# ionicatoms lawn journal - Florida - St. Augustine (Palmetto)



## ionicatoms

Applied Scott's DiseaseEx Fungicide (Azoxystrobin 0.31%) to side and back yards at preventive rate.

I was on the fence about the need for this application. We are expecting temperatures to drop next week.



Was hit hard with large patch back in January:


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## ionicatoms

Applied 5.6lb per 1000sq.ft of HumicDG; one 40 pound bag. This is above the label rate. 


Followed up with BioAdvanced Triple Action lawn fertilizer plus. I'm hoping I didn't over do it, because my last application was 4 weeks ago on the sideyard.







I'm still trying decide what to do about the Bermuda. Guy who lived here before me was throwing down Bermuda seed instead of watering the St. Augustine.


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## CenlaLowell

Glad to see another st Augustine lawn join the forum. Look forward to reading your journal.


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## Buffalolawny

Buffalo (St Aug) will creep over the Couch Grass (Bermuda) at higher cutting heights


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## ionicatoms

I'm posting these soil test results retroactively. The samples were taken in January.

*Front Yard*
​
*Back Yard*
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*Side Yard*
​


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## ionicatoms

Put out 10lb of Scotts® Halts® Crabgrass & Grassy Weed Preventer. It's 1.71% pendimethalin. Only did the front yard and side yard. First app went down in January. It worked ok, but didn't prevent Carolina Geranium at all.

Also I cut the grass on the side yard. I got behind on the pool maintenance, so I spent a couple hours responding to the algae bloom.


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## ionicatoms

Cut front yard five days after the last cut. Overgrown in areas where I put out BioAdvanced Triple Action Plus.

Cut side yard two days after the last cut, took off 2 or 3 /8ths.


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## ionicatoms

Sprayed Roundup Glyphosate in the late morning. I mixed up 6oz in a gallon sprayer and went around the fence targeting weeds and Bermuda. Also I sprayed around the pool. I forgot to add a surfactant, so I'm wondering if my results will be optimal.



I wasn't super careful. Got my fingers crossed.


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## ionicatoms

According to https://www.totallandscapecare.com/chemical-care/chemical-care-taking-diquat-out-of-the-mix/ the combination of Diquat with Glyphosate results in less effective long term control than using Glyphosate alone. It seems Diquat gives you a fast visual response, but it seems you just have to buy or use more RoundUp to compensate. Feel like I've been duped.


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## ionicatoms

Cut front and side yards. Observed many weeds that need to be sprayed. Height of cut = 3.75"


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## ionicatoms

Cut front yard at 3.75" So much Bermuda! Ugh.



Last cut was 5 days ago at 3.75"; Before cutting at 4.25" the lawn was looking decent"



Afterwards (Bermuda really shows):


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## ionicatoms

Cut the back yard at 3.25" but I forgot to get a picture until night time.


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## ionicatoms

I cut the side yard at 4.25"; double-cut for the first time on half the yard. Thanks to @LawnCareNut for the suggestion.

Afterwards I pulled out a small bit of Bermuda.





I'm not sure palmetto is capable of shading out the bermuda. 

Afterward I cut the front yard at 3.75"

Found a dry spot that I need to investigate more tomorrow.


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## ionicatoms

5pm, sprayed a test spot in the backyard with southern ag chelated iron. 4oz over maybe 500 sq.ft. It probably would be best to put it down in the morning rather than the evening, but it's going to rain for the next two days so I figured why not.


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## ionicatoms

Here's a follow-up on my liquid iron application from nine days ago. The test spot is barely any greener. I don't think anyone would suspect that that spot was treated with any thing special. since I didn't use the full label rate I suspect that my application should have been in the morning rather than the evening and I should have used maybe twice as much as I did. I will plan to try again.

Today I sprayed roundup plus which contains glyphosate and Diquat in my mulched beds and around my driveway and walkways. Last time I sprayed in the backyard test areas and it did work very well at 6 oz per gallon. After the foliage died I used a lawn torch to burn up most of the dead material.


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## ionicatoms

Cut and fertilized the side yard today. I put out Scotts Green Max.


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## ionicatoms

Tried cutting diagonally:


Put out milorganite and leftover Scott's tonight. Neighbor walking by stopped to ask me what I was putting on my lawn. Nice compliment!


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## ionicatoms

Cut all three lawns today. So far I don't see any evidence of green up from applying fertilizer. I guess that's not a huge surprise.


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## ionicatoms

We've had a lot of rain and cooler temperatures with several overcast days. Most of the yard is looking ok, but found gray leaf spotting in some downhill areas.


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## ionicatoms

Cut side yard down to 3.75" and applied 2lb Scotts DiseaseEx (0.31% Azoxystrobin).


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## ionicatoms

Cut the front/side yards at 3.75"
Sprayed 35oz of liquid iron supplement over 2200 sq.ft of the side yard using a hose-end sprayer. The test patch did nothing before (details above) so trying again. Unfortunately it's going to rain again in a few hours so I'm not super optimistic.


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## blkcsrj7

ionicatoms said:


> We've had a lot of rain and cooler temperatures with several overcast days. Most of the yard is looking ok, but found gray leaf spotting in some downhill areas.


That grayleaf spot is a pain in St. Augustine grass.


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## ionicatoms

Checked on iron application. No visible result (three days later). I didn't water it in, and it didn't rain. I did cut the grass on the same day as the application. Plus it's been pretty warm, so maybe the grass was stressed and not growing as much.

I saw a Youtube video which said that using a hose-end sprayer would tend to wash the iron into the roots (he said it can help with stress management), but that it wouldn't do as much for the color as an undiluted foliar application.

While I was walking around, I noticed additional areas with gray leaf spot. This reinforced the lesson that I need to be more proactive with systemic fungicide leading up to the rainy season, especially with lush growth. That's what I get for trying to save money.


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## ionicatoms

This evening I cut the front and side yards at 3.75"



Gray leaf spot is showing up pretty much everywhere. I ordered 20lbs of DiseaseEx.


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## ionicatoms

Upon closer inspection, one of the areas I assumed was GLS turned out to be sod webworm or similar. It's a patch right where my neighbor's lawn meets mine. I kind of figured this was coming because I've been seeing moths and I was super lazy and didn't put out GrubEx like I had planned.


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## ionicatoms

Here's a picture of the sod webworm damage.



I also found two of these mounds in my yard. Anybody recognize it?


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## ionicatoms

Pest Control company applied Talstar yesterday at lunchtime to treat the sod webworm. The Talstar P label says to wait 24hr before watering or mowing, so I was disappointed when my neighbor started mowing and I couldn't get out there at the same time.

This morning I applied 4oz LawnStar Liquid Iron in 1 gallon of water over 1k sq.ft. The grass was still wet from the morning dew. I applied to half the side yard, so will be able to see if there is a visual difference.


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## ionicatoms

Iron test was a failure. No color response at all. Left side was treated with LawnStar. Right side was not treated. Top photo is Before and bottom photo is after. Still don't know what I'm doing wrong.


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## ionicatoms

Last night I found more sod webworms despite getting Talstar sprayed 6 days prior. I decided to throw down BioAdvanced 24hr grub killer plus and check again tomorrow night. If I'm still seeing significant webworm activity, I'll call the pest control company back on Monday.


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## ionicatoms

Ok, so before I try a higher dose of liquid iron again, I decided to throw down some Ironite in a strip going right down the middle of the side lawn.



The instructions say to mow and then wait a day or two before applying. since I just cut the side yard today I also threw down half the bag in the front yard which was cut yesterday. If I get a response in either location I'll take a photo and post it.



Also bought a new-to-me product (Ortho Nutsedge Killer for Lawns) to try on some nutsedge and dollarweed I've been fighting. Says it takes 4 weeks, so will be awhile before I can give it a review.



Note to self: @ABC123 suggested pH down may help with iron response. Not sure if it matters for a foliar application, but seems reasonable for a soil treatment.


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## ionicatoms

Sod Webworm Update

7/16


7/23 (6 days post Talstar Treatment)


7/25 (8 days post Talstar, 24hr after treating with BioAdvanced 24hr Grub Killer)


Different angle


Side by side (7/16 vs 7/25)


Just went out in the yard, found fewer worms than before. Don't know if it's because they are dying or maybe because the grass was finally dry for a change.


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## ionicatoms

Sod webworm follow-up:

As of July 26, I am unable to find anymore webworms. The population decreased rapidly after application of BioAdvanced 24 Grub Killer, but without a good control plot it's not possible for me to rule out the possibility that the application of Talstar a week earlier played a role in the final results. At this point I would be inclined to treat with 24hr product sooner rather than waiting a week between the separate applications.


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## ionicatoms

This is a follow-up on my sod webworm problem. It's been two weeks since I first had TalStar sprayed. It's been one week since I put out granular 24hr grub killer.

The population of 5th and 6th instar webworms has dramatically decreased. However, I'm still seeing evidence of early instar damage. In the following photo you can observe a couple of white spots or white areas where the leaf surface is being gnawed at. Also seen in the photo is the brownish webworm moth and white egg.



So far the best resource I found is from the University of Georgia at the following link:
Sod Webworms: Biology and Management in Turfgrass


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## ionicatoms

Pest control came back for a _re-spray_ today. Tech said I'm getting .25oz of TalStar per gallon and 4 gallons of solution per 1k sq.ft. By my reckoning, this means I'm getting the maximum dose of 1oz be 1k sq.ft. Part of me is wondering if this was too much product _for a respray_ because it's only been two weeks since the last application (which I wasn't home for and didn't get to see being applied).

However, I also see on the TalStar P label that you need higher doses of product if grass is mowed above 1". Mine is maintained at 3.75". After chatting with @Burnie in the Grub thread, I did conclude that the first treatment wasn't sufficiently effective. So, on the whole, I'm thinking the second app can be considered appropriate even if it is at the max rate.

Label for reference:
​


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## ionicatoms

Sod Webworm Update

7/16 (First recognition of problem)


7/23 (6 days post Talstar Treatment)


7/25 (8 days post Talstar, 24hr after treating with BioAdvanced 24hr Grub Killer)


8/04 (18 days post first Talstar Treatment)


Recovery looks to be very slow. I regret not using the 24hr killer right away. Waiting a week was a mistake, I think.


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## ionicatoms

Applied Acelepryn today. Unfortunately, my instructions were not understood or ignored and they also gave me another dose of Baseline (bifenthrin) which wasn't necessary. That is frustrating and I think it goes to show that I'm better off doing experiments on my own rather than relying on a pest control company. It's probably super strange for a customer to ask you NOT to spray the normal batch.

The tech noted the presence of dollar weed, chamberbitter, and crabgrass in the lawn.


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## balistek

im right there with you on damage. Thanks for the link to the Georgia extension. I will give that a read.


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## ionicatoms

Picked up an Echo RB-60 spreader today. Hoping its better than the Scotts DLX Edge Guard.


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## ionicatoms

I put out Scotts DiseaseEx on the side yard and a decent portion of the front yard because I still have a bit of gray leaf spot (GLS). The RB-60 spreader worked great. I would warn shorter people to check the height of the rear legs because I noticed they were dragging through the top of my grass (cut yesterday at 3.75"); don't know if it would give anybody problems. I'm 6'3" for comparison.



I'll be selling my DLX.


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## ionicatoms

Despite checking the weather/radar shortly before spraying Image for Weeds Southern Lawn Weed Killer (2,4-d, dicamba, sulfentrazone) and RoundUp Plus (contains diquat dibromide) in separate areas, it started raining ~30 minutes after I finished. What a disappointment. Caught me mid-mow.

The Ortho Nutsedge killer I sprayed 2 weeks ago got mixed results. For one thing, it's supposed to take 4 weeks so I'm really not being fair. But, it's labeled for smaller, younger plants and I sprayed some pretty mature plants. So I'm not disappointed in the product itself. The pre-mix was really convenient to use, if not exactly economical. Sometimes you just want something quick and easy. After visiting the hardware store, I decided to buy some smaller spray tanks. Picked up two 48oz sprayers to try out. They worked okay, but when the fluid gets low, you have to hold them level which is a bit of a nuisance.

The amount of chamberbitter growing on my property caught me off-guard. I've got a lot to cope with. I didn't use a late-summer pre-emergent. Guess I'll have to figure that out for next year.


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## ionicatoms

Cut front yard before it started raining. Afterwards I finished putting DiseaseEx on the remainder of the front yard.

Gray Leaf Spot in the front yard:


Also edged again today. My technique still needs work, but I'm happy with the results. The yellowing is from gray leaf spot. I really missed the boat on prevention this season.



As you can see above, the Ironite granular did nothing. I think @CenlaLowell was right to question how much darker this variety can go.



For anybody following the sod webworm debacle, here's an update on recovery.





Recovery is going slowly.


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## ionicatoms

Cut the side yard today at 3.75" using bagger instead of mulcher. I don't normally bag, but with the GLS outbreak, I figured I'd give bagging a chance.

I'm noticing a few randomly located stolons popping up. I don't know why they aren't tacked down. It's been many months since I used a pre-emergent.


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## ionicatoms

Cut the backyard and front yards today. I noticed a lot of yellow patches. I don't know if it's due to all the insecticide or the fungicide or if it's just due to the gray leaf spot.

I also spot sprayed the side yard with Image Weed Killer for Southern Lawns. Also hit the sedge in my backyard again. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures today.


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## ionicatoms

I'm starting to think about PGR for my St. Augustine. My turf density is average, would be nice if I could improve it.

Bookmarking St. Augustine Growth Responses to Various Plant Growth Retardents for later.



> Like Cutless and TGR 50, Primo enhanced St. Augustinegrass turf quality (~9.0) four to six weeks after treatment. No reductions in St. Augustinegrass root length density following Primo were evident during these trials. A 75% reduction in turfgrass clippings was evident at week four. Primo reduced lateral stoloniferous growth (55% four weeks after application.


I'm not sure if this means you can get more density.


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## ionicatoms

It's time to switch modes of action on fungicide. Ordered granular BioAdvanced and Clearys 3336 DG Lite.

Here's an example of the yellow patch I'm seeing. I suppose it's from too much DiseaseEx:


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## ionicatoms

Today I pulled out a bunch of doveweed that was growing in this spot next to my mulched bed where somebody clearly dumped a huge amount of sand with no organic matter. I put some Scott's lawn soil on top and then plugged floratam St Augustine grass. The spot is not visible from the road so I'm treating it like an experiment. I'm super frustrated with the fungal problems my Palmetto has experienced.


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## ionicatoms

Out of frustration I spot sprayed Daconil at 2oz per gallon on my gray leaf spot. I'm expecting to continue preventive treatments of systemic fungicide in granular form for the time-being.


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## ionicatoms

Cut the front yard and spread Granular Propiconazole 0.51% BioAdvanced Fungus Control for Lawns. Application rate was 2.9 lbs/M. It's a group 3 fungicide.

The RB-60 spreader is so much better than the Scotts DLX EdgeGuard. Glad I upgraded.

Didn't get a photo until nighttime, so this one has been color corrected:


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## ionicatoms

Cut the side and back yards. Followed up with BioAdvanced Fungus Control.

1.8 lbs/M in backyard (less than preventive rate)

3.5 lbs/M in side yard (curative rate)







Follow-up on the sod webworm damage:


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## ionicatoms

This area is really struggling. It's so bad that it's looking like large patch, but I assume it's just advanced gray leaf spot. I am very disappointed.







Here's a follow-up on the sod webworm damage:


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## ionicatoms

Decided to try liquid nitrogen for the first time. I picked a 500 sq.ft area that has a mixture of healthy and struggling grass and applied at a rate of .23lbs N per 1k sq.ft.

Factors affecting this test:
Active gray leaf spot disease; literature says to avoid nitrogen, but I haven't put any out in the past two months. The grass is really struggling.

Also, there was a light rain after the liquid nitrogen application. Suppose this could just turn out to be a waste of money.


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## ionicatoms

Ordered Quali-Pro Isoxaben 75 WG pre-emergent for broadleaf control. I know a lot of people think it's more cost effective to just spray post-emergent, but I'm hoping this will limit the amount of post-emergent I need to use next year.

This past year I logged carolina geranium, dollar weed, creeping woodsorrel, chamber bitter, spotted spurge, common chickweed, and some others.


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## ionicatoms

It's been 5 days since I sprayed the liquid nitrogen (for the first time ever). I don't see any impact at all. None. The surrounding area looks exactly the same as the treated area. I had the same sort of result from applying liquid iron. I have to conclude my expectations are out of whack or I'm just not understanding the appropriate indications for use for these products.

