I think watering would be more helpful. We haven't had much rain the past several weeks. Today's high is forecast to be 84 with 70s and 80s for the next several days. If you water in the morning, your lawn will be dry in the afternoon.

-Deerslayer

No, I think you should wait til fall. I wouldn't suggest anything mechanical this late in spring. But you can apply Nitron A-35. It's an organic product that works great on compacted soil to loosen and condition it, and it's not expensive. Apply it all over with a hose end sprayer, even on the pm affected areas.
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I take it you haven't applied the compost tea yet. I expect that to improve soil texture, too.

is this product better than Lazy-Man's Aerator from outsidepirde?

I assume these products are not a replacement for machine aeration of inherently hard soils like clay, etc.?

yes bestlawn, someone on another forum suggested Nitron A-35. However, I don't want to spend another dollar again. But, if the ACT application doesn't work, I will buy it.

Here is my plan tomorrow morning maybe around 6am.

1. Core Aerate the affected area with my Hound Dog tool. Make at least 20 holes per square feet.

2. Topdress it with alaska humus

3. Water it

Then Saturday or Sunday morning or once Aerated Compost Tea is brewed(still waiting for humus activation, working very well as of the moment), I will apply ACT to everywhere.

"1. Core Aerate the affected area with my Hound Dog tool. Make at least 20 holes per square feet."

I hope you mean the turf hound and not the weed hound (a neighbor who saw me with the weed hound bought one and was using it as an aerator as well as a weed killer). Even with the turf hound, it would take a lot of work to make that many holes, unless your lawn is really small.

I'm not trying to dissuade you, but that seems like an awful lot of work to do it manually.

Yeah, Hound Dog is the company name. I meant, turf hound. This is what I have.

Make sure the soil is damp, but not saturated. If the soil is too dry, you end up punching holes instead of pulling cores. If it's too wet, the soil sticks in the turf hound.

I find it handy to carry something like a small tent stake so that I can clean it out if it gets plugged.

I still think you're being very ambitious to make 20 holes per square foot. But if you're willing to make the effort, that's great. I probably never made more than about 5-10 holes per sq ft.

I have to admire your dedication to getting an excellent lawn. You seem very dedicated.

I just saw 20 holes per sqft in an article. It's not I'm dedicated, I was just a recipient of that document. If 20 is too much, I can bring it down to 10. It will be better for me because it's lesser effort. Hehehe.

Yes, I will follow your advice. I will carry with me a long screw driver.

Thanks again! ;)

All those practices will help. But what will often help a heavy clay soil most is slow watering that gets it deeply watered. Then repeat the process often enough to keep it well watered.

DChall has posted his techniques. You might do a search for his posts.

I use a soaker hose and let it run slowly for several hours. Especially when your clay is hard and really dry, you may need to let it just barely trickle when you first start. And, its a lot easier than mechanical aeration. I don't know what Alaskan humus is, but one thing that I really thinks help is top dressing of compost if your yard hasn't had one in awhile.

That and slow deep watering periodically will really make your clay happy.

RC, are you saying you water that way as a general practice on hard clay to "keep it happy" or are you also recommending that method in lieu of mechanical aeration even in preparation of fall seeding as well?

I've read some poeple swear by other methods and others say there is no substitute for a good mechanical core aeration.

The lawn should be core aerated twice a year. Also, before the sod was laid out, the soil below should have been tilled or topsoil added. It really shouldn't be rock hard now.

RC, I would have suggested slow watering over several days if Ron's lawn wasn't suffering from powdery mildew. Powdery mildew thrives in damp conditions. If Ron deeply waters his lawn in the morning, the grass blades should be dry by the afternoon. This won't encourage the powdery mildew as much as a several day soaking.

I live about 15 miles from Ron. Thunderstorms are forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday (of course, the prediction isn't always accurate). If Ron starts soaking his lawn now, it may not dry out until next Thursday.

-Deerslayer

Deerslayer points out a good point or two.

First, like politics, all gardening is "local". Second, the devil's in the details.

If you are expecting heavy rains, you may not need to deep water. Second, if you have fungus issues, you may need to handle watering issues differently. I do have a tendency to forget about fungal issues in my climate this time of year (semi-arid). Watering early mornings when it gets hot here is the practice I follow with good results.

