Excessive nutrients, while wasting money, can also lead to weed growth or turf damage, among other environmental issues.

Don't worry about fertilizing until the proper time.

3/20/2014 9:03:23 AM

For my bermuda, it was ugly for years. Then last year I used the scotts product with summerguard, and it has never looked better. It grew in thick, drowned out the weeds, and was super green.

I had tried weed and feed and other fertilizers as well for years, but this product seemed to do the trick for me.

3/20/2014 9:26:12 AM

I've never been a fan of Scott's products, but mostly not because of the product themselves (other than weed & feed). I have heard some people that said Scott's worked for them, but often, it seems to be overpriced and some of their fertilizers don't even list NPK; it's like they're dumbing it down because people can't figure out what fertilizer to use. I don't like weed & feed because I'm pretty sure that had something to do with killing most of my fescue

[Edited on March 20, 2014 at 9:39 AM. Reason : .]

3/20/2014 9:39:19 AM

Quote :

"And this brutal winter just did a number on it. Other than just crossing my fingers and hoping it comes in well...is there anything I can do to make it better other than fertilize? I've spot-seeded before in the past where there were really bad patches....but there aren't specific spots that seems to be bad this year...just a general "thin-ness". Can you throw out a bunch of seed without tilling up the soil and get some decent results??"

Is it fully out of winter dormancy yet? I know it's quite a bit warmer where you are, but it was a colder winter for y'all too, it takes a little time to get going once it gets out of dormancy.

3/20/2014 10:11:48 AM

Ok, will wait until the grass gets green. It's zoysia so it's still dormant. Hopefully being soggy and trampled for a month straight by the foster dog didn't kill it.

3/20/2014 11:41:11 AM

^^ Its still pretty dormant, but I can see some green coming out in spots.

With that being said, you can still see the areas that are "thick" and "thin". This will be my first year with this bermuda (I laid down sod towards the end of our mild winter last year)...so I'm curious to see how it comes out of this rough winter. I'll be really disappointed if I have to do some major work on it.

3/20/2014 12:50:08 PM

I'm betting you'll be pleasantly surprised, if not this spring, at least by the end of the summer (if it's not too hot & dry). Fertilize it when it's time, give it some deep waterings, and bermuda will take off in a hurry

3/20/2014 1:43:30 PM

I agree. It's virtually impossible to tell what will be thick/thin looking at the grass right now. Don't take the location of last season's bermuda as where it will all come in this year. The way bermuda comes in and spreads underground, I think you will be surprised once it is warmer out. It took a few years (we seeded the front heavily on top of old, unnurtured bermuda and sodded the muddy/empty back yard) but it comes in very thick now for us.

3/20/2014 2:39:09 PM

All I want to contribute right now is: Screw chickweed.

3/21/2014 10:52:46 AM

^


also, I shoveled almost 2000 lbs of rock this weekend from the bed of my truck into my flower beds where I had raked out the pine straw and put down weed-prevention fabric. I'll probably need another 1500 lbs or so.

3/23/2014 11:01:15 PM

I'm going to till my garden one more time on Friday, then I'm going to lay out the soaker hoses and garden plastic. I've got some corn and pumpkin seeds in flats now, and I plan to buy the rest of my seedlings next week.

My bees have been very active and I have seen them coming back to the hive loaded with pollen. I plan to do an inspection on Friday.

I also put up my hummingbird feeder this morning.

As for the lawn, I have spent the majority of my time cleaning up debris from the ice storm. Fortunately the storm took down 2 trees I wanted gone anyway, so I'm actually ahead of the game.

[Edited on April 9, 2014 at 10:56 AM. Reason : a]

4/9/2014 10:56:21 AM

Just got a new house and really need some grass.

Was thinking about contract Eastern Turf Maint - anyone have any experience? price range im looking on a 1/2 acre?

4/20/2014 6:18:32 PM

don't know a thing about ETM, but if you're going to seed this time of year go with a warm season grass (assuming you're in the southeast).

if you want fescue, wait til fall.

