The BCM Lawn Thread

[jbiscuit]

Good discussion before bout lawn care so figured it was a good time to start another one now that we are in a heck of a drought. Discuss what you are doing with your lawn

Applied third application of milorgonite last week
Been watering nightly on the timer. Started at 1hr front, both side yards and backyard. I have two outside spiggots with a timer and each with a Y on them to run 4 hose runs in total: 400ft of hose (8 50ft sections, 8 spike sprinklers)
Upped it to 1.5hr Thurs night to try and saturate the soil some as I was starting to get some cracking
Grass is starting to green back up now

Any of you guys watering? Describe what you are doing. Have you put down any sort of fertilizers? My neighbor JUST got a Chem Lawn treatment Thursday and his lawn is starting to turn really brown. Burning the grass for sure so I would really be careful if any of you are thinking about putting down any turf builder or Weed n Feed type products...tho I wouldn't even bother with those as I havent seen a dandelion in weeks

[Korndogg]

I'm going to go pick up a couple sprinklers tomorrow. My grass is starting to get pretty brown. Everything I ever saw about watering grass says to water in the early morning and not at night because if you water at night, it can cause fungus growth. And you need to have enough time for the water to dry off the grass before the afternoon sun because the droplets act as a magnifier and burn the grass. I was told water at the latest 7am-9am

[JC70SS]

no fertilizer this time of year. Burn out. Lawn is way to big for watering pray for severe thunderstorms!

[wikked]

Everything I ever saw about watering grass says to water in the early morning and not at night because if you water at night, it can cause fungus growth.

ding ding ding

[nismodave]

Doing nothing.....I live in a condo.

[badass88gt]

No watering here anymore, I have city water so it will rack up a bill fast. I just last night went to Menard's and bought everything to drive a point in the back yard and use the well for watering.

I'm hoping to overseed during the week of July 4, our plant is shut down so its a vacation week. My backyard has had no water so it's brown, Ive been watering during the week but not alot because of the cost, it's fairly green but it's not very good grass. I put down Milorganite about 3 weeks ago I think but the lack of water seems to prevent me from seeing much for results. Its a work in progress...

[Reverend Cooper]

doing nothing have lawn care maintenance technicians

[jbiscuit]

Fungal growth is only a concern when the ground STAYS moist for a period of time. Its been so hot/dry that watering morning or night will be beneficial

[michelle]

Anything "lawn" related to help rid my yard of those stupid ground wasps? They are freakin' aggressive little guys!

[Korndogg]

Here is my fantastic grass as of today. (Don't mind the big patch of nothing in the middle. The old owners had something there and I'm putting a fire pit there.)

[UnderPSI]

I let my back yard grow. Then neighbor came to cut it for hay. They are going to bail it tomorrow lol

[jbiscuit]

Mark you need to use some weed control product on the lawn but not right now. WAY too dry to apply anything aggressive on it. Your lawn will green up, the weeds will disappear and will look great! Start using Milorgonite on the lawn also if u really want a nice yard!

[Korndogg]

Yeah I'll get to it at some point. I was going to go this week and pick some stuff up. I've been busy doing other stuff to the house and the yard is kind of on the back burner until I get some stuff done. I did get my garden planted though.

What do you use for weed control and how much milorganite do you put down?

Remember I have two dogs also so I need the stuff to be somewhat safe.

[michelle]

This is my "backyard" grass cutter. The 72" deck makes it go by much faster now.

[jbiscuit]

Yeah I'll get to it at some point. I was going to go this week and pick some stuff up. I've been busy doing other stuff to the house and the yard is kind of on the back burner until I get some stuff done. I did get my garden planted though.

What do you use for weed control and how much milorganite do you put down?

Remember I have two dogs also so I need the stuff to be somewhat safe.

For weed control, I use the Scotts Turf Builder +2 Weed Control...but that stuff will burn like crazy right now. And I would think this could be an issue with the dogs as well. You would have to read the back of the bag to see what they say about it. You can also do your lawn in phases: Put the Weed Control down on the front and let the dogs use the back yard. Then after a week or two and some rain/watering, put the product down in the back and let your dogs use the front yard etc. Weed control products is the only thing that will stop or eliminate the weeds. You might want to read up on the Milorgonite also to make sure the dogs won't try to eat it. As far as Milorgonite quantity, you have a city lot so I would think you could start with two bags as a rough estimate as to what you'll use (1 bag front 1 bag backyard). You might not even go through than much but its cheap ($5.99-7.99/bag). Use the setting recommendation on the back of the bag for sure....if not put it down a bit heavier than that. On the golf course I used to work at, around the greens and in the fairways we would put it down so heavy followed by a three day mega soak watering. I would think this would work great to green up your lawn also. Mega soak: 2hr morning watering followed by late afternoon (after 6-7pm) 2 hr soaking.

[wrath]

Maybe you guys are cutting your grass too short for the species? Or cutting it with dull blades? When it's dry, depending on the type of grass, it should start to brown then go dormant. It's at this point that the grass is sensitive to foot or vehicle traffic. If you drive on it like this, the grass will die. If the grass is torn instead of cut it doesn't recover as well either.

Anybody ever use paenibacillus popilliae (aka milky spore) this late in the year? I've had a population explosion of moles.

[badass88gt]

Just FYI, the Milorganite covers approx. 2500 sq. ft. with a 36# bag. Just to help figure it out...

[badass88gt]

How often are you guys using Milorganite? I just did it a few days before Memorial Weekend, I'm hoping to overseed in about 3 weeks. Should I wait until after seeding to apply Milorganite again or do it before?

Keep in mind, I think the biggest thing hurting me at this point is lack of water.

[animal]

Quick one... my grass is brown, crunchy, and shitty now because its summer. if I want it to be nice and green for a party, how many days in advance should I turn the sprinklers on daily so as to have it nice, soft, and green, but not waste water for x days? I just don't know how long it takes to bounce back...

[badass88gt]

Not sure if there's really a decent answer for that. In general you want an inch of water every week, but you don't want to overdo it either. At this point, if it's like mine, I would do 2 hours every morning a week before, if you don't get rain. Then again I may be way off. Sprinkler design will vary also, affecting the amount of water output.