Lawn Disaster

[rclark1187]

In 2001 I had a pretty nice 2 1/2 acre fescue lawn. Moles were a problem but were controlled. The drought was long and hard in 2002. I now had moles everywhere and I could not make a dent in them.

I had a grass come up that was very dense and spread rapidly, choking out most of the fescue. My local golf course greenskeeper called it Johnson grass (weed) and said the only way to kill it was with round-up.

At any rate, the johnson grass pretty well took over the lawn. Patches of it everywhere. It also goes dormant in the fall. When it went dormant, I discovered that I had a terrible grub problem. You could rake up entire patches of grass that had been cut off at the roots. When the fall rains came, grubs came out on top of the lawn everywhere.

I am in the North Georgia mountains. We are classified as a zone 7, but it can get pretty cold in the winter.

I would like to get rid of the grubs, johnson grass (or whatever it is) and moles. I would also like to re-establish my lawn with a good grass. I would like to stay away from an aggressive running grass as we have many flower gardens.

Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated. I posted this in the wrong forum. I am a homeowner who sells plants and bulbs.

Many thanks,


Ron

[lawnstudent]

rclark1187,

sorry to hear of your turf woes! Fescue is a cool season grass. I assume you would like to stick with a cool season grass? What kind of fescue lawn did you have? Fine fescue or Tall fescue?

There are traps available for moles. Also mole baits that are poisionous.

Johnson Reed grass is very, very aggressive stuff. Very vigorous rhizomes help to spread this crap like wild fire. I try to keep the Johnson Reed grass out of my own reclaimed Illinois prairie. Roundup will take down Johnson Reed grass, but only if you catch it early in the growing season when it is actively growing but young and tender. DO NOT LET IT GO TO SEED!!! Here in Illinois the Johnson Reed grass will start seeding in early to mid-May. Your area's timing may be different.

Tall fescue is a good choice for a cool season grass with summer heat and drought. It's a tough grass that has good heat and drought resistance. One of the knocks on Tall Fescues is that they do not recover from injury very well because the grass is a bunch-type grass. There is a new Tall Fescue that may elliminate this problem. It is called Rhizomonous Tall Fescue. This may be a very good alternative for your area.

Grubs? Use Grub-X or another herbicide to kill the Grubs. Here in Illinois timing is important. July is the best time to put down a herbicide for grubs in Northern Illinois. You MUST WATER these herbicides deeply into the soil to get it down to the grubs. Check locally when it is the best time to apply these herbicides in your area. Good luck.

jim