# SeanBB's Platinum TE Paspalum Lawn Journal



## SeanBB

Welp, here we go!

I thought I would document the progression of a new paspalum sod lawn for anyone who wants to give this grass a shot...organically. I always look around for information on things like this so I figured I'd document it. Also, it's probably a train wreck waiting to happen so that could be fun to see as well. I tend to be really get into things, quickly get distracted and change my focus. I'm working on it, but so far no improvement.

*Background:*

We bought our house a few years ago and the entire backyard was a huge, wonky, concrete putting green. I like to golf and thought it would be fun but didn't realize at the time that the green was SO sloped and fast that practicing putting on it was like trying to roll a ball on a glass rainbow...pretty much worthless. Fast forward a few years, we had 2 little angelic children (or demons, depends who you ask) and the only thing the putting green was good for was making the backyard the temperature of a George Foreman grill and rolling little ankles in golf holes. You wouldn't believe how hot astroturf and concrete can make a backyard. I could've opened a Mongolian Grill franchise on that cooktop. We were already frying feet so why not add some noodles?

My wife and I thought it was time to pull the green out. I had 2 contractors opt out because they said "this would really suck to do" (and I agreed). I finally found a guy willing to tackle it and he got to work. About 3 minutes in to the project after telling me "there is no way this green is reinforced with rebar" he found wire mesh. I mean, technically, he was right. There wasn't rebar, but there was metal mesh throughout the green, a lot of it. Instead of pulverizing the green, and vacuuming up the dust he decided to use a concrete saw to cut up the mesh and pull out giant blocks of cement. He made the right decision. Once he started cutting it up, it came apart quickly. At the top of the green, there was a footer poured that was at least 14-16" thick. I have no idea why they built this thing like the hoover dam however I appreciate things that are overbuilt for some weird reason. My contractor was not thrilled with this discovery.

Sawing concrete:


So 425 sq. ft. of 4-6" thick concrete putting green later it was out and next the crew did a rough leveling of the yard. Once they removed about 2 dumptrucks worth of dirt, they started working on a block retaining wall. This bed is going to be an ornamental bed to match a similar one that I have down the way a bit. The block wall was built and backfilled with new dirt to ~14" to the topcap. Woohoo! More gardening space. The ultimate treat.

Some dirt removed and block wall:


Luckily I found this forum right BEFORE I started this project because after reading thread after thread I decided against tilling the soil. I decided to go the other route of just leveling and laying the sod. This was definitely the right decision with my soil type...clay, sand and rock. I hit all the high points with a transfer shovel and removed probably another 10+ wheelbarrows of mixed dirt and gravel. There was a TON of gravel in the yard and continuous raking and level kept bringing it to the surface. The putting green builder must have laid a bunch down when leveling or prepping the site for the concrete. What a pain. The yard then sat roughly 4 inches or so below my concrete patio.

Alright! On to irrigation!

I paid a guy to do the trenching. WORTH-EVERY-PENNY. I'll tell you now, if you are on the fence and have the clay/sand/rock combo for soil...do whatever it takes to pay someone for trenching. Get a second job, sell a kidney, commit a felony, I don't care...make it happen. Trenching is a BUMMER.

For irrigation I decided I wanted to conserve water as much as I could and from what I could find Hunter MP's seemed to fit the bill. My house pressures all checked out so I decided to tie into some unused valves in my front yard and run water to the back. My front yard doesn't get watered anymore, well hardly, only by hand maybe twice per year (thank you California native plants!) so it worked out nicely. Super easy to just lay all the pipe since I didn't have to dig.

I made 2 new designated stations, one for the lawn and one for the ornamental bed. For the lawn, there are 8 different sprayers all fitted with PSR40 bodies to deliver the recommended pressure of 40PSI. And throughout the lawn there are different arc'ed nozzles, but I all of them are MP1000's. Because of the curved wall, it was pretty difficult to get full coverage and I only have one small spot that I cant get water to. The ornamental bed has ~10 spray bodies and they are the PSR30's with adjustable arc nozzles by Hunter. Everything was hard plumbed, no poly tube. System all checked out, no leaks and backfilled...boom goes the dynamite.

The next step was to bring in some dirt. I ordered 4 yards of screened topsoil, compost and biochar mix and had it dumped on my driveway. I am going organic with this yard and I've heard good things about biochar and microbial life so I said "why not?". It only added a little to the price. At delivery, I about had a heart attack when the truck driver almost destroyed my vintage travel trailer that I have been restoring for a few years. I still havent quite recovered from the delivery to be honest. My son and I (he is 4 ) trucked dirt for 2 days and spread it throughout the yard. Because of the summer heat, I am pretty sure I had at least 2 strokes? But days and numbers are hard to keep track of post-moving dirt day.

I bought a leveling rake and got OCD about leveling and rolling the soil. I rented one of those "lawn roly" things from Home Depot and it helped a lot. I did a soil test and saw my pH was a little high (8.1) so I added some organic Tiger90 sulfur to bring down the ph into the mid 6's-7.0 and I always topdressed some EB Stone Organic Starter "Sure Start" at the described box rate...right around 8 pounds. After light waterings and leveling, I was ready for sod. Pretty excited moment. I swore I would never have grass but the day came and I got it.

New dirt leveles and rolled, ready for sod!


Rented a trailer picked up the sod at 7AM. It was pretty thin and very sandy so I had a lot of trouble carrying it and laying it without ripping. Stress was setting in. Also, it was getting hot so I had to move quick...and being that this was my first time installing sod, I was going a little slow. 4 hours later I had a lawn!

Instalawn!


Thanks for following along, I will keep you all updated and on the happenings. I will try to explain what I'm up to and what I'm adding to this 425sq.ft. beast of a yard.

Stay hydrated my friends!


----------



## SeanBB

Installation day, day 4 and 1 week post-install..



Starting to green up! Just for the record last photo is 8/31/20


----------



## SeanBB

I can't wait to get the landscaping done. I've been digging and hauling dirt like crazy. I wanna plant stuff! The lawn keeps getting greener! The weird haze from our fires has tinted our skies a hazy orange. Labor Day update shot! I am going to add a fish emulsion shot this week. Do you guys think thats a bad idea? Have a good one.


----------



## SeanBB

I'm trying to slowly ramp down the watering situation, the lawn feels too spongey to me. I've not yet fertilized but it seems to be growing well. It will be getting 15-20 minutes of watering, every other day. Tomorrow morning I will apply some fish fertilzer early and water it in. When do you all do your first cut? I feel that I am getting close to needing one. I am so nervous to let my kids on the lawn yet! Take a look!


----------



## SeanBB

Sharpened up the Mclane and did the first cut. A little nervous that I took to much off. Cleaned it up and throughly watered. Still looking good. Some areas thinning slightly due to shading so not thrilled about that...but what can you do? I may fill in with some sort of fescue next spring. It was a PITA edging around the raised bed but I think it looks nice.


----------



## SeanBB

Cut the grass twice since installation, and tonight...I'm gonna lay down some organic fertilizer then water it in tomorrow morning... Do you guys think thats ok? Maybe I should just wait until the weekend. I promised myself that I would get up at 0330 this morning but just couldn't drag myself out of bed to do it.

