# Zee's 2022 Journal



## Zip-a-Dee-Zee (Apr 9, 2020)

May Update

I'm a little late getting this journal going but April was extremely wet with below average temperatures and the lawn was very sluggish waking up. When the ground was sufficiently dry I pulled soil core samples.

2022 Front:



2022 Back:



I'm not sure why I didn't realize that soil test recommendations are for maintenance and not corrective application of macros but given my inputs of SOP and TSP last year P and K remained basically unchanged.

2021 Front:



So, my goals for 2022:

* Continue to decrease pH. I'll be applying 15#/M of elemental sulfur throughout the season to the Front and 10#/M to the Back.
* Increase P and K. I'm targeting 4# K/M and 3#+ P/M over the season for both the Front and Back
* Be smarter. I had terrible outbreaks of Brown Patch last year because I was too heavy-handed with Nitrogen too early and some of those areas haven't recovered. 
* Oh yeah, and complete my renovation with another 8,000 sq. ft. of KBG.

As of today, inputs have been as follows:

Back received 0.5# N/M on 4/29 (UFlexx) and 5/17 (UFlexx); sprayed Pre-M (0.28 oz./M) on 5/17. TSP (1# P/M), SOP (1# K/M) and Sulfur (5#/M) dropped on 5/17.

Front received 0.5# N/M on 4/29 (UFlexx) and 5/17 (AS); sprayed Pre-M (0.28 oz./M Prodiamine) and Feature (2 oz./M) separately on 5/17. TSP (1# P/M), SOP (1# K/M) and Sulfur (5#/M) dropped on 5/23.

Front on 5/23 (1" HOC):


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## Zip-a-Dee-Zee (Apr 9, 2020)

June Update.

Yikes, it's already the end of June and this is only my second journal update!

The Front yard on Father's Day:





And this past weekend (7/8" HOC):







I noticed dollar spot in a few areas and made two applications of Propiconazole on 6/12 (0.5 oz./M) and 6/19 (0.9 oz./M) which helped to clear things up. I've also been spraying AS (0.2# N/M) weekly and will start mixing in some biostimulants soon.

Back yard on Father's Day:







I renovated the Back yard last Fall and when it got going in the Spring I noticed a lot of Poa (most of which I hand pulled) and grassy/broadleaf weeds; I applied a combination of Tenacity (1.1 tsp/M), Quinclorac (1.4 oz./M) and Triclopyr (1.4 oz./M) on Memorial Day. I'm relying solely on granular applications of slow-release N for this area since I don't have an irrigation system there; it still has a long way to go but I'm happy with the progress I'm seeing.

Reno zone on Father's Day:







Kill day on the remaining 8,000 sq. ft. I'm renovating was May 28; I reapplied glyphosate on June 9 and have been spot treating as necessary.


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## Zip-a-Dee-Zee (Apr 9, 2020)

July 11 Update

As I'm writing this we're getting our first decent rainfall in close to a month. We've only had one day with more than 1/4" of rain since 6/15 and ET deficits have creeped to nearly 3.5" here. The front yard is irrigated so it's managing quite well and currently looks like an emerald-green oasis in a sea of yellowing, half-dormant lawns.

July 8:



The beds around the trees have really been bugging me and last week I finally got around to redefining the edges and added some fresh mulch.





I also backlapped the reels on the triplex and dropped the HOC to 3/4".



The grass is looking very healthy right now but last year August was a disaster and brown patch knocked out several areas of maturing turf. I sprayed my third and final application of PPZ (1.0 oz./M) today and will be switching to Azoxy for the next fungicide application in a couple of weeks.

The backyard, meanwhile, has been suffering without consistent irrigation and with this year being a grow-in year I set up the manifolds and sprinklers again to limp things along until the Fall blitz.







My plan is to plug some of the areas that are still bare in the coming week or two and see if the rest fills in over the next year. If the KBG continues to struggle with the shade I'll probably overseed with PRG in Fall of 2023.


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## Zip-a-Dee-Zee (Apr 9, 2020)

July 30 Update

While I haven't been spending much time on this year's journal, my work in the yard hasn't slowed down. Seed down date for the renovation is tomorrow and things are ready to go. I'll post more details about the 2022 renovation in my next entry as most of my attention over the next month will be directed towards that.

Meanwhile, the 2021 renovation responded positively to blunt force irrigation over the past few weeks. Overall, last year's renovation has a long way to go but the areas that are doing well are definitely heading in the right direction. I still want to move some plugs and give it a decent aeration before hopefully pushing some lateral growth with the Fall blitz.











The 2020 renovation is in good shape but showing a few signs of stress. To my untrained eye the pattern suggests it's fungal so I'm planning to spot treat this area with Azoxy early next week.



This pattern, however, is baffling me. It wasn't there last year and I haven't seen any signs of rodents. Grubs? IDK



Lastly, a salute to the (not so) Frozen Tundra of Lambeau Field. I snapped this on a recent visit to Green Bay with the family.


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## Zip-a-Dee-Zee (Apr 9, 2020)

August 2 Update

Seed went down as planned on Sunday and renovation #3 is officially underway. I have to admit that I enjoy the smooth, barren appearance just before a renovation; a lot of time and effort was spent creating that blank canvas.

