Lawn Care

[cougjunkie]

For those of you in Utah. What is the process once winter ends off getting your lawn back in shape?

I just had my lawn aerated which I have never done before. Do you have a specific fertilizer you use? My lawn always looks like shit so I need some help.

[beelzebabette]

For those of you in Utah. What is the process once winter ends off getting your lawn back in shape?

I just had my lawn aerated which I have never done before. Do you have a specific fertilizer you use? My lawn always looks like shit so I need some help.

I'd suggest following the Scott's lawn care program. They have good products, and it should be enough (depending on what your lawn looks like to begin with). (I don't do my own fertilizer applications, but) the only other thing I do is rake the lawn a couple of times a year so I don't get thatch buildup.

[Coach McGuirk]

aeration is a good start. I aerate my lawn in April and Early Oct every year. BBB offers sound advice. You need to make sure you follow the scheduling fairly well. Don't over-water your lawn. Water less frequently for longer times. This will allow your roots to search deep for water and provide for a healthier lawn (or so I am told and it has worked for me).

Don't expect a weed free perfect lawn after a feeding though. It takes a few cycles. After 3-4 years, I had neighbors asking why my lawn was looking green and weed free. It is very basic. No secrets.

[mtnbiker]

You can actually fertilize the lawn quite early, like Feb. or March, even if there's snow on the ground. Use a 31-10-0 or a pre-emergent fertilizer. Pre-emergent helps keep seeds from germinating, so don't use it in the garden.

I like the IFA fertilizers. They're nicely pelletized, so they go through the spreader fairly well, and don't blow all over the place. Plus, it's usually quite a bit cheaper than the name brands, such as Scott's. I've had better success with IFA and Scott's than with other brands.

A couple of times during the summer you can put down 16-16-8 fertilizer or weed-and-feed, if you get a lot of weeds in the grass.

Then just water according to Coach's recommendation.

[old_gregg]

http://www.astrolawn.com/

[Lost Student]

I must be the only person who doesn't really care how the lawn looks. I mow it when it gets really long because otherwise the ground stays wet enough that mushrooms grow abundantly. I only use the weed eater every few weeks. I don't think I'll ever be applying any fertilizer or aerating the lawn.

[landpoke]

I must be the only person who doesn't really care how the lawn looks. I mow it when it gets really long because otherwise the ground stays wet enough that mushrooms grow abundantly. I only use the weed eater every few weeks. I don't think I'll ever be applying any fertilizer or aerating the lawn.

I'm with you. I fact, my indifference and resultant half-assed approach to lawn care so irked my wife that she hired a lawn service to take care of it.

Kings to me!

[Mormon Red Death]

http://www.astrolawn.com/

If I lived somewhere where water was a scarcity I would go with this.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

You can actually fertilize the lawn quite early, like Feb. or March, even if there's snow on the ground. Use a 31-10-0 or a pre-emergent fertilizer. Pre-emergent helps keep seeds from germinating, so don't use it in the garden.

I like the IFA fertilizers. They're nicely pelletized, so they go through the spreader fairly well, and don't blow all over the place. Plus, it's usually quite a bit cheaper than the name brands, such as Scott's. I've had better success with IFA and Scott's than with other brands.

A couple of times during the summer you can put down 16-16-8 fertilizer or weed-and-feed, if you get a lot of weeds in the grass.

Then just water according to Coach's recommendation.

This is great advice for a newish lawn (don't put it down when you sod!) that's at least six months old. You do it very early in the year, probably around March or even earlier if there's no snow on the ground. Then you do it in the Fall, probably around mid to late October. I neglected to give it a pre-emergent feeding last October and there's a couple small patches of crab grass.

If you have a more established lawn with a ton of crab grass and broad leaf stuff in it, I recommend using a post-emergent. At least in California, a company called Monterey sells a pretty good liquid product that you dilute and put into sprayer. My grandparents had an ancient crab grass-ridden lawn and sprayed their whole lawn with this stuff back in the mid 90s. The whole lawn turned a funky color for about a week and then the regular grass took over the crab grass, clover, spurge and other broad leaf stuff pretty quickly. Their lawn looked like new. I'm not sure what they sell in Utah that would be similar to that Monterey stuff.

