# Necrosis' Low Lawn 2019 Journal



## Necrosis (Jul 12, 2018)

I have a 5K Bermuda lawn that I'm on my 2nd year of growing. I let it get to 4" last year for ease of maintenance since I'm otherwise pretty busy. This year I'll be mowing low - just over an inch - and using PGR. Here is last year in peak growing season.







I started this year throwing down 6mo app of prodiamine on Feb 7th or so. Today I scalped the lawn. It had been about 2" all winter before I took it down to an inch. Soil temps here have been pretty steady at 55. We may get one more frost. We shall see if it will do any damage.





Just a warning... expect a lot of grass clippings. Still trying to figure out what the hell to do with three of these piles.



I also bought a greenworks dethatcher. Picked up a referbished one on the cheap. My yard is somewhat new. About 5 years old. It's hard for me to tell if there is that much thatch. Some areas don't look bad at all and tear/diver when using the push mower.



My soil seems to be mostly clay. I'll find out in 2 weeks when the soil test is back.


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## Necrosis (Jul 12, 2018)

Got a delivery a couple of days early. Time to take her for a spin.



After dethatching. Used the 1/8 of an inch setting so not deep at all. Was getting a significant amount of dirt on the deeper setting so I switched back.



Scalped again on the lowest setting. Looks decent. I do have some thin areas but they should bounce back soon...... I hope.



And the front. My only question now is should I reapply a second PreEmergent since I already laid down 6mo of prodiamine in early February. It's soaked in well I just don't know. Let me know if you have any suggestions.


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## Necrosis (Jul 12, 2018)

Also. Shout out to @Ware and @wardconnor . I watched ya'll's videos with the wifey and her response was "how much are those reel mowers again?" ;P


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

A reel mower would take that lawn to the next level. :thumbup:


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## Necrosis (Jul 12, 2018)

Looking at the schedule it looks like we have maybe a couple days of freezing temperature in a couple of weeks. This will likely be the last frost of the Spring and it won't last long. So with rising temps I decided to start pushing the lawn with fertilizer. I did put down Milorganite at 1lb/1ksqft since I had some extra in my garage. I might put down some fast release in a week or two but I'm still waiting for soil analysis.

In addition, I went ahead and threw down some antifungal preventative. Going to up my watering to 1 inch per week since it has been at 1/2 inch per week for the duration of winter.


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## Tmank87 (Feb 13, 2019)

What application etc shows the forecast in that format? Really like that.


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## Necrosis (Jul 12, 2018)

weatherunderground. It is under the calendar view.


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## Tmank87 (Feb 13, 2019)

Thanks, use that site often and never knew.


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## Two9tene (May 27, 2018)

Oh yeah! A reel mower will hike up the domination value! Last season I used a manual reel mower and boy does it make a difference! This year I am purchasing a GM 1000, crossing my fingers. Can't wait to see what you got going on here this year!

P.S. I would hold off on the Milo apps until the average ground temps reach around 65 degrees. Check out this video about how Milo works by How to With Doc. He goes on to explain how microbials break down the Milo and how they are not active until a certain temperature.

Hope this helps brother!

Good luck and God Speed!


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## Necrosis (Jul 12, 2018)

Received results of my soil test today. Still formulating a supplementation plan. If anyone has any suggestions let me know!


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## Two9tene (May 27, 2018)

Necrosis said:


> Received results of my soil test today. Still formulating a supplementation plan. If anyone has any suggestions let me know!


Maybe some,
Diammonium phosphate
Ferric sulfate
Peat
Ammonium nitrate

Or some diluted ammonia from your local grocer. 1 cup/ 8 fl. Oz. Per Gallon of water per 1K sq. Ft. Just spray that with a surfactant and it should help out. Those numbers don't look immensly alkaline. Remember 7 is nuetral.


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## Necrosis (Jul 12, 2018)

No significant rain for the next few days. Time to throw down some starter fert since temperatures will be rising.



