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Message
Professional Lawn Consultants in Baton Rouge area?
Posted on 7/1/23 at 2:20 pm
Posted on 7/1/23 at 2:20 pm
I’m looking for a professional consultant that could provide advice on getting my lawn in good shape. Please let me know if you have any recommendations.
Needless to say my lawn is a shite show that is a mixture dalisgrass, centipede, Bermuda and St Aug and every weed that is prevalent in S LA. I have been fighting this for the 15 years that I’ve lived here and it seems that yard continues to get worse each year. I have tried advice/chemicals from Cleggs along with hiring True Green and Treppendahl.
I have read the thread pinned at the top of the board and was wondering if there any professionals here that could provide specific advice to the multitude of problems that currently exists in my yard.
Needless to say my lawn is a shite show that is a mixture dalisgrass, centipede, Bermuda and St Aug and every weed that is prevalent in S LA. I have been fighting this for the 15 years that I’ve lived here and it seems that yard continues to get worse each year. I have tried advice/chemicals from Cleggs along with hiring True Green and Treppendahl.
I have read the thread pinned at the top of the board and was wondering if there any professionals here that could provide specific advice to the multitude of problems that currently exists in my yard.
This post was edited on 7/1/23 at 7:24 pm
3
Posted on 7/1/23 at 2:28 pm to armytiger96
How many sq ft is your lawn?
Posted on 7/1/23 at 2:55 pm to armytiger96
What are you looking for and how much are you willing to spend? How big is the yard?
I’m sure there’s some companies you could hire, but you have a knowledgeable free resources right here. Post some pictures and questions and details and we can provide some direction.
If you have a relatively small yard, would you be willing to do a complete renovation? You could get a complete fresh start.
I’m sure there’s some companies you could hire, but you have a knowledgeable free resources right here. Post some pictures and questions and details and we can provide some direction.
If you have a relatively small yard, would you be willing to do a complete renovation? You could get a complete fresh start.
Posted on 7/1/23 at 3:36 pm to armytiger96
If you have no shade tiftuff or gif 419 Bermuda, light shade Tahoma 31 Bermuda, heavier shade geozoysia. Rent a sod cutter and clear out your lawn. Be sure to roundup the Dallisgrass. Buy an earthwise 7 blade reel mower.
Posted on 7/1/23 at 3:52 pm to LSUtigerME
quote:
What are you looking for and how much are you willing to spend?
I’m looking to have a lawn that is pretty respectable which I define as not 65% weeds and no Dalisgrass.
I’m willing to spend a little bit to get a customized plan for my yard. Not sure I’m willing to spend money on complete renovation and will determine that once I get the cost estimate.
My lot is around 20,000 sf. I estimate my lawn is probably half that size.
Here is a list of problems:
1) I’m not confident the builder ever sodded the back yard since it has three zones centipede, Bermuda, and St Augustine.
2 I don’t know for sure but I believe most of my top soil is clay that was the spoils from the man made lake across the street. The yard is very hard, compacted, and shows cracks during periods of hot dry summer weather.
3) My yard doesn’t drain properly. During the wet season portions of my yard will hold water for extended periods of time. For example in 2016 I don’t believe I was able to my grass for over a month because it was to wet.
4) The centipede zone in the backyard has dalisgrass, and about five years ago developed a large dead zone that was originally rainbow shaped. I’m not sure if it’s fungus or sod worms. I’ve always assumed sod worm because I see moths when I mow. I treat yard periodically for ants with Telstar which I have been told should take care of sod worms as well. This area also gets some shade from trees along the perimeter of my property line.
5) The Bermuda zone is the lower area that holds water. I was advised that the centipede would migrate eventually take over this area. Instead it’s been taken over by dalisgrass and nutsedge.
6) St Aug zone, I’m not sure where it came from but it has become prevalent in in the back corner of my property and is probably the zone that has the least amount of weeds.
7) The front yard when I first moved in was a very nice centipede lawn but over the past couple of years it has started to get overgrown by dalisgrass which is spreading quickly. I also have a portion of the grass that started to die this year similar to the back yard a few years ago. I’m not sure if it’s from the cold snap, fungus, or sod worms. I notice that weed grasses such as nutsedge are starting to grow there now.
8) I have two golden retrievers that are primarily inside dogs but obviously spend some time in the yard playing with the kids, sunning, and taking care of their business.
Treatments: Over the years I have periodically fertilized, applied premergants, and sprayed the weeds. Unfortunately, I have not been regimented in the respective applications. I have sporadically had core aeration treatments, once every few years.
