Biggest lawn care regrets?

A forum to learn and discuss the importance of lawn care basics
theglassguy
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Biggest lawn care regrets?

Post by theglassguy » October 15th, 2017, 6:18 pm

Just curious, what is(are) your biggest lawn care regret(s)?

I figure as a new guy there’s too much I don’t know I don’t know to ask specific questions about what to avoid...

...My current biggest regret is buying a house from a guy who NEVER did ANYTHING to his lawn. I spent all spring summer and the first part of fall trying to rehab/reno it.

JohnP
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Re: Biggest lawn care regrets?

Post by JohnP » October 15th, 2017, 6:37 pm

Not mowing tall enough...letting someone else cut it, they also cut it too low and I think their dirty mower brought plenty of disease and weed issues in. Not mulching when I could've.

Basically mowing wrong. Regret that.

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HoosierLawnGnome
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Re: Biggest lawn care regrets?

Post by HoosierLawnGnome » October 15th, 2017, 7:51 pm

I regret not learning the proper way to renovate and wasting time and money on failed strategies.

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andy10917
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Re: Biggest lawn care regrets?

Post by andy10917 » October 15th, 2017, 8:12 pm

I regret taking 25 years to learn just how important a component water and proper watering is.

Green
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Re: Biggest lawn care regrets?

Post by Green » October 15th, 2017, 8:29 pm

Not treating disease right away, even though I knew what it was and what it was capable of.


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HoosierLawnGnome
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Re: Biggest lawn care regrets?

Post by HoosierLawnGnome » October 15th, 2017, 8:39 pm

andy10917 wrote:
October 15th, 2017, 8:12 pm
I regret taking 25 years to learn just how important a component water and proper watering is.
I really saw that this year on my lawn and learned it too in the real world lol. The places on my turf with good even coverage looked good all summer. The thin spots struggled!!

bpgreen
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Re: Biggest lawn care regrets?

Post by bpgreen » October 16th, 2017, 1:40 pm

Many years ago, I started trying to slowly transition my lawn from a traditional northern mix to a mostly native lawn. I wish I would have killed the existing lawn and just made the switch to all native grasses.

skippynj17
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Re: Biggest lawn care regrets?

Post by skippynj17 » October 17th, 2017, 12:48 am

I regret NOT finding this site years ago !

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Dchall_San_Antonio
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Re: Biggest lawn care regrets?

Post by Dchall_San_Antonio » October 17th, 2017, 2:14 pm

Many of mine have been mentioned, so consider this an additional vote for those regrets. All of these have been corrected from this and other forums. To explain some of these, I had 25 years of lawn care under my belt before Internet forums were invented. I'm just lucky to not have had any catastrophes like I read about.
  1. treating all lawns the same regardless of grass type
  2. listening to the teachers at my university who were simply stating their opinions
  3. watering daily
  4. watering with a Rainbird type sprinkler (uneven coverage every time)
  5. not believing in organic fertilizer
  6. aerating (waste of time, money, and a hassle)
  7. top dressing

DevilDawg81
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Re: Biggest lawn care regrets?

Post by DevilDawg81 » October 17th, 2017, 9:06 pm

One I wish I would've found this site years ago. Second; when we moved in I kept throwing different types of grass seed on the lawn. I truly feel like I introduced grassy weeds by using poor seed.

STL
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Re: Biggest lawn care regrets?

Post by STL » October 17th, 2017, 9:47 pm

I wish I would have found this hobby years ago. Other than that, I wish I would have included kbg when I reno'd the front with tttf.

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ken-n-nancy
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Re: Biggest lawn care regrets?

Post by ken-n-nancy » October 18th, 2017, 9:33 am

For this year in specific, noticing some small (salad-plate sized) patches of poa trivialis during springtime and opting not to do anything about it for the time being. Then, finding that they grew to welcome-mat sized patches by fall.

Pway
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Re: Biggest lawn care regrets?

Post by Pway » October 18th, 2017, 5:03 pm

About 8 or 10 years ago I used cheap landscaper seed that had weed and other crop seed in it. Never again. For all the time and effort we put in, trying to save a few bucks on seed just isn't worth it. Sod quality, zero weed and zero other crop is all I'll ever use again.

HoosierDaddy
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Re: Biggest lawn care regrets?

Post by HoosierDaddy » October 24th, 2017, 2:57 pm

I have a specific regret this year in not checking germination of the seed I bought until it was nearly too late. Buy early, and check the germination with a towel test or pots.

free_safety

Re: Biggest lawn care regrets?

Post by free_safety » November 1st, 2017, 11:15 pm

10 years ago I let my yard be over run by Bermuda grass. Huge mistake. Getting rid of it once it takes hold is next to impossible without overhauling the lawn. I had to go rent a rototiller, overhaul the lawn and plant new seed.

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turf_toes
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Re: Biggest lawn care regrets?

Post by turf_toes » November 2nd, 2017, 7:40 am

You likely just created tiny new Bermuda grass plugs that will come back.

Rototilling is almost never the proper way to go.

Maizan24
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Re: Biggest lawn care regrets?

Post by Maizan24 » November 2nd, 2017, 8:11 am

I regret not being proactive with fungal issues. I misidentified the issue thinking it was just heat stress but seeing that it occurred in the exact same areas as the years since we've lived here I had to reevaluate my diagnosis. I hope to fix this next year.

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HoosierLawnGnome
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Re: Biggest lawn care regrets?

Post by HoosierLawnGnome » November 2nd, 2017, 10:31 am

Yeah, a lot of warm season guys will verticut their turf in the spring to stimulate growth. Rototilling would be similar.

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kevreh
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Re: Biggest lawn care regrets?

Post by kevreh » March 13th, 2018, 11:15 am

Regrets;

Not understanding which products to use for weeds for pre-emergence, and post-emergence control. I use one pre-m and about three post sprays. Took me a while to get here.

Stick with a hodge podge lawn the first few year in my house, before killing it and starting fresh.

And last, not so much a regret but recognizing what I didn't know, but getting clarity around the main challenges of my lawn (weeds, disease, and summer heat/drought stress) and the methods and products to address those things. Phew!

emtravelers
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Re: Biggest lawn care regrets?

Post by emtravelers » March 21st, 2018, 10:39 pm

Not starting my plugging project a year earlier... lost a year of growth.

Listening to my father in law. Now we have three to four variants of grass due to bad suggested seed mixes.

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