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Smugworth posted:Although I live in Minnesota now where the summers aren't brutally hot, if I still lived in Austin I'm sure I'd have a brown lawn in the summer like everyone else.
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Oct 12, 2022 15:30
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Seconding checking your nearest ag extension, shouldn't be too hard to find in Texas (Ag is kind of A&M's thing after all). The local one here has advice on seed blends to plant, when to plant, when and what to apply fert/herbicide-wise, and does mail in soil tests for $15 bucks each.
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Oct 12, 2022 16:30
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I moved into a rental house with a badly neglected yard. It was once a Bermuda lawn, although St Augustine is creeping in from neighboring yards. At least 50% of the back yard is currently a solid bed of Lespedeza, with guest appearances by dollarweed, crabgrass, and a few other things I haven't identified yet. I told myself I was just going to mow what was given to me since the owners clearly DGAF (but they want me to water 3x weekly lmao), but red wasps seem drawn to the Lespedeza in droves and I've got a 3 year old who loves to run around outside. If it was something nice like clover I wouldn't care so much. I'm willing to spend some time on this because I enjoy doing stuff outside but I'm not dropping a fortune on someone else's lawn either. I'm in zone 9a and we'll probably see warm or at least not-cold temps for a while still. Is that enough time to see any benefit from a combination of weed killer, fertilization, and maybe giving everything a real short haircut to stimulate some growth? Or should I just wait until spring before bothering with it?
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Oct 12, 2022 18:09
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Discussion Quorum posted:I moved into a rental house with a badly neglected yard. It was once a Bermuda lawn, although St Augustine is creeping in from neighboring yards. At least 50% of the back yard is currently a solid bed of Lespedeza, with guest appearances by dollarweed, crabgrass, and a few other things I haven't identified yet. You want to spray with Dicamba following the label instructions for application rate and time before reseeding, throw down some starting turf fertilizer and your choice of local grass seed to replace this with. I'd suggest putting down straw or the recycled paper stuff to hold water on the seed and do in fact water 3x a week until it's cold enough to stop growing. I don't know what size yard you're talking about but scratching it all up with a dethatching rake would be helpful, renting a slit seeder would make the whole effort exceptionally successful.
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Oct 12, 2022 18:25
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I'm going to guess the backyard is in the 2,000-3,000sf range based on the lot and house size plus general eyeballing. The fresh bald patch was me spending 5 minutes pulling weeds to see what it would look like if I thinned them out a bit.  If the only option at this point is to kill it and start over (which I suppose doesn't shock me)... lmao. Owners can pay for that if they want. I've got plenty of pictures so they can't pin the weeds on me when I move out 
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Oct 12, 2022 20:52
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Dicambra is selective - it won't kill the grass, just the Lespedeza and other broadleaf weeds. But in your case after seeing those picture that really is just about killing all of it.
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Oct 12, 2022 20:58
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Ah.I googled dicambra and got a bunch of stuff like Ortho Groundclear as my main results. The hope was that I could take some sort of incrementalist approach but I suppose that's like trying to move the beach one shovel at a time.
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Oct 12, 2022 21:50
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Discussion Quorum posted:Ah.I googled dicambra and got a bunch of stuff like Ortho Groundclear as my main results. You may be able to with the dicambra (or 2,4-D) by killing off areas of lespedeza and reseeding only in those areas. Maybe get started with stuff close to the house to start and do some more in the spring? That stuff spreads fast so you'll need to keep at it or its likely to take over your new grass if its left for a season or two.
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Oct 12, 2022 22:08
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Motronic posted:So you've tried nothing and you're all out of ideas. First thing I've tried was hiring a 'professional' company with high reviews. Guess that was my bad. From now on I'll never hire professionals and I'll do literally everything myself. If I agonized over all the types of grass (lol good luck pin pointing what type of grass you have), the chemicals my dirt needs, the equipment needed to spread stuff, and the chemicals needed, I would spend in excess of 640 dollars, almost 3 times what a season of 7 treatments from perm o green runs. It's lawns that are the scams. I tried, the yard sucks. lite_sleepr fucked around with this message at 23:36 on Oct 12, 2022 |
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Oct 12, 2022 23:27
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lite_sleepr posted:First thing I've tried was hiring a 'professional' company with high reviews. Maybe try doing some research first or asking for advice? Rather than just paying a contractor with good "reviews". Like, starting here would have been a great idea. All of this "lol good luck pin pointing what type of grass you have" is pretty ridiculous. And none of this needs to be expensive or happen all the time. But I guess there's no way to know any of that so might as well just give up.
