Heavy heavy lawn thread 2019

[SJonesWX]

cut low (~2-2.5"), rake/dethatch if needed, plug aerate, seed. Then take 2 weeks off from mowing. if you want to do a true overseed, then renting a slit seeder is the way to go. it's hard work, as the machine is quite heavy.

[Damage In Tolland]

Power rake it if you can MPM. Rent the  attachment for tractor 

[Lava Rock]

If I kill crabgrass with roundup, hotwater or otherwise, with the intention of reseeding, I assume I will have to dig out the dead crabgrass first? Other than doing this by hand, what other methods to physically remove the crabgrass are avail for large areas?

[backedgeapproaching]

3 hours ago, Lava Rock said:

If I kill crabgrass with roundup, hotwater or otherwise, with the intention of reseeding, I assume I will have to dig out the dead crabgrass first? Other than doing this by hand, what other methods to physically remove the crabgrass are avail for large areas?

You don't necessarily need to remove it...if you kill it and then scalp it down pretty much low as possible it can make a good seed bed to hold the seed in.  If its soooo thick that you need to remove it, then maybe you should.  Those crabgrass roots get thick and dense...try to pull one plant out and see how much soil comes up with the roots, it will be a good amount. 

[Lava Rock]

You don't necessarily need to remove it...if you kill it and then scalp it down pretty much low as possible it can make a good seed bed to hold the seed in.  If its soooo thick that you need to remove it, then maybe you should.  Those crabgrass roots get thick and dense...try to pull one plant out and see how much soil comes up with the roots, it will be a good amount. 

I'm thinking of trying Drive XLR8. I know it's a chemical, but I want the crab dead and gone

[HoarfrostHubb]

Our tomatoes are booming, but only a couple are ripe.  

[dendrite]

I had a bunch of plants with yellowing leaves so I said F it and spread some fresh chicken poop around them. We green now. I'll just be saving the kale for the birds.

[TauntonBlizzard2013]

Both azaleas we’re down to sticks at this point. I was able to pull them out of the ground with 2 fingers. Looks like they never actually “took” to the soil... no evidence roots were advancing. 

Planted rose bushes there instead...hopefully those work out better

[dendrite]

Hrm. Maybe you weren't watering long/deep enough then? Were they very root bound in the pot?

[TauntonBlizzard2013]

28 minutes ago, dendrite said:

Hrm. Maybe you weren't watering long/deep enough then? Were they very root bound in the pot?

They were. I thought I did a decent job breaking up the roots so it would take though. I suppose anything is possible. The rose bushes are bigger, and actually fill in that space better right away than the azaleas, so I figured I’d just pull them instead of waiting to see if they came back next year.

[Lava Rock]

Well the crabgrass invasion continues to spread. I sprayed a couple nights ago with a post emergent, but not sure how well it will work. Not excited about putting that crap on the lawn, but I need to stop it somehow. Will need to hand seed/reseed the entire area next month. This is the last effort. No more money, no more "I want to have a decent lawn", my wife says just let it go and let it do what it wants.

 

[dendrite]

I have some pygmy bamboo if you want a rhizome. lol

That stuff makes an aggressive lush ground cover 6-8” high. 

[backedgeapproaching]

1 hour ago, Lava Rock said:

Well the crabgrass invasion continues to spread. I sprayed a couple nights ago with a post emergent, but not sure how well it will work. Not excited about putting that crap on the lawn, but I need to stop it somehow. Will need to hand seed/reseed the entire area next month. This is the last effort. No more money, no more "I want to have a decent lawn", my wife says just let it go and let it do what it wants.

 

If the crabgrass plants are really mature, then the post emergent may not totally kill them. May stunt them and discolor, but not totally kill.   I guess you will find out in a few days.  Is there any grass there? I know its an evil word and don't shoot the messenger-- but probably RoundUp/Glyphosate would have been a better option IF its only crabgrass.  You were putting down chemicals anyway.

Also, reed the bottle on whatever you already put down, sometimes there is a waiting period on reseeding.

[Lava Rock]

30 minutes ago, backedgeapproaching said:

If the crabgrass plants are really mature, then the post emergent may not totally kill them. May stunt them and discolor, but not totally kill.   I guess you will find out in a few days.  Is there any grass there? I know its an evil word and don't shoot the messenger-- but probably RoundUp/Glyphosate would have been a better option IF its only crabgrass.  You were putting down chemicals anyway.

