3/26/2011 8:36:15 PM

Thats Bermuda? I always thought Bermuda was a darker shade of green. That yard looks awesome.

3/27/2011 4:14:15 PM

Since roundup was mentioned I want to throw in my two cents about it. If you plan on buying roundup keep in mind that it is a trade name and there are many generic forms of it. I would suggest going to Agri-supply and buying something like glystar pro or wise up, they are the same thing as roundup you just have to look at the active ingredients on the front of the bottle and make sure it is 41% glyphosate (same as roundup). Just looking online I see that Lowes charges $158 for a 2.5 gallon jug of roundup while agri-supply charges $40 for a 2.5 gallon jug of wiseup. You can probaly buy the generic kind in 1 gallon bottles as well. The shelf life of roundup or any generic form of it is about 8 years.

3/27/2011 10:51:16 PM

And buy the concentrate, or you will go broke.

3/27/2011 11:01:41 PM

Quote :

"what's wrong with bermdua? i actually enjoy my bermuda grass..."

nothing at all. I guess he means that bermuda is undesirable because he has a fescue lawn. similarly fescue would be undesirable on a bermuda lawn.

3/28/2011 12:07:14 AM

I need to seed this fall, but the roots of the trees in my yard are very near the surface of the dirt. There's definitely room for putting some dirt in the area to level it out, does anyone know where I can get some cheap/free? also, what's the best/correct method for putting it down and getting it to stay? Should I put the dirt down in the summer and try to make sure it's well packed down before I plant in the fall, or should I put the loose dirt down and immediately plant and let the grass roots hold the new dirt?

3/28/2011 3:52:46 PM

Question:

I've already started into Scott's seasonal lawn regiment. I have some bare spots that I'd like to seed in. Will the Scotts prevent the new seed from sprouting?

5/24/2011 12:24:33 PM

If the Scott's has a weed killer in it then you might have a tough time. Also, if its fescue you will need to keep water on it 24/7 to keep the summer heat from killing it. Again, if it's fescue and it's not a large area, I would go to the farmers market and get the amount of sod you need and you will likely have a better chance of it making it through the summer.

5/24/2011 12:54:12 PM

i would just try not to let the bare spots get to me and wait until the fall. it's now getting into the hot part of the summer, it's going to be really tough to keep anything alive that isn't well established.

5/24/2011 1:19:08 PM

The part I am worried about is down along the driveway. I think it was over saturated with run-off.

5/24/2011 1:39:24 PM

If thats the case just get the sod. Otherwise the run off plus the heat like BobbyDigital mentioned will make it a lost cause.

5/24/2011 1:45:24 PM

I seriously want to PUNCH YOU IN THE FACE if you plant Bermuda grass.

Unless it's 80'F year round and you live on an island where it's ok for an invasive grass to take over, then go for it.

I have it here in Colorado and it's green for only 3 months out of the year. It's almost JUNE and it's STILL BROWN!!! It's an INVASIVE GRASS that spreads by SEED, RHIZOME, AND CRAWLING, it feels like STRAW and I absolutely hate it. I want BLADES of grass not CORDS.

Even HIGH doses of RoundUp are not 100% effective. If there's the slightest root or rhizome that didn't get killed, you will have Bermuda back in your ENTIRE lawn in 3 short months.

I did round-up, rototilled my ENTIRE YARD, raked out all the dead grass, roots and rhizomes I could find, re-seeded with Fescue and within 3 months 50% of my lawn was Bermuda again.

I just want to burn it. Did I mention I hate BERMUDA GRASS!!!!

[Edited on May 24, 2011 at 6:37 PM. Reason : .]

5/24/2011 6:34:14 PM

Quote :

"Question: I've already started into Scott's seasonal lawn regiment. I have some bare spots that I'd like to seed in. Will the Scotts prevent the new seed from sprouting?"

If you put down pre-emergent, yes

Like someone said...if it's fescue you're planting, may not do too well over the summer. Wait until fall

Quote :

"Thats Bermuda? I always thought Bermuda was a darker shade of green. That yard looks awesome."

Yeah, I'm with you. That looks more like centipede color or some type of Zoysia to me...Bermuda is darker.

Hybrid Bermuda, maybe?


[Edited on May 24, 2011 at 6:45 PM. Reason : ]

5/24/2011 6:43:16 PM

There's no way that's bermudagrass in that pic. Most of the leaves are off the trees which means there's been several frosts. If it was bermudagrass, it would be well on it's way to going dormant (brown) not bright green.
It may be a bermuda base but it's been overseeded with something for the winter time.

