New lawn from scratch
-
- Posts: 61
- Joined: April 24th, 2019, 10:19 pm
- Location: South Jersey
- Grass Type: Elite KBG blend of Award, Bewitched & Rhapsody seeded in end of September 2019.
- Lawn Size: 10000-20000
- Level: Novice
New lawn from scratch
Hello all, My current house (Southern New Jersey) I purchased 2 summers ago and the lawn (~18,000 sq.ft.) was a complete mess. There was moss everywhere possibly due to shade from trees, so the first summer I cut down almost all of the trees (~25 large oak and few pine trees). Last summer I grounded all the stumps and around fall rented toro dingo harley rake to fix grading and improved level throughout. A few weeks ago I started installing a new sprinkler system (12 zone) which is almost complete, possibly this or next weekend for sure. As of right now, the entire yard is taken over by weeds so I bought 41% glyphosate that I will use to kill all weeds. All work that I did so far didn't require much know-how but now I have to figure out what type of grass I should grow, whether grow from seeds or purchase sod, where to purchase seeds or sod at best price, don't know much about my soil type or soil quality but all neighbors have beautiful lawns though maintained by professional landscapers, I hear that fall is the best time to grow grass but it has been a long process and I really really would like to have a lawn this summer.... I will run the sprinkler system 4 times a day if necessary
I am located in South Jersey and feeling pretty clueless on how to proceed, I would appreciate any guidance from the community. Thanks in advance!
I am located in South Jersey and feeling pretty clueless on how to proceed, I would appreciate any guidance from the community. Thanks in advance!
- HoosierLawnGnome
- Posts: 9591
- Joined: May 22nd, 2013, 5:59 pm
- Location: Indianapolis, Indiana
- Grass Type: Blueberry KBG
- Lawn Size: 1 acre-2 acre
- Level: Advanced
Re: New lawn from scratch
What weeds do you have?
If you have poa trivialis it would be well worth the wait for fall to fallow it for a while to kill it off for good.
Some pictures would help.
18k is a big first renovation.
Spring renovations from seed are harder, but shade and sprinkler systems are helpful. It's almost May, which is pretty late for seeding too in the spring. Let's say you hit that lawn twice with roundup now and in a week, then seed, your lawn wont germinate for 3 weeks from now, maybe sooner if you use perennial ryegrass. That almost summer with new seedlings .
Sod will be more expensive but that's the best way to gon if you want a lawn by summer. Id still recommend a solid kill of weeds first, but you'd have time to get it rooted by June, and you could spend more time killing weeds.
If you have poa trivialis it would be well worth the wait for fall to fallow it for a while to kill it off for good.
Some pictures would help.
18k is a big first renovation.
Spring renovations from seed are harder, but shade and sprinkler systems are helpful. It's almost May, which is pretty late for seeding too in the spring. Let's say you hit that lawn twice with roundup now and in a week, then seed, your lawn wont germinate for 3 weeks from now, maybe sooner if you use perennial ryegrass. That almost summer with new seedlings .
Sod will be more expensive but that's the best way to gon if you want a lawn by summer. Id still recommend a solid kill of weeds first, but you'd have time to get it rooted by June, and you could spend more time killing weeds.
-
- Posts: 61
- Joined: April 24th, 2019, 10:19 pm
- Location: South Jersey
- Grass Type: Elite KBG blend of Award, Bewitched & Rhapsody seeded in end of September 2019.
- Lawn Size: 10000-20000
- Level: Novice
Re: New lawn from scratch
It seems to be Bittercress as it shoots seeds when touched. and a few other kinds of broadleaf weeds, I'll post pictures little later. I am planning to spray 41% Glyphosate as soon as the rain is over tomorrow. I hear you on timing, but is there any chance that it will work out or I will be wasting time and resources for sure? Any preferred vendors at the forum for purchasing seeds or sod?HoosierLawnGnome wrote: ↑April 26th, 2019, 7:14 amWhat weeds do you have?
If you have poa trivialis it would be well worth the wait for fall to fallow it for a while to kill it off for good.
Some pictures would help.
18k is a big first renovation.
