2018 Lawn and Landscape Thread

[texasdago 7575]

Some of these are easy to hand weed, too.  Just have to get that tap root.

[cactusflinthead 27601]

Frost is going to kill off the spurge fairly soon for some of us. The other one is an early winter weed. That damn spurge is a bad one. It has a very short life cycle. It can go from germination to producing seeds in as few as 14 days. As was mentioned it is easy to pull up in a setting that you can't or don't want to spray. There might be a bazillion of the little bastards but they are easily pulled or scraped off. 

[Anastasis 23475]

How fucked is this oak tree?

[Spaulding Smails 1553]

@Anastasis I think that's just internal decay.  Pretty common among Red Oaks.  Half my Red Oaks have similar voids.  

Cue @cactusflinthead to either confirm my statement or tell me I'm full of shit.

 

[cactusflinthead 27601]

15 hours ago, Spaulding Smails said:

@Anastasis I think that's just internal decay.  Pretty common among Red Oaks.  Half my Red Oaks have similar voids.  

Cue @cactusflinthead to either confirm my statement or tell me I'm full of shit.

 

https://www.austintreeexperts.com/blog/cavity-tree-internal-decay-hollow/

@Anastasis, pretty good article on the subject. It looks fairly sound, but it's a judgment call. The tree is actively growing only in a tiny layer of cells. Wood in, bark out. It might go for decades without an incident or it might catch a big wind and snap. 

[Atxracer 797]

16 hours ago, Anastasis said:

How fucked is this oak tree?

Looks like hotdog down a hallway kinda fucked.  that poor screwdriver isn't even touching the sides.  

[JSB 677]

Don’t know where to put this, but I had dinner tonight with a friend of mine whose family business is a tree farm, and certified arborists need more annual education hours than CPAs evidently. In TX, CPAs need an average of 40 hours per year (although a lot of us do 20/20/80) but arborists need 60 per year.

[drt 640]

Is it time for pre-emergent yet?  Seems crazy to ask but I had new weeds pop up this weekend

[drt 640]

Also, did I miss a 2019 thread?

[texasdago 7575]

So, one of my boys likes... no loves to pay sports on the front lawn. That's great.  You can imagine how the lawn looks.  Is there a strain of St. Augustine that can take the punishment?

[Okie Lite in Zapata 143]

17 hours ago, drt said:

Is it time for pre-emergent yet?  Seems crazy to ask but I had new weeds pop up this weekend

Depending on your location, yes its time for a Pre em.

If you have weeds popping now (winter weeds)  you need a fall Pre em.

[TXs 226]

I threw down some pre emerge in Nov in the front yard only and the winter weeds attacked my backyard only. finally getting around to getting the back. Shit works though. 

[swraith 347]

Depending on your location, yes its time for a Pre em.
If you have weeds popping now (winter weeds)  you need a fall Pre em.

I put down what I thought would be a good fall preemergent in October.

Scott’s crabgrass and grassy weed preventer.

With the January warm up, my yard has exploded with lush green weeds. Had to break out the lawn mower this past weekend just to keep them at bay. Mostly my issue is with grassy weeds. Last year I had lots of poa and I likely still have it this year but my real problem this year looks more like rescuegrass.

Anybody have a different granular preemergent they could recommend for this spring?

Should I just let the winter weeds die when it eventually warms up it proactively treat them now? If treat them now, then how?

[LebongJames 1812]

Interested in above info as well.

[McFly 606]

I like the Lesco preemergent from Home Depot.  Comes in a yellow and white bag. 

[F250 28784]

Mid-winter weed talk not going away.

Like others here, I had a small weed jungle sprout up right in front of my house. One of my teenagers was in trouble so I had him pulling the weeds up by the roots.

Does all of the recent weed growth indicate a nasty Spring without treatment or will these Winter weeds die off come Spring time?

[Okie Lite in Zapata 143]

23 hours ago, swraith said:

 

I put down what I thought would be a good fall preemergent in October.

Scott’s crabgrass and grassy weed preventer.

With the January warm up, my yard has exploded with lush green weeds. Had to break out the lawn mower this past weekend just to keep them at bay. Mostly my issue is with grassy weeds. Last year I had lots of poa and I likely still have it this year but my real problem this year looks more like rescuegrass.

