New House - New To Me Yard!

Kustrud · Jun 28, 2018

I've learned a lot here and posted progress of my old Bermuda which I cut with a Tru Cut 27 and had it looking amazing! So now know what I'm doing now thanks to y'all!

New house - 1.6 acres so the Tru Cut got sold for a John Deere 325. Bermuda in the front is covered, I know what to do there.

The backyard however is St Augustine, which I hate the look of!

What's the cheapest way to transfer the backyard into Bermuda, zoysia, or really anything that looks and acts similar.

Trying to avoid ripping it out and re-sodding.

Can I kill it and overseed with something?

Till it up and overseed?

I have no idea, this part is new to me!

Help!

Colonel K0rn · Jun 28, 2018

First rule of renovations, don't till. Just kill off what's growing, wait a few weeks, spray again, and make sure it's good and dead. You can use a harley rake to loosen up the soil, then drag it smooth. Broadcast the best quality of seed that you can afford. Cultivars to look at would be Riviera, Yukon, Princess 77, Royal Bengal and a few others that scored pretty good on the NTEP trials. I chose Royal Bengal as it's suitable for my location, lots of humidity, slightly sodic soil, not much clay. It has very good wear tolerance, greens up quickly, and scored well in the trials. It won't break the bank, and I think you should take a look at it as a consideration for a cultivar.

If you can sod, TifTuf is amazing, and if you could afford to sod it, you'd be very happy with that choice.

Take a look at the renovation thread of mine, @J_nick's, or @Tellycoleman. We've been pretty good about documenting how they went. Just keep this in mind, you're probably past the latest date you would want to renovate by seed, just get a plan together, and do it next year if that's your choice. If it's sodding, then I'd rent a sod cutter, remove the existing turf, and replace with TifTuf...but that's just me.

rickta24 · Jun 28, 2018

Colonel K0rn said:
If it's sodding, then I'd rent a sod cutter, remove the existing turf, and replace with TifTuf...but that's just me.

When using a sod cutter, is it necessary to nuke with glyphosate prior to removing the existing turf?

Tellycoleman · Jun 28, 2018

I agree with what @Colonel K0rn said. No till. Do not put a tiller on your yard. 1.6 acres is a monster to try to renovate all at once. I believe @thegrassfactor renovated his huge field without irrigation with Riviera last year. But he also has professional equipment. My intention was to renovate another section of my huge side field but I got lazy and the wife was already saying I spend to much time outside. If the larger area needing renovation isn't covered by irrigation I would consider spring when you get a lot of rain.
Also a consideration would be to start the backyard kill a week before winter frost and dormancy. I read an articles about using fullsilade and glyphosate just prior to winter dormancy to get a very good kill for the spring.
Next year Rent a Harley rake for a day or 2 and spend the entire time going over and over the yard making a level yard is key. As you know.

Kustrud · Jun 28, 2018

I should have been more specific, the actual St Augustine area that I want to be replaced is about 6k square feet.....

Keep the ideas coming!

Kustrud · Jun 28, 2018

Colonel K0rn said:
First rule of renovations, don't till. Just kill off what's growing, wait a few weeks, spray again, and make sure it's good and dead. You can use a harley rake to loosen up the soil, then drag it smooth. Broadcast the best quality of seed that you can afford. Cultivars to look at would be Riviera, Yukon, Princess 77, Royal Bengal and a few others that scored pretty good on the NTEP trials. I chose Royal Bengal as it's suitable for my location, lots of humidity, slightly sodic soil, not much clay. It has very good wear tolerance, greens up quickly, and scored well in the trials. It won't break the bank, and I think you should take a look at it as a consideration for a cultivar.

If you can sod, TifTuf is amazing, and if you could afford to sod it, you'd be very happy with that choice.

Take a look at the renovation thread of mine, @J_nick's, or @Tellycoleman. We've been pretty good about documenting how they went. Just keep this in mind, you're probably past the latest date you would want to renovate by seed, just get a plan together, and do it next year if that's your choice. If it's sodding, then I'd rent a sod cutter, remove the existing turf, and replace with TifTuf...but that's just me.

Thanks for this! I do not know what a harley rake is....looking it up. I do have a tractor with rear PTO as well if this opens any options.

Colonel K0rn · Jun 29, 2018

@Kustrud they do make harley rakes for tractors that operate off of PTO. There's a few options that are available if you wanted to rent a skid steer or Dingo, as those machines can be rented with the harley rake attachment. Whether or not you'll be able to find the implement to fit your tractor, I'm not sure of. The purpose of the power box rake/harley rake is to break off the hard surfaces of the soil, while filling in the lower spots with loose soil. If I would have known better, I would have rented one when I did the renovation on my front lawn, but I got impatient. I'll probably do one for the back yard, if I ever get around to renovating it, as it's pretty much the dog's playground and not high on priority list.

If there was one to watch, I would suggest this one. It shows the versatility of the machine and implement.