Hello everyone, I'd like some advice on how I could possibly fix my lawn. We're new home owners and we've had this house for about 5 years, never really did lawn maintance except for recently…
So, a last month I fertilized the lawn, I believe I used the Scotts weed and feed mix. I didnt realize that the fertilizer made everything else grow, and I thought it would kill the weeds.
I believe I dont have a strong root system for the grass. So my plan was buy grass seed and rake/dethatch and overseed the lawn in August, or maybe September?
I bought this grass seed but looking at it now… I dont know if I bought the right kind? With this bag, will it grow all different kinds of grass, which Im not sure I want.
Basically, Im looking for some advice or guidance on how I can start repairing my lawn.
I live in IL, and its currently 80° outside.
Thank you all
by Steelfist25
18 Comments
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Typically a blend is exactly what you want. Monocultures are not a good thing, and for where you are that will be great.
1. Did you water after fertilizing (24 hours)?
2. Did it kill the weeds?
3. If not, use a post-emergent.
4. Do you have shady areas that don’t get much sun?
5. If not, you don’t necessarily need this, which you probably paid more than needed.
6. It’s Rye & Fescue. It will be fine, regardless.
Just my 2¢
My understanding is it’s better to mix your lawn with various grasses since they all have their strengths and weaknesses, giving you a better shot at a robust lawn in variable climates/areas of sunshine/shade, etc. The grasses listed fescue, kbg, ryegrass, are all good cool season grasses. I’m partial to kentucky bluegrass myself and the percentage on this bag is pretty decent for a mix. Keep in mind this seed has no starter fertilizer, so you’ll want to lay a fall fertilzer with the overseed. I prefer seed to have no built in fertilizer because of more bang for your buck. It’s also important to look at weed content in the bag. This has 0.09% Ideally you’d have zero but that’s not a realistic find. This percentage is pretty good. Others may have different opinions, but I don’t think this is a bad pick.
Also adding in that before you do this, handplucking the weeds off your lawn to make room for the seed to grow is your best option if you have the time and mobility/stamina. Don’t forget a pre-emergent crabcrass inhibitor in the early spring. Crabgrass is relentless in August and it’s hard to pluck, so it’s best to use the pre-emergent to avoid it alltogether.
1) don’t plant grass now. It’s mid August and daytime soil temps are still way too high. You also generally don’t want to fert in July or August, June is the latest you should put stuff down before the hotter dryer summer months.
2) Scott’s is generally a shit brand. Weed and feed products don’t actually work. Fertilizer is fertilizer, and ferts make everything grow. Don’t buy Scott’s, go to a locally owned lawn/garden center and buy a good fertilizer mix.
I’m partial to the Jonathan Green lawn care program, I put down 4 bags of fertilizer per year and my lawn looks great (though now it’s parched bc we haven’t had rain in 2 weeks and I don’t have an irrigation system). I also use JG black beauty Keystone (their PA sun shade mix variety). But on this sub, the biggest lawn care autists will thumb their noses at JG still and recommend getting fert mixes and pure grass seed from the chemical companies that sell directly to professionals. Even these “high quality” seed mixes from Scott’s or JG have trace amounts of weed seed. True 0% weed seed mixes are extremely expensive and not worth the money imo unless you have absolutely nothing better to do than to manicure your lawn 24/7.
I don’t usually find the 0.03% weed exposure to be a huge problem in JGBBK, I’ve used JGBBK for the last 2 seasons and my weed density is pretty minimal. What I do have, I can keep up with by manual removal or spraying with a selective herbicide. I have a bigger problem with yellow nutsedge this year and holy fuck is it annoying.
I can’t speak for Scott’s Heritage but it does look far better than their other products. The inert matter % is typically very high in Scott’s seed products, sometimes almost 50% of the seed mixes or more. I don’t know what these ryegrass or fescue varieties are, there’s so many turf grass cultivars it’s hard to keep up with what’s what. So as far as this bag goes you probably did ok, but don’t waste your money by throwing it down now just wait a few weeks and you can seed for the fall.
And 9% weed seeds… that’s adding a lot of weeds to you lawn .
You’ll need to kill existing weeds. Dethatch, aerate then over seed heavily with starter fertilizer.
And when you see an advertised 85% germination rate… you’ll only achieve maybe 65%, so put down extra seed
Garbage seed. .09% weeds….and even more of crop seed. Crop seed? WTH is that doing in a bag of grass seed…
Spray all those weeds with a Weed B Gon. It will kill the weeks and not the grass. Then… water that crispy lawn. Keep it mowed until late September and overseed.
