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Tue, May 3, 11 at 0:04
| I am planning on replanting my front lawn at my summer house on Cape Cod. I will be killing the existing (mostly) weeds with Kleanup (Agway's Roundup). My question involves the next step ... what should I do with the dead plants? Dethach/aerate? Or should I rototill the lawn? I'll be topping off the lawn with 2 inches of topsoil.
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Follow-Up Postings:
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| Just mow the dead lawn as short as possible with the bag attached to the mower. Don't till, you will create more problems. What's left of the weeds will decompose under the new topsoil, adding organic matter and nutrients. When are you planning on doing this? Not now I hope. |
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| Agree with Tiemco. Mow the lawn very low, this will help chop up the weeds and quicken decomposition. When you add topsoil, use a quality screened topsoil that has a fair amount of organics in it. It won't be the cheapest, but you'll start off with a nice loose, organic rich soil that won't dry rock hard, retains moisture, and provides some nutrients to the new lawn. |
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- Posted by JeffreyARichard none (My Page) on Wed, May 4, 11 at 18:06
| Tiemco wrote "When are you planning on doing this? Not now I hope." Actually yes ... in the next two weeks. Assuming adequate watering, what is the issue? |
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| Heat stress, drought stress, disease pressure, weeds and crabgrass, and a huge water bill. It's not to say your grass will all die, but it's going to be tough going. I don't know what type of grass you plan on growing, but if it's KBG, and you lay seed mid month, you will probably be mowing it for the first time mid June or early July. All that watering you will be doing will be great for any weed seeds in your topsoil, old soil, and seed mix (yup seed mixes have them, even if it says 0.0% on the tag). You can't use any weed killer or preemergent except Tupersan. Tupersan you can put down at the time of seeding, but it only controls crabgrass, downy brohme and foxtail. It is expensive and lasts only 4-6 weeks. Perennial rye, or tall fescue will be up much faster, but it will still face the same issues. On Cape Cod I would probably also use cultivars that have good salt tolerance. Young grass also doesn't like it too hot. Granted Cape Cod has cooler nights, but it can certainly have stretches of hot humid ones as well. It's very stressful for seedlings, and high humidity is a favorably environment for fungal diseases. Also when soil temps get too high, most growth grinds to a halt for cool season grasses, which you don't want to happen until it's mature. Mid July to late August you will probably witness little top growth, and the roots won't be growing at all for soil temps above 70 degrees. It's just the worst time to start a lawn. |
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- Posted by dchall_san_antonio 8 San Antonio (My Page) on Sat, May 7, 11 at 1:52
| Wait until the summer heat breaks. You'll notice the evening temps start to cool off. Any time after that you can renovate. A dethatcher, power rake, or slit seeder will slice the grass up and loosen the top 1/16 inch of soil. You can either rake it off or blow it off with a leaf blower. Then sow the seed, roll it down, and start watering. Kentucky bluegrass takes many weeks of watering 3x per day to sprout. Fescues come up quicker. If you sow a mix of those you have to remember that the KBG takes longer and not give up on watering. |
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