Paging the Grass Doctor - lawn questions please

[John Larkin]

Saw you posting alot lately so maybe you would entertain a few questions please.

I have been working on my front yard for the last year. Dug everything up, used Roundup and sowed bermuda seed in sections as time permitted. The first section didn't take and was overrun by the previous crabgrass. The other two sections did much better. So I want to treat the crabgrass early and reseed but after reading directions and recommendations, everything is contradictory.

If I put down a pre-emergent, I cannot plant for 8 weeks. But the pre-emergent is ineffective until soil gets to 60 degrees. So I have to wait until probably late April. That means I can't plant seed until late June and by then it is hot and dry and grass does not grow well regardless of watering it every day. Supposedly I can spray with glyphosate (?) and plant a week later but this has to wait until the crabgrass is growing.

How can I work around these ridiculous rules without spending the entire year killing my yard and ending up with a dirt lot? I have just that on the North side of my house but there is no problem growing clover, haha.

 

[grass doctor]

where are you located
and it is the north side you are struggling with that makes sense

 

[grass doctor]

funny thing about farming (growing grass) timing is everything and your trying to control the uncontrollable, because of those ridiculous rules, if your gonna do it by seed and try to control the weeds this will be a lot of work and results will vary, Bermuda loves it hot June-august are best months to grow Bermuda
typically pre emergent herbicides are used on established stands of grass
it is more efficient to post everything out with glyphosate and sod rather than seed , I understand seed is cheap but it has to be above 45 degrees to germinate and requires a lot more attention establishing the grass from seed, the weeds usually out grow the seed bc you can't use pre emerge

when we overseed the golf course with rye and poa trivialis we water the seed every two hours just for a brief minute or two to keep the seed moist starting at around 9 am and finishing at 5 usually for 5-10 days of this loving schedule

there are a lot of great new selective herbicides especially ones you can spray in Bermuda that will kill your pesky crabgrass and many other weeds, but again baby seedlings will not handle any type of herbicide

its like everything in the life you can do it the hard way or the easy way, the cheap way or the expensive way

 

[John Larkin]

I live in Nashville, TN.

 

[grass doctor]

ok so you will have some time to wait until your soil temps are up there even though seed will germinate when temps are above 45 it does a lot better at higher soil temps but we apply pre emergents year round down here in north Florida as we have winter weeds and summer ones, but in your area wouldn't worry about applying any weed control from November - February
also grass seed just really needs to be in contact with the soil you don't really need to sow it in but that does help to keep it from washing, I have had 40,000 dollars worth of rye grass get washed down my drains well probably only half of it , after we spread it all out a nice down pour of 2 plus inches of rain in an hour came down nice
there is a site one landscape supply store in Nashville you can get all the same products we can there
depending on the length of your winter will determine when you can get started
pm me any time with any more questions I hope this helped

 

[grass doctor]

you could wait until your crabgrass rears its ugly head may/June spray it out and seed but your right it will be a long summer grow in
one benefit of sod is it actually prevents some of the weeds from becoming established and you can start your pre emergent program 4-6 weeks after sod installed and you can use selective herbicides to post out weeds 2-3 weeks after install
some great herbicides for Bermuda are Celsius/ Blindside/ and Drive is great on crabgrass

 

[grass doctor]

also the north side of your house may be difficult area to grow Bermuda if it does not receive enough sunlight
that could be one of your main problems another grass variety might do better in this area

 

[Dennis Kirban]

kirban 2 cents worth like many home owners.....having a nice lawn is next to impossible to achieve without a lot of effort, luck, and rain. Weeds almost without fail always win out they can grow between cracks in your driveway even if you run over them every day. Dandelions each puff they make probably creates 1,000 seeds....every spring.

at my age I gave up too much work...my advice check with any funeral home in your area whatever formula they are using is what you wanna use or any local golf course or better yet hire whoever does their work.

although I will say this having bought over 325 of these cars I always paid close attention when I was driving up to the sellers house....the better the outside landscape looked the more confident was I was the car I was buying was equally as prestine.

denniskirban@yahoo.com

 

[grass doctor]

you are very wise Denis having a nice yard does require a lot of work and the golf course even more
as jerry Maguire would say its an up at dawn pride swallowing siege I could never fully tell you about

John there is really no point putting pre emerge down before seeding you have to wait for it to wear off to seed and then there is no nothing there to prevent the weeds from coming once you seed , so better of using your glyphosate (round up) props on knowing the chemical name

you should be able to buy concentrate roundup at that site pro landscape store one gallon will make 25 gallons of the Home Depot equivalent for around 40 dollars

what size of an area we talking here square feet?

 

[Chuck Leeper]

John, some fence, and a couple of these, may be the easy way out!

 

[rmar]

O that kind of grass.............my bad.

 

[V6POWER]

you should be able to buy concentrate roundup at that site pro landscape store one gallon will make 25 gallons of the Home Depot equivalent for around 40 dollars

Do you have a link to that site?

 

[~JM~]

Agent Orange, followed by landscape cloth & covered with 1.5" minus rock. Done!

 

[grass doctor]

Do you have a link to that site?

look up site one landscapes see if you have one in your area

 

[grass doctor]

O that kind of grass.............my bad.

yeah that is funny bc when I was offshore fishing a lot I had the same name on Florida sportsman forum
everybody thought I was a pot head at first

 

[grass doctor]

Agent Orange, followed by landscape cloth & covered with 1.5" minus rock. Done!

there is a product called Sahara that is a ground sterilant nothing will grow where ever you spray it for years

 

[grass doctor]

Do you have a link to that site?

https://www.siteone.com/store-directory

 

[V6POWER]

https://www.siteone.com/store-directory

Thank you. Found a few in my area.

 

[grass doctor]

Thank you. Found a few in my area.

Thank you. Found a few in my area.

great they have a 2.5 gallon jug of prosecutor pro its generic round up it mixes at 6.5 oz per one gallon of water
so for 69 dollars you will be able to make 49 gallons of roundup

 

[Chuck Leeper]

Paraquat work?