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Oct 13, 2022 00:14
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Have you considered hiring a xeriscaper instead of a lawn specialist? A xeriscaper can set you up a yard that is mostly pebbles, some local plants, is pretty, and is much lower-maintenance than a lawn. If it were me, and I wanted a lawn, I'd ask at work, or on Nextdoor, if anybody had a lawn service they were happy with. The steps we've told you to take are pretty low-effort. If you want no-effort, go back to trying to find a good lawn service. Avoid the national chain brands, if you can.
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Oct 13, 2022 00:18
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Grass lawns suck major dick so do literally anything to get rid of it.
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Oct 13, 2022 02:32
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I like grass, it's fine. I don't want my whole yard to be grass, but I like grass. I don't do anything to my grass but weed and feed once in spring and mow it in the summer. If we have a real long dry spell I'll turn a sprinkler on it for an hour or two. It's pretty easy. I could skip the weed and feed and it would be fine too. Grass is pretty tough.
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Oct 13, 2022 02:46
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Soul Dentist posted:Grass lawns suck major dick so do literally anything to get rid of it. That is my long term vision for a good portion of it. My fenced in suburban back yard is stupid huge and we don’t need that much grass for the kids and dog to run around in. I plan to basically take the rear 20’ of swale and re-wild it with native prairie grass, wildflowers, add more trees to fill in the gaps to the neighbors from the existing trees, etc. Aerating and overseeing with micro clover is also in the cards for the rest of it. Green existing trees Blue additional trees Red existing strawberry patch / move the garden there. Yellow do not mow or spray  Since we bought the place I’ve been working on grading and getting the drainage to flow smoothly to the southern end where the storm drain is just outside the fence. It’s all going to be a very long term project but I look forward to what it will look like in five years or so. In fifteen years I do not want to be able to see a single one of my neighbors when I sit on the back patio. devmd01 fucked around with this message at 03:12 on Oct 13, 2022 |
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Oct 13, 2022 03:08
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What are these little bastards? They’re from something low that blends into the grass. I can’t walk across my mower yard barefoot. 
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Oct 13, 2022 17:20
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eddiewalker posted:What are these little bastards? They’re from something low that blends into the grass. I can’t walk across my mower yard barefoot. Stinging Nettle. You need to spray it out with something that contains 2,4-D. Try Surge or Crossbow.
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Oct 13, 2022 17:24
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Motronic posted:Stinging Nettle. You need to spray it out with something that contains 2,4-D. Try Surge or Crossbow. Thanks. One more reason I should go buy a tow-behind sprayer, I guess.
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Oct 13, 2022 17:32
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eddiewalker posted:Thanks. One more reason I should go buy a tow-behind sprayer, I guess. I've got just the little baby 21 gallon one and it's really really handy. Totally worth it.
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Oct 13, 2022 17:37
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My son took off at the beach in Ocean City NJ and for whatever reason there is a shitload of that stuff on the dunes and he walked right into it and immediately started screaming and I contemplated leaving him there as I tried to flick them all out of his leg and foot. loving horrendous little buggers.
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Oct 13, 2022 17:38
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I think I got something similar inmy bare feet in Florida in about 1985 or so
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Oct 13, 2022 17:40
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We call them sand spurs. Absolute fuckers.
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Oct 13, 2022 17:42
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I’m about as far from a beach as you can get, but they really blend in until you step on a patch. 
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Oct 13, 2022 17:52
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devmd01 posted:In fifteen years I do not want to be able to see a single one of my neighbors when I sit on the back patio. Sounds like an absolutely lovely yard.
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Oct 13, 2022 18:05
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eddiewalker posted:I’m about as far from a beach as you can get, but they really blend in until you step on a patch. Genus Cenchrus if you want to look into them more. They're found all over, but in the southeast it's mostly sandy soils.
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Oct 13, 2022 18:21
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Used to call them sticker burrs in Galveston and they suck rear end. It's nice having a yard I can walk barefoot in now and the worst that happens is I step in dog poop.