A few before pics:







I planted a mono stand of SSS Midnight (2.5#/M) in between the two driveways and the rest was a SSS blend (2.5#/M) of 50% Bewitched / 25% Mazama / 25% Midnight KBG. After seeding 8,000 sq. ft. I dropped a mixture of 192# Milorganite, 25# Lesco Starter 18-24-12 and 32# Scott's Disease EX; total inputs were 2.0# N/M and 1.7# P/M.

Last year I watched 1/4 ton of mulching pellets wash out in the wake of heavy rains so this time around I was committed to using blankets. I've used Futerra F4 netless blankets in the past and I really wanted to use them again but by the time I started sourcing them in early July regional supplies had completely dried up. I've used straw blankets in a pinch and endured losing untold numbers of growing plants when pulling up the heavy, wet rotting mats so I settled on Curlex from American Excelsior (which like Futerra is a netless product and was readily available).







On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd give Curlex a 6. There were a lot of snags when I unrolled it which created tears and bunched up bulges of fabric, but most of it flattened out reasonably well when I rolled it.

After rolling, I sprayed a mixture of Tenacity (1 tsp/M) with RGS (3 oz./M) and finished off the day by hammering in 100 or so stakes.

Monday was spent setting up my irrigation system and dialing in coverage as best I can. Like last year, I'm relying completely on timers and above ground irrigation for this project. Unlike last year, I'm actually tracking my watering inputs using cups to gauge if I'm overwatering certain areas. It's a bit tricky since I'm using a few different types of sprinklers but I'm not aiming for surgical precision, just something that's a little less haphazard.


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## lbb091919 (Apr 26, 2020)

Looks good and you're so right about the smooth look just before a reno. I could not stop staring at mine. I'll be following this!

I don't know if I ever saw a spec on the time it takes for the Futerras to break down but it's not fast enough for me. I cannot wait to verticut this fall and chew those things up. While they were a life saver during the reno, I honestly think they have caused some of my fungus issues because they are still down there holding moisture.


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## Zip-a-Dee-Zee (Apr 9, 2020)

August 10 Update

Hey @lbb091919, thanks for checking in! Ideally, I'd hoped to leave the Curlex blankets in place like I did with the Futerra F4 but I'm starting to realize that may not be an option. It's pretty bulky and seems to "float" more than "stick" to the ground, but at least there's no weeds to contend with like I did last year after using straw blankets.

10 days post-seeding and there's definitely signs of life.

Seed covered with mulching pellets:



Seed covered with Curlex:



There was a flash flood warning here last weekend with forecasted rainfall of 3"-5", but we ended up receiving far less than expected (just over 1/2"). I'll probably second guess the decision to pay (a lot) more this time for blankets instead of pellets, but the peace of mind knowing that I didn't need to worry about how much it rained seemed like it was well worth it.

Meanwhile, the back yard has been getting some much needed attention. I cut new mulch rings last week and gave it a heavy-ish aeration just before the deluge that never came.







I'm also planning to aerate the front yard very soon, but I'm waiting a bit more for the stressed areas to recover first after spot treating with a curative dose of Azoxy (0.4 oz./2 gal) on August 2.

August 7:



August 10:



August 7:



August 10:



August 7:



August 10:


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## Zip-a-Dee-Zee (Apr 9, 2020)

August 21 Update

Probably overdue for an update but things have been slowly chugging along so I haven't really felt the need to post anything lately. My eye tells me that the renovation area which is predominately Bewitched is further ahead than the Midnight mono stand, but the shady spots are still pretty thin. I've been mostly reliant on irrigation to keep things moist since the seed went down but that changed this weekend with 1.35" of rain falling between Friday night and Saturday, which seemed to really kickstart things.

10 DAG 100% Midnight:



10 DAG 50% Bewitched:



14 DAG 50% Bewitched:



14 DAG 50% Bewitched:



Meanwhile, the Front yard was mechanically aerated early last week. Rather than let the cores decompose, I decided to pull a drag around to break them up instead. The turf was beat up a bit in the process, and I needed to use the rotary mower to bag the debris that was left sitting around like tumbleweed, but I think I'll be able to avoid a lengthy dethatching process. Afterwards, I repeated that aeration/dragging in the Back and sprayed my second application of Prodiamine (0.28 oz./M) to both areas just in time for the rain. The Front appears to be recovering and should be primed for the Fall.


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## Zip-a-Dee-Zee (Apr 9, 2020)

September 5 Update

Hope everyone enjoyed their Labor Day! I was out of town over the weekend so I can't wait to get back onto the lawn and start the Fall blitz on the established turf this week. First, here's a couple recent shots of how things are looking in the Front.

September 1:





Meanwhile, the 2022 renovation seems to be hitting its stride. I've been targeting 110% ET with three daily waterings for the past four weeks, so I'm planning to dial back the irrigation to once daily starting tomorrow. I'm also hoping to push the manual reel over it sometime this week and give it a feeding as well. Images below are from last Thursday (25 DAG).

Midnight Monostand:



Northwest corner:





NW corner ground level:



SW Corner:



SW corner ground level:


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## Zip-a-Dee-Zee (Apr 9, 2020)

September 20 Update

Figured I'd cut to the chase this time and go straight to the goods rather than wax poetic. All pictures are from last Friday 9/16.

2022 Reno:













2021 Reno:







2020 Reno:



2022 remains after a vampire was slayed on my hot tub:


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