Front Lawn Renovation 2020 Update and First Mow

[s1mpl3k1d]

Last year, many lawns in our neighborhood got killed by grubs. Mine was one of them. I waited and waited hoping for it to turn green in September and thinking kbg lawn just went dormant. I was really confused as to why other lawns in the neighborhood were already green in late August. I still waited but really felt something was wrong.

I decided to renovate the front lawn after seeing tons of grubs when I exposed the top part of my lawn. I picked TTTF this time for a 2,500 sqft area. I dropped the seeds September 27 which we know is very late for northern part of Illinois. However, I got lucky because the weather warmed up and pretty sure the ground temp was still above 50-55f. I think the seeds germinated in 7 days. By the end of the October, it was about 2 inches tall.

Anyways, today was my first mow. Some areas had 6 inches long blades. It is thick which is really nice! There were few areas where it didn't grow well and I know why. I became lazy removing the dead grass and I was hoping raking it would be enough. Only few seeds germinated. It's the help strip. Glad this issue really happened. I will correct it in my next renovation which is this year, the backyard. I'll use the same blend, SS1000.

Here are the pics!

April 17, 2021


April 17, 2021


September 20, 2020

[DevilDawg81]

Looking good, glad you got your lawn back!

[s1mpl3k1d]

Looking good, glad you got your lawn back!

Thank you.

Last year around early November, my neighbor 5 houses down congratulated me. She walks daily with her dog. She told me she was also excited and was waiting for the results. She saw most of the things I did. She asked for some tips too because her lawn also got killed by grubs. I told her most important stuff that will make a successful lawn reno. I hope she and her husband will be successful in their lawn reno. I will renovate my backyard this coming August.

[Masbustelo]

It's come a long way.

[s1mpl3k1d]

It's come a long way.

Yep, thank you!

[MorpheusPA]

Awesome! No wonder you were asking about spring care and grub control...

Like me, I think you're going to be the type that just uses the stuff. I've never let up since I had the same problem (although I did actually manage to rescue the turf here with a lot of water, it took weeks).

[s1mpl3k1d]

Thank you! Yep, on my other thread I'll buy GrubEx sometime this week or the Bayer. The one made by Spectracide doesn't work according to the link I gave you yesterday. And yes, I'll be using it now religiously, both preventative and curative

[MorpheusPA]

Check before using the curative! Seriously, that stuff will do a number on your "good" insect population and microherd. If you don't have a grub problem, don't use it.

The preventative is much less toxic. Just go ahead and use it every year. I do, then use traps to attract local beetles to my lawn to die. Every plant and all the lawn is highly toxic to their grubs. I even spray the roses and render those toxic (Bayer 3 in 1 Rose spray does that nicely). Every year there are fewer and fewer beetles appearing.

[s1mpl3k1d]

Will do. I remember you told me a bag product few years ago used for catching Japanese Beetles. I'll google it later.

Check before using the curative! Seriously, that stuff will do a number on your "good" insect population and microherd. If you don't have a grub problem, don't use it.

yeah, I saw an article last night saying about the cons of the curative products. Some of then will also kill earthworms which we don't want.

[MorpheusPA]

Bag-A-Bug is what I use, but with the Spectracide lure. Just because it's cheaper and easier to find.

You'll usually note that if you use a preventative, you won't have a problem with the grubs in September anyway. Only about 1 to 5% survive the preventative, not enough to cause a problem. And by Year 2, that means 1/20th the beetles, max. And Year 3, 1/400th the beetles. With using the traps, that's even further down.

Lowering the amount of irrigation you do will also reduce the number of grubs and beetles present. If your lawn is as dry as surrounding lawns, there's no particular attraction to it. But few like a dry lawn...