as in a shade tree? or grown in shady situations? I hate wax myrtles personally. they're a coastal plant and get their butts kicked by the ice around here (central piedmont) they also irritate my skin so i'm biased

4/9/2018 8:26:53 PM

As in a fast growing privacy screen for shade, is there a better/cheaper option?

4/9/2018 9:32:12 PM

as far as being fast growing and cheap - wax myrtle is a very good option for that. but in terms of being the "best"...that depends on what else you want. wax myrtles aren't gonna be particularly pretty or showy. they would grow better in sun than shade...but it depends how much shade you're talking about. Also depends on how tall of a screen you want.

[Edited on April 10, 2018 at 7:37 AM. Reason : A]

4/10/2018 7:33:13 AM

anyone have any tips on repelling cats? I live in an urban neighborhood and there's a couple neighbors with outdoor cats. Most of the other neighbors just seem to tolerate them and they are friendly, but i'd like to keep them out of my yard. I'm going to try the lemon juice/vinegar spray first.

4/10/2018 9:05:58 AM

Live traps and animal control.

4/10/2018 10:58:15 AM

i've called animal control, they will respond if you're in the city

4/10/2018 4:33:34 PM

Quote :

"as far as being fast growing and cheap - wax myrtle is a very good option for that. but in terms of being the "best"...that depends on what else you want. wax myrtles aren't gonna be particularly pretty or showy. they would grow better in sun than shade...but it depends how much shade you're talking about. Also depends on how tall of a screen you want."

thanks

maybe 12-15ish feet high? it's pretty shady with a fairly solid canopy of sweetgum above (it's not enough light for a leyland cyprus, I have a meter and can actually measure if that's helpful)

i don't care about if it's pretty, i have pretty stuff in front of where i want to put these along the fence line, i just need something that grows fast in shade and is hardy enough that they don't need much attention.

do clumping bamboos do okay in shade?

4/10/2018 4:48:55 PM

Wax myrtle or eleagnus should both do the trick. Both grow fast. Should be ok in shade. Should both be cheap and both grow fast. Eleagnus is hardier probably, it also ultimately gets bigger. Wax myrtles might lose some leaves in the winter (or in harsher winters, lose a lot) but are a tough plant and usually come back out just fine.

4/10/2018 5:33:02 PM

FWD or RWD walk-behind mower? My lawn isn't that big and it's relatively flat, but i've got a fence in the back which makes for some tight turns and dodging around posts.

I'm currently using an old Toro Recycler, FWD, and i feel like I do all the work until i'm cruising in a straight line.

4/23/2018 3:42:46 PM

You will always do most of the work.

Haven’t used a rwd cept at the golfcourse and they can have issues too.

4/23/2018 7:57:29 PM

I have a john deere walk behind mower that adjust to speed at which you are walking. I have had it for 10+ years and still love it.

4/23/2018 9:50:16 PM

Y’all got any post emergence tips for annual bluegrass in bermuda?

4/29/2018 7:40:02 AM

I think simazine is safe for bermuda and will kill it. Glyphosate while the bermuda is still dormant works good too, so remember that for next year.

4/29/2018 8:08:15 AM

Yeah I had planned on glyphosate and just never got around to it before it was too late.

4/29/2018 9:01:04 AM

Any tips for controlling mosquitoes in the back yard? Aside from having the pest control company come out and do a complete yard spray. I don't have any standing water, but my backyard gets a lot of shade. They seems to be centralized around the mulch beds up against my foundation, not so much in the yard itself.

5/15/2018 10:37:02 AM

bug spray.

you can have pest control do a lawn service, but unless you have a lot of property, it will largely be pointless as your neighbors would also need to have their lawns sprayed. And mosquitoes are still going to fly in

5/15/2018 11:00:15 AM

yeah, that's kind of what i was thinking.

5/15/2018 2:34:59 PM

yeah i've got the same situation with mosquitoes. it's awful....like i went outside for less than 10 minutes last night to do some light pruning and i got eaten up in that short amount of time. we have a fenced in backyard, stays somewhat shaded and the backside of the fence is surrounded by woods...but there's no standing water. mostly seems to be congregated around the fence itself. it makes going outside for any amount of time miserable.

5/16/2018 7:09:40 AM

Anybody any here ever lay down artificial turf/grass?

We got a guy who quoted us a decent price, but I think he's overbooked and might end up dropping us all together. Saw some turf at Costco the other day and started thinking of doing it myself. It's only about 200 sq/ft, so its not a monster project.

