Lawn Freaks

I would be interested in the same thing. My yard looks like junk after the winter. Damn lab has piss stains all over. I tried that stuff that is like green paper with seeds mixed in and it sucks. It is supposed to patch the spots but nothing worked.

I heard you need to lime the areas to neutralize the lawn then re-seed it.

spray it with green paint.




just cut it and hope that it rains

To be honest with you, it's impossible to tell you what your lawn needs without seeing it first hand.

How's your soil? Does it drain well? Is it compacted?

Even though you're using Scott's products that doesn't mean you're giving your lawn the things it needs.

Nice turf requires more nutrients than just basic N, P and K.

Call a local professional and they can consult with you. If you're serious about having a nice lawn that's probably the only way it's going to happen.

Hope that helps :beer;

Call a local professional and they can consult with you. If you're serious about having a nice lawn that's probably the only way it's going to happen.

Click to expand...

Agreed.

The Scotts system is highly overated. If you are insistant on doing it yourself, find somewhere to buy professional fertilizer. Believe me, most larger cities will have someone, that is selling to the lawn care companies.

To be honest with you, it's impossible to tell you what your lawn needs without seeing it first hand.

How's your soil? Does it drain well? Is it compacted?

Click to expand...

Completely agree. It is like trying to diagnose motor problems with no info.

Do you have irrigation? was it a seeded or sodded lawn? Lawn loves food and water.

Just curious but why are your lawns so important to you guys? I could think of a lot of other things I would want to do than try and make my grass look green by dumping a bunch of money into fertilizers and "specialists." Plus the better your lawn is the more you have to cut the damn thing. I don't get it and want some insight.

M-ATE said:

Just curious but why are your lawns so important to you guys? I could think of a lot of other things I would want to do than try and make my grass look green by dumping a bunch of money into fertilizers and "specialists." Plus the better your lawn is the more you have to cut the damn thing. I don't get it and want some insight.

Click to expand...

For me, I have a nice house and to not have a nice yard is kinda like pouring syrup on a turd, you still dont have pancakes. I also like to be outdoors at my house having a BBQ or playing with the dogs or throwing a football with my boys. Doing all that in a dying weed patch just doesn't have the same kick to it.

How often have you seen a nice car/truck with crap wheels and tires. You never say "man that 'ol boy has it figured out, gotta nice truck and dont have to polish the wheels either".

When I did my yard, I went to the local golf course and talked to the greens keeper (these dudes know grass). He gave me a gizmo that took soil plugs from the existing yard. For a 6 pack, he sent those plugs off and I got back a report that he put into laymens terms for me and I followed it to the letter. I type way too slow to go into all the stuff, but bottom line it worked. I would say grab a cold 6'r and head to the local golf course some evening and see what you learn. Good luck. EW

Okay here goes, you need to get a professional opinion. There are also bugs that could be damaging your grass. If you have a professional take care of your yard once a month, they fertilize and kill pests. To fix the dog stains, go to your local pet store and pick up urine neutralizer, you will never have stains again. It sounds expensive , but they way i look at it you could just call someone now, rather than do it yourself for three months and end up calling them anyways. Hope this helps, the golf course idea is a good one, my neighbor works at the golf course.

Been doing the same thing with my fathers yard since we were kids and our yard has always looked green and full all year. Rent a Thatcher after thaw and you see the first sign of green run that across to peel up the dead grass and expose the ground. Some will do an airator. Run a couple bags of seed if it seems thin or in bald spots and rake it in. Thus the need for the thatcher to remove all loose grass first. (should only need to this maybe the first 2 seasons until you get a full yard.) If you have weed problems like crabgrass or dandylions do not wait to treat them when they start to appear. I grew up in a farm community and never bought the watered down herbicides off the store shelf (expensive too). We grew up with Ron Hefty (owner of Hefty Seed Co) and always went to him to get the good stuff that was way cheap. Spray for weeds before they appear and there is stuff that won't hurt the grass or grass seed. Do this early and get setup and the only thing you have to worry about is mowing and you can tell the chemlawn guys to kiss off.
When you mow, mow a different direction or pattern each time to keep the grass standing straight and give the grass the wheels you ran over a few days ago a chance to recover. Next and most important, and takes a little bit of future temp prediction. Start your season cutting fairly low when it is cool out (1/4-1/2 deck height), this helps the seedlings catch up and good sunlight to the smaller plants. Just as things warm up you need to raise your mower deck nealry as high as it will go. 1 cutting with your deck too low and a day of high temps is all it takes to brown your lawn the rest of the season. I don't know if this is a factor eaither but we have had really nice looking laws when we used Lawnboy 2 strokes for our mowers( The old ones). Don't know if it's their lightweight magnesium decks, staggered wheels or if its the higher RMP that it spins that blade but We've had the 4 stroke Lawnboy and other 4 stroke Briggs and Snappers and nothing cuts as nice. I will never have anything else than a Lawnboy 2 stroke with the lightweight deck (preferably the old ones as pictured) (not the cheap ones you see with the junk motors for about $200 at Lewis Drug) I mean their Platinum series at $469-650 with the Tecumseh 2 stroke.

Oh yeah, bagging usually looks the best but with the cost of recycling now, if you use a mulching plate go a little higher on your deck by about 1 setting than you would if you were bagging.

Just pour cement, grass is so overated!!!! more room to park toys!!!

M-ATE said:

Just curious but why are your lawns so important to you guys? I could think of a lot of other things I would want to do than try and make my grass look green by dumping a bunch of money into fertilizers and "specialists." Plus the better your lawn is the more you have to cut the damn thing. I don't get it and want some insight.