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Oct 13, 2022 18:34
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Motronic posted:You may be able to with the dicambra (or 2,4-D) by killing off areas of lespedeza and reseeding only in those areas. Maybe get started with stuff close to the house to start and do some more in the spring? That stuff spreads fast so you'll need to keep at it or its likely to take over your new grass if its left for a season or two. I think this is the approach I will take. I don't really care about the far back of the yard (which is in relatively decent shape besides being the "wrong" kind of grass) or what happens after I move out and the yard falls back into neglect. Also I don't want to accidentally kill the crepe myrtles. I weeded a few more patches of the Lespedeza and most had some degree or another of green Bermuda underneath which is already perking up a bit, although there are a few other areas that seemingly won't grow anything at all. Hopefully if I can knock the weeds back, fertilize, and aerate the dead spots some, the grass can start to fill in. Pure dicamba seems hard to find. Will the seemingly standard 2,4-D/dicamba/mecoprop-p blend work? Will an Ortho spray dial be good enough for application or should I get a tank? And lastly, should I put down some sort of pre-emergent now or wait until spring? Never seen this yard in winter so not sure what might pop up.
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Oct 13, 2022 20:35
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Discussion Quorum posted:Pure dicamba seems hard to find. Will the seemingly standard 2,4-D/dicamba/mecoprop-p blend work? Will an Ortho spray dial be good enough for application or should I get a tank? And lastly, should I put down some sort of pre-emergent now or wait until spring? Never seen this yard in winter so not sure what might pop up. I don't like Ortho stuff - it's really expensive for you you get. Just as I suggested up thread, something like Surge or Crossbow will do this just just fine. https://www.domyown.com/crossbow-specialty-herbicide-4d-triclopyr-p-4545.html and a sprayer would be how I'd attack this. You can certainly get away with a 1 gallon sprayer or similar if you don't mind the spraying taking a while. I don't use preemergents for turfgrass, but I do load turf up with nitrogen every fall. Preemergents might be the right thing for your grass/your area. Your county ag extension probably has some real specific guidance on that including times of year you should be doing applications.
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Oct 13, 2022 20:46
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Soul Dentist posted:Grass lawns suck major dick so do literally anything to get rid of it.
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Oct 13, 2022 22:15
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I said grass lawns specifically
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Oct 13, 2022 23:18
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Soul Dentist posted:I said grass lawns specifically Yes, you're very brave for speaking out like this in the landscaping thread. We all got it. You're amazing. Thanks for letting us know.
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Oct 13, 2022 23:25
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I guess I'm confused as to the difference between a grass lawn, and my lawn, which is...grass.
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Oct 13, 2022 23:30
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A lawn of, for example, clover or thyme. Or not specifically a monoculture. (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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Oct 13, 2022 23:42
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Soul Dentist posted:A lawn of, for example, clover or thyme. Or not specifically a monoculture. So a collection of 3 to 8 cereal grains is a monoculture but clover or thyme is not. Interesting. I mean, I didn't go to ag school so what would I know. Motronic fucked around with this message at 23:49 on Oct 13, 2022 |
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Oct 13, 2022 23:47
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Soul Dentist posted:A lawn of, for example, clover or thyme. Or not specifically a monoculture.
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Oct 14, 2022 04:01
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My parents had mazus reptans mixed into their front lawn, which gave it a beautiful carpet of white flowers in the spring. I’m not sure why that’s not more popular, would recommend.
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Oct 14, 2022 13:46
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ohhyeah posted:My parents had mazus reptans mixed into their front lawn, which gave it a beautiful carpet of white flowers in the spring. I’m not sure why that’s not more popular, would recommend. Dig up your whole lawn and fill it with spring bulbs and then put the lawn back. It's amazing.
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Oct 14, 2022 14:30
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ohhyeah posted:My parents had mazus reptans mixed into their front lawn, which gave it a beautiful carpet of white flowers in the spring. I’m not sure why that’s not more popular, would recommend. Having clover and such mixed into your lawn fell out of favor with the advent of broadleaf herbicides. Depending on how cynical you are you can attribute it to agrochemical companies pushing a product into residential markets or individuals attempting to control more noxious weeds and plants in their yards with clovers and such being unfortunate casualties.
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Oct 14, 2022 14:45
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My dogs hate my grass lawn too, just love digging it up and peeing burn spots all over it 
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Oct 14, 2022 15:06
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Wallet posted:Dig up your whole lawn and fill it with spring bulbs and then put the lawn back. It's amazing. I didn't dig up the lawn to do it but I did put in about 1000 various bulbs and its pretty amazing in the spring. I just got another crate of bulbs delivered yesterday (that were ordered months ago) so it must be time to plant some more.
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Oct 14, 2022 15:12
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Motronic posted:I didn't dig up the lawn to do it but I did put in about 1000 various bulbs and its pretty amazing in the spring. This sounds cool. How bad is the first mow of the spring? Quick googling says to wait some number of weeks after the bulbs drop petals before mowing.
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Oct 14, 2022 15:19
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