Guys

Help please. Am living in NZ having moved from the UK but hopefully you
can add some relevant advise. Grass is Grass!

I've put some images at

http://gedclink.fotopages.com/


Just moved into new house a while ago and eventually got around to
addressing the lawn areas. I. After cutting back the lawn I can now
clearly see about 40 patches of dead grass where the previous owner let

their dog ( a bitch ) pee everywhere. Around these dead patches the
grass appears to have gone mad( which I understand was due to the
nitrogen in the p acting as a mild fertiliser) and I have posted a
couple of pics.

However, it doesn't appear to be normal grass !
It's very elongated, almost wiry and grows sideways over the holes left
in
the grass.. I didn't actually see the holes initially as I wasn't
scalping the grass due to hot summers etc. Once I cut the grass back to
a short level it was very obvious that a huge part of the lawn is
infested with this " wild grass"? Long stalks that are almost woody
with broad leaves coming off higher up. At the top there was small
seeds.

When I dethatched today, it brought up stalks from 3 to 6 inches long
all over the place. It appeared large areas of the grass were made up
of
this long stemmed grass, not the nice stuff I initially thought. It
lies down flat and generally appeared to grow from the edge of old dog
p damage across the hole that was burnt into the grass.

Given the scope of the problem I was keen to hear your thoughts and
advice on wether I should kill off the grass towards the end of summer
and re-seed or will I get good results working with what I have. Some
of the photos will show the problem over a small area. This is
magnified across the whole lawn.

I am looking at Hydro turf which is seed sprayed onto the bare earth.
Its held in a solution of wood fibre and fertiliser and apparently has
a higher hit rate than normal seedin. Any thoughts on this as opposed
to normal seeding. Cost sits between normal grass seed and readylawn.

Thanks for any advice. Please ask anything you need from the photos.

wrote:
[...]
However, it doesn't appear to be normal grass !
It's very elongated, almost wiry and grows sideways over the holes
left in
the grass.. I didn't actually see the holes initially as I wasn't
scalping the grass due to hot summers etc. Once I cut the grass
back
to a short level it was very obvious that a huge part of the lawn
is
infested with this " wild grass"? Long stalks that are almost woody
with broad leaves coming off higher up. At the top there was small
seeds.

When I dethatched today, it brought up stalks from 3 to 6 inches
long
all over the place. It appeared large areas of the grass were made
up
of
this long stemmed grass, not the nice stuff I initially thought.
It
lies down flat and generally appeared to grow from the edge of old
dog
p damage across the hole that was burnt into the grass.

Given the scope of the problem I was keen to hear your thoughts and
advice on wether I should kill off the grass towards the end of
summer
and re-seed or will I get good results working with what I have.
Some
of the photos will show the problem over a small area. This is
magnified across the whole lawn.

I am looking at Hydro turf which is seed sprayed onto the bare
earth.
Its held in a solution of wood fibre and fertiliser and apparently
has
a higher hit rate than normal seedin. Any thoughts on this as
opposed
to normal seeding. Cost sits between normal grass seed and
readylawn.

Thanks for any advice. Please ask anything you need from the
photos.

G'day from across the Tasman! (Actually, I live in England now, but
same difference.)

I can't identify the species, but that looks like a native grass
which had been held in check by sown lawn species until native
conditions were restored by the bitch's contributions. Reasoning from
first principles, I suspect that it's an opportunist: if a lawn is
started from bare earth and maintained, the stuff may not normally
get a foothold; but once a bare patch appears, seeds blow in and romp
away. Once established from seed, of course it'll creep vegetatively.
I don't like the sound of those seeds you saw: if you've seen them on
the plant, you can bet there are plenty more dropped on the ground.
The sideways habit sounds nasty, too: could be mower-proof.

What I'd do is give it an experimental year. Rough up the bare
patches and sow some lawn seed. If that's doing well after six months
or so, you may be in the clear. Perhaps the stuff will blend in well
enough with the introduced kinds for you not to worry about it. If
it's awful after a growing season, you may need to get rough.

But what's happening for your neighbours? Do they have the same
problem? If so, what do they do about it? If they say you can't get
rid of it, then you probably can't get rid of it, and I'd stop
thinking about any solution which costs money. Maybe the menace is
good enough for family games (if it's like buffalo, it'll be very
tough).

I don't go for fancy solutions to seed-sowing: the Hydro-turf thing
sounds like a bit of a racket to me. Normal seeding works perfectly
well (Nature worked it out a few years ago), and leaves you in
control. If normal seeding won't fight off the menace, be sure that
blowing seed on with some fancy concoction won't, either. _And_ it
looks as though this menace grass likes extra nitrogen, which
Hydro-turf is going to bring in, courtesy your cheque-book, to help
it along just as the seeds it's dropped are sprouting.

