[username]

So I have lived in my house and fully neglected my lawn for 7 years no fertilizer poor watering, poor mowing and no weeding.
for all of that my yard has stayed green all this time (although maybe 50% grass). Around May I started actually caring about my yard. but it may be to little too late.
>put down scotts weed and feed (May)
>put down milorganite (july)
>attempted to spray creeping charlie with Ortho clover killer (July)Too late did nothing
>took a garden rake to heavy patches of creeping Charlie and I think it did a great job (this weekend) and I seeded with KBG mix in the patches lift behind

My yard is overrun with creeping charlie and crabgrass, my plan is to keep using the rake on the creeping charlie but as far as crab grass I dont know what works this late in the season.

My question is what can I do mid summer to help out my lawn, i currently just mow high 3" and water heavy every other day. I feel like any weed killer at this time would not work all that well and it is a lot of crabgrass to pull by hand.

What is a good plan of attack for this yard going forward?

https://photos.app.goo.gl/eGceEuNVyGkqGkR03 ... back strip lots to creeping Charlie
https://photos.app.goo.gl/gnaxTpWQQVblmqBo1 ... back yard click and zoom to see crabgrass
https://photos.app.goo.gl/qYqxuHNK7toSo5b92 ...before raking creeping charlie
https://photos.app.goo.gl/m2SibYDwi6ouparn2 ...after rake (by fire pit)
https://photos.app.goo.gl/dQQ9OXY91LV7PzZf1 ...Front yard patches of crabgrass (hard to see in the pic) thin grass too

Thanks For the help guys!

 

[Redtenchu]

Welcome to TLF.

I'm not a cool season guy, but it sounds and looks like you are making some progress.

Creeping Charlie can be a very difficult weed and will need more than 1 application of anything labeled to kill it.

The areas of weeds you do have are pretty extreme, I'd be courious to hear if some cool season people might recommend just using roundup and reseed those areas in the fall.

 

[g-man]

I have plenty of post to follow up. It's been a busy work week and weekend for me.

Welcome to the forum. In my opinion you have a decent lawn right now. I would not recommend a renovation (kill everything and restart from seed).

Plan of attack:
1) do not rake or pull more of the charlie, it will spread more
2) mow and apply a fertilizer. Ideally not a slow release type. Since you are in MN, you could go ahead with 1lb of N right now. The idea is to feed those weeds (and grass)
3) water the lawn if no rain(again make it grow)
4) 3-4 days after fertilizer, apply a product with Triclopyr. Lowes, home Depot will sell something called Brush killer (higher concentration) that you could mix (follow label for lawns) in a hand sprayer. You could also use Ortho clover stuff. I recommend to buy the concentrate since you will need quite a bit.
5) in a week and a half, repeat the application of Triclopyr in the areas that have charlie. Continue watering to promote grow so it will absorb the chemicals
6) in 2 weeks, repeat as a spot treatment.
7) you should not need a 4th application, but do it if you see some remaining.

After this you will have some bare spots. I recommend you continue applying 1lb of nitrogen per ksqft per month until your average first frost day. The kbg will spread and fill those spots.

Next year around 01apr, you need to apply a preM (dimension or prodamine) to prevent weeds from growing. It is far easier to prevent than to kill them now.

 

[Fronta1]

Hi welcome.

Are you open to the idea of a full/partial renovation? That first pic should certainly be a candidate. It's hard to tell from the other pics how much is weeds because it looks like it was just mowed, but if more than 30% is weeds I think full renovation should be considered. It's getting a little late in the year but you have a week or two to decide. Otherwise go with g man's plan and consider a heavy overseeding.

 

[g-man]

^ fronta1, I respectfully disagree.

First, a reno is a very risky thing to do and very time consuming. I would never recommend it to a new member or someone without a lot of experience. Second, most of the yard looks to have kbg. KBG spreads really nice in the fall with nitrogen. Bare area could be seeded, if they can be watered. Another option is to get a roll of two of kbg sod for those sections.

