'>>2728094
Aeration, fertilizer and water';

'>>2728094
That looks like absolute shit.';

'>>2728094
I can't imagine living in an HOA or allowing my yard to look that sterile by choice.';

'>>2728124
>>2728130
>>2728140
These. If your soil is high in clay and low in organic matter then you should aerate your lawn and fill the holes with biochar to improve the soil texture. After that apply compost or manure (horse would be best) to restore the organic carbon in the soil. Manure should have enough nutrients, but if you use compost then hit it with a 10-10-10 fertilizer. Mycorrhizal fungi will help, especially if parts of your lawn are struggling while others are thriving. You should consider something other than grass for your lawn. Local or drought tolerant grasses would be better than a seed mix off the shelf. You could explore yarrow, clover, thyme, mint, moss, and a wide variety of other turf options.';

'>>2728141
Thanks a lot, but could this still work if my yard is a sandy one?';

'>>2728154
The biochar will still help your soil retain more nutrients, but it won't improve the soil texture of sand. I think you want to go the other direction and add more clay and way more compost and manure. Calcium bentonite clay is the best clay soil amendment in my opinion, but if you're having trouble finding it then you can get unscented clay cat liter, which is sodium bentonite, instead. Sodium bentonite is 25% sodium and it will slowly leech into your soil so I'd recommend picking up some kind of calcium source like limestone or oyster shells and mix them together. You can do the math to compensate for the sodium exactly, or you can mix them about evenly and you'll have some excess calcium. Compost and manure are going to be the most important for your lawn. The organic matter will glue everything together and prevent nutrients from leeching out of your soil as quickly. Definitely explore other turf options and maybe consider using some of it to grow tomatoes. Tomatoes love sandy soil.';

'>>2728141
>>2728154
>>2728272
Here's a soil texture triangle that you can use to estimate how much clay you need to add. You want to aim for any kind of loam.';

'>>2728286
I'm an idiot. Here's the triangle.';

'>>2728289
But who tf is Sandy Loam?';

'>>2728094
Absolutely soulless. I prefer the meadow or wildflower look rather than the industrial golf course look.';

'>>2728292
I think her maiden name might be Sandy Clay, which means she's also Sandy Clay Loam. Do you think this Silty bitch is related? And who exactly is Clay?';

'>>2728316
name one golf course that's industrial';

'>>2728326
any golf course is industrial if you wear your nine inch nails golf polo';

'>>2728326
You know that maintaining a golf green requires a four year degree, right? It's because you're forcing the grass to grow in such an unnatural and unhealthy way that nearly anything will kill it. Your main job is to go around hosing down brown spots with fungicide and cutting out sections of grass to replace with a specialty sod. If you think that a golf course is an ideal lawn then you need to re-examine meadows and natural grassland.';

'>>2728340
>whoa a chance to give some big retarded lecture';

'>>2728341
https://www.unlv.edu/pga/curriculum';

'>>2728094
>no fruit trees
NGMI';

'>>2728326
All of them, retard. You ever see one get built?';

'>>2728154
You're going to want to remove the dead clumps of grass and probably in inch or more of that sand, then bring in topsoil and backfill the volume of sand you removed. Run a tamper or roller over it, apply seed and starter fertilizer, water twice a day till the grass is thick, and stay the hell off it--try to to walk on the new grass until it had enough time to establish.
I've fought this battle--there is no topsoil where i live, but I can get unlimited topsoil from my township, which is a plus.
t. NJ pine barrens';

'>>2728417
>try NOT to walk on the new grass';

'>>2728094
Why the fuck do you want a manicured piece of grass?
>>2728124
If you insist on being stupid, this. In addition, find yourself a broadleaf spray that doesn't kill grass. It'll take care of most weeds. Reseed thin spots, water daily, fertilize weekly, aerate yearly. Mow every 3 days, don't collect clippings in a bag, it's better to mulch them up.';

