Repairing a lawn with 'buried rock syndrome'
girlfromthegarden
17 years ago
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Comments (7)
yarddoctor
17 years agogirlfromthegarden
17 years agoRelated Discussions
Help me save the Edge of my Lawn from Cars!!
Comments (27)I like the idea about the rumble strips - I have some green polywood (plastic woods used in deck chair) - never rots and the 2x4 size laying flat might be just the trick since I can easily drill a hole in them and spike them down at each end so they stay put - foot on edge of road should be enough, maybe 18 inches apart. Good thing is I can cut the grass right them without having to get off the tractor, remove, cut, put them back. I use the same material now but about 8 inches vertical - I striped them white and epoxied in a spike at the bottom - they look great but people just plaster them into the dirt by driving over them! Our street is private and narrow even though I am on straightaway - people get run off the road by larger delivery trucks. I don't want to damage their cars. One guy in the neighborhood as anal as me just pounds in snow spikes year round. I am afraid if I plant a small hedge (yew or boxwood) it will get run over, snow plowed away or killed with road salt....See Morewhen is a lawn pass repair?
Comments (1)Do you know how deep he buried the tree roots? I suspect those places may not support grass growth for 5-10 years because of the massive amount of wood underground. There's really nothing you can put there, either. I might have suggested a gazebo or something that doesn't grow, but the ground will sink as the wood decomposes, so it can't be anything with permanancy. Maybe picnic benches and mulch? The best thing to do there would be to have someone come back to rip out the roots and resurface the area. That would all be done with the same tool - the trusty box blade on the back of a tractor. I'm not sure what your budget is but the box blade with tractor is one of the most economical things you can do in a hurry. If you did not have so many trees, it would take about 2 hours to do the entire yard. With the trees it might take all day. If someone suggests using a Bobcat or Skidsteer, those machines might take a full week to do the job. The problem with burying wood is that it requires a special fungus to decompose. That fungus requires nitrogen from somewhere to live and do its job. Normally it lives above ground on fallen trees and will take nitrogen from the air. When you bury the wood, the nitrogen must come from the soil. It "robs" nitrogen from the soil preventing the plants from getting any. Furthermore, cutting off the nitrogen greatly extends the time it takes to decompose. I had a tree trunk buried under compost for a couple years. When I unburied it the trunk looked good as new. Hard as a rock. I tried uncovering it and keeping it wet. In 18 months it is weaker than balsa wood and extremely soft to step on. Wood absolutely has to be above the ground to decompose. Spring is a terrible time of year to seed grass, but if you have to you have to. Don't spend a lot of money on any seed you buy now. If you are going to buy anything premium, get that for fall seeding. The grass you plant now will be hard pressed to live through the summer heat. Grass planted in the fall will be more than ready for summer heat next year. One thing you can do to help yourself is raise your mower from the lowest setting to the highest setting. If that is Kentucky bluegrass, it will start spreading. When you see that, drop the mower one notch from the top setting. Great pictures by the way. Is that rock much higher than the base of the trees? It looks about a foot higher....See MorePlease help with newly seeded lawn!
Comments (10)First of all, that is a decent amount to have tilled. I wouldn't worry about it. 1.) You have uneven germination which can be attributed to many factors including uneven irrigation, not spreading enough seed, not having good soil contact there and more shade. 2.) I don't know, never had this problem 3.) Same. 4.) Fine fescue usually takes a real long time to establish. It's still October! Give it time. Give it Months. In spring it will be growing much more vigorously. You could expect first mowing in about 2 weeks. 5.) I like Bills answer for this. For what it's worth, we are under a complete watering ban here and since germination the grass hasn't been watered much at all and so far so good. It isn't getting daily water. 6.) I've found large sycamore leaves laying in places in my lawn and when I pick up the leaves the grass is taller greener and healthier looking. But I wouldn't want it to stay there too long. Leaf blowers are good. You should be able to walk on it by now....See MoreMother Nature is killing my lawn!
Comments (38)I don't know what the RPM is on my mower. Take it to a mower repair shop/dealer and have them check and adjust it for you. Perfect example: It was 3 weeks since my blade was sharpened/balanced. The first 4-5 mowing's were very clean cut. Then, about the 5th mowing it looked as if all my grass blades had been gnawed off. I checked the blade and it was still very sharp. I went back to the mower shop with the blade and explained the problem. The guy said your blade is fine, your mowers RPM's are probably low. I still didn't believe this was the case as my mower is less than a year old. So I brought the mower in and they did find that the RPM's were below normal. It took about 10min and cost $6.00 for them to test and make the adjustment. The mechanic recommenced you have it checked once a year. Hope this helps...See Moreyarddoctor
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