Hi everyone, new to this whole homeowner and lawn keeper thing! Lawn seems to be entirely comprised of weeds/very little actual grass. I was hoping to get some advice on where to even start? I appreciate any and all advice/help!
by BMurph5295
Lawn Care
19 Comments
Water heavily. Glyphosate. Wait. Watch it die. Glyphosate. Wait. Watch the rest die. Burn. Top dress/level. Seed. Roll/light top dress. Water every 4ish hours as so seed does not dry out.
Why so much hate against things that ain’t grass… Grass is plant other non grass things is plant too… Can’t we all just get along.
I’m always scared to put down poison and herbicides. I have a gorgeous lawn by using no chemicals but have put in a little elbow grease.
Get a hoop hoe and get at the roots of that clover. A spade or large flathead screwdriver to get the crab grass. Overseed with what you want. If the weeds are really bad mix a spray bottle and spot treat the roots.
What is this? In my area I would burn it down late this February with roundup, 2-4,D and spray a pre-emergent when grass is dormant.
What area are you in and what grass types work well in your area?
You don’t have to be super specific about the area. Just warm season vs transition zone vs cool season
https://preview.redd.it/psa-cool-season-vs-warm-season-map-by-sls-this-seems-to-v0-ow9wjnf65r5d1.jpeg?auto=webp&s=cc56568c3d03e8c5ff2a38cd8d4567f2423797d5
Knowing this is essential before anyone can give you advice as warm season and cool season grasses are grown and managed VERY differently.
Depends on your goals. If you want the best lawn in the neighborhood you might want to kill it and reseed late fall or early spring depending on where you live.
If you want to work with what you have I would throw down some herbicide (think speed zone or tenacity mixed with some tricclopyr ester) and then put down some seed. Or you can aerate and throw some quality seed down if you don’t want to use herbicides.
Whatever you choice just be consistent with mowing, watering and keep up with your fertilizer program.
Good luck!
Congrats on the place! If it’s your first home purchase I definitely recommend focusing on the lawn after you get other more important stuff squared away. Enjoy!
Where you start depends on your goals.
Some people (like the previous owner) might be content to just keep the weeds mowed neatly.
Some people might want their lawn to look like a perfect golf green.
A lot of people would fall somewhere in between. But where you fall determines if you kill it all and start fresh or try to make an incremental improvement.
Mow it and dethatch. Overseed with nice blend and water it well for the next couple of weeks. Fertilize it now and late fall. Might look pretty good come spring! Congrats on the new house!
Kill it, add irrigation, spread loam and re-seed or Sod. Preferably sod If you want it looking great next year.
If you got 2 years, scalp it, dethatch, and essentially kill it anyways. Top dress with loam and re-seed…
Nothing beats Sod.
Depends how fast you want a lawn. The fast option is nuke it and get new sod laid down. The slow option, and im talking years, is apply weed & feed and different pre/post emergents throughout the years. Eventually the weeds will die and grass will take over.
Step 1- mow grass.
Report back after duty🫡
Whole thing needs nuked. Then seeded. A complete do over. Depending on your zone, it’s getting late for seed. But if you started immediately, you might have time. A ton of work there for sure
Nothing now, it’s too late into fall at this point. Next spring use preemergent and do your best to keep weeds away through the summer, even if that means these areas are burn out or bare.
Then early next fall around the 1st week of September – scalp and bag the clippings, dethatch, lightly till (rent from HD and just walk it along slowly… it will loosen up the top without tilling too deep), aerate, seed + seed starter, topdress with good soil that has peat moss , light hay over top, water daily for first two weeks. You want to water enough you get a deep soak but not too much that it floods out and the seed and soil wash away.
A lot of work (and $) year 1 will payoff down the road.
Seed is like paint. Always use the good stuff. You don’t want to do all that back breaking work just to throw crap seed down that doesn’t establish. You will also have to do this a couple falls in a row if you want a truly great lawn… make sure you pick a particular seed and stick with it year after year or you’ll end up with a nice lawn that still looks patchy. Can’t go wrong with tall fescue blends.
Soil is good. Irrigation is good. What’s the problem? Plant some grass dude!
Get a soil test done. Certain plants, including clover show that there’s a lack of nutrients in the soil.
I’ve been through this. Here’s my advice. Rototill the crap out of it. It won’t do much but will make you feel a lot better!
It’s really too late in the season to make any major changes, so you have a year to plan. Your two options at a high level are to do a full renovation (nuke it and start over), or to slowly try to nurse it back to health through a pretty standard lawncare program over multiple years.