Consequently, I decided to mix 8oz of the liquid nitrogen (20-0-0) and 4oz of Palm Nutritional Spray and applied it with a hose-end sprayer at 6oz per gallon. In the past, the area around my palms would sometimes appear to be a darker shade of green after spraying the nutritional. I don't know if it was causal or just coincidental. This time I sprayed in the middle of the backyard, away from the palms. I made a 250 sq. ft. strip from the fence to the pool, hoping to allow for a visual discrimination of some sort. It's damn difficult to learn from a bunch of experiments where nothing happens!

In order to control for the water, to some degree, I sprayed out a perpendicular strip with plain water. We'll see. I took "before" photos, so I'll be able to compare them to "after" photos.


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## ionicatoms

As I'm preparing for my winter pre-emergent's, wanted to bookmark this.










Part of my planning has been identifying weeds and killing them so I'll have a better idea of what I'm looking at for next summer. Identified Globe Sedge in my neglected backyard.


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## ionicatoms

Bermuda is getting tall again, making my St. Aug look like crap. Cut the front yard at 3.25" (0.5" lower than normal) to see if the bermuda will green up.

But that's not the only thing making the yard look like crap. I've had gray leaf spot and sod webworm this past season.

I really struggled with the decision over what to do next. I need to put out my next round of fungicide, but I also want to put out some HumicDG to help with the recovery while we're still in the blackout. According to research humic will counteract the potency of fungicide. So I decided to go with the humic today. I put out 40 lb in specific areas of my lawn. I'm hoping to see a response of some sort, at least in relation to the areas that didn't get it treated. If this doesn't work then I'll need to switch to liquid Humic 12. I'll have to do the fungicide later.

I also took some core samples in areas that were not doing well and found that I had some areas where there was clay about 4 in below the soil line. It seems that I've got it all in this yard: silt, loam, and clay.

Pictures from today:

Echo RB-60


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## ionicatoms

ionicatoms said:


> I decided to mix 8oz of the liquid nitrogen (20-0-0) and 4oz of Palm Nutritional Spray and applied it with a hose-end sprayer at 6oz per gallon. In the past, the area around my palms would sometimes appear to be a darker shade of green after spraying the nutritional. I don't know if it was causal or just coincidental. This time I sprayed in the middle of the backyard, away from the palms. I made a 250 sq. ft. strip from the fence to the pool, hoping to allow for a visual discrimination of some sort.


I got nothing.


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## ionicatoms

Spent the morning spraying RoundUp Super Concentrate. Some of the areas in the backyard were getting spayed for a second time because I didn't get a total kill from last time. I upped the dose to 3oz per gallon and hit as many areas as I could. I did not add a surfactant because I believe round up super concentrate already has a surfactant built into it.

Around the pool, I reduced the dose to 2 oz per gallon. This fall I've got to make sure I get down pre-emergence and clean off the pavers really well. I really want to seal them too if possible.


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## ionicatoms

Cut all three lawns at 3.75" yesterday afternoon. Today I put out Cleary's 3336 DG Lite (Thiophanate-methyl 2.08%) at an overall rate of 3.24 lbs per 1k sq.ft. The bag calls for a maximum of 3 lbs per 1k on residential per application, so I need to work on my measuring technique.

Using the Echo RB-60, I found setting #3 to put out the right amount for my walking speed, which is a brisk pace. Setting #2 left me with too much product in the hopper (I went back over the yard in a perpendicular route), and setting #2.5 left me with a little leftover that I used to target problem areas in the front yard.

Edit: This product seems to be identical to Lesco T-Storm 2G.


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## Jbird95

@ionicatoms 
I enjoyed reading this- well documented with great pics. I feel your pain re fungus. The cost of fungicide makes it more painful....


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## ionicatoms

@Jbird95, thanks for commenting. I think the journals are really helpful. It never would have occurred to me to log this stuff online until I saw it here on TLF. Very nice way to learn, share, and I think also it will come in handy if I need some help with a diagnosis in the future.

Here's an update on my sod webworm recovery. I never did any top dressing, or dethatching, or really anything. My neighbor keeps "scalping" this spot when he turns around to go back into his yard. I've told him to raise the deck, but no change in behavior. 
So I guess recovery could have happened faster. But here's what it looked like recently for anybody tracking it:

Top is 9/12. Bottom is 8/4.


Side yard, 9/12


I love the way the grass looks at night.


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## ionicatoms

Got the Flowzone Cyclone 2 today.

Simulated test with water:
Low High setting (II), Stock Green Tip, full battery, 0.56 gpm (to empty tank), 0.54gpm (the first 1.5 gallons).

Low setting (I), Stock Green Tip, 0.48 gpm (to empty tank).

Didn't use blue dye, but didn't observe leaks. Off to a good start.



I didn't have time to mow, but I was able to edge and blow.


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## ionicatoms

This is a follow up on the plugging experiment I did with Floratam. I've done nothing special with it. Getting a fair number of weeds. But doesn't look terrible. The next grass that I would like to experiment with will be citra blue.


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## ionicatoms

ionicatoms said:


> Out of frustration I spot sprayed Daconil at 2oz per gallon on my gray leaf spot. I'm expecting to continue preventive treatments of systemic fungicide in granular form for the time-being.


Follow up on Fungicide efficacy:


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## ionicatoms

Follow-up on Sod Webworm recovery:

Sorry about the lighting. All I can say is it's come a long way since mid-July.


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## ionicatoms

Cut the front and side yards at 4.25 in today.


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## ionicatoms

Used the Flowzone Cyclone 2 for the first application today. Went straight to the 2-nozzle boom. Good news, @DFWLawnNut, no leaks from the tee using the adaptors I bought.

I decided to mix up a brew consisting of 2 pints Southern Ag Palm Nutritional spray, ascorbic acid from 4 crushed vitamin C tabs (filtered the undissolved pieces out), and the leftover Vigoro 20-0-0 liquid nitrogen (about 16 oz) diluted with water until I hit the 4 gallon mark. I sprayed on the lower setting (I).

I'm expecting a bunch of rain later today; really this was more about practicing/playing with the new sprayer. @Greendoc said to use plenty of water, so I expect the rain to mitigate any mistake I might have made.

I didn't try to calibrate the boom yet, so after spraying the side yard (2200 sq.ft), I had a quite a bit leftover;



so I sprayed half a bush, my front palm tree, and made two separate control marks in the front yard to see if any response can be detected. After that, tank was empty.

To clean up, I flushed into a 5 gallon bucket, and then drenched the area around the palm.

Pretty good experience except for the fluid draining from the wand/boom nozzles due to not having a check valve. I need to get a better idea of where the spray is landing. I had a hard time seeing it on the ground (was overcast).


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## ionicatoms

Mental note: setting 3 on the Echo RB-60 is too high for DiseaseEx preventive rate. I'm guessing setting 3 is about 4lb/1k, the curative rate. I was shooting to put out an even 10lb over 3500 sq.ft. but I figure I only hit about 2500 sq.ft.

Update: I decided to do the side yard even though it's dark outside. I dropped in a 10 lb bag and ran it at setting 2.5. I figured there was about one and a half to two pounds left over. So I went back and put the remainder on some of the places in the front yard that I missed.

My estimate for applying DiseaseEx on setting 2.5 is 3.75 lb per thousand square feet.

Review of recent fungicide apps:
08/12 - Group 11
08/22 - Group M5
08/25 - Group 3
09/13 - Group 1
10/01 - Group 11


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## Buffalolawny

Wow the use of ascorbic acid to increase the iron uptake of the fertiliser.

But a sharp hit of "N" to Buffalo / St Aug grass as a foliar application could increase the risk of the stolon becoming diseased not from the intake but from the blocking.

The presence of ascorbic acid inhibits enzymes in the synthesis pathway. This process follows a rhythm, so that enzyme expression peaks in the morning to support biosynthesis later on when mid-day sunlight intensity demands high ascorbic acid concentrations depending on the plant.

So does it green up, increase leaf growth, increase stolon growth, root mass increase?

What have you observed after to added Vitamin C tablet to the mix?

Thought a teaspoon of epsom salts was simpler?


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## ionicatoms

@Buffalolawny so far, I observed no effect at all. I've had such poor response with iron that I thought maybe I needed to lower the pH of my water before mixing in the iron. It was a stab in the dark.

I haven't heard of using Epsom salt. Will look into that. Do you have a reference to share?


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## ionicatoms

Cut the backyard, half at 3.75" half at 4.25".

The I hit the backyard with a heavy dose of Clearys 3336 DG Lite Granular. Ran at setting 2.5 on the Echo RB-60. Leftover was used to spot treat the front yard + one area in the side yard. This GLS is relentless; I'm looking forward to trying liquid fungicides in the future to see if they are any more effective. Granular may be fine for preventive measures but I've been struggling with a cure since July.



I'm hoping to borrow a pressure washer in the near future to clean off my pavers.


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## ionicatoms

First liquid app of pre-emergent today. I thought I had my step count calibrated, but apparently not. 72 steps per minute is definitely too slow. I ran out of my first batch way too soon.

I used: 
1.0 fluid oz (2 tablespoons, 0.75 ounces by weight) of prodiamine 65 WG and 
1.5 fluid oz (3 tablespoons, 0.75 ounces by weight) of isoxaben 75 WG in 4 gallons of water.

I ended up making two batches to finish the front lawn, and then I went around the front yard and sprayed all the non-grassy mulched areas that I could. I don't have any idea how much square footage I have unmulched, so it's uncertain how much I product I put out per 1k.

I used blue dye since I'm still so new at spraying. You can really tell the difference between the front yard and the unsprayed sideyard.


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## ionicatoms

Applied 0.5 fluid oz (1 tbsp) prodiamine 65wg and 0.75 fluid oz (1.5 tbsp) isoxaben 75wg to the backyard. I didn't manage to cover all the mulched areas despite walking at a pace of 90 steps per minute putting out 4 gallons.


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## Buffalolawny

ionicatoms said:


> @Buffalolawny so far, I observed no effect at all. I've had such poor response with iron that I thought maybe I needed to lower the pH of my water before mixing in the iron. It was a stab in the dark.
> 
> I haven't heard of using Epsom salt. Will look into that. Do you have a reference to share?


Epsom Salt can benefit your garden in several ways. Magnesium is vital for seed germination and the production of chlorophyll, which will help your lawn to flourish. It also improves the absorption of crucial fertilizing minerals such as phosphorous and nitrogen, meaning your grass will be able to draw more nutrients form the soil. The sulfur also aids chlorophyll production and amplifies the effectiveness of the soil nutrients. A safe and natural fertilizer, Epsom Salt will help to balance the PH of your soil.

https://diygarden.co.uk/lawn-care/how-to-make-your-grass-greener-with-epsom-salts/


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## ionicatoms

Cut the front yard at 4.25".



We're going to put in a spooky walk in the side yard, so I cut that half at 3.75" and the far side at 4.25"







I still see a lot of problem spots that look like fungus. Going to take a closer look at that later this weekend. But my first order of business will be spraying post-emergent herbicide on my weeds.


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## ionicatoms

Yesterday I tilled up a small area in the backyard and planted some CitraBlue plugs.


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## ionicatoms

Here are the other two CitraBlue test areas.

This spot is right on the edge of my property where my neighbor drives his tractor across the boundary to turn around in my yard while he's cutting his grass too low in my opinion. Since this grass likes to be cut lower I figure it's a good stress test.





This one is right by my driveway. I tore up right in the middle of a Bermuda patch. Typically there's foot traffic in this area and it's been hypothesized that that is why Bermuda has taken over this spot prior to my moving in. Since CitraBlue is supposed to be more appropriate for sport turf, we'll see how it holds up here.


----------



## ionicatoms

Watered this morning, cut the front yard at 4.25".


----------



## ionicatoms

Cut the front and side yard at 4.25"

The side yard was looking pretty poor after having cut it at 3.75" 8 days ago.


----------



## Buffalolawny

Good spot to plant the new plugs where you get out of the car for traffic hardiness


----------



## ionicatoms

@Buffalolawny yeah, it's a bit late in the season to be experimenting with plugs, but I figure patience is the companion of wisdom. We'll see how the three test spots develop over the next year. I wonder if I should be feeding them with anything special.


----------



## ionicatoms

Cut the backyard and applied 14 lb of Vigoro 29-0-3 to 7100 sq.ft. Figure that's about a half a pound of N per 1k. 65% of that is slow release.


----------



## Live Oak

@ionicatoms Looking forward to seeing how you like Citrablue. It's getting a bit late in the season, but next spring I plan on installing some plugs in a rather shady area of my back yard. I've heard Citrablue has very good shade tolerance. How did you till the soil and did you put down fertilizer/compost? I've never installed plugs before.


----------



## ionicatoms

@Live Oak, 
TBH I kinda went with a "lazy" man's approach.

Without really much prep at all, I tore up the spots with the Echo PAS Cultivator attachment, pulled as much root/leaf tissue as I felt like, and then dropped in some Scott's lawn soil. It comes pre-charged with tiny amounts of N/P/K (I figure the plugs also have their own supply of nutrients to last for a few weeks at the least).

After that, I went straight into plugging, making sure to get good soil-to-plug contact. Yesterday was the first application of fert; I went very light. Not trying to spur a huge amount of growth right away. I figure just let it get established over the fall and focus on spreading in the spring.

I think with both plugs and sod, ideally you want to hit them with a systemic fungicide ~10+ days after planting to minimize potential issues. Dunno about your area, but around here, plugs can be done anytime of year. I understand that they are much hardier than sod because you're getting a very nice bundle of roots/nutrients with the plug.


----------



## mjh648

did you find these plugs locally or did you order them online? Having trouble finding plugs in Houston.


----------



## ionicatoms

mjh648 said:


> did you find these plugs locally or did you order them online? Having trouble finding plugs in Houston.


CitraBlue is pretty new; I didn't want the hassle of having to track down plugs locally. Mine were shipped from Todd Valley, https://www.toddvalleyfarms.com/citra-blue-st.-augustine.html. The flat comes with 72 small plugs; you space them out depending on how quickly you want it to fill in

I see they list recommended planting dates for zone 9 (same as me) to be from March 10 through October 15.

Note that mine came with snails; it didn't turn out to be a problem, but it was a surprise! I wrote about it here and here.


----------



## mjh648

Interesting that they sell palmetto and not Raleigh given Raleigh's resistance to SAD. Is Citrablue resistant to SAD like some other varieties?

I have some Raleigh installed that is thinned out in some spots and might throw some plugs in the spring but want the colors to match i think.


----------



## turbopenguin

It says mowing height 1"-2". Doesn't that seem quite low? I've been mowing mine at 3.5"


----------



## ionicatoms

mjh648 said:


> Interesting that they sell palmetto and not Raleigh given Raleigh's resistance to SAD. Is Citrablue resistant to SAD like some other varieties?
> 
> I have some Raleigh installed that is thinned out in some spots and might throw some plugs in the spring but want the colors to match i think.


Duda Sod (https://duda-sod.com/citrablue-st-augustine-sod/) claims CitraBlue is resistant to SAD. I think it's unclear if all the claims about CitraBlue's disease resistance will hold up over time. Based on what I have read, I don't think CitraBlue will match any other St. Augustine color.



turbopenguin said:


> It says mowing height 1"-2". Doesn't that seem quite low? I've been mowing mine at 3.5"


Yeah, from what I read, CItraBlue can be used as a sport turf if you mow it low. Maybe it's a "choose your own adventure" grass.


----------



## ionicatoms

Cut all three lawns. Pest control is coming in the morning to put out the quarterly treatment, presumably Talstar.


----------



## ionicatoms

Getting ready for fall; I just ordered the bagging blade from Toro. PN 108-3759-03


----------



## ionicatoms

Decided to take a risk (high is 86) and spot sprayed Image Weed Killer for Southern Lawns. Mix rate was 10 oz concentrate in 2.75 gallons water. I did not use a surfactant this time.

Sprayed using the Flowzone green tip on the low setting. I think maybe I didn't dilute it enough; the battery powered sprayer seems to put out a lot more fluid than my 1gal hand pump. Hopefully the St. Aug doesn't get too damaged.


----------



## ionicatoms

Put out 10lbs of BioAdvanced Fungus Control for Lawns. Covered probably 6000 sq.ft (bag rate is 5000 sq.ft). I did all of the front yard all of the side yard and the area in the back next to the back fence.

I used setting number two on the Echo RB60 broadcast spreader.



Review of recent fungicide apps:
08/12 - Group 11
08/22 - Group M5
08/25 - Group 3
09/13 - Group 1
10/01 - Group 11
10/25 - Group 3


----------



## ionicatoms

Wife decided to do some spray painting. She laid out a couple of old plastic shower curtains and left the pieces to dry. This damage is from about 1 hours worth of baking in the sun.


