HELP in Kentucky

libertyAAU – posted 28 May 2004 08:29

I am suffering the pains of a builder who put in a dead lawn 2 years ago. In brief, he put down sod that sat on the back of a truck trhrough a drought period. We closed on the house, moved in and left for vacation. The builder was installing the lawn and getting it set. He put in the lousey lawn and did not water it. I came back to a lawn that was dead and weed infested. Needless to say, over the past 2 years, he agreed to replace the entire lawn. Unfortuabntley, he lied and has since left our state and has left a number of homeowners in a bind. We have sued him but he is probably going bankrupt. My dilemma, how can I over time, fix the lawn? Here is what I have done. Over the past two weeks, I have sprayed the lawn with the Scotts weedkiller. It has worked. There are large patches of yellow dead weeds which were at one point 5-6 inch high weeds. They are dead. My grass, what is there, looks very good and green since we are having a wet spring. People are telling me all sorts of things. Should I go through and reseed with a heavy dose of seed right now? I bought some rye, I was told it would come up fast and fill in the holes lfet by the sead weeds. Am I way off base? Do I need to aerate and how? Do I need to thatch and how? Please someone, help a novice get a lawn back.

ted – posted 28 May 2004 13:04

what a mess. basically you need to do weed control in the spring, and reseeding in the fall, period. do not use ryegrass, it will germinate quickly then die quickly- not a choice for the area. reseed with tall fescue in september of this year.- you don’t need to resod it- a waste of time to begin with. you’ve been waiting for 2 years! what’s a couple of more months to do it right?

Alex_in_FL – posted 05 June 2004 14:42

I did not see the type grass in the post. You can speed the recovery process by installing plugs at 10 to 18 inch intervals depending upon how patient you are. Make your own plugs by purchasing a few pieces of sod. Or you could make/move plugs around from the good patches in your yard. Good luck!!Alex

ted – posted 05 June 2004 15:39

it depends upon the grass involved- grasses in kentucky would be cool season grasses, and plugs would not be appropriate.

cohiba – posted 05 June 2004 19:09

It really depends on the type of turf originally sodded. If there is a thatch mat in place over your existing soil, it should be removed. Try a sod stripper, that will give you a fresh start at a new lawn. Remove all the old sod, test the soil, add amendments if needed. Try not to till if you don’t have to. I would rather aerate in at least two directions. Then plant the new lawn. I prefer seed over sod. Wait until late August/ early September. Proper preparation now will stop a slew of headaches in the long run. Headaches like the one you have now.

Take care and good luck……

ted – posted 05 June 2004 21:39

lawns in Kentucky would primarily be tall fescue- plugs not appropriate….seed is your answer.