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Lawn Care Thread

Never had Vols or Mols in my yard until about two years ago. I have never found any grubs in my yard, and I apply chemicals to keep them away each year, so i don’t think the vols are feeding on them.

I have tried the vibrating post that you insert in the ground. All this does is annoy them and make them move to another area. I have used a wind mill that has a ball bearing on the inside that annoys them as well and is effective but does not cure the problem, and most recently I have used the repellent that you hook to your hose and spray (mostly castor oil) and this works great, but for a limited time. Any solutions to kill the little bastards? Other than a cat? I would rather have Vols than a cat.
 
Never had Vols or Mols in my yard until about two years ago. I have never found any grubs in my yard, and I apply chemicals to keep them away each year, so i don’t think the vols are feeding on them.

I have tried the vibrating post that you insert in the ground. All this does is annoy them and make them move to another area. I have used a wind mill that has a ball bearing on the inside that annoys them as well and is effective but does not cure the problem, and most recently I have used the repellent that you hook to your hose and spray (mostly castor oil) and this works great, but for a limited time. Any solutions to kill the little bastards? Other than a cat? I would rather have Vols than a cat.

I hate having Vols in my yard. nothing gets rid of them and after a while, they start to stink. Not to mention the aluminum can droppings everywhere.
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Accidentally burned up a strip of my yard last week with Fertilizer. Does anyone know what I can do to fix the problem? Specifically, do I need to do anything to the soil for new grass to grow?
 
Accidentally burned up a strip of my yard last week with Fertilizer. Does anyone know what I can do to fix the problem? Specifically, do I need to do anything to the soil for new grass to grow?

You'll probably need to wait until next spring to repair the damage. the excess fertilizer will be flushed out of the soil naturally by then, plus (if you're in NC) it's getting a bit late to plant new grass. If you wanted to try and do something immediately I think the best bet would be a few days of heavy watering to dilute and flush away the excess fertilizer.
 
You'll probably need to wait until next spring to repair the damage. the excess fertilizer will be flushed out of the soil naturally by then, plus (if you're in NC) it's getting a bit late to plant new grass. If you wanted to try and do something immediately I think the best bet would be a few days of heavy watering to dilute and flush away the excess fertilizer.
It's not even close to too late to plant grass in NC.
 
Also wouldnt be a bad idea to check the PH of the soil. That'll tell you what additives you need to optimize growth. As long as the temps are moderate, you can plant grass through the end of November. A few years back I seeded after Thanksgiving and the grass came up wonderfully.
 
Bump. We finally moved into our new house after a 6 month long renovation project. We're super pumped about our half acre lot (tough to find in our part of town/price range), but not so pumped about the grass situation. There's a wild mix of fescue, bermuda, moss (shady parts), green onions, and who knows what else. With all the rain, parts have turned into mud pits.

This seems far beyond my rudimentary lawncare abilities (basically mowing/trimming/weeding) to turn into a nice looking, uniform-grass lawn. Any recommendations on good/reasonably priced lawncare guys around Charlotte? Or is this something I should try to tackle myself?
 
I use Kale Lawn care. They charge me $240/month and they come weekly - mow, rake, trim shrubs, blow, edge. I like them. LEt me know if you want their email.
 
I use Kale Lawn care. They charge me $240/month and they come weekly - mow, rake, trim shrubs, blow, edge. I like them. LEt me know if you want their email.

$240/month for you manor home? All that land for such a little amount of money, don't you feel guilty?
 
Bump. We finally moved into our new house after a 6 month long renovation project. We're super pumped about our half acre lot (tough to find in our part of town/price range), but not so pumped about the grass situation. There's a wild mix of fescue, bermuda, moss (shady parts), green onions, and who knows what else. With all the rain, parts have turned into mud pits.

This seems far beyond my rudimentary lawncare abilities (basically mowing/trimming/weeding) to turn into a nice looking, uniform-grass lawn. Any recommendations on good/reasonably priced lawncare guys around Charlotte? Or is this something I should try to tackle myself?

Have you considered starting over and having someone lay new sod down? Probably easier to go that route and then you just have to maintain, unless you're in it for the challenge of rehabbing your yard.
 
Yeah, we put Zoysia in the front yard a few years back and it is fucking awesome and easy to keep that way.

Our backyard is more shady and slopes downhill... I reseed every fall with Fescue and it still ends up looking like shit by mid-summer, no matter what I do.

Moving to a new house next month that will get a ton of sun... Builder is putting Bermuda down. I'd have preferred Zoysia (for the kids), but I'm hoping Bermuda is as easy to maintain.

My broader point was that trying to bring a yard back from the dead is near impossible. Better to kill everything and re-grade... Followed by seeding or sodding (depending on your budget).
 
Have you considered starting over and having someone lay new sod down? Probably easier to go that route and then you just have to maintain, unless you're in it for the challenge of rehabbing your yard.

Sod is crazy pricy, right? A quick Google search yields $1-2 per sq foot installed. We'd want grass on probably 10,000-12,000 sq feet (a half acre is ~22,000 sq feet, house is ~2800, garden/natural areas the rest). We've got some solid equity and are down to spend some more $ for home improvements, but $10-$20K for sod is wild.
 
