Left to go to deer lease @ 5 this morning. Lawn was solid white and 27 degrees. Another season in the books.

With Bermuda, for the end of the season, do I finish with just a regular height cut? And then scalp at the beginning of next season? What and when should it be put down for weed control? The yard was growing and filling in nice, but I did have some weeds scattered about, and was looking to try to rein those in for next year.

Just leave it at your current height. Scalp in spring when you're at about 50% green. Should be about mid March. When I say scalp I don't mean drop it a notch. Go as low to the ground as you can go. Probably take you a few passes dropping down each time. I try to get to dirt. Pre emergent weed control should have be put out in mid/late August. Better late than never. I would do a 1/4 application of Prodiamine. Sold as Stonewall at Lowes. Put down 1.25lbs per 1000 and water it in. In February put down 2.5lbs per 1000. That will carry you until August. You're going to get some winter weeds. A lot will be broadleaf weeds and easy to control. If you do get a winter weed outbreak get some pics and we can go over it.

Depending on what weeds you were dealing with this past spring/summer. You might want to put out 2 different pre emergents. Prodiamine for the grassy weeds and Gallery for broadleafs. .

Great time to get a soil test done. Between now and mid February is the perfect time. Let's go!

Really good chance of rain on Mon-Tues next week for NTX. For those of you that don't have irrigation this is your perfect opportunity to get Pre Emergent out this weekend.

Ours should be back any day now,

What’s your go to spring pre emergent combination? I’m about to spray ours next week and this will be my first full year going all liquid’s. I finally started getting a serious handle on the weed situation at the end of the year so I’m anticipating a much easier year dealing with weeds, at least I hope. The yard has looked perfect all winter without a single weed showing up anywhere so I’ve made progress,

My spring is a combo of Prodiamine/Isoxaben. Prodiamine 65 WDG at 0.42oz per 1000 will give you a good 6 month coverage for grassy weeds. Isoxaben at 0.50oz per 1000 will give you a good 4-6 months coverage for broadleafs. Generic Isoxaben is tough to find right now. Brand name Gallery is available though it is more expensive because you're paying for a "brand" name and it's the exact same thing as the generic. My only broadleaf issue in summer is Spurge. So I'll run Isoxabem 0.5oz now, split app of it at 0.33oz Memorial Day weekend and I'm good until late August.

Isoxaben doesn't seem to dissolve all that great for me. When I mix it I will let it set in a bucket of warm water for 1/2 an hour or so mixing it a few times. When I go to pour it in the tank, I pour it through a fine paint strainer just to get any little bits that may not have completely dissolved. Helps to keep my spray tip from clogging.

I appreciate it, I’ve already got the Prodiamine 65 WDG and I picked up some Gallery today so I’ll get it sprayed the first of the week.

You must have a nice store close that stocks the good stuff. I have to ship just about everything in.

They’ve got pretty much anything you could want and can have what they don’t by the next morning. We don’t have much but we’ve got the chemicals on standby,

Sweet! Thumper I meant to and forgot to say earlier. I know you were going through a rough time on your lawn a year or two ago. You saying you have no winter weeds at all right now is awesome. You're doing a hell of a job. Keep up the great work.

I appreciate that, your help with the chemicals has made all the difference in the world.

I'm in North Texas (Wise County) and seeking advice on getting something established in our back yard. This is new construction and my back yard is bare, with the exception of a little Johnson grass.

We have a 1/2 acre in the back of our lot that has mature Oak trees, providing about 75% shade. At our water rates, we cannot afford to irrigate this on a regular basis.

I am not looking for a tuff lawn. I just want to stabilize soil erosion, cut down on the dust, and have something that greens up at least part of the year.

Any suggestions on what to seed this with? I am good with a mix, if that is what it takes to get something under the trees.

I've been thinking about this the past couple days and I have nothing. Ran this buy a couple guys much smarter than me. We have nothing as far as turf. You have two major things going against you. Lots of shade and no water. Do you have any pictures for reference? . There is no seed mix to fit your needs. If you're truly 75% shade and no or basically no water this would be where I would be looking into shade loving ground cover. Turf/grass is not in your future.

I am not looking for turf grass or a "lawn", just something that will hold down erosion and keep the dust down.

Here is a pic before a grade work was done to help drainage. I put out annual rye for the winter, but I will look for a picture from last summer.

We can water to get seed established, but I need something that will survive on its own once established. Watering that daily with 1/4" of water for two weeks will cost about $500

Worst day of the year is here today.

Looking good Derek. I always say "No Pain No Gain". My Honda HRX217VKA will only go down to .75" and I still got 12 bags 2 weeks ago. I`m fixing to head out and mow all my weeds around my shop and by the road with my Hustler Fastrak 54 ZTR for the first time. It`s not that bad, but they annoy me.

This is pure misery

That scalping pain is real!!! our yards would require an air boat to cut them right now. I haven’t been able to get the liquids on the yard yet due to the non stop raining and it certainly can’t be scalped yet.

I paid my older son to do it once already over the winter so it would be easier when it counts in the spring. I put liquid down by hand yesterday morning. No signs of it working yet. I have some time off this week and next so I plan on planting some more garden items, trimming trees, and vacuuming the yard.

does St. Augustine require scalping? We finally got all the ice storm damaged limbs cleaned up this past weekend with the help of our daughter/SIL and I now need to mow ... just wondering how low do I need to go?

as a reference point, I now have about a cord of cut live oak and hauled off about 120+ cubic yards of brush from the aftermath of the ice storm here in central Texas. I am so thankful for having a large dump trailer and FEL for compacting brush in the trailer.

No. Nor does Zoysia.

I had a huge St. Augustine lawn for almost 20 years. I never scalped it. I would drop the mower down some in the spring from the highest setting that I used during the summer though, but nothing close to a scalp. I mowed it with a 44" Dixon ZTR that did a great job of mowing it, but I also had a Husqvarna riding mower with a 3-compartment bagger to get rid of all the oak leaves from my 80 plus oak trees. The riding mower did a great job of cleaning up the lawn in the spring with all the dead grass and mulched leaves when I lowered it.

I did my front today. In addition to the normal scalp I also burned a small area. I've never done it before, Derek. You've probably seen it on TLF.

thanks, I have a cub cadet rider and normally cut at one notch from the highest setting during the summer into the fall. I will likely drop it another notch lower for the first cutting this spring. I mow back and forth pushing all the mulch to one side when I am finished, then rake and bag it. I did the back yard last Friday (once we got all the limbs out) to remove as much of the dropped live oak leaves as possible.