[Hodges3902]

(Pictures @ Bottom)

Hey everybody,

I'm brand new to this community, but have been watching guys like the lawn care nut on YouTube for a while now.

So I moved into this house last August and I have avoided doing anything to the yard because I just don't know where to begin. I've heard about millions of chemicals and fertilizers and I'm a bit lost.

Here is a list of things I've done so far:
•Before winter- Winterizer
•Past week- Pulled 75+ broadleaf weeds
•Today- put down Pre-emergent (Scott's Crabgrass Preventer)
•To-do- Milorganite

I guess my questions would be 1) Do I have any grass to salvage? 2) What are some obvious weeds? 3) What would be my best course of action to dominate my neighbors eventually?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Ware]

Welcome to TLF! Headed to dinner, but others will be along shortly. :thumbup:

ETA: I do think you have enough grass to salvage.

 

[Topcat]

Welcome. I'll jump in and start off by going after the weeds with a good post emergence weed killer. Celsius is the herbicide of choice as it has a wide range of weeds that it can kill, and from the looks of it, you have a bunch. It also looks like you have a Bermuda grass turf. If I am right with that guess, then you are in luck in that once you feed Bermuda a regular dose of Nitrogen based fertilizers, it really wakes up and can grow to fill in the voids that the weeds currently occupy.

I am not sure how effective the Scotts Crab Grass preventer is for the wide range of weeds you have in your lawn. Others will chime in and might be able to offer advice on that topic, but if it does not take care of some of the weeds you have, you might want to consider another type of pre-emergent weed prevention.

edit: I'd hold off on the Milogranite for now. It looks like the turf is mostly dormant. If you put it down now, you will be feeding the actively growing weeds. Go after the weeds, and once the brown turf starts to green up more, then hit it with the Milo.

 

[Mightyquinn]

Welcome to TLF!!!

I agree with Ware and think you have enough grass to salvage and it looks to be bermuda. I would start off by spraying the whole lawn with a broad spectrum weed killer. I personally would recommend Celsius but if you are not ready to take that plunge yet or you don't have the equipment to spray it, you can get one of those hose end sprayers at Lowe's or Home Depot.

Once the grass starts greening up fully start hitting it with 1lb of Nitrogen a month and make sure it is getting plenty of water and you will need to mow twice a week. I think by just doing that you can have a full thick almost weed free lawn by the end of the season.

 

[Rockinar]

It appears to me you do have grass and looks liker Bermuda. For simplicity sake I'd attack the weeds first and go from there. Try a common broad spectrum weed killer like Weed B Gone (spray). Apply that, wait a week or two, see whats left and go from there.

I would not worry about fertilizer right now. Looks like you're still mostly dormant anyways. Fertilizer would just be fertilizing the weeds and the rest would go down the drain.

1) Attack weeds

2) Fertilize when your grass is green.

Thats just my opinion.

 

[Movingshrub]

@Hodges3902 have you read the Bermuda bible on the forum yet?

 

[Ware]

Bermuda Bible: The New Testament

 

[Green]

Does anyone think this could be a mix of warm and cool season grass?

 

[Movingshrub]

Yeah I couldn't tell if it was Bermuda and fescue, with one as the weed, or Bermuda and weeds.

 

[MasterMech]

Does anyone think this could be a mix of warm and cool season grass?

It won't be once he starts mowing it low and hits it with the Celsius! :lol:

 

[Hodges3902]

This is great, I really appreciate the quick responses. I've just started seeing celcius on this forum today, I've never heard of it before. I will look into it and definitely be going that route if possible. I haven't read the Bermuda Bible yet but I'm just about to. I'll make sure to post update pictures so that I can hear your feedback as I go through this process.

Also, should I mow low or high? And still water deeply and infrequently?

 

[gijoe4500]

What kind of mower do you have? If it's a rotary, which I figure it probably is, set it as low as it can go. Water approximately 1", once a week, and adjust that from there depending on how your grass is responding.

 

[Hodges3902]

Ok great, I'll give it a shot.

 

[Colonel K0rn]

Welcome to TLF my fellow Georgian. Looks like you've got a lot of winter weeds right now, which are on their way out the door as the weather starts to warm up. Don't be shy, and be sure to sign up and put your pin on the Member Map that's linked at the top of the forum page.

