Lawn Care Questions Answers

  1. Can I use grass clippings from another section of my yard to cover the planted area?
  2. Spread a layer of pajamas over the seeded areas. Choose clean straw, such as wheat straw, that is as seed-free as possible. Evenly distributed 50 to 80 pounds (1 or 2 bales) per 1000 square feet. You can remove the mulch about 3 weeks after germination. The straw will not pack the soil.

Raw grass clippings from treated lawns contain herbicides and are affected to do more harm than good. During decomposition, green grass clippings rob the soil of nitrogen and a lot of heat. During heavy rains, a thick layer of cut grass traps water, causing anaerobic decomposition and root rot. Therefore, cutting green grass would not be good for seedlings.

You can recycle the grass into the lawn while mowing the lawn. If done correctly, there shouldn’t be a dick leak. Mowing the lawn frequently does not produce large amounts of recovery and rapid decomposition. A lawnmower does an excellent job. Rotary mowers are enclosed to keep clippings circulating under the mower deck and cut grass blades into finer pieces. If you want to use clippings to mulch other plants, sequence grass clippings before mulching.

  1. planted a new lawn from seed three weeks ago. Use Scott’s starter fertilizer, and the new grass looks great. It is a mixture of perennial rye and fescue. I was wondering when we should give her the next dose of fertilizer.
  2. When new grass is about 2 inches tall, fertilize. When the new grass reaches about 3 1/2 inches tall, begin mowing. Set the mower to 2 1/2 inches. If weed control is needed, apply selective herbicide, follow manufacturer’s instructions. Do not weed and feed with fertilizers for at least 10 weeks.

TIP: Susan Patterson, our expert gardening consultant, adds, “Always follow the manufacturer’s instructions when applying any chemical fertilizer.”

Water frequently to keep the seeds moist (not saturated). Reduce watering once a day when the grass reaches about 1 inch in height. After cutting 3 times, use a regular 1-inch watering schedule per week. Continue this practice throughout the growing season.

  1. I have hard, clay-filled soil. The problem is that I have little grass, a lot of clover, and areas of bald patches. Where to start getting lush weed?
  2. The first step in a lawn like the one you describe is to do a soil test to find what you need to add nutritionally to the soil. The grass grows better on clay soils than on hard soil. It may be better to grow a rotten compost in the existing soil to make the soil healthier. You can do this at the same time as adding what the soil test shows as necessary.

TIP: Susan advises: “Grass will not grow when the soil pH is too high. Take a soil sample and apply lime as needed to build the soil structure and help your lawn flourish.

Once the soil has been crumbled, you can rake it up and then plant your lawn. Your county extension service is a good source of information on which lawns work best in your area. You can sow or lay grass, it is important in terms of time and money. Planting is less expensive than grass, but it takes time to establish a grass support. You should allow for about 2 weeks of daily watering after planting to give the seed a chance to germinate, then keep it to grow a couple of inches before the first cutting. Do not apply any chemicals until it has been cut at least 3 times. A healthy lawn is a product of proper cutting, feeding and watering. As the grass thickens, it will become its own weed control.

  1. A few weeks ago I had some grass seed applied to my backyard. Prior to this, the area was almost entirely made up of weeds. The people who did the work used some kind of gas-powered tool that destroys the dirt and weeds, then they shoved a bit of some kind of dirt (forgot what it was) with seeds on the surface. I water the area with a sprayer for 2 to 3 hours 2 times a week for 2 weeks. How long does it usually take before you see the grass start to stick out of the ground?
  2. You should water at least daily, if not twice. Usually it takes 14 days for germination.
  3. I have an underground sprinkler system with an automatic timer and I was wondering what the acceptable time to water is. The time period I thought the system would go live would be between 12 midnight and 6 a.m. I really don’t want to water during the day for fear of burning the grass.
  4. A lawn normally needs one inch of water per week, either from rain or irrigation. It is better that the lawn received the water it has, infrequently. Run the system to apply the water to the level of one inch per week once a week. You can set up some containers to collect water and determine the time it takes to deliver an inch of water to the area. It is not a good idea to water your lawn to keep it wet at night. This humidity encourages disease. Instead, water it early so the sun comes out on the wet grass right away. Watering during the day will not burn the grass, but watering at noon will waste water through aggressive evaporation before it can penetrate the soil.
  5. I want to know how to get a checkered or striped lawn with just a 20-inch self-propelled lawn mower. I know if I cut from left to right it works, but I want the stripes to be deeper and something that can be seen well when driving past my house.

