Australian Politics Forum - Fertilising the lawn

Ayn Marx

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Re: Fertilising the lawn
Reply #30 - Oct 9^th, 2021 at 7:50am

Valkie wrote on Oct 9^th, 2021 at 7:31am:

Ayn Marx wrote on Oct 8^th, 2021 at 9:24pm:

Valkie wrote on Oct 8^th, 2021 at 7:05pm:

The lawn i had when I moved into my home was barely there.

I tried fertilizer, chemicals, even replanting.

But with

lawn grubs

, crickets, drought and months of rain, I just couldn't get anything worthwhile.

Then the neighbor came over and gave me a hand.

He helped me kill off the grubs and crickets and showed me how to use "friendly" ways to get the birds to do the job.

Then we walked all over the lawn in spiky shoes.

He helped me lay some stuff to break up the clay that was preventing the water getting away and drowning the grass.

We put down agg pipe to help further.

Apparently I was cutting the grass too short, so I now mow longer grass and its healthier.

Finally, we put down several ton of quality topsoil.

I spend a hour a week pulling weeds (he says, by not using poison, it keeps the birds alive and they eat the bugs)

A couple of trees were planted to attract the birds and a birdbath.

My lawn looks better than ever, not as good as his, but not dead any more.

Oh, and I get lots of birds all over the lawn every day, the wife loves it.

I’m interested in what type of lawn grubs you have. Down here in outback rural Tasmania on a very wet property the locals call mysurrounded nasty winter beetle ‘lawn grubs’. Winter they surface during the night leaving holes surrounded by small mounds of excavated dirt. Local knowledge has it they eat the roots of lawn grass but how then does the lawn come back in early spring and the ‘grubs’ vanish? They can be killed off with a very toxic insectacide BUT it’s so nasty the lawn has to be fenced off for a month to prevent the poison affecting my dogs walking over it.
Not to worry, hints of spring are here and I’ve already had to get the lawn mower out . Mind you the battery on the lawn mower is charged from my solar panels so I can feel virtuously GREEN
saying my ‘Blessed be St Bob Browns’ over and over .

They sound like the dreaded crickets.

Mix up a solution of soapy water and go out in the evening and pour a bucket of this liberally on the ground where the holes are.
If its crickets, they will start popping up to get away from the soap.
The soap wont hurt the grass or the birds eating the crickets.
They tend to eat the grass roots and destroy patches of lawn

Lawn Grubs are generally the laval stage of black beetles.
If you have them you will see the beetles running around from tine to time.
About 1cm in length they are nasty little lawn killers.

No, they’re not laval black beetles. ( if I can get any sense out of the locals I’ll try and find their scientific name) Tried the soap trick didn’t work but killed the lawn.

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Valkie

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Re: Fertilising the lawn
Reply #31 - Oct 9^th, 2021 at 1:18pm

Ayn Marx wrote on Oct 9^th, 2021 at 7:50am:

Valkie wrote on Oct 9^th, 2021 at 7:31am:

Ayn Marx wrote on Oct 8^th, 2021 at 9:24pm:

Valkie wrote on Oct 8^th, 2021 at 7:05pm:

The lawn i had when I moved into my home was barely there.

I tried fertilizer, chemicals, even replanting.

But with

lawn grubs

, crickets, drought and months of rain, I just couldn't get anything worthwhile.

Then the neighbor came over and gave me a hand.

He helped me kill off the grubs and crickets and showed me how to use "friendly" ways to get the birds to do the job.

Then we walked all over the lawn in spiky shoes.

He helped me lay some stuff to break up the clay that was preventing the water getting away and drowning the grass.

We put down agg pipe to help further.

Apparently I was cutting the grass too short, so I now mow longer grass and its healthier.

Finally, we put down several ton of quality topsoil.

I spend a hour a week pulling weeds (he says, by not using poison, it keeps the birds alive and they eat the bugs)

A couple of trees were planted to attract the birds and a birdbath.

My lawn looks better than ever, not as good as his, but not dead any more.

Oh, and I get lots of birds all over the lawn every day, the wife loves it.

I’m interested in what type of lawn grubs you have. Down here in outback rural Tasmania on a very wet property the locals call mysurrounded nasty winter beetle ‘lawn grubs’. Winter they surface during the night leaving holes surrounded by small mounds of excavated dirt. Local knowledge has it they eat the roots of lawn grass but how then does the lawn come back in early spring and the ‘grubs’ vanish? They can be killed off with a very toxic insectacide BUT it’s so nasty the lawn has to be fenced off for a month to prevent the poison affecting my dogs walking over it.
Not to worry, hints of spring are here and I’ve already had to get the lawn mower out . Mind you the battery on the lawn mower is charged from my solar panels so I can feel virtuously GREEN
saying my ‘Blessed be St Bob Browns’ over and over .

