bent grass-bent out of shape

[Danno]

I've been struggling with bent grass for about 4 seasons now, and I'm throwing in the towel! I have been diligent. I have aerated every spring, and I've tried dethatchers and power rakes, and it's only gotten worse. I have Scotts 4-step and even a personal 12-step program where I've admitted defeat and it still haunts me. I have been putting up flower beds, edging out long strips and planted ornamental grasses, anything that would give me less lawn! I came close to having the whole thing paved. After making the last mowing of the season this weekend, I've decided that I won't put it with this again next year. I want it GONE. I only have about

2500 sq ft but I don't know what the best way to approach this undertaking. I'd like to have a 'normal' lawn at some point, but I've got a few low spots and some ripples throughout the yard so should I just have a bobcat come in and tear everything up, level everything off, and take it from there?

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Dan

[Wanda from West Virginia]

[Danno]

Thanks for the suggestion Wanda,

I was never trying to grow bent grass. It invited itself.

Dan

[Peter H]

undertaking.

I share your pain Dan. I have been in the turf management business for about a dozen years and have faced the same problem w/ my own lawn. I have discovered a few things about bentgrass that may help you.

- watch your fertilization level. If you're putting down more than 4 lbs of nitrogen/ 1000sf/ season then you are encouraging it.

- the more you water the lawn during the hot/dry spells the more bent you will end up with

- bent cannot be removed manually. I power-raked my lawn down to dirt one spring and by fall the bent was back

The previous suggestion of killing it off w/ roundup and then putting in new is the only real sol'n. I've managed to keep it under control in my lawn by keeping the fert down and I don't water at all, no matter what. I still have bent in the lawn, but to the average homeowner it's not noticeable and it's not thick enough to clump and crowd out the preferred grasses.

I'm in Canada and discovered that one of our largest ( read the very largest ) Canadian-owned hardware stores was actually selling shade seed that listed bentgrass as one of the seeds!! I wrote to them and let them know that they were leaving themselves wide open for a class-action law suite as nearly every lawn in my area that is 20+ years old has some degree of bent in it. They have now changed suppliers for their shade seed, but the specs on the new product are not that specific. Sooooooo if you do kill off the lawn and seed, or ever seed again for any reason, buy your seed from a reputable garden center, not from a hardware store.

Good luck,

Peter H