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Post by thebmill on Apr 18, 2016 20:05:20 GMT -5
I'm a new home owner taking on a lawn for the first time. It's a pretty small lawn. And I'm in California. Zip Code: 90041 Anyways, there's a few problem areas in the lawn that I would love advice on. I broke it down into 3 parts and then at the bottom came up with a solution. But, I have no idea if I'm way off. I'd like to do this all organically. 1.) While most of the lawn is at a certain height right now, there are new "super strong" grass popping up all around. They look like this and are thicker and harder to cut than the grass around it. Is this a weed? I have a feeling when I go to cut this with my manual reel mower that I might have some trouble getting them to cut. 2.) There are some light brown patches and some areas where no grass is growing: 3.) And last but not least, these types of weeds or crab grass? Thankfully not a lot of these. SOLUTION? Here's the plan I came up with: 1. Use the Manual Reel Mower to cut the Lawn. 2. If those big weed looking things are trouble, use the ol electric weed-whacker. 3. Use a Weeder to get all the dandelion type weeds out of the lawn. 4. Use an aerator on the whole lawn. 5. Use "lawn restore" from Ringer. (Side question: do I need to purchase a spreader or something for this? We don't have a ton of room in the garage, so if we do it has to be small/portable.) 6. I believe "lawn restore" requires a 3 day process of watering, etc. 7. Once that process is done, go and spot treat any problem areas (crabgrass and other weeds) with this Crabgrass Killer. 8. From there I guess I would repeat this 4 times a year for each season?
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Post by desertwoman on Apr 18, 2016 23:40:55 GMT -5
Welcome thebmill To answer your 3 parts 1. Yes that would be considered a weed. You want to be sure to cut it down before that flower goes to seed. Better yet, you could use a weeder and dig it out if there aren't a gazillion of them. how small is your lawn? (approximate square footage). 2. hard to say. Could be part of thatch build up. Could simply be die back-both the brown patches and the bare patches. You are in So-California and the drought has been quite strong there. Have you considered the possibility of re-vamping your landscape to native/drought tolerant plantings? I know it seems counter intuitive, but I live on a high desert plateau with drought conditions and the first thing I did when I moved into the last house we lived in was to stop watering the existing water-hungry lawn, killed it off, and then replanted with natives. It's green and lush and requires little water Then here at our current home I planted native grasses. What you see there in the back ground is Blue Gramma Grass (I also plant buffalo grass in some areas) 3. I don't recognize that plant. All the things you listed in your plan sound good and certainly are in keeping with organic practices. Native grasses, however, do not need the feedings and extra organic fertilizers. They are very low maintenance. There are also corn gluten products for 'pre-emergence'. They work by preventing the weed seeds to sprout. They're pretty effective but not 100% (in my experience). I'll leave you with this, however. There is a saying I've seen printed on T-shirts... "I Fought the Lawn and the Lawn Won." You'll never have a perfect lawn with just the grass you plan on to be there. Especially an organic lawn. We do the best we can and allow for those sneaky devils that creep in, cutting off the flowers before they go to seed. Congrats on your new home. Wishing you great success! Please drop in and let us know how it's going! Also, one of our members Lattitude33 lives in So-Cal and hopefully he'll see this post and chime in. You could also Private Message him if he doesn't respond here. P.S. Am I remembering correctly- is 90041 Eagle Rock, by chance? I grew up in 90039/ Silver Lake District
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Post by lisaann on Apr 19, 2016 19:26:52 GMT -5
Latitude33 and davidjp need a heads up here. They live in California. And Veggie Gal too. And welcome to the forum. You take nice pictures. After you are done with the grass, show us more pics! Woo Hoo! We love seeing places we never would otherwise on here. I have a yard full of dandelions in my yard at the moment. Hoping they attract some bees here in Maryland.
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Post by davidjp on Apr 19, 2016 20:58:37 GMT -5
I think that looks like crab grass to me. In the past I haven't been too worried about it, after all its a grass and its green but if it bothers you probably best to nip in the bud.