Anybody have a different granular preemergent they could recommend for this spring?

Should I just let the winter weeds die when it eventually warms up it proactively treat them now? If treat them now, then how?

 

October is usually a good month to apply the fall pre m but soil temps and location are very relevant also.

Scotts is pendemethilin which is a good pre m but a pre m with Prodiamine/Barricade is a little more effective.

The pendi should have been effective if applied correctly, not sure of the application rate on the bag but how many pounds did you apply and do you know the sq ft of  the turf treated?

You need to do 2 applications of pre m to control your summer weeds. You can do one now and then do another app in 8 weeks. Again location/soil temps matter.

IF your turf is warm season and 100% dormant now you can hit it with some glyphosate and be done with the weeds.  If your not 100% dormant there's other options to fry the winter weeds it just gets expensive.

 

 

 

[Okie Lite in Zapata 143]

6 hours ago, McFly said:

I like the Lesco preemergent from Home Depot.  Comes in a yellow and white bag. 

Pretty good stuff and can be bought at any Site One location also, Im pretty sure its Pendimethilin but the Lesco Pendi at Site One may have  a little higher rate than the box stores and also has some fert in it so its pretty kick ass right now for any cool season grasses some may have. 

[Okie Lite in Zapata 143]

6 hours ago, F250 said:

Mid-winter weed talk not going away.

Like others here, I had a small weed jungle sprout up right in front of my house. One of my teenagers was in trouble so I had him pulling the weeds up by the roots.

Does all of the recent weed growth indicate a nasty Spring without treatment or will these Winter weeds die off come Spring time?

Yep, lots of winter weeds because of all the rain this fall, shit is breaking loose everywhere.

Yes, the winter weeds will die off when it gets hot but by that time the warm season grass is greening up and getting choked out by the weeds, so the winter weeds finally burn up but your turf is weak where the winter weeds were and the summer weeds start kicking in. 

Weeds now aren't indicative of spring/summer weeds. However if its a wet spring and summer the weeds will be bad.

 

[Anastasis 23475]

Can I get some input related to landscaping around oak trees.  I have three fairly big groupings of live oaks in the back yard.  Years ago somebody planted a few flowering plants and succulents around them.  Last year I cut them back aggressively, they grew back nice, cut them back again.  But the area just really isn't well put together.  I want to rip out most of the shit that was planted there and make a more defined ring around each of the clusters of trees.  Right now it is just basically grass->stringy shade grass->loosely formed groupings of plants->trees as you move from outer to inner.

 

I would like to bring in some stone and build a ring around, and maybe fill the ring with some larger gravel or rocks to make it easier to maintain.  I would thin out the current plants, or pull them all and do some real selective in planting. 

 

So here's the question:

Any guidance about what NOT to put under oaks to avoid any damage?  Would it be ok to rill the ring with a large gravel (3-8" rocks) or is that a no no?  How close would you be comfortable building a covered patio on a slab?  How about an uncovered patio build from pavers?  

And other thoughts or ideas would be appreciated. I am a hack when it comes to the aesthetics of landscaping, but ideally looking to do something that looks nice and defined and clean but doesn't require an inordinate amount of ongoing attention outside a couple times a year. 

[Anastasis 23475]

Another question.  I have some deep shade areas that really struggle due to significant terracing of the lots here.  I want to resod these areas.  Areas with good direct sun light are bermuda and it thrives.  There are a couple patches of St. Augustine along one of the terraces with moderate shade and it appears to do OK.  Would there be any big drawback to resoding the high shade areas with Zoysia?  Any other preferred grasses for significant shade that live through the summer.  I tried to see the area with some fescue last year and it made it to about August. The areas don't well lend themselves to just laying gravel or other hardscape, but we may end up there if I can't get something to stick. 

[Okie Lite in Zapata 143]

On 1/24/2019 at 12:14 PM, Anastasis said:

Can I get some input related to landscaping around oak trees.  I have three fairly big groupings of live oaks in the back yard.  Years ago somebody planted a few flowering plants and succulents around them.  Last year I cut them back aggressively, they grew back nice, cut them back again.  But the area just really isn't well put together.  I want to rip out most of the shit that was planted there and make a more defined ring around each of the clusters of trees.  Right now it is just basically grass->stringy shade grass->loosely formed groupings of plants->trees as you move from outer to inner.

