It's like mowing a rumble strip...

Discuss how to and whether you should renovate your lawn
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bolson32
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It's like mowing a rumble strip...

Post by bolson32 » June 4th, 2021, 2:20 pm

Hey Gang,

I have a 1.5 acre lot on the eastside of the Twin Cities in Minnesota. My wife and I bought the house about 2 years ago as a flip. The flippers actually did a really nice job on the house, and they also had it hydroseeded in the front and about 50 feet from the rear of the house. Looks like they mostly used a contractors blend, seems to be mostly KBG with some fescue mixed in. Now, the back being thin is not really my biggest problem. The biggest problem is...

It. Is. ROUGH. The back is worse, but the front isn't great either. I'd like to avoid a complete renovation if at all possible, especially since the area around the house does have some really nice established turf.

Topdressing is not a great option, because it's 60,000sq ft of total lawn area. I could do it in bits, but frankly that just doesn't sound terribly appealing. If I was going to do that, I'd probably just buy a power harrow for my JD 1026r and till it up and reseed.

What causes a bumpy lawn? Is it dieback? Frost heaves? Compaction? Everything all together? If I can't save it, what can I do to save it from happening again?

I've had a ton of ideas, but I'm just not sure any of them would actually work.

1: There is a pretty rough thatch layer so I've thought about getting a 3pt pine straw rake which would be a little more aggressive than a dethatcher. It would definitely knock down the bumps you feel in your feet. Not sure it would do anything for the ones you feel in your back on the tractor.

2: I've thought about 3pt verticutter and aggressively verticutting the hell out of it. This would be like a bluebird power rake, only bigger. I think it would help, not sure it would be a complete solution though.

3: I've thought about core aerating the heck out of it, and then trying to use the plugs as top dressing and dragging a leveling rake around. Probably mostly pointless.

Every time I finish mowing the lawn when it hasn't rained for a few days I just curse when I come in. Has anyone done anything like this before? There HAS to be a better way than just tearing it out, right?

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MorpheusPA
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Re: It's like mowing a rumble strip...

Post by MorpheusPA » June 4th, 2021, 5:36 pm

We'd often suggest spreading some soil at a quarter inch at a time (maximum) in the low spots to bring them up. You probably don't even notice the thatch on your tractor, so you can ignore that. A quarter inch is sufficiently small that the grass can adjust through it and you can do that up to every six weeks--I did that for one section of my lawn that was a little low.

Or you can aerate the heck out of a high spot and move the cores by raking into lower areas to adjust them upward. I did that in the high spot to pull that down a little over time.

For extremely large areas, box blading would work, but would require large-scale replacement of your lawn, which it's going to damage heavily. Rolling it might work--with a half to completely full roller, which weighs an almost literal ton and you can rent from Home Depot, too. That, done on damp ground, should not harm the lawn, although the compression isn't exactly what I'd call great for it. Roll transverse to the worst of the bumps.

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andy10917
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Re: It's like mowing a rumble strip...

Post by andy10917 » June 4th, 2021, 5:49 pm

I'd approach it differently - I'd dig a few holes and figure out (a) how much topsoil you have and (b) how much you'd have to scrape to level it. If you only have a couple of inches of topsoil (not unusual these days), you'll be making spots that are twice the topsoil and spots that have none (scraped away). You'll trade bumpy for nothing-grows spots (no topsoil, only subsoil). Go into your "adventure" eyes wide-open or you could be very, very sorry...

schreibdave
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Re: It's like mowing a rumble strip...

Post by schreibdave » June 4th, 2021, 8:45 pm

Is there anyone you could ask who might know why it's so bumpy? A neighbor maybe? That doesn't sound to me like a situation that would occur naturally.

But in terms of solutions ... you've identified a variety of bad options. I'll add another bad option to your list: somebody here posted pictures of how he took down high spots in his lawn using a power washer. He concentrated the jet of water on the high spots and let the soil settle into the low spots. I tied it myself with a high pressure hose and I think that strategy has promise. Of course I didn't have 60,000 square feet to do.

Here's another bad option: buy a new tractor with a suspension or wheelbase that will take the edge off of those bumps.

Good luck

bolson32
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Re: It's like mowing a rumble strip...

Post by bolson32 » June 5th, 2021, 1:42 pm

MorpheusPA wrote:
June 4th, 2021, 5:36 pm
Or you can aerate the heck out of a high spot and move the cores by raking into lower areas to adjust them upward. I did that in the high spot to pull that down a little over time.

For extremely large areas, box blading would work, but would require large-scale replacement of your lawn, which it's going to damage heavily.
The aeration thing is sort of what I was thinking about. But essentially over the whole lawn. There isn't like a single high area, I have a little bit of rolling hills to it, which is fine. Picture 5 gallon pail sized spots that are either an 1-2 inches high, or low all over the entire yard. Hundreds of them. I was thinking of cutting it low in the fall. Aerating the hell out of it. Then dragging one of these around to hopefully redistribute the plugs to the low spots.

Your other idea about the box blade. Would I just be able to reseed the areas that get torn up? Or would I need to kill it and totally refurb first?


bolson32
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Re: It's like mowing a rumble strip...

Post by bolson32 » June 5th, 2021, 1:45 pm

andy10917 wrote:
June 4th, 2021, 5:49 pm
I'd approach it differently - I'd dig a few holes and figure out (a) how much topsoil you have and (b) how much you'd have to scrape to level it. If you only have a couple of inches of topsoil (not unusual these days), you'll be making spots that are twice the topsoil and spots that have none (scraped away). You'll trade bumpy for nothing-grows spots (no topsoil, only subsoil). Go into your "adventure" eyes wide-open or you could be very, very sorry...
Luckily I've dug plenty of holes planting trees and putting in fences in the last 2 years. There is a good 8-12" of top soil, granted it's not the best but I'm not hitting sand until nearly a foot.

bolson32
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Re: It's like mowing a rumble strip...

Post by bolson32 » June 5th, 2021, 1:48 pm

schreibdave wrote:
June 4th, 2021, 8:45 pm
Is there anyone you could ask who might know why it's so bumpy? A neighbor maybe? That doesn't sound to me like a situation that would occur naturally.

But in terms of solutions ... you've identified a variety of bad options. I'll add another bad option to your list: somebody here posted pictures of how he took down high spots in his lawn using a power washer. He concentrated the jet of water on the high spots and let the soil settle into the low spots. I tied it myself with a high pressure hose and I think that strategy has promise. Of course I didn't have 60,000 square feet to do.

Here's another bad option: buy a new tractor with a suspension or wheelbase that will take the edge off of those bumps.

Good luck
Lol, the water idea is funny. Unfortunately there's hundreds.

Re: history...I'm guessing it's a combo of Minnesota weather, clay based soil, and poor installation on former farm fields. Everyone else I talk to complains about the same thing.

Also an air seat takes a little fab on the 1026r, but it's on my list of things to do. It would make it more tolerable for sure.

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MorpheusPA
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Re: It's like mowing a rumble strip...

Post by MorpheusPA » June 5th, 2021, 5:43 pm

bolson32 wrote:
June 5th, 2021, 1:42 pm
Your other idea about the box blade. Would I just be able to reseed the areas that get torn up? Or would I need to kill it and totally refurb first?
Anything that got torn would be able to be reseeded, but how much that might be...who knows? Spreading grasses will also spread back into them (like KBG), but weeds will also take advantage of that.

bolson32
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Re: It's like mowing a rumble strip...

Post by bolson32 » June 5th, 2021, 7:35 pm

I have access to a box blade and a regular rear blade. I might try that on some turf between some tree rows and see how it goes.

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