Sounds like you have some good solutions and I'm afraid I don't have any recommendations or experience that would help. I actually quite like a few weeds in the grass, purslane is one that seems quite common with me. The UC extension service has quite a nice tool for identifying weeds that might be of some use ucipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/weeds_intro.html
Do you know what type of grass you have, fescue or Bermuda. I had a Bermuda lawn that is fairly drought Tolerant but has the disadvantage that it goes dormant and brown in winter. Last year due to the drought I stopped watering my main lawn area and have just planted plugs of a drought tolerant buffalo grass hybrid that supposedly is way more water wise. It was bred in SoCal and designed for this area. We'll see how it works but heres some info about it. Its called UCverde ucverdebuffalograss.com/
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Post by desertwoman on Apr 19, 2016 21:31:08 GMT -5
David- I love my buffalo grass areas. They are extremely drought tolerant, hardy, and stand up to some foot traffic (though if kids were playing on it, it wouldn't hold up well) They definitely go dormant here from mid/late Fall to Spring . It just started to green up in the past week to 10 days You will be amazed at how fast those plugs fill in. When I have started areas, I plant plugs in June and by September they are probably 75-80% filled in. By the next year it is a lush lawn. I don't have a long view, but here is a shot near my garden shed. I like both looks of a manicured lawn and also the wild look. It gets about 6" tall with beautiful seed heads that sway in the breeze. I mow it usually 3 times a season to get both looks
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Post by davidjp on Apr 19, 2016 21:46:37 GMT -5
David- I love my buffalo grass areas. They are extremely drought tolerant, hardy, and stand up to some foot traffic (though if kids were playing on it, it wouldn't hold up well) They definitely go dormant here from mid/late Fall to Spring . It just started to green up in the past week to 10 days You will be amazed at how fast those plugs fill in. When I have started areas, I plant plugs in June and by September they are probably 75-80% filled in. By the next year it is a lush lawn. I don't have a long view, but here is a shot near my garden shed. I like both looks of a manicured lawn and also the wild look. It gets about 6" tall with beautiful seed heads that sway in the breeze. I mow it usually 3 times a season to get both looks That's great, I'm looking forward to it. My plugs have been in for about 10 days so far and are looking good and green but I don't think have started to spread out. Just bought some fertiliser to give them a boost as per instructions. Its been up to 90's here the past couple of days and supposedly they like some heat, wasn't expecting it quite this early though, thankfully back down to mid 70's by end of week. Just spent a week in Arizona and Utah showing some English types around so was glad they were doing so well on my return. I won't post any photos as yet as it looks a bit dire but maybe one day I'll assemble a before and after.
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Post by desertwoman on Apr 19, 2016 22:15:08 GMT -5
davidjp they take a while to get going. The first month is slow. But then they start to take off. As long as they are green and taking root, you're good. I've started 5 areas over the past 18 years. I start my own plugs from seed (in early March) and they go in, in June. They love heat and are considered a "warm season" grass greening up and vibrant through the warmer months. (at least, around here, where we have snow in winter) I'll be interested to hear how yours do in a warmer area. I know exactly how they look right now! Keep the before and after pics. Years from now you will marvel at the difference. (I'll look for my before and after shots.)
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Post by SpringRain🕊️ on Apr 19, 2016 23:18:54 GMT -5
One thing I notice about the 2d and 4th photos is how dissimilar is the growth pattern to grasses with which I'm familiar. I honestly don't know what kind of grass grows in my lawn, as it was there when I moved in and I've never done anything to it but mow it. But it's not tufted, which it appears the grass is in the 2d and 4th photos. It's almost as if it's growing in clumps, like weeds would, rather than grass.
I also can't help wondering if the soil doesn't have enough tilth. The 4th photo particularly shows soil that doesn't look very friable. it's almost like mud, but perhaps that's because it might have just been watered. And if it has, it appears as though some of the moisture remains on the soil as opposed to sinking in.
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Post by Latitude33 on Apr 24, 2016 22:36:03 GMT -5
thebmill,
Glendale/Eagle Rock? GroPower is a local, organic based, company that makes fertilizers, etc for lawn care and more. Promoting the health of your lawn to overcome the invasion of weeds is one option. An iron rich lawn supplement will green up the lawn without with lees active growth. Can't think of any organic, post emergent weed control, other than a trowel or shovel. DW has provided solid advice on replacing thirsty lawns that we Angelenos should take note of. Also,check out: waterwisegardening.com Just my two cents.
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Post by lilolpeapicker on Apr 26, 2016 5:28:00 GMT -5
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Post by desertwoman on Apr 26, 2016 8:47:18 GMT -5
Thank You lilolpeapicker I do too. ! It only took me 35 years to have a dedicated garden shed all my own. This is actually the well house.
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Post by davidjp on Apr 26, 2016 22:04:15 GMT -5
desertwoman So are you using a different buffalo grass than ucverde. My understanding is that UC Verde is a sterile hybrid buffalo grass and so you can't start from seed. May be wrong though. Mine are still alive and green but have yet to really spread out at all.
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Post by desertwoman on Apr 27, 2016 0:59:47 GMT -5
davidjp The short answer is yes, I grow something different then UC Verde. I have never planted the UC Verde , which is a hybrid and relatively new to the scene. I started noticing it being offered in catalogues a few years ago. I first planted buffalo grass at our orchard almost 20 years ago. And have planted at two other homes we have lived in, since then. The nurseries here sell buffalo grass seed ( buchloe dactyloides) in bulk. It is a true native grass. The plugs will take their time before spreading out. The first 4-6 weeks is really slow. It will seem like they are doing nothing. Don't lose hope. As long as they are green and vital all is good. The first thing you will notice is that the plugs are getting bigger. this was planted in mid June. You have to look really closely to see the plugs. This is mid July This is early September
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Post by davidjp on Apr 27, 2016 13:41:01 GMT -5
Here's my before photo hopefully it will look better in coming weeks, perfect temp for them at the moment i would say
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Post by desertwoman on Apr 28, 2016 21:41:03 GMT -5
Oh look at those babies! Makes me nostalgic for starting new Buf-G lawns. I've always started my own plugs so it's a process from mid-late March until they go into the ground in late May/early June
Buffalo grass is considered a warm weather grass. Here, it goes dormant for the winter and is just now starting to green up.
Take a pic once a month! it will be fun to see the progress.
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