How about cutting some trees back so the area gets the light it needs.
Lawn Care Advice Thread
- Thread starter Cobrabit
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Yes, I've done some tree maintenance. But still have a pretty good canopy still, trees was main reason we purchased house. Guess you can't have best of both worlds??
Bermuda coming out nicely.
Sprayed some post emergent 2 weeks ago to kill some broadleaf weeds with a light spray.
Will apply again in 2 more weeks. Not many weeds really.
Put 40lbs on each of the 3 lawns I have 1 week ago.
Have to change the oil in both lawn mowers.
80 on Easter.
85 the week after that.
50 degree lows.
Time to plant the garden.
Sprayed some post emergent 2 weeks ago to kill some broadleaf weeds with a light spray.
Will apply again in 2 more weeks. Not many weeds really.
Put 40lbs on each of the 3 lawns I have 1 week ago.
Have to change the oil in both lawn mowers.
80 on Easter.
85 the week after that.
50 degree lows.
Time to plant the garden.
Sprayed some RGS, Humic acid, and my 2nd app of pre-emergent prodiamine yesterday with expected rain this afternoon through Sunday morning.
My oaks are starting to drop their pollen and the acorns from the fall are starting to sprout. Waiting a few weeks before laying down new mulch (about 13 cubic yards), but the only thing I can do about the baby oaks is mow and they'll eventually die off. With my height of cut being 3.5-4 inches, they'll continue to be unsightly for a few more weeks at least.
Got my truck packed up to take on my brother-in-law's yard this weekend (and the smoker). Weather looks to be raining there on Friday, but clearing off by Friday night. If that holds true, I'll be able to spread the bioadvanced 5-in-1 to take care of existing weeds and when it rains again have the fertilizer and dithiopyr green the grass and be the first pre-emergent app for his yard in probably.... forever. Should have enough to do a second app 6 weeks later.
My oaks are starting to drop their pollen and the acorns from the fall are starting to sprout. Waiting a few weeks before laying down new mulch (about 13 cubic yards), but the only thing I can do about the baby oaks is mow and they'll eventually die off. With my height of cut being 3.5-4 inches, they'll continue to be unsightly for a few more weeks at least.
Got my truck packed up to take on my brother-in-law's yard this weekend (and the smoker). Weather looks to be raining there on Friday, but clearing off by Friday night. If that holds true, I'll be able to spread the bioadvanced 5-in-1 to take care of existing weeds and when it rains again have the fertilizer and dithiopyr green the grass and be the first pre-emergent app for his yard in probably.... forever. Should have enough to do a second app 6 weeks later.
Is the 40lbs a fertilizer? I'm assuming so, since your bermuda is likely starting to wake up, which is also when I'll start getting to suppress it in my yard.
After the 80s I've seen a few times this week, I'll see some 50s this weekend. I'll be in the mid to upper 70s the next 10 days afterwards. Perfect for my fescue, rye, and kgb yard to thicken up.
I haven't put down any post-emergent yet, but will likely tackle that next week with some 2,4D for the common weeds with spot spraying and fusilade to control the wild bermuda in my backyard that comes from my neighbors. I'll keep on the bermuda for the next several months to push it back the best I can.
Being in the transition zone can be a pain with a mix of warm and cool season grasses, strategies, etc.
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It looks like the snow has finally melted off for the season. The yard is starting to get a green hue to it. 
Yes
A simple 10-20-10. 40lbs for each yard.
The post emergent I used has 2,4D. Seems like it's working pretty good.
Don't really see that much phosphorus in the blends around my area. Can see an even spread of 12-12-12 but not a double P compared to N or K. Likely due to different regulations in VA. I would definitely use that if I were reseeding during the fall if available.
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We run 16-16-16 around here, inland northwest. Snow piles are gone, we may have hit 60 degrees once this year. Super jealous of your green yards.
Still pretty crusty brown here. Raked and blowdried the grass last week. Hoping to aerate next week and top dress.
Still pretty crusty brown here. Raked and blowdried the grass last week. Hoping to aerate next week and top dress.
Gotcha. That's more in line with what I'm seeing locally because I know they're trying to limit the amount of phosphorus due to environmental impact and some places restrict it only for seeding.
I'll typically throw down fertilizer every 6 weeks and will go higher N in the spring/ fall to pack on thickness but go heavy K during the summer when the heat stresses with my cool season grasses.
Project lawn: Operation Brother-in-law
Arrived Friday afternoon and once I got the pork shoulders on the smoker, the rain stopped, so I figured it was the perfect time to get started on his lawn.
Pulled some plugs to send off for a soil test later and then threw down the bioadvanced 5-in-1. A lot finer grind than I'm used to, but flowed nice at the setting provided on the bag. We'll see how it does over the next several weeks where I'll get him to finish the other half of the bag about 6 weeks from now to get a second pre-emergent app down. He can then throw down the insecticide too as we get closer to summer.
Documenting some before pictures:
Arrived Friday afternoon and once I got the pork shoulders on the smoker, the rain stopped, so I figured it was the perfect time to get started on his lawn.
Pulled some plugs to send off for a soil test later and then threw down the bioadvanced 5-in-1. A lot finer grind than I'm used to, but flowed nice at the setting provided on the bag. We'll see how it does over the next several weeks where I'll get him to finish the other half of the bag about 6 weeks from now to get a second pre-emergent app down. He can then throw down the insecticide too as we get closer to summer.
