Landscaping - advice for putting new turf in backyard

[Mr Crudley]

Santa anna couch here (Gippsland, Vic). Laid it about 10 years ago. Very low maintenance. Spray it once a year to rid all the winter grass.
Is dormant through winter but need to mow it once a week in the warmer months.

Had Santa Ana couch at a previous house. Great grass but hell if any weeds take hold. Dicamba got it fairly well under control but we had a few spots that were hard to manage. I hope you have a cylinder mower there, you got to have one of those.

My neighbour there did some green keeping once and had evergreen couch. We used to scalp the couches just before spring and hire a corer from Kennards and hit it every two years. Filling up the cores and top dress with 2 tonnes of river sand (no weed seeds in sand). Held in the water well and looked pretty good without too much maintenance. Sure did grow like crazy in the warmer months.

 

[gippyz]

Thank you @Cyclomaniac for the advice. Might need to invest in better mower as the current one only have 3 height settings. Will look into this.

Turf choice - we're still trying to get more info online. Ideally, we would like to go to a shop and personally feel the turf type ourselves. However, given the lockdown we're not sure when this will be possible. If we can't get to any shop in the next 3 or so weeks, we will have to take a plunge on one and get them delivered. Thank you all for the insight. Tough choice - looks like every turf have its own merits and faults.

 

[Kerplunk]

Turf choice - we're still trying to get more info online. Ideally, we would like to go to a shop and personally feel the turf type ourselves. However, given the lockdown we're not sure when this will be possible. If we can't get to any shop in the next 3 or so weeks, we will have to take a plunge on one and get them delivered. Thank you all for the insight. Tough choice - looks like every turf have its own merits and faults.

Tbh there is no rush, it’s a rubbish time of year to lay turf if you want to use your yard.. The major turf varieties are warm season grasses, so they naturally thrive in the warmer months and slow down in winter.. They take longer to establish in winter so you have to wait longer before you can walk on it.. Imo pick your variety now, get your soil prep done and lay in spring..

 

[The Duckmeister]

Kikuyu can be aggressive and send out lots of runners and get places you don’t want it.

That's understating it. Kikuyu is evil shit. I moved into my place, which had kikuyu lawns, in 2002. I'm not a lawn person, so ripped it all out to try to go more native stuff. 19 years later I am still ripping that shit out! It's like there's an endless stream of suckers & runners.

 

[gippyz]

Tbh there is no rush, it’s a rubbish time of year to lay turf if you want to use your yard.. The major turf varieties are warm season grasses, so they naturally thrive in the warmer months and slow down in winter.. They take longer to establish in winter so you have to wait longer before you can walk on it.. Imo pick your variety now, get your soil prep done and lay in spring..

True. I’ve watched few videos which recommend laying turf in spring. We will get the ground prep now and lay when spring comes.

That's understating it. Kikuyu is evil shit. I moved into my place, which had kikuyu lawns, in 2002. I'm not a lawn person, so ripped it all out to try to go more native stuff. 19 years later I am still ripping that shit out! It's like there's an endless stream of suckers & runners.

Urgh...I think that’s what we have. There are crap loads of runners. We will make sure we do the prep right to minimise the chances of old grass coming back!

 

[shiny]

That's understating it. Kikuyu is evil shit. I moved into my place, which had kikuyu lawns, in 2002. I'm not a lawn person, so ripped it all out to try to go more native stuff. 19 years later I am still ripping that shit out! It's like there's an endless stream of suckers & runners.

Yikes, house a friend bought had it and the runners would go up the fence it was nuts. There’s a ‘sterile’ kikuyu that’s been around for a while now. Although that’s misleading as from what I have read it still sends out runners but not as aggressive.

 

[Kerplunk]

All of the name brand turf send out runners.. Kikuyu is the most aggressive with both above and below ground runners.. That is what makes kikuyu great though, super tough and repairs quick. Just have to tame the beast.. Buffalo is the second most aggressive but the runners are only above ground so the easiest to manage.. Hybrid couch has above and below runners but nothing like kikuyu..
At the end of the day buy a lawn edger with a blade.. It chops the above and below runners. Kikuyu is easily managed with the right tools..

 

[The Duckmeister]

Kikuyu is easily managed with the right tools..