4/21/2014 9:31:14 AM

I use Nutri-Lawn for my yard. One of my good friends' parents run the company. I have close to a 1/2 acre. Seeding is a little over $400 I think and then $76 per treatment (fertilizer, weed control, etc.) which is 6 times a year.

I've been using them for 3 years or so. Grass came in real nice this year. I just worry about the heat killing it in the summer.

Here is a pic of the back yard a few weeks ago

4/21/2014 10:09:57 AM

Green is finally coming, and while it looks much better than I thought it was going to, I definitely have some bare spots. I might take some pictures to post later, but I'll try and describe it adequately and see if I can get some feedback...

Most of the bare spots are pretty small...like the size of a kid's hand. But they are scattered about the yard (maybe a dozen or so spots in a small yard). I attribute most, if not all, of them to my 80 lb dog playing around in the wet, cold winter we had. When the yard was dormant, I could see his big paws digging up dirt when he would make quick stop-and-gos and turns.

The biggest "problem spot" is in the back-right corner of my yard. Fortunately, that part of the yard is also the part that nobody sees. I have a small fence and a large loquat tree that blocks it's view from anyone standing on the porch or the front part of the yard (blocks the view...but not the sunlight in case you were wondering...this part of the yard gets plenty of sun). I had some brown-spot or something similar issues with this area last year. I treated it with some fungus killer which I think stopped it from spreading, but it's probably about a 2' x 8' foot area of dead/bald spots that have a sprinkle of green grass here and there.

What are my options for repairing these areas?? Do I just let my Bermuda try and fill in the small spots on their own? I'm a quick fix kind of guy, but if the Bermuda is going to fill in over the summer, then I'm not going to waste money on seed or plugs to fill those spots in, especially if it means I have to keep up with daily watering for a month and make sure my dog doesn't ruin it.

Should I try and seed the back large area?

4/21/2014 10:41:40 AM

the smaller areas may fill in over the summer. The larger area would take a while and probably get full of weeds first. I'd at least seed the larger areas and then use the leftover seed for the smaller spots. The bermuda will run and eventually fill in most of these areas; but if you want it done quicker, no harm in select seeding, if you can consistently water it.

Quote :

"Just got a new house and really need some grass. Was thinking about contract Eastern Turf Maint - anyone have any experience? price range im looking on a 1/2 acre?"

I used fairway green for my front lawn; I'm mostly happy with their service (7/10), though I haven't gone through a summer since their seeding service...

The seeding is expensive as shit, but their cultivar of fescue is pretty good, IMO. The service is the most valuable part; but they won't do service on an unestablished lawn that they didn't seed.

And as said above, when to do this depends on your type of grass. Warm season grasses can still be seeded; cool season will have to wait until fall (most, if not all, of these companies won't seed outside of the proper season).

If you want them to do a warm season grass, prepare to spend texa$.

What does your lawn consist of now? Weeds or bare soil? If you want a cool season grass (fescue) and you have bare soil, then go get some cheap contractor's seed mix, seed, water, hope it lasts until fall. Try NOT to use straw to cover (results in grassy weeds). The contractor's mix will likely die out (mostly) by the end of the summer, in time for you to seed fescue. If you have weeds, just wait it out and apply post-emergent weed control several weeks ahead of seeding.

[Edited on April 21, 2014 at 11:07 AM. Reason : .]

4/21/2014 11:03:53 AM

anyone one ever create a subsurface drainage way with grass on top? sort of like a vegetated french drain, but no pipe? any luck/guidance? thought about doing perforated pipe, but that's a lot more work along a fence line. Any type of filter cloth that will eventually let roots through, but limit sediment migration?

My back yard slopes to a small area against my fence. I want to see if I can create some small mounds to divert some of the water, but then go along the fence line, excavate, add drainage rock, then some top soil and grass. I know grass grows well through drainage rock, as I forgot to cover some (where my hose real was) last fall... it's now some of my best grass.

[Edited on April 21, 2014 at 2:40 PM. Reason : .]

4/21/2014 2:36:23 PM

I've added french drains to multiple areas in my front/side yard and all of them have grass on top.

