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Location: Finally the house is done and we are in Port St. Lucie!
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Think of it as cleaning a room out to redecorate and the slowly putting it back together. If you didn't empty the room, you wouldn't be able to do a good job.
A short season of ugly will transform to many years of beauty.
Kill off the weeds now, get some seed ready, and call your nearest feed/tack store for some "Soybean Meal and Alfalfa Meal". The "meal" part is important, unless if you feel like feeding every rodent and bird within a 1/2 mile radius. I've seen people use the pellets before, and watched nearly every squirrel, rabbit, chipmonk, and crow get fat and happy, while the lawn does nothing.
1) Spray to kill the weeds.
2) Give it 4 weeks for the herbicide to fade away
3) Cover the yard with the new seed and include
4) A heavy cover of the Soybean and Alfalfa at the same time.
5) Water daily, don't let it dry out.
In about 7 days, you're going to smell like a garbage dump. It'll last for a couple of days (it's the soybeans breaking down into the soil).
In about 20 days, you're going to be very happy with what you see.
Soybean's are heavy in proteins and fats, which grass seeds respond to quickly and love! The alfalfa is loaded with other nutrients that will also make them germinate and explode quickly. Also, your existing grass will go nuts too. Blades will widen out, will thicken up dramatically, and you'll be happy to see grass that you thought you didn't have, start to grow. If you think I'm just blowing smoke here, know this - the National Parks Department here in DC uses this exact stuff for all of the public museums to keep their lawns lush, green, and repaired from the millions of tourists who walk all over them, including the Monument, White House and Mall area. They can't be throwing down heavy chemicals all the time due to public usage. Soybean Meal and Alfalfa Meal are key for them too.
Don't worry about the heat. With exception of winter, I've grown grass from March to October before. Last August I had a 10x10 section of my yard go completely dead. I had a huge pile of tree limbs on the lawn for about 3 weeks, which killed everything underneath. I did this procedure (which I've done for years), and in 3 weeks, the grass was back.
The trick is to not seed too soon after you've sprayed the herbicide. Read the labels first. For instance, I use TZone SE. It's a month waiting period to put down new seed, otherwise the herbicide will block the germination process.
DriveXLR8 and Tenacity, can be used at the same time as seeding however, but they won't get the broadleaf weeds out nearly as well as the TZone SE will.
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