Just moved to Austin.......

[Cumminspuller]

We just moved north of Austin in the small town of leander. The current lawn is not thick. I was told if you throw down Rye grass seed that it will help with the thin areas? How true is this and is this a good suggestion?

Jason

[ArmadilloLawnCare]

What kind of grass do you currently have? Rye is usually used as a winter grass in Texas and will die come summer and the hot weather.

[Cumminspuller]

Alright gentleman........Sorry it has taken so long to get back to you on this, but this is what I am dealing with. I would prefer to take care of the weeds with some sort of natural weed killer. I would rather not have my daughter or dog exposed to any sort of pesticides.




So any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated. So fat the lawn has not been mowed or anything done to it this year. Previous owners did not fertilize or anything.

Jay

[NEPSJay]

you got way to many weeds there to overseed, IMO. thats gonna be hard without chemicals, if it were my yard, I'd kill everything there with herbicide, till it under, and sod over it.

[bcg]

This is fairly typical for many Tx lawns right now that didn't get watered last year. Your two options are to be really patient and fertilize and eventually the St Augustine that's still alive will retake the lawn. In the meantime the Bermuda will likely take over. The other option is to kill, till, fill and sod.

I don't know the name of those tall weeds but pull them out by the roots and throw them away. If you mow or line trim them, they'll spread. Once it gets hot they'll die off on their own (actually all those weeds will) but if you pull them out by the roots, you'll have fewer next year and even fewer the next, etc.

Rye is a winter grass here, there's no point in seeding it now. If you want to seed something just to fill it in until the St Augustine gets healthy again, use Bermuda.

[ArmadilloLawnCare]

If you seed Bermuda and the original grass is St Augistine it's only a matter of time before the Bermuda will take over. If you don't want to use any kind of pesticide then I'd say start pulling. Those tall weeds look like a thistle which can be tough to get rid of and boy do they get tall. I think the best answer is to keep your child out of the backyard for a bit while you get it into shape. They can't be on it anyway if your going to install new grass. You really could get those all pulled pretty quick. Then decide if your grass is dormant or dead. I live about 70 miles south of you and my grass is still pretty brown from being dormant. After pulling the weeds, put down some pre emergent (skip the pre emergent if you plan on seeding), water it in and then throw some fert down. After that start watering the grass regularly and give it a chance to come around. If it doesn't start to come around then decide if you want to seed or sod your yard.

[Cumminspuller]

Thank you gentleman...........I will get to work this weekend.........


Jason