# Stuofsci02's lawn journal. Greensmaster Flex 21 for 2020



## Stuofsci02

Hey lawn gals and guys. Thought I would share my recent Reno of my backyard. I had a lot of clumping fescue and quack grass from the hydro seed the builder put down 5 yrs ago. It was really bothering me for years. Decided 3 weeks too late (should have done this in August)to kill it all off and start again. So on Labor Day I started hitting it with roundup and killed it all....

Then on Sept 21 I aerated the heck out of the dead area.



Then I used my tine dethatcher with cinder blocks to till up the ground and make a seed bed.



Then I put down 120 lbs of 50% perennial rye, 30% creeping fescue, 20% kbg. Since I am late in the season I wanted grass that would germinate fast.

I then raked it in by towing around the tine dethatcher with no weight.

Then I rolled it in and added vigoro starter fertilizer.



Then I commanded it to rain. Or something like that.



On the 23rd I covered half with peat moss.. I did not have enough to do it all.

Then I set the sprinklers to water 5 times per day for 10 min and went away for business for 5 day..

Got home tonight 7 days after seed down and have some solid action.











Just finished a big landscaping job, so I got to this late... here's to hoping for a few more weeks of good weather. Try to get the back to look like the front.


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## g-man

Welcome to TLF. That prep looks great. Congrats on the baby grass.


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## someguybri

Beautiful front lawn


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## Stuofsci02

g-man said:


> Welcome to TLF. That prep looks great. Congrats on the baby grass.


Thanks for the welcome... glad I found this place... now I can tell my wife that there are others just as crazy about their grass


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## Stuofsci02

someguybri said:


> Beautiful front lawn


Thanks.. it's coming a long.. still repairing the battle scars from the landscaping...


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## ken-n-nancy

Stuofsci02 said:


> Hey lawn gals and guys. Thought I would share my recent Reno of my backyard.


Welcome to TLF! That's a big quick reno!

Looks like a good set of preparation tasks.



Stuofsci02 said:


> On the 23rd I covered half with peat moss.. I did not have enough to do it all.


Oooh, cool! An accidental "with peat moss" vs. "no peat moss" experiment, with what looks like very similar environmental conditions (full sun) for both areas.

I'm very curious as to if you end up experiencing much of a difference between the two areas in terms of speed of germination, completeness (thickness) of germination, and how it looks going into winter (say 60 days after seed-down) between the two areas.



Stuofsci02 said:


> Just finished a big landscaping job, so I got to this late... here's to hoping for a few more weeks of good weather. Try to get the back to look like the front.


There's a hidden implication that you're a landscaper for your day job? (Or is the "big landscaping job" a different project you did at your home?) Is lawn installation a regular (daily?) activity for you in the fall?


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## Stuofsci02

ken-n-nancy said:


> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey lawn gals and guys. Thought I would share my recent Reno of my backyard.
> 
> 
> 
> Welcome to TLF! That's a big quick reno!
> 
> Looks like a good set of preparation tasks.
> 
> 
> 
> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> On the 23rd I covered half with peat moss.. I did not have enough to do it all.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Oooh, cool! An accidental "with peat moss" vs. "no peat moss" experiment, with what looks like very similar environmental conditions (full sun) for both areas.
> 
> I'm very curious as to if you end up experiencing much of a difference between the two areas in terms of speed of germination, completeness (thickness) of germination, and how it looks going into winter (say 60 days after seed-down) between the two areas.
> 
> 
> 
> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just finished a big landscaping job, so I got to this late... here's to hoping for a few more weeks of good weather. Try to get the back to look like the front.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> There's a hidden implication that you're a landscaper for your day job? (Or is the "big landscaping job" a different project you did at your home?) Is lawn installation a regular (daily?) activity for you in the fall?
Click to expand...

Yes I did it quite quickly for the size.. having a tractor and all the attachments really helped... I have used slit seeders before and was going to for this, but thought about trying what I had. I think it may work better and was easier on the body.

Yes, very accidental. The stores around me ran out of peat moss... so far they look very similar up close. The peatmoss looks better from far since it has a darker back drop.

Nope, not a landscaper for my day job. I did do all the landscaping at my last house, but this property is too big so I hired it out... glad I did. Took 3 guys 4 weeks to do... all the gardens, big patio, deck, trees etc. They just got finished and so I was waiting to seed the areas they damaged with the excavator and the Reno at once... that was probably a bad idea since it cost me a few weeks.

Cheers

Stu


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## Stuofsci02

Lots of progress today... 8 days after seed down.. weather shows mostly 60-65F highs for the next two week with a couple of days to 70F. A fair bit of rain too. Hopefully this will be long enough to establish a mostly PRG and creeping fescue mix with some KBG.

Heading out for business for the week. Hoping for big things when I get back.


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## Stuofsci02

Just another quick update. This is from day 11. Definitely getting fuller but can see some thinner areas. Will I have to over seed a bunch in the spring?


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## Stuofsci02

Lawn Gurus

This Saturday will be day 15 after seed down and about 9 days after first sprouts. I put down starter fert at seed down. When should I start spoon feeding. I have a 25 kg bag of 16-16-16 that I had intended to use for this purpose throwing down at 2lbs per 1000. Any advice would be appreciated.

Weather for the next 7 days will be 60-75 degrees then it looks to drop into the low 50s after that.

Thanks,


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## g-man

Fertilizer at 9days from germination is too soon in my opinion since you already applied starter at seed down. I would wait to 3-4weeks post germination.


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## Stuofsci02

g-man said:


> Fertilizer at 9days from germination is too soon in my opinion since you already applied starter at seed down. I would wait to 3-4weeks post germination.


Thanks Gman. Yes I thought this was too soon, so another two weeks or so. Is the 16-16-16 good at 2lbs per 1000. This would be .32 lbs per 1000 of n, p and k.

Thanks

Stu


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## SNOWBOB11

If it was me I'd stay away from the balanced fert for this fall and use AS or urea. There are studies that show that late season k can increase the chances of snow mold.


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## Stuofsci02

SNOWBOB11 said:


> If it was me I'd stay away from the balanced fert for this fall and use AS or urea. There are studies that show that late season k can increase the chances of snow mold.


Interesting. I did not know that.. I have Urea too...


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## Stuofsci02

Alright.. now at Day 14.. quite happy with the progress.. now seeing a bunch of little sprouts coming up in between.. KBG? I did have 20% KBG in the mix...


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## Stuofsci02

At Day 22.. had three days in the 70s this past week which helped, but the warm weather is done now.. only 50 today and for the next 2 weeks high 40s.. so this might be the best it gets.. going to mow with my electric mower tomorrow..


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## Scagfreedom48z+

The turf looks fantastic! The growth and thickness seems to have really picked up lately.


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## Stuofsci02

Scagfreedom48z+ said:


> The turf looks fantastic! The growth and thickness seems to have really picked up lately.


Thanks Scagfreedom,

It is looking good, but from straight down is still quite thin. I am sure it will thicken more, and in the spring I will overseed heavily with more Turf Quailty Perrenenial Rye... I am really happy with this seed. I had some seed get spread into my thicker turf at the boundary and there was even a ton of little lime green sprouts coming up in there. I am surprised the seed even got to the soil as I did nothing to that area.

I decided I couldn't wait until tomorrow to mow, so I got out there with my electric mower this afternoon.. took forever since it is only 18" wide. But I was shocked when the flap on the back of the mower striped the new grass.. I'll get a pic of it tomorrow...

Cheers !


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## TN Hawkeye

Stuofsci02 said:


> Scagfreedom48z+ said:
> 
> 
> 
> The turf looks fantastic! The growth and thickness seems to have really picked up lately.
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks Scagfreedom,
> 
> It is looking good, but from straight down is still quite thin. I am sure it will thicken more, and in the spring I will overseed heavily with more Turf Quailty Perrenenial Rye... I am really happy with this seed. I had some seed get spread into my thicker turf at the boundary and there was even a ton of little lime green sprouts coming up in there. I am surprised the seed even got to the soil as I did nothing to that area.
> 
> I decided I couldn't wait until tomorrow to mow, so I got out there with my electric mower this afternoon.. took forever since it is only 18" wide. But I was shocked when the flap on the back of the mower striped the new grass.. I'll get a pic of it tomorrow...
> 
> Cheers !
Click to expand...

Curious if in the spring whether it makes sense to spread more rye grass or work on getting the kbg to spread into the thin areas. Judging by the dark green you have in the established lawn I would guess that is mostly ***? Seems like you will have a major color difference if you establish more rye grass.


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## Stuofsci02

In general KBG is difficult to overseed into existing turf, and even harder in the spring since germination times are so long... the Color you see in the pics is more due to the fact that this is new grass than the fact that it is PRG.. I am sure this will darken up. Perhaps not as blue, but I don't think the difference will be much..


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## Mrotatori

It looks really good


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## Stuofsci02

Mrotatori said:


> It looks really good


Thanks!


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## Stuofsci02

Here is day 23.... was warmer than expected today... maybe 60F in the sun.. looking even a little better.. put down .32 lb of N per 1000 sqft on the little buggers and watered in..

Also could not help throwing in a pic of the front. This is the best it has ever looked.. mowed 3 times today to get it from 3.25" to 2 5/8"


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## Scagfreedom48z+

Stuofsci02 said:


> Here is day 23.... was warmer than expected today... maybe 60F in the sun.. looking even a little better.. put down .32 lb of N per 1000 sqft on the little buggers and watered in..
> 
> Also could not help throwing in a pic of the front. This is the best it has ever looked.. mowed 3 times today to get it from 3.25" to 2 5/8"


What seed cultivators do you have in your front lawn? Your turf color is incredible


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## Stuofsci02

Hey Scagfreedom48z.. not sure about the front.. it was the sod the builder put down... I have overseeded with KBG before, although I have no idea how much took..

It looks darker blue in the picture than real life....


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## Stuofsci02

Day 29... cut at 2" or so with electric mower.. this is the 2nd cut. Looking alright.. a little thin in spots, but I can fix that next year.. I can see the bluegrass sprout coming in.. tiny little guys compared to the prg that already has several tillers..

happy so far considering the late start and the fact we have already had snow..


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## g-man

@Stuofsci02 it is looking good. FYI I moved your thread to the journal section.


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## Stuofsci02

g-man said:


> @Stuofsci02 it is looking good. FYI I moved your thread to the journal section.


Cool.. thanks gman


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## Stuofsci02

Thought I would throw one more update.. mowed with tractor on Nov 3rd... cold weather ahead so this probably it for the season.


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## Ohio Lawn

@Stuofsci02 How did the areas with peat moss come out compared to the areas without peat moss?


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## Stuofsci02

Ohio Lawn said:


> @Stuofsci02 How did the areas with peat moss come out compared to the areas without peat moss?


In the end I could not tell the difference. I do have irrigation back there, so it might play out differently if I was manually watering or not able to water. Things were just greening up back there when I left for vacation yesterday. I am hoping it will be ready to roll when I get home in a week. I'll be sure to post a pic.


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## Stuofsci02

Today was my 2nd now of the season. I mowed 12 days ago to wake the grass up and then went on vacation. Got back yesterday to some nice greenup. I installed my new Gator G5 blades and prepped my tractor for the season. I also installed my new Big League striping kit on my tractor.. gave it a go at 2" and am super please... I finished the day building my new 130lb Agrifab push spreader and laid down 12 lb per thousand of 8-0-1 corn Gluten. That new spreader is amazing...

New stripes today



Last falls reno first cut at 1.5"



First cut on April 16th



New Gator Blades


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## Stuofsci02

Last falls reno cut at 1.25" with rotary... older grass near the deck was cut at 2.5" last year so it is a little yellow getting used to the lower HOC...


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## Stuofsci02

Big league Striping kit on my JD X304


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## Stuofsci02

Pic from last weekend.. it was my daughters 12th bday and we were having friends and family over, so of course it was necessary to mow and stripe...


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## Stuofsci02

Last years back reno is coming in nicely... lots of weeds though... waiting for a wind free day for some herbicide action...


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## Scagfreedom48z+

Stuofsci02 said:


> Last years back reno is coming in nicely... lots of weeds though... waiting for a wind free day for some herbicide action...


That Reno is really starting to thicken up! Stripes look great


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## Stuofsci02

Thanks Scag... I got some PAR 3 down on the reno today... with the sun the back strips really nice... I am cutting it at 1.75" with my JD tractor and it cuts well... Hopefully next weekend I'll be seeing far fewer weeds.. I put down 0.8 lb N of urea 9 days ago it it really kicked it into high gear


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## W8INLINE

The lawn looks great. We have similar size properties and I'm guessing we are not very far from each other, so I'll be following your progress closely. Debating on a reno myself but acre lots are kind of intimidating when you look at them with a reno in mind.


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## Stuofsci02

W8INLINE said:


> The lawn looks great. We have similar size properties and I'm guessing we are not very far from each other, so I'll be following your progress closely. Debating on a reno myself but acre lots are kind of intimidating when you look at them with a reno in mind.


Hey W8Inline,

With a big property I think it is easier to do reno's in sections. Pick 10-15k sqft and do that this year... Something you can manage to do over a weekend. I assume with a property that size you have a ride on mower. If you have some attachments for it like a tine dethatcher and aerator it makes the prep work a lot easier.. If you are going to do it you need to start the prep work pretty soon. I got a late start last year.. I would target seed down in mid August....


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## Stuofsci02

Back reno on a beautiful day.... Fresh cut 2"


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## Harts

Looks awesome!


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## Stuofsci02

Harts said:


> Looks awesome!


Thanks Harts


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## Stuofsci02

Front is coming back strong after over applying PGR.... Took three weeks to heal, but I am back in the race for neighborhood domination..

Today I diagonal striped the front and even did the small 30ft wide section on my neighbors side... I continued the diagonal stripes right into the back...


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## Stuofsci02

Middle of July and after two weeks of heat and no rain... Irrigation has been a must... HOC 2.25".

They are finally starting the house on the vacant lot next to me... all those weeds have been nasty, but they will be gone soon enough..

Also a nice far away shot from my brothers back yard... I love striping towards him...


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## Stuofsci02

Lower cut at 1.75"


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## Stuofsci02

Cut at 2" HOC... I think this is the best it has ever looked and it is mid July at the end of a two week heat wave... Three passerby's stopped their cars to ask about it..


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## Scagfreedom48z+

Looks beautiful. Your 2018 Reno is really starting to show off all that hard work.


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## ericgautier

Wow, looks awesome!


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## Stuofsci02

Thanks Gents!


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## Stuofsci02

I haven't updated the Journal for a while... my reno in the back is now officially at 51 weeks... I am going to call it established and certainly exceeded my expectations. The playground reno is now 4 weeks old...

Front is cut now at 1.5" with the manual reel as an experiment for next year...


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## Scagfreedom48z+

Those stripes look stunning! Was that your Reno from last year?


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## Stuofsci02

Scagfreedom48z+ said:


> Those stripes look stunning! Was that your Reno from last year?


Yes Sir!... The photo with the shed and the one with the two blue spruce trees are my reno which has seed down Sept 22nd 2018. If you go to the first page of this thread you can see my shed looking sad in the vast expanse of dead grass....

I have to admit that I double cut to get the stripes that dark, but the checkmate striper is amazing!

Stu


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## Chris LI

Wow! Everything looks amazing! The playground reno is very dark green, and has filled in nicely. Hats off!

What has been your regimen?


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## Stuofsci02

Chris LI said:


> Wow! Everything looks amazing! The playground reno is very dark green, and has filled in nicely. Hats off!
> 
> What has been your regimen?


Hey Chris,

For the playground I used a bag of Scott's coated seed with 75% KBG and 25% PRG that I had kicking around. I didn't want to get into special cultivars etc. for a simple project. Right after I seeded I went on vacation and my brother hand watered it twice a day for me, and some days was not able to do it. Since I have been back I have been hand watering twice per day, although we have had some rain. At two weeks I put down 1/2lb of N of 16-16-16. At three weeks I mowed at 1" with a Fiskars push reel mower. Then yesterday (when I took the photo) I mowed again at 1" and applied another 1/2 lb of N from 16-16-16. That pretty much it..

For last years reno I have been trying to keep it fairly low maintenance. This summer it got 16-16-16 early on (two doses of 1/2 N in the spring). I did one application of PAR-3 in late June to smoke out a bunch of broadleaf, and then in late July I started getting a bunch of baby crabgrass. Two apps of Tenacity later and the crabgrass was gone.. At the beginning of Sept I hit it with 1 lb N of 30-0-8 generic TSC fertilizer which I will do again in two weeks, and then put it to bed..

The front I am being far more caring, applying iron, liquid urea, pelletized urea, PGR, humic etc....


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## Chris LI

Thanks for sharing the information. That's pretty amazing results for a reasonable fertilizer plan. Did you have much heat/drought stress this year?


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## Stuofsci02

Chris LI said:


> Thanks for sharing the information. That's pretty amazing results for a reasonable fertilizer plan. Did you have much heat/drought stress this year?


Chris,

Yeah the back did well for minimal inputs.. A lot of the "pop" came from my most recent fertilizer app.. It is now growing 3/4" per day as the PGR is worn off and it is rebounding. I only applied PGR one time to the back this year in mid Aug, before I went away for business and vacation. It allowed me to go 10 days between mows, which is the longest I have ever gone in a season that doesn't start with W.

I have irrigation and this year we only had about 2 weeks of hot dry weather, so I was lucky... Very little watering required.

Thanks

Stuart


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## Stuofsci02

Spent much of the weekend in the yard. Front continues to be cut at 1.5" or 2" depending on if I have time to use the manual reel. Back is cut at 2" and the playground reno at 1".


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## crazymas0n

House, landscaping and lawn all look amazing, nice journal. Pretty huge area for manual reeling, is a powered reel coming in the near future for you?


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## Stuofsci02

crazymas0n said:


> House, landscaping and lawn all look amazing, nice journal. Pretty huge area for manual reeling, is a powered reel coming in the near future for you?


Thanks... yes a powered reel is in the cards for next season... Still trying to sort out what I want, but I am leaning towards a Swardman.


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## Stuofsci02

It is now classic fall here with temps in the 60s most days. I love it and so does the grass. Front now cut at 1", and looks ok still. Back at 2", and playground reno at 3/4". Put down PGR, FAS and urea on the front, and hit the back with its last app for the season of 30-0-4.

Even got to do a little rocketing with my son.


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## Harts

Looks awesome man. That height of cut looks so great.


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## Stuofsci02

@Harts

Thanks... going low like everyone these days...


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## Babameca

Lower, lower, lower :lol:
1 inch with the rotary?


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## mribbens

Looks great, such a nice property, glad you can enjoy it!


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## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> Lower, lower, lower :lol:
> 1 inch with the rotary?


Nah.... push reel... 29,000 steps yesterday....


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## Stuofsci02

mribbens said:


> Looks great, such a nice property, glad you can enjoy it!


Thanks... it is great to be outside with the family and neighbors...


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## Stuofsci02

Sometimes when you cut low you just have to check in on it with the security cam.... Is this normal?


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## Babameca

Stuofsci02 said:


> Babameca said:
> 
> 
> 
> Lower, lower, lower :lol:
> 1 inch with the rotary?
> 
> 
> 
> Nah.... push reel... 29,000 steps yesterday....
Click to expand...

 :search: :shocked: :search: :shocked:


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## Babameca

Stuofsci02 said:


> Sometimes when you cut low you just have to check in on it with the security cam.... Is this normal?


What, the checking or...picture quality ? :lol:


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## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Sometimes when you cut low you just have to check in on it with the security cam.... Is this normal?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What, the checking or...picture quality ? :lol:
Click to expand...

I like the way you answered this.... :lol:


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## Stuofsci02

No stripes.. just a nice low mow and a glimpse of the sun on a cloudy day..


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## Babameca

Love it!


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## Trogdor

@Stuofsci02 Looks great man.

Hey, check it out, dunno what shape it's in...
https://www.kijiji.ca/v-lawnmower-leaf-blower/windsor-area-on/toro-greensmaster-3150-zero-turn-reel-mower-60-1500/1460959117?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true

also sent you a PM


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## Stuofsci02

Hey.. Thanks for the link.. Not sure I am ready for such a large or expensive (to maintain piece).. I can reel mow the front with a walk behind. The back I cut at 2" with my JD X304 riding machine... Looks like a good price though..


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## Harts

Trogdor said:


> @Stuofsci02 Looks great man.
> 
> Hey, check it out, dunno what shape it's in...
> https://www.kijiji.ca/v-lawnmower-leaf-blower/windsor-area-on/toro-greensmaster-3150-zero-turn-reel-mower-60-1500/1460959117?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true


If only I had a larger property.......


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## Stuofsci02

Harts said:


> Trogdor said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Stuofsci02 Looks great man.
> 
> Hey, check it out, dunno what shape it's in...
> https://www.kijiji.ca/v-lawnmower-leaf-blower/windsor-area-on/toro-greensmaster-3150-zero-turn-reel-mower-60-1500/1460959117?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true
> 
> 
> 
> If only I had a larger property.......
Click to expand...

They just built a new house next to me.... nice flat 3/4 acre lot... I need someone to move in that is competitive so that it forces me to up my game. Check out the last picture... all those weeds could be yours...


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## Harts

Haha. You know how my wife feels about spetics and wells!

I'm working in her.


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## Stuofsci02

Harts said:


> Haha. You know how my wife feels about spetics and wells!
> 
> I'm working in her.


City water, Gas, etc. The only thing I am on that is different than you is septic (which for 6 years I have had zero issues) and this makes irrigation much cheaper since you don't pay the sewer charge which is half the price of the water....


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## Babameca

Your striping is RIDICILOUS! I stare at those pictures for few minutes...is this normal? :lol:
I was never able to get there with my rotary (with toro striping kit). Gave up and bought the Jacobsen


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## Babameca

@Harts @Stuofsci02 2 things that I am bugged with in ON. Electricity distribution fee and sewage surcharge... Many other things bug me in QC, but that's for another forum I guess...


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## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> Your striping is RIDICILOUS! I stare at those pictures for few minutes...is this normal? :lol:
> I was never able to get there with my rotary (with toro striping kit). Gave up and bought the Jacobsen


Thanks..... Yes the stripes have been better than I expected when I bought the checkmate this year. I would recommend it as a must have for a lawn tractor.....


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## Stuofsci02

@Babameca 


Babameca said:


> Your striping is RIDICILOUS! I stare at those pictures for few minutes...is this normal? :lol:


Of course it is normal..... There is nothing abnormal about looking at another dudes stripes :lol:


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## social port

Babameca said:


> Your striping is RIDICILOUS! I stare at those pictures for few minutes...is this normal? :lol:
> I was never able to get there with my rotary (with toro striping kit). Gave up and bought the Jacobsen


I just sat and stared when I first saw them, too. Those recent shots look absolutely amazing, @Stuofsci02


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## Stuofsci02

social port said:


> Babameca said:
> 
> 
> 
> Your striping is RIDICILOUS! I stare at those pictures for few minutes...is this normal? :lol:
> I was never able to get there with my rotary (with toro striping kit). Gave up and bought the Jacobsen
> 
> 
> 
> I just sat and stared when I first saw them, too. Those recent shots look absolutely amazing, @Stuofsci02
Click to expand...

Thanks Social Port.. It will be nice to end the season on a good run like this.. Winter will be long....


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## Babameca

Get your azoxy/propi ready for right before 1st snow if you encountered snow mold before. I have it for 4 years in a row and it is killing my ego every spring!


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## g-man

There are better strategies for snow mold than propi/azoxy.


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## Babameca

g-man said:


> There are better strategies for snow mold than propi/azoxy.


Can you share. I am obviously doing something very wrong.


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## g-man

I don't deal with snow mold. I have the opposite problem with desiccation.

PCNB used to be the best option until EPA (USA) banned them. Two references here with more links for you to continue researching.

UNL snow mold tip

 UMass PCNB alternatives


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## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> Get your azoxy/propi ready for right before 1st snow if you encountered snow mold before. I have it for 4 years in a row and it is killing my ego every spring!


I have not had a snow mold issue that isn't resolved by mid May... We shall see what happens this year, but I am not going to add anymore more to the lawn this year except urea and FAS.


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## Stuofsci02

Thanksgiving weekend here in the North. Beautiful day for a mow, I think this is peak grass for 2019... Front at 1" HOC, back at 2"HOC and play area at 0.75". Play area is new reno at 49 days after seed.


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## Chris LI

:thumbup: :thumbup: 
I've been following and that play area looks amazing, in such a short time!
I'm curious...what are your current temperatures?


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## Stuofsci02

Chris LI said:


> :thumbup: :thumbup:
> I've been following and that play area looks amazing, in such a short time!
> I'm curious...what are your current temperatures?


Thanks Chris.... it is getting to about 55-60 during the day and down to 40 or so at night...


----------



## Scagfreedom48z+

Incredible turf!


----------



## Babameca

The reno is way darker… what magic did you to it brother? :dunno: Considering it is a whole inch shorter, it should be a dark(er) magic


----------



## Stuofsci02

@Scagfreedom48z+ Thanks!

@Babameca It is a good question. I have hit it with a total of 1.5 lb N from 16-16-16 from TSC and an app of of FAS + PGR over the last 5 weeks. I have also never let it grow above 1.25".


----------



## Stuofsci02

Grass really slowed down this week... cut the back at 1.75" and front at 1".


----------



## Scagfreedom48z+

Looks so good, I wouldn't even want to walk on it.


----------



## Chris LI

It's time for another golf ball shot on that beeeauuutiful turf! This time, you should use an orange one and Sharpie it up as a Jack-o-Lantern. :mrgreen:


----------



## Harts

LOTM nomination coming for you my friend. We need a Canadian winner. :thumbup:


----------



## Stuofsci02

Scagfreedom48z+ said:


> Looks so good, I wouldn't even want to walk on it.


Thanks.. Funny you say that. The guy who blows out my sprinklers said the same thing yesterday :thumbup:


----------



## Stuofsci02

Chris LI said:


> It's time for another golf ball shot on that beeeauuutiful turf! This time, you should use an orange one and Sharpie it up as a Jack-o-Lantern. :mrgreen:


I'll have to get a golf ball for next season... I need one of the Lawn Forum ones I've seen guys use...


----------



## Stuofsci02

Harts said:


> LOTM nomination coming for you my friend. We need a Canadian winner. :thumbup:


Thanks Hart's... I was already nominated in the spring, and I thought you couldn't be nominated twice in the same season...


----------



## Stuofsci02

From OCT 2nd. One of my favourite shots of the year.


----------



## Harts

I was nominated September and October. You can't be nominated again if you win.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Harts said:


> I was nominated September and October. You can't be nominated again if you win.


Ahh.. Ok that makes more sense..


----------



## Nismo

Stuofsci02 said:


>


Don't know how I missed this.
Epic picture.


----------



## bencrabtree27

Stuofsci02 said:


> Grass really slowed down this week... cut the back at 1.75" and front at 1".


That bed edge though....


----------



## Stuofsci02

Nismo said:


> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Don't know how I missed this.
> Epic picture.
Click to expand...

Thanks Nismo!


----------



## Stuofsci02

@bencrabtree27 Now if only they hurry up and finish the house next to me a remove the portapotty. Kinda ruins the look. I guess it is worth it after living here for 6 years and having a weed filled empty lot next to me.. Will be nice to not have to fight the weeds over there...


----------



## bencrabtree27

Stuofsci02 said:


> @bencrabtree27 Now if only they hurry up and finish the house next to me a remove the portapotty. Kinda ruins the look. I guess it is worth it after living here for 6 years and having a weed filled empty lot next to me.. Will be nice to not have to fight the weeds over there.@bencrabtree27 how do you keep those edges so defined? Do you go through it every week with a bed edger? Lol


----------



## Stuofsci02

@bencrabtree27 No I do it all with a steady hand and a 20V Black & Decker String trimmer each time I mow, which could be 2 or 3 times a week depending on the season.


----------



## Shindoman

Harts said:


> LOTM nomination coming for you my friend. We need a Canadian winner. :thumbup:


I agree. I won last year, but this Canuck deserves a win as well!


----------



## Stuofsci02

It's getting close to the end of the season for me boys and girls... maybe two more mows... Color is still looking good... the striper was my new toy this year... next year I need to step it up..


----------



## Stuofsci02

I think this might have been the last mow of season.... Temps now in the 30s and low 40s and freezing overnights.


----------



## Butter

Very nice!


----------



## Scagfreedom48z+

LOTM in my opinion. Great lookin turf


----------



## Stuofsci02

Thanks @Scagfreedom48z+ and @Butter


----------



## Vtx531

Looks amazingly flat. They must have done a great job leveling when you built and not much settling or sinking?


----------



## Stuofsci02

Well I thought I was done posting for the season in my journal. We had 11 days of snow cover in Nov and it just melted. Temps have been as low as 3F with 10 days below freezing. This weekend it melted and to my delight the grass is still going strong with the stripes from my last mow....


----------



## Stuofsci02

Still rocking strong despite the 23 days of snow cover this fall...


----------



## Stuofsci02

One more for the journal, to round out 2019


----------



## Stuofsci02

Just notice I had not added this to my lawn journal.. Hoping 2020 will be a great year!


----------



## Gilley11

Totally jealous....even though my yard is a flood zone-mud hole right now &#129315;


----------



## Stuofsci02

Gilley11 said:


> Totally jealous....even though my yard is a flood zone-mud hole right now 🤣


Yeah.. Well it is nearly 70 in Charlotte today, so I am jealous...


----------



## Stuofsci02

The lawn lost a lot of color this week, but I am happy that it still looks pretty nice compared to all the yellow on my street... Today is unseasonably warm so I got out to get a couple more 2019 close out shots. I am going to call it a year! Late October vs today


----------



## Stuofsci02

Snow is melting, and last years stripes are still there after 4 months... Not to shabby checkmate striper... First mow is still likely 35-50 days away, but I am stoked. Got the new Toro Flex 21 this year....


----------



## Harts

So apparently my wife ISN'T adverse to living with a septic. We almost pulled the trigger on an offer last week but backed out because of the virus and not wanting people coming through our house. It's 1.5 acres in Erin. Amazing property with a fairly new house. Would be perfect. I think I could also convince her that and fairway mower would be essential!


----------



## Stuofsci02

Harts said:


> So apparently my wife ISN'T adverse to living with a septic. We almost pulled the trigger on an offer last week but backed out because of the virus and not wanting people coming through our house. It's 1.5 acres in Erin. Amazing property with a fairly new house. Would be perfect. I think I could also convince her that and fairway mower would be essential!


There you go... how much grass is there to maintain? Fairway mower would be sweet!

I am still looking for a neighbor for the house next to me. They just started showing the house a few weeks back.. I hope it will be bought by a lawn enthusiast


----------



## Stuofsci02

The front is now greening up fast compared to the rest of the properties in my neighbourhood. So far it has been raked, and cut @ 1". Soil temp is around 44F.


----------



## Babameca

I am so so...SO jealous about your mower...  Insane!


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> I am so so...SO jealous about your mower...  Insane!


I am reely looking forward to testing it out..... you can tell from the picture when I got it home how stoked I was... 4 months later and I am still waiting, but it won't be long..


----------



## Babameca

@Stuofsci02 Shut up!!! lollll
Glad seeing your face. This season I am planning to do some cool videos about mowing.
Like this one (except that was about less exciting activity). 




Here is my face lol


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> @Stuofsci02 Shut up!!! lollll
> Glad seeing your face. This season I am planning to do some cool videos about mowing.
> Like this one (except that was about less exciting activity).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Here is my face lol


Well.. That is not my normal face... It was Movember afterall. Looking forward to seeing your videos. I see you have an Arien's 24. I have a platinum 30. Here is a video my 12 year old daughter made from late Feb.


----------



## Harts

Hey Stu, based on my measurement from Google Earth, total lawn area is approx. 55k sf. I'd likely trade my GM1000 for a 1600 to start and move up to a fairway reel within a few years. As of today, it's still on the market. I'm hoping it stays that way until all of this blows over.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Harts said:


> Hey Stu, based on my measurement from Google Earth, total lawn area is approx. 55k sf. I'd likely trade my GM1000 for a 1600 to start and move up to a fairway reel within a few years. As of today, it's still on the market. I'm hoping it stays that way until all of this blows over.


You're crazy if you think you are going to reel mow 55k with a GM1600  . When you get done you'll need to start again. I only have 26k and I do 18k with my tractor and 8k with the reel..


----------



## Stuofsci02

I couldn't wait another minute... when I got home tonight it was 47F, so I busted out the new Flex 21. My stripes are terrible. I m going to need to practice more..


----------



## g-man

I doubt the neighbors will think the stripes are terrible. Wait for it to green up.


----------



## Stuofsci02

g-man said:


> I doubt the neighbors will think the stripes are terrible. Wait for it to green up.


Its actually is looking half decent for this time of year for here, so I am sure the neighbors are wondering if I painted the yard. My stripes are curvy and not all the same width. It was my first time ever using a greens mower, so I was trying to get the turn down... I am sure with some practice it will become second nature. This cut was just under an inch. I think I will drop to 3/4 this weekend.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Grass really came alive today. Soil now at 55f so prodiamine is going down tomorrow. Mowed with the Flex 21 at 3/4" with no issues. This is the lowest ever for me. Going to go to 5/8" tomorrow..


----------



## Alex1389

Can't wait to see what this looks like when it fully wakes up!!


----------



## Stuofsci02

Alex1389 said:


> Can't wait to see what this looks like when it fully wakes up!!


Thanks.. hoping for a good year.


----------



## Devil

Jeeeeeeesus!!!! How have I not seen this reno?? Incredible, incredible... and for a third time, incredible!


----------



## Stuofsci02

Devil said:


> Jeeeeeeesus!!!! How have I not seen this reno?? Incredible, incredible... and for a third time, incredible!


Thanks... I have had two very successful Renos although last year was just the mini playground reno. I have plans to reno the 30ft x140ft off the back of my house this year... it was the best grass in my yard two years ago so I did not kill it off, but now it is the worst grass on my property and has to go..