Recently put down Milo. My soil test states I need about 1lb/M of P so I got a fertilizer high in P. Then put down roughly 1lb/M of N with this which brings me up to roughly 1.5lb/M of N and 1lb/M P for the past couple of weeks. Excited for the green up!


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## Two9tene (May 27, 2018)

@Necrosis , where did you get that forcast from brother?


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## Necrosis (Jul 12, 2018)

Weather underground.


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## Necrosis (Jul 12, 2018)

So it has been a full month since my scalp and dethatching. Grass is just now starting to come out of dormancy.



To fill my time while I wait for the grass to green up I've decided to do something about my garden bed. The previous owner had some interesting choices regarding the hedge placement. I've decided to remove some of them to make more planting room.



Ended up taking out a hedge and placing in a different spot to frame the right side of my garden bed. Here is how it turned out.





Thinking about planting Red Japanese Maple vs Star Magnolia vs White Hydrangea vs Blue Mountain Laurel on either side of the rose bush. If you have any experience with any of these I'd love to hear about it.


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## Necrosis (Jul 12, 2018)

The yard is starting to come alive! About time! Temps have been greater than 65 for about a week or so. Gave it its first mow of the season. And beat back some of the small weeds with Celsius.



As you can see. Decided to go with Japanese Maple and a Little Gem Magnolia.


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## Ral1121 (Mar 19, 2018)

Yard is looking good. I need to redo my beds in the front of the house, just have no idea what to put in.


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## Necrosis (Jul 12, 2018)

Quick update. Applied a blanket spray of Celsius at the low rate with the new backpack sprayer. Thanks @Austinite! Yard is greening up nicely! Hopefully about to bring it it's final height for the season at around 1.5-2". Stay tuned!


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## Austinite (Oct 4, 2018)

Man that grass is starting to look healthy! Can't wait for a full greenup. Keep it up!!


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## TN Hawkeye (May 7, 2018)

Looking good. I'll be interested to see how your lawn does at 1.5" compared to mine. I plan to keep mine around that height too but mine is common Bermuda. I assume yours is a hybrid Bermuda?


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## Necrosis (Jul 12, 2018)

@TN Hawkeye Yes it's hybrid Bermuda..... I think.

Just put down another 1lb/M of Milo a couple of days ago. Then I got this beauty.



Finally got the lawn under 1" today. Right now it is at 0.75 inches. I will be lowering this to 0.5 likely and maintaining at 0.75. I assume I will be starting PGR in the next week or so.

Overall I think we are heading in the right direction!


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## TN Hawkeye (May 7, 2018)

@Necrosis I don't even know who you are anymore. All of the sudden you're one of those reel low guys. I thought we had tall Bermuda in our future. In all seriousness, congrats. That's a nice machine. I bet you're gonna love it.


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## Austinite (Oct 4, 2018)

Nice machine man!! Congrats. Gonna be a REEL good season!


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## Necrosis (Jul 12, 2018)

Today was a landmark day. Brought the grass down to 0.5 inches. I'm shooting to maintain around 0.6. I'm not sure if I scalped enough but will see. I could always bring it up to 0.75 and see how it looks. I also put down some PGR at a rate of 0.25oz/M. Here are the photos of the scalp.


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## Two9tene (May 27, 2018)

Necrosis said:


> Today was a landmark day. Brought the grass down to 0.5 inches. I'm shooting to maintain around 0.6. I'm not sure if I scalped enough but will see. I could always bring it up to 0.75 and see how it looks. I also put down some PGR at a rate of 0.25oz/M. Here are the photos of the scalp.


Looking good brother!


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## Necrosis (Jul 12, 2018)

Had 3" of rain yesterday. Yard looked great this morning. Except for what looked to be mycelium on the grass. I'll be putting down some propiconazole and praying this will prevent any outbreak. Should get up into the 80s today so that will help as well.


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## Necrosis (Jul 12, 2018)

Received my Biostimulant pack from the giveaway. A big thank you to The Lawn Forum and Greene County! The stash is looking formidable.



