spring you may want to repeat this process all over again. If you lawn has never been core aerated then it could probably use annual loosening up for a few seasons.

How's that sound? So far its been working for me. I over the last two years in my new home I have taken my BADLY neglected yard and slowly have been turning it into a *really nice looking yard. Patience and weekly high level mowing are key!!

or... till the entire thing and start from scratch. My neighbor tore out all his sod in his front yard two years ago, failed at reseeding, and he has had dirt and weed lawn since then :\

 

[sam03]

Roundup all those others are pricey and useless. All you need is a couple of gallons of white vinegar which is dirt cheap and for sale everywhere. You can even cut it 50/50 with water and it will kill everything.

http://www.vinegartips.com/Scripts/pageViewSec.asp?id=6

 

[509frank]

For a low maintenance lawn, use Roundup.

As you can tell, I hate lawn work.

I also hate lawn work the answer is "Deorative Gravel"! Crushed red brick to be exact.

 

[sirsloop]

IMHO it doesnt feel like work when you are trying to improve it. It becomes work if you don't give a **** about it and are just hacking it down so the neighbors dont get pissed

 

[N-10Z]

If it is really bad and you want it to look really good, start over !

Wait until fall, September. Kill it all (I used the Walmart equivalent to Roundup. Works slower, but gets the job done.) Wait about 10 days, and hit anything that did not die the fist time.

Cut the dead grass as short as possible. Rototill the whole yard. Now is when you need to fertilize. 12-12-12 "farm" fertilizer. Rake it. Seed.

Don't waste you money buying fertilizer and seed at you local big box store. Find a small town nearby and buy it from the local co-op/feed store there. 50 lbs of bluegrass seed cost me about $80 and will cover a HUGE area. (Get a handheld grass seed/fertilizer spreader. Worth the money.)

If you want "green" quick, add some "winter rye" (double check the bag and make certain it is the real thing) at a ratio of about 1-2 lbs/10 lbs of bluegrass. (If you buy a big bag from a feed store, do NOT store it outside, unless you are going to triple bag it in plastic. Mice love it !)

New seed needs to be watered 2-3 times a day. New seed loves cooler (below 70F, above 50F) weather and will require less watering


Here is the real trick. In spring, once the temp is above 50F (March-April) fertilize with 20-20-20 "farm" fertilizer. Usually there is enough rain in spring you don't have to water. Once night time temps are above 50F, you can use the rest of your seed to fill in the thin/bare spots. Before temps get to 80F (May), hit it again with 20-20-20.

In summer, I use the cheapest lawn fertilizer I can buy. I still use 20-20-20 in late fall and early spring.

Lots of fertilizer recommendations there. Quite a lot of people apply fertilizer at a rate that is more than the plant or grass can feasibly use. Unfortunately, large amounts of this unused fertilizer seeps into groundwater resources or runs off into the large bodies of water. Springs and rivers in Florida are choking on algae caused by too much nitrogen filtering through to the aquifer. Crystal blue water just 10 years ago now runs pea green. Huge dead zone in the Gulf from this polluted run off especially from the Mississippi.
Seems a big price to pay just for really, really green grass.
Ten years ago I started reducing the amount of fertilizer used on my property by 90% along with cutting the grass higher.
Fewer problems now and the grass looks better. Slowly replacing grass with trees, shrubs, and mulch.
The "Super green grass look" is not sustainable.

 

[e-tek]

Hey Guys
I live in Southern Illinois. The ground in my yard is like clay its kind of light gray in color. Like I said the guy across the street his lawn is great he has the guy come and sprey it from a truck. Last week he was spraying and I walked over there and asked him what he would charge me to do my lawn he walked it off and said $800.00. My nabors all have nice lawns but they don't do anything else but work on there lawns and there all starting to give me dirty looks. I guess I'll have to brake down and pay someone to do it.
Thanks guys

First thing I'd do if I were you is brush up on my spelling!!

But seriously - $800 to spray a lawn? I have ours fertilized by "Weed Man" for $50 just because their product is SO much better than the Scott's stuff you can buy. Then I have them spray for weeds once a season for another $50. Between the two applications and some watering and weeding from me, ours is one of the nicest in our neighborhood.

 

[D rock]

If you go the chemical route... 2, 4 D gets rid of broadleaf weeds in your lawn. Glyphosate is the killing agent in Round up. You can save alot of money with your chemicals if you identify your killing agent and purchase your chemical off of the percentage of the killing agent.

I live on what was a cow pasture on my in-laws farm. It takes me about 4-5 hours to cut my yard. I have a problem with bahia grass (tall V looking grass). It grows like 3 inches after it rains. The chemical Vantage will kill it. I'm hoping it didn't wash off with that last frog strangler we had...

 

[logical]

Starting over and having an irrigation system and a well does help. This started from seed a year or two before the picture was taken.