----------



## Devil

Yeah I loved seeing the playground - with special attention on how it bounces back or gets better considering it gets more foot traffic than the rest.


Stuofsci02 said:


> Devil said:
> 
> 
> 
> Jeeeeeeesus!!!! How have I not seen this reno?? Incredible, incredible... and for a third time, incredible!
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks... I have had two very successful Renos although last year was just the mini playground reno. I have plans to reno the 30ft x140ft off the back of my house this year... it was the best grass in my yard two years ago so I did not kill it off, but now it is the worst grass on my property and has to go..
Click to expand...


----------



## SumBeach35

Any specific plans for the back section reno?

Looked great last year and already looks to be heading that direction for this year


----------



## Stuofsci02

SumBeach35 said:


> Any specific plans for the back section reno?
> 
> Looked great last year and already looks to be heading that direction for this year


I am going to do some landscaping, but aside from that just striping. I am also only going to use the cheapest bulk TSC fertilizer to show you can maintain a great yard without a bunch of expensive inputs. I am going to mow between 1.5 and 2" throughout the season. At 1.5" now


----------



## Stuofsci02

Went for a walk with my son while practiced skateboarding.... Snapped a shot on the way back..


----------



## Stuofsci02

Today I mowed the whole 26,000 sqft with the Toro. I cut the back down to 3/4" from 1.5" with double wides. I pushed the front down to 5/8" double cut.. that wore me out.

I am surprised how easily the font came down to 5/8 this spring after getting it to 1" last fall. The back will take more work since it was only ever cut with a rotary.


----------



## Babameca

Careful brother, those low HOC are addictive. But they may (will) come at a very salty price. To name one, Poa A absolutely loves to compete in this territory.... If you can stay at or above 7/8... I will never go lower than this in my yard. Looks awesome! How was the mowing with the new toy?


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> Careful brother, those low HOC are addictive. But they may (will) come at a very salty price. To name one, Poa A absolutely loves to compete in this territory.... If you can stay at or above 7/8... I will never go lower than this in my yard. Looks awesome! How was the mowing with the new toy?


The Toro has been great.. You say you will never go lower than 7/8... :lol:


----------



## Babameca

@Stuofsci02 Never! Not kidding. I've seen enough of Poa A infestation. At low heights, it is a matter of time and it is a lost war. Talked to few superintendants and they all swear me to keep my KBG at 1 inch. And they have an Arsenal of tools to keep their fields at par. Call me coward :lol, but I am serious. Watch @wardconnor video bringing it down to 1/2...


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> @Stuofsci02 Never! Not kidding. I've seen enough of Poa A infestation. At low heights, it is a matter of time and it is a lost war. Talked to few superintendants and they all swear me to keep my KBG at 1 inch. And they have an Arsenal of tools to keep their fields at par. Call me coward :lol, but I am serious. Watch @wardconnor video bringing it down to 1/2...


Just wait till you see me at 5/8ths a all greened up.... I will convince you to join the dark side...


----------



## Babameca

@Stuofsci02 Challenge accepted .


----------



## Babameca

@Stuofsci02 Just wanted to say, I lost the challenge before it even starts :roll: ...Just measured my HOC and I have always been at 3/4! :shock: Never checked and always trusted the guy taking care of it. And NO, I am not going back to 1''. :search:


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> @Stuofsci02 Just wanted to say, I lost the challenge before it even starts :roll: ...Just measured my HOC and I have always been at 3/4! :shock: Never checked and always trusted the guy taking care of it. And NO, I am not going back to 1''. :search:


See that wasn't so bad. Now you just need to drop 1/8th more...


----------



## Stuofsci02

Not too bad for April 18th.. Still been getting snow... 5/8"



Decide to do the back @1.75"


----------



## Matix99def

@Stuofsci02 how toned are your calves already hah. Awesome job


----------



## Stuofsci02

Matix99def said:


> @Stuofsci02 how toned are your calves already hah. Awesome job


How else are you supposed to get exercise in times like these...... Pretty dang ripped...Almost as good as Marshall's calves...


----------



## Higgie_23

How/where did you get Prodiamine? I've put down corn gluten meal for the first time this year but I doubt it'll do much.

So far you're the only other Canadian nearby with the equivalent size lot. My lot is approx 24,000 sq.ft but since I'm fairly new the lawncare world, I'm trying to practice with my front lawn which is 4,000 sq.ft.

What fertilizers do you use (and from where) and what does your lawn schedule look like for the season?
Do you use anything else like Humic or Kelp?


----------



## davegravy

Higgie_23 said:


> How/where did you get Prodiamine? I've put down corn gluten meal for the first time this year but I doubt it'll do much.


seedworldusa.com


----------



## Stuofsci02

Higgie_23 said:


> How/where did you get Prodiamine? I've put down corn gluten meal for the first time this year but I doubt it'll do much.
> 
> So far you're the only other Canadian nearby with the equivalent size lot. My lot is approx 24,000 sq.ft but since I'm fairly new the lawncare world, I'm trying to practice with my front lawn which is 4,000 sq.ft.
> 
> What fertilizers do you use (and from where) and what does your lawn schedule look like for the season?
> Do you use anything else like Humic or Kelp?


@Higgie_23

I got my Prodiamine when I went to FL last year for vacation. Bought it from Doyourown. 
For the back the only thing it has ever seen is TSC brand generic synthetic. I've used the 30-0-8, 16-16-16 and 46-0-0 back there. Last year I also did an app of Par-3 and two apps of Tenacity to take out broad leaf stuff in June and crab grass in July that I ended up with following my reno.

In the front last year I did a lb of N from corn gluten, I did a 1 lb of N from a big box store brand with Iron and the rest was with either 16-16-16 or 46-0-0 from TSC. I have never used any herbicides in the front.


----------



## Stuofsci02

We finally had some half decent weather yesterday so got a chance to do a little droning. You can definitely tell from the color that I am cutting much lower than my neighbor. In the back I went down to 3/4" which is way lower than last year.. Needs to greenup more. Soil was at 48F today.


----------



## Biggylawns

Stripes looking great! It'll green up nicely.


----------



## TheWoodsman

@Stuofsci02

Wow just read back through your journal and great work man!


----------



## Pete1313

Looks awesome!


----------



## Stuofsci02

@Biggylawns @TheWoodsman @Pete1313 .. Thanks guys... It is a labor of love.. The weather is looking to improve over the next 10 days, so I am hoping for a quick green-up similar to folks who are just 200 miles south of me. So far the warmest day we have had in the last 30 is 54 degrees. Not going to get much action with that. Each week I am getting about 1/4" of clippings...


----------



## Stuofsci02

Got to 66F today and the grass made its final greenup push. I expect this to be a great weekend. Got in a quick single pass mow after work. A vole cut a path right across the middle of my yard in the winter, but the damage is nearly gone. 3/4"...


----------



## Babameca

Oh man. What a pattern! Watch out, I am closing the distance rapidly :lol:


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> Oh man. What a pattern! Watch out, I am closing the distance rapidly :lol:


Going shorter or greening up?


----------



## Babameca

@Stuofsci02 greening up. I cant beat your checkmate pattern though. Not feasible.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Double cut at 5/8ths in front and 1.75 in the back. Lawn mullet! 68F today, so things have really taken off. Forecast calls for snow later in the week... Cmon spring dammit...


----------



## Trogdor

Next level! Seriously impressed, loads of hard work is paying off.

You catching the clippings on your new toy?


----------



## Stuofsci02

Trogdor said:


> Next level! Seriously impressed, loads of hard work is paying off.
> 
> You catching the clippings on your new toy?


Thanks Bud...! Yup I'm running the grass catcher. It helps me line up the pass with the white markings..


----------



## Trogdor

Stuofsci02 said:


> Trogdor said:
> 
> 
> 
> Next level! Seriously impressed, loads of hard work is paying off.
> 
> You catching the clippings on your new toy?
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks Bud...! Yup I'm running the grass catcher. It helps me line up the pass with the white markings..
Click to expand...

Nice, how you like the reel on the flex being able to adapt to undulations? Your lawn looks butter smooth.


----------



## Stuofsci02

@Trogdor It looks smooth, but it is not. The Flex head handles it great, but it makes the machine have a bit of steer to it, which makes it hard to track perfectly straight.. I am still very pleased with it!


----------



## TheWoodsman

@Stuofsci02

Wow!! Looking awesome!! Do you use or plan to use PGR?


----------



## Stuofsci02

TheWoodsman said:


> @Stuofsci02
> 
> Wow!! Looking awesome!! Do you use or plan to use PGR?


Thanks.. Yes I will start applying Tnex in the next few weeks once we get some decent weather and the grass goes through its spring flush. I ran Tnex last year in the front for the first time. I used in the back once just before I went on vacation, and it worked great!


----------



## Trogdor

Stuofsci02 said:


> @Trogdor It looks smooth, but it is not. The Flex head handles it great, but it makes the machine have a bit of steer to it, which makes it hard to track perfectly straight.. I am still very pleased with it!


Well we would all be fooled, it still looks real smooth. Good to hear on your experiences, I'm tossing around the idea of eventually going to a smaller machine, for now the GM1600 with fewer blades and higher HOC is what I'm after until I actually have more establishment to consider dropping much lower.

I know that the PGR is relatively new, looking forward how that continues for you. Jumped on the bandwagon and purchased some also.

Be great to get that warmer weather that's on the way. Cheers for now Stu.


----------



## Stuofsci02

@Trogdor ... I bet your reno really picks up over the next week as temps get into the high teens low 20s. It is amazing how things fill in quickly.


----------



## Stuofsci02

It was cold and rainy most of the week and the grass stayed wet... have some yellowing and it looks like crap.. I think I need to hit it with some N late next week. We are supposed to get 4" of rain over the next two days.

Today was nice so I got a drone shot before I mowed.


----------



## Babameca

@Stuofsci02 That's different...I mean the weather. We only had 20mm yesterday after 2 weeks of drought and no rain for the next 2 weeks again. I am watering 2 times a week.


----------



## g-man

@Stuofsci02 I have to ask. How does the neighbors get the RV out? Drive on the grass?


----------



## Stuofsci02

g-man said:


> @Stuofsci02 I have to ask. How does the neighbors get the RV out? Drive on the grass?


Yep... it's not too bad... They take great care of their lawn, so it bounces back.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> @Stuofsci02 That's different...I mean the weather. We only had 20mm yesterday after 2 weeks of drought and no rain for the next 2 weeks again. I am watering 2 times a week.


Now they changes to less than an inch... These weather guys suck.


----------



## davegravy

Stuofsci02 said:


> Babameca said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Stuofsci02 That's different...I mean the weather. We only had 20mm yesterday after 2 weeks of drought and no rain for the next 2 weeks again. I am watering 2 times a week.
> 
> 
> 
> Now they changes to less than an inch... These weather guys suck.
Click to expand...

This happens so frequently. I take the forecast with a large grain of salt


----------



## Stuofsci02

Last nights mow late this morning... Went up to 3/4..


----------



## Babameca

@Stuofsci02 Is this you giving up on the HOC war??? :smile: 
Weather finally goes back to more normal in a week after few 32-34oC humide days on the forecast. It looks like your grass is happily bouncing back...up :beer:


----------



## Pete1313

Beautiful!


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> @Stuofsci02 Is this you giving up on the HOC war??? :smile:
> Weather finally goes back to more normal in a week after few 32-34oC humide days on the forecast. It looks like your grass is happily bouncing back...up :beer:


No war... Just watching the forecast and looks warm and dry this week, so give the grass a little more leaf. Need to have a happy balance and I love trying different looks..


----------



## Stuofsci02

Pete1313 said:


> Beautiful!


Thanks... now I need to follow your lead and get a fairway reel mower for the back. I would need to switch up the grass back there too.. I am getting excited thinking about it.. :thumbup:


----------



## Babameca

Stuofsci02 said:


> Babameca said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Stuofsci02 Is this you giving up on the HOC war??? :smile:
> Weather finally goes back to more normal in a week after few 32-34oC humide days on the forecast. It looks like your grass is happily bouncing back...up :beer:
> 
> 
> 
> No war... Just watching the forecast and looks warm and dry this week, so give the grass a little more leaf. Need to have a happy balance and I love trying different looks..
Click to expand...

20mm in 1 month...insanely dry for spring. Hopefully no water restrictions later on. Love the look of a very short mow, but honestly have no courage yet to try. Once leveling done and grass recovered, I may try


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Babameca said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Stuofsci02 Is this you giving up on the HOC war??? :smile:
> Weather finally goes back to more normal in a week after few 32-34oC humide days on the forecast. It looks like your grass is happily bouncing back...up :beer:
> 
> 
> 
> No war... Just watching the forecast and looks warm and dry this week, so give the grass a little more leaf. Need to have a happy balance and I love trying different looks..
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 20mm in 1 month...insanely dry for spring. Hopefully no water restrictions later on. Love the look of a very short mow, but honestly have no courage yet to try. Once leveling done and grass recovered, I may try
Click to expand...

Yes it has been dry and cold.. now the heat starts... we hit over 80 yesterday and 77 today. Supposed to b over 80 tomorrow with no rain in sight.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Planted annuals and double cut with double-single diamond at 3/4".


----------



## Babameca

@Stuofsci02 Oh man your late evening pics rock! Night mode on a phone? Looks very, very nice


----------



## DAM Lawn

Wow, your lawn looks amazing. The gardens look great too!! your motivating me to go spruce mine up after work.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> @Stuofsci02 Oh man your late evening pics rock! Night mode on a phone? Looks very, very nice


Thanks... Definitely on my phone, but not sure about night mode. I just point and click, and then crop.. I am guessing my phone selects the best setting for the light? Not sure...


----------



## Stuofsci02

DAM Lawn said:


> Wow, your lawn looks amazing. The gardens look great too!! your motivating me to go spruce mine up after work.


Thanks.. Amazing what $50 of annuals do... now I need some mulch to fix up the bare spots..


----------



## Stuofsci02

Well after saying no rain in my last post we got 1.1" overnight and today is 80F, so I expect some rapid growth. Tonight I might put down the pgr and fas.. Now if only our new guy Howie would get off his behind and help me, we might get something done..


----------



## davegravy

Stuofsci02 said:


> Well after saying no rain in my last post we got 1.1" overnight and today is 80F, so I expect some rapid growth. Tonight I might put down the pgr and fas.. Now if only our new guy Howie would get off his behind and help me, we might get something done..


Jealous. No rain in a week, the forecast is dry and it's 27C today. Already seeing drought stress. Water bill won't be pretty :?


----------



## Stuofsci02

@davegravy you didn't get rain last night?


----------



## davegravy

Stuofsci02 said:


> @davegravy you didn't get rain last night?


Nope! About the fourth weather system this spring that has gone around me.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Just doing a little spying from work.. I can't be the only one that checks in to make sure everything is alright...


----------



## Alex1389

Stuofsci02 said:


> Just doing a little spying from work.. I can't be the only one that checks in to make sure everything is alright...


Yeah, I have security cameras for "security" also. :lol:


----------



## davegravy

Stuofsci02 said:


> Just doing a little spying from work.. I can't be the only one that checks in to make sure everything is alright...


Covid times... My security camera checks are walking outside and doing a lap around the yard. Yard walks are the new watercooler breaks.


----------



## Stuofsci02

davegravy said:


> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just doing a little spying from work.. I can't be the only one that checks in to make sure everything is alright...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Covid times... My security camera checks are walking outside and doing a lap around the yard. Yard walks are the new watercooler breaks.
Click to expand...

Are you still able to work from home?


----------



## Stuofsci02

Alex1389 said:


> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just doing a little spying from work.. I can't be the only one that checks in to make sure everything is alright...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah, I have security cameras for "security" also. :lol:
Click to expand...

I knew I couldn't be the only one...


----------



## davegravy

Stuofsci02 said:


> davegravy said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just doing a little spying from work..  I can't be the only one that checks in to make sure everything is alright...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Covid times... My security camera checks are walking outside and doing a lap around the yard. Yard walks are the new watercooler breaks.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Are you still able to work from home?
Click to expand...

Fortunately yeah. Truth be told I'd rather be at the office (hard to hear myself think with kids around the house).

It's a chance to really figure out this lanwncare thing however.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Yeah.. I can't work from home... need to be at the office.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Evening mow....


----------



## jrubb42

Stuofsci02 said:


> Evening mow....


Looks so damn good!


----------



## Babameca

Love the close up! Ashamed those fancy NTEP cultivars.


----------



## DAM Lawn

Very nice!! I assume you use pgr, either way it must be tough keeping up with the mowing this time of year that low.


----------



## Stuofsci02

jrubb42 said:


> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Evening mow....
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Looks so damn good!
Click to expand...

How is yours bouncing back?


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> Love the close up! Ashamed those fancy NTEP cultivars.


Not sure what I have... Builder sod... :|


----------



## Stuofsci02

DAM Lawn said:


> Very nice!! I assume you use pgr, either way it must be tough keeping up with the mowing this time of year that low.


I do, but I haven't used it yet this year.. wanted to do it tonight but ran out of time... It needs to be mowed every 36 hours right now.... :shock: tonight it was at 48 hours since last mow and I was taking at least 1/2" off...


----------



## Babameca

@Stuofsci02 At 1/2 rate of low mow, I cut every 72hours and clipping are 1/4-1/3. Throw it down.


----------



## jrubb42

Stuofsci02 said:


> jrubb42 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Evening mow....
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Looks so damn good!
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> How is yours bouncing back?
Click to expand...





It has came back extremely well. I'm going to start bringing it down again this weekend hopefully. Going to test an area and see how it reacts. Thanks for asking.


----------



## rob13psu

Stuofsci02 said:


> Evening mow....


That. Looks. Awesome.


----------



## weirj55

That. Is. Beautiful. Turf.

Excellent work. I walk the lawn about 5 times per day. Trying to make it better each day. This forum is so cool and helping drive me to acquire a reel mower. Thanks for your inspiration!


----------



## Mark B

Stuofsci02 said:


> Not sure what I have... Builder sod... :|


Strangely one of the most encouraging comments I've read😅😅
Either the builders knew something about sod selection or (far more likely) you are killing it with your lawn practices.



Stuofsci02 said:


> Evening mow....


Superb results 😎👍🏼


----------



## Stuofsci02

@Mark B 
Hi Mark,

Thanks for the encouraging comments. The sod is only six years old, so I assume that the KBG cultivars used are some of the newer varieties. I would love to know what it is though


----------



## Stuofsci02

@jrubb42 That is looking a lot better. I will take a snap shot of my area tonight.. It looks mostly recovered.

@weirj55 Thanks for checking in on my Journal. This is my first year with a reel mower and it is a lot of fun, but not for someone who isn't ready to mow a lot more.


----------



## Stuofsci02

I am making good use of the journal this year...

Here is an update for my own records in a couple of areas. First is the south side of my front yard where I have 25' between the driveway and the neighbor. I took this from 2" down to 5/8th in late April and mowed it at 5/8 for two weeks. It looked shocked, so I heaped on and dethatched two weeks ago and it was really stressed. Now I let it grow back to 1.5" and it is going a nice dark color and is getting thicker by the day.

Next is my playground reno from last fall. It is looking amazing right now for a Scott's 75/25 kbg/prg blend. I have been cutting it with the Fiskars at either 1" or 1.5" depending on how often I can get to it.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> @Stuofsci02 At 1/2 rate of low mow, I cut every 72hours and clipping are 1/4-1/3. Throw it down.


Yeah, that will be much better. I like to mow, but I want to have a choice...


----------



## weirj55

I'm already mowing every other day and will be mowing 36 hours interval tomorrow morning (weather dependent) I clip at 1.18" HOC which is as low as I can with my rotary. I don't have a need to go extreme low, but I want the striping capabilities of a reel mower.

I will be sure to keep checking in on your beautiful lawn.


----------



## Harts

Stu....looks awesome man. Your colour is much darker this year. The density looks incredible. Congrats man.


----------



## Alex1389

@Stuofsci02 Golden? Been trying to get a Golden through a few breeders down here, but apparently everyone is having the same thought during Covid lockdowns.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Harts said:


> Stu....looks awesome man. Your colour is much darker this year. The density looks incredible. Congrats man.


Thanks!.. Yes that new KBG does look darker.. It was surprisingly dark last fall when it was new.. I am impressed for big box store Scotts...


----------



## Stuofsci02

Alex1389 said:


> @Stuofsci02 Golden? Been trying to get a Golden through a few breeders down here, but apparently everyone is having the same thought during Covid lockdowns.


Yes Sir.. Howie is an 11 week old Golden Retriever.


----------



## ENC_Lawn

Stuofsci02 said:


> Planted annuals and double cut with double-single diamond at 3/4".


Beautiful home and lawn!!!


----------



## Stuofsci02

@ENC_Lawn Thank you! They are finishing the house next to me, so things are a bit of a mess. Hopefully that will all be done soon.


----------



## Stuofsci02

I wanted to get some PGR and FAS down all weekend, but it has been too windy (see purple beach tree below) Instead I mowed and laid down some double-double checkerboard at 3/4".


----------



## Alex1389

That is truly incredible. Nice work!

Side note - are you training the pup to do its business in inconspicuous areas?


----------



## Stuofsci02

Alex1389 said:


> That is truly incredible. Nice work!
> 
> Side note - are you training the pup to do its business in inconspicuous areas?


Thanks! The puppy is going in the backyard. We will have to see how he affects things back there. I try to get him to go in the field out back which is fine during his walk, but not realistic at 2am when we need to take him out for a potty break.


----------



## Babameca

I think your lawn looks yummi'er at 'taller' HOC...just saying


----------



## rob13psu

Congrats on the LOTM! Well deserved!


----------



## synergy0852

Congrats on LOTM! Absolutely stunning property you have!


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> I think your lawn looks yummi'er at 'taller' HOC...just saying


Haha.. 3/4" is taller  .... yeah I have been at this height for two weeks. I'll go to 5/8 soon for kicks.


----------



## Stuofsci02

@rob13psu & @synergy0852 ... Thank you kindly!


----------



## Stuofsci02

I have a sneaking suspicion my yard needs more K.. and perhaps some P, but no more N. I am not going to say why (just a hunch) and no it is not a soil test report. Don't have one of those.

So I threw down 80 lbs (3 lb/k) of this stuff tonight with my trusty 130 lb spreader. That thing is great.. I can do my whole property in 15 min.

If my suspicion turn out to be correct I will report back, if not I'll keep quiet.


----------



## g-man

Do you have an image of the ingredients of that bag?


----------



## Stuofsci02

g-man said:


> Do you have an image of the ingredients of that bag?


I don't, but could probably get some. Why?


----------



## g-man

Just wondering what is used. Since it is in French and in 25kg it is a Canadian product.


----------



## Stuofsci02

@g-man 
Here everything needs to be dual labeled in French and English. This was packaged in London ON. I found a company in London that makes 5-20-20 that looks similar but they say it can also be used as a lawn starter fert. Not sure if it is the same stuff, but what are the chances of two places both make 5-20-20 in the same place.

Here is some that spilled in my trunk that I didn't vacuum up yet.


----------



## mucknine

g-man said:


> Do you have an image of the ingredients of that bag?


I've got some of the same here, using it to bring up my P and K. Image below.


----------



## Stuofsci02

@mucknine.. Have you put this down before?


----------



## mucknine

Yessir. Put down 7 lbs per K in April (perhaps a bit early in hindsight). I have really low P and K I'm trying to bring up so that's why I chose this guy. Thinking of doing another app this week though - something more like your 3 lbs per K.


----------



## Stuofsci02

mucknine said:


> Yessir. Put down 7 lbs per K in April (perhaps a bit early in hindsight). I have really low P and K I'm trying to bring up so that's why I chose this guy. Thinking of doing another app this week though - something more like your 3 lbs per K.


Sounds good.. When @g-man first replied I thought there was something in this that was not good for the lawn  Lol


----------



## g-man

I just want to know if they use urea or ams, mop or sop, map or dap or tsp. It looks like the label in Canada does not requieres ingredients.


----------



## SNOWBOB11

g-man said:


> I just want to know if they use urea or ams, mop or sop, map or dap or tsp. It looks like the label in Canada does not requieres ingredients.


I have seen several fertilizers like this here and similarly a lot of them don't tell the source of the nutrients unfortunately. It would appear it is not required to be put on the bag in Canada. I'm going to take a half educated guess and say it's urea, TSP and SOP.


----------



## Stuofsci02

g-man said:


> I just want to know if they use urea or ams, mop or sop, map or dap or tsp. It looks like the label in Canada does not requieres ingredients.


Yeah, I rarely see fert labels that say very much about what is in them. I got some 19-19-19 recently and it mentions sulfur coated urea and 30% slow release, but that is about it...


----------



## mucknine

Stuofsci02 said:


> mucknine said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yessir. Put down 7 lbs per K in April (perhaps a bit early in hindsight). I have really low P and K I'm trying to bring up so that's why I chose this guy. Thinking of doing another app this week though - something more like your 3 lbs per K.
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds good.. When @g-man first replied I thought there was something in this that was not good for the lawn  Lol
Click to expand...

Funny, you're looking to me to validate using this... you're LOTM, so I was thinking 'great, if @Stuofsci02 is throwing some down I must be ok'.


----------



## Stuofsci02

mucknine said:


> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> mucknine said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yessir. Put down 7 lbs per K in April (perhaps a bit early in hindsight). I have really low P and K I'm trying to bring up so that's why I chose this guy. Thinking of doing another app this week though - something more like your 3 lbs per K.
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds good.. When @g-man first replied I thought there was something in this that was not good for the lawn  Lol
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Funny, you're looking to me to validate using this... you're LOTM, so I was thinking 'great, if @Stuofsci02 is throwing some down I must be ok'.
Click to expand...

Haha... Well I was confident right up to when G-man asked for a photo of what was in it. Then I started wondering if there was something wrong. It sounded very ominous... :thumbup:


----------



## Babameca

It's all because you guys don't shop from the right place! :lol: . Here is an appropriate Canadian made fert label
https://www.ojcompagnie.com/sites/default/files/fichiers/20-0-12%20Mini%20FMS%2075%20SR%20SOP%20F247023%20Can%20E%20Rev1406.pdf
OSCturf sells same brand and is at driving distance for most of GTA folks.
@Stuofsci02 Why would you think a low P? K, ok. this stuff goes like hot cakes. Lawn likes and consumes it. But P...
@g-man What would a P deficiency look like in a mature, established lawn?


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> It's all because you guys don't shop from the right place! :lol: . Here is an appropriate Canadian made fert label
> https://www.ojcompagnie.com/sites/default/files/fichiers/20-0-12%20Mini%20FMS%2075%20SR%20SOP%20F247023%20Can%20E%20Rev1406.pdf
> OSCturf sells same brand and is at driving distance for most of GTA folks.
> @Stuofsci02 Why would you think a low P? K, ok. this stuff goes like hot cakes. Lawn likes and consumes it. But P...
> @g-man What would a P deficiency look like in a mature, established lawn?


Haha.. Montreal is driving distance from Toronto too... Cambridge ON is a 2 hour drive each way for me and I have to cross the City traffic twice. I'd love to go to this place but it will have to be for more than fert.

I am not sure that I need P, but pretty sure I need K.


----------



## Babameca

@Stuofsci02 I am sure shopping for the whole year (as I did) is worth a day. You will also save enough to pay for the gas and more with the size of your lot! Did you try to quote for shipping?


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> @Stuofsci02 I am sure shopping for the whole year (as I did) is worth a day. You will also save enough to pay for the gas and more with the size of your lot! Did you try to quote for shipping?


When I nuke my front I will likely get seed from this place, and then I can buy some other stuff. For now I can buy stuff locally. I am done my spring apps of granular this year and I have 275 lbs of 46-0-0 Urea ready to launch this fall. Of course I will not use that much lol.

There is also a farm supplier ten min away that has this stuff.


----------



## Babameca

@Stuofsci02 Not bad! and dirt cheap. My P is 150ppm 3 times the norm so zero P for me for maybe 2 seasons.


----------



## mucknine

Babameca said:


> It's all because you guys don't shop from the right place! :lol: . Here is an appropriate Canadian made fert label
> https://www.ojcompagnie.com/sites/default/files/fichiers/20-0-12%20Mini%20FMS%2075%20SR%20SOP%20F247023%20Can%20E%20Rev1406.pdf
> OSCturf sells same brand and is at driving distance for most of GTA folks.
> @Stuofsci02 Why would you think a low P? K, ok. this stuff goes like hot cakes. Lawn likes and consumes it. But P...
> @g-man What would a P deficiency look like in a mature, established lawn?


Like @Stuofsci02 I'm not near enough the GTA to go there. I feel like I'm in no mans land from a products perspective, especially during COVID. I'm in Windsor, so right on the border with the U.S. but obviously can't cross the border at this time. TSC is about all I've found to work with locally.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> @Stuofsci02 Not bad! and dirt cheap. My P is 150ppm 3 times the norm so zero P for me for maybe 2 seasons.


Yeah.. cheap indeed. With 28k I like to go green on a budget


----------



## Stuofsci02

Cut again a day late. If I'm not on this every 48 hours it is a lot of work to get back down to 3/4. Need to get my pgr down.


----------



## Matix99def

Any plans to get a bigger mower? Triplex maybe?


----------



## jrubb42

Matix99def said:


> Any plans to get a bigger mower? Triplex maybe?


^^^this.. I'm only mowing 6k on my front and sides and it seems like a lot every other day. Couldn't imagine 28k.. Congrats on lawn of the month by the way! Well deserved!!


----------



## Matix99def

Ya if that orange name doesn't warrant a mower upgrade, I don't know what does


----------



## Stuofsci02

Matix99def said:


> Any plans to get a bigger mower? Triplex maybe?


No I don't think so 🤥 lol...


----------



## Stuofsci02

jrubb42 said:


> Matix99def said:
> 
> 
> 
> Any plans to get a bigger mower? Triplex maybe?
> 
> 
> 
> ^^^this.. I'm only mowing 6k on my front and sides and it seems like a lot every other day. Couldn't imagine 28k.. Congrats on lawn of the month by the way! Well deserved!!
Click to expand...

I only mow my front and side 8,000 with the Flex21. I have another 600ish that is in the kids play area that I do with my Fiskars push reel at 1.5". All the rest of my property I cut with my X304 tractor with checkmate striper at 1.75". I don't have a good pic from this year, but here is the back last fall.


----------



## jrubb42

Stuofsci02 said:


> jrubb42 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Matix99def said:
> 
> 
> 
> Any plans to get a bigger mower? Triplex maybe?
> 
> 
> 
> ^^^this.. I'm only mowing 6k on my front and sides and it seems like a lot every other day. Couldn't imagine 28k.. Congrats on lawn of the month by the way! Well deserved!!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I only mow my front and side 8,000 with the Flex21. I have another 600ish that is in the kids play area that I do with my Fiskars push reel at 1.5". All the rest of my property I cut with my X304 tractor with checkmate striper at 1.75". I don't have a good pic from this year, but here is the back last fall.
Click to expand...

Makes so much more sense. The backyard looks crazy good also. Are you still at 3/4? What's your plan for summer with your HOC?


----------



## Stuofsci02

@jrubb42 ... Yep, still at 3/4. I might go to 5/8 tomorrow (or maybe 11/16) just because @Babameca said it looks better at 3/4", and I don't want him to think that he is calling the shots....


----------



## jrubb42

@Stuofsci02


----------



## Chris LI

^+1


----------



## davegravy

Lol

... And looks amazing!


----------



## Stuofsci02

Finally got my PGR+FAS down. Had to get up early to avoid the wind. Sprayed at 0.15 pgr, 2.0 FS and 1.7 AS per the cool season recommendation.

Just for @Babameca i cut at 7/8". Completely different look. It is not like carpet anymore, but more like a very short rotary mow. The grass has some Flex to it. Here is a pics from while I was spraying.


----------



## Babameca

@Stuofsci02 I have very similar look to it. I've never seen my grass at 3/4 or so, but visit quite often my supplier and he has a test plot (3-4 acres) with all types and HOC that a golf corse will have. And yup...shorter looks so much slicker.
Still looks very clean at 7/8!
Looking forward to see the effect of your FAS PGR app.


----------



## Babameca

Stuofsci02 said:


> @jrubb42 ... Yep, still at 3/4. I might go to 5/8 tomorrow (or maybe 11/16) just because @Babameca said it looks better at 3/4", and I don't want him to think that he is calling the shots....


 :lol: :mrgreen:


----------



## bernstem

Stuofsci02 said:


> Finally got my PGR+FAS down. Had to get up early to avoid the wind. Sprayed at 0.15 pgr, 0.2 FS and 1.7 AS per the cool season recommendation.


See how it responds to the 2 Oz rate of Iron, but if it doesn't get dark enough (is it ever dark enough?) bluegrass tolerates the higher rate of 4/3.4 Oz of Iron/AS just fine and gets even darker.

You will really like how the grass responds to PGR at low height. Less mowing is also nice...


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> @Stuofsci02 I have very similar look to it. I've never seen my grass at 3/4 or so, but visit quite often my supplier and he has a test plot (3-4 acres) with all types and HOC that a golf corse will have. And yup...shorter looks so much slicker.
> Still looks very clean at 7/8!
> Looking forward to see the effect of your FAS PGR app.


Thanks. It is hot and windy here today and so I have to be careful not to let the grass stress out. I will water tonight.


----------



## Stuofsci02

bernstem said:


> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Finally got my PGR+FAS down. Had to get up early to avoid the wind. Sprayed at 0.15 pgr, 0.2 FS and 1.7 AS per the cool season recommendation.
> 
> 
> 
> See how it responds to the 2 Oz rate of Iron, but if it doesn't get dark enough (is it ever dark enough?) bluegrass tolerates the higher rate of 4/3.4 Oz of Iron/AS just fine and gets even darker.
> 
> You will really like how the grass responds to PGR at low height. Less mowing is also nice...
Click to expand...

