Everyone learn from my mistakes

[SPIKER]

first off two terms are bing tossed around tht you need to get straight.
HAY is a feed mixture of grasses straws weeds and seeds. used for horses cowsgoats ect to feed them.

STRAW is primarly the straw part of seed grains, wheat, barly oats & rye, depending. it has little nutrisinal value and is used to place into stalls as bedding, on and or around plantings (such as straw berries) or in you're case grass. it have very little seeds or weeds in it. should be pretty uniformly shapped stalks and appear to be weed stalk/pod free.

as mentioned above STRAW is what you want to use for grass seeding cover. there is still possability of a lot of weeds depending on which farmer made it, some use brodcast weed control on there fields so that straw will be weed free (mostly) and others simply plant & do little maintenance (more seeds in the mix.) anyhow happy growing


mowing pretty much any gras/eed mix will eventually let only the better grasses survive so I would suggest keeping it mowed after it is well established use some of the brod leave targeted lawn type chemicals for it. personally I like the dandilions & small violets in the yard they add color. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif my front yard looks almost like a wild flower prarrie much of the year I let it grow high & gloom yellow, bluee & white flowers, on top of the dandilions in early spring the yard is mostly flower filled... but maybe I'm odd lol. also I have to mow less that way /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif gas price this year is definatly getting less than 2 mows a month... /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

markm

 

[rambler]

I grow a lot of pasture hay & alfalfa on my farm, as well as an average lawn.

Straw or hay can have a lot of weed seeds in it.

Any of these crops will look really poor the first year. they grow slow & weak & poor that first 12 months, until they establish. Because of this, weeds almost _always_ take over the first year, they need to be mowed & controlled as best as possible.

You likely have a much better lawn than you think.

Bumps, lumps, and compaction should be taken care of before seeding.

--->Paul

 

[ByronBob]

I had the farmer come to my place and spray the field which I turned into my lawn. I practically begged him to help me because he had the equipment to do it and he knew how to do it right.

Sprayed in Oct, Plowed it up in May, I seeded in June and it's 90% grass and 10% weeds. But going from 6.5 acres of sod bound clumps to a lawn is a nice thing to see happen.

Spraying really seems the best way to start.