5/25/2011 2:39:40 AM

I guess it depends on the bermuda...

I have fine leaf tifGrand Bermuda and I love it. Looks great and is very dense (helps keep bugs and ants out).



^Not my house, but here's info on it:
http://supersod.com/sod-bermuda-tifgrand.html

5/25/2011 6:48:47 AM

Do you have any problems keeping it out of flowerbeds?

5/25/2011 8:12:51 AM

yes.

5/25/2011 9:05:45 AM

anyone have any experience with removing Poison Ivy? Everything I've read makes it sound really really hard to do.

We have a small wooded area at the back of our lot with a lot of vines/ivy growing in it. I'm not sure if there is poison ivy mixed in, but I'm going to go through and remove it all this weekend. Want to make sure I have all of my bases covered if I come across the bad stuff

5/25/2011 10:14:33 AM

I think Image makes a product that specifies that it will kill poison ivy. They carry it at Home Depot IIRC.

http://www.lowes.com/pd_28316-1321-100502373_4294857254_4294937087_?productId=3083297&Ns=p_product_prd_lis_ord_nbr%7C0%7C%7Cp_product_quantity_sold%7C1&pl=1¤tURL=%2Fpl_Grass%2BWeed%2BKiller_4294857254_4294937087_%3FNs%3Dp_product_prd_lis_ord_nbr%7C0%7C%7Cp_product_quantity_sold%7C1%26Va%3Dtrue

Glyphosate (Round-Up or similar) would also work if you kept at it.

Whatever you use, I'd be persistent with it...may require repeat applications.

The problem with things like Image and Round-Up is that they'll kill the plant ABOVE ground, but won't kill the root. You basically have to keep killing it as soon as it sprouts....you'll eventually starve it to death after about 15 applications

I'm actually having the same problem with Morning Glory. Round-Up will kill the surface plant...comes back abotu 4 weeks later...and I kill it again. Eventually I'm hoping it'll give up. Same thing I'm doing with the massive outbreak of Yellow Nutsedge in my back yard. Folks before me let it take over....I have it EVERYWHERE. It won't die! (the roots, that is). The area that's infected keeps getting smaller and smaller, though

Nutsedge is the freakin devil.....

[Edited on May 25, 2011 at 1:16 PM. Reason : ]

5/25/2011 1:09:46 PM

^^ I've got the exact same situation. Wooded area at the back of the lot full of ivy and poison ivy. We've wanted to get rid of it all and just make it a natural area, because I seriously doubt we can ever grow grass there. I went through and tilled up the whole area this weekend, breaking up and pulling up vines everywhere. The wooden fences around the lot were overtaken in ivy - I've pulled all of that down as well.

I'd recommend wearing pants, boots, and gloves. I was lucky to only get a few small outbreaks of poison ivy on my arms.

Now I'm looking at treatment of the area to prevent it from growing back. That 'Image' product looks pretty good. I was looking at Round-Up, but I'm not sure if they have anything that would treat ivy.

5/25/2011 2:00:49 PM

^ Don't buy Round-Up. Buy generic weed killer with "Glyphosate".... Round up is the name brand that originally patented Glyphosate, but now I think the patent is up and you can get the exact same thing for a fraction of the price. Just make sure it has the same % of Glyphosate (41 % I think....or its ok if it has more) than Round-Up

Round up/glyphosate also kills something like 98% of all plants. It (should?) work on poison ivy or other vines. Might only 'hurt' it if you spray it once if the vine is really really hearty. Go back a few days later, reapply, and it'll get it I'm sure. (Never tried it, but not many things can survive it). I think theoretically you can kill a tree with round-up if you apply enough of it and apply it over time

Again, the key is will it kill the roots? Probably not...that happens with a ton of plants...but if you remain persistent and go spray anything resembling it each time you mow (weekly), eventually you can kill it with round-up by starving it (I think). It took me like 2 summers spraying every couple of weeks to finally kill morning glory. Haven't seen it in a few years and the people before me had the crap growing up a huge trellis in the side yard, so it was a pretty old/healthy/mature plant


Not sure there's anything out there that's going to kill plant and roots with 1 treatment....at least not that a non-licensed person can buy

Quote :

"I went through and tilled up the whole area this weekend, breaking up and pulling up vines everywhere"

I think you just multiplied your problem


[Edited on May 25, 2011 at 5:54 PM. Reason : ]

5/25/2011 5:44:37 PM

yeah, I was planning on wearing multiple layers of clothes, gloves, etc. out there to pull up the vines. I'm just waiting for the weather to cool down a little bit, or maybe I'll hit it up first thing in the morning this weekend

I am curious if it would be better to spray with a weed killer first and then pull up the vines later, or go ahead and pull up the vines and then spray where I think the roots might be

5/26/2011 9:59:51 AM

Quote :

"I think you just multiplied your problem "

what do you mean?

