Organic Lawncare help?

[thebmill]

I'm a new home owner taking on a lawn for the first time. It's a pretty small lawn. And I'm in California. Zip Code: 90041

Anyways, there's a few problem areas in the lawn that I would love advice on. I broke it down into 3 parts and then at the bottom came up with a solution. But, I have no idea if I'm way off. I'd like to do this all organically.

1.) While most of the lawn is at a certain height right now, there are new "super strong" grass popping up all around. They look like this and are thicker and harder to cut than the grass around it. Is this a weed? I have a feeling when I go to cut this with my manual reel mower that I might have some trouble getting them to cut.

2.) There are some light brown patches and some areas where no grass is growing:

3.) And last but not least, these types of weeds or crab grass? Thankfully not a lot of these.

SOLUTION?

Here's the plan I came up with:
1. Use the Manual Reel Mower to cut the Lawn.
2. If those big weed looking things are trouble, use the ol electric weed-whacker.
3. Use a Weeder to get all the dandelion type weeds out of the lawn. With this: https://www.planetnatural.com/product/dandelion-weeder/
4. Use an aerator on the whole lawn. Like these: https://www.planetnatural.com/product/la ... r-sandals/
5. Use "lawn restore" from Ringer. (Side question: do I need to purchase a spreader or something for this? We don't have a ton of room in the garage, so if we do it has to be small/portable.) https://www.planetnatural.com/product/ri ... n-restore/
6. I believe "lawn restore" requires a 3 day process of watering, etc.
7. Once that process is done, go and spot treat any problem areas (crabgrass and other weeds) with this Crabgrass Killer. https://www.planetnatural.com/product/crabgrass-killer/
8. From there I guess I would repeat this 4 times a year for each season?

[imafan26]

I have those sandals. It is better than nothing but you can rent and aerator and if it is a small lawn you can get a foot aerator which is what I have. the sandals are like poking nails in the lawn. the foot aerator will actually take a core of soil out and you can drop it on the lawn. It is a good investment. Since the only moving part is you, it lasts a long time. Mine is over twenty years old.
https://toolmonger.com/2008/05/23/turf-core-aerator/
This is is my work plan

Get rid of mos the weeds you can see before they go to seed. Dig out the roots and all.
I am not totally organic and I have a lot more invasive weeds so I do spot roundup on the persistent weeds

Cut the grass to the height recommended for your type of grass.

Aerate with an aerator not the sandals or the core aerator. Dethatch with a dethaching rake or you can rent and aerator dethatcher. A vertical lawn mower dethaches. You can rent it. twice a year. It will thin the lawn and pull all the dead thatch out of the grass. It leaves the lawn fuzzy but it rakes up fine.

Top dress with top dressing (fine compost with lawn fertilizer mixed in. Fill all the cores and apply a thin layer 1/4 inch all over the top of the lawn.

Water at least an inch a week. To figure that out set out empty tuna cans around the lawn and if you are using a sprinker every two feet out from the sprinkler head to the perimeter of the spray. Time how long it takes for the cans to fill. Some cans will fill faster. You will have to overlap the sprinkler ranges to get good coverage all over the lawn. For me this is 45 minutes with my water pressure and I divide it in two waterings one for 20 minutes and the second for 25 minutes on Sunday and Wednesday. I have a sprinkler system on a timer so it waters at 2 a.m. when the water pressure is the greatest. Sprinklers have to be adjusted for the season. Mine are off during the rainy season.

With monoculture grass, you will always be weeding. Get to them before they seed. Unfortunately weed whacking and lawn mowers will only cut them off not cut them out.

Brown spots can be from dogs peeing on the lawn, insects eating the grass, fungal diesease, or low spots in the lawn.
You have to figure out which one it is
Dogs- well short of getting rid of the dog, it would be a good idea to train the dog to a potty area to minimize the damage.
Insects eating the grass. It is a seasonal problem and it depends on your grass, some are more susceptible than others. Some grass are tough and are rarely bothered by pests. You have to identify if it is a pest problem. Usually the larvae come up to feed in the evening so that is the best time to go looking for them. Once you have identified them, then you can look up a specific control for them.
fungal disease usually shows up as fairy rings or brown spots that encircle and area in an ever widening circle. It is usually from choosing the wrong grass for a very wet and poorly drained soil.

On an old lawn you can give it mostly nitrogen, twice a year, in the Spring and again in the fall at the same time as you dethatch, aerate and top dress.

Lawns eventually need to be renovated, but it can be done in sections. Usually from compactions and when there are more weeds than lawn. Average every 7 years. Most people in Hawaii never do that, lawns are 20 years old before they even think about it.