Quote :

"AWD may *have* to do the trick."

I'd imagine it'd be a nice upgrade over push for dealing with that hill. They've gotta have ones with decent wheels too that are more grippy than those shitty plastic ones...

5/11/2015 8:35:31 PM

its been 7 years since I built my house and moved in

everything in the yard is doing good (lawn finally went from weeds to grass year before last, land had been farmland before)

I have planted several trees, (maple, pecan, oak, apple, etc.) and they are all doing good, except dogwood

I have planted 3 dogwoods in my front yard and they have all died, I watered them daily except for rain the first year on each, but they just don't survive the winter typically, most of my neighbors have dogwoods so is there something I'm doing wrong here, I even tried miracle grow this last time.

5/12/2015 4:44:18 AM

^when did you plant them and how deep?

RE: hill mowing: string trimmer? reel mower?

5/12/2015 8:45:57 AM

I took them out of the pot I bought them in, and dug the hole to where the dirt level was roughly even with the level of the black dirt when it went in the hole and had a small 5" depression around the base to hold water

every other tree I have done this with is doing fine

5/12/2015 8:53:59 AM

dogwoods are really tough to establish. water 'em too little and they die. water them too much and they get root rot and die.

They're susceptible to all sorts of blights and shit too.


Consider a Kousa Dogwood. They're much hardier. The flowers aren't quite as bright, but they form neat patterns, and bloom a few weeks later than standard dogwoods.

[Edited on May 13, 2015 at 1:54 PM. Reason : .]

5/13/2015 1:54:17 PM

Any advice for a hydrangea in a pot? I bought one about a month ago, put it in a medium size pot with good potting soil. It's not dead, but it's not growing, and some of these leaves are starting to brown. It gets sun from morning until about 2:30pm, then shade for the remainder of the day. It looks like it's not going to make it if I don't change something. Based on what I've read, I might be watering it too much (everyday), and/or 2:30 might be a little too long to be getting direct sun. Any suggestions?

5/26/2015 9:42:18 AM

I think its definitely too much time in the sun. Our hydrangea barely gets any sun and is blooming like crazy.

As far as watering too much or little...just check the soil. Some pots drain better/worse than others. With tha tmuch sun, it might need watering, but it also could be retaining a lot of moisture...which would definitely also hurt the plant.

5/26/2015 10:02:08 AM

Any recommendations for a local landscaper in Raleigh? I've got design plans all mapped out, just need someone to pick up all of the plants/trees and do the work. Was told this would be at most a one day job by the designer.

7/3/2015 9:01:38 PM

We have really bad foundation issues in North Texas and our foundation guy recommended removing the big holly bushes near the house because they can suck a lot of moisture from under the foundation. Got two out today and seven more to go. Holy shit what a beating. These suckers have roots for days. At least I had a chainsaw and cut all of them down to stubs already, just not looking forward to ripping the rest out. Shame it isn't the front yard or I would just tie a chain to them and pull them up with a vehicle.

7/25/2015 2:22:22 PM

the new house I'm closing on in September basically looks like this in the back and the front (Bermuda)



any tips on how to make sure it all fills in? should I expect any sod cells/panels to just not make it? I've contemplated hiring one of those trugreen-type services for a while to start off, since I know nothing about seeding/turf mgmt

my plan is to add a fence up to the sod line, everything past that up until the trail is mine, but easement

[Edited on July 26, 2015 at 4:18 PM. Reason : ]

7/26/2015 4:17:27 PM

fertilizer and lots of water

7/26/2015 5:57:04 PM

looks pretty sandy

7/26/2015 11:00:33 PM

thank you, but my name isn't Sandy

7/27/2015 9:21:21 PM

Dweedle, we need to talk. My house was built in the winter and they essentially left mine and my neighbors yards out to be done and it SUCKS bad. We have bought seeder stuff, watered like hell, and really can't afford to sod as much as we have. So I am with you on suggestions and if I can send you a pic (if someone shows me how on here) I will show you how shitty they really left it.

Essentially the backyard square is a mud/clay pit with "some" grass over it.

