Yard Care for Dummies

[wxman1]

Speaking of mushrooms...I had a couple pop up next to the stump of a big old tree we cut down last year. The day that I noticed them I mowed but they were too short and were not cut. The next morning I noticed that they were shriveling up and within a day they were gone completely. Again I am not a smart man but that was weird.

 

[jdcyclone19]

Anyone else having trouble with crabgrass the last 2 weeks? I used dimension this spring as preemergent but and having to go around with a Quinclorac Herbicide.

 

[SayMyName]

what is OM?

Oganic Matter. Mushrooms and other fungi are often found from decaying cellulose such as old woody material in contact with soil.

 

[khardbored]

Oganic Matter. Mushrooms and other fungi are often found from decaying cellulose such as old woody material in contact with soil.

Would Milorganite (plus lots of rain) cause that?

 

[nocsious3]

Mushrooms are generally a good sign that you have healthy soil conditions or a dead tree under the soil. Adding milorganite or any other source of organic matter should improve the soil ecosystem.

As far as crabgrass popping up, this is the time of year when Dimension starts to fade especially where you got uneven coverage at places like driveway edges. You can apply another round now if you like but I'd prefer it be a formulation without nitrogen and I wouldn't do it if you intend to seed in the Fall.

Barricade (prodiamine) has a longer life in the soil so you might want to try that next year instead of Dimension.

Quinclorac is really your only selective post-emergent option for crabgrass that's readily available. It's not super effective on crabgrass once it gets past the 3 tiller stage. You can boost it's effect by mixing it with methylated seed oil and it would be my recommendation to get some of that off of amazon. Quinclorac is pretty good at getting rid of clover and you can mix it with 2,4-D to get a darn good weed killer. Quinclorac goes by the trade name Drive.

They pulled MSMA from the homeowner like 8 years ago and that stuff was great for crabgrass and was the only selective I know of that got rid of Dallis grass.

 

[HardcoreClone]

Is the bright stuff crabgrass, or what is it? Just popped up about 2 weeks ago, mainly just on the right of way area by street. Looks like I'm also starting to get clover.

***edit, couldn't get the photo to load. It's a bright lime green color. Kind of looks similar to grass, long soft blades, but a bit bigger/wider blades. Looks like it's kind of growing from clumps in the soil too.

Any recs to get rid of it? Full disclosure, I didn't do any pre-emergent (or any lawn application) so far this year. Partly to save $ from lawn service, and also because I had various parts of the yard I was trying to grow new seed.

Aside from this probelm area, any general summer application I should put down to keep the lawn healthy, free, and relatively weed-free? Thanks!

 

[nocsious3]

Is the bright stuff crabgrass, or what is it? Just popped up about 2 weeks ago, mainly just on the right of way area by street. Looks like I'm also starting to get clover.

***edit, couldn't get the photo to load. It's a bright lime green color. Kind of looks similar to grass, long soft blades, but a bit bigger/wider blades. Looks like it's kind of growing from clumps in the soil too.

Any recs to get rid of it? Full disclosure, I didn't do any pre-emergent (or any lawn application) so far this year. Partly to save $ from lawn service, and also because I had various parts of the yard I was trying to grow new seed.

Aside from this probelm area, any general summer application I should put down to keep the lawn healthy, free, and relatively weed-free? Thanks!

If you pull it out of the ground is the stem a bit triangle shaped? Does it grow faster and taller then your lawn? I'm guessing you have nutgrass. Google that and see if it's a good match. If it's nutgrass (aka nutsedge) you can find a nutsedge killer at big box store or hardware store. Premixed it will be sulfentrazone and ortho makes a hose end sprayer version, or alternatively you can buy a little packet of halosufuron that you mix in your little 1 gallon sprayer. Sulfentrazone works faster so I prefer that.

As far as doing anything to your lawn right now, there is not much to do until Fall really. You can spray weeds if they are actively growing and not on a blazing hot day with stressed turf. If you are watering or have irrigation, you can throw down milorganite fertilizer if you like, but it's not a good idea to put down synthetic fertilizer right now. Now is a good time to put down a preventative grub treatment.

You can put down a summer dose of crabgrass prevent like dimension but you'll need to find a version with no nitrogen fertilizer added. Preen makes one but it can be difficult to find crabgrass pre-emergent without fertilizer at the big box or hardware stores. Only do this if you don't intend to do more seeding in the Fall.

 

[HardcoreClone]

If you pull it out of the ground is the stem a bit triangle shaped? Does it grow faster and taller then your lawn? I'm guessing you have nutgrass. Google that and see if it's a good match. If it's nutgrass (aka nutsedge) you can find a nutsedge killer at big box store or hardware store. Premixed it will be sulfentrazone and ortho makes a hose end sprayer version, or alternatively you can buy a little packet of halosufuron that you mix in your little 1 gallon sprayer. Sulfentrazone works faster so I prefer that.