The main areas were lower areas in yard that didn't receive direct sunlight and tended to remain swampy. For these areas I dug down 18-24 inches and 8 inches wide, lined the bottom with black landscape cloth (with the sides coming up over the top of the trench, filled with 3 inches of gravel, then the perforated irrigation pipe, than covered the pipe in more rock, wrapped the landscape cloth over top the rock/pipe, and then dirt for the top 6-9 inches.

Grass grows great, and I don't have any water issues any more. I guess you could just do rock and leave out the perforated pipe, just add some more rock.

Is there a way you could remove the panels of the fence to dig under them?

[Edited on April 22, 2014 at 4:30 PM. Reason : ]

4/22/2014 4:28:09 PM

My fence is stick built and mighty beefy... and not easily undone (and new). So I'm not going that route. I can dig under easy enough... I think. I would do a pipe... but the dirt in my area is so damn hard, it's going to be a big enough challenge to dig out enough to place gravel + soil. This dirt picked up the front end of a full size tractor (with a bucket attachment).

4/22/2014 4:34:10 PM

Got my garden set-up finished yesterday, complete with soaker hoses and landscaping plastic. I've already purchased all my plants, and I'll get them in the ground Friday. I felt like I was behind, but as I thought about it I realized that I didn't get plants in the ground last year until mid-May.

4/23/2014 9:32:47 AM

how much light do herbs need? any advice in general for planting/growing them?

4/23/2014 12:38:19 PM

Here is the site I use for my herb growing info (Lowes sells their herbs): http://bonnieplants.com/products/herbs

You can look up your individual herbs.

4/24/2014 11:39:30 AM

anybody here have a composite deck (Trex, etc)?

is it worth the extra money? I was quoted $4500 for a 12x24 wood deck and was told a composite deck would be roughly twice as much

4/26/2014 6:19:41 PM

I've heard the composite stuff is prone to mold.

no experience with it personally, other than that it's less aesthetically pleasing to me (looks like plastic) but at 2x the cost for composite, I'd go with wood.

4/28/2014 12:09:17 AM

I don't have any personal experience, but have heard only good things about it (other than looking fake for some brands).

I imagine the look of the product is tied closely to the price - the more expensive, the more wood-looking it is. I've certainly seen pictures where I couldn't really tell, FWIW.

I'm surprised by the mention of mold (^), as I figured the material wouldn't be conducive to mold growth; though real wood has the same issue... so, I wonder if it's just someone bitching because they like to bitch, or if there's a real issue there (e.g., mold problems worse than normal wood, which I found doubtful and directly related to installation location). Composite isn't hard to clean...

I'm sure I can't tell you something you don't already know; but if you like the look and want a long-term deck, and have the money, I don't think it's a bad decision... what's the warranty and service life? How long does it take for wood + sealant every ~ 5 years to match price of the composite?

The wood deck on the house I grew up in lasted about 26 years and I can tell you that it was sealed only a handful of times over that period. I think it was partially "refinished" once as well.

[Edited on April 28, 2014 at 9:47 AM. Reason : .]

4/28/2014 9:45:17 AM

even if it does get mold, it's nothing you can't take care of with some bleach and half an hour

4/28/2014 11:25:40 AM

^^,^

yeah, i think the point is that a composite deck should require less maintenance than wood. If you're cleaning mold off of it as frequently or more frequently than wood, then that's an issue.

looks like a class action suit was settled a few months back:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/capitalbusiness/court-approves-settlement-in-trex-class-action-lawsuit-over-alleged-product-defects/2013/12/18/cb55f32a-6805-11e3-8b5b-a77187b716a3_story.html

That's probably what my neighbor was talking about that i mentioned above. googling trex and mold returns a ton of results, but again it was just something i remembered from a conversation, not personally experienced. other composite brands may not have the same issues.

4/28/2014 12:31:40 PM

What's a good schedule to follow for a fescue lawn? I've got pretty damn nice grass growing, but have some bare spots and some trouble spots with weeds. Most of the weeds are actually in places that I brought in some new top soil last fall (wondering if these weed seeds were in the soil already) and planted some nice new fescue in.

