At Least The 12th Lawn Thread

[dendrite]

2 hours ago, Ginx snewx said:

Question was when

Oh it was a serious question. Did you cold stratify them inside? For nuts I usually wait for them to start germinating before I plant them, but you can just put them in the ground now too and let nature do it. My black walnut haven’t germinated yet in the fridge...I’m not sure if they need a little warmth to spring them to life? My chestnuts, chinkapins, and blue oaks all started germinating on their own in the fridge without warmth.

edit... I’ll add, make sure you protect the planted nut from rodents. I used 1/2” hardware cloth tubes buried into the ground a bit to keep out voles and chippies. Chippies are the worst...they’ll wreck every seedling. Little bastards love to chomp off my new seedlings and leave the pieces on the ground while they plant their own sunflower seeds in my pots.

[tamarack]

17 hours ago, TauntonBlizzard2013 said:

Yeah there is no frost here lol.... looks fairly mild the next couple weeks too.

Might be different farther down, though my NNJ experience probably came after an open but seasonably cold winter - dad was digging a hole for a mailbox post in early May, and found solid frost about 12" below the surface.

[Ginx snewx]

3 hours ago, dendrite said:

Oh it was a serious question. Did you cold stratify them inside? For nuts I usually wait for them to start germinating before I plant them, but you can just put them in the ground now too and let nature do it. My black walnut haven’t germinated yet in the fridge...I’m not sure if they need a little warmth to spring them to life? My chestnuts, chinkapins, and blue oaks all started germinating on their own in the fridge without warmth.

edit... I’ll add, make sure you protect the planted nut from rodents. I used 1/2” hardware cloth tubes buried into the ground a bit to keep out voles and chippies. Chippies are the worst...they’ll wreck every seedling. Little bastards love to chomp off my new seedlings and leave the pieces on the ground while they plant their own sunflower seeds in my pots.

Wow thanks for all this . Yes kept cold in peat moss.

[amarshall]

Dethatched my lawn with a wire rack this weekend?  Is it ok to aerate in the spring? 

[CoastalWx]

Just now, amarshall said:

Dethatched my lawn with a wire rack this weekend?  Is it ok to aerate in the spring? 

I was told no, but I don't see the big harm?

[dendrite]

19 minutes ago, CoastalWx said:

I was told no, but I don't see the big harm?

I think it stirs weed seed up and gives it a place to germinate. But weeds dgaf imo and will try to grow regardless.

[TauntonBlizzard2013]

43 minutes ago, amarshall said:

Dethatched my lawn with a wire rack this weekend?  Is it ok to aerate in the spring? 

Are you slice seeding too? If you are, it should be fine.

Even if you’re not, it’s probably okay.

[mreaves]

1 hour ago, amarshall said:

Dethatched my lawn with a wire rack this weekend?  Is it ok to aerate in the spring? 

Our golf course superintendent would aerate once at the end of May and once at the end of August.  Seemed to work well for him.  Of course adjust for climate.

[OceanStWx]

2 hours ago, dendrite said:

I think it stirs weed seed up and gives it a place to germinate. But weeds dgaf imo and will try to grow regardless.

Yeah that was the reason I was told not to as well. So I raked it out and cleaned up the grounds a bit this weekend.

I was hit by Napril though. Glad I wore a hat.

[backedgeapproaching]

2 hours ago, dendrite said:

I think it stirs weed seed up and gives it a place to germinate. But weeds dgaf imo and will try to grow regardless.

Unless your ground is insanely compacted, it will probably do more harm then good because of what you mentioned.  I honestly don't you think you need  it unless you yard is like extremely compacted.

[klw]

Half the yard is still a foot deep glacier but I had to pull a tick off my leg yesterday morning after working in the melted area on Sunday.

[amarshall]

Just found this image while looking for an old file. Feel like I want to go frolic nude in that lesco grass. 

 Lawn striper FTW.  Since I've gone to a tractor the JD lawn striping kit just doesnt cut it. 

[backedgeapproaching]

1 hour ago, amarshall said:

Just found this image while looking for an old file. Feel like I want to go frolic nude in that lesco grass. 

 Lawn striper FTW.  Since I've gone to a tractor the JD lawn striping kit just doesnt cut it. 

Yea, I have a JD too with a striper and its OK, depends on grass type too, as certain types stripe better.  

 

[dendrite]

Love the mulched trees. I'd do that here, but yeah...chickens.

[OceanStWx]

29 minutes ago, dendrite said:

Love the mulched trees. I'd do that here, but yeah...chickens.

I did it in my yard, but I can't decide if I want to cut hard edges into it every season or line it with some small pavers to keep the shape.

[CoastalWx]

1 minute ago, OceanStWx said:

I did it in my yard, but I can't decide if I want to cut hard edges into it every season or line it with some small pavers to keep the shape.

I edge. It can be a pain, but nudity when you see the crisp edges. 

