Front yard looks like crap. Buying Tenacity (normal for it to be $65 for 8oz?) to use first and get rid of crabgrass and other clumps. Over-seeding Labor Day weekend with Twin City. Bought a WiFi connection for hose to monitor watering times. Even though I never had lines, I’m also throwing away my Scott’s spreader and replacing with Echo.
Question, if I want to work on leveling , what’s the recommended topsoil/compost blend? I have Lowe’s, Home Depot and Ace nearby. Hoping to rent one of the leveling rakes as well.
Any other products to put down in before fall?
by Reddit-User-Says
22 Comments
Following this. I’m in MD as well
Same boat as you. In Maryland and my lawn consists of 98% brown grass and 2% tall green patches of weeds, nutsedge, and other crap. Going to be a busy fall.
Tenacity used to cost a lot more actually. One scotts product I do buy is their “built for seeding” fertilizer that has granular mesotrione in it. The other box store brand has one occasionally too, I cant remember the name
why are you buying tenacity?
Get some quinclorac for the crab grass.
Get some TZone or Speedzone for the weeds.
Kill em off and then reseed.
For levelling, mix the two 50/50 or just use topsoil and then do a light topping of compost. Spread your seeds and then do a light raking to mix the seed in with the compost.
Nova here. I spent so much time putting down soil and seed, watering etc. and my grass looked awesome in the spring. Now it looks like shit and I’m pretty annoyed about it. I’m wondering if KBG was a bad idea.
You need
1. A bag of high quality seed from United Seed (any TTTF is going to be amazing)
2. A bottle of tenancy of post seed
3. A bottle of speed zone for spot treatment
4. A bag of starter fertilizer. I personally like yard mastery but people say it’s expensive for what it is and it probably is but I’m lazy
5. A bag of something to apply late in the season. I usually do a bag of flagship from yard mastery
Now add water and you will have a heck of a lawn
Not sure what part of Maryland you’re in, but you should check out Newsom Seed. I picked up a bag of tall fescue blend that has cultivars chosen to thrive in MD a couple years back, and have really enjoyed the look and resiliency. Definitely worth checking out before ordering something online.
Do yourself a favor and save some money. Instead of buying Tenacity, buy Mesotrione (generic version).
Also, United Seeds sells their blend of 4 different TTTF cultivars for likely less than what you’re paying on Amazon (no idea on pricing since your screenshot cut it off). $29 for 5lbs, or $46 for 10lbs (buy 10lbs, it’s always better to have more seed than less).
You don’t need Tenacity. It’s the most overrated product on Reddit and it doesn’t even do a good job for premergent or crab grass except at early stages.
Tenacity is Mesotrione that can be purchased cheaply on Amazon if you are looking to save some $$. Definitely use a non-ionic surfactant with it. I believe for best results you spray it on the yard, leave it for at least 6 hours then water it in. Two applications are best (one week before seeding and then at seeding time). It will stunt the growth of any existing grass to give time for the seedlings to germinate.
I don’t think that’s dead. I see brown wilted dormant grass waiting for better weather.
Resilience II is a very good cultivar but it’s good to have a little diversity.
So much dead there, I would use glyphosate, kill it all, a week later mow short, rake up the debris, seed with a slit seeder.
Scott’s is more than fine, 4x a year, follow the directions. Tenacity, Prodiamine, etc… are/can be used in addition to the Scott’s program to yield great results. You just probably don’t want to Scott’s alone, at least that’s my experience with it, but Scott’s alone is a good basic plan for most people. Add in some Weed B Gone for spot treatments, solid combo.
Tenacity is fine but you should look into Torocity. Same thing but less $$$, unless Tenacity has dropped in price.
Mentioned avoiding Scotts i know but their turfbuilder for seeding has tenacity in it. May be easier to apply fertilizer/herbicide at same time. I agree I would kill weeds a few weeks ahead of seeding and remove as many as you can so seedlings have room to fill in.
Don’t buy seed from Amazon. Buy it from vendor directly.
No…don’t buy Tenacity! It’s the most commonly incorrectly recommended product! It sucks as a weed killer, and you’ll be waiting for weeks for total death…and then you’ll only get about 50% death, and new grass will be fighting with the crabgrass that doesn’t die.
I wish this shit wasn’t even labeled for killing crab…it’s just shitty.
If you’re seeding in two weeks though, there’s not much else you can use….this work should have been started in early August so you can kill properly, and have time to prep soil and seed correctly…
So for other person about to do the same. can someone answer these steps
Spray weed kill stuff
wait a week or so
lay dirt/topsoil/compost
lay seed
water
water
water
pray
I only use GCI Turf seed.
Hey pro tip about Tenacity/mesotrione: adhere to the mixing proportions very closely. Do not think to yourself, “I’ll just double/quadruple the ratio so that the clover dies faster!”. Nope, that’s about the concentration where the grass around the clover also dies. Ask me and my polka dot lawn how we know.
Depending on where you are check out Newsom Seed, I pay roughly $95 for a 50 pound bag of TTTF, lush and green year after year. Here’s right now after i mowed to 4 inches and aerated.
https://preview.redd.it/1zv62yn6ytjf1.jpeg?width=2252&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2c194ce7c82cfc76dcf9737bcf813a7c8b7cf524