Normally I wouldn't be opposed to giving it a shot...but my yard has undulations all over the fucking place and I know this is something you want to level perfectly. If I didn't have a kid, I'd say fuck it and use an extended weekend to knock it out...but my time is limited. Even so, I'm contemplating sending my wife to her sister-in-laws for the weekend and still trying it.

5/16/2018 11:47:12 AM

I'm starting to get a lot of brown/dead spots in my back yard. I have a feeling it's from my dog because they are all round and between 6-10" in diameter. I've been using the EZ Seed on several of them and that's been successful but I don't want to have to keep chasing spots all over the yard. Aside from the obvious, not letting my dog out into her own yard, are there some other options?

5/23/2018 8:14:00 AM

Train your dog to pee in certain areas. We trained our dog to pee in mulch/straw/whatever areas by telling him to go "in the woods" (because there were shrubs/small trees in those areas. Start walking your dog to those areas while giving him a certain voice command (in our instance, "in the woods"), and then reward your dog with a treat when it goes in those areas.

You should be good in a week or two. It also helps whenever we go to anyone's else's house, your dog won't fuck up their lawn either. Our dog pretty much never pees in the grass unless it's absolutely necessary.

5/23/2018 10:59:29 AM

There's also nutrient supplements that can help

5/23/2018 11:33:25 AM

So it's not my dog. My back yard is ravaged with Pythium blight. The heavy rains, poor drainage, shade, and abundant humidity has been an incessant breeding ground for pythium.

Bad news is only professional grade fungicides will knock it out and this Subdue Maxx stuff runs $180/qt. I wish I had someone in the landscape business that could loan me a few ounces.

6/5/2018 2:29:18 PM

what about improving the drainage?

6/7/2018 5:01:05 PM

You need to fix the drainage or you'll always be fighting a losing battle.

6/8/2018 7:30:27 PM

drainage fix is coming too, just want to try to stop the spread of the disease.

6/11/2018 3:17:25 PM

I just sprayed my yard with Strobe 50WG. Its basically Heritage G generic.

It is labeled for pythium blight, but I do not have experience in results for it. I spray it for brown patch, and this is actually the first year I've applied it....so I'm basically of no help

6/13/2018 12:24:14 AM

Strobe is good.... Put out 600 gallons of it last weekend with bcvaugha

6/17/2018 2:36:44 PM

https://www.lowes.com/pd/BAYER-ADVANCED-32-fl-oz-Lawn-Fungus-Control/3353738?cm_mmc=SCE_PLA-_-LawnGarden-_-OutdoorPesticide-_-3353738:BAYER_ADVANCED&CAWELAID=&kpid=3353738&CAGPSPN=pla&store_code=449&k_clickID=d60c37cb-0717-4764-9c13-abe519e2d09f&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIsr30rcfb2wIVjCaGCh3NzgiREAQYASABEgLrpfD_BwE

that'll work for most lawn fungus for a yard. you're going to get about 28 days per application AND IMHO just buy the big bottle of the strobe and keep it dry/cool. You'll need it eventually and it's not getting any cheaper. The strobe WG we use cost about $1200/6lbs and I roll though about 18-22lbs per month this time of year. It's expensive as sin BUT it's still cheaper than doing a total redo on the lawn in the fall. Welcome to NC as we say, heck here in clay land we have to treat some of our warm season turfs in the winter to keep them for going all fungi. We're a transition zone which is fancy speak for we can't grow anything 100% of the time :-D

[Edited on June 17, 2018 at 4:45 PM. Reason : a]

6/17/2018 4:44:58 PM

jbrick83 to do the fake turf you basically just treat it like a patio w/ a gravel/sand base and then do the turf and in some cases sweep in weighted sand/filler. BE CAREful if you're wanting to put kids/pets on it. It's good to have irrigation on the area to clean it off AND to cool it down on hot days. Kids can be burned if it's hot outside.

6/17/2018 4:47:54 PM

from everyone i've talked to and everything i've read I didn't think Propiconazole had any affect on pythium blight.

6/18/2018 8:16:57 AM

https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/pythium-blight-in-turf

Good old NCSU... doing important things, like keeping your grass green

6/18/2018 8:10:07 PM

Quote :

"Anybody any here ever lay down artificial turf/grass?"

I'm in the process of doing this right now. 4" of crush and run, 1" of sand, all compacted, then turf, and microbahn coated silica sand infill so my dog can pee on it and it won't smell.

6/19/2018 7:35:14 AM

Quote :

"Kids can be burned if it's hot outside."

We're doing it because we have a massive loquat tree that shades the entire portion of our yard (that motherfucker quadruples in size every year). So the grass will barely get any sun.