As to aeration, without getting in to an organic debate, I think following good practices usually makes aearation superflous. In shorthand I've done the following and never need to aerate: topdressed with compost, use organic fertilizers, mow high, never remove more than one third of leav when mowing (targe anyway), and water deep and infrequently (with the advice about soaker hoses to get it really watered down deep occaisionally).

Thatch and compaction are simply zero problems in my yard. I don't say it can't be helpful when you haven't been doing any of those things and have a compacted yard. Also, when I want to overseed in the fall, I find that is a good way to get some soil disturbed to aid the seedlings with germination.

Lastly, if he doesn't get soaking rains (as opposed to brief downpours) he kind of has the chicken and the egg question on watering versus fungus. Compacted soil that holds moisture on the top and contributes to weaker grass roots and plants can be more subject to fungus. If I didn't get soaking rains, I'd probably try to hold off chemical fertilizers, water deeply in the early morning (starting like 1 or 2 am, quit about 9 or 10 so it could dry on top for the heat of the day and keep doing that unitil it was all deeply watered.

Advice for a perfect world. ;) Probably lots of ways to get good results with other approaches or bits and pieces.

Ron, I wasn't saying that you shouldn't try for 20 cores per sq ft, just that it will be a lot of work to get that many using the turf hound.

I'm beginning to think that core aeration may be more appropriate in the Midwest than in Texas. Here's my rationale.

1. Midwest soil is easily compacted because of its clay content.

2. Most lawns in the Midwest have a large amount of KBG which can create too much thatch. Core aeration helps to reduce thatch.

3. KBG lawns quickly fill in the core holes whereas TTTF lawns are thinned and therefore need to be oveseeded after coring.

Core aeration is a very common practice in the Midwest. In addition to softening the soil, I like it because microbes are brought to the surface. I think core aeration provides some of the same benefits as applying compost. Lastly, core aeration helps to smooth a bumpy lawn and maintain a smooth lawn especially if you drag a mat after aerating.

-Deerslayer

I should have added one more, mulch mowing, except when poa annua is seeding.

And, Deerslayer, I wouldn't try to convince anyone aerating is a bad thing. As I mentioned, there are several times when it is absolutely a good approach. I'm just saying that with the the use of the other approaches my heavy clay soil is so soft when moist that it just really doesn't need it. FWIW, I have about 4500 feet of lawn that is KBG with a little perennial rye and about 3000 sq feet that is all TTTF.

When I applied alot of chemical fertilizer it was just about mandatory in our heavy clay soils.

As a matter of fact, that was my first indication organic might work better long term. Years ago my neighbor was organic and I used a lot of chem fertilizers. Both yards always looked good, but when I walked on mine it felt like walking on the felt of a pool table. Nice and green but very hard. When you stepped over on his, if felt like a carpet with one of those high dollar soft pads underneath. Now mine is like his was. Its been three or four years since I last aerated (to overseed).

Of course, like you say, there may be regional differences I just don't have a clue about that make it more essential up in your area regardless of other practices.

RC, it's very refreshing to discuss an issue with a rational person...no personal attacks, no name calling, just reasonable and valid points.

I haven't been on an organic lawn care program as long as you have. Maybe I'll find that I no longer need core aeration in a couple years.

BTW, I tried a late fall application of urea, as you and others suggested. I was extremely happy with the results.

-Deerslayer

deerslayer,

Here is what I did this morning. I hand core aerated my lawn using turf hound. I was only able to get down 2" since it is solid. I'm sure that there is nothing below it since I used my screw driver to confirm that there isn't any foreign object. Also after I have removed the cores, I applied compost on top of them. Then lastly, I water the lawn for 1 hour and 30 minutes.

I would have watered first but if you pulled 2" cores, your soil was moist enough. I don't remove the cores but since you applied compost, I don't think that it is a major issue.

Maybe there are some microbes in the compost that will attack the powdery mildew. Please keep us posted.

-Deerslayer

Sure, I will take pictures once I get home later. I'm sure that I won't see any quick changes today. :) This way, we will be able to compare the bad patches after 10, 15 or 20 days.

I feel the same way Deerslayer.

