Guidance needed

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Nanbu
Posts: 7
Joined: June 12th, 2020, 10:45 am
Location: San Diego
Grass Type: I don't know
Lawn Size: 1000-3000
Level: Novice

Guidance needed

Post by Nanbu » June 12th, 2020, 12:34 pm

Hello. I am an absolute noob and wanted to turn my backyard into decent shape. To be honest, I have no idea where to start and was hoping this forum could help me. I read a reply on Quora and it recommended this forum.

I am currently stationed in San Diego and started a new lease a house with a spacious backyard. I have a few years here and would like to turn it into a decent playground for our dog.

Here are some pictures of what I have to work on:

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There is no irrigation setup. Any help is appreciated!

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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: Guidance needed

Post by andy10917 » June 12th, 2020, 2:02 pm

Welcome!

Proper mowing and watering the right way will get you 75% of the way to a healthy, nice lawn. From there it's up to you on far you and the budget you want to invest. Are you willing to invest time/effort/money into this?

Nanbu
Posts: 7
Joined: June 12th, 2020, 10:45 am
Location: San Diego
Grass Type: I don't know
Lawn Size: 1000-3000
Level: Novice

Re: Guidance needed

Post by Nanbu » June 12th, 2020, 4:15 pm

I am willing to put the time and effort. Money might depend. Not willing to pay for an automated sprinkler system, but can hose it down.

How much water is good at this stage? On the Quora post, I read that doing a deep watering every once in a while is better than everyday watering. Is that true when it is this dry?

Am I correct to assume that pulling all the weeds out and throwing some grass seeds around is the way to go? What kind of grass seeds would be best?

Please excuse my ignorance in the subject.

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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: Guidance needed

Post by andy10917 » June 12th, 2020, 5:05 pm

Nobody is going to ask you to pay for an irrigation system. Owning a lawn mower and paying for the water you use will be the biggest items.

As far as overseeding is concerned, it matters what grass you already have. You will have trouble finding seed for "I don't Know" grass. Also, your lawn size and Experience Level will matter a great deal as members consider what to recommend for thing - put them into your Profile, so we can see them.
Please excuse my ignorance in the subject.
Please excuse mine.

Nanbu
Posts: 7
Joined: June 12th, 2020, 10:45 am
Location: San Diego
Grass Type: I don't know
Lawn Size: 1000-3000
Level: Novice

Re: Guidance needed

Post by Nanbu » June 13th, 2020, 1:35 am

Thing is, I'm pretty sure I have to start from scratch. There is no base type of grass. It's a whole bunch of different weeds growing together.

As for what type of grass I should be seeding, I have not the slightest clue what would be good for the weather here.

We do mow to keep the weeds down and watering manually shouldn't be a problem.


Nanbu
Posts: 7
Joined: June 12th, 2020, 10:45 am
Location: San Diego
Grass Type: I don't know
Lawn Size: 1000-3000
Level: Novice

Re: Guidance needed

Post by Nanbu » June 13th, 2020, 1:49 am

Mowing and watering manually shouldn't be a problem. Right now, it seems to be a whole bunch of different weeds growing. I read that Bermudagrass is best for the area here.

The current plan is to dig all the dry weeds out and seed some with a spreader.

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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: Guidance needed

Post by andy10917 » June 13th, 2020, 8:58 am

OK, I'm going to ask a bunch of questions/statement that will help us to help you, and make good decisions happen...

First, San Diego offers a climate that will permit several varieties of grass to be chosen - both from the warm-season grasses and the cool-season grasses. That's nice, but it means that the conditions that each grass needs are met. Candidates are Bermuda, St Augustine, Zoysia and Turf-Type Tall Fescue.

The photos provided look like they were taken late or early in the day - the sun is low in the sky and there are long shadows. The amount of direct sun is important in grass selection. Can you tell us how much DIRECT sun the areas of the lawn will get? Bright shade does not count. Some grasses will flat out fail over time without lots of direct sun.

Next, yeah I read that you intend to manually remove the existing grass and weeds. Exactly how in the hell are you going to do that?

Some of the grasses that are available for San Diego are not available from seed - they require that plugs of sod be used, and plugs may take as long as 2 years to spread and become a "normal lawn". Does that disqualify them as candidates?

Nanbu
Posts: 7
Joined: June 12th, 2020, 10:45 am
Location: San Diego
Grass Type: I don't know
Lawn Size: 1000-3000
Level: Novice

Re: Guidance needed

Post by Nanbu » June 13th, 2020, 6:10 pm

I read about the recommended grass types for San Diego and, based on the description, Bermuda seemed the most fitting.

You are right. The photos were taken during sun set. Most of the yard does get direct sun for a 8+ hours. Here are pictures at around 10:45AM.

Image

Image

I may have expressed myself incorrectly. I meant to pull the big weeds and mow down/trim the rest.

We would like to avoid plugs of sod. So, yes, that would disqualify them.

