My lawn needs a reboot. Any experts?

[doobes]

I've got the same issue, a yard full of crab grass with a little fescue sprinkled in. 


LOML contracted TruGreen to come out and spray and that has been good money down the tubes.

I'll go rent an aerator and go to town and then feed it and seed it.

Hopefully it won't look this bad next spring 

[Admiral]

I've got the same issue, a yard full of crab grass with a little fescue sprinkled in. 


LOML contracted TruGreen to come out and spray and that has been good money down the tubes.

I'll go rent an aerator and go to town and then feed it and seed it.

Hopefully it won't look this bad next spring 

Remember the pre-emergent treatment in early spring to prevent the crabgrass. This is key.

[vernonator]

Ben:  this ^^^^^^^^

It's kinda late in the season for a tear up and regrade if you are doing it yourself, sort of like a 3 weekend job, maybe more with killing the grass, etc.  I've had much success with plug aerating and this is what I have done on two lawns now.  Don't know how large your lawn is, but rent one of those self propelled core aerators, and plug the living chit out of the lawn, go over it 3 or 4 times in criscross patterns, you'll have all the plugs laying there like dog poop, leave them, they will dissolve with rain and improve the soil.  Then top dress really bare areas with well-screened topsoil or compost, fertilize and overseed with a quality seed, then water for a bit every day until you get growth, then two or three times a week thereafter until mid fall, as you want to get it going well before winter.  In areas that are really bare, mulch with straw to help keep the moisture and improve germination. This should be a one weekend job, and the seed will germinate and set in for the winter. Then see what happens in the spring, and put down your pre-emergent to stop the crab grass and spring fertilizer, definitely aerate heavily again in the fall and repeat fertilizer and overseed; hard to say not being there to see how hard the ground is compacted.

I aerate every fall without fail and as my lot is 1.75 acres I rent a commercial pull behind model.  Takes two or three seasons to get things right, then its just maintenance.

Admiral has good advice here - I have 3+ acres that I started from seed some with help, some on my own. You could look into someone coming out and doing it for you. For about 3/4a around my house I had a company come out and Terraseed. This is where they blow on fine compost mixed with seed about 2"-3" thick. You cannot believe how thick and rich this grass comes in. 11yrs in and I STILL don't have to fertilize that section. For the other 2+ I did what Admiral suggests, we killed it with roundup, tilled it with a tractor, waited a week for the weed seed to sprout, did roundup again. Then used a tractor mounted drillseeder to put down grass seed/starter fertilizer. After that aerate 2-3x in spring and at least 1x in fall with fertilizer and its going strong. For really compacted areas I put down granulated compost (Milorginite) after aeration for a couple years and it really improved the soil.


Its work but for a smaller lawn VERY doable.

[bennybmn]

Thanks guys! I am going to ask my local guy about getting some top soil delivered. For the compacted area, it's also pretty low, so maybe I just need to add a few inches of soil in that area... I have one high area I'd love to knock down, so maybe I'll only dig up there, save myself some work.

All great suggestions!!

[Wild Turkey]

Trick I learned on the farm when you need to speed up sprouting:  wash the seeds!

Most seed comes in a woven bag so just open the top and stick the hose in and let it run for a few minutes, moving the hose around to get water across all the seed.

Then drain it for a while. 

There is an enzyme on seeds that prevent it from sprouting until it's been washed off, which is why it takes days of watering for grass to start growing.

Wash that enzyme off and it starts sprouting then next day.

I've let it drain for a couple of hours and then it was dry enough to spread with my broadcast seeder.

But you still need to water it every day for a few days until those little roots get into the soil.

[joe1086]

Just to add...the daily watering is important, but only needs to keep the seed and the top layer of soil moist. You don't need to drench it. One or two mistings per day is all you need.

[doobes]

Remember the pre-emergent treatment in early spring to prevent the crabgrass. This is key.

Can you recommend a specific product?  Not sure I know what a "pre-emergent" treatment is.

Thanks,

[Admiral]

Can you recommend a specific product?  Not sure I know what a "pre-emergent" treatment is.

Thanks,

I pretty much follow the Scotts program; in the spring you can buy your fertilizers and they have a brochure, or sometimes print on the bags, what to put down and when, just follow those recommendations even if you don't buy the Scotts brands.  Below is a link to their crabgrass pre emergent as a stand alone product, but they have it already mixed in with fertilizer too which is more convenient to apply, which is what I have used.  Other brands are good too, I'm sure.

http://www.scotts.com/smg/goprod/halts-c.../prod90026

In my youth I worked on a vegetable farm tending crops, and believe me, grass is pretty easy to grow in comparison.....  LOL

[atgcpaul]

Can you recommend a specific product?  Not sure I know what a "pre-emergent" treatment is.

Thanks,

I had pretty good success this year using a product containing Dimension.  I don't remember the brand, though.  It is sold as granular and liquid.  I found a granular one that I used in my spreader.  I do ascribe to the Lawn Care Nut's lawn program.  I don't bother with the combination weed and feed stuff anymore.

There's an adage that you should put down the pre ermegent when the forsythias are in bloom in early spring.  I guess that works but with the weird winters we've been having, this past winter I monitored this soil temperature map to see when the soil in my area would be consistently at 55deg.

http://www.greencastonline.com/tools/soiltempmaps.aspx

http://ipm.missouri.edu/meg/2013/2/Its-t...emergence/


It's not worth it to kill weeds like crabgrass now because they will or have put out seed already.  The plant itself will die off in the winter.  It's the seeds waiting in your lawn that you need to prevent from germinating in the spring.

My biggest lawn problem now is creeping charlie.  I am going to have to try borax.

[bennybmn]

I just tried some vinegar/epsom salt mix on weeds last night, I'll let you guys know how it works.

I've watched a few lawn care nut videos, even asked him a question in one of the comments and he answered. Between that and this thread there are some terrific resources here! I hope others benefit too.