Also, reed the bottle on whatever you already put down, sometimes there is a waiting period on reseeding.

There is "some" grass, but it's dormant. The stuff I put down is a Bayer product sold in Lowes.

[wxeyeNH]

Jeez Lava  you have put so much energy into your lawn.   I am no lawn expert.   A couple of ideas.  Make sure you keep mowing so the crabgrass doesn't reseed.  About this time of year it grows those tall shoots with the triangles that have the seed.  Make sure more seeds don't fall down to make next season even worse.  Then maybe just let it be.  Green is green. 

We bought 15 acres of forest up our road about 12 years ago.  Clear cut a portion for views.  I never seeded or did anything.  Just mow it once a month or so.  It now has a pretty nice lawn.  Not perfect grass but mowed it looks fine to me.  Maybe your lawn would look the same?  Looks like it faces south to get mid day sun?

Here's a pic of the lawn up the  road.   

 

[wxeyeNH]

My lawns and gardens have enjoyed the 1.5" of rain the past week or so.  Look good.  Really no fair to compare to Lava because I hired a lawn care company that has a fertilizing program.  Once a month they come, each month with different applications.  I also have a tree service that applies deep root fertizler once a season for my Red Maple, Horse chestnut and Ash which is in this picture

[Lava Rock]

27 minutes ago, wxeyeNH said:

Jeez Lava  you have put so much energy into your lawn.   I am no lawn expert.   A couple of ideas.  Make sure you keep mowing so the crabgrass doesn't reseed.  About this time of year it grows those tall shoots with the triangles that have the seed.  Make sure more seeds don't fall down to make next season even worse.  Then maybe just let it be.  Green is green. 

We bought 15 acres of forest up our road about 12 years ago.  Clear cut a portion for views.  I never seeded or did anything.  Just mow it once a month or so.  It now has a pretty nice lawn.  Not perfect grass but mowed it looks fine to me.  Maybe your lawn would look the same?  Looks like it faces south to get mid day sun?

Here's a pic of the lawn up the  road.   

 

Too late on mowing as the shoots are tall and full of seeds. I didn't mow recently because the "real" grass didn't need it (too dry), but the crabgrass kept growing. I'll whack in the Spring with Tenacity pre-emergent.

I've got to be careful with chems, since our well, even at 500' deep is just to the left of the oak tree.

[BrianW]

On 8/22/2019 at 11:19 AM, wxeyeNH said:

My lawns and gardens have enjoyed the 1.5" of rain the past week or so.  Look good.  Really no fair to compare to Lava because I hired a lawn care company that has a fertilizing program.  Once a month they come, each month with different applications.  I also have a tree service that applies deep root fertizler once a season for my Red Maple, Horse chestnut and Ash which is in this picture

Is Emerald Ash Borer up there yet? I would start treating it if you intend to keep it. I have been keeping mine alive by soil drench with insecticide. Cost like 5 bucks to treat it yourself with the same stuff the pros use thats available online. 

The ash are pretty close to wiped out here in CT. Here was an ash stand I drove by today. There are whole tracts all over the state that look like this. It looks terrible. 

 

[wxeyeNH]

26 minutes ago, BrianW said:

Is Emerald Ash Borer up there yet? I would start treating it if you intend to keep it. I have been keeping mine alive by soil drench with insecticide. Cost like 5 bucks to treat it yourself with the same stuff the pros use thats available online. 

The ash are pretty close to wiped out here in CT. Here was an ash stand I drove by today. There are whole tracts all over the state that look like this. It looks terrible. 

 

Nope, the Ash Borer is not up here yet.  We have several beautiful Ash trees on our property.  Lots of them around.  I know it's coming.  The forest will not look the same for a long time.  Really sad

[dendrite]

I’m pretty sure EAB is around here...just not widespread yet. I’ve seen some totally dead ash trees here and in Concord. 

[tamarack]

EAB has also slipped across into Maine, from NH in the south and from NB in the north.  On my woodlot, about 100 miles from the southern Maine beetle beachhead, white ash is the 3rd most abundant species - red maple is 1st and fir 2nd - plus there's a considerable amount of brown ash.  Without human assistance the insect population is said to advance about 2 miles per year - much faster when people carelessly move infested wood.   WA appears to include a very small percentage that survive EAB while no such resistance has been seen for brown.  Given the cultural importance of brown ash to Maine's indigenous peoples, the beetle could be a real disaster for them.