So far the lawn has had 2 cuts and 2 applications of fish hydrosylate and kelp. Looking good still! Areas are still a bit thin in the shade but next year depending on how it pops out of dormancy I will seed in some shade tolerant grasses in those areas (some sort of fescue). I would like some tips on that when the time comes or some suggestions on what might work in those areas. The areas are so tiny I'm not sure I want other grass varieities to blend in. I think they will visually stand out too much.

I'm gonna drop down ~.6pounds of organic nitrogen with a ~7-5-3 fertilizer mix of DTE's Bio Turf and DTE Bio Fish. I wanted to get it down during the week because I didnt want too much of it hanging around for when my kiddos run around on it this weekend. Im curious how bad the fertilizers are gonna smell. Always a possible downside for organic fertilizers. We will see! Please comment if you'd like.


----------



## gonefishn2010

Wow looks great!


----------



## SeanBB

My wife and I decided we are going to do some citrus at the back along the fence and keep em low so we dont block light getting onto the grass. Any citrus pros in here? I heard sour citrus does ok in the shade. That fence always throws shade about out to the grass. Otherwise if not citrus, was thinking some sort of stonefruit, either plums or pluots. I have 2 cherimoyas that need to go in the ground so I think that are going to get planted in the same hole and stuck in that back right corner. My wife wanted an avocado there but I'm trying to fight her on that one

thanks @gonefishn2010 !!


----------



## SeanBB

ALSO - quick question...would you fertilize then cut or cut then fertilize? Does it not matter at all...lawn looking fuzz today..


----------



## SeanBB

Check out that house shadow line. I can cut the trees but I cant cut my house...well technically, I can cut my house but I'm not sure if I should do that. Cut the lawn late last night. Looking better, should get some pics up. I didnt fertilize because I cant get out of my damn bed early enough. Ill do it Sunday I promise!


----------



## SeanBB

Fresh cut! This stuff is pretty thick!


----------



## SeanBB

Lowered HOC by probably another 1/4", fertilized and watered in. Looking amazing..! Going to do a kelp and fish spray on Wednesday  Paspalum is so soft!


----------



## SeanBB

Things are progressing nicely. It has been crazy hot here but the grass is holding up good.

So I laid down roughly 0.6#'s of N on 9/28, and it seems like the fertilizer settled deep into the grass. My yard is tiny so I just used a push broom to kinda of rub it into the yard. I'm going to add a foliar of kelp, molasses and maybe a touch of fish to keep the microbes happy during this warm spell. Hopefully it'll kick of the breakdown of the fertilzer and I'll see some good stuff going on in the next couple of weeks.

For personal reference...my fertilizer mix ended up being 7.4-5.5-3.

The areas of the yard that are shaded still seem to be struggling. They are rooted fine but it seems that some of the smaller blades have eroded away. Also, areas directly on the raised bed block wall seem to be getting fried from the reflective or absorbed heat coming from those blocks. I have been lightly spot watering those areas. Maybe next year when it is more established that wont be an issue.


----------



## SanDiegoLawn

Thanks @SeanBB for this journal showing Platinum TE Paspalum. I am considering converting my TTTF tall fescue lawn to Paspalum. (I'm in Carlsbad.) Are you still liking the look of your lawn?


----------



## SeanBB

Here is a mid-dormancy update from February 1st of this year...


----------



## SeanBB

Early April update (04/04/21) grass is starting to really green up but not much growth. I scalped it to 1/2", as low as I could go a few weeks ago and dethatched lightly one week ago. The lawn seems like it is healing up, but I am not seeing any vertical growth yet. The grass looks healthy and strong except for the shaded areas on the north fence (top of the photo). I have been giving weekly sprays of seaweed extract (neptunes harvest) at the bottle rate, which I believe is 1/8c per gallon.

The plan is to aerate once definitely out of dormancy, sand level, fertilize and get it going strong into early summer. I think the aeration will help with my compaction issues and water infiltration. Once aerated, Im going to throw down 3#'s of Tiger 90 sulfur and Down To Earth Bio-Turf as an early season slow release. I am still having some water coverage issues against that block wall on that one inside corner. I mounted my sprinkler about 6"s too far from the wall unfortunately. If I cant keep up with watering there this summer I will move it this upcoming winter.

When I dethatched i was surprised to see quite a bit of material. I think I pulled out about a trashcan worth of material. The lawn looks good but I definitely have some bare spots from construction and winter (say that loosely being in SD) rough housing on the lawn. I am also dealing with some Poa annua right now which should be renamed to PIA annua. Stuff grows fast and Im hoping the paspalum will choke it out soon, or that the heat will snuff it out. Either way I want it dead. I havent sprayed anything because im trying desperately to not have to do that.

Sorry for the massive shadows. This time of year is hard with the sun angle.



Big shoutout to @greendoc for all of the advice. Im trying to use his detailed information as much as possible.

Cheers,

Sean


----------



## SeanBB

I laid down 0.1#N plus 1 oz of FEAture and 0.5oz of Miller microplex. I left it on for 4 hours then lightly watered it in. I feel that the lawn greened up but maybe I'm imagining things. Check it out!



I cant wait til summer so the thin spots have a chance to fill in (the lower part of the photo). I'm having a hard time in that spot because its a high point in the yard. The grass there is REALLY short which created a tight/thatch spot. Don't really know how to fix that...


----------



## SeanBB

Close-ups of the troubled high spot....


----------



## SeanBB

Just put down Scotts DiseaseEX due to spot that looks a lot like large patch. I am really trying to avoid stuff like that but I noticed the patch getting larger and some leaves yellowing.. I will do one more followup application again at the curative rate.

I need to verticut the thatch out going into growing season, I feel that it will also help with drying and any fungal issues. Hopefully someone can chime in weather or not you can verticut after a fungicide app.

Im not gonna lay down any fertilizers for 2 weeks. Then I think im gonna aerate and level if the lawn is looking better. The grass seems to be growing now. Looks like it needs a cut but I dont want to mess with it too much if this fungus is a legit thing. Being a noob I probably mis-ID'ed my issue.


----------



## SeanBB

Lawn looking much better, I think that the increased water I have been putting down is helping a lot. I increased from ~30-40 min per week to 2 hrs. The areas that look like insect or fungus isses I THINK are related to drought stress. Im a total newb with all of this so much of these issues look similar to me.

I think that I will put down the second app of fungicide because conditions seem right for fungus. However, with increased watering moving into summer the lawn looks much better. I think the warmer temps have also helped a lot.

This upcoming Sunday I am going to aerate and sand the yard hopefully increasing water penetration and alleviating some of my compaction issues. I am looking forward to this! The moving of the sand is probably going to be miserable, but i think long term it will help a lot. I have some spots that are pretty bumpy and think that the sand will help a lot.


----------



## SeanBB

Dry spot update, pulled dead material, aerated the space, then sanded.

Before:


After:



I'll try to document recovery, spraying with kelp and humic acids.


----------



## SeanBB

Morning photo update. Looking fresh!


----------



## SeanBB

May 17th update!

Verticut 2 ways, and mowed. Picked up about a 30 gallon can worth of trash and sprigs. Looking good!


