# Small Lawn Help



## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

Staying with family in Hawaii for a week. They're responsible for their backyard, which isn't huge but was handed to them in dire need of attention. I know even less about warm season than I do cool season. Seems like a lot of weeds, but that's how warm season grass looks to them and us lol

We're going to hit Home Depot and I'm going to buy them a reel mower, they have a Craftsman rotary mower from their cool season grass. They don't have in ground irrigation but they do have a hose hookup out back so we could make some watering happen.

So. What are we dealing with here? What is our best option? I don't even know what the cycle is, should we just nuke a section and reno? They have two dogs that like to hangout and a new baby.


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## Greendoc (Mar 24, 2018)

If that is their back lawn, they have no grass. It is all garbage. Forget the reel mower. What they need is a bottle of RoundUp followed by St Augustine grass. Reason why it did not make it is that those kind of fenced in small yards do not have enough sun for Bermuda or other grasses to grow.


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## Gregau33 (Apr 15, 2018)

I see weeds and hardly any grass. Good news is that it wouldn't even take a half pallet of sod IF you would have to replace. You have a few things going against you here, 1) Dogs 2) area is up against a fence (blocks sunlight) 3) no irrigation.

If that is the only area you are dealing with (grass wise), I would personally put down some synthetic turf. Most now are pet friendly (where it allows proper drainage of urine). You are just going to be fighting an uphill battle with that being the only grass the dogs have to pee on.


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## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

@Greendoc I guess they have some nursery here that we're going to check out that the military has for them. Maybe they have some St. Aug plugs.

@Gregau33 they do have the front yard and take the dogs for walks, so there's that....


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## Greendoc (Mar 24, 2018)

Navy Exchange. See if there are seed flats with St Augustine in them. Cut those into pieces and plant them. After Nuking the weeds.


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## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

Okay so the exchange is out but Koolau Farmers has trays of them.

So nuke the crap with glyphosate today hopefully and then we can just plug, pry tomorrow with schedule. Use the rotary mower to bag up at 1".

Pry do fert and setup some sprinklers too. Get them a reel mower still so they can do a proper cut.

Only about 600sq ft to cover.


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## Gregau33 (Apr 15, 2018)

A push reel mower and St. Augustine is going to be a workout. I don't think that will work out too well. Rotary on St. Aug

Also, the glysophate will need a week or two to kill everything. I would not plant plugs the next day after using glysophate


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## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

So apparently we can't dig so plugging might be out.


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## Alan (Apr 23, 2017)

Soak the hell out of the back with water until it gets spongy under foot. Drop a plug and step on it so that it pushes into the dirt(mud)...repeat.


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## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

How far apart would you guys space St. Aug plugs?


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## TN Hawkeye (May 7, 2018)

I'd just like to say that is a gorgeous grill cover in the first picture. Glad to see them repping the black and gold in the rainbow state.


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## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

Thanks to the help in the Discord, especially @Greendoc, we hit a Home Depot this morning and bought that location out of all but two trays of St. Augustine. Just got done with a RoundUp application. The family we're visiting here in Honolulu said, "You guys are like Yard Crashers! You're on vacation, why do you want to do this?!"

Wore my Lawn Rebel shirt while loading up. Felt good!


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## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

Last night I setup the sprinkler and ran it a bit to help loosen up the ground.

Justin and I got out in his lawn this morning. I cut the trays of St. Aug into 4 sections each to use as the plugs with a utility knife and Justin dug in so we could slap the plug in. Watered and setup the timer per @greendoc recommendations at:

*Daily:* 4:45AM, 11:45AM and 4:45PM for 40 minutes. Then in like a month down to 4:45AM and 11:45AM. Then a couple weeks after that back down to just 4:45AM.

Now watching the hot dog eating contest and enjoying an adult beverage.


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## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

TN Hawkeye said:


> I'd just like to say that is a gorgeous grill cover in the first picture. Glad to see them repping the black and gold in the rainbow state.


 Apparently they get approached a lot here when they have their Hawkeye gear on.


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## TN Hawkeye (May 7, 2018)

JohnP said:


> TN Hawkeye said:
> 
> 
> > I'd just like to say that is a gorgeous grill cover in the first picture. Glad to see them repping the black and gold in the rainbow state.
> ...


As do I. Good luck with the lawn project. Sounds like you're on the right track now.