----------



## ionicatoms

Cut and edged the side and front yards. Wife began constructing the "spooky walk" in the side yard. Looks like weather will be good for Halloween.


----------



## ionicatoms

Cut the front yard with the new high lift bagging blade while using the mulch plug.



This is the area that was hit with sod webworm. My neighbor cuts this area so short it really just looks ... crappy.


----------



## ionicatoms

Cut the backyard and half the sideyard.


----------



## ionicatoms

Has been crazy lately, the yard has been neglected. Today I was able to edge, trim, and mow the front and side yards. I know I've got some problems in the backyard to check out tomorrow. Looks like fungus or bugs. Pretty bad looking.


----------



## ionicatoms

Managed to cut the backyard and cleaned up the front yard a little, 4.25" height of cut.


----------



## ionicatoms

Cut the side and front yards.





Confirmed large patch in the backyard  
That's what I get for going light on the fungicide!


----------



## ionicatoms

Forgot to mention, I put in a new mailbox.


----------



## Live Oak

How's the CitraBlue coming in so far? @ionicatoms


----------



## ionicatoms

Live Oak said:


> How's the CitraBlue coming in so far? @ionicatoms


I planted the plugs on Oct 10. Here's where they are at 6 weeks later.

Left side is "After," right side is "Before."









Top is "before," bottom is "After."



So far, I really like it. It's showing good potential. I'm really excited to see where it's at by the beginning of summer. The color is really interesting.


----------



## ionicatoms

The large patch in the backyard is pretty bad.

Sprayed Eagle 20 (mode 3) mixed with Daconil in the backyard and half the side yard.

Hopefully I can get some time later today to throw out some granular azoxystrobin.


----------



## Live Oak

Thanks for the update - that CB is looking really nice.


----------



## ionicatoms

Spread DiseaseEx at the curative rate (setting 3 on Echo RB-60) in the backyard. Leftover product was spread in the side yard where I had large patch back in January.


----------



## ionicatoms

<edging in process>


----------



## ionicatoms

Mostly done. Much cleaner than it was.





I think I'll continue working on this leg until it's less remarkable.


----------



## ionicatoms

Trimmed up the bush hiding the A/C and mulched until I ran out.


----------



## ionicatoms

Cut all three lawns. Trimmed around Christmas lights. Pulled out one bottlebrush shrub. Turns out they don't have a deep root system; instead it was very wide. Finished up by adding 4 more bags of melaleuca mulch.


----------



## ionicatoms

Sprayed propiconazole in the front yard and side yard today. I have to walk pretty dang fast with this cyclone/chapin boom setup.

The Bermuda looks awful mixed in with the Saint Augustine at this time of year. It's really depressing how much Bermuda is sitting in my side yard.









Edit: also sprayed the backyard.


----------



## ionicatoms

Just ordered Rightline Ethofumesate and Atrazine for use on the Bermuda during green up. Going to try for Bermuda suppression in accordance with University of Georgia publication.


----------



## UltimateLawn

@ionicatoms, I share your thoughts on Bermuda in the St. Augustine!

I thought there was no way to suppress Bermuda without also killing the St Aug (Glyphosate, Etc.). Can you provide the link to the UofG publication on this? Do you know if anyone else has had success with this approach? Even if I pull the Bermuda and lay new sod, the Bermuda creeps in as neighbors have common Bermuda that have taken over their lawns.


----------



## ionicatoms

@UltimateLawn See https://secure.caes.uga.edu/extension/publications/files/pdf/B%201393_1.PDF for details.

@CenlaLowell documented his experience with it in another journal. Apparently it is critical to get the timing right.


----------



## UltimateLawn

@ionicatoms, Great share!


----------



## CenlaLowell

ionicatoms said:


> @UltimateLawn See https://secure.caes.uga.edu/extension/publications/files/pdf/B%201393_1.PDF for details.
> 
> @CenlaLowell documented his experience with it in another journal. Apparently it is critical to get the timing right.


Hey all, I'm going to chime in here. This process definitely works but you will need patience and be able to adjust. You really need a high concentrate of atrazine but we can not get that. So make a journal and document results and adjust as needed. Next year I'm running ethofusmate at label and atrazine at double the rate. St Augustine will win the turf battle with proper care and chemicals.

Good luck.


----------



## ionicatoms

Thanks, @CenlaLowell :thumbup:


----------



## ionicatoms

Unpacked the new gram scale from Christmas today. Works great!


----------



## ionicatoms

Cut the side yard at 3.75" (half an inch lower than normal). Bagged clippings. I've got a lot of dormant areas. More than last year; it's been a lot colder this winter than last.


----------



## mjh648

did you buy your plugs online or local? Looking at where the best place for me to buy them. Sod farms in Houston only have sod squares.


----------



## ionicatoms

@mjh648:

Got my CitraBlue plugs from Todd Valley Farms. By Mail. I planted in October and they have all survived. Looking forward to seeing them grow over 2021.

Here are the three test spots:

Area at property line, gets cut low by my neighbor:


Middle of Bermuda patch, by driveway:


Backyard:


----------



## ionicatoms

Consulted with thegrassfactor on my dormancy "problem."

He suggested that I'm getting a higher incidence of dew in my open sky areas.

Ideas were to: 

Maintain a low HOC allowing the soil to be more responsive to the ambient air temperatures.

Make an application of something like calcium nitrate or potassium nitrate in the 48 hours before a frost and "starve" the grass of a little bit of water to increase the salinity of the water in the leaf tissue.

[media]https://youtu.be/S1UukpcS5Zk?t=2147[/media]


----------



## ionicatoms

Cut the backyard at 3.25" (bagged clippings) and spread 10lb DiseaseEx at setting 2 on the Echo RB-60. I figure that covered about 4600 sq. ft. (didn't cover the whole front yard) which is pretty close to the preventive rate shown on the bag.


----------



## Redtwin

Is that tiger striping in Saint Augustine?


----------



## ionicatoms

@Redtwin

I think it is! I guess it got _just_ cold enough to ruin my St. Aug color in the open sky areas.

I think I'm going to try one (or both) of the suggestions above next winter.


----------



## ionicatoms

Trimmed two bottlebrush shrubs and removed one palmetto palm. Hopefully I can get the second clump out tomorrow.


----------



## Live Oak

Dumb question but are open-sky areas more prone to dormancy because they are less "protected/warmed" by a tree's canopy?


----------



## ionicatoms

Live Oak said:


> Dumb question but are open-sky areas more prone to dormancy because they are less "protected/warmed" by a tree's canopy?


The ground under a tree cannot radiate heat as fast as it would under the open sky. Consequently, it stays warmer longer and doesn't form dew as readily. With warmer temperatures and less frost the grass is under less stress.

Separate note; I was able to pull out my second palmetto clump today. I'm so looking forward to something different.


----------



## ionicatoms

Replaced the air filter and the spark plug on the Super Recycler.


----------



## ionicatoms

The leaves are piling up in the street and in the grass under the oak tree now. I went ahead and did an edging all around the property and then blew off the street into the yard and followed up with a cut of the side and front yards at 3.75 inches. I'm still using the high lift bagging blade with great success. I can now confidently recommend it as a useful accessory for the Super Recycler. I also really like the lawn bag that I got from Toro that attaches to the mower with velcro. I use it all the time to pick up sticks and pull little weeds as I'm walking the mower around the yard.


----------



## ionicatoms

Had some rain over the weekend and am expecting more rain in about 48hrs so about 10 minutes before sundown I decided to whip up a batch of Image Weed Killer for Southern Lawns. I know I didn't find all my weeds because you can only see so much with a handheld flashlight but I did manage to spray out 2 1/2 gallons H2O mixed with about 8 oz of product. I used turf marking dye so tomorrow I'll find out how much more I've got to spray.

This is a case of "do as I say, not as I do."


----------



## ionicatoms

Ordered pH test strips. Planning to take a little more care with my mixes this year since my source water pH tends to be high. Looks like citric acid will do the trick.


----------



## ionicatoms

Sprayed pre-emergent prodiamine 65 WG+ isoxaben 75WG. 3 batches at 0.75oz of each product in 4 gallons, followed by 0.5oz of each product mixed into 4 gallons to finish the backyard.

So total used was 2.75 oz of each product spread over maybe 9k comes out to about 0.30 oz per 1k sq. ft. Not sure if this is enough to block the spurge, dollar weed, and chamberbitter.


----------



## ionicatoms

Broke out the lawn torch and scorched all the weeds growing around the curb and in between my pavers.


----------



## 12620

ionicatoms said:


> Broke out the lawn torch and scorched all the weeds growing around the curb and in between my pavers.


Are the neighbors looking at you funny yet? :lol: I gotta convince my wife I need another new toy.


----------



## ionicatoms

Yeah, I get some curious looks. The lawns in my neighborhood tend to be pretty ... neglected, so people look at my lawn activity and have got to be wondering why I'm so worried about a smattering of barely visible of weeds.


----------



## ionicatoms

Continued cleaning up the front bed. Won't be long before I can get to planting some flowers.


----------



## ionicatoms

Spread 10lbs DiseaseEx fungicide at setting 2 (preventive rate) on the Echo RB-60. Covered the side yard, back yard, and part of the front yard (along curb and around the island bed).


----------



## ionicatoms

Continued working on the front island mulch bed renovation. Filled in the big hole left by the palmetto plant with top soil (4 bags) and edged out all the excess foliage and laid out about 10 bags of melaleuca mulch.

I am running out of time to get my flower seeds planted, so that is going to have to happen soon.


----------



## ionicatoms

Cut the side yard at 2.75". I figure it's time to let the sun shine a little deeper into the canopy and hopefully wake the grass up soon. Plus I'm expecting a bunch of rain so I would like for the grass to have a chance to avoid overly wet conditions for extended periods of time.







Oh, yeah. Greencast sent me a notice that it's warm enough for doveweed to germinate today. Good thing I already did my pre-emergent.


----------



## ionicatoms

Cut the backyard at 2.75". Observed a number of weeds that obviously germinated between my early October and late January pre-emergent applications. It's going to be too rainy to bother with killing them now. Will have to wait a week or so.


----------



## Buffalolawny

Try spraying the individual weeds and putting a dog bowl or cheap black bucket over the top


----------



## ionicatoms

Good idea! I may try that.

Got myself a paint mixer from Lowe's for the next time I spray.


----------



## UltimateLawn

@ionicatoms , I picked one of these mixers recently for the new season. Let me know how it goes! It looks like a counter-rotating spin would work better in a tank, since it will pull from the bottom and lift towards the top.


----------



## ionicatoms

@UltimateLawn I will. It's got to be safer than pumping the mix out the sprayer and back into the tank. I hope.


----------



## ionicatoms

Did some spot spraying with Image Southern Lawn Weed Killer. Mixed up 8oz in 2.5 gallons of water, added surfactant and the green marking dye.





@UltimateLawn the mixer worked well. Although, I forgot to add marking dye before mixing.


----------



## ionicatoms

Feb 20th on the left. Feb 11th on the right (right after I cut down to 2.75")


----------



## ionicatoms

Just ordered *Cleary 3336 EG* Fungicide - 5 Lb.

I'm almost out of DiseaseEx (got that sweet deal at Tractor Supply), so I'll be shopping for sprayable Azoxystrobin next.

Spring was hell last year with the GLS; I'm determined to do better this year.


----------



## UltimateLawn

@ionicatoms , I've found that price per app was least expensive to more expensive...Cleary 3336, Azoxystrobin, and then Propiconazole. This was surprising to me given that the Propiconazole seems to have a lot lower cost options.


----------



## ionicatoms

Today I fed the rose bushes and the front palm tree (soil drench method). The paint stirring attachment worked well in a 5 gallon bucket. Highly recommended.

Also continued working on the front mulch bed. I've ALMOST got all the pine bark out and replaced with melaleuca.







Also, I'm still working to reshape the bed, so I moved some sod from a narrow spot to the large bare spot where the palmetto was overgrown.


----------



## ionicatoms

UltimateLawn said:


> @ionicatoms , I've found that price per app was least expensive to more expensive...Cleary 3336, Azoxystrobin, and then Propiconazole. This was surprising to me given that the Propiconazole seems to have a lot lower cost options.


@UltimateLawn, that surprises me. I came up with the following numbers based on what I've paid out per 1,000 sq.ft:

Propiconazole 14.3 [1 gallon bottle] - $0.35 per week (1 fl oz per 1k), double cost for high (curative) rate.
DiseaseEx [10 lb bag] - $0.81 per week (2 lb per 1k), double for high (curative) rate.
Clearys 3336 EG [5 lb] - $1.06 per week (2 oz per 1k)


----------



## UltimateLawn

@ionicatoms , that is correct. I was looking based on my total applications for the year in my program and found that at the given app frequencies and 5K ft2 at higher rates...

Propiconazole 14.3 - 5 apps - 2 floz per 1,000 ft2 = $64.15
Azoxy 2SC - 3 apps - 0.38 floz per 1,000 ft2 = $44.53
Clearys - 2 apps - 2 floz per 1,000 ft2 = $32.22

I think what threw my calculations was the frequency of my program with Propiconazole being the highest frequency for the year.

I haven't done the numbers for DiseaseEx vs Azoxy 2SC, but I wanted to do liquid applications of fungicide. I've seen DiseaseEx on sale at times, so the cost is probably a lot lower per app.


----------



## ionicatoms

Oh yeah, it's starting to warm up!


----------



## ionicatoms

Squeezed in a cut on the side yard (3.25") and edged and blew the front yard so I can cut it real quick tomorrow morning. Good start on the weekend.


----------



## ionicatoms

Took some time to look at the cost of various azoxystrobin products. Although I prefer the WDG product, it's more than 2x as much as the Abound product. Here's what I came up with:

Azoxy 50 WDG (1 lb package // $160) - $0.50 per 1k app per week at the low rate (twice the cost for high rate)
Abound Flowable (128 fl oz package // $189) - $0.14 per 1k app per week at the low rate (twice the cost for high rate)

Abound Flowable it is!


----------



## leefjl63

@ionicatoms I'm getting $0.56 per 1k @ .38oz low rate. Abound @ $189 is $1.47 per oz.


----------



## ionicatoms

Yeah, I should have noted that my numbers are per week. I assume an app of azoxy lasts 4 weeks.


----------



## ionicatoms

Cut the front yard, then raked and bagged.







Still pulling St. Aug out of this clumping grass.



Found nutsedge and doveweed over by the property boundary


----------



## ionicatoms

Sprayed RoundUp Super Concentrate. 
Cut the backyard (mulch) at 3.25". 
Lightly raked the edge on the corner to remove dead material.


----------



## UltimateLawn

What did you apply the RoundUp on?


----------



## ionicatoms

UltimateLawn said:


> What did you apply the RoundUp on?


Random weeds growing in my mulched beds along the property boundary and around the pool/house. I am progressively working to replace the mulch with melaleuca or rock, which is taking a long time, so there are large areas that are thin on the old pine nugget mulch and are prone to weeds.

Here's an older photo to show what it looks like.


----------



## ionicatoms

Ps. I like that version of the product because it doesn't have the diquat dibromide ingredient which reduces the effectiveness of the kill, despite giving a quick desiccated appearance.


----------



## 12620

ionicatoms said:


>


That looks my nemesis Dayflower and if it is, watch for blue flowers after a rain and destroy them all!
EDIT: And I just read from Clemson doveweed is part of the dayflower family, so I'm probably wrong. :bd:


----------



## ionicatoms

You might be right. I forgot all about dayflower when I was pulling this stuff up. I definitely have seen both on my property.


----------



## ionicatoms

My contract with the pest control guys has come to an end. I ordered Cyzmic CS and Tekko Pro and GrubEx today.

Anybody remember last year when GrubEx was out of stock? What a pain!


----------



## ionicatoms

Cut the front and side yards at 3.25".

















I lost track of what I was doing after sucking up leaves out of the street and unintentionally "scalped" this little strip at at the second lowest setting when I was going to dump a bag full of leaves into my yard waste cans.



Whoops! :lol:


----------



## ionicatoms

Ok. After tremendous hesitation, I finally sprayed the Bermuda suppression formula. It's not the one from UF/UGA/Clemson, so I wonder what will happen. Here's the formula I used:

On 2200 Sq. F
1.25 floz Rightline Ethofumesate 4 SC
16 floz Southern Ag Atrazine St. Augustine Weed Killer
2.25 floz Southern Ag Methylated Seed Oil
4 floz Liquid Harvest Lazer Green
Added H2O until had 4 gallons of water

All mixed with paint mixer attachment.

