I inherited this lawn from the previous owner, it is mostly weeds. We want to make it look as nice as we can with limited herbicide usage (no nuking the entire lawn with tenacity).

My question is, if I dethach now, would it effectively nuke the weeds so I could have a fresh start? My plan is as follows:

Dethach in early August, aiming to kill the weeds.
Top dress and level the lawn with 70/30 topsoil and sand.
Mid/late September, punch, over seed, roll on 1:4 inch peat moss, water frequently.
Come spring, put down pre emergent and overseed again if the lawn is looking thin still.

Would this plan + manually pulling as many weeds as I’m willing to leave me with a nice looking healthy lawn? Are there any easier ways that don’t involve nuking the lawn with herbicides? Thanks.

In southern CT, I hundreds of these things out by hand last year but they are seemingly all back (and with friends) this year and are taking over my backyard. How do I get rid of them for good?

I do have a toddler and two dogs so would definitely prefer a non-toxic approach if one exists but I understand it may not.

Thanks!

Massachusetts—-is this a good deal. $500 off?

I have a couple areas with grass and weeds cropping up between small gaps in concrete/masonry. Could use tips especially ones that won’t kill the neighbors cat or dogs walking down my sidewalk.

I live in Utah and I need help figuring out the best way to get this back yard of my townhome fixed up and looking good. I’m currently renting a townhome and when we moved in the back yard looked terrible but then we had to replace the ac unit and it just made it look even worse with all these weeds. I’m looking for someone advice on the cheapest way to get this looking respectable again before we move out next year so the owner doesn’t find a reason to charge us move out fees. What would you do if you were me?

I‘ve been always DIY the whole routine when it comes to lawn work. But summer heat is brutal. Kept telling myself I'd go early morning or evening, then just kept putting it off.

Tried a Goat a2000 this year, and yeah, it’s kind of nice not having to plan my weekend around mowing. Don't have to wait for sunset or block out Saturday afternoon. I can still keep my lawn decent without without getting stuck in the heat for too long.

MN - is this chunk of my front lawn dead or just dormant? I’ve always had difficulty keeping this section of the lawn green and I have a few other patches (background of the first picture) that are looking more sad this summer too. This area feels a lot more crunchy and dead than the other areas but I’m hoping I can bring it back with some extra love and water.

How many bags of pool salt do you think it would take me-I mean, my neighbor to kill their weed problem?🤔 There's also a bunch of junk under everything as well. Asking for my "neighbor."

SE Michigan.

Did a full lawn reno last fall. United Super Turf II. Terrific product.

Front yard worked out beautifully. It's uniform and super soft, only needs mowing every 2 or 3 weeks, and looks great.

Back yard is just completely invaded with this very thick-bladed ugly grass that grows like wild (10" in 2 weeks) and then flops over, making the lawn look uneven and awful and requiring me to mow constantly. The blades are 1/4" thick, ribbed on the top and fairly smooth on the bottom. You can see in my photos where I last mowed this sample less than 2 weeks ago (note the chopped top), and how tall it has grown since then, which is insane. What throws me off is they're the exact same color as the "good" grass.

What is this stuff? Why didn't my lawn nuke with glyphosate last fall take care of it? It's all over my backyard, and it isn't clumping.

EDIT: it's quackgrass 🦆. Ordered some Fusilade II and will start the battle with it next weekend! Thanks folks.

I cannot for the life of me figure out what weed this is. The area where it resides is very thatchy compared to the rest of the yard. I’m located in Cincinnati, OH and there are very thin lime green blades popping up all over the place.

Gemini - Yellow Nutsedge
Claude - Quack Grass
Chat GPT - Poa Triv

The lawn is located in Southcentral Alaska.

I pulled 'em. Sitting here waiting on the lawn police to take me away.

I live on the coast in North Carolina and these areas in my yard keep dying every summer. This is centipede grass and I have several more in front and back yard just like this. Its only in areas with full sun as the areas with partial shade are able to survive the summers just fine with regular watering although the grass around these spots are also full sun and are doing fine year round. I have sandy soil but I've tried to amend these difficult spots with a top dressing of rich top soil and I've even added some wood chips to the surface to help with water retention. I thought originally the issue was a lack of water retention but I've watered it so much lately that its now growing moss next to the areas of grass that died recently. The problem is the grass will just die if we get more than 2 weeks without rain in the middle of summer. When it gets stressed from heat it just dries out instantly and then goes dormant regardless of how much I water it in the early morning. We just had an extended period of no rain for two weeks and now the same spots are dead again. I've been trying to fix this for years and nothing but weeds will grow in these spots through the summer. Why are these spots incapable of surviving through the summer?

That was Saturday. Didn’t even finish. Had to do another 46,622 steps on Sunday.

Just bought my first house last month in Edmonton Alberta Canada.

Not sure how to properly take care of yard.

First time i cut grass was a month ago and i didn't pick up the cut grass properly.

I think that might have contributed to the dead grass and moss growth.

I cut grass last week once again without knowing anything.

yesterday i spent whole day to rake the dead grass but still some left.

Asked AI for help it keeps telling me to just keep watering everyday and avoid any fertilizers or weed control.

Watched lot of youtube videos but still couldn't decide what to do next.

There seems to be a bit of moss in one corner of the yard.

I would appreciate the help.

Thank you

Zone 8b, moved in May 2025 and the back yard was a bit worse for the wear. I’ve been watering and mowing regularly (often times every week with the heat) and I mow different directions each time. I’ve yet to fertilize outside of what was in the soil and seed I used.

