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Welcome to Ask a Pro ! Every calendar month , we ’ll take your questions about home improvement , DIY , lawn and garden , and homeownership and answer them with the helper of professionals . Our expert are vet and verify — and they ’re eager to divvy up their noesis .
Last calendar month , BobVila.com reader present lawn and garden questions on Facebook and Instagram , and via our newssheet . We hand - picked our favorites , and tapped thePest and Lawn Ginjato resolve some of them . In this Ask a Pro column , the Pest and Lawn Ginja helps our readersget unripe grass , lend route salt - damaged grass back to living , get rid of creeping bellflower , and more .
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fulfill the Expert : The Pest and Lawn Ginja
The Pest and Lawn Ginja , is known for solving lawn and pestis problem , big or minuscule . He has been a licensed technician since 2004 and owned a pest control and lawn care troupe for over 15 years . He has also developed his own five - dance step approaching for solving any lawn job .
determine out the Pest and Lawn Ginja’sYouTube pageandwebsite .
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We had trees and stumps removed. What do I do to get grass? Seed, dirt, rake—I don’t know where I should start. —Hope M. on Facebook
Ginja ’s Advice : This is a great question . Ideally , the first matter we want to try our best to do is to take out as much of the chip as possible , or at least down 8 to 10 inch and replace it with top soil .
Second , we need to bundle the surface area . We can do this by simply stepping on top of the grease until it reaches optimal compaction . Or you’re able to use a hand tamp to compress the dirt .
The next step would be to point the area out with a garden rake to match the height of the weed beside it .
Then , lie in down some grass seed . Be indisputable to get a seed variety show that close matches what you have . If you are unsure , take a small sample into a nursery and require if they are able to help identify the coinage you have . The most important part is to put the seed down in a way that there are small 1- to 2 - millimeter spaces between each semen so as to not overcrowd . Afterward , you may abuse on the seed to aid promote it into situation .
The last step is to lay a small-scale bed of surface soil on top of the source , stand for a quarter inch or less . This helps cover the seed and help oneself preclude washout .
As far as lacrimation goes , we need to keep the seed moist at all times for about 3 to 6 week as the germ is germinating . Ideally , we want to set up a sprinkler or hose that has an oscillating sprinkler attachment on it and run it at small increments to keep the top layer of the soil damp and not wash the ejaculate out . The other option is to cut out the drained orbit , level it as describe above , and replace it with sod . The sod will ask to stay dampish for upwards of 4 weeks during its rooting period of time . Bob Hope that help !
How do you stop the neighbor’s sticker patch from invading your St. Augustine lawn? Postman cuts through it, carrying the seeds across my lawn and everyone’s past me. —CtyChck Tex on Facebook
Ginja ’s Advice : That sound very frustrative . When it comes to stickers and burs , the only alternative is to get your holding and your neighboring properties ’ grass berth under control . In my experience , it direct about a yr and a one-half of diligent locoweed control to get the state of affairs contained .
Here ’s how I approach it . turn one : mechanically skillful mastery . I purchase foam rollers from the local dollar bill storage and turn over the area as many fourth dimension over [ as necessary ] to bewitch as many thorn skunk seeds on the rollers as potential . Unfortunately , these types of seeds can remain in the soil in a abeyant land for 2 to 3 age before germinating . So the more the more you remove , the quicker you hie up this mental process . The other option is to purchase a gimmick like thesticker burr removal tool . These devices figure out well for removing interchangeable sens .
The next step is to spray the weeds . I do not recommend spray properties other than your own when it comes to applying weed control solutions . I found the best combination for dagger , burr , goat head , and others is a ware calledSpeedZonemixed at the recording label rates and with a surfactant . Applications should be done every 2 to 4 workweek during the sticker growth stages , or you’re able to utilise the solution as a spot treatment as you see the Mary Jane coming up . I also apply a limpid pre - emerging like dithiopyr or fluid quinclorac every 3 months . All three [ SpeedZone , the wetting agent , and the liquid pre - emerging ] can be mixed in the same bottle . Keep in mind that the entropy on the label is police , and be sure to only apply as directed by the recording label .
Why is my grass yellow but all my neighbors have green grass? —@kymm.d on Instagram
Ginja ’s Advice : This is one of my favorite questions . General yellowingis commonly induce by watering too much or too little . Most of your success with your lawn will come down to proper lachrymation . As a general principle of ovolo , we want to see 6 to 8 in of piddle saturation in the soil at all time . For most geographical zone , we desire to water three to five times per calendar week . Other conduce factors are excess debris that has accumulated in the lawn , which would ask to be removed by alawn dethatcher gimmick . Bug infestations are also a hypothesis .
I’m from Minnesota… and in winter they use road salt here. The first 5 to 8 inches of my property gets wiped out from the salt, and only weeds seem to grow there anymore. Is there anything I can do to make grass grow again, or do I just live with the eyesore? — Mike R. on Facebook
Ginja ’s Advice : Salt legal injury is vulgar . The professionals typically use a product to aid flush the salt through the soil . There are two products I ’ve used , one calledSodium Knockout 5.0.0and the other calledNA - X 5 - 0 - 0 Salt Damage Recovery . Keep in head there is n’t a guarantee that the skunk will come back , but these products lean to work well . It ’s good to apply them as the skunk is number out of winter dormancy in the spring .
Creeping bellflower is invading my yard. I physically cannot dig them out. What is my next best approach? I’m in Minnesota. —Tracey M. on Facebook
Ginja ’s Advice : Hello Tracey — Creeping campanula is a hurting . alas , it is classified as a recurrent flora and there are no known answer on the market that will obliterate the creeping bellflower and leave your sens and/or other plants animated . My trace is to check out theFiskars sens tugger . It ’s a handheld machine that is almost 3 feet long that limits one from having to always turn away over . Keep in mind that creeping bellflower has a root system that grows off a rootstalk , and that ’s why it spreads so fast . In other words , take out by the root is the only way to get beforehand of it . The only other options are to use a nonselective herbicide and kill out the entire area . Even with this option , it will take multiple sprays to get control of the post .
For a backyard prone to heavy wet areas, can you just lay down topsoil, level it out, and then top with sod? — Maddy via the newsletter
Ginja ’s Advice : Fantastic question . Leveling areas is a grotesque way to see areas that are consistently pool water . If you are hold out to bear on the level up more than 3 column inch , localise the dirt on top of existing sess , then putting sod over the top , is most likely go to mold out just fine . In an idealistic situation we would want to cut the grass out with a sodomite cutter or shovel , then utilize the scandal to the desired height followed by the reinstallation of the grass . I ascertain the good razing ground is a 50/50 blend of topsoil and Amandine Aurore Lucie Dupin .
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