About once a month it is always good to post some of the most frequently asked questions during that time period as well as some that I know many of you may have.

I overseeded too early and lost some of the seed to the heat, when do I know I need to reseed?

If you dropped seed back in September you may have noticed that some of your seed did not come up as well as you would have liked.  The most likely cause is not the birds, but a regrowth of your warm season turf because of the hot temperatures.   If you have had the seed down for two weeks and there is nothing coming up yet I suggest sprinkling some seed in those areas.  If the bermuda growth has been excessive over the last few weeks and buried the seed you may need to light verticut again before seeding to get seed into the turf canopy.

How much should I water I non overseeded turf in the fall and winter?

Your lawn is still going to grow for a few more weeks or until we get some low night time temperatures to slow it down so you still want to water 2x per week for 20 minutes each cycle.  This number will need to be doubled if you are using MP Rotors or a similar sprinkler with low output.

What is the difference between power raking, dethatching and verticutting?

Dethatching involves the use of flail type blades that are designed to rip out excessive thatch. The dethatching machine is set low so that the blades reach into surface of the soil. If a lawn has excessive thatch and it is dethatched, an incredible amount of plant material will be ripped up from the lawn. Several pickup trucks of dead thatch can be created from an average sized lawn. The lawn will suffer extensive damage as well, because the knives will not only rip out the thatch but also rip out a large percentage of the healthy grass plants. The growing points of a grass plant are at the base of the plant, and a lot of the growing points are damaged when a lawn is dethatched.  I do not recommend using this for the overseeded season and if you need to dethatch use it in the summer when regrowth will happen in a couple weeks.

Power raking generally involves using fixed knife type blades that slice the thatch as opposed to ripping it out. The dethatching machine is set high so that the blades just skim the surface. Power raking does not cause the extensive damage that dethatching does, and so the lawn recovers rapidly and maintains its density.

Verticutting is set of blades that cut into the turf canopy while they are spinning.  The blades can be set to different depths to minimize turf damage and it is an excellent process of opening up the turf canopy for overseeding.

Is it too late for me to put my winter lawn in?

There are still a few good weeks to drop seed in on your lawn but I would recommend seeding by November 15^th for the best grow in.

I am not going to overseed, how do I control weeds in my lawn?

Always check the label before using a product but some of the most efficient products on the market are Trimec, 2,4-D, cloropyralid, and Monument.

What should I do for my St. Augustine lawn during the fall?

The St. Augustine will go dormant in about a month so there is no time like now to make sure it will be winter hardy.  A good application of a balanced fertilizer is excellent now and try to avoid products that are high in nitrates.

I am new to the whole overseeding process, is there somewhere I can see what you are referring to?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-1ttP1u9lM

College Football Week 7

Let’s me get right to it and discuss another big weekend of college football.  Saturday was full of surprises again and for the third week in a row we have seen the number 1 team go down to a lesser opponent.  I made that prediction in my lock of the week last Wednesday telling everyone that Oklahoma was highly overrated and there is nothing glamorous right now about being the best team in the weak Big 12 conference.  I am not sure we learned anything more about Missouri except that they will hold a high ranking until they are upset by a weak conference foe also.

Saturday was slated to be a huge game day and it didn’t disappoint as we got to see Cam Newton crush LSU and Wisconsin go into Iowa and take them out because of all the missed opportunities they had earlier in the game.  Wisconsin may be playing for pride right now because unless the Hawkeyes beat the Spartans this weekend they will be out of the BCS picture looking in.  Their only loss came at the hands of MSU and I don’t see any losses on MSU’s schedule after the Iowa game.  With that being said I do see them being upset this weekend by Iowa and then running the table in route to the first Rose Bowl berth since 1965.

If you are the Ducks of Oregon you may be wondering what you have to do get that #1 ranking and maybe it is to score 100 points a game.  I really have no idea except that the media will always be very SEC biased and put them ahead of a good PAC-10 school.  I would have thought this would have been the week they improved to number one after they spanked UCLA on national TV on Thursday.

