Why pay? I can rent a riding tiller across the street from me and just drive in circles for a little while...no?
You will never regret switching to Zoysia. Well, maybe in the winter, but never in the summer. Z-52 Zoysia Spoiler
Riding tiller is the way to go.I got a 5 horsepower stand behind one. I am a decently strong guy, do a fair amount of manual labor but that tiller kicked my ass. I was sore for two days after tilling that area up and it's only about 1,000 square feet. I was having to take breaks every few minutes because my grip was giving out, by the end of the day my forearms were cramping up. Also probably depends on your dirt. I have clay and hadn't rained in over a weak so that shit was like concrete, had the wife out there watering the shit out of the area as I was doing which helped but not a lot.
my front yard (10 min from MORBO!) is Bermuda and it's fine but backyard is fescue. Or it was fescue. Now it's just mostly dead. But hey my dog shits in it so go nuts. I would like to get it better and restart it but id rather spend money elsewhere i guess than just backyard grass. probably pave some more and create more useable space back there.
That's one of the great things about zoysia, you can really make it go a long way if your willing to work it and be patient with it. That one pallet did a little more than 1,000 square feet. It'll most likely be filled in by the end of summer next year. Not to mention I'll be able to pull enough plugs off it to do my front yard.
I just had 6 pallets put in to re do the front yard. Couldnt believe two central american guys knocked it out in 5 hours. I did a similiar thing as you as I bought an additional pallet for the back yard and essentially dug up certain spots where I had weeds and plugged the back yard.
After you get it tilled up and leveled off, run your sprinklers for a little while over the dirt. It'll show you how level it actually is. If water pools anywhere its low in that spot and you can fix it a lot easier at that point than trying to level it out later.
I had a local company quote me for a one-time 'double pass aeration, overseeding, fertilizer" and they came back with $190. My backyard (only thing I am asking for) is under 2000 sq ft. I know i can rent and do some of this stuff but id have to probably find a truck or something to even get the aerator home. Is this a good price to have someone just come out and do it quick?
I aerate once a year and use a rental aerator. It usually runs around $100. I have to go get it and bring it back same day. My yard is around 10,000 sq ft. I'd say price per sq ft is not great but if you don't have a truck or trailer, and they fertilize - it's not a rip off either. Also don't aerate now. Do it in early summer so your lawn has time to grown back in.
I suppose if you're over-seeding with a cool season grass to keep your yard green through winter that makes some sense. Only aerate warm season grass when it has 2-3 months to heal before going winter dormant. I don't overseed with a winter grass.
long overdue for the aerating and sounded like a good idea to seed as well since the grass has been thinning out. Maintaining it has been a bitch. Just trying to keep up the grass for the dog to run around in, really.
Want to oversee this spring with either a nice type of Bermuda or a zoysia. Any bermuda seed the looks close to that z52 up above? double RL ?
The best part about this is the stop sign. People have to stop right in front of your pristine masterpiece of a lawn and just gaze. And hate. Well done.
It's a four way stop sign too. Everybody stoppin. Zoysia really doesn't do well at all from seed. Tifway Bermuda looks real nice, but doesn't grow from seed either. You'll have to use something like Princess Bermuda. It's very nice for Bermuda grass.
I have this gay ass tall skinny grass that grows out of my St Augustine grass in my front yard. It's a different shade of green and grows faster. Popped up last fall and again this fall. I assume there's no way to get rid of it without killing the St Aug too and I'm just doomed to have a yard with mismatching grass?
