Lawn Care - Page 3

jswift2000 · 04-15-08, 07:45

White 07,

Clay is one of the hardest things to grow grass on b/c the roots have a hard time penetrating the soil. Would it be possible to add some topsoil to your lawn? I would imagine if you laid sod, it would be too late.

I would also adjust your watterig schedule to 1" once per week for instead of many short waterings. By watering 1" once per week, you'll "train" the root to go deeper into the ground to look for water, bettering your chances of a lush lawn, especially in a the seummer. If you water many times a week on short intervals you'll "train" the roots to stay towards the surface.

What kinds of lawn food do you use? I dont want to get into a synthetic/organic argument but we switched to organics a few years ago and saw a nig increase health, worms in the soil and a better tolerance to drought. The worms are really good for the soil by making the soil higher quality when the excrete their waste. As you tend to make the soil better, the grass will grow thicker and healther, becoming its own weed control. When you have a thick lawn, the weeds have a difficult time growing since the grass begins to choke them out. When you mow set the mower to 2.5" - 3" and mow when you need to, not on a schedule. You never want to remove more than a 1/3 of the blade at any given time. This can cause the grass plants to spend their any on repairs instead of growth.

I learned quite a bit at http://www.lawnsite.com and Lawn Care Forum - GardenWeb. They offer great advice on all topics from grass type to mowers to mowing patterns (this is very important to reduce soil compaction) to anything else related to lawn care.

I babbled enough...

Jeff

Mr. Clean · 04-15-08, 09:41

Good post jswift2000.

O Water as needed, usually every 7-10 days, adding 1" of water. Avoid frequent light waterings.
O Mow as needed, so you remove @ 1/3 of the blade growth (during peak growing season, I mow every 4-6 days). Mow high (@ 2.5-3") for most lawn grasses except the Bermudas which need to be mowed low (@ 1", less for TIF). Use a mulching mower to return the clippings to the lawn. Keep your blades sharp.)
O Use organic fertilizers.

White 07, I would not recommend introducing non native soils to the lawn or for tree planting. Instead, work to improve your clay soil through the use of natural ammendments such as sulphur, finished compost, and possibly lava sand.

White_07_G6_GT · 04-21-08, 11:16

Hey guys thanks for the great info, in between a wedding I was in this weekend I managed to get a good session of over seeding and a ton of local compost rich soil from my garden center on my front yard. I ended up covering up about 80% of the yard, but as my wife said it looks better already. I've taken advantage of our Home Depot's $100 trade in on lawn mowers and my governments $80 credit for buying an electric. So I got a new mulching electric (battery) mower with bag which should arrive just in time for my lawn to need it next month.

For the back yard I've decided that since it's not level to begin with I'm going to get soil delivered on Thursday along with the rental tiller and I'm going to fix it properly. I was going to do some stone work in the back for our gazebo/tent this year anyway this just means I have to do it sooner rather than later.

Glad I have a 4 day weekend coming up.

On a side note I've got 47 Tulips that are growing like weeds at the moment and 11 have opened already... why are the red always the first? Proof I can get something to grow!

Thanks again guys!

jswift2000 · 04-21-08, 02:36

Sounds like a def plan. Make sure you throw in some starter fert (I like Lesco) just to get it going and then switch to some organic ferts. Make sure you dont use a fert with a crab grass preventer b/c that will prevent any grass from germinating. Have fun!!!

mburnickas · 05-24-08, 11:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aviator16

Okay i was browsing through the hot tub threads and i did not see a thread on lawn care. Lawn care is just as important to me as a clean car so i thought i'd start a thread for the lawn.

What i'm wanting to know is, what kind of grass is everyone's lawn?
what kind of mower yall use?
what is the general cut height?
Fertilizer etc.?

I'm growing a nice established lawn with TIFWAY 419 grass, cut three times a week with an old reel type mower at 3/4" (perfect for golf practice

) and i just put down 15-5-10 fertilizer to get it good and green, i'm in the dallas area so its just starting to green up.

I own a home in Texas and up North again. I have a Kubota Bx24 with 60" MMM. For my grass (north) it is 3" +/-. My buddys house so the wife did not see.

Fert is a hard guess: I have about $3,000 in stuff. Drive 75 (1lb $130), Dimension ($800 for 2.5g), Confront ($200 for 1 gallon), FX2 etc. Lesco SS spreader $350. That is for up North.. I just installed another inground sprinkler in this house. 2,000 ft of 1" poly and all Hunter (with 1" Febco backflow). Get about 0.900" of water a week with some red and blue nozzles in Hunter PGP/I-20.

In Texas, I let the, um, the illegals for it for $20

BigLeegr · 05-25-08, 07:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by jswift2000

I learned quite a bit at http://www.lawnsite.com and Lawn Care Forum - GardenWeb

I agree with the garden web one. I actually find that you can replace "first time homeowner" with "first time car owner" and replace "best seed" with "best wax" and you've got a lot of similarity between these car care forums and the lawn care!

Even down to the "I don't want to have to do much work..."

mburnickas · 05-27-08, 01:01

lawnsite is okay at best, but it is the same clowns pimping themselves on the same product saying good job or you are the best etc. It is like an MLM club. It is good to learn but once you stay awhile you see the typical BS the posters put in the sprinkler section etc...Pretty sad if you ask me.

jswift2000 · 05-28-08, 04:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by mburnickas

lawnsite is okay at best, but it is the same clowns pimping themselves on the same product saying good job or you are the best etc. It is like an MLM club. It is good to learn but once you stay awhile you see the typical BS the posters put in the sprinkler section etc...Pretty sad if you ask me.

I totally agree - I should have clarified that its a good place to learn and research but move on when you're done.

The homeowner section of the forum is a little more tame but the gardenweb site still trumps them.

mburnickas · 05-31-08, 10:30

Gardenweb is a great site...Front end stucks but a great site.

P1et · 06-10-08, 08:36

Why don't they sell more cylinder mowers here in the US? I'm from Europe and that's all we have. Here, I cannot seem to find them... What gives?

Yal · 06-11-08, 07:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by P1et

Why don't they sell more cylinder mowers here in the US? I'm from Europe and that's all we have. Here, I cannot seem to find them... What gives?

Yeah we don't get those here. I bet its a patent thing. We get the cheap push type manual cylinder mowers but not any of the bigger powered versions unfortunately. The do cut grass better than the rotary machines.

mr.ikon · 06-19-08, 11:09

I just installed new sod in myself and I've been having a bit of trouble. About a month ago, I had some poeple come by and clean up the yard of weeds, old dry grass etc. Now 2 weeks ago, I installed the sod and half of the grass is now yellowing. I tilled half the areas soil using one of those garden claws, and began laying the sod down. Tilled area is very lush and green. Other half is sort of yellowing and the blades are thinning a bit. Will proper watering and lawn feeding bring the yellow back to the green it used to be?