Spring renovations from seed are harder, but shade and sprinkler systems are helpful. It's almost May, which is pretty late for seeding too in the spring. Let's say you hit that lawn twice with roundup now and in a week, then seed, your lawn wont germinate for 3 weeks from now, maybe sooner if you use perennial ryegrass. That almost summer with new seedlings .
Sod will be more expensive but that's the best way to gon if you want a lawn by summer. Id still recommend a solid kill of weeds first, but you'd have time to get it rooted by June, and you could spend more time killing weeds.
-
- Posts: 61
- Joined: April 24th, 2019, 10:19 pm
- Location: South Jersey
- Grass Type: Elite KBG blend of Award, Bewitched & Rhapsody seeded in end of September 2019.
- Lawn Size: 10000-20000
- Level: Novice
Re: New lawn from scratch
Here are pictures of all kind of different weeds growing in my yard, the small ones just touching makes it explode seeds, bittercress? At any rate, tomorrow morning, I'll spray 41% glyphosate tomorrow and possibly second round next Friday to get rid of them so I can be ready to sow seeds next weekend or so. At least that's what I am hoping for not sure if it's realistic.
Set1-
Set1-
-
- Posts: 43
- Joined: September 17th, 2018, 10:32 am
- Location: Waterloo, Iowa
- Grass Type: kentucky bluegrass
- Lawn Size: 10000-20000
- Level: Some Experience
Re: New lawn from scratch
Hoosierlawngnome gave you good advice and i understand you want a lawn this summer but try to be patient. If you wait and fallow for 4 or 5 weeks and maybe have time to get some bluegrass in there. Fall is the way to go with your experience, seedlings in summer, new irrigation system will take time for dirt to settle and get the bugs out of it. Just my two cents: good luck
- andy10917
- Posts: 29739
- Joined: February 23rd, 2009, 10:48 pm
- Location: NY (Lower Hudson Valley)
- Grass Type: Emblem KBG (Front); Blueberry KBG Monostand (Back)
- Lawn Size: 1 acre-2 acre
- Level: Advanced
Re: New lawn from scratch
Here's a thing to consider: RoundUp (Glyphosate) does not reliably kill Moss. It may brown, but it recovers very often. Read up on using Dawn dishwashing liquid to kill Moss, but it takes multiple treatments, and I wouldn't do it when the seed is down.
-
- Posts: 61
- Joined: April 24th, 2019, 10:19 pm
- Location: South Jersey
- Grass Type: Elite KBG blend of Award, Bewitched & Rhapsody seeded in end of September 2019.
- Lawn Size: 10000-20000
- Level: Novice
Re: New lawn from scratch
Thanks 'Hoosierlawngnome and 'Iowa Jim'.Iowa Jim wrote: ↑April 27th, 2019, 7:30 amHoosierlawngnome gave you good advice and i understand you want a lawn this summer but try to be patient. If you wait and fallow for 4 or 5 weeks and maybe have time to get some bluegrass in there. Fall is the way to go with your experience, seedlings in summer, new irrigation system will take time for dirt to settle and get the bugs out of it. Just my two cents: good luck
With weeds my major concern is that bittercress is shooting seeds all around....the roundup will kill the weed but weed will be back from the seeds. Do I need to wait for weed seeds to germinate and repeat roundup? or I can kill all seeds as well with some other chemical treatment?
I raked and turned up as much as 6 inches to 15 inches of soil last summer....so the ground is unsown for a good amount of time except that weeds start to grow this spring.
I would most likely follow your advice and wait till fall to grow grass. Based on what I found online in terms of the sod prices, it would cost almost $8000 for my lawn just for sod alone...and then probably I'll need to pay professionals to install it. So my initial thought was to purchase Scotts or Pennington sun and shade seed mix, I estimated to cost around $200 for seeds. Spread them around in mid-May and see what survives. If it fails then I just lose $200 and a few hundred $$$ in the water bill.
If I wait till fall any place community recommends to source good grass seeds?
Thanks again!
