Lava Rock

I'm going to spread some Sevin granules on the lawn. I have little doubt after seeing some bugs in the grass that all this damage is due to chinch bugs. Can't believe i didn't think if this sooner.

To add to this, I've seen some insects in the soil. Starting to think they might be chinch bugs. Need to look more carefully and confirm identification.

We're cursed on Radon Hill. There are some green shoots coming through in some areas, so it seems like little water is the reason, but IDK, this stuff just pulls right out. There are also some bugs in the soil too, but they're not grubs. Meanwhile, on the other side of the house (below) where the crabgrass has taken over, it's just a mess. Heck, you can still see the outline of the erosion mat they laid down almost one year ago.

mostly time constraint. the area I want to seed is ~600sqft. I'll need ~24 bags of compost. I know I can get it delivered in bulk is cheaper, but I don't want to shovel it. Just dump the bag and spread it out, then seed. I just have this feeling I'm wasting my time though. I've tried seeding in Fall and Spring and rarely have any luck. I swear it's got something to do with the granite beneath.

yeah, they seeded last Oct. I thought about doing it in the next 2 wks or so. Maybe we'll get an indian summer.

Not good. I've got a 125mi bike ride, starting 7am at SMCC on Saturday. It's the Lighthouse Ride, which goes all along the coast. I figure if it's not wet, it'll be breezy/gusty which adds to the pain.

lol, that's not crabgrass, just "regular" grass. We essentially have three different areas of grass around the property that over the years either represent the "original" lawn when we built the house, new lawn/hydroseed (backyard) which is 2yrs old and last year's topsoil/hydroseed (front yard). I'm going to do a soil analysis on all three and see how the organic matter compares, among other things. I kind of know what to expect on the original lawn as we've had it tested before, but I want to see how the two more recent lawn projects compare. My guess is they will all look similar and have low levels of matter and nitrate. As an experiment, I am going to overseed a small area with compost in the next couple weeks and see how that does. Didn't I say I wasn't going to spend more time and money on this stupid lawn????

As I'm pulling some of our dead and dormant grass away with my hand I see a lot of little pieces of what look like sawdust

Brutal. Where do you even start to clean up.

But should u fertilize dead and/or dormant grass? I dropped one round in April and one in June. I have two more bags, bit stopped cause the lawn looked terrible and figured it would do nothing or stress it more FYI, here's the last soil report

Just remembered we did this a few years ago and it did nothing. Although don't recall if the landscaper aerated first. He dropped some compost and sees and that was it

Was reading our last soil report from 2016 and our pH of soil is 5.7, which is slightly low. It's recommended to apply 30lbs lime per 1000sqrt. But, the real problem is low organic matter. From the report: "Your soil pH is only slightly low. The real problem is very low organic mater content, which greatly limits nutrient and water holding capacity. This is a common problem with purchased soil – perhaps also with the new soil you are bringing in. Almost any sandy soil needs some organic matter mixed in before seeding. Tilling in 1 – 2 inches compost and/or peat moss are common materials to use, either in your existing soil or soil brought in." Sounds like a huge project to till-in a bunch of compost or peat moss. I was going to buy a bunch of lime but that doesn't seem to be the problem.

Topsoil seems decent. Maybe 3-4". I checked for grubs and see none. It's just odd. Other houses around here on the hills have decent green lawn and theirs are exposed as much as ours. Maybe all the granite underneath has some effect, IDK. It's just ridiculous and an eye sore

I'll be doing what your doing soon...

Lawn looks terrible. Matted in places. Recent rain seems to be helping a little, but otherwise just garbage. I cut the "lawn" today. More like cutting a field.

I'm gonna check for grubs again, as I have those exact random dead patches. Last year when I checked, I didn't see any. I always blame it on the high heat and SW exposure, but there can good smaller sections of grass right up against the crummy ones, so maybe the grubs are there.

Hey, join the crowd. I like it!

Too late on mowing as the shoots are tall and full of seeds. I didn't mow recently because the "real" grass didn't need it (too dry), but the crabgrass kept growing. I'll whack in the Spring with Tenacity pre-emergent. I've got to be careful with chems, since our well, even at 500' deep is just to the left of the oak tree.

There is "some" grass, but it's dormant. The stuff I put down is a Bayer product sold in Lowes.

Well the crabgrass invasion continues to spread. I sprayed a couple nights ago with a post emergent, but not sure how well it will work. Not excited about putting that crap on the lawn, but I need to stop it somehow. Will need to hand seed/reseed the entire area next month. This is the last effort. No more money, no more "I want to have a decent lawn", my wife says just let it go and let it do what it wants.

I'm thinking of trying Drive XLR8. I know it's a chemical, but I want the crab dead and gone

If I kill crabgrass with roundup, hotwater or otherwise, with the intention of reseeding, I assume I will have to dig out the dead crabgrass first? Other than doing this by hand, what other methods to physically remove the crabgrass are avail for large areas?

I did the overseeding Fall of 2017 and rented a slit seeder and used KYB mix. Obviously I suck badly at lawns cause that didn't take either.

those blades look more fescue like. Not like the thick, stiff blade I see online. Are there different varieties?

Been reading online a bit today. The flat spot out back is 7000sqft. Suggestion is to do one plug for every sqft = 7000. Granted, not every sqft of that area needs fixing, but it's gonna look weird to have a grass species like that next to fescue, KBG until it eventually takes over. IDK what to do. Apparently zoysia seed is difficult to grow, requires a lot of water early on and only works well if starting from topsoil. The more plugs you put in the faster it spreads, but from what I read, 1-3yrs or so. I'm tired of waiting to have a good decent looking lawn, so not sure I want to put in the effort of plugging.