Dealing with my Neighbor's Yard

My Nighbor's yard has a lot of Chick weed as well as another type of weed that has overgrowwn and come onto my yard. I basically gave him a choice to make. Either He allows me to treat his yard at his expense, or he gets a punch in the nose everytime I have work in my yard. swell he choose the former. We applied Lesco's Broad leaf weed killer (O O 8) last week and we can already see a difference. It's says not to reseed for 4 weeks. My question is,what is the easiest way to pull up the dead weeds that the Lesco product is killing, Airation, thatching or another. I don't know if this is important or not But we are located in New Jersey. Thanks

Reply to
Peter Pan
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The easiest way is not to pull them up at all! ;-)

How big is the area?

BTH

Reply to
BT Humble

Reply to
Peter Pan

If it was small enough I was going to suggest shaving the organic matter off with a shovel, but that sounds like too big of a job (might be what you meant by "thatching").

Maybe you can rent a rotary hoe and plough it all under, once the whole lot is dead? Or were you just getting rid of *some* of the existing grass? It's often easier to kill off the whole lot with glyphosate (Roundup, etc.) and start from scratch.

BTH

Reply to
BT Humble

you were joking about the punch in the nose, right?

Reply to
Jim

Yes I was joking... truth of the matter is, he's just not a yard guy, I did use The Jedi mind trick on him and he allowing me to help treat his yard. The last few years he really didn't care one way or the other how it looked and now he turned his view around so I'd like to help him as much as I can

Reply to
Peter Pan

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I'm glad you were just joking.

Reply to
Jim

Usually, you don't get rid of the weeds that die, you just keep mowing and they disappear. Sounds like you must have more weeds than grass.

Reply to
trader4

PS: You mentioned that you can't reseed for 4 weeks. I'd forget about reseeding until Sept. If you wanted to seed in Spring, it should have been done a month ago.

Reply to
trader4

Reply to
Peter Pan

If the product your talking about is a weed n feed type, his concern may have been that the herbicide contained in the product would not be as effective since many of the weeds were not growing as actively at that time. Otherwise, there is no reason you couldn't have put down fertilizer at that time to benefit the lawn.

I didn't say you couldn't do it again in the Fall. I just said, if you haven't done it yet, I would not do it till Fall. You just applied a herbicide that says you can't seed for 4 weeks. That puts you into June. At that point, it's difficult. Sure, you can do it. But it's going to take a hell of a lot of water to keep the ground constantly damp. And then you have turf with very little root going into July/August, which means plenty of water then too. And you have cool season grass, which prefers to slow down growth or go dormant in hot weather. And with plenty of water and sparse turf comes plenty of weeds. And finally, keeping the grass constantly wet during hot weather is the perfect prescription for fungus and disease. If you wait till Fall, you have nature on your side. Bottom line, if I had a small patch to reseed, I'd do it, but not attempt a whole lawn renovation type project.

Wait till early Sept, then rent a slice seeder and do it right. And depending on what condition the lawn is in, you may want to just kill the whole thing a week before. For example, if the existing grass is of poor quality, rough, not a great color, disease prone, etc, then I'd get rid of it all, and start over with a good high quality seed of the appropriate type.

Reply to
trader4

I think you should kill his dog and rape his wife ;-)

Mich...

Reply to
Mich...

I am waiting a little longer still before I seed. I think it will be done in 4 to 6 weeks, but doesn't matter when you start, the end is the end.

More than a few times I have tried to get the jump on watering seeds, and more than a few times I watered at least twice a day for over a month, and only some came up. I'm in Toronto, not too far from NJ, and I am going to wait a little longer to put seeds down. If you read the bag the temp has to stay above 15 C I think, which it is not here yet; but also states a high of

25C I think, it may be other. Anyways, the performance was so poor, and took so long, that I assumed it was my technique. You can still water seeds if it is cold, but I think you are almost wasting ALL that time, as the temp has be in the ideal range, which mother nature takes care of for you if you wait. You will be waiting anyways. I think the bag says ideal range is 15-25C. When temp is always in there, with the least amount out of that range I think is the time to do it. Not before, not after, probably. If I wait a couple weeks more and it doesn't work then, here in TO, then it can't do done.

The weed killer kills the grass seed, not the grass, but not sure for exactly how long in practice.

Reply to
bent

It makes a big difference when you start. Early Sept is drastically different from July.

If you think you should wait another 4-6 weeks to seed in Toronto, then it is your technique that is causing problems. That puts you in summer, which is the worst time. For cool season grass to germinate, you need soil temps in the 50F's. With daytime temps in the 60's/70's , you have that now. Also, watering 2 times a day may be OK in late Sept, but it isn't going to keep the soil surface and seed constantly wet in June/July, which is why that time is prime for failure. In that period, you would have to water every few hours during the day to keep it wet. Plus, you then are in July/Aug, high heat and stress periods with just seedlings. If you seed in Sept, the plants have 6 mths to establish roots before the stress of summer hot weather. If you don't have the ability to deliver lots of water, they're gonna die. And if you do water a lot, you get weeds plus a prime breeding ground for fungus and disease.

Fall is the best time to seed because everything is on your side. Spring is second best, which here in NJ would have been a month ago. Here I'd still seed a couple small spots now, but I would never start a general seeding at this late date.

While you think your low germination is due to temperature, I'll bet it's be it's due to other factors, like poor seed/soil contact.

You can still water seeds

Not sure what this means.

Reply to
trader4

"Seed germinates best when temperatures are consistently 15 to 26C (60-80F)." "Seed will not germinate well once temperatures are consistently above 26C."

