Complete renovation

[QLC]

I just got a call to bid on a complete renovation for an old yard. I was wondering what the best way to do this was. Round-up then slit seed. Round-up, aerate, then slit seed or does it need to be tilled to get rid of the old grass and weeds. Need help please!!<p>Brook Haynes<br>Quality Lawn Care

[Starling Lawn]

my answer,roundup,till,then seed...if you seed right after the till.you shouldn`t have to aerate.

[Alan]

The renos I've done required a lot of grading, so I brought in topsoil to fill the low spots, then tilled the whole thing and hydroseeded same as new installation. No Roundup though and it seemed to do OK.

[cjcland]

i would do the above except for seeding i would really push for sod instalation, make a little extra money and you get the &quot;LOOK&quot; much sooner<p>----------<br>CJC Landscape Management<br>Winter Haven, Florida

[Ssouth]

I plan on totally renovating my lawn in two weeks. First I will Roundup the whole lawn. Then I plan on tilling and raking out all of the old grass that I can. Fill any low spot with new topsoil. Then seed. I have done this in the past and it worked well.

[GroundKprs]

QLC, your Roundup, aerate, slitseed is the very best route if the site does not need extensive leveling. If the site requires extensive leveling, then go the Roundup then tilling route. Removing the dead grass & weeds is a waste of time and effort; if they are dead, they will just decay anyhow.<p>If slitseeding, remember to mow the dead grass first to 1 to 1-1/2 inches shorter than you will be mowing the new turf. That way it will not show when you mow in a couple of months. By slitseeding instead of tilling, you are way ahead by having a stabilized surface and a shelter for the newly germinating seeds. No need to worry about washouts in a heavy downpour.<p>If you are going with cool season grass, wait until last week of July to Roundup, check for touchup Roundup in 10-12 days, and seed around Aug 15-20. This is best time to start cool season grasses. Then you just have to baby them for a couple of weeks, and they are germinated and ready to roar into their prime growing season.<p>----------<br>Jim<br>North central Indiana

[QLC]

Groundkprs,<br>I live in Central Ky and will probably be using a fine blade fescue. If August is the best time to seed what do I tell this potential costumer? I haven't looked at the yard yet, but as you know we had a bad drought last year and I'm sure the yard is just spotty. Would it be a waste of time to go ahead and seed now?<p>QLC

[GroundKprs]

For cool season grasses, mid-Aug is best: As stated earlier, seed germinates right before fall growth spurt. Also has spring growth to establish before summer stress. Cool season planted now just gets started and then has to survive summer - can survive, but what if this summer is rerun of last? If so, your new seeding will be belly up by July. If someone wanted me to do a quality job, and it looked bad now, I would just slitseed rye now, so you don't waste a lot of money, then do the Roundup, aerate, slitseed in Jul-Aug.<p>Remember the life cycle of cool season grasses is Labor day to Memorial day. What they do during the summer depends on what happened then. They just survive during summer, unless heat & drought is too much. Had most of my bluegrass lawn die in '96, because of extended heat and lawn sloped into sun. Had enuf water, sometimes you can't do anything to save it. But advantage is that I now have much newer varieties, looks better.<p>----------<br>Jim<br>North central Indiana<br>

[GroundKprs]

One other important consideration in slitseeding: is there heavy thatch? If so, it must be removed for successful seeding. Seeding success depends on seed/soil contact. I will always check 6-10 places on site, but you can still miss a area of heavy thatch. Core aeration, beside giving more soil for contact, also lets you see thatch depth over entire site.<p>----------<br>Jim<br>North central Indiana

[ADMServices]

Have any of you guys tryed a sod cutter rather then tilling? We round up, sod cut, re-grade with topsoil, then sod/or seed.<p>Andy<br>www.ADMSERVICES.Com

[steveair]

Hello,<p>I did a good bit of renovation last fall and had good succes to. It was real late when I did it, but I still turned out good and its really filling in nicely now.<p>I just had one area that didn't fill in at all. The soil was real bad, a lot of clay and a lot of stone. Plus the site is in shade of a big hanger building for about 95% of day.<p>Its along the road and about 300 by 30 ft. I power raked it, leveled it, and then seed and strawed. The straw ended up completely blowing off in about a week. Its weird, but the area is like a wind tunnel between two large hangers. A real mess.<p>I used a contractors mix for seed, but also mixed in some compact fescue for added durability and shade tolerance.<p>Any suggestions on what to do. Price is not much of a issue now. I was thinking about skim coating with top and then reseeding and using penn mulch (a LOT of penn mulch) or even maybe using curlex (stuff works great and guaratees good results). Any suggestion for best seed. <p>Also, I've thought about sod. The site is leveled, so I could probably just get away with rolling sod out right now. Just wonder how the shade would affect it. A note, the site is not irrigated.<p>Thanks, steveair<br>

[mattingly]

If you are going to sod cut why would you round up first. Just and extra step and expense. If you use round up our local turf professor at the UofK said that you could slit seed 2-3 days after using the round up. No need to wait.<p>----------<br>Integrated Landscape Solutions<br>Lexington, KY

[steveair]

Hello,<p>In response to my own post before, not to sound arrogant......., I just got done talking to a representative from PBI gordon who came down to discuss a growth regulator program. <p>After talking about the regulators, I asked him about the area I needed to redo. He suggested a product called Launch. Its a biostimulant that will help to germinate the seed. He gave me the complete rundown on it and it sounds good. He says the spot would be a perfect site for a 'trial' run.<p>I have heard of biostims, but never have used them so was gonna see if anyone else has. It sounds like it is worth a shot. <p>For 2.5 gallons, it costs around $50 and covers up to 15k sq ft. Sounds reasonable. Considering the options, I'm gonna give it try. He's faxing the info over later and gonna have his supplier drop off a bottle in a week or so. Maybe this is a solution to my problem.....<p>steveair<br>

[FIREMAN]

IF YOU ARE IN A SITUATION WHERE YOU HAVE THE ABILITY TO GIVE A PREMIUM PRICE TRY A SKIDSTEER WITH A BOXRAKE, YOU CAN RENT OR SUB THIS OUT. DOES A GREAT JOB FOR TOTAL RENOVATIONS. THIS IS NOT CHEAP BUT IT GIVES TRUELY PROFESSIONAL RESULTS