Landscape specialists, help needed

[Sample00]

hello
I have experienced some frost burn of my lawn and am wondering how to fix it without having to dig out the brown grass and resodding or seeding.

any thoughts from some landscape specialists?

thanks

[pekka]

Was it frost burn? or was it an accidental round-up incident? You know rubber boots in the garden!.

Check the bottom part of the blade usually it is only the top of the grass that will have damage and it should be ok after a couple of mowings.

If you find out something that works quicker let me know I have quad tracks all over the yard this year.

[ken0042]

How big of an area are we talking about here?

[Sample00]

Originally Posted by pekka

Was it frost burn? or was it an accidental round-up incident? You know rubber boots in the garden!.

Check the bottom part of the blade usually it is only the top of the grass that will have damage and it should be ok after a couple of mowings.

If you find out something that works quicker let me know I have quad tracks all over the yard this year.

nope wasnt round up. its definately frost burn..I've had it since last year..but I sprinkled some new seed on it..last year..hoping it would return..nothing yet.

[Sample00]

Originally Posted by ken0042

How big of an area are we talking about here?

about 100 sq ft..

[ken0042]

I don't consider myself an expert, but I would be inclined to trow some seed down there. If you are in a hurry there's some seed they sell at Walmart that has a picture of a dog on it and is designed to fix places where the grass died because of peeing. The only thing is the grass is kinda wierd looking, so mixing that seed with regular would give you grass quickly, and then the good stuff would kick in.

The grass will come back on it's own most of the time, but the quickest way is to re-seed it. Just run the mower over it first to get the dead stuff up, and then seed it and soak it good. The softness of the wet soil is often enough to get the seed burried far enough.

[Sample00]

Originally Posted by ken0042

I don't consider myself an expert, but I would be inclined to trow some seed down there. If you are in a hurry there's some seed they sell at Walmart that has a picture of a dog on it and is designed to fix places where the grass died because of peeing. The only thing is the grass is kinda wierd looking, so mixing that seed with regular would give you grass quickly, and then the good stuff would kick in.

The grass will come back on it's own most of the time, but the quickest way is to re-seed it. Just run the mower over it first to get the dead stuff up, and then seed it and soak it good. The softness of the wet soil is often enough to get the seed burried far enough.

sounds like a plan...should I put some fresh soil over top of it?

[Cowperson]

Originally Posted by Sample00

hello
I have experienced some frost burn of my lawn and am wondering how to fix it without having to dig out the brown grass and resodding or seeding.

any thoughts from some landscape specialists?

thanks

Did your neighbour's grass also frost burn? In all honesty, I don't think grass gets burned by frost or, if it does, its merely a signal to go dormant for the winter.

It actually sounds like fertilizer burn . . . . that would certainly turn your lawn brown in a large concentric area but not impact your neighbours.

But I'm no expert.

Cowperson

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by Sample00

sounds like a plan...should I put some fresh soil over top of it?

I would. I gave you the easy way as now we are really talking about re-seeding.

I also tend to agree with Cowperson that it sounds like some sort of chemical situation; as grass is designed to withstand a fair bit of weather. Just to be safe; you might want to flush the area with water good and then wait a week; allowing whatever killed the grass to get flushed away a bit.

[GrrlGoalie33]

You should mow quite low (without burning the rest of the lawn). Then rake, or use a mulching mower. Sparsely cover the area with topsoil, and then seed. It'll look ugly at first with the top soil, but the seed'll take better than just laying it over grass.

Make sure to follow the watering instructions very closely. It needs to be watered pretty much every day for the first week or so. Then only water once a week, one inch at a time.

[GrrlGoalie33]

Oops...i forgot, you can buy a mix of topsoil/seed from Scots. Check out their website for more info.

[Sample00]

thanks guys
it wasnt fertilizer as I dont use a fertilizer on the lawn..or at least I didnt last year..we had such a wet summer that we really didnt need to.

I will take the advice though, rake it down..spread some soil, toss some seed on it and then water it. see what happens

thanks for the advice.

I really appreciate it

[Sample00]

Originally Posted by Frankster

Oops...i forgot, you can buy a mix of topsoil/seed from Scots. Check out their website for more info.

ahh even better....

I'll check out the local hardware store.

oh!..forgot, we got a walmarts now.

[return to the red]

interesting, I've never really heard of "frost burn" on grass before.

Being in the underground irrigation industry I would say go with what frankster suggested EXCEPT applying an inch in one watering.

It is true that during the summer you should apply at least an inch NET in a week span. Applying it all in one day is just wasting water, your soil can only take in so much water at any time and the only thing that you would see is a large amount of run off.

[GrrlGoalie33]

The one inch is direct from a landscaper that has both landscaping and irrigation experience.

Your "not one inch all at the same time" theory makes sense, but everything I have heard/seen uses the "one inch all at the same time" theory to promote strong, deep root growth.

It's probably one of those things, like how much should you turn your heat down during the day and at night...

[Antithesis]

Instead of starting a brand new thread regarding this, I was wondering if anyone here had some advice for me re: starting a new lawn.

I'm going to be needing to sod or seed approximately 100 square meters. What costs should I expect with sodding? Does anyone have any recommendations? Pros and Cons for each?

Thanks guys.

[ken0042]

Sod is about 25-30¢ per square foot, so you are looking at about $275- 330.

I sodded and my neighbour seeded, and a year later mine still looks way better.

If your soil is rough you might want to rent a tiller from Home Depot. Myself I just added 2-3 inches of loam and mixed in some peat moss. I applied Scott's Turf Starter before putting the soil down.

The saddest part is this weekend I am tearing about half of it all up to start building my garage. But it was worth it to have a real back yard immediately last summer.

[Sample00]

Originally Posted by return to the red

interesting, I've never really heard of "frost burn" on grass before.

Being in the underground irrigation industry I would say go with what frankster suggested EXCEPT applying an inch in one watering.

It is true that during the summer you should apply at least an inch NET in a week span. Applying it all in one day is just wasting water, your soil can only take in so much water at any time and the only thing that you would see is a large amount of run off.

well honestly, I dont know what else to call it. I have a dead patch of grass where I didnt have one before. In fact, I had beautiful thick grass there. BTW, this occured last winter, not this past one.
Now, I have this dead patch of grass. We dont use a lot of fertilizer here, because if I did, I;d be cutting my grass every three days.

Anyhow, thanks for all the advice. I am going to do exactly what is recommended and see where it takes me.
thanks again

[GrrlGoalie33]

The 25-30 cent per square foot is if you buy sod from a place like Bluegrass (just north of Calgary on the QE2) and install it yourself. To have it installed is closer to $2.50 per square foot.

[return to the red]

Originally Posted by Frankster

The one inch is direct from a landscaper that has both landscaping and irrigation experience.

Your "not one inch all at the same time" theory makes sense, but everything I have heard/seen uses the "one inch all at the same time" theory to promote strong, deep root growth.

It's probably one of those things, like how much should you turn your heat down during the day and at night...

this is true when you are talking about shrubs, trees, etc. Grass is however an exception.

A SLOW DEEP watering saturates the ground and as the top surface layers dry out the roots "search" for water deeper in the soil...thus providing good root development

deep watering is usally referred to when you are applying the water in gallons per hour (drip) rather then gallons per minute (as you are in the case of a sprinkler)

In case you are wondering where I am coming from I am a certified irrigation designer and spend many hours designing golf, commercial and residential irrigation

http://eljay.com/neweljay/news1.htm just in case you were wondering