New Lawn Advice

[scoutcub]

Greetings to all -

I'm looking to take on a job to install a 3-4 acre lawn. It's currently a weed and rock bed. I would appreciate input on the best course of action to take. My rough plan is to;
1. Pick up all loose rocks (sizable ones of course)
2. Mow as low as possible.
3. Till, till, till
4. Bring in a few (many) loads of topsoil (somewhat sandy/gravely)
5. level/slope with a loader and? rake? box blade? Or possibly bolt a long 2X12 on the bucket.
6. Seed

A few questions that come 2 mind...can I just till without mowing? Do I need to spray the weeds before tilling?

Appreciate any input!

 

[J_J]

scoutcub,

I assumed you were going to use sod when I first read the post., so take that part for what it is. As far as seed, don't know what a bag of seed will cover, or what it will cost in todays market.

That is a large area that you are doing. Are you going to do it all at the same time or in stages? Anyway, I would kill everything with something like roundup or something similar. After about two weeks with everything brown, I would cut it as low as possible. Then I would use a box blade with the spikes down and run the area kicking up all the rocks you can find, maybe a landscape rake would help. If you are going to need irrigation, now is the time to do that. Then loads of top soil, smooth out, water down or let rain settle the soil.

1 acre = 208.71 x 208.71 = 43,559 sq ft x 4 = 174,239 sq ft

Each pallet of sod is 500 sq ft, so you will need 348 pallets of sod at $120 = $41,817.

 

[ToadHill]

JJ hit it on the head. When I had my tree and lawn care business that is the way we did a replacement lawn. Just a few things to keep in mind.
1. The new lawn will be full of weeds, some will come in from seed blown in, some mixed in with the grass seed you use, and most will arrive with the topsoil you import.
2. For best results water lightly several times each day until the lawn is long enough to cut the first time, then water well once each week to get the grass to grow deep roots as it ages.
3. Set your mower at least 3" high to keep new weed seeds from germinating.
4. Use a good liquid weed killer about 3 or 4 days after the grass has been mowed the first time.

 

[polo1665]

I would also use roundup to kill vegetation in the area before tilling it. You can still expect alot of weeds though. Round Up doesn't kill the weed seeds and they will come back with vengence unless you are planning to put a lot of topsoil down on top of what you till. Make sure to get grass seed planted quickly when the area is prepared, that may help keep some weed growth down. If you let it sit for a while you will have to do it all over again. Weeds grow really fast this time of year.

Mark

 

[J_J]

I forgot about the birds. After sowing the seeds, that is like dinner time for them. You can lightly rake the seed in the ground, and perhaps cover with hay. Best way is to throw it with a blower.

Again, before you seed, or put the top soil down, think about irrigation. PVC is easy to work with, at least lay the pipe in the ground, so you won't have to disturb the ground when you want to finish the irrigation project.

 

[Egon]

Do an on site search for "Leveling lawn" there will be numerous threads on it like this one.
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/projects/123351-help-make-nice-lawn-old.html

For leveling a drag made long and heavy with the ability to be angled may be a consideration.

 

[Airic]

Not sure how perfect of a lawn you want but, I have found it best to just box blade it smooth and let everything you have reseed itself because it will anyway. You most likely have a lot of grass in with the weeds anyway. I have had areas that I didn't seed or anything and had the same results as when I did seed. Once everything has come up then start your weed and feed. It will save you lots of $$$$. I have found that from fall to spring all will be well established that you can't even tell I had done work.

 

[Charlton John]

Prepare lawn by spraying as others have said. Till, bring in dirt and possibly look into hydroseeding. Birds dont eat anything this way and it dosent blow around. We have some good companies by me here locally and they produce really good finished products. Around here it is about 10 cents a sq. ft.

 

[MarkV]

I would start at the county extension office to find out what grows best in your area and to have a soil test done.

MarkV

 

[peterssj4034]

I recently just finished a 3 acre section of new lawn over Memorial Day weekend. I also did 2 acre section in the summer of 2007. My soil is heavy clay, that was stripped in 1951. I trucked in topsoil and mixed it with the existing soil with good results.

I used a box blade to break up the existing soil, spread the topsoil, graded the area (I have some slope toward the house), and then used a rock-hound (or landscape rake) to pick up the rocks. I rented a bobcat with the rock-hound implement for $225 a day. Well worth the money for a project of this size. The straw blower rented for $50 for a four hour period, which was more than enough time to blow the entire area. I used about 45 bales for the area. Also well worth the money.

I used the triple rye seed from TSC (~$90 a bag) and their 12-0-12 fertilizer. I spread both products a little higher than manufacturer specifications, and then I watered the heck out of the yard until this past Sunday, when I cut it for the first time. It has been very dry this year in my part of Ohio, and I had a hard time keeping up with the watering, but the grass came in ok.

I have attached a few pictures of some of the area as a very dusty work in progress, a picture of the rock-hound, and some results of the mowing on Sunday. As mentioned in some preceding posts, I did have weeds, as they love the water and fertilizer as much as the grass seed does, but those will go away with time and care.

Hope this helps.