You've got enough dormant bermuda in your yard that will give you plenty of yard to work with for the next 3 seasons. Depending on your location, you should start seeing a lot of green up within the next 2 weeks. My back yard is already growing vigorously, and the front yard is gaining steam.

Pic:2 is henbit, pic 4 is a lot of dandelions and plantains. Pic 5 has some bermuda peeking out of the dormant grass, and some henbit in the background. Pic 6 is dormant bermuda, the last 2 are henbit. You'll see it with the purple flowers when it blooms.

You'll want to read the Bermuda Bible which has been linked in prior posts. That's going to give you the guidelines that you'll want to start building your lawn care plan around.

YOU WANT TO DOMINATE? HERE'S YOUR KEY TO VICTORY
First order of business for you is to set your mower as low as it can go, and scalp your yard to the ground. It's dirty, messy, and might look bad, but it's what our grass type wants. Then spray everything with some WeedBGone. That's going to take out a lot of the weeds that are competing with your bermuda for nutrients and water. Hold off on the fertilization for another month, and lets see how much of your grass wakes up. You've taken a good step by putting down the PreM (preemergent), albeit a little late since the soil temps in most of the state are warm enough for Summer weeds to have germinated. Remember you're going to need to put down another PreM in the fall, so you don't have to see all these weeds you're looking at now, next year at this same time. Sure, you'll have a totally brown lawn while it's dormant, but you'll take pride in looking at your neighbor's weed infested green yard, and know it's not grass they're growing.

If you can get that done before the rain comes tomorrow, then you can hit us up with the details of your labor. Good luck!

 

[Hodges3902]

Again, can't thank you enough. Very thorough answers. I will check out that member map in a second. I read the Bermuda Bible and feel much more confident. Will WeedBGone work? It seems like Celsius and Certainty are the recommended post emergents here. Unfortunately I don't think I'll beat the rain tomorrow as I have another project (painting) to complete tomorrow. I'll try to get that stuff done after the rain lets up and then I'll post again. Last quick question, I'm sure you have dealt with fire ant hills in your yard too. The hills are no longer active, but they destroyed the grass that was there. Should I just spread them out the best I can?

 

[Movingshrub]

Weed b gon will work fine; Orange or yellow capped versions.

 

[Colonel K0rn]

Again, can't thank you enough. Very thorough answers. I will check out that member map in a second. I read the Bermuda Bible and feel much more confident. Will WeedBGone work? It seems like Celsius and Certainty are the recommended post emergents here. Unfortunately I don't think I'll beat the rain tomorrow as I have another project (painting) to complete tomorrow. I'll try to get that stuff done after the rain lets up and then I'll post again. Last quick question, I'm sure you have dealt with fire ant hills in your yard too. The hills are no longer active, but they destroyed the grass that was there. Should I just spread them out the best I can?

There's nothing wrong with using WeedBGone until you get the proper equipment needed to spray selective herbicides like Celsius and Certainty. My yard renovation was a direct result of jumping the gun too quickly with Celsius (mainly misidentification of my own grass), but my point being, you want to make sure that you've at least become familiarized with the Sprayer Wand that you'll need to use to apply those chemicals. You'll also find the wand to be especially useful when it comes to everything else you're going to spray on your yard, like PreM and PostM.

Celsius: Go Easy the man who gave us the design for the wand cautions others not to do the same thing. Heed this warning!

As far as ant mound, yeah, those things are terrible. I would go ahead and knock them down, and try to rake them into the soil around where the little built their home. The bermuda will take it over, and you won't even know it's there in a month.

 

[Hodges3902]

Update: I scalped my lawn about 4 days ago and then hit it with weed b gone yesterday. I ended up having to use the sprayer wand type of weed b gone so we will see. Here's the an updated picture 20 hrs after the weed b gone. When should I use milorganite?

 

[Mightyquinn]

Have you fertilized at all this year? If not, you could probably throw down some Milo today if you felt like it. It may take a week or two before you see any results from it and by then the temps should be higher and your lawn should really start waking up.

 

[Hodges3902]

Thanks for the quick response. I haven't yet fertilized, but I've got 4 bags of Milo in my garage. Should I go with the recommended amount or cut it in half?