Will Brought in an expert and he verified the triv plague. It has horizontal growth and when it gets tall, it falls over showing brown under-growth. Actually pretty in the early spring when its short (beware) It grew unbelievably fast and the expert said if I didn't act quickly and decidedly I would have to contact a golf course to use one of their greens mowers. So it was 2 rounds of Roundup at least 18" past the known edge of the triv. Used my power rake to pull up the dead turf. That was almost a mistake because the viney triv kept wrapping around the spindle. It worked out OK because I had a perfectly contoured base for replanting. I live by Michigan State University and they have a wealth of "Green" info. We prefer to use "Spartan Grade A". Its a Kentucky Blue mix with some drought resistant/ winter resistant strains. Works for us Yankees here. Good luck Mark

Yes, and when you step on the grass. The ground sinks a little rather than just crackles. Cool! I did have to fire up the lawnmower. I probably should change the oil even though it has just sat there.

Spotty higher pH can happen if you got the soil off of one particular section of the pile...that happened to contain the old B horizon with some limestone in it! In my case, I got the old subsoil on my lot, so it just kind of stank all around. * You said you targeted our phosphorus level higher than your own lawn. Is this due to the pH difference or something else? Is phosphorus bound in the soil at higher pH's, and is our pH (7.1 - 7.3) high enough to cause that? pH. If you look at the availability of P by pH, it drops as pH rises above seven. You're not that far over, the binding isn't extreme, so I just boosted the numbers a little bit. Your standard is around 220, most people with slightly acidic pH would be around 200. In your case, I wouldn't blink at anything between 200 and 300. I never use my own soil as a standard, per se, for anybody else's. Mine have given in to some experimental stuff, plus I've over-enhanced the gardens to match the (extreme) density and (extraordinarily high) performance I demand they support. My current P levels in the garden push 1,000. * What kind of quality issues can we expect from the low phosphorus level until it's corrected? Thin, weak, sparse growth that gets sick and dies easily, discolors easily, grows poorly, and generally doesn't look at all good. Installed sod would tend to thin out and die back over the course of a year or so if it isn't corrected, resulting in a lot of thin patches and blank areas. N, P, and K are the big three and absolutely have to be there in the correct proportions (N we take care of on an as-needed basis). * It sounds like the Milorganite is great stuff, but I'm very sensitive to odors, so I don't think it's a good fit for our lawn. If we used ferrous sulfate instead (being careful to sweep it off the concrete), what rate and frequency would you recommend? I assume we don't need to worry about lowering the soil pH too much with the ferrous sulfate since the starting pH is above 7.0. I'd be comfortable with ferrous sulfate (monohydrate or pentahydrate, it doesn't matter) at 3 pounds per thousand square feet in April, early October, and perhaps early November if the weather's holding. Keep an eye on the pH in this case, though, as iron sulfate is about an eighth as acidifying as pure elemental sulfur and does NOT require digging in to work! Never use iron during hotter months or when the soil's going to freeze solid for winter within two or three weeks of use.

If there's iron in the fertilizer it can make the grass dark green. But it's also possible the mix has changed and the cultivars are genetically darker.