Thanks @bernstem . I will ramp it up 0.5 oz on my next app and if all goes well I will do the same on the one after that. Last year around this time I burned my front with pgr and fas and so I am taking it a little slower this year.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Alright, I burned in some super stripes in today (still at 7/8). Got a bunch of gardening done too. I also knocked the south side of my driveway down to 7/8. Sorry @Babameca , this is the real reason I am at 7/8th. Wanted to bring that side down slowly and I'm too lazy to adjust the mower back...


----------



## Babameca

Oh the 2nd picture...No, you had LOT already! I don't know what phone you use, but this is definitely an HDR processed picture. Love it!


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> Oh the 2nd picture...No, you had LOT already! I don't know what phone you use, but this is definitely an HDR processed picture. Love it!


It is an iPhone XR. I am not sure if it does any processing. It is set to original. I can set it to vivid, warm, cool etc, but I dont think it looks very good. Original seems to look as close to what the eye sees. I do often crop out the road from the pics.

BTW I can already tell that the iron is working. It definitely looks greener and darker. Looking forward to what it looks like tomorrow. I think I will start to pump iron more often.

BTW am I the only one listening to Regulate by Warren G when putting down PGR? Maybe I am the right age and this was popular when I was in high school. Hard to believe it is 26 years old.

"My turfs in rebound, it's a tad bit late, I gotta get out in the lawn and regulate"


----------



## bernstem

Stuofsci02 said:


> Thanks @bernstem . I will ramp it up 0.5 oz on my next app and if all goes well I will do the same on the one after that. Last year around this time I burned my front with pgr and fas and so I am taking it a little slower this year.


Fair enough. You have room to go up from your initial dosing on the PGR and FAS. I do think that all three is a bit more stress, but at 0.15 Oz of PGR, you should be good to bump it up a bit. That lawn is looking so good with what you are doing, though, I agree with changing very little and doing it slowly.


----------



## rob13psu

Stuofsci02 said:


> Babameca said:
> 
> 
> 
> Oh the 2nd picture...No, you had LOT already! I don't know what phone you use, but this is definitely an HDR processed picture. Love it!
> 
> 
> 
> BTW am I the only one listening to Regulate by Warren G when putting down PGR? Maybe I am the right age and this was popular when I was in high school. Hard to believe it is 26 years old.
> 
> "My turfs in rebound, it's a tad bit late, I gotta get out in the lawn and regulate"
Click to expand...

 :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: That's great!


----------



## Babameca

@Stuofsci02 The song man!..Love it remember it, but 26 years ago...? I ain't that old hommie :lol: or am I...
Anyhow, believe me your Iphone does a serious black magic with this tiny lens it has (as any phone). I pulled my serious weapon and shot bracketing and then HDR in Lightroom and can barely get close to those shots. Sorcery stuff...
Bottom line love the picture!


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> @Stuofsci02 The song man!..Love it remember it, but 26 years ago...? I ain't that old hommie :lol: or am I...
> Anyhow, believe me your Iphone does a serious black magic with this tiny lens it has (as any phone). I pulled my serious weapon and shot bracketing and then HDR in Lightroom and can barely get close to those shots. Sorcery stuff...
> Bottom line love the picture!


Yep. 26 years now... I find it had to believe...

Lightroom. Funny you mention that. I got a drone this week and it seems a lot of guys are using Lightroom to do post production on photos. Is this software free or do you need to buy it?


----------



## jrubb42

Regulators is an all time classic! You must have me by a few years if it came out while you were in high school. It's the only song I've ever done karaoke to, to this day :lol:

By the way, Lightroom comes with the Adobe suite if you have it .


----------



## Stuofsci02

jrubb42 said:


> Regulators is an all time classic! You must have me by a few years if it came out while you were in high school. It's the only song I've ever done karaoke to, to this day :lol:
> 
> By the way, Lightroom comes with the Adobe suite if you have it .


Yeah I am pushing 41 this year.... time flies....

I don't have Adobe suite. I hear there is a good Microsoft alternative I will have to look at..


----------



## Babameca

Stuofsci02 said:


> Babameca said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Stuofsci02 The song man!..Love it remember it, but 26 years ago...? I ain't that old hommie :lol: or am I...
> Anyhow, believe me your Iphone does a serious black magic with this tiny lens it has (as any phone). I pulled my serious weapon and shot bracketing and then HDR in Lightroom and can barely get close to those shots. Sorcery stuff...
> Bottom line love the picture!
> 
> 
> 
> Yep. 26 years now... I find it had to believe...
> 
> Lightroom. Funny you mention that. I got a drone this week and it seems a lot of guys are using Lightroom to do post production on photos. Is this software free or do you need to buy it?
Click to expand...

LR is for pictures and Premiere Pro is for videos, both are from Adobe. They from being one time buy are now a part of a package with monthly subscription, not cheap. I am using cracked versions for both :bandit: . God bless the Russian hackers.
The alternatives are Final Cut from apple and Davinci.
Those are big guns for simply 'assembling' a video and the learning curve is pretty steep. I have been using PP for 10 years and am just scratching the surface.
BTW if you shoot RAW in LR you can make the grass look as green/blue as you feel it :bd: :mrgreen:
I do adjust to what it lookes in reality. Cameras (phones even more) get colors wrong. Digital has no meaning of colors and adjust if some/any shade of grey is in not the frame (otherwise it may be off)


----------



## davegravy

LR is best in my opinion if you shoot RAW instead of compressed (jpeg) because you get way more flexibility with the processing.

Used to only be dslrs could give you raw files but I think iPhones can now.


----------



## Stuofsci02

@Babameca @davegravy .... You guys are way over my head on this stuff. I have not ever got into photography, and have always been point and click and whatever I get I get. That is one of the reasons I was surprised @Babameca that you thought the picture was good. Someone else last year thought I was using a filter. I am sure the phone auto adjusts light etc, but I am not sure what else it does.

I flew my MavicMini today and took a few shots and noticed that it looks different then my eye sees it. The bricks on my house seem darker and less vibrant. Seems cooler. I know these settings can be adjusted so I will have to play around with it.


----------



## jrubb42

@Stuofsci02 I do videography for a living..basically what the camera is trying to do is expose for whatever's in focus. So if your grass is what it thinks the vocal point is, it will expose the grass first and then whatever else around it be at that same exposure.

In lamens terms.. who gives a shit and take the photo if it looks good. Your grass looks amazing and it's coming from multiple sources.. it doesn't look too different from photo to photo..

To be honest, I'm having trouble making my grass look as good as it does in person with my phone. I'm seriously thinking about bringing my work camera out to take some photos. Ha


----------



## Babameca

Are scared of heights? lol Get this baby in the air!
https://youtu.be/xBKVV0UrU0A


----------



## Babameca

@jrubb42 Tried with my A73 bracketing 5 shots at 1EV and then HDR in LR...telling ya phones do a sorcery!
Obviously printed out big enough, things will rapidly change around.


----------



## bernstem

Iphones will do HDR processing on landscapes automatically. I believe there is an option to toggle it on/off if you want.

https://iphonephotographyschool.com/hdr-iphone/

Lightroom is great, but too pricy if you ask me. I used to use it, but when it become a monthly fee I dropped it. I use ACDSee Ultimate. It does almost everything that Lightroom does without the monthly fees.


----------



## davegravy

Depends what you're going for... Natural or striking. Striking is easy with hdr and filters.

But making grass look in a picture the way it looks to the naked eye is tough on a high end camera let alone a phone, in my experience. This forum is littered with "my picture doesn't really show it but <insert problem>"


----------



## Babameca

bernstem said:


> Iphones will do HDR processing on landscapes automatically. I believe there is an option to toggle it on/off if you want.
> 
> https://iphonephotographyschool.com/hdr-iphone/
> 
> Lightroom is great, but too pricy if you ask me. I used to use it, but when it become a monthly fee I dropped it. I use ACDSee Ultimate. It does almost everything that Lightroom does without the monthly fees.
> PM me if you need to go back to it for free.


----------



## Stuofsci02

jrubb42 said:


> @Stuofsci02 I do videography for a living..basically what the camera is trying to do is expose for whatever's in focus. So if your grass is what it thinks the vocal point is, it will expose the grass first and then whatever else around it be at that same exposure.
> 
> In lamens terms.. who gives a s--- and take the photo if it looks good. Your grass looks amazing and it's coming from multiple sources.. it doesn't look too different from photo to photo..
> 
> To be honest, I'm having trouble making my grass look as good as it does in person with my phone. I'm seriously thinking about bringing my work camera out to take some photos. Ha


Very cool job. I will have to pick your brain a bit when I start fooling with it more. I want to start using the drone for pictures. I can get better angles and I don't look like a weirdo to the neighbors taking grass pics.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> Are scared of heights? lol Get this baby in the air!


Cool vid. What drone are you using? You were way out there...


----------



## Stuofsci02

bernstem said:


> Iphones will do HDR processing on landscapes automatically. I believe there is an option to toggle it on/off if you want.
> 
> https://iphonephotographyschool.com/hdr-iphone/
> 
> Lightroom is great, but too pricy if you ask me. I used to use it, but when it become a monthly fee I dropped it. I use ACDSee Ultimate. It does almost everything that Lightroom does without the monthly fees.


Great read. I had no idea all this was going on in the background.


----------



## Stuofsci02

davegravy said:


> Depends what you're going for... Natural or striking. Striking is easy with hdr and filters.
> 
> But making grass look in a picture the way it looks to the naked eye is tough on a high end camera let alone a phone, in my experience. This forum is littered with "my picture doesn't really show it but <insert problem>"


True enough. I think you have mentioned In your journal that it looks better in your pics?


----------



## davegravy

Stuofsci02 said:


> davegravy said:
> 
> 
> 
> Depends what you're going for... Natural or striking. Striking is easy with hdr and filters.
> 
> But making grass look in a picture the way it looks to the naked eye is tough on a high end camera let alone a phone, in my experience. This forum is littered with "my picture doesn't really show it but <insert problem>"
> 
> 
> 
> True enough. I think you have mentioned In your journal that it looks better in your pics?
Click to expand...

Yeah, most of the time it looks better than reality. Subtle discolourations (like yellow haze) don't show up for example. The grass can appear darker or lighter green than reality depending on what the camera chooses to focus on and how it chooses exposure.

A compounding factor is that grass looks better or worse to the naked eye depending on time of day. Mine looks like Wrigely Field in the evening and like s--- at high noon 😜


----------



## Stuofsci02

davegravy said:


> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> davegravy said:
> 
> 
> 
> Depends what you're going for... Natural or striking. Striking is easy with hdr and filters.
> 
> But making grass look in a picture the way it looks to the naked eye is tough on a high end camera let alone a phone, in my experience. This forum is littered with "my picture doesn't really show it but <insert problem>"
> 
> 
> 
> True enough. I think you have mentioned In your journal that it looks better in your pics?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yeah, most of the time it looks better than reality. Subtle discolourations (like yellow haze) don't show up for example. The grass can appear darker or lighter green than reality depending on what the camera chooses to focus on and how it chooses exposure.
> 
> A compounding factor is that grass looks better or worse to the naked eye depending on time of day. Mine looks like Wrigely Field in the evening and like s--- at high noon 😜
Click to expand...

Yeah I hear you. Bad grass times for me are 11am - 2pm. I take almost all my front shots at 2pm (sun is at the best angle for stripes). The worst are cloudy rainy days. Grass can really look bad then. I call it "Two Face" after the Seinfield episode. I loved that show...


----------



## bernstem

Stuofsci02 said:


> davegravy said:
> 
> 
> 
> Depends what you're going for... Natural or striking. Striking is easy with hdr and filters.
> 
> But making grass look in a picture the way it looks to the naked eye is tough on a high end camera let alone a phone, in my experience. This forum is littered with "my picture doesn't really show it but <insert problem>"
> 
> 
> 
> True enough. I think you have mentioned In your journal that it looks better in your pics?
Click to expand...

I try to be honest with my pictures. The ones I post in my journal are not edited and I try to take them the same way every time, but cameras don't work the same way as our eyes. Sometimes things get lost and more often than not the pictures tend to look better, though not always. In my Journal, I always take the same 2-3 photos of the lawn from the same place. I'll add others sometimes (like the last hand picture), but hopefully I, and others, can look objectively at how the lawn does by trying to be consistent.


----------



## Stuofsci02

@bernstem .. I am starting to realize there is a lot more to these pictures than I thought. I am not sure why someone would want to edit or manipulate the photo unless they were putting it on their wall (BTW I already got a no go from the wife on lawn portraits). 
I take the photos so I can see what I have done that works and what doesn't and how I have (hopefully) improved over the years. I like to look back at dates from last year, and the year before, at the same time of year, to check and see if something is a miss. I post only some of what I take here, so that others can follow along and hopefully get information (positive and sometimes negative.... last years PRG app in June). I know I have learned a lot from others on here so I don't have to make as many mistakes.


----------



## Babameca

@Stuofsci02 Same DJI mini as you.


----------



## davegravy

Stuofsci02 said:


> @bernstem .. I am starting to realize there is a lot more to these pictures than I thought. I am not sure why someone would want to edit or manipulate the photo unless they were putting it on their wall (BTW I already got a no go from the wife on lawn portraits).


As I mentioned, it's a challenge to get a photo to look realistic and that's why it's often as necessary to edit photos to achieve that goal as it is to achieve an artistic photo (two very different goals often times). I could go into the details of why but it would get long and boring 

For the purposes of somewhat scientifically tracking progress through photos, if you're really serious about it, I think you probably want to turn off all the camera's automatic functions if it lets you, and manually adjust the exposure so that your grass has the same metered exposure level every time. Shoot with a white balance reference (grey placard) so that colours render faithfully and consistently (look up "white balance" correction). I haven't had the time or motivation to figure out how to do this on my smartphone but it would be a breeze with my DSLR. Shoot the same time of day and lighting conditions obviously too.

There might be 3rd party apps in the store that give you more control over the camera than the stock app if you want to get serious about this.


----------



## Stuofsci02

davegravy said:


> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @bernstem .. I am starting to realize there is a lot more to these pictures than I thought. I am not sure why someone would want to edit or manipulate the photo unless they were putting it on their wall (BTW I already got a no go from the wife on lawn portraits).
> 
> 
> 
> As I mentioned, it's a challenge to get a photo to look realistic and that's why it's often as necessary to edit photos to achieve that goal as it is to achieve an artistic photo (two very different goals often times). I could go into the details of why but it would get long and boring
> 
> For the purposes of somewhat scientifically tracking progress through photos, if you're really serious about it, I think you probably want to turn off all the camera's automatic functions if it lets you, and manually adjust the exposure so that your grass has the same metered exposure level every time. Shoot with a white balance reference (grey placard) so that colours render faithfully and consistently (look up "white balance" correction). I haven't had the time or motivation to figure out how to do this on my smartphone but it would be a breeze with my DSLR. Shoot the same time of day and lighting conditions obviously too.
> 
> There might be 3rd party apps in the store that give you more control over the camera than the stock app if you want to get serious about this.
Click to expand...

I thought I was serious, but I am not that serious....... I'll have to stick to same time and lighting conditions... Any more and then my wife and neighbors will think I am really off my rocker...


----------



## jrubb42

Stuofsci02 said:


> davegravy said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @bernstem .. I am starting to realize there is a lot more to these pictures than I thought. I am not sure why someone would want to edit or manipulate the photo unless they were putting it on their wall (BTW I already got a no go from the wife on lawn portraits).
> 
> 
> 
> As I mentioned, it's a challenge to get a photo to look realistic and that's why it's often as necessary to edit photos to achieve that goal as it is to achieve an artistic photo (two very different goals often times). I could go into the details of why but it would get long and boring
> 
> For the purposes of somewhat scientifically tracking progress through photos, if you're really serious about it, I think you probably want to turn off all the camera's automatic functions if it lets you, and manually adjust the exposure so that your grass has the same metered exposure level every time. Shoot with a white balance reference (grey placard) so that colours render faithfully and consistently (look up "white balance" correction). I haven't had the time or motivation to figure out how to do this on my smartphone but it would be a breeze with my DSLR. Shoot the same time of day and lighting conditions obviously too.
> 
> There might be 3rd party apps in the store that give you more control over the camera than the stock app if you want to get serious about this.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I thought I was serious, but I am not that serious....... I'll have to stick to same time and lighting conditions... Any more and then my wife and neighbors will think I am really off my rocker...
Click to expand...

I've been thinking about bringing my camera gear home and doing some cinematic video of the lawn, but just yesterday my neighbor from 3 houses down yells out "are you really taking photos of your beautiful lawn!?!?". My other neighbor yells out "PSYCHO!!" every time she sees me doing something in the yard...which is all the time. Lol.

Wait til they see professional video equipment all over the yard and me filming it.. Haha. Making me really think twice about it... Probably should just get my kid involved so it looks like I'm filming him instead...


----------



## Stuofsci02

jrubb42 said:


> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> davegravy said:
> 
> 
> 
> As I mentioned, it's a challenge to get a photo to look realistic and that's why it's often as necessary to edit photos to achieve that goal as it is to achieve an artistic photo (two very different goals often times). I could go into the details of why but it would get long and boring
> 
> For the purposes of somewhat scientifically tracking progress through photos, if you're really serious about it, I think you probably want to turn off all the camera's automatic functions if it lets you, and manually adjust the exposure so that your grass has the same metered exposure level every time. Shoot with a white balance reference (grey placard) so that colours render faithfully and consistently (look up "white balance" correction). I haven't had the time or motivation to figure out how to do this on my smartphone but it would be a breeze with my DSLR. Shoot the same time of day and lighting conditions obviously too.
> 
> There might be 3rd party apps in the store that give you more control over the camera than the stock app if you want to get serious about this.
> 
> 
> 
> I thought I was serious, but I am not that serious....... I'll have to stick to same time and lighting conditions... Any more and then my wife and neighbors will think I am really off my rocker...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I've been thinking about bringing my camera gear home and doing some cinematic video of the lawn, but just yesterday my neighbor from 3 houses down yells out "are you really taking photos of your beautiful lawn!?!?". My other neighbor yells out "PSYCHO!!" every time she sees me doing something in the yard...which is all the time. Lol.
> 
> Wait til they see professional video equipment all over the yard and me filming it.. Haha. Making me really think twice about it... Probably should just get my kid involved so it looks like I'm filming him instead...
Click to expand...

Yeah I thought the same.. But what is stranger... Filming your grass, or bringing out your kids to you can pretend to film them so that you can film your grass.... I already told my neighbors that when it comes to the lawn they will probably think I am strange. I just tell them that it is my hobby and I enjoy it. No different then fishing or gardening etc... But when they see the results I think they like it. My neighbor across the street said she was going to have to kick her husband in the sweat pants to get their yard up to par after seeing how ours looked mid April and theirs was still dormant.


----------



## Chris LI

Stuofsci02 said:


> My neighbor across the street said she was going to have to kick her husband in the sweat pants to get their yard up to par after seeing how ours looked mid April and theirs was still dormant.


That is just plain awesome! I always think of it as a healthy competition. It brings up everyone's property values.


----------



## mucknine

Stuofsci02 said:


> davegravy said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> True enough. I think you have mentioned In your journal that it looks better in your pics?
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah, most of the time it looks better than reality. Subtle discolourations (like yellow haze) don't show up for example. The grass can appear darker or lighter green than reality depending on what the camera chooses to focus on and how it chooses exposure.
> 
> A compounding factor is that grass looks better or worse to the naked eye depending on time of day. Mine looks like Wrigely Field in the evening and like s--- at high noon 😜
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yeah I hear you. Bad grass times for me are 11am - 2pm. I take almost all my front shots at 2pm (sun is at the best angle for stripes). The worst are cloudy rainy days. Grass can really look bad then. I call it "Two Face" after the Seinfield episode. I loved that show...
Click to expand...

Haha. Two face, nice Seinfeld reference. That's definitely a thing - both with women and lawns!


----------



## mucknine

jrubb42 said:


> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> davegravy said:
> 
> 
> 
> As I mentioned, it's a challenge to get a photo to look realistic and that's why it's often as necessary to edit photos to achieve that goal as it is to achieve an artistic photo (two very different goals often times). I could go into the details of why but it would get long and boring
> 
> For the purposes of somewhat scientifically tracking progress through photos, if you're really serious about it, I think you probably want to turn off all the camera's automatic functions if it lets you, and manually adjust the exposure so that your grass has the same metered exposure level every time. Shoot with a white balance reference (grey placard) so that colours render faithfully and consistently (look up "white balance" correction). I haven't had the time or motivation to figure out how to do this on my smartphone but it would be a breeze with my DSLR. Shoot the same time of day and lighting conditions obviously too.
> 
> There might be 3rd party apps in the store that give you more control over the camera than the stock app if you want to get serious about this.
> 
> 
> 
> I thought I was serious, but I am not that serious....... I'll have to stick to same time and lighting conditions... Any more and then my wife and neighbors will think I am really off my rocker...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I've been thinking about bringing my camera gear home and doing some cinematic video of the lawn, but just yesterday my neighbor from 3 houses down yells out "are you really taking photos of your beautiful lawn!?!?". My other neighbor yells out "PSYCHO!!" every time she sees me doing something in the yard...which is all the time. Lol.
> 
> Wait til they see professional video equipment all over the yard and me filming it.. Haha. Making me really think twice about it... Probably should just get my kid involved so it looks like I'm filming him instead...
Click to expand...

A neighbour caught me with the scissors out a little while back. They're definitely having a good laugh over that at my expense. In my defence, it was to get just a few blades that the trimmer can't get to in the corner of fence and post. It was quick, and she wasn't supposed to see me.


----------



## Stuofsci02

@mucknine ... Hey if you like Seinfeld you are alright in my books.

Just tell your neighbors that their grass can look good too if they put in a little more effort....


----------



## Stuofsci02

Here's a pic from a few nights ago that I missed getting in my journal. I will use this as an early June reference point.


----------



## Babameca

7/8, lush!


----------



## davegravy

Stuofsci02 said:


> Here's a pic from a few nights ago that I missed getting in my journal. I will use this as an early June reference point.


You're doing something right. I'd love to have half that lawn in peak fall let alone right now.


----------



## PNW_TurfNoob

Stuofsci02 said:


> Here's a pic from a few nights ago that I missed getting in my journal. I will use this as an early June reference point.


Wow! That is a beautiful lawn. Strong work man.


----------



## weirj55

Stuofsci02 said:


> Here's a pic from a few nights ago that I missed getting in my journal. I will use this as an early June reference point.


Beautiful! You are definitely doing it right.


----------



## Chris LI

^+1=5
Lush! I love the blue tones! :thumbup:


----------



## DAM Lawn

I read back in your journal that you seeded with scotts sunnymix kbg/rye around your playground area. This is what I've been overseeding heavy with last season and this. As much as I'm interested in some of these elite seeds I'm worried they won't match my current grass look/colour and prefer to stick with the same type. I'm curious how you like your results with it, and how you feel it compares with the rest of your lawn?


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> 7/8, lush!


Yeah... I am liking this HOC... This was a day after so probably already over an 1"...


----------



## Stuofsci02

@davegravy @PNW_TurfNoob @Chris LI 
Thank guys..


----------



## Stuofsci02

DAM Lawn said:


> I read back in your journal that you seeded with scotts sunnymix kbg/rye around your playground area. This is what I've been overseeding heavy with last season and this. As much as I'm interested in some of these elite seeds I'm worried they won't match my current grass look/colour and prefer to stick with the same type. I'm curious how you like your results with it, and how you feel it compares with the rest of your lawn?


I like it a lot... It is the darkest green stuff I have on my property. It came up really nice too. I am going to do a 5,000 sqft reno this fall from the deck in my back out 50 ft to match the play area. I plan to use this seed since I have several bags of it. I bought a bunch at the end of 2018 when it was onsale because I want something with mostly KBG and some PRG to pop up quick. I was pleasantly surprised.


----------



## Stuofsci02

I'm getting more lawn to mow! In a lot of my pics you can see they are building a house next to me. This is great because I had an empty lot of weeds next to me for years. The builder approached me earlier this week because he needs to grade a swale in between the houses. He wanted to cut back into my lot by 3 ft and regrade it and resod it. I am sure he would have done a fine job, but I did not want to have a new slope and new grass at the three foot edge.

Instead we agreed he could come onto my yard 18" and put the swale 18" into the new house yard. This will give the appearance that my lot is 18" wider for the whole 300 ft lot depth.. it also became apparent that I had lost 12" on my lot over the years due to me cutting further in each year.. so I am about to get about 30" x 300ft of new sod put in on the north property line.. this was my worst grass because of the weeds etc. So I am super excited. They got started today.


----------



## Chris LI

:thumbsup: Bye, bye weed patch!


----------



## Stuofsci02

Not much to report this week. Dropped HOC to 3/4".. survived the hot few days we had, and everything is lookin good.


----------



## Alex1389

Lawn looks amazing. Can't tell if that's catmint in your flower bed?


----------



## DAM Lawn

Awesome bonus....extra lawn space! I wish, the only way I can get that is by removing the gardens and fence but the old lady won't let me. Looks amazing.

I've also been super impressed with my results from the sunnymix seed and will stick with it.. I'm just waiting for tsc to put it on sale to stock up for fall.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Alex1389 said:


> Lawn looks amazing. Can't tell if that's catmint in your flower bed?


Good eye.. that is exactly right!


----------



## Stuofsci02

DAM Lawn said:


> Awesome bonus....extra lawn space! I wish, the only way I can get that is by removing the gardens and fence but the old lady won't let me. Looks amazing.
> 
> I've also been super impressed with my results from the sunnymix seed and will stick with it.. I'm just waiting for tsc to put it on sale to stock up for fall.


Yeah. The 1.4kg bags come on sale for $11 quite often.


----------



## Stuofsci02

So my backyard reno from 2018 came in well last year, but I must admit with my new to me Greensmaster the front got all the attention this spring. The back, which had a lot of prg, suffered some winter die off, plus the new dog that pees roundup made me loose a little interest.

Well I decided it deserved a little tlc, so today I did a serious dethatch on 20,000 sqft. I got in a personal best 36,000 steps. Tomorrow I need to clean up this mess, but for now I can sleep easy. I do have kbg in the mix, so the goal is going to be pushing the kbg to thicken things up. In Aug I will decide if I will overseed some sissy grass back there.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Today I hummed and hawed over if I should power rake the front. It was looking so good I did not want to ruin it. Then I realized what a pansy I was being so it hit it in two directions. I did not get a lot of material up, but the stuff that came out was a little bit spongy and needed to come out. After I finished I double cut in two directions at 5/8 and I have to say it was worth it. The sun was not in a good spot for stripes, but I do believe this is The best I have had it.. Getting Rid of that little bit of material and standing up,the grass made for an exceptional cut.


----------



## Babameca

Awesome! We know when the cut was clean. It looks...better. I am not sure when do I have to dethatch, considering I renoed 8 months ago.... I can clearly see some debris piling slowly up.


----------



## DAM Lawn

Its amazing the debris you don't even realize is there that gets pulled up. I'm also a pansy and have been scared to do this yet this year. Worried I might ruin things and was thinking to wait till late summer. Glad to see it went well, and will be interesting to see how it rebounds.


----------



## davegravy

My lawn is a lightweight, look at it the wrong way and it curls into the fetal position (dormancy). No power raking until fall for me.


----------



## Scagfreedom48z+

Stuofsci02 said:


> Today I hummed and hawed over if I should power rake the front. It was looking so good I did not want to ruin it. Then I realized what a pansy I was being so it hit it in two directions. I did not get a lot of material up, but the stuff that came out was a little bit spongy and needed to come out. After I finished I double cut in two directions at 5/8 and I have to say it was worth it. The sun was not in a good spot for stripes, but I do believe this is The best I have had it.. Getting Rid of that little bit of material and standing up,the grass made for an exceptional cut.


Did you apply pre em earlier this season? Will you be reapplying again since the Pre em barrier Has been compromised? I'd like to do the same and dethatch but I'm worried to mess with the pre em barrier and I'll be overseeding this fall so I don't want to reapply again.


----------



## mucknine

davegravy said:


> My lawn is a lightweight, look at it the wrong way and it curls into the fetal position (dormancy). No power raking until fall for me.


You just described my lawn. I'm also going to do the fall, though it will be with my Sun Joe probably on the scarify setting. Will be interested to see how it comes out as I levelled this year. I'd used the scarifier pre-leveling and it does a great job but with some bumps you don't seem to get consistency.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> Awesome! We know when the cut was clean. It looks...better. I am not sure when do I have to dethatch, considering I renoed 8 months ago.... I can clearly see some debris piling slowly up.


As long as your grass is not stressed I think you can go for it. It might looks rough a bit afterwards depending on how good it is now. My back looks rough, but I pulled a ton of stuff out. The font looked better as soon as I cut it after the power rake.


----------



## Stuofsci02

DAM Lawn said:


> Its amazing the debris you don't even realize is there that gets pulled up. I'm also a pansy and have been scared to do this yet this year. Worried I might ruin things and was thinking to wait till late summer. Glad to see it went well, and will be interesting to see how it rebounds.


Haha.. I did think about it a few times before going for it. I figure that I am all in and not doing it meant I cared more about how it looks today than my long term goals... I


----------



## Stuofsci02

@Scagfreedom48z+ .. I did do a prodiamine app in the spring. I am not going to reapply. If I broke the barrier then I broke the barrier. This is the first time I have put down prodiamine and in previous years I have been able to take care of everything with tenacity or Par-3.


----------



## Stuofsci02

mucknine said:


> davegravy said:
> 
> 
> 
> My lawn is a lightweight, look at it the wrong way and it curls into the fetal position (dormancy). No power raking until fall for me.
> 
> 
> 
> You just described my lawn. I'm also going to do the fall, though it will be with my Sun Joe probably on the scarify setting. Will be interested to see how it comes out as I levelled this year. I'd used the scarifier pre-leveling and it does a great job but with some bumps you don't seem to get consistency.
Click to expand...

Haha you guys.... fetal position...


----------



## Babameca

@Stuofsci02 With the sand this year, I would like to take simply things, one at a time. I may go all in end of Aug. Dethatch, aerate, sand and do my last PreM app. Timing is all in my personal strategy.
It will be a terrible year for my business, but great from a personal/family and hobbies perspective.


----------



## Stuofsci02

@Babameca .. I'm sorry to hear about the business. What type of work do you do?


----------



## Babameca

Stuofsci02 said:


> @Babameca .. I'm sorry to hear about the business. What type of work do you do?


Management consultant. Normally flying around North America, supporting companies in their effort to optimize manufacturing practices, from Maintenance, to quality, to supply chain, to hit the bottom line and improve on cost.
I haven't been home for so long for more than 12 years :bandit:
And being a freelancer for a big consultancy company leaves me with the CERB, just enough for ferts :lol:


----------



## davegravy

Babameca said:


> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Babameca .. I'm sorry to hear about the business. What type of work do you do?
> 
> 
> 
> Management consultant. Normally flying around North America, supporting companies in their effort to optimize manufacturing practices, from Maintenance, to quality, to supply chain, to hit the bottom line and improve on cost.
> I haven't been home for so long for more than 12 years :bandit:
> And being a freelancer for a big consultancy company leaves me with the CERB, just enough for ferts :lol:
Click to expand...

I'd have thought business would be booming... All the manufacturing processes you optimized in the past should be back at your doorstep asking how to work around coronavirus.


----------



## Babameca

@davegravy That's 100% right. Unfortunately few people see it this way. Being caught in the day to day 'firefighting' and trying your best to get things going makes forget about strategy. Those that are 'blooming' are only thinking how to get what's set as target to the customer. They are most often 'blind' to opportunities. Others, will simply die, not being able to rapidly adjust to the new 'normal'. I can write about this for days, but we are in wrong forum :lol:


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> @davegravy That's 100% right. Unfortunately few people see it this way. Being caught in the day to day 'firefighting' and trying your best to get things going makes forget about strategy. Those that are 'blooming' are only thinking how to get what's set as target to the customer. They are most often 'blind' to opportunities. Others, will simply die, not being able to rapidly adjust to the new 'normal'. I can write about this for days, but we are in wrong forum :lol:


I am with you on the travel. I would normally spend 100-120 days a year on the road, and I have not stepped on a plane since the 2nd week of March... I am glad Delta is extending my platinum status through 2021...


----------



## Babameca

@Stuofsci02 I lost it all, 3 years ago when was sucked into a 'single client' work in Kingston ON. Just had started flying to Chicago when all shut down.


----------



## jrubb42

Stuofsci02 said:


> Babameca said:
> 
> 
> 
> @davegravy That's 100% right. Unfortunately few people see it this way. Being caught in the day to day 'firefighting' and trying your best to get things going makes forget about strategy. Those that are 'blooming' are only thinking how to get what's set as target to the customer. They are most often 'blind' to opportunities. Others, will simply die, not being able to rapidly adjust to the new 'normal'. I can write about this for days, but we are in wrong forum :lol:
> 
> 
> 
> I am with you on the travel. I would normally spend 100-120 days a year on the road, and I have not stepped on a plane since the 2nd week of March... I am glad Delta is extending my platinum status through 2021...
Click to expand...

That's a lot of travel. What do you do? I usually am gone out of town around 5 days a month (sometimes more) and that ends up seeming like a lot!


----------



## Stuofsci02

jrubb42 said:


> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Babameca said:
> 
> 
> 
> @davegravy That's 100% right. Unfortunately few people see it this way. Being caught in the day to day 'firefighting' and trying your best to get things going makes forget about strategy. Those that are 'blooming' are only thinking how to get what's set as target to the customer. They are most often 'blind' to opportunities. Others, will simply die, not being able to rapidly adjust to the new 'normal'. I can write about this for days, but we are in wrong forum :lol:
> 
> 
> 
> I am with you on the travel. I would normally spend 100-120 days a year on the road, and I have not stepped on a plane since the 2nd week of March... I am glad Delta is extending my platinum status through 2021...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> That's a lot of travel. What do you do? I usually am gone out of town around 5 days a month (sometimes more) and that ends up seeming like a lot!
Click to expand...

