Spring Lawn Care Help

Last year I kind of let my Lawn Care slide a little and the lawn showed the effects by Fall. I want to spend a little time this summer on the lawn getting it back to looking good. I am curious of what all of your spring routines are. When should I rake or dethatch it, When to Fertilize, When and how to treat for weeds. I also have a fair amount of what I believe is Crab grass chumps I want gone ( See pictures – Not the best but what it looks like right now ) Can this be killed with a chemical or should I just dig it out and re-seed or put down sod over the hole. One other thing is I filled in a rather large hole ( that the previous owners had dug to put in a concrete patios that they never got around to ) I made the mistake of not filling it with enough black dirt prior to laying sod over it and now have a noticeable dip in my lawn in that area. I would guess at the lowest point is is 4-5″ lower than it should be. Would it be possible to just slowly top fill over the low area or am I better off just digging it up and refill and re-sod it?

Attachments:

1. 

   Grass-1.jpg
   

2. 

   Grass-2.jpg
   

Dig up the crabgrass, they sell a spray but that big of clumps I would pull them up. They will seed soon when the ground temp is 55 degrees, so you will want to get them up ASAP. Then a good dethatch and over seed will do wonders. Keep it watered and fertilized. Spot spray weeds through out the summer and your lawn will be great next year. Do not expect to have a golf course lawn in one year it will take a year or 2.

Ideally, you should have fertilized last fall, but that’s water over the water”fall”. Sorry. Pun intended. To stop the crabgrass and annual weeds, get a pre-emergent herbicide down asap, and water it in. If you choose to fertilize, shy away from the high nitrogen(N) fetilizers. They’ll give you a green, rapidly growing lawn, but it will bolt and give you problems but August. Lawns need potassium(K) and phosphorus(P) to be healthy. Rake and dethatch your lawn, but only after the soils dries out. Otherwise, you’ll do more damage than good.
Personally, I’d get a sod cutter and cut the top off your hole, fill in with a topsoil/sand mix, and re-sod it with what you cut off. You’ll have a level green fix in less than a month(you should mix some fertilizer into the fill before re-sodding)
Good luck.

bigcrappie wrote:

Dig up the crabgrass, they sell a spray but that big of clumps I would pull them up. They will seed soon when the ground temp is 55 degrees, so you will want to get them up ASAP. Then a good dethatch and over seed will do wonders. Keep it watered and fertilized. Spot spray weeds through out the summer and your lawn will be great next year. Do not expect to have a golf course lawn in one year it will take a year or 2.

I originally replied before the quoted had posted. Spraying won’t stop crab grass. CG is an annual grass that sprouts new every year from the previous years seed. Hence, the pre-emergent herbicide application. However, If you plan on reseeding anything, the pre-emergent will also stop your new seed from sprouting.
I sprayed CG for years only to have it return, year, after year, after year. Last year was the first year using a pre-emergent and the first year without significant CG. The lawn will grow into the patches currently occupied by the CG, but it may take a few years.

Yeah it takes several years to fully get rid of crabgrass, but it gets killed each winter and regerminates. The only way to treat it is a pre-emergent as has been said, but then you cannot overseed for several weeks and then that is probably the heat of the summer which isnt best for growing. Overseeding in the Fall may be your best choice. I’d hire someone or a machine to core aerate your lawn this Spring and then do all your treatments after that is done. I think you are in Sartell right? If you are on Facebook, there is a guy offering his services and it seems reasonable for the aerating.

I have tried the pre-emergent treatment on the crab grass in the past and had little luck. I hate the thought of digging it all out by hand and then needing to fill with Sod or the slow process to re-seed it but that may be the best option. Most all the clumps are rather BIG

You have to apply the pre-emergent at the right time. Too early or too late it wont work. I havent had the need to apply it in years, but I think its generally around the time that lilacs start blooming.

The low hole area I’m dealing with is probably 12×15. Would it be cheaper to rent a sod cutter and re-use the current sod or am I better off just digging it up and using new sod. I wish I didn’t care about my lawn. Its time consuming to get it and keep it looking good. This is time I’d rather spend out fishing or doing most anything else. Wish I was not so cheap and was rich, It sure would be nice to hire someone else to take care of it.

Thread Hijack (but hoping people who answer your questions can answer mine also):

Who here has experience positive or negative with hydroseeding? I’ve never done it, but will likely need it soon. We’ve got some steep stuff that needs growth ASAP once equipment is off the lawn area for good on our build. I’m not doing sod, and don’t think waiting for standard seeding to take off is a good idea given the slope and likelihood of seed washing.

Tough to tell but it looks more like a fescue clump to me.

What are good pre-emergents and fertilizers folks are using?

Last season was rough on grass. Major drought and extreme heat did a number on many lawns I’m sure. People think that it will just “come back” but there are some that will not, or portions that won’t.

