Keep A SUPER GREEN Lawn This Summer ~ Here's How

[@yannip2083]

Brian is THE BEST! Where are you located, Brian? I mean which zone? Just wondering about your climate there.

[@Piccolo_Re]

I let my cold season grass go dormant in the heat we’ve been getting blasted with and no rain for weeks. My own above ground sprinkler setup isn’t good enough for full coverage so I just quit watering. I’d have to have a perfectly setup in-ground sprinkler system for the lawn to survive the heat, and my water pressure just isn’t good enough without a zone sprinkler system to cover 8,000 sq ft.

[@davidgonzales-ec8bo]

I still enjoy watching your videos

[@TurfMechanic]

Glad they've got staying power David! Family is vacationing right now so I'll be back to the grind after the holiday next week. Hope you have a great 4th 🙏

[@TJChallstrom916-512]

Rachio is fantastic at knowing when and how much to water when considering the weather

[@TurfMechanic]

I've always wanted to test that out, but I just can't seem to find a reason to do so. My conventional inground sprinklers are run by a very smart Hunter control box and my Irrigreen box is also very smart. Both monitor the weather and I think I can setup moisture meter info to both of them. Haven't done that though. What I'm really looking forward to is the eventual software update to Irrigreen that will allow me to water heavier in the sunny spots of the lawn and lighter in the shady spots of the lawn all from the same sprinkler head. That will be amazing when it comes out!

[@buckdashe2571]

High desert of the Central Coast (CA) I have deer that keep my grass a little longer than the edges of a golf fairway. There’s a herd in our neighborhood and they’re like a landscape crew. Question is, how do I sharpen their lawn mower blades? (😎 Watched and re-watched all your videos and don’t mind watching this one again!!)

[@lizzycarman601]

I have a super important question!!!!! I am killing poison ivy that is on cut up tree wood that we need to burn that have been just sitting outside. Since we will burn the wood in our fire pit, I am going to kill the poison with 30%vinegar so I am not burning dried up round up on the wood. My question is, when I get the time in the fall to reseed, can I use 30%vinegar to kill off my grass and weed salad bar of a backyard, then scarify/mow up the dead stuff and reseed? Or will the vinegar left in the soil prevent germination? I was thinking spray, wait a week, respray, wait another week, then mow/scarify/spread new dirt and seed, just wanted your thoughts on using something more natural to still kill everything off? Thank you!!!

[@TurfMechanic]

Hey Lizzy, I don't have a video out on this but maybe I should put out an opinion piece. I am not a fan of using vinegar to kill plants or lawns because it's so bad for the soil. Yes it's "natural" but as you said the vinegar will remain in the soil hindering the natural biology and messing with the growth habits of desirable turf once seed hits the ground. If you want to do a full lawn Reno in the Fall and don't want to use chemicals then I greatly recommend solarizing the space for the next 2 months or more under well placed and tacked down black plastic. The weeds and grass and all seeds in the soil will die in the summer after being baked for two months then in mid August you can remove the plastic, scarify the surface, amend it with whatever you want and plant seed into it. Fall seeding should be done in August and sprouts should grow great for Sept Oct and early Nov before taking a winter nap. If you want a grass lawn over summer then just plan on hitting the whole area with glyphosate around Mid August and then drop grass seed the next day. You can actually drop seed and then spray glyphosate right on top of it and the weeds will slowly die while the seed starts to germinate without any issues.

[@lizzycarman601]

@@TurfMechanic ya my dog would go potty on the plastic lol. I read today that vinegar dissapates in like a week from the soil, it may be a test area for me late august just to see what happens lol. I did kill some weeds and some of the ivy within 3 hrs today! It seems that anywhere that gets sun, vinegar kills fast, like torched it. But the poison ivy under the carport our back, it may need another application :/

[@jaleeogle5588]

I live in idaho, high desert. Zamzows, a local company, has products. Have you looked at them for their worth? We, all the subdivisions, have grass that loves early spring and later fall. It struggles in the summer. Help!

[@pi1325]

In my country i have never heard of dormant cold season grass. Regardless of temperature... 40-45 celsius for 2 weeks during daytime and 27-28 during night, no rain, and i had just some ,,week spots"/ drout spots

[@TurfMechanic]

What country are you from, and what is the most common grass there? You have got me curious 🤔

[@pi1325]

​​@@TurfMechanic I am from romania, my area is a mountain depression (25km from the mountains) . The most common grass type is a mix between lolium perene (60-80%) and festuca arudinacea (20-40%) and some mixes have up to 10% different species but that is rarely the case. My lawn will be 2 years old this autumn. Also, it has roots that go bellow 10 inches, reaching even 15 inches in areas where i had to put down more lawn soil. The climate changes in my area are very visible, as winter days may bring up to 20-25 degrees celsius, and snow is becomming a luxury. Last winter i had about 2 inches of snow in 3-4 snowy days. Also, at the end of february i had 19 degrees celsius at 22 pm, and in that day, the temperature was arround 2-3 in the morning and 15 amid daytime.

