Lawn experts, questions about hard soil

[wickedblkgt]

don't let the lawn get too long and mulch it. Too much grass clippings will burn and kill the live grass.

[lincolnboy]

don't let the lawn get too long and mulch it. Too much grass clippings will burn and kill the live grass.

if this true, then my theory might be right as to why my grass has some dead spot. i mowed slower this last time juat to be sure i did not leave any big clipping klups.

[Goku025]

Thanks for sharing Goku, this is exactly the route I think I'll go. Did you have to do anything with the existing grass, or did tilling pretty much kill it? I have concerns of having the different types of grass growing/looking funny. Have you had any issues getting the sod to take this time of year?

I got the sprinklers fixed, and regular watering has the soil a little softer to walk on, but it's still really uneven. Hopefully that will make tilling a tad easier.

Tilling destroyed the existing grass that was there. The only thing I wish I would have done was put some sort of weed killer down and waited a little bit before laying the sod. It isnt bad, but im seeing some weeds poke out here and there around the lawn.
I just have to go out and pull them which isn't so bad because the soil is so moist the weeds just slide right out. Plus the bermuda when fully established will choke out most of the weeds by itself.
So far I have mowed 2 times. When I first planted my sod some spots were growing faster than other spots, especially the pieces that were not directly in the sun. The first mow was on the 4th setting of my lawn mower which was 2 inches just to kind of even everything out and for my second mow which was this past Saturday, I dropped it to 1 and 1/2 inches and it looks awesome. I think the starter ferlizer is working as my grass is starting to turn the blueish green color that celebration bermuda is suppose to look like.

I have had zero issues with this grass taking. Even the sod behind the tree in the corner and around the corner of the house where there is no sun, took.

The grass farm that I ordered my stuff from said that if you plant during the summer months, the sun is obviously going to be harsher on the grass and just to make sure you stay on top of your watering schedule. This summer weather though has not been as bad as previous ones so I am lucky on that.

The funny and the most annoying thing is, my neighbor's lawns are nothing but weeds behind me and on the other side of me, so when I started my watering it has been feeding their weeds and is like a jungle because they are so lazy they wont cut their grass but its only by the sides of the fence.


The first 3 days I watered 6:30am, 11:00am and 5PM each for about 10 minutes a section.

Then i broke it down to watering 3 times a day 6:30am 11:00am and 5PM each for about 5-6 minutes a section for 2 weeks.

Now I am doing it once a day at 7:00am for about 10 minutes per section.

Updated picture about 3 and 1/2 weeks into laying the sod. My next honey do is to level the stone for my wife's planters so she can have her little garden areas.

[BlackGT]

Thats a lot of watering, but the end result looks great. I have a pretty big yard with 13 zones on my sprinkler system. If I watered that much I couldn't afford the bill. I'll just have to deal with my halfway dry grass...

If I watered every day for 10 minutes per zone, would be a little over 15hours of watering. We're talking like 40,000+ gallons of water per month...

[fordracing19]

I have 11 zones but I'm on well water. Mine was layed in the summer and they set it to water a ton. It stayed soggy for a month.

[Captain Crawfish]

and don't cut your grass to short I cut mine on the 4th setting

This really helps hold moisture. Scalp it and it will burn up

[Chas_svo]

Thats a lot of watering, but the end result looks great. I have a pretty big yard with 13 zones on my sprinkler system. If I watered that much I couldn't afford the bill. I'll just have to deal with my halfway dry grass...

If I watered every day for 10 minutes per zone, would be a little over 15hours of watering. We're talking like 40,000+ gallons of water per month...

Either you typo'd something, or your math is bad. My 19 zones run 20 minutes/zone = 6hrs and 20 minutes. I have never calculated the gals, because there are too many different heads in the mix.

[zemog]

ok, just to clarify, just because you cut your lawn on a high setting does not mean you still cant scalp it, when you let the grass get too long, no matter how it gets there you can scalp it, greens cut at 1/8" allowed to grow to 3/16" then cut at an 1/8 will scalp. Cut your lawn according to how you maintain it, the never cut more than 1/3 of the blade rule is pretty good. I have stated many times a lawn cut at 2" (which is setting 3front and 3 rear on commercial mowers) and cut properly will make the most dense lawn you will ever see (and the sun will not get to the soil) the sun drying out the soil is what causes wilting not the height of the grass. and before anyone says the roots will be longer with longer grass I have greens mowed at 1/8" with roots in excess of 3 inches. proper fertilization and watering goes a long long way

[wickedblkgt]

ok, just to clarify, just because you cut your lawn on a high setting does not mean you still cant scalp it, when you let the grass get too long, no matter how it gets there you can scalp it, greens cut at 1/8" allowed to grow to 3/16" then cut at an 1/8 will scalp. Cut your lawn according to how you maintain it, the never cut more than 1/3 of the blade rule is pretty good. I have stated many times a lawn cut at 2" (which is setting 3front and 3 rear on commercial mowers) and cut properly will make the most dense lawn you will ever see (and the sun will not get to the soil) the sun drying out the soil is what causes wilting not the height of the grass. and before anyone says the roots will be longer with longer grass I have greens mowed at 1/8" with roots in excess of 3 inches. proper fertilization and watering goes a long long way

True, but for greens your talking about a complete different type of grass. Experts say that St Augustine should be cut at 3inches. I raised my mower up on all my properties, and I noticed a big difference in healthiness.

[BlackGT]

Either you typo'd something, or your math is bad. My 19 zones run 20 minutes/zone = 6hrs and 20 minutes. I have never calculated the gals, because there are too many different heads in the mix.

At 13min per zone, 2 days per week = 5.6 hours per week x 4 weeks = 22.53hours per month. my bill was for 28,000 gallons for the month. I know not all of that was sprinkler usage, but the vast majority was.

If I watered 10 minutes per zone = 2.166hours per day x 7 days = 15.166 hours per week. That = 60.66 hours per month. Virtually tripling my usage, so my estimation of 40,000 gallons is actually very low. Would be more like 70,000 gal.

This is purely based off prior consumption and verifying there are no leaks and everything is operating as it should.

[zemog]

True, but for greens your talking about a complete different type of grass. Experts say that St Augustine should be cut at 3inches. I raised my mower up on all my properties, and I noticed a big difference in healthiness.

We mow around 12acres worth of st Augustine lawns all mowed at 2", when it grows to much I will raise it to 2 1/4 . I scalp all lawns down in spring and raise throughout the year.

My point was it's not how high grass is cut that prevents/helps grass from drying out, it's turf thickness covering the soil. We scalp down lawns for two reasons, one is to open up the turf for sun to warm soil quicker, two is it removes much of the thatch from the prior year. This also helps products work better if you use granular products by getting to the soil easier, a lot of the complaints I here are lack of weed control, if the product can't reach the soil to make the barrier it will not work.

[Big A]

I've been heeding yall's advice, and may not have to "rip and replace" the back yard after all. Now that the sprinklers are working properly and often, the soil is much softer to walk on. I've also raised the mower, and things are getting greener by the week.

At this point I think I'll focus on filling in the few dead spots that the previous owners were so kind to leave behind, most likely due to the malfunctioning sprinklers that they didn't want to pay to have fixed. There's no rush, so I'll start with seed and fertilizer, and step up to sod in a few months if the seed's not filling in good enough.