Documenting some before pictures:
Just took some round up to a few patches of poa triv in my yard. I'll give it a couple days to work through the root system before digging them out.
Plan would be to break up the soil beneath a couple inches to make sure my prodiamine pre-emergent layer won't interfere with reseeding. Being this late in the spring, I expect the patches I reseed in the full sun areas to struggle this summer, but the shade areas may pull through. I'll plan to do another round of seed in the fall regardless.
Don't mind the oak saplings in the first picture. They'll eventually die back after a few more weeks of mowing. Now the second picture shows the property line between my neighbor and my yard.
Plan would be to break up the soil beneath a couple inches to make sure my prodiamine pre-emergent layer won't interfere with reseeding. Being this late in the spring, I expect the patches I reseed in the full sun areas to struggle this summer, but the shade areas may pull through. I'll plan to do another round of seed in the fall regardless.
Don't mind the oak saplings in the first picture. They'll eventually die back after a few more weeks of mowing. Now the second picture shows the property line between my neighbor and my yard.
Dug out the dead poa in several spots and filled in with a 50/50 mix of sand and soil to level it back out a little. Plan to throw down some seed tomorrow and put a light cover of peat moss, then a little tenacity over the top to help prevent some new weeds there.
Should have some rain over the weekend, so I also went ahead and put down some 12-12-12 on the entire yard.
Should have some rain over the weekend, so I also went ahead and put down some 12-12-12 on the entire yard.
Some updates:
1. Clover along the side that is heavily shaded and has run off from the neighbors has done well coming in, but still has a way to go before filling in.
2. Reseeded spots from poa triv elimination germinated a few days ago after about 7 days. Got a lot of rain the last few days with some mid 60s and sun coming up this week. I'll start cutting back on water to let the roots drive down deeper to help with drought tolerance leading into summer.
3. Oak trees are starting to fill out their canopies and most of their pollen has dropped, so I'll be putting down new flower bed mulch over the month of May (13 yards or so). Before doing all that, I had a few shrubs that weren't suited for a section that didn't come back this year, so I found something I hope will work a little better and provides some nice foliage color. We'll see how well they work out.
Dead stuff:
New stuff: plumb pudding coral bells
1. Clover along the side that is heavily shaded and has run off from the neighbors has done well coming in, but still has a way to go before filling in.
2. Reseeded spots from poa triv elimination germinated a few days ago after about 7 days. Got a lot of rain the last few days with some mid 60s and sun coming up this week. I'll start cutting back on water to let the roots drive down deeper to help with drought tolerance leading into summer.
3. Oak trees are starting to fill out their canopies and most of their pollen has dropped, so I'll be putting down new flower bed mulch over the month of May (13 yards or so). Before doing all that, I had a few shrubs that weren't suited for a section that didn't come back this year, so I found something I hope will work a little better and provides some nice foliage color. We'll see how well they work out.
Dead stuff:
New stuff: plumb pudding coral bells
How big is that propane bottle ??
Don't quote me, but I think it's 80.
Project Lawn: Operation Brother-in-law update
A month after applying Bioadvanced 5-in-1, it did an effective job killing several weeds, but we sprayed some Spectricide for lawns today.
Noticed some mole tunnels, so went ahead and put down Spectricide insect killer granular to get rid of the grubs and other food sources the moles are going after.
The soil test came back with decent pH at 6.5, but of course low on the macros which was expected without fertilizing.
Overall, improvement with another round of Bioadvanced 5-in-1 he'll put down in a couple weeks for the second app of pre-emergent and fertilizer heading into summer.
A month after applying Bioadvanced 5-in-1, it did an effective job killing several weeds, but we sprayed some Spectricide for lawns today.
Noticed some mole tunnels, so went ahead and put down Spectricide insect killer granular to get rid of the grubs and other food sources the moles are going after.
The soil test came back with decent pH at 6.5, but of course low on the macros which was expected without fertilizing.
Overall, improvement with another round of Bioadvanced 5-in-1 he'll put down in a couple weeks for the second app of pre-emergent and fertilizer heading into summer.
Anyone use a stripe kit, either purchased or diy?
I've been debating the checkmate kit for my JD E140, but that's around $500, while I could try to make my own for around $100 using PVC, sand, steel bars, and eye hooks... with some trial and error.
I don't plan to lay down stripes each mow, but it's nice to emphasize them when holidays come around or guests come over. For reference, I just mowed at 4 inches and then went back over with the deck lowered to 2 inches and the blades cut off. I think it looks okay, but wonder if a weighted stripe kit would be worth it.
Thoughts? I need some convincing one way or the other.
I've been debating the checkmate kit for my JD E140, but that's around $500, while I could try to make my own for around $100 using PVC, sand, steel bars, and eye hooks... with some trial and error.
I don't plan to lay down stripes each mow, but it's nice to emphasize them when holidays come around or guests come over. For reference, I just mowed at 4 inches and then went back over with the deck lowered to 2 inches and the blades cut off. I think it looks okay, but wonder if a weighted stripe kit would be worth it.
Thoughts? I need some convincing one way or the other.
When guests come over sure.
When it's 100 degrees in August; I'm getting in the house as soon as possible.