I am an engineer and manage a company that designs manufactures and install industrial water treatment facilities. I go through Minneapolis all the time. Not sure if you are near there or not.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> @Stuofsci02 I lost it all, 3 years ago when was sucked into a 'single client' work in Kingston ON. Just had started flying to Chicago when all shut down.


Kingston is alright. That is where a lot of my family is from. Also went to University there.


----------



## davegravy

Stuofsci02 said:


> Babameca said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Stuofsci02 I lost it all, 3 years ago when was sucked into a 'single client' work in Kingston ON. Just had started flying to Chicago when all shut down.
> 
> 
> 
> Kingston is alright. That is where a lot of my family is from. Also went to University there.
Click to expand...

What year? I'm Sci'05

Long shot but my classmate from Queen's is from Kingston and works in water treatment (CH2M). Charlie Saunders - know him by any chance?


----------



## Stuofsci02

davegravy said:


> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Babameca said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Stuofsci02 I lost it all, 3 years ago when was sucked into a 'single client' work in Kingston ON. Just had started flying to Chicago when all shut down.
> 
> 
> 
> Kingston is alright. That is where a lot of my family is from. Also went to University there.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> What year? I'm Sci'05
> 
> Long shot but my classmate from Queen's is from Kingston and works in water treatment (CH2M). Charlie Saunders - know him by any chance?
Click to expand...

Sci'02... You've probably heard the tales of our legendary pole climb...

What did you take? I'm electrical... I am not familiar with your friend, but I know someone else at CH2 that I used to work with..


----------



## davegravy

Stuofsci02 said:


> davegravy said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Kingston is alright. That is where a lot of my family is from. Also went to University there.
> 
> 
> 
> What year? I'm Sci'05
> 
> Long shot but my classmate from Queen's is from Kingston and works in water treatment (CH2M). Charlie Saunders - know him by any chance?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Sci'02... You've probably heard the tales of our legendary pole climb...
> 
> What did you take? I'm electrical... I am not familiar with your friend, but I know someone else at CH2 that I used to work with..
Click to expand...

Also electrical. The poutine truck parked outside of Walter Light Hall is where I got my davegravy nickname :lol:


----------



## jrubb42

Stuofsci02 said:


> jrubb42 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I am with you on the travel. I would normally spend 100-120 days a year on the road, and I have not stepped on a plane since the 2nd week of March... I am glad Delta is extending my platinum status through 2021...
> 
> 
> 
> That's a lot of travel. What do you do? I usually am gone out of town around 5 days a month (sometimes more) and that ends up seeming like a lot!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I am an engineer and manage a company that designs manufactures and install industrial water treatment facilities. I go through Minneapolis all the time. Not sure if you are near there or not.
Click to expand...

Interesting. My wife is a mechanical engineer, so I get the engineer thing a little bit. But yes, I'm right up the road from Minneapolis. That's where I do most of my work.


----------



## Stuofsci02

The hot weather here for the last week, plus the watering ban has meant that I have had to let the yard start go into dormancy. The back is going first, and I am hoping I can limp the front through this. Got my organic 9-2-2 fert today that I was planning to spoon feed with through the summer, but without water I can't put it down...


----------



## Stuofsci02

davegravy said:


> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> davegravy said:
> 
> 
> 
> What year? I'm Sci'05
> 
> Long shot but my classmate from Queen's is from Kingston and works in water treatment (CH2M). Charlie Saunders - know him by any chance?
> 
> 
> 
> Sci'02... You've probably heard the tales of our legendary pole climb...
> 
> What did you take? I'm electrical... I am not familiar with your friend, but I know someone else at CH2 that I used to work with..
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Also electrical. The poutine truck parked outside of Walter Light Hall is where I got my davegravy nickname :lol:
Click to expand...

No poutine truck when I was there..Definitely spent a lot of time at Walter Light.


----------



## Biggylawns

That sucks about the watering ban. Any rain in sight? Do they have an intent on lifting it soon? Maybe try some hydretain or a similar product?


----------



## Stuofsci02

Biggylawns said:


> That sucks about the watering ban. Any rain in sight? Do they have an intent on lifting it soon? Maybe try some hydretain or a similar product?


We are supposed to get some thunderstorms on Tuesday with 1/4-1/2", but I never count on Thunderstorms. Sometimes you get nothing... Watering ban appears to be here for a while yet...


----------



## jrubb42

Stuofsci02 said:


> The hot weather here for the last week, plus the watering ban has meant that I have had to let the yard start go into dormancy. The back is going first, and I am hoping I can limp the front through this. Got my organic 9-2-2 fert today that I was planning to spoon feed with through the summer, but without water I can't put it down...


Crappy deal man. Front is still hanging on though. Hoping you can get through it.


----------



## gatorguy

Is there a possibility of putting in a well in the future? Watering restrictions arent fun. So far we are at 2 days a week which is fine but have had too much rain, and not enough sun so no complaints yet on the water restrictions


----------



## DAM Lawn

Thats a rough deal. Good luck, fingers crossed some good rain comes through this week.


----------



## Stuofsci02

gatorguy said:


> Is there a possibility of putting in a well in the future? Watering restrictions arent fun. So far we are at 2 days a week which is fine but have had too much rain, and not enough sun so no complaints yet on the water restrictions


I was thinking about a well earlier this year. Now I am really considering it... This may accelerate my backyard plans, of well, big shed, big perimeter garden to reduce grass sqft and condense my sprinkler heads, kill an reseed elite kbg..


----------



## Stuofsci02

DAM Lawn said:


> Thats a rough deal. Good luck, fingers crossed some good rain comes through this week.


I really hope!


----------



## Stuofsci02

jrubb42 said:


> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> The hot weather here for the last week, plus the watering ban has meant that I have had to let the yard start go into dormancy. The back is going first, and I am hoping I can limp the front through this. Got my organic 9-2-2 fert today that I was planning to spoon feed with through the summer, but without water I can't put it down...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Crappy deal man. Front is still hanging on though. Hoping you can get through it.
Click to expand...

It is just holding on. What a difference a week makes


----------



## bernstem

That sucks. Are watering bans common around you?


----------



## Stuofsci02

bernstem said:


> That sucks. Are watering bans common around you?


This is the first one I have had in 6 years other than when they were relining the local water tower.


----------



## DiabeticKripple

No water bans here when the Rockies are a hour from my doorstep! I don't think I have ever had one in my whole life in AB.

Sucks about the back. Hopefully you can get a couple nice showers spaced a few days apart to help things along.


----------



## Babameca

Stuofsci02 said:


> bernstem said:
> 
> 
> 
> That sucks. Are watering bans common around you?
> 
> 
> 
> This is the first one I have had in 6 years other than when they were relining the local water tower.
Click to expand...

Bite the bullet? What are the chances to get a ticket? Y9u never drive above the speed limit??? :ugeek:


----------



## gatorguy

Stuofsci02 said:


> gatorguy said:
> 
> 
> 
> Is there a possibility of putting in a well in the future? Watering restrictions arent fun. So far we are at 2 days a week which is fine but have had too much rain, and not enough sun so no complaints yet on the water restrictions
> 
> 
> 
> I was thinking about a well earlier this year. Now I am really considering it... This may accelerate my backyard plans, of well, big shed, big perimeter garden to reduce grass sqft and condense my sprinkler heads, kill an reseed elite kbg..
Click to expand...

I mean....not a shabby excuse right?  GCI Turf has one. You definitely have the property for one but it is a bit of an investment I hear.

On the other hand, along the lines of what @Babameca was thinking, you coud bite the bullet in the name of "testing my sprinklers" and be standing there with a toolbox as a prop with some nozzles and special screwdriver in it lol


----------



## Babameca

@gatorguy Wait, wait, can't hold equipment and a glass of wine... I had a warnings before and face the city. Most of the time they don't have clue of turf management. I may use less water, than my neighbor spilling 1/2 over the street, or watering at evening (what the rules are) and forcing fungus to kill his lawn and adding even more water thinking it is a drought stress... I am lazy and did not follow on my promises to get a new rules proposal to better suite lawns and save water... shame on me


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> bernstem said:
> 
> 
> 
> That sucks. Are watering bans common around you?
> 
> 
> 
> This is the first one I have had in 6 years other than when they were relining the local water tower.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Bite the bullet? What are the chances to get a ticket? Y9u never drive above the speed limit??? :ugeek:
Click to expand...

Yeah, I am sure with Covid-19 that I could water to my hearts content and not get a fine etc. but my neighbors would know and I would be helping to create a water shortage,


----------



## Stuofsci02

gatorguy said:


> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> gatorguy said:
> 
> 
> 
> Is there a possibility of putting in a well in the future? Watering restrictions arent fun. So far we are at 2 days a week which is fine but have had too much rain, and not enough sun so no complaints yet on the water restrictions
> 
> 
> 
> I was thinking about a well earlier this year. Now I am really considering it... This may accelerate my backyard plans, of well, big shed, big perimeter garden to reduce grass sqft and condense my sprinkler heads, kill an reseed elite kbg..
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I mean....not a shabby excuse right?  GCI Turf has one. You definitely have the property for one but it is a bit of an investment I hear.
> 
> On the other hand, along the lines of what @Babameca was thinking, you coud bite the bullet in the name of "testing my sprinklers" and be standing there with a toolbox as a prop with some nozzles and special screwdriver in it lol
Click to expand...

With how long it takes my sprinklers to run I would standing there for about 11 hours....


----------



## Babameca

@Stuofsci02 It got extended here for 3 more days. My lawn would have been gone dormant for sure. 
Any signs of drought stress yet? Hot days are not going anywhere here and almost no rain on the radar. Haven't seen such an early summer drought/heat since I am in Canada (2003).
Dollar spot approaches the 20% risk mark. Luckily it is not humid...


----------



## Stuofsci02

@Babameca

Here is a live stream of my back.


----------



## SNOWBOB11

Interesting to see that your playground area grass is staying out of dormancy and is green compared to the other lawn. If I'm not mistaken that is mainly all KBG?


----------



## Stuofsci02

SNOWBOB11 said:


> Interesting to see that your playground area grass is staying out of dormancy and is green compared to the other lawn. If I'm not mistaken that is mainly all KBG?


Shhhh... I am hand watering that with the hose.....


----------



## SNOWBOB11

Stuofsci02 said:


> SNOWBOB11 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Interesting to see that your playground area grass is staying out of dormancy and is green compared to the other lawn. If I'm not mistaken that is mainly all KBG?
> 
> 
> 
> Shhhh... I am hand watering that with the hose.....
Click to expand...

 :lol: Well that would help. I'm sure it's difficult to see your lawn dormant at the moment but it will be back to green once the rains come again.


----------



## g-man

Why is there a water ban? The St. Lawrence and Ottawa river are right there.


----------



## Stuofsci02

g-man said:


> Why is there a water ban? The St. Lawrence and Ottawa river are right there.


I am a little further west, so I have Lake Ontario (4th largest volume lake in North America) literally 1 mile from my house. The issue is that the clean water plant that feeds my area is too small for the population and with algae in the water now they cannot treat the water as fast as people want to use it....


----------



## Stuofsci02

SNOWBOB11 said:


> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SNOWBOB11 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Interesting to see that your playground area grass is staying out of dormancy and is green compared to the other lawn. If I'm not mistaken that is mainly all KBG?
> 
> 
> 
> Shhhh... I am hand watering that with the hose.....
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> :lol: Well that would help. I'm sure it's difficult to see your lawn dormant at the moment but it will be back to green once the rains come again.
Click to expand...

The KBG playground is definitely more resilient than my back. It could also be that I did soil prep and a bunch of peat in there too so it holds the water better. I also made the mistake of dethatching the back about 10 days ago when it was 65F and it was nice and cool. Then the heat turned on and the grass is stressed out.. I wish I could go back, but live and learn. I will save those activities for the fall when I can be sure the temps will be lower. I have been spoiled the last few years with cool wet springs and this looked like it would be another...


----------



## Babameca

@Stuofsci02 In my case it is the pumping capacity. They are in the works to install 3 new 250HP pumps :O. With high consumption water pressure drops. I would understand day bans, but why at night...?


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> @Stuofsci02 In my case it is the pumping capacity. They are in the works to install 3 new 250HP pumps :O. With high consumption water pressure drops. I would understand day bans, but why at night...?


I couldn't tell you. They say the level in the water tower is dropping, so they want to prevent that...


----------



## gatorguy

Hmmm, GovSurplus for an old water tanker setup with a basic $300 water pump to fill it from the lake with algae water and run your irrigation system?! Algae = deeper roots right  Your nozzles might not like it though so would have to filter it, or just get a big ag sprinler, they are used to pumping out of gunky ponds. lol


----------



## Stuofsci02

gatorguy said:


> Hmmm, GovSurplus for an old water tanker setup with a basic $300 water pump to fill it from the lake with algae water and run your irrigation system?! Algae = deeper roots right  Your nozzles might not like it though so would have to filter it, or just get a big ag sprinler, they are used to pumping out of gunky ponds. lol


I have been calling around to find out what it would take to get a well put in. All the places are backed up and are looking at Oct installation. Still worth doing for next year etc, but not going to help me this year.


----------



## DAM Lawn

A well would be awesome, if anything to get the old lady off my back for running the sprinklers hours on end. Never looked in to it but i assumed there might be bylaw restrictions to doing this? Hopefully your getting some rain, we've had a few good showers yesterday and today.


----------



## Stuofsci02

DAM Lawn said:


> A well would be awesome, if anything to get the old lady off my back for running the sprinklers hours on end. Never looked in to it but i assumed there might be bylaw restrictions to doing this? Hopefully your getting some rain, we've had a few good showers yesterday and today.


No rain yet unfortunately


----------



## Harts

Well it's a good thing you got LOTM out of the way :lol: :lol:

Seriously, hope you can get back to watering soon. That would drive me nuts.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Harts said:


> Well it's a good thing you got LOTM out of the way :lol: :lol:
> 
> Seriously, hope you can get back to watering soon. That would drive me nuts.


Haha.. yeah, good point. I noticed half my neighbourhood was watering tonight, so I might go for a covert late night watering.


----------



## Stuofsci02

The dream of a well is over. I spoke at length today to the guys who well drillers recommend for my area. At $2,400 for permit and environmental assessment, 250-270ft deep bore $17,000, sleeving $2,500 if needed, pumping system, equipment, electrical and piping to house $5,000 and taxes I am at around $30k. Then I would need to spend $75 in electricity every season for the pump + est $150 maintenance.

I pay $1.12 per m3 (1000L) of water ($4.24 per 1000 gal). I have 28,600 sqft of grass so 1/2" water = ~9,000 gal. So it costs me $38.60 per 1/2" of water for the entire property. Most summers I need to start watering in mid June and end in mid Sept. So I have roughly 12 weeks of water. On average I need to water about 0.75" per week or about 13,500 gal. So in a summer I use 162,000 gal or about $690 CAD ($520 US)... So ROI would be 44 years excluding electricity or 52 years including electricity and maintenance. I'll be either dead or nearly dead by then...

So my plan is to reduce my lawn size to ~22,000 sqft with landscaping which will allow me to reduce the water by 23%. It will also allow me to reposition my sprinkler heads for better density which is an issue in the back.

We also got just under 1/2" of rain today (so I save ~$40) and the heat is temporarily gone. Water ban might get lifted soon. The back looks a little bit better after the rain. The front looks like crap. I can tell my spring fertilizer is done as I have some varying colors of green. Need to do a foliar app with iron tomorrow. If the watering ban is lifted I can get down my organic 9-2-2.

Stu


----------



## Babameca

Sorry to hear, but really not surprised. Your lawn is not dead and did its best to root deeper, before giving up. I certainly know how you feel, but as many say, it is just lawn.


----------



## DAM Lawn

I figured a well would be like $10000, thats crazy.

Interesting the water usage/$, I've never taken the time to figure this out. Glad you got some rain. Hopefully all just a temporary glitch, water ban will be lifted and problems solved!


----------



## gatorguy

That's too bad, but yeah I've heard they are pricy. So for $5000 you could probably dig a hole and put a big poly tank in it. Hook it up you you water mainline from the road, and put a pump on it to feed your sprinklers. Fill it up on your specific watering days so you have extra. If that excavator next door is still around hed probably dig a hole for cash&#128521; just an idea.


----------



## davegravy

gatorguy said:


> That's too bad, but yeah I've heard they are pricy. So for $5000 you could probably dig a hole and put a big poly tank in it. Hook it up you you water mainline from the road, and put a pump on it to feed your sprinklers. Fill it up on your specific watering days so you have extra. If that excavator next door is still around hed probably dig a hole for cash😉 just an idea.


Do it! And run all your eavestroughs into it.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> Sorry to hear, but really not surprised. Your lawn is not dead and did its best to root deeper, before giving up. I certainly know how you feel, but as many say, it is just lawn.


Yes it is just a lawn and will come back. I am not worried. Just too early imo for dormancy. The season just started..


----------



## Stuofsci02

DAM Lawn said:


> I figured a well would be like $10000, thats crazy.
> 
> Interesting the water usage/$, I've never taken the time to figure this out. Glad you got some rain. Hopefully all just a temporary glitch, water ban will be lifted and problems solved!


Yeah, I thought 10k too for a non drinking well. That said, even at 10k the ROI is close to 15 years..


----------



## Stuofsci02

@gatorguy @davegravy ... fun idea, but the tank would need to be huge. This isn't a common thing (first time in 6 years) so I will just have to deal with it.


----------



## davegravy

Stuofsci02 said:


> @gatorguy @davegravy ... fun idea, but the tank would need to be huge. This isn't a common thing (first time in 6 years) so I will just have to deal with it.


Even just for a few lawn-watering's worth of reserve to tide you over any future bans? Or just large enough you can plausibly claim you weren't watering from city water if you're ever questioned?


----------



## Stuofsci02

davegravy said:


> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @gatorguy @davegravy ... fun idea, but the tank would need to be huge. This isn't a common thing (first time in 6 years) so I will just have to deal with it.
> 
> 
> 
> Even just for a few lawn-watering's worth of reserve to tide you over any future bans? Or just large enough you can plausibly claim you weren't watering from city water if you're ever questioned?
Click to expand...

Even just for one watering I would need ~9,000 gallons. 28,600 sqft is BIG


----------



## davegravy

Stuofsci02 said:


> davegravy said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @gatorguy @davegravy ... fun idea, but the tank would need to be huge. This isn't a common thing (first time in 6 years) so I will just have to deal with it.
> 
> 
> 
> Even just for a few lawn-watering's worth of reserve to tide you over any future bans? Or just large enough you can plausibly claim you weren't watering from city water if you're ever questioned?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Even just for one watering I would need ~9,000 gallons. 28,600 sqft is BIG
Click to expand...

12' diameter, 13' deep tank... 28,600 sqft is BIG and means you have lots of room for a subsurface tank


----------



## g-man

https://aquatrols.com/revolution/

https://blog.aquatrols.com/managing-fine-fescue-fairways-zero-irrigation-strategy/


----------



## Stuofsci02

davegravy said:


> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> davegravy said:
> 
> 
> 
> Even just for a few lawn-watering's worth of reserve to tide you over any future bans? Or just large enough you can plausibly claim you weren't watering from city water if you're ever questioned?
> 
> 
> 
> Even just for one watering I would need ~9,000 gallons. 28,600 sqft is BIG
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 12' diameter, 13' deep tank... 28,600 sqft is BIG and means you have lots of room for a subsurface tank
Click to expand...

You have described a pool.... :lol:


----------



## davegravy

Stuofsci02 said:


> davegravy said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Even just for one watering I would need ~9,000 gallons. 28,600 sqft is BIG
> 
> 
> 
> 12' diameter, 13' deep tank... 28,600 sqft is BIG and means you have lots of room for a subsurface tank
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> You have described a pool.... :lol:
Click to expand...

Dual-purpose, perfect! Extra uric acid nitrogen source from the pool occupants as a bonus.


----------



## Stuofsci02

As mention we got almost 1/2" rain yesterday. Here are two shots of the back 48 hours apart. Before rain and after.


----------



## gatorguy

g-man said:


> https://aquatrols.com/revolution/
> 
> https://blog.aquatrols.com/managing-fine-fescue-fairways-zero-irrigation-strategy/


Thats an interesting write up and product.

I found this users experiment last year really neat having no irrigation and keeping it green throughout July with tournament ready and some other goodies. Now to find out how much Revolution is $$ https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=11723&hilit=midnight+journal


----------



## g-man

@gatorguy I dont know canada prices. https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?p=281759#p281759


----------



## SNOWBOB11

@gatorguy allturf seems to sell it. You'd have to contact for pricing and confirm they would sell to you.
http://allturf.ca/aquatrols


----------



## gatorguy

SNOWBOB11 said:


> @gatorguy allturf seems to sell it. You'd have to contact for pricing and confirm they would sell to you.
> http://allturf.ca/aquatrols


Good find.

Yeah I would be game to experiment but I dont need 2.5 gallons. I have a tree that sucks nutrients and water out from around it and I wonder if it would help with that too. But anyway, not hijacking Stu's thread here.


----------



## Babameca

Got a bag of this (I preferred granular) for 70CAN for a bag:
https://can.aquatrols.com/primer/
If I remember well it covers abt 20K. Need to re apply every 3-4 weeks.


----------



## Stuofsci02

g-man said:


> @gatorguy I dont know canada prices. https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?p=281759#p281759


Great read @g-man . Stuff looks pretty pricey, would likely cost me the same amount as all the water I normally use, so I would not come close to breaking even. If it were 1/3rd the price it would be good for a try..


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> Got a bag of this (I preferred granular) for 70CAN for a bag:
> https://can.aquatrols.com/primer/
> If I remember well it covers abt 20K. Need to re apply every 3-4 weeks.


That's a pretty good deal actually. I would try it for that price.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Got a double cut on the front at 7/8ths. Not one of the fun cuts I look forward to doing, but it ended up looking better than expected.


----------



## Babameca

Stuofsci02 said:


> Babameca said:
> 
> 
> 
> Got a bag of this (I preferred granular) for 70CAN for a bag:
> https://can.aquatrols.com/primer/
> If I remember well it covers abt 20K. Need to re apply every 3-4 weeks.
> 
> 
> 
> That's a pretty good deal actually. I would try it for that price.
Click to expand...

Of what I was told it is the 'basic' surfactant form them. Revolution is in another league, but price is way up. I will check next week and give you a price from my local guy.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Babameca said:
> 
> 
> 
> Got a bag of this (I preferred granular) for 70CAN for a bag:
> https://can.aquatrols.com/primer/
> If I remember well it covers abt 20K. Need to re apply every 3-4 weeks.
> 
> 
> 
> That's a pretty good deal actually. I would try it for that price.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Of what I was told it is the 'basic' surfactant form them. Revolution is in another league, but price is way up. I will check next week and give you a price from my local guy.
Click to expand...

Thanks!


----------



## DAM Lawn

Stuofsci02 said:


> Got a double cut on the front at 7/8ths. Not one of the fun cuts I look forward to doing, but it ended up looking better than expected.


Looking really good. You made it through the heat! These cooler temps and rain should be a big help. Also your water ban better be lifted asap!


----------



## Stuofsci02

@DAM Lawn .... It did make it through, but definitely isn't back at it's old self. That is to be expected in summer, it is just happening 3 weeks earlier than expected this year. I will apply a spoon feed of the 9-2-2 organic fert that I have and a FAS app tonight or tomorrow to see if I can restore some color.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Watering ban lifted!!!!!


----------



## Babameca

Stuofsci02 said:


> Watering ban lifted!!!!!


Ours is gone too. Watch out, it may come back. Another heat wave on the radar for Canada day.


----------



## DiabeticKripple

Pound that water down boys!


----------



## Stuofsci02

Yeah I see that coming.. I hope no more ban.

Btw when I checked Grass-Cam1 today the front is looking good from 20ft...


----------



## Sinclair

It's going to be hot and dry for another week.

If the ban is lifted I say smoke 'em if ya got 'em!


----------



## Stuofsci02

Sinclair said:


> It's going to be hot and dry for another week.
> 
> If the ban is lifted I say smoke 'em if ya got 'em!


Watering as I type this... :thumbup:


----------



## g-man

@Babameca that surfactant is a penetrant. It will allow the water to move into the soil more evenly and reduce hydrophobic. Revolution does that plus it has a moisture retaining. There is 1hr webniar around surfactants that is really good.


----------



## Babameca

@g-man I was shortly debriefed, yes. Can you share the webinar link. As I mentioned, I will get price to compare. Revolution is spray and water in only. As per my resource even prime is preferred now in liquid form. Local golf courses went mainly spraying everything. I got a 'forgotten' bag from the old times.


----------



## Babameca

@Stuofsci02 369CAN for 10L, Covers just above 50k. I don't know if it is sellable to homeowners...


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> @Stuofsci02 369CAN for 10L, Covers just above 50k. I don't know if it is sellable to homeowners...


Wow.. So that would give me two applications.. I appreciate you checking that. For that price I can buy 92,000 gallons of water which is 5.2" over my entire property. At an average of 0.75" per week it would need to reduce my water by 7 weeks worth or cut my watering by more than 50% over the season as I put down about 10" worth over the season....

Would be good for a bad year maybe, but you don't get advanced warning unfortunately....


----------



## Babameca

@Stuofsci02 on domyown it is 380USD (I guess shipping?). And yes water is cheaper. When available... and the water savings are a secondary benefit from any surfactant (even if not to be underestimated). 
On putting greens grass is so thick that without it it is difficult to maintain playability.
I am just crossing fingers no more water restrictions, but I doubt it...new long heat wave is on the horizon. I may throw my 2nd app sooner than planned.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> @Stuofsci02 on domyown it is 380USD (I guess shipping?). And yes water is cheaper. When available... and the water savings are a secondary benefit from any surfactant (even if not to be underestimated).
> On putting greens grass is so thick that without it it is difficult to maintain playability.
> I am just crossing fingers no more water restrictions, but I doubt it...new long heat wave is on the horizon. I may throw my 2nd app sooner than planned.


Yeah, too rich for my blood. If I had 5k of Turf I could stomach it.. Maybe just for the front when I put down some elite cultivars.


----------



## Stuofsci02

I sprayed some foliage urea plus ferrous hep last night. 4oz per k of urea and 2 oz per k of fe. Ran the sprinklers this morning to rinse and got a nice pop of color. Had a few neighbors stop and ask why it was so green. I am going to have to make this a regular thing. I also put down a spoon feeding of HH 9-2-2 bone meal fert plus iron today.


----------



## rob13psu

Stuofsci02 said:


> I sprayed some foliage urea plus ferrous hep last night. 4oz per k of urea and 2 oz per k of fe. Ran the sprinklers this morning to rinse and got a nice pop of color. Had a few neighbors stop and ask why it was so green. I am going to have to make this a regular thing. I also put down a spoon feeding of HH 9-2-2 bone meal fert plus iron today.


That looks great man. Are you going to try and get some water in this weekend? I think we're supposed to get heavy rain tonight, but it's looking rather warm and dry next week.


----------



## Stuofsci02

@rob13psu .. I am counting on some rain tonight although I will get less than you based on the projections. Hoping for 1/2"


----------



## Babameca

Stuofsci02 said:


> @rob13psu .. I am counting on some rain tonight although I will get less than you based on the projections. Hoping for 1/2"


Ours just got cancelled by Lord...sucks.
Looks good. I completely switched from FAS to a liquid I got (cheaper basically) 12-0-0 6% Fe and 3% Mn. I don't know what sorcery stuff is going on, but it works in few hours. It is ridiculous. It runs for 40ish CAN for the 10L jug.
I can clearly see where I over sprayed in 2 hours,
https://www.ojcompagnie.com/sites/default/files/fichiers/oj_maxx_performance_12-0-0_0.pdf


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @rob13psu .. I am counting on some rain tonight although I will get less than you based on the projections. Hoping for 1/2"
> 
> 
> 
> Ours just got cancelled by Lord...sucks.
> Looks good. I completely switched from FAS to a liquid I got (cheaper basically) 12-0-0 6% Fe and 3% Mn. I don't know what sorcery stuff is going on, but it works in few hours. It is ridiculous. It runs for 40ish CAN for the 10L jug.
> I can clearly see where I over sprayed in 2 hours,
> https://www.ojcompagnie.com/sites/default/files/fichiers/oj_maxx_performance_12-0-0_0.pdf
Click to expand...

This company has an Ontario counterpart right? What was it called? I could go for some of that stuff.


----------



## Babameca

@Stuofsci02 Well the only one I knew is OSC, but they are 2 different companies. This is a part is his own line of liquids. I think, it is all blended and packed in California. Trying to get enough of his time to start an online sale. He is all for it, but it is just that time of the year, with golf courses opening late and at once...
This is the closest I got from OSC
http://oscturf.com/userContent/documents/ZetaPlex%20Iron_Ontario%20Seed%20Brochure.pdf


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> @Stuofsci02 Well the only one I knew is OSC, but they are 2 different companies. This is a part is his own line of liquids. I think, it is all blended and packed in California. Trying to get enough of his time to start an online sale. He is all for it, but it is just that time of the year, with golf courses opening late and at once...
> This is the closest I got from OSC
> http://oscturf.com/userContent/documents/ZetaPlex%20Iron_Ontario%20Seed%20Brochure.pdf


Ahh.. Ok, sounds good. I would definitely buy some.. Probably several bottles at a time..


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @rob13psu .. I am counting on some rain tonight although I will get less than you based on the projections. Hoping for 1/2"
> 
> 
> 
> Ours just got cancelled by Lord...sucks.
> Looks good. I completely switched from FAS to a liquid I got (cheaper basically) 12-0-0 6% Fe and 3% Mn. I don't know what sorcery stuff is going on, but it works in few hours. It is ridiculous. It runs for 40ish CAN for the 10L jug.
> I can clearly see where I over sprayed in 2 hours,
> https://www.ojcompagnie.com/sites/default/files/fichiers/oj_maxx_performance_12-0-0_0.pdf
Click to expand...

We only ended up with 1 mm...... hardly worth mentioning..

Yesterday's stripes in some good light.


----------



## Harts

I should have bought that place beside you.

I was going to spray the same rates of urea and iron that you did the other day. You were happy with the results?


----------



## Babameca

@Stuofsci02 2.6mm, ridicilous. Luckily I did not cancel my sprinklers. Total of 14 down. Another 5-10mmm supposingly tonight. Fungus starts showing its ugly head.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Harts said:


> I should have bought that place beside you.
> 
> I was going to spray the same rates of urea and iron that you did the other day. You were happy with the results?


Did you buy a place? The house next to me is still available. There are also two other new homes built. Builder is just finishing all three of them. Sod is supposed to go down any day now. You'll have to have your A-game if you move next door 😄


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> @Stuofsci02 2.6mm, ridicilous. Luckily I did not cancel my sprinklers. Total of 14 down. Another 5-10mmm supposingly tonight. Fungus starts showing its ugly head.


I guess you don't want rain then...


----------



## DAM Lawn

Nice colour pop for sure! Whats your spoon feed plan for the 9-2-2?


----------



## Babameca

Stuofsci02 said:


> Babameca said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Stuofsci02 2.6mm, ridicilous. Luckily I did not cancel my sprinklers. Total of 14 down. Another 5-10mmm supposingly tonight. Fungus starts showing its ugly head.
> 
> 
> 
> I guess you don't want rain then...
Click to expand...

To be honest, it is confusing times for me. First summer managing low cut and babysitting the grass...still learning. I held on fungicide and missed the timing for a contact one. So, now weighing my options again...


----------



## rob13psu

Looks like some rain is in your area as we speak. Headed my way!


----------



## Stuofsci02

DAM Lawn said:


> Nice colour pop for sure! Whats your spoon feed plan for the 9-2-2?


I put down about 2lb of product per 1000. So 0.18 lb N. I'll doe it again in 2 weeks. The nice thing about the 9-2-2 is the Prill size is tiny... in between I'll do .125 lb N of liquid urea and iron.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Harts said:


> I should have bought that place beside you.
> 
> I was going to spray the same rates of urea and iron that you did the other day. You were happy with the results?


Sorry. I missed your question. Yes I was happy with 4oz urea, 2oz ferrous hep and 1 oz citric acid.


----------



## Harts

No I haven't found a place yet. Still looking.

I ended up going up to 3.5oz FS per K with 0.25lb Urea. That was at 8pm. Then this stupid little storm popped up. We'll see how it looks tomorrow.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Harts said:


> No I haven't found a place yet. Still looking.
> 
> I ended up going up to 3.5oz FS per K with 0.25lb Urea. That was at 8pm. Then this stupid little storm popped up. We'll see how it looks tomorrow.


What's your target living area?


----------



## DiabeticKripple

what PGR are you using?


----------



## Stuofsci02

DiabeticKripple said:


> what PGR are you using?


Tnex


----------



## Stuofsci02

Erased the east west stripes. Left the North South stripes to disguise my plans.


----------



## Babameca

Plans?
Looks tight


----------



## Harts

Ha. I have a plan too with my lawn. Wonder if we're thinking the same thing. Guess we'll find out.


----------



## jrubb42

Looking pretty damn good for all the heat you've had plus the water ban. Good work man. Also, straight stripes are underappreciated imo. Way harder than they seem.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Harts said:


> Ha. I have a plan too with my lawn. Wonder if we're thinking the same thing. Guess we'll find out.


@Harts @Babameca ... we'll see how it goes. This should give it away... first pass setup.


----------



## Stuofsci02

jrubb42 said:


> Looking pretty damn good for all the heat you've had plus the water ban. Good work man. Also, straight stripes are underappreciated imo. Way harder than they seem.


Theses are double wide in each direction (~42"). I find that they are a bit easier to get straight since I double up the edge.


----------



## DiabeticKripple

Looks like the making of the flag, just in time for Canada day


----------



## Babameca

@Stuofsci02 Urra. That will be epic! :thumbup: :beer:


----------



## Stuofsci02

We'll have to see how it turns out.


----------



## DAM Lawn

This will be epic. I have faith.