They sound like the dreaded crickets.

Mix up a solution of soapy water and go out in the evening and pour a bucket of this liberally on the ground where the holes are.
If its crickets, they will start popping up to get away from the soap.
The soap wont hurt the grass or the birds eating the crickets.
They tend to eat the grass roots and destroy patches of lawn

Lawn Grubs are generally the laval stage of black beetles.
If you have them you will see the beetles running around from tine to time.
About 1cm in length they are nasty little lawn killers.

No, they’re not laval black beetles. ( if I can get any sense out of the locals I’ll try and find their scientific name) Tried the soap trick didn’t work but killed the lawn.

What type of soap?

I use biodegradable and at first sign I start spreading it around.
I tried spreading it dry once before rain, the backyard didn't froth up but parts of the yard looked like it had snowed.

The water works best with the water being warm, not hot.

It could simply be earthworms.
They are good for the lawn, don't kill them.

Other than that, I'm at my limits.
When Yani is home, I'll ask his advice.
He knows a lot more about lawns and gardens than ill ever know.

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UnSubRocky Gold Member Offline Australian Legend Posts: 21727 Rockhampton, Q Gender:	Re: Fertilising the lawn Reply #32 - Oct 9^th, 2021 at 3:08pm John Smith wrote on Oct 8^th, 2021 at 8:22pm: Quote: Fertilising the lawn is that more aussie venacular for feeding the chickens? It is more like "fertilising the soil" for the sake of getting a better lawn yield.
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John Smith

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Re: Fertilising the lawn
Reply #33 - Oct 9^th, 2021 at 3:29pm

UnSubRocky wrote on Oct 9^th, 2021 at 3:08pm:

John Smith wrote on Oct 8^th, 2021 at 8:22pm:

Quote:

Fertilising the lawn

is that more aussie venacular for feeding the chickens? Cheesy

It is more like "fertilising the soil" for the sake of getting a better lawn yield.

yield? from a lawn? that just means more mowing. I'd rather worry about the yield from my tomatoes or lettuce

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UnSubRocky Gold Member Offline Australian Legend Posts: 21727 Rockhampton, Q Gender:	Re: Fertilising the lawn Reply #34 - Oct 9^th, 2021 at 9:58pm John Smith wrote on Oct 9^th, 2021 at 3:29pm: yield? from a lawn? that just means more mowing. I'd rather worry about the yield from my tomatoes or lettuce As in quality green lawn, as best I can get it to being golf green. Instead of having to concern myself with yellow, green and partially green lawn growing unevenly.
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Gnads Gold Member Offline Australian Politics Posts: 28041 Gender:	Re: Fertilising the lawn Reply #35 - Oct 11^th, 2021 at 7:17pm LAWN GRUBS - all beetle larvae https://www.lawn-care-academy.com/lawn-grubs.html Then there's Army Worm grubs that look like a run of the mill caterpillar ... and they range all over the country ... they really hammer a good lawn too. https://www.business.qld.gov.au/industries/farms-fishing-forestry/agriculture/cr...
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Valkie

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Re: Fertilising the lawn
Reply #36 - Oct 12^th, 2021 at 7:30am

Gnads wrote on Oct 11^th, 2021 at 7:17pm:

LAWN GRUBS - all beetle larvae

https://www.lawn-care-academy.com/lawn-grubs.html

Then there's Army Worm grubs that look like a run of the mill caterpillar ... and they range all over the country ...

they really hammer a good lawn too.

https://www.business.qld.gov.au/industries/farms-fishing-forestry/agriculture/cr...

And those bloody things are soooooooo hard to get rid of.
Harder than getting a muzzo out of a housing commission house.
harder even than getting an abbo to work.......perhaps not that hard.

The local golf club had a plague of them a few years ago, nearly destroyed the place.

They went hard on poisons, which I prefer not to do.

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A WONDERFUL, PEACEFUL, BEAUTIFUL DREAM.
A DREAM OF A WORLD THAT HAS NEVER KNOWN ISLAM
A DREAM OF A WORLD FREE FROM THE HORRORS OF ISLAM.

SUCH A WONDERFUL DREAM
O HOW I WISH IT WERE TRU

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Ayn Marx

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Re: Fertilising the lawn
Reply #37 - Oct 15^th, 2021 at 2:06pm

Valkie wrote on Oct 12^th, 2021 at 7:30am:

And those bloody things are soooooooo hard to get rid of.
Harder than getting a muzzo out of a housing commission house.
harder even than getting an abbo to work.......perhaps not that hard.

The local golf club had a plague of them a few years ago, nearly destroyed the place.