5/26/2011 10:08:04 AM

poison ivy doesn't really bother me. sometimes i'll get a little itchy, but a shower cures it. guess i'm lucky.

5/26/2011 10:24:52 AM

i used to be able to roll around in the stuff and it wouldn't do anything but recently i've started having a reaction to it.

i've also recently started reacting mildly to bananas, avocado, and latex.

5/26/2011 12:11:22 PM

Quote :

"Not sure there's anything out there that's going to kill plant and roots with 1 treatment....at least not that a non-licensed person can buy"

Antifreeze works pretty damn well.

5/26/2011 12:40:49 PM

Quote :

"what do you mean?"

A lot of viney type of weeds (Morning glory, bermuda grass, various ivys, etc) tend to get worse when you till them up. A lot of them reproduce by fragmentation...so if you take a few plants and chop them up into little pieces....a lot of times all of those little pieces come back as brand new plants.

I have no idea if that will be the case with poison ivy or whatever vines you're tilling up, though.


I'm so allergic to poison ivy/oak that I get it from hearing stories about it. I've had to go to the hospital for shots a few times in my life....had it like inside my mouth, under my eyelids, and covering like 75% of my body

5/26/2011 7:44:55 PM

damn, I guess I should get some glyphosate on that area stat. Thanks for the info.

^ poison ivy got near my eyes once and swelled my right eye shut, like a black eye.

5/27/2011 10:55:20 AM

sup doodz

background:

-i live in south-east texas, and on all three sides of the yard is open field, with weeds and random grassy like things galore. keeping the seeds and spores out is fun.
-sodded this yard from dirt with st. augustine in october, due to completion of new construction (perfect!)
-sod was riddled with weeds, and it seems as if before they laid the sod they didnt kill everything on the ground first, had a lot just push through.
-post-emergence weed sprays did ok, for what they could do with ones that were ok for st. augustine
-pulled all crabgrass by hand, which was a bitch
-we've been in a pretty hardcore drought, with 2/week watering restrictions.

however, there's this thin blade... stuff.. that i can't figure out what it is, and it's trying to take over the rest of the yard. grows viney like, with long strings with the thin blade coming off of it. should be easy to tell what is the st. augustine, what is this weed. the last picture especially, since i took it in the "this is the brown spot where the dogs piss" area.

i took some pictures, before a mowing after a 10 day vacation, so things are kinda thick.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-B9IuyKXon7k/Ti9JyYiQdcI/AAAAAAAAAUc/2vWuQDvXFX4/s800/IMG_20110726_181115.jpg
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-tqvE1oFYNjw/Ti9J47E_FMI/AAAAAAAAAUk/o5SoGJ83wog/s800/IMG_20110726_181143.jpg
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/--YjvECSLe1k/Ti9KE2eZ2qI/AAAAAAAAAUk/UAgWKMksZZk/s800/IMG_20110726_181133.jpg
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ejBlFp2Ql24/Ti9KQ3gEWEI/AAAAAAAAAUg/NQzijBwq_Ps/s800/IMG_20110726_181202.jpg

the question is, what is this and how do i get rid of this shit, while not killing the st. augustine. in the areas that it's most prevalent, it's completely smothered the growth of the grass. in the other areas, the grass is growing gangbusters. some parts were up 14" in the two weeks i was gone. srry neighbors.

7/27/2011 10:15:38 AM

That's bermuda.

You can either embrace it, or go scorched earth warfare and destroy everything and start over.