How about the Sun Devils?  It may be time that they start getting some resumes together and looking for someone to come in and lead this team.  It should not be possible for a poor California team to put up 50 points on a pretty decent ASU defense.

Now I did lose my other lock of the week and that was the UA game which surprised me without QB Nick Foles in the line-up.  Now I don’t think there will be any controversy when he comes back but there will always be people calling for the backup.  The backup is always everyone’s best friend until he gets in the game turning the season south in a hurry.

If you are a Boise or TCU fan just keep praying for everyone to lose, but I still don’t think it will be enough even if you did beat Wyoming 59-0 last weekend.  I will say that TCU will be upset by Utah ending their hopes but the Broncos will probably run the table only to be left out again for a better SEC or Big Ten team.  If you are Boise all you ever hear about is the strength of schedule and I know you have tried to schedule a real opponent but no one is coming to play on the blue rug so start getting your athletic director to play 4 out of conference road games each year.

I had a great week last week going 5-1 and I see good things again this week with some great match ups on the table.  Here is who I like this weekend and how I currently see the BCS games being played out this January as of today.

Michigan over Penn St by 9 in the ESPN night game.  Now they don’t typically play well during night games they are coming off two straight losses and have had the bye week for Denard Robinson to get healthy.  Look for him to run for 200+ yards in a 35-26 victory. Michigan needs this victory to become bowl eligible for the first time under Coach Rodriguez.

Oregon by 15 over USC – Call this what you want but it will be a blow out because USC just doesn’t have the defense to contain the Ducks.  They will run all over the field with their gimmicky offense putting a hurt on the front four of USC.  The Trojans are going to have to figure out a way to score points early if they have any shot of being in this game but I see another game like last week playing out in Southern California.   Ducks 45  SC 30.

UA @ UCLA – UCLA might be the worst team in the PAC 10 and this week is not going to make themselves feel any better when the back up QB from UA heads over to California and puts a hurt on the Bruins.  Look for a tight game early and then when the jitters are out of UA’s system they will blow them off the field making Neuheisel think twice about not using pads and hitting during spring practice.

MSU @ Iowa – Sorry Spartans but your undefeated run is going to come to an end this weekend in Iowa.  You have been sitting on the ledge for some time now I think the pink Iowa locker rooms combined with Dantonio’s gutsy play calling is going to bite them in the butt this weekend.  I like Iowa in the lock of the week 24-17.

Missouri @ Nebraska – Now that Nebraska has their inaugural loss to Texas out of the way it appears they have found themselves a QB that is going to lead them to Glendale to play the Boise St Broncos.  Yawn.  While this game looks interesting on paper it really isn’t being Missouri has been relatively untested so far and Oklahoma was highly over rated.  I like Herbie Husker 45 and Missouri 31.

BCS game predictions after week two of the standings

Rose Bowl – Michigan St versus Stanford (Stanford is a long shot but I think in a few weeks they will be competing for this spot)

Fiesta Bowl – Nebraska versus Boise St

Orange Bowl – Virginia Tech versus Ohio St

Sugar Bowl – Auburn versus Utah

National Championship – Alabama versus Oregon

 

Ultra Run # 2

I just spent this past Saturday night and into Sunday morning pacing laps for my friends competing in the Javelina Jundred 100 mile run.  They had unbelievable runs with one of them coming in below 24 hours and the other coming in below 25 hours.   While most of us can’t fathom even being awake for 24 hours they ran all day and night long to complete their goal and finishing the race.  I didn’t think I was quite ready for this race this year so it is on the schedule for next year, and I have a few good warm ups between now and then including a 50k mountain run this weekend in Cave Creek, AZ.  I feel like I am ready to go now that I am back adjusted to the mountain running and am hoping for a time right around 6-6 ½ hours depending on the difficulty of the trail.  I have a few more of these smaller races before I will go on to run the 50 mile Sonoita run in March and then get ready for the 100 miler next year.  If you are interested in competing in some of these races let me know and I will send out the information.  Have a good week and GO Blue.

Please check out my previous blogs for more info on keeping your grass the best in the neighborhood.

Jay