[Ally]

Hello
I am desperately needing a bit of advice. I'm quite new to gardening and to this forum. I cut my grass fairly regularly. The grass is very dried out, almost like hay, in some parts there is a balding affect. I'm just not sure whats the best thing to use to use to hydrate it and also why it is like this?
Any help is much appreciated
Cheers Ally

On Tue, 16 Aug 2005 14:07:25 +0000, Ally
wrote:

I'm just not sure whats the best thing to use to use to hydrate it

WATER!!!



Acts of creation are ordinarily reserved for gods and poets. To plant a pine, one need only own a shovel.
-- Aldo Leopold

Ally wrote:
Hello
I am desperately needing a bit of advice. I'm quite new to gardening
and to this forum. I cut my grass fairly regularly. The grass is very
dried out, almost like hay, in some parts there is a balding affect.
I'm just not sure whats the best thing to use to use to hydrate it and
also why it is like this?
Any help is much appreciated
Cheers Ally


Where do you live? What kind of grass do you have? How short do you
cut it? [Before hearing your answer, I say you are cutting it too short
-- set your mower at the highest!] water as often as your town will
permit. Fertilize 2 to 4 times per season. Use crabgrass killer 3
times in July.

Stubby wrote:
Use crabgrass killer 3 times in July.


Why not use a pre-emergent once in late June??

"Dan" wrote

Why not use a pre-emergent once in late June??

Simple: Because Stubby has stock in crabgrass killer.

Dan wrote:
Stubby wrote:
Use crabgrass killer 3 times in July.


Why not use a pre-emergent once in late June??


A pre=emergent control must be applied BEFORE the crabgrass seeds
sprout. This means March or early-April.

Later in the year you can kill the plants with crabgrass killer. This
takes about 3 applications 10-days apart. The idea is to kill the
plants before they spread seeds which will sprout in the following Spring.

So, there are two very different approachs. I use both and stay barely
ahead of the crabgrass infestations.

Stubby wrote:

A pre=emergent control must be applied BEFORE the crabgrass seeds
sprout. This means March or early-April.

Later in the year you can kill the plants with crabgrass killer. This
takes about 3 applications 10-days apart. The idea is to kill the
plants before they spread seeds which will sprout in the following
Spring.
So, there are two very different approachs. I use both and stay
barely ahead of the crabgrass infestations.

Makes sense to me. Once established, that stuff's a bear to deal with.
When does crabgrass go to seed?

Dan wrote:
Stubby wrote:


A pre=emergent control must be applied BEFORE the crabgrass seeds
sprout. This means March or early-April.

Later in the year you can kill the plants with crabgrass killer. This
takes about 3 applications 10-days apart. The idea is to kill the
plants before they spread seeds which will sprout in the following
Spring.
So, there are two very different approachs. I use both and stay
barely ahead of the crabgrass infestations.


Makes sense to me. Once established, that stuff's a bear to deal with.
When does crabgrass go to seed?


Right about now. You can expect to spend 2 or 3 years getting it under
control. Good luck.

Stubby wrote:
Dan wrote:

Makes sense to me. Once established, that stuff's a bear to deal
with. When does crabgrass go to seed?


Right about now. You can expect to spend 2 or 3 years getting it
under control. Good luck.

Wow! I had no idea that crabgrass was that difficult to deal with.
I will attack the crabgrass today with a 2 gallon sprayer of Acclaim.

Thanks for the helpful info, Stubby.

Dan

I apply a pre-emergent crabgrass control in late April here in NJ.
It's been very effective. I usually have a few plants that emerge
anyway, but never any serious problem. If anyone is having problems, I
would check to make sure you're applying it correctly. You need to use
the correct amount and it needs to be applied just before temps get
high enough for germination. Best guide is when forsythias are
blooming, that's the time to apply it. Too late, it won't work because
they are already germinating. Too early, it will have diminished in
effectiveness long before it's needed. I see people applying it here
in March. No wonder it doesn't work!

Using sustainable techniques, least toxic solutions and organic
fertilizers crabgrass CAN be controlled much quicker. The only
crabgrass I have on the 5 acres of lawn I manage is in the area where
I have continued to not regularly top dress with quality compost after
aeration, and continue to use chemical fertilizers at "industry
standard" rates. Go to attra.org and download sustainable turf
documents....



On Wed, 17 Aug 2005 13:42:16 GMT, "Dan"
wrote:

Stubby wrote:
Dan wrote:

Makes sense to me. Once established, that stuff's a bear to deal
with. When does crabgrass go to seed?


Right about now. You can expect to spend 2 or 3 years getting it
under control. Good luck.

Wow! I had no idea that crabgrass was that difficult to deal with.
I will attack the crabgrass today with a 2 gallon sprayer of Acclaim.

Thanks for the helpful info, Stubby.

Dan




Acts of creation are ordinarily reserved for gods and poets. To plant a pine, one need only own a shovel.
-- Aldo Leopold

"Using sustainable techniques, least toxic solutions and organic
fertilizers crabgrass CAN be controlled much quicker. The only
crabgrass I have on the 5 acres of lawn I manage is in the area where
I have continued to not regularly top dress with quality compost after
aeration, and continue to use chemical fertilizers at "industry
standard" rates. Go to attra.org and download sustainable turf
documents.... "

Yes, I did go look at it. To control crabgrass, they have two basic
approaches. One is to cultivate a healthy lawn to begin with through
practices like mowing at the correct height, etc. I agree with that.
It will certainly help eliminate crabgrass and most other weeds. But
in most cases, it's not going to be enough.

The other is to use alternative treatments as pre-emergent control or
weed killer. They suggest corn gluten meal at a rate of 40-65lbs per
1000 sq ft. And they acknowledge it will cost about $1.50/lb. That
means to treat my 10,000 sq ft lawn, I need about 500 lbs at a cost of
$750 per application. Real practical! Then they suggest vinegar as a
herbicide, but quickly point out that is expensive as well. Given
those choices, a bag of conventional pre-emergent applied once in the
spring. followed by spot treating any plants with Aclaim if necessary,
looks like a very sound and reasonable practice.

On 18 Aug 2005 06:06:32 -0700, wrote:

Given
those choices, a bag of conventional pre-emergent applied once in the
spring. followed by spot treating any plants with Aclaim if necessary,
looks like a very sound and reasonable practice.
Thanks for reading, however for some of use the hidden costs of
herbicides are excessive...



Acts of creation are ordinarily reserved for gods and poets. To plant a pine, one need only own a shovel.
-- Aldo Leopold

How about dihydrogen monoxide?

Look at www.dhmo.org to learn more about this highly toxic product that does
a good job hydrating lawns. But be very careful, and use gloves and
respirator when applying DHMO.

--

Christopher A. Young
Do good work.
It's longer in the short run
but shorter in the long run.
..
..


"Ally" wrote in message
...

Hello
I am desperately needing a bit of advice. I'm quite new to gardening
and to this forum. I cut my grass fairly regularly. The grass is very
dried out, almost like hay, in some parts there is a balding affect.
I'm just not sure whats the best thing to use to use to hydrate it and
also why it is like this?
Any help is much appreciated
Cheers Ally


--
Ally

Won't work. Needs DHMO.

--

Christopher A. Young
Do good work.
It's longer in the short run
but shorter in the long run.
..
..


"Tom Jaszewski" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 16 Aug 2005 14:07:25 +0000, Ally
wrote:

I'm just not sure whats the best thing to use to use to hydrate it

WATER!!!



Acts of creation are ordinarily reserved for gods and poets. To plant a
pine, one need only own a shovel.
-- Aldo Leopold