Fibonacci

Okay, so after six years of pouring money and sweat equity into the interior of my home it's time to renew my long neglected lawn.

My backyard is in great shape because it's well shaded by a dozen mature trees, but my front lawn is a whole 'nutha story. I've got some patchy spots with dead grass and spots where grass is not filling in no matter what I try. Used to have a "professional" lawn care service, but had it discontinued after little improvement.

Tried the Scott's pre-made Green Patch - didn't work...

Tried overseeding with Scott's Premium 'Sun' Seed mix...worked fine in the spring, but as soon as the weather got hot - the grass died again. WTF!

Another problem - I've caught the same neighborhood bitch let her dog piss on my front lawn multiple times...The first time I gave her the benefit of the doubt. The second time I gave her a dirty look and she pretended not to see me and slunk away. The third time I hammered the car horn nice and long and she ran away. For you dog owners - what is considered common courtesy on dog pissing?

Anyway's at wit's end - my lawn looks like crap and other than having it resodded I'm back to square one...

Suggestions?

dom

I had the same problems this spring. The bare patches were from over fertilizing last summer. So early this spring I layed new sod, not seeds but a new roll of grass. Lots of water and 2 weeks later you couldn't even tell the new grass was there.

I never let my dog piss on others peoples front lawns. He usually goes on trees, posts and hydrants anyway.

CLeanATL

what kind of grass do you have?

Fibonacci

I really have no idea - how do you tell?

Should I go buy a Lawncare for dummies book?

65 Fury Convert

I'm a new home owner and I've learned a lot about lawns since I bought my house. First I did the weed and feed on my lawn - typical guy, I figured if a little is good a lot is better. I burned the sh*t out of my lawn in spots. I tried reseeding but nothing would grow. I had to rototiller the dead spots about a foot down, then put an inch of compost over it and re-rototiilled it to mix it all in. Then I seeded with a rye-grass mix w/ a little Kentucky blue grass in it. Watered it early in the morning and my lawn is perfect now.

As for the dog pee. Urine will burn the grass. If it does you need to over water those areas. Just use a hose with no sprinkler or sprayer and let the water run over the spots for 15 min. a day for a week. That flushes out the acidity and the grass should come back.

Fibonacci

I'm assuming you did it yourself - how difficult was it to tear out your old sod? What tools did you use? What was the approx cost per sq yard for new sod (USD equivalent)?

Also, how the heck can you prevent dogs from pissing on your new lawn???

CLeanATL

look at it. try google images and see if you can find a match.

Scrib

http://forums.lawncare.com/forum/index.cfm?forumid=1

You will probably have more success over there. I post there sometimes.

It could be bad soil, a fungus, a pest... I was going to say grubs when I saw the title, but that doesn't sound like it.

How big is your yard? Re-sodding isn't the world's worst idea, especially if your lawn is long gone. Wait until fall and rip it up... Have an irrigation system installed and then follow the Scott's five step program.

I'll snap some pics of my lawn later on... It's something I take a lot of pride over.

Scrib

My guess is he has Kentucky Bluegrass... The others don't do all that well that far north. It COULD be zoysia... Does the grass green up pretty early in the spring? If so, it's not zoysia.

doopstr

I have found that a female dog will burn the hell out of grass, while a male dog doesn't. why?

chef chris

Re-sodding is a big step.

I'd try getting a load of composte/lawn soil mix and raking that over your lawn, then re-seeding and watering the hell outta the grass.

When I get soil of this type, it's about $200 for 10 yards...enough to lightly cover about .25 acre. Stuff is really rich and makes the grass really green & grow like crazy...lasts about 2 seasons by itself, but it might just be the kick-start you need for the healthy grass to really shoot up and take hold.

Scrib

It depends on how much sod you need. You can rent a sod cutter from Home Depot for $30/day. That goes down about 3" and pulls everything up...

The cost for sod depends on how much you buy (DUH)... Around here, if you buy over 300 yards, it's $1.32 direct from the sod farm. If you buy one roll at the nursery, it's about $1.99... So figure somewhere in there for a price.

chef chris

Yep, sounds like bluegrass...stuff is really thin & green...does well until the heat starts up.

Fescue is great(Scotts) but isn't so soft on the ol feet. I try to blend them when I'm re-seeding.

Home Depot carries a good line of seed/fertilizer called Vigaro...less expensive than Scotts and I've found it works just as well.

Fibonacci

Good stuff here - thanks.

I'm gonna try Chef's advice first.

Last resort, the new sod route since we're looking for maximum curb appeal for a possible home sale next spring.


PistonFan: who can't tell the difference between a flower from a weed most times.

doopstr

We once had a problem with a woman letting her dog shit on our grass.

My dad made up of a couple of cool signs and dropped them in the lawn. If you can picture this it was a "no dog shit" sign with dog taking a dump (complete with shit falling out of its ass) and a "no" symbol through it.

They worked.

M TYPE X

Buy a condo.

Everybody's grass is brown around here.
Needs water!

Fibonacci

That's great -- but I thought doggy poo wasn't so bad (fertilizer). It's the acids in urine that do the damage.