Put down 3oz/M of RGS as well as 6oz/M of humid acid yesterday. Fertilized the plants as well. Cut the yard at 0.75. The yard is taking a bit to green up since I placed down PGR. I will probably wait until later next year to put it down to give the yard some time to green up better.


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## Two9tene (May 27, 2018)

Necrosis said:


> Received my Biostimulant pack from the giveaway. A big thank you to The Lawn Forum and Greene County! The stash is looking formidable.
> 
> 
> 
> Put down 3oz/M of RGS as well as 6oz/M of humid acid yesterday. Fertilized the plants as well. Cut the yard at 0.75. The yard is taking a bit to green up since I placed down PGR. I will probably wait until later next year to put it down to give the yard some time to green up better.


From what I have read from other established members:

Split apps of the PGR with an early spring app 
Helps suppress seed heads.


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## Necrosis (Jul 12, 2018)

Put down a round of Milo and PGR around 5/25. Yard is ready for Memorial Day!


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## Necrosis (Jul 12, 2018)

Busy day today. Put down RGS and Microgreene as well as fertilizing the plants. Grass is in its top form. Really striking how the grass nodes shorten in response to the PGR.


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## Bmossin (May 31, 2018)

Looks good.


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## Necrosis (Jul 12, 2018)

Raised my HOC to 0.9. I will probably start growing it out as we get into the heat of Summer.


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## Bmossin (May 31, 2018)

How is the Deere running?


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## Necrosis (Jul 12, 2018)

It's doing well! Haven't had any issues with it. Starts on the first pull and the reel and bedknife cut paper. I'll probably throw some more cash at it during the off season and maybbbbbbeee upgrade the reel. We will see.


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## Necrosis (Jul 12, 2018)

My own after running a reel mower and PGR for Most of the growing season. Here is the July 4th mow. I'm happy with the progress. Some areas need a little more attention but overall it is looking well!


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## Necrosis (Jul 12, 2018)

It has been a minute since I updated. Decided to grow the lawn out a touch. To be honest I'm unsure if I have common or hybrid bermuda and wanted to see how it would do growing it out. Came to about 0.95 inches just so I can say I have it cut under an inch (and so the neighbor can't scalp it farther than mine ;P).





Above is before and after the cut. It seems to be thriving a little more when I let it grow more. It also feels wonderful underfoot.


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## Necrosis (Jul 12, 2018)

Today was a big day. Put down my second 6mo app of Prodiamine for the year. Added PGR, RGS, and Microgreen.


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## Bmossin (May 31, 2018)

Looking Great!


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## DuncanMcDonuts (May 5, 2019)

Any reason you did prodiamine now? Most warm weeds start germinating in March/April and the cold weeds closer to December. I've been doing prodiamine in February, dithiopyr in May, and prodiamine again in October.


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## Necrosis (Jul 12, 2018)

DuncanMcDonuts said:


> Any reason you did prodiamine now? Most warm weeds start germinating in March/April and the cold weeds closer to December. I've been doing prodiamine in February, dithiopyr in May, and prodiamine again in October.


I did the 6mo application rate for prodiamine. Put down my first app in February so it would just now be wearing off. Had some crab start germinating. I thought about doing dithiopyr, however, it is my understand that it is the same/similar mechanism of action and I didn't want to over apply a similar chemical and cause root pruning.

In addition, any coverage lapses that occurs in December can be controlled with Atrazine during dormancy.


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## Necrosis (Jul 12, 2018)

I just wanted to cap this thread off with a little update. I drove by the house during the summer last year to check on it. I was really worried the new owner would let it go. But it looks like I created a lawn care fan! He is continuing to dominate the neighbors. And the trees look absolutely stellar. I'm really envious but also proud of the work I put into those trees. So here is a few creepshots I stole over the locked gate.


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## ionicatoms (Mar 8, 2020)

LOL. Can just imagine you getting caught taking photos.


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