9th annual Lawn Thread 2018

[WhiteLawns]

So glad it’s spring!

[dendrite]

1 hour ago, WhiteLawns said:

So glad it’s spring!

Name change to GreenLawns?

[RUNNAWAYICEBERG]

Would my acidic lawn benefit from aeration and lime application right now? 

[Baroclinic Zone]

30 minutes ago, RUNNAWAYICEBERG said:

Would my acidic lawn benefit from aeration and lime application right now? 

Getting late to aerate.  Traditionally you want to do that in early spring or in Fall when the lawn is growing the most.  You may do ok with lime but the same applies,  drop it when the lawn is growing the most.  Early Spring and Fall are best.  Lime won't hurt your acidic soil but it may take longer to absorb.

[RUNNAWAYICEBERG]

7 minutes ago, Baroclinic Zone said:

Getting late to aerate.  Traditionally you want to do that in early spring or in Fall when the lawn is growing the most.  You may do ok with lime but the same applies,  drop it when the lawn is growing the most.  Early Spring and Fall are best.  Lime won't hurt your acidic soil but it may take longer to absorb.

Which is why im thinking aerate then lime it. Just got the equipment was planning on a fall gutjob but i may not be able to look at the lawn until then, shades closed.

I guess I want to get it somewhat passable until the fall. 

[Baroclinic Zone]

12 minutes ago, RUNNAWAYICEBERG said:

Which is why im thinking aerate then lime it. Just got the equipment was planning on a fall gutjob but i may not be able to look at the lawn until then, shades closed.

I guess I want to get it somewhat passable until the fall. 

If you're re-doing the lawn in the Fall, I'd skip spending much if anything on it and just let it go.   Control the weeds and keep it cut would be about all I would do.

[RUNNAWAYICEBERG]

48 minutes ago, Baroclinic Zone said:

If you're re-doing the lawn in the Fall, I'd skip spending much if anything on it and just let it go.   Control the weeds and keep it cut would be about all I would do.

Thanks for the info, well noted. 

[SJonesWX]

agree with Bob, aerating this time of year is just an invitation for the weeds, especially crab grass. you could at least spread some fertilizer, not a big investment and the right stuff will work well. Also, may not be the best time, but lime pellets are pretty cheap so it's not like you would be throwing your money away.

[Brewbeer]

If the soil is really acidic, then any fertilizer you put down may not be well utilized by the grass. 

I usually put down lime at least one rain storm before putting down fertilizer, to give the lime some time to raise the soil pH into the range where more of the nutrients in the fertilizer are available for plant uptake, which is strongly dependent on soil pH.

[WhiteLawns]

On 5/10/2018 at 4:08 PM, dendrite said:

Name change to GreenLawns?

I would but according to the website I won’t be able to change it again for another 82 years and 2 months. 

[dendrite]

3 hours ago, WhiteLawns said:

I would but according to the website I won’t be able to change it again for another 82 years and 2 months. 

With global warming you will have a tropical lawn by then.

[dendrite]

Speaking of aerating...

I’m not concerned about weeds in the yard, but I do have some frequently walked on parts of the lawn around the run that are starting to see the grass struggle. I know core aerators are best, but do the spikes work at all? I thought about getting a decent pair of aerating shoes off of Amazon just to loosen the soil a bit around there. I’m not expecting miracles, but if they will make even a 25% improvement I’d be interested. 

[S&P]

2 hours ago, dendrite said:

Speaking of aerating...

I’m not concerned about weeds in the yard, but I do have some frequently walked on parts of the lawn around the run that are starting to see the grass struggle. I know core aerators are best, but do the spikes work at all? I thought about getting a decent pair of aerating shoes off of Amazon just to loosen the soil a bit around there. I’m not expecting miracles, but if they will make even a 25% improvement I’d be interested. 

something is better than nothing , so yes

[Baroclinic Zone]

As S&P said, they're better than nothing but ultimately an actual core getting pulled from the ground is best as it will free up space in the solid so it can spread out while allowing air to get further down. 

[dendrite]

15 minutes ago, Baroclinic Zone said:

As S&P said, they're better than nothing but ultimately an actual core getting pulled from the ground is best as it will free up space in the solid so it can spread out while allowing air to get further down. 

Yeah. It's only heavily trodden areas that are struggling. The rest of the yard is thick and lush this spring...especially after a couple years of chicken poop. I just want to keep some semblance of green growing in these areas, but don't want to put a lot of time, money, or effort into it. I understand that for every hole the spikes make they compress the soil even more around them, but I figured stirring the soil up and letting water get down there is at least some benefit. Weeding through the reviews on Amazon most people say they notice at least some improvement so we'll see how it goes. Hopefully they stay on my feet.

[Lava Rock]

I slit seeded some kbg last Fall and it only grew maybe 0.5" then stopped. Looking at it now it looks the same. I know kyb takes some time to grow but shouldn't it be growing now?

