Question
QUESTION: Hello,

I've done a bit of research on crabgrass and am finding different answers on how to get rid of it and plant new grass.

The previous home owner did zero yard work to the house I purchases.  The backyard is 95% crabgrass and I'm hoping to plant Tall Fescue (I live in Raleigh, NC) where the crabgrass is currently and plant new grass under some really tall pines.  

My plans is to:

1) Rake all the pine needles up under the tall pines.
2) I sent soil samples to the local co-op extenstion for Ph testing.  Once they come back I will attempt to spread lime to help increase the Ph.
3) I'm hoping to use roundup on the current crabgrass and let it die off for a week.
4) Mow the dead crabgrass as low as possible and bag the clippings.  Then run a rake over the soil to roughen it up.
5) Plant new grass in the previous crabgrass area and under the pines and water accordingly.  I will not be ripping up the crabgrass since one site said to use it as a mulch for the new grass(?).  
6) In the sping I will spreay the crabgrass anti-germination spray to prevent the grass from germinating and fertilize the lawn.

Some question I have are, should I fertilize when the plant the grass and what type of fertilizer?  I've been reading about just using plane table sugar.  Won't that attach more bugs.  

Should I run an aerator on the lawn as well and when should this be done?

Is it okay to mix creeping grass with Fescue?  I have a creeping grass in the front and would like Tall Fescue in the back.  They are seperated by a fence.  

I know not all of these questions can be answered, but if any help would be great.

Thanks

ANSWER: Okay!  Where to begin?

As for the pine trees and pine needles, I have some concerns regarding shade.  I don't think I've ever seen an area with excessive pine needles that was not also excessively shady.  Keep in mind, there's a reason nice lawns are not found out in the middle of the woods.  Even the most shade tolerant grasses need a certain amount of sunlight.  I've never seen them get enough under pine trees.  I'm afraid your efforts there may be futile.  

That all said, if you want to give it a try anyway, it won't hurt anything but your wallet.  Who knows?  You may get lucky.

Your approach to re-seeding the crabgrass areas seems pretty much spot on, so I won't reiterate all your steps.  They sound fine.

Sugar?  I don't know who got the ball rolling on this one, but I've never seen or heard of it working.  It sounds completely silly to me and I suspect somebody decided to put the word out there as a bad joke.  I could be wrong, but I can't advise you to put down table sugar.  There are no agronomic principles I know of that would actually support such a theory.

You should just use a good starter fertilizer, heavy with organics.  If you explain that to the local lawn & garden center guy, I'm sure he can pick a good one out for you.  Since I don't know which brands your store carries, I don't want to recommend one you can't then find.

Mixing grasses if fine agronomically, but Tall fescue tends to stand out due to the thicker blades.  You may want to just stick with it by itself in the areas where you want it.  Otherwise the lawn may look a bit strange.  Otherwise, there's certainly no harm in having a blend.  It's just more of an aesthetic thing.

Aerating the lawn is always a good thing.  If you can't, it won't be the end of the world.  If you can, then do.

Good luck!

-C.J. Brown
www.TheLawnCoach.com

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------


100' Pine   QUESTION: The pines are the very tall pines found in the Carolina's.  They are especially common North of Raleigh, NC.  

Refer to the attached image.

There isn't a branch/limb for at least 40 feet up the tree trunk.  There are two pines and the sun hits the lawn under them maybe 50-60% of the day.  

What percentage of sun needs to hit a lawn?  The shady side of the house has dirt and moss growing because the sun never hits the ground there, which is expected.  

Here is a link to an allexperts response regarding organic lawns by Charlotte B.  She seems like she lives by the stuff.  http://en.allexperts.com/q/Lawns-725/Organic-lawn-care-1.htm

Answer
Hi Adam,

My mistake on the Pine trees.  They look as though plenty of light should come through.  I'm used to the pine trees up here in New England.  They tend to be far lower growing.  I know about southern grasses, but trees ain't my specialty.

As for the link with Charlotte B., well I'm going to have to stick with my assessment.  Sounds nice, but I've never seen any studies that show measurable results.  I personally think that there's about a million "home remedy" applications that people like to try.  Organic folks seem to think they all work great.  

I like organics and try to encourage the use of organics as much as possible.  I just don't subscribe to the notion that anything organic must work great.

That's my 2 cents worth!  Thanks for the heads up on the pine trees.  It looks like you taught me something!

-C.J. Brown
www.thelawncoach.com