I dropped Lawn Doctor this year after 3 years, they weren’t bad but I just got tired of them trying to lock me into 6 treatments a year plus all the other add-on’s

I’m going to need to learn to do this myself and twice a year I guess?

My FIL has always done his own and advised to get a “Whirlybird” type spreader and not the regular drop spreader?

Where do I start? I think I’m going to need to do this very soon? It’s warming up nicely here in PA and the grass is starting to come out of dormancy.

My lawn is big enough to where I will need the push type of spreader, but I have no idea what to get, and what I’m going to need as far as the weed and feed fertilizer.

Any advice would be appreciated.

I had posted a while back about some sort of subscription service where they send you these pouches you attach to your hose, it just felt too gimmicky to me plus I would not be able to reach everywhere with my hose anyway so I decided to drop that idea.

I like a rotary vs the drop. I tended to overlap and burn the grass using the drop. Rotary erased that prob. I make another pass going a different direction to make sure coverage is good.

I went with a Scots rotary with edge guard...that comes in handy. What made that decision was on damn near every lawn care bag has settings for Scot spreaders listed.

I’m starting on mine next week. Good luck.

Look for a DIY lawn and pest control shop near you, most are independents, you may pay a little more for the product, however you'll generally get better information than from the pimply kid at Home Desperate....

Most places have an email reminder system so you know what to get along with a monthly reminder chart. Makes it simple.


Most will loan you a spreader for free, or you can buy one. Pneumatic wheels make a big difference pushing a load of fertilizer, weed, insecticide etc. You want a broadcast spreader not drop because it will have a 5 ft spread of distribution, less paths to cover the area.

Hint, don't fill it to the top, fill it half way and then refill more often, easier on you.

quote:

you'll generally get better information than from the pimply kid at Home Desperate....

True...
But I've done OK with the LESCO products at HD.

Right now, it's time for the Crabgrass Preventer:
50 lb. 19-0-7 Dimension Crabgrass Preventer
by LESCO

I just stop at the farm supply and pick up lime and occasionally fertilizer for my grass and weed yard. I don't bother trying to keep out the weeds and wild flowers but if you want to a farm supply will have weed poison too.

quote:

Originally posted by chellim1:

quote:

you'll generally get better information than from the pimply kid at Home Desperate....

True...
But I've done OK with the LESCO products at HD.

Right now, it's time for the Crabgrass Preventer:
50 lb. 19-0-7 Dimension Crabgrass Preventer
by LESCO

That works, especially if you take the effort educate yourself.

Most folks have no clue, but if you know what is needed, how much and when, you can save bucks at the big chain stores...

Local hardware stores often have folks on staff with lots of lawn knowledge.

When we lived in Colorado, the fertilizers we used tended to have iron in them. If you used a rotary type you need to make sure you swept the sidewalks really well. (Otherwise you got red spots that took forever to wear off.)

In Colorado I used a straight drop spreader. It worked best to cut the application setting in half and make two passes. That made sure I didn't overlap and have streaks. (Setting and half then did the lawn going north to south. Second 1/2 went east and west)

The spreader was my dad's. When I moved to TX I purchased a rotary style. It is faster. From memory, the fertilizer had lower iron content. When we moved to NC the builder included 1 year weed and feed service with the house. (He wanted the neighborhood looking good.) We've changed provider but still use a local person for the weed and feed applications. We did not have good luck with the two national chains that we tried.

Look for a hardware store or other local vendor that will lend you a spreader (if you buy the product from them). Saves you from having to store bulky spreader. However, everyone wants to fertilizer at the same time. So reserve early (or plan to do the work midweek when folks at work.)

As you talk with locals, ask about applications that you need to make in addition to the traditional weed and feed. In this area most of us have fescue grass. In the fall we aerate, put down lime, and add grass seed. We apply pre-emergent before things start coming up. (Reapply if heavy rains wash it all out - like this year.) Apply weed and feed 3 or 4 times between March and August. May need to use some spray weed killer as well.

IMO, it's a good idea to use rubber gloves and wear rubber boots when you're applying fertilizer and chemicals.

Funny story;

I have a buddy who lives in OKC. He absolutely hated yard work and, he loved to make fun of his neighbors who would pay, in the spring, for a service to spray a green fertilizer solution on their yards.

So one year, when he wasn't home, I bought some Scott's weed-n-feed and one of those little handheld spreaders. Spread the most of the bag onto his grass.

All summer he was bitching and complaining about how his grass was growing so well it needed to be mowed once a week and, his neighbors were pissing him off because they were getting upset when he refused to tell them who he hired to treat his yard.

I was laughing so hard I actually ended up telling him.

See if you have a local ag extension and have your soil tested.

For example, here's one from my Alma Mater. Come to think of it, I don't think you have to live in Colorado to use their service. I am sure PA has one too.

http://www.soiltestinglab.colostate.edu/

What kind of grass do you have? What are your goals? Educate yourself before you do anything. County Extension office in your area is a good point to start. Rotary spreader is ok for open areas, but you need a drop spreader to get up tight against flower beds and such.

I run triple 16 on my lawn twice a year. Once in about a month here and once mid-summer.

I prefer the drop spreader. It's much easier to know exactly where the fertilizer is going based on the wheel marks than trying to guess how far it flew. Yeah, it means more passes back and forth, but when you figure you'll have to go back and hit the areas missed again, it evens out.

I put down fertilizer 2 times a year. I never water the grass in the summer unless it is just scorching hot for a long time. This makes the roots of the grass go deeper for water. My grass is nice an evenly grown, my neighbors who water all the time have clumpy lawns.

