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| Hi Guys
Need some advice please, I want to resod my side garden with Zoysia grass as my old grass died a couple of years ago and crabgrass just look over all of it. When I got back from Xmas vacation we had a couple of frosts in central Florida and it killed off most of the crab crass lawn I had. So its time to kill off any old grass now to make way for new, so I used Roundup on the old crabgrass to kill it off but I don't seem to get the runners under the dead stuff as some are still green. I am going to hit it again with more round up to see if I can get the runners. But my question is if I can't kill the runners would laying soysia sod straight on top to kill it out? Any advice would be great, thank you Stu
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Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by dchall_san_antonio 8 San Antonio (My Page) on Sun, Feb 19, 12 at 23:58
| The crabgrass you talk of cannot be crabgrass. Crabgrass is an annual weed that dies in the fall. The grass you are talking about is probably bermuda since it took over quickly after your grass died. Laying sod over bermuda will not do anything to the bermuda. You have to kill it first. It has to be growing to kill it. If you are going to spray again, first clear off all the surface stuff with a verticutter or power rake. Then blow off all the loose stuff and spray. Give it a week or so to see if anything else greens up. It should not. |
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- Posted by fruitjarfla (My Page) on Mon, Feb 20, 12 at 9:14
| Central Florida. This is what I did to my back yard that was mostly weeds (sedges, dollar weed, etc.) that came after a couple of hard freeze winters and poor service from commercial lawn companies. It again became a DIY routine for my yard. Formerly St. Augustine Floratam. 2/24/2011 First application of Roundup 3/12 Second application of Roundup 3/24 Applied starter fertilizer to area 3/25 Third application of roundup 3/29 First shipment and installation of Empire Zoysia plugs 4/15 Finished final planting of plugs 5/25 First mowing of Zoysia By late summer, Zoysia had covered area well but still not complete - perhaps 90% but still bumpy using the rider mower. Over time the bumpy should go away when the plugs do their job. Very few weeds growing in Zoysia. By November, no soil showing anywhere among the Zoysia. 2/20/2012 Zoysia slightly brown in some areas - from 2 not-to-hard freezes and very few weeds, primarily dollar weed. Those weeds are probably left-overs and should mostly disappear after I do the first herbicide. |
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- Posted by Outatime80 none (My Page) on Mon, Feb 20, 12 at 10:08
| Thanks for the reply guys, its appricated. Right now the weedy area I want to resod is just brown and dead looking but if I pull in some areas I find live runners undeneath , and yes I googled bermuda and its got to be that. I tried googling Vericutter and Powerrake but I can't find anyone that rents them in central Florida, I do need to get to those roots/runnners underneath to be able to kill them off. Any ideas? Or anything else, didn't really want to spend $200 on a vericutter to buy unless I really have too. Thanks Stu |
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| Home Depot or Lowes didn't have any rentals? Any Aces nearby? Bust out the yellow pages and start looking for equipment rental. Somebody nearby has one. |
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- Posted by dchall_san_antonio 8 San Antonio (My Page) on Mon, Feb 20, 12 at 13:32
| Verticutter, slit seeder, dethatcher, and power rake are all similar tools that would work for you. Ask if they have a tool with vertical blades. Any equipment rental place should have one of them. |
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- Posted by texas-weed 7A (My Page) on Mon, Feb 20, 12 at 18:49
| So its time to kill off any old grass now to make way for new, so I used Roundup on the old crabgrass to kill it off but I don't seem to get the runners under the dead stuff as some are still green. This is funny. Let me guess you moved to Florida within the last year or two from the north right? Are you a Yankee?
