[Digs]

Ok heres the deal. The past years this grass at this account has had little to know issues. I have been using scotts 5 step program. This year I have crabgrass and all kinds of other weeds. Am I cutting it too short. 2" is what I cut at. It's irrigated so thats not an issue. Im in southern nh if it helps. I'm going to attempt to post some pics of the lawn.
Ok i just realized html is off - edit

[Stonehenge]

What are the neighboring properties like?

[Digs]

neighboring sites are a lil better I'll leave it at that.

[NCSULandscaper]

this year, atleast us in the south have been battling crabgrass all season so far because of drought, pre-m hasnt done the job so its caused alot of breakouts on accounts. its been so hot here we havent even done any treatments for anything(upper 90s and 100s and treating fescue).

[cutntrim]

Some years are worse than others. I used to rely only on Pre-M but now use Acclaim for Post-M as required. Last week we sprayed Acclaim at a number of accounts where Dimension didn't hold. Couldn't spray the Acclaim earlier because temps were too hot.

[Greensmith]

I have had some issues with Dimension on two accounts. How fast are the results with Acclaim?

[cutntrim]

Within a couple weeks the crabgrass is dead, but it doesn't work as well on mature weeds. That's why it's more effective sprayed earlier in the season if the weather allows. It does work better than Dimension alone though.

[Digs]

What is this acclaim you speak of?

[cutntrim]

It's a post-emergent control product for grassy weeds in turf. You have to be licensed to apply it, as with all herbicides or pesticides.

Go to www.bayeres.ca and you can find Acclaim Super info on there.

[Mark Oomkes]

IMO, 2" is way, way too short, unless you're working on a golf course. Most cool season turf should be mowed at 2.5"-3.5" depending on quite a few conditions. Most universities will recommend the same thing. By mowing higher, you will reduce the weeds, nutrient requirements as well as irrigation needed.

Having said that, crabgrass has been a real bear the last few years by us, so we have cut out pre-emergent apps completely. Haven't had any control, so what's the use? We're using Drive 75, works great on crabgrass in the 1-2 tiller stage and 5+ tiller. For some reason it doesn't work in the 3-4 tiller stage.

[familyguy]

scotts 5 step for homeowners is a pretty stupid product. it releases too quickly. if you insist on using it you should really mow a minimum of 3" or if you want lower you need to mow more than 1x a week. irrigating scotts helps however it washes the product away even faster so you really cant win.

that being said, if you use enough chemical fertilizer and enough water you can have great results. just be prepared to spend spend spend.

slow release is better and actually, organic turf fertilizer has blown me away with its results this year. really pays to treat the soil and not the grass.

[Mark Oomkes]

Originally posted by familyguy
slow release is better and actually, organic turf fertilizer has blown me away with its results this year. really pays to treat the soil and not the grass.

No kidding. I am sold completely on organic ferts.

We have one lawn that we have only made one application of chemical fert (it includes Barricade, we are working on reducing a poa problem) and the rest have been organic. This lawn is the best it has looked in the 5+ years we have been managing it. Crappy seed so there have been fungus problems in addition to the poa problem. Also have educated the customer on proper watering techniques. To control the fungus in the past, we tried the constant fungicide apps one year and it worked fine, but never got rid of the fungus, if we went over 3 weeks, it would start to come back. The next year we did the heavy nitrogen to try to grow it out of the fungus issues. Worked OK as well, but then we ended up with the same issues that golf courses have as well as still had to make a few fungicide apps. Middle of last year we started with Nature Safe and continued this year with it. Made one fungicide application for red thread and that is it. Color is phenomenal, growth is good--not too much, dollar spot, pythium and the other fungi are gone.

I am going to start working on converting all my customers to organic.