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| One Year Later https://www.dirtdoctor.com/efl/dirtDoctor/one-year-later-t7072.html |
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| Author: | martyn [ Sat May 06, 2006 10:03 pm ] |
| Post subject: | One Year Later |
Hello everyone, I joined the site about 14 months ago and began an organic program for my bermuda lawn. I live on an acre lot in Celina with rocky red clay. My grass is green but very thin. The only place it grows well is up next to the house, which I suspect is because the builders used more top soil there to grade away from the house. When I say thin, I mean I can go weeks without mowing, it just doesn't grow. Unfortunately, I have lots of weeds in these areas also. Here is what I have done so far in 14 months: --I started last spring by top dressing with compost, which was hard work, even though I am only working on the front right now, so probably about 1/3 of an acre. I also applied corn gluten meal, dry molasses, and alfalfa pellets. --I then bought a 25 gallon sprayer and applied compost tea following directions from this forum, much easier than top dressing. --since March 1 this year I have applied corn gluten meal, dry molasses, Gardenville Organic fertilizer, aerated, and 2 batches of compost tea about 3 weeks apart. After all of this, my grass has not gotten any thicker, though it is nice and green, especially with all of the recent rain. Still, when I mow, I am mostly mowing the tops off the weeds. But the grass is still very thin except in a couple of areas. Where the grass is thick, I have no weeds. So, what's my next move? Top dressing/leveling with a top soil mixture is something I haven't tried. Or more compost? Am I being impatient? Any feedback or advice would be appreciated. I would be happy to email pictures to anyone who wants to see what I am describing. Marty |
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| Author: | martyn [ Mon May 08, 2006 7:16 am ] |
| Post subject: | |
thanks for the response. I appreciate it. My lawn is in full sun. The trees in the yard are fairly new and only a few. I am making my compost tea, following directions on this website, in a 38 gallon barrell. Yes it is aerated with 2 pumps running 4 stones (2 big ones in the bottom and 2 small one in the bags) After 6-8 hour I remove the bags and continue aerating until about 16-20 hours when I spray the tea. |
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| Author: | martyn [ Mon May 08, 2006 7:18 am ] |
| Post subject: | |
I have used compost and worm castings as the main source of my tea and add liquid molasses and liquid fish at 1/2 oz per gallon. |
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| Author: | user_48634 [ Mon May 08, 2006 11:58 am ] |
| Post subject: | |
Hy Martyn. I don't think you're being impatient. If you have bermuda in full sun, it should be growing. You are the 1% of people who might actually need a soil test. You have thrown the book at this problem with unsatisfactory results. If it was St Augustine I would suggest using ORDINARY corn meal as a precaution and prevention of fungal disease, but from what I read, bermuda just doesn't get diseases like SA does. If you want to wait another three weeks, try some ordinary corn meal at 20 pounds per 1,000 square feet and see if things pick up. Or if you want to do the soil test, go to the website for the Texas Plant and Soil Laband follow their instructions for sending them a sample. Tell them you are organic and they will limit their suggestions to organic solutions. |
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