Sprayed with Chapin 2 nozzle boom attached to Flowzone Cyclone V2 at low setting. I had fluid left over after spraying, so I revisited the areas where Bermuda is most troublesome.

UF called for 3 lb of Ethofumesate a.i. per acre. By my calculation, I applied 0.77 lbs a.i. per acre. That's about what the Rightline label calls for. It sure makes me wonder.





The Lazer green dye looks awesome compared to the blue dye. One of these days I'll stop using dye. But it still helps me.

Edit: I sprayed propiconazole fungicide on the side yard between mowing and spraying the Bermuda suppression formula above. Hence the "double dark" green (dye) appearance.


----------



## leefjl63

I'll be watching your Bermuda experiment &#128512;
Did u get it from pestrong.com?


----------



## ionicatoms

leefjl63 said:


> I'll be watching your Bermuda experiment 😀
> Did u get it from pestrong.com?


The Rightline Ethofumesate and the Atrazine came from Pestrong. But atrazine can be found at Ace.

UF, UGA, and Clemson have all published the same formula. The problem I have with their formula is that it calls for _more_ Ethofumesate than can be applied if you follow the annual limit published by Rightline. Instead of going all-in on the academic finding, I'm going to start "small" and build confidence going forward. @CenlaLowell has a long running log of his efforts to do the same. I'm sort of following his lead.

I expect it will be a long-lasting fight based on the feedback I've received from other forum members. But that's ok if I can just figure out the timing.


----------



## leefjl63

Good luck! I hope it doesn't ding the St Aug too badly. Maybe with the lower rate it will be ok. But I wonder if the UF rate is needed to be effective.

I'll need to read Cenla's thread again.


----------



## ionicatoms

Sprayed half the front yard with bermuda suppression formula. I hit the sunny part.


----------



## mjh648

ionicatoms said:


> My contract with the pest control guys has come to an end. I ordered Cyzmic CS and Tekko Pro and GrubEx today.
> 
> Anybody remember last year when GrubEx was out of stock? What a pain!


I have some Demand CS that I bought late last year I'm going to start putting out. Let me know how it goes for you. Are you going to rotate with anything else to prevent tolerance build up? I have some bifenthren granules so I was maybe thinking of getting Imidacloprid too and rotate them.


----------



## ionicatoms

mjh648 said:


> Are you going to rotate with anything else to prevent tolerance build up?


I probably will at some point. But since I'm just getting started, I don't have a plan yet. I don't want to use imidicloprid due to the effect on bees if I can avoid it.


----------



## mjh648

@ionicatoms oh no didn't know about the bees 

We have some plants that attract them. Don't want to setup a death trap. Thanks for the heads up.


----------



## ionicatoms

Ortho Nutsedge Killer smoked whatever this was (nutsedge or kylinga).



And I found my first seed head already!


----------



## CenlaLowell

leefjl63 said:


> Good luck! I hope it doesn't ding the St Aug too badly. Maybe with the lower rate it will be ok. But I wonder if the UF rate is needed to be effective.
> 
> I'll need to read Cenla's thread again.


Etho or atrazine will not harm st Augustine at all. Label rate is where I start. This time I'm running mso with the mix per @Greendoc advice.


----------



## ionicatoms

Finally I'm going to get some weather suitable for growing! I may spoon feed the CitraBlue plugs to see if I can get them to spread out.


----------



## ionicatoms

Finally got out in the front yard to start picking up the leaves. So many! Cut at 3.75".







All that and I'm still going to have to rake and again. Come on, growing season!


----------



## ionicatoms

Alright guys, I'm getting excited about the weather turning hot, so I decided to blow some money on a product I'm convinced is over-priced. I'm going to test this around a couple of my plugs and see how it goes.





Here's the before photo. This was a low spot that I filled in late last year and dropped a plug right in the center on.



I'm only treating one half of the spot with the Scotts EZ Patch.



Here's what it looked like after watering.


----------



## ionicatoms

Cut the side yard and back yard at 3.75". I can tell that not watering for 2+ months over the winter really took a toll. It's gonna be awhile before I fully recover these areas.

But the good news is I can start watering tomorrow morning.


----------



## leefjl63

@ionicatoms have you ever tried bio-stimulants? I used n-ext and fertilizer to help my thin spots fill out.


----------



## ionicatoms

@leefjl63 No, I haven't gotten into much of those products beyond humic and fertilizer. I've mostly been focused on learning how to use fungicide, insecticide, and herbicide for the past year. This year I've got plans to try PGR on my shady spots in addition to the experiment with Bermuda suppression in certain areas.


----------



## ionicatoms

Cut the front yard at 3.75" after edging and blowing.


----------



## CenlaLowell

ionicatoms said:


> Cut the front yard at 3.75" after edging and blowing.


When do you usually get fungus problems ? 
I'm trying something a little different to try to see if I can slow down fungus @ionicatoms


----------



## ionicatoms

@CenlaLowell the gray leaf spot was in full attack mode by the beginning of July last year, so I'm going to guess it gets going around early June. I'll be more vigilant about scouting for it this year.


----------



## CenlaLowell

ionicatoms said:


> @CenlaLowell the gray leaf spot was in full attack mode by the beginning of July last year, so I'm going to guess it gets going around early June. I'll be more vigilant about scouting for it this year.


Yeah I had a bad problem with that as well. This year I'm not spraying until the fungus rear it's head. What's weird is alot of people with the same turf type never get any fungus. @ionicatoms


----------



## ionicatoms

@CenlaLowell 
The more I've paid attention to the houses in my neighborhood, the more I have seen that they also have problems. The people who cut very short or infrequently have thin St. Aug lawns and I think that's why they aren't seeing as much fungus. For my neighbors who are receptive or curious, I have pointed out fungus in their yards. The old man across the street knows he has fungus but he doesn't worry about it. I think it boils down to the level of maintenance. I think highly maintained lawns that are thick are just gonna be more prone to fungus and it also looks more obvious in a thick lawn that it does in a thin lawn.


----------



## ionicatoms

Mowed up the oak leaves in the front yard again. It's been a whole two days. @thundergunexpress I hope we are near the end of this ugly bit of business.


----------



## ccarlos19

ionicatoms said:


> Cut the front yard at 3.75" after edging and blowing.


Your lawn looks amazing. The edging is on point.
I'm been working on mine this year but I always have issues with the grass closest to the side walk. How you keep yours so green at the edge.


----------



## ionicatoms

@ccarlos19 St. Augustine loves the heat right by the curb/sidewalk. St. Aug will grow right out into the street if you don't trim it back. Consequently, I don't do anything special other than water and rake out the dead stuff whenever it gets unsightly. Example posted here: https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?p=360289#p360289

If you have a problem area with your fescue, you should post a question over in the cool season forum with some pictures. I imagine you'll get some better suggestions there.


----------



## 12620

I thought I was out of the woods after raking up my oak leaves this entire month, but after a twenty dollar car wash it's now raining pollen everywhere! :evil:


----------



## ionicatoms

Put out 5.2 lbs of GrubEx in the front yard (3500 sq. ft). Used setting number 2 on the Echo RB-60. Seemed about right.

This rate of GrubEx is my attempt to duplicate the Acelepryn program for Sod Webworm prevention.

Program equivalent is ~1.5lbs GrubEx per 1k repeated once every two months for four months starting April 1st.


----------



## mjh648

ionicatoms said:


> Put out 5.2 lbs of GrubEx in the front yard (3500 sq. ft). Used setting number 2 on the Echo RB-60. Seemed about right.
> 
> This rate of GrubEx is my attempt to duplicate the Acelepryn program for Sod Webworm prevention.
> 
> Program equivalent is ~1.5lbs GrubEx per 1k repeated once every two months for four months starting April 1st.


Looking at the two I wonder how Acelepryn can get away with a higher yearly limit than Grubex? Acelepryn is 3.26gram AI per K and Grubex is only 1.04 gram AI / K. Over 300%.

Anyways. Will you do 2 apps at 1.5#/K of Grubex on 4/1 and 6/1 or will you do another app on 8/1?


----------



## ionicatoms

mjh648 said:


> Looking at the two I wonder how Acelepryn can get away with a higher yearly limit than Grubex? Acelepryn is 3.26gram AI per K and Grubex is only 1.04 gram AI / K. Over 300%.
> 
> Anyways. Will you do 2 apps at 1.5#/K of Grubex on 4/1 and 6/1 or will you do another app on 8/1?


I fully expect to put out 4 apps. 💪👍

Edit: The label on Acelepryn G says the maximum annual application of the active ingredient is 5.2 grams per 1k.


----------



## mjh648

Yep you're right. I guess grubex is conservative on yearly rates. If grubs, cinch bugs and webworms can be eradicated using this method I am 100% down to do this. Thanks for the tip.


----------



## ionicatoms

mjh648 said:


> If grubs, cinch bugs and webworms can be eradicated using this method I am 100% down to do this. Thanks for the tip.


I have no idea if it will work or not. Even the pest control guy I spoke with wasn't totally convinced by the acelepryn sod webworm guarantee. He seemed cautiously optimistic.

Sadly, if we don't have another bad year like the last one, I may not be able to draw any conclusions this year either.


----------



## mjh648

Thought about this last night. Grubex is touted as a once a year treatment and nobody ever talks about resistance build up and changing modes of action. Just curious why that is and if the Acelepryn 4 app method of grubex would be better suited alternating different modes every application.


----------



## ionicatoms

mjh648 said:


> Thought about this last night. Grubex is touted as a once a year treatment and nobody ever talks about resistance build up and changing modes of action. Just curious why that is and if the Acelepryn 4 app method of grubex would be better suited alternating different modes every application.


I haven't given any thought to resistance management yet. You might be right that Acelepryn 4x a year every year probably isn't going to be a permanent solution by itself. Perhaps complementing Acelepryn with an insect growth regulator and the occasional dylox for outbreaks will be sufficient as a mitigation.


----------



## mjh648

I'm just spit balling here. Don't mean to digress from your lawn journal but it's a interesting conversation. If it's too much let me know.

The MSU article states Grubex should be applied between April 1 and May 30 for best results.

So maybe go 2 apps of Grubex @ 1.5#/K (Group 28) on 4/1 and 6/1 which adheres to the recommended grub max down by the deadline of the MSU article which gives it time to leach in the soil so it's effective for grub control. Then wait 60 days and follow up with a combo of bifenthrin or lambda-cyhalothrin [since you already have Cyzmic] (Group 3A) with bT [organic so you can put it down at the same time](Group 11A) for the 3rd app and finish it off with with grubex as the 4th.

That way you're attacking your lawn every year with 3 different groups and are semi adhering to the Acelepryn method.


----------



## ionicatoms

@mjh648, you have to keep in mind that I'm really only focused on Tropical Sod Webworm. If none of my neighbors get them this year, then I'll know it was wasted money/effort and probably just go back to corrective treatments as needed like dylox, Bt or spinosad; I haven't found that many actual grubs in my yard so there's really no need for GrubEx since they haven't hit a critical mass.

My big lesson-learned from last year is this: You can't rely on preventive apps of bifenthrin to protect you from webworm and when you have an outbreak, you should work to kill them immediately (I waited a week or so to let the bifenthrin work - big, BIG mistake!).


----------



## mjh648

Good point. My mind is always trying to find black and white answers to issues that are more complex than that. You've clearly got more experience than me on these topics but I'm always trying to learn and find things that work for most.


----------



## ionicatoms

Put out GrubEx on the side yard and back yard. 1.5 lbs per 1k sq. ft. I briefly wet the yard afterwards; hopefully I get some rain tonight to water it in the rest of the way.


----------



## ionicatoms

Cut all three lawns at 3.25". Guess it was premature to raise the HOC to 3.75". It just didn't look right.


----------



## UltimateLawn

Hmmmm...St Augustine...in the South...@ionicatoms put down GrubEx...maybe I should?



Keep up the great journal!


----------



## ionicatoms

@UltimateLawn yeah, I like getting reminded by others to do stuff like fungicide and the like.

In other news, I am disgusted by the following frost advisory:



Guess I'll log some pre-frost photos for the record.


----------



## leefjl63

Weather man is always wrong &#128515;. Yard is looking good!


----------



## 12620

And I thought the last frost was almost two months ago! Stupid groundhog!

I feel your pain on the HOC, I tried to bump mine to 3.5 a couple weeks ago, did one pass and said "nope" and dropped it back to 3'' for now.


----------



## ionicatoms

Sprayed Cyzmic and Tekko around the house exterior today. I don't really know what the right concentration is, but I ended up using
0.8 floz Cyzmic and 1.5 floz Tekko in 4 gallons of water.

I hit a lot of the foundation wall, the fence, the eaves, and coated all the shrubs around the house. I even sprayed as much of the palm trees as I could reach.


----------



## ionicatoms

Put out the second app of the Bermuda Suppression mix. I see a lot of green Bermuda now. I have to wonder if I missed the sweet spot on timing or concentration.

Here's the recipe I used:
On 2200 Sq. F
1.25 floz Rightline Ethofumesate 4 SC
16 floz "Hi Yield" Atrazine Weed Killer
2.25 floz Southern Ag Methylated Seed Oil
4 floz Liquid Harvest Lazer Green
Added H2O until had 4 gallons of water

All mixed with paint mixer attachment.

Sprayed with Chapin 2 nozzle boom attached to Flowzone Cyclone V2 at low setting. I went over the area twice (at 90 degree angles) to get all the fluid out of my tank. 


On the front yard, I increased the amount of Ethofumesate to 2.0 floz.


----------



## CenlaLowell

ionicatoms said:


> Put out the second app of the Bermuda Suppression mix. I see a lot of green Bermuda now. I have to wonder if I missed the sweet spot on timing or concentration.
> 
> Here's the recipe I used:
> On 2200 Sq. F
> 1.25 floz Rightline Ethofumesate 4 SC
> 16 floz "Hi Yield" Atrazine Weed Killer
> 2.25 floz Southern Ag Methylated Seed Oil
> 4 floz Liquid Harvest Lazer Green
> Added H2O until had 4 gallons of water
> 
> All mixed with paint mixer attachment.
> 
> Sprayed with Chapin 2 nozzle boom attached to Flowzone Cyclone V2 at low setting. I went over the area twice (at 90 degree angles) to get all the fluid out of my tank.
> 
> 
> On the front yard, I increased the amount of Ethofumesate to 2.0 floz.


Document sections of your turf. Then come back at season end and see if st Augustine made progress. This formula from my experience doesn't turn the bermuda brown like you would think. What it does do is suppress it to the point where st Augustine will be able to over run it. The thicker the st Augustine the less the bermuda will be able to get through.

Also did you wait 21-28 before spraying the second app?


----------



## ionicatoms

Yep, it's been 4 weeks.


----------



## ionicatoms

@CenlaLowell here's a good shot showing the Bermuda in my St. Aug.

This is between the flower bed and the road near the corner.


----------



## CenlaLowell

ionicatoms said:


> @CenlaLowell here's a good shot showing the Bermuda in my St. Aug.
> 
> This is between the flower bed and the road near the corner.


Yeah It didn't ding it at all huh. Next thing I would do is see where your st Augustine is closest to that Bermuda them document that with pictures and see if the st Augustine makes any headway inside of the Bermuda.

In mine I've notice over time the st Augustine is making headway in every area. I also sprig every year as well. When I first started had 100% bermuda and weeds now it's about 40% st Augustine and 60 % Bermuda.

I hope someone else chimes in to see if they have any ideas as well.


----------



## ionicatoms

Watered the lawn this morning; ~45 minutes. It's been a week since it rained.


----------



## leefjl63

Hope we get some rain this weekend.


----------



## ionicatoms

leefjl63 said:


> Hope we get some rain this weekend.


Me too, brother! Keeping my fingers crossed.


----------



## ionicatoms

Something is dinging the St. Aug. I hope it's the Ethofumesate + Atrazine and not something else (ie dull blade or overnight frost we had).


----------



## ionicatoms

Sweet edge almighty! Edged, mowed, and blowed.


----------



## leefjl63

Tight edge!


----------



## ionicatoms

Cut the side yard at 3.75". It looks ROUGH. I hope if I start letting it get a little longer it might not look so bad. Between the cold weather, the Ethofumesate, and the Atrazine the side yard is definitely stressed.

In other news I'm going to order my first Eley hose reel. We are planting flowers in the bed out front and my wife wants to be able to water them on demand. The hose bucket just isn't going to cut it anymore. I put the post in the ground today.