7/27/2011 10:22:39 AM

yep...its bermuda (probably common). the same stuff that will kill it, will kill St. Augustines. the best approach would probably be to pull it out.

for crabgrass, i found MSMA to work great. but its arsenic.

and according to this, you shouldn't use it on St. Augustines

Quote :

"Selective postemergence control of crabgrass with chemicals is effective in many situations. The organic arsenicals including MSMA, DSMA, AMA and CAMA effectively control crabgrass with little injury to bermudagrass or zoysia when used properly. These materials should not be applied to fescue, St. Augustine, centipede or bahia turf. A single application of one of these materials at 2 pounds active per acre in 80 to 100 gallons of water per acre will control seedling crabgrass. Repeat applications at 14-day intervals may be required to control more mature crabgrass plants. For best crabgrass control, turf should not be mowed for 2 to 3 days prior to application or 2 to 3 days after application and temperatures should be 80 to 90°F at the time of application."

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/archives/parsons/turf/publications/weed12.html

7/27/2011 10:33:46 AM

Quote :

"That's bermuda."

Welcome to my hell.

7/27/2011 10:46:13 AM

well this blows

it's ugly as shit compared to the st. augustine.

7/27/2011 10:57:04 AM

Only thing that works. I've been at it a year and have killed at least 50% of it in my yard.

http://www.pbigordon.com/professional/page.php?ID_PRODUCTS=778

7/27/2011 11:11:28 AM

$90 alone last month in irrigation water (18.5k gallons). I am guessing 24k gallons this month, as I have had to up the watering schedule due to all the heat.

7/27/2011 11:24:21 AM

I laid down sod the first day of the long drought we had a couple months ago. $180 water/sewage bill (it's usually about $50). Next month, not too bad, $100.

But my lawn looks friggin incredible. Totally worth it.

7/27/2011 11:26:04 AM

Well, my total bill was $190 I have a seperate meter. You must not have watered the lawn much the second month!

7/27/2011 11:34:04 AM

I watered it so much the first month because of that drought that it was doing pretty well by the 2nd month. 2nd month I probably did a good watering once or twice a week.

This past month I've watered it just one day (was looking a little dry after very very little rain for two weeks).

We're getting drenched today though (yesterday as well). Yard is looking lush and green. Never thought I would be so excited about landscaping. I like having productive hobbies.

7/27/2011 11:41:05 AM

For fescue lawns, I'd imagine we'll be seeding in about a month.

Is now a good time to lay down some lime, or is it too close to seeding? I'd figure a month (or even 3 weeks) should be plenty of a buffer.

Secondly, whats your fertilization schedule? I always put down starter in the fall when I seed (which I imagine also helps existing grass), and one round of pre-emergent in the early spring. What other times are good to fertilize?

8/31/2011 9:01:36 AM

Yeah, you're fine dropping some lime right now.

My fertilization schedule is what turffiles suggests:

http://www.turffiles.ncsu.edu/articles/tf0017.aspx

been working well for me for 7 years.


--

As an aside, this is the first year that I've really seen my lawn show good heat tolerance. Several times, my lawn went dormant, turned brown and looked dead, and after a few days of good rain, it bounced right back. I have some dead spots, but overall much less than the last couple of years.

[Edited on August 31, 2011 at 9:24 AM. Reason : .]

8/31/2011 9:22:58 AM

As far as fall fertilization goes, do you all assume that the starter fertilizer you put down with overseed takes care of your lawns fertilization requirements, or do you apply another fertilizer at the same time...or followup it up in a month or so with a more general fertilizer?

9/7/2011 2:32:12 PM

Also when are you all planting fescue? Judging from the air temps it seems like we need to wait at least a week or two right? I think I read that you're supposed to wait until the air temperature starts averaging 75 during the day to ensure optimal germination.

9/14/2011 10:36:13 AM

bump

1/30/2012 1:09:13 PM

What do you guys do about weeds in your lawn over the winter? My grass goes dormant during the cold months, but my weeds definitely don't. I don't remember it being this bad last year, but there are a decent amount of weeds all over my lawn (probably 4/5 different kinds as well).

My options are (1) pulling up the weeds by hand or, (2) using some weed stuff.

I can do a little bit of (1)...but it gets to be a pain in the ass and It also tears up my lawn. I tried "Atrazine Weed Killer" early last week, spraying it all over my lawn. I think it's suppose to take a little while, but haven't seen much progress yet.

What does everyone else do? I have centipede grass if that information is relevant.

[Edited on January 30, 2012 at 1:11 PM. Reason : .]

1/30/2012 1:10:57 PM

RoundUp or GlyStar

Since your grass is dormant, herbicide won't hurt it. I pretreat with RoundUp when I put out PreEm.

1/30/2012 1:39:30 PM