I wouldn't pay for new sod unless I was putting in an irrigation system renovating the whole landscape too. You're probably going to be in this house for a long time. I'd just manage the yard for the next year until you can come up with a full plan.
 
I throw money at trugreen for seemingly no reason but I have a bit of wild Bermuda in my front yard that I hope will continue to spread and eventually take over the yard. Seems to be near unkillable even in august unlike my gentle fescue.
 
Bump. We finally moved into our new house after a 6 month long renovation project. We're super pumped about our half acre lot (tough to find in our part of town/price range), but not so pumped about the grass situation. There's a wild mix of fescue, bermuda, moss (shady parts), green onions, and who knows what else. With all the rain, parts have turned into mud pits.

This seems far beyond my rudimentary lawncare abilities (basically mowing/trimming/weeding) to turn into a nice looking, uniform-grass lawn. Any recommendations on good/reasonably priced lawncare guys around Charlotte? Or is this something I should try to tackle myself?

I would start by tackling the green onions and whatever else is in the lawn. Also pre-emrgence crabgrass killer. Your local lawn and garden store may help point in the direction of the proper weed killers for your area.

Getting those tall clumps of garlic gone will make the yard look 100% better even with the grass mixture.
 
I needlessly toiled and wasted money using big box store products. Things really started working when I went to Southern Season (SS). Brought in a lunch bag of soil for testing. They told me exactly what to get and when to apply it. And it worked - and endured!

Living in NC, our soil is acidic so lime needs to be regularly applied. Again SS will tell you how much and when. Now is the time to get pre-emergent down (bought from SS) to stop the weeds head start on the grass. Get some weed killer down to kill what has already come up. Re-apply pre-emergent in May. Prep soil around Labor Day (lime, fertilizer, etc). Plant grass in October. SS has special grades of grass from NC State (bronze, silver, gold) that is pricey but worth it. All grass, no filler, no weeds (yes, big box store seed does contain weeds - "oops, how'd that get in there; now you need some weed killer, right this way...."). I bought SS gold. I think it was $100-$120 for a 50 lb sack. It was great. I also bought different seed for shady areas - Wyatt Quarles Shady Nook. Been happy with it.

I had a neighbor sod his yard with zoysia and I'm thankful it is encroaching in my yard. He actually lets me get sprigs from his yard to plant into mine. As it spreads, I keep sprigging it into new areas of my yard. Encouraging his zoysia is my long term plan. Fescue from SS was my last attempt to grow grass until zoysia spreads. Zoysia is a slow spreader relative to Bermuda, and it likes the sun/hates the shade. It stops right on the shadow my house makes on the front yard. So I'll take zoysia in the sunny areas and Shady Nook in the shady areas.

I guess what I am saying about zoysia is you can get a single pallet and use it for sprigging. It will take a while, but if you have more time than money.... My zoysia grows about 4-5 ft/year.

Oh, and onions thrive in acidic soil. Lime will actually get rid of them for you.
 
There are many varieties of zoysia. My neighbor has palisades zoysia, and now I do, too.
 
Bump. We finally moved into our new house after a 6 month long renovation project. We're super pumped about our half acre lot (tough to find in our part of town/price range), but not so pumped about the grass situation. There's a wild mix of fescue, bermuda, moss (shady parts), green onions, and who knows what else. With all the rain, parts have turned into mud pits.

This seems far beyond my rudimentary lawncare abilities (basically mowing/trimming/weeding) to turn into a nice looking, uniform-grass lawn. Any recommendations on good/reasonably priced lawncare guys around Charlotte? Or is this something I should try to tackle myself?
If you want to try a year tackling it...

Buy 2 bags of the Scotts weed & feed, typically Costco has a sale on it in March. Lay it down with a spreader in March after the first mow. Add fescue grass seed to the mud pits and other bare spots in April. Get a sprinkler and water the seed every day for a few weeks.

If it’s starting to look good then keep watering it thru the summer. If it looks terrible, oh well, just wait until September and don’t beat yourself up and save $$ on the water bill.

Rent an aerator at Lowe’s and aerate your yard in September. Really tear up the yard where it looks bad (mud pits, moss etc.) so the seed can grow in the dirt. Lay down a bunch of fescue grass seed and water it every day for a few weeks.

Do this and your yard should look solid next March. You can start getting fancy with milorganite and lime to one-up your neighbors. I’ve been doing this method every year in my CLT home and my yard looks better every year.

If your yard looks terrible next March then hire someone.
 
Spend a few bucks for soil analysis to determine need for lime and nutrients. Local Agriculture Department extension agents provide the service, even in urban counties.

I suggest you do at least three separate samples: good grass areas, mud pits and moss areas. Questions to be answered by the tests are: what does the soil in the good grass areas need (if anything) to continue to grow good grass.
Are there issues with the soil in the mudpits, or are they simply a result of annual weeds and crabgrass crowding out the perennial grass.

Same general question for the mossy areas. Are they simply result of not enough sunlight, or are there other issues?
 
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