[@TurfMechanic]

You've got some tough grass, for those comment readers that may be curious, that is roughly a 70% Perennial Rye 30% Tall fescue mix. My guess is you have much better soil than most homes in the USA. Many homes over here have very shallow topsoil so grasses can't grow roots as deep as the grass is capable of. Fescue for instance can have very deep roots if the soil allows for the depth; that's why it can withstand drought and heat better than other cool season grasses. Your rye and fescue mix does what it's supposed to in the winter too and for sure can tolerate yoyo cool to hot weather. The summer dormancy usually happens with low water input paired with high heat so somehow or other your grass is holding up. It's gotta be great soil. Thanks for sharing; wish I could visit Romania too, been as close as Bratislava Slovakia and Budapest Hungary back in 2001, loved the region though I never made it all the way to your country.

[@pi1325]

My original soil was clay-ish. And i put down between 4 and 15 inches of yellow, sandy top soil. I mever mixed the 2 soils, and i had no problem with soil not being blended together. I had a problem with soil ph, but i used 3 aplications of vinegar and that solved it. Also, i have a french drain system in my yard and in some areas, if i do not watter for about 7-10 days when the outside temperature is 30+ celsius, it begins to show drought symptoms (the blades go thinner, darker and then brownish). But at first rain or watering, it all comes back to life. If the problem persists, i will dig out that patches and lay some plastic foil for the soil to retain more water.

[@gailh4466]

Weeds,,, do you have any advice how to get rid of daisies? They're taking over my lawn. I read that daisies thrive on poor soil?

[@OOOOOO12345]

Easy. Epsom salt and any weed killer with 2-4-D

[@TurfMechanic]

Not going to lie, I spent a considerable amount of time researching this for you. I've never battled daisies before. They are dicot perennials with shallow fiberous roots with some rhizomes. Because of this you can't just apply pre-emergent to get rid of them in subsequent years, you have to manually remove them through pulling or use chemicals. According to the Missoula County Department of Ecology see link, you could mix 24d with Clopyralid (Stinger Herbicide) and apply anytime in Spring to early summer, possibly mixing in triclopyr might improve the effectiveness of the application. Of course if I did this to a lot of daisy in a lawn I would expect to kill a lot but not everything. This might be like fixing a lawn full of dandelions or nutsedge. It might be a fight you'll have to take on for a full season. Good luck www.missoulaeduplace.org/files/database/Oxeye_Daisy.pdf - FYI, not sure yet the difference between oxeye daisy and Shasta Daisy. Might be worth doing some extra research on your part and mine.

[@eyeswideopen627]

New vlog in old house? This a re release? Regardless it's always good to see your content.

[@TurfMechanic]

This is a re-release of a video I made in July 2021, it's got a better edit on it, shortened it by about 2-min and improved the audio and gave it a better thumbnail image and title. Every now and then I freshen up older videos that are still relevant with better edits; viewership tends to like the new versions better than the older ones even though the content is nearly identical. I'm always happy to see comments from all of you and rest assured I've got a few new videos in the works already in various stages of completion. :)

[@ImorasPlaysbo2bo3]

Yard brah would never

[@TurfMechanic]

You might be right 🤔 ever catch this video? he's got a full video published here on my channel kzbin.info/www/bejne/gGayooGcbbx4jac

[@ronnieso]

@@TurfMechanic I think these re-releases are great the way you are handling them!!! You always have the timing spot on with things going on in the lawns!!!

[@TurfMechanic]

So glad to hear feedback like that, I'm always trying to do this kind of thing occasionally but not too often and only when I think I can substantially improve the first version as a rerelease. I hope the timing helps prepare enough people.

[@scruffyjohnson]

I see they let you in the backyard of your old house! BTW, whatever happened to that hat and chicken?

[@TurfMechanic]

Haha, yeah, I snuck in again! Even stuck my braces back on for this video! LOL I actually know the new owners there, they used to work with my wife so we've visited once since we moved away. I do miss that house and land still. I also still have the hat and wear it occasionally, it'll make it into some summer videos, I call it my floppy hat. It's just not been hot lately. The chickens we rehomed when we moved away. Still planning on setting up a new smaller coop here, hopefully this fall. I've got the garden starting to look real nice, the chickens will make a nice added touch to the area.

[@brianevans6819]

4:16 Looks like your lawn mower blade needs sharpened. 🤔

[@TurfMechanic]

Yep, it was pretty bad there. I had to really dig around in editing to find a shot of shredded grass for that clip. 😂