----------



## briguy_78

davegravy said:


> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> davegravy said:
> 
> 
> 
> Even just for a few lawn-watering's worth of reserve to tide you over any future bans? Or just large enough you can plausibly claim you weren't watering from city water if you're ever questioned?
> 
> 
> 
> Even just for one watering I would need ~9,000 gallons. 28,600 sqft is BIG
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 12' diameter, 13' deep tank... 28,600 sqft is BIG and means you have lots of room for a subsurface tank
Click to expand...

Hi everyone, new to this forum and just trying to read up on how to get my lawn healthy here in Ontario. If you are interested, I have a tank that you can have, you would just need to figure out how to pick it up. I'm in Pickering/Markham area. Send me a PM if interested.


----------



## mucknine

DiabeticKripple said:


> Looks like the making of the flag, just in time for Canada day


That's ambitious - and awesome. Stripes will be sweet, leaf.... good luck!


----------



## Stuofsci02

mucknine said:


> DiabeticKripple said:
> 
> 
> 
> Looks like the making of the flag, just in time for Canada day
> 
> 
> 
> That's ambitious - and awesome. Stripes will be sweet, leaf.... good luck!
Click to expand...

Maybe I bit off more than I can chew... I roped my brother in to help me....


----------



## Stuofsci02

briguy_78 said:


> davegravy said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Even just for one watering I would need ~9,000 gallons. 28,600 sqft is BIG
> 
> 
> 
> 12' diameter, 13' deep tank... 28,600 sqft is BIG and means you have lots of room for a subsurface tank
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Hi everyone, new to this forum and just trying to read up on how to get my lawn healthy here in Ontario. If you are interested, I have a tank that you can have, you would just need to figure out how to pick it up. I'm in Pickering/Markham area. Send me a PM if interested.
Click to expand...

I appreciate the offer, but the fellas were just kidding around... I think? :?


----------



## Stuofsci02

Ok sod is in next door @Harts .. now I just need some good competitive lawn nut to move in... hopefully they keep the water truck coming to keep this watered.


----------



## Harts

Haha. Why don't you get a head start and cut that at 0.875 for me


----------



## gatorguy

@Stuofsci02 Not really kidding...😉


----------



## davegravy

Stuofsci02 said:


> briguy_78 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> davegravy said:
> 
> 
> 
> 12' diameter, 13' deep tank... 28,600 sqft is BIG and means you have lots of room for a subsurface tank
> 
> 
> 
> Hi everyone, new to this forum and just trying to read up on how to get my lawn healthy here in Ontario. If you are interested, I have a tank that you can have, you would just need to figure out how to pick it up. I'm in Pickering/Markham area. Send me a PM if interested.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I appreciate the offer, but the fellas were just kidding around... I think? :?
Click to expand...

I'm happy to spend other people's time and money and it would be a pretty cool project to follow. I have no idea how practical it actually is.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Harts said:


> Haha. Why don't you get a head start and cut that at 0.875 for me


It is a pretty flat lot... back yard is flatter than mine. Front is almost as flat :bandit:


----------



## Stuofsci02

@davegravy @gatorguy ... so would I need to put a fence around it too to keep the neighborhood kids from drowning. 🌊. Sounds like I would need to chlorinate it too ..


----------



## gatorguy

Lol, pretty sure it would be an enclosed tank so hopefully no neighborhood kids drowning&#128516;


----------



## Stuofsci02

Gonna make the final push tonight on the flag.


----------



## Babameca

@Stuofsci02 Where is the leaf? A neighbor suggested me to project it on the grass and rake back up into the shape of it... :shock: :shock:


----------



## davegravy

Stuofsci02 said:


> @davegravy @gatorguy ... so would I need to put a fence around it too to keep the neighborhood kids from drowning. 🌊. Sounds like I would need to chlorinate it too ..


  imagining the sad faces as the pool water drains away... "sorry kids, there's a water ban and my lawn is dry. Pray for rain".


----------



## Stuofsci02

davegravy said:


> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @davegravy @gatorguy ... so would I need to put a fence around it too to keep the neighborhood kids from drowning. 🌊. Sounds like I would need to chlorinate it too ..
> 
> 
> 
> imagining the sad faces as the pool water drains away... "sorry kids, there's a water ban and my lawn is dry. Pray for rain".
Click to expand...

That would happen for sure!!! Who wants to swim around yellow grass anyway.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> @Stuofsci02 Where is the leaf? A neighbor suggested me to project it on the grass and rake back up into the shape of it... :shock: :shock:


Its not July first yet my friend. Tonight my brother and I will put the leaf in..


----------



## Babameca

@Stuofsci02 how???? I just striped . Hopefuly someone catches it...or not. Federalists ar not very well seen here. Can't care less.


----------



## g-man

@Stuofsci02 are you going to FAS spray the leaf?


----------



## Stuofsci02

@Babameca @g-man .. The leaf is done and it is insane...


----------



## Harts

g-man said:


> @Stuofsci02 are you going to FAS spray the leaf?


That suggestion would have been helpful a few days ago! I got a template for the leaf and used a broom and water to put the pattern down.

Can't wait to see Stu's


----------



## jrubb42

Stuofsci02 said:


> @Babameca @g-man .. The leaf is done and it is insane...




We're waiting.....


----------



## Stuofsci02

Harts said:


> g-man said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Stuofsci02 are you going to FAS spray the leaf?
> 
> 
> 
> That suggestion would have been helpful a few days ago! I got a template for the leaf and used a broom and water to put the pattern down.
> 
> Can't wait to see Stu's
Click to expand...

If I could do a leaf with a FAS, my lawn would be so hopped up on it you'd think you just took a whiff of a bucket of pennies anytime you got with 100ft my place.


----------



## Stuofsci02

jrubb42 said:


> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Babameca @g-man .. The leaf is done and it is insane...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We're waiting.....
Click to expand...

Soon...


----------



## Babameca

Come On!!!! I guess you gonna wait for the sun and perfect angle of the light....


----------



## g-man

@Stuofsci02 @Harts cardboard cut out of the leaf (reverse print), and just spray the FAS. The other trick is to spray the dark stripes with FAS too.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> Come On!!!! I guess you gonna wait for the sun and perfect angle of the light....



Still waiting....


----------



## mucknine

How are we supposed to celebrate without the great leaf reveal?!?!?!


----------



## davegravy

:lol:


----------



## Stuofsci02

@davegravy @g-man @Harts @Babameca @mucknine 
The sun is now positioned correctly...

Happy Canada Day from my turf to yours!


----------



## davegravy

Amazing! So what's the secret? You masked out the leaf and sprayed tenacity on the rest a couple weeks ago?


----------



## Stuofsci02

davegravy said:


> Amazing! So what's the secret? You masked out the leaf and sprayed tenacity on the rest a couple weeks ago?


Haha. Every inch of that yard is striped. Not a liquid or trick used other than the suns reflection.


----------



## Baretta

Well done. Very nice! :thumbup:


----------



## DAM Lawn

Amazing job!!! Oh Canada! Happy Canada Day!


----------



## Harts

:thumbup: well done brother


----------



## Babameca

@Stuofsci02 Holy mother....the waiting was so worth it!!!!!


----------



## Stuofsci02

I took one with me standing on it for scale. My drone was in manual photo setting and I forgot to adjust the shutter speed so it looks a little dark...


----------



## mucknine

That is the bees knees. Nice job. You're a legend.


----------



## Babameca

One proud Canadian...


----------



## rob13psu

That's awesome!


----------



## Stuofsci02

@Baretta @Babameca @Harts @rob13psu @mucknine @DAM Lawn @davegravy

Thanks everyone. It was a fun project!


----------



## Babameca

Stuofsci02 said:


> @Baretta @Babameca @Harts @rob13psu @mucknine @DAM Lawn @davegravy
> 
> Thanks everyone. It was a fun project!


No no no no...hold on a min. How the heck did you do that??? :shocked:


----------



## DiabeticKripple

Looks amazing!


----------



## gatorguy

Little late, but wow that's awesome. Good job. Now for the secret sauce recipe?!

Btw, did the neighbors seriously not stagger those sod joints?


----------



## davegravy

Babameca said:


> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Baretta @Babameca @Harts @rob13psu @mucknine @DAM Lawn @davegravy
> 
> Thanks everyone. It was a fun project!
> 
> 
> 
> No no no no...hold on a min. How the heck did you do that??? :shocked:
Click to expand...

He said it's just striped. I've never striped but it seems like a challenging feat to get that kind of detail.


----------



## briguy_78

gatorguy said:


> Lol, pretty sure it would be an enclosed tank so hopefully no neighborhood kids drowning😄


Yup, enclosed. They would need a ladder and have to unscrew the top to get in.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Alright @Babameca ..... I first striped the outside and inside (just like you) with my Greensmaster. I started doing that last Saturday and mowed every day up until Tuesday to erase my old checker stripes.

On Tuesday night my brother and I worked out the maple leaf with string and pegs. This part probably was the single longest part, but was not hard. Just a lot of measuring.

Now the secret sauce is my Ego battery powered rotary broom. I notice when I got it that it would erase and restripe anything I used it on. It pissed me off then because it would always bugger up my patterns. For this though it was perfect. I was able to use it like a big paint roller. The only issue was that it brought some light thatch to the surface which I had to vacuum up with my shop vac. You can still see some of it as a yellowish haze in the pics.

Finally I got a small broom and hand brush in did all the tips and points by hand.

Super easy... Barely an inconvenience....


----------



## BBLOCK

so cool man! what did the neighbours say!

grats on having a dope lawn and being able to do that, especially on the large scale it's on.

great job on laying it all out and making it look perfect...


----------



## Babameca

@Stuofsci02 ingenious...
Speaking of power broom, do you have the bristles or the rubber? Do you use it to clean the grass in spring? I was to pull the trigger on one of those extensions.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> @Stuofsci02 ingenious...
> Speaking of power broom, do you have the bristles or the rubber? Do you use it to clean the grass in spring? I was to pull the trigger on one of those extensions.


I have the bristle one. I use it in the spring to clean up stones and mulch etc. I also use it almost anywhere you might use a light rake. It is much better then a rake imo. The only thing I do is use it backwards on the grass by flipping it over.


----------



## Stuofsci02

BBLOCK said:


> so cool man! what did the neighbours say!
> 
> grats on having a dope lawn and being able to do that, especially on the large scale it's on.
> 
> great job on laying it all out and making it look perfect...


Cheers! My neighbors don't say much. They are used to my antics.

I did have a neighbor from around the block walk by with his wife and mother who was visiting. It was late evening and I was sitting on my porch and they didn't see me. I heard him say to his mom "this is the guy with the grass I was telling you about". Then he said "hey he doesn't have any stripes in it today" sounding disappointed .... followed by "holy crap, he put the Canadian Flag in the grass"... then his mom said "are you sure the grass is real". That was when I called out and asked how they were doing... :thumbup:


----------



## Babameca

Stuofsci02 said:


> Babameca said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Stuofsci02 ingenious...
> Speaking of power broom, do you have the bristles or the rubber? Do you use it to clean the grass in spring? I was to pull the trigger on one of those extensions.
> 
> 
> 
> I have the bristle one. I use it in the spring to clean up stones and mulch etc. I also use it almost anywhere you might use a light rake. It is much better then a rake imo. The only thing I do is use it backwards on the grass by flipping it over.
Click to expand...

Great thanks! I was afraid it may damage the grass, but it looks like it is gentle enough for the job. Awesome.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Babameca said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Stuofsci02 ingenious...
> Speaking of power broom, do you have the bristles or the rubber? Do you use it to clean the grass in spring? I was to pull the trigger on one of those extensions.
> 
> 
> 
> I have the bristle one. I use it in the spring to clean up stones and mulch etc. I also use it almost anywhere you might use a light rake. It is much better then a rake imo. The only thing I do is use it backwards on the grass by flipping it over.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Great thanks! I was afraid it may damage the grass, but it looks like it is gentle enough for the job. Awesome.
Click to expand...

Plenty gentle,


----------



## Stuofsci02

gatorguy said:


> Little late, but wow that's awesome. Good job. Now for the secret sauce recipe?!
> 
> Btw, did the neighbors seriously not stagger those sod joints?


Good catch. The sodders did not stagger the joints. Unbelievable


----------



## Chris LI

Wow!!! I'm catching up on members journals, and just saw this. Amazing and inspirational! :thumbsup:

I particularly enjoyed the story of the neighbor's comments, starting with disappointment of not seeing stripes to being blown away in an instant, when he saw the flag.


----------



## Justmatson

That some amazing work. Good job!

This year is my first yr really getting deep into my lawn care. My neighbor think I'm nuts too. Everytime I'm out spraying he usually has a smart-*** comment &#128516;


----------



## Stuofsci02

Justmatson said:


> That some amazing work. Good job!
> 
> This year is my first yr really getting deep into my lawn care. My neighbor think I'm nuts too. Everytime I'm out spraying he usually has a smart-*** comment 😄


People don't see it as a hobby so they find it strange. They see you taking pleasure in a chore and feel the need to make a comment.


----------



## BBLOCK

yep when I was watering my neighbors portion of the grass when she came home, it was kind of awkward but i just kept on watering it...


----------



## davegravy

Stuofsci02 said:


> Justmatson said:
> 
> 
> 
> That some amazing work. Good job!
> 
> This year is my first yr really getting deep into my lawn care. My neighbor think I'm nuts too. Everytime I'm out spraying he usually has a smart-*** comment 😄
> 
> 
> 
> People don't see it as a hobby so they find it strange. They see you taking pleasure in a chore and feel the need to make a comment.
Click to expand...

Yeah, like my wife... "why don't you take as much pleasure in folding your clothes or unloading the dishwasher??"


----------



## Babameca

@davegravy :lol: :lol: :lol: :twisted:


----------



## Stuofsci02

BBLOCK said:


> yep when I was watering my neighbors portion of the grass when she came home, it was kind of awkward but i just kept on watering it...


Was it a shared patch or did you go full rogue "no lawn left behind"?


----------



## Stuofsci02

davegravy said:


> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Justmatson said:
> 
> 
> 
> That some amazing work. Good job!
> 
> This year is my first yr really getting deep into my lawn care. My neighbor think I'm nuts too. Everytime I'm out spraying he usually has a smart-*** comment 😄
> 
> 
> 
> People don't see it as a hobby so they find it strange. They see you taking pleasure in a chore and feel the need to make a comment.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yeah, like my wife... "why don't you take as much pleasure in folding your clothes or unloading the dishwasher??"
Click to expand...

My wife just rolls her eyes...


----------



## Justmatson

Stuofsci02 said:


> BBLOCK said:
> 
> 
> 
> yep when I was watering my neighbors portion of the grass when she came home, it was kind of awkward but i just kept on watering it...
> 
> 
> 
> Was it a shared patch or did you go full rogue "no lawn left behind"?
Click to expand...

 :lol: :lol: 
Reminds me of a movie my daughter watches. Trolls.

"Noooo troll left behind"

@BBLOCK good job man! I would be happy to have a neighbor like you 🍻


----------



## Stuofsci02

I went away for a few days and came back to a bit of a problem. Just before I left I swapped out some nozzles on one of my sprinkler zones. Well I guess I did not get the screw down tight enough because two of them blew out while I was away. This cause two of my heads to get virtually no water while the two that blew out got all the water. One of the heads that didn't get water was where my maple leaf was which got a heavy brushing, so it was already a bit stressed. So I got two areas that dried out.

So I spent yesterday morning trying to resuscitate it with the hose. By late day it was starting to look better, so I mowed. My pgr wore off last week so it started growing like mad. So last night I got Urea at 0.125 lb N per k, plus 2oz iron and citric acid and pgr at 0.125 oz per K down and watered in this morning.

Looking alright at 6:20 am.


----------



## BBLOCK

most people need a house sitter, you need a lawn sitter. to reduce some of your square footage maybe build a groundskeeper's house lol


----------



## Babameca

Bad luck. If you reduced GPM on nozzles, that maybe a blowoff (too much pressure for the zone to handle).
Just on time before the the heat wave. We are hedaing to low 30's for a week with a panicle of 36 mid week . Another water ban?
Water when you still can.
Love the density btw! Color will come back with your FAS.
I also explored the PGR timing and if you apply late, you can't overlap the previous app, which makes things weird on the clippings side. So far the app (Greenkeeper) is 2-3 days behind what I observe. I think, GDD 240-260 at 8ml will create the most even regulation. No matter what, the window for re app is very narrow.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> Bad luck. If you reduced GPM on nozzles, that maybe a blowoff (too much pressure for the zone to handle).
> Just on time before the the heat wave. We are hedaing to low 30's for a week with a panicle of 36 mid week . Another water ban?
> Water when you still can.
> Love the density btw! Color will come back with your FAS.
> I also explored the PGR timing and if you apply late, you can't overlap the previous app, which makes things weird on the clippings side. So far the app (Greenkeeper) is 2-3 days behind what I observe. I think, GDD 240-260 at 8ml will create the most even regulation. No matter what, the window for re app is very narrow.


Well here's the problem......


----------



## BBLOCK

37C here Friday plus humidity 42C with Humidity (97/108F) similar slightly less rest of week

How much water should be going down on the lawn this week, with this extreme dry spell, how much are you watering?


----------



## davegravy

Stuofsci02 said:


> Babameca said:
> 
> 
> 
> Bad luck. If you reduced GPM on nozzles, that maybe a blowoff (too much pressure for the zone to handle).
> Just on time before the the heat wave. We are hedaing to low 30's for a week with a panicle of 36 mid week . Another water ban?
> Water when you still can.
> Love the density btw! Color will come back with your FAS.
> I also explored the PGR timing and if you apply late, you can't overlap the previous app, which makes things weird on the clippings side. So far the app (Greenkeeper) is 2-3 days behind what I observe. I think, GDD 240-260 at 8ml will create the most even regulation. No matter what, the window for re app is very narrow.
> 
> 
> 
> Well here's the problem......
Click to expand...

The last day I had any significant rainfall was 0.5" on June 10th, almost a month ago. After that I've had one small rainfall of 0.2" and another of 0.1" but that is all. It's going to be a big water bill...


----------



## Harts

BBLOCK said:


> 37C here Friday plus humidity 42C with Humidity (97/108F) similar slightly less rest of week
> 
> How much water should be going down on the lawn this week, with this extreme dry spell, how much are you watering?


O.5" every 2-3 days and you'll be fine. Expect and accept some dormancy.

You can also try syringing - watering for approx 5 mins every day to cool the lawn down. This needs to be done early enough that grass can totally dry before sunset.


----------



## BBLOCK

okay perfect, that's what i'm aiming for.

I had seen the lawn care nut talking about misting, so I did mist the front lawn when I got home, took the soil temps down 10F. We had two digital thermometers in the kitchen for grilling, now we have 1


----------



## davegravy

BBLOCK said:


> okay perfect, that's what i'm aiming for.
> 
> I had seen the lawn care nut talking about misting, so I did mist the front lawn when I got home, took the soil temps down 10F. We had two digital thermometers in the kitchen for grilling, now we have 1


Not trying to be a debbie downer but there was a thread somewhere around here recently discussing a study which showed syringing was ineffective. YMMV, and if it's doing something for you then I say go for it


----------



## BBLOCK

davegravy said:


> BBLOCK said:
> 
> 
> 
> okay perfect, that's what i'm aiming for.
> 
> I had seen the lawn care nut talking about misting, so I did mist the front lawn when I got home, took the soil temps down 10F. We had two digital thermometers in the kitchen for grilling, now we have 1
> 
> 
> 
> Not trying to be a debbie downer but there was a thread somewhere around here recently discussing a study which showed syringing was ineffective. YMMV, and if it's doing something for you then I say go for it
Click to expand...

okay what i'm most worried about is that I did my over seed in the spring, not the fall lol, so i'm trying to keep those grass babies alive, those patches are the ones that start to show signs of drying out first obvi.. so will this strategy keep em going? praying anyways...

and anyone done any studies on misting the lawn quick versus syringing for 5 minutes?

so davegravy whats your water plan for this week?


----------



## davegravy

BBLOCK said:


> davegravy said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> BBLOCK said:
> 
> 
> 
> okay perfect, that's what i'm aiming for.
> 
> I had seen the lawn care nut talking about misting, so I did mist the front lawn when I got home, took the soil temps down 10F. We had two digital thermometers in the kitchen for grilling, now we have 1
> 
> 
> 
> Not trying to be a debbie downer but there was a thread somewhere around here recently discussing a study which showed syringing was ineffective. YMMV, and if it's doing something for you then I say go for it
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> okay what i'm most worried about is that I did my over seed in the spring, not the fall lol, so i'm trying to keep those grass babies alive, those patches are the ones that start to show signs of drying out first obvi.. so will this strategy keep em going? praying anyways...
> 
> and anyone done any studies on misting the lawn quick versus syringing for 5 minutes?
> 
> so davegravy whats your water plan for this week?
Click to expand...

I'm doing 0.5" every 3 days right now.

Your new grass will have shallow roots so you'll want to water more frequently for shorter duration. I don't know if 5 minutes is enough, it really depends on your system. With this heat and young grass I'd probably start with 3/16" every day, maybe split that in half for twice daily application. You want to water as infrequently as you can get away with without significant periods of dry soil. Play with it, check the soil for dryness, and adjust.


----------



## Stuofsci02

I will post a photo soon of what only 1/8" of water per week and 30+C of full sun every day for nearly 4 weeks + a one week watering ban does....


----------



## davegravy

Stuofsci02 said:


> I will post a photo soon of what only 1/8" of water per week and 30+C of full sun every day for nearly 4 weeks + a one week watering ban does....


Uh oh, shield your eyes everyone! :bd:


----------



## W8INLINE

I wonder how much watering your neighbor across the street does


----------



## bernstem

I've done syringing. Never saw much effect from it. I think if you have Bentgrass greens at 3/16 inch it may help. KBG at 1/2+, don't bother. Just water every 1-2 days. Keep the soil from drying and the grass will do fine with 3-7 days of 98(37)+. I routinely see 98(37)+ for a couple days, 95(35)ish for a week or so, 90(32)+ for several weeks, and Bluegrass is fine. PRG will probably like it less. Lack of humidity is good. The grass will dry fast after irrigation and fungal pressure won't be too out of control. If you get 98(37)+ with 70+ humidity disease pressure will spike through the roof.


----------



## Harts

At the risk of hijacking Stu's journal, would someone mind posting this question in the main forum? I think this is a great topic. I can't at the moment - my kids are driving me nuts!


----------



## davegravy

Harts said:


> At the risk of hijacking Stu's journal, would someone mind posting this question in the main forum? I think this is a great topic. I can't at the moment - my kids are driving me nuts!







The effect wears off in 2 minutes. You'd have to water more or less constantly. I was out in my swim shorts today and got soaked while adjusting a sprinkler head. Shorts were pretty much dry in 2 minutes 

Syringing was covered here in this thread:

https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=4048


----------



## Stuofsci02

davegravy said:


> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I will post a photo soon of what only 1/8" of water per week and 30+C of full sun every day for nearly 4 weeks + a one week watering ban does....
> 
> 
> 
> Uh oh, shield your eyes everyone! :bd:
Click to expand...

Here we go. Can you guess where my sprinkler heads are ... lol


----------



## Stuofsci02

W8INLINE said:


> I wonder how much watering your neighbor across the street does


They water almost every night at 7 pm for 20 min per zone. Probably put down almost as much water as I do in the front.


----------



## davegravy

Stuofsci02 said:


> davegravy said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I will post a photo soon of what only 1/8" of water per week and 30+C of full sun every day for nearly 4 weeks + a one week watering ban does....
> 
> 
> 
> Uh oh, shield your eyes everyone! :bd:
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Here we go. Can you guess where my sprinkler heads are ... lol
Click to expand...

My condolences 😢


----------



## bernstem

Ouch. That hopefully is just dormant, but... Ouch.


----------



## jrubb42

Stuofsci02 said:


> davegravy said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I will post a photo soon of what only 1/8" of water per week and 30+C of full sun every day for nearly 4 weeks + a one week watering ban does....
> 
> 
> 
> Uh oh, shield your eyes everyone! :bd:
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Here we go. Can you guess where my sprinkler heads are ... lol
Click to expand...

What's crazy is your playground Reno is just hanging out like nothing is even going on. Just staying green.


----------



## Stuofsci02

jrubb42 said:


> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> davegravy said:
> 
> 
> 
> Uh oh, shield your eyes everyone! :bd:
> 
> 
> 
> Here we go. Can you guess where my sprinkler heads are ... lol
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> What's crazy is your playground Reno is just hanging out like nothing is even going on. Just staying green.
Click to expand...

Yeah.. the trick with that one is that it gets 1" plus of water per week...  ..


----------



## Stuofsci02

@bernstem @davegravy ... it is what it is. I know how to fix it...
For now I will focus on the front while the back sleeps.

I am a big fan of the spray urea + citric acid + Fe powder.. This stuff is a 24 hour miracle drug... Sprayed last night and pow... This is going to happen every weekend.


----------



## davegravy

Stuofsci02 said:


> @bernstem @davegravy ... it is what it is. I know how to fix it...
> For now I will focus on the front while the back sleeps.
> 
> I am a big fan of the spray urea + citric acid + Fe powder.. This stuff is a 24 hour miracle drug... Sprayed last night and pow... This is going to happen every weekend.


True enough.

That looks pretty darn good. I haven't had much luck with FAS so I gave up on it. Just got some citric acid so excited to see if it helps.


----------



## DiabeticKripple

davegravy said:


> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @bernstem @davegravy ... it is what it is. I know how to fix it...
> For now I will focus on the front while the back sleeps.
> 
> I am a big fan of the spray urea + citric acid + Fe powder.. This stuff is a 24 hour miracle drug... Sprayed last night and pow... This is going to happen every weekend.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> True enough.
> 
> That looks pretty darn good. I haven't had much luck with FAS so I gave up on it. Just got some citric acid so excited to see if it helps.
Click to expand...

It does.


----------



## Babameca

@Stuofsci02 Reno, Reno, Reno....in the back yard!
Oh, and send me the popcorn machine....


----------



## Harts

@davegravy you should see a difference with the CA. You literally just need a pinch to lower your water PH.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Harts said:


> @davegravy you should see a difference with the CA. You literally just need a pinch to lower your water PH.


I have been using 1.5 oz CA per 4 gallon of FAS....


----------



## Babameca

Stuofsci02 said:


> Harts said:
> 
> 
> 
> @davegravy you should see a difference with the CA. You literally just need a pinch to lower your water PH.
> 
> 
> 
> I have been using 1.5 oz CA per 4 gallon of FAS....
Click to expand...

I don't know the hardness of your water, but you may be in the pH 2 or below.


----------



## Harts

That seems like a lot to me. I used 0.3oz CA on my last app.


----------



## DAM Lawn

The struggle is real! The front is looking great, the back.....hmm.. What can you do. It will bounce back if we ever make it through this heat/drought. That sunny mix seed around the play ground though is &#128293;


----------



## Stuofsci02

Harts said:


> That seems like a lot to me. I used 0.3oz CA on my last app.


Is that for 4000 sqft? I am basing mine on keeping the Fe from changing color. I need to get a pH meter to check. Either way it is a pretty small amount. I have 10 lb bag of CA. Results are really good


----------



## Harts

0.3oz for me was total used in 4 gallons to cover 2k sf


----------



## Babameca

Stuofsci02 said:


> Harts said:
> 
> 
> 
> That seems like a lot to me. I used 0.3oz CA on my last app.
> 
> 
> 
> Is that for 4000 sqft? I am basing mine on keeping the Fe from changing color. I need to get a pH meter to check. Either way it is a pretty small amount. I have 10 lb bag of CA. Results are really good
Click to expand...

Who said I like spraying?
I simply combine it with 3 other apps. In the heat, that gives me every other week (PRG based on GDD). I can see my grass needing some Iron, but will wait 2 more days... I also consider, lawn needs N. Not much, just to make it fucntion. 0.1-0.15N every 2 weeks. Umaxx and you can leave it on the blades forever (until next watering cycle).
So far, it works well for me.


----------



## Babameca

Harts said:


> 0.3oz for me was total used in 4 gallons to cover 2k sf


6g CA are needed to get 1l of water to pH 2, distilled water...
Buffering pH is another game. CA should first 'neutralize' CaCO3 if water is hard, then it will start reducing pH down from 7.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Harts said:


> 0.3oz for me was total used in 4 gallons to cover 2k sf


Ok.. So I am only going at 2.5 times your rate..... Not 5x as originally thought..


----------



## DiabeticKripple

Lol I used 2oz per gallon of CA. Lawn liked it.


----------



## davegravy

I ordered a pH meter from Amazon, think i'll start with AS then add CA until I get down to around pH 6 or so, then add FS.


----------



## NateDawg24

davegravy said:


> I ordered a pH meter from Amazon, think i'll start with AS then add CA until I get down to around pH 6 or so, then add FS.


You will be surprised how quickly the CA changes the pH. If you are only looking to get down to pH of 6 it will likely be almost an immeasurable amount even for your 5000ft2.


----------



## davegravy

I'm assuming you only need about pH 6 to make sure the iron doesn't turn orange? The benefit of adding more CA beyond that would be to help with soil acidification (which i'm already tackling with elemental sulfur but more is merrier)?

Edit: sorry for polluting your lawn journal @Stuofsci02 :shock:


----------



## NateDawg24

davegravy said:


> I'm assuming you only need about pH 6 to make sure the iron doesn't turn orange? The benefit of adding more CA beyond that would be to help with soil acidification (which i'm already tackling with elemental sulfur but more is merrier)?
> 
> Edit: sorry for polluting your lawn journal @Stuofsci02 :shock:


I'm certainly not an expert on this but anybody who is posting how much CA they are adding in ounces is definitely lower than a pH of 6. Even if it's only 0.2 ounces a gallon it should take you well below 6. I don't think it would help with soil acidification you need much higher quantities for that and that's more as a soil drench. I think that most folair applications are absorbed better through the leaf at a lower pH and that's a big reason why lower pH is good for foliar apps.

I have read as well that a pH of 5 is 10 times more acidic than a pH of 6 and a pH of 4 is 10 times more acidic than a pH of 5 etc. That is why just a pinch of CA should bring you down below 6 and it takes quite a bit more to lower the pH below 3/4 etc.


----------



## davegravy

NateDawg24 said:


> davegravy said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm assuming you only need about pH 6 to make sure the iron doesn't turn orange? The benefit of adding more CA beyond that would be to help with soil acidification (which i'm already tackling with elemental sulfur but more is merrier)?
> 
> Edit: sorry for polluting your lawn journal @Stuofsci02 :shock:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm certainly not an expert on this but anybody who is posting how much CA they are adding in ounces is definitely lower than a pH of 6. Even if it's only 0.2 ounces a gallon it should take you well below 6. I don't think it would help with soil acidification you need much higher quantities for that and that's more as a soil drench. I think that most folair applications are absorbed better through the leaf at a lower pH and that's a big reason why lower pH is good for foliar apps.
> 
> I have read as well that a pH of 5 is 10 times more acidic than a pH of 6 and a pH of 4 is 10 times more acidic than a pH of 5 etc. That is why just a pinch of CA should bring you down below 6 and it takes quite a bit more to lower the pH below 3/4 etc.
Click to expand...

Yeah it's a logarithmic scale as I (very vaguely) recall from high school chemistry.


----------



## W8INLINE

Stuofsci02 said:


> davegravy said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I will post a photo soon of what only 1/8" of water per week and 30+C of full sun every day for nearly 4 weeks + a one week watering ban does....
> 
> 
> 
> Uh oh, shield your eyes everyone! :bd:
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Here we go. Can you guess where my sprinkler heads are ... lol
Click to expand...

Looks like rain clouds coming our way....there might be hope sooner than we thought :lol: :lol: :lol:


----------



## davegravy

W8INLINE said:


> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> davegravy said:
> 
> 
> 
> Uh oh, shield your eyes everyone! :bd:
> 
> 
> 
> Here we go. Can you guess where my sprinkler heads are ... lol
> 
> 
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Looks like rain clouds coming our way....there might be hope sooner than we thought :lol: :lol: :lol:
Click to expand...

So jealous. A measly 7mm in the forecast for my area and not until Friday. Far enough away it's probably just forecast error.


----------



## Stuofsci02

I got no rain...


----------



## DiabeticKripple

Inch of rain here today. Cool temps all week.


----------



## BBLOCK

I heard Toronto got 50mm in 20 mins today. any of that on your lawn?


----------



## W8INLINE

just a tease... dark cloud, heard thunder but bone dry....that was yesterday....today sunny and humid


----------



## Babameca

105 liters per hour for 15 min where I live. 5:30am. Woke me up.


----------



## Stuofsci02

I didn't get anything but full sun and 33C today.. I am ready to give Mother Nature the middle finger. Take this green grass and stick it Mother Nature...


----------



## Babameca

Awesomness!


----------



## Harts

We got a hard down pour in Mississauga around 630 pm. Lasted 3 minutes.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> Awesomness!


 @Harts

I'm going to start doing the sundown shots like you guys do from now on.. More forgiving that at 1 pm like I have been doing ...


----------



## Harts

Stuofsci02 said:


> Babameca said:
> 
> 
> 
> Awesomness!
> 
> 
> 
> @Harts
> 
> I'm going to start doing the sundown shots like you guys do from now on.. More forgiving that at 1 pm like I have been doing ...
Click to expand...

It should not have taken you this long to figure that out. You're better than that... :lol:


----------



## Stuofsci02

Harts said:


> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Babameca said:
> 
> 
> 
> Awesomness!
> 
> 
> 
> @Harts
> 
> I'm going to start doing the sundown shots like you guys do from now on.. More forgiving that at 1 pm like I have been doing ...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It should not have taken you this long to figure that out. You're better than that... :lol:
Click to expand...

LOL.... I like to have all my cards on the table.. No hiding behind twilight..... Nah.. I just love the sun for those stripes...