Please define "the right tools", because a three-pronged attack of spraying, digging out and burning (yes, literally!) hasn't eliminated the shit!

 

[rockmoose]

Please define "the right tools", because a three-pronged attack of spraying, digging out and burning (yes, literally!) hasn't eliminated the shit!

New bike time.

Sent from my SM-G780F using Tapatalk

 

[Kerplunk]

Please define "the right tools", because a three-pronged attack of spraying, digging out and burning (yes, literally!) hasn't eliminated the shit!

I was talking about managing kik as a contained lawn not as a weed growing everywhere you don’t want it to..
For best results spraying glyphosate when the kik is actively growing, ie not now.. Repeatedly.. I have kik coming through the neighbours fence, i just spray a couple of times a season..
Digging doesn’t work and burning won’t either..

 

[gippyz]

Yep that or any generic brand with the active ingredient “glyphosate”. It will kill any plant that gets sprayed..
It will be fine if you follow the label carefully, don’t apply when rain is expected or if it’s windy.. Wear ppe... Protect the veg garden from overspray with a tarp or similar.. Glyphosate goes inactive quickly..

Is it normal for glyphosate to not show any sign of working in the first 4 days? I sprayed the lawn on Saturday, and no grass have shown any sign of wilting at all.

I decided to get zero from Yates which contains 1:1 ratio of glyphosate rather than roundup because it’s cheaper. Maybe I should’ve gone round up??

 

[moorey]

Is it normal for glyphosate to not show any sign of working in the first 4 days? I sprayed the lawn on Saturday, and no grass have shown any sign of wilting at all.

I decided to get zero from Yates which contains 1:1 ratio of glyphosate rather than roundup because it’s cheaper. Maybe I should’ve gone round up??

Yep. A week to 10 days before you’ll really see any wilting. Roundup is just a brand name for Glyphosate IIRC. Like Panadol for paracetamol.

 

[DMan]

I recommend a 6m seesaw with about a 1m exit. Much for fun than turf. Well at my place anyway. Turf wouldn't survive -6c

 

[gippyz]

Yep. A week to 10 days before you’ll really see any wilting. Roundup is just a brand name for Glyphosate IIRC. Like Panadol for paracetamol.

Ahh.. I suspected that when I saw both zero and roundup have glyphosate in them.

Will wait!

 

[moorey]

Ahh.. I suspected that when I saw both zero and roundup have glyphosate in them.

Will wait!

I could be wrong. Call back to my youth on a cereal farm where everything was drowned in glyphosate. You used it to was down the 10 80 Fox bait we ate for lunch.

 

[Flow-Rider]

That's understating it. Kikuyu is evil shit. I moved into my place, which had kikuyu lawns, in 2002. I'm not a lawn person, so ripped it all out to try to go more native stuff. 19 years later I am still ripping that shit out! It's like there's an endless stream of suckers & runners.

It grows so quick that it smothers all the other grass types, it usually grows well where there's a lot of water like an old septic drainage pit.

 

[Kerplunk]

Ahh.. I suspected that when I saw both zero and roundup have glyphosate in them.

Will wait!

Yep as Moorey said it’s branding.. Round up was the trade name for Glyphosate which was invented and patented by monsanto.. Once the patent ran out everyone else copied it hence all the different brand names like zero or 360.. But everyone just refers to glypho as round up out of habit..
Great chemical but only use it when you have to, like killing off an old lawn.. And for killing perennial weeds like Kikuyu, couch etc..

 

[gippyz]

So..we laid the turf, about a month or so ago now, and they are adapting ok with patches starting to close up. However, there are small round patches of brown turf which seem to be spreading wider. Fungus? See pic:

Any advice? Should we rip them out and replace them? We have some leftover turf but they're like at least a month old now, or buy a 1sqm just to replace them.

 

[Dales Cannon]

Wet a towel and lay it on one of the brown patches. Leave it for a few hours then lift it up, if there are grubs there then those are you culprits. Something something moth from memory.

 

[Freediver]

Wet a towel and lay it on one of the brown patches. Leave it for a few hours then lift it up, if there are grubs there then those are you culprits. Something something moth from memory.

You might be thinking of the blackheaded cockchafer but I don't think that's the culprit here. That looks like it might have been burnt from over fertilising or dog's piss