strange lawn pest

[Micro*]

Hi all, This one has everybody stumped. Some history, I used to have a hybrid bermuda lawn, till Trugreen killed it(another story). After most of the bermuda died and only small clumps would come back, there appeared small mounds of fine castings, like tiny ant hills 1/4 to 3/8 " dia. these were very fine round pellets. They became so thick they buried what bermuda was left.....End of bermuda, so I dug up the rest of the bermuda, flooded the area with Seven(recommended by nursery) and tilled, added compost, tilled it in, leveled, rolled and ordered Marathon 3 sod, before laying the sod I put down a layer of Bayer granules(again recommended) and laid the sod. So far so good. Two months later the sod is dieing out in large areas, look at the problem and sure enough the sod is getting buried again, chocking the crowns of the grass. OK called the county ag dept, their answer"I Donno", so much for taxpayers money... Any guesses?????

[The_Critic]

Have you examined this possibility?

[Steveo]

Haha! What did they spread to your lawn?

[Micro*]

insects, couldn't see anything other than the normal things you would expect to see. By the way,if it makes a difference, I live in So.Cal., SanDiego. I'm thinking, since the ag. dept. didn't know, maybe it's some imported bug?? Lawn services are NOT a good thing, they spread things from one lawn to another..DAMHIKT....

[Steveo]

Yes, lots of bullshit is funny to me.

People pay me to kill them.

Thanks, Scott.

[Jose]

you think that's funny? if you kill a lawn it's just more work for u, huh. whatta guy.

[Micro*]

Thanks for the sympathy Jose.

What they spred was a very nasty weed that had to be hand dug to get rid of it, this appeared right after they areated my lawn. And maybe the bugs I have now???? By the way, Steveo, Maybe you wouldn't think this funny if you came out and renovated my backyard in the 100+ deg. heat. Don't bother answering this, you're plonked......

Back to the problem at hand, anyone???

[Steveo]

Newsflash, micro. No one sowed 'invader' seed on your property, the seed was already in your soil.

This has been a bad year for crabgrass and nustsedge here in Ohio and other cool season areas.

How much profit would a lawncare service make on -your- stop if they had to sabotage it while they were doing exactly what you paid them to do?

Not much left in the till if they have to 007 you.

[Steveo]

Thanks for the kind words, Eggs, they are much appreciated. He kind of makes a guy scrath his head as to why even bother responding sometimes. ugh

You seem to be one of the brighter posters in here as far as your knowledge goes, so no problem over here with you and I. (hope so anyway)

People aren't shy about sharing their wives tale cures in here, and some of them are down-right wrong!

Like you said earlier, this doesn't pay anything, it's just for trying to help people. That's what these boards were intended for. (no cash pay dag-nabit)

[Eggs Zachtly]

I still reserve the right to k/f G2 and webtv users. =P

[Steveo]

rope a dope ($1 Cashis) sp

[Micro*]

Sorry if I sounded defensive, I'm at my wits end with this problem.

The "weeds" I refered to were a coarse grass with underground runners, applying a herbacide would have done more damage to the burmuda.

The lawn was not devoid of all insects, might be now!

I started with the nemitodes, that got rid of most of the grubs and sod webworms but not the critters I was after so I went to Malathion, that also had little or no effect. I took a soil sample to the county agriculture dept., they're response was "earthworms", yes I have earthworms but they're not the problem. (Those are probably gone now)

As to the heat, 100+ temps here are not unusual. The instructions were to water three times per day till runoff every day for one week, twice a day for the next week and three days a week there after adjusting for weather conditions. All watering done in the morning.

The secon tilling was per the sod farms instructions.

I talked to a person at a well known nursery, they recommeded it, I guess I shouldn't assume they know what they're talking about.

Grandkid is in highschool and lives in Dallas. And you're never too old to do yard work.

I can only go by what the Ag. supply co. sold me, they only carried one kind.

Not ants, these mounds are small, composed of tiny round pellets. No one here seems to know about these critters either, whats frustrating is even the county ag. dept. isn't interested. I guess if it doesn't affect the "cash crops" they don't care.

This has escalated from what I thought was the most harmless treatment to, as you say, killing everything. Yes the soil was tested and was OK. Next step???concrete!!!!

[The_Critic]

Have you tested for fungus?