'>>2728420
A pound of salt in a gallon of water is a good broad leaf herbicide. It doesn't kill most grasses.';

'>>2728340
>Four year degree
No it doesn't
>Unhealthy and unnatural
Yes
>Nearly anything will kill it
False. It's grown in a way to be extremely resistant to extreme levels of foot/cart traffic and people quite literally beating the shit out of it with clubs.
>Cutting out sections of grass
I've never seen this as a part of any golf courses maintenance program
>Brown spot with fungicide
What's one fungus that causes browning of grass?
>Golf course isn't ideal lawn
But it is. Lawns are dumb as hell but you won't find a better kept lawn than a golf course. If you don't want a lawn, go after a garden, wildflowers, or just let everything go like in the wild.
I know plenty of people at the golf course. I'm on first name basis with more than a few of the people that maintain my favorite courses in the area. We chat about this stuff often because it's related to my industry. Golf courses don't really qualify as /out/ but they do know a few things about keeping highly manicured grass.';

'>>2728427
Then ask them about the green stuff and if they use specialty sod. If it's "properly" managed then they'll tell you all about the time they spend cutting out and replacing diseased grass.';

'>>2728094
why don't you just let it grow bro, have more grass in your yard let mother nature be in your yard.';

'>>2728094
Overwater. Weed and feed early in the season. Aerate it. Cut it short. Make sure to reseed it in the spring.';

'>>2728431
Every course I frequent grows it in place. You know grass is an extremely hardy plant that's down right difficult to kill, even with a bunch of chemicals in it to speed up it's growth or help it's color. I find it funny that's the only counter point you have to my post as well. Sorry you know shit about grass and less about golf. Maybe keep quite next time around.';

'>>2728578
You can keep your head in the sand for as long as you want.';

'>>2728417
Some of my first /out/ings were in the NJ pine barrens as a kid. I remember an abandoned water park';

'Grass is worthless. Torch it.

The US spends 300 BILLION on chopping grass annually. GRASS IS WORTHLESS. GROW ANYTHING OTHER THAN GRASS.';

'>>2728154
grow ephedra. and dig a few wide holes.';

'>>2728141
Genuine question, since you sound like you know what you're talking about.

>After that apply compost or manure (horse would be best) to restore the organic carbon in the soil
I put horse manure in my soil 1 year ago, and today when I was planting some stuff, I found undecayed clods of horse manure which looked exactly how they did when I buried them.

So I'm guessing your advice doesn't apply to me for some reason? I have heavy clay soil that is waterlogged for most of the year. But I think it actually preserves anything you put in it. It doesn't decompose due to lack of oxygen.

The best results I've had were from putting well-rotted manure and organic matter or compost into it.

Also I'm guessing your advice is mostly tailored to a US audience. You talk of drought tolerance, where I have water logged lawn 8 months of the year and live in an environment that's cold most of the year.';

'>>2731011
Nah, the advice is general. Your specific situation would require something a little different though. The reason your manure looks the same is partly because anaerobic decomposition (which would dominate in waterlogged soils) is much slower than aerobic decomposition and partly because a good portion the nutrients have likely been leached out leaving the carbon without enough nitrogen to decompose. That's okay though and the persistence of the organic matter is why I recommend horse manure for lawns over other manures. There are a lot of benefits to having high levels of soil organic matter.

>where I have water logged lawn 8 months of the year and live in an environment that's cold most of the year.
You would benefit from adding drainage and maybe a small pond. Dig trenches (~0.25-1 meter deep and maybe 0.25m wide) from places that water stands to a storage pond, water garden, or drainage pit. There should be a slight grade to the trenches (~1-2%) to help them drain and you don't want and dips in the trench where the water can puddle. Cover the bottom of the trench with gravel or crushed lump charcoal, which drains better, and lay down drain tube, drain tile, or more gravel/charcoal. Use sand or a finer grade of charcoal to fill in the space around your drain and to cover it by a few centimeters (~3-5) and top it with your topsoil and reseed or fill the rest of the way with gravel/charcoal if you want to use the drain as an accent for your yard.';

'Start with the lawn you've got, not the lawn you want. Assess the soil, take out some little cores with a pipe. Is it clay? Sandy? Test over the whole lawn not just the bits that look weird.

