Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design Re: Oh No! Whats wrong with my turf?! 3Nov 19, 2010 5:45 pm The soil is from Werribee or Hoppers Crossing and I think the grass grower is around there as well. My sister said when she used to work in the garden section of Mitre 10 they would occassionally get a batch of soil that was infected with weeds and they would have to refund whoever came forward with the problem. I don't know if that will fly where we got it from though, hard to prove I guess? Re: Oh No! Whats wrong with my turf?! 4Nov 19, 2010 5:52 pm It looks as though the turf has mostly died off and the weeds have taken over? I'm no expert though by any means. Fu should be able to give you some pointers... I'm going to bet though that he says it has something to do with soil preparation Re: Oh No! Whats wrong with my turf?! 7Nov 19, 2010 8:04 pm you need some Amgro winter grass killer that has "endothal" in it. That will sort most of your problem grasses without hurting what is left of the buffalo... which is somewhere there ... I think No point in blaming anyone or anything. Most of those varieties of grasses are pretty common around your part of town and I'd lay money the seeds have blown in on the wind rather than been present in the soil or even in the turf. That just wouldn't happen. Even if there was seeds in the soil, the plant would not have the energy to push through even 20mm of turf roll. But when a soil is not well, the plants are not strong. When the plant is not strong, it's gonna get picked on. Your soil is.... If only you had read my turf laying summary ... If only Re: Oh No! Whats wrong with my turf?! 8Nov 19, 2010 8:21 pm Do a quick search on spraying and use my username in the search. That will offer a few guides to how to spray with best effect. Top dress with certified organic soil if you can, apply molasses. There's a thread in here on that too Using just any compost or "lawn top dress" just doesn't cut it. It really must be certified organic compost. see BAAG for that. (Bulleen Art and Garden) The methods used and recommended are not anywhere near what I would do but are accepted industry practices unfortunately. The method you have been advised to use will result in a shallow root system that will be subject extremes of heat and cold and will directly effect the integrity of the turf. Re: Oh No! Whats wrong with my turf?! 9Nov 19, 2010 11:03 pm Oh no! I do have some winter grass killer, its in a little orange box, I hope its the right one. I thought in my head I didn't want to overdose it on all sorts of killing stuff so I held out on that one after i did the weed and feed and seasol. I'll put that on this weekend, after checking the box for endothal Should i keep trying to weed it (sacrificing my poor soft office hands) or let all this stuff I am going to put on it do it's thing? On a positive note there is some buffalo in there somewhere - two lovely thick rows of it against the retaining wall . That part has some weeds, mostly the parsley things and clovers rather than the ugly ugly grasses but its a sight better than the rest of it. I shall persist with it anyway despite my black thumb. Thanks for all your help and I will update if it gets better... or worse . Re: Oh No! Whats wrong with my turf?! 10Nov 20, 2010 7:33 am I know all about soft hands ... I do not dare touching anything in the garden without leather gloves on . Bnngs currently sells some bright blue super soft gloves which are lined with some thin cotton fabric inside. They also have velcro fastening and are the rare gloves that come in S size and are soft . These are the best I found so far , they will certainly totally save your hands , you wouldn't even know what you've been doing in the garden. My signature is distracting people from my wise posts ... Re: Oh No! Whats wrong with my turf?! 11Nov 20, 2010 3:10 pm As for the weed and feed bizzo, well there are products suitable for buffalo. There is heaps of info here at Homeone on this subject Again if only you had been with us earlier Amgro do one called "Bin-die" and is far cheaper for the exact same thing as some of the "specialised" buffalo products. Don't pay for a label If you do a quick search on that, you will find a heap of my posts on how best to apply it and get it too work. The success of weed and feed sprays depends on many things. It can't rain after it has been applied and best to have dry days following as well. Always spray in the evening so the leaves of the weeds absorb it all through the whole day. If you do it in the arvo you'll expect some average results Add seasol to it It amplifies the effects if you like. Seasol works far better than any other method like adding urea or sulphate of ammonia. Try to avoid ready to use weed and feeds. Some remaining weeds will need to pulled out by hand. If it were me, in that area, I'd just grab the spade and get into digging them up. Re: Oh No! Whats wrong with my turf?! 13Nov 24, 2010 2:48 am It would be realistic to say that once the weeds are eradicated, easy stuff, we can get that back no worries. Seamungus green crumble, dolomite of lime (where you are) and molasses. If it gets hotter which no doubt it is going to or has happened then maybe a wetting agent as well and I'd only suggest Saturaid, but that is all down the track Re: Oh No! Whats wrong with my turf?! 14Nov 26, 2010 11:28 pm Poisen the lot, then start again - I'd try a grass that is itself a weed - Kikuyu! Unstoppable. Re: Oh No! Whats wrong with my turf?! 15Nov 27, 2010 6:53 pm I can't condone the recommendation to poison everything and start again. If I did, I would have recommended it. It would be a case of using poisons for the wrong reasons. To me that would be a waste of money. They is enough there to bring things back and with good diligent care it is doable. Resist the urge to use chemical fertilisers on it. If something is not going well in the garden, the last thing that should be done is to fertilise it. You don't go into a hospital and take someone from a bed and get them to run a marathon. I have posted what needs to be done and it will be fine 2 31355 there is only 20% difference in concrete strength between 20 mpa and 25 mpa, so check with your engineer first if it fits his calculation tolerances. There are ways to… 6 18304 i imagine you also have another contract with an architect? and yeah, whatever other's said about special conditions and appendices 16 16026 |