OT: Any lawn nuts here? | Page 3 | The Boneyard

OT: Any lawn nuts here?

Robertelamin said:
Get a lawn service
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I have Weed Man and they haven't been as good since they actually sent me a "man". We had stephanie for 2 years and she was really good lawn looked great now this guy seems to be watering down his products to ensure he makes more money as i understand that's how they get paid. True Green sucked prior to these guys as did one other prior to them. Careful in choosing I believe ultimately it's up to the person in charge of taking care of your lawn no matter where he or she is working.
 
mauconnfan said:
I have Weed Man and they haven't been as good since they actually sent me a "man". We had stephanie for 2 years and she was really good lawn looked great now this guy seems to be watering down his products to ensure he makes more money as i understand that's how they get paid. True Green sucked prior to these guys as did one other prior to them. Careful in choosing I believe ultimately it's up to the person in charge of taking care of your lawn no matter where he or she is working.
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I use Tru Green. My only complaint with them is they wait too long in the fall to over seed. One time they came in November when mostly all the leaves had fallen. I got my money back but I discontinued that part of the service.
 
huskyrob1 said:
No you can't. You'll have to wait until the early spring. Unlike normal grass which goes dormant at the first frost in fall, frost completely kills off crabgrass plants, EXCEPT for the millions of seeds. You might notice in the early winter after a heavy rain, where there was crabgrass is now a muddy mess because now there's nothing there to hold the soil together. Start raking and seeding your lawn in early March, even late February if you have some warm days, completely rake out all the dead crabgrass roots as best you can, seed the area half fescue and half Kentucky bluegrass. Rake the seeds in with a good dark top soil, ten bags ought to be enough. Then wait, the important thing is to help your new grass get an early spring jump on crabgrass. Even though you have raked out the crabgrass as best you could, the crabgrass seeds are still there, but they don't germinate until the soil temperature hits 65F, by that time your early spring work will have paid off, but you're not done, watering your new grass is extremely important to help it choke out any crabgrass that does germinate. If you don't water and fertilize, the the crabgrass will eventually win out again over a few years. Scott's sells a good early spring fertilizer that inhibits crabgrass germination while giving your grass a good shot of the nitrogen it needs.
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Lots of good advice in this chain overall. My experience is similar to Rob’s. The battle against crab grass is won in March. You have to rake it out then put down the pre emergent and reseed with good stuff. It takes two springs of the process to turn around most lawns. And it will help to pull crab grass out by the root if the size of the area you at dealing with us reasonable, but pulling by root only is effective if combined with the March pre emergent.
 
I think the best way to guarantee a good lawn is to do something that is very expensive when putting it in which is to have at least 6 inches of high grade topsoil underneath it. This is harder to do than it it appears because a lot of the topsoil sold is not good stuff. All the chemicals around cannot make up for that. Number 2 of course is water and being on a well with a large lawn makes it near impossible. When you build a house the last thing on the list is topsoil for most people which is understandable but it eventually rears it’s head later on as you fight the lawn.
 
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temery said:
Ok, I'm done babbling: How often should I water, keeping in mind my goal is to help the wanted grass outcompete the crabgrass? The $50 I currently spend every six months won't get the job done, but $2,500 isn't going to happen. I need a Goldilocks answer.
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Once the crabgrass has started to germinate, you need to kill it off or it will outcompete your desired grass. Frequent light waterings will help weeds more than your lawn.

Your lawn likes to get 1" of water once per week, either by rain or irrigation, ideally all at once. Deep infrequent watering encourages deeper roots and keeps weed pressure lower.

Hotter weather and or sandy soil may require more frequent watering. See how much your irrigation system is putting out by placing tuna fish cans through the yard, a full tuna can will equal 1".
 
Chief00 said:
After reseed use plenty of lime. It’s cheap and makes the fertilizer more efficient. You will get a rich green look. Get lime rich in calcium and magnesium.
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No offense, but that is poor advice. A good question is whether you or anyone really need lime in the first place. Many people apply it regularly regardless of their lawn's pH, I used to as well, figuring it's just a "good thing" to do.

A good local soil test from UCONN or Umass will tell you if you need or not. I have 35,000 sqft of grass, I only apply what my lawn needs, saves $$ and time.
 
NC_Uconn_Fan said:
No offense, but that is poor advice. A good question is whether you or anyone really need lime in the first place. Many people apply it regularly regardless of their lawn's pH, I used to as well, figuring it's just a "good thing" to do.

A good local soil test from UCONN or Umass will tell you if you need or not. I have 35,000 sqft of grass, I only apply what my lawn needs, saves $$ and time.
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Push mower.
 
