I currently have a yard about an acre and a half with around 30 full grown red oaks, with some other trees and shrubs. As you can imagine the grass don't grow too well!! The lady that owns the place won't hear of cutting any of her trees, but insists that the yard looked great years ago. The second problem is that most of it is on a hillside. The walkbehind will stay on it but newly planted seed won't (after the first rain). Any ideas??? Remember it's a hillside that I wouldn't take a ZTR rider on.
Trees suck nutrents from the soil, have you done any soil testing? Check with your local ag agency also. See if you can find someone in your area that does hydroseeding.
check Ph, also look at soil compaction issues(ie. flat spots where nothing grows, areas where irrigation water runs off) hills tend to act like a dry sponge where water poured on a dry sponge will just run off and not soak in, check PH first really it's all the tech. you need to know.
Another point about the trees: the lawn may have looked great 20 years ago, but the trees have done a lot of growing in that time = more shade, less grass. In order to have a decent lawn, any grass needs 3-4 hours of direct sunlight daily. Some grasses can survive on a good amount of reflected light, but this is just survival, not fine looking turf.