Click to expand...

I don't spend money on "specialists" because I am one

Unless you've ever had people knock on your door just to ask what you do to your lawn to make it look so nice you'll never understand why some people obsess over it like they do.

Fosgate said:

Been doing the same thing with my fathers yard since we were kids and our yard has always looked green and full all year. Rent a Thatcher after thaw and you see the first sign of green run that across to peel up the dead grass and expose the ground. Some will do an airator. Run a couple bags of seed if it seems thin or in bald spots and rake it in. Thus the need for the thatcher to remove all loose grass first. (should only need to this maybe the first 2 seasons until you get a full yard.) If you have weed problems like crabgrass or dandylions do not wait to treat them when they start to appear. I grew up in a farm community and never bought the watered down herbicides off the store shelf (expensive too). We grew up with Ron Hefty (owner of Hefty Seed Co) and always went to him to get the good stuff that was way cheap. Spray for weeds before they appear and there is stuff that won't hurt the grass or grass seed. Do this early and get setup and the only thing you have to worry about is mowing and you can tell the chemlawn guys to kiss off.
When you mow, mow a different direction or pattern each time to keep the grass standing straight and give the grass the wheels you ran over a few days ago a chance to recover. Next and most important, and takes a little bit of future temp prediction. Start your season cutting fairly low when it is cool out (1/4-1/2 deck height), this helps the seedlings catch up and good sunlight to the smaller plants. Just as things warm up you need to raise your mower deck nealry as high as it will go. 1 cutting with your deck too low and a day of high temps is all it takes to brown your lawn the rest of the season. I don't know if this is a factor eaither but we have had really nice looking laws when we used Lawnboy 2 strokes for our mowers( The old ones). Don't know if it's their lightweight magnesium decks, staggered wheels or if its the higher RMP that it spins that blade but We've had the 4 stroke Lawnboy and other 4 stroke Briggs and Snappers and nothing cuts as nice. I will never have anything else than a Lawnboy 2 stroke with the lightweight deck (preferably the old ones as pictured) (not the cheap ones you see with the junk motors for about $200 at Lewis Drug) I mean their Platinum series at $469-650 with the Tecumseh 2 stroke.

Click to expand...

I have that same mower. It is a pile of chit if you ask me.

Mower

The mower pictured is not a magnesium deck, nore is it a 2 stroke. Oh well I think most will get the idea.

I dont know if it helps at all but every spring we rake the whole yard and put down some new seed. but lately theres been a bunch of creeping charlie growin...

Waskesiudoo said:

The mower pictured is not a magnesium deck, nore is it a 2 stroke. Oh well I think most will get the idea.

Click to expand...

Sorry Here.



I think it was the old one and the M- series that had the Magnesium Deck. Can't find a pick of the any liek the old one I grew up with for many years. No self proppelled, no plastic except for the bagging attachment and mulc plate and the top of the motor cover was square. They came out with a cheap line and I think they had problems initially when the went with the Tecumseh motor. I can't remember if they made their own motor before or if it was a Kohler in the old 2 stroke. I can remember if it started to run crappy it was usually just have to do like a sled. Check and clear the filter first and then look for gunk in the carbs. I think our first one was older than I was and I think my brother still had it and used it when I was in the Army. I do remember dad would take it out in the sring and go through it and then prep it each winter like a sled.

I wonder if that is why I like the green Arctic Cats!

M-ATE said:

Just curious but why are your lawns so important to you guys? I could think of a lot of other things I would want to do than try and make my grass look green by dumping a bunch of money into fertilizers and "specialists." Plus the better your lawn is the more you have to cut the damn thing. I don't get it and want some insight.

Click to expand...

If you investigate it a lawn service is usually pretty reasonable. That is if you know what to look for. Some will charge you for a bunch of crap you dont need though.

Camden said:

I don't spend money on "specialists" because I am one

Unless you've ever had people knock on your door just to ask what you do to your lawn to make it look so nice you'll never understand why some people obsess over it like they do.

Click to expand...

Exactly....car stopped in front of my house one day, girl got out to touch the grass, looked at me and said she needed to see if it was "real".

Oh yeah...always use a LawnBoy 2 Stroke, if you can find one anymore!

BTW...I don't own the Subaru either!

I have 2 dogs and my front / side yard looks like a leopard skin every spring. So every spring I load the wheelbarrow full of new top soil( 75/25 topsoil/ manure(or composte), as its cheaper than the scotts lawnsoil), and add a small amount of it on every spot in the yard( mostly so I can spot the areas I have treated). I then follow behind it with a bag of seed from the local sod farm, and sprinkle the seed on each patch, that I hit with the new soil. After this I walk behind it all with the damn Garden Weasel( yeah as seen on TV) and hit every patch I put seed/soil on, It does a great job of mixing the seed into the new soil and into the old sod. ( am sure you could just do it with just the seed and mix it in, but I found the soil as a good marker for the spots I hit)

Have seen the spray at Wally world for Pets, but unsure how it is, asked the Vet about the pills to stop spots and got a great big hell no, can cause other problems. He suggested, tomato juice on/with food and water as often as could. THe tomato juice was said to neutralize the Pee, which caused the spots. I had no effect as it affect my dog, a GSD which have sensitive stomachs.

Yeah its a bit of work, but I like my yard too look nice. So I would rather work for it.

I never had much of a problem with the Northland seed, but cant find it here any more.