# Lawn advice needed.



## balistek (Jun 5, 2017)

:x Hi every one. Name is Ron. I stumbled upon this website, and I thought it would be great to join and learn. I am new to wanting to take care of my lawn. Im one year into this home, and the lawn was never really taken care of by the previous owner (older lady). I will most likely have to regarded some of my property as it can hold a lot of water, but I am looking forward to improving the quality of grass along the way.

I have 0.6 acres, and it mostly weeds with some st. Aug sprinkled in. I will mainly be focusing on just my front yard for now (~2500sqft). The back yard will need major work. I recently went to a siteone store and picked up some celsius, surfactant, and some tracker dye. I plan to spray soon, but I really need to work on leveling the front lawn.

Most of the people on here, from my basic viewing, have bermuda grass and are leveling their yard with sand. I live in southern louisiana and have a clay based soil. Should I use same proactive with sand? My gut says no. I will be attaching some pics when I get home. Look forward to learning. Have a good one


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## southernguy311 (Mar 17, 2017)

Celsius was an excellent investment. Welcome.

Even with clay soil you can't go wrong with leveling with sand.


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## Spammage (Apr 30, 2017)

I would say leveling is unnecessary with St Augustine unless you have really bad areas. You will cut it in the 3-4 inch range with a rotary, so leveling might not be worth the investment. Different story if you want bermuda at sub 1" heights.


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## thegrassfactor (Apr 12, 2017)

One of the not so obvious positives for leveling with sand will be the improved drainage for the runners roots. Will aide in providing unfavorable conditions for common St Aug diseases in clay soils, á la Take All Root Rot


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## Spammage (Apr 30, 2017)

Fair enough and mixed heavily with peat moss you are probably right. I'm guessing that St Augustine wouldn't care much for the drag mat though.


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## Bunnysarefat (May 4, 2017)

Some sand and peat moss does sound like a great option for St. Augustine. May be hard to find it pre-mixed in bulk but worth searching. But, as was mentioned, you should be cutting no lower than 2 and 1/2 inches, probably in 3-4 depending on what you think looks best, so most low spots won't be really noticible. From these pictures it looks pretty decent. I know in your own yard and in person you see it differently but if you can't see it in a photo, most people who visit your house won't notice. If you want it more level so you can run and kids can play on it, you would probably want to bring in a pro with some kind of truck that can spray a topdressing around where you need it, if not that, you're looking at a rake and pushbroom and some serious work. The drag mat does sound iffy. You'd have to cut the grass pretty low and even then, could cause damage and not work well.


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## balistek (Jun 5, 2017)

Thanks guys. Upon closer inspection, I appear to have some leaf spot. I'm guessimg, but it looks just like the other member who just posted regarding his bermuda. To be honest, I'd love to just scrap the st Aug and start over in the front. I'd love bermuda, but I don't know if I want to go all out. That being said, I can't put down celsius if the lawn has leaf spot right. We finally have a few days of no rain, I was really hoping to get some down.

Depending on funds, I might just do a front yard reno. It's not that much area, and it should be doable. For now, just trying to make the best of what I got. I'll probably cut alil lower and bag my clippings to get rid of the infected areas. I will also postpone the milo


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## balistek (Jun 5, 2017)

Woke up to a bummer. I was really looking forward to waking up to stripes this morning. if memory serves me correctly, stripes are best seen with the sun behind you while looking at stripes. I rolled my lawn yesterday, and I was looking forward to some morning "pop". Does dew affect the quality of stripes. I will go look again after the dew dries, but I'm somewhat disappointed. I was hoping the stripes in the st. aug would last atleast a few days, much less 12 hours.

This was yesterday afternoon around 5pm 


I hope the stripes come back after the dew evaporates. I'll be hard pressed to find motivation to stripe for only a few hours of benefit in the future.


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## Spammage (Apr 30, 2017)

My Zoysia will show stripes for a couple days, but I'm cutting at less than an inch with a reel. Honestly, I was surprised when I saw your pics of stripes in St Aug. I don't know if I've ever seen anyone try to stripe it.


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## balistek (Jun 5, 2017)

So, dew does affect stripes. They are still there. If I can manage 2-3 days of stripes, then it is worth it for me to do them. Pheww


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## balistek (Jun 5, 2017)




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## balistek (Jun 5, 2017)

Hey guys quick question. I cut my yard the other week lower than intended, and I mowed it again at the lower height. I now my yard is mostly weeds. But i have questions regarding certain areas of my lawn. ANybody know what is going on in these areas?

Also I just read about torpedo grass. I am worried I may have some of that as well. Thanks for the advice Its weird. I can easily just pull out layers of brown dead looking stuff right to the soil line.


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