What kind of grass have you got? Is it one kind? All different kinds, shit that's probably a weed?

The solution depends entirely on your problem and what you want to achieve, so I won't even give advice to people who haven't done a proper assessment';

'>>2731147
French drains are great but this assumes that the lawn isn't in a low point too begin with, and sometimes water logging is symptomatic of compaction and lack of coring in which case a French drain would only be catching runoff.

I never recommend manure as fertiliser, small scale you go with liquid base, on acerage you're usually looking at granular due to cost. You can make your own liquid fertiliser from manure in a tank if you've got land so there's really no reason to apply it directly in my opinion.

I've theorised that you could just a testla pump to siphon from an underground tank which you might place at a low point and run your French drains into. Amphitheatre courtyards, golf courses, places where contouring was JUST.';

'There's also a reason people collect clippings, it's to reduce thatching and because ordinary lawn mowers throw clumps of clippings. It looks bad, it will always look bad especially if you're not mowing regularly.

Timing of fertiliser is important or you'll promote weeds and retard transitional lawns.

Over large areas there are a bunch of herbicides to choose from, choose carefully. Dicamba+mcpa is common but will kill buffalo and clover. You may need a spooky winter grass killer if you've got a fine turf.';

'>>2732272
I didn't assume anything, I told him to dig out a lower point to drain the water to. Installing a pond isn't the easiest thing to do, but I know people who would love to have his problems.

>You can make your own liquid fertiliser from manure in a tank if you've got land so there's really no reason to apply it directly in my opinion.
You can also make it with a 5 gallon buckets on your porch and apply it with a backpack sprayer. The reason to apply it directly, or apply the residue from making the manure tea, would be to help maintain soil organic matter which is essential for soil health. You could just use synthetic fertilizers and tons of compost to get the same results, but manure is common enough that you can usually find it for cheap or free.

>>2732274
>because ordinary lawn mowers throw clumps of clippings.
This is why reel mowers are superior.

>there are a bunch of herbicides to choose from
I like to use a pound of table salt in a gallon of water. It will kill most things, but it shouldn't kill grass or well established clover as long as you wait two weeks between applications. Some weeds like dandelions need multiple applications, and it won't work on halophytes, but for the majority of weeds it's safe and effective. You can look up "salt based herbicide" for more details.';

'>>2732272
>>2732281
>I've theorised that you could just a testla pump to siphon from an underground tank which you might place at a low point and run your French drains into.
I forgot to say that I'm having trouble visualizing what you're talking about. Can you elaborate?';

'Ahh Summer. Where at any given time you can hear some person mowing';

'>>2732302
That's another reason reel mowers are superior.';

'>>2728094
Assuming you don't have any ant colonies or underground root systems that are tapping the sod dry from below:
>set your lawnmower to its highest setting
>aerate every year or two
>weed and feed.

Regular watering if you want it to look really good.';

'>>2730349
I like it here. If there were no pine barrens I would have left Jersey by now. There's all sorts of abandoned stuff everywhere, some going back to the 1700's. It's challenging to grow stuff here tho...the topsoil is maybe 2-3" thick and it stunts the pines and anything else growing here.
The previous owner of my place (half acre in a little neighborhood in the middle of nowhere) mowed down the natural flora and put grass and other non-indiginous (?) shrubs and trees here. I'm slowly doing away with a lot of the grass and planting natural stuff to make it more like the Pine Barrens and less like something it's not.';

'>>2731011
If you have a mower, and it's early in the season, set your mower to a very low setting, remove the bag if you have one, and go over the lawn slowly. This might be enough to crush and break up the clods of manure, or hopefully they will get sucked up into the blades and chopped up.';