Crabgrass preventer OR seeding?

[Oscar_Lives]

Grass is thin and yard has moderate weeds. fescue/rye/bluegrass yard in
Missouri.

Should I put grass seed down now or should I put crabgrass preventer down
and try to encourage growth of the grass I have now?

[trader4@optonline.net]

"Oscar_Lives
Grass is thin and yard has moderate weeds. fescue/rye/bluegrass yard
in
Missouri. Should I put grass seed down now or should I put crabgrass
preventer down
and try to encourage growth of the grass I have now? "

You should have applied weed killer in late summer to get rid of the
weeds when they were actively growing. Then you could have overseeded
in early Fall, the optimum time. The next best time is early Spring,
though Fall is far more preferable. Putting down grass seed in
January is worthless, as seed will not germinate until soil temps are
in the 50's.

I'd get the soil tested now and apply lime as needed to adjust the PH.

[Tim Rogers]

> wrote in message
ups.com...
> "Oscar_Lives
> Grass is thin and yard has moderate weeds. fescue/rye/bluegrass yard
> in
> Missouri. Should I put grass seed down now or should I put crabgrass
> preventer down
> and try to encourage growth of the grass I have now? "
>
> You should have applied weed killer in late summer to get rid of the
> weeds when they were actively growing. Then you could have overseeded
> in early Fall, the optimum time. The next best time is early Spring,
> though Fall is far more preferable. Putting down grass seed in
> January is worthless, as seed will not germinate until soil temps are
> in the 50's.
>
> I'd get the soil tested now and apply lime as needed to adjust the PH.
>
And plan on planting seed or sodding in early Spring.
Bare soil just encourages more weed growth. Don't apply preemergent within
3 to 4 months prior to planting seed.

Tim

[KCnRichmond]

Did this myself & worked great. Unbelievably great..
Moved to a house that the previous non's did nothing in the yard except rake
the pine tags into two piles in the middle of the front and back yards. Used
pine tags elsewhere and obviously there were two deader than dead spots. Dug
up 4 or 5 spots in inconspicuous places in March and replanted my "plugs" in
the bare spots after liming about a month before. (used pulverized lime and
worked it in with a garden rake and kept wet). After applying pre-m without
n-p-k, I then went with 13-13-13 and when cutting grass, I bagged it and
kept a 3" layer of clippings in the bare spots between my plugs and the
spots from where they came from.
By late June you could not see where the pine tags had been and the grass
was all the same color. I got to stay on my fertilizing schedule and
re-seeded in the fall.
I normally use pelletized lime though, twice a year, here in central Va.s
acid belt..

[Stubby]

KCnRichmond wrote:
>....
> I normally use pelletized lime though, twice a year, here in central Va.s
> acid belt..

Check that. I'll bet you applied "Pelletized limeSTONE". It's
commonly available at big box stores. It's made from ground up
seashells and is very slow to dissolve. You really want hydrated lime
from a place that sells tile supplies. It's messy but it really is a
base, chemically.

[Steveo]

Stubby > wrote:
> KCnRichmond wrote:
> >....
> > I normally use pelletized lime though, twice a year, here in central
> > Va.s acid belt..
>
> Check that. I'll bet you applied "Pelletized limeSTONE". It's
> commonly available at big box stores. It's made from ground up
> seashells and is very slow to dissolve. You really want hydrated lime
> from a place that sells tile supplies. It's messy but it really is a
> base, chemically.
>
Should you warn him about how he can fry plant material with quick lime,
or just let him find out the hard way?

[Stubby]

Steveo wrote:
> Stubby > wrote:
>> KCnRichmond wrote:
>>> ....
>>> I normally use pelletized lime though, twice a year, here in central
>>> Va.s acid belt..
>> Check that. I'll bet you applied "Pelletized limeSTONE". It's
>> commonly available at big box stores. It's made from ground up
>> seashells and is very slow to dissolve. You really want hydrated lime
>> from a place that sells tile supplies. It's messy but it really is a
>> base, chemically.
>>
> Should you warn him about how he can fry plant material with quick lime,
> or just let him find out the hard way?
Hydrated lime will not extract the water out of anything (fry??).
Anhydrous lime will, however. That's what the murderers used to get rid
of their bodies. And it was commonly used in outhouses. Many years ago
we were making 200 proof alcohol in a high school chem lab (!) and did
the final distillation out of a lot of Calcium Oxide. It worked but a
few minutes exposed to air dropped the proof down to about 180.

[trader4@optonline.net]

Stubby wrote:
> Steveo wrote:
> > Stubby > wrote:
> >> KCnRichmond wrote:
> >>> ....
> >>> I normally use pelletized lime though, twice a year, here in central
> >>> Va.s acid belt..
> >> Check that. I'll bet you applied "Pelletized limeSTONE". It's
> >> commonly available at big box stores. It's made from ground up
> >> seashells and is very slow to dissolve. You really want hydrated lime
> >> from a place that sells tile supplies. It's messy but it really is a
> >> base, chemically.
> >>
> > Should you warn him about how he can fry plant material with quick lime,
> > or just let him find out the hard way?
> Hydrated lime will not extract the water out of anything (fry??).

Steveo is right. Hydrated lime is caustic and can easily burn a lawn.
Sure other limes are worse, but that doesn't make hydrated lime OK.
Why do you think they sell it at the tile store instead of the garden
shop?




> Anhydrous lime will, however. That's what the murderers used to get rid
> of their bodies. And it was commonly used in outhouses. Many years ago
> we were making 200 proof alcohol in a high school chem lab (!) and did
> the final distillation out of a lot of Calcium Oxide. It worked but a
> few minutes exposed to air dropped the proof down to about 180.