What you call root ball is basically the small rhizomes that fescue produces. It doesn’t branch out or tiller underground with full fledged rhizomes, it is kind of a partial type. This is what gives the bunches the root ball look.
Fertilizing my lawn for initial spring application
- Thread starter spierceisu
- Start date
Notice the stack of Milorganite bags in the background. Carl used it, so we should too. Now when it comes to chinch bugs or manganese, lots of people have no idea ...
I got a quote for dethatching and aeration. I know aeration is more of a fall thing. My yard is greening up more, but still has visible dead grass clippings and thatch in it. It is not growing really fast. I have mowed my grass only twice this year and both times there are some spots it isn't even cutting anything. Should I do one over the other? I was thinking of dethatching this spring and aerating in the fall, but am willing to do both if it should happen.
I'm far from an expert but my thought is just ride this summer out. Unless you have irrigation or are willing to water all summer, I think you'll be wasting money doing much now.
You'll get more out of your money if you spend it this fall. Dethatch, aerate, overseed, fertilize, etc.
I had to move some sod around after getting a new driveway last week. Just glad the weather has been cloudy and damp.
I will probably have someone come in this fall and dethatch and overseed this fall. The machine I've seen lawn services use dethatches and overseeds at the same time.
I will probably have someone come in this fall and dethatch and overseed this fall. The machine I've seen lawn services use dethatches and overseeds at the same time.
I am going to buy an electric dethatcher (since it is half the cost of having someone do it even once) and dethatch my yard and put down some fertilizer right after. My grass is all green but still thin in some spots with some brown underneath. I think removing it and hitting the fertilizer hard will get it to thicken up.
If you have KBG it's probably a good investment and worthwhile. I have one and I'm happy with the purchase.
So I went out and tried to remove this clumping fescue from my yard. Decided to dig it out and throw down seed rather than use Roundup.
Basically, by using a spade, I was able to remove the clump without too much effort. I did notice that once I got some of the clump uprooted, the rest of it would come out fairly clean. I had worried about removing a bunch of bluegrass with the fescue I'm trying to get rid of, but the amount that came out was minimal.
I didn't have any topsoil to fill the holes so I used some potting soil I had sitting around and then dumped a handful of bluegrass seed on top. Probably removed about a dozen clumps. I'll keep watering the spots and see how things come in this fall.
Just thought I would share what I did as it had been a topic of discussion early this summer.
Best part about bluegrass is it spreads and will fill in on its own over time.
I dug out my clumps of fescue around my yard before overseeding. I did fill in most with some top soil (maybe not as much as I should have). I hope it looks more uniform next spring, My front yard in particular had lots of clumps of fescue and it looked bad.
I've noticed that the fescue does so much better in times of drought (stays green) but it doesn't evenly spread. So if I could get a low maintenance evenly spread of fescue, I'd prefer that in certain sections around my home that get a constant burn from the sun. The clumpy sections do look bad though when that happens.
Does anyone have a referral for a lawn company in Ames that does aeration? thanks
Does anyone have a referral for a lawn company in Ames that does aeration? thanks
I wanted to dig mine out this fall but didn't get it done. Hoping I do it next spring before they start spreading again. My front lawn has it pretty bad.
I have been watering every day with a couple of traveling sprinklers. I hope the forecast changes to have more rain in the extended forecast. My water bill is going to hurt for a while.
It's a lot better for your yard to do heavy, less frequent watering if you want the grass to grow deep roots and be more tolerant to disease and heat
I am just doing this for now to try to get the seed that I overseeded on September 11 to germinate. It is just starting to come up now. I will water longer and less often once more grass is germinated.
Anyone concerned about Armyworms this year? Sounds like it's < 50/50 shot of causing problems in central Iowa
crops.extension.iastate.edu
Fall Armyworm is a 2021 Late-Season Pest
Somewhat related to this thread.
We purchased a house that needs quite a bit of lawn care. The yard has quite a bit of weeds in the part that didn't have any construction on it. The part that did have construction on it, has quite a bit of rocks. The former owner laid grass seed, but didn't do anything else (no water, anything). As a result, this area is lightly grass and weeds, but still quite a bit of dirt. We think it may be better to Nuke the part of our lawn that had construction movement on it and reseed it. The question is should we nuke the lawn now, or wait until early spring? I am leaning towards spring, because I don't want the dirt to erode during the winter snow melt.
I live in Rhode Island very close to the ocean, if that matters.
We purchased a house that needs quite a bit of lawn care. The yard has quite a bit of weeds in the part that didn't have any construction on it. The part that did have construction on it, has quite a bit of rocks. The former owner laid grass seed, but didn't do anything else (no water, anything). As a result, this area is lightly grass and weeds, but still quite a bit of dirt. We think it may be better to Nuke the part of our lawn that had construction movement on it and reseed it. The question is should we nuke the lawn now, or wait until early spring? I am leaning towards spring, because I don't want the dirt to erode during the winter snow melt.
I live in Rhode Island very close to the ocean, if that matters.
Nuke it now, start fresh in the spring. The remnants of the grass and weeds will still be there - wouldn't be much different as the grass will go dormant and weeds die anyway. That is assuming by nuke you just mean burning it down with spray.
