I need help with my yard!!! My grass just doesn't seem to be to healthy.?
I have a Bermuda Sod yard. It is an established sod yard and the sod is about 15 years old. The sod seems really thin and unhealthy unlike my neighbors yard. His seems really thick and carpet like. I have tried Tru-Green Chem Lawn and they got rid of the weeds for the most part but the grass still seems very thin. I also have dead spots around the edges of the yard and no matter what I try they don’t seem to be filling up. I took a rake and dethatched those areas that are dead but it seems to be taking forever for them to grow back. I used Scott’s Turf Builder with Summer gaurd because that seemed to help last year but it isn’t helping that much this year. We are in a pretty good drought right now but I usually water my lawn at least twice a week for an hour. I have put down fire ant killer and spectricide insect killer. I am just not sure why the grass isn’t thickening up. Please help me, any ideas anybody??
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You should concentrate on a proper diagnosis as the first step in greening up your turf…
1. Find out:
Is your top soil 3 to 4 inches deep?
What type of material is under the top soil?` (Clay- Sand)?
Take this a step further and search out "Lawn Soil Test" labs in your area… try the yellow pages or google… even consult with a local golf course who may recommend someone. Soil tests can help you decide how to amend your soil. It usually costs about 25 to 50 bucks. Locate an independent tester… someone that isn’t selling any services that is.
2. Next you can focus on amending the soil with what may be missing… the lab analysis can help you with that.
In fact- the soil may not be missing anything. In that case you can focus on care.
3. There are some basic steps that work great for lawns… many of which are not followed by a lot of folks. Firstly, mow your lawn at least 3 inches high… never water at night (if you must it is recommended you apply a granular fungicide)…
Use a premergence weed killer in the spring… before you see weeds.
Don’t over fertilize, especially if you use salt based fertilizers. And try to amend the soil with organics only rather than straight chemicals.
If your lawn has been over fertilized, which may be the case, you can simlpy use an organic based compost tea to correct the problem. Good luck!
Maybe it’s because you’re using so many chemicals on it.
how low do you mow your grass
, the roots will only be as deep and the grass is high, longer roots are better let it grow higher and you will get a healthier lawn
secondly grass is gross feeder of nitrogen so any manure will be good
try to stay away from chemical fertilizers, chicken pooh is best with a addition of blood and bone
yes it smells for a while
I rarely use any kinds of chemicals on my lawn and I have very lush green thick grass. There are many things you can try that may help somewhat. Never cut your grass too short…they say only 1/3 of the blade length. I let my grass grow a bit longer at first, set my mower to the highest level and cut it a few times a week rather than scalping it once a week. Water it early morning or late at night when its cooler and the sun is down so the water is actually absorbed by the roots rather than evaporating in the hot sun. If money/time is not a consideration, you may want to consider resodding. We had to do that here as the grass was just not growing well when we bought the house. Took off the top layer of sod, removed about 6-10" of old soil and trucked in good soil recommended by our local sod farm. Since then our grass has been wonderful. I’m not by any means a great landscaper/gardener as I can’t seem to keep my outdoor plants alive, but somehow I’ve been blessed with great grass LOL. Hope this might help