New lawn questions

[ctfjr]

I missed some of this thread till now. Too late for me to turn clock back now Drcollie
I just cut it for the 1st time a day or two ago. Left it high. Will start cutting 2x a week and slowly get the height down. There are still a couple of spots that didn't fill in completely - I see some additional seeding in the spring.

 

[Drcollie]

What is the grass seed you used, dtfjr? If Tall Fescue, you want to leave it high so it will form a carpet, typically 3 1/2" to 4" is a good cut height. There's a reason its call TALL . Depending on your region and seed used, your lawn may be better to cut high. Spring Seeding rarely works well, most the young plants can't survive the summer heat. Better to use a pre emergent and keep the weeds away, let the lawn fill itself in.

 

[ctfjr]

It was a mix suggested by the CT Ag Station scientist. Mostly Tall Fescue, KB and rye with some small amounts of other types. Yes he suggested keeping it at 3". Parts of it were getting really tall. I just mowed again today. He recommended I cut it twice a week until the end of November and no more watering.
There are spots that did not come in. The grass is slowly filling them in but I'm sure come the early spring I'll be doing some work on it.

 

[Drcollie]

it took me a long time to stop cutting my grass so short. I liked the trim look of 2 1/2" or so, to me the 3 1/2" to 4" looked unkempt. However I finally got hooked up with a professional that knows grass, and he told me to resist those shorter cuts and stay with 3 1/2" on Tall Fescue and 4" in the heat of July and August (for Metro Wash DC region). He was right - the taller cut (for me) stays healthier, keeps more weeds out and fills in better.

 

[jyoutz]

You may want to kill the lawn so to minimize weeds coming back. Wait a week or so before you rip it up after treatment.
I got a good lawn now 2 years after building the house. I used a "Contractors Mix", perennial ryegrass, 3 types of fescue. The ryegrass breaks up the soil and dies off allowing the fescues to grow.

Perennial ryegrass is persistent and doesn’t die out. Do you mean annual rye grass?

 

[jyoutz]

If y

Not so sure about MSMA
too many not so great articles about it and it will be right near my well. . .

otoh you may be 100% right about the weeds. It now 8 days post application of glyphosate. It's killed the grass but not so much on the weeds. If this stinking Henri ever leaves CT and it stops raining I will have to reapply.
View attachment 64949

If you don’t want to kill your trees, only use glyphosate, not other herbicides.