7/27/2015 10:48:44 PM

If you're patient, just give it regular quality care (water and fertilizer), and the bermuda should eventually fill in. I sodded with Bermuda and had a couple bare spots in the beginning (although not as big as the ones pictures on the left). I got a little depressed and thought it would never fill in...but it eventually did.

Even at the beginning of every season I think the yard looks a little bare and I worry about it getting green and full. But every year, the bermuda proves me wrong and comes out looking beautiful.

7/28/2015 10:35:52 AM

Dweedle where is that house if you don't mind me asking? I feel like I have seen that exact view at one we were looking at a while back haha.

7/28/2015 3:08:56 PM

they have replaced the sod once, because it was built and finished winter 2014-2015 ... they've had sprinklers out there a lot lately to try to get it to live this time

7/28/2015 6:20:34 PM

your yard is essentially my entire side and front.... winter of 2014/15 also.

How the heck do I fix it!?!

7/29/2015 6:07:11 PM

I don't even close for another few weeks, so I can't do anything to it just yet

7/29/2015 7:20:59 PM

Yard at the house I moved into looks nice and green (mostly) but it seems to be about half grass, half weeds. Lots of plantain, some sort of thing that looks vaguely like mint but isn't, ground ivy/creeping charlie, and some sort of grassy weed that might be torpedograss or just plain old crabgrass. On the perimeter I have issues with something that I *think* is honeyvine milkweed, plus pokeweed springing up here and there.

I plan to give it a nice dose of your standard "weed n' feed" product in the fall, but is there anything else I should be considering?

I'm also not sure exactly what type of grass I currently have. Any ID tips, or just look at pictures and try to match?

8/6/2015 1:42:10 AM

I'd recommend getting a broadleaf weed killer and killing off the weeds. Then you can overseed in the fall and fill in the spots formerly occupied by weeds with grass. You can get the stuff that will attach to a garden hose, and spray the whole yard down. Get the one with crabgrass killer if you have a lot of crabgrass. Doing that now will give it enough time for the dead weeds to start decomposing so it'll be less work in the fall, assuming you plan on aerating/overseeding with fescue.

Around here, most grass is going to be fescue. That said, the previous owners of my home obviously struggled to keep the fescue alive and experimented with other varieties, and i have fescue, orchardgrass, bermuda, and bentgrass in my yard. I'm just going to continue to overseed with fescue each year until the other stuff dies off (sans the bermuda, which i'm just going to have to accept)

8/6/2015 10:02:05 AM

2,4-D

don't worry about the crabgrass now. get it with a pre-emergent in the spring.

8/6/2015 9:44:48 PM

Google the Bermuda Bible. That's all the info you need for Bermuda grass. It loves heat and sunlight. It doesn't take much water, but when you do water, give it a long soak to get down to the roots. It will take off in the heat, but make sure you get some solid borders up around your trees, etc. because it is VERY invasive.

8/9/2015 3:06:23 PM

I just nuked my backyard with some cheapo roundup. I tried 2,4-D, but it wasn't cutting it, and with a 2-4-week residual, there wasn't enough time to respray. Seeding beings on Saturday

9/1/2015 2:10:15 PM

I Bermuda always starts to brown a bit this time of the year. It's very spotty and the same areas get it every year. I use to think it was brown patch, but I just think its interesting that it always happens in the same area. I also use to think I was just scalping the grass...but I've been vigilant this year with mowing consistently and having my mower at a medium setting. I feel like the yard has gotten a good amount of water and sun this year...so I don't know what gives.

9/1/2015 2:36:05 PM

Is it just going dormant? Have you ever left it alone and see what it does over the year?

9/1/2015 2:48:34 PM

Its Bermuda, so it goes dormant every winter...but I wouldn't expect it to start going dormant when it's still 90 degrees outside. Does it do that?

9/2/2015 10:33:10 AM

heat and drought stress can make it go dormant during the summer. Some of my neighbor's bermuda seed that ended up in my yard has led to several spots of bermuda, some of which are brown right now (and have been for a lot of the summer); but they always green up again in late summer before going dormant again in late fall.

Yes, bermuda loves heat and is drought tolerant, but it can still go dormant (think golf courses)

[Edited on September 2, 2015 at 11:15 AM. Reason : .]

