auteck wrote: BTW, I think what you are refering to OCD is actually OCPD (obsesive Compulsive Personality Disorder) also known as "perfectionist Disorder". I used to think I was a perfectionist because I lived by the mantra "the right tool for the right job" and firmly believed in learning how to do something "the right way, the first time". Then I had to do a personality profile thing for my company a couple years back and it turns out that specific personality type is really "controlling". Turns out a perfectionist always completes the project and no matter how many times they "finish" they always believe it could have been better. Controllers however often refuse to start until they have everything they believe they need to do the job correctly. Go figure... -------------------- auteck wrote: Are you originaly from Miami? I'm originally from Detroit, MI, born and raised, but about three years ago I decided that anywhere *not* Michigan was the place for me and I loaded up my car with a couple loads of my clothes and drove down here - without an apartment or a job set up for me. Landed a job (web development) within 72 hours and had a roommate lined up within another three days from that. Completely spontaneously and with no real plan. Coincidentally, my wife moved up here to Nashville from Miami, FL to be near her sister who was pregnant within the same two weeks. I didn't manage to score a date with her until 12/21/05 but we've spent every day together since. You can say we met in the middle, rather senedipitously... especially when - even though we met online first - we happened to be living in the same apartment complex and recently planned to start attending the same church (not that I'm especially religious, but some hot chicks are) ;-p ------------------------ auteck wrote: On anothe note, I hate to be be the one to give you the bad news, but it appears that you have some bermudagrass showing in picture # 8. Considering that area of the yard was infested with bermudagrass and was a principle reason for the renovation, I'm not surprised. All of my "worst weeds areas" seem to be either where I was lazy with the tupersan application and/or I didn't ensure there was a thorough enough seed application. :sigh: I'll keep at the bermuda as tamed as possible by hand and then hit it with another application of tupersan as well in a month or so...

I had a problem with spotted spurge several weeks ago, so I applied some 2-4D to the lawn using my garden hose. Although I was careful not to over-apply, it's tricky to figure out just how much is being applied through those bottles that attach to a hose. The spotted spurge has all but disappeared, but now I am faced with a new issue: the lawn just doesn't seem healthy, and in some spots it seems either dormant or dead. OK I know what the problem is, and I know where Round Rock TX is just north of Austin. I have relatives just to the West of you in Marble Falls. I also know a thing or two about the Bible and Bermuda grass. It has been a early and hot spring in TX, especially from Dallas and points south. In your area it has also been dry and hot right? What is going on is your Bermuda Grass is stunned from 2,4-D application in too warm of weather. It also sounds like you might of applied too much using a hose end sprayer which compounded your problem. Post-emergence herbicides like 2,4-D should not be used when daytime temps hit 85+ degrees or else it will burn the grass and/or even make it go dormant. If extreme temps above 90 and over application you can do some real damage to it. Fear not my friend. Ease up on the fertilizer for a while and keep it watered. It will come back. Is it Tan or straw colored? Or is it dark like gray or charcoal colored? Tan/Straw colored is stunned dormant grass. Dark and crunchy is dead. Even if it is dead the surrounding grass will fill it back in with proper care. Good Luck TW

I would recommend visiting their website and reading everything there, and all of the posts in the forums before starting. I'll put the url at the bottom. This is probably not a good time to seed RTF, because it's a cool season grass. Your best bet is to seed it in the fall or the spring. I didn't mow short, but I concentrated on spots that had gone dormant due to low moisture. I used a "garden weasel" (like a rake/hoe/tiller) to stir the dirt, then spread the seed by grabbing a handful and tossing it on the ground. I wasn't too concerned with uniform coverage, because I figure that over time, I'll keep replacing the KBG with RTF. I don't have objections to using peat moss (I know some people are concerned about environmental impact, but I found a Canadian website that said that it is replenishing faster than it is getting harvested). When I planted the RTF, though, I had a bunch of compost available, so I used it instead. If I had a lot of readily available sawdust, I would probably use that, although using sawdust may increase the need for nitrogen. I was gone a lot right after I planted, so I set the sprinklers to run a few minutes each morning and evening until the grass sprouted. I then stopped watering. I think I had some grass die because it didn't have a chance to get good roots before I stopped watering. This fall, I plan to overseed with a mixture of RTF and Roadcrest Crested Wheatgrass in much of the lawn. I'll probably mow relatively short, then core areate, then seed, then spread some peat (no compost to speak of this year). I'll probably use a spreader this year, since I'll be doing the entire lawn. I'll probably also repeat the process in the spring, when I'll be able to monitor the watering a little better (less travel, I hope), and in May, I'll be planting a patch of buffalo grass in another section of the lawn.

This reviewed published scientific paper confirmed the usefulness of heavy plastic mulches against Bermuda Grass, and found some organic mulches that were also effective. http://hortsci.ashspublications.org/content/43/3/795.full From the abstract: "Therefore, a 2-year study was conducted under 15-year-old mandarin trees to compare the effects of rice straw mulch, cattail mulch, black plastic mulch, hand hoeing, cultivation, glyphosate, and unweeded control treatments on weed control, fruit yield, and fruit quality. The greatest control (94%–100%) of weeds occurred with the plastic mulch (200 or 150 μm) and three mulch layers of rice straw or cattail. Covering soil with cattail or rice straw mulch (two layers) gave 85% to 98% control of weeds. Uncontrolled weeds in the weedy control caused significant reduction in yield and fruit quality and decreased the yield/tree by 62% compared with hand hoe treatment. Plastic mulches of 200 and 150 μm, cattail (Cyprus articulatus L.) mulch (two or three layers) and two mulch layers of rice (Oryza sativa L.) straw treatments significantly increased the fruit yield/tree by 24%, 18%, 20%, 11%, and 12% more than cultivation treatment, respectively, without significant differences among these superior treatments. Soil mulching with three layers of rice straw, cultivation, glyphosate, and 80-μm plastic mulch treatments caused a significant reduction in weed density and weed biomass, but gave lower yield than superior treatments. Which weeds were in the experiment? " The major grass weeds present on the experimental site were bermudagrass [Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers.], barnyardgrass [Echinochloa colonum (L.) Link], torpedo grass (Panicum repens L.), and sandbur (Cenchrus pennisetiformis, Hochst. & Steud.) as a grass, and redroot pigweed (Amaranthus retroflexus L.), common purslane (Portulaca oleracea L.), and petty spurge (Euphorbia peplus L.) as broadleaf weeds."