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

[backedgeapproaching]

16 hours ago, Lava Rock said:

I slit seeded some kbg last Fall and it only grew maybe 0.5" then stopped. Looking at it now it looks the same. I know kyb takes some time to grow but shouldn't it be growing now?

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk
 

Kentucky Bluegrass is usually the last to week up in the spring out of the cool season grass cultivars. Its also normally the darkest and shortest growing.   But, you should probably be seeing more than .5" by now I would think.  I dont know, you have like a moon scape up there or something, nothing really wants to grow and flourish.

[dendrite]

1 hour ago, backedgeapproaching said:

Kentucky Bluegrass is usually the last to week up in the spring out of the cool season grass cultivars. Its also normally the darkest and shortest growing.   But, you should probably be seeing more than .5" by now I would think.  I dont know, you have like a moon scape up there or something, nothing really wants to grow and flourish.

I think my dead grandmother is more fertile than his yard. 

[Lava Rock]

1 hour ago, dendrite said:

I think my dead grandmother is more fertile than his yard. 

lol, yes it's ridiculous the effort i put into the yard and it still looks like crap for the most part. my wife thinks i'm nuts for caring so much. A for effort though.

[Damage In Tolland]

I inspected the Oaks and the leaves are absolutely loaded with tiny little gypsies. Leaves aren’t fully mature yet as you can see in picture and there’s tons of holes already eaten .

[hammerz_nailz]

11 hours ago, Damage In Tolland said:

I inspected the Oaks and the leaves are absolutely loaded with tiny little gypsies. Leaves aren’t fully mature yet as you can see in picture and there’s tons of holes already eaten .

 

Same here. Especially our two big beech trees.

[Whineminster]

On 5/13/2018 at 7:27 AM, dendrite said:

Yeah. It's only heavily trodden areas that are struggling. The rest of the yard is thick and lush this spring...especially after a couple years of chicken poop. I just want to keep some semblance of green growing in these areas, but don't want to put a lot of time, money, or effort into it. I understand that for every hole the spikes make they compress the soil even more around them, but I figured stirring the soil up and letting water get down there is at least some benefit. Weeding through the reviews on Amazon most people say they notice at least some improvement so we'll see how it goes. Hopefully they stay on my feet.

I don't know about your lawn, but the chickens destroy mine - scratching the balls out of it eating all the grubs and bugs.  I live on a sandy rock hill anyway so it doesn't matter, but still.....

[Whineminster]

On 5/13/2018 at 5:08 PM, Lava Rock said:

I slit seeded some kbg last Fall and it only grew maybe 0.5" then stopped. Looking at it now it looks the same. I know kyb takes some time to grow but shouldn't it be growing now?

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk
 

Let's see some pics. 

 

What about that big bag of Kentucy 31 Fescue they sell at tractor supply? I seem to have gotten some to grow on my desert. 

[IrishRob17]

The lawn doesn’t look too bad after everything that happened this week.  One of the linemen working on my house yesterday says “Wow, you have quite the nice green lawn.”  LOL

[Hailstoned]

As wx people, presumably lovers of nature and sensitive to the dangers of climate change, this read should be informative:

https://earther.com/lawns-are-an-ecological-disaster-1826070720

 

 

[mreaves]

51 minutes ago, Hailstoned said:

As wx people, presumably lovers of nature and sensitive to the dangers of climate change, this read should be informative:

https://earther.com/lawns-are-an-ecological-disaster-1826070720

 

 

Be prepared to be beaten down, tough I am more on this side of things than the lawn kings side.

[SJonesWX]

informative? hardly. i couldnt get past this (bolded emphasis mine):

Americans devote 70 hours, annually, to pushing petrol-powered spinning death blades over aggressively pointless green carpets to meet an embarrassingly destructive beauty standard based on specious homogeneity. We marvel at how verdant we manage to make our overwatered, chemical-soaked, ecologically-sterile backyards. That’s just biblically, nay, God-of-War-ishly violent. 

[Brewbeer]

So, anyone planning a second fertilizer application?

[Baroclinic Zone]

Just now, Brewbeer said:

So, anyone planning a second fertilizer application?

Yeah, it's time.

[tamarack]

4 hours ago, SJonesWX said:

informative? hardly. i couldnt get past this (bolded emphasis mine):

 

Quote

Americans devote 70 hours, annually, to pushing petrol-powered spinning death blades over aggressively pointless green carpets to meet an embarrassingly destructive beauty standard based on specious homogeneity. We marvel at how verdant we manage to make our overwatered, chemical-soaked, ecologically-sterile backyards. That’s just biblically, nay, God-of-War-ishly violent. 

And folks like that don't see one bit of hyperbole in such language. 
One's yard character depends on one's family objectives.  When we lived in southern Maine, I collected uncommon or out-of-their-range tree species for a mini arboretum, not an uncommon practice for foresters.  We had white oak (uncommon there), chestnut oak (north of its range), American chestnut and Colorado blue spruce.  When we moved to our present home, the buyer of our old place had two young children, and a backyard lawn was a lot more important to them than some odd-looking little trees.  C'est la vie.