--
Mike.

wrote:

Guys

Help please. Am living in NZ having moved from the UK but hopefully you
can add some relevant advise. Grass is Grass!

Grass isn't always grass. There are a whole bunch of species that look
pretty similar. Some of the semi-tropical wild grasses from Japan go
brown in winter.

Simplest thing to do is leave it alone and keep cutting the grass.
Rainfall will spread out the soluble nitrogen after a while and then
reseed the gaps with your choice of grass seed after swapping the top
couple of cm of soil for a loam sand mix. This gives them a head start.

I suspect otherwise the contaminated soil will burn young seedlings
initially (but not once they are growing well).

Regards,
Martin Brown

Looks similar to crested dog tail but dont think it is.
Its possible its one of those overseas quick growing grasses that the
previous owners sowed to cover the bare patches.
Give the grass a good scarify boxing off the organic matter.
Also apply an autumn feed to restore your ph levels.
Its too late for sowing seed now so wait til March for that or buy a few
turf and dig out the bare areas and just put plugs of turf in.
good luck
wrote in message
oups.com...
Guys

Help please. Am living in NZ having moved from the UK but hopefully you
can add some relevant advise. Grass is Grass!

I've put some images at

http://gedclink.fotopages.com/


Just moved into new house a while ago and eventually got around to
addressing the lawn areas. I. After cutting back the lawn I can now
clearly see about 40 patches of dead grass where the previous owner let

their dog ( a bitch ) pee everywhere. Around these dead patches the
grass appears to have gone mad( which I understand was due to the
nitrogen in the p acting as a mild fertiliser) and I have posted a
couple of pics.

However, it doesn't appear to be normal grass !
It's very elongated, almost wiry and grows sideways over the holes left
in
the grass.. I didn't actually see the holes initially as I wasn't
scalping the grass due to hot summers etc. Once I cut the grass back to
a short level it was very obvious that a huge part of the lawn is
infested with this " wild grass"? Long stalks that are almost woody
with broad leaves coming off higher up. At the top there was small
seeds.

When I dethatched today, it brought up stalks from 3 to 6 inches long
all over the place. It appeared large areas of the grass were made up
of
this long stemmed grass, not the nice stuff I initially thought. It
lies down flat and generally appeared to grow from the edge of old dog
p damage across the hole that was burnt into the grass.

Given the scope of the problem I was keen to hear your thoughts and
advice on wether I should kill off the grass towards the end of summer
and re-seed or will I get good results working with what I have. Some
of the photos will show the problem over a small area. This is
magnified across the whole lawn.

I am looking at Hydro turf which is seed sprayed onto the bare earth.
Its held in a solution of wood fibre and fertiliser and apparently has
a higher hit rate than normal seedin. Any thoughts on this as opposed
to normal seeding. Cost sits between normal grass seed and readylawn.

Thanks for any advice. Please ask anything you need from the photos.

Guys - Hello and G'day

Thanks so much for the responses. Looking through the lawn this stuff
is everywhere - circa 60% +..

It is mower proof unless I scalp the lawn then it leaves lots of
yellow, spiky grass stems that aren't really proper grass - more like
tubes with broad leaves off them. My wife called it jaggedy arsed grass
as its not the most comfortable to sit on I suspect its a wild
grass - a local suggested kikuya but he wasn't sure. Having looked at
about 50 sites I am pretty sure its not crabgrass or several other
species. They all look the same online

The growing seasons in NZ are spring and autumn. I was told that a lot
of lawns slow down during the summer months as they go dormant in the
heat. So as summer here runs from 1st December to end Feb, then I plan
to kill off the grass and prep the soil early feb ( 4 weeks of roundup
and some new soil / levelling/ fertilising), then get the new seed down
at start Autumn. This time will provide a warmish wetter climate for
growing.

For new lawns - please tell me if this is a proper process.

Roundup/ Weedkiller (Strong) - Wait 2 weeks.

Rake dead plant material off surface.

Fertilise soil and rake/water into the surface.

Wait 2 weeks - Roundup any new growth/ weeds etc..

Rake ground level, add some soil to any low areas. Roll / Walk all over
till flat and firm. Rake top to loosen up and sow seeds with some lawn
starter fertiliser.

Water and keep moist.

Watch grass and weeds grow.

How do I control the weeds etc if I can't put down any weedkillers etc
as they might damage the young grass? Is it a case of walking on the
lawn and pulling them out?

Thanks again

Ged

wrote:

How do I control the weeds etc if I can't put down any weedkillers etc
as they might damage the young grass? Is it a case of walking on the
lawn and pulling them out?

Thanks again

Ged

I was reading the thread thinking "just get rid of it all & sow new
seed".
If you're weed-killing the grass then you shouldn't get many weeds
anyway but you could wait a few weeks before sowing the grass seed and
remove any weeds that do appear.