1. You generally want modern cultivars, not “heritage” seed. Higher performance, disease resistance, etc.
2. This blend is mostly Perenial Rygrass, which germinates fast. Nothing wrong with it, I prefer Turf Type Tall Fescue, or Rhizomous Tall Fescue for their deep roots. It includes chewings and red fescues (aka Fine Fescues), which are good at shade, and Kentucky Bluegrass which takes much longer to germinate. Check out an online source like United seeds, and look for something tailored to your conditions rather than 1 size fits all like this blend. But all these grasses will look similar enough and will be fine if you opt to put it down.
3. Weed and feed products are tricky, typically need to be applied wet so granules stick, but a liquied/sprayed herbicide is almost always better. Get a cheap sprayer and concentrated weed killer like Weed-B-Gone. Add some dye and surfactant to make it even more effective. Targeted and cheaper in the long run. Do this now,
4. Next year put down a Pre-Emergent, read instructions, you’ll likely need to re-apply through teh year. It will reduce teh number of weeds that grow.
5. Get a soil test this fall once all your fertilizers are washed out to get a solid plan for amendments next year
If you have this bag already, it’s fine. There is a noticeable difference in look from fine fescues and KGB/Rye grass, but you can’t tell from a distance. Fine fescues grow really well in shaded areas, that’s why it’s in the mix. The fescue will thrive where there’s less sun and the Rye and KGB will thrive away from the shade. That could also cause different sections to look a little different.
As unsightly as it is, it looks pretty normal for a drought/heat stressed fescue lawn that didn’t get any pre emergent herbicides. If you want to run fescue, it needs water. Especially if your lawn is full sun, it’s apostle not worth the work but it can be done. Depending on your zone, zoysia or Bermuda will be the easier options I bet.
That seed tag is atrocious.
Buy seed from United Seed, Twin City Seed, or GCI Turf.
Better germination rates, zero crop or weed seed.
Take that seed back. Scotts, is designed to be idiot proof, not get good results. I’m going to recommend a number of products and all herbicides have a generic name and a trade name. I’ve included both names to make this easy. I also mention the “bag rate”, this is just the rate, or spreader setting printed on the bag.
Take pictures of your yard as it is now, go to your garden supply store and ask for recommendations on grass seed. I usually use Barenbrug or Jonathan Green. Plant the seed and water 2-3x a day. Make sure the soil surface is always damp but never flooded. When you see the seed starting to emerge, go back to the garden supply store and get granular (bagged granules not liquid) 12-12-12 fertilizer with Mesotrione AKA Tenacity. Apply it at the bag rate and don’t worry about stepping on the grass for this one application, it’s fine. Tenacity isn’t going to kill all your weeds, but it will kill 2/3 and back most of the rest down enough that the new seed can establish before winter.
Next spring, starting around April 1, apply Milorganite fertilizer every 45 days until November 15 following label directions. Milorganite CANNOT burn your lawn because it has very little salt in it. Dump a bag of Milorganite on the lawn, it won’t burn but you will have to cut that area of the lawn twice a day because you will get insane dark color and growth (I have seen this done accidentally, but thankfully have never done it myself). Yes, this means you can apply Milorganite at 2-3x the bag rate, but you will spend a lot of time cutting the lawn (on the other hand this will thicken thin lawns). On April 1 and May 15 (technically when your soil temps hit 55F and 70F), apply Prodiamine AKA Barricade, and spot treat weeds with TZone. Repeat spot treating 2 weeks later. If TZone won’t kill the weed take a picture, and post it here, it will require a specialized herbicide. When the temperatures start to cool off in the fall (Technically when your soil drops below 70F), apply 1 application of dithopyr, AKA Dimension.
That’s a whole lawn care plan, and you will have something approaching a golf course. If any trouble pops up, ask here. Incidentally you can get granular of almost everything above but you should use a pump sprayer for spot treating weeds to reduce the amount of chemical you use.
Don’t put that on your lawn! Depending on which type of grass you have (usually either fescue or bluegrass) go to your local landscaping supplier (not a big box store!) and buy a bag of grass seed from them. Use that to overseed in the fall.
There are about 300,000 seeds per pound in those bags. So that 7lb bag, at 0.59% weed and other crop seeds, contained over 12,000 weed seeds.
Don’t ever buy Scott’s equipment or seed. The fertilizer is mostly fine. Buy from somewhere that sells grass with 0.00% weed seeds, like GCI or Twin City.
Isn’t perennial ryegrass allopathic? If so, then I doubt that the bluegrass and fescue will thrive with that high percentage of ryegrass.
New home owner, I’ve only been here 5 years.
In this economy?
Bro I live near you.
1. Get a 2 gallon sprayer from Home Depot and use Weed B Gone on your lawn to kill all those weeds
2. Do NOT detach. That will allow even more weeds to grow.
3. Aerare and overseed in the fall using a spreader. Get your seed from a local SiteOne.
Talk to your local Siteone peeps and get their lawn treatment calendar program