Thank you for taking your time with this.

bpgreen
Posts: 3871
Joined: January 3rd, 2009, 2:28 am
Location: Utah (Wasatch Front)
Grass Type: Western, Streambank, Crested wheatgrass in front (with blue grama added in the heckstrips), sheep fescue in back; strawberry clovetr in both
Lawn Size: 3000-5000
Level: Experienced

Re: Guidance needed

Post by bpgreen » June 13th, 2020, 9:25 pm

If you're not opposed to using chemicals, you'll probably have better results killing the weeds if you use glyphosate.

Nanbu
Posts: 7
Joined: June 12th, 2020, 10:45 am
Location: San Diego
Grass Type: I don't know
Lawn Size: 1000-3000
Level: Novice

Re: Guidance needed

Post by Nanbu » June 13th, 2020, 9:50 pm

bpgreen wrote:
June 13th, 2020, 9:25 pm
If you're not opposed to using chemicals, you'll probably have better results killing the weeds if you use glyphosate.
I'm not opposed to using chemicals, but I was wondering if by using, it would also prevent the growth of grass where it's been spread.

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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: Guidance needed

Post by andy10917 » June 13th, 2020, 10:27 pm

The simple answer is no. Glyophosate (RoundUp) is neutralized at soil contact.

bpgreen
Posts: 3871
Joined: January 3rd, 2009, 2:28 am
Location: Utah (Wasatch Front)
Grass Type: Western, Streambank, Crested wheatgrass in front (with blue grama added in the heckstrips), sheep fescue in back; strawberry clovetr in both
Lawn Size: 3000-5000
Level: Experienced

Re: Guidance needed

Post by bpgreen » June 14th, 2020, 12:10 am

Many people will apply glyphosate, wait a few days, then water daily or a week or two so any weed seeds germinate, then spray glyphosate again.

Nanbu
Posts: 7
Joined: June 12th, 2020, 10:45 am
Location: San Diego
Grass Type: I don't know
Lawn Size: 1000-3000
Level: Novice

Re: Guidance needed

Post by Nanbu » June 14th, 2020, 12:25 am

bpgreen wrote:
June 14th, 2020, 12:10 am
Many people will apply glyphosate, wait a few days, then water daily or a week or two so any weed seeds germinate, then spray glyphosate again.
Is it necessary to apply it if the current weeds are all dried up? I could start watering it for a couple of weeks and apply it. How long should I wait after that before starting to seed (grass)?

User avatar
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: Guidance needed

Post by andy10917 » June 14th, 2020, 8:16 am

That cuts both ways - you don't know if it's dead or dormant. RoundUp doesn't work well (at all) on dormant plants - it requires green, active tissue to work.

You may want to water and see if they come out of dormancy...

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Dchall_San_Antonio
Posts: 3341
Joined: December 17th, 2008, 1:53 am
Location: San Antonio, Texas
Grass Type: St Augustine
Lawn Size: 5000-10000
Level: Advanced

Re: Guidance needed

Post by Dchall_San_Antonio » July 25th, 2020, 6:55 pm

Certainly bermuda is a safe choice for "San Diego", but San Diego is not San Diego is not San Diego. Unless you really live inside that particular city limit. If you live anywhere close to Grosmont Center or east, bermuda or St Augustine is a great choice. If you live within 3 miles of the beach, you could get away with Marathon dwarf fescue (I, II, or III). But bermuda will thrive anywhere as long as you get 5 hours of direct, unfiltered sunlight. It will have trouble becoming dense on the east, west, and north sides of houses, fences, trees, or shrubs. The shady side areas between the house and fence would be a great place for St Augustine or the Marathon (assuming you're nearer to the beach). Marathon is a fescue which would not be perfect for an active dog. When the pup tears it up, it has to be reseeded or patched with sod. Bermuda and St Augustine both will regrow to fill in damaged areas.

If you are up for a full renovation, I would start by taking out the existing stuff with a verticutter or dethatcher set to just touch the surface of the soil. Cut all that stuff and blow/rake it off to see what the underlying soil profile is. Fill any low spots with soil from the high spots and water it down to start the settling process. It will still be low in the low spots, so fill, water, evaluate maybe 3 times. Resist the urge to bring in more soil. Also resist the urge to till amendments into the soil in preparation for the grass. This is the worst mistake that noobs make. The reason for this is to make your mowing experience better. Mowing a bumpy lawn is awful. Mowing a smooth lawn is wonderful...comparatively. Once the surface is profiled, then lightly water 3x per day for a week to germinate as many weed seeds as you can. To continue with what bpgreen started to describe above, at the end of that week, spray everything with Round Up. Continue 3x watering for another week to get the slow germinating seeds. Spray again with RU. If you don't do this first, then as you water the new sod/seed 3x per day for 2 weeks, all those weed seeds would have germinated into your new lawn. That's no fun either.

As for watering, search this forum for "deep and infrequent" to get the deets on how to do that. You cannot do that right away with new grass, but if you go with bermuda, you can transition much more quickly than with other grass types. If you are going to do bermuda seed instead of sod, you need to jump on that. Bermuda seed likes HOT soil to germinate. Bermuda sod can go down any time.

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