-
- Posts: 61
- Joined: April 24th, 2019, 10:19 pm
- Location: South Jersey
- Grass Type: Elite KBG blend of Award, Bewitched & Rhapsody seeded in end of September 2019.
- Lawn Size: 10000-20000
- Level: Novice
Re: New lawn from scratch
Alright, good to know. I don't have moss anymore. Moss was the reason I decided to kill the existing lawn and cut down all the trees. Before moss was everywhere as most of the lawn was shaded by big trees, now moss is not an issue but it is also mostly dirt with weed growing all around now.
-
- Posts: 43
- Joined: September 17th, 2018, 10:32 am
- Location: Waterloo, Iowa
- Grass Type: kentucky bluegrass
- Lawn Size: 10000-20000
- Level: Some Experience
Re: New lawn from scratch
When you turned up the soil last summer you disturbed a bunch of weed seeds that had been buried. What i would do is about July 10-15 round up the entire lawn and repeat when the weeds start growing good again until about the 15 of August is when you want to plant seeds.
some tips- 1.make sure you water the lawn just like your growing grass seed when you are fallowing
2.maybe fertilize during the fallow to get the weeds growing good to get a better kill
3.you want to put your last glyphosate app down 1-2 days before you plant grass seed
4.you will need to cut the lawn as low as you can with your mower
5 what ever grass seed you plan to buy make sure you get one that has 0 weed seed and 0 other crops
6. go to the NTEP trials and see what cultivars do well in your area
7. read some of the renos in this forum and you will learn a lot about what other people have experienced with there renos
This will get you to the planting stage with a clean slate on the weeds and there are a lot of people on here that will help with peat moss, watering, tenacity etc. A few good places to buy seed are Hogans, United seeds, Seed superstore. If there is some things you don't know make sure you ask questions. There a lot of good people on here to help you with your questions.
some tips- 1.make sure you water the lawn just like your growing grass seed when you are fallowing
2.maybe fertilize during the fallow to get the weeds growing good to get a better kill
3.you want to put your last glyphosate app down 1-2 days before you plant grass seed
4.you will need to cut the lawn as low as you can with your mower
5 what ever grass seed you plan to buy make sure you get one that has 0 weed seed and 0 other crops
6. go to the NTEP trials and see what cultivars do well in your area
7. read some of the renos in this forum and you will learn a lot about what other people have experienced with there renos
This will get you to the planting stage with a clean slate on the weeds and there are a lot of people on here that will help with peat moss, watering, tenacity etc. A few good places to buy seed are Hogans, United seeds, Seed superstore. If there is some things you don't know make sure you ask questions. There a lot of good people on here to help you with your questions.
-
- Posts: 61
- Joined: April 24th, 2019, 10:19 pm
- Location: South Jersey
- Grass Type: Elite KBG blend of Award, Bewitched & Rhapsody seeded in end of September 2019.
- Lawn Size: 10000-20000
- Level: Novice
Re: New lawn from scratch
Thanks so much for valuable advice. I'll follow your recommendations for the next couple of months and seed in August. I checked NTEP website and it seems the latest data is from yr 2014 and J-1136 got the highest ratings (https://www.ntep.org/data/kb11/kb11_15-5/kb11nj214t.txt). I couldn't really find this cultivar to purchase online but I came across very interesting Jacklin seed 'My Holiday lawn' which is very slow growing dwarf variety (http://www.myholidaylawn.com/) can be purchased from the United seeds (https://unitedseeds.com/product/my-holi ... bluegrass/).Iowa Jim wrote: ↑April 27th, 2019, 1:47 pmWhen you turned up the soil last summer you disturbed a bunch of weed seeds that had been buried. What i would do is about July 10-15 round up the entire lawn and repeat when the weeds start growing good again until about the 15 of August is when you want to plant seeds.
some tips- 1.make sure you water the lawn just like your growing grass seed when you are fallowing
2.maybe fertilize during the fallow to get the weeds growing good to get a better kill
3.you want to put your last glyphosate app down 1-2 days before you plant grass seed
4.you will need to cut the lawn as low as you can with your mower
5 what ever grass seed you plan to buy make sure you get one that has 0 weed seed and 0 other crops
6. go to the NTEP trials and see what cultivars do well in your area
7. read some of the renos in this forum and you will learn a lot about what other people have experienced with there renos
This will get you to the planting stage with a clean slate on the weeds and there are a lot of people on here that will help with peat moss, watering, tenacity etc. A few good places to buy seed are Hogans, United seeds, Seed superstore. If there is some things you don't know make sure you ask questions. There a lot of good people on here to help you with your questions.