----------



## SeanBB

I'm having a hard time ID'ing this patch of lawn. I think that it is a poa patch because I have been fighting PA a lot this year...but it is sort of a lighter shade of green/blue looking. I'm worried that it's some sort of bermuda. Is there any way to know if bermuda invaded the paspalum? I pulled some of it out and it looks like paspalum, just weird that it's a patch of paspalum that's a different color...dunno....


----------



## SeanBB

I was able to finally aerate the lawn today, I did multiple passes in what I would consider "aggressive" aeration. I am really hoping it will help with water retention and penetration on a high spot that I have had a hard time getting penetration in.

I lowered my HOC before aeration, not sure on the height but the turf is thick and had some washboarding.

Pre-aeration:



After aeration I laid down 3#'s of sulfur to help with my high pH problems. I am planning to do another 3 pounds of sulfur this summer.. I also put down 6 #s of Down To Earth Bio-Turf 8-3-5, which is more N than I was planning. However it is an organic and I'm hoping it will be slow release, giving weeks worth of grass food.

Tomorrow I'm going to do spot sand leveling. I have no idea what I'm doing but gotta do it!

Pre-level (notice the poa spots):


----------



## SeanBB

Started leveling yesterday. I had a really hard time getting the sand down smoothly into the canopy due to thickness of the grass. The quality of masonry sand was nice with minimal amount of large particles. I think I'm going to spread the rest of the sand onto the top middle of the lawn then lightly verticut. I'm trying to slowly raise the entire lawn to meet up with the high spot in the middle of the lawn to help with my scalping issues.

I'm really nervous I smothered the grass as paspalum seems much different than bermuda. Some areas are totally covered with sand at 3/4-1" depth.

Time will tell!



I'll try to document progress in the worry spots.


----------



## SeanBB

Light verticut on June 2nd...trying to level out any high spots.


----------



## SeanBB

9 day post level update. I either didn't broom in the sand enough or I didn't cut the paspalum low enough pre application. There are some thick turf spots that make the lawn feel a bit lumpy/spongey underfoot. I'm hoping that takes care of itself once the old cut grass composts itself and the sand works itself down.. Almost feels worse than before I sanded...I mean the yard was pretty smooth to begin with. It could be some of the aeration settling out as well? I don't know..



I hit up the lawn with some urea, iron and Epsom salts. Hopefully I can get some Greenup. We are getting a heatwave this week which should jump-start the grass and get it moving. I have 2 areas that are kinda thin and need a little bit of help still. The photos don't show it but you can see sand pretty much throughout the yard when you are standing on the turf. I am almost 100% that the turf would've appreciated a lighter amount of topdressing. Once I am done with this mason sand, the next round of sanding will be with a USGA grade topdressing product just to fine tune things. Just incase any other people out there have paspalum here are the numbers I sprayed and had no issues with burn...

On 500ft..
.25#'s urea 
1.5oz feature
.125oz Epsom salt
.5 Miller microplex

I'll try to update if the lawn greens up...it should, it looked like it was starving.


----------



## SeanBB

Did a light grooming tonight with the SunJoe verticutter...in 2 directions. I'm trying to level any lumps from my sh*t level job I did. I swear my lawn was smoother before. The positive is that the lawn is slowly coming up and blending with the large hump that I had. SOOO I guess it's more level but there are some small bumps I am not into right now. I guess the description I'm looking for is lumpy. The lawn feels lumpy.

Anyway, I verticut 2 ways, then dropped a notch on the mower and collected clippings. Seemed pretty good but had some washboarding. I think I need to sharpen or backlap the mower. I'm going to try to rig some weights on the mower to keep it tight to the ground.

The l awn looks good right now, I wish it was a richer green. I may try some EDDHA iron with my high pH soil to get some green up. Also may be incorporating more AMS to help with pH and @Greendoc said it was the ideal paspalum nitrogen source. I mean, the fact alone that it can theoretically drop pH is fantastic.

On a side note I definitely have grubs in the yard. When digging in some trim boards for my spa my kiddos found some larvae. Also last night I saw some june-buggish/Japanese beetle looking guys flying around. I have no idea on timing of a spray and I am not sure I am at levels of infestation that warrant treatment...but I think the weird spots that have been popping up make me think grubs are the issue. The spots always look drought stressed or fungused. So I bought a bottle of Bayer Advanced complete insect killer which is a mix of imidacloprid and cyfluthrin. Still debating on weather or not to spray it?

After the mow...can't get pictures of this yard!





Grubs/larvae..

European crane fly?


----------



## SeanBB

Looking nice!


----------



## SeanBB

6/22/21: dropped some propi at a preventative rate, just to keep things in check. I used the RTU from Home Depot, application seemed to go well, I had no bronzing or any impacts to the lawn

6/24/21: sprayed .66#'s AMS +1oz feature and 1oz of EDDHA iron, also laid down an imidacloprid app to help with grubs in the lawn, found some surfacing the next day dead.


----------



## SeanBB

Grass is charging now!


----------



## Ware

Looks great @SeanBB!


----------



## SeanBB

Grass is thick, cutting almost everyday. I am having some issues with wash boarding with my manual. I may add some weight to the top but not sure if that would help with that. The propicanazole app I applied really seemed to help with whatever I was struggling with. Time to start applying preventative rates of fungicides.


----------



## SeanBB

Early morning mow. Lawn looks great!


----------



## SeanBB

Early morning shot, pretty good for getting super trampled by the kiddos on only 400ft. The propicanazole did great on whatever was impacting the lawn. I am due for a maintenance dose of both azoxy and propi but I'm gonna go with azoxy I think. I'm also gonna put down some imidacloprid grub killer.

I'm going out of town for a week so I'm curious what the lawn is gonna look like when I get back. Hopefully the propicanazole will slow down growth a bit and I'm also due for some fertilizer but I'm going to hold off on that as well.

I raised up 3 sprinklers that were really deep in sand after leveling. Now I'm not getting any sticking sprinkler nozzles. Yay!

I've been cutting everyday and the grass seems to love it. When I get back from vacation I'm going to fertilize with some organics and drop some sulfur and iron w/micros. Not sure if I should keep up with spraying nitrogen as I'm already up to 1# total N for the year. I did pickup a bag of calcium nitrate and some SOP that i need to put down a tiny bit. Hopefully these will make the grass get a nice deep green.


----------



## SeanBB

Thick!


----------



## DFWdude

Looks great! What is your hoc?


----------



## SeanBB

Thanks @DFWdude it's nice to get a comment in here. LOL I'm usually the only one in the room.

I wanna say it's right at 3/4"..but I haven't measured. I read that this grass seems to like 3/4" so that's what I'm trying to do. This grass is awesome though and looks a lot better in person. The texture is great! But man it is THICK.


----------



## Redtwin

SeanBB said:


> LOL I'm usually the only one in the room.


You're not alone. It's just that most of us Bermuda guys have very little input regarding Paspalum other than to say, "Dang! That looks good!!!"


----------



## ShadowGuy

Redtwin said:


> SeanBB said:
> 
> 
> 
> LOL I'm usually the only one in the room.
> 
> 
> 
> You're not alone. It's just that most of us Bermuda guys have very little input regarding Paspalum other than to say, "Dang! That looks good!!!"
Click to expand...

Haha. I was thinking the same, about talking to myself in my own lawn journal. From another SoCal warm season guy not growing bermuda. It's looking good. The color is amazing.