It looks like yellow nutsedge from the best I can tell. It's probably because I'm looking at it on my phone, but I can't really get a great look at it. Does it seem to grow in patches around the yard? Well Google images of it and if that's definitely it, I'd say that your best bet is image. It has a warning about not using it on St Augustine in the winter I believe. It's a bitch in my yard. I spray it out every summer and at some point it just pops back up. It's getting less and less, three years later. http://www.imageforweeds.com/Nutsedge/
GoodForAnother as double RL suggested Image is perfect for nutsedge control, but DO NOT put it on St. Augustine in winter. Depending on where you live you could put it out now and be ok (deep south), but if it's already frosted, wait until late spring. Image is a take-up killer so you'll put it out and like a week later be like "that fucking dolphin is full of shit", then a week later all the weeds die overnight. It's expensive, and will take several applications over several years but it works and you'll be weed free after 2-3 years.
St Aug comes in sod so I assume pure. It was all put down before I bought the house. After googling I'm not sure thats it, this stuff doesn't have flowers. It does grow in clumps. I was thinking maybe the previous owner put down a tall fescue mix or something in the front on top of the st aug and this is just what's left of it. I might try the image stuff in the spring anyway. I'm in dfw so no freeze yet but it's been cool already so probably not worth the risk.
GoodForAnother the little spiked things on the nutsedge aren't there all the time. Usually it's just the blades and if you let it go w/o cutting it for a while, it will spring those little spiked flowers. If you can get a shoot up by the roots, I can tell for sure. I do think you may be correct about it being some type of fescue possibly. St Augustine really should drown that out though.
The wide angle shot really shows the extent of it, it's mostly in the front yard and really mostly in that one area in the pic. The st aug was really thin when we moved in last year and is starting to thicken after a year of fertilizing, couple aerations and better watering than what the previous owners were doing. I also have had the trees thinned and removed two up front so it gets more light. Still need to sod in some bare spots but the st aug is sending out runners like crazy this fall so I assume I'm doing something right.
Yea that looks like Nutsedge to me, annoying as hell and probably will take some time to get it all. Get some SedgeHammer, it works pretty well on it. http://www.sedgehammer.com/
I'm glad it isn't another kind of grass at least so I can at least make an attempt. I figured I was stuck with it. I'll look into sedgehammer and image
Anyone used this? Has good reviews and I've had really good luck with ortho products. Says it works on southern grasses but I don't see St Aug specifically. http://m.homedepot.com/p/Ortho-24-oz-Ready-to-Use-Nutsedge-Killer-for-Lawns-9994318/202521980
It seems that it's fine for St Augustine. http://www.ortho.com/smg/goprod/nutsedge-killer-for-lawns/prod10550011
Ortho is usually good, I use it Bayer and Spectricide on a rotation to spot treat weeds. Weeds can become tolerant to herbicides so it's good to switch every time you spot treat. Read the label for warning on St. Aug and if that's safe it'd probably be a solid option to put down this fall.
Remember that these are taken up by the leaf and suffocate the root delivery of nutrients over time. So, it won't seem like it's doing anything for a few days and then it will start wilting and turning brown. Once you have the active ones dead, pre emergent applied in late winter and again in early summer will help keep it beat down. I use mostly Fertilome products. Their website has an extensive array of information about all of their stuff. http://www.fertilome.com/products.aspx?catid=58281288-a8d9-455d-a1f9-a973299ea94b
Bought a new a couple months ago and it's lawn game is pretty weak. I think the older couple that originally built it in the 80s took really good care of it(the landscaping features in the back yard and around the front of the house are still apparent), but then the couple that lived there for a few years before we bought it, really let it go to hell. The front yard is manageable with a good weed killer. The back is a mess that's going to take a fair amount of sod, I think. Would like TMB's lawn specialists to weigh. Pictures to follow tomorrow. House is in Jacksonville, for climate reference.
Helpful hints: Stay away from Scott's, it's a rip off. Always pre-emerge fall and winter with a product designed for each season's weeds Know what type of herbicide you are putting out. Contact requires active growth and is put out 48 hours after rain, take-up is put out before rain or needs to be watered in. A really good place for quality products and advice is John Deer Landscapes. edit: they've changed their name to site one, but there are 2 locations in Dallas https://www.siteone.com/home/locations.aspx