Overseeding kbg is mostly a waste of seeds. It takes 3 weeks to germinate and an additional 3-4 to be at mow height. In that amount of time what happens to the current lawn? It grows and shadows the new one; you walk and mow it thus killing it; you water the new seeds to grow and you get the current one with fungus; new rhizomes grow and compete with the new seeds. In the end it hardly ever survives.

 

[Fronta1]

You make a great point about overseeding with Kentucky bluegrass.

Overseeding with rye or fescue though, is an option.

You make a great point about the inexperienced doing renos.

I don't know how experienced he is. Nor do I know how quick a learner he is.

You're right, doing a Reno is fraught with opportunities to screw up. I guess I'm just an optimist.

 

[username]

Thanks everyone, I think I will start with G-mans suggestions, I did forget to mention that I have back yard chickens, when I spray or put down anything I keep them cooped up for a week or two depending on the amounts of rain, that was one reason for manual raking of creeping charlie, I raked the back section (first pic) and it was a total loss no grass survived, so that will be a re seed (and my chickens love grass seed)I will update with results. And yes I do not have much experience with grass but I have been somewhat obsessed for the last few months.

 

[social port]

I have plenty of post to follow up. It's been a busy work week and weekend for me.

Welcome to the forum. In my opinion you have a decent lawn right now. I would not recommend a renovation (kill everything and restart from seed).

Plan of attack:
1) do not rake or pull more of the charlie, it will spread more
2) mow and apply a fertilizer. Ideally not a slow release type. Since you are in MN, you could go ahead with 1lb of N right now. The idea is to feed those weeds (and grass)
3) water the lawn if no rain(again make it grow)
4) 3-4 days after fertilizer, apply a product with Triclopyr. Lowes, home Depot will sell something called Brush killer (higher concentration) that you could mix (follow label for lawns) in a hand sprayer. You could also use Ortho clover stuff. I recommend to buy the concentrate since you will need quite a bit.
5) in a week and a half, repeat the application of Triclopyr in the areas that have charlie. Continue watering to promote grow so it will absorb the chemicals
6) in 2 weeks, repeat as a spot treatment.
7) you should not need a 4th application, but do it if you see some remaining.

After this you will have some bare spots. I recommend you continue applying 1lb of nitrogen per ksqft per month until your average first frost day. The kbg will spread and fill those spots.

Next year around 01apr, you need to apply a preM (dimension or prodamine) to prevent weeds from growing. It is far easier to prevent than to kill them now.

You deserve a MVP nomination for that plan.

 

[wardconnor]

I have plenty of post to follow up. It's been a busy work week and weekend for me.

Welcome to the forum. In my opinion you have a decent lawn right now. I would not recommend a renovation (kill everything and restart from seed).

Plan of attack:
1) do not rake or pull more of the charlie, it will spread more
2) mow and apply a fertilizer. Ideally not a slow release type. Since you are in MN, you could go ahead with 1lb of N right now. The idea is to feed those weeds (and grass)
3) water the lawn if no rain(again make it grow)
4) 3-4 days after fertilizer, apply a product with Triclopyr. Lowes, home Depot will sell something called Brush killer (higher concentration) that you could mix (follow label for lawns) in a hand sprayer. You could also use Ortho clover stuff. I recommend to buy the concentrate since you will need quite a bit.
5) in a week and a half, repeat the application of Triclopyr in the areas that have charlie. Continue watering to promote grow so it will absorb the chemicals
6) in 2 weeks, repeat as a spot treatment.
7) you should not need a 4th application, but do it if you see some remaining.

After this you will have some bare spots. I recommend you continue applying 1lb of nitrogen per ksqft per month until your average first frost day. The kbg will spread and fill those spots.

Next year around 01apr, you need to apply a preM (dimension or prodamine) to prevent weeds from growing. It is far easier to prevent than to kill them now.

You deserve a MVP nomination for that plan.

Yes.. I agree with you