-
- Posts: 43
- Joined: September 17th, 2018, 10:32 am
- Location: Waterloo, Iowa
- Grass Type: kentucky bluegrass
- Lawn Size: 10000-20000
- Level: Some Experience
Re: New lawn from scratch
I have never heard of the holiday grass before, but United seeds is a reputable company that is based here in Iowa.
-
- Posts: 61
- Joined: April 24th, 2019, 10:19 pm
- Location: South Jersey
- Grass Type: Elite KBG blend of Award, Bewitched & Rhapsody seeded in end of September 2019.
- Lawn Size: 10000-20000
- Level: Novice
Re: New lawn from scratch
The Jacklin seed claims that there Holiday Lawn needs to be mowed only once a month as it's a dwarf variety. Online pictures of turf look good too,
-
- Posts: 43
- Joined: September 17th, 2018, 10:32 am
- Location: Waterloo, Iowa
- Grass Type: kentucky bluegrass
- Lawn Size: 10000-20000
- Level: Some Experience
Re: New lawn from scratch
The one thing that concerns me is that they say it is a bluegrass. But what they don't say is what the cultivars are or the parents of the cultivars. Im not saying it won't work but i am a little skeptical of it. Maybe somebody on here will chime in that has experience with it.
- turf_toes
- Posts: 6042
- Joined: December 17th, 2008, 8:46 pm
- Location: Central NJ
- Grass Type: 77% Blueberry/23% Midnight Star KBG in front. Bewitched KBG monostand in back.
- Lawn Size: Not Specified
- Level: Not Specified
Re: New lawn from scratch
Iowa Jim wrote: ↑May 1st, 2019, 7:20 amThe one thing that concerns me is that they say it is a bluegrass. But what they don't say is what the cultivars are or the parents of the cultivars. Im not saying it won't work but i am a little skeptical of it. Maybe somebody on here will chime in that has experience with it.
Yep. Hybrids seem to be the new “miracle grass.”
Bluegrass isn’t the same thing as Kentucky Bluegrass. If it doesn’t say the grass is a Kentucky Bluegrass (claiming only to be a Bluegrass), there is a reason for that.
I’ve never seen a hybrid Bluegrass (or Texas Bluegrass) that looks as good as KBG.
- HoosierLawnGnome
- Posts: 9591
- Joined: May 22nd, 2013, 5:59 pm
- Location: Indianapolis, Indiana
- Grass Type: Blueberry KBG
- Lawn Size: 1 acre-2 acre
- Level: Advanced
Re: New lawn from scratch
Perfect example of how changing the conditions moss likes , wetness shade etc, eliminates it.
-
- Posts: 6837
- Joined: September 14th, 2012, 10:53 pm
- Location: CT (Zone 6B)
- Grass Type: KBG, TTTF, TTPR, and FF (various mixtures)
- Lawn Size: 10000-20000
- Level: Experienced
Re: New lawn from scratch
MyHolidayLawn is a KBG, according to their pdf sheet that advertises it, so it has to have some or all KBG DNA, otherwise it would be false advertising. I have seed for it. I'm ok with it if it ends up being a hybrid.
-
- Posts: 6837
- Joined: September 14th, 2012, 10:53 pm
- Location: CT (Zone 6B)
- Grass Type: KBG, TTTF, TTPR, and FF (various mixtures)
- Lawn Size: 10000-20000
- Level: Experienced
Re: New lawn from scratch
Here is a quote from the company:
"Q: What kind of grass is My Holiday Lawn?
A: My Holiday Lawn is a series of 3 very
compatible Kentucky bluegrasses
that can be used in combination or
straight (one single variety)."
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 9 guests