Wonder if the signs almost invite the opposite reaction though, know I always reacted that way when told NOT to do something.

doopstr

Ever accidentally run a lawnmower through a pile of dog poo? All I can say is

swclown

To keep dogs from "using ur lawn", mothballs and/or red pepper works well, but you have to use a lot of red pepper - great if you have a small lawn.

For extra green grass: BEER does amazing things.

Fibonacci

Heh - I've got a mulching mower, just turns the poo into a nice malt for teh lawn.

Fibonacci

Are you serious??? Sounds like alcohol abuse to me.

swclown

The patch stuff is actually pretty good. I was very skeptical at first, but it works very well if you do it right.
You HAVE to water it like EVERY day until it starts growing and then often until it reaches the height of the rest of the grass.

Also, Scott's products are the only thing I use, but for some reason the patch stuff has some weed seeds where as their seed by itself doesn't. But when they're young weeds they're easy to spot and remove.

( :

Fibonacci

What about teh beer fed lawn??? You're ARE joking right? If M TYPE X agrees, I know it's safe to continue slurping rather than dripping on the lawn...

swclown

Very...

I got a book of home remedy stuff for your lawn written by some old dude.
The next year instead he came out with a new catalog with potions -- but it was just the same stuff he used mixed together and I already had all of his remedies.

Beer is like candy to my grass. I just go but like 10 Forty Ozs of the cheapest beer I can get and put it in a sprayer with some dishwashing detergent and cola

The detergent rinses off stuff that just water doesn't and allows the blades to "breathe" better... and the phosphates help as well.
The cola has caffienne and sugar both of which seem to be good especially young grass.
The beer ... you got me but it make the grass turn a healthy floresent green....but too much and mushrooms will sprout - not that big of a deal though.

About 6 years ago my grass was more clover, dandelion, and dirt more then anything. IT LOOKED HORIBLE. After one summer I got it like a golf course - that being said -- I wasn't working at the time so I had a lot of free time, but all I used were the home remedies.
Now I'm working so I don't have the same amount of time and I'll take shortcuts like actual fertilizer and it still looks awesome but it always looks better the day after a couple of cold ones LOL

I'll see if I can find a before and an after pic a little later

Fibonacci

I'm pretty sure either you're on crack or you're whack. How can alcohol - which is essentially poison. Detergent - not ph balanced for biological growth. And Cola - which is sugar water and carbonation be possibly good for a lawn?

phile

Also try watering the lawn in the evening. It's cooler and the sun's gone, so the grass will retain more of the water than if you were to water it during the day. 30 minutes every other evening is a good regimen.

swclown

http://doityourself.com/gardenmaint/...gardencare.htm





My neighbors call me "The Lawn Ranger" as in Lone Ranger LOL

trust me ( ;

Moog-Type-S

30 minutes? That's like a small flood.

phile

Every other day, though.

Moog-Type-S

Gonna have to try one of these

...oh wait a minute..that's for the lawn

Moog-Type-S

Gotcha

chef chris

Actually, I've seen that old dude on TV...seems to know his shit. And, it sounds crazy, but I've seen others recommend detergent on grass/bushes to ward off bugs, etc.'

And phile...NEVER WATER A LAWN AT NIGHT. You will be promoting mold/mildew. Water in the early morning so the water has time to soak in and dry on the surface. Also, never water in the midday sun, you will shock your lawn.

phile

I don't know, that was advice given to me a long time ago, and it has worked quite well

swclown

The evening is ok before it gets really dark. Night time isn't good, but I've done it when I had no other choice, but like Chris said the morning is the best time before and while the sun is just coming up.
I mostly do evenings though out of laziness.

GreenMonster

I've had good luck with compost (I make my own) and overseeding that I did at the beginning of the season. Barespots are slowly going away, but I've neglected the lawn most of the season (no pre-emergence, fertilizer, grub killer, weed killer).

I bookmarked this post from the garden web lawncare forum as it mentions some stuff that I want to try.

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/...437499.html?40

Resodding is one way out, but I've seen some yards that have been reclaimed with just reseeding...

chef chris

Yeah, I'm guilty of it myself every once in a great while...and like clown said, as long as it's not TOO late in the evening, it's not a big deal.

Fibonacci

This stuff sounds crazy, but I'm gonna try it. Reminds me of the Haley's Hints guy that I see on PBS occasionally.

Now if I can only find a way to keep the neigborhood bitch from letting her dog piss on my lawn...

SDCGTSX

Dog poo isn't so bad. A good dog owner will pick it up. IF they leave it on your lawn, AND you can do some detective work to find out who it is, I'd put it in a bag, write a note saying "You were so kind to leave this on my lawn so I'm now returning it. If you leave it again, I will be so kind as to leave it for you inside your house or on your window."

If the dog is peeing, it's sort of a bitch of a problem. You just have to water it to death as someone mentioned.

GINge!

give it a really good soaking, like a couple hours, twice a week. If you water for short periods frequently, it encourage shallow root growth and makes your grass vulnerbale to drought & frost.

Also, sounds like you may have cinch bugs , dig down a few inches and see if you find any of them.

M TYPE X

Sorry PF, I'm not a beer-drinker. If you really think it works, get all your buddies over Ann Arbor style and have them drink and piss all over it. I'm sure the wife will love that.