Besides the pre and post emergent, you need to once or twice a year feed your lawn with a 16-16-16 fertilizer, preferably in the early spring about a month after giving your lawn the pre-emergent. Between the late spring to early fall you can give your lawn a shot of ammonium sulfate about every 5 weeks (do it during the early evening and before a watering the next morning). There's a guy in my neighborhood that put this high intensity (urea-based fertilizer) on his lawn in the late fall to keep it more green during the winter. Keeping your lawn a bit greener during the winter is probably not an option in Northern Utah. Scott's pre-emergent is coupled with a urea-based fertilizer so it will usually do the trick instead of just a plain old urea fertilizer. If you apply this stuff during the heat of the summer you very well could burn your lawn.

The funny thing is that maintaining a very good looking lawn is really not difficult (unless your lawn is huge). I've put the pre-emergent and 16-16-16 stuff on so far this year and I've probably spent 10 minutes total fertilizing each lawn. When I look at the shitty lawns of some of my neighbors (no mowing, brown grass, weeds), I just don't get it. My two immediate neighbors do a great job and we're hoping that the example will rub off on the deadbeats (fat chance).

[falafel]

http://www.astrolawn.com/

Living in an area where water is scarce (and synthetic lawns are fairly common) I can say that its pretty much crap. If you use it with any regularity, it quickly becomes matted down and shiny. In Vegas, the fake lawn get so hot during the day that you can't walk on it in bare feet unless you squirt it down first with the hose. So much for saving water.

[pellegrino]

If I lived somewhere where water was a scarcity I would go with this.

it's a good thing UT doesn't have that problem.

[FN Phat]

It is best to water early in the morning or in the night time. Watering in the middle of the day, especially on a hot day, can fry your grass.

[Hot Lunch]

I actually just spent the last two evenings power raking my lawn getting all the dead grass out. I should finally be finished tomorrow. I am little late to doing that this year. The past two years, I did it in early March. I didn't have much motivation because I thought I was going to have to tear my lawn up this summer to put in drains. Anyways, I have power raked the past two years and then did IFA fertilizer every 6 to 8 weeks. I am putting the fertilizer on Monday night because it is supposed to rain Tuesday.

The past two years I have had the greenest grass in the neighborhood (yes I am bragging) and this is the only "special" thing that I have done. Not sure if I would call it veery special. So I am gong to do the same thing this year. I also did what Coach suggested about the watering. My water timer was set for 4 in the morning as well.

[Eddie]

My lawn is a dandilion garden. Which is lovely for a little while when the flowers are all yellow - but turns ugly when they go to seed. I've got some clover, some crab grass, and some other kind of broad-leafed thing growing in a couple of patches as well.

My lawn is old enough that you can see sections where there are different kinds of grass. Someone told me once that this just means it is old, and used some word like homogonized. I don't know what they're talking about.

There is a spot in my lawn that has bugs or fungus or some kind of deal that makes it come out in chunks. Reminded me of the LES field right after the new grass was planted. You don't have to pull it out, you can just grab chunks and it comes readily.

And the part that I like least about my lawn - it is full of bumps. Everywhere. I think it is the nightcrawlers. I suppose it might be nice that for the past few years I've just gone out the night before a fishing trip with the kids and caught my own, but the lawn is crap.

On top of that, the sprinkler system has had issues since we moved into the place. And I haven't had the energy or desire to figure it out enough to fix anything - I tried at one point. Too frustrating to continue.

In many ways I've thought it would just be easier to tear the whole thing out and start over.

My wife likes a nice yard - which begins with a pretty, green, weed free lawn. Due to not knowing where to begin, I've taken the approach of being apathetic. So to celebrate our upcoming anniversary of 20 years of nuptual bliss, I figured I could start caring about something that she cares about. Like the lawn.

So - where to start?

