Let's Talk Lawns

[jackjoh]

I am using Scotts turf builder and gypsum/humate on my clay soil. So far so good. Also I water 2 times per week at night when it is hot. I keep my grass at three inches, less stress and keeps it greener. These are all experiments for me as the sod was put in last year.

 

[Hickey]

I water twice a week until it gets really hot, then I add a day. It's almost time to do that for me.

 

[RogueJeepr]

Since there's construction near my neighborhood, last spring I found gopher dirt piles in my backyard. Having found one hole open I poured in some green stuff to kill em. That was all good for a few months and now they are back. Time for plan B.

Couple of buckets and some flares.
Found two holes opposite sides of the yard and threw in a hot flare with the buckets on top sealing up the exits.
Im sure the tunnels go in one big circle SO hopefully that takes care of that.

Sent from my H1611 using Tapatalk

 

[Unimog]

We had some gophers this year. I trapped one and this guy showed up to take care of the other one

 

[Hickey]

Get some of this and follow the directions exactly. It will kill broadleaf weeds but not your lawn as long as you follow the directions.

Southern Ag Amine 24-D Weed Killer, White Bottle https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0072289CA/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_120oFbN9G46SP

Even if you buy "Weed and Feed" it should do the job, as long as you follow the directions.

Both of these are selective broadleaf weed controller. They actually burn vegetation to kill weeds. It will knock back the weeds enough to let your lawn choke them out the rest of the way.

Typically you want to water your lawn heavy the night before you apply it, then don't water it for 48 hours. If you wait longer than 48 hours to water it will damage your lawn quite a bit. The Weed and Feed will fertilize your lawn but will take at least a week to show the results.

 

[Hickey]

Leave them. Use the granular weed and feed, but make sure the lawn is damp when you spread it. The product will stick better to damp things. Including your legs.

 

[RockChucker]

I learned last night it is called purslane. And @bryson was right in the other thread. It's edible. I won't be eating any of the purslane in my yard. If anyone wants it, come get it.

 

[mbryson]

I learned last night it is called purslane. And @bryson was right in the other thread. It's edible. I won't be eating any of the purslane in my yard. If anyone wants it, come get it.

We have a bit in our yard as well if Bountiful is more convenient for some.

 

[Hickey]

Is this a heavily shaded area? The grass looks sparse and not so robust. A healthy growing lawn is the best defense for most weeds. You might try over-seeding the area, but it's still a bit too hot for seeding. A couple more weeks will bring temps down to better conditions for seeding.

 

[mbryson]

As the fall growing season rolls around, I'm planning to build some topsoil/seed mixture to fill in some of my lower spots that magically appeared after watering started. I also hope to get a good thick grass from it as well by keeping what's there that's growing and gradually increasing the depth (a couple of treatments in the fall followed up by a couple in the spring)

 

[Hickey]

It's a newer area. The grass was full but I have been pulling these weeds like mad since chemicals had not seemed to work and now it's got bare spots.

How it looks right now is probably 60% of what it was.

Ah. It may be better to just keep pulling the weeds and nurture the grass back to health. If you go this route, the chemicals will not help new grass growing. You can use starter fertilizer though, it won't burn at all.
I read one post that mentioned using mulch to keep the purslane seeds from growing, though that was for a garden.

 

[Hickey]

As the fall growing season rolls around, I'm planning to build some topsoil/seed mixture to fill in some of my lower spots that magically appeared after watering started. I also hope to get a good thick grass from it as well by keeping what's there that's growing and gradually increasing the depth (a couple of treatments in the fall followed up by a couple in the spring)

I would start filling those spots now with dirt, then apply your mix on top in a few weeks. Again, use starter fertilizer at your will. The faster that lawn fills in, the better it will keep weeds out.

 

[Hickey]

For an update on my lawn, it's currently horrible. Mostly the backyard. Our water allotment was cut this year and I've focused our water on the front yard. I'm just hoping the backyard will survive until next year.

 

[nnnnnate]

Interesting that this thread would be bumped. I've had a slow couple days at work so far and have been binging The Lawn Forum as I try and make some plans for the yard this year.

I'm pretty happy with the front but want a few holes to fill in. I haven't had to do much with weeds which has been nice but its not as thick as it could be. It held up pretty good with the summer heat and only had a few spots that dried out. Once was due to a bush that grew out and started to block a sprinkler. I didn't catch it until the lawn turned brown but its coming back well. The other spot is more of a general area and I had trouble with it last year as well. I added another sprinkler head this spring to deal with it but it hasn't totally resolved the issue and its not as dark as the other areas.