----------



## davegravy

:twisted:


Stuofsci02 said:


> Harts said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Harts
> 
> I'm going to start doing the sundown shots like you guys do from now on.. More forgiving that at 1 pm like I have been doing ...
> 
> 
> 
> It should not have taken you this long to figure that out. You're better than that... :lol:
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> LOL.... I like to have all my cards on the table.. No hiding behind twilight..... Nah.. I just love the sun for those stripes...
Click to expand...

So are you going to turn the filters back on on your camera? 

Maybe do a couple tutorials on Adobe Photoshop? :twisted:

What happened? Got a taste of LOTM and now you want MOAR? :lol:


----------



## Stuofsci02

davegravy said:


> :twisted:
> 
> 
> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Harts said:
> 
> 
> 
> It should not have taken you this long to figure that out. You're better than that... :lol:
> 
> 
> 
> LOL.... I like to have all my cards on the table.. No hiding behind twilight..... Nah.. I just love the sun for those stripes...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> So are you going to turn the filters back on on your camera?
> 
> Maybe do a couple tutorials on Adobe Photoshop? :twisted:
> 
> What happened? Got a taste of LOTM and now you want MOAR? :lol:
Click to expand...

Hey.. If I knew how to do that crap I'd be all over it..... probably my 13 YO daughter could show me and I could create an instagram account and do kissey faces in front of the grass. I think my iPhone XR has smart HDR.... Does that count?


----------



## DAM Lawn

Looks beautiful!!!! Too beautiful for this heat and drought, you showing off  Watching the weather is getting depressing. 80% chance of rain drops to 65%, to 40%, to 20% and nothing! I need rain!


----------



## Stuofsci02

DAM Lawn said:


> Looks beautiful!!!! Too beautiful for this heat and drought, you showing off  Watching the weather is getting depressing. 80% chance of rain drops to 65%, to 40%, to 20% and nothing! I need rain!


Agreed.... Need rain... 
I only posted the good part... I have focused on just 8,000 sqft. Here is the back 20,000....


----------



## Babameca

@Stuofsci02 Try with HDR on (not auto). Then in post processing, drop the blacks and shadows (it will increase saturation) push the highlights, tint a bit blue and hue a bit cooler. All very gently, JPEG's don't have much data to be worked with. Raw files are a different story. Right @davegravy ?


----------



## Babameca

@Stuofsci02 You don't water the back for savings or because of a ban?
Dormant can't be a perpetual state...


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> @Stuofsci02 Try with HDR on (not auto). Then in post processing, drop the blacks and shadows (it will increase saturation) push the highlights, tint a bit blue and hue a bit cooler. All very gently, JPEG's don't have much data to be worked with. Raw files are a different story. Right @davegravy ?


Ummmmm... I'm going to need instructions on how to do this.. I have a toggle in setting for smart HDR.. That's it...


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> @Stuofsci02 You don't water the back for savings or because of a ban?
> Dormant can't be a perpetual state...


It started with the ban, and now I only water it once a week for 1/8" to 1/4" just to keep it alive and dormant.. It costs me $81.50 per week to put down 1.5" back there. If I watered it all through the last 4-5 weeks of drought my wallet would be $300-$400 lighter, and likely $700 by the end of the season.

We will see if it comes back won't we.... Think of it as a 20,000 sqft experiment.


----------



## davegravy

Stuofsci02 said:


> Babameca said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Stuofsci02 Try with HDR on (not auto). Then in post processing, drop the blacks and shadows (it will increase saturation) push the highlights, tint a bit blue and hue a bit cooler. All very gently, JPEG's don't have much data to be worked with. Raw files are a different story. Right @davegravy ?
> 
> 
> 
> Ummmmm... I'm going to need instructions on how to do this.. I have a toggle in setting for smart HDR.. That's it...
Click to expand...

It's a good thing you did the EE program not CE else I'd really have to give you a hard time 😛. He just means in a photo editor... windows /Mac have a simple one built in I believe. There should be sliders to adjust these various things.


----------



## Babameca

@Stuofsci02 It will live. But I am feeling you are kind of exploring the reno option...if...


----------



## davegravy

Babameca said:


> @Stuofsci02 It will live. But I am feeling you are kind of exploring the reno option...if...


Oh no, he dropped the R word. Worst case, polka-dots are coming back in fashion - you could just call it intentional.


----------



## Stuofsci02

davegravy said:


> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Babameca said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Stuofsci02 Try with HDR on (not auto). Then in post processing, drop the blacks and shadows (it will increase saturation) push the highlights, tint a bit blue and hue a bit cooler. All very gently, JPEG's don't have much data to be worked with. Raw files are a different story. Right @davegravy ?
> 
> 
> 
> Ummmmm... I'm going to need instructions on how to do this.. I have a toggle in setting for smart HDR.. That's it...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It's a good thing you did the EE program not CE else I'd really have to give you a hard time 😛. He just means in a photo editor... windows /Mac have a simple one built in I believe. There should be sliders to adjust these various things.
Click to expand...

Yeah Yeah.. my name is Stu of Sci02 not Sci22. If you need to forward bias a vacuum tube, or overclock your slide rule I'm your guy. The only reason I take any pics at all is I need something to do when I'm rewinding my Sony Walkman,,.


----------



## Stuofsci02

@Babameca ... Reno? This grass was badass last fall and this spring. Especially for getting a Rick Astley cut at 2.5"....


----------



## davegravy

Stuofsci02 said:


> davegravy said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ummmmm... I'm going to need instructions on how to do this.. I have a toggle in setting for smart HDR.. That's it...
> 
> 
> 
> It's a good thing you did the EE program not CE else I'd really have to give you a hard time 😛. He just means in a photo editor... windows /Mac have a simple one built in I believe. There should be sliders to adjust these various things.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Yeah Yeah.. my name is Stu of Sci02 not Sci22. If you need to forward bias a vacuum tube, or overclock your slide rule I'm your guy. The only reason I take any pics at all is I need something to do when I'm rewinding my Sony Walkman,,.
Click to expand...

Roflmao

I guess technology came a far ways in the 3 years between us 😜.

Just ribbing ya. I have classmates who can barely turn on a computer... did the EE thing and then went into finance.


----------



## Babameca

@Stuofsci02 That is right when you do a reno... at the peak .
I am buying a bag of Champion GQ to try on my neighbors yards this fall...
Will follow up in my journal


----------



## Stuofsci02

davegravy said:


> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> davegravy said:
> 
> 
> 
> It's a good thing you did the EE program not CE else I'd really have to give you a hard time 😛. He just means in a photo editor... windows /Mac have a simple one built in I believe. There should be sliders to adjust these various things.
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah Yeah.. my name is Stu of Sci02 not Sci22. If you need to forward bias a vacuum tube, or overclock your slide rule I'm your guy. The only reason I take any pics at all is I need something to do when I'm rewinding my Sony Walkman,,.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Roflmao
> 
> I guess technology came a far ways in the 3 years between us 😜.
> 
> Just ribbing ya. I have classmates who can barely turn on a computer... did the EE thing and then went into finance.
Click to expand...

I am just kidding around too. I can get around a computer without issue. My 9 year old son and I program video games for him. I am just not much into photography, and don't have time in the evening to do any post processing (as you young hip folks call it)


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> @Stuofsci02 That is right when you do a reno... at the peak .
> I am buying a bag of Champion GQ to try on my neighbors yards this fall...
> Will follow up in my journal


I want that same prg. I need to find a local supplier. Where you gettin yours?


----------



## Babameca

@Stuofsci02 same guy.... OJ.


----------



## Harts

It bothers me that your sprinkler heads aren't lined up straight :lol: :lol:


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> @Stuofsci02 same guy.... OJ.


I thought so...


----------



## Stuofsci02

Harts said:


> It bothers me that your sprinkler heads aren't lined up straight :lol: :lol:


Haha... if it weren't for the dry conditions you'd never know..


----------



## Stuofsci02

Just called OSC Seed to get some pricing. In case anyone else is interested. I think Mixture 8 is what @Babameca put down last fall. @davegravy in case you want to add this to your Ontario Seed Thread. Prepay by Credit Card and pick up in parking lot due to Covid-19. All prices Canadian.

Mixture 1 (25kg bag - $139.50) - 33.19% Caddieshack PRG, 33.01% Top Gun PRG, 32.75% Sunrise PRG

Mixture 2 (25kg bag - $382.25) - 25% Award KBG, 25% Beyond KBG, 25% NuGlade KBG, 25% CSI PRG

Mixture 8 (25kg bag - $382.25) - 35% Everest KBG, 25% Dwarf Award KBG, 20% Beyond KBG, 20% CSI PRG

Straight CSI (22.7kg bag - $189.95) - 100% CSI Creeping Spreading PRG.


----------



## davegravy

Stuofsci02 said:


> Just called OSC Seed to get some pricing. In case anyone else is interested. I think Mixture 8 is what @Babameca put down last fall. @davegravy in case you want to add this to your Ontario Seed Thread. Prepay by Credit Card and pick up in parking lot due to Covid-19. All prices Canadian.
> 
> Mixture 1 (25kg bag - $139.50) - 33.19% Caddieshack PRG, 33.01% Top Gun PRG, 32.75% Sunrise PRG
> 
> Mixture 2 (25kg bag - $382.25) - 25% Award KBG, 25% Beyond KBG, 25% NuGlade KBG, 25% CSI PRG
> 
> Mixture 8 (25kg bag - $382.25) - 35% Everest KBG, 25% Dwarf Award KBG, 20% Beyond KBG, 20% CSI PRG
> 
> Straight CSI (22.7kg bag - $189.95) - 100% CSI Creeping Spreading PRG.


Updated. So does that mean you're considering a reno for this year??


----------



## Stuofsci02

davegravy said:


> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Just called OSC Seed to get some pricing. In case anyone else is interested. I think Mixture 8 is what @Babameca put down last fall. @davegravy in case you want to add this to your Ontario Seed Thread. Prepay by Credit Card and pick up in parking lot due to Covid-19. All prices Canadian.
> 
> Mixture 1 (25kg bag - $139.50) - 33.19% Caddieshack PRG, 33.01% Top Gun PRG, 32.75% Sunrise PRG
> 
> Mixture 2 (25kg bag - $382.25) - 25% Award KBG, 25% Beyond KBG, 25% NuGlade KBG, 25% CSI PRG
> 
> Mixture 8 (25kg bag - $382.25) - 35% Everest KBG, 25% Dwarf Award KBG, 20% Beyond KBG, 20% CSI PRG
> 
> Straight CSI (22.7kg bag - $189.95) - 100% CSI Creeping Spreading PRG.
> 
> 
> 
> Updated. So does that mean you're considering a reno for this year??
Click to expand...

No definitely not. I am considering a PRG overseed to repair my back (maybe some will call that a reno, but not me). I figured while I was talking to them I would get pricing on Mixture 2/8 because those are what I want for my future front reno.

Cheers

Stu


----------



## Babameca

@Stuofsci02 No8 changes a little, I got Perfection over the Beyond. Not such a deal. 
I am on a slope...got lucky and no wash out. Your lot is flat as f..k. If I was you, I would go double or triple KBG blend. 50/50 Everest/Award will kill it. BTW, on paper, Everest does not 'love' too much below 1'', just to keep in mind. Award is extremly compact and fine bladed...and lazy to germinate IME.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> @Stuofsci02 No8 changes a little, I got Perfection over the Beyond. Not such a deal.
> I am on a slope...got lucky and no wash out. Your lot is flat as f..k. If I was you, I would go double or triple KBG blend. 50/50 Everest/Award will kill it. BTW, on paper, Everest does not 'love' too much below 1'', just to keep in mind. Award is extremly compact and fine bladed...and lazy to germinate IME.


When I redo my front I am thinking mixture 2. I want some PRG so I can get some early germination to hold everything in place. The CSI looks good.

I am thinking of blending a bag of Mix 1 and a bag of the pure CSI and overseed the back late this summer.


----------



## davegravy

Stuofsci02 said:


> Babameca said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Stuofsci02 No8 changes a little, I got Perfection over the Beyond. Not such a deal.
> I am on a slope...got lucky and no wash out. Your lot is flat as f..k. If I was you, I would go double or triple KBG blend. 50/50 Everest/Award will kill it. BTW, on paper, Everest does not 'love' too much below 1'', just to keep in mind. Award is extremly compact and fine bladed...and lazy to germinate IME.
> 
> 
> 
> When I redo my front I am thinking mixture 2. I want some PRG so I can get some early germination to hold everything in place. The CSI looks good.
> 
> I am thinking of blending a bag of Mix 1 and a bag of the pure CSI and overseed the back late this summer.
Click to expand...

I'm dropping mix #2 this year so I can be your guinea pig. I bought it over #8 for the nuglade shade tolerance. Not much shade in my rear yard but when it comes to doing my front it will be handy.


----------



## Babameca

@davegravy Everest scores very well in shade. I think it was pretty close to the 'famous' Mazama. It is the IMO very understated cultivar, but not by NTEP nor by the sales it generates (at least in Canada).
I will share soon pics in my journal (once it stops raining :mrgreen: ) how it spreads in an area I have never suceeded to have any type of grass.


----------



## Stuofsci02

davegravy said:


> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Babameca said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Stuofsci02 No8 changes a little, I got Perfection over the Beyond. Not such a deal.
> I am on a slope...got lucky and no wash out. Your lot is flat as f..k. If I was you, I would go double or triple KBG blend. 50/50 Everest/Award will kill it. BTW, on paper, Everest does not 'love' too much below 1'', just to keep in mind. Award is extremly compact and fine bladed...and lazy to germinate IME.
> 
> 
> 
> When I redo my front I am thinking mixture 2. I want some PRG so I can get some early germination to hold everything in place. The CSI looks good.
> 
> I am thinking of blending a bag of Mix 1 and a bag of the pure CSI and overseed the back late this summer.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I'm dropping mix #2 this year so I can be your guinea pig. I bought it over #8 for the nuglade shade tolerance. Not much shade in my rear yard but when it comes to doing my front it will be handy.
Click to expand...

Sounds good. I'll swing by to take a look this fall :thumbup:


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> @davegravy Everest scores very well in shade. I think it was pretty close to the 'famous' Mazama. It is the IMO very understated cultivar, but not by NTEP nor by the sales it generates (at least in Canada).
> I will share soon pics in my journal (once it stops raining :mrgreen: ) how it spreads in an area I have never suceeded to have any type of grass.


3/4" of rain so far since 11 am, and still coming down lightly... Just what I needed!!!


----------



## davegravy

Stuofsci02 said:


> davegravy said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm dropping mix #2 this year so I can be your guinea pig. I bought it over #8 for the nuglade shade tolerance. Not much shade in my rear yard but when it comes to doing my front it will be handy.
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds good. I'll swing by to take a look this fall :thumbup:
Click to expand...

Sure, you're definitely welcome to. Make sure you wear your purple jacket so I know it's you 😛


----------



## Stuofsci02

davegravy said:


> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> davegravy said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm dropping mix #2 this year so I can be your guinea pig. I bought it over #8 for the nuglade shade tolerance. Not much shade in my rear yard but when it comes to doing my front it will be handy.
> 
> 
> 
> Sounds good. I'll swing by to take a look this fall :thumbup:
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Sure, you're definitely welcome to. Make sure you wear your purple jacket so I know it's you 😛
Click to expand...

You'll hear the slamming when I am a km out...


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> @Stuofsci02 No8 changes a little, I got Perfection over the Beyond. Not such a deal.
> I am on a slope...got lucky and no wash out. Your lot is flat as f..k. If I was you, I would go double or triple KBG blend. 50/50 Everest/Award will kill it. BTW, on paper, Everest does not 'love' too much below 1'', just to keep in mind. Award is extremly compact and fine bladed...and lazy to germinate IME.


Mixture 22 is what you want...


----------



## Babameca

Stuofsci02 said:


> Babameca said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Stuofsci02 No8 changes a little, I got Perfection over the Beyond. Not such a deal.
> I am on a slope...got lucky and no wash out. Your lot is flat as f..k. If I was you, I would go double or triple KBG blend. 50/50 Everest/Award will kill it. BTW, on paper, Everest does not 'love' too much below 1'', just to keep in mind. Award is extremly compact and fine bladed...and lazy to germinate IME.
> 
> 
> 
> Mixture 22 is what you want...
Click to expand...

This will look good...when? is the question... :bandit:


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Babameca said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Stuofsci02 No8 changes a little, I got Perfection over the Beyond. Not such a deal.
> I am on a slope...got lucky and no wash out. Your lot is flat as f..k. If I was you, I would go double or triple KBG blend. 50/50 Everest/Award will kill it. BTW, on paper, Everest does not 'love' too much below 1'', just to keep in mind. Award is extremly compact and fine bladed...and lazy to germinate IME.
> 
> 
> 
> Mixture 22 is what you want...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> This will look good...when? is the question... :bandit:
Click to expand...

Haha.. not this year. I am waiting for the builder to finish the road so I can finish my driveway and front steps. I also need bell to bring fibre to my house. Then I can reno.


----------



## Stuofsci02

After 1" rain yesterday, the lawn is feeling much better. Spent the day in the yard including a double mow...


----------



## DAM Lawn

This rain and cool down is exactly what the lawn needed. Although it can't be trusted lots of rain in the long term forecast too. Hope your backyard sees some recovery.


----------



## Stuofsci02

DAM Lawn said:


> This rain and cool down is exactly what the lawn needed. Although it can't be trusted lots of rain in the long term forecast too. Hope your backyard sees some recovery.


I am going to post some time lapse shots to see any changes...


----------



## Stuofsci02

Front continues to recover and is looking quite nice today. Got another 1/8" of rain. Got down foliar Urea at 0.12N and Fe at 2oz per k and CA at 0.25 oz per k. I also did pgr at 0.1 oz per K. I put it down at the same rate last week, but looking for more suppression. I am going to test out doing 0.1 oz per k per week Tnex with my N and Fe. I like that it has some surfactant to help the N and iron. It is also suggested in the label as a way to suppress seed heads and minimize anthracnose.


----------



## BBLOCK

wow looks like exspensive green fees to play there...


----------



## Stuofsci02

BBLOCK said:


> wow looks like exspensive green fees to play there...


Nah we got shut down due to Covid. No golf this year 🤪


----------



## Stuofsci02

Ok here is the back. One pic is last Thursday and then from today with 1.4" rain in between


----------



## Babameca

@Stuofsci02 Use the greenkeeper app to see how overlapping PGR inlfuences your clippings.
Your front beats the s..t out of mine with the fungus I am fighting with.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> @Stuofsci02 Use the greenkeeper app to see how overlapping PGR inlfuences your clippings.
> Your front beats the s..t out of mine with the fungus I am fighting with.


Yeah. I need to start using the GK app. 
I have been fortunate. I have one little spot that looks like your. It was an area that dried out a few weeks back.

I have not watered the front since last Friday. I was going to it this morning, but decided to push it one more day. It is hotter though today so I hope it wasn't a mistake. I am watching it from work...


----------



## DAM Lawn

I'm the same. Haven't watered since last week. Thought about it today but we have a 60% chance of rain tomorrow, so pushing it one more day with hopes it happens. I need a lawn cam!


----------



## Stuofsci02

DAM Lawn said:


> I'm the same. Haven't watered since last week. Thought about it today but we have a 60% chance of rain tomorrow, so pushing it one more day with hopes it happens. I need a lawn cam!


Holding out for me worked out. I watered Thursday morning, but the forecast Was showing some rsin in the afternoon, so I cut back to 1/4" and we got 3/8" rain, so it all ended well. Back to the heat today though. Will need to water tonight.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Here is another update on the back. Over the last 8 days we have had 1.5" of rain although most was 8 days ago. It still looks bad, but there are a lot of green shoots coming through the yellow.
July 9



July 14



July 18


----------



## Stuofsci02

Double-Double Cut last night @ 7/8". Thinking of cutting again tonight at 3/4" and doing some more low dose iron/urea...


----------



## Babameca

Looks great Stu. Do you wake up the back or will be waiting for mother nature to do its thing?


----------



## rob13psu

Looking good! One more hot day then maybe more rain tomorrow night.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> Looks great Stu. Do you wake up the back or will be waiting for mother nature to do its thing?


Just rain so far. Once I think the bulk of the heat is done for the summer I will help it out with the irrigation.


----------



## Stuofsci02

rob13psu said:


> Looking good! One more hot day then maybe more rain tomorrow night.


Cheers. Yes hoping for rain tomorrow!


----------



## DAM Lawn

Front looks awesome. You can really see the backyard rebounding from those pics. After the rain coming today and a cool down I bet there will be huge improvement.


----------



## Stuofsci02

DAM Lawn said:


> Front looks awesome. You can really see the backyard rebounding from those pics. After the rain coming today and a cool down I bet there will be huge improvement.


Thanks, yes I hope so. I have a lot of FF back there and I have not really seen it's dormant properties before. One thing I don't like it is it turns to a matted hay. But it is supposed to come back well. I guess I will find out.


----------



## davegravy

Stuofsci02 said:


> DAM Lawn said:
> 
> 
> 
> Front looks awesome. You can really see the backyard rebounding from those pics. After the rain coming today and a cool down I bet there will be huge improvement.
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks, yes I hope so. I have a lot of FF back there and I have not really seen it's dormant properties before. One thing I don't like it is it turns to a matted hay. But it is supposed to come back well. I guess I will find out.
Click to expand...

FF is incredibly resilient IME. Too resilient...


----------



## Stuofsci02

Didn't get my mow in last night, but double striped down to 3/4" today. Maybe I am not to smart for going lower mid summer in some heat, but a storm was coming through so I went for it. Snapped some shots just before the rain...thunder and lightning..


----------



## Stuofsci02

Adding another photo 3 days later. Still no water other than Mother Nature. I think I might put down 1/4 tonight to go with the 1/4 we are supposed to get tomorrow.

July 9



July 14



July 18



July 21


----------



## Babameca

It wakes up. Mine grew insanely in 3 days.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> It wakes up. Mine grew insanely in 3 days.


Yeah. Had to cut my front again after two days. I seem to have a touch of haze or something in the front. Last night it looked amazing, and tonight I am left scratching my head. Two faced strikes again....


----------



## Babameca

@Stuofsci02 Haze? Pictures? We all in Canada got some fungus sooner or later. Summer has been brutal for the lawn so far and great for those with pools...


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> @Stuofsci02 Haze? Pictures? We all in Canada got some fungus sooner or later. Summer has been brutal for the lawn so far and great for those with pools...


Might have just been some heat stress. It was very sunny here today and 27c. Aside from 1/4" of rain we got on Sunday I haven't watered since last Thursday morning... going to give it a good soak tonight since I sprayed 0.125n urea and 2oz iron plus CA..


----------



## DAM Lawn

Its coming!! Great progress, with another soaking or two you should be back in business.


----------



## Stuofsci02

DAM Lawn said:


> Its coming!! Great progress, with another soaking or two you should be back in business.


I'm hoping.. I will get another cut in the back tomorrow night. Need to see if I can push whats there to start thickening up. It might need some fert, but I am trying to hold off until Aug...


----------



## Stuofsci02

It's been since Tuesday that I've got a mow in. So I've gone back to 7/8" height of cut. Took 4 hours today to get things back in order.

Here is the front



This is the side that I scalped from 2.5" to 5/8" in the spring. It looked awful for a while, but now it is shining like a new penny. So for those that are afraid to stop, drop and roll all at once, further proof.


----------



## jrubb42

Holy shit... So dark. So... Just. Good. Nice work man.


----------



## SNOWBOB11

I have to know, what setting do you put your camera on when you take pictures? Your sky is so blue and brick is so dark. Lawn looks great.


----------



## Babameca

@Stuofsci02 Holy crap!
@SNOWBOB11 HDR always on. And you can boost the contrast in post.


----------



## BBLOCK

have you ever hugged your lawn? if not you probably should &#128521;


----------



## Stuofsci02

SNOWBOB11 said:


> I have to know, what setting do you put your camera on when you take pictures? Your sky is so blue and brick is so dark. Lawn looks great.


This was a test for @Babameca to see how keen his eye is... all the photos up until my last post have been taken with my iPhone XR (with the exception of the few drone photos) and posted directly as they were taken. I am told the XR has HDR. I am taking the pics with the default setting.

These two last pics were also taken with the same iPhone on the default settings, but @Babameca and some of the other guys have been talking about Light Room. Well there is a free iPhone app for LR basic, which I downloaded. I have no idea how to use it, but there is an "auto adjust" button which I used. It appears to have mostly changed the colour of the sky on the first one, but definitely changed the sky and grass on the 2nd.

Here is one of the originals with the after LR for comparison.


----------



## Stuofsci02

jrubb42 said:


> Holy s---... So dark. So... Just. Good. Nice work man.


FYI these were auto adjusted with LR. The originals are above.


----------



## davegravy

Stuofsci02 said:


> SNOWBOB11 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have to know, what setting do you put your camera on when you take pictures? Your sky is so blue and brick is so dark. Lawn looks great.
> 
> 
> 
> This was a test for @Babameca to see how keen his eye is... all the photos up until my last post have been taken with my iPhone XR (with the exception of the few drone photos) and posted directly as they were taken. I am told the XR has HDR. I am taking the pics with the default setting.
> 
> These two last pics were also taken with the same iPhone on the default settings, but @Babameca and some of the other guys have been talking about Light Room. Well there is a free iPhone app for LR basic, which I downloaded. I have no idea how to use it, but there is an "auto adjust" button which I used. It appears to have mostly changed the colour of the sky.
> 
> Here is one of the originals with the after LR for comparison.
Click to expand...

 :laugh:

Grass is a couple shades darker too I'd say


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> @Stuofsci02 Holy crap!
> @SNOWBOB11 HDR always on. And you can boost the contrast in post.


Light Room App auto adjust... Just on these last two.


----------



## Babameca

@Stuofsci02 Nice. There is not cheating in this. No respected photographer takes pics at full sun. It tends to wash colours out. LR tries to compensate for it. When with my phone, I simply do post in google photos. Push the blacks up, drop the highlights and give it a bit of 'cool' white balance. Adjust saturation to what my eyes have seen. That's it.
Lawn looks fantastic Stu no matter LR!


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> @Stuofsci02 Nice. There is not cheating in this. No respected photographer takes pics at full sun. It tends to wash colours out. LR tries to compensate for it. When with my phone, I simply do post in google photos. Push the blacks up, drop the highlights and give it a bit of 'cool' white balance. Adjust saturation to what my eyes have seen. That's it.
> Lawn looks fantastic Stu no matter LR!


I think as long as you stay true to what it looks like in real life. I think LR does a pretty good job with the auto feature. The grass probably looks to me somewhere between the two photos. The naked eye can process the colours between the whites and the blacks better then the camera.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Adding another photo to the recovery time lapse. I have watered twice since the last photo, but it has got hot again.

July 9



July 14



July 18



July 21


July 25


----------



## Pete1313

Stuofsci02 said:


> Babameca said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Stuofsci02 Nice. There is not cheating in this. No respected photographer takes pics at full sun. It tends to wash colours out. LR tries to compensate for it. When with my phone, I simply do post in google photos. Push the blacks up, drop the highlights and give it a bit of 'cool' white balance. Adjust saturation to what my eyes have seen. That's it.
> Lawn looks fantastic Stu no matter LR!
> 
> 
> 
> I think as long as you stay true to what it looks like in real life. I think LR does a pretty good job with the auto feature. The grass probably looks to me somewhere between the two photos. The naked eye can process the colours between the whites and the blacks better then the camera.
Click to expand...

You guys make my head hurt with all the photography talk. I just push a button on my phone to take a pic and then click add image to post.

@Stuofsci02 lawn is looking on point no matter the pic!


----------



## Stuofsci02

@Pete1313 ... I am with you on the photography. I never got into it and so I am a point and click guy too. With all the talk from @Babameca about LIght Room I wanted to see what it was. More so now that I have a drone and want to be able to get some nice shot of things other than grass lol.

I have to be careful because photography seems to be a more expensive hobby then lawn care.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Sitting on the porch trying to avoid working in the yard. I never take many pics from this view. I started thinking that the grass looks long and needs to be cut... I guess this is what happens when you join the reel cult....


----------



## Stuofsci02

We got 1.125" of rain yesterday and the grass loved it. I like it when it rains more than my HOC. Back to 7/8ths but will drop soon.


----------



## Babameca

Awesome. Looks like the newly sodded across is going down...


----------



## DAM Lawn

Looks great. I hear you, rain is excites me more these days then it should.


----------



## rob13psu

Looking great! I agree with you about the rain. Such a welcome sight.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> Awesome. Looks like the newly sodded across is going down...


It will do fine... just sodded at the worst time and now the builder has stopped watering it. 3 ft if that is mine too. I will take a pic tomorrow to show the diff between the 3ft that I am caring for...


----------



## Stuofsci02

Adding another photo to the recovery time lapse. I l got 1.125" of rain over the past few days.

July 9



July 14



July 18



July 21


July 25



July 30th


----------



## rob13psu

That recovered nicely. The area around the playground you planted never blinked!


----------



## Stuofsci02

rob13psu said:


> That recovered nicely. The area around the playground you planted never blinked!


Yes I was watering that area. The back went through ten days of no water during the hottest part of June and then has only got 1/4" per week from the sprinklers. We had nearly 30 days with no rain. I am sure you had similar...


----------



## Stuofsci02

Went down to 3/4" tonight. Put down my special brew yesterday. 4 oz urea, 2.25 oz Fe, 0.25 oz citric acid and 0.125 oz Tnex per 1000sqft. I have been applying this every 7-10 days for the last 5 weeks and the response over the 3-4 days after is amazing.


----------



## jrubb42

What product are you using for iron? Looks great like usual!


----------



## Stuofsci02

jrubb42 said:


> What product are you using for iron? Looks great like usual!


Thanks! I am using this:
https://alphachemicals.com/ferrous_sulfate


----------



## rob13psu

Stuofsci02 said:


> rob13psu said:
> 
> 
> 
> That recovered nicely. The area around the playground you planted never blinked!
> 
> 
> 
> Yes I was watering that area. The back went through ten days of no water during the hottest part of June and then has only got 1/4" per week from the sprinklers. We had nearly 30 days with no rain. I am sure you had similar...
Click to expand...

Very much so. I put quite a bit of water on the sunny area and it held up well. The back is so shady I hardly ever have to water.


----------



## capples3

How much of that iron product are you putting per 1k sqft


----------



## Stuofsci02

capples3 said:


> How much of that iron product are you putting per 1k sqft


Hi, I am putting down 2.25 oz by weight of the powder per k. I notice the response is better with 0.25 oz per k of citric acid powder mixed into the water first to drop the pH.


----------



## Babameca

Looks awesome Stu!


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> Looks awesome Stu!


Today I felt extra manly and dropped the HOC ahead of the rain we are going to get tomorrow. Also threw down some 9-2-2 HOmehardware organic fert. Cutting this low puts hair on your chest, but also exposes some of the dead material so I can see I will need to break out the greenworks dethatcher in a few weeks when it is cooler.


----------



## Alex1389

Dude unbelievable! Is that .5" or 5/8"?


----------



## Stuofsci02

Alex1389 said:


> Dude unbelievable! Is that .5" or 5/8"?


It's 5/8ths. I can't get the phone lens low enough to get a straight on shot..


----------



## Stuofsci02

Stuofsci02 said:


> Alex1389 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Dude unbelievable! Is that .5" or 5/8"?
> 
> 
> 
> It's 5/8ths. Just a bit of angle on the shot..
Click to expand...


----------



## Stuofsci02

rob13psu said:


> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> rob13psu said:
> 
> 
> 
> That recovered nicely. The area around the playground you planted never blinked!
> 
> 
> 
> Yes I was watering that area. The back went through ten days of no water during the hottest part of June and then has only got 1/4" per week from the sprinklers. We had nearly 30 days with no rain. I am sure you had similar...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Very much so. I put quite a bit of water on the sunny area and it held up well. The back is so shady I hardly ever have to water.
Click to expand...

Did you get any of that rain overnight. Looks like we got 3/4".


----------



## rob13psu

Stuofsci02 said:


> rob13psu said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Yes I was watering that area. The back went through ten days of no water during the hottest part of June and then has only got 1/4" per week from the sprinklers. We had nearly 30 days with no rain. I am sure you had similar...
> 
> 
> 
> Very much so. I put quite a bit of water on the sunny area and it held up well. The back is so shady I hardly ever have to water.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Did you get any of that rain overnight. Looks like we got 3/4".
Click to expand...

Only received 0.06". Hopefully we'll get some this week, but at least temps look like they're starting to come down a bit.


----------



## Stuofsci02

rob13psu said:


> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> rob13psu said:
> 
> 
> 
> Very much so. I put quite a bit of water on the sunny area and it held up well. The back is so shady I hardly ever have to water.
> 
> 
> 
> Did you get any of that rain overnight. Looks like we got 3/4".
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Only received 0.06". Hopefully we'll get some this week, but at least temps look like they're starting to come down a bit.
Click to expand...

Definitely looks like a week of cooler temps. Hi 70s here. It is raining again and we are now up to 1.1"


----------



## Stuofsci02

Adding another photo to the recovery time lapse. I fertilized on the 31st with 21-7-7 at ~1 lb N per k. Got 1" rain the next day. Mowed today at 1.75". It is greening up, but there is a lot of thin and patchy areas. You can see at the very back were I rounded up for a new garden. Just starting to die..

July 9



July 14



July 18



July 21


July 25



July 30th



Aug 3rd.


----------



## Babameca

@Stuofsci02 Get it across the last (I hope) heat wave coming up. Time to stop torturing this beautiful backyard. Crack open that wallet man! :lol:


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> @Stuofsci02 Get it across the last (I hope) heat wave coming up. Time to stop torturing this beautiful backyard. Crack open that wallet man! :lol:


What do you want me to do to it?


----------



## davegravy

Stuofsci02 said:


> Babameca said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Stuofsci02 Get it across the last (I hope) heat wave coming up. Time to stop torturing this beautiful backyard. Crack open that wallet man! :lol:
> 
> 
> 
> What do you want me to do to it?
Click to expand...