----------



## SeanBB

@Redtwin lol same here. Right on brother! &#129305;&#129305;


----------



## SeanBB

7/25/21 verticut 2 ways on Sunday, collected clippings and then blew off the surface. Pulled out maybe 1 McClane collector bin full of grass from the verticut on 500ft. I guess that will be my baseline for whether or not I am pulling a lot of stuff out. The grass looks VERY good right now. Thick and healthy.

WE GOT SOME RAIN!!!!! Last night got .2 of an inch. Woohoo!

I'm going to put down sulfur and DTE Bio-Turf. Their products rock but are very expensive. Later this week I think I'm going to spray some micros and some iron with kelp. First or second week of August, I'm going to hit it with Calcium nitrate and SOP.

WOOT


----------



## SeanBB

Overcast photos - post verticut


----------



## cfinden

Lawn looks great, color is so much darker than most Bermuda lawns I've seen (I know it's not Bermuda).

Is your soil mostly sand? It looks like it's doing very well, I've seen paspalum growing on the beach in kauai Hawaii in pure sand and ocean water.


----------



## SeanBB

This turf needs more respect.

Looks pretty good right now which is a bit shocking considering I haven't added anything to the lawn since 6/24 and that was only 0.14#s of N and a bit of iron. This also includes a week out of town for vacation and it not getting any love whatsoever. 👍🤙



I'm going to try try TRY to get down the sulfur and fertilizer tomorrow but I just can't get out of bed early enough! Zzzzz


----------



## SeanBB

I got the fertilizer and sulfur down...a miracle!


----------



## monsonman

Your grass has really turned on the last month! Looks great, love the color!


----------



## SeanBB

Thanks @monsonman I think it keeps improving. Slowly but surely. I am getting some seed heads now but it doesn't bother me enough to do anything about it. I heard PGR can help with that. This weekend Im going to spray a cocktail of stuff to see if I can improve the color. I want a dark green but I fight it with pH in the 8's. The lawn is definitely thick now and color seems to be pretty good. My edges get beat up really bad by the trimmer but I am hesitant to buy power scissors for such a small yard. The center of the yard that gets a full 8+ hours of sun is fantastic, some other areas look OK but are kinda thin.

Today was the last app of sulfur for the year. Hopefully my pH has come down. I'm a little worried about lowering it too much but I know that Ill always fight it because my source water is north of 8.3. Yikes.

This weekend I'm going to spray, AMS + CaNO3, micros and iron (both Feature and EDDHA). I want to see how much I can push the yard going into fall, especially since I'm way below my total N for the year.


----------



## SeanBB

Was able to get down the SOP, CaNO3, FEAture and EDDHA. The lawn absolutely ate it up.





I'm debating using the little sand I have left for some spot leveling. The grass looks so good I don't want to mess with it.


----------



## Amoo316

Ok @SeanBB you finally got me. I have 0 interest in small yards and know nothing about Paspalum. That said you work hard on your little lawn and I respect that. Hoping to learn a few things here.


----------



## SeanBB

@Amoo316 Well when I can get my little boy out there with scissors to edge for me it is pretty entertaining. Definitely couldn't do that on an acre lot! Well I mean you could but......

It's been a fantastic turf. Being kinda a rookie with grass, I feel that it's been pretty forgiving. I wanna see more people with it on here. There was a guy with it on ATY with an INSANE paspalum yard, granted he had a really nice mower...but he dropped off the map. Where are you @southernguy311 ? Want to pick your brain for sure!

This stuff really responds to light light feedings. Apparently that is one of the positives of the grass. I think I've only put down 1 pound of nitrogen total for the year. That's pretty crazy compared to some of the numbers Ive seen on the bermuda plots around here.

NOW IF ONLY I COULD GET A GOOD PHOTO OF THIS STUFF!

Thanks for tagging along.


----------



## SeanBB

Morning irrigation shot


----------



## SeanBB

I really need a better mower...but whatevs


----------



## SeanBB

Fresh cut. Good thing about a lawn this small is I can cut it in 5 minutes!


----------



## Amoo316

LOL I'm not going to lie, I'd be down right mad if I went outside to enjoy a nice cut and was back in the house 5 minutes later.

I'm not a "push a greensmower around for 2 hours" enjoy the mow person, but 2 hours with some tunes, a beverage and the rider is a good time for me.

The amazing thing about that Paspalum to me is it legit comes across on my screen like Annual Rye in color. What are your water requirements with that turf?


----------



## Redtwin

The color keeps getting better and better. If you scroll back up to the top you will see it was a lighter apple green. It could be the lighting but it's starting to look really nice!


----------



## A3M0N

SeanBB said:


> I wanna see more people with it on here.


Its not a residence but Truist Park, home of the the Atlanta Braves, has Paspalum as their turf. The Wikipedia entry says its "Seashore Paspalum, Platinum TE". We were at the game on July 30, the grass looked pretty good, a bit rough in some spots. But to be fair there was a concert just 7 days before this game with a stage and fans on the grass, so I'm sure that didn't help things much!


----------



## Amoo316

A3M0N said:


> Its not a residence but Truist Park, home of the the Atlanta Braves, has Paspalum as their turf. The Wikipedia entry says its "Seashore Paspalum, Platinum TE". We were at the game on July 30, the grass looked pretty good, a bit rough in some spots. But to be fair there was a concert just 7 days before this game with a stage and fans on the grass, so I'm sure that didn't help things much!


You telling me with all of the research and development of the TifX varieties done right here in GA, they went with a non-Bermuda grass there? I'm blaming this on taking over 100 games to finally get over .500 and Acuna's knee for good measure.


----------



## A3M0N

Amoo316 said:


> I'm blaming this on taking over 100 games to finally get over .500 and Acuna's knee for good measure.


Haha, right?! I thought it was odd to not have a "normal" sports turf. No idea why, maybe its simply to be different?

But I sure hope they can hang on to a winning record for a while!


----------



## Amoo316

A3M0N said:


> Haha, right?! I thought it was odd to not have a "normal" sports turf. No idea why, maybe its simply to be different?
> 
> But I sure hope they can hang on to a winning record for a while!


Found an article that stated the grass plays slower than Bermuda and that is why they chose it.


----------



## SeanBB

@A3M0N @Amoo316 yea I bet it has something to do with ball speed. I know paspalum is really susceptible to large patch and things like that. So they are probably spraying for that like crazy. They probably aren't too worried about drought tolerance or the cost of fertilizer like a golf course or municipality would be. The grass kicks ***! Looks like they need some iron. 🤪


----------



## Amoo316

SeanBB said:


> @A3M0N @Amoo316 yea I bet it has something to do with ball speed. I know paspalum is really susceptible to large patch and things like that. So they are probably spraying for that like crazy. They probably aren't too worried about drought tolerance or the cost of fertilizer like a golf course or municipality would be. The grass kicks @ss! Looks like they need some iron. 🤪


Apparently they have resodded the entire field prior to 2017, 2018 and 2020 up to this point.


----------



## Redtwin

Yeah, they will rip it up and reinstall whatever variety at the drop of a hat. There are some fields that just automatically resod each season.


