Lawn and Landscape

rodney eppes said:
I kept hearing & was told about a Killer that "Sterilizes" the ground, so Nothing will grow there. Seems like it was a "Perma" or Previ, something like that. I went to Tractor supply & asked them. O Yea we know what you want, not expensive when you consider the coverage! Came in a 2 1/2 gallon jug, about $60. Gly Star Plus, a isopropylamine salt at 41%. By the directions that I could make no sense of, it's used by Farmers covering Acres. I started with 1oz/gal. & kept working the concentration up to 5oz/gal. Fawlking waste!!! Yea, it Smells, & turns sprayed area yellow after a week or more. Somewhat kills weeds & grass. Not much effect on heavy brush! AND, the kill last maybe 4-5 weeks. I'd been better off with Round-Up! My main objective was to Kill the grass in my grave driveway, & some other places. Maybe I should just buy stock in Bleach & Vinegar? :kaioken:
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Pramitol? It's an old chemical and can be effective but really only for weeks, not permanent. Round up does work but it only kills what you spray and it has no residual effect. What many people do with round up is they mow or weedeat the weeds down and then spray them. WRONG! The chemical has to bond to the leaf surface. Let your weed have as much top growth as possible. When youre ready to spray make sure you have the mixture right and add some surfactant or dawn soap to it. This makes it bond to the leaf surface. Make sure your sprayer sprays a good fan pattern and spray your weeds systematically and thoroughly. If you want extended coverage add a pre emergent to the mixture but make sure that you agitate the sprayer to keep it suspended. You can get this stuff at Site One. Rodney, there's one in Pineville, Gastonia, and Cornelius so pick one and get you some professional products and see how it turns out. Site one landscape supply Mount Holly, nc - Google Search
 
Spring lawn directions:

From Feb. 25 to March 10 Fertilize with John Deere/Lesco 18-2-5 or (equivalent) with DIMENSION pre-emergent. Be sure to water it in thoroughly! Siteone Landscape supply-Google it!

· May 1 through 10 Fert with 13-2-5 with DIMENSION pre-emergent and water it in!

· If you have reseeded any areas this spring, you should not get this fertilizer with pre-emergent on those areas! Use straight fertilizer (without pre-emergent) with close to the same analysis (numbers)

· March 1 thru March 30, Apply liquid broadleaf weed killer or have it done by a lawn service. If you do do it yourself, follow directions carefully and use a facemask. You can use a product called "Weed Be Gone" that attaches to the end of a hose. Each bottle covers 3000 square feet. Make sure that it kills ONLY BROADLEAF weeds such as clover, chickweed, and wild onions. If you use a dry granular product, be sure that the grass blades are damp or wet, BEFORE application, from dew, irrigation, or manual watering. If they are not damp, the product will not work effectively. The product must be allowed to mix with the available water or moisture on the grass blades so that it can do its job.

· April Apply lawn insecticide for grubs and other insects. If you use granular, be sure to water it in very well.

· May 1 through 15 if needed re-apply broadleaf weed killer. (You can do spot application)

· If you start to get brown areas or your grass blades have jagged edges and brown spots on them you will need to spray Fungicide. There are many types, the more they cost, the longer and better they work. Again SiteOne has it but Home Depot and Lowe’s have some consumer brands, which are okay.

· All summer: After spring rains have ceased, water at least one time per week thoroughly. One spot per day is okay as long as it all gets watered at least one time per week

· If color starts to fade later in summer July-August, fert with 5-10-31 with iron or use IRONITE

· Test your lawn for pH to get the soil in it’s best condition to accept and use the products that you apply to it.



General:

Some yards are very acidic. Apply fast lime to lawn area each summer per soild test results. Have the soil tested either with NCSU Dept Agriculture website or John Deere/Lesco (704) 597-0506

Keep your mower blades SHARP! We sharpen ours one or two times per week. Yours will need to done before you start in the spring and a t least once through the summer.

Oil your mower wheels and keep it tuned up properly. You’d be surprised at how much easier it is to mow.

Mow at a minimum of 3.5 inches in height. Set your mower on a paved surface and measure the distance of the blades to the ground, then measure the other end of the blade. This will give you your height and make sure the mower is level.

If you use a riding mower keep your tires inflated properly. If one side has 4lbs. of pressure and the other has 12 lbs., you will be cutting out of level.

