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Lawn Care Thread

gkeller813 said:
Noticed a spot in my back yard that had grub damage. Pulled up a bit of the turf to inspect. Noticed lots of grubs. Pulled up some more. More grubs. An hour later I have a 10'×15' section pulled up and the kids are helping me put all the grubs in a bucket haha. We got a few hundred I estimate. Got some seed and ready to seed this area. Lucky that my local hardware store has quality blue tag seed, with new cultivars to plant.

Also picked up some urea for my fall nitrogen blitz. First time going with urea, but it's a heck of a lot cheaper than most other fertilizer products.
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Go grab the 24 hour bio advanced it’s seed safe just water it in well and watch them all crawl to the top
 
TRyan said:
Go grab the 24 hour bio advanced it’s seed safe just water it in well and watch them all crawl to the top
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Thanks I'll look I to it!
 
My yard company used liquid aeration this year Vs. Core aeration. Not sure what I think about it yet. Looks like it is working, but it supposedly takes longer to germinate.
 
Last weekend I aerated and de-thatched. By “de-thatched” I mean I towed a dethatcher behind the tractor and made a feeble attempt to remove all the thatch before mowing. Pretty much a fail in some spots.

Today I overseeded. I’m staying with Kentucky Bluegrass again this year.
 
Finally got grass seed down.. now come light watering 5x a day and praying to the grass gods I get good results
 
A year ago I overseeded an area of my backyard with Perennial Rye and Kentucky Blue to see how it would do. I mow it at 2.25" currently, and need to do just a bit more leveling so I can drop it down to 2". But overall it has done fantastic. I spot spray weeds, but it's thick enough to crowd out most weed pressure. For fertilizer, I'm also trying to go minimal. Have done 1/2 lb of urea over 2 separate apps this fall, and it's really greened up because of it. I did a few days of watering in the summer, when it was dry, but overall the weather has been good. Needless to say, I'm going to overseed more areas with Perennial Rye and KBG in the future, because it looks outstanding!! And the Rye germinated so much quicker that tall fescue.

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Got top soil, seed and straw down pre Hurricane (we only got the outer rain bands in South Central VA) and I’m loving seeing all the seeds sprouting now that the sun is finally out.

P.S. for fescue folks, Pennington Kentucky 31 is the way to go (especially if your soil is red clay)
 
Thanks for the recommendation on the fescue. I was looking for something to reseed the hell strip as some areas have a pretty bad grub infestation. I sprayed it a week ago.
 
CTRosarian said:
Thanks for the recommendation on the fescue. I was looking for something to reseed the hell strip as some areas have a pretty bad grub infestation. I sprayed it a week ago.
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You're welcome! I have used it for years and have always had good luck with it. In fact, what I just seeded is already springing up everywhere!
 
CTRosarian said:
Thanks for the recommendation on the fescue. I was looking for something to reseed the hell strip as some areas have a pretty bad grub infestation. I sprayed it a week ago.
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Spraying grubs this time of year won’t get rid of them all—just a percentage of the population. They will of course naturally go dormant at some point this fall. So, planting new seed now is a good plan.

Just know that next spring you need to re—apply insecticide specific for grubs when they are larvae before they hatch or you are going to go through this all over again.

Also, plan to do the same the following spring. It can take multiple years to fully eradicate a grub infestation.
 
leftshot said:
Spraying grubs this time of year won’t get rid of them all—just a percentage of the population. They will of course naturally go dormant at some point this fall. So, planting new seed now is a good plan.

Just know that next spring you need to re—apply insecticide specific for grubs when they are larvae before they hatch or you are going to go through this all over again.

Also, plan to do the same the following spring. It can take multiple years to fully eradicate a grub infestation.
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Applying a 24-hour grub killer will do a number on them for sure, and is definitely recommended as they will destroy your roots.

Agreed on preventative, but that should be applied annually regardless IMO - small amount of money for the peace of mind it gives.
 
TRyan said:
Applying a 24-hour grub killer will do a number on them for sure, and is definitely recommended as they will destroy your roots.

Agreed on preventative, but that should be applied annually regardless IMO - small amount of money for the peace of mind it gives.
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According to studies, the best grub insecticide properly applied this time of year (before they go dormant) will take out about 70% of the population.
 
I think the hell strip is bad because the birds don't like the constant road traffic and don't feast on grubs like they do in the back yard. It is nice and quiet I see lots of birds whenever I look out the window. I see dead grubs where I sprayed. I should certainly do it more often now that I have the time.
 
leftshot said:
According to studies, the best grub insecticide properly applied this time of year (before they go dormant) will take out about 70% of the population.
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70% is a lot better than 0% - Any thing you can do to assist with their potential to destroy your yard is a good thing. They can decimate an entire yard
 
Overseed is coming in pretty well, 16 days post seeding and I'm turning down the watering to 3x per day now.. another week or two until I can mow
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On a strange note, a random sprinkler head that I had no idea was there popped up today. I guess by scarifying I took out some of the zoysia runners that were holding it down, allowed it to pop up a little and I saw it gurgling in the middle of the lawn.. it's only maybe 6 ft from the head I installed in another zone, but I adjusted the radius to not over water.. just a very weird thing for it to pop up after a year.. I guess it was spurting water underground this whole time, but I didn't feel anything too soggy, or maybe it didn't at all since it didn't pop up?
 
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My attempt to overseed this year was a failure. There are a few blades coming up but not worth the effort. I'm doing a couple of things wrong, so I just have to decide how much time and work I want to put into it next fall. I definitely cannot continue to half-ass it.
 
JonMA1 said:
My attempt to overseed this year was a failure. There are a few blades coming up but not worth the effort. I'm doing a couple of things wrong, so I just have to decide how much time and work I want to put into it next fall. I definitely cannot continue to half-ass it.
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What was your prep for overseeding? I know you said you did a couple things wrong just curious what they were
 
In my Connecticut freeze/thaw climate I'll see grass germinate and grow during the winter. It is slow but fast isn't needed!
It helps if I clear away the dead crabgrass.
 
TRyan said:
What was your prep for overseeding? I know you said you did a couple things wrong just curious what they were
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I dethatched but didn't do a good job of removing the thatch. I didn't lightly rake soil over the seed, nor did I apply any top soil. So I don't think there was good enough soil contact in a lot spots???.

I also only watered once per day instead of several times as I read you should. I applied the seed very heavily in some of the bare spots and it really didn't come.
 
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A lot of lawns in my area have become infested with these tiny white snails, causing widespread bare spots. Once you spot the empty shells that are apparently left behind, you can't miss them. It doesn't seem to make any difference what kind of grass you have, Bermuda. Zoysia, St Augustine. I've tried grub and snail bait, Triazicide, which is supposed to kill any number of lawn insects, but nothing seems to work. A supposed lawn expert said the only solution is to tear up the lawn so there is no grass for them to feed upon. Unfortunately, the HOA won't go for that! Any ideas?

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Grass typically grows fast when the soil temperatures are in an optimum range. Make sure the weather will cooperate with your grass growing efforts. Hold off if the weather is unseasonable or take advantage of unseasonable weather. A soil thermometer may help.
 
First day of raking leaves. Took me 4 hours. Should have 3 more times before all the trees are done shedding the first time is always the biggest by far. I’ll start using the lawn mower on the 3rd go.
 
I grind up my raked leaves with a leaf shredder and add them to my compost pile. All my grass clippings also go into the pile to make compost. Black gold to gardeners!
So far I've run the mower twice and raked the front yard after the dogwood dropped all its leaves.
I now use rabbit fencing as a back stop for the cordless leaf blower.
I have a large sugar maple that holds onto its leaves for a long time. It is a good thing I don't have to have it done by the time they collect leaves.
 
Danimal said:
First day of raking leaves. Took me 4 hours. Should have 3 more times before all the trees are done shedding the first time is always the biggest by far. I’ll start using the lawn mower on the 3rd go.
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Looked out my window this morning and it was raining leaves. Round 2 this weekend. This yard was totally clean on Sunday. The battle rages…..
 
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