There's a heat wave coming? My forecast says less than 30C for the next 10 days.


----------



## Babameca

@Stuofsci02 Water it next week if no rain. We will have another week or so with nothing but 27-29oC and full sun. Maybe some N soon to welcome it back from the summer nap? It may be exhaustive for a lawn to get in and out of dormancy.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> @Stuofsci02 Water it next week if no rain. We will have another week or so with nothing but 27-29oC and full sun. Maybe some N soon to welcome it back from the summer nap? It may be exhaustive for a lawn to get in and out of dormancy.


You must not have read my post. I put down a lb of N per k on Friday. I am waking this thing up now and will prg overseed in two weeks with the champion GQ.


----------



## Stuofsci02

davegravy said:


> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Babameca said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Stuofsci02 Get it across the last (I hope) heat wave coming up. Time to stop torturing this beautiful backyard. Crack open that wallet man! :lol:
> 
> 
> 
> What do you want me to do to it?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> There's a heat wave coming? My forecast says less than 30C for the next 10 days.
Click to expand...

Yeah, heat looks done for the next week for sure. I have some nights as low as 15c forecast.


----------



## Babameca

@Stuofsci02 Sorry, yes I have missed the whole thing. Lots going on I guess. Looking forward to see it back to life'n'shine.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Adding another photo to the recovery time lapse. We are now at day 30 of the recovery. Got an inch of rain this week. I've been mowing it every 3 days at 1.75".

July 9



July 14



July 18



July 21


July 25



July 30th



Aug 3rd.



Aug 8th


----------



## Babameca

Woke up! Did you have the bare spots prior to the drought?


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> Woke up! Did you have the bare spots prior to the drought?


Yeah... Most of those are from the puppy... I am going to over seed prg next weekend so thicken it up and make for some nice stripes..


----------



## Stuofsci02

I've gone away for 4 days vacation, but got a quick mow in this morning at 13/16". Hopefully it won't be too long when I get home... I usually mow every third day.


----------



## jrubb42

"Quick mow" haha. Your yard is huge. I don't think quick can be used with your lawn lol. Looking great as always. Backyard is coming back!


----------



## Babameca

Very, very NICE!


----------



## rob13psu

Looking awesome!


----------



## Stuofsci02

jrubb42 said:


> "Quick mow" haha. Your yard is huge. I don't think quick can be used with your lawn lol. Looking great as always. Backyard is coming back!


Yeah.. Well, quick for me  .. About 90 minutes.. I mowed the back with the tractor the night before, so this is just the reel mowed stuff.... I didn't even edge or trim


----------



## Stuofsci02

@Babameca 
@rob13psu

Thanks guys... I don't want to jix it, but I feel like the hardest part of the summer is behind us. I have one day of 82F over the next week and then they are calling for mid 70s.. Almost time to start the N blitz. There is always the chance for a hot spell or two in late summer, but they never last more than a few days and are manageable. It it looking like my first summer below 1" is going to be a success. I am very pleased!


----------



## bernstem

Fall is definitely coming. Might be a bit of hot weather here and there, but I am ramping up Nitrogen already.


----------



## Babameca

Same here. N goes up. Last K for the season down.


----------



## Stuofsci02

I put down my last organic spoon feed last weekend. I have been continuing to do 0.125lb N per week via foliar urea. This weekend I am going to drop some 25-5-5 in the front and will wait another couple of weeks after germination of my overseed to drop 19-19-19..


----------



## Stuofsci02

Although not a pic of the grass, I wanted to post this photo as part of my lawn journal. This is the guy who has caused me some problems in my back yard, but he has been part of the family now for 3 months and we can't imagine not having him...


----------



## DAM Lawn

Those Goldens are great fishing buddies. My aunt's comes fishing with me all the time. She watches me reel in the lure, gets disappointed when there's no fish, and super excited when there is. Just train him to pee on the driveway.


----------



## Stuofsci02

DAM Lawn said:


> Those Goldens are great fishing buddies. My aunt's comes fishing with me all the time. She watches me reel in the lure, gets disappointed when there's no fish, and super excited when there is. Just train him to pee on the driveway.


Yeah, they are great dogs.... The problem with the training is what happens when I am not home and the kids and wife are taking him out.. Late at night, no one wants to walk 150 ft out off our property...


----------



## Babameca

Oh....that's way too cute! I would be able to live with few pee spots if I've had a puppy like him


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> Oh....that's way too cute! I would be able to live with few pee spots if I've had a puppy like him


Yeah... I am hoping once we move him off puppy chow he stops burning the grass.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Had to cut the trip to the cottage short because of a huge storm that downed trees and knocked out power. Grass was long when I got back so mowed. Then dropped some Scott's 34-0-0 granular with wetting agent. I bought this on sale for half price a couple of months ago. Will have to see how it goes...


----------



## Sinclair

@Stuofsci02 does your Flex 21 have an 8 blade reel and high cut kit installed?

I'm picking up a used Flex 21 with the intention of mowing between 3/4" and 1".


----------



## Stuofsci02

Sinclair said:


> @Stuofsci02 does your Flex 21 have an 8 blade reel and high cut kit installed?
> 
> I'm picking up a used Flex 21 with the intention of mowing between 3/4" and 1".


It has an 11 blade reel with the high HOC kit. At some point I will change the reel to the 8 blade...


----------



## Stuofsci02

I'm on vacation this week so that means projects.... changed the brakes on my wife's van and then when it cooled down I edged the new garden (rounded it up two weeks ago). I also dug up all the sprinkler heads along the back of my lot and dug the trenches to move them all forward to the front of the garden. I ordered all the parts I need from irrigation direct and should be able to finish this off soon.


----------



## Babameca

That's one hell of a garden and 1500sqf less to worry about!


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> That's one hell of a garden and 1500sqf less to worry about!


Yeah it is big... 3,600 sqft approximately. I convinced my neighbors to do it too so it is one big garden running along the whole back of our two lots... so it is 280f long...


----------



## g-man

I don't want to think on the cost of mulch for that area. But cheaper than water.


----------



## Stuofsci02

g-man said:


> I don't want to think on the cost of mulch for that area. But cheaper than water.


Yeah.. it is about $900 Canadian. It is the hauling back there and spreading I don't want to think about... :shock:


----------



## Stuofsci02

@Babameca .... 
Headed up to Graham Seed near Lindsay today. Only 40 min north of my house and was already in the area. Here is what I got. The GQ was $125 per bag all in (cash price) and I got two bags of the fert for $24 each. Each bag is 60% slow release nitrogen with 1% iron. I'll save the fert for next spring. Overseeding the back very soon.


----------



## Babameca

@Stuofsci02 Nice! Fert is dirt cheap. Seed is very different! I am surprised. None of the 3 cultivars is the same. I was thinking Champion GQ is 'predefined' mix that may change slightly from year to year. Did you have blue tag attached to it?


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> @Stuofsci02 Nice! Fert is dirt cheap. Seed is very different! I am surprised. None of the 3 cultivars is the same. I was thinking Champion GQ is 'predefined' mix that may change slightly from year to year. Did you have blue tag attached to it?


This might be my new go to place. Lots of fertilizer options and a warehouse full of seed.

My bags did not have a blue label. I am also surprised the cultivars are different. Can you post your seed tag?


----------



## Stuofsci02

Mowed the back @1.75" and sprayed 0.5 oz per k Tnex and 0.125 lb N urea. Slowing things down for the overseed in a couple of days.


----------



## Babameca

@Stuofsci02 Pics below. For fert, try to find if they have smaller prills. Mowing low may catch some of it if too big. It will be also nice to know what exactly is the slow release (controlled or slow? methylene urea, SCU, PSCU ?) In any case it will be a nice summer fert.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Very interesting. They are both labelled for the same vendor and address. Yours is only 1 month older. Mine says the seed was treated with apron. Also yours has different types of Rye entirely and different inert, other crop and weeds. Not sure how these can both be Champion GQ...


----------



## Harts

This made me curious, so I did some research. Found 2 different suppliers in the US who carry champion GQ. Different varieties from each other and different from each of you.

I think the name simply encompasses particular elite varieties of PRG and branded as Champion GQ. It seems the SR4000 series is usually the mainstay - of which there are several varieties.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Harts said:


> This made me curious, so I did some research. Found 2 different suppliers in the US who carry champion GQ. Different varieties from each other and different from each of you.
> 
> I think the name simply encompasses particular elite varieties of PRG and branded as Champion GQ. It seems the SR4000 series is usually the mainstay - of which there are several varieties.


Yes I think you are right. I know the GQ stands for Golf Quality, and I knew the cultivars changed over time, however I believed it to be seasonally at least. It does seem like Harrier and SR4650 are quite common in the GQ as I saw folks on the board with these two last year. I am not familiar with the Pavilion cultivar though.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Hit the front with the greenworks dethatcher yesterday. I did not get too much out, but definitely a bit. Now the front has lost some color. Below is a pic from after the thatch before I restriped it. Looks like when an actress has no makeup. Then the after when I mowed and striped it again.
So the question is, do I drop Champion GQ out front? @Babameca ?





Here is the other side that I did nor dethatch. I did back in May. And also another 900 sqft area I reel mow that I don't think I have ever posted before.


----------



## Babameca

@Stuofsci02 You like stripes. Drop it to 5/8, hit it with PGR at 15ml 2-3 days prior and throw 4-5lbs/M. It wouldn't hurt. Get the rotary ready. That's I would do.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> @Stuofsci02 You like stripes.


You're darn right!

Too late... Dropped 6 lbs/K of Champion GQ on the front.. I didn't regulate it .. The dethatch will slow it down a bit.. The GQ is just going to have to do its thing..

Also did 6 lbs/k of Champion QG in the back (every thing behind the play area which is 10k sqft now with the garden). I found a 22lb bag of the seed I originally planted back there in the shed. I bought it at the beginning of last season expecting to need to overseed in the fall, which I did not need to do. So I threw it down at 2.2 lb/k. It is 50% PRG, 30% Creeping Red Fescue and 20% KBG. So the back got overseeded at 8.2 lb/k.. I used the tow behind dethatcher and aerator to prep this area.

I am going to take the Flex 21 out later tonight and roll the seed down. Supposed to get a 0.1" rain overnight, so that will be the first watering and I will start with the sprinklers tomorrow. I will do tenacity in the back tomorrow morning and then mix up some prodiamine and spray all the beds.. I learned my lesson last time..

I am going to plant some Champion GQ in a cup inside and see how long it take to germinate and come in..

Everything in front of the play area will have to wait until next weekend. I need to do some sprinkler moving around and my order of sprinkler parts has not even shipped yet. I also will bring in some top dressing and level up to the patio better and fix all the dog spots.. I have have about 15 lbs of GQ left, so I might need to go pick up another bag this week..


----------



## ksturfguy

man that looks great!


----------



## Stuofsci02

ksturfguy said:


> man that looks great!


Thanks!


----------



## Babameca

@Stuofsci02 I think you are still ok to do PGR. The problem is, it takes 5-6 days to fully wind up. Check with most experience guys. I forgot you have a push reel mower. I wouldn't get the 200lbs Flex in for at least 7-10 days.


----------



## Stuofsci02

I thought I was mostly done yesterday, but still put in 4 more hours today. The good news is that the back is ready. I mowed it today with the Flex21 at 7/8. This was to roll in the seed I put down yesterday and give me as much time as possible before it needs to be mowed again. Also give the seedlings as much light as possible. I also sprayed prodiamine into the beds where I might have got prg seed.

We will call this the baseline day 1. Hoping everything behind the play area starts to fill in over the next two weeks.


----------



## Babameca

Godspeed!


----------



## DAM Lawn

good luck!


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> Godspeed!


It would seem this is the case with Champion GQ... If I don't have germination tomorrow I will feel hurt


----------



## Stuofsci02

DAM Lawn said:


> good luck!


Thanks!


----------



## Stuofsci02

The Champion GQ is fast. My son and I planted some on Sunday night at 730 in a plastic cup. This morning at 8 am just 60 hours later the first sprout had emerged. By 7 pm tonight which is 72 hours after planting there are many sprouts. I can't see much in my yard yet, since it was a overseed and nights have been in the 50s. It has been 96 hours since seed down.

8am


7pm


----------



## Babameca

@Stuofsci02 I told'ya... Speedy Gonzales...if you are old enough to remember :lol:


----------



## Matix99def

I put down some clubhouse gq on Sunday. See if I can keep up with yours hah


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> @Stuofsci02 I told'ya... Speedy Gonzales...if you are old enough to remember :lol:


Andale Andale!!!


----------



## Stuofsci02

Matix99def said:


> I put down some clubhouse gq on Sunday. See if I can keep up with yours hah


I hope yours comes up fast!


----------



## Matix99def

Had to rush on here and get my pic up [email protected][email protected]


----------



## Stuofsci02

@Matix99def .... there they are... that's what mine looked like 24 hours ago.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Here we are at 96 hours after seeding. Roots already go down 2.5 inches.


----------



## Matix99def

Wow that's awesome. Can you see anyhring in the overseed yet? I ordered champion but they were out of stock and sent clubhouse instead without asking &#128532;


----------



## Stuofsci02

Matix99def said:


> Wow that's awesome. Can you see anyhring in the overseed yet? I ordered champion but they were out of stock and sent clubhouse instead without asking 😔


It is very hard to see with other stuff in there, but I think I have seen some, nights have been in the 50s, so I think it is a bit slower than my cup which has been at least 70 at all time.


----------



## Babameca

@Stuofsci02 Roots won't be that deep in real world IMO. Soil in cup is fluff and with no restrictions. It is still very impressive. PRG digs deeper than KBG, that's a fact! For someone late and/or willing to overseed, I really don't see any other option than rye.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> @Stuofsci02 Roots won't be that deep in real world IMO. Soil in cup is fluff and with no restrictions. It is still very impressive. PRG digs deeper than KBG, that's a fact! For someone late and/or willing to overseed, I really don't see any other option than rye.


Yeah... that is true..

Here we go at 5 days after seed in cup. I am seeing germination in the yard, but it looks at least a day behind, but has been 6 days since seed. I think it is the cool nights slowing it down.


----------



## Babameca

@Stuofsci02 Wait for pics at day 6 of my shadow reno(half day under trees and house cover). This morning it was a hint of purple. This pm, it was turning green. It will explode! I will post in my project journal tomorrow. Overseeding is difficult to judge. It is wow how dark it looks on you pics from scratch. You certainly tweak the white balance :bandit: :nod:


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> @Stuofsci02 Wait for pics at day 6 of my shadow reno(half day under trees and house cover). This morning it was a hint of purple. This pm, it was turning green. It will explode! I will post in my project journal tomorrow. Overseeding is difficult to judge. It is wow how dark it looks on you pics from scratch. You certainly tweak the white balance :bandit: :nod:


Haha.. now you accuse me of tweaking the photo of my sons cup of rye grass to make it look darker... :lol:


----------



## Babameca

@Stuofsci02 Yep. That's me. Habanero in every dish please :lol: . Serious, colour looks awesome. I am going tomorrow to project 1 as well and will take some quality pics. No tweaks, I promise. This is all for education purposes.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Here is my progress update. I have been pretty busy so I haven't had a chance to do many updates. Now at 12 days after seed down and I will say the overseed has been a partial success. In the front I have amazing germination with baby grass in every nook and cranny. But a partial success means partial failure. In the back germination has been amazing anywhere there was already decent coverage, but in the bare spots it is sparse. So I have either not watered enough, or did not get good seed to soil contact, or both. It does look way better and will continue to improve as I will hit it with 4 lbs N this fall. I may still make another attempt.

Don't pay attention to anything between the camera and the back of the play area. I have not done this yet. I have a 50/50 mix of sand/compost that I am going to spread this weekend and seed. I have been waiting on sprinkler parts to add some heads in this area.

July 9



July 14



July 18



July 21


July 25



July 30th



Aug 3rd.



Aug 8th



Aug 13th



Seed down Aug 15th

Aug 19th



Aug 27th


----------



## jrubb42

Have you noticed a difference in the front yard since you've mowed with the PRG? Photos?


----------



## jrubb42

Stuofsci02 said:


> Babameca said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Stuofsci02 Wait for pics at day 6 of my shadow reno(half day under trees and house cover). This morning it was a hint of purple. This pm, it was turning green. It will explode! I will post in my project journal tomorrow. Overseeding is difficult to judge. It is wow how dark it looks on you pics from scratch. You certainly tweak the white balance :bandit: :nod:
> 
> 
> 
> Haha.. now you accuse me of tweaking the photo of my sons cup of rye grass to make it look darker... :lol:
Click to expand...

Lmao!


----------



## Stuofsci02

jrubb42 said:


> Have you noticed a difference in the front yard since you've mowed with the PRG? Photos?


I'll get some pics tomorrow if it doesn't rain.. Sunday for sure..


----------



## Babameca

@Stuofsci02 When I was rolling my mower at the neighbour's yard I noticed, bare spots to be lower, due to no canopy lift. I had to seed by hand those areas and press with my feet. Both my overseeding projects show very good bare spot germination.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> @Stuofsci02 When I was rolling my mower at the neighbour's yard I noticed, bare spots to be lower, due to no canopy lift. I had to seed by hand those areas and press with my feet. Both my overseeding projects show very good bare spot germination.


I will have to do this....


----------



## Stuofsci02

Alight.. here is an update on the front @jrubb42 .. PRG filled in nicely, but because it is new it is light green... So you have a choice. 7/8" or 1/2"😱. I like 7/8" to be honest.

7/8"





1/2". Look at those clippings. Nice and clean with almost no signs of fungus.


----------



## rob13psu

Oh yeah, that's the stuff right there.

Have you started dropping N?


----------



## SodFace

Oh man that is beautiful.


----------



## Stuofsci02

rob13psu said:


> Oh yeah, that's the stuff right there.
> 
> Have you started dropping N?


Thanks.. I dropped 1 lb about 4 weeks ago during a cooler spell. It had a wetting agent built in and it seemed to work well.

I am going to start going bonkers with N this week. 1lb N urea in the front. 19-19-19 for a lb N in the back.


----------



## Babameca

@Stuofsci02 Ridiculous! Just 2 weeks from PGR to start getting colour IME. Wait for it!
And no I am not going down to 1/2... Had enough troubles this year to have the courage for this. Pumping N too. Got a 100% UMAXX soluble and will mix 50/50 with straight Urea to be able to mix it at 0.3N with my PGR cocktail/NIS and not burn the hell out of it :lol:. On the opposite week 0.3N from AS spreading.


----------



## jrubb42

@Stuofsci02 it looks great as usual! You do lose a little color (or maybe it the PRG?) going down to 1/2 but still as dense as ever. I would have to look at it in person to choose what I like better!

What differences do you notice in person going down that low? Still looks great. Your hand photo makes it look like you didn't lose any color at all :lol:


----------



## Stuofsci02

jrubb42 said:


> @Stuofsci02 it looks great as usual! You do lose a little color (or maybe it the PRG?) going down to 1/2 but still as dense as ever. I would have to look at it in person to choose what I like better!
> 
> What differences do you notice in person going down that low? Still looks great. Your hand photo makes it look like you didn't lose any color at all :lol:


Thanks @jrubb42 .. I don't think I lost much color going lower, but it does not stripe as hard which means there is less contrast between the stripes (so it looks like the color is not as rich).

I think it looks better at 7/8" because I am a sucker for stripes. It is something to walk on at 1/2". At 7/8" I would say it is like plush carpet. At 1/2" it feels like office carpet... It is growing so fast it would not surprise me if it was 7/8" when I get home from work tonight


----------



## Harts

Stuofsci02 said:


> jrubb42 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Stuofsci02 it looks great as usual! You do lose a little color (or maybe it the PRG?) going down to 1/2 but still as dense as ever. I would have to look at it in person to choose what I like better!
> 
> What differences do you notice in person going down that low? Still looks great. Your hand photo makes it look like you didn't lose any color at all :lol:
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks @jrubb42 .. I don't think I lost much color going lower, but it does not stripe as hard which means there is less contrast between the stripes (so it looks like the color is not as rich).
> 
> I think it looks better at 7/8" because I am a sucker for stripes. It is something to walk on at 1/2". At 7/8" I would say it is like plush carpet. At 1/2" it feels like office carpet... It is growing so fast it would not surprise me if it was 7/8" when I get home from work tonight
Click to expand...

7/8" to 1" is the softest sweet spot. It's like stubble on a beard any lower than that. Last year I cut at 5/16" for several weeks. While I liked the look, I didn't enjoy the feel.


----------



## Sinclair

Beautiful.

I can't wait to have that can't-see-the-soil density!


----------



## Stuofsci02

Harts said:


> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jrubb42 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Stuofsci02 it looks great as usual! You do lose a little color (or maybe it the PRG?) going down to 1/2 but still as dense as ever. I would have to look at it in person to choose what I like better!
> 
> What differences do you notice in person going down that low? Still looks great. Your hand photo makes it look like you didn't lose any color at all :lol:
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks @jrubb42 .. I don't think I lost much color going lower, but it does not stripe as hard which means there is less contrast between the stripes (so it looks like the color is not as rich).
> 
> I think it looks better at 7/8" because I am a sucker for stripes. It is something to walk on at 1/2". At 7/8" I would say it is like plush carpet. At 1/2" it feels like office carpet... It is growing so fast it would not surprise me if it was 7/8" when I get home from work tonight
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 7/8" to 1" is the softest sweet spot. It's like stubble on a beard any lower than that. Last year I cut at 5/16" for several weeks. While I liked the look, I didn't enjoy the feel.
Click to expand...

I agree, however, I don't like the look after 2-3 days when it is 1.25"-1.5".. I am going to try 3/4" for a few weeks and see. I have been keeping my beard at Tall Fescue HOCs for a past few months, so I need something to be scratchy....


----------



## Stuofsci02

Sinclair said:


> Beautiful.
> 
> I can't wait to have that can't-see-the-soil density!


Get that Flex 21 rolling and it will happen....


----------



## Scagfreedom48z+

I read a few pages back that you used urea, citric acid and iron with really good results. Whats the amount you use? I'm interested in trying it. I certainly don't have low mow turf but just curious are amounts. My turf is usually between 3-4" depending on the year


----------



## Stuofsci02

Scagfreedom48z+ said:


> I read a few pages back that you used urea, citric acid and iron with really good results. Whats the amount you use? I'm interested in trying it. I certainly don't have low mow turf but just curious are amounts. My turf is usually between 3-4" depending on the year


I have been using 0.25oz CA, 2 oz Fe and 4 oz urea snd 0.125 oz Tnex per 1000 sqft

*edited.. previous CA value was incorrect.


----------



## mucknine

Hey @Stuofsci02 how frequent on the Tnex? Are you using the fancy Greenskeeper app or the eyeball method or other?


----------



## jrubb42

Stuofsci02 said:


> Scagfreedom48z+ said:
> 
> 
> 
> I read a few pages back that you used urea, citric acid and iron with really good results. Whats the amount you use? I'm interested in trying it. I certainly don't have low mow turf but just curious are amounts. My turf is usually between 3-4" depending on the year
> 
> 
> 
> I have been using 1 oz CA, 2 oz Fe and 4 oz urea snd 0.125 oz Tnex per 1000 sqft
Click to expand...

Why so low on the T-Nex? I've been using around 0.27 oz per K with no ill effects. Just curious...


----------



## Stuofsci02

jrubb42 said:


> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Scagfreedom48z+ said:
> 
> 
> 
> I read a few pages back that you used urea, citric acid and iron with really good results. Whats the amount you use? I'm interested in trying it. I certainly don't have low mow turf but just curious are amounts. My turf is usually between 3-4" depending on the year
> 
> 
> 
> I have been using 1 oz CA, 2 oz Fe and 4 oz urea snd 0.125 oz Tnex per 1000 sqft
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Why so low on the T-Nex? I've been using around 0.27 oz per K with no ill effects. Just curious...
Click to expand...

I was applying it weekly... The reason I mention it here, is because it has some surfactant in it which may change how the iron and urea stick to the grass. So I cannot say how well my formula works without it.

Thanks

Stu


----------



## Stuofsci02

mucknine said:


> Hey @Stuofsci02 how frequent on the Tnex? Are you using the fancy Greenskeeper app or the eyeball method or other?


Weekly although not lately cause of the new seed. No Greenskeeper app.. Not yet..


----------



## jrubb42

Stuofsci02 said:


> jrubb42 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have been using 1 oz CA, 2 oz Fe and 4 oz urea snd 0.125 oz Tnex per 1000 sqft
> 
> 
> 
> Why so low on the T-Nex? I've been using around 0.27 oz per K with no ill effects. Just curious...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I was applying it weekly... The reason I mention it here, is because it has some surfactant in it which may change how the iron and urea stick to the grass. So I cannot say how well my formula works without it.
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Stu
Click to expand...

Weekly makes sense now...I may try this for a weekly regimen and see how it works out for me. Along with using granular Urea for the blitz.. I still haven't applied iron because I keep forgetting to pick up Citric Acid (if you remember I was having ZERO results with FEature). I have to go to Target today so I'll try to grab some.

Is the N blitz going to effect your cocktail at all?


----------



## Stuofsci02

jrubb42 said:


> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> jrubb42 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Why so low on the T-Nex? I've been using around 0.27 oz per K with no ill effects. Just curious...
> 
> 
> 
> I was applying it weekly... The reason I mention it here, is because it has some surfactant in it which may change how the iron and urea stick to the grass. So I cannot say how well my formula works without it.
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Stu
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Weekly makes sense now...I may try this for a weekly regimen and see how it works out for me. Along with using granular Urea for the blitz.. I still haven't applied iron because I keep forgetting to pick up Citric Acid (if you remember I was having ZERO results with FEature). I have to go to Target today so I'll try to grab some.
> 
> Is the N blitz going to effect your cocktail at all?
Click to expand...

I think I will keep the cocktail the same and continue to do it. I am going going to hit with granular Urea.. I think the cooler weather will extend the T-nex a little so I may move to the spray once every 10 days.


----------



## Scagfreedom48z+

Stuofsci02 said:


> Scagfreedom48z+ said:
> 
> 
> 
> I read a few pages back that you used urea, citric acid and iron with really good results. Whats the amount you use? I'm interested in trying it. I certainly don't have low mow turf but just curious are amounts. My turf is usually between 3-4" depending on the year
> 
> 
> 
> I have been using 1 oz CA, 2 oz Fe and 4 oz urea snd 0.125 oz Tnex per 1000 sqft
Click to expand...

How far do you drop the ph with the CA?


----------



## Stuofsci02

Scagfreedom48z+ said:


> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Scagfreedom48z+ said:
> 
> 
> 
> I read a few pages back that you used urea, citric acid and iron with really good results. Whats the amount you use? I'm interested in trying it. I certainly don't have low mow turf but just curious are amounts. My turf is usually between 3-4" depending on the year
> 
> 
> 
> I have been using 1 oz CA, 2 oz Fe and 4 oz urea snd 0.125 oz Tnex per 1000 sqft
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> How far do you drop the ph with the CA?
Click to expand...

It will be way low. I don't measure it because once I am below 5 it doesn't much matter..


----------



## Scagfreedom48z+

Stuofsci02 said:


> Scagfreedom48z+ said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I have been using 1 oz CA, 2 oz Fe and 4 oz urea snd 0.125 oz Tnex per 1000 sqft
> 
> 
> 
> How far do you drop the ph with the CA?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> It will be way low. I don't measure it because once I am below 5 it doesn't much matter..
Click to expand...

Curious, what type of iron do you use? I still have feature left over


----------



## Stuofsci02

Scagfreedom48z+ said:


> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Scagfreedom48z+ said:
> 
> 
> 
> How far do you drop the ph with the CA?
> 
> 
> 
> It will be way low. I don't measure it because once I am below 5 it doesn't much matter..
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Curious, what type of iron do you use? I still have feature left over
Click to expand...

I am using generic ferrous sulfate hepthydrate powder from alpha chemicals.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Got a mow in today at 3/4. I need to get PGR down. After mowing 1/2" on Sunday it was too long imo today to even cut at 3/4. I hit it yesterday with 1.25lb N per k of 32-0-10 granular. It going to take off like a rocket.

Back got 1 lb N per k of 19-19-19. Play area got 1.25 lb per k of 46-0-0 Urea granular 🤫

Also overseeded the last of my back on Sunday. First top dressed with 50/50 sand compost mix. No germinationn yet, but expect something tomorrow.

One of the pics below shows the builder sod on the edge of my lot that was put in July. I have been bringing Down the HOC the last few weeks. It now matches the rest. I am surprised how quickly it is adapting and greening up.


----------



## Stuofsci02

HOC still at 3/4". Put down TNex today and went too high on app. About 0.75 oz per k. Will see what happens.


----------



## Zcape35

Looking great as always, I was showing my wife your pictures (we are mid reno) and told her that my goal is for the lawn to have this look. She seemed to finally understand why we go through all of this trouble.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Zcape35 said:


> Looking great as always, I was showing my wife your pictures (we are mid reno) and told her that my goal is for the lawn to have this look. She seemed to finally understand why we go through all of this trouble.


Thank you. That is high praise. I hope everything goes smoothly with your Reno.


----------



## Babameca

@Stuofsci02 32-0-10 I LOVE this fert. I recommend it to anyone around that is thinking this 'fall' only thing.
It has some controlled release Urea (I think it is methylene urea) and decent K. Also pretty small prill size. But 1.25N at once? :shock: :shock:


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> @Stuofsci02 32-0-10 I LOVE this fert. I recommend it to anyone around that is thinking this 'fall' only thing.
> It has some controlled release Urea (I think it is methylene urea) and decent K. Also pretty small prill size. But 1.25N at once? :shock: :shock:


Yeah well I had two 7 kg bags and 8,000 sqft. I didn't want to have left overs. It'll be all good.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Got a mow in on the front, but also mowed the newly overseeded back part that I seeded with Champion GQ three weeks ago. It turned out pretty good if you saw what it looked like in July. I just overseeded the unmowed area in front of the deck a week ago so we will see how that turns out. This area has a lot of dog damage. I am hoping with a bunch of N this fall I can push the area to fill in and repair. Took the drone up for some shots. Oh yeah, power washed and painted the kids play structure this week. All the stuff in my driveway is 330 bags of mulch for the new garden in the back.

Front HOC 0.75".
Back HOC 1.75"
Play Area HOC 1.5"


----------



## BBLOCK

your property is just mega awesome. we just painted our play structure (the same one) to go w the new backyard reno.

the backyard has come back to life!

looks like your neighbor who you convinced to make garden w mulch is kicking your butt in the mulch spread department while you play lawnboy 

edit: did you not buy the mulch in loose bulk because you didn't want to drop it on your gravel driveway? just curious because it has to be cheaper to go that way then pallets of bagged. it's something to see tho! what won't be fun is bagging all those bags! or spreading that much mulch. you're a crazy man but it's going to make nice drone shots, so you might as well go hard!  excited to see what you do w that garden space in the next year


----------



## Stuofsci02

BBLOCK said:


> your property is just mega awesome. we just painted our play structure (the same one) to go w the new backyard reno.
> 
> the backyard has come back to life!
> 
> looks like your neighbor who you convinced to make garden w mulch is kicking your butt in the mulch spread department while you play lawnboy
> 
> edit: did you not buy the mulch in loose bulk because you didn't want to drop it on your gravel driveway? just curious because it has to be cheaper to go that way then pallets of bagged. it's something to see tho! what won't be fun is bagging all those bags! or spreading that much mulch. you're a crazy man but it's going to make nice drone shots, so you might as well go hard!  excited to see what you do w that garden space in the next year


Thanks man! The back is roaring back to life....

It was actually me who convinced my neighbour to make the "super" garden :roll: which I may regret,, but they have taken a serious lead. They already had a bunch of stuff planted to start with. They did all that mulch yesterday believe it or not. I am waiting another week until all my trees get delivered before I spread the mulch.

It was about the same price to get the bags. We worked out a good deal with Home Depot. You are right I did not want mulch on my gravel driveway, but this also lets me do the job on my schedule and not race the rain..


----------



## Sinclair

Stuofsci02 said:


>


Anyone else seeing this in 3D!? :shock:


----------



## Babameca

@Stuofsci02 Amazing man! Those drone shots are dope. @Sinclair It is 3D!


----------



## Stuofsci02

BBLOCK said:


> your property is just mega awesome. we just painted our play structure (the same one) to go w the new backyard reno.


I'm not sure how your painting went, but this was a major pita for us..... power washing took two hours and painting (mostly my wife) was 8 hours....


----------



## Stuofsci02

@Sinclair @Babameca .... it does play mind tricks if you stare too long...


----------



## davegravy

Stuofsci02 said:


> @Sinclair @Babameca .... it does play mind tricks if you stare too long...


Some subliminal messaging or mind control technology I am sure of it 😛

Looks fantastic.


----------



## BBLOCK

Stuofsci02 said:


> BBLOCK said:
> 
> 
> 
> your property is just mega awesome. we just painted our play structure (the same one) to go w the new backyard reno.
> 
> 
> 
> I'm not sure how your painting went, but this was a major pita for us..... power washing took two hours and painting (mostly my wife) was 8 hours....
Click to expand...

i skipped the pressure washing. wasn't suppose to be a me project. wifey wanted to take on something while I reno'd and overseeded the lawns.

i helped get all the trim pieces off which took me away from other stuff but wasn't too long.

We just went w a brown stain, she scraped sanded any bad areas. I'm sure she's got 5-6 hours into it. she couldn't finish because I had to start running sprinklers numerous times a day and they hit it lol.

looks better tho.

i like the red looks good.


----------



## DiabeticKripple

i accidentally did 1.5lb of N at once on my lawn with AMS, and it didnt even flinch. Its barely growing now with the temps, just soaking in all the N to the roots


----------



## Sinclair

I feel kind of bad for the guy next to you.

On almost ANY other street in Ontario, he's easily got the best lawn!


----------



## Stuofsci02

DiabeticKripple said:


> i accidentally did 1.5lb of N at once on my lawn with AMS, and it didnt even flinch. Its barely growing now with the temps, just soaking in all the N to the roots


Yeah this time of year you can go high on the N. it may not be the most efficient, but it won't hurt..