There is no need to bag clippings. They are better off going back to the grass. If you have clumps, your blades are not sharp enough or you have a lot of weeds or you may need to mow more often. If you do bag or have clumps and need to rake them up, they are great for the garden or are good to compost.
 
Excellent information, thanks R Q! Been looking for a well laid out schedule of things to do.
Quick question, you mentioned lime in the summer? Was told in the spring, does it make much difference or is there a reason you believe summer is better?
 
99JeepXJ said:
Excellent information, thanks R Q! Been looking for a well laid out schedule of things to do.
Quick question, you mentioned lime in the summer? Was told in the spring, does it make much difference or is there a reason you believe summer is better?
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It doesn't really matter when except that you don't want to do it close to other operations/applications because it can dilute or lessen the effect of other products. Winter is an excellent time and if you've ever done it, now is a great time! Use calcitic or "fast" lime if possible. It's reacts much quicker than standard dolomitic lime. but it's much more expensive.
 
I have a few bags left over from last springs application, calcitic is what I bought. Was planning on doing the pre em this week so should I hold off a week on pre em? I know my lawn needs it as the last sample I took was really acidic as I'm all clay on the my lawn. I can't find my results but they pretty much said I will have to apply continuously for a couple years? I was a complete newbie to this so I ate it up and bought extra
 
Great write up @R Q. One question though..I need to reseed. When would be the best time to do it? I was thinking of 1st/2nd week of March to lessen the chances of cold weather. Based on your advice, it sounds like I would need to put out lime now, then seed/starter fert and water it well. I have an irrigation system for watering on a timer etc.
 
99JeepXJ said:
I have a few bags left over from last springs application, calcitic is what I bought. Was planning on doing the pre em this week so should I hold off a week on pre em? I know my lawn needs it as the last sample I took was really acidic as I'm all clay on the my lawn. I can't find my results but they pretty much said I will have to apply continuously for a couple years? I was a complete newbie to this so I ate it up and bought extra
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Yes lime now, water it in good and pre em in a week. And yes apply lime for a couple years and then test again
 
YJJPWrangler said:
Great write up @R Q. One question though..I need to reseed. When would be the best time to do it? I was thinking of 1st/2nd week of March to lessen the chances of cold weather. Based on your advice, it sounds like I would need to put out lime now, then seed/starter fert and water it well. I have an irrigation system for watering on a timer etc.
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Lime now, water it in good and aerate and seed and fert next week. Don't worry about the cold, it's go time.
 
Good deal..Will the lime affect the weed/feed I put down Sunday? Looks like I need to make another trip to Lowes and get everything I need.
 
I heard that all the Lowes managers get special training on how to be internet A holes.
 
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@trailhugger and I pushed the slit seeder around the front yard on Tuesday night. Hopefully that's the last time we ever have to do that shit again. Next time it'll be aerator and broadcast spreader.
 
shawn said:
@trailhugger and I pushed the slit seeder around the front yard on Tuesday night. Hopefully that's the last time we ever have to do that shit again. Next time it'll be aerator and broadcast spreader.
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Agree, I use a modified slit seeder sometimes but they are a PITA! But you do get good seed to soil contact.
 
What do you use for aerating hard soil.

The only thing I havent tried is a plug.
Even the heav duty rental units with 2 4.0 engine blocks stacked on top bounce. Had good luck with a local guy who had an "aerovator" agitated aerator PTO driven deal. But he sold it and cant find another.
 
Ron said:
What do you use for aerating hard soil.

The only thing I havent tried is a plug.
Even the heav duty rental units with 2 4.0 engine blocks stacked on top bounce. Had good luck with a local guy who had an "aerovator" agitated aerator PTO driven deal. But he sold it and cant find another.
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Rent a plugger. I did my whole yard with a 2ft wide one. Only took a couple hours. Or you can till it if you aren't trying to preserve the grass. A proper plugger has a crankshaft style assembly that actually hammers the tines/plugs into the ground. It will dig a hole in my hard clay if I hold it still.
 
I have a cheap ($200) aerator I bought at Home Depot about 10 yrs ago. I put between 160-200 lbs of concrete blocks on it. I always have to wait until we get that first good 24+ hour soaking rain though before I can aerate. I usual wait about 1-2 days after that rain just until it isn't muddy anymore, then hit it hard. Some years I have had to wait until late October because it is just too dry and hard. There is no sense in putting down the seed in a drought anyway because it is just going to sit there and bake in the sun.
 
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