Renovation Instructions

Turfgrass Renovation Steps

1. Control existing vegetation that you don't want. If you use a selective broadleaf herbicide (2,4-D, dicamba, or mecoprop), wait one month before the next step. Proceed only after seven to ten days following total vegetation control with Roundup herbicide and five days with Finale.
2. Set your mower as low as possible, scalp off all existing vegetation, and rake clean.
3. Prepare surface with power rake, verticutter, core aerifier, or Garden Weasel. Skip steps 3, 4, 6 and 8 if you use slit seeding equipment, which places seed directly into the soil.
4. Rake loosened thatch and existing debris.
5. Add starter fertilizer (18-24-6 at 1 lb. actual Nitrogen per 1,000 sq ft).
6. Make a final pass to create open channels for seed collection.
7. Apply seed in two directions, once paralell to the street and once diagonally.
8. Lightly rake seed into soil surface.
9. Water three times a day, ten minutes each time, at 10:00. 2:00 and 4:00, until the new grass is established.

Renovating tips

Assess situation. First, assess your lawn situation for desirability and appropriateness of the grass, presence of weeds and bare spots. Kill existing vegetation (grasses and weeds) if any one of the following apply:

• Less than 50 percent of the area is in the desired turfgrass.
• Only a cool season lawn grass is desired but bermudagrass has invaded. If bermudagrass is in localized patches or is encroaching from a neighbor along your property line, kill all vegetation only in those areas.
• You want to use a turf-type tall fescue but currently have Kentucky bluegrass, or K-31 tall fescue.
• You have several weeds that require non-selective control such as quackgrass, tall fescue, bermudagrass, nimblewill and bentgrass.

Lawns that have more than 50 percent desirable grass, but still appear thin and weak with several broadleaved weeds, may need only control of broadleaved weeds with herbicides such as 2,4-D, mecoprop and dicamba. After weed competition is reduced, lawns may regain their original density.

Bare patches less than 4 inches in diameter likely will fill in on their own with proper fertility and no additional seeding. Larger areas that remain too thin a month after broadleaf herbicide treatment may be overseeded. Shaded areas of lawns with thin turf and exposed soil often appear to need additional seeding. Renovate these areas but do not kill existing turf that has thus far survived the difficult growing conditions of shade.

Prepare surface for seeding. One of the most important steps in renovation is placing the seed in contact with soil. This sounds simple, but most lawns have thatch - an intermingled layer of both dead and living plants - over the soil surface. This brown, decomposing layer may be up to 2 inches thick. Lawns with more than 1/2 inch of thatch should be dethatched.

Seed placed on or in the thatch layer may germinate, but the eventual stand of grass that develops will be poor. Thatch in excess of 1 inch may need to be removed with a sod cutter before reseeding.

To ensure good seed-to-soil contact, use power equipment to prepare the surface for seeding. Power rakes, verticutters, slit seeders and core aerators are effective machines for properly preparing the surface for seeding. A Garden Weasel is a useful hand tool for small lawn renovation projects.

Dethatching equipment is sometimes available from local rental stores. Local lawn care and landscape companies also provide dethatching and renovation service. Two to four passes over the lawn may be necessary depending on the soil hardness and thatch thickness.

Power rake. Power rakes are lawn mower-like machines that have spring tines instead of blades. The power-driven spring tines rotate in a vertical position and rip the thatch out of the ground.

Spring tines that attach to the lawn mower blade do not adequately prepare the surface for seeding. A half inch of thatch can be removed with a severe power raking, but be prepared to handle several bags of loosened thatch. Power rakes that can be adjusted so that the soil surface is slightly scratched will ensure good seed-to-soil contact but may not loosen hard soils.

Vertical mower. Vertical mowers are similar to power rakes except that they have fixed or flail-type blades that cut groves through the thatch and into the soil. Fixed-blade vertical mowers, sometimes called slicers, are better at cutting into the soil.

Heavy-duty, walk-behind vertical mowers are superior to power rakes for preparing a seedbed. They cut deeper into the soil, 1/2 to 3/4 inch, redistribute some soil onto the surface, and provide some soil loosening that helps seedling establishment.

Power rakes and vertical mowers can accumulate a large amount of grass debris on the surface that should be removed so that the seed can contact the soil. After sufficient disruption of the surface, lightly rake the dead debris off the surface, leaving the loosened soil behind. After raking, a final pass with the equipment will produce closely spaced groves that are excellent channels for catching broadcast seed.

Slit seeder. Slit seeders are smaller versions of agricultural grain drills, but with closer spacings between discs. The discs slice open the ground just ahead of a small tube that drops the seed into the open furrow. A packing wheel follows the seed tube and closes the sliced ground.

Some slit seeders also have a vertical mowing attachment in front of the discs that loosens and redistributes soil on the surface. A slit seeder sows grasses in distinct rows 2 to 6 inches apart depending on the space between the drill discs. It is important to repeat the seeding process at different angles until each square inch of lawn shows at least one drill row. This usually can be accomplished with two to four passes across the lawn making a checkerboard pattern.

Core aerifier. Coring machines have a series of hollow tines that cut several cylindrical holes in the ground 2 to 3 inches deep and 1/2 inch in diameter. Some machines will not penetrate hard and dry compacted soils.

Coring machines are primarily used to provide a channel through which air, fertilizer and water can enter the soil. This channel cut through the thatch and into the soil helps to reduce soil compaction, increase root growth and redistribute soil on the upper surface of the thatch. The soil should be sufficiently moist so that the coring machine can penetrate. If a screwdriver can be pushed by hand 3 inches into the ground, the soil is about right. Soils that are too wet will clog the hollow tines and prevent core removal.

The soil cores should be left on the surface to create a more favorable environment for breakdown of the thatch layer by naturally occurring soil microbes. When the soil cores have dried, they can be chopped and dispersed over the surface with a mower, verticutter or power rake. If coring is to be the primary means of preparing a seedbed, the area should be cored to produce at least one hole every 2 inches. Seed and fertilize while the core holes are open.

Core aerifiers are of many different sizes and shapes. As with all equipment, check to see that it will fit through the gates on property gates before renting or contracting a service.

Garden Weasel. This is a manually operated long handled tool that creates a seed bed using three star-shaped intermeshing rotary cutters. When used properly, the Garden Weasel breaks up the ground to a 1 1/2 inch depth without removing deep rooted turfgrass plants. For best results, use the Garden Weasel to work up the soil in the renovation area first, then spread the seed, and then work up the area again with the Garden Weasel, thus insuring proper seed to soil contact in the loose soil.

The Garden Weasel is ideal for use on small areas, where renting power equipment is not cost effective, or where surface tree roots preclude the use of power devices.

For best results in lawn renovation, the Garden Weasel should be modified for use in both a fore and aft motion. To do this, drill a small hole in the metal garden weasel head and firmly attach it with a screw to the wooden handle.

Garden Weasels are sold at most major garden supply outlets for less than $30, or contact Garden Weasel Division, Faultless Starch/Bon Ami Company, 1025 West 8th ST, Kansas City, MO, 64101.