Homeowners Battle Lawn Care Nightmares
Several posts express frustration with lawn care challenges including weeds, discoloration, fungus, and HOA demands. Users seek identification assistance, solutions for repair, and debate DIY versus professional intervention.
SOURCES (60)
“They won’t repair themselves when wounded so I weed whack my lawn low….knick them and they die in a few days….”
“The only alternative to herbicides, really, is pulling them. Use a grandpa's weeder or similar tool to get the root. The best way to prevent them next year (other than a preemergent herbicide) is thicker, healthier grass. Overseed in the fall if you can.”
“I tend to stick with a schedule. In general, I mow once a week, but later in the season, I'll switch to every 2 weeks.”
“What are your goals, just something green and usable or a sports field/country club lawn?”
After you pull it out what can you do to prevent them from growing back?
“Hello from Austin! Growing stuff in central Texas is hard. Droughts. Watering restrictions. 100 degree heat for 70-90 days a year... Walk and drive around the neighborhood a lot and see who's got things looking good with shade like yours. Copy what they got. If you have a dog or like walking, walk in the morning before work when people are out hand watering plants... ask them about their yards. I like the basic ideas from the other early commenter. Be prepared for big water bills. I killed m”
“I’d keep the salt out of the ground. It might not be poison to the animals you see, but it’s poison to the animals you don’t see.”
“You might be in a good spot to try the round up percision I am trying, that is soooo much higher than your grass, and if it isn't wide spread it won't be a head ache. *Sorry if I sound like a brand bot, I promise I'm not. But I have a small yard, if it was bigger I 100 percent would have gone with pure chemical and a paint brush.”
“mowing in a boot during 95 degree humidity is serious dedications!! congrats on getting back out there.”
“with big dogs and weed taking over, trying to patch this is not worth it. wait still early spring, kill off everything with glyphosate, lay down topsoil and reseed with tall fescue.”
“(Also from the same area). Most lawns in Colorado has cool season grass varieties ( mostly Kentucky bluegrass with some fescue mix). With the dry hot summer weather here, bluegrass doesn't stand a chance unless watered every 2 to 3 days equalling around 2 inches a week, not to mention new seeds. Your best bet is to wait until around Labor day where temperature falls to like lower 80s, and then overseed the lawn. Mow low, Dethatch/rake the bare spots, aerate, apply seed, and top soil/ compost”
“First two photos are of our side lawn. We have mole tunnels everywhere and just paid to have grubs sprayed in hopes of the moles going away. It’s July right now so we are planning to do something the end of August. Last photo is a dirt patch behind our backyard that we would like to seed. What would you do if that was your yard? We’re going to spray again for weeds, but what’s the best way to plant seed end of August? submitted by /u/WorldlinessNew7917 [link] [comments]”
“Be sure to get the grub killer and not the grub preventer. They’re 2 different things.”
“Nope. It’ll grow in but will never take over. If you want some specific grass cultivar to grow, you’ll need to renovate. That is; kill everything there and start over.”
“https://preview.redd.it/muk8795zdmfh1.jpeg?width=877&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a136bc5e736ff46a0fdcb6778e6d7f8378dc3e78 I found this yesterday in a different part of the lawn but didn’t really find any under the weird long grass that isn’t attached. Could these be all over? Ewww.”
“If you want a nice turf lawn; I would glyphosate the whole thing. That way you can destroy any quack grass. After two weeks, give it a til, then in a weeks time glyphosate the sprouts again. Wait two 1-2 weeks. Till again, seed, and water. If you don’t want to go to such extremes, selective herbicide, wait two weeks, power rake it, top dress and seed. Ideally time your seeding for late summer.”
“I'm not sure about things in Alberta, but in the middle of the summer in many places it's usually too hot to use post-emergent. So right now, I'd recommend just holding off on doing anything drastic. Get you a weeder and pull weeds by hand for now. When fall comes around you can spray for weeds, but you will need to decide if you want to overseed or do pre-emergent. You can't do both. If you weed problem is really bad do pre-emergent and you can overseed next year. Getting a good”
“Id probably just go get some more of that clover seed and put that over your whole lawn, dont really gotta mow it as much if ever, more drought resistant, plus pretty flowers”
“If you dont want weeds, I would recommend using a weedkiller, then overseed some new grass in”
“Thanks, neighbor has an Aspen tree on her fence line. Will treatment impact her tree or should I just live with a constant battle of removal.”
“Hey all! I hope you are well. I’ve been looking pretty good at taking care of our lawn over the years. Last year we started to form a bare spot nowhere near this bad but since last summer it’s just been growing bigger. In Northern Kentucky we’ve been experiencing drought like weather during the summer these past couple years. Looking at our neighbors grass, their doesn’t seem to be going through what ours is. There are some roots from a tree in our yard that you can see in one of the pictures bu”
“Started this project early like July 7th. I’m pretty proud of what I’ve done so far i am the only one cleaning this up. 1st weekend in September I plan on aerating and seeding. Still haven’t decided between Jonathan Green Black Beauty and Twin City. I do know it will have to be tall fescue because of the lack of shade. submitted by /u/mika4572 [link] [comments]”
“I’m having a moss breakout because of standing water in certain areas. My plan was to moss out, take it out and then aerate the small areas. I just don’t want to make it worse.”