----------



## CenlaLowell

ionicatoms said:


> Cut the side yard at 3.75". It looks ROUGH. I hope if I start letting it get a little longer it might not look so bad. Between the cold weather, the Ethofumesate, and the Atrazine the side yard is definitely stressed.
> 
> In other news I'm going to order my first Eley hose reel. We are planting flowers in the bed out front and my wife wants to be able to water them on demand. The hose bucket just isn't going to cut it anymore. I put the post in the ground today.


Nice, according to all the reviews I seen eley reel is going to be nice


----------



## ionicatoms

Went around the backyard and spot sprayed the oxalis and the dollarweed with Ortho Nutsedge Killer. This stuff comes in a squirt bottle; it's diluted sulfentrazone. I like it because I can hit the trouble spots in about 5-10 minutes without any fuss.


----------



## ionicatoms

The Ortho Nutsedge Killer is working pretty well.

Also nearly finished the Eley hose reel install. No leaks found so far! Seems good.


----------



## UltimateLawn

@ionicatoms, that is one fantastic looking hose reel install! I'm thinking of upgrading to an Eley, but I need to figure out a good mounting option. I may have to stick with a hose cart scenario.


----------



## ionicatoms

@UltimateLawn my neighbor was out in the front yard with his granddaughters and they came over to check out the reel (and look at two snakes that were hanging out). He was very impressed. One of the little girl's helped me test it by pulling out the hose and confirming that the cam-lock wasn't too tight.


----------



## ionicatoms

Got the Eley ball valve with the swivel feature. So much better than fighting the hose when I am watering. Highly recommended.


----------



## UltimateLawn

@ionicatoms, I just purchased some of these quick releases and one of the ball valves as well (no swivel). Very happy with the quality!


----------



## ionicatoms

@UltimateLawn glad you are happy, but I feel I must reiterate that the swivel is so satisfying.


----------



## CenlaLowell

ionicatoms said:


> The Ortho Nutsedge Killer is working pretty well.
> 
> Also nearly finished the Eley hose reel install. No leaks found so far! Seems good.


I really like that post finish. How did you accomplish this??? What is the post wrap with? Also is it a 4 x 4 post


----------



## ionicatoms

@CenlaLowell

It's a 4x4 (Eley also supports a 6" mount) in a 12" diameter hole. The post is resting on a layer of pea gravel and held in place by 80 lbs of concrete.

I sanded and cleaned the post prior to staining. The stain is a blend I picked up from HD.



The topper is a solar light fixture.


----------



## ionicatoms

I decided I've got a fungus problem; I'm not sure what fungus or why it's most severe in the areas with Bermuda. Initially I thought it was the Ethofumesate mixture causing my problems.

Shotgun recipe I plan to use:

Daconil 4 floz per k
Clearys 3336EG 2 oz per k
Azoxystrobin 22.9% 0.77 floz per k
Propiconazole 14.3% 2 floz per k


----------



## mjh648

ionicatoms said:


> I decided I've got a fungus problem; I'm not sure what fungus or why it's most severe in the areas with Bermuda. Initially I thought it was the Ethofumesate mixture causing my problems.
> 
> Shotgun recipe I plan to use:
> 
> Daconil 4 floz per k
> Clearys 3336EG 2 oz per k
> Azoxystrobin 22.9% 0.77 floz per k
> Propiconazole 14.3% 2 floz per k


That's what I call a "Hold my beer!" Application.


----------



## CenlaLowell

ionicatoms said:


> @CenlaLowell
> 
> It's a 4x4 (Eley also supports a 6" mount) in a 12" diameter hole. The post is resting on a layer of pea gravel and held in place by 80 lbs of concrete.
> 
> I sanded and cleaned the post prior to staining. The stain is a blend I picked up from HD.
> 
> 
> 
> The topper is a solar light fixture.


How far did they recommend the post to be from your home?? Termite avoidance


----------



## ionicatoms

I don't think they give a recommendation. Not sure if there is a standard.


----------



## leefjl63

Going full nuke on that fungus &#128512;


----------



## ionicatoms

@leefjl63 yeah, I am confused about these symptoms, so I figure anything to stop the bleeding before I lose half the front yard. I am dying for the weather to warm up so the growth picks up. Everytime I see your lawn I feel absolute jealousy and think about moving further south! You've just about convinced me to try the RGS.


----------



## leefjl63

Give it a try. My grass has never been so healthy.
I got the entire package for $104. It was 1 gallons each of RGS, Air8, Humic and MicroGreen.

I'm actually a little bored because I have nothing to do. Kinda like driving on cruise control. So now I'm helping my neighbor next to me.


----------



## UltimateLawn

ionicatoms said:


> I decided I've got a fungus problem; I'm not sure what fungus or why it's most severe in the areas with Bermuda. Initially I thought it was the Ethofumesate mixture causing my problems.
> ...


@ionicatoms , I am taking your lead and dropping the same rates for Clearys and Azoxystrobin. I dropped some Propiconazole last week. I'm pretty certain that I've got a lingering winter case of Take All Root Rot. I'm planning on dropping some peat around the troubling spots in a few days and maybe mixing a little mason sand in.

This is my first peat application, so we will see how things work there. As it is I have such clay, moist soil I'm concerned the peat might gunk things up at the surface stolon level. That's why I was thinking of adding some mason sand to the mix.


----------



## ionicatoms

Well, I (re)learned two things today.

1.) I've got to shake the liquid iron a lot more before I pour it in my sprayer.

2.) I need to use the screen that came with the Flowzone

The iron had a congealed glob that ended up clogging the pump. Luckily it was easy to clear the clog.

I sprayed 2.5 floz of Azoxystrobin and 32 floz of liquid iron supplement in 4 gallons of solution over the side and back yard.

Am interested in seeing if the yellow spots fade at all.

Will be irrigating tomorrow morning.


----------



## UltimateLawn

@ionicatoms , I dropped the Clearys and Azoxy and a few days later the yellowing was greatly diminished. Then the skies went cloudy and the air went cool and the yellowing returned.

I have not dropped the peat moss yet, but plan to do so this weekend.


----------



## ionicatoms

@UltimateLawn I am optimistic that we can find a resolution. I know some of my yellow spots disappeared last year, so there is definitely reason for hope.


----------



## UltimateLawn

@ION, I have done a fairly aggressive pre emergent program last Fall and this Spring. This is the first year I've done this. I'm starting to wonder if the yellowing and slow-down of growth is related to those apps.

My wife continues to remind me that 'all of those lawn chemicals are creating this problem'! :|


----------



## ionicatoms

@UltimateLawn I don't have any reason to believe that my yellow spots can be explained by prodiamine, pendimethalin, or isoxaben. Some of my spots are suspiciously close to areas I sprayed with glyphosate and others are pretty far away.

I haven't isolated a common denominator yet. If I truly had to guess, I would go with early stage TARR. My experiment with micronutrients preceded the disappearance of yellow spots, but it's too soon to say if it's causal. Got the idea from greendoc: https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?p=324567#p324567


----------



## CenlaLowell

UltimateLawn said:


> @ION, I have done a fairly aggressive pre emergent program last Fall and this Spring. This is the first year I've done this. I'm starting to wonder if the yellowing and slow-down of growth is related to those apps.
> 
> My wife continues to remind me that 'all of those lawn chemicals are creating this problem'! :|


Lol, buy chemicals to fix a. Problem and it creates another problem genius. That yellow in my yard I think it's from the plant not being able to take up iron because of the high ph. So Im working on this fungus is another culprit of high ph. I got al little disease I noticed today. Sprayed azoxystrobin and 3336


----------



## ionicatoms

I noticed gnats popping up in the grass as I walk through. I assume this is a sign that the thatch layer is beginning to break down again. I don't know.

In any case, I sprayed Cyzmic and Tekko in the front and side yard. My last insect control for the yard was January 5th, so I figure it's overdue.


----------



## ionicatoms

Edged/blow off along the street/sidewalk. 
Fertilized the palm tree out front. 
Trimmed the rose bushes. 
Planted more flower bulbs in the flower bed.


----------



## ionicatoms

@UltimateLawn

After spraying Azoxystrobin + Iron on Thursday, my yellow spots are fading. I don't think the iron had anything to do with it. I'm going to spot treat these with another dose of azoxy alone when the yellow comes back to see if there is a response.

If so, I'll try peat moss to lower the pH in these areas.


----------



## ionicatoms

Mowed all three lawns at 3.75". Still doesn't look awesome but hopefully it will grow in.

Watering today. Looks like it's going to be a dry week and I can't water again until Thursday.





After mowing, I switched back to the recycler blade (from the high lift).



Afterwards, I went around the pool and the property boundary to spray glyphosate. I also sprayed Ortho Nutsedge Killer (sulfentrazone) on the sedge growing by my palm trees. Pretty busy day.

I found Chamberbitter growing between my pavers, so it's definitely time to put out another round of pre-emergent isoxaben.


----------



## ionicatoms

Spread 40 lbs of Humic DG over the front and side yards (5700 sq. ft.).

I hit the damaged areas heavier than other areas. This was a bag I had leftover from last year. I don't expect to buy it again, but time will tell.


----------



## ionicatoms

The Eley hose reel has been a super nice addition to the house. We almost never used the hose in the front yard because it was such a pain. Now we are using it several times per week. If you dread dragging out the hose, I would say a reel such as this one is a must. I'll never go back to the hose pot or the hose hanger.

The wife had some trouble with the quick connect coupling. She was pulling only on the collar away from the Orbit nozzle. Once I showed her that you can hold the hose still with either a pinky finger or a separate hand, she saw how easy the Eley quick connects are to use. Before that, she was pretty frustrated with how difficult it was to pull the nozzle free from the hose end.

I saw a guy on YouTube unlock the reel to pull the hose out. I guess he didn't read the manual? The idea with the cam lock is to provide a friction on the reel so you don't unspool a bunch of hose that you don't want. The unlock feature is for reeling the hose back in.

So, I guess my observations indicate that there are some "usability" issues with the reel. Nothing major.

She asked me to put another one in the backyard, so I think it got the gold seal of approval. I'm very happy with the purchase.


----------



## leefjl63

@ionicatoms I'll take one for my birthday. Thanks in advance!


----------



## ionicatoms

Sprayed Cyzmic/Tekko in the backyard. I'm finally caught up on the planned pest control activities. I feel confident that the sprayer is paying for itself. No more $700/year pest control service for the house/lawn.

My wife won't be happy if it doesn't work, so I'm counting on all those favorable reviews from domyown.

@leefjl63 I hope you like it as much, or more, than we do. I used it again today to get some light hand watering in during my lunch break.


----------



## ionicatoms

mjh648 said:


> I have some Demand CS that I bought late last year I'm going to start putting out. Let me know how it goes for you.


@mjh648 shortly after I sprayed around the house (earlier this month) we had a torrential rainfall event. The next morning, I found a couple of dead roaches on my front porch. I don't know how long the residual will be effective, but the last 4 weeks have been pretty good. At this point, I'm thinking I'll order another bottle of Cyzmic after I finish this one.


----------



## UltimateLawn

@ionicatoms are you targeting mosquitos with the Cyzmic/Tekko application?


----------



## ionicatoms

@UltimateLawn sort of. My first objective is to get rid of the pest control service. They were only coming once every 3 months, and they weren't targeting mosquitos.

That being said, I am looking to reduce the number of flying insects around the pool. I hope Cyzmic will give us a better swimming experience.


----------



## ionicatoms

Mowed the front and side yards at 3.75". They didn't really need it, except for maybe under the oak tree where the Palmetto is thriving.


----------



## Darth_V8r

ionicatoms said:


> Sprayed Cyzmic/Tekko in the backyard. I'm finally caught up on the planned pest control activities. I feel confident that the sprayer is paying for itself. No more $700/year pest control service for the house/lawn.
> 
> My wife won't be happy if it doesn't work, so I'm counting on all those favorable reviews from domyown.
> 
> @leefjl63 I hope you like it as much, or more, than we do. I used it again today to get some light hand watering in during my lunch break.


At my house, i do a Bifen 7.9 / Fipronil cocktail on the inside. Spray all the base boards, every top corner of every room, the AC vents and returns, the door frames, and the window frames. For outside and in the crawlspace, I blend up Bifen XTS (25% vs 7%) and Fipronil and cypermethrin each at full strength and spray under the crawls space, all the foundation vents, the outside of the house, under the eaves, the pinestraw bed perimeter of the house, and the porches.

For the rest of the property, I mix up Bifen XTS/Cyper/Fipronil at about 10oz of each concentrate to make a quart of poison, then use a hose end sprayer to treat the property, stretching that quart over about an acre. So, i end up using a half gallon each time I spray. I typically only do this twice a year, and the only insect pressure I have is gnats and some recently discovered grubs.

My layman's understanding of insects is that most don't travel very far in their lifespan in general, so I try to create a wide buffer around the house and pool, and it has been pretty effective.

My experience on the chemicals i've used is this:

* permethrin - fastest kill, shortest residual. Good for immediate results, but a few weeks later, I was re-applying
* cypermethrin - fast kill, decent residual. The 50% stuff, CyperTC at 1-qt per acre lasted about 4 months, but I never saw fireant hills. Seemed to repel bees pretty well.
* Bifen XTS - slower kill, better residual. The 25% stuff applied at 1-qt per acre lasted about 4-6 months. I would see fireant hills pop up, but a day later, they were dead. But I was still getting wasp nests and carpenter bee nests in my eaves, under the porch, and under my shed. I also stumbled onto a few ground hornet nests that I was surprised the bifen didn't prevent.
* Fipronil. Slowest kill of the chemicals I've tried. I saw several fireant hills pop up and thought it wasn't working, but similar to the bifen, they were dead a day or two later. I have seen bees flying around the yard, but no nests so far this year. I sprayed in february, and still have no indication that the treatment is wearing off, so i suspect that the Fipronil is going to last very well.

I found that mixing bifen and cyper did better than either did alone. And I found mixing all three did far and away the best of everything.

Sorry for the long post. Hopefully, that's helpful for you.


----------



## ionicatoms

@Darth_V8r I will definitely come back to this post in the future. Last night I was watching some flying insects around my front porch. I was hoping to see something die after resting/walking on the siding, but I didn't observe any evidence that the Cyzmic was affecting these guys. Not so sure what it means.


----------



## UltimateLawn

@Darth_V8r, it sounds like you have a great deal of experimentation and results! Have you had any experiences with lambda-Cyhalothrin 9.7% or Deltamethrin 4.75%?

I picked up Demand CS and also Suspend Polyzone. I sprayed the Demand CS about 4 weeks ago and it seems to be repelling my arch enemies of ants where I sprayed on the patio. Mosquitos....not too much repel. I've heard that Deltamethrin might be better for mosquitos. I also applied some Tekko Pro IGR as part of the Demand CS app.

I'm looking for something that will provide an effective barrier for at least 30 days and I can use a battery hand sprayer to apply it without having to purchase a separate mister. I would like to see a knockdown that I can spray in an afternoon and enjoy that evening with minimal mosquito invasion. I have some Bifen XTS, but it sounds like a Permethrin app might be the best for knockdown.


----------



## Darth_V8r

@UltimateLawn I would say I have some experimentation, but I wouldn't call it "alot". I have not used either lambda-cyhalothrin (cyzmic iirc?) or deltamethrin. At the time I was doing my investigative internet research, I was focused on soil half life more than anything. All I can really say about mosquitoes is I don't have that many in my yard. For the most part, if I feel like I need a quick knockdown, permethrin seems to work best. That's what I used when I first moved in and wanted a quick fix to make outside work more pleasant.

Wish I could be more help on the other products.


----------



## mjh648

we just need to keep on updating our experiences in the Mosquito Control Basics post because I used Demand and have seen great results whereas @UltimateLawn and @ionicatoms have not had good success. I'm wondering where the variable factor is. If we are spraying the same concentration in the same locations I'm guessing a big factor is WHERE the location of where you want a mosquito free zone is relative to your house boundaries, however, if you are seeing mosquitos land on the spot that you have been spraying then that's concerning as well.


----------



## ionicatoms

mjh648 said:


> we just need to keep on updating our experiences in the Mosquito Control Basics post because I used Demand and have seen great results whereas @UltimateLawn and @ionicatoms have not had good success. I'm wondering where the variable factor is. If we are spraying the same concentration in the same locations I'm guessing a big factor is WHERE the location of where you want a mosquito free zone is relative to your house boundaries, however, if you are seeing mosquitos land on the spot that you have been spraying then that's concerning as well.


Well, the insects I observed last night weren't mosquitos. But I still thought I would see some reaction. I will continue to assess over the summer and adjust. Might try ordering something to have on hand for a quick knockdown if my results are no better than the pest control company I was using (they were only spraying bifenthrin AFAIK).