^ How many square feet are you doing? How long do you think it will take you to do the entire project and where are you getting your turf from? I'm thinking of sending my wife away for a long weekend and doing it myself. We have maybe 200+ sq/ft to cover.

6/19/2018 9:30:46 AM

If your in raleligh/cary/apex check out Ewing Irrigation they have everything you'll need for faux turf

6/19/2018 6:21:42 PM

Not there. I seriously thought I saw brand-named turf (the same brand we got quotes on) at Costco a few weeks ago. Need to re-check next time I'm in there.

6/19/2018 8:01:47 PM

almost all of the stuff is made by the original astroturf company in dalton ga. I got it for about $2/sqft. I'm doing ~900sqft

6/20/2018 2:56:47 PM

how do i get rabbits to stop eating my grass and plants? Do any of the repellent sprays actually work?

(shooting them isn't an option even in rabbit season, i'm in the city limits)

7/13/2018 10:22:37 AM

trap them in a rabbit box

7/13/2018 2:49:38 PM

can you shoot them with a bb gun?

I use a trap for raccoons. you could probably bait a rabbit into one.

7/14/2018 8:58:04 PM

an apple core makes good bait. that's what i always used in my rabbit boxes as a kid.

any kind of meat will catch possums, coons, and cats. cheap tuna was my choice.

[Edited on July 15, 2018 at 8:40 AM. Reason : rub the core around the opening of the box and then throw it it the back behind the trigger stick]

7/15/2018 8:39:08 AM

changing the drive and deck belts on my 2003 murray riding mower was kind of a pain in the ass...but I did it!

7/16/2018 5:09:10 PM

https://m.lowes.com/pd/Liquid-Fence-1-Gallon-Deer-Rabbit-Repellent-Ready-to-Use/50285943?cm_mmc=SCE_PLA-_-LawnGarden-_-OutdoorPesticide-_-50285943:Liquid_Fence&CAWELAID=&kpid=50285943&CAGPSPN=pla&store_code=677&k_clickID=88420ec7-4d39-439b-a046-87c32ba691f8&gclid=EAIaIQobChMInpaL3_Kk3AIVz4uzCh2kqgAbEAQYAyABEgJwmvD_BwE

I use this liquid fence product at my farm on strawberries and cantaloupes to keep out. It works well for a few days. I think the label says it’s good for like 2 weeks. It doesn’t last that long at all in my experience. It also smells like total ass so...I understand why you wouldn’t wanna spray (much) of it around your yard.

[Edited on July 16, 2018 at 8:42 PM. Reason : Can’t say how well it works for rabbits. ]

7/16/2018 8:42:03 PM

Quote :

"can you shoot them with a bb gun?"

not in raleigh city limits, can't even use a slingshot

i'll try trapping (i was trying to avoid trapping, there is a feral/neighbor's cat that i don't want to deal with accidentally trapping)

[Edited on July 18, 2018 at 11:11 AM. Reason : .]

7/18/2018 11:08:23 AM

^^that was supposed to say "to keep out deer" my bad

7/19/2018 6:50:42 AM

Am I an idiot for trying to plant Fescue today? This crazy weather seems to be cooling down quicker than I anticipated.

I aerated Sunday, put down 50/50 topsoil/compost yesterday, and will put down lime, starter fert and seed today, covered with peat moss.

Thoughts? I'm in Apex.

10/16/2018 10:16:29 AM

How to get rid of moss? My lawn backyard has been destroyed by it.

10/16/2018 10:26:28 AM

sunlight

10/16/2018 11:52:22 AM

leveling a section of my yard for a playset. wish me luck!

10/16/2018 12:09:53 PM

Quote :

"How to get rid of moss? My lawn backyard has been destroyed by it."

I'm not a pro, but I'm pretty sure moss grows when there's:

1) Not enough sunlight
2) The soil is too compacted (for grass to grow adequately)
3) The soil is too acidic.

A good start would be to rake up the moss (it rakes very easily), or use a dethatcher to make quick work of it. Ideally, then take a soil PH sample to see just how acidic your soil is. Aerate the living FUCK out of your yard. Apply a nice 50/50 topsoil/compost mix or just straight compost. Then apply limestone to your yard to adjust the PH level, making it less acidic and more hospitable to grass. Plant grass seed. $Profit$.

You'd be surprised just how much freaking lime you might need to apply to your lawn. Especially if you have a lot of pine trees (decomposing pine needles cause acidic soil) and high clay content in soil. You'll want to apply between 60-200lbs per 1000sq ft. of lawn, depending on how many points you need to adjust for in PH.


[Edited on October 16, 2018 at 5:08 PM. Reason : .]

10/16/2018 5:06:38 PM