Exit 4 said:
Lots of good advice in this chain overall. My experience is similar to Rob’s. The battle against crab grass is won in March. You have to rake it out then put down the pre emergent and reseed with good stuff. It takes two springs of the process to turn around most lawns. And it will help to pull crab grass out by the root if the size of the area you at dealing with us reasonable, but pulling by root only is effective if combined with the March pre emergent.
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At what point is it too late to put down a preemergent?
 
temery said:
At what point is it too late to put down a preemergent?
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For crabgrass, you want to apply when the soil temps reach 50 degrees. A good indicator of that is you will see the Forsythias start to bloom.

The best and most commonly used/recommended are Dithiopyr (Dimension), Prodiamine (Barricade). You are recommended to do a second application 60 to 90 days after the first for extended control. If you miss this target window, it's too late to stop ceabgrass from germinating.

Annual weeds, like crabgrass, are best controlled by breaking their natural cycle of germination, growth and seeding. You do this 2 ways, first is to prevent them from germinating in the first place (preemergent). The second is by killing them after they germinate, but before they seed (herbicides).
 
NC_Uconn_Fan said:
No offense, but that is poor advice. A good question is whether you or anyone really need lime in the first place. Many people apply it regularly regardless of their lawn's pH, I used to as well, figuring it's just a "good thing" to do.

A good local soil test from UCONN or Umass will tell you if you need or not. I have 35,000 sqft of grass, I only apply what my lawn needs, saves $$ and time.
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Ok - on a non sport matter - Chief will clean things up and then get back off the circuit.

My advice was for the 95% of the folks here who post from the Northeast/Southeastern US. As you can see from the map at the link below / all is Red Soil type with relatively high acidity. True within this area there are some local variations for various reasons and a test is always good - but as a long term poster - Chief seeks to understand the audience before he posts. How much time, complication and money are they willing to invest? Therefore, how many are likely to get the tests? Then give advice that can be easily implemented.

With bags of lime costing $3 to $4.50 and soil tests over $12 - moderately using one or two bags too many once a year won’t kill your bank account. The likelihood in CT that you will need lime is extremely high. If one lives in Northern Africa or sections of the Mideast your advice was more appropriate.

Therefore, given all that, Chief's Advice (tm) was excellent and appropriate for the masses.
Soil pH - Wikipedia
 
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Sold my house after 45 years of lawn maintenance. Don’t miss the lawn or the mower or Scott’s Weed n’ Feed at all. :cool:
 
Chief00 said:
With bags of lime costing $3 to $4.50 and soil tests over $12 - moderately using one or two bags too many once a year won’t kill your bank account. The likelihood in CT that you will need lime is extremely high. If one lives in Northern Africa or sections of the Mideast your advice was more appropriate.

Therefore, given all that, Chief's Advice (tm) was excellent and appropriate for the masses.
Soil pH - Wikipedia
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My advice was to get a soil test to see if you need lime. Your advice is "throw it down because its cheap". Okay.
 
plow it all under, cover in a thick bed of woodchips, you are good to go
 
NC_Uconn_Fan said:
My advice was to get a soil test to see if you need lime. Your advice is "throw it down because its cheap". Okay.
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7B8F3E7D-B6C4-4E29-A838-09E331ABDF73.png


Very misleading and disingenuous comment. The thrust of my post was if you lived in the Northeast the chance of not needing lime was extremely remote. Therefore, the casual home owner should disregard your earlier comment about throwing money away. With moderate lime application the risk of throwing money away was probably close to zero. And if you were in that category you would be just losing pocket change. The other factor is most people won’t get a soil test, so just put down a moderate application. The map above just kills your argument.
 
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I've given up on my front lawn..........moved to all bushes and tall grasses..........and lots of rocks.............
 
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You're right chief, everyone in the red needs lime, every singe plot of land. Every university should shut down their soil test programs, because chief posted a map based on avg soil ph.
 
NC_Uconn_Fan said:
You're right chief, everyone in the red needs lime, every singe plot of land. Every university should shut down their soil test programs, because chief posted a map based on avg soil ph.
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Nice try to distort again - from my earlier post.
“ True within this area there are some local variations for various reasons and a test is always good - but as a long term poster - Chief seeks to understand the audience before he posts. How much time, complication and money are they willing to invest? ”

Now going back to enjoy my well deserved time away.
 
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Cheif, just admit you don't know shart about soils or lawns.
 
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Chief00 said:
View attachment 32754

Very misleading and disingenuous comment. The thrust of my post was if you lived in the Northeast the chance of not needing lime was extremely remote. Therefore, the casual home owner should disregard your earlier comment about throwing money away. With moderate lime application the risk of throwing money away was probably close to zero. And if you were in that category you would be just losing pocket change. The other factor is most people won’t get a soil test, so just put down a moderate application. The map above just kills your argument.
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Great news if you live in the no data areas of the North Pole Antarctica and Greenland it doesn’t really matter if you lime or not since it’s hard to grow grass on ice.....
 
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