[BrianW]

2 hours ago, tamarack said:

EAB has also slipped across into Maine, from NH in the south and from NB in the north.  On my woodlot, about 100 miles from the southern Maine beetle beachhead, white ash is the 3rd most abundant species - red maple is 1st and fir 2nd - plus there's a considerable amount of brown ash.  Without human assistance the insect population is said to advance about 2 miles per year - much faster when people carelessly move infested wood.   WA appears to include a very small percentage that survive EAB while no such resistance has been seen for brown.  Given the cultural importance of brown ash to Maine's indigenous peoples, the beetle could be a real disaster for them.

There is no stopping it from what I have read.  Billions of native ash will be wiped out. Only hope is to create new ash strains resistant to eab and introduce those into the wild. I believe they did something similar with elm trees where they created a Dutch elm disease resistant tree. 

[dendrite]

OK...I have me some backyard tree news and questions. Idk where to start.

First of all, you all probably know how obsessed I’ve been with the american chestnut. Well when ID’ing trees I guess it pays to look up. I went back into the deeper woods near the edge of my property and found this ~30 footer back there. Needless to say I was excited. No sign of nuts though. Anyone have any idea if this looks like it’s close to flowering?

[dendrite]

On 7/29/2019 at 7:58 AM, dendrite said:

One more Q...

Anyone got an ID on this? The leaves look very leathery. 

Black cherry?

[OceanStWx]

I was investigating my red maple after our recent vacation and when I went to water it found all these little white/gray bugs crawling all over it. Especially near the cankers. 

Any ideas what they might be? Also has a good dozen black/white/yellow caterpillars in it.

[tamarack]

11 hours ago, dendrite said:

Black cherry?

Definitely not black cherry - too wide and too glossy.  One test for the cherry genus is to scrape some bark and sniff for "bitter almond".  The bottom 2 pics look something like glossy buckthorn (which despite the name has no thorns) but the little points on the leaves in the top 2 don't match as well.  "By their fruits ye shall know them."  Have you seen any berries or such?  The buckthorns have small berries that run from dark green to red to almost black.

That chestnut is larger than some (blighted and gone now) from which I've picked nuts, but those were getting more sun than yours appears to get.  Since chestnuts are monoecious, both male and female trees would need to flower in order to get nuts, though a lone female will produce sterile husks.

[dendrite]

6 minutes ago, tamarack said:

Definitely not black cherry - too wide and too glossy.  One test for the cherry genus is to scrape some bark and sniff for "bitter almond".  The bottom 2 pics look something like glossy buckthorn (which despite the name has no thorns) but the little points on the leaves in the top 2 don't match as well.  "By their fruits ye shall know them."  Have you seen any berries or such?  The buckthorns have small berries that run from dark green to red to almost black.

That chestnut is larger than some (blighted and gone now) from which I've picked nuts, but those were getting more sun than yours appears to get.  Since chestnuts are monoecious, both male and female trees would need to flower in order to get nuts, though a lone female will produce sterile husks.

I guess Ill have to catch it in the spring to see if it flowers. I was going to clear a few beeches around it, but it's doing pretty well on its own so I won't go messing with it until I start seeing some signs of cankers.

[tamarack]

31 minutes ago, dendrite said:

I guess Ill have to catch it in the spring to see if it flowers. I was going to clear a few beeches around it, but it's doing pretty well on its own so I won't go messing with it until I start seeing some signs of cankers.

If you do any clearing near that tree, be super carful not to cause any damage to it.  The blight is out there and I've been disappointed by minor wounds leading to blight numerous times. 

[dendrite]

52 minutes ago, tamarack said:

If you do any clearing near that tree, be super carful not to cause any damage to it.  The blight is out there and I've been disappointed by minor wounds leading to blight numerous times. 

The bottom of the tree is a little rough looking. Do these look like the start of cankers?

[tamarack]

1 hour ago, dendrite said:

The bottom of the tree is a little rough looking. Do these look like the start of cankers?

I don't think so - no new lesions or fruiting bodies visible.  Looks like that tree had some early issues with wet snow and/or ice, but was able to grow out of it.