Ditched TruGreen - Doing It Myself
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- Posts: 1
- Joined: March 11th, 2021, 4:26 pm
- Location: Amherst, OH
- Grass Type: Kentucky Bluegrass
- Lawn Size: Not Specified
- Level: Not Specified
Ditched TruGreen - Doing It Myself
Hello Everyone,
I finally did it, I ditched TruGreen and every other lawn service and am going to do it myself. With a little help and
sweat, I know I can do better. I live in Amherst, Ohio which is the Northern part of Ohio. I have an existing yard that
that is about 8,500 sq. ft. I think the lawn is mostly Kentucky Bluegrass. The soil pH is 6 to 6.5. I was thinking of
applying some lime to get the pH higher and remove some of the moss growing around the yard. What would be a
good granular lime product? Also, I would like to apply a Pre-Emergent this month. What would be a good granular
Pre-Emergent? Can I apply them at the same time or apply the lime, wait a couple of weeks then apply the Pre-Emergent?
Looking forward to your responses.
Thanks,
Don
I finally did it, I ditched TruGreen and every other lawn service and am going to do it myself. With a little help and
sweat, I know I can do better. I live in Amherst, Ohio which is the Northern part of Ohio. I have an existing yard that
that is about 8,500 sq. ft. I think the lawn is mostly Kentucky Bluegrass. The soil pH is 6 to 6.5. I was thinking of
applying some lime to get the pH higher and remove some of the moss growing around the yard. What would be a
good granular lime product? Also, I would like to apply a Pre-Emergent this month. What would be a good granular
Pre-Emergent? Can I apply them at the same time or apply the lime, wait a couple of weeks then apply the Pre-Emergent?
Looking forward to your responses.
Thanks,
Don
- MorpheusPA
- Posts: 18129
- Joined: March 5th, 2009, 7:32 pm
- Location: Zone 6 (Eastern PA)
- Grass Type: Elite KBG
- Lawn Size: 10000-20000
- Level: Advanced
Re: Ditched TruGreen - Doing It Myself
First, we always recommend a Logan Labs soil test. We'll read it, we'll tell you exactly what to apply and in what amounts and when. Check the soil test reads to see what we do.
Um...I just did one: viewtopic.php?f=11&t=26413
Moss is opportunistic and likes damp, not acid. My pH is perfect and I still have moss in damp areas because they're wet. But if you improve the lawn and improve the drainage a bit (you might want to check the site for posts about the Soil Conditioner), moss will tend to go away on its own.
Dimension 0-0-7 is a great granular pre-emergent that's easy to apply and available at most big box stores. Apply it when the forsythia in your area bloom (I'm thinking that'll be around early April? I'm not familiar, but it's a while yet here). Just follow the instructions on the bag, and it'll cover you against weeds for three months. You don't need to worry about application with anything else, so if you have your soil test back and we make recommendations, we can take it into account.
However, if that's not available, there are others. Just choose one that does NOT have a feeding along with it. Feeding the lawn too early is a really bad idea--it'll force growth that shouldn't happen, reducing your summer performance.
Don't feed until Memorial Day.
Um...I just did one: viewtopic.php?f=11&t=26413
Moss is opportunistic and likes damp, not acid. My pH is perfect and I still have moss in damp areas because they're wet. But if you improve the lawn and improve the drainage a bit (you might want to check the site for posts about the Soil Conditioner), moss will tend to go away on its own.
Dimension 0-0-7 is a great granular pre-emergent that's easy to apply and available at most big box stores. Apply it when the forsythia in your area bloom (I'm thinking that'll be around early April? I'm not familiar, but it's a while yet here). Just follow the instructions on the bag, and it'll cover you against weeds for three months. You don't need to worry about application with anything else, so if you have your soil test back and we make recommendations, we can take it into account.
However, if that's not available, there are others. Just choose one that does NOT have a feeding along with it. Feeding the lawn too early is a really bad idea--it'll force growth that shouldn't happen, reducing your summer performance.
Don't feed until Memorial Day.
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- Posts: 46
- Joined: December 27th, 2020, 12:46 am
- Location: North Central San Antonio, TX
- Grass Type: St. Augustine
- Lawn Size: 1000-3000
- Level: Some Experience
Re: Ditched TruGreen - Doing It Myself
Congrats on ditching TG!
Definitely do that soil test that Morph is recommending. I ditched the lawn services last year and doing the test was an eye opener for me.
I've heard that liquid iron applications can be used to kill moss but it's probably better to address the drainage issue that's causing it. Full disclosure: I haven't dealt with the issue personally. I have warm season turf, live in a place that never rains, and have soil that drains crazy fast. I did the perc test described in the soil mgmt article and my hole drained in under half an hour.
Pre-emergents are best applied when soil temps are crossing the 55*-ish range. We don't have a lot of Forsythias here so I can't follow that tip but for us it's around mid January. According to this it looks like Amherst, OH historically passes that mark around the first week of May. Better to be a tad early than miss the window so probably plan to apply the last week of April unless you've got some funky weather this year. We sure have in South Texas this year!
Definitely do that soil test that Morph is recommending. I ditched the lawn services last year and doing the test was an eye opener for me.
I've heard that liquid iron applications can be used to kill moss but it's probably better to address the drainage issue that's causing it. Full disclosure: I haven't dealt with the issue personally. I have warm season turf, live in a place that never rains, and have soil that drains crazy fast. I did the perc test described in the soil mgmt article and my hole drained in under half an hour.
Pre-emergents are best applied when soil temps are crossing the 55*-ish range. We don't have a lot of Forsythias here so I can't follow that tip but for us it's around mid January. According to this it looks like Amherst, OH historically passes that mark around the first week of May. Better to be a tad early than miss the window so probably plan to apply the last week of April unless you've got some funky weather this year. We sure have in South Texas this year!
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- Posts: 4
- Joined: June 30th, 2021, 7:37 pm
- Location: Madison, WI
- Grass Type: Kentucky bluegrass
- Lawn Size: 10000-20000
- Level: Experienced
Re: Ditched TruGreen - Doing It Myself
If your soil ph is truly 6 to 6.5 you’re sitting pretty. 6.5 is right where you want it. At that ph iron and other nutrients are readily available!
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