    A. You must first have the proper equipment. The stripping you see in televised golf and baseball is done with a lawnmower, not a rotary. A reel mower consists of a rotating reel cylinder equipped with blades and a stationary bed blade. The path blades guide the blades to the bed knife, where they are cut by a cutting action.

The quality of cut is in part a function of the sharpness of the cutting edges and the proper fit of the bed knife to the reel. These mowers are expensive to buy and maintain. A new commercial grade lawn mower used in the golf industry will cost around \$ 4500. Also the cheap owner types cost around $ 1000. I would try to contact some of the local golf courses in your area and see if they have anything in their stock. boneless worth fixing. Zyosia stripping will be tough with Bermuda, your best bet is to wait until fall and plant your lawn with perennial rye at about 15 pounds per thousand square feet and use the mower to make standout stripes very easily.

Second, to get the distinctive fringe effect, you need cool season grass, such as folded or blue grass. The only way to make hot season lawns like Bermuda scratch is to “burn” them. What this means is religiously cutting the same direction in the same places, forcing the grain of the grass to grow in opposite directions. It is a lot of work to have this high level of maintenance.

  1. I live in Northern California. Winters are humid, but not always cold; summers are warm, but not hot. I have a dwarf fescue grass. What is a good rule of thumb schedule for care (ie, fertilization, aeration, blade length, watering)?
  2. Fescue tends to clump, so overseeding helps establish a more evenly developed lawn. If turfgrass coverage is generally complete and satisfactory, weed control by the pre-emergent herbicide will be more beneficial. A fertilizer must be balanced. A soil test from your local county extension service will tell you what amendments your soil needs, such as sulfur, lime, etc.

The application rate depends on the recommendations provided by the fertilizer manufacturer. Good quality fertilizers will have specific instructions on the rate of application and which grasses are best suited for the product. Cheap fertilizers are like anything else that is cheap; you get what you pay for. Feed the lawn approximately every 60 to 90 days.

Mow so that no more than 1/3 of the blade is removed at a time. Fescue is generally cut tall, about 3 to 4 inches, to accommodate its growth habit. Use a mulching mower or mulching blade and adapter on a conventional mower. Mulch from grass clippings is good for the soil and saves money spent on fertilizers, since the fertilizer practically stays on the grass blades. Keep a sharp blade on the mower.

Keep the grass watered, usually 1 inch per week if it doesn’t rain in this amount. As your lawn develops deep roots from central aeration and proper care, it will become more drought tolerant and can keep weeds at bay. Make sure you don’t let the grass get damaged by drought in the winter. It may be winter, but the grass still needs water.

If you don’t have central aeration in the spring, do it in late summer or early fall, so the grass has a chance to recover before falling asleep in the winter. If you choose not to overseed in the spring, overseeding in the fall can help thicken your grass in the long run. Grass sown in the fall will develop before going dormant, and roots will develop during the winter.

Make your last feeding of the season around October and cut down on nitrogen. If you are using a planned feeding cycle, such as the one promoted by Scotts, these programs specify which mixes are best suited for each season. Local weed treatment is best for some types of weeds. Broad spectrum treatment is best for others. It depends on the weeds and the degree of infestation. Feed the trees in December or January when they are dormant with a complete fertilizer to build roots. Fruit trees for production have their own procedures.

  1. applied Scott’s Bonus S Weed & Feed Fertilizer to my lawn this morning. I think I’ve done it a bit in some areas. A co-worker told me that my lawn would burn if I applied too much. Will it get greener?
  2. If your lawn burns, it will burn excessively. Much will also depend on the type of soil you have. Sandy soils will not retain nutrients while clay or loam is salty. Irrigation to try to leach excess nitrogen into loamy soil will lead to soft, dirty areas, which will turn into a slab of concrete as it dries.
  3. After many weeks of cleaning, digging, raking, barrowing, and spreading, a nasty storm created rivers on my new lawn. The seed was low for only 3 days, and the soil and seeds were washed in parts. My question is: do I repair those gullies in my lawn now, wait for the grass to grow, and then repair it or rake all the grass and seed?
  4. Repair, rake and replant. Waiting to repair is not going to accomplish anything and whatever erosion control you get from the grass, you will lose 90 percent on the re-grading of the yard.

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