This message is to Rhizo: Well I'm not really sure how big to make hole in inches. How big would you recommend I make each hole? I'm not sure how big or how small to make each hole in inches, nor am I sure of what is too many holes in a container and what's not enough holes in a container. What would be a good size hole that is not too big or too small? Please specify this in inches. The figure you give doesn't have to be exact, just a guesstimate will suffice. As per the size of the holes, well I was thinking of making each hole between 1"-3" as a guess but I'm not really sure to be honest. The containers I have and the ones I plan to purchase don't have holes in them That's why I'm asking.

Here is your picture It really makes a difference where you live. Based on the subtle hints in your message I'm guessing you live in the San Diego area. If not please let us know so we can provide better suggestions. Jan 2011 we had some big rain that flooded my backyard several times and my garage so last May I had drains, irrigation and new sod installed. You have a drainage problem. When you say you had drains installed, do you mean you had the yard regraded using a tractor and a box blade? Because that is what you need. Sometimes when you have other landscaping in the way, drains are the only solution. The best solution is regrading. The lawn looked great and took well to the ground. I had a leaf hopper infestation but left it alone since eveyrthing I read said they dont do any harm. You'll see a lot of bugs that are not a problem. Try not to jump to conclusions with every insect you see. After about a two months some of the grass started to brown a bit so I gave it more water in the areas since it is a slight picth in that part of my yard. Around August the brown started to spread and take over a large portion of the yard but not completely kill the grass. Water didnt fix it, so I backed that off to normal again ... 1 inch/week. In October, I noticed the dead grass was pulling out very easily and the ground is damp. So I backed off the water in case it was overwatered. No change. Your responses to the situation were perfect. I think your instincts are good, but you can go a little further in backing off on watering. Being a noobie yard owner (first house) I did not fertilize since the yard was installed. So about 4 weeks ago I gave the lawn Scotts Winterguard fertilizer and the green grass perked up a bit but I still have an abundance of brown. Good instincts again, or just lucky. Sod is usually well fertilized when you receive it, so it did not need any more until the fall. Had you fertilized in the summer you would have only added more stress to the heat stress already. In the future, 2/3 to 3/4 of your nitrogen should go down in the fall. The rest goes down in late spring after the flush of spring growth. Upon close inspection, I found several blades that have either black streaks or yellow streaks on them. I took samples to a local nursery and they said it might be a fungus but to also consider grubs. They also recommend removing the dead thatch. "Might be a fungus but also consider grubs." They're nuts because the picture is of grass carrying several diseases. Grubs kill the roots of the plant and the plant withers away from lack of moisture. You can have both grubs and disease, but that's not what you have in the photo. Also, fescue very seldom gets thatchy and should not happen in a year. Raking did no harm, so that's fine. 1. Hard soil is your concern but it is not your problem. Hard soil is normal when the soil is dry at the surface. Lack of organic matter in the soil is the problem that leads to hard soil all the time. Soil with a good fungal population will become soft when moist and turn hard when it dries out. It should act like a sponge. If it remains hard even when moist, then you have the indication of not enough fungal population. 2. People who seed fescue to begin with should understand that it needs to be seeded every fall until you get to the density you want it to be. Sod should already be at a proper density. Still you need to watch it to see if you need to reseed in the fall. In your case, yes, you need to because it has thinned out. Now is the time but new grass will get the disease immediately unless you do something about that. Use the same seed. 3. If you top dress with anything, it should be compost. Compost is the most expensive thing you can add to your lawn but your situation may warrant using it. Disease is caused by an imbalance of microbes. Compost provides a balanced source of microbes to the soil. If you want them to remain in balance and thrive, then you must feed them with organic fertilizer. Synthetic fertilizers do not have microbe food. The reason for compost and not soil is that adding more soil to an improperly drained yard will worsen the drainage situation. Compost completely disappears and does not change the level of the soil. If you want more help with organic approach and fertilizers, find the Organic Lawn Care FAQ in the Organic Gardening Forum of Gardenweb. 4. Yes it is possible to have both grubs and fungus. Rather than aerating to soften the soil, I would suggest spraying the soil with a cheap shampoo. I like generic baby shampoo from Wally's. Spray at about 3 ounces per 1,000 square feet and follow it up with your normal inch of watering to wash the soap in deep. Then the third time you water after that, repeat with the soap before you water. By the second or third app of soap, your soil should be much softer when moist and it should become firm again as it dries out between watering. I have tried several long term solutions to hard soil, and this one works the quickest. It is a long time solution. Aeration makes you feel good but is not as simple as it seems. If you aerate (hard work and relatively expensive) you should follow up with a drenching irrigation where you try to fill the holes you just created. Ultimately proper amounts and timing of water is the key to solving the problem. You need to repopulate the fungi in your soil. They need even moisture over a period of a week or so to get going. Soap seems to help provide that. I suspect you are keeping the soil too moist and that led to the disease. This time of year you should be watering once every 30-40 days, not once a week. In fact if you are in SoCal, you probably get enough rain every month in the winter, that you do not need to irrigate. As the soil dries out from a previous irrigation or rain, expect it to become hard. If it remains hard after the rain, then hit it with the shampoo again.

Have a sloping area? You need to dig out a large area where water can drain away from. that is why a sloping area would be better than a flat area. Also you need to use a more permanent very slow degrade-able substrate, probably a coarse granitic gravel with an addition of pumice (lava rock) if available from a local landscaping materials firm. And to that blend add compost at 2 parts gravel mix to 1 part compost. Plant the cyp (actually a paphiopedilum) slight above the surface of the substrate, mound some of the gravel around the exposed base of the plant and top-dress the entire area with shredded bark used in walk-ways. Use a fine water breaker to water early in the AM. Depending upon heat and wind in your area you may want to just mist down the area daily but only water every 3 or 4 days. The plants can handle some drying provided humidity, given by misting, is sufficient. Good luck.

The GW irrigation forum is another option. Sorry for your shock on the unquoted job; had that happen once with a subcontractor we had used extensively and it unfortunately soured a previously good relationship... though have not had any work done without a quote since. It's been way too long since we've paid for any major irrigation work for our cost to be meaningful, but do recall the permit process required to attach irrigation to city water seemed to make it quite a bit more expensive on an hourly equivalent than the similar crew that dug and installed lines for the french and gutter drains. Irrigation licensing/permitting/inspection has become even more stringent in Texas since 2009.