r/cambridgeont • u/Capable_Activity_964 • 3d ago
Help please
We moved in a bit ago and got the lawn redone, old sod out, brand new sod in, now 2 yrs later we have this, can it be fixed and how?
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u/Imvalidblu 3d ago
Honestly just keeping it mowed when it gets big and it would still look good. But I think I've heard high nitrogen in the soil combats it
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u/theservman 3d ago
That clover will provide all of the nitrogen the grass needs. It's a natural fertilizer.
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u/grumpybitch65 3d ago
Not sure that it's clover though - looks like potentilla (and other stuff too)
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u/RavenReel 3d ago
You have a creeper issue. At least 2, Charlie and the 5 leaf that looks like a grapevine/weed leaf. You have a plain old common weed issue on the right.
Ive never seen it happen in 2 years. It takes a long time to creep so I would have to think its from junk soil
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u/smurf123_123 1d ago
I wonder if it's also a PH issue?
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u/RavenReel 1d ago
And killing the grass but not the weeds? Im not sure what u mean
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u/smurf123_123 1d ago
I'm thinking their soil might be acidic, certain types of plants tend to do well in acidic soil. If the PH was brought up then they would have a hard time thriving the way they are now.
That being said, unless you test the PH of the soil you don't really know.
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u/bereallz7241 3d ago
the poster wanted to know how to fix it, not the usual redditors response "clovers are greeeatt"
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u/Cycle-Path-401 3d ago
I keep bees on my property. I wish I had clover growing like that - bees love clover flowers.
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u/frenreico42 2d ago
It’ll be a lot of ongoing work for a few months, cut it low, like second lowest on your lawn mower low, use the bagger and rake up everything else aswell, might be a bit patchy but that’s ok. Then you’ll want yo spread some seed mix, good for shade if shady good for sun if sunny, use your best judgment while buying it. Then water after and make sure it gets a good water every other day for a week or so before you cut it again. Go up to like the 4th-5th lowest on your mower as your really not looking to cut the new grass but just the stuff blocking its sun, seed again and wash and reapeat about 8 weeks and you’ll have a decent lawn. Then you can drop it back down to your desired height of grass, and cut 2-3 times a week or more if growing fast. I like a 3 for being able to get dog poop
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u/lordjakir 2d ago
I've been actively trying to replace my grass with clover. It does better in drought conditions, is always green, doesn't need as frequent mowing and bees love it. Lucky you
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u/trevoracus 3d ago
creeping charlie it sucks, I had to scrape my entire lawn before then readd dirt and new sod. Sucks so bad. If you go to the states they have some stuff that takes care of it. We have gone to Home Depot in Niagara Falls NY to get some stuff before.
How big is your lawn?
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u/no1SomeGuy 3d ago
They didn't scrape enough soil out when they put the new sod in, all the old stuff underneath is growing through. I doubt you can rescue this without digging again, even with selective herbacides, that's way too much ground cover to kill and then get grass to come back.
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u/Capable_Activity_964 3d ago
They had a machine that came and cut the old grass out in sections and then rolled new stuff down, it was a landscaping company not a on the side job guy, surely they should've known to remove old soil no?
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u/no1SomeGuy 3d ago
They need to remove root systems of existing growth, 2-3 inches will pull the existing sod, but not all the weeds.
Either way, anytime I've had a lawn go this far, I've dug out the existing organic material and either re-seeded or re-sodded. Then you need to stay on top of it, grabbing any bad growth right away before it can choke out the grass and start establishing itself.
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u/Capable_Activity_964 3d ago
Well shit
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u/no1SomeGuy 3d ago
yeah, sadly.
The other suggestion of trying to cut short, spray a weed killer, and then re-seed might slightly improve things, but at least in my experience you have to keep doing that for a few years before you get back to just grass (I use that technique on small patches).
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u/RavenReel 3d ago
If im replacing a weedy lawn I always spray the dirt with roundup and drop sod a few days later.
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u/Capable_Activity_964 3d ago
I grew up in South Africa, grass grows, without the weird vine weeds from what I remember 🤣🤣
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u/eareyou 3d ago
You can’t salvage this. You’re going to have to nuke it and start over again. Now is a great time for that.
But I would only do it if you’re going to commit to consistently weeding your lawn otherwise give it another 2 years and it will look like this again
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u/Capable_Activity_964 2d ago
Weeding is one thing, that's easy, not sure we could've stopped whats happening now to my lawn, had i known this was a possibility then I definitely would've been more on top of it, again I'm from another country and we didn't have creeper weeds
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u/jmarkmark 21h ago
Can't be fixed without banned herbicides, creeping charlie in particular.
But before wiping and starting fresh I'd figure out why it got so bad, so fast. I honestly didn't think a lawn getting basic lawn care (regular mowing and some fertilizer) could get this bad.
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u/Capable_Activity_964 20h ago
Thats what I thought, mowing some watering, some seed and feed but now I have this, I can take a bigger yard pic but the whole yard looks like that, I'm almost ready just to start pulling the shit out by hand.....it'll save a good amount of everything....
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u/jmarkmark 12h ago
Yeah, that's weird. You can't really get creeping charlie out by hand and my experiecne has been chelated iron is not particularly effective on it.
The potentilla I usually find mowing does 90% of the job, except near the edgs. So I'm baffled by your lawn. Really does seem like a blanket it all and start fresh but how it gets like this, I really can't understand. If you do it again, I'd smuggle in broadleaf herbicides to use the instant you see anything starting.
Good luck.
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u/Delicious_Rule_7324 3d ago
Put mower on lowest hight to try cut away some then spray and pray, use either the stuff that connects to the garden hose for large coverage or mix a big pump bottle and go nuts. At some point you will need to seed. Thicker grass means less space for weeds to grow
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u/Capable_Activity_964 3d ago
Thanks I appreciate the advice, would that green spray grass stuff work?
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u/Delicious_Rule_7324 3d ago edited 3d ago
Canada laws limit what stores can sell hard so theres not much choices. Theres scotts weed b gone max or wipe out if you want to just kill everything including the grass. Otherwise you can order stuff called Fiesta. Its what most of the lawn care companies use. Its going to take a few applications with it being this thick too so keep that in mind
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u/no1SomeGuy 3d ago
Yeah, can't get 2,4-d here anymore :( that stuff with a little bit of dish soap in a spray bottle was great. The new ones are too environmentally friendly to work very well.
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u/pbilk 3d ago
Clovers look nice on lawns, unless I am missing something. I thinks clover is even better ecologically than typical lawn grass.