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So I am at day 15 of my new front lawn and everything seems to be coming up nicely (45/45/10 blend of Rebel IV, Southern Gold, and Blue Grass blend from Atlantic Ave Nursery). I have a couple of questions:
1. When should I mow? The grass is at several inches now.
2. Can I cut back to watering every other day? I just planted my backyard with the same blend and do not want to pay another ~$150 for hoses, sprinklers and timers.
3. How and when do I remove the straw? I think removing it now would pull up seedlings.
So I am at day 15 of my new front lawn and everything seems to be coming up nicely (45/45/10 blend of Rebel IV, Southern Gold, and Blue Grass blend from Atlantic Ave Nursery). I have a couple of questions:
I bet this is going to look amazing, especially with all the compost and soil amendments you've done. I hope you can post a few pics!
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1. When should I mow? The grass is at several inches now.
Fescue can grown tall - the taller it grows the more root structure you encourage. Follow the back of the seed bag but personally I would mow it at the tallest setting on your mower and don't cut off more than 1/3 of your blades. So if you can mow at 4" the highest it would be would be 6".
For bluegrass, it likes to be mowed a bit lower at around 2.5"-3" so you might have to compromise a bit, lower isn't going to hurt the fescue because it's cool season.
Quote:
2. Can I cut back to watering every other day? I just planted my backyard with the same blend and do not want to pay another ~$150 for hoses, sprinklers and timers.
I would say yes, I haven't watered at all and let mother nature do the work and the grass is coming up nicely in most areas.
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3. How and when do I remove the straw? I think removing it now would pull up seedlings.
Thanks
Remove it? For what reason? I would mulch mow it in. When you cut your lawn you are mulch mowing correctly? Never collect the clippings - they add a large amount of nitrogen and moisture back into your lawn.
So my lawn is greening up nicely with an application of Scotts weed/feed, but I have the below pictured weeds coming up. Any suggestions as to how to kill it without damaging the grass? (To recap, the grass was planted in October and came up well in the fall.)
A post emerge weed killer will work. I like to selectively treat weeds using a liquid concentrate mixed with water in a pump sprayer.
The weed and feed you applied should kill these weeds, but I find the selective treatment works better for less money. Weed and feed will only be effective on actively growing weeds so if you applied it before the weeds germinated it won't kill them.
Just make sure the weed killer container says something like "kills weeds, not the lawn".
Depending on your needs, this would also be the time of year to apply a pre emerge crabgrass control (i.e Scotts Halts)
A post emerge weed killer will work. I like to selectively treat weeds using a liquid concentrate mixed with water in a pump sprayer.
The weed and feed you applied should kill these weeds, but I find the selective treatment works better for less money. Weed and feed will only be effective on actively growing weeds so if you applied it before the weeds germinated it won't kill them.
Just make sure the weed killer container says something like "kills weeds, not the lawn".
Depending on your needs, this would also be the time of year to apply a pre emerge crabgrass control (i.e Scotts Halts)
Frank
I got the Halts down too late it looks like, so I will have to hit with a post-emergent. I think that I will probably use a broad ingredient killer like Bayer Advanced (Bayer Advanced ™ All-In-One Lawn Weed & Crabgrass Killer (http://www.bayeradvanced.com/product/All-In-One-Lawn-Weed-Crabgrass-Killer/ - broken link)).
Although it may be hard to tell, all three pictures are of the same type of weed (w/ a bit of clover for good measure), in different locations. Any thoughts on the name/type of the weed? Maybe I can use NCSU's turffiles to identify the most effective specific chemical(s).
It sounds like you are slightly price sensitive but want a decent looking lawn. The best way to get your lawn in shape for a small price is to do it yourself. Here is what my lawn looked like when we moved into the house in Spring 2008:
That grass was DEAD. Nothing could bring it back at all, and the summer '08 even torched more of it.
After about 12 months of reconditioning it, this spring it looks like this:
I didn't water it ANY. I don't even own a sprinkler. You can see all the new "baby" grass that filled in. All that was done was:
Fall 2008:
Overseeding with a quality fescue seed, some starter fertilizer. 2x bags lime, and 2x bags gypsum (we here in NC normally have a very hard clay soil, this helps break it down). Also my house was formally a pine tree forest, so the soil is very acidic, which is why I added so much lime.
Spring 2009:
Crabgrass preventer
Maybe all told around $100.
This fall I am overseeding again, will apply starter fertilizer, and also am starting to add organic fertilizer to the mix. I actually already applied 50 lbs of soybean meal ($15).
This is kind of what I have planned, starting this fall, with the addition of a grub killer, since they eat grass roots.
I got the Halts down too late it looks like, so I will have to hit with a post-emergent. I think that I will probably use a broad ingredient killer like Bayer Advanced (Bayer Advanced â„¢ All-In-One Lawn Weed & Crabgrass Killer (http://www.bayeradvanced.com/product/All-In-One-Lawn-Weed-Crabgrass-Killer/ - broken link)).
Although it may be hard to tell, all three pictures are of the same type of weed (w/ a bit of clover for good measure), in different locations. Any thoughts on the name/type of the weed? Maybe I can use NCSU's turffiles to identify the most effective specific chemical(s).
Looks like Spurge to me ... very popular here in the late Winter - Spring season. The Bayer post-emergent weed killer you mentioned will work fine.
So the grass is looking really good, with one exception. I have a huge oak in the front yard that dropped its little babies all over the lawn. I am cutting the grass pretty high (which seems to be helping it grow well), so the leaves at the tops of the seedlings are surviving. I cannot find any information on how to kill them other than mowing them or pulling them.
I think mowing them will cause my grass to be too short and there are too many to pull. Is there a herbicide I can use?
Hey everybody! what wonderful feedback and input - I hope your lawns are looking as good as mine is right now! OK so I admit it...I started out prepping to reseed myself and it ended up being a nightmare. Part of the area that died had that netting stuff under the soil-- from SOD! I think from the people who owned the house before us- apparently they just pulled everything up and put sod down, and that leaves the netting stuff? Anyway I was so mad at the first lawn service for killing the lawn I thought I would never go with a service again BUT...I did, and it has been affordable and my lawn looks GREAT! I hope they dont mind if I spread the word, but I called Cheap Landscapes. Really. I spent a couple hundred bucks, plus upkeep, and I didnt have to do anything and the lawn looks great. He put little fertilizer balls down, reseeded, punched the holes, came back and put weed zap balls down, and voila. Looks like a rough at the US open. I thought we'd have to rip it all up but they said nope, just let us test the soil (it was not in balance, they had to balance it with I think lime) and then all the other stuff. I'm really happy with the results and its very reasonable, especially when I factored in the cost of renting equipment, buying seed and other fertilizer balls, and then time. Time was a big factor for me because I work most of the time and have young kids, so there is no time to do stuff in the yard of this magnitude. Anyway, THANK YOU everyone for your suggestions all along. I refer people to this thread if they have grass nightmares for all of the great suggestions.
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