My lawn is a weed infested disaster.
I will tear it out and start over.
Should I till it or use a sod cutter to get the lawn out?
Should I kill it first with roundup?
Other advice?
I prefer answers from somebody who has tried it.
Thx.
-Em

"Em" wrote in message
...
My lawn is a weed infested disaster.
I will tear it out and start over.
Should I till it or use a sod cutter to get the lawn out?
Should I kill it first with roundup?
Other advice?
I prefer answers from somebody who has tried it.
Thx.
-Em

A cat D8 works pretty good.

"Em" wrote in message
...
My lawn is a weed infested disaster.
I will tear it out and start over.
Should I till it or use a sod cutter to get the lawn out?
Should I kill it first with roundup?
Other advice?
I prefer answers from somebody who has tried it.
Thx.
-Em



I have done it more than once on different lawns.
Fall is better than Spring. Depending on where you are it may be to late
this year.
Mow as close to the ground as you can cut.
Chemically kill everything that is green. Roundup type but that brand is not
my favorite.
Most require 3 week wait before reseeding.
Then till and rake smooth removing all sod clump, clods and rocks.
Fertilize with a balanced fertilizer or starter mix, sow, cover with straw
and keep moist till it germinates.
Water regular till well established.
Use no weed killer until it has been mowed at least three times.

Just a note: If you choose to cheat because you are short on time and skip
the chemical part you must remove almost all of the green vegetation after
tilling because it will bind or tie up the nitrogen in the soil.


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Em wrote:
My lawn is a weed infested disaster.
I will tear it out and start over.
Should I till it or use a sod cutter to get the lawn out?
Should I kill it first with roundup?
Other advice?
I prefer answers from somebody who has tried it.
Thx.
-Em

Plan ahead to allow time for chemical killing of all growth. 2-3 weeks.
Rent or borrow a Counter Rotating Tine tiller. Using a forward
rotating tiller to break sod does great things for excersize but is a
tedious job. Even tractor mounted front rotaters are not that great at
busting sod. I have done it both with tractor mounted and walk behinds
and believe me if I had to do it again I would BUY a CRT before I'd use
a forward rotator again.

Harry K

In article .com,
"Harry K" wrote:

Em wrote:
My lawn is a weed infested disaster.
I will tear it out and start over.

The Round-Up people have a website which walks you through the whole
schedule. Two people I know have done it that way with superb results.
Good luck!

Process depends on the current turf grass but i've done this more times
than I'd like to remember.

RoundUp requires actively growing plants to translocate for effective
kill.

I've only done spring & summer lawn renovations; depending on location
Bermuda could be going dormant.

My process used to very good success............

mow short
water & fertilize to get weeds / lawn growing well
RoundUp prior to seed development
Sod cut killed turf (about a week or two later)

If sodding just till, amend & you're good to go.

If seeding,
repeat water & fertilize to get weeds from residual seeds growing well
RoundUp prior to seed development
Now you're ready to till, amend & seed.

I've done this to get rid of blade grass & Heinz 57 weeds that I
allowed to take over (several times) a dichondra lawn in SoCal AND
once to get rid of Bermuda to start the dichondra lawn.

cheers
Bob

"Em" wrote in message
...
My lawn is a weed infested disaster.
I will tear it out and start over.
Should I till it or use a sod cutter to get the lawn out?
Should I kill it first with roundup?
Other advice?
I prefer answers from somebody who has tried it.

The sod cutter will leave a more weed free result, as the weed seeds will
mostly be removed with the sod.
Roundup does not kill the seeds.

Bob

"Em" wrote in message
...
My lawn is a weed infested disaster.
I will tear it out and start over.
Should I till it or use a sod cutter to get the lawn out?
Should I kill it first with roundup?
Other advice?
I prefer answers from somebody who has tried it.
Thx.
-Em

So why tear out the lawn? A couple broad leaf weed killer applications then
change to more specialized killers.

When I moved into this house I had weeds that were 2.5 feet high. Took a
week with the lawn mower to get the lawn down to 4 inches high. I then
sprayed broad leaf killer on it. I have dead areas but the grass is filling
in nicely. Keep it watered between chemical applications. Grass can choke
out a lot of stuff that might be growing now.

Forget all the methods above. Hire someone with a power rake to
obliterate the lawn. Then use roundup in a pressure sprayer to kill
everything off for about a month. Then lay new sod. Best result
guaranteed.