Put 5 notches (carpenter bees) in my old tennis racket today. There should have been 7, but 2 fell through the cracks in the deck floor before I could stomp on them. I doubt they died. Just stunned.
I hate those destructive suckers. You can buy traps, but everything I've read says you gotta kill one first to "prime" it...only the real pheromones will attract others.
Not only destructive, but they get right up in your face, almost daring you to kill them. Very annoying when one is bird watching.
I bought one of those electrified bug zapper racquets on a whim at ALDI. It wouldn't kill even the smallest of insects. I felt bad for what I had done to them.
(4/2/24) Tuesday I got frustrated with the sod company, because they have not returned calls, a text, or an email. Reluctantly contacted Angie's List. A man from a landscaping service, who said he is also a sod broker, called within an hour. Said St. Augustine will not be ready for another month. He will call back then with an estimate. This new guy lives in town. His website is not well developed either, and he never advertised sod. I think this may work (jinx). HomeAdvisor (now merged with Angie) is how I found GC. We'll see. {sigh}
You're just buying the sod, not looking for installation, right? I would think that to be a low-risk simple transaction (which can be the most frustrating to see people not be able to execute.) I guess you're still looking for staggered delivery?
Nope. Delivered all at once. One pallet put out solid, the other 2 sprigged/plugged. I would consider letting them do the solid patch, but I just know they would insist on prepping it differently, make a huge deal out of it, bring in heavy equipment. I started too early. Centipede is starting to green up already at the farm. I thought the timing was similar to St. Augustine.
The hard part is dividing the squares into small pieces. (I've done this before for my parents' lawn at the farm, but not with a whole pallet.) There is a YouTube video showing a man cutting sod with a circular saw. I have a little cordless one with a dull blade. This is the way everyone else does it. I'd cut off body parts with that thing.
Sod Man #2 left a text message saying he still hasn't heard back from his supplier. Want to bet his supplier is the same man I've been trying to get in touch with? Two middlemen? I don't care. Let Sod Man #2 chase down Sod Man #1. That's what I hate most about these sorts of things.
I will probably be sprigging, instead of plugging, anyway. It's easier and faster. Stick shovel in the ground, pry back to make a crack, shove in a sprig and stomp on it. Similar to planting pine trees for harvesting. And you won't have to worry about digging out dead ryegrass roots or leveling the plugs.