 

I would like to bring in some stone and build a ring around, and maybe fill the ring with some larger gravel or rocks to make it easier to maintain.  I would thin out the current plants, or pull them all and do some real selective in planting. 

 

So here's the question:

Any guidance about what NOT to put under oaks to avoid any damage?  Would it be ok to rill the ring with a large gravel (3-8" rocks) or is that a no no?  How close would you be comfortable building a covered patio on a slab?  How about an uncovered patio build from pavers?  

And other thoughts or ideas would be appreciated. I am a hack when it comes to the aesthetics of landscaping, but ideally looking to do something that looks nice and defined and clean but doesn't require an inordinate amount of ongoing attention outside a couple times a year. 

I would not do a raised tree ring, wouldn't want the moisture up on  the bark risking fungus, disease  or insects. 

IMO on the patios/slabs, I would not do any building under the drip line of those oaks, that keeps the roots safe.

You want something that looks nice and clean that only needs to be fucked with a few times a year. Thats going to be tough.

One suggestion that I can make is a ground cover/Ivy. It would fill in the shaded areas and once it met the bermuda it would not invade. When it needed maintenance or got to tall  you can mow the shit down. If you didn't want it climbing up the trees you could pull it off and I would keep it from climbing.  Thats all I know for low maintenance and zero water that gets rid of the dirt under the trees.

 

 

On 1/24/2019 at 12:30 PM, Anastasis said:

Another question.  I have some deep shade areas that really struggle due to significant terracing of the lots here.  I want to resod these areas.  Areas with good direct sun light are bermuda and it thrives.  There are a couple patches of St. Augustine along one of the terraces with moderate shade and it appears to do OK.  Would there be any big drawback to resoding the high shade areas with Zoysia?  Any other preferred grasses for significant shade that live through the summer.  I tried to see the area with some fescue last year and it made it to about August. The areas don't well lend themselves to just laying gravel or other hardscape, but we may end up there if I can't get something to stick. 

I have NEVER seen Zoysia live in the shade. Its stated as being shade tolerant but its not. Seen it dozens of times, save your money. 

Fescue is the only grass for the shade but like you said it burnt up in August. Did you water it everyday? It needs water every day when its over 100. 

[McFly 606]

St. Augustine works well in shade. Did you mean the only OTHER grass for shade?

[Okie Lite in Zapata 143]

7 hours ago, McFly said:

St. Augustine works well in shade. Did you mean the only OTHER grass for shade?

St Augustine, Bermuda and Zoysia work well in semi shade areas but these grasses still need 4 or 5 hours a day of sunshine to thrive, at least that's in Zapata because I can not get any St Augustines to grow behind my shop and under my lemon/orange trees and this area gets 3-4 hours a day of sunshine. 

Anastasis mentioned large groupings of live oaks and deep shaded areas so my recommendations was for Fescue, I figured these areas he mentioned didn't get the minimal needed amount of sunshine for a shade tolerant, warm season grass to thrive. 

[Assman 1830]

Back to the winter weeds discussion...

I have been deployed the last 3 Jan-May but am actually home this year.  I'd like to really step up my yard game this year since we may be selling the house this summer.  My yard is mostly St. Augustine with a few pockets of random mixed grasses.  What can I do right now to help my yard this Spring and Summer?  I have a lot of weeds popping up in the back, but the front is fairly clean.

[Okie Lite in Zapata 143]

On 1/31/2019 at 9:29 PM, Assman said:

Back to the winter weeds discussion...

I have been deployed the last 3 Jan-May but am actually home this year.  I'd like to really step up my yard game this year since we may be selling the house this summer.  My yard is mostly St. Augustine with a few pockets of random mixed grasses.  What can I do right now to help my yard this Spring and Summer?  I have a lot of weeds popping up in the back, but the front is fairly clean.

You can put a pre emergent down now and that will help control the summer annual weeds this spring/summer.

 

 

[texasdago 7575]

Anyone tried growing Tiff bermuda grass?  How much effort does it take and can it handle any shade?

[McFly 606]

I put Tif 419 in my front yard and wish I would’ve gone with St. Augustine. It’s about the same effort as any other grass except for the scalping on the first mow of the year. It also seems to get more winter weeds than the StA. It does not like shade. 