I have been fairly regimented in spraying the dalisgrass to no avail. I have used several different chemicals over the years such as MSMA, 2,4 Amine, Grass Beater, Celsius, and weed free zone to treat the dalisgrass. I have used sledgehammer to treat the nutsedge.
This post was edited on 7/1/23 at 4:16 pm
Posted on 7/2/23 at 8:51 am to armytiger96
This is a lot to address and is going to take a long time to rectify. Particularly in centipede since it doesn’t recover or spread very well at all.
If you wanted centipede moving forward, to replace the entire front or back yard, you’re looking at ~$2500 for the sod installed (assuming roughly 5000 sqft). Just as a reference point in cost, and doesn’t include any of the cost to kill/till/remove current yard. You can also seed Bermuda for relatively cheap. 10k sqft worth of quality Bermuda seed would be around $500 or so. A little less for common.
This is typical builder practice. You can grow a lawn in this material but it will alway struggle with compaction. Ideally, you can amend it but not required. It’s a great surface for sod as well. Core aeration and some type of organic amendments will do well. Compost or other material will need to be top dressed routinely.
This is probably the biggest problem to tackle first since it’ll affect the rest of the yard to correct. Can it be regraded to drain? Do you need to install a drainage system to bring the water to the drain (ie the street or a ditch)? Depending on what would be involved, this is this first thing to get fixed.
This weed is tough and basically requires glyphosate (Roundup). It will kill the surrounding good grass. Bermuda will recover and fill in quickly, but centipede will not. You can encourage regrowth with some top dressing of better soil or if a large area a partial resod. You can buy individual pieces of sod.
Sedgehammer, but this weed loves water and heat. You’ll need to address the water problem to get this one under control.
St Aug or zoysia both grow very dense and do an excellent job of choking out weeds. They are also much better in shady areas vs Bermuda or Centipede. Based on your mix of grasses and thoughts on renovations, your these are things to consider.
Dogs are rough on a lawn, particularly centipede. I’m not sure you can really have a “manicured” lawn with two large dogs, but you can certainly still have a very nice one. Bermuda, St Aug, or Zoysia should be better for these, with Bermuda being most tolerant of traffic.
If you wanted centipede moving forward, to replace the entire front or back yard, you’re looking at ~$2500 for the sod installed (assuming roughly 5000 sqft). Just as a reference point in cost, and doesn’t include any of the cost to kill/till/remove current yard. You can also seed Bermuda for relatively cheap. 10k sqft worth of quality Bermuda seed would be around $500 or so. A little less for common.
quote:
2 I don’t know for sure but I believe most of my top soil is clay that was the spoils from the man made lake across the street. The yard is very hard, compacted, and shows cracks during periods of hot dry summer weather.
This is typical builder practice. You can grow a lawn in this material but it will alway struggle with compaction. Ideally, you can amend it but not required. It’s a great surface for sod as well. Core aeration and some type of organic amendments will do well. Compost or other material will need to be top dressed routinely.
quote:
My yard doesn’t drain properly. During the wet season portions of my yard will hold water for extended periods of time. For example in 2016 I don’t believe I was able to my grass for over a month because it was to wet.
This is probably the biggest problem to tackle first since it’ll affect the rest of the yard to correct. Can it be regraded to drain? Do you need to install a drainage system to bring the water to the drain (ie the street or a ditch)? Depending on what would be involved, this is this first thing to get fixed.
quote:
dalisgrass
This weed is tough and basically requires glyphosate (Roundup). It will kill the surrounding good grass. Bermuda will recover and fill in quickly, but centipede will not. You can encourage regrowth with some top dressing of better soil or if a large area a partial resod. You can buy individual pieces of sod.
quote:
nutsedge
Sedgehammer, but this weed loves water and heat. You’ll need to address the water problem to get this one under control.
quote:
St Aug
St Aug or zoysia both grow very dense and do an excellent job of choking out weeds. They are also much better in shady areas vs Bermuda or Centipede. Based on your mix of grasses and thoughts on renovations, your these are things to consider.
quote:
8) I have two golden retrievers that are primarily inside dogs but obviously spend some time in the yard playing with the kids, sunning, and taking care of their business.
Dogs are rough on a lawn, particularly centipede. I’m not sure you can really have a “manicured” lawn with two large dogs, but you can certainly still have a very nice one. Bermuda, St Aug, or Zoysia should be better for these, with Bermuda being most tolerant of traffic.
