Got too many weeds in one patch of the yard about 15x30 and decided to kill or remove all the old grass/weeds and start fresh with new seed.
I'm wondering if I covered it with tarps, how long would it take for the grass and weeds to die? I don't want to spray it with herbicide. Temp will be around 75-80 from now until August, then 80-90 until mid-Sept. No rain excepted any time soon.
Thanks.
A solution of one gallon of vinegar with a tablespoon of dish detergent sprayed on weeds kills them dead.
OK, but does it affect germination of the new seed? That is why you can't use Roundup or similar chemicals.
plus the existing weed seeds already in the soil will germinate, espically once you dig up the soil to plant new grass seeds.
your really better off to use normal weed control methods.
the sorched earth kill everything isnt the better choice.
my neighbor recently killed a entire area like you want to do.
he used a propane burner on a hose..
i will post back here when it s complete. which might be next spring....
given time to dig up, plant seed, germinate. in the heat and dry summer its going to be hard to grow grass seed
I've neglected my yard for years, and while it was still green it was really more weeds than grass.
This year I put on one bag of a combination herbicide and fertilizer, like a feed and weed, from Walmart at about $20. (5,000 ft^2).
The weeds died and the surviving grass took over the whole yard. It looked brown and ugly for about two weeks, now it looks great.
The lawn care industry has solved this problem better than you can.
You can use Roundup (glyphosate) and reseed as soon as it's dead. That's one of the big advantages, it's very effective and quick. The tarp will work, provided you have enough tarps and don't mind looking at it, securing it, etc.
I would wait until late August to proceed. Summer is the worst time to reseed, at least with cool season grasses, IDK where he is. Lots of competition from weeds and it will take a lot of water.
You still have that problem with Roundup. It only kills the actively growing vegetation. And AFAIK, any herbicide that persists, will not only keep the weeds from sprouting, but also the new grass.
Agree, summer is the worst time. Fall is by far the best, followed by eary Spring.
When I lived up there in the frozen north (Md), the time to throw grass seed was over the last snow of the season, (typically around Easter). The seed would sink down in the snow so the birds would not get it and when the snow melted, it germinated the seed. Spring was always rainy there.
The disadvantage to Spring over Fall is that you have more competition from weeds, rising temps that will require more watering, and then it doesn't have long before it's July and summer stress. If you do it in Fall, it has several months to grow in Fall, then all Spring before it gets to really tough weather. A lot depends on if you have an easy, automatic, cost effective means of watering it. If you do, then Spring can be fine. And I agree with your strategy of doing it very early, now it's a whole different ball game.
I was never much of a lawn guy so I defer to people who are. I just know what I hear. In SW Florida lawns are a horrible waste of time, effort and water we can't afford to lose. Lawns are also the major cause of algae blooms and overall water pollution because the fertilizer does not stay on the lawn. It washes off into the water. In my yard, all I want is something green, whatever will survive without any help from me. I have grass in the rainy season and wild flowers in the dry season.
Roundup is fine. Plant after 2 weeks no problem - they say 1 to 3 days - except for extendedcontrol weed and grass killer plus weed preventer - which requires about 6 months.
It is the product of choice for knocking down weeds before replanting or sodding. Generally 2 applications 2 weeks apart then reseed after another week. This gets 2 generations of weeds and gives you a fighting chance at a weed-free lawn.
On
Yeah, I'm a mother nature type.. what ever grows grows. The mower knocks it down, something grows back. Much more interesting watching the plants compete for survival then a boring mono culture. Bag the stuff? No way, the only green stuff or whatever the mower cuts that gets away is the stuff that manages to find it's way onto the street. Last time I mowed I noticed a slightly greener spot out front where I'd buried a stray cat a couple of years ago that had gotten run over.
Try googling "soil solarization" and you'll find a wealth of information. From what I gather it'll work in a few weeks _provided_ you have lots of hot, all-day sunshine.
Apart from needing full sun, the tarps need to be sealed tightly, usually by burying the edges, and it helps if the soil is watered before tarping.
Here's one of many articles on the subject:
hth,
bob prohaska
That's how we get nearly all the new flowers & trees. The lovely Miseries Snuffy makes me mow around anything that does not look like a weed, so it's easier to dig it up and move it into the garden.
Got a beautiful manzanita plant that way that is now 6 feet tall & covered year round with bright red berries about the size of BBs. I think that one came from a berry of a limb I brought home years ago. I wanted to cut it down many times before it started blooming because of catching my shirt on the throns. Good thing I'm not the boss around here.
Also got several Mexican date palms and a couple of yucca plants that all came up wild. Not the real pretty ones, but they're green & don't take any work or watering. One turned out to be a Canary Island date palm, now about 20 feet high - really nice looking but fons are sharper than needles. I'd rather trim a field full of rosebushes than one of these things.
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