If that’s all crabgrass, then I would nuke it with total vegetation killer first, power rake it, overseed in fall. Might take a few seasons that way. If you have the money just sod it
a9110108
I’ve heard of guys completely killing their yards and then re-sodding or re-seeding. That’s probably what it’s gonna take.
The forum below that I belong to has some really good advice and some guys that really know their stuff. Post your question and you should get some good replies.
You could drop a preamergent next sorting before it generates and then again mid summer and see what comes up.
Tricinctus01
Looks nice and resilient! Go with it unless you want to take on a lot of work with no guarantee of success and end up with an ecological desert.
BucketteHead
How much work and money do you want to put into it? If the answer is not a lot, I’d let it be. If the answer is a lot, start watching lawn renovation YouTube videos for the fall.
WeddingWhole4771
Why are you so crabby?
freshly_ella
As others said, it’s going to take a Ton of work and a lot of money to fix this 100% to a different grass.
If you’re interested in filling it in and giving you a fuller yard that you can slowly work on bettering each year though you can do this.
YouTube options for aerating your lawn. Pick the one that makes the most sense. Do that. Then fertilize the lawn. Now, mow weekly at 3 inches until fall.
In the fall, go buy a high-quality Kentucky blue grass mix and a seed spreader. Mow extremely short this time. Scalp it. Bag the grass. Now overseed as thick as you can afford. After that, raise the deck back up and mow when it needs it. That should fill in most the bare spots. Kentucky blue spreads without seed after established. You can then start doing lawn safe weed and crab grass treatment in the spring and fall the next year. Overseeding a few weeks after each treatment will drastically speed up converting it to all Kentucky blue.
DefiantDonut7
Throw quinclorac on that, will die quickly. Use a pre-emergent in the spring (I use dimension) and it won’t grow.
GrievousFault
Located in Connecticut? Orange is not the flair you’re looking for, my dude
dorkimoe
Looks just like mine in Illinois 🙁
NovasHOVA
Kill what you can now, aerate and overseed in the fall. Use Mesotrione at the same time as seeding, come late winter/super early spring, put down a pre emergent that will hold off these summer weeds. The Mesotrione in the fall will hold back the winter weeds while you germinate the grass seed
aaronchase
You’ll have a chance every fall after the crab grass and every spring before the crab grass to add as much real grass as you can! Just seed it this fall as if it’s a new yard, use a slit seeder and way more than the recommended amount of seed. Then once you have enough grass you can do a pre-emergent weed control product, or weed and feed in the spring and the crab grass won’t sprout.
I would hold off killing the weeds until you have a good amount of grass.
LARamsJK
Nuke it, fall Reno
iLMNOi
Looking Crabby
Am_I_Therefore
Hah, brother my 2.5 acre hilly weird yard looks like this. I’m in the woods with no neighbors to judge. Something green to walk in and occasionally mow. It gets some little flowers now and then. Occasional mushroom. Just accept it and come to Reddit to gaze at the dream lawns.
wundeyatayetyme
Unpopular opinion: I like crab grass.
Beemo-Noir
Nuke it all with roundup. Wait two weeks. Add some topsoil if you can, then seed and starter fertilizer. Water 3 times a day for 15 minutes for the next 2-3 weeks until germination. Do not step on or mow your grass until maturity.
tomatoblade
Looks like a pretty good lawn to me. What do you want?
mud-button
People forget that most of what we call weeds in the lawn are not really bad – they often have deeper roots and aerate the soil, and things like clover are great for bees and other insects.
22 Comments
It’s green, innit?
This is how my grass is and I just keep it short
If that’s all crabgrass, then I would nuke it with total vegetation killer first, power rake it, overseed in fall. Might take a few seasons that way. If you have the money just sod it
I’ve heard of guys completely killing their yards and then re-sodding or re-seeding. That’s probably what it’s gonna take.
The forum below that I belong to has some really good advice and some guys that really know their stuff. Post your question and you should get some good replies.
[https://www.thelawnforum.com/forums/cool-season-lawns.9/](https://www.thelawnforum.com/forums/cool-season-lawns.9/)
looks like doveweed
You could drop a preamergent next sorting before it generates and then again mid summer and see what comes up.
Looks nice and resilient! Go with it unless you want to take on a lot of work with no guarantee of success and end up with an ecological desert.
How much work and money do you want to put into it? If the answer is not a lot, I’d let it be. If the answer is a lot, start watching lawn renovation YouTube videos for the fall.
Why are you so crabby?
As others said, it’s going to take a Ton of work and a lot of money to fix this 100% to a different grass.
If you’re interested in filling it in and giving you a fuller yard that you can slowly work on bettering each year though you can do this.
YouTube options for aerating your lawn. Pick the one that makes the most sense. Do that. Then fertilize the lawn. Now, mow weekly at 3 inches until fall.
In the fall, go buy a high-quality Kentucky blue grass mix and a seed spreader. Mow extremely short this time. Scalp it. Bag the grass. Now overseed as thick as you can afford. After that, raise the deck back up and mow when it needs it. That should fill in most the bare spots. Kentucky blue spreads without seed after established. You can then start doing lawn safe weed and crab grass treatment in the spring and fall the next year. Overseeding a few weeks after each treatment will drastically speed up converting it to all Kentucky blue.
Throw quinclorac on that, will die quickly. Use a pre-emergent in the spring (I use dimension) and it won’t grow.
Located in Connecticut? Orange is not the flair you’re looking for, my dude
Looks just like mine in Illinois 🙁
Kill what you can now, aerate and overseed in the fall. Use Mesotrione at the same time as seeding, come late winter/super early spring, put down a pre emergent that will hold off these summer weeds. The Mesotrione in the fall will hold back the winter weeds while you germinate the grass seed
You’ll have a chance every fall after the crab grass and every spring before the crab grass to add as much real grass as you can! Just seed it this fall as if it’s a new yard, use a slit seeder and way more than the recommended amount of seed. Then once you have enough grass you can do a pre-emergent weed control product, or weed and feed in the spring and the crab grass won’t sprout.
I would hold off killing the weeds until you have a good amount of grass.
Nuke it, fall Reno
Looking Crabby
Hah, brother my 2.5 acre hilly weird yard looks like this. I’m in the woods with no neighbors to judge. Something green to walk in and occasionally mow. It gets some little flowers now and then. Occasional mushroom. Just accept it and come to Reddit to gaze at the dream lawns.
Unpopular opinion: I like crab grass.
Nuke it all with roundup. Wait two weeks. Add some topsoil if you can, then seed and starter fertilizer. Water 3 times a day for 15 minutes for the next 2-3 weeks until germination. Do not step on or mow your grass until maturity.
Looks like a pretty good lawn to me. What do you want?
People forget that most of what we call weeds in the lawn are not really bad – they often have deeper roots and aerate the soil, and things like clover are great for bees and other insects.