Ultimate Lawn Program For The Best Lawn On The Block (damage, grass)

[reubenray]

Originally Posted by movin2Reston

Way overpriced, when are you looking to use it?

I actually signed up for a company to do my weed control and fertilizing. The cost, wear and tear on my back and taking long trips in my RV put this in motion.

[reubenray]

The first application of a pre-emergent was done today by the lawn service I signed up with. Being I already have two bags of Stonewall would I be able to put this down also in a few weeks. The next treatment is scheduled in 4 to 6 weeks with the lawn service.

[movin2Reston]

Yes wait 4-6 weeks between applications of pre-emergents.

Originally Posted by reubenray

The first application of a pre-emergent was done today by the lawn service I signed up with. Being I already have two bags of Stonewall would I be able to put this down also in a few weeks. The next treatment is scheduled in 4 to 6 weeks with the lawn service.

[movin2Reston]

Put down my Barricade today before the rain.

[L00k4ward]

To have a good lawn, one doesn’t need herbicides: grow more grass seeds to have a thick grass stand.

If your lawn grass ( whatever area you are - warm season grass, cool season grass) is as thick as an ultra premium carpet meaning that when you separate grass blades and can not see the soil - you don’t need any pre-emergent, post emergent, other crap in home turf - you are not a golf course.
(Golf courses are different animals due to the type of grass, the very close cutting, the way they need to fertilize and irrigate - they sometimes have no choice but use chemicals- mostly for diseases as it is very rough on grass)

Use more grass seeds, seed, over seed your lawn at appropriate time of the year.

If you want turf - grow more grass. Don’t be fooled by marketing hype - they paint - literally- their grass for the advertising shots!
How could you believe their marketing?

If you have weeds - your lawn is thin!!!

Ok, let’s say you killed you last year crabgrass seeds or broadleaf seeds with pre-emergent.

Now what? Now you have empty soil where those tiny seeds were suppose to grow.
The wind blows that dry soil - or rain drops dislodged your soil particles- and now another unaffected by herbicides tiny crabgrass, or dandelion, etc seed see the light of day and germinate.
There is 40Lbs of crabgrass seeds on an acre of soil. They germinate crabgrass seed which was 500 y.o.

Spend your money on quality turf seeds.

People are so ignorant sometimes.
Just tired of seeing this non-sense propagated time and time again.
Maybe they are on commission?

[reubenray]

I would gladly overseed my lawns, but this means I have to water it a lot.

[L00k4ward]

Originally Posted by reubenray

I would gladly overseed my lawns, but this means I have to water it a lot.

Best time to add seeds to the lawn is in fall; you could add some in spring, but if you don’t get at least 1” of rain - yes, you do need to water.
Don’t water everyday but 2-3 times per week- but very deep. Watering everyday leads to a very shallow root system: and you want your grass to grow deep roots to sustain itself
Do your best, but prepare for the fall.

Take pH test of your soil- do it properly, read instructions. It could be free or $5-10 from your local university.

You may need lime for your grass to grow well. In some acidic soils regions it may require so much lime, that one needs to lime spring and fall for 2-3 years to bring the pH to 6.5-6.8 - that how turf grasses like it - slightly acidic.
After you done liming - depending on the soil texture you may not need to lime for 20 years - depending on the soil buffering capacity.

If one in the west - the salts could be an issue you might need gypsum

Learn how to buy seeds: don’t buy contractors mix - full of junk sometimes even annual seeds - they won’t be there for you next year. Those germinate fastball- in 4-5 days, but won’t stay in your lawn.

Good turf grasses may take 21-28 days to come up or sometimes longer; be patient if you know you bought fresh premium seeds.

Read the label, make sure that germination test is very recent - ideally not older than 3-6 months ago.
Even fresh seeds may not germinate if stored incorrectly in heat, light ,moisture.

Educate yourself about how to grow turf grasses correctly - it is golden.

Meantime, while waiting fir the right season to thicken your lawn - just make sure to use a reel lawn mower, sharpen blades every 8 hours of mowing - sharp blades won’t tear up the grass - which leads to moisture loss, invites diseases and pests as the turf is stressed after each dull blade mowing.

Try to keep the grass as long as at least 3-4”, it would shade the soil- less light for weeds to sprout, have longer leaf blade to make food for its roots.

Don’t mow “on schedule” - you must not cut more than 1/3 of grass blade at mow time.
Most of the cool season grasses have 60% of growth in spring - so you might need to mow every 4-5 days or sometimes more - if it is very warm and rainy and if you fertilized - as the rapid lush growth occurs- which is btw - not good- lush growth invites pests and diseases.
The best time to fertilize - us fall - less pests and diseases pressure

However, you could take a break in the heat of the summer - when the soil becomes hot - the grass won’t grow - so you don’t need to mow - it is really bad to hurt the grass when it is trying to survive the heat (cool season grasses)

Cornell university, Penn state, UMass and others in your regions will have an extensive knowledge how to manage your lawn at home.

Don’t just read every silly things on the internet written by who knows who - a lot of wrong or insufficient, incorrect information out there - go to your local universities websites and read their facts sheets

[movin2Reston]

Get a Great Lawn in 2024 - Golf Course Lawn

[movin2Reston]

Even easier is just fertilize extra heavy early to late fall.

Originally Posted by L00k4ward

To have a good lawn, one doesn’t need herbicides: grow more grass seeds to have a thick grass stand.

If your lawn grass ( whatever area you are - warm season grass, cool season grass) is as thick as an ultra premium carpet meaning that when you separate grass blades and can not see the soil - you don’t need any pre-emergent, post emergent, other crap in home turf - you are not a golf course.
(Golf courses are different animals due to the type of grass, the very close cutting, the way they need to fertilize and irrigate - they sometimes have no choice but use chemicals- mostly for diseases as it is very rough on grass)

Use more grass seeds, seed, over seed your lawn at appropriate time of the year.

If you want turf - grow more grass. Don’t be fooled by marketing hype - they paint - literally- their grass for the advertising shots!
How could you believe their marketing?

If you have weeds - your lawn is thin!!!

Ok, let’s say you killed you last year crabgrass seeds or broadleaf seeds with pre-emergent.

Now what? Now you have empty soil where those tiny seeds were suppose to grow.
The wind blows that dry soil - or rain drops dislodged your soil particles- and now another unaffected by herbicides tiny crabgrass, or dandelion, etc seed see the light of day and germinate.
There is 40Lbs of crabgrass seeds on an acre of soil. They germinate crabgrass seed which was 500 y.o.

Spend your money on quality turf seeds.

People are so ignorant sometimes.
Just tired of seeing this non-sense propagated time and time again.
Maybe they are on commission?

[dcfas]

Just raked out most of my lawn the past couple of weeks. We had a crazy number of pine combs drop over the winter, the most I can remember dropping like that.

Lawn is still dormant, and March is usually still winter up here, but it seems right now that the groundhog was right- maybe an early spring. Temps are in the 40s-50’s and the ground has thawed.

I have a service for treatments, but I add lime and fungicide each year myself. Will be cleaning up the beds next and patio area. Then new mulch.

Hopefully we have nice weather this year.