# What can I do with 5 acres?



## yournamehere (Sep 20, 2019)

I've recently moved from a house with a few hundred square feet of lawn to one with 5 acres. I can't seem to get my head around how I'm going to take care of this much grass. Watering any significant amount is not going to be reasonable and so will limit the ultimate outcome, but what can I hope for?

How do I fertilize and otherwise treat? Both from the equipment and product standpoint. e.g. if I were to spread milorganite at 32# / 2500 ft^2, that would be 87 bags or 2784 pounds for $1305 which equals a lot of money and effort. There are liquid fertilizers that are far cheaper but sprayers seem less common and I don't know how difficult this would be.

A sub-compact utility tractor can handle a variety of implements but is that really the best option from an equipment standpoint?

The lawn is a wide mix of grasses and is fairly weedy but can probably be tamed well enough. Though I'd like to start over, partly to level the ground better, such a task is probably beyond my patience especially since watering is all but impossible.

Any pointers are welcomed.


----------



## OnyxsLawn (Mar 15, 2018)

I grew up on 4 acres and can tell you it's a lot of work to maintain and you'll really need to commit if you want to make it look good. Check out a local co-op or site one if you have them around and look for urea as a cheap N source. They'll probably have some balanced granular and liquid fertilizer to get P and K but it will be more expensive. Anything with micro nutrients will also up the cost and milorganite is pretty much out of the question for the whole area. You should also be able to find 3 way herbicides in large quantities at a discount at a co-op vs a big box store.

As far as equipment goes a compact tractor is great to have for landscaping projects but they are slow to mow (probably over 3-4 hours to do your 5 acres). A zero turn will take that down closer to an hour to get a mow done with a 60" deck.

Without installing irrigation your best bet is to work smaller sections slowly. This will allow you introduce some newer cultivars that will require fewer inputs like fungicides water and fertilizer.

Some pics would help as well as some of your goals for the property. There are some other guys on here that have big lots and keep them beautifully who may have other tips. @GrassFarmer comes to mind.


----------



## Thenenk (Sep 14, 2018)

If it were me, I would Reno and install irrigation to a smaller section around the house, and the rest of it do some overseeding and keep it longer. You could also overseed next year if you timed it right out of dormancy for a dramatic improvement overall. That's a lot of mowing but sounds like fun!


----------



## deljaso (Oct 7, 2018)

Hmmmmmm, 5 acres in metro DC? You should hire a crew of groundskeepers!

--Or build a barn and buy a few cows or goats.


----------



## 1mjbrierley (Sep 22, 2018)

Buy a commercial grade zero turn that cuts grass at 8mph with a 60" deck. Buy used if you need but don't by a residential zero turn for that much land.

Buy a sprayer. Urea and prodamine can both be sprayed be sprayed and are cheap. You can also use the sprayer for post emergence. I mix my own 3way and apply it for about $11 an acre. However I have little use for post emergent blanket applications anymore. You can also spray mpk for potassium and phosphorous. I recommend a 50 gallon sprayer for 5 acres.

Everyone on this forum will tell you overseeding isn't an option without irrigation. Don't listen to them they are perfectionist. I just overseeded 3 acres without irrigation and saw incredible results.

Keep your grass high.


----------



## Deere Jr (Dec 7, 2017)

I mow 2 acres now.

One acre around the house is irrigated, so I have a kbg mix. The other is a tttf mix. The tttf is much more drought tolerant. If your not going to irrigate, I would go with a mainly tttf mix.

If you're going to mow 5 acres I would say you need a 72" commercial front deck machine. Like a Deere 15xx series. I use a 54" and wish I had something bigger for my 2 acres.

Before you spend any money on grass seed or fertilizer, I would be assessing the roughness of the ground. If your going to get jarred around, your not going to have fun mowing. That would suck. If it's too rough, scalp it, glypho, and hire a tracked skid loader with a Harley rake to smooth it out. They'll probably want to also have a compact tractor with a 3 pt landscape rake to rake up the dead grass debris.

Then seed and roll it in and rain dance.

If it's smooth, your lucky. Then just get your supplies from a local feed store and tractor supply company.