----------



## SeanBB

@Redtwin that's crazy you wouldn't even think it'd be established. Lol...but what do I know! Haha


----------



## Amoo316

SeanBB said:


> @Redtwin that's crazy you wouldn't even think it'd be established. Lol...but what do I know! Haha


I mean they've replaced an entire field and been ready to play football a week prior in some cases. Pro Sports teams have the money to do that. I'm just questioning the durability of the Paspalum vs Bermuda. Who knows what kind of deal they're getting on the Paspalum though. The fact they're the only ballfield in the majors using it is suspect to me.


----------



## Redtwin

It's a fairly new stadium, too.


----------



## SeanBB

@Redtwin @Amoo316 the 2 big sod farms for TE are in both California and Georgia...hmmm coincidence?


----------



## Amoo316

SeanBB said:


> @Redtwin @Amoo316 the 2 big sod farms for TE are in both California and Georgia...hmmm coincidence?


This is legit one of those times I wish I could have 5 mins alone with the head groundskeeper. Clearly the organization wants a slower playing turf and Paspalum provides that over Bermuda. I'd just love to know what the guy who is tasked with keeping it up to par every day really thinks about it.

Edit: For clarity, I think it's a beautiful turf when done well, I just wonder how well it holds up to season long wear and tear vs Bermuda.


----------



## SeanBB

@Amoo316 I honestly think pro ball fields don't see much "wear and tear". With the amount of foot traffic limited to a few players on the turf a few days a week is really nothing. I bet your average public park sees 10x the amount of traffic per day versus a professional ball field.


----------



## Amoo316

SeanBB said:


> @Amoo316 I honestly think pro ball fields don't see much "wear and tear". With the amount of foot traffic limited to a few players on the turf a few days a week is really nothing. I bet your average public park sees 10x the amount of traffic per day versus a professional ball field.


You're not wrong there. I was mainly thinking about the landing area in front of a pitchers mound.

I just don't know enough about your grass type to know how well/quickly it repairs, how well you can "stitch" sod in...etc.


----------



## SeanBB

Hmm I think so pro soccer teams use it. That probably gets way more hammered. I say it repairs good...not what I see of bermuda though. Curious to compare this stuff with zoysia


----------



## Amoo316

SeanBB said:


> Hmm I think so pro soccer teams use it. That probably gets way more hammered. I say it repairs good...not what I see of bermuda though. Curious to compare this stuff with zoysia


That I would find really interesting. I would assume Soccer fields see enough wear and tear "divots" like a golf course anything would be tough to maintain on one. Again though, there's going to be a difference between game sites and practice facilities.

(Side note, I wanted to say thank you for allowing us to take your lawn thread completely off the rails.)


----------



## SeanBB

Bwahaha dude, it's cool I didn't think anyone was watching anyways. Check out some of the courses with TE, arguably some of the most bad *** in the world. The coolest thing is a lot of em do wall to wall with TE ie; tees, fairways, rough and greens. Everything from 1/8"-3" in height. Check out bakers bay or some of the courses in China or Dubai. Yikes!


----------



## SeanBB

Tried to lower the HOC today by 1 click on the McClane. I think it was a mistake. I couldn't get enough momemtum to cut cleanly, even after backlapping a few weeks ago. The lawn is crazy thick. I mean THICK. I would say the lawn is about 3/4" lawn.

My folks are coming to town in September so I'm gonna see how good I can get it by then. I'm gonna put down some AMS, kelp and Mg tomorrow.

Hopefully the grass doesn't look trashed after today.


----------



## Amoo316

Wait, you've got some funky grass nobody has ever heard of and a pet turtle? What else are you hiding from us?


----------



## A3M0N

Looks good! And like @Amoo316 said, thanks for letting us take a baseball tangent in your journal.


----------



## SeanBB

@A3M0N i hate sports, you're welcome! 🤣

@Amoo316 well let's see...we grow over 30 types of fruit, have a veggie garden, aquaponics, a California native garden, have a gecko, and beetle...umm I think that's everything about us! No hiding secrets here!! 😍


----------



## harold56

I don't want to hyjack your thread but here is a shot after tonight's mow of my Pure Dynasty seeded paspalum back yard. I left for vacation 3 weeks ago and came back to a terrible army worm infestation. 2 weeks of hard pesticides and heavy fertilizer have it almost back to 100%.. this is mowed at 0.5" twice a week.


----------



## FlaDave

That's one happy turtle. That's awesome. Good job man! :thumbup:


----------



## TampaBayFL

SeanBB said:


> I say it repairs good...not what I see of bermuda though. Curious to compare this stuff with zoysia


Zoysia (in my experience) is slooooooooow to
repair. It seems to be much much
much slower than Bermuda to repair. So much so that damaged areas can be smarter to
just resod/plug rather than wait. This is one of the negatives about Zoysia for me, as well as its need for constant preventative fungicides. But, it is def a nice looking grass and looks good at a much wider range of HOCs than Bermuda IMO.

I have enjoyed reading through your journal as Paspalum is a type of grass I don't think I have ever seen around my area. It definitely looks like cool stuff!


----------



## Redtwin

I had about 6 sod squares of Empire that completely died and didn't get set after being laid in January. They have almost completely filled in but I have been pushing growth hard and mowing low.


----------



## Amoo316

So I was going to strike up a conversation about fruit, then I saw what you do for a living and just figured I would leave this here:


----------



## SeanBB

That is excellent all! Thabks @Florida_Man that seeded lawn looks insane. I'm very impressed. What's your fert regimen like? Also, do you get any Poa? I always struggle with that.

@TampaBayFL yes I seriously considered putting down some new sod in struggling areas..but then summer hit and it really took off. This grass doesn't not like the shade though! Those are my problem spots. The bigger my grapes get the more shade they throw on the lawn.

@Redtwin I seriously considered zoysia for this yard, for shade tolerance mainly. But once I felt the TE, no going back!

@Amoo316 if I never saw a fish again I'd be ok with that. lol I kid I kid. Lately I've been working with jellyfish more so ita nice to mix it up. If u have fish questions fire away (but I'd rather not LOL 🤣)


----------



## SeanBB

Looks ok, seems like the iron is already wearing off which is a bummer. Must be that high pH. I'm so curious about my pH after laying down 5 pounds of sulfur this year!


----------



## Amoo316

SeanBB said:


> @Amoo316 if I never saw a fish again I'd be ok with that. lol I kid I kid. Lately I've been working with jellyfish more so ita nice to mix it up. If u have fish questions fire away (but I'd rather not LOL 🤣)


LOL, I used to Mod on Reef2Reef, I've still got a few stickies up over there. I'm good


----------



## SeanBB

@Amoo316 people think lawncare is expensive...HA!


----------



## Amoo316

SeanBB said:


> @Amoo316 people think lawncare is expensive...HA!


LOL, I know right. I had a 125g (75g sump) in my office. Finally got rid of my Nems, moved to a small 32g out in the living room. Our electric bill alone went down $100/mo just from taking that tank down. And don't tang police me for putting my tangs in that tank


----------



## SeanBB

I'm bringing the HOC back up. I didn't like the look and feel of the grass so low. I'd reckon it's at 3/4-1" now. The tips if the grass had some scalp-ish look to them. After raising the height 1 notch, it cleaned right up. Looks good again!


