Killing off yard and starting over.
 

My yards has been taken over by weeds. I am thinking of killing it all off
with Round-up and starting from new. What is the best way, time, etc to
start a new lawn. I live in Iowa.

Brandon Herlein wrote:

My yards has been taken over by weeds. I am thinking of killing it all off
with Round-up and starting from new. What is the best way, time, etc to
start a new lawn. I live in Iowa.


Try a selective herbicide first. Normally you can wack the weeds a
second time in a couple of weeks. Then twice more in the spring and I'll
bet you're going to have a lawn.

Peter H

What kind of herbicide do you suggest?


"Peter H" wrote in message
. cable.rogers.com...
Brandon Herlein wrote:

My yards has been taken over by weeds. I am thinking of killing it all
off
with Round-up and starting from new. What is the best way, time, etc to
start a new lawn. I live in Iowa.


Try a selective herbicide first. Normally you can wack the weeds a
second time in a couple of weeks. Then twice more in the spring and I'll
bet you're going to have a lawn.

Peter H

Brandon Herlein wrote:
What kind of herbicide do you suggest?


"Peter H" wrote in message
. cable.rogers.com...

Brandon Herlein wrote:


My yards has been taken over by weeds. I am thinking of killing it all

off

with Round-up and starting from new. What is the best way, time, etc to
start a new lawn. I live in Iowa.



Try a selective herbicide first. Normally you can wack the weeds a
second time in a couple of weeks. Then twice more in the spring and I'll
bet you're going to have a lawn.

Peter H



Any of the 3-way will do the job. Here in Ontario, Canada Killex is the
most popular. Don't use the weed-n-feed. Use the liquid.

Peter H

"Brandon Herlein" wrote in message ...
What kind of herbicide do you suggest?


"Peter H" wrote in message
. cable.rogers.com...
Brandon Herlein wrote:

My yards has been taken over by weeds. I am thinking of killing it all
off
with Round-up and starting from new. What is the best way, time, etc to
start a new lawn. I live in Iowa.


Try a selective herbicide first. Normally you can wack the weeds a
second time in a couple of weeks. Then twice more in the spring and I'll
bet you're going to have a lawn.

Peter H


Killing the lawn and starting over can be an appropriate solution,
depending on what's there now. If it's mostly weeds and undesirable
grass, that is the best solution. Undesirable grass would include
those that might be too coarse, disease prone, not drought tolerant,
etc.

Now is the time to do it. You can apply Roundup and then use a slice
seeder a week later. I'd make sure you have decent soil, 6-9 inchs,
and if not I'd recommend fixing it before reseeding. Get the best
grass seed for the application you can find. Rather than buying it at
a home center, I'd look online. I got mine from seedland.com, which
has a good selection.

Brandon Herlein wrote:
My yards has been taken over by weeds. I am thinking of killing it all off
with Round-up and starting from new. What is the best way, time, etc to
start a new lawn. I live in Iowa.

It's a great time to seed, but you'll have to move fast. Personally,
this late in the game (in Iowa -- I'm in Wisconsin), I'd go with a
remediation program. It's likely that the grass you have is just
stressed and with decent care and overseeding can recover. Ease off on
the mower height, put down some starter fertilizer, overseed, and
top-dress (topsoil, humus, mulch). Guaranteed this will help your lawn a
lot.

For full renovation, you may not want to put Roundup in the soil because
it will take a couple of weeks for it to dissipate. If you had more time
it would be OK as a first step. Till the weeds in, add peat or other
organics to the soil, overseed, topdress, water to keep moist for up to
two weeks then back off.

The weeds will come back, but not as strong, and you can do pre-emergent
and 2,4D broadleaf weedkiller applications next year to whack them once
the new grass is healthy.

Dan Hartung wrote in message ...
Brandon Herlein wrote:
My yards has been taken over by weeds. I am thinking of killing it all off
with Round-up and starting from new. What is the best way, time, etc to
start a new lawn. I live in Iowa.

It's a great time to seed, but you'll have to move fast. Personally,
this late in the game (in Iowa -- I'm in Wisconsin), I'd go with a
remediation program. It's likely that the grass you have is just
stressed and with decent care and overseeding can recover. Ease off on
the mower height, put down some starter fertilizer, overseed, and
top-dress (topsoil, humus, mulch). Guaranteed this will help your lawn a
lot.

For full renovation, you may not want to put Roundup in the soil because
it will take a couple of weeks for it to dissipate. If you had more time
it would be OK as a first step. Till the weeds in, add peat or other
organics to the soil, overseed, topdress, water to keep moist for up to
two weeks then back off.

The weeds will come back, but not as strong, and you can do pre-emergent
and 2,4D broadleaf weedkiller applications next year to whack them once
the new grass is healthy.


With Roundup you can reseed 7 days after application.