[kmac30 416]

Weeds are insane right now. Like everyone else seems to be talking about.

In my flower beds, in one spot, I keep getting these mushrooms that smell terrible. They start out as white balls. If I see them soon enough in the mulch I can grab them and toss them in the street. They just keep coming. I have weed barrier cloth and had thick mulch.

Next, across the side walk up to my house, I have a rose bush that developed this seemingly overnight. It’s a knockout rose if that matters. I’m in Conroe, if that matters. It’s been really humid, but I’ve never seen anything like it. My wife wants to dig it up. Thoughts?

[texasdago 7575]

On 2/5/2019 at 2:03 PM, McFly said:

I put Tif 419 in my front yard and wish I would’ve gone with St. Augustine. It’s about the same effort as any other grass except for the scalping on the first mow of the year. It also seems to get more winter weeds than the StA. It does not like shade. 

I just can't figure out what will hold up to my son's constant soccer 

[scottsins 1968]

Is there or should there be a separate thread for garden issues, as in, growing stuff that you can eat?

 

I haven’t kept up with this one to know whether that’s just included in the lawn discussion. I don’t want to get messy with tomato seedling talk in a thread where it doesn’t belong.

[krevo 142]

On 1/6/2019 at 9:48 PM, drt said:

Is it time for pre-emergent yet?  Seems crazy to ask but I had new weeds pop up this weekend

Yes.  I've been laying down the Lesco 0-0-7 since mid Jan and I'm putting another bag down before March.

[krevo 142]

On 2/4/2019 at 11:17 AM, texasdago said:

Anyone tried growing Tiff bermuda grass?  How much effort does it take and can it handle any shade?

I did 6000 sq ft of Tif 419 sod last year in mid March.   It's a pretty awesome turf coming from a smaller, but more water-hungry St Aug lawn.  

1.  It is nitrogen hungry and I found that it did best with more regular application than I used to use with my St Aug.
2.  I used a lot of humic acid and Air-8 to try and amend a poorly graded top soil and was able to get my roots really deep in one season.  It made it through that 90 day drought and 100+ temps pretty damn good and the areas that were affected bounced back quickly the minute that we had that early fall rain around Labor day.
3. This grass just flat out doesn't do well at all in the shade.  Even the shade around the edges of my home were sparse if they weren't getting at least 6-8 hours of direct sun.  The areas that get full sun all day long though were awesome.   I've got some pics of my lawn in this thread a few pages back.

[Chilly Water 416]

Anyone have a good lawn treatment calendar I can post to start the 2019 thread with?

[GottaB 594]

Anyone have a good lawn treatment calendar I can post to start the 2019 thread with?

[Okie Lite in Zapata 143]

3 hours ago, GottaB said:

Randy Lemmon, he must be one of those master gardeners who doesn't know shit about turf.

That  fertilizer schedule is wrong and is nothing but a waste of time and money.  

Heres your fertilizer basics.--Do not fertilize when the soil temp is below 60 degrees. Warm season grasses need to be close to 75% greened up and the lows at nigh staying above 60 degrees for fert. to be effective.  

Mid Feb and mid March are still to cool and there's no reason to fertilize 4 weeks apart.  Also. if you have ever applied phosphorous or potassium your middle and last number on your bag, chances are you only need nitrogen, your first number. So if you have applied 10-20-10, 32-3-8 or 18-24-12 or anything in those areas you won't need anything but nitrogen.  Ive seen hundreds of soil samples from all the OSU extensions and phos. and pot. stay in the soil for long periods. 

 

The herbicide schedule is close but wrong, . You need  two apps of pre m at the start of the year.  The apps should be 8 weeks apart and this is what's recommended by the chemical manufacturers. 

 

On the fungicides, just keep an eye on your shit and dont just apply them. These warm season grasses are hearty and generally dont need fungicides.

Watering, water deep and infrequently. Water once or twice a week (depending on temp) and when you do, soak the fuck out of the grass 1-1.5" at a time.

If you have irrigation have your last zone done cycling at sunrise or drag your hose around in the evenings and try to have it dry before sunset. Dont water at 9pm and have your turf wet all night, that can cause fungus and other diseases. 

 

 

From OKC to Austin, here's what most greens keepers, and weed control companys--Tru Green's, Scott's and most independent chemical applicators do. 