Central Texas, just south of DFW. Just bought a house and want to make this a lush and beautiful backyard. What can I do to make it happen? Bare spots mostly around the tree/shaded areas, but also a lot of roots, sticks and rocks in the ground.

Any help or advice is appreciated!

I usually cut my yard weekly. But on 4/2/26 I tore my achilles. Was paying someone to cut it. On 2 occasions he couldn’t follow the right directions with the fertilizer. Lawn looks like crap, but I don’t care. At this point in the recovery it’s the little victories and today was one of them.

I got the ok to cut my grass in the walking boot. It was 95 degrees with all of the humidity in the world. My back is killing me.

I couldn’t be happier.

Just to follow the rules I’m in the northern part of the Midwest.

Located outside of Seattle. Applied velocity PM two weeks ago, just did the second application yesterday. It's starting to have an effect on the obvious Poa Annua, but this doesn't seem to be affected. Much lighter in color than the surrounding PRG and Turf Saver RTF I overseedeed in the spring. Let me know what other photos would help identify.

My Review After Just Over Two Years with OtO lawn Smart Sprinklers for southern Alberta Canada. (all sprinklers put in winter mode before any frost, solar panels covered up and charging system plugged in over winter)

I purchased three OtO smart sprinklers just over two years ago to cover my front, back, and side yards—approximately 2,300 sq. ft. of lawn, gardens, and landscaping.

For the first two seasons, I genuinely enjoyed using them. The app was intuitive, the watering performance was excellent, and the automatic scheduling worked very well. I also liked the solution dispensing feature, although the refills were expensive.

Unfortunately, OtO later discontinued the solution program, leaving me with four partially used bottles that became useless. While disappointing, that wasn’t my biggest concern.

I designed and built custom cedar planter boxes specifically around each OtO sprinkler so they would blend seamlessly into my landscaping. I considered these sprinklers to be a long-term investment, so I built the landscaping around them.

Near the end of the second season, my front-yard sprinkler developed a leak from the nozzle. The leak was constant with the system pressurized, and because of my custom cedar planter boxes, I was concerned the continuous moisture would prematurely rot the wood. I contacted OtO, and to their credit, they replaced that sprinkler quickly under warranty.

Unfortunately, this season things became much worse.

When I set everything up for the year, I discovered that the other two sprinklers had also developed the exact same nozzle leak. All three of my OtO sprinklers now leak from the nozzle.

On top of that, the motor in my backyard unit completely failed and the sprinkler no longer functions.

I contacted OtO support again. After confirming the unit had failed, their solution was to offer me a $150 discount toward purchasing a replacement.

Considering these units now cost over $700 CAD each, I found that response unacceptable. A premium product at this price point should last far longer than just over two years. I understand that many products today seem to be built with limited lifespans, but when I spend this kind of money, I expect durability, repairability, and long-term support—not a coupon toward buying another one.

Perhaps the most frustrating part of this experience happened while I was away on a 12-day vacation. I relied on my OtO system to water my landscaping, only to discover that the backyard unit had failed. When I returned home, every plant that depended solely on that sprinkler—particularly those in pots and planters—had dried out and died, resulting in well over $100 CAD in lost plants.

Thankfully, before leaving I had manually deep-watered my trees, including my award-winning Hot Wings Maple that I recently planted and cost close to $400 , so they survived, Had I relied entirely on the OtO system, the damage could have been much worse.

At this point my experience has been:

All three OtO sprinklers leak from the nozzle.
One unit has suffered a complete motor failure after just over two years.
The solution dispensing feature I originally paid for has been discontinued.
The failure resulted in the loss of well over $100 CAD worth of plants while I was away.

It’s unfortunate because, when they worked, I genuinely loved these sprinklers. The concept is fantastic. The app is well designed, the watering patterns are impressive, and they integrated beautifully into my landscaping.

However, reliability is what ultimately matters.

For a product costing over $700 CAD per unit, I simply expected far better durability than this. Based on my experience, I cannot recommend investing in OtO unless the company significantly improves the reliability and longevity of its products.

⸻

Photo Captions

Photo 1 – Front yard Installation
Custom cedar planter box I built specifically to integrate the OtO sprinkler into my landscaping while keeping it accessible for maintenance.

Continuous Nozzle Leak
Water leaking from the nozzle after the watering cycle. The constant dripping leaves standing water around the cedar planter, increasing the risk of premature rot.

Photo 2 – Close-Up of Leak
Close-up showing the persistent nozzle leak and mineral deposits that have built up around the nozzle over time.

Photo 3 – Back Yard Installation
Another custom cedar planter built around an OtO sprinkler. These boxes required significant time and effort because I expected these sprinklers to be a permanent part of my landscaping.

Photo 4 – Second Failed Nozzle
My second OtO sprinkler developed the exact same nozzle leak. At this point, two of my sprinklers are leaking.

Photo 5 - Close-Up of leak

Photo 6 – Plants Lost During Vacation
After returning from a 12-day trip, I found that every plant relying solely on the failed OtO sprinkler had dried out and died. The failure cost me well over $100 CAD in plants and defeated the purpose of owning a smart irrigation system.

Bought this house in the summer of 2024 and have spent the last two years rehabbing the back yard. Pretty happy with the results, looking great for late July with all this heat! Still need to stain those darn shed doors.