They went hard on poisons, which I prefer not to do.

After a very wet winter my bugs/worms/whatever) appear to have gone into something like hiberanation with things warming up again.
I poisoned them once which somehow removed the problem for two years but they came back. The insecticide - forgotten the name - was listed as so toxic humans, dogs, cats, sheep etc have to be kept off that ground for a month.

The locals tell me they live off the roots of lawn grass etc during winter. How do they survive for the rest of the year? Haven’t caught them above ground to get a photo so can’t accurately identify them. Unless someone has invented a non-toxic spray I’m just going to have to live with the damned things. Meanwhile I’m wondering if these are the culprets.

https://cesaraustralia.com/pestnotes/caterpillars/armyworm/

In the meantime I‘m concentrating on getting raised rabbit proof vegitable beds ready for then next season.

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Jovial Monk Gold Member Offline Dogs not cats! Posts: 43612 Gender:	Re: Fertilising the lawn Reply #38 - Oct 16^th, 2021 at 10:34am There is an organic herbicide. It is available in Bunnings. I forgot the name but it is something like 27% acetic acid (superstrong vinegar) and should be less harsh on soil critters. You could try malt vinegar which is the strongest domestic vinegar available. Good on fish & chips too, unlike RoundUp
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Ayn Marx

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Re: Fertilising the lawn
Reply #39 - Oct 17^th, 2021 at 7:53am

Jovial Monk wrote on Oct 16^th, 2021 at 10:34am:

There is an organic herbicide. It is available in Bunnings.

I forgot the name but it is something like 27% acetic acid (superstrong vinegar) and should be less harsh on soil critters. You could try malt vinegar which is the strongest domestic vinegar available. Good on fish & chips too, unlike RoundUp

Pleased to see you survived your experiment with Roundup on fish & chips.

My experience with vineger in the garden is it kills just about everything, not just the bugs I want to get rid of.

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UnSubRocky

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Re: Fertilising the lawn
Reply #40 - Nov 10^th, 2021 at 4:40pm

The grass clippings from my mowing has been dumped out under the tree in the front lawn. I had the impression that when the rain came, the grass would wash out to the footpath and eventually out to the street over time. So far, the lawn has not had a problem with regrowth on a more even scale. And the tree, with 2 months worth of grass clippings (that I suspected of being a little saline) has not shown any decline in health. In fact, it is flowering again as it does every springtime.

The mower is in its last year of use. I will get a new mower by next year sometime. By March, the lawn should be looking quite healthy.

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UnSubRocky

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Re: Fertilising the lawn
Reply #41 - Dec 15^th, 2021 at 1:15am

After a moderate amount of rain in the last few months, the front and backyard lawn is looking very good. Obviously, leaving the lawn clipping on the lawn without collecting them up in a catcher has not done the lawn much help. But, at least the last few months of collecting up the grass clippings and dumping them under the shade tree has made the lawn look good.

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UnSubRocky

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Re: Fertilising the lawn
Reply #42 - Apr 5^th, 2022 at 6:21pm

My compost bin looks like it has a tunnel near the bottom, probably where a rat is getting in to eat the scraps. I put grass clippings from my mower's catcher over the hole entrance/exit.

The yard looks reasonably good. Certainly an improvement over the desert I created back in 2015. Only the footpath looks like it is in desperate need of watering. But, for the majority of the yard, it looks quite green. I will be spraying for bindii in a week's time. If we get any rain in the next week, I might luck out with a good spread of the spray formula.

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UnSubRocky

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Re: Fertilising the lawn
Reply #43 - May 3^rd, 2022 at 7:42pm

I feel like it has been 3 weeks since I last mowed the lawn. It was a good mow today and the yard is looking healthier and healthier as the year progresses. I have about 16kg of lawn seeds that I will spread around the yard on Thursday. I am hoping that the heavy rainfall we get on the weekend and Monday will lead to some good looking lawn by the end of May (where it will likely be quite cold).

Because of the heavy rain in NSW and southern Qld, we are likely to see some cold winter nights this year.

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Sprintcyclist

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Re: Fertilising the lawn
Reply #44 - May 3^rd, 2022 at 7:57pm

UnSubRocky wrote on May 3^rd, 2022 at 7:42pm:

I feel like it has been 3 weeks since I last mowed the lawn. It was a good mow today and the yard is looking healthier and healthier as the year progresses. I have about 16kg of lawn seeds that I will spread around the yard on Thursday. I am hoping that the heavy rainfall we get on the weekend and Monday will lead to some good looking lawn by the end of May (where it will likely be quite cold).

Because of the heavy rain in NSW and southern Qld, we are likely to see some cold winter nights this year.

A bit of rain will work wonders

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