“i agree that the heat from the pavement is probably your problem. but consider digging up and making sure you have more than a 6 inches of soil. a lot of concrete and debris get buried close to pavement”
“Just me and my dad, palisades zoysia, and real work put into it, what do y'all think? submitted by /u/Downtown-Nebula-8194 [link] [comments]”
“You need some more soil there along the driveway. A lot of weedy grasses grow better than turf in poor conditions.”
“A bag of malorganite will really do the trick, I use it on all my sod jobs that arent looking so green, and you can never do it wrong.”
Good call. Morning water gives the grass a fighting chance.
“The biggest thing working against you is the never ending supply from next door. You’ll never be able to solve the problem without removing their bamboo. Unless you did what someone above did, which is to bring in a backhoe, dig all yours out, and pour an 18” deep underground concrete wall to separate your yard from theirs. However, I have read that you don’t mow it down right when you see it. All the mass is underground. It can put up infinite small shoots. You have to wait until it just starts”
“Its definitely grey leaf spot. It doesnt really go away, you just need to wait for the grass to grow enough so you can cut off the damaged blades when you mow.”
“Lol yeah, I'm trying to train him to go in the side yard, but its a work in progress”
“Disagree. Financially paying someone else will be way more expensive. With your lawn size and time commitment I’d suggest work close to far from important items (house, well, AC) with whatever mower you have, basically cut down what’s growing and for the vines at least cut the stems so they stop growing. Mower-sharpen blades, change oil. AC- clear growth from it and wash coils with a hose, this allows it to cool more efficient. Well- clear it off so growth doesn’t crack anything. Mow once a week”
“That sounds like a great plan to me! The tough part is in order to achieve a weed free lawn you need dense healthy grass where weeds cannot thrive. If you kill off tons of weeds and create bare patches you'll just get more weeds eventually. If you're able to achieve dense healthy grass in an established lawn then weeds have to fight to exist. At that point as long as you keep the grass happy weeds will have little chance. Without irrigation during hot dry weather grass can get stressed a”
“So it’s great that they put down mats. This type of damage is unavoidable if you cover the grass. It either gets smothered or cooks from the heat. You can dye it. Yes they sell such a thing. Or forget about it and make a mental note of anyone who talks about your grass and never invite that person back…”
“Did you treat it in the spring for grubs? I'd probably hit it now with that instant grub killer that works in 24 hrs.”
“Not a bad plan. Honestly though… nobody’s gonna care about your grass. Enjoy the baby shower and congrats on the little one!!”
“The yard damage would’ve been much worse had they not used mats / plywood. What did you honestly expect them to do? Use a crane?”
“Okay so maybe we’ll hold off doing anything further damaging and just water in the mornings and cross our fingers. Worst case maybe the green spray to mask it right before the event”
“Thank you for your honesty, i figured there was a chance I was overreacting. I think I’m more upset that I didn’t realize this could be an issue and scheduled the trees to be cut before the event rather than after.”
“Be glad they put the plywood down. You really wouldn’t like your lawn if they hadn’t.”
“Aerosmithed Lawn https://preview.redd.it/mmf8nbah9ffh1.png?width=1072&format=png&auto=webp&s=768caa26a3b93b4bf1510f02b2b9ed2420a819ec”
“you gotta get the right type of grass. get zoysia, st aug, or centipede....then you don't have to worry so much about herbicides and so forth as they will keep most of the weeds out on their own. sure you'll have a few weeds but they won't overtake the yard. it will be like 90% grass and 10% weeds all on it's own. all you will have to do is mow it once a week and maybe fertilize once or twice a year. that's what i do on my st aug yard. sure you'll have some weeds in the s”
“https://preview.redd.it/o088qihu4ffh1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a22bd5de543e3413c0b18c923bd4e717c553de4c Also, I would if possible get rid of the ugly trim”
“Trying to help my mom with her lawn care because she is anal about her lawn. Couple things I've noticed is she waters right in the middle of the day, iv told her to water in the morning. Also needs to change her mower blades but I'm having trouble id'ing the brown patches in the lawn mostly because she keeps digging them up and replanting. IDK if it's fungus or if it's dry rot or something like that. We are in the west Michigan area. submitted by /u/transabby [lin”
“The grass is dead there because there's a half inch of soil above patio base, it's basically just rock under there. It's 100% not too much water”
“Yes. I went with what ever was sold at Home Depot. It isn't glyphosate. It is what ever Round Up changed to. But yes, it kills everything. My lawn was very far gone already. I think it would be generous to say my lawn was 20% grass. It had long been time to reset it. If you go with Round Up, depending on the status of your lawn. It might be better to just Round Up the bad spots and then regrow those spots. I'm just sharing my experiences. My lawn is also bad because there were times I le”
“I don't find it burdensome to maintain a nice lawn. Albeit I have irrigation and dont have to drag hoses around. I cut every 5 days or so, string trim every other cut. Apply fertilizer 4x per year and overseed in the fall. It's another form of exercise for me. If clover, black medic or similar appear I spot treat. If I get a couple of dadilions I pull them with grandpas weed puller. Lawn stays nice all season.”