Composting round-up-ed grass
laurell
14 years ago
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david52 Zone 6
14 years agoUser
14 years agoRelated Discussions
What do to after RoundUp
Comments (3)Something off the shelf is probably a blend (all one species but different varieties) or a mix (different species, like bluegrass, rye, fescue), but undoubtedly cool season grasses in Ontario. How much top soil did you buy? I've never added top soil, so I don't know what to do with that. If you spread it on top of what's there in just certain spots, those spots will be higher than the rest of the lawn. If you dig some of the existing soil up first, it will probably end up settling and lower than the rest of the lawn some time down the road. If I were in your shoes, I would skip the top soil. You could put the seeds down and cover them with a thin layer of the soil you bought. If you spread it over the whole lawn, or use a thin enough layer (maybe .5-.75 cm) over portions of the lawn, there won't be enough for it to matter. Better yet, can you return the top soil and exchange it for some compost? The compost will help make the soil healthy. I usually tell people that spring is not a good time to reseed/overseed cool season grasses, but I checked Wikipedia for the average daily highs and average rainfall for Ottawa and it looks like you get a fair amount of rain through the summer and it doesn't normally get too hot, so you're probably fine to seed when you get home. I would rough up the bare areas with a rake, spread the seeds at the recommended rate and cover with a thin layer of compost (.5-1 cm). Since the areas are pretty small, I don't know if a roller makes sense, but if you can do anything to press the seeds into the soil (walk on it, press a piece of plywood down, etc) it will help. Then you want to keep the areas moist (not wet, just damp) for the next three weeks or so. That may mean watering them 3x a day if there's no rain. Do that for about 3 or 4 weeks if the grass seed has any bluegrass (Kentucky or Canada) in it. Even if you have grass germinating earlier than that, it is likely to be rye or fescue (rye will germinate first, then fescue and the bluegrasses last). If you cut back the watering too soon, only the rye will germinate and rye does not spread into bare spots the way bluegrass does. Once the grass is growing, cut back to watering once a day for a longer period of time for about a week, then every other day, then twice a week, and finally once a week, increasing the duration of the watering so that eventually you're supplying about 2.5 cm of water per week (that inch includes any rainfall that you get)....See MoreQuickly composting large quantities of grass?
Comments (6)Donna: You just answered your own question! Use those grass clippings to make your new flower beds, lasagna bed style. If you're not familiar with the concept, you can search this forum and find lots of information. Those grass clippings will make those beds for you, no cost, and just let those clippings compost in place. You can search this forum, or google "lasagna gardening", or "sheet composting" or "interbay mulch". I've done this several times and it not only works well, it's easy and free or might cost just a few $ if you have to buy something like straw. Good luck and have fun. Karen...See MoreNut grass in my compost.
Comments (22)What about its roots, where it hasn't sent up a piece of grass yet? I was told not to pull it because then all of the "nuts" in the root would send up new shoots. I have to say I am still fighting this beastie. I was in my daylily bed yesterday, and just SICK because I got a little carried away with the Round Up trying to get all the nut grass, and by doing so, I killed off several of my prized daylillies. I'm just SICK. And that's not all! Not only is the nut grass BACK in the bed, but you can stand at the top of the bed and see it "marching" out of the bed on both sides! And on top of that, it has invaded the bed on the right! (Deanna -- where do you find that product: Manage. I've never seen it, and I'm definitely in need!) Scotty, if you don't want to dump your compost bin, please try using a bit of it in a small place and checking to see if the nut grass came from there. I noticed you said you also used peat, and it wouldn't be the first time I've had products that were contaminated by a "beastie". But if it does grow out nut grass, then really -- you don't want more of this. I'm going to be fighting this all summer. That will make 2 1/2 years of fighting the darn stuff, and I know it came in on some plants I ordered. I may end up killing all the plants just to get rid of the nut sedge! Really, you don't want that. MacThayer...See MoreRound Up or not to Round Up, that is the ?
Comments (12)It is not very accurate or informative to make statements like "RoundUp is bad". "Bad" is relative -- RoundUp and similar products have well-defined and acknowledged uses and are no better or worse than any other pesticide, including many that are described or considered to be 'natural' or 'organic'. The persistance of RoundUp in the soil is minimal and it breaks down rapidly with typical soil biological activity. It is also not inclined to leach. If applied according to directions and to appropriate plants, it is a very effective and relatively harmless tool. Vinegar is acetic acid - household vinegar is just a very low concentration of acetic acid and therefore not nearly as effective as something like Burn Out. Repeated applications are typically necessary. And it requires the same type of conditions for application (sun, dryness). Personally, given the situation described above, I'm not convinced any product is necessarily called for. Manually remove any remaining weeds, cover with newspapers if you wish and top off with decent soil or mulch....See Morelaurell
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gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)