----------



## Stuofsci02

Sinclair said:


> I feel kind of bad for the guy next to you.
> 
> On almost ANY other street in Ontario, he's easily got the best lawn!


They have a very nice yard and take a lot of pride in their property. They are really good friends of ours. We hang out quite a bit.. we do a lot of lawn related things together, and share in the work around the place..


----------



## Stuofsci02

Kids have been asking for a fire pit. It is a nasty windy day and I am feeling a little sick, but I told them I would make them one before Labor Day... Too bad the weather sucks or I would test it out.

Had to eat my Wheaties... Found all those boulders out back. They are nearing the maximum of my lifting capacity..


----------



## Stuofsci02

davegravy said:


> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Sinclair @Babameca .... it does play mind tricks if you stare too long...
> 
> 
> 
> Some subliminal messaging or mind control technology I am sure of it 😛
> 
> Looks fantastic.
Click to expand...

Thanks! Did you end up getting out to look at that Flex 21 or did Nancy stop responding?


----------



## davegravy

Stuofsci02 said:


> davegravy said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Sinclair @Babameca .... it does play mind tricks if you stare too long...
> 
> 
> 
> Some subliminal messaging or mind control technology I am sure of it 😛
> 
> Looks fantastic.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Thanks! Did you end up getting out to look at that Flex 21 or did Nancy stop responding?
Click to expand...

Didn't hear anything back until yesterday. She finally replied that it's not available anymore 😢 Danged vacation...

I've worked my front and the reno down to 1.5" HOC using the push mower and I'm fully convinced now I want to go low.


----------



## Stuofsci02

davegravy said:


> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> davegravy said:
> 
> 
> 
> Some subliminal messaging or mind control technology I am sure of it 😛
> 
> Looks fantastic.
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks! Did you end up getting out to look at that Flex 21 or did Nancy stop responding?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Didn't hear anything back until yesterday. She finally replied that it's not available anymore 😢 Danged vacation...
> 
> I've worked my front and the reno down to 1.5" HOC using the push mower and I'm fully convinced now I want to go low.
Click to expand...

That's a bummer... well, you might want to hit up Turfcare. @Sinclair got his flex there...


----------



## Stuofsci02

Quick update on my overseed near my deck/patio that I did 11 days ago. With the cooler weather the prg took 7 days to germinate 😱, but it is coming in strong now. This is the area near my patio that I filled and raised the level by about 2" with sand compost mix.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Wanted to do a quick update on the back recovery. Now 4 weeks since I over seeded the far back with Champion GQ and 13 days since I did the section between the Latin and the fire pit. Things are starting to come in strong and everyday I am happier with the recovery. Mowing it at 1.75"..

July 9



July 14



July 18



July 21


July 25



July 30th



Aug 3rd.



Aug 8th



Aug 13th



Seed down Aug 15th

Aug 19th



Aug 27th



Sept 12th


----------



## BBLOCK

wow look at the recovery on the dog area.

how's mowing w the new fire pit?


----------



## davegravy

Oooh I like!


----------



## Stuofsci02

BBLOCK said:


> wow look at the recovery on the dog area.
> 
> how's mowing w the new fire pit?


Amazing what water and a little prg seed will do. Mowing around the fir3 pit isn't too bad. My ttactor has 4 wheel steer. It takes a minute extra when striping to make it look like the stripes go through the pit.


----------



## SodFace

Beautiful. The change is dramatic...good job!


----------



## Stuofsci02

Things are really taking off with the cooler weather. We got frost last night and this mornings temp was 2C... got a lot of work done in the yard. Did my greatest fertilizer app ever. 55 lbs of granular 46-0-0 Urea spread evenly over 25,000 sqft with three passes, and had exactly 5lbs left over.

Then got the drone up to see how it looked. Recovery + Champion GQ overseed in the back is looking good.


----------



## davegravy

:shock:

That first shot I thought I was looking at a printed circuit board or something. So tight! Amazing


----------



## ken-n-nancy

Stuofsci02 said:


>


Some of those pics are reminiscent of the views in the video of Winged Foot Golf Club for the U.S. Open!

Well done!


----------



## ksturfguy

Man you are putting your neighbors to shame.


----------



## Babameca

Nice! Remind me I got my drone in the case for over 4 months now...


----------



## Stuofsci02

davegravy said:


> :shock:
> 
> That first shot I thought I was looking at a printed circuit board or something. So tight! Amazing


Haha... I never thought of that... takes an EE to point it out...


----------



## Stuofsci02

ksturfguy said:


> Man you are putting your neighbors to shame.


Some don't care at all for their lawns. The house on the left is new for sale, so can't expect much. The house on the right are great neighbors and have a very nice tier 1.5 lawn. The lawn direct below the drone in the furthest shot is my brothers house, it is a solid tier 1... usually green and mowed, but not much more... he doesn't share the same love for a good stand of Turf...


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> Nice! Remind me I got my drone in the case for over 4 months now...


I didn't use mine as much as I thought I would this summer.


----------



## Alex1389

Looking great, Stu! Do you anticipate any turf damage around the fire pit in the yard? Do you keep the chairs off the lawn when the pit isn't in use?


----------



## Stuofsci02

ken-n-nancy said:


> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Some of those pics are reminiscent of the views in the video of Winged Foot Golf Club for the U.S. Open!
> 
> Well done!
Click to expand...

Great videos. Thanks for sharing these. Now if only I could convince my wife that I need to spend 90 hours a week on the yard... I would be sleeping in the shed...


----------



## Stuofsci02

Alex1389 said:


> Looking great, Stu! Do you anticipate any turf damage around the fire pit in the yard? Do you keep the chairs off the lawn when the pit isn't in use?


I don't leave any chairs out there and I made the pit large enough that the heat does not make it to the grass. I guess time will tell though.


----------



## Stuofsci02

I am going to call the back recovery more or less complete with this update. You can see the area near the patio that I seeded 3 weeks ago has come up, and from the security camera point of view there is not much else to see. I am sure it will continue to improve over the final month of the season so I may do one more update. But not bad at all. It went from a train wreck to looking fantastic in 75 days. All it got was a quick tow behind dethatch and a 50 lb bag of PRG overseed. 2 hours work top.

July 9



July 14



July 18



July 21


July 25



July 30th



Aug 3rd.



Aug 8th



Aug 13th



Seed down Aug 15th

Aug 19th



Aug 27th



Sept 12th



Sept 20th


----------



## Vtx531

Lots of amazingly unbelievable pics in this journal. Are your stripes 2x wide? I am mowing with 21" rotary but my stripes look much narrower. You have 21" wide reel mower?


----------



## Stuofsci02

Vtx531 said:


> Lots of amazingly unbelievable pics in this journal. Are your stripes 2x wide? I am mowing with 21" rotary but my stripes look much narrower. You have 21" wide reel mower?


Thanks.. Yes all the stripes are 42" wide. The front and sides are reel mowed with my Flex 21. The back is cut at 1.75" with my JDX304 with checkmate striper which is 42" wide. Doing it this way allows me to carry the striping pattern through the whole yard, and transition from the low mowed turf to the taller stuff.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Made a Rookie mistake. After putting down urea last weekend and watering it in I got complacent. With cool temps and lots of dew I didn't water. With it getting dark early and working late I did not really get to see it until Thursday and it was bone dry with my challenging areas having already gone yellow. We haven't had any rain in 3 weeks. Fall is supposed to be easy... watered it a bunch and I am back to 90%, and the rest will take a couple of weeks to repair. I am ashamed to say I did a better job in July when we had a month of no rain and 90 degree temps.

I think I might have some fungus too, but am still heavily regulated from the first week of Sept...


----------



## davegravy

Damage doesn't look too bad.

Lack of rain this fall is obnoxious, my water bill is hurting.


----------



## bernstem

Looking good. @davegravy It has been crazy dry here. I don't think it has rained in over 3 weeks. Would have been a good year for a reno. I though about moving to a monostand this year, but didn't pull the trigger.


----------



## Stuofsci02

davegravy said:


> Damage doesn't look too bad.
> 
> Lack of rain this fall is obnoxious, my water bill is hurting.


Yeah.... we need the rain in a bad way. The lawn will recover. More pissed at myself... I know better...


----------



## Sinclair

I have propiconazole and azoxystrobin if it's an emergency. Knocked out my fungus instantly.


----------



## BBLOCK

Stuofsci02 said:


> davegravy said:
> 
> 
> 
> Damage doesn't look too bad.
> 
> Lack of rain this fall is obnoxious, my water bill is hurting.
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah.... we need the rain in a bad way. The lawn will recover. More pissed at myself... I know better...
Click to expand...

yeah but Stu you know as well as I do with a water bill like yours it gets harder and harder to turn the tap at this time of the year.... i know with my own renovation it's like when can i stop dropping dolla dolla bills on my grass babies!


----------



## SumBeach35

I had the something happen to me here in Upstate NY. Slacked off on the water and the front(faces south) was quite grey. Im only 70% recovered after having to abandon the reel mowing as well.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Sinclair said:


> I have propiconazole and azoxystrobin if it's an emergency. Knocked out my fungus instantly.


Thanks for the offer. I should be ok to ride it out. It is fairly localized. I think the issue was the cold dry over the few weeks and heavy dew. So the grass started going dormant in area, but also sat with wet blades for 12 hours per day.

I should have been paying more attention. Next year I'll get some fungicide. I have never had any real need for it before.

BTw this is only affecting the low cut areas. The back faired better although was also showing signs of drought.


----------



## Stuofsci02

BBLOCK said:


> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> davegravy said:
> 
> 
> 
> Damage doesn't look too bad.
> 
> Lack of rain this fall is obnoxious, my water bill is hurting.
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah.... we need the rain in a bad way. The lawn will recover. More pissed at myself... I know better...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> yeah but Stu you know as well as I do with a water bill like yours it gets harder and harder to turn the tap at this time of the year.... i know with my own renovation it's like when can i stop dropping dolla dolla bills on my grass babies!
Click to expand...

Yeah, but I have learned over the years that water is the cheap part of this hobby. This years water will be around $850. Highest ever for me. Last year was around $400. Most years are $600.


----------



## Stuofsci02

SumBeach35 said:


> I had the something happen to me here in Upstate NY. Slacked off on the water and the front(faces south) was quite grey. Im only 70% recovered after having to abandon the reel mowing as well.


Yeah this weather has been tricky. Several days with night close to freezing and 50s in the day. But zero rain. Today was almost 80...


----------



## SumBeach35

Stuofsci02 said:


> SumBeach35 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I had the something happen to me here in Upstate NY. Slacked off on the water and the front(faces south) was quite grey. Im only 70% recovered after having to abandon the reel mowing as well.
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah this weather has been tricky. Several days with night close to freezing and 50s in the day. But zero rain. Today was almost 80...
Click to expand...

Same here. 80 again tomorrow and possibly some rain with highs in the 50's on Tuesday and going forward but I'm not holding my breath on the rain


----------



## Stuofsci02

Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian friends!

As is tradition for me, I got the final "mow-a-thon" In for the season. A few more weeks and it will be over. Got the new Garden done last weekend. Now I need to plant shrubs next season and build the new shed.

Four hours of mowing today. Double cut the front at 5/8" HOC and quad cut the back at 1.75".


----------



## davegravy

Looking top notch! Some serious competition next door eh? At least in depth of colour...


----------



## mowww

@Stuofsci02 absolutely beautiful!


----------



## Zcape35

It looks amazing! Did you quad cut the back mainly to burn in the stripes for winter? Same for the front?


----------



## Harts

How many yards of mulch was that? Garden turned out great.


----------



## Babameca

Happy Thanksgiving Stu. Some crazy stripes you have burnt here . And no, I am staying at 7/8 :lol:


----------



## SumBeach35

Amazing work. Enjoy the holiday. Happy Thanksgiving @Stuofsci02


----------



## BBLOCK

wowsers batman. good work on the mulch, and getting that done, that's a lot of work. i'm glad you talked to the neighbor into it, it looks really cool being all the way across. grass looks ok...


----------



## Stuofsci02

davegravy said:


> Looking top notch! Some serious competition next door eh? At least in depth of colour...


Yeah, they are great neighbours. We hang out with them a lot and help each other out with whatever is going on. They take good care of their yard and it always looks nice..


----------



## Stuofsci02

Zcape35 said:


> It looks amazing! Did you quad cut the back mainly to burn in the stripes for winter? Same for the front?


Thanks! Yes, that was one reason. I also cut the back at 2" the first two passes and then down to 1.75". The front I always double cut to stripe in two directions..


----------



## Stuofsci02

Harts said:


> How many yards of mulch was that? Garden turned out great.


I ordered 600 cubic feet in bags which is about 22 yards. I still have about 40 bags left to do around the shed next season. Here is my wife and I putting down the last bag (shot by my neighbour who was lending a hand). Garden looks much bigger up close.. Next year is going to be a lot of work filling this..


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> Happy Thanksgiving Stu. Some crazy stripes you have burnt here . And no, I am staying at 7/8 :lol:


Haha... not even going to try once? Happy Thanksgiving!


----------



## Stuofsci02

@mowww @SumBeach35 ... Thanks fellas!


----------



## Stuofsci02

BBLOCK said:


> wowsers batman. good work on the mulch, and getting that done, that's a lot of work. i'm glad you talked to the neighbor into it, it looks really cool being all the way across. grass looks ok...


Yeah... That was a big job that had been weighing on me... It ended up that digging 9 holes for the trees was the most work by far. Something I didn't think much about.. didn't help that there was a 250 lb Boulder in one of my holes... That was a pecker to get out...


----------



## BBLOCK

Stuofsci02 said:


> BBLOCK said:
> 
> 
> 
> wowsers batman. good work on the mulch, and getting that done, that's a lot of work. i'm glad you talked to the neighbor into it, it looks really cool being all the way across. grass looks ok...
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah... That was a big job that had been weighing on me... It ended up that digging 9 holes for the trees was the most work by far. Something I didn't think much about.. didn't help that there was a 250 lb Boulder in one of my holes... That was a pecker to get out...
Click to expand...

I saw that rock in the garden looked good. wondered where it came from now I know lol

sweat equity paying off!


----------



## Stuofsci02

BBLOCK said:


> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> BBLOCK said:
> 
> 
> 
> wowsers batman. good work on the mulch, and getting that done, that's a lot of work. i'm glad you talked to the neighbor into it, it looks really cool being all the way across. grass looks ok...
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah... That was a big job that had been weighing on me... It ended up that digging 9 holes for the trees was the most work by far. Something I didn't think much about.. didn't help that there was a 250 lb Boulder in one of my holes... That was a pecker to get out...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I saw that rock in the garden looked good. wondered where it came from now I know lol
> 
> sweat equity paying off!
Click to expand...

Yeah.. it has three concrete anchors sticking out the bottom. Figured I'd just flip it over and leave it there,to remind me of my struggle.


----------



## bernstem

Looking good! The drone shots are great, but keeping at 5/8 is a lot of mowing. I tapped out on mine and brought it up a bit to 3/4. That last 1/8 seems to give me an extra day between mows.

I always plan to fall mulch, but never get around to it. I divided/moved about 20 bearded irises and they don't like mulch so I'm going to use that as my excuse this year.


----------



## rob13psu

Stuofsci02 said:


> davegravy said:
> 
> 
> 
> Damage doesn't look too bad.
> 
> Lack of rain this fall is obnoxious, my water bill is hurting.
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah.... we need the rain in a bad way. The lawn will recover. More pissed at myself... I know better...
Click to expand...

We got really lucky with a bout of lake effect rain a few weeks ago. Dropped almost 3". Obnoxious is the right word to describe the weather this fall.

Lawn's looking good!


----------



## gatorguy

Looks amazing, landscaping at the back really pops. But I gotta ask, why not buy in bulk delivered by the yard than in bags?


----------



## Stuofsci02

bernstem said:


> Looking good! The drone shots are great, but keeping at 5/8 is a lot of mowing. I tapped out on mine and brought it up a bit to 3/4. That last 1/8 seems to give me an extra day between mows.
> 
> I always plan to fall mulch, but never get around to it. I divided/moved about 20 bearded irises and they don't like mulch so I'm going to use that as my excuse this year.


Yeah the mowing is getting a bit much especially now with it getting dark here at 7 pm. There is just no time after I get home from work. It would be nice to only mow on Saturdays at this point.. Historically my last mow is first week of November but the grass usually is done for the most part the week before..


----------



## Stuofsci02

rob13psu said:


> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> davegravy said:
> 
> 
> 
> Damage doesn't look too bad.
> 
> Lack of rain this fall is obnoxious, my water bill is hurting.
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah.... we need the rain in a bad way. The lawn will recover. More pissed at myself... I know better...
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> We got really lucky with a bout of lake effect rain a few weeks ago. Dropped almost 3". Obnoxious is the right word to describe the weather this fall.
> 
> Lawn's looking good!
Click to expand...

We got just an inch but it really helped.


----------



## Stuofsci02

gatorguy said:


> Looks amazing, landscaping at the back really pops. But I gotta ask, why not buy in bulk delivered by the yard than in bags?


A lot of people have asked this question, but I am really glad I did it this way. I think I will only do it this way moving forwards. The reasons are as follows:

Prices below are $Canadian.

1. I went in with my next door neighbor as they were doing theirs this year too. We were able to get each bag for $3.33 delivered. So for 22.2 yards it was $999 ($44.95 per yard delivered). The cheapest I could find bulk mulch in my area was $40/yard + $100 delivery per load. So $988 to get it in bulk. That assumed that they could deliver 22 yards at a time, which I believe most places could..... With it being this late in the season, not all places could deliver this quantity.

2. With it coming in bags it could be dropped on my driveway in pallets and I did not have to worry about the rain, I could move it slowly to the back. In the end I moved it all at once and it was very easy. Much easier than if it was in bulk. My tractor trailer could hold 13 bags (~1 yard) since the bag are super compressed. I was able to move 13 bags per 5 min. It took me just over an hour to move all 22.2 yards to the back and I was able to toss the bags evenly across the area. No shoveling on either end, no wet mulch, no mess on the driveway.

3. Spreading was very easy since I could just pick up a bag and rip the tab. I started out on my own for the first 90 min and already had the garden half finished. Then my neighbor came over and my wife came out and we finished it in another hour. So 2.5 hours total. It was great having it in bags since when there were too much in an area we could pick up a few bags and move them over.

4. In the end we did not need about 40 bags since I did not mulch around our shed (I am getting a bigger one next year). So I have set the 40 bags aside for next season. Definitely could not do that in bulk.

So in the end if I was doing it all by myself from delivery to job complete I could have done 20 yards in 5 hours. I don't think I could have done it in bulk that fast. If the time was right I could probably have got bulk for as low as $25 per yard and saved about $150, but after doing it, I think I would pay the $150 more for the ease of doing it this way...


----------



## BBLOCK

Stuofsci02 said:


> gatorguy said:
> 
> 
> 
> Looks amazing, landscaping at the back really pops. But I gotta ask, why not buy in bulk delivered by the yard than in bags?
> 
> 
> 
> A lot of people have asked this question, but I am really glad I did it this way. I think I will only do it this way moving forwards. The reasons are as follows:
> 
> Prices below are $Canadian.
> 
> 1. I went in with my next door neighbor as they were doing theirs this year too. We were able to get each bag for $3.33 delivered. So for 22.2 yards it was $999 ($44.95 per yard delivered). The cheapest I could find bulk mulch in my area was $40/yard + $100 delivery per load. So $988 to get it in bulk. That assumed that they could deliver 22 yards at a time, which I believe most places could..... With it being this late in the season, not all places could deliver this quantity.
> 
> 2. With it coming in bags it could be dropped on my driveway in pallets and I did not have to worry about the rain, I could move it slowly to the back. In the end I moved it all at once and it was very easy. Much easier than if it was in bulk. My tractor trailer could hold 13 bags (~1 yard) since the bag are super compressed. I was able to move 13 bags per 5 min. It took me just over an hour to move all 22.2 yards to the back and I was able to toss the bags evenly across the area. No shoveling on either end, no wet mulch, no mess on the driveway.
> 
> 3. Spreading was very easy since I could just pick up a bag and rip the tab. I started out on my own for the first 90 min and already had the garden half finished. Then my neighbor came over and my wife came out and we finished it in another hour. So 2.5 hours total. It was great having it in bags since when there were too much in an area we could pick up a few bags and move them over.
> 
> 4. In the end we did not need about 40 bags since I did not mulch around our shed (I am getting a bigger one next year). So I have set the 40 bags aside for next season. Definitely could not do that in bulk.
> 
> So in the end if I was doing it all by myself from delivery to job complete I could have done 20 yards in 5 hours. I don't think I could have done it in bulk that fast. If the time was right I could probably have got bulk for as low as $25 per yard and saved about $150, but after doing it, I think I would pay the $150 more for the ease of doing it this way...
Click to expand...

Wow yeah good call. there's no way you would of moved 22 yards of bulk by yourself in 5 hours without a bucket to load your trailer. I'd say that's pretty impressive timing to get that done. I figured you were two days.

Shoveling or pitch forking mulch would take longer to load and spread I think for sure. Definitely cleaner!


----------



## Stuofsci02

@BBLOCK .. Yeah, I shudder to think about how much work it would have been.. My next door neighbors (Husband/Wife) did it together in about the same amount of time. He loaded his pick-up truck with 100 bags at a time and drove them back there.... He offered to loan me the truck, but there was no way I was driving a truck over the yard......

In the end that garden took ~2.5 days.... The 9 holes for the trees were by far the hardest part and took a whole day...


----------



## Stuofsci02

Just put down the last fert app for the year.. Spread 50 lbs of 46-0-0 granular urea across 25k in three passes... Supposed to get 1/2" rain tonight...


----------



## Babameca

@Stuofsci02 Wow that's a lot of Urea for a single app. 1lb N/M of pure testosterone :lol:


----------



## gatorguy

Great analysis! I guess I never took into consideration the fact that they are compressed and it takes shoveling out of the picture.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> @Stuofsci02 Wow that's a lot of Urea for a single app. 1lb N/M of pure testosterone :lol:


Ha... this time of year the grass can take it. I set the spreader to #3 which is very low and go very even. Takes three passes to get it all down. Now I just need the rain we were promised...


----------



## ken-n-nancy

Babameca said:


> Wow that's a lot of Urea for a single app. 1lb N/M of pure testosterone :lol:


I know folks on TLF have grown accustomed to the "spoon feeding" approach where folks put down less N per application with more frequent applications, but an application of 1# nitrogen / ksqft has been the "standard application" for decades from the time I was a teenager back in the 80s (and probably since long before then, too...)

1#N / M is really just what the "standard application" was for many, many years...


----------



## Jay20nj

Lawn looks stunning. Good work Stu.


----------



## Babameca

@ken-n-nancy Not of straight Urea (the least stable of any type of N), even less at day temps at 55. IMO that's 70% flushed down the drain. All stickers here in Canada referring to sqf ARE based on 1lb of N yes. It is all done for simplicity and ease of use and ...to buy more than you need at some point. Almost ALL big box stores ferts have a % of SR or CR N though.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> @ken-n-nancy Not of straight Urea (the least stable of any type of N), even less at day temps at 55. IMO that's 70% flushed down the drain. All stickers here in Canada referring to sqf ARE based on 1lb of N yes. It is all done for simplicity and ease of use and ...to buy more than you need at some point. Almost ALL big box stores ferts have a % of SR or CR N though.


You are correct that certainly not even 50% will be absorbed by the plant, but if I want to get down one more app before the end of the season, I want a fast release, so I am kinda stuck. AMS would be better, but I don't have any. Besides at $20 per 25 kg bag, it is not a huge loss IMO...


----------



## Stuofsci02

This will be the final post of my series of backyard recovery shots. It is now fully recovered including all the dog spots and drought damage. During the drought period (Early June until 2nd week of a July)I was putting down 1/4" per week once our watering ban was over. I think if I had to do it again I might have gone to 1/2" per week to keep it in better shape and speed the recovery. For sure the Champion GQ overseed helped bring this back to life.. It probably has enough endorsements from other members but that Stuff is good.

July 9



July 14



July 18



July 21


July 25



July 30th



Aug 3rd.



Aug 8th



Aug 13th



Seed down Aug 15th

Aug 19th



Aug 27th



Sept 12th



Sept 20th



Oct 13th


----------



## Stuofsci02

The granular urea I put down last week + 3/4" of rain this week has really kicked the colour into high gear. Got a relaxing mow in today.


----------



## BBLOCK

Wow Stu! It's looking so good. there doesn't look like you even have one bad spot on the whole property. hats off bud. Those double wides are looking really nice.


----------



## Stuofsci02

BBLOCK said:


> Wow Stu! It's looking so good. there doesn't look like you even have one bad spot on the whole property. hats off bud. Those double wides are looking really nice.


Thanks man. Everything is pretty tidy now, but it was a real $h!t show in the back this summer. There is a bit of poa to the right of the kids play area ( you can see if you look close in the pic). In the front I have two spots of bent grass I need to deal with. Other than that I am pretty pleased.


----------



## Lust4Lawn

Stuofsci02 said:


> Scagfreedom48z+ said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> It will be way low. I don't measure it because once I am below 5 it doesn't much matter..
> 
> 
> 
> Curious, what type of iron do you use? I still have feature left over
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I am using generic ferrous sulfate hepthydrate powder from alpha chemicals.
Click to expand...

What is your mix rate for the ferrous sulfate hepthydrate?


----------



## Stuofsci02

Lust4Lawn said:


> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Scagfreedom48z+ said:
> 
> 
> 
> Curious, what type of iron do you use? I still have feature left over
> 
> 
> 
> I am using generic ferrous sulfate hepthydrate powder from alpha chemicals.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> What is your mix rate for the ferrous sulfate hepthydrate?
Click to expand...

2oz per gallon per 1000sqft


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## Babameca

I see worms getting active in your side yard as well. Was assuming they should stay deeper down with the low temps we have.


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## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> I see worms getting active in your side yard as well. Was assuming they should stay deeper down with the low temps we have.


Yeah worms have been an issue. They may have gone deeper, but we have had a ton of rain lately. That side is on the north and gets almost no sun this time of year, so the grass isn't filling them in.

BTW my neighbour got a sweet weather station and gave me access over the web. Now I can monitor rainfall next year to better keep up with watering, he installed Sept 27th. It is an Acurite brand. Can the Greenskeeper app be connected to these?


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## Babameca

@Stuofsci02 GK app has its own source. I don't know a way to get data, except, maybe, thru weather underground. I registered my Greekeeper to the closest US location and adjust temps manually based on my WS data.


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## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> @Stuofsci02 GK app has its own source. I don't know a way to get data, except, maybe, thru weather underground. I registered my Greekeeper to the closest US location and adjust temps manually based on my WS data.


He is pushing the weather station data to Weather Underground. I will need to see if this will connect me..


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## Stuofsci02

I think this will be it for photos this year. Night time temps are mostly below freezing, and typically the first week of Nov is my last mow. So likely just two more this year.


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## ENC_Lawn

@Stuofsci02 I hardly ever come to the cool season side...but your lawn is simply Amazing!!!

Awesome job!

The home, lawn, landscape...everything looks beautiful!!! :thumbup:


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## Harts

You had a hell of a season brother. Lawn looks incredible.

We'll need to touch base in the coming months as I begin to put my plan together.


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## Stuofsci02

ENC_Lawn said:


> @Stuofsci02 I hardly ever come to the cool season side...but your lawn is simply Amazing!!!
> 
> Awesome job!
> 
> The home, lawn, landscape...everything looks beautiful!!! :thumbup:


I know how jumping across the WS/CS divide can be. I don't often get over to the warm side either, but when I do there are a whole bunch of yards I get to see for the first time. I love it!

Thanks for the compliment! It is a work in progress, and there is a lot more work to do next year specifically on the landscaping. So far the grass gods have been good to me!


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## Stuofsci02

Harts said:


> You had a hell of a season brother. Lawn looks incredible.
> 
> We'll need to touch base in the coming months as I begin to put my plan together.


Thank Harts. We should definitely keep in touch over the winter. I am really looking forward to seeing your new place develop next summer. Are you already keeping an eye out for equipment?


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## Harts

I have been looking. For financial reasons, I'll be starting with something used. It may not be a JD but we'll see what's out there over the next couple months.


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## Stuofsci02

Harts said:


> I have been looking. For financial reasons, I'll be starting with something used. It may not be a JD but we'll see what's out there over the next couple months.


Completely understand... to be honest sticking with something used is never a bad idea either..


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## Stuofsci02

Probably the last nice weekend of there year here. Mid 60s today. Normally would be high 30s. Normally this would have been my last cut, but I think I will get at least one more.

Trees were planted by the city in my front yard this week. Makes mowing a pain.


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## rob13psu

Looking good as usual! Are you going to keep it <1" HOC for the winter?


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## Stuofsci02

rob13psu said:


> Looking good as usual! Are you going to keep it <1" HOC for the winter?


Thanks Rob. Yup.. I expect one more cut at 3/4" and then I will leave it be. It may creep back to 1" before it goes completely dormant..


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## Babameca

Oh 2 little baby trees made this challenging? :lol: Come and mow my place with the 26'... It is like driving in Mumbai.


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## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> Oh 2 little baby trees made this challenging? :lol: Come and mow my place with the 26'... It is like driving in Mumbai.


Lol.... I love it!


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## Stuofsci02

That's it. The last mow of the year. One week later than normal. Grass still looks pretty good... Mowers put away, snow blower is locked and loaded.


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## Babameca

@Stuofsci02 Be safe brother. See u next spring


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## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> @Stuofsci02 Be safe brother. See u next spring


You too.. was finally able to add my end of year shots... not sure what was up.


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## Babameca

Stuofsci02 said:


> Babameca said:
> 
> 
> 
> @Stuofsci02 Be safe brother. See u next spring
> 
> 
> 
> You too.. was finally able to add my end of year shots... not sure what was up.
Click to expand...

You will need your driving (mower operator) skills checked :lol: . I offer free 'thru Mumbai' course for fella Canucks. :mrgreen: :bandit:
Looks like a flying start 2021 season for you for sure!


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## Stuofsci02

Thinking hard about adding a Toro 3150 triplex to the fleet.&#129323;


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## davegravy

Do it! Surely the boss won't let you keep the flex 21 if you do, I might know a buyer &#129300;&#128539;


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## Stuofsci02

davegravy said:


> Do it! Surely the boss won't let you keep the flex 21 if you do, I might know a buyer 🤔😛


Haha... The Flex 21 is getting a reel transplant to an 8 blade right now . Too bad since the 11 blade is near new, but the 8 will be a lot better.

That Flex 21 isn't going anywhere.


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## BBLOCK

Stuofsci02 said:


> Thinking hard about adding a Toro 3150 triplex to the fleet.🤫


well u already know what I think, but I just bought two acres. I'm gonna want one now too 😀


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## Stuofsci02

BBLOCK said:


> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Thinking hard about adding a Toro 3150 triplex to the fleet.🤫
> 
> 
> 
> well u already know what I think, but I just bought two acres. I'm gonna want one now too 😀
Click to expand...

Do you have pics of your new yard?


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## BBLOCK

Stuofsci02 said:


> BBLOCK said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Thinking hard about adding a Toro 3150 triplex to the fleet.🤫
> 
> 
> 
> well u already know what I think, but I just bought two acres. I'm gonna want one now too 😀
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Do you have pics of your new yard?
Click to expand...

house was built in 2019. I'm going to need some fill and make this yard bigger 😀

they also planted all clover...

im thinking if I can, I'll work on the front yard this year and expand it right out to the ditch line. and hopefully get some irrigation going and then swap yards and work on the back the year after.


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## Stuofsci02

@BBLOCK Sorry Dude.. Completely missed this. Looks like you have your work cut out, but you have a great piece of property so the sky is the limit.


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## MNLawnGuy1980

Really enjoyed looking through your journal @Stuofsci02, thanks for sharing.


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## Stuofsci02

MNLawnGuy1980 said:


> Really enjoyed looking through your journal @Stuofsci02, thanks for sharing.


Thank you sir. I also was a reader of yours throughout 2020 and it looked great. Congrats on LOTM too!


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## Stuofsci02

My Flex 21 is ready for the summer of 2021. Had Turfcare here change the reel to an 8-blade (107-7634) and high cut bed knife (94-6392). Did all the bearings, spark plug, air filter and cleaned her up. They did a very nice job. ~60 days until first mow!

Also am looking for a Reelmaster 3100D. I decided against the Greensmaster 3150 because the HOC is too low for my back.








.


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## Babameca

Nice upgrade Stu! I may have to upgrade my rotary :lol: Would probably have to contract my mowing for some time this season... the border restrictions may keep me away from home longer than usual.


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## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> Nice upgrade Stu! I may have to upgrade my rotary :lol: Would probably have to contract my mowing for some time this season... the border restrictions may keep me away from home longer than usual.


Yeah.. I am really looking forward to the improved cut quality at the higher HOCs (7/8"). Last year I was forced to double cut to ensure all stragglers we cut. Not that I minded... :lol:

Are you talking about the quarantine hotels on return?


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## Babameca

Stuofsci02 said:


> Babameca said:
> 
> 
> 
> Nice upgrade Stu! I may have to upgrade my rotary :lol: Would probably have to contract my mowing for some time this season... the border restrictions may keep me away from home longer than usual.
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah.. I am really looking forward to the improved cut quality at the higher HOCs (7/8"). Last year I was forced to double cut to ensure all stragglers we cut. Not that I minded... :lol:
> 
> Are you talking about the quarantine hotels on return?
Click to expand...

Not even. It is a 'full time' assignment in NC. Even with growth regulator it will be tough to mow once a week at 7/8. Have few options in mind so let' see. Will try to keep summer patch away and do all apps myself, but mowing is another story...


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## Stuofsci02

That's too bad.... Good to be working, but I know the feeling to leave the lawn to it's own devices...


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