Here's a schedule company's dont want you to see or understand. Because if you did your yard would be pretty damn good and you might not need them. 

Theres a window of time to apply everything correctly but for DIy'ers here's some good general times/dates.

This is a warm season turf (Bermuda, Tif, Zoysia, St Augustines) turf schedule. 

 

January 15th  Preemergent and IF your grass is  completely dormant and has weeds apply round up as needed to kill any winter weeds.

March 15th    Preemergent and a broad leaf herbicide killer as needed. No round up because you will be getting some green up in your turf. 

May 1st       Fertilize a slow release high nitrogen 40-0-0 or 46-0-0 

July 1st        Fertilize a slow release 32 -0-0 or 28-0-0 with 5 or 10% FE 

September 15th    Fertilizer a winterizer 5-0-20

October 15th    Preemergent and a broad leaf herbicide as needed 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Okie Lite in Zapata 143]

14 hours ago, kmac30 said:

Weeds are insane right now. Like everyone else seems to be talking about.

In my flower beds, in one spot, I keep getting these mushrooms that smell terrible. They start out as white balls. If I see them soon enough in the mulch I can grab them and toss them in the street. They just keep coming. I have weed barrier cloth and had thick mulch.

Next, across the side walk up to my house, I have a rose bush that developed this seemingly overnight. It’s a knockout rose if that matters. I’m in Conroe, if that matters. It’s been really humid, but I’ve never seen anything like it. My wife wants to dig it up. Thoughts?

Thats yellow slime mold, you guys must have had tons of rain. 

If it drys out and gets warm it will die, if not pull the shit up and throw it away. Its not harmful, great pics, I have never seen it that thick on any plant.

[Okie Lite in Zapata 143]

14 hours ago, scottsins said:

Is there or should there be a separate thread for garden issues, as in, growing stuff that you can eat?

 

I haven’t kept up with this one to know whether that’s just included in the lawn discussion. I don’t want to get messy with tomato seedling talk in a thread where it doesn’t belong.

Theres a gardening thread ongoing here on the hobbies forum. 

[Okie Lite in Zapata 143]

14 hours ago, texasdago said:

I just can't figure out what will hold up to my son's constant soccer 

All your warm season grasses are going to hold up very similar to most traffic. 

[Longhorn Al 440]

My grass is all gone. It's a lost cause right now.  Front yard is almost completely shaded by 2 large, young oaks, and the ground is blanketed in acorns. 

Before I even think about tackling that, I have to deal with my side yard between me and one of my neighbors.  It's a disaster.  The swale has always been soggy.  Would stay that way for a week or two after a heavy rain.  The neighbor behind me is on a hill, and it runs down to me.  But it's much worse now.  I have had standing water for weeks, if not months.  It's started to grow moss.  It wreaks havoc on the crappy fence.

A couple of things come to mind: 

Over a year ago, my sewer line backed up.  City came out and dug a big hole in my front yard by the sidewalk and replaced a bunch of pipes and cleaned my tree's roots out of the line.  I think the ground looks a little higher now.  Could be blocking the flow of runoff.

The sidewalk has collapsed at the joint right at the end of the swale.  The ground beneath it has been washed out.

I don't have gutters.  I may get some vinyl ones from HD and put them on the sides of my house.  Any little bit will help, I guess.

Could my neighbor on the hill have a leak and it's running down to me?

I have a drainage/landscape specialist coming out next week to investigate and give me his thoughts and an estimate.  He said he's seeing a ton of ground water at the surface the last few months because we're so saturated.

Hopefully he'll just need to contour the land so it'll slope toward the sidewalk, then fix the sidewalk as well.  I'm thinking about just going ahead and making it a bed of rocks the entire length of the bog once it's fixed.

Then the fence will have to be replaced! Yay.

[Llano Estacado 1257]

Randy Lemmon
 
On the fungicides, just keep an eye on your shit and dont just apply them. These warm season grasses are hearty and generally dont need fungicides.
 

Randy was an RTF major. Had a garden radio show in Houston forever. I don’t think ever got any sort of ag or bio degree.

He does know SE TX and the gulf coast though. His calendar gets thrown around a lot because in theory you apply 1 thing once a month, Feb to Nov.