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## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

This morning we filled the Ortho Dial n Spray up according to @Greendoc recommendations: 12oz of the Miracle Gro dry crystals, warm water to dissolve easier, stir around and mix. It's a 24-8-16. I handed the sprayer off to Justin to do, started at the 2oz setting and after he got a feel for it over his yard I think he cranked it to 4oz. Will reapply in 14 day intervals for a while.

You can see the salad dieing off between the plugs.

I did make one change to watering timer, did 3:45PM instead of 4:45PM to make it easier to use grill/smoker around dinner time.

I notice the birds flocking in after watering, guess is they're eating bugs it stirs up. Win win.

Tonight we picked up some amender to put around each plug. Will knock that out in the morning. Gotta make sure it looks good for final inspection tomorrow 

Got rather toasty in the Hawaiian sun doing the plugs. Took that Farmer's Tan to a whole new level!


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## TN Hawkeye (May 7, 2018)

The farmers tan is just a temporary TLF sticker until you get some real ones to put on your equipment. Wear it with pride.


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## CARL HD MOVIE SOURCE (May 24, 2018)

I'd like to see this when its all complete, should be really good. (ROUNDUP!!!! How dare you!) LOL


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## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

CARL HD MOVIE SOURCE said:


> I'd like to see this when its all complete, should be really good. (ROUNDUP!!!! How dare you!) LOL


Not proper PPE?


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## CARL HD MOVIE SOURCE (May 24, 2018)

JohnP said:


> CARL HD MOVIE SOURCE said:
> 
> 
> > I'd like to see this when its all complete, should be really good. (ROUNDUP!!!! How dare you!) LOL
> ...


Haha oh it's so bad, haha.


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## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

Picked up a 3Cu Ft bag of soil conditioner and put it around plugs...got about half done before I ran out. Hit some touristy things and then made it back in time for Justin to smoke some ribs for @Greendoc. Amazing guy, wealth of knowledge and just all around good guy. Honored to share a meal with him.

Because Justin was smoking the ribs I didn't want to have the sprinkler rain on him so I hand watered the plugs for their final water today. You can see the conditioner around some of the plugs in this shot.


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## Greendoc (Mar 24, 2018)

I broke bread with @JohnP and his family literally. There was nothing left of the smoked ribs. I got home from work Thursday night and slid in a rosemary and garlic baguette to go with the ribs. Theresa and Julie were on that like vultures. In a few months, Justin is going to have a St Augustine lawn rather than a chopped salad. It is starting to get hot and sunny here in Hawaii. As long as there is water and some fertilizer, the grass will take off. The brown stuff in between the St Augustine plugs are nuked weeds.


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## raldridge2315 (Jul 1, 2017)

Holy Toledo! We're talk'in ribs. I'd say @Greendoc is one of the good guys.


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## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

Today we grabbed some more soil conditioner and filled in more gaps. Watering continues. This is the boring part now.


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## jayhawk (Apr 18, 2017)

Like the pic of you two.....how cool. @johnp did y'all geek out .....my spouse would have too many jokes. 
Always enjoy, value @greendoc


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## Greendoc (Mar 24, 2018)

We did not geek out very much. Like I said, there were 2 racks of ribs 3 guys and no leftovers. Foodies getting together. The ladies are vegan but, they were on a freshly baked baguette like I have never seen in my lifetime.


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## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

Small quick update. Justin has been watering it with a Melnor RainCloud and some Hunter MP Rotators I sent him out of guilt for nuking his lawn and vanishing. He filled it in with some topsoil around the plugs and has been feeding with Urea and Humic.





Greendoc did have to go over and help him with some fungus issues but it seems those issues are clearing up.


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## TN Hawkeye (May 7, 2018)

Looking good. Seems like your friend couldn't be in any better hands with @Greendoc lending assistance. Keep the updates coming.


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## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

215 Days Later

Wow. Seems like such a large number....
Justin battled some fungus with the assistance of @Greendoc. 215 days later it's lookin' much better!


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## Greendoc (Mar 24, 2018)

Transplanted St Augustine can get severe Gray Leafspot. 1 round of Exteris and another of Lexicon took care of it. No Daconil. He has two dogs and a baby.


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## SCGrassMan (Dec 17, 2017)

Holy crap I've never seen STA look so nice


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