Large lawn improvement

[LittleBittyBigJohn]

Yup! How do plan on maintaining 10ac of lawn? Why what I see that's alreaty there just mow it how it currently sits. In a few meetings you fill find that unless you have large equipment (and you said you didnt) you wont want a 10ac lawn after a few mowing sessions.

I have plenty of equipment to mow it. Just not enough that I would want to try to till up the whole place. I have been mowing it all for several years now. With current equipment it takes me just under 3 hours by myself, considerably less when my wife helps.

I have been living on the property since the summer of '21. But it's just been in the last little bit that I have built the house and gotten settled in enough to start thinking about sprucing up the grass.

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

We have 2 acres total of yard. I have several mowers and yesterday my wife & I each using a Cub Cadet zero turn knocked it out in a couple hours. I put in islands each with a tree, bushes & flowers so a lot of obstacles. There's a small 1/4A back yard.
Everything else are pastures or woods.
I can't imagine more than that as a lawn.

 

[LittleBittyBigJohn]

Mine is lots more open so I can probably cover a lot more ground in the same timeframe.

 

[BigGG]

The surest way I've found to get rid of nut grass is to go out after a good rain and pull it up, making sure to get the roots and 'nuts'. If you have too much for that, I'd use Roundup or equal.

You could probably try some Bermuda seed (I think we're talking common variety here) now. But we're approaching the hot, dry part of the year now. Too bad you didn't have it planted before all this April/May rain we've had.

Like others have said, get the ph right and mow high, especially with Coastal. I don't think you want fescue or a cool climate grass, too much sun, heat and drought.

 

[jyoutz]

I would spot treat any obnoxious perennial weeds, then spread fertilizer and grass seed. Then keep mowing.

 

[RayIN]

Remember_ most weed killers also kill broadleaf grasses that you want in a lawn. Read the label and instructions before spending money.

 

[WinterDeere]

The surest way I've found to get rid of nut grass is to go out after a good rain and pull it up, making sure to get the roots and 'nuts'. If you have too much for that, I'd use Roundup or equal.

Nutsedge is pretty easily controlled with one of a half-dozen specialty products. They're all relatively expensive, by comparison to the usual 2-4D broadleaf control chemicals, but they're effective. The big name brands are Dismiss (pro) and Sedge Hammer (homeowner), but now you can buy generic Sulfentrazone (active ingredient in Authority, Spartan, Zeus, Blanket, Aquesta, and Dismiss) for much less $$.

There are only two challenges in controlling nutsedge:

1. It tends to thrive in late summer when lawn is already stressed from heat and possible drought. This is the worst time to spray a selective weed control, as it can damage the stressed lawn. Try to time your application for a stretch of cooler days and/or after a nice rain.

2. The "nuts" (really tubers) of nutsedge live and send out new shoots and new tubers for 3 years. So, you really need to stay on top of it with treatment for three years in a row, to have any lasting effect. Otherwise, you're just knocking back new growth each year.

Roundup isn't as effective on nutsedge (killing the tubors) as sulfentrazone, and pulling it up is very difficult, as the shoots often break off and leave the tubors in the ground.

 

[Complete Turf Care]

I see you are in Central Arkansas, which means you need a warm season grass. I think bermuda grass is by far your best choice.
Since you already have some bermuda grass out there, it is probably "Common" bermuda. It's not the best bermuda for a lawn or athletic field, but I believe it is a good fit for your situation. Common bermuda seed is the least expensive and I recommend about 100 lbs per acre.

Bermuda grass is best planted NOW. Bermuda seed is small enough that you can just broadcast it on top of the ground, and pray for rain. It would be better if you could cover it somehow with soil, but it must be very shallow because of the small seed size. Depending on what equipment you have, you can probably just broadcast it and drag something over it to help make better seed to soil contact.

I have been successful planting seed as late as September, but if you have a cold winter, it may not be grown enough to survive. It must have enough underground roots established in order to survive a cold winter. It will take a full summer for underground roots to establish.

There are lots of herbicides you can use to clean up bermuda. I have been successful using glyphosate (Roundup) on bermuda to kill some of the grassy weeds. But, you must be very accurate with the rate, and you must be ready to tolerate some injury. For nutsedge, I like to use sulfosulfuron (Outridder). There are others that work also. For broadleaf weeds, I use metsulfuron (MSM Turf and others). Metsulfuron is safer than 2,4-D and it is cheap.

As @WinterDeere said, you want to get your pH right. Bermuda does best at around 6.0 to 7.0. The only way to know your pH is to have it tested. I suggest you contact your local county agent and get them involved. They can help you with a soil test, and they can recommend herbicides, fertilizers, etc. And they generally give free and unbiased advice, since they are not selling any products.

 

[Thomas]

I'm getting to the point in my new home project that I want to start fixing up my lawn. But it's about 10 acres worth... I have a small area around my house where hay was fed back when there were cows on it, so there are a few stands of good Bermuda. I feel like I can get the close area around my house to convert over to that Bermuda with a couple years worth of selective herbicide and fertilizer. The larger area looks good-ish but it looks to me like it's all Nutsedge and some sort of cloverlike groundcover.

I don't really know the best way to start. I don't own any large equipment to make quick work of it. The only tillage equipment I have is a 50" tiller and I would rather not till 10 acres to prepare a seed bed. I also don't really want to spend many thousands of dollars. It's ok if it's a several year project. Since summer is just about in full swing I will probably not start until next year, unless there is something I need to do in the fall for preparation. In the far back, you can see some bare dirt. It's about an acre and a half that's up to 18" or so inches of heavy clay from my pond excavation so it's really poor soil.

My thoughts are either to use selective herbicide in increasingly larger areas for the established Bermuda to slowly expand out over several years. As well as take some plugs of it into different areas to establish more small Bermuda areas to get multiple areas spreading. Or tilling a few strips here and there and spread seed in hopes of creating several larger areas that can spread. I guess the fastest and most expensive way would be to roundup all of it and try to find a no-till drill to drill a ton of seed all at once on the whole place.

Have any of you done a project like this?


View attachment 3544090View attachment 3544091View attachment 3544092View attachment 3544093View attachment 3544094

That's nice...nicely done.

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

For 10 acres you need this! I bought it new 20 years ago and it's been sitting 15. New battery,belt,blade,tires,oil,carburetor,hoses,gas&air filter&pressure washed.
If you start at 8am Saturday may finish in time for Sunday church.
30 inch cut.
That's what I actually used to cut 2 acres 20 years ago & it took a while. It actually runs great & no idea what to do with it.