9/2/2015 11:12:19 AM

Word. To combat this I should water every now and then during the summer? Last summer was pretty dry, so if it looked like we were going a week without rain, then I would water in the middle of the week. It seemed to rain more this summer, so I did zero watering (and to keep the water bill down, because it gets pretty high with our gardening).

9/2/2015 11:39:13 AM

Yes, once per week, or if it's really hot and dry, and you think damage/dormancy may occur, you can do it twice per week. Though dormancy will probably still happen, which is fine.

To go all academic on you:

Generally, most turf grasses need 1"-2" of water every 5-7 days. For mature grasses, this is best accomplished with 1, possibly 2, long waterings per week. This allows water to seep deeper into the soil, encouraging roots to grow deeper. More frequent, shorter waterings only wet the surface and don't encourage [deeper] root grow - this ultimately leads to weak, dying, diseased, or stressed grass during the summer.

Always start with 1 watering per week and see how it goes. The duration of watering is dependent upon your sprinkler/watering efficiency and evapotranspiration. Many/most people ignore evapotranspiration, but in this region, that can be a mistake. Evapotranspiration rates can be found with a google search; you'll want to get either normalized data for your region (just a generic ET rate), or a reference rate and a crop coefficient
(e.g. 6 in/month ET reference rate and a 0.5 crop coefficient, for an ET rate of 6 x 0.5 = 3 in/month. There's a lot more out there for ET, but there's no need to go more complicated. ET data are typically published as monthly values, I would take the highest summer ET, divide by 4, and get your weekly ET rate (inches per week), then add that to your 1"-2" of water needed to get your total required weekly watering depth.

The duration of watering can be determined by setting out a few (at least 3) flat bottom containers/buckets around your sprinkler (at varying distances from the sprinkler), and let it run until you see that there is a measurable amount (generally 1/4" or more). Be sure to time the duration you watered to this depth. So if you let it run for 1 hour and you measure an average of 1/4" among all of the buckets (measure each container separately, eg don't combine the water into 1 unless all are the same exact size), your watering efficiency is 0.25 in/hour. If your required weekly watering depth (ET + turf watering depth) is say, 2"/week, then you water for four hours one day per week. If it's really hot and dry, you can change that to 2 waterings/week (evenly spaced) for 2-2.5 hours each. Obviously, if it has rained in the last week, that can be subtracted from the weekly water requirement.

[Edited on September 3, 2015 at 11:09 AM. Reason : .]

[Edited on September 3, 2015 at 11:10 AM. Reason : .]

9/3/2015 11:07:28 AM

Well fuck me then. I watered it a bit last year, but haven't at all this year. Pretty much just rely on rain and the mantra of "Bermuda loves sun!" which I take to mean..."I don't have to water it like other grasses!"

Oh well..it still looks great for a majority of the summer...just always seems to brown out towards the end. We're about to add on to the house this winter and take away the majority of the yard...so bye bye beautiful green (for the most part) grass.

9/3/2015 1:34:01 PM

haha. bermuda is one of the most drought tolerant grasses, so it for sure can handle the abuse. If you want plush, green, award winning turf, then ^^ is the starting point. Otherwise, just keep doing what you're doing and it will be grass.

9/3/2015 2:10:53 PM

I mow once per week now.

9/3/2015 2:19:28 PM

went to the house today for the final walkthrough...didn't realize I get to keep the hoses, sprinklers and timers they've had out there

9/3/2015 3:28:23 PM

got a husqvarna lz6125 on govdeals

pics later this week after i pick it up

9/15/2015 9:34:44 PM

https://goo.gl/photos/YSrkptadqVrbEiUK9

aww yeah

9/16/2015 7:21:06 PM

Sweet man, looks great. I sell Husqvarna zeros at work and they are good stuff.

9/16/2015 8:24:42 PM

this is a 2006 model. got it via govdeals from the City of Southport. came with 3 spare deck spindles and complete maintenance records. they did a good job of keeping it serviced. 720 hrs and the deck has been patched a couple times, but i figure it has enough life left for residential service.