BUT it does also say

Early spring, when temps are 5-21C (40-70F) is the ideal time to seed."

You may think you have won, but I reject your reality and substitute my own. But I'm in a diff place (Toronto), I am looking at the temps here, and my past experience. I think temps will be consistently too high soon. I think it will take a month, start to finish, before all watering can stop. Thats under the very best of circumstances. Anything else not being as they are (starting now) would only add to this month.

Reply to
bent

It says to water twice daily to keep the top 1cm of soil damp until all seedlings are up, then water once or twice daily until the lawn is fully established (6-8 weeks). I am sure I kept up my watering for the recommended time, but my dissapointment was obvious. This is why I have a different feeling on this topic now.

For fall, it says temps best when consistently below 26C (actually late sumer in many areas), & seeding should be completed 6-8 weeks BEFORE temps are expected to fall below 5C. It stated the seeding itself takes 6-8 weeks so, in fall, start 12-16 weeks before a 5C is expected (" before temperatures are expected to fall below 5C"); not consistently below 5C. Thats 3, up to 4 months. It hasn't been 3 to 4 days yet here.

Just a note, your local governement environmental agencies keep records of all precipitation and temps for the last (....150 years or so), and can be bought, or researched in several different package forms from their offices. Or it may be available to the majority, possibly online, possibly by zone.

Reply to
bent

Here's what Scott's website has to say on the subject:

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"basics: renovation and repair How to Seed Bare Spots And Thin Areas Summer heat and drought usually cause thin brown spots in the lawn. Luckily, fall is the best time to seed and it's EASY! Follow the simple steps below and you'll have a thick, green lawn:"

So, at the very least, Scotts is giving conflicting advice. And Scotts is hardly the only authority on the subject. Do a Google search of fall seeding and you will find lots of hits, many of them from state agricultural extension services, which have no commercial interest or axe to grind, that say Fall is the best time. For example, here's one from Minnesota, which is a fairly northern climate, approaching your own:

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"While spring lawn seeding is a possibility, mid-August to mid- September seeding is usually more successful."

I'm sure you can find some hits tha say Spring is best, but if you look at the agricultural services and turf experts, the overwhelming consensus is Fall is the best time, followed by Spring.

Now, I may have misunderstood your earlier comment:

"I am waiting a little longer still before I seed. I think it will be done in 4 to 6 weeks, but doesn't matter when you start, the end is the end"

I took this to mean that you are going to seed in 4-6 weeks. If you mean you're going to seed sometime real soon and the grass will be up by that time, then what you're proposing makes more sense. But, I would get the seed down immediately.

Here's the problem with your idea of where your past problems with poor results were. You think it's because you put the seed down too early. In fact, the seed should have still germinated, it would just have taken longer. Grass seed isn't like setting out tomato plants, where if it's too cold, they die. In fact, there are some who believe that seeding in winter is effective, and do it that way, because the seed will work into the soil a bit and germinate when it warms up.

As I said earlier, I'd wager that your real problem with poor germination is elsewhere. I didn;t see any response about how you seeded, ie, did you get good soil/seed contact via a slice seeder or other method, or did you just throw some seed around. Getting good soil contact can make a huge difference in germination rates.

I think

So, you plan to seed sometime in the coming weeks, then water for just a month? Now that is a prescription for disaster. How do you expect seedlings to survive in July/August? The watering should be backed off gradually. And going into summer, with new seedlings, I would expect to water continuously every 2-3 days or so in hot weather, if it hasn't rained.

Reply to
trader4

wrote

May start today. Not really sure how long it will take, but if it takes longer than 6 weeks, that is a very narrow window, but thats what I'm pointing out.

This is interesting, as I suspected, I wonder if there is deception for profit involved. Just pointing out what is working for me, in Toronto. Oops, not really sure if it works yet.

I break up the surface of the existing lawn soil, and spread that around evenly, loosened. Depending on how deep or quality that area is, I may add Top Soil (I have used different soils, and suspect using "Garden Soil" was part of my problem - like to know more about what should-shouldn't use & why. I think peat and moisture materials are good in the soil for germination, but soon after there is nothing for roots to live in) and spread it around evenly. Then I'd sprinkle seeds with a handheld broadcast spreader. Then I'd hand and/or shovel bomb some more new "Top Soil" ("Top Soil is the name of the newest bags I'm trying.), and maybe spread it around. May do a little patting, with end of 8" garden rake. What I am going for is a little layer below, and a little layer above. I try to water lightly to not expose the seeds, and may add soil after. I rely that the watering compacts the mix a bit, but can't say I've tamped it down; covered it up in a tight packing. If it were obvious a large number of seeds were sitting right on the surface of the soil I'd add more soil. I don't have a roller handy, and that'd probly trek everything everywhere. However I could make a tamping plate if I need some compaction.

If I was gonna stop watering, obviously (to me) all the grass that was gonna grow would be showing. I'd keep an eye on it, and make sure it wouldn't die, which in turn would show up any new grass if it did decide to come up, which I would also take care of. In Scotts Kentucky BG common #1, I am not sure if anything could just start coming up after that first period, i.e. after the first 5 weeks, or even later in the season, or another season(s).

Reply to
bent

Wow, how big of an area are you doing that it could take so long?

Instead of all that work, why not just mow it short (if needed), and rent a slice seeder? You can rent one for around $50 for a half day, $80/day here. Might want to core aerate it first, which can be rented for similar amount. You can easily do 1/2 acre or an acre in a day, smaller lawn in 1/2 day, instead of killing yourself. And the seed will be in the soil at the right depth, where you will get excellent germination.

Reply to
trader4

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