Posted on 7/2/23 at 11:30 am to LSUtigerME
quote:
LSUtigerME
Thanks for taking the time to respond.
quote:
Ideally, you can amend it but not required. It’s a great surface for sod as well. Core aeration and some type of organic amendments will do well. Compost or other material will need to be top dressed routinely.
The yard is very compacted. I recently had a core aeration and plan to do it again in the fall. Is there such a thing as too much core aeration? What do you mean by amend? Assuming it’s placing top soil over existing lawn how much and how often should I apply and what is the best material? Is there a best time of year?
quote:
St Aug or zoysia both grow very dense and do an excellent job of choking out weeds. They are also much better in shady areas vs Bermuda or Centipede. Based on your mix of grasses and thoughts on renovations, your these are things to consider.
How does St Aug fare in full sun? I get some shade from trees on along the perimeter of my property however most of my backyard gets full sun.
Assuming I resod the whole yard with St Aug how do I prevent the dalisgrass and other undesirable weeds from coming back? I apply deminsion every year but they still come back every year.
quote:
You can also seed Bermuda for relatively cheap. 10k sqft worth of quality Bermuda seed would be around $500 or so. A little less for common.
If I apply deminsion how long should I wait before putting seed out. Do I just put seed out like fertilizer or do I need to prep the yard. Is there a better time of year to apply seed. What do I need to do once I put the seed out. I assume I will need to water? How often and how long?
This post was edited on 7/2/23 at 11:32 am
Posted on 7/2/23 at 3:45 pm to armytiger96
quote:
The yard is very compacted. I recently had a core aeration and plan to do it again in the fall. Is there such a thing as too much core aeration? What do you mean by amend? Assuming it’s placing top soil over existing lawn how much and how often should I apply and what is the best material? Is there a best time of year?
Core aeration is stressful to the turf so you want to do it when it’s actively growing and not stressed (ie heat or drought). Usually spring or fall is best, and there’s nothing against doing it in both. Just need enough time between for the turf to recover.
Amend in this case just means added to soil. Usually it’s done in some form to get to the roots. So for established lawns, amending post aeration is a great way to get nutrients into the soil. There’s various amendments you can use, with something like top soil or compost being readily available.
quote:
How does St Aug fare in full sun? I get some shade from trees on along the perimeter of my property however most of my backyard gets full sun.
Assuming I resod the whole yard with St Aug how do I prevent the dalisgrass and other undesirable weeds from coming back? I apply deminsion every year but they still come back every year.
St Aug should do fine in full sun. It’s obviously very popular for lawns in the South.
If you renovate and resod, you’ll first kill all actively growing plants. Then prep soil and lay the sod. Once the sod is down, it should have very few weeds (assuming a quality source) and will smother/choke out any new growth. You can then spot treat to control anything that does come up.
quote:
If I apply deminsion how long should I wait before putting seed out. Do I just put seed out like fertilizer or do I need to prep the yard. Is there a better time of year to apply seed. What do I need to do once I put the seed out. I assume I will need to water? How often and how long?
I don’t recall the label for dimension as far as seeding, but it’s likely 6 weeks or longer.
I prefer to prep the soil rather than trying to just overseed. The “Kill/Till/Seed” method is popular in renovations, but many argue the need to “till”. It’s worked well for me so I stick with it.
I simply spray the area with glyphosate, wait a week then scalp it as low as possible. Then spray again a week later (2 weeks after initial) and scalp again after a week if necessary. I then till up the soil using a Harley rake, disks, or a tiller, then smooth out if necessary. Then I put out starter fertilizer and seeds, then water for 2 weeks keeping the soil moist the whole time (usually watering 4x a day).
An alternative to this would be to scalp the yard, rake up any dead material or thatch, then overseed and water. I’m not sure how successful this would be as the existing plans will crowd out the developing seedlings and you’ll still be left with the existing weeds.
Just FYI, renovations will look awful for over a month until everything is established and thriving. My wife is not pleased when I “kill the grass just grow new grass”, not recognizing I’m converting sections from Bahia to Bermuda.
Finally, the best time to renovate is spring. Summer is an awful time due to watering requirements, but if you can babysit the seedlings, it works. Early Fall works as well but want to make sure you have enough time for lawn to grow and establish before the winter. I’d seed no later than Mid-September for South LA.
Posted on 7/2/23 at 7:43 pm to LSUtigerME
Thanks again for your help.
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