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- Posted by fruitjarfla (My Page) on Tue, Feb 21, 12 at 8:03
| "I tried googling Vericutter and Powerrake but I can't find anyone that rents them in central Florida, I do need to get to those roots/runnners underneath to be able to kill them off." I think I read that bermuda (assuming that is your runner problem) grows runners as much as 6 inches below the surface. If that is the case, a cutter or rake might be helpful, but for the bermuda. I believe that the Roundup recipe requires 3 successive applications to kill most weeds. Non-selective Roundup isn't normally used for crabgrass. |
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- Posted by Outatime80 none (My Page) on Tue, Feb 21, 12 at 17:39
| I am English, moved here in 2006 , never really had to deal with lawn's as most of our homes have a postage stamp sized lawn and never had issues with bugs and irrigation etc. Anyway back to the issue, couldn't find anything quoted above but rented a sod cutter instead and took all the dead grass off, got four big bins loaded up with old grass/sod. Looks good right now with just top soil from the old Augustine before it but any advice where I go from here before re-sodding with Zoysia, I have a couple of spots I need to hit with roundup again where I couldn't get close enough with the sod cutter but should I put something down on the soil to tread any weeds or such? Plan right now is to keep watering and see what pops up and kill it with roundup and then in a couple of weeks resod. Am I going in the right direction here? Thanks Stu btw, have a few photos I will try post soon. |
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- Posted by texas-weed 7A (My Page) on Tue, Feb 21, 12 at 18:14
| You do know that sod is not dead right? If it was Bermuda it well come right back when it warms up. Anyway laying sod is easy. Just lay it down and roll it. |
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- Posted by Outatime80 none (My Page) on Tue, Feb 21, 12 at 18:24
| Hi Texas What should I do to kill out the Bamuda thats hiding under the surface? Would laying over the top choke it out or am I looking for trouble in the future? Thanks |
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- Posted by texas-weed 7A (My Page) on Tue, Feb 21, 12 at 22:38
| I am assuming it was Bermuda, I do not know if it was Bermuda. Do you know what kind of grass it was? |
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- Posted by dchall_san_antonio 8 San Antonio (My Page) on Wed, Feb 22, 12 at 1:05
| I found a power rake for rent at this website. Keep looking. |
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- Posted by Outatime80 none (My Page) on Wed, Feb 22, 12 at 8:57
| Hi Guys Thanks again, contacted Hertz about the Powerrake will see what they come back with. Got a couple of photos, first of a friend helping me cut the old grass and another of it finished bare soil. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/50784213/Photo Feb 21 2 53 09 P M.jpg http://dl.dropbox.com/u/50784213/Photo Feb 21 5 02 38 P M.jpg Going to take some photos of what I pulled up to see if you can help me ID it if you wouldn't mind. Thank you Stuart |
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- Posted by texas-weed 7A (My Page) on Wed, Feb 22, 12 at 9:11
| Those links do not work for me. |
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- Posted by Outatime80 none (My Page) on Wed, Feb 22, 12 at 9:11
| ok going to try the photos again, renamed them http://dl.dropbox.com/u/50784213/Photo1.jpg http://dl.dropbox.com/u/50784213/Photo2.jpg Might have to copy and paste into your address bar. Thanks |
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- Posted by dchall_san_antonio 8 San Antonio (My Page) on Wed, Feb 22, 12 at 9:24
| I love dropbox.
If you have a photo editor (like Irfanview) you can resize your photos down to 800 pixels wide.
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- Posted by Outatime80 none (My Page) on Wed, Feb 22, 12 at 9:36
| Yeah I was hoping it wouldn't add them to the page because of that, I only have an iPhone to hand so wasn't able to resize them although maybe there is an app for that :) |
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- Posted by Outatime80 none (My Page) on Wed, Feb 22, 12 at 9:38
| I do have 2 more photos but can't resize, close up on the grass itself http://dl.dropbox.com/u/50784213/Photo3.jpg - in the ground still with green runners. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/50784213/Photo4.jpg - pulled up by the sod cutter. Hope they help, sorry again about the size. Stuart |
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- Posted by Outatime80 none (My Page) on Wed, Feb 22, 12 at 11:01
| Just heard from Hertz rental, they didn't have anything and wanted to rent me a tractor. Hope I didn't put anyone off with the photo issue. |
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| Looks like you don't need the power rake anymore. You got the old stuff cleared away just fine. A little smoothing to clear up any highs or lows in the soil and you're ready for sod. You want to try and get things as smooth as possible NOW, before the sod is down. I'd say you are pretty close to done for surface prep for sod. Still need to figure out if that is bermuda you're dealing with, and get it taken care of to the best of your ability before putting down a different type of grass. Easier said than done, I know. |
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