[Edited on September 16, 2015 at 8:41 PM. Reason : hook a buddy up with a discounted replacement deck]

9/16/2015 8:40:22 PM

mowed my yard today. this thing is a time saver. cut my mowing time by over 50%.

9/17/2015 6:58:21 PM

I deal with municipal equipment daily, most of it is really well maintained but never cosmetically pleasing.

9/17/2015 7:32:17 PM

Yeah, they ran into something and bent the rear engine guard all up. It shouldn't be hard to straighten it back out when I get around to it.

I cleaned the deck up last night. Did find another area that needs to be patched up with some plate. Been needing an excuse to get a buzz box for the house.

9/18/2015 8:17:26 AM

Get a tombstone, not a buzzbox

9/24/2015 5:56:20 PM

it's the same thing. buzz box just means an AC stick machine. so pretty much just a transformer. some buzz boxes are shaped like tombstones.

9/24/2015 6:04:00 PM

Put out a little fertilizer last weekend and aerated/seeded Wednesday and then a long, consistent rain since last night which we haven't had in quite some time in north Mecklenburg. Perfect timing. Hopefully all my seed won't be washed away though.

9/25/2015 6:07:37 AM

my mower is for sale if anyone is interested. located near Wilmington. i could meet halfway to raleigh if the money was right.

http://wilmington.craigslist.org/grd/5240271362.html

9/26/2015 3:27:31 PM

at work, when someone says they are getting the buzzbox, they mean the https://www.millerwelds.com/en/equipment/welders/stick-smaw/maxstar-150-s-stick-welder or similar. Small, easy to grab out of the gang box.

When I say Tombstone, I mean a http://www.lincolnelectric.com/en-us/Equipment/Pages/product.aspx?product=K1170(LincolnElectric) or the slightly more expensive AC/DC dual model, http://www.lincolnelectric.com/en-us/Equipment/Pages/product.aspx?product=K1297(LincolnElectric) Better duty cycle than the small boxes, and still sorta portable, able to lift it to the work, vs needing super long leads like we use on jobs with lots of welding.

If a job needs a lot structural welding, we usually rent a https://www.millerwelds.com/en/equipment/welders/engine-driven/trailblazer-275-lp

We have one of those at the shop that is at least

9/27/2015 7:03:03 PM

but what i'm telling you is that most tradesmen would only use the slang term "buzz box" to refer to an AC output machine. this is essentially just a transformer in a metal housing with adjustable amperage output. you have to use AC electrodes with it. it is called a "buzz box" because it sits there and hums like every other AC transformer. many of the available models happen to be shaped like the classic Lincoln "tombstone". some are not.

you and your coworkers can use whatever terminology that works for you on your jobsite, but just know that if you go to other jobsites, a lot of folks aren't going to be on the same page if you say you're gonna get a buzz box and you show up with that miller 120/240 DC stick machine. at least in a power plant, for sure. we call that a suitcase welder. AC buzz boxes don't really have any place in industrial applications. they are good for the house, around the farm, or possibly in an automotive or heavy machinery shop, but that's about it. definitely not anything that is going to have to pass any sort of QC/NDE.

google "what is a buzz box" and the first thing that pops up is a picture of a lincoln tombstone.

hell, one major characteristic of an AC buzz box is that it is not very portable. they are heavy as shit because they're nothing but a big ol' AC transformer.

[Edited on September 27, 2015 at 8:46 PM. Reason : adsf]

9/27/2015 8:42:58 PM

i have a fairly large, open yard in the country (2.3 acres). crabgrass is a given around me, as is clover. but I'm trying to control it in closer around the house so my shrubbery around the house doesn't get overrun by crabgrass again like it did last summer.

any recommendations on treatment now that fall is here? good weed/seed options?

10/2/2015 11:58:22 AM

you take care of crabgrass in the spring with a pre-emergent

if you have a tow-behind sprayer, then any 2,4-D will take care of the clover and other broadleafs. if you can only do granules, then i like Scott's Bonus-S.

10/2/2015 3:21:36 PM

is there any seeding I should do in the fall? or is most everything done pre-spring?

10/6/2015 2:24:06 PM