Do I need to kill the worms somehow? Is there something else that would help with the bumps?
How do I discover if the place where the grass pulls out is due to some kind of bug or some kind of fungus/algae/bacteria?
How do I get rid of the bumps?

I've got what I consider to be the beginnings of a plan. Please tell me why or why not to do any of the following:

I was going to start with a power raking. Pull out dead grass, knock the tops off of some worm mounds, etc. I suppose this might be a bad idea in the area where grass pulls out easily.

Next I was going to aerate - and rake up the little poops that come from it (to keep them from becoming the next set of bumps)

And then follow up by renting one of those big rollers that you can fill with water for weight, watering the crap out of the lawn, and then rolling it flat as best I can.

I figured that during the process I would use some weed and feed stuff. I've used the broadleaf weed killer in a spray before, and can suppliment the weed & feed efforts with extra weed poison.

And finally - overseeding with more/new grass seed to help thicken it up some. I figure at this point I have to be careful with the weed killer and fertilizer I'm using to not kill off the lawn seed. Maybe I'll work on the rest and to the overseeding in the fall.

Anyway - I feel like this might give me a start. But I've been apathetic about the grass long enough that I'd love some input as to any steps I'm missing, any better ideas, and certainly info that would tell me my plan isn't going to work.

[Drunk Tank]

My lawn is a dandilion garden. Which is lovely for a little while when the flowers are all yellow - but turns ugly when they go to seed. I've got some clover, some crab grass, and some other kind of broad-leafed thing growing in a couple of patches as well.

My lawn is old enough that you can see sections where there are different kinds of grass. Someone told me once that this just means it is old, and used some word like homogonized. I don't know what they're talking about.

There is a spot in my lawn that has bugs or fungus or some kind of deal that makes it come out in chunks. Reminded me of the LES field right after the new grass was planted. You don't have to pull it out, you can just grab chunks and it comes readily.

And the part that I like least about my lawn - it is full of bumps. Everywhere. I think it is the nightcrawlers. I suppose it might be nice that for the past few years I've just gone out the night before a fishing trip with the kids and caught my own, but the lawn is crap.

On top of that, the sprinkler system has had issues since we moved into the place. And I haven't had the energy or desire to figure it out enough to fix anything - I tried at one point. Too frustrating to continue.

In many ways I've thought it would just be easier to tear the whole thing out and start over.

My wife likes a nice yard - which begins with a pretty, green, weed free lawn. Due to not knowing where to begin, I've taken the approach of being apathetic. So to celebrate our upcoming anniversary of 20 years of nuptual bliss, I figured I could start caring about something that she cares about. Like the lawn.

So - where to start?

Do I need to kill the worms somehow? Is there something else that would help with the bumps?
How do I discover if the place where the grass pulls out is due to some kind of bug or some kind of fungus/algae/bacteria?
How do I get rid of the bumps?

I've got what I consider to be the beginnings of a plan. Please tell me why or why not to do any of the following:

I was going to start with a power raking. Pull out dead grass, knock the tops off of some worm mounds, etc. I suppose this might be a bad idea in the area where grass pulls out easily.

Next I was going to aerate - and rake up the little poops that come from it (to keep them from becoming the next set of bumps)

And then follow up by renting one of those big rollers that you can fill with water for weight, watering the crap out of the lawn, and then rolling it flat as best I can.

I figured that during the process I would use some weed and feed stuff. I've used the broadleaf weed killer in a spray before, and can suppliment the weed & feed efforts with extra weed poison.

And finally - overseeding with more/new grass seed to help thicken it up some. I figure at this point I have to be careful with the weed killer and fertilizer I'm using to not kill off the lawn seed. Maybe I'll work on the rest and to the overseeding in the fall.

Anyway - I feel like this might give me a start. But I've been apathetic about the grass long enough that I'd love some input as to any steps I'm missing, any better ideas, and certainly info that would tell me my plan isn't going to work.

Why not rent a sod cutter and get rid of all the old lawn and start new? With no grass to deal with, you can level/smooth the lawn area to your liking, fix your sprinklers and plant a nice new lawn with one type of grass.