And, it does take awhile for an organic approach to really settle in. And, fwiw, any clay is going to feel hard when good and dry, its really a question of how spongey it feels when moist that gives and indication of whether it is too compacted. I bought one of those little metal rods with a t handle you can get to check depth of moisture, and when my yard is good an wet I can just push it down to the handle without any problem.

I'm glad to hear you liked the urea results. I've used other quick release nitrogen fert as my last app in the fall before, but this was the first year for urea. Like you, so far I'm well pleased with the results.

Catch you later.

Virtuosity, I have to applaud your information gathering, man power and money spent on your lawn... that's what I call dedication!

Thanks subywu! :)

It's because, it's just lately that I realized that other fields are also very interesting and exciting. The more I learn, the better I understand how we need to care of them. I've learned that it's not just watering, but there are many other variables. Also, I became more interested when Dr. Ingham sent me the Soil Food Web website.

I don't know if my style of gathering information is appropriate since I always asked to many questions like a child asking. This style allowed me to learn linux, freebsd, openbsd easily back in 1994 to present. I'm going to stick with it.

And lastly, I would be able to share back what I've experienced/learned to people who are asking as well.

I still got tons of things to learn. I'm just at the beginning. :)

Well, without your help guys, I guess my lawn would still be dead. :D

Hey guys, I'm also in the area, a bit north of you both I imagine (Mundelein). I've been learning a ton here and I've just ordered my KBG seed for this fall for renovating the front yard. I appreciate having people with experience in this area to help with good advice.

This fall I'm putting in Bedazzled, Moonlight, and Midnight in the front yard where there is more sun. (I'm going to take out a tree :) The backyard also has powdery mildew here and there, but it doesn't seem to be doing too much damage.

I'm sure I'll have some specific questions when I get further along in my project.

Brian, welcome to the forum!

-Deerslayer

Mundelein, close to my office at Vernon Hills. :D

Welcome brian!

Here is an update regarding the grass that was sitting on the very hard and compacted soil, the grass that wasn't growing well, and the grass were blades always stayed at 1". I did the core aeration, application of AACT and organic grains such as cgm/cm.

I couldn't remember which thread I started. I posted pictures of the plugs too.

Picture taken as of June 7, 2007 at 10am. Honestly, I did not do any picture modification in Photoshop.

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Looks great!

Lookin good, guy, lookin' good!

nice looking lawn.

virtuosity, i have a question for you. back in the day when IRC was more popular, did you use to get on to EFNet much? i always thought your nick looked familiar, and now that you are talking about linux, freebsd, etc, it really makes me wonder :)

also, how many feet is it between the street and the sidewalk, and what kind of tree did you plant right there?

Yes garett,

It is me! :) I'm assuming you remember our bot named FAQ. We used to type "faq seen v1rtu0s1ty" and the bot will spit out the time when we last logged in. :)

I'm still using IRC but not on efnet anymore. I connect to undernet and freenode. And yes, I was on EFnet back in 1994 when linux kernel was version 1.2.13 and it was slackware. I was an advocate of linux during those times. 1997, I became an advocate of FreeBSD, 1998 for Openbsd. I still use them today and actually install them for companies who likes to have a webserver, mail server, firewall or even DNS server using these open source servers.

I did not plant the tree near the street. It was planted by our builder. It's a red maple. I think the distance from the main trunk to the curb is like 4 feet.

Honestly, I did not do any picture modification in Photoshop.

I hate you and everything you stand for. And the horse you rode in on. :-)

That is one fine-lookin' lawn, Ron! I'm core aerating over vacation myself. Since it's a major re-seed, I was looking at 20 to 40 holes per square foot. I'm shooting for 1 every 2 inches to disturb 7% of the soil surface.

If I get two-thirds of your result, I'll be thrilled!

:D Hehehe

Previously, I didn't believe in core aeration. It's because, in my old house, I only did, 4 or 5 plugs/holes per square feet. It didn't do anything. Then I saw an article and it mentioned that holes should be at least between 15 to 20 holes. So AH, maybe that's why it failed.

This link says 20 to 40 holes. But to me, 40 holes is too much. I would aim for 25. It's your soil. :D I got fortunate with 15 or 18 holes.

But of course, proper love too is needed. I applied corn gluten meal on April 4, corn meal on April 28. Oh, here is another thing that will prove that core aeration worked. I did core aeration May 11 or 17. At that time, the blades were still short. Other blades were healthy. It proves that core aeration really helped!

