it's beautiful!

wow! that turned out well. what do you think the problem was before?

Thanks SFBAYSTEPH !

re: Chris

Thanks Chris. I'm glad it worked out too, took me all weekend and was concerned that I may have done it a bit too late in the season.

I believe it was just my general lack of understanding that led my grass to its previous state.

1) Pretty sure I was over watering to the point where I was killing some of the grass. Will fix this by watering once a week (atleast that is my goal come next season, just have a feeling my grass may burn up).
2) The over watering led to fungus which was prevalent on the lawn
3) I did have an issue with grubs. I used bayer to eradicate them , hopefully they dont make a comeback next summer.

THe pictures make it look a bit better then it actually is. Still a good amount of brown spots thoughout the lawn, but I think next spring should green back up.

That looks great! Cutting back watering should stop the brown spot thing, and it's not all that noticeable anyway. It should fix itself next spring.

3) Consider using GrubX in May, which is a weaker treatment, lasts the full grub season, and means you won't have to resort to a stronger curative later on in the year. One year I had to bite the bullet and use Merit. After that, it was GrubX all the way.

I'm curious to know how much the Alfalfa and SBM smells after you put it down. I have neighbors about as close as you do and want to put some down, but don't want to cause trouble, either, especially since my micro heard is small and won't eat it too quickly.

Thanks.

Michael, that is hard to believe!! Gorgeous compared to the before picture.

Your grass will not burn up in the heat. As long as you are getting water down deep, especially starting out in the spring with deep watering, the roots will be fine and that's what counts. What causes grass to burn up is missing a couple days of daily watering when you are doing it wrong. I have grass in the Texas desert that I did not begin to water until mid July this year. This was a fluke with some well timed, deep rainfall, but it can happen if you have deep roots.

dfw, the SBM has a reputation for being "whiffy," when applied at full strength (15 pounds per 1,000). If you apply at 5 pounds for your first app, that should develop your micro herd to the point where, in about 3 weeks, they can handle the full strength.

Alfalfa, on the other hand, is much less aromatic. Still for your first app, I would go at 10 pounds per 1,000. Normal for alfalfa is 20 pounds. In either case it takes a full 3 weeks for the 30,000 species of microbes to repopulate and mature your soil food web. To be sure you will notice the aroma of the alfalfa but your neighbors may not. It's not bad, you'll just notice it as a different kind of smell.

Thanks, David, I appreciate the feedback. Next time I'm in San Antone, I'll buy you lunch at (the tourists' favorite) Mi Tierra's and I'll even pay for a song sung by the Los Trovadores!!

:)

Thanks David, and appreciate you taking the time to detail about the alfalfa and SBM. Happy Halloween!

Will Rye grass in Phoenix during the winter be able to use an organic fertilizer or is it cold cold? Went organic this summer but not sure what route to take for the winter Rye season.