Wondering what your relative schedules were as far as fertilizing, overseeding, weed prevention, etc. Any tips?

4/28/2014 2:33:16 PM

http://www.turffiles.ncsu.edu/PDFFiles/000017/Tall_Fescue.pdf

lime year-round, as needed. I do several hundred pounds every couple of months, but my soil is very acidic (4.5-5.0).

get your soil tested for fertilizer & lime needs; it's free most of the year; $4/sample during peak sample season.

short/my version for teh lazy:

sept-oct: aerate, dethatch (if needed), seed, fertilizer, water (keep moist for 1 month with new seed, otherwise 1"/week all at once; november seeding is possible, if it's a warm winter, but I try to avoid it since you can never know, though some seed may still germinate in the spring). You can apply weed control at this time, but I avoid it due to seeding in the fall as well.

nov, feb: fertilizer, 1" water/week all at once (water in december if anything - generally NC winters are wet enough (oct-mar) to not need watering)

feb-apr: pre-emergent weed control (I prefer by mid march, if we have a nice spring - pre-emergent won't prevent weeds if they're already blooming), 1" water/week all at once

apr-may: water 1"/week all at once; post-emergent weed control (I prefer spot treatment as opposed to broadcasting)

jun-aug: water enough to keep grass growing, or let it go dormant and water about 1/month; post-emergent weed control if needed (I prefer spot treatment as opposed to broadcasting, especially if the grass is dormant).

Soil testing info:

Most of the year (generally April through November), routine NCDA&CS soil tests are provided at "no direct cost" to N.C. residents because of funding derived from a statewide fee on commercial fertilizer.
Session Law 2009-451 Page 133

From December through March, however, a peak-season fee of $4 is charged for the processing of all soil samples.
Session Law 2013-360 Page 186

http://www.ncagr.gov/agronomi/sthome.htm



------

If anyone has any product recommendations from personal experience, I'd appreciate them (seed, pre-emergent weed control, post-emergent weed control, etc. fertilizer & lime as well, but those are pretty standard across the board).


[Edited on April 28, 2014 at 4:20 PM. Reason : .]

4/28/2014 3:54:29 PM

Finally got around to putting in an inground garden (30'x 30') at the new house. Going to grow half of it for summer and save other half for fall.

Best part was the lawn destruction party and seeing the dismay on my neighbors` faces.

5/5/2014 5:59:55 PM

I think the spot seeding I did was kind of unnecessary (not seeing any new grass)...but I think it has helped my lawn out tremendously in the long run because I was watering it regularly for the seeding. The last two weeks that I've been watering, my Bermuda has really taken off and is looking greener and fuller than ever (only second year after sodding). It's still a little "thin" in the bad spot areas, but the grass is finally creeping into those areas and starting to fill in. Hoping that by the end of the summer all of the bad spots will be gone. I keep hearing that you fertilize Bermuda more often than other grasses...if so...when is the next time to fertilize? I did a weed and feed about a month and a half ago when the lawn was starting to green. End of May for next feeding?

5/6/2014 9:32:28 AM

yeh, once everything is green for a few weeks:

http://www.turffiles.ncsu.edu/Maintenance_Calendars.aspx#000016

I did not know that weed and feed could be used on bermuda... I'm assuming you read the bag to make sure it's ok?

[Edited on May 6, 2014 at 10:34 AM. Reason : I hate weed and feed - pretty sure that was a contributing factor to my grass dying last year]

5/6/2014 10:33:47 AM

^ I got one that was okay with Bermuda. The one everyone goes nuts about (The Bonus S stuff)...said to strictly not use for Bermuda. Thank god I read the back of it...because I was about to purchase it. I forgot which brand I got, but it said on the back it was okay to use with Bermuda. And its worked out pretty well, my weeds are slowly going away (they were going nuts at the beginning of the season). Although I think part of it is that the Bermuda is starting to choke them out as well.