----------



## MDJoe (Sep 16, 2019)

1mjbrierley said:


> Buy a commercial grade zero turn that cuts grass at 8mph with a 60" deck. Buy used if you need but don't by a residential zero turn for that much land.
> 
> Buy a sprayer. Urea and prodamine can both be sprayed be sprayed and are cheap. You can also use the sprayer for post emergence. I mix my own 3way and apply it for about $11 an acre. However I have little use for post emergent blanket applications anymore. You can also spray mpk for potassium and phosphorous. I recommend a 50 gallon sprayer for 5 acres.
> 
> ...


Overseeding without irrigation may work some years, but the DC area has had virtually no rain since early August this year.


----------



## 1mjbrierley (Sep 22, 2018)

MDJoe said:


> 1mjbrierley said:
> 
> 
> > Buy a commercial grade zero turn that cuts grass at 8mph with a 60" deck. Buy used if you need but don't by a residential zero turn for that much land.
> ...


Ohio has had virtually no rain in weeks. Yet my overseed has seedlings all over the place, mostly in the plug holes. You just proved my point. Everyone's says it can't be done. Are the results less than if I irrigated, yes. Did it still work? Yes.


----------



## outdoorsmen (Jul 23, 2018)

5 acres....plant a big 1/2 acre veggie garden, plant 3 acres in CRP and enroll it with the state and earn about $600/yr help offset lawn expenses, the remaing 1.5 acres will be house and lawn that you can manage and a big shed/garage/outbuilding to store equipment and tools, workshop/hiding place.


----------



## MDJoe (Sep 16, 2019)

Are you on a well? Part of what you can do will be determined as you know, by irrigation capabilities. Which will depend a lot on the yield of your well, and your pump.

You could do a piecemeal renovation if you wanted to.

One question I have is, how far back from the street is the house? Is the house close enough to the street that you could at least shoot for a nice front lawn?

What I would probably do: 
1. Have a decent amount of nice lawn in the front, and maybe the immediate side and backyard. However, I would break up that long with large grassless areas that would be planted with trees, shrubs, and perennials. Things that can be relatively low maintenance once established, and don't need as much have a decent amount of nice lawn in the front, and maybe the immediate side and backyard.

However, I would break up that lawn with large grassless areas that will be planted with trees, shrubs, and perennials.

Things that can be relatively lower maintenance than lawn once established.

In the back, I'd probably do something similar, but also carve out a big area for an orchard and/or vegetable garden. And probably have some areas of wildflowers and/or trees.


----------



## yournamehere (Sep 20, 2019)

Wow. Lots of suggestions.

I've thought about trying to maintain just a portion, but the house and outbuildings are centrally located and I can't think of a way to to maintain just part of it such that it would look good to me. I'd rather have 5 acres of mown poor lawn than 1 or 2 acres of nice lawn surrounded by something I don't much like.

The lawn was never leveled well after the old farm ceased operation, so I have lumps and divots and ridges from previous posts, trees, dirt roads, etc. I won't be mowing it fast with any kind of mower until I can smooth it out somewhat; probably piecemeal rather than all at once.

MDJoe asks if I'm on a well and I am. I'm not sure of the implications though… I'd be willing to spot water any bad problem areas within a 100' or so of the house, but beyond that it feels like going overboard. But maybe its something I should look into?

My wife does want to plant orchards and gardens at some point, but in my experience, those are far more work per square foot than just running a mower over it. She also suggests goats, but a fence wouldn't be cheap and I'm not sure that's the lawn look I'm going for...

I'm in no big rush. Gradual improvement is good enough for me.


----------



## yournamehere (Sep 20, 2019)

So spraying is something I know nothing about. Would a tow-behind tank for a SCUT make sense? How easy is it to apply evenly? Is there a switch that can be located near the driving position? How easy is it to use around obstacles and fence lines? This seams more difficult than pushing a spreader around.

And is liquid actually cheaper that granular or am I just looking in the wrong places?