The back, I'm not real happy with. We laid sod in May which was always going to be less than ideal but I just got crappy sod and it never filled in like I felt it should have. The colors aren't consistent from one end to the other and its not thick at all. It just doesn't look healthy. I've been trying to decide whether to overseed or even what seed to use.











After reading yesterday morning I decided I was going to start the Fall Nitrogen Blitz to try and get things going. I'm still up in the air about doing it in back but I'm going for it in front. I am following the application rate listed in the "PS" section of that thread which is 0.5 lb of nitrogen per 1000 sqft of lawn. At lunch yesterday I went to IFA and bought a 50# bag of urea which is 46-0-0. As I understand it the "46" is a percentage of nitrogen per pound of product. (1 pound of this granule urea equals essentially 1/2 pound nitrogen.) My front yard is about 1200 sqft so I measured out 1.4 pounds of urea and spread it out after double mowing to 3". I plan to spread that same amount of urea each Monday night until a few weeks after the lawn stops growing.

I ran out of light so I didn't get to the back yard but I'm hoping to mow it tonight. I've been reading about humate and decided to buy it today and I'll spread that too. I think the bag said to apply at least 10lb/1000sqft but that it doesn't burn so you can go way heavier too. Humate or humic acid is supposed to help the plants to absorb the nutrients from the soil and fertilizer easier/better.

I'll have to take some pictures of the front yard and post them up as well since I don't have anything current.

 

[TurboMinivan]

This year, my lawn is a complete disaster. Over the winter, the neighbor’s tree root ruptured my water supply line going to the back yard. When I turned on my irrigation water, a large fountain rivaling the Bellagio would pop out of the ground. No good. Naturally, I left the irrigation water turned off... which promptly killed my entire lawn. I tried hooking up a hose and doing some spot watering in the front (just because that’s what all the neighbors see) but this was a loosing battle.

In early July, I finally made time to dig down to the broken pipe and cap it. This let me turn on the irrigation water and begin watering the front lawn. There were weeds everywhere, but I figured Step One was to bring the grass back to life... so I only watered heavily and did not apply any sort of weed killer. Only last week, I finally got a bottle of weed killer (the kind that attaches to a garden hose) and sprayed the front lawn. I am beginning to see some results from that. Perhaps after another week or two I’ll lay down some Scott’s weed & feed.

The back yard is still completely dead—it’s all brown everywhere. (At least the neighbors can’t see it.) Worse, over at the end near the pipe rupture there are now a couple dozen spider webs scattered around the (dead) grass. Looks like I need to lay down a carpet of insecticide, too.

 

[nnnnnate]

Here is my front. You can see the bits of brown that are close but it should green up pretty quick once temps ease a little. I hope at least.

 

[SLC97SR5]

What kind of footwear are you mowing in? Anything other than New Balances or Nike Air Monarch's and you're gonna have trouble.

I aerate in the early spring, hit it hard with 46-0-0 urea then follow up with weed and feed prior to the heat. I let it coast through summer with just an application of Revive, humate or Milorganite. I use Fertilome Weed Free Zone before it gets too hot and then hit it hard with a fall/winter fertilizer.

I bag the clippings most of the time and mulch maybe once a month. I usually mow twice a week.

 

[Hickey]

View attachment 130101

What kind of footwear are you mowing in? Anything other than New Balances or Nike Air Monarch's and you're gonna have trouble.

I aerate in the early spring, hit it hard with 46-0-0 urea then follow up with weed and feed prior to the heat. I let it coast through summer with just an application of Revive, humate or Milorganite. I use Fertilome Weed Free Zone before it gets too hot and then hit it hard with a fall/winter fertilizer.

I bag the clippings most of the time and mulch maybe once a month. I usually mow twice a week.

I mow in Crocs. Dead serious.

 

[nnnnnate]

I mow in old shoes. Right now they happen to be Hoka One Ones.

I've always mulched. I ordered one of these cute electric dethatchers yesterday and am interested to see how it manages. From what I can tell they have pretty good reviews as long as you understand they are slow. I've decided to dethatch the back, then plug the hell out of it, and finally I'll throw down some seed and hope it fills in and looks nice.

 

[Troop92]

I've always mulched. I ordered one of these cute electric dethatchers yesterday and am interested to see how it manages.

You'll have to report back. I have a "Snow Joe" snowblower and love it. I've been eyeing the dethatcher....