5/6/2014 10:48:41 AM

I've got a warm season lawn and the weeds always go nuts in spring. I don't sweat it.

5/6/2014 8:46:22 PM

Scott's Bonus S does wonders on my centipede. there's a portion of the yard that appears to be some sort of bermuda and the Bonus S doesn't hurt it at all. greens it up and kills the weeds in it quite well, actually.

5/6/2014 9:10:09 PM

^ Yeah...I was going to give it a try anyways (a good friend of mine says it makes his lawn look ridiculous)...but then I did an online search and people were talking about it completely killing their Bermuda. Now...did they probably use too much or do something else completely stupid?? More than likely. But I didn't want to risk it. I've put way too much time and money into this yard to have a fertilizer fuck it up.

5/6/2014 11:59:28 PM

5/7/2014 10:36:55 AM

it is, however, expensive as fuck. i think for what i spent on pre-emergent and weed-n-feed this year i could've got on a plan with one of those services.

5/7/2014 3:58:07 PM

10 yards of mulch delivered for $69 on angie's list.

http://my.angieslist.com/thebigdeal/default.aspx?market=raleigh-durham

5/8/2014 1:00:46 PM

photo_photo.aspx?user=16734&photo=532397&filter=new

My yard until the heat gets here

photo_photo.aspx?user=16734&photo=532396&filter=new

[Edited on May 9, 2014 at 10:23 PM. Reason : One more]

5/9/2014 10:22:11 PM

^^ Home Depot will deliver up to 3000lbs for $20. I got like 60 bags of mulch and some other stuff delivered for that. Really good deal.

5/11/2014 8:09:04 PM

^^That's my yard *after* the heat gets here

5/11/2014 9:30:06 PM

anyone have experience with sethoxydim (Vantage is the most common brand name) to kill bahia? supposedly it's safe for centipede, st. augustine, etc. not safe for bermuda.

after it gets hot and dry bahia pops up in my centipede and it sucks to mow. it tends to lay over, so i have to cut it going one way and then the other, even with brand new blades.

5/11/2014 9:32:58 PM

[Edited on May 13, 2014 at 10:45 PM. Reason : nm moved to the gardening thread]

5/13/2014 10:44:06 PM

damn; wish I would have seen that post about mulch earlier.
^^^^but isn't the unit price of the bags something like $40/CY?? Mulch by the truck load is more like $20/CY (delivered)

[Edited on May 14, 2014 at 9:15 AM. Reason : .]

5/14/2014 9:13:09 AM

is it too late to seed for the summer? i only just now got around to spraying for broadleaf weeds and i need to wait a little bit before seeding...but i think it's probably too late

5/14/2014 9:36:09 AM

^fescue? If so, you could seed and it would grow, but you'd have a lot of loss as it gets hotter and stays hot. You'd have to water it pretty thoroughly for it to survive the summer. Spring isn't the best time for establishing fescue anyway, primetime for new fescue is the Fall. I think you'd be wasting too much money for the return compared to waiting until September.

5/14/2014 9:48:06 AM

I picked up a yard of triple shred (which i guess is the best?) for $26 from Mulchmasters

5/14/2014 9:48:18 AM

^^ i was thinking of something like bermuda, though i'm not set on anything in particular...i just want something green

also, while i'm at it...i'm having my woods (which are fenced in) cleared down to the dirt (i hope) using a brush hog and frontloader to push it out in the back and i'm trying to decide what the next best step is

there's undoubtedly going to be some greenery left over, especially near the sides where the remaining fencing will be...so i'm thinking i'd like to get it all poisoned to kill everything except the trees

after that, i want to plant something that will help prevent the brush from growing back...grass or wildflowers or a combination or something else...it's pretty much all shaded

5/14/2014 9:59:56 AM

Why not sod? I don't think I have the patience to seed. And I think my dog would trample over it...annnddd we have tons of birds and I saw them eating the areas I was spot seeding the other day.

[Edited on May 14, 2014 at 10:12 AM. Reason : .]

5/14/2014 10:12:09 AM