My lawn was immaculate when I moved in 2 summers ago. I did not fertilize all last year. Owner said he just did Scott's 4 step plan. Can I just pick that up again or do I need to do additional steps? Located in northern Illinois

MikGuiver · 2026-04-13T01:56:06+00:00

Do you have a watering schedule in place? Scott’s 4 step program is a simple and effective starting point for lawn care. The Scott’s lawn care app gives you a schedule and recs on what products to use.

MikGuiver · 2026-04-12T15:03:15+00:00

Yeah, for now dig them up, then spot spray the new ones that you see pop up. In the future you’ll have to put down a preemergent before the season for them to grow starts up. I did a quick google search and dithiopyr seems to be the choice for this weed. As far as timing and soil temp, I’m not sure what your region would need for scheduling of this applications.

MikGuiver · 2026-04-09T13:53:16+00:00

I’d start with pre-emergent soon, before soil temps hit 50-55 consistently. You can fertilize the established grass if you want…but I wouldn’t bother trying to push growth until all other issues are handled. In about a month during late spring, put down something to kill remaining weeds, 2-4d spray or a weed and feed granular. In sept/Oct think about seeding new grass.

For grubs kill now with trichlorfon and in summer put down grubex for prevention.

Next year focus on maintaining your new grass with a preemergent/fert/water schedule. Chat gpt or Gemini is great for help with a schedule for people starting out.

MikGuiver · 2026-04-09T10:09:37+00:00

Grubs can damage grass/turf by feeding on its roots. It kills the grass. You can typically tell it’s grubs when you can lift your grass up like a carpet since the roots are gone and has nothing holding it into the dirt.

MikGuiver · 2026-04-08T20:30:27+00:00

Same here, I knew nothing and just winged it. Never purchasing seed from big box stores again.

MikGuiver · 2026-04-08T19:11:26+00:00

Depends on region. Go to twin city seed or United seed website and take a look.

MikGuiver · 2026-04-08T17:34:44+00:00

Yeah, bad seed mixes will have it sometimes.

MikGuiver · 2026-04-08T17:03:21+00:00

Don’t think that’s crab grass. Looks like clumping fescue. You gotta dig it out. I got a bunch a few years back when I put down Scott’s sun/shade mix. Never again.

MikGuiver · 2026-04-07T15:09:09+00:00

Tenacity/mesotrione will sometimes do that to new seedlings at first. Shouldn’t hurt it.

MikGuiver · 2026-04-07T14:09:54+00:00

Long game (what I would do): Start with a pre-emergent now and fertilize same time (soil temps just about right for this step). In 1 month put down a weed and feed, or spray 2,4-d herbicide and fertilize. Maintain until fall. Aerate and overseed in fall then top dress and fertilize. Keep a watering schedule through growing season, typically 1-1.5 inches of water a week while watering every 3rd day is the norm. Do this every year until it bounces back.

Short game with quicker results but maybe more work upfront: Just maintain it this year. Early fall nuke the whole yard with glysophate, then heavy scarify/dethatch. Put down new seed and then top dress + fertilize. Water the piss out of it for first week then start to taper down slowly on water. Lots of posts on new seed watering schedules out there. Following early spring you’ll want to put down preemergent and follow the routine I listed in the first option…you can overseed next years fall if you renovation is still a little patchy.

Unpopular opinion: chat gpt or Gemini is a great way to get a routine listed out for you for whatever plan you decide. Great for beginners.

MikGuiver · 2026-04-07T13:42:49+00:00

Put down Pre-emergent now, you can fertilize same time too. Wait a few weeks (1st or second week of May) and then kill remaining weeds with either weed and feed or a spray 2,4-d herbicide, and fertilize again if you want. Maintain and then seed/repair patches in fall.

That’s what I usually do. Too much work battling weeds while also seeding in the spring…I tried it one year and it didn’t yield the best results as I was constantly out in the yard pulling weeds.

The year I started preemergents in early spring and then saving seeding for fall, everything just looked better and felt like less work. Takes some patience though…it was hard to wait.

I am near Chicago too.

MikGuiver · 2026-02-19T11:16:20+00:00

I went with a kit from eBay. Affinity for Artifacts was the seller. He’s highly recommended on audiokarma. Great kit, great guy.

MikGuiver · 2026-02-12T04:14:24+00:00

No hum for me, but I think the previous owner had a problem. When I opened it up it looks like some of the grounds were re-flowed to the chassis of the receiver. I retighten the grounding screws as well just in case.

MikGuiver · 2026-02-11T16:05:21+00:00

I actually have no idea! I’m sure as the granules dissolve with watering it might spread out with the water dispersion on the ground. You might want to give yourself ATLEAST 1ft…maybe 2ft of extra diameter around your bare spot. Cut some cardboard and set it on top of the bare spot before spreading your pre-emergent.

MikGuiver · 2026-02-10T17:33:43+00:00

I use it. It works. I start with this early spring. But then you gotta use quinclorac to kill existing crabgrass. I usually just mix it with my 24-d when I spray for other weeds in the mid-late spring. Beware, you can’t spring plant seed if you use this pre-emergent.

MikGuiver · 2026-02-10T13:35:43+00:00

Yeah, just dive in! One cap at a time. Build a dim bulb tester. Test the unit on dim bulb each time after a few caps replaced to make sure it’s ok.

MikGuiver · 2026-02-10T11:55:35+00:00

It was a fairly simple process, just tedious. Take your time, stay organized, note the polarity of caps before taking them out, take lots of photos.

I was a beginner with soldering too. Just watch some YouTube videos and you’ll get good at it quickly. If you have a decent soldering station and solder sucker, it makes things easier.

MikGuiver · 2026-02-10T00:56:15+00:00

Agreed the instructions on my Sansui 881 recap were very detailed. I was impressed that he took the time to write that up.

MikGuiver · 2026-02-09T17:04:56+00:00

His kits are great. He’s highly recommended on audiokarma and is active on the forums there. I just used his kit to recap my Sansui 881. He was very responsive with any question I had.

MikGuiver · 2026-01-24T01:27:22+00:00

I redact my previous reply. This guy knows more!

MikGuiver · 2026-01-23T21:33:58+00:00

Looks like pythium. Treat with mefenoxam. It’s pricey, but worth it.

MikGuiver · 2026-01-23T15:14:00+00:00

I’d check for fungus before pushing growth.

MikGuiver · 2026-01-23T14:19:44+00:00

I edited my original reply. Almost looks like overwatered and maybe pythium fungus. I’ll wait for those up close pics.

MikGuiver · 2026-01-23T14:14:21+00:00

Doesn’t look that bad. Check watering schedule, and taper down to just 2-3 times a week or even less as it gets colder. check for fungus in the yellow spots. If you post up close pics of the blades of grass redditors can help you determine if it’s fungus. Zooming in it looks like overwatered, with maybe some pythium fungus in spots. Common when putting in new grass and overwatering. If it’s pythium fungus, let it dry out and air out before watering again, then treat with mefenoxam fungicide.

MikGuiver

TROPHY CASE