I weep for your St Augustine on the Texas gulf coast if you don’t stay ahead of fungus. Gray spot, brown path, Take-all, if you’re treating it after it’s symptomatic you’ll be treating it all year long. Thrives during humid nights and mornings from 60-80 degrees? Cool, we only have those 11.5 months a year.

“An ounce of prevention...”

[Assman 1830]

15 hours ago, Okie Lite in Zapata said:

From OKC to Austin, here's what most greens keepers, and weed control companys--Tru Green's, Scott's and most independent chemical applicators do. 

Here's a schedule company's dont want you to see or understand. Because if you did your yard would be pretty damn good and you might not need them. 

Theres a window of time to apply everything correctly but for DIy'ers here's some good general times/dates.

This is a warm season turf (Bermuda, Tif, Zoysia, St Augustines) turf schedule. 

 

January 15th  Preemergent and IF your grass is  completely dormant and has weeds apply round up as needed to kill any winter weeds.

March 15th    Preemergent and a broad leaf herbicide killer as needed. No round up because you will be getting some green up in your turf. 

May 1st       Fertilize a slow release high nitrogen 40-0-0 or 46-0-0 

July 1st        Fertilize a slow release 32 -0-0 or 28-0-0 with 5 or 10% FE 

September 15th    Fertilizer a winterizer 5-0-20

October 15th    Preemergent and a broad leaf herbicide as needed

 

Can you recommend some preemergents to lay down now on my St. Augustine?  Preferably something I can find at Lowe's/HD if there are some that fit the bill.

[Okie Lite in Zapata 143]

On 2/8/2019 at 3:04 PM, Assman said:

 

Can you recommend some preemergents to lay down now on my St. Augustine?  Preferably something I can find at Lowe's/HD if there are some that fit the bill.

After a quick search from what i seen HD and LOW's are very expensive.

I would order this one. Active ingredient Prodiamine and .58%,  that's the highest rate I could find.

https://www.pestrong.com/281-barricade-048-dg-prodiamine-granular-50-lbs.html

[krevo 142]

On 2/9/2019 at 7:32 PM, Okie Lite in Zapata said:

After a quick search from what i seen HD and LOW's are very expensive.

I would order this one. Active ingredient Prodiamine and .58%,  that's the highest rate I could find.

https://www.pestrong.com/281-barricade-048-dg-prodiamine-granular-50-lbs.html

Prodiamine is one of the best.  You can also buy it on Amazon.  Lesco makes a Crabgrass Pre-Emergent that isn't too expensive and is usually applied at a 4lb per 1000sq ft rate.

[Moby Ric 2058]

When you guys say Preemergent you mean Scotts Weed and feed right?  Cause I gots da weeds and that's what I want to use since I have some.

[swraith 347]

In following up to my above post, my yard is completely overrun with crabgrass. It’s weird seeing as it’s only February and I put down preemergent in October.

I have a St Augustin lawn with large mature pecan trees. I have decided to avoid anything with atrazine as a post emergent herbicide.

I am looking at buying Tenacity (Mesotrione) which appears to be one of the few post emergent to control crabgrass in St Augustin. Anyone have experience with Tenacity?

[Okie Lite in Zapata 143]

On 2/12/2019 at 4:58 PM, Moby Ric said:

When you guys say Preemergent you mean Scotts Weed and feed right?  Cause I gots da weeds and that's what I want to use since I have some.

Not sure exactly what you got but generally weed and feed is weed killer and fertilizer. 

[Okie Lite in Zapata 143]

10 hours ago, swraith said:

In following up to my above post, my yard is completely overrun with crabgrass. It’s weird seeing as it’s only February and I put down preemergent in October.

I have a St Augustin lawn with large mature pecan trees. I have decided to avoid anything with atrazine as a post emergent herbicide.

I am looking at buying Tenacity (Mesotrione) which appears to be one of the few post emergent to control crabgrass in St Augustin. Anyone have experience with Tenacity?

Can you post some pics of your crabgrass? 

[swraith 347]

[texasdago 7575]

So, do those weeds handle lots of foot traffic?  Asking for a friend.

 

Spread this yesterday - https://www.microlifefertilizer.com/product/microlife-humates-plus-all-organic-biological-soil-amendment/ 

 

Next application on the yard will be https://www.microlifefertilizer.com/product/microlife-6-2-4-all-organic-biological-fertilizer/