building my lawn question?
I bought & tore down a neihbors has last year that caught on fire. Where the foundation was there is no top soil. The weeds have taken over. I want to get some top soil trucked in so I can plant grass but, won't the weeds just poke though the topsoil and destory my new lawn? I could put weed & feed down before the topsoil to kill the weeds but, even know it is supposed to kill weeds and not grass I think it would also kill the new grass seedlings (my father tried somthing similar and that seemed to be the case). Ant suggestions on how to build my lawn??
 1979 Maxim 100ft Ladder Tiller Fire Truck  US $2,050.00
|
 Ford Other sanford fire truck 1975 ford 900 sanford build firetruck look US $2,076.00
|
 LK DODGE POWER WAGON BRUSH FIRE TRUCK IN NJ US $1,525.00 |
Tags: amp, grass seedlings, new grass, top soil, topsoil, weeds
January 28th, 2010 at 11:50 pm
Lay down some of the black plastic before you put down the topsoil. Or more economical is to get LOTS of newspaper and put down 4-6 layers before you put down the topsoil. The newspaper will stop the old weeds and brake down over the years into a compost. You can usually get newspaper at the recycling plants/stores.
January 28th, 2010 at 11:50 pm
There is an easy remedy for taking care of your weed problem. You’ll need to spray all the weeds and unwanted grasses with "roundup" also known as "glyphosate". This is the easiest and safest weed killer there is. It has no residual affect in the soil and readily breaks down when coming into contact with soil microbes. First you should weed wack any tall weeds or grasses down to about 3 inches or so before spraying. The mixture of roundup to water is : 2 oz of roundup concentrate to every gallon of water. This is a 1.5% mixture and will kill just about all broadleaf weeds and grasses. Your gonna have to spray a couple of applications however. After you spray this initial application and all the weeds turn brown and dry up, You need to rototill the area that you want to plant your lawn in. The reason being, is that there will be many weed seeds that have been buried down in the soil, lying dormant, waiting for moisture so they can germinate and grow. When they get that moisture, you will have a second wave of weeds to spray. If you bring them to the surface manually, you can take care of them before installing your new lawn. After you till the ground up, ( you don’t have to go deep), say 5 or 6 inches is sufficient, you will need to water the entire area good. Soak it down, either by hand or a sprinkler. By doing this, you are giving them moisture so they can germinate. If there are any there, they will start to break the surface after about a week and a half or so. When you see them popping from the surface about 2 inches high, you can hit them again with the roundup. This should take care of any seeds that will come up when you seed or sod your new lawn. I would tell you how to plant your turf, but I would have to write a novel. Its just too long of an explanation to do here, and I think I have already spent my nickles worth on this answer. Maybe you can ask how to install your new lawn on another Yahoo question when you are ready to do it. The fall is the best time to lay sod or to seed a new lawn anyway. Sept. or early Oct. in a warmer region is best. Hope this has helped answer your concerns and good luck!
**Billy Ray**
January 28th, 2010 at 11:50 pm
One thing that would really be helpful to know – do you know if the weeds are only broadleaf? (these are weeds that are not grass-like looking, they have a broader leaf as the name suggests.) As if they are only broadleaf then you can just spray them with a broadleaf poison which will only kill that certain plant (broadleaf) and does not affect your grass at all! It is best to do this before laying down any top soil. You can also do it after but it is better to kill them off beforehand and then try and control it as it comes up through the grass.
Another thing you can do is spray it before laying topsoil with a chemical containing glyphosate. But just remember that you always need to mix it with water before using it!! Use 100ml of it to every 10 litres. Glyphosate is a poison that kills all plant life, and you will need to then lay your top soil on top (try and wait a couple days after you’ve sprayed whether you’ve used the broadleaf or the glyphosate, it helps in killing the plant more effectively) and then just happy spreading of your seed!!
It is fine enough to use the newspaper method (if you have that many laying around!! Or if you can afford to buy that many!) But I wouldn’t suggest going with the black plastic, it never really works great – it does for the first year or so but after that it can start to break and weeds are surprisingly strong and can actually break through it themselves!!
Good luck!
(Sorry, I forgot to convert… 100ml of the broadleaf or glyphosate is equal to 0.03 of a gallon, and 10 litres is equal to around 2.7 gallons. Hope that helps.)
January 28th, 2010 at 11:50 pm
do not use a weed and feed spray the weeds with a solution of 20% vinager 2 oz of orange oil s squart of dish soap on a hot sunny day after a few day mow the weeds as low as you can then get a load of weed free soil mix and spread over the area