----------



## SeanBB

Forgot to mention I plumbed in some Hunter pop-ups back there along the fence where I planted some climbing mandevilla. I am going to trellis them on that fence. I hope they make it through the winter!

Also on a side note, I picked up some tropical fruit trees at a local chapter plant sale. Very excited!


----------



## Amoo316

I know a lot of people really try to get down around that .5" area, but I tend to like the look of most (in photos) closer to .75".

When do we get to see some of these fruit trees?


----------



## SeanBB

@Amoo316 with your size yard I would have an orchard asap. Learn to graft and you can do it cheap, I could give u a lesson via zoom.

Mainly all the photos are of my little boy holding fruit 😆😆😆


----------



## Amoo316

SeanBB said:


> @Amoo316 with your size yard I would have an orchard asap. Learn to graft and you can do it cheap, I could give u a lesson via zoom.
> 
> Mainly all the photos are of my little boy holding fruit 😆😆😆


We had 30 mature muscadine grapes on the property when I moved in. Mix of red and green. After the first year of that maintenance we went from 30 down to 6. We finally removed those last 6 about 3 years ago. I enjoy the garden much more than trimming grapes for hours.


----------



## SeanBB

yummmmm muscadines! scuppernongs! fruit trees arent as much pruning work. Granted out east, there are a zillion pests and high disease pressure. We have it EASY here in SoCal!


----------



## Amoo316

SeanBB said:


> yummmmm muscadines! scuppernongs! fruit trees arent as much pruning work. Granted out east, there are a zillion pests and high disease pressure. We have it EASY here in SoCal!


Growing up in South FL we had Oranges, Grapefruits, Mangos anmd Stafruit in the yard. The bugs are unbearable.

All of my neighbors still have grapes so it wasn't a big loss to take mine down. One neighbor has a lemon that I swear has lemons 12 months out of the year. I have a small fig. It's legit the only thing I will have in the yard and it is WAY away from the house. My fig is in it's 3rd spot in 3 years, this is the first year it hasn't died mid summer so I think it's finally happy.


----------



## SeanBB

It's been hot! My son is starting kindergarten tomorrow so that's a big milestone I'm trying to wrap my brain around. I finally mulched the area around the BASIC mandevilla plants I just picked up. After debating and debating what plants to put on a north fence, I landed on those. I think it was the wrong decision LOL. The mulch really cleaned up the look. It was driving me crazy so I'm glad it is done. They seem to be doing good so far. Any mandevilla tips are appreciated.

Grass is doing well aside from areas right along the wall/concrete. I try to not have any overspray so the edges always seem to struggle in the heart of the summer. I'm trying to conserve as much water as possible.







I sprayed kinda heavy last week and I think it burned the grass a touch. Good to know limits. After letting it grow out any damage, raising the HOC, a fresh cut really cleaned it up.


----------



## SeanBB

I take back all that negativity I was expressing. Lawn is the best it's looked right now.


----------



## Amoo316

Looking good dude. I wish I could come up with a color to call that other then legit crayola green. That's absolutely nutty.


----------



## SeanBB

@Amoo316 I need a new mower! Can't justify it for 400ft though bwahaha


----------



## SeanBB

Galangal is flowering...stoked!


----------



## SeanBB

Look at my socks and grass


----------



## Amoo316

Do you happen to have a can or bottle of Mt. Dew or would you be willing to purchase one and take a pic of it on the yard? I'm generally curious how bright that green is.


----------



## SeanBB

@Amoo316 This is California, I dont even know if that stuff's legal here! I kid, I kid. The lawn is pretty green but I feel that when it's overcast its a real nice emerald color. I just suck at taking photos!


----------



## Amoo316

SeanBB said:


> @Amoo316 This is California, I dont even know if that stuff's legal here! I kid, I kid. The lawn is pretty green but I feel that when it's overcast its a real nice emerald color. I just suck at taking photos!


LOL at least I wasn't the one who said it. Let's be real the Silicon Valley folks have lobbied enough to keep Mt Dew off of the cancer causing substances list.

I'm just interested in seeing something east to recognize and look at, that is also green, on the lawn in a photo.


----------



## SeanBB

Here is the stand.

OH just for documentation purposes...what I think burned the grass was 0.5#AMS and 0.5#CaNO3...BUT it may have just been scalp damage. Not familiar enough yet with either...


----------



## Redtwin

I'd bet you a cold Mountain Dew that it was the AMS that burned it.


----------



## Amoo316

Redtwin said:


> I'd bet you a cold Mountain Dew that it was the AMS that burned it.


----------



## fjaviru

Congratulations for your Journal and your lawn! I also own a 500sqf paspalum yard. I found this: _ "Now if you are asking yourself when do you apply ammonium sulfate like you do on bermuda, the answer is never. "_

Full article in here: https://blog.westcoastturf.com/paspalum-workshopcollege-football-week-11ultra-run-results/

Hope it helps. What is your watering schedule?


----------



## SeanBB

@fjaviru I seem to get a better green up and growth response from AMS vs urea. I honestly think the crispy grass was from scalping.


----------



## SeanBB

You guys wanna know the secret to a crisp yard with clean edges? 


:bandit: :bandit: :bandit: :bandit:


----------



## Redtwin

Awesome getting the little ones involved. It's also great fine-motor skill development.


----------



## SeanBB

@Redtwin it's also cheaper than rotary scissors and no burn from a string trimmer LOL. But yes good motor and focus development. My daughter stresses me out by I'm trying to keep eyes on them.


----------



## SeanBB

Update shot....still getting leaves and seeds all over 🙃


----------



## SeanBB

@Ware I'm very upset nobody has nominated me for LOTM. CANT YOU MUSCLE SOME PEOPLE?


----------



## Ware

SeanBB said:


> @Ware I'm very upset nobody has nominated me for LOTM. CANT YOU MUSCLE SOME PEOPLE?


I'm on it.


----------



## SeanBB

@Ware finally!


----------



## Redtwin

@SeanBB You're the Cinderella of the group; beautiful but still the neglected step-sister.


----------



## SeanBB

@Redtwin 😭😭😭😭 the reality of the situation hurts.

🤣🤣


----------



## SeanBB

End of August update!

Things to note...
1)maybe slight insect damage
2)maybe a little bit of a fungal issue in some spots
3)overall looks great!


----------



## Redtwin

SeanBB said:


> 3)overall looks great!


Agreed!


----------



## SeanBB

Thanks @Redtwin !


----------



## SeanBB

Update shot of the backyard and the front. Productive day in the yard was able to mow and clean up the front. Finally figured out how to clean the rock riverbed without digging all the rock out..stick your blower straight down into the rocks. Works great!

Front yard has been coming along. It doesn't get watered at all so it's slow going. The upper area is California native and the lower is a mix of old and new world succulents.

Also in the mix are some fruit trees. Persimmon, apricots, peach, plum, pluots and some berries.


----------



## SeanBB

As a note for the journal...

Put down the last app of imidacloprid for the year. I have seen a ton of beetles around, so that should help with grubs. I think I'm going to put out some iron tomorrow hoping for a nice green-up for this weekend. We will see how quickly it can get going!

Does anyone here know if I can put down propiconazole and iron at the same time? I figured I would need to water in the propiconazole but I really want to let the iron sit on the leaf for max absorption.