Proper lawn chemical applications depends on many factors, and will vary depending on your location, the grasses you are growing, and the climate you have. What works for even the best lawn 100 miles away from you will not be good for you. So take advice from non-locals with a big grain of salt. For example, the goal of fertilization is to build a robust root system that will help the lawn deal with sub-optimal growth conditions. Fertilizing in the Spring encourages the turf to grow leaves and seed heads rather than roots. For most cold-season grasses in most zones 6 and greater, fertilizing in the Spring is the last thing you want to do. Spend your money on pre-emergent herbicides (AKA crabgrass preventer) and broad-leaf herbicides instead.

Talk to your county extension agent, and/or the greenskeeper at the local golf course. Realize that the latter is dealing with very different grasses, and a standard of care, and will be spending far more per square foot than most homeowners would accept.

What’s the most important feature on a lawn spreader? The wheels. The larger the better. And depending on how rocky and uneven, you should get a well built one. It’s not real easy having 20 or more lbs in the hopper and having training wheels on the cheesy spreader. Scots makes some crappy ones, some better. I had one given to me that is the tits. It’s a brand from awhile ago. Redi ??
Built like a tank. Was sold at big and little box stores. Maroon colored. Wheels are 10” hard rubber tires.

I used to use Scott’s when I did it myself. Never burned the lawn.

My general rules of thumb...

Never fertilize in any month that has a “R” in the name.

Hard to use too much crabgrass preventative....both spring and fall.

Rotary spreader much easier if you have a large area. Drop spreader if you need to be conscious of flower bed borders.

I cut my grass high. Never shorter than three inches as it helps keep the weeds down and doesn’t dry out as fast in the summer.

Have an in ground sprinkler system.

Used to do my own...but now have a service (its a time thing for me since I have a larger property).

Call around to nurseries. Most have some free classes on lawn care. Get in with a local place you trust.

I found one and they had a Jonathan Green rep come in and give a 2 hour lecture on lawn care one Saturday. All the do's and dont's for our area. Products, timings, the whole deal.

The best part was he gave us his e-mail and phone. I sent many questions that he answered quickly.

All free...

I also had a lawn service for a few years that I dropped. That was eight years ago. Taking care of your lawn is really pretty simple with the right equipment.

Getting a soil sample tested is always a good idea but I didn't bother with it as I watched and talked to the lawn service guys each time they were here. You need to get your pre-emergent down at the right time in the spring. For my area that was just when the dogwood blooms. I laid mine down three days ago.

I have a drop spreader that I bought at our local farm supply store, it works just fine. I will lay down additional fertilizer and some lime next month. Thats about it until the fall.

Oh, this is a great time to get yourself a zero turn if you don't already have one.

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:
I run triple 16 on my lawn twice a year.

That ratio is a little off for lawns. It's been a long, long time but IIRC that should be closer to a NPK ratio of 4:1:2 unless you're adjusting for deficiencies.

Get a soil test kit from your local extension office. PASig, they are $9 plus shipping to have Penn State test your soil.

All us pros use rotary spreaders.

I saw one guy that used a drop spreader with a wrong setting. He filled the spreader walked across his lawn, made a U-turn and ran out of fertilizer. He he had a nice lush green capital J in his lawn, That grew like crazy. We nicknamed him Jay.

You can pick up one of those cheap Scotts Easy Green rotary spreaders. You don't want what I have as one costs about $750 and the other cost about $8400.

For fertilizer it's a bit early for crabgrass control unless you're doing split applications (one now and one mid-May). Mid-May is better if you're only applying one crabgrass control application especially with Dimension because it has post-emergent properties for crabgrass.

You don't need high nitrogen in the spring unless you want to mow twice a week.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: mark123,

I've lived in both the north (Upper Midwest, Alaska, and Canada) and Texas. Much different grasses in the north and south. The Kentucky blue grass I had up north would only live 2 months here, and the St. Augustine here would die during its first winter in the north. The grasses are also structurally different with the blue grass being individual blades and St. Augustine being a combo of individual blades and horizontal runners (i.e. crab grass like characteristics). The grasses also have different fertilizer and weed killer needs. Some of the northern grass weed killers will kill a St. Augustine lawn. Outside of Lesco, the big box stores are full of products for northern lawns.

Dad still lives in the Upper Midwest and has a Kentucky blue grass lawn. Early spring he does fertilizer plus crab grass preventer, late spring he does a separate non-atrazine weed spray and then uses a broadcast spreader for fertilizer, mid-summer applies another fertilizer, and in the fall uses a fall fertilizer. I keep trying to get my Dad to put iron on his lawn to bring out the blue in the Kentucky blue grass, but so far unsuccessful.

I buy my lawn chemicals from Ace Hardware as they sell products made in Houston specifically for our grass and soils (Texas A&M turf scientists recommend 3-1-2, 3-0-2, 4-1-2, or 4-0-2) including extra needed minerals like iron and sulfur and slow release nitrogen so it doesn't burn the grass when it's hot. Perhaps the OPs' Ace Hardware does the same for PA specific products.

One other thing to note is that most weed & feeds contain atrazine which is horrible for young trees (article from Houston's lawn guru) . When I lived up north, I definitely had grass over the root zone of trees. I also noticed that after a few years the weed & feed stopped killing the weeds and had to switch to liquid atrazine. Then, I had to keep upping the concentration of atrazine in the liquid atrazine. I no longer use atrazine.