If the lawn is already thick and green and healthy, there’s no room for weeds or unwanted crab grass. The turf will use all the nutrients, sunlight, and water which will not allow anything else to grow. So in other words, if your lawn is in good shape, you shouldn’t have to do a whole lot. If you allowed it to suffer last season, its going to be more than one season before it comes back to what it looked like before. The only thing that goes quick with lawns is sod.

This is what my lawn looked like in 2021. 2022 never quite had a look this good because it was so dry and hot.

Attachments:

1. 

   house1.jpg
   

buckybadger wrote:

Who here has experience positive or negative with hydroseeding?

Hydroseed is the best option imo, as long as there isn’t a big rainfall that washes it away soon after putting it down.

FT you can slowly cover with dirt, but that will take years to get level. I would rip out what you have, fill with good black dirt to level, and reseed (or hydroseed). Crabgrass is a two front battle, dig out big clumps, and apply a weed and feed specifically for crabgrass.

Best option would be to plant vegetables and wildflowers and go au naturale, but for some reason that is frowned upon in todays society

Mr. Derek wrote:

Tough to tell but it looks more like a fescue clump to me.

Doing some research I think you may be correct on what these clumps are. The description on the web matches what this looks like. Sounds like its just as hard or harder to remove and control than Crab grass. Sounds like my best bet is to dig up and replace with fresh sod. It says you have to be sure to remove all of the roots or it will return. I hate doing any digging in my yard as I’ve already cut into the sprinkler line twice. That in itself is a hassle to repair. I’m sure some of these clumps are located near where sprinkler lines are likely to be located. my luck is I’ll attempt to fix one problem and create another one

BigWerm wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>buckybadger wrote:</div>
Who here has experience positive or negative with hydroseeding?

Hydroseed is the best option imo, as long as there isn’t a big rainfall that washes it away soon after putting it down.

FT you can slowly cover with dirt, but that will take years to get level. I would rip out what you have, fill with good black dirt to level, and reseed (or hydroseed). Crabgrass is a two front battle, dig out big clumps, and apply a weed and feed specifically for crabgrass.

Best option would be to plant vegetables and wildflowers and go au naturale, but for some reason that is frowned upon in todays society

Is $0.18 per sq. ft a reasonable price for hydroseeding? That’s how our first bid was calculated. The second bid is charged by the “tank” that covers roughly 2500 sq. ft (still waiting on the exact quote).

BigWerm wrote:

Best option would be to plant vegetables and wildflowers and go au naturale, but for some reason that is frowned upon in todays society

Its funny you should say that. After we had filled and filled that hole and then laid the sod I said to my wife ” We should just have made it into a garden. She said now you say that, I would have love that ” If I end up digging it back up I’m going to see if that is something she would want to do

fishthumper wrote:

Its funny you should say that. After we had filled and filled that hole and then laid the sod I said to my wife ” We should just have made it into a garden. She said now you say that, I would have love that ” If I end up digging it back up I’m going to see if that is something she would want to do

If you’re going to turn that area into a garden, dont bother digging it up, just add more fill over top.

buckybadger wrote:

Is $0.18 per sq. ft a reasonable price for hydroseeding?

I’m not sure, it’s been about 20 years since I was in the landscaping game.

fishthumper wrote:

After we had filled and filled that hole and then laid the sod I said to my wife ” We should just have made it into a garden. She said now you say that, I would have love that ”

My neighbors (who are awesome) are the son of a landscaping company owner, and the other one is head greenskeeper for one of the better Twin Cities golf courses. Which made it easier to concede my lawn. I am not a fan of lawns, maybe from years of mowing them for a job, or just the maintenance, waste, and runoff damage, but I would let my front yard go to a garden/native plant mix in a heartbeat if the wife and world allowed.

bigcrappie wrote:

Dig up the crabgrass, they sell a spray but that big of clumps I would pull them up. They will seed soon when the ground temp is 55 degrees, so you will want to get them up ASAP.

Ground temp of 55 soon?

fishthumper wrote:

The low hole area I’m dealing with is probably 12×15. Would it be cheaper to rent a sod cutter and re-use the current sod or am I better off just digging it up and using new sod. I wish I didn’t care about my lawn. Its time consuming to get it and keep it looking good. This is time I’d rather spend out fishing or doing most anything else. Wish I was not so cheap and was rich, It sure would be nice to hire someone else to take care of it.

I’m not a lawn expert but had the same kinda deal in our yard. The area was about 10×10…I overfilled by an inch or so with black dirt and then seeded it over. I had to spot fill it a bit the next year but why cut the sod up…leave it there as a base and just cover it. If you want you could sod versus seed.

I use the Michigan State extension site to help with the timing of crabgrass pre-emergent. Type in your zip code and when your area is shaded green, it’s time to put it down (and water in). Done this for the last 5 or so years and never have a problem with crabgrass anymore.

https://gddtracker.msu.edu/?model=7

Looks like fescue to me. The best way to eliminate fescue is spray with Roundup between August 1st and 15th. Work the ground up with a garden rake and put grass seed down September 1st. Water till freezing weather. It will come in great the next spring.