----------



## mjh648

Neighbor has the permethrin misters on his fenceline and covering his patio. Swears by it. I think that's your best bet for quick knockdown.

specifically this https://www.domyown.com/mosquito-mist-ultra-p-14695.html


----------



## ionicatoms

leefjl63 said:


> Give it a try. My grass has never been so healthy.
> I got the entire package for $104. It was 1 gallons each of RGS, Air8, Humic and MicroGreen.


I decided to jump in. Ordered RGS, Air8, D-thatch and MicroGreene.


----------



## leefjl63

Great decision! Plus it gives you something to do when you get bored &#128516;


----------



## ionicatoms

Funny you should mention that. While shopping his site, I saw LCN is offering a product for the people who just can't get enough spraying in: Spoon Juice. Made me laugh.


----------



## ionicatoms

Yesterday: Cut the backyard, edged and blowed the whole property.

Today: 
Cut the front yard (3.75").
Sprayed Propiconazole 14.3 (8 floz) + Isoxaben 75WG (1.5 oz) over 7k. I used two tanks of material (4+4 gallons). Unfortunately, I think I'm going to have to repeat the Isoxaben application since it looks like I went at about half the rate needed to prevent Chamberbitter.

I used the Lazer green spray marker again, that stuff is awesome.

Watered in shortly after I sprayed.


----------



## Darth_V8r

My mental roller coaster:

"Yes! IA just updated his thread!"
"Crap, no new pics of citrablue taking over..."


----------



## ionicatoms

Darth_V8r said:


> My mental roller coaster:
> 
> "Yes! IA just updated his thread!"
> "Crap, no new pics of citrablue taking over..."


LOL, it's getting dark out but here you go …
https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?p=384048#p384048


----------



## ionicatoms

Sprayed 6 floz each of RGS, D-Thatch, and Air-8 in the area that is struggling out front. Used the hose end sprayer.


----------



## leefjl63

Although they all have different functions, I would recommend spraying on different days. This way you're spreading the nutrients over time. I'm just basing this off the humic acid.

Are you following the Yard Mastery app?


----------



## ionicatoms

leefjl63 said:


> Are you following the Yard Mastery app?


Not at the moment


----------



## UltimateLawn

I am thinking of moving to a hose end sprayer for the N-Ext micro nutrients. It would certainly make it faster than having to mix and load up the pump. Exacting measures doesn't seem to be critical on these.

@ionicatoms , What hose end sprayer did you use and how did you calibrate it?


----------



## ionicatoms

UltimateLawn said:


> @ionicatoms , What hose end sprayer did you use and how did you calibrate it?


Ortho.

Calibrate? I don't even try with the hose end. I just do the best I can and go with the flow.


----------



## leefjl63

@UltimateLawn I just put in the amount needed for 1000 sf ft and fill the bottle with water. I'm using 5 1/3 as my setting. There's usually a little left so I fill the bottle a 2nd time with only water and spray that again. The main thing is to get it watered in properly.


----------



## UltimateLawn

@ionicatoms & @leefjl63 , sounds good...I'll have to give it a try! Ortho vs Chameleon...the battle! Your preference?


----------



## leefjl63

I'm using the same Ortho sprayer from 1995. Literally! I'm surprise the plastic hasn't disintegrated or something.


----------



## mjh648

The previous tenants left their Chapin hose end sprayer when they moved out and it's been very reliable. No dials needed.


----------



## ionicatoms

@UltimateLawn I don't like how much force is required to hold down the trigger on the Ortho, but given how cheap it was I am not really complaining. Wouldn't mind something a little easier to squeeze.

@mjh648 is the Chapin easy to trigger?


----------



## mjh648

https://chapinmfg.com/collections/hose-end-sprayer/products/chapin-g385-6-gallon-insecticide-hose-end-sprayer

I've got this one so an easy fingertip on/off. Works good for my 2000SF lawn.

they make a 20Gallon option too

https://chapinmfg.com/collections/hose-end-sprayer/products/chapin-g390-20-gallon-lawn-hose-end-sprayer?variant=30415648063570


----------



## ionicatoms

Sprayed the front corner with 3oz RGS and 3oz Air8. This time I pre-watered and then sprayed at 2oz per gallon using the Ortho hose end sprayer.

I also went around the yard and targeted some specific areas with milorganite sprinkled from a cup.


----------



## ionicatoms

Cut all three yards at 3.25".


----------



## ionicatoms

Sprayed the front yard (3.5k):

0.6 oz Isoxaben 75% WG;
1.3 floz Azoxystrobin 22.9% Flowable;
20 floz MicroGreene 0-0-2;
2 tbsp MiracleGro Rose Plant Food 18-24-16;
4 floz Lazer Green Spray Pattern Indicator;
In 4 gallons of solution.

Watered in afterwards (10 minutes).


----------



## ionicatoms

Sprayed the back and side yards (3.6k):

0.6 oz Isoxaben 75% WG;
1.3 floz Azoxystrobin 22.9% Flowable;
20 floz MicroGreene 0-0-2;
4 floz Daconil;
4 floz Lazer Green Spray Pattern Indicator;
In 4 gallons of solution.

Watered in afterwards (20 minutes).


----------



## ionicatoms

Got a nice dry, warm day. Hit my thatchy areas in the front yard with GCF D-Thatch. The area under the Oak doesn't seem to need it. Too much shade to generate tons of growth I suppose.


----------



## ionicatoms

Spot sprayed Ortho Nutsedge Killer (0.05% sulfentrazone) all around the yard. Saw some globe sedge, nutsedge, dollarweed, some leftover oxalis, and a couple other weeds I don't know the name of.

I finally got fed up with my neighbor's dollarweed coming under the fence so I went along his side of the fence spraying the dollarweed. The infestation is really bad over there.

I'm going through about 2x 24 floz bottles a month. Most of my problems are in the backyard where I didn't spray the ethofumesate/atrazine mixture.


----------



## mjh648

@ionicatoms how quickly are you coming back over the original weeds with a follow up? Have you ever thought about making your own spot treatment solution with dismiss?

I made a 32oz bottle using 50% of SA Low rate with ams, surfactant and blue dye and smoked everything. Problem being ortho I'm guessing has herbicide preservation chemicals and dismiss is supposed to be used up after 24hours but I'm guessing is cheaper in the long run if you only use what you'll spray.


----------



## ionicatoms

@mjh648,

I'm trying to find and kill weeds about every two weeks. The Ortho puts a serious hurting on most everything I target except for the Dollarweed which is a very robust weed!

I might make my own solution in the future to save money, but for now it's so darn easy to buy the Ortho.


----------



## ionicatoms

mjh648 said:


> https://chapinmfg.com/collections/hose-end-sprayer/products/chapin-g385-6-gallon-insecticide-hose-end-sprayer
> 
> I've got this one so an easy fingertip on/off. Works good for my 2000SF lawn.
> 
> they make a 20Gallon option too
> 
> https://chapinmfg.com/collections/hose-end-sprayer/products/chapin-g390-20-gallon-lawn-hose-end-sprayer?variant=30415648063570


I ordered this one:


----------



## mjh648

I'm ready to switch to something new and might give that a go. Let me know if you like it.

Mine is reliable but it's a pita to attach and unattach. With the hose end would have it to where I can hold the sprayer in place and thread it on by hand but I have to flip it over and over to tighten it. Usually just take the top off but if I want to do front and back at the same time I'm doing a lot of disassembly which is just time consuming.

Does the bottle say you can do 2 weeks reapplication? Dismiss has a longer period but I'm wondering if that's just for blanket apps.


----------



## ionicatoms

mjh648 said:


> Mine is reliable but it's a pita to attach and unattach.


I am using the Eley quick connects on both my existing hose end sprayers. Super easy solution.


----------



## mjh648

That's a game changer. Going to order something like that. Great tip.


----------



## ionicatoms

mjh648 said:


> That's a game changer. Going to order something like that. Great tip.


Don't forget you will want a ball valve to shut off the water upstream of the hose end sprayer unless you don't mind hiking back to the hose bibb. The Eley quick connects will not come lose easily unless you turn off the water. I like the Eley version with the swivel built in, but I see it is out of stock at the moment.


----------



## ionicatoms

Just ordered my second Eley hose reel and another quick connect set. This stuff is addicting.


----------



## ionicatoms

Got some dry erase magnets for my rack.


----------



## leefjl63

So organized!! I see my bottle of Azoxy on the shelf 

The last few days I've been spot watering and wished I had the Eley hose. Maybe I'll consider it if I can find it on sale.


----------



## ionicatoms

Yes, sir @leefjl63! That's the one. Already made good use of it.

My yard is slowly recovering from attack of the fungus. So frustrating that it happened, and is still happening. This weather has been awful.


----------



## leefjl63

Doesn't look too bad. I'm going with Azoxy/Propri and then rotate with 3336. It's been so dry here.so not much going on with fungus.

Are you using 4oz/M with the 3336? At that rate I might need to get another order because I sold most of mine it in a split.


----------



## ionicatoms

@leefjl63 I'm using 2 oz per k. I'm pretty sure that's the max rate per application.


----------



## ionicatoms

ionicatoms said:


> I ordered this one:


Well, the Chapin G362D came today. I was disappointed to find that the anti-siphon device (see the hole near the bottom of the handle) was stuck open and was leaking water all over my hand. Called Chapin and, unfortunately, they don't have a fix for me, so they are just going to send me a free replacement. Seems like it will be a good hose end sprayer when I get one that doesn't leak! The lady at Chapin was really good; customer service seems to be well run and friendly.

Here's a video showing the features of the sprayer in case anybody is interested.

[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCrjoByazmE[/media]


----------



## Darth_V8r

In my experience that chapin sprayer is the only hose end sprayer I have used that doesn't suck. I know that's not a ringing endorsement, but it kinda is. It's the only one I can routinely just pick up and use, get good distribution of chemicals, and it doesn't break in a matter of three uses or run at such low pressure as to be worthless.

I will caution you, don't run liquid humic through it. It swells up the seals and the plastics a bit, which makes it easier for the cannister to fall off the spray head.


----------



## ionicatoms

@Darth_V8r

Wow! I never would have expected that. Do you think that a thorough cleaning after each use would adequately mitigate this concern?

In other news, I finally decided I don't want to live with the plastic fuel cans anymore.





I've never had the metal safety style before. Hopefully, it doesn't disappoint.


----------



## Darth_V8r

Cleaning it didn't help. It's almost like something in the liquid carbon mixture soaked into the plastic and rubber. But only humic did it. no other chemicals I have sprayed had this effect. I think it has to do with the grade of plastic that the black threaded caps are made of. if they were ABS, I don't think they would have had the issue.

Was just a fair warning.


----------



## ionicatoms

Today I worked on my next Eley reel. This one is going in the side yard. Wife asked me to place it 8" higher than the front yard one. The post is 70" long, 28" in the ground. I decided to play with a product I've never used: Henry Asphalt Emulsion Sealer and Dampproofer. I didn't really let it cure very long, but I figure in 10 or 20 years I'll find out if it did anything.


----------



## ionicatoms

Photo log, front yard.


----------



## ionicatoms

Finished installing Eley hose reel #2. Wife told me she loves the Eley hose in the front yard and wants another on this reel. I told her we'll give this hose a shot before tossing it.


----------



## ionicatoms

After taking apart the Chapin sprayer's anti-siphon mechanism and putting it back together, it stopped leaking on me. Don't know what the cause is/was.

I decided to try spraying D-Thatch at 5 oz per gallon, but I ended up spraying way too much on the side yard nearest my neighbor. It seems that a setting of 1 oz per gallon is closer to the right amount given my "special" hose end spraying technique.

Overall, I agree with @Darth_V8r. This sprayer sucks the least of the ones I've tried.


----------



## ionicatoms

Cut the backyard at 3.25". 
Sprayed RGS/Air-8 in problem areas by the street (front near the corner and along the side yard). Watered it in for 20 minutes.

Edit: placed the stickers from my N-Ext order.


----------



## ionicatoms

Sprayed GreenePunch 18-0-1 (first time using this product) in the areas of my front yard which are struggling.

I pre-wet the area before applying, and followed up with another wetting afterwards to minimize any chance of burn. Spray rate with the Chapin hose end was 1 oz per gallon. Should be plenty of water to avoid problems. Hopefully I will see some results in a week or less.


----------



## ionicatoms

Sprayed 24 floz of GreenePunch over the side yard (2.2k) and a little of the back yard. Used the 4 gallon Cyclone 2 backpack on the high setting with the Chapin 2 nozzle boom. I prewatered the grass for 10 minutes.



I know it's been dry lately because my pool needed water.


----------



## leefjl63

You'll see results! I just restocked RGS, MicroGreene and Greenepunch. This will be my 1st time trying Greenepunch but it has humic and kelp so I'm good with that. Probably next year I'll just go with RGS by itself.


----------



## ionicatoms

@leefjl63 what are the indicators that you've seen which makes you believe in RGS so much? I'm not sure what to expect to be honest.


----------



## leefjl63

My lawn has never looked this thick and lush. During winter I was still cutting weekly and the grass just looked healthy.

I've also used it on my sister's lawn and she's was amazed that her lawn could look so good.

I think it helps the grass and there's less need to fertilize as often. I hope you see similar results.


----------



## mjh648

Do they really call that winter in Florida or is it just late summer and early spring?


----------



## ionicatoms

Winter in Florida is usually pretty short. Like a few days. But this last one was brutal. The cold lasted for weeks and my open areas went dormant. Awful.


----------



## ionicatoms

I got a pair of Echo 0.181" double thick blades for the edger tonight. Looking forward to trying it out soon.


----------



## ionicatoms

Cut the front and side yards at 3.25".





Still working on recovery! What a pain!


----------



## CenlaLowell

ionicatoms said:


> Cut the front and side yards at 3.25".
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Still working on recovery! What a pain!


Looking good


----------



## leefjl63

Lawn looks good. When are you going to fertilize?


----------



## ionicatoms

leefjl63 said:


> Lawn looks good. When are you going to fertilize?


I already dropped a small dose of GreenePunch on the side yard and some trouble spots. Hoping to see a response from that. I'm still new to liquid ferts, so the timing is uncertain. I know it will be more often than granular.


----------



## ionicatoms

Did some quick pressure washing along the front curbing.


----------



## Buffalolawny

Looking good

Need to kill the massive Nutsedge in the bare dirt :thumbup:


----------



## ionicatoms

LOL those are freesia sprouts. Planted a little late, but still coming in nicely.


----------



## ionicatoms

Sprayed the front yard (3.5k):
21 floz D-Thatch
10 floz Lawnstar Chelated Liquid Iron
4 floz Lazer Green Spray Pattern Indicator



Edit: Almost forgot that I cut the backyard at 3.25".


----------



## ionicatoms

Pressure washed the curb on the side yard.

Pre-watered the side yard, then sprayed 14 floz RGS + 12 floz Air-8 using the Chapin G362D hose end sprayer on setting 2.


----------



## 12620

How are you liking the Chapin? I decided to order one after watching the video you posted. Would you say it's more accurate than the Ortho?


----------



## ionicatoms

@thundergunexpress I like it more than the Ortho, but it does take a bit of getting used to.

I like locking the flow to "on" and then holding on to the hose. The fascinating thing about the Chapin is the tank rotates freely so you can actually hold it from any angle which is comfortable and it will always flow correctly.

The other weird thing is the spray pattern. It's got an arc to it and you can see that the product isn't equally distributed throughout the arc. So I figure a certain amount of left-right movement is needed which means when I spray I'm walking straight as I spray left to right and then right to left like one of those reciprocating oscillating fans.

I can't really speak to its accuracy. The label says that a setting of 2 gives 2 tablespoons of fluid at the density of water. I gotta figure most of the products I'm spraying with a hose end are heavier than water, so I don't consider the unit of measure (tablespoons per gallon) to be highly appropriate for my use.


----------



## ionicatoms

Fertilized my Palm trees with FloraGreene 4-0-2 using the drench method.

Also I'm taking a closer look at this area. Haven't decided if it's not getting enough water, if it's a fungus, or maybe chinch.


----------



## ionicatoms

Side yard treatment:

5 floz Propiconazole 
24 floz GreenePunch 
6 floz MicroGreene
4 floz Lazer Green


----------



## CenlaLowell

ionicatoms said:


> Side yard treatment:
> 
> 5 floz Propiconazole
> 24 floz GreenePunch
> 6 floz MicroGreene
> 4 floz Lazer Green


Any luck with this?
floz GreenePunch
6 floz MicroGreene

Or is it just a magic


----------



## ionicatoms

@CenlaLowell too soon for me to judge. But the areas I've been focusing on are recovering so I think I'm headed in the right direction.


