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eschsc

Ugliest lawn in the neighborhood

ESCHSC
10 years ago

We moved into our house a couple years ago and have been battling an embarrassingly ugly yard each spring. I suspect that the yard was not properly maintained (if at all) for a number of years before we moved in. It seems the front yard is composed of a type of warm weather variety of grass as it looks totally dead until about may or so. We have raked so much thatch out of it and reseeded with cool weather varieties in the fall but here we are in April, sticking out like a sore thumb with a fluorescent yellow front lawn. I am about ready to kill the entire thing, and start from scratch. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Comments (8)

  • ESCHSC
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Here is another picture of some of the grass that is pulled up when I rake.

  • tiemco
    10 years ago

    It is pretty doubtful that you have a warm season grass, but there is a small chance it's Zoysia (some close up pics will help to identify what you have). Kentucky bluegrass can go brown in the winter, especially in the north, and especially if your soil is poor, depleted and unbalanced. My advice. Get a good soil test (www.loganlabs.com) and start correcting any problems you may have. When your lawn is green, identify it. If it's a warm season grass, then you will have to kill it when it's actively growing in the summer. If it's a cool season grass, then improving the soil and a sound fertlizer program will go a long way in improving your turf quality. If you are still unhappy with it, you can kill it as well and plant some newer cultivars that will probably perform better. Minnesota is KBG country, so you should stick with that as perennial rye and tall fescue can get thin due to cold kill.

  • ESCHSC
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Thanks for the reply! Here is a close up of the grass, though it might not be helpful since it is brown at the moment. I'll start with the soil test and go from there.

  • tiemco
    10 years ago

    It does look like Zoysia. Unfortunately Zoysia forms a thick mat of stolons and rhizomes. Too kill it all, you need to wait till it's green, unless you rent a sod cutter and remove all the roots and stems. Even after it's dead you might have to dethatch and power rake. If you want an example of someone that renovated a zoysia lawn into a Kentucky bluegrass one, google:

    Turf_Toes 2012 KBG renovation

    and

    turf-toes-renovation-central-jersey-edition-

  • ESCHSC
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    After a bunch of googling I'm about 99% sure it's Zoysia. It looks terrible up until mid-May and then it greens up and actually looks great, but it's not worth the stares from the neighbors all spring. Thanks for the links, they should help with the process.

  • apprenticegardener
    10 years ago

    My Zoysia sod, which I paid an arm and a leg to have installed, is just now beginning to green up. If looks like yours is doing well. "Warm weather" grasses go dormant, hence the tan-brown appearance. If the grass is healthy when it greens (little of no weeds, no fungus, no rings, no bugs), go ahead and keep it. The neighbors won't even remember the extra few weeks of brown when the green comes out. Besides, you can talk about how successful you have been growing your warm weather grass during next ice fishing season.

    Just a thought. Best Wishes--CARL

    Atlanta, GA

  • dchall_san_antonio
    10 years ago

    Yes, turf toes reno was about as ideal as it gets.

    KBG will turn brown in the winter to let you know your soil is not perfect, and it's not getting fed properly. Another lawn guru, morpheuspa, has demonstrated that KBG can remain green almost all winter long by testing and adjusting the micronutrients (Logan Labs). Then again he's much farther south in eastern PA. Generally KBG turns brown in winter like what you have, but it comes back much earlier, again depending on the soil chemistry and how you fertilize.

    Whatever you have, you cannot kill it until it is growing wildly. With that in mind, you might wait until late July or early August to start your renovation. Timing varies due to the traditional end of summer change from relatively warm nights to cooler nights. Whenever that happens, get ready to slam it with RoundUp. Give yourself time to hit it once, let it die, try to water it back to life, and kill anything that comes back to life. It is going to look just like it does now once it dies. Yay!! ...a dead lawn again!! But after the KBG kicks in, all will be right again.

    KBG is good because, like zoysia, it spreads to fill in thin spots. That is a real benefit. Dense grass is what you need to keep the weeds out. KBG is as dense as it gets as long as it is in full sun. Fescue and rye tend to not spread like that, so they often leave room for crabgrass to take hold.

  • Marinewifenc
    10 years ago

    I gotta admit I came here to see if someone had posted a picture of my lawn.