just had back yard skinned off. It was previously crab grass and assorted crap. What is the best approach to having this come back as a lawn. Crabgrass preventer, seed, sod or what. Paver patio was installed and I had the guy just skin off the rest. There’s gotta be a lot of crabgrass roots in there, correct?
Lawn renewal
- Thread starter Aredeeem
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Replanting the whole thing? Till it up well. Till in fertilizer and if needed in your area lime. Rake smooth. Cover with sod, or seed it. light drag a leaf rake and get the seed into the dirt. Seed on top of the ground will not come up. Cover with straw. Keep it watered, don't let it get dry. Dont mow it for a good month or so.
You can't address the weeds till you get a good stand of grass. if you see some now, you could hit it with round up, but really, when you till it, you will activate more seeds, so just wait and use a herbicide once the grass is established.
You can't address the weeds till you get a good stand of grass. if you see some now, you could hit it with round up, but really, when you till it, you will activate more seeds, so just wait and use a herbicide once the grass is established.
In FL. after skinning, we use vegetation killer to kill everything. We wait the prescribed weeks and then re-sod or re-seed. Ed
When you say skinned, do you mean cut really close, or scraped off with a blade?
No, I apologize. This is my daughter’s back yard. My info is Filtered thru her. Apparently they smothered the yard outside of the patio perimeters with soil that was removed. It looks great, for now. Just wondering if now was the time to do anything with it to improve it going forward. Thanks to all.
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Is she in NJ? I live on a small mountain and everything is rock underneath the very small amount of dirt. I took section at a time. Mid or late September in Jersey is a good time to start. What I did was cut my law as low as my mower would go. I had a weak lawn with lots of weeds throughout. Added 5" of decent quality topsoil. Part of the issues with me is my dirt was so thin. I know from my landscaping days that grass roots need to get some depth otherwise they burn out easily in times of high heat. The 5" topsoil on top of the dry dirt I had has worked out well. I used a landscape commercial grade hydroscopic seed and watered heavily fist 6 weeks. Worked well. I've had very healthy grass for years now.
The comments about raking it into the dirt and straw are a necessity.
The comments about raking it into the dirt and straw are a necessity.
Yes. That sounds good. Thanks. Heavy topsoil application. Onward!!
This might be a good time to discuss Crab Grass vs Quack Grass. The guys from down south typically have Crab Grass. The guys to the north typically have Quack Grass. Quack Grass is a cool-season perennial and is really hard to get rid off. Crab Grass is an Annual and you can break its cycle from germination to maturity. If you pull some of the grass and you find it has a strong root structure attached to other plants, you may have Quack grass. It is very hard to get rid off. If you see it sprouting up, hit it with Round Up or equivalent. Round Up is Glyphosate and smells like vinegar. Wear a respirator if possible. Good luck.
Here is an info source. https://www.google.com/search?q=cra....69i57j0l5.16068j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Here is an info source. https://www.google.com/search?q=cra....69i57j0l5.16068j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
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Here is an example of Quack grass I pulled from my lawn. It has white roots that can sprout new plants. It’s very hard to get rid of it.
Sure do not want to apply a crab grass preventer. The new grass will never emerge. Seed it in the fall and worry about the weeds after the grass has hardened.. Now is not a good time to seed grass.
Removing the sod seems to do a pretty good job at stopping crab grass. I think you should just plant seed this fall and be done with it.
Since buying our place, the wife and I have planted about 80 trees and 20 shrubs. The areas I was able to go in and actually remove the sod after spraying have done awesome in terms of no weeds. Other areas where I just sprayed and sprayed and tilled, not so much. I have to weed them often. Not fun.
Since buying our place, the wife and I have planted about 80 trees and 20 shrubs. The areas I was able to go in and actually remove the sod after spraying have done awesome in terms of no weeds. Other areas where I just sprayed and sprayed and tilled, not so much. I have to weed them often. Not fun.
Weeds seeds can stay viable for decades. Every time you till the soil and expose them to any amount of light, it can trigger them to germinate. One weed control method is called "stale seedbed". No till farmers that use glyphosate to kill the emerging weeds but do not till up the dormant seeds benefit from this technique. It can be partially successful in landscapes also.
But, mother nature is persistant in trying to negate bare soil!
I am sure there is quite a seed load in the soil so a preemergent applied per the instructions would be a great help.for example.
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