Just leave the plugs on your lawn too!

Good luck buddy!

That's wierd. Over here, planting trees between street and sidewalk is strongly discouraged! I called the city about it and they said it's not allowed even if it's small tree like myrtle crapes. I might do it anyway. I'll just pretend to be dumb person that didn't know that it was allowed and get away if I get caught.

By the way, nice lawn!

You dirty rotten scoundrel!
Someone told me he wanted darker grass. LOL

Reeeeally lookin' good there.

BTW Morpheus, Ron core aerated just in the nick of time. i don't know when your vacation is, but I think you're best wait til fall now. Nothing mechanical like that during summer.

Just got back today from Wisconsin Dells since Friday. We really had fun at the Wilderness Territory.

Hi Bestlawn,

It is true that I really want a very dark grass. I'll check if I will be able to claim some profit from a project that I'm currently working on. I just spent money on shrubs and trees. Thanks for the praises too on my lawn. :) Looks like I'm really getting the soil in balance.

Next week, I will apply SBM. Oh, what are the ratio that I should see outside the bag? Similar to the CGM I bought at Black Station in Elburn, there is a percentage ratio that is printed on the bag. I just want to make that I'm getting the correct SBM.

I'll keep you posted.

i don't know when your vacation is

July 28 - August 5 (run by when I can get coverage for my on-call status, unfortunately).

It's a bit early, I know, but the best I can do. I was planning on waiting until the end of that period since we're usually only 2 weeks away from cooler weather. Optimally.

I seem to remember that adding calcium helps to clump clay so that it doesn't get so hard.

I used to live in Warrenville, in a subdivision that had 2" of top soil layed down over the clay left behind from stipping the land first. I did a soil test and found there was not much of nothing and added "super potassium" from Amlings and the KBG grew very dark, thick and too fast. I'm fairly certain I did a calcium treatment, but can't remember what I did. But for the flower beds, I rototilled in peatmoss and composted cow manure to create a drainable workable soil about 12" deep.

Is that Kentucky Bluegrass or Perennial Rye?

Looks good!

My Bluegrass lawn has already seen a share of record highs and a week of 90F's with the highest temperature recorded so far this season (2007) of 97F. Damn global warming (excuse my French) Summers in NC used to be mild... Oh well.

Here's a pic of my lawn:

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Hi auteck, it's a simple Kentucky Bluegrass species.

Last time it rained was a week ago. I have to wait 6 more days according to WEATHER.COM before it rains again. However, it's still showing its majestic beauty especially after the edging. :) Hahaha! :D

Could you post some more pics after the edging?

Sure, once I get home tonight, I will post a pic. :)

Thanks,

Ron

Damn you auteck! I just went and bought an Echo stick trimmer after seeing your well manicured edges! Your lawn looks great and has excellent color--and your pic is not oversaturated like some digicams tend to do.

Last time it rained was a week ago. I have to wait 6 more days according to WEATHER.COM before it rains again.

I think, I was wrong when I said "it rained a week ago". It's been more than a week after seeing Weather.com's previous log. My guess is 2 weeks. I'm glad that roots are really digging deeper and finding more liquid mines. :)

Anyways, I arrived home around 6:30pm yesterday. My lawn was asking for water on some few spots. However, some parts were still good. I didn't want to stress them so I deep watered the lawn this morning. I don't want to wait until Tuesday as I'm not sure if it's really going to rain.

auteck,

I will mulch mow and edge tomorrow morning. That's the time I will take pictures. This way, my lawn won't be embarrased. Hahaha! :)

Could you post some more pics after the edging?

Sorry auteck, it took so long. It was only this morning that I was able to mulch-mow and edge.

Here it is

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and this is the tool I'm using

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I noticed that it is not straight when I saw the picture in the camera. Next time I edge, I know what to do to straighten it. :)

Beautiful...

Keep up the good work! Nice job edging.

When did last fertilze? And are you going to fertilize in the summer?

I just fertilized last Saturday, June 16. My next light application will probably be late July, then heavy on late August or early September.

I'm thinking of overseeding too. I really like the colors of turf_toes's lawn.

Thanks for the compliments! :)