----------



## SeanBB

Why the hell does my lawn photo like that? I need to tweak the settings of my camera or something. I can't "unread" the mountain dew thing LOL


----------



## SeanBB

This looks more like it actually looks. Do t know why it always photos so neon!


----------



## ShadowGuy

SeanBB said:


> This looks more like it actually looks. Do t know why it always photos so neon!


Looking good! LOTM material. 😀


----------



## SeanBB

@ShadowGuy gawsh stop 🥰


----------



## Amoo316

SeanBB said:


> Why the hell does my lawn photo like that? I need to tweak the settings of my camera or something. I can't "unread" the mountain dew thing LOL


LOL sorry Duder, the lime/neon green was what made me think of it.


----------



## SeanBB

@Amoo316 you're dead to me ☠🤦


----------



## Amoo316

Wasn't my camera camera/post skills posting those photos :lol: :thumbup:


----------



## Amoo316

Ok here, now you can be mad at me, I couldn't help myself.


----------



## SeanBB

@Amoo316 that gave me a genuine chuckle, thank you!

Today I put down...

-1 oz feature
-1oz EDDHA 
-0.5oz microplex
-.25# magnesium sulfate 
-.25# urea

Hopefully the grass turns black!

Total nitrogen for the year - 1.63#'s


----------



## SeanBB

The response to the above treatment..


----------



## Amoo316

Damn, my lawn has never grown leaves before.


----------



## SeanBB

Grape leaves are about to fall! We finally hit 60s at night. Freezing out!


----------



## Amoo316

Nice, what kind of grapes?

My neighbor tried bringing in a grape from Cali, I forget what kind, but they have a real rough time in our hotter summers here.


----------



## SeanBB

They are just basic flame seedless (reds), but along with that Im growing, concord, golden muscat, thompsons and king ruby. The vine is 2"+ diameter in only it's second leaf! Monster of a vine!


----------



## Amoo316

Concord, that is what he had shipped in. He planted 8 of them. Goats got them hard on year 2. They are on year 4 right now. They just don't seem to do as well as Muscadines.


----------



## SeanBB

The fall sun angle change kills my yard. The lower in the horizon, the more leaf burn I get. Some of my shade plants are really unhappy at the moment! I am also over watering...meaning tired of watering which is never a good thing. The plants suffer. ALSO areas that were shady in the lawn are now full sun and dry. So some spots are struggling.

With the cooler nights, tomorrow goes down the propi and prodiamine combo!

Here is the lawn now...







The lawn is THICCC


----------



## SeanBB

Got down the propi and prodiamine FINALLY. Stuff is already germinating so I probably missed the boat as per usual. Lawn is still looking great except for the few areas that are almost 100% shade. Just gave it a fresh cut, growth is way down with the cooler nights!


----------



## Redtwin

The color still looks awesome!


----------



## SeanBB

Thanks @Redtwin hanging on for dear life over here. We have hit the 50s at night, I don't know if we'll survive. Getting out the parkas and space heaters. 🤦

Grass seems to be yellowing and browning out a bit but I think I drought stressed it. It was getting cooler so I backed off on water then forgot about it... whoops! SO SUE ME! The sun angle change in the fall always crushes my plants. A lot of burn spots on leaves and dry areas that weren't dry all year.

Growth has really slowed down which is kinda fun to watch. I get to mow and hang with a tight clipped yard all week vs mowing every day. I hope it's still green on Christmas.

My MP rotators are still clogging with my mason sand that I top dressed this past summer. Im going to raise all of my spray bodies then use nice usga sand this summer for my final leveling....well maybe second to final leveling  hopefully the finer grain sand won't clog as much. I don't think I have enough PSI in my water to eject the grains properly. It is VERY annoying.

Check it out!









Later gators.


----------



## SeanBB

Where's pickles?


----------



## SeanBB

December paspalum update!

December 5th:





December 13th:



We've had a few cold nights but the color is hanging in. The grass is barely growing. We got 1.75" if rain yesterday and it hit 37 degrees last night. Tonight might get even colder! We should see some bigger color changes coming. I will win December LOTM for warm season grasses FOR SURE. 🤣


----------



## wilsonline

Any updates?


----------



## SeanBB

YOU GUYS THE LAWN IS WAKING UP!

....but I have a hole....


----------



## Redtwin

What in the world? Was something spilled there?


----------



## SeanBB

@Redtwin yes! Ding ding ding! Winner! I spilled some chemicals I used in my airless paint sprayer. Just painted the casa, it looks great but made a hole in the yard...big time! I even flushed the area after the spill. It may be fun to document Platinum TE recovery time frame. Not much info is online. I think the hole is roughly 1 square foot.

I've been doing a ton of projects around the house. So with the yard waking up I may be overwhelmed.

Today I sprayed a mix of urea, AMS, Miller Microplex, feature and EDDHA.

I think in a week I'm going to lay down my organics, then at the end of the month out down some grub killer and fungicides.

Also in the hunt for a heavy greens mower 

Goals for 2022....
-heal the hole 
-fix irrigation
-final leveling with better sand
-another aeration
-keep lawn looking good

Something to note! Only rough areas are the spots that suffer from late fall shade. Also, the prodiamine really seemed to help with Poa. I was pulling a ton last year at this time. Only a couple of plants this year.


----------



## southernguy311

Hey Sean. I'm back. I enjoyed reading through you thread.


----------



## SeanBB

@southernguy311 woohoo! Still have the lawn? Did you hear I'm going to win LOTM? 🙃 might need to pick your brain a bit..we are the only 2 with this grass. Now of I could only justify a $1000 mower for a 400ft lawn I would be in business.

LAWN UPDATE



The hole is 12x9...wanna make any bets on how fast it will fill in?


----------



## Redtwin

Can you plug Paspalum?


----------



## Dono1183

SeanBB said:


> @southernguy311 woohoo! Still have the lawn? Did you hear I'm going to win LOTM? 🙃 might need to pick your brain a bit..we are the only 2 with this grass. Now of I could only justify a $1000 mower for a 400ft lawn I would be in business.


@SeanBB Have you seen that your grass is the official grass of the World Cup this winter? They're also using it here at the Austin FC stadium. I think that after this World Cup, it may be a more utilized cultivar. 
https://www.golfcourseindustry.com/article/paspalum-world-cup-qatar/


----------



## SeanBB

@Dono1183 It kicks *** but doesn't like shade and gets some fungus. But this stuff is THICCC! Thanks for commenting!

Can't wait to aerate and level again. Going to lose ~50 sqft by adding a deck and path but it'll be worth it.


----------



## SeanBB

@redtwin worth a shot, maybe when I aerate I'll take some of those. Great idea


----------



## Amoo316

I'd honestly be kind of curious to see how it fills in on it's own if you don't mind guinea pigging it for part of the year.


----------



## SeanBB

Same old same old....



Hole looks a little bit smaller. Winter thin spots seem to be filling in. Sorry for the shadows but that's what I'm working with right now 🤣

In other news, chicken coop is almost done and ate my first peaches of the year. A little nervous about the chickens pooping or digging in the lawn. I know that their poop runs hot!! Excuse the blueberries...they are taking over.



