# Soliciting Advice



## Ridgerunner (May 16, 2017)

I putting this here because I'd like input from both warm and cool season people. Experiences or just suggestions/ideas.
I've always had "local dry spot problems, which turns out to be due to rock heave. The problems has really been getting progressively worse over the last three years and I'm toying with what to do. I've got 6-7M of lawn total with 3M in the front which I am considering fixing:
1. Forget it and live with it. (been doing that).
2. Have the top 12-18" removed and replaced with top soil.
3. Have the local landscaper I use bring his summer crew of H.S. and college kids come in with spade forks and remove all of the rocks and fill with a sand mix.
Add irrigation with options 2 and 3?
Any other options?
Should I reseed (want to use slit-seeder) before having the irrigation installed as I've seen them use a machine that lays the flex pipe into slit cut into the turf? Can I slit-seed without damaging the sprinkler heads if I seed after installation?
Here is a picture of the front. The green growth patches are some of the spots of rock heave ( but there are many other areas not caught in the photo. (notice how the spots are out of dormancy and growing, so there is an advantage to rock heave. 

These are just some of the stones and rocks I've taken out and kept over the last several years to give some idea of the sizes I'm dealing with.
















Your insights are appreciated.


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## Mightyquinn (Jan 31, 2017)

What is your ultimate goal of your lawn? If you want to have a showcase lawn, then I would recommend removing ALL the rocks and stones and installing irrigation if it's in the budget. It would also be a great time to get it nice and smooth also. Are you mowing with a rotary? Or do you plan on getting a reel in the future?


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## Ridgerunner (May 16, 2017)

Mightyquinn said:


> What is your ultimate goal of your lawn? If you want to have a showcase lawn, then I would recommend removing ALL the rocks and stones and installing irrigation if it's in the budget. It would also be a great time to get it nice and smooth also. Are you mowing with a rotary? Or do you plan on getting a reel in the future?


@Mightyquinn I'm debating, I don't have the energy or drive that I had even just a couple of years ago. I love the cut of a reel, but with the current equipment, I don't have the room for a rider. I've seriously thought about adding the reel attachment for my Steiner in the past, but 72" on my size lawn doesn't make sense (nor does the added maintenance of the reel.). It'll remain rotary. Cost is a consideration, I can afford it, but I'd rather not spend more than I need to.
I used to have some pics at what it looked like at its very best (when the planets were all aligned and in the perfect light with the Steiner stripes :lol: ), but can't find them. This is what the lawn looked like pre-heave. Decent, but probably not what most would consider "showcase."






What I'm really looking for is options/suggestions, particularly for removing the rocks.


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## Mightyquinn (Jan 31, 2017)

Your lawn looks great to me for a Cool Season lawn 

Do you dig these rocks out every year that they heave? If they are causing LDS, I would just do what you can to remove most of them. I would have figured you would have gotten most of them over the years through attrition?


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## gene_stl (Oct 29, 2017)

Looking pretty good to me.


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## Ridgerunner (May 16, 2017)

Mightyquinn said:


> Your lawn looks great to me for a Cool Season lawn
> 
> Do you dig these rocks out every year that they heave? If they are causing LDS, I would just do what you can to remove most of them. I would have figured you would have gotten most of them over the years through attrition?


Thanks MQ, if it helps I do have some weeds that I pretend are warm season grass. 
I use to remove/dig a couple of bigger ones every year and some smaller ones that just took a pry with a screwdriver but only when they broke the surface. For some reason, it never struck me that there would be so many below the surface and were causing the LDS. I gave up 2 years ago when I realized all of the LDS was due to rock heave and the number and size of most of them is overwhelming. I'm concerned that a couple of them may even be boulders based on my prodding.


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## GrassDaddy (Mar 21, 2017)

Have you applied anything for the LDS? My lawn has lots of rocks as well but I found putting down soap and yucca extract helps a lot. Now if it's the rocks heating up and cooking the grass it won't help much but I didn't see if you tried anything.


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## Ridgerunner (May 16, 2017)

GrassDaddy said:


> Have you applied anything for the LDS? My lawn has lots of rocks as well but I found putting down soap and yucca extract helps a lot. Now if it's the rocks heating up and cooking the grass it won't help much but I didn't see if you tried anything.


I shouldn't have used the term LDS. I should have emphasized that the problem resembled LDS or dollar spot for that matter. LDS has pretty specific causes, compaction or hydrophobic. But, yes I have used shampoo in the past thinking the issue was LDS. Every one of those green patches in the first photo is where I overseeded the dead patches and prodding of every one of those spots indicates rock near the surface. I'm now confident the issue is the cooking of the turf above.
A complete excavation would definitly resolve the issue, but in addition to the cost, I'm concerned about movement of the sidewalk and drive, cracking and damage. Plus there are underground utilities to deal with and if something can go wrong, you can be bet it will. There are also concerns about how effective it would be to have a crew come in and dig the rocks out. Also not cheap, but it would avoid the concerns regarding the concrete and utilities.
Are there other options? Anyone know much about what a rockhound or another piece of equipment could do?


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## GrassDaddy (Mar 21, 2017)

Oh ok. Yeah you're in a tough spot. I dug up one rock that was huge but other than that I don't think any of the large rocks affect the lawn.


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