[dendrite]

Just now, OceanStWx said:

I did it in my yard, but I can't decide if I want to cut hard edges into it every season or line it with some small pavers to keep the shape.

There's a horti-mulch mix that I used from a local place around the shrubs last year that I liked...all natural (no dyes) with a little bit of compost added in and it's pretty dark. I wouldn't even need to fertilize my fruit trees anymore as that stuff breaks down underneath. I'll be raking up the mulch out of the grass every other night though from those little t-rexes.

[OceanStWx]

12 minutes ago, CoastalWx said:

I edge. It can be a pain, but nudity when you see the crisp edges. 

It's so true, but my yard is so sloped that after every heavy rain it ends up looking like Brian's chickens have raided the gardens.

[amarshall]

 

[OceanStWx]

1 minute ago, amarshall said:

 

NSFW?

[dendrite]

19 minutes ago, OceanStWx said:

NSFW?

Lawn porn. But man non-Americans must laugh at our lawns and how we maintain them. 

[mreaves]

24 minutes ago, dendrite said:

Lawn porn. But man non-Americans must laugh at our lawns and how we maintain them. 

I laugh at some too

[tamarack]

On 3/23/2021 at 9:47 AM, klw said:

Half the yard is still a foot deep glacier but I had to pull a tick off my leg yesterday morning after working in the melted area on Sunday.

Spent several hours walking the state's Dodge Point tract - Newcastle/midcoast - looking at the recently closed-down timber harvest.  No ticks noted - yet.  Very little snow left there, only the deep shade and under limbs/tops of harvested trees.  Too soon for the vernal pools there to wake up.  The best one - deepest, most amphib species - remains ice-covered but may not be after a few more days of this.

[amarshall]

Just pulled a tick off my son who was jumping in leaf piles this weekend. 

[CoastalWx]

38 minutes ago, amarshall said:

Just pulled a tick off my son who was jumping in leaf piles this weekend. 

At some point, the benefits of bathing the property in malathion outweighs the consequences of tick related diseases. Ticks and Lyme Disease are out of control. 

[tamarack]

Or cotton batting (drier lint a good substitute) with considerable permethrin worked into it, then stuffed into tubes, like TP, or paper towel centers cut in 3rds.  Placed around the lawn (perhaps under small boards to keep the rain off) in the shrubs/woods (some kind of cover) the batting is loved by small rodent tick vectors.  Then the permethrin clears the critters of ticks right at home.  I'm sure the recipe can be found online - I'm going by memory.  One caveat: the recommendation is one "bait" every 10 feet around the area to be protected, so might be impractical for big lawns/yards.  Also it would be worth checking in the weeks after placement to see if there's been rodent buy-in.

[DavisStraight]

1 hour ago, tamarack said:

Or cotton batting (drier lint a good substitute) with considerable permethrin worked into it, then stuffed into tubes, like TP, or paper towel centers cut in 3rds.  Placed around the lawn (perhaps under small boards to keep the rain off) in the shrubs/woods (some kind of cover) the batting is loved by small rodent tick vectors.  Then the permethrin clears the critters of ticks right at home.  I'm sure the recipe can be found online - I'm going by memory.  One caveat: the recommendation is one "bait" every 10 feet around the area to be protected, so might be impractical for big lawns/yards.  Also it would be worth checking in the weeks after placement to see if there's been rodent buy-in.

I know a few people that put them in their wood pile and say it works well. A good cat helps too.

[mreaves]

2 hours ago, DavisStraight said:

I know a few people that put them in their wood pile and say it works well. A good cat helps too.

I swear we never have ticks and it’s because our cat is an environmental disaster to rodents in our yard. 

[tamarack]

2 hours ago, DavisStraight said:

I know a few people that put them in their wood pile and say it works well. A good cat helps too.

Too many fishers and coyotes around our place to allow cats to go outside - we've lost several in coming to that conclusion.  Have not tried the permethrin-nest method here, mainly because we're in the middle of the woods and would need lots to have any effect at all.  So far the grandkids haven't brought any in though dog and I have.  (Ticks contrast well with a yellow Lab, especially one treated with a systemic anti-tick med, so the little horrors seem unwilling to burrow into the fur.)

[DavisStraight]

1 hour ago, tamarack said:

Too many fishers and coyotes around our place to allow cats to go outside - we've lost several in coming to that conclusion.  Have not tried the permethrin-nest method here, mainly because we're in the middle of the woods and would need lots to have any effect at all.  So far the grandkids haven't brought any in though dog and I have.  (Ticks contrast well with a yellow Lab, especially one treated with a systemic anti-tick med, so the little horrors seem unwilling to burrow into the fur.)

Seresto is the best collar I ever got, in the last three years my dog has had two ticks and they were dead when I took them off. For $60 it's well worth it. Before Seresto I'd pull 10-20 off her a year and that was using the drops. My last two dogs got lyme even using a topical.