Thinking about getting a new mower but can't justify $3500 to mow 400 square feet...😈... maybe.... I want to buy that Allett 30bbut it's only sold in the UK which is completely ludicrous. The 12" stripe would be great. Does anyone know if I can add any rollers or weight to my mcclane?


----------



## SeanBB

Morning dewwwwww


----------



## Redtwin

My chickens don't have free reign of my yard but I do let them free range regularly on the Tifway 419. I have not noticed their poop burning the bermuda but I clean it up as best I can if I notice it. I only have 3 so it's easy to keep after them. I do know from growing tomatoes that their poop is very hot as you said.


----------



## Amoo316

We have a bunch of chicken houses around here. It's definitely not uncommon at all to go get a "load" of chicken poop and roto till it in before planting. It's definitely good stuff.


----------



## SeanBB

Hole is getting smaller and it makes the perfect tortoise feeding station. I may keep it!


----------



## southernguy311

Yeah you could keep or pro plug it and sprinkle a little sand on it and be filled in a little quicker.


----------



## southernguy311

SeanBB said:


> @southernguy311 woohoo! Still have the lawn? Did you hear I'm going to win LOTM? 🙃 might need to pick your brain a bit..we are the only 2 with this grass. Now of I could only justify a $1000 mower for a 400ft lawn I would be in business.
> 
> LAWN UPDATE
> 
> 
> 
> The hole is 12x9...wanna make any bets on how fast it will fill in?


I didn't hear that but that's awesome!! I still have the lawn!! If you have a chance to grab a pro reel I would absolutely recommend it. I'm around if you have any questions.

Mine is located in a north facing lawn so it's just starting to wake up properly. I've got some Lesco starter fertilizer(18-24-12) down last week. The only time of the year where I typically drop a complete fertilizer is start of the season. After that it's going to be a spoon feeding regimen along with milorganite, calcium nitrate sprays, and micros.

I'm also going to be more aggressively using PGR this season including katana and primo together, taking a small break around end of June when I'm hopefully going to sand level before I go on vacation.


----------



## SeanBB

@southernguy311 I haven't done any soil tests but I'm usually good on P so I've just been throwing down a touch of nitrogen and a little bit of K. I've had really good luck with my organic slow release stuff so I'm going to that up along with adding more sulfur to try and mitigate my high pH problems.

How do you like the growth regulators? Seeing any benefits aside from less mowing? I don't have to worry about mowing being a time suck.

Have you compared turf response of AMS and urea to CaNO3? I feel that AMS gives me the best pop but who knows...


----------



## SeanBB

Lawn looking good right now, shady spots and cool weather aren't making it easy but it still looks nice. Gonna give her a trim tomorrow and have some ornamentals to plant! May even throw down some fertilizerpardon the rose petals everywhere grrr...beautiful plant but messy.



Some garden shots from around the yard....

Jalapeños going bonkers..


Cherry trees exploding (but very stingy)


Large blackberries always coming in jumbo sizes..biggest was 2"!


Finally finished the chicken coop!


Hopefully I will have more turf updates soon!


----------



## southernguy311

SeanBB said:


> @southernguy311 I haven't done any soil tests but I'm usually good on P so I've just been throwing down a touch of nitrogen and a little bit of K. I've had really good luck with my organic slow release stuff so I'm going to that up along with adding more sulfur to try and mitigate my high pH problems.
> 
> How do you like the growth regulators? Seeing any benefits aside from less mowing? I don't have to worry about mowing being a time suck.
> 
> Have you compared turf response of AMS and urea to CaNO3? I feel that AMS gives me the best pop but who knows...


Growth regulator wise it's all about seed head suppression for me. Of course less mows also but that wasn't the primary benefit I started using PGR for.

A couple turf managers who dealt with Platinum suggested the Calcium Nitrate over others because Paspalum also really likes Calcium in addition to nitrate forms of nitrogen vs ammonium.


----------



## SeanBB

Been working my deck.

Check out my deck pic.


----------



## SeanBB

Finally finished the deck. Swapped some of my MP1000 heads for MP800s. The performance of the 800s seems far superior than the 1000s. Don't know why?


----------



## SeanBB

Grapes


----------



## clbphllps

@SeanBB man, I love this journal! Have been wanting to find someone with Platinum and this has been hiding right under my nose. It really looks great, mountain dew and all. lol


----------



## SeanBB

@clbphllps you got the same lawn? Thanks for showing up! My deck construction really impacted the lawn. I really tried hard to irrigate adequately without spraying the deck. I'm concerned about water stains on the deck and keep the lawn looking good.


----------



## clbphllps

@SeanBB I do not, I actually just sprigged tahoma in my front yard. I was considering Platinum for a side yard sprigging project maybe next year. I'm sure you'll get yours back to where you want it after the construction dust settles and you're back in the groove of things. I'll also give your journal a better read once off I'm work. Very cool grass though, not many folks have it.

My tahoma project in the event you were curious:
https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=37015


----------



## SeanBB

Folks, this is why you put in platinum. I'm not saying it's the best grass ever, but maintenance wise it's pretty good. I fertilized 0.2#'s of nitrogen on 4/18 and nothing since. All I've done is cut and watered. Still looks great!


----------



## SeanBB

I need new shoes but can't afford it.


----------



## SeanBB

Doesn't look so great after the heat wave and grub attack. Hopefully it will look good again soon! I unknowingly dethatched prior to grub damage showing up so I think the grass is really stressed. Started fertilizing again and grass really greened up.

Here's a weird panorama I took. Added some pavers around the hot tub to ease getting in and out. I really need to grow some grass around the margins now.


----------



## wilsonline

This is such a cool backyard. I loved the deck. Came out perfect. 
Now talking about mowers, I have a gm1000, some cheap manuals reels, and finally found a manual Mclane. 
I have 2 sections of 1ksqft of lawn and there are trees, it's a pain to mow. So the gm is a no-go for me. I can still use it, but I rather use one of the manuals. The issue I had was washboard marks due to the low count blade on my manual reels. So I ordered the new Scott's 7 blades and solved the issue at 1 inch. Even at 7/8'' it does great. And last week I found a used Mclane. It was far, but I could not let that pass. I felt in love with it in the first cut. It's not the greens keeper model, but the ph 10 blades. This is the perfect mower for us. The blade count allows low hoc without washboard marks. Great cut quality, low weight, no gas, minimum maintenance, silent, all great. The only complaint I have is the reel to bedknife height adjustment. 
So if you ask me, no I would not get a gm for your lawn, but look for this 10 blades mclane. Or if a powered reel, I would look for a 20 inch 10 blade mclane and swap the motor for an electric motor to reduce weight. It's easy when you roll the heavy gm from garage to driveway to lawn, no issues there. But when you have to go through bumps, gates, and around trees, it can be a pain. I don't remember your hoc, but if you're fine at 1 inch, even the Scotts could be a good option to get rid of the washboard marks. 7 blades are enough at 1 inch. I mean any reel with 7 blades. For half an inch, you might need 10 blades. You can probably find a used EarthWise on OfferUp or Facebook marketplace for 40 bucks and be fine with that. 
The gm is great to lay stripes, but I personally don't think it's worth the hassle. That thing weighs around 300 lbs. Maybe a 20-inch Mclane would be a happy medium, but I don't have one, so idk. 
What's your hoc now?


----------

