Lawn care

[CloneGuy8]

I know there's another lawn care thread out there, but I don't want to hijack that one. This is the 2nd Spring at our house. Last year I didn't put anything down and our lawn looked like ****. This year I don't want that to happen again. I want to put organic lawn fertilizer down since it's supposed to be safe for my dog. Will applying something (thinking of this https://www.planetnatural.com/product/super-natural-lawn-fertilizer/) be enough to keep my lawn looking nice? I'm a newb at this stuff.

Also, is it worth it to just hire a local company like A+ to do this if I don't really know what the **** I'm doing?

 

[nocsious3]

You can find milorganite at wal-mart and home depot. It's only 4-5% Nitrogen by weight so you'll need to use a lot of it to get the desired results. Ringer is also another option and can sometimes be found at the big box hardware stores. Both products have an odor to them but it goes away in a day or two.

 

[nocsious3]

As far as safety for pets and kids, it's not really the fertilizer where you could have reasonable concerns. It's the other stuff like herbicide, insecticide, and in some cases fungicide where I think caution is reasonable and understand why people want to go with natural solutions. Pretty much all the crabgrass preventer is highly toxic to fish for instance.

On the other hand the products are highly tested before being made available to the general public these days, so the risks are probably very small. That said, there are other benefits from an organic lawn program including healthier soils with better microbe composition. A healthy soil microbial community can help naturally defend turf from disease.

 

[clone34]

nothing wrong with organics but they are not slow release. Non organic fertilizers will usually last a couple months. So plan on applying milorganite at least once a month. The major organic crabgrass and some weed preventor (corn gluten meal) was developed at ISU also will need multiple applications. I am not familiar with a good organic weed killer. Best bet for broad leaf weeds is Weed Free Zone a ferti lome product or weed out plus. Spray in the morning keep kids and dogs off it for a day and it will be fine. Like others have said new chemicals are very safe. I feel that ferti lome is a superior product to anything the box stores sell. The stuff at menards is worthless.

 

[capitalcityguy]

Is your dog hard on the yard? Fertilizer can only do so much.

 

[wxman1]

Is your dog hard on the yard? Fertilizer can only do so much.

This is our issue. Two golden retrievers one of which is very much still a puppy that runs and plays. Add onto it that we live on a hill and that section is a mess right now. Most of my effort is trying/hoping that those areas come back ASAP.

 

[theantiAIRBHG]

You can find milorganite at wal-mart and home depot. It's only 4-5% Nitrogen by weight so you'll need to use a lot of it to get the desired results. Ringer is also another option and can sometimes be found at the big box hardware stores. Both products have an odor to them but it goes away in a day or two.

I may be an odd duck, but I find the odor of milorganite intoxicating.

 

[BCClone]

I may be an odd duck, but I find the odor of milorganite intoxicating.

We know, reminds you of Kinnick. What hawk fans tell me about my hog building.

 

[CloneFan03]

I have issues with the dogs too. Lots of urine spots. I've had good luck using organic products over regular products like Scott's as that seems to compound the urine spot problem. I really like Turf Pro. Put down once a month and have green grass all summer!

 

[CYdTracked]

I've always managed my own lawn care ever since I bought my first home in 2004 but caved in and used A+ the last 2 years after trying to bring the lawn of the next home we purchased up to my standards with no luck doing it myself the first year we owned it. They did an awesome job, neighbors who have lived there since the house was built said it looks better than it ever had. Didn't renew this year because my plan all along was to get the lawn looking nice then maintain it myself again but if I ever need a lawn service again I would make A+ my first call.

I would say if you don't want to spend years trying to figure out your lawn problems hire a lawn service for 1 or 2 years to fix the issues you have then try to do it yourself again. Glad I went that route, gone are all the weeds I had a hard time killing myself and the sod has a nice thick and consistent cover now so hope now I can just fertilize and spot spray weeds going forward.

 

[CloneGuy8]

I've always managed my own lawn care ever since I bought my first home in 2004 but caved in and used A+ the last 2 years after trying to bring the lawn of the next home we purchased up to my standards with no luck doing it myself the first year we owned it. They did an awesome job, neighbors who have lived there since the house was built said it looks better than it ever had. Didn't renew this year because my plan all along was to get the lawn looking nice then maintain it myself again but if I ever need a lawn service again I would make A+ my first call.

I would say if you don't want to spend years trying to figure out your lawn problems hire a lawn service for 1 or 2 years to fix the issues you have then try to do it yourself again. Glad I went that route, gone are all the weeds I had a hard time killing myself and the sod has a nice thick and consistent cover now so hope now I can just fertilize and spot spray weeds going forward.

How much does A+ charge to fertilize your lawn?

 

[CloneGuy8]

Is your dog hard on the yard? Fertilizer can only do so much.

Other than a couple of brown spots from urine, not that bad.

