I live in eastern PA. New house and lawn as of Aug 2015. The builder seeded and then placed straw matting on the entirety of the lawn. This helped the grass get established, though caused problems in other ways. Where the mats overlapped the matting is 3 or 4 layers thick and prevented any growth. When I've tried to add seed to the lawn much of it stays on top of the straw netting. The seeds that do get through stay on top of the ground and I have no way to till the soil because of the netting. There is also green plastic that was used to bind the straw together that is sticking up in areas and while mowing in the late fall a fair amount became wrapped around the mower blades. To hold all the matting down they used hundreds of 4 inch anchor staples, some went in the ground, many stick up high enough that I trip over, or get the sprinkler hoses caught on them, when walking through the lawn:vs_mad:.
At this point I'm anxious about removing the ~22k sq ft of netting because I fear trying to pull it up now will pull out the already thin grass.
My questions:
1. How long will it take for the straw to breakdown and/or decompose?
1b. Or would it be better to go out with a rock rake and tear the netting up?
2. Do I need to remove the hundreds of anchor staples? They're rusting and I'm concerned that it will cause soil issues.
3. How can I loosen the soil under the netting to allow seeds to get in the ground in areas where little to nothing grew last fall?
Lime issue - I'm looking at hiring a local lawn care company to help get my lawn going and in their quote they're recommending a lime application. Looking online liming is only recommended if the pH of the lawn is off. They didn't test the soil, but are recommending the application regardless. Wondering if it's worth it for a new lawn in spring, or if as recommended elsewhere online, it would be better to wait until fall? With a large lawn this lime application is being quoted as $150+, on top of $150+ crab grass prevention, and if I can push that cost until later this year I'd be happy about that.
At this point I'm anxious about removing the ~22k sq ft of netting because I fear trying to pull it up now will pull out the already thin grass.
My questions:
1. How long will it take for the straw to breakdown and/or decompose?
1b. Or would it be better to go out with a rock rake and tear the netting up?
2. Do I need to remove the hundreds of anchor staples? They're rusting and I'm concerned that it will cause soil issues.
3. How can I loosen the soil under the netting to allow seeds to get in the ground in areas where little to nothing grew last fall?
Lime issue - I'm looking at hiring a local lawn care company to help get my lawn going and in their quote they're recommending a lime application. Looking online liming is only recommended if the pH of the lawn is off. They didn't test the soil, but are recommending the application regardless. Wondering if it's worth it for a new lawn in spring, or if as recommended elsewhere online, it would be better to wait until fall? With a large lawn this lime application is being quoted as $150+, on top of $150+ crab grass prevention, and if I can push that cost until later this year I'd be happy about that.