----------



## MDJoe (Sep 16, 2019)

yournamehere said:


> Wow. Lots of suggestions.
> 
> I've thought about trying to maintain just a portion, but the house and outbuildings are centrally located and I can't think of a way to to maintain just part of it such that it would look good to me. I'd rather have 5 acres of mown poor lawn than 1 or 2 acres of nice lawn surrounded by something I don't much like.
> 
> ...


My vegetable garden is 200' from the house. Yes, I string together hoses to water it.


----------



## yournamehere (Sep 20, 2019)

A vegetable garden is definitely worth the effort, in my mind.


----------



## 1mjbrierley (Sep 22, 2018)

yournamehere said:


> So spraying is something I know nothing about. Would a tow-behind tank for a SCUT make sense? How easy is it to apply evenly? Is there a switch that can be located near the driving position? How easy is it to use around obstacles and fence lines? This seams more difficult than pushing a spreader around.
> 
> And is liquid actually cheaper that granular or am I just looking in the wrong places?


It's easy. Just like granular you go conservative your first few tries. Mine came with a switch but I extended it and mounted a bracket for it on my control board. The only plus side to granular is cleanup. With spraying I usually rise the tank twice and I still wonder if I have residual chemicals. I use the tank for prodamine, selective herbicides, NPK, iron, and fungicides.


----------



## stevedave (Sep 27, 2019)

Have you thought about a native meadow or prairie planting? I recently did a 500 square foot planting at my house and it turned out really good, but you can buy seed mixes for acres as well. Like most things the most work is in the preparation, but probably won't need any more than to just be sprayed, and mowed to six inches one a month the first year, but after it is established it will only require to be mowed once a year. It won't need irrigation or fertilization to be established either, plus native plants evolved to live and thrive in low fertility. If your wife will want an orchard planting the pollinators it will attract will benefit that as well. Here's a couple good companies that sell the seed mixes and have good resources for learning. Best of luck.

http://www.prairiemoon.com
https://www.prairienursery.com


----------



## jhealy748 (Jul 25, 2019)

I currently have 5 acres and I can't even imagine if the entire thing was turf! Mine is just a native prairie grass and I seeded about a half acre around the house. My plan is to expand each year or 2 to where I have around 2 acres total turf but I am telling you now, just the half acre has given me a whole new respect to how large of an area even that is. I have a line on a JD triplex so that will make things way better as I am currently push mowing but even then you definitely have to think about things in a whole new level. Cost of fert, herbicides, fungiside treatments etc. adds up quick! I am already looking into getting large quantities of things from the local ag stores to try and save some money. It is really fun though as the possibilities are endless! Start a journal so we can all watch your progress!


----------



## MDJoe (Sep 16, 2019)

I'm calculating that watering even an acre is quite difficult. Even with a high capacity water system, it will take several days to water the whole thing, zone by zone, if you stick to watering only during the best times (early morning).


----------



## yournamehere (Sep 20, 2019)

The idea of a native meadow is growing on me a little bit, but it wouldn't be a large amount with my layout. So I will still have quite a bit of grass that I can't water. Should I stick with TTTF when overseeding and repairing? And is there any particular fertilizing strategy for drought resistance?


----------



## Suburban Jungle Life (Mar 1, 2018)

yournamehere said:


> The idea of a native meadow is growing on me a little bit, but it wouldn't be a large amount with my layout. So I will still have quite a bit of grass that I can't water. Should I stick with TTTF when overseeding and repairing? And is there any particular fertilizing strategy for drought resistance?


If you want drought tolerant grass in this area, I would go with zoysia or bermuda. Personally, I like zoysia. It doesn't spread fast but it does spread, you only need to fert and mow in summer, and there is no fall/winter/spring maintenance. It grows thick and has few weeds. You can mow tall or short. You can be lazy and let it get a foot tall and mow it to 1" and it'll be perfectly happy. It doesn't care. If there is a drought, it turns brown and goes dormant. When the rain returns, it greens back up. If you go with TF for low maintenance areas, it can die in a longer drought. TF also doesn't spread so if you want it to stay thicker, you'll need to seed annually. I have a mix so I get to spend more time and energy on the TF areas. TF is definitely higher maintenance and cost for sure. Especially with fungicide...


----------