 

[wxman1]

I have issues with the dogs too. Lots of urine spots. I've had good luck using organic products over regular products like Scott's as that seems to compound the urine spot problem. I really like Turf Pro. Put down once a month and have green grass all summer!

Thankfully we don't have the urine spot problem. Just getting torn up from running and playing. My wife started raking up dead grass and leaves on Friday so I will probably continue that this week and next weekend if it hopefully dries out and go from there with applications.

 

[CYdTracked]

How much does A+ charge to fertilize your lawn?

I'd have to go back and look but I believe it's based on the size of your yard and what kind and number of treatments and services you want and is cheaper if you prepay the whole year in advance. I think mine was somewhere around $60 a treatment give or take a few bucks for a .27 acre lot. I also did a fall areation and grub treatment too. I do know they were cheaper than TruGreen as I got quotes from both.

 

[isu22andy]

Sprayed some grazon on my lawn , went from a below average Lawn to a weedfree one all in one treatment the rest of the year . Keep away from bushes and trees . Only farm people will get this haha .

 

[CYdTracked]

Sprayed some grazon on my lawn , went from a below average Lawn to a weedfree one all in one treatment the rest of the year . Keep away from bushes and trees . Only farm people will get this haha .

Ha! I know what you mean... I actually use 2-4-D on my yard and for spot spraying. We use it on the farm for wee control in our pastures. Have to go to a farm supply store to buy it obviously because your Lowes, Home Depot, etc. don't carry it. Well I figured when 2-4-D wasn't doing a good enough job killing some weeds I had never seen before in my yard that is why I just caved in and used a lawn service so I wouldn't mess things up plus just didn't have the time with a new child at the time. The last yard I had before my current one was in a well-established Beaverdale neighborhood and my yard was just over run with wild violets and clover that your average weed killers like Ortho did little to get rid of it. Well one of the days I sprayed with 2-4-D it was calm then not too long after I had sprayed the breeze picked up and kept getting stronger throughout the afternoon and I could smell it in the house. You know exactly where I am going with this probably... I paid close attention the next couple days to my plants and neighbors plants as I was worried about possible drift but fortunately must had not had enough vapors in the air from the spraying to do any harm.

 

[Dandy]

Sprayed some grazon on my lawn , went from a below average Lawn to a weedfree one all in one treatment the rest of the year . Keep away from bushes and trees . Only farm people will get this haha .

Come do mine. Plant some grass where the dog killed it too.

 

[isu22andy]

Ha! I know what you mean... I actually use 2-4-D on my yard and for spot spraying. We use it on the farm for wee control in our pastures. Have to go to a farm supply store to buy it obviously because your Lowes, Home Depot, etc. don't carry it. Well I figured when 2-4-D wasn't doing a good enough job killing some weeds I had never seen before in my yard that is why I just caved in and used a lawn service so I wouldn't mess things up plus just didn't have the time with a new child at the time. The last yard I had before my current one was in a well-established Beaverdale neighborhood and my yard was just over run with wild violets and clover that your average weed killers like Ortho did little to get rid of it. Well one of the days I sprayed with 2-4-D it was calm then not too long after I had sprayed the breeze picked up and kept getting stronger throughout the afternoon and I could smell it in the house. You know exactly where I am going with this probably... I paid close attention the next couple days to my plants and neighbors plants as I was worried about possible drift but fortunately must had not had enough vapors in the air from the spraying to do any harm.

Grazon is 2-4D plus basically Tordon (Tree and brush killer) from what Ive been told. Its got a crazy enough residual if you spray it on your pasture then cows eat it and **** it in your bean field next year your crops wont grow where they **** - I have not seen this personally .

 

[BCClone]

Ha! I know what you mean... I actually use 2-4-D on my yard and for spot spraying. We use it on the farm for wee control in our pastures. Have to go to a farm supply store to buy it obviously because your Lowes, Home Depot, etc. don't carry it. Well I figured when 2-4-D wasn't doing a good enough job killing some weeds I had never seen before in my yard that is why I just caved in and used a lawn service so I wouldn't mess things up plus just didn't have the time with a new child at the time. The last yard I had before my current one was in a well-established Beaverdale neighborhood and my yard was just over run with wild violets and clover that your average weed killers like Ortho did little to get rid of it. Well one of the days I sprayed with 2-4-D it was calm then not too long after I had sprayed the breeze picked up and kept getting stronger throughout the afternoon and I could smell it in the house. You know exactly where I am going with this probably... I paid close attention the next couple days to my plants and neighbors plants as I was worried about possible drift but fortunately must had not had enough vapors in the air from the spraying to do any harm.

Throw some banvel in with it. That's what trimec basically is.

 

[cycloner29]

Throw some banvel in with it. That's what trimec basically is.

Make sure you spray when it is warm and humid with no wind!! If your neighbors have any plants or flowers in the area when you spray, you will get along great together after a few days!!