As far as doing anything to your lawn right now, there is not much to do until Fall really. You can spray weeds if they are actively growing and not on a blazing hot day with stressed turf. If you are watering or have irrigation, you can throw down milorganite fertilizer if you like, but it's not a good idea to put down synthetic fertilizer right now. Now is a good time to put down a preventative grub treatment.

You can put down a summer dose of crabgrass prevent like dimension but you'll need to find a version with no nitrogen fertilizer added. Preen makes one but it can be difficult to find crabgrass pre-emergent without fertilizer at the big box or hardware stores. Only do this if you don't intend to do more seeding in the Fall.

Thanks for the info. This is a photo I found online of Nutsedge, looks pretty similar to what I have.

I do intend on doing heavy seeding again this fall to finish filling in various spots, so maybe I won't do any applications until before winter.

 

[nocsious3]

Thanks for the info. This is a photo I found online of Nutsedge, looks pretty similar to what I have.

I do intend on doing heavy seeding again this fall to finish filling in various spots, so maybe I won't do any applications until before winter.

The little nuts attached to the roots of nutsedge are edible. Enjoy!

Other lawn weeds that are edible include:
Dandelion
Wood Sorrel
Thistle
Plantain
Purslane
Crabgrass seeds

 

[cmjh10]

Neighbors yard is approaching a foot tall grass....

 

[3GenClone]

Weather forecast says it is not supposed to be above the mid-70s from Monday-Friday and then get back up to the 80s on Saturday. Is 5-days enough of a window to overseed my front lawn or should I wait? I’m planning on doing another pass in September, but I would like to start seeing some green in my yard soon.

 

[cmjh10]

Planning on sprayong 24D on the yard and then reseeding. When should I start spraying and then how long before I can reseed?

 

[Chipper]

Not to add to the open questions - but does anybody get grass seed from someplace other than the box stores in the DSM area. Looking to get away from Scott's and Pennington.

Looking for KBG cultivar.

 

[Chipper]

Weather forecast says it is not supposed to be above the mid-70s from Monday-Friday and then get back up to the 80s on Saturday. Is 5-days enough of a window to overseed my front lawn or should I wait? I’m planning on doing another pass in September, but I would like to start seeing some green in my yard soon.

Probably depends on the tolerance of seed you're throwing down. Soil temperature probably still a bit too high - but if your'e set on doing 2 passes you'll probably want to go now with the first.

 

[JP4CY]

Not to add to the open questions - but does anybody get grass seed from someplace other than the box stores in the DSM area. Looking to get away from Scott's and Pennington.

Looking for KBG cultivar.

Call Brekkes in Ames.

 

[Chipper]

Planning on sprayong 24D on the yard and then reseeding. When should I start spraying and then how long before I can reseed?

Probably spray now if dead-set on spraying. Then you're pushing it at 3 weeks to overseed.

But I think you're pushing first frost deadline as it is...

 

[Jacktronic]

Crabgrass from the neighbor has taken over half my front lawn. Would a topical post emergent now work and allow for seeding this fall or do I need to manually remove?

 

[nocsious3]

Weather forecast says it is not supposed to be above the mid-70s from Monday-Friday and then get back up to the 80s on Saturday. Is 5-days enough of a window to overseed my front lawn or should I wait? I’m planning on doing another pass in September, but I would like to start seeing some green in my yard soon.

Under ideal conditions you can see fescue germinate in about 5 days. You can seed now if you want, but be diligent with the watering after germination. Ideally you would water lightly like 3 times a day to get the new seed damp but not soaking in water. After germination you cut back the number of times per day to 1 or 2, but instead of just getting the grass barely wet actually water the new seedlings. Make sure you have good seed to soil contact and I have much better luck when I lightly dust the new seed with peat moss.

 

[nocsious3]

Crabgrass from the neighbor has taken over half my front lawn. Would a topical post emergent now work and allow for seeding this fall or do I need to manually remove?

A herbicide with active ingredient quinclorac would be your best bet. I'd spray now, but realize you may need multiple applications spread over 2+ weeks. Crabgrass will naturally die back as it gets cooler. It germinates yearly from seed and doesn't survive the Winter.

 

[nocsious3]

Planning on sprayong 24D on the yard and then reseeding. When should I start spraying and then how long before I can reseed?

Spray now. Look at the label but I've had no issues seeding 2 weeks after a 2,4-D application. September is the ideal time to seed so your timing is perfect.