----------



## Darth_V8r

ionicatoms said:


> @thundergunexpress I like it more than the Ortho, but it does take a bit of getting used to.
> 
> I like locking the flow to "on" and then holding on to the hose. The fascinating thing about the Chapin is the tank rotates freely so you can actually hold it from any angle which is comfortable and it will always flow correctly.
> 
> The other weird thing is the spray pattern. It's got an arc to it and you can see that the product isn't equally distributed throughout the arc. So I figure a certain amount of left-right movement is needed which means when I spray I'm walking straight as I spray left to right and then right to left like one of those reciprocating fans.
> 
> I can't really speak to its accuracy. The label says that a setting of 2 gives 2 tablespoons of fluid at the density of water. I gotta figure most of the products I'm spraying with a hose end are heavier than water, so I don't consider the unit of measure (tablespoons per gallon) to be highly appropriate for my use.


I find the same. I have a kind of sweeping pattern as I walk. it's one reason why I tend to spray at a lower mixture rate and go over the yard multiple times with chemicals like celcius, MSM, etc. stuff that really isn't concentration-dependent and is more dosage dependent - i.e. 3 oz per acre vs 1 oz per gallon.

Also, that spreader on the end can rotate to point up/down/whatever. I usually like it to point up, even though it creates a bit of a mist. I feel it gets better distribution vs spraying straight down. I do rotate the tip down when I'm near stuff and want to be carefuller.


----------



## ionicatoms

@Darth_V8r do you have any reason to use the Ortho now that you have the Chapin?


----------



## Darth_V8r

No, I tossed my ortho a while back. Don't get me wrong, the chapin isn't perfect, but it sucks way less than the ortho. The orthos I've had, the handles kept breaking in half at the seams and the triggers kept falling out of place. Went through two or three of those with basically the same performance.


----------



## leefjl63

CenlaLowell said:


> Any luck with this?
> floz GreenePunch
> 6 floz MicroGreene
> 
> Or is it just a magic


@CenlaLowell Did you ever try it? I really got great results using it.

Are you familiar with Mag-I-Cal? It claims to adjust ph levels with just one bag. Now that one I have huge doubts.


----------



## CenlaLowell

leefjl63 said:


> CenlaLowell said:
> 
> 
> 
> Any luck with this?
> floz GreenePunch
> 6 floz MicroGreene
> 
> Or is it just a magic
> 
> 
> 
> @CenlaLowell Did you ever try it? I really got great results using it.
> 
> Are you familiar with Mag-I-Cal? It claims to adjust ph levels with just one bag. Now that one I have huge doubts.
Click to expand...

Nah never tried it as I spend most of my lawn money on fungicides. I'm pretty sure I got again from all this rain.

Adjust pH I do that using sulfur and citric acid


----------



## ionicatoms

Did my first ever sprinkler head replacement. Like all my other first time projects, things did not go as I hoped.

First I couldn't find the head because it is buried so deeply, so I briefly turned on the zone to find it. Only afterwards did I realize that this head is lower than all the others so water kept flooding my hole. Eventually I took out the Hunter PGP that I couldn't adjust.

I took it to Home Depot looking for something compatible. Found a K-Rain K2 Pro with a 5" pop up. I picked up two risers, but only later did I realize I needed a male/female instead of male/male. So I got the shop vac out and vacuumed until I could get the new head installed.

At least this one I could adjust. I still think the Toro would be easier. But don't think I'll ever buy Hunter PGP.


----------



## mjh648

Doing a 1.55#/k grubex soon? I'm due in 4 days


----------



## ionicatoms

@mjh648 that's my plan! I'll drop it this weekend if I can.


----------



## ionicatoms

Sprayed GreenePunch and MicroGreene on the front yard using the Chapin hose end sprayer. The sprayer seemed to clog at times. Had to really play with it to get it all out.

Looks like the dry weather will continue for several more days. My water bill is going to be a doozy.


----------



## 12620

ionicatoms said:


> Looks like the dry weather will continue for several more days. My water bill is going to be a doozy.


Yeah, I just tried to explain to wifey that next year I'll forego the cost of fertilizer and use that money to pay for our water bill. LOL! And did you listen to the latest Grass Factor Thirsty Thursday? Greendoc pretty much confirmed it on the show, I live in the shitty part of Florida. :lol:


----------



## ionicatoms

No, haven't watched it. I'll do so. Thanks for the tip.


----------



## ionicatoms

Cut the backyard at 3.25" and noticed this strange patch of grass. I think maybe it's bitterblue?


----------



## mjh648

Wouldn't that be something. Wonder if it could be where your spreader dumped more fert or hose end sprayer was a little heavy.

Also side note. Saw my first webworm moth in the yard on Friday. Guessing that's about to start ramping up.


----------



## ionicatoms

mjh648 said:


> Wouldn't that be something. Wonder if it could be where your spreader dumped more fert or hose end sprayer was a little heavy.
> 
> Also side note. Saw my first webworm moth in the yard on Friday. Guessing that's about to start ramping up.


I'm at a loss to explain it. I've barely fertilized out back at all. No granular. Just a little MicroGreene and iron and then a tiny bit of GreenePunch around the edges.

I did find some scat about 15 feet away. I don't have a dog and my backyard is fenced, so it's puzzling. I'm going to keep an eye on it.


----------



## ionicatoms

thundergunexpress said:


> did you listen to the latest Grass Factor Thirsty Thursday? Greendoc pretty much confirmed it on the show, I live in the s--- part of Florida. :lol:


Made me laugh when @Greendoc referred to our weather as monsoon weather. He ain't wrong!


----------



## leefjl63

What's the plan for webworms?


----------



## ionicatoms

@leefjl63

I think @mjh648 and I are on the same plan: GrubEx every two months, Same as one would if they were using Acelepryn instead.


----------



## ionicatoms

Thank goodness, it finally rained!

My son cut the side yard at 3.25" yesterday. I've been out of town. Gotta catch up on some things. Like GrubEx!


----------



## ionicatoms

Cut the front and back yards at 3.25"


----------



## Live Oak

ionicatoms said:


> @leefjl63
> 
> I think @mjh648 and I are on the same plan: GrubEx every two months, Same as one would if they were using Acelepryn instead.


I put down GrubEx back in April thinking it was a season-long control. Have you had better luck controlling webworms with bimonthly apps?


----------



## ionicatoms

@Live Oak this is my first season trying GrubEx to control webworms. We'll see!


----------



## ionicatoms

Put out my second dose of GrubEx today. I forgot to set the RB-60 to setting number 2, so the front yard around the edges got a bigger dose than I intended.

Must remember: GrubEx 1.5 lbs per 1k = setting 2 on the RB-60.


----------



## SeanBB

@ionicatoms thanks for the scat pic to clear up the confusion...HA!


----------



## ionicatoms

Sprayed the front yard (3.5k):

21 floz GreenePunch
10 floz MicroGreene
7 oz 3336 EG Fungicide
.8 floz Cyzmic Insecticide
2 floz Tekko Pro IGR


----------



## ionicatoms

Sprayed side yard (2.2k):

13 floz GreenPunch
6 floz MicroGreene
4 oz 3336 EG fungicide
0.5 floz Cyzmic 
1.5 floz Tekko Pro


----------



## ionicatoms

Sprayed a mixture of Certainty (sulfosulfuron) and Image with a surfactant on my sedge around the palm trees. I also hit the dollarweed and chamberbitter. Some was growing in the grass, so I hope it doesn't get dinged too badly. Outside temp is 84 degrees.

I'm pretty sure I ended up covering more square footage than I planned, so the dose was probably light. I scheduled a follow up four weeks from now.

Recipe:
0.40 grams Certainty 
2.75 floz Image
1.5 tsp Southern Ag Surfactant for Herbicides

Mixed in a 1 gallon hand pump can.


----------



## ionicatoms

Cut the side yard at 3.25"



Cut the front yard at 3.75"


----------



## ionicatoms

Been thinking about my suspicious green spot in the backyard and I've decided the most likely explanation is that I spilled FloraGreene mixture while I was fertilizing my palm trees.

I decided to put out about 10 lbs of Milorganite to see what happens. Covered one spot while spreading to hopefully act as a control.


----------



## ionicatoms

Since I already had the spreader out, I went ahead and put out the remainder of my Milorganite on the front yard. Looked to be about 15 pounds. And I put two swaths in the side yard as another control.


----------



## ionicatoms

Cut the front and side yards at 3.75"

Sprayed Pramaxis (10cc) on front yard (3.5k) for the first time. Used the green marking dye.

Let's see how it goes!

Picture before spraying:


----------



## ionicatoms

… and now it's raining. F'n great.

It might've have dried, but certainly wasn't on the lawn for an hour as required by the label.


----------



## UltimateLawn

@ionicatoms , I need to treat some sedge in my St Aug and don't want to damage the turf. High temps are hitting 90 degrees but mornings are at 78 degrees. I have some Certainty, not Image. How were your results on this application below...



ionicatoms said:


> Sprayed a mixture of Certainty (sulfosulfuron) and Image with a surfactant on my sedge around the palm trees. I also hit the dollarweed and chamberbitter. Some was growing in the grass, so I hope it doesn't get dinged too badly. Outside temp is 84 degrees.
> 
> I'm pretty sure I ended up covering more square footage than I planned, so the dose was probably light. I scheduled a follow up four weeks from now.
> 
> Recipe:
> 0.40 grams Certainty
> 2.75 floz Image
> 1.5 tsp Southern Ag Surfactant for Herbicides
> 
> Mixed in a 1 gallon hand pump can.


----------



## mjh648

Interested to see what @ionicatoms says. I treated my yard exactly 2 weeks ago with 1/2 rate celsius and 1/2 rate certainty. Grass stopped growing, some thinner areas had a little browning, SA seedheads started popping up but it looks like it's starting to grow back now.


----------



## ionicatoms

@UltimateLawn and @mjh648

I went out to check for you and get some photos, only to find snails in my grass! I didn't observe any harm to my St. Aug.

Sedge next to Palm:



Grassy area with Dollarweed:


----------



## ionicatoms

Put out some Sluggo snail bait tonight. Label says the grass is supposed to be wet, so don't know how much it will help given it didn't rain today. We'll see.


----------



## ionicatoms

Cut and edged the front yard at 3.75"





Cut the backyard at 3.25".





Thunderstorm stopped me from getting to the side yard.


----------



## ionicatoms

Mowed the side yard at 3.75"





Grabbed some shots of the front yard (mowed yesterday)


----------



## ionicatoms

My neighbor had surgery last week. So I decided to give him a surprise cut while he is at church. Didn't do the backyard, but figure this will lighten his load a bit.


----------



## leefjl63

What a great neighbor! The lawn is looking like it's ready for LOTM!


----------



## ionicatoms

Thanks, man! I am pleased with the recovery so far!


----------



## leefjl63

Any credit to RGS etc?


----------



## ionicatoms

leefjl63 said:


> Any credit to RGS etc?


Yeah, I do see a difference between the front and the back. I think the RGS, Air-8, GreenePunch, and maybe the Dthatch have all helped in the front/side yards. Looking forward to keep pushing the recovery because I really would like to go into July 4th strong.


----------



## leefjl63

I'm glad you're getting results. I'm going with just Microgreene after my current supply runs out. It has everything so just keeping it simple.


----------



## UltimateLawn

@ionicatoms , I see you have full sun on your St Aug. Any recommendations on how to pull this off so successfully? Our summer temps here in DFW get over 100 deg a few times. I will definitely have to do creative watering, but it seems you are doing a great job!


----------



## ionicatoms

@UltimateLawn

I have in-ground irrigation and when I'm not getting rain for weeks at a time, I probably go through 10-12k gallons per month. Thankfully there aren't many months in Florida that are hot AND dry. The St. Aug in full sun is a real water hog. I figure cutting high (3.75"+) is the best/easiest thing I can do. I have also been supplementing with humic dg, trying to add carbon to hold on to moisture and provide plenty of space for microbes in the soil.

Other than that, I might be inclined to try hydretain at some point in the future because I do have some spots that my irrigation doesn't cover well. I've been enjoying my Eley lately and hitting those spots manually. The neighbors surely must think I'm a nut.


----------



## UltimateLawn

@ionicatoms , I just made a purchase of some Hydretain last evening. I think I will have it by this weekend and I'll apply some. We can see how that goes.

My biggest issue is I have parts of my yard that get more direct sun due to slope and proximity to the driveway and curb. It is the traditional place I have had common bermuda encroach because the temps will dry out the StAug.

As for manual watering...I like the moment of doing it. The only issue here is just standing out there for 5 minutes means another shower past the other two you took today from being in the heat.


----------



## ionicatoms

UltimateLawn said:


> The only issue here is just standing out there for 5 minutes means another shower past the other two you took today from being in the heat.


LOL that is so true. I just drop the nozzle and walk away!


----------



## leefjl63

I used a cheap sprinkler for the spot that needs extra watering. The rainy season is here now so sprinkler has been off for three weeks.


It still comes down to looking for dry spots but I like the Scott's app for monitoring rainfall.


----------



## ionicatoms

@leefjl63 I didn't know about the Scotts rainfall feature. Went to look at it this morning and saw this much rain!



Good thing I haven't been running the irrigation! :lol:


----------



## leefjl63

Holy cow!! LOL. Well now you know. It's pretty good and save you on the watering bill.


----------



## ionicatoms

Almost 3" of rain today. I can already feel the fungus coming.


----------



## ionicatoms

Cut the front lawn at 3.75"

Decided to apply more PGR.

10 cc's of Pramaxis 
4.2 floz Eagle 20EW
Green marking dye

Picture taken after mowing, before spraying.



Picture taken after spraying:


----------



## ionicatoms

Cut the side yard at 3.75". I'm soaking wet. The humidity is 80%.


----------



## CenlaLowell

How are you liking the pgr??? I'm under suppression but my yard Is looking terrible right now.


----------



## ionicatoms

@CenlaLowell I didn't see ANY reaction to my first app of PGR (a week ago), so I hit it for the second time earlier today. I'll keep going until I start seeing some results. Keeping my fingers crossed.


----------



## CenlaLowell

ionicatoms said:


> @CenlaLowell I didn't see ANY reaction to my first app of PGR (a week ago), so I hit it for the second time earlier today. I'll keep going until I start seeing some results. Keeping my fingers crossed.


You will see it also check the stolons as well.


----------



## ionicatoms

CenlaLowell said:


> ionicatoms said:
> 
> 
> 
> @CenlaLowell I didn't see ANY reaction to my first app of PGR (a week ago), so I hit it for the second time earlier today. I'll keep going until I start seeing some results. Keeping my fingers crossed.
> 
> 
> 
> You will see it also check the stolons as well.
Click to expand...

Just to check, I'm not using too much water, am I? 10 cc's TNex in 4 gallons of water spread over 3.5k.


----------



## CenlaLowell

ionicatoms said:


> CenlaLowell said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ionicatoms said:
> 
> 
> 
> @CenlaLowell I didn't see ANY reaction to my first app of PGR (a week ago), so I hit it for the second time earlier today. I'll keep going until I start seeing some results. Keeping my fingers crossed.
> 
> 
> 
> You will see it also check the stolons as well.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Just to check, I'm not using too much water, am I? 10 cc's TNex in 4 gallons of water spread over 3.5k.
Click to expand...

No that's good


----------



## ionicatoms

CenlaLowell said:


> No that's good


 :thumbup: thanks


----------



## ionicatoms

CenlaLowell said:


> How are you liking the pgr??? I'm under suppression but my yard Is looking terrible right now.


I'm finally starting to see a difference in the growth rate of the top growth. My side yard (no PGR) is looking just a bit taller than the front yard (t-nex). I don't see any bronzing yet. I think I did it right! Pretty big relief and also kind of exciting.


----------



## CenlaLowell

ionicatoms said:


> CenlaLowell said:
> 
> 
> 
> How are you liking the pgr??? I'm under suppression but my yard Is looking terrible right now.
> 
> 
> 
> I'm finally starting to see a difference in the growth rate of the top growth. My side yard (no PGR) is looking just a bit taller than the front yard (t-nex). I don't see any bronzing yet. I think I did it right! Pretty big relief and also kind of exciting.
Click to expand...

Yes it is... The next application will be the full slow down your looking for. In this heat those GDD add up quick.


----------



## ionicatoms

Noticed grey leaf spot in the side yard. Here we go!


----------



## mjh648

i had it pretty bad in one area that didn't get sun until the afternoon. have done the azoxy and clearys treatment and it seemed to control it pretty well. Still melted a lot of grass out that is going to need to recover with runners.


----------



## ionicatoms

Anybody need some rain?! I'm drowning over here!


----------



## leefjl63

Lol no thanks! Too much rain here and I've got some yellow blades.


----------



## 12620

ionicatoms said:


> Anybody need some rain?! I'm drowning over here!


Monsoon season in full swing! :lol:


----------



## ionicatoms

thundergunexpress said:


> Monsoon season in full swing! :lol:


It sure is! Here's my reading for TODAY:


----------



## ionicatoms

It quit raining for 2 hours so I cut the side yard and BAGGED my clippings. Also did the edging. Tried to do triple wide stripes. Stripes don't show much since I removed the deflector shield.











Grabbed a shot of the front yard while I was out. The PGR has really slowed down the growth. So glad I tried before the monsoon weather set in. It's been 6 whole days since I mowed the front yard. My neighbor cut his 3 days ago and I think his is higher than mine already!


----------



## UltimateLawn

@ionicatoms , that is a good looking rain gauge. What stand or mount are you using to hold it vertical?


----------



## ionicatoms

@UltimateLawn 
It's similar to this one:

Regal Art & Gift 12089 Capri Rain Gauge Butterfly Garden Stake, Purple https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FN4HT9C/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_WSS15S91E8Y5BBVZC9DD?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Got mine from Ace Hardware.


----------



## leefjl63

@ionicatoms other than stopping you from cutting so often is there any other reason to use PGR?

I'm taking the opposite approach and having the grass grow. I'm looking for it to be thick & healthy.


----------



## ionicatoms

@leefjl63 research indicates that continued use of PGR will increase the density of turf, especially in shady areas and extend the duration of effectiveness of systemic fungicides. It is said to also yield a darker appearance.

Risks include over-regulation and slow recovery from damage.

It's too soon for me to confirm all these effects. I hope to continue my experiment for at least two more months and see how it goes.


----------



## leefjl63

Go slow and easy


----------



## ionicatoms

Sprayed Cyzmic and Tekko around the perimeter of my house. The label says to spray when it's not going to rain for 24 hours. That's a nice dream. All my outdoor work is getting delayed because of daily rain.


----------



## ionicatoms

WOULD ANYBODY LIKE SOME RAIN? THINK I'VE HAD ENOUGH!


----------



## ionicatoms

Posted a request for help in:

https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=29670


----------



## ionicatoms

Cut the backyard at 3.75" earlier today. It rained directly afterwards.


----------



## SeanBB

ionicatoms said:


> WOULD ANYBODY LIKE SOME RAIN? THINK I'VE HAD ENOUGH!


Yes please, desperately yes.


----------



## ionicatoms

Mowed the front yard at 3.75". It's been 10 days since I last mowed! That PGR is basically magic. Amazing. And there really wasn't much clippings. I am impressed so far.

Also mowed the side yard, need to hit it with fungicide and PGR.


----------



## UltimateLawn

@ionicatoms , Your updates on the PGR are encouraging. Thanks for sharing.


----------



## ionicatoms

Pressure washed the deck yesterday.



Now I need to get all the mulch out of my grass and clean the pool.



Golden rule: one intervention always leads to another!


----------



## ionicatoms

PGR is still impressing me. I'm at 358 GDD (Fahrenheit), plan to spray again this weekend.

Side yard (without PGR):



Front yard (with PGR):


----------



## ionicatoms

Received this alert today:

The soil temperatures in your area (3260x) have averaged 80° F or less for the last 3 days and are currently ideal for take-all root rot germination. Now is the time to begin preparations for the next step in your turf management plan.

Take-all root rot becomes active when 3-day average soil temperatures are at or below 80° F. The current 3-day average temperatures in your location are 79° F.


----------



## 12620

Just read Neil Sperry's weekly about summer GLS and chinch, now I'm reading your alert on TARR and I guess we have some monsoon coming. So... fungicide before or after the deluge?


----------



## ionicatoms

I'm going before if at all possible.


----------



## ionicatoms

Ordered Stryker Pyrethrin insecticide and more Tekko Pro. Not sure when I'll try out the Stryker, but figured it would be good to have on hand. It's supposedly the same as ExciteR.


----------



## ionicatoms

My son mowed the side and back yards at 3.75"; after much protestation, he agreed to bag the clippings. GLS is coming on strong. Got to get some more fungicide down, it's been 4 weeks since my last app; obviously that was too long.





Grabbed some quick photos of the front yard while I was out:











The darkening effect of Pramaxis PGR is really starting to show in comparison to the control (side yard).


----------



## ionicatoms

Just what we need is a Hurricane. :bd:


----------



## ionicatoms

Just sprayed for GLS in the side yard. It's darn humid; I hope it dries enough before it rains.

1 dash of citric acid
4 oz 3336 EG fungicide
3 floz Propiconazole 
1.5 floz Azoxystrobin 
8 floz Daconil 
0.5 floz Cyzmic 
~6 floz MicroGreene
~3 floz NIS
~4 floz green spray marker

Mixed in 4 gallons, sprayed with Chapin 2 nozzle boom.


----------



## ionicatoms

In between rain, I tried a new-to-me "easy button" product today. Sprayed chamber bitter, spurge, and baby palm sprouts.

I need to spray some dollarweed next to give it the real test.


----------



## ionicatoms

We're gonna need a bigger rain gage.

(It's still raining).


----------



## 12620

I just knew I'd see a picture of the rain gauge after the storm rolled through. :lol: What was your final total? We got a measly one inch on the east coast.


----------



## ionicatoms

I don't have a final total, but my street is still flooded. Power went out for about an hour this morning for no obvious reason. I don't believe any of my neighbors had water intrusion into their homes. A couple neighbors lost a tree each.


----------



## ionicatoms

Just ordered the upgraded circuit board for my FlowZone Cyclone 2 (dual pressure) which has the epoxy sealed connections. I've currently got the older style board which is susceptible to shorts when I get a little wild with the hose.

Placed my order over the phone and saved a little on the shipping cost. Apparently they have disqualified USPS so that's why the price is so much higher than expected.

Also, Noah explained that the improved "waterproof" microswitch can't be swapped in for the older style microswitch without replacing the diaphragm. At this time, the only way to get the improved version is to buy a whole new pump which includes the new diaphragm and microswitch. He has been asking the product manager to break out the diaphram from the pump so that we can just replace the older style parts, but no promises on that ever happening. Great support overall.


----------



## ionicatoms

Cut the side yard at 3.75".







By the time I cut the front yard (3.25") it was already getting dark.







Son cut the back yard at 3.75"


----------



## ionicatoms

ionicatoms said:


> I don't have a final total, but my street is still flooded. Power went out for about an hour this morning for no obvious reason. I don't believe any of my neighbors had water intrusion into their homes. A couple neighbors lost a tree each.


@thundergunexpress, waters still haven't receded. My wife is ready to buy a generator now.


----------



## 12620

Man, that's rough. You've been getting like a foot of rain a week even before the storm so hopefully we can get a couple of weeks to dry out. I would definitely get on that generator as I think Elsa was a practice drill for Florida. It sucks when you lose everything in the fridge and freezer from longer power outages.


----------



## UltimateLawn

After losing so many $$$'s in food during power outages, I finally took the step to get a small generator. It has already been used during two power outages in the last 12 months.


----------



## UltimateLawn

ionicatoms said:


> Cut the side yard at 3.75".
> 
> ...
> 
> By the time I cut the front yard (3.25") it was already getting dark.
> 
> Son cut the back yard at 3.75"


@ionicatoms , what is your logic for different grass cut heights? I'm thinking that maybe I should continue to cut at 4" where the St Aug gets a lot of hot summer sun in DFW, but perhaps I should lower it in some other areas not so hammered by the sun.


----------



## ionicatoms

@UltimateLawn I cut the front yard lower, in part, because it's on PGR, but also because I'm seeing a lot of random yellow tips that I don't understand yet. Figured I'd try cutting them off.

Maybe PGR needs to be accompanied with some regular fertilizer? I don't know.


----------



## leefjl63

Is the yellow tips from all the rain? I've noticed that as well. Try pulling on the yellow tips. Mine pulls right out and shows sign of rot where it connects to the stolon.

I've sprayed 3336 and tebuconazole as a preventative. But the rain is somewhat normal now and the grass is back to normal.


----------



## ionicatoms

Sprayed Front yard:

21 floz GreenePunch
10 floz MicroGreene
0.8 floz Cyzmic Insecticide
2 floz Tekko Pro IGR
2.625 floz Azoxystrobin 
0.75 floz Stryker
4 floz green dye
7 floz Daconil 
2 floz surfactant

Next time I need to make the Stryker app in a soil drench type application because the volume of water required is so high.


----------



## ionicatoms

leefjl63 said:


> Is the yellow tips from all the rain? I've noticed that as well. Try pulling on the yellow tips. Mine pulls right out and shows sign of rot where it connects to the stolon.


@leefjl63 it can't be the rain because I don't see these symptoms (nearly as much) in my non-PGR areas. Pulling on the yellow ones does not confirm rot, which sounds like large patch or brown patch to me. I decided to hit it with some extra fertilizer and some Fungicide and see if I get some relief. The good news is the yellow tips don't look terrible in the yard yet. I doubt my neighbors even see them.


----------



## ionicatoms

Today I continued the test of the Ortho WeedClear spray product. I sprayed doveweed and dollarweed.



Doveweed is in the center of this photo (below). Look for the lighter green color.



I also sprayed the CitraBlue here to see how well it tolerates the spray. CitraBlue grows in darn slowly! It _better_ hold up against the herbicide!


----------



## ionicatoms

@UltimateLawn

The first app of Certainty (5 weeks ago) worked great.

To everyone:

Tonight I mixed up a gallon (0.4 grams sulfosulfuron) and only used about half of it. Afterwards, I realized I didn't use a surfactant. What impact would this have on the spots I sprayed?


----------



## UltimateLawn

ionicatoms said:


> Sprayed Front yard:
> 
> 21 floz GreenePunch
> 10 floz MicroGreene
> 0.8 floz Cyzmic Insecticide
> 2 floz Tekko Pro IGR
> 2.625 floz Azoxystrobin
> 0.75 floz Stryker
> 4 floz green dye
> 7 floz Daconil
> 2 floz surfactant


In one tank mix application??? Whoa..that is amazing. Why both the Cyzmic and Stryker? Tekko mixed in makes sense.

I was thinking of applying Daconile until I saw the warnings on Chlorothalonil. Seems pretty serious stuff so I stuck with the usual fungicides.


----------



## ionicatoms

UltimateLawn said:


> In one tank mix application??? Whoa..that is amazing. Why both the Cyzmic and Stryker? Tekko mixed in makes sense.


Yes, one tank mix. Cyzmic for "long term" control, Stryker for knock down effect. It's the first time I've ever tried it, so not really sure of the benefit. Label says it should be applied with quite a bit of water, which I didn't do, so I'm doubting it does anything for me this time.

As for chlorothalonil, perhaps you will find this interesting: 
https://www3.epa.gov/pesticides/chem_search/reg_actions/reregistration/fs_PC-081901_1-Apr-99.pdf

I avoid chlorothalonil powders and granules. Liquid seems ok to me.


----------



## ionicatoms

Neighbor across the street showed me where he's got sod webworm damage; I didn't take a picture but it was comprised of notched leaves. He told me that they always go for the crabgrass first. Pretty interesting observation if it turns out to be true.


----------



## Redtwin

In my experience they will eat Bermuda to the dirt before they even think about touching SA.


----------



## mjh648

@Redtwin Guess we found our bermuda suppression failproof method.


----------



## ionicatoms

&#128514;


----------



## UltimateLawn

ionicatoms said:


> Neighbor across the street showed me where he's got sod webworm damage; I didn't take a picture but it was comprised of notched leaves. He told me that they always go for the crabgrass first. Pretty interesting observation if it turns out to be true.


I have been seeing a lot of the sod webworms moths fluttering about in my grass blades. Remediation plan underway.


----------



## ionicatoms

ionicatoms said:


> Cut the front lawn at 3.75"
> 
> Decided to apply more PGR.
> 
> 10 cc's of Pramaxis
> 4.2 floz Eagle 20EW
> Green marking dye


I am starting to see signs that the St. Aug is coming out of regulation. I'm at 724 GDD (F) since my last app. That's 33 days.

Initial results are positive. Color is darker. Much less mowing required. Already appears denser. Only negative so far has been some yellow tips that I haven't figured out how to prevent/correct.


----------



## ionicatoms

This evening I picked up a bunch of sticks in the front yard. Then I swapped back over to the bagging (high lift) blade. I was a little too excited and accidentally cut the side yard at 3.25" instead of the normal height. About half way through the side yard mow, I was like, why am I getting so many more clippings with the high lift blade?! That's when I realized I was cutting it half an inch shorter than usual. 😖

Afterwards I cleaned up the front yard at the same height.

The good thing is we can see an apples-to-apples comparison since now the front (PGR) and the side (non-PGR) are both at the same height.





Here are some other photos I took.


----------



## leefjl63

Nothing like a well maintained yard &#128513;.

I notice if there's a few days of low to no rain with sunshine then yellow tips disappear.


----------



## ionicatoms

ionicatoms said:


> Today I continued the test of the Ortho WeedClear spray product. I sprayed doveweed and dollarweed.


The CitraBlue looks to be equally or more damaged than the Doveweed. A bit disappointed by that.



I decided to just go ahead and spray it with Sulfentrazone. Hit the patch in the front yard too.


----------



## ionicatoms

ionicatoms said:


> Just ordered the upgraded circuit board for my FlowZone Cyclone 2 (dual pressure) which has the epoxy sealed connections.


Part came in. Ironically it was delivered by USPS anyway, so I'm not really sure the extra money spent for UPS was worth anything. I hope confidence in USPS is restored.


----------



## ionicatoms

leefjl63 said:


> Nothing like a well maintained yard 😁.
> 
> I notice if there's a few days of low to no rain with sunshine then yellow tips disappear.


Yeah, if only I had all the flower beds cleaned up it would be looking awesome. I think the yellow tips in the PGR section are slowly disappearing now that it has stopped raining so much. It is still a bit of a mystery to me as to why the PGR section was more vulnerable than the rest of the yard. So far, that's the only downside I can really point to coming out of my PGR experiment.

One unexpected benefit (?) was that my sedge and perhaps some other weeds were more prominently visible in the PGR section allowing me to focus on them with spot spraying. I'm expecting to continue to experiment for at least another month.

Unfortunately, I think there needs to be a significant difference in application-timing for my shaded areas than for my sunny areas. The shaded areas are still under significant regulation, or so it seems to me.


----------



## leefjl63

I'm 100% in love with Celsius. It kills almost everything without any stress on the St. Aug. I have a bottle that I could split with you. Just tell me the amount you need.

I'll mail it via USPS LOL


----------



## ionicatoms

mjh648 said:


> Doing a 1.55#/k grubex soon? I'm due in 4 days


I'm already excited about my next app!


----------



## ionicatoms

leefjl63 said:


> I'm 100% in love with Celsius. It kills almost everything without any stress on the St. Aug. I have a bottle that I could split with you. Just tell me the amount you need.
> 
> I'll mail it via USPS LOL


2oz? I do feel 10 oz is too much to keep on hand. Price seems reasonable though.


----------



## leefjl63

2 oz will treat 17k. That's at the high rate of .113oz. I add some MSO as a surfactant. Takes about 3 to 4 weeks and you're 95% weed free. I'll DM you.


----------



## ionicatoms

Went out to check the mail. Got a decent domination line going.


----------



## ionicatoms

Cut the backyard at 3.25" (bagged clippings). Overgrown! 9 days since last mow.


----------



## ionicatoms

ionicatoms said:


> Just ordered the upgraded circuit board for my FlowZone Cyclone 2 (dual pressure) which has the epoxy sealed connections. I've currently got the older style board which is susceptible to shorts when I get a little wild with the hose.


Ok, so I opened up my Cyclone 2 for the first time and was surprised to find that I already had the epoxy sealed circuit board. I don't understand how it shorted out (had to pull the battery to turn off the pump) when I drenched it. I did find a small divot in the epoxy but when I probed it with a toothpick, it doesn't seem to explain the short circuit. Maybe the issue was in the switch somehow.



Old on the left, new on the right:



One thing I wasn't prepared for was replacing the heat shrink.



Other photos in case anybody else is interested:


----------



## ionicatoms

GLS seems to be under control now. Decided to go for PGR on the side yard. Used 6.5cc's