I am trying to rehab a section of our lawn that is in bad shape. I began by burning whole sections of it thinking that might kill off the crab grass seeds. Next I dug up as many of the errant perennials that I could that have self sown in the lawn. Then I went at it with hooks and tongs to get out the blankety-blank plantains. That was tough. There still are a bunch but I am too tired to dig them out. So I have sown grass seed twice, 2 weeks ago and now 1 week ago. Nothing has sprouted. Any ideas? I have sprinkled the area a couple of times. Does it need to be kept damp in order to sprout? Pretty sad, huh? ( photo / image / picture from Cayuga Morning's Garden ) some of the remaining plantains ( photo / image / picture from Cayuga Morning's Garden )
The seeds should be raked smooth into about the top 1 inch of soil, don't just scatter and leave them they will dry out. And the area needs to be kept moist until the grass is established, sprinkling a couple of times won't do the job. Don't water so much that there are puddles but you might have to water 2-3 times a day to keep it from drying out depending on the temperature and how windy it is.
Toni, Okay I have raked the seeds in and watered them well. I am off this week so I will be able to water regularly, but I am back to work next week. The best I can do is morning & evening watering.
That should be fine, Drying out a little during the day isn't as bad as being dry for days between waterings. Good Luck
Toni--Success!! I took your advice & have been watering so as to keep the area damp. I now have tiny grass hairs sprouting. I take it I must keep up the watering until they are much better established?
I would say yes. It usually takes a solid 2 weeks of watering consistently. My first week, I usually water 3 times a day and the second week 2 times a day. After that, you can water depending on the area you live in (usually once a day)
Hi JesseN--thanks for your input. My grass seedlings are off to a good start and this week we are forecasted 4 days of rain showers, so i think they will love it. Unfortunately the remaining plaintains I did not remove are flourishing and shading out the grass in certain areas. When I get my strength up (motivation), I will have to remove them with a shovel & re-seed.
Hi Jessen & Toni--My grass seed is up and doing very well. Unfortunately so are the plantains. Do you (or anyone else) have any ideas how to deal with them? I have been pulling & pulling. Today i noticed there are scads of baby plantains coming up! . I hate to use chemicals, but are there some that are less toxic?
Have you tried vinegar ? Pick a good hot day, cut the weed off as close to the ground as possible and spray the bottom part with straight vinegar. It might penetrate enough to kill the root. However if the weed spreads via the roots, you will just have to keep on till you get them all. Or you can plant a grass that is thick enough to choke it out,,like bermuda grass or St Augustine but they may not be applicable for your area.
Cuyaga Morn, I would suggest using the synthetic broadleaf weed killer(2,4-d) that you dilute with water and spray on in the morning. The vinegar is an ok method if you don't mind killing any of the newly sprouted grass from accidental overspray. No matter how careful you are it still happens :-x you may also want to try some cornmeal gluten (aka preen or the like), to keep the new plantain from germinating and growing there. Once you have a rooted plant, the pre-emergent won't work on that, only on seeds that are just emerging. It works by killing the root as it comes from the seed.
Mart & Carolyn--thank you for your suggestions. I think I will try all three! There are places on the lawn where the only thing growing are the @#$%^&*(&^$ plantains. There I will try the vinegar. There are other areas where the plantains are intermingled with the new grass seed. I will try the 2-4D there. I am very glad to hear about the pre-emergent use of cornmeal gluten. I think the whole lawn area has scads of unsprouted plantain seeds, just awaiting! We let the plantains get out of control.
