Who has a nice lawn?

[DeanBrown3D]

I'm so crap at lawns, its laughable. I've put down weed and feed every year, I mow it long every week, and still its crap, full of weeds and clover and crab grass.

The nice lawns in this area use liquid something (not sure what) and a mobile sprayer on wheels. Now I can get something like this for my rider mower, at Northern Tool for $300 with its own sureflo pump. My question is, what can you get that is in liquid form? Pesticides? Fertilizer? Weed Killer?

Any tips most welcomed! Its a house we moved into last year, so the grass may still have a fighting chance to survive me, but please hurry!


Dean

 

[sawn_penn]

My question is, what can you get that is in liquid form? Pesticides? Fertilizer? Weed Killer?

Green Paint?

 

[LightningLoader]

What kind of grass do you have first of all?

Atrazine usually works pretty well. Available in solid or liquid. The solid is what is in weed and feed. Atrazine kills broad leafed weeds and I believe it will also kill carpet grass.

How about a picture so we can see what we're dealing with here.

Also a rule of thumb is to mow often so that the weeds don't have time to go to seed.

 

[DeanBrown3D]

Great thats what I need - basic Grass Growing 101! I do try to cut it often, its hard though to do it more than once a week.

I have no idea what grass it is, its in NJ if that helps. I will take a pic!

 

[RaisedByWolves]

I had the same lousy lawn as you describe years ago and simply used the scotts weed/feed and watered often and had a beautiful lawn after two summers with the most improvement the first year.


I never cut it short either. I cut when it was 6" and cut it to 4" (1/3 of height is recommended) and a lil shorter the next year.

Leaving it long helps conserve moisture in the soil.


Aerate, weed/feed, water,water,water.

 

[DeanBrown3D]

Good news!

Do you have a built-in water system?

How did you aerate the soil? (Spiky shoes, spiky roler?)

 

[04ultra]

Good news!

Do you have a built-in water system?

How did you aerate the soil? (Spiky shoes, spiky roler?)

Dean my wife is nuts about the lawn .. we thatch with 48in rotary broom ,aerate with a 40in pull plugger,roll the yard with 1000# roller and she uses Scotts turf builder 4 times a year.. 3/4 acre at this house ..

 

[crashagn]

I was having a bad thistle problem at the place i rent.. takes 4 hrs to mow.. so i made my own pull behind spraycart with 7ft swath boom with a 25 gal tank. i mix up 2-4-d buctril, and herbimax. kills all dandilians,thistles, and everything else that isnt grass.. even your garden in a very calm day. i spray once here in about 2 weeks and again in 5 weeks

 

[RaisedByWolves]

Dean my wife is nuts about the lawn .. we thatch with 48in rotary broom ,aerate with a 40in pull plugger,roll the yard with 1000# roller and she uses Scotts turf builder 4 times a year.. 3/4 acre at this house ..

What ultra said, except for the thatching. Once you get well established youll need to thatch but for now you probably can do without.


The lawn I had at the time was 150X30 and was watered with a sprinkler about twice a week. Not a big lawn but the most plush patch of land in the neighborhood.


The lawn I have now is in sad shape, 1.5 acres of moss is what it is. Kind of nice but too easily damaged and is slides off of the dirt when soaking wet.


I get to do it all over again, Groan.:bang:

 

[04ultra]

I'm so crap at lawns, its laughable. I've put down weed and feed every year, I mow it long every week, and still its crap, full of weeds and clover and crab grass.

The nice lawns in this area use liquid something (not sure what) and a mobile sprayer on wheels. Now I can get something like this for my rider mower, at Northern Tool for $300 with its own sureflo pump. My question is, what can you get that is in liquid form? Pesticides? Fertilizer? Weed Killer?

Any tips most welcomed! Its a house we moved into last year, so the grass may still have a fighting chance to survive me, but please hurry!


Dean

Dean the only problem with a spray system is you cant have any wind or you spray every where you dont want it to go.. We have a 12ft boom on our 40 gallon sprayer for the yard at our hobby farm and it sucks when there is any breeze.. it is like the ones at northern.. i would rather use dry but the cost for our 5 acre yard would be alot so we spray that yard..

 

[treeseer]

My secret to successful turfgrass management is a thorough application of glyphosphate followed by 4" of mulch. that keeps the stinking invasive exotic grass from competing with tree roots. Then I plant something worthwhile that looks good and does not need mowing.

 

[Tom Dunlap]

I'm with Guy!

There isn't a turf problem that can't be solved with a dose of Roundup!

 

[12guns]

early last summer I moved into the house I'm now in. The lawn was horrific. Nothing but stickers and weeds. I sprayed a couple times w/ Trimec, threw out some pre emerge crab grass killer, and now I have a nice thick Bermuda lawn. The key is the pre emerge for the following year. otherwise you may be fighting crabgrass all summer. Whatever firtilizer you choose, make sure it's full on nitrogen...not 13-13-13

 

[shucksters]

well- MSMA applied at above 80 degrees will knock out all of the junk

2-4-D will handle the broadleaf stuff- be careful with this if anybody is farming near you- you spray it on their crop and you boought it down here!

if you are really serious about making it look good- get a soil analysis done
at a coop and find out what you are missing... and supplement the soil (with lime or whatever the results are)

oh.. and sprigging works alot better than planting seed

 

[okietreedude1]

Ive genearlly just hired a buddy of mine w/ a lawn spraying bus. He sprays 3x a year and since he does it for a living, has the time/equip/knowledge of what works. And when he needs tree work, he applies the above toward me.

What he sprays and when: FEB-glyphospate+preemergent, APRIL-2,4D+preemergent, OCT-2,4d+preemergent.

I do my own fertilizing granular style.

Last year in my other house, he used my yard as an example to a potential customer that was wondering if spraying actually did any good (my old neighbors yard was never sprayed and looked like crap). I think it sold him the job.

BTW, if you have any shade or cool season grass, glyphosphate will KILL IT DEAD. READ YOUR PESTICIDE LABEL BEFORE YOU USE ANYTHING.

 

[okietreedude1]

oh.. and sprigging works alot better than planting seed

Sprigging?????? To heck w/ that. SOD is the quickest way to get a new yard!

 

[LightningLoader]

BTW, if you have any shade or cool season grass, glyphosphate will KILL IT DEAD. READ YOUR PESTICIDE LABEL BEFORE YOU USE ANYTHING.

Weed and feed will also kill your grass in the dead of summer. You really don't want to use it if temps get above the 70's.

Another fast way to kill your lawn fast is to get chinch bugs, but it depends on what variety fo grass you have. Just looks like a suspicious dry patch, and you water and water, and it just keeps getting bigger and deader. Not a good situation, and not easy to kill the buggers.

 

[RaisedByWolves]

Just thought I would add this to the thread.


We are going to try starting out with some clover in our present lawn to help establish a good soil for future lawn growing.

Im told that clover is a boon to lawns as it actually adds nitrogen better than fertilizers ever could and helps established lawns as well as prepair soil for future lawns while providing ground cover for the present.

just throwing this out there.

 

[DeanBrown3D]

Our previous house had patches of clover - with NO grass at all. Its green, but I don't like it much.

 

[yooper]

treeco lawn..

WOW i bet deer hunting would be fantastic in your yard..how do ya keep em from eaten everything up? you must be down south it sure is green there, i still have patches of snow here in the woods. and them dandelions don't kill them there good eaten greens. people just don't know what there missing now days.good luck on the taters treeco! do have to say yer Yard looks great..magnificent!!