[codeamatic]

*Red line is my property line

~2 months ago (as part of my new construction home), the builder seeded 3500 sq. ft of my back yard. I noticed empty patches where no grass would grow, so I called the builder and asked them to come fix the issue. They are going to come re-seed.

My problem is that I have almost more weeds than grass. Based on my limited knowledge of crab grass, it looks to be a lot of it well beyond the tiller 6 stage (far right corner of property).

I have a LOT of weeds. What steps should I take before having them come reseed? Should I go pull it all (will take a couple of hours, but whatever works)? Should I buy something and spray my entire back yard, then pull? Should I buy a spread and spread seed of some sort? Should I just buy a new house and start from scratch?

I've watered the seed appropriately based on a lot of the advice from this forum. I'm now just trying to figure out how to get back in control before having them do another round of seeding.

 

[Delmarva Keith]

I suspect you'll see a lot more of it decline as the Summer heats up. Spring seeding for cool season lawn, especially in full sun, is a tough one. The baby grass has a hard time making it through Summer. Seeding now basically in Summer would almost certainly be a total waste.

I think you're stuck waiting for late Summer / early Fall and then do a full reno. In the mean time I'd send a soil sample to a lab and start getting the ph right if it's off.

 

[Jconnelly6b]

I agreee with Keith. Allow your builder to finish his end of the contract. Any seeding from now until end of August will almost certainly be for naught, so if you can (I know it's tough feeling like your lawn doesn't meet your expectations) don't spend a lot of energy on the grass right now - spend your energy working on the soil.

In the late summer you may have to kill it all and reseed. Look over the sticky at the top of this board and decide what tier you want your lawn to be - we can then help you create a plan from there.

 

[jessehurlburt]

I agreee with Keith. Allow your builder to finish his end of the contract. Any seeding from now until end of August will almost certainly be for naught, so if you can (I know it's tough feeling like your lawn doesn't meet your expectations) don't spend a lot of energy on the grass right now - spend your energy working on the soil.

In the late summer you may have to kill it all and reseed. Look over the sticky at the top of this board and decide what tier you want your lawn to be - we can then help you create a plan from there.

One good thing to keep in mind (that I never thought of until @g-man just mentioned it) is keeping the grass irrigated. For Round up to work the grass needs to be actively growing and not dormant.

 

[g-man]

I agree with delmarva. Get your soil tested and start addressing it.

I lived thru moving into a new house 3 years ago. The builder took the subsoil from the excavation 9ft down for the basement and used it to grade/level the backyard. It had no nutrients. The weeds had a hard time growing in it. Hindsight I should had some topsoil delivered like ABC123 is doing.

It will take more than a year to have a backyard with a crappy soil. There is no sugar coating it. Topsoil with decent nutrients and/or sod will be faster, but more costly. But you do have a solid start with what I see there. I would also spoon feed it and keep it watered. I dont see the need to kill what you have unless you want to bring the topsoil.

I cant see how big on an area this is. You could use so weed killer, but most have a high temp warning (could kill your young grass) and it will prevent seeds from growing for a few weeks. Another option would be to hand pull the weeds. This gives you the option to overseed in mid august. Since there are always exceptions to the rules, i do think you could overseed with KBG since your lawn it fairly thin.

 

[codeamatic]

Thank you all for replying. I've cut my grass and although it doesn't look as bad from a street view, there is a significant (25%) amount of weeds everywhere that aren't easily pulled. Large rocks have started to come to the surface from the soil below in several places. Overall, I believe it to be worse than it looks.

Sending a soil sample out Monday for testing. Also, the builder is going to help resolve the rock issues.

Will report back after I get my soil sample so that a plan can be devised. Thanks again!

 

[Jconnelly6b]

Will wait on soil test, but if there's a lot of rocks, the best and easiest way to get nice turf is to bring in minimum 4" of quality topsoil. Seed into that this fall and you will have a beautiful lawn by November.

 

[codeamatic]

I've received my soil test results. I've also looked over the Cool Season Lawn Guide and identified the tier where I want my grass to be. I want to be between Tier 2 and Tier 3. Time commitment isn't an issue, cost (for Tier 3) probably is.

 

[LawnNerd]

You're PH is high, and you have plenty of P and K. You'll want to use straight Ammonium sulfate (21-0-0)this fall as part of your Fall Nitrogen push. You can usually get a 50# bag for around $25 bucks. Use of Ammonium Sulfate will lower your PH.

Since your PH is high, iron is bound up. You'll want to think about a liquid spray iron as your supplement. Green County N-ext Micro Green will be a good place to start, but a straight liquid iron won't be wrong either.

 

[g-man]

I don't recall seeing a KY soil with so high of calcium, but perfectly possible due to the lime stone in the Ohio valley. You have a good soil. Learn to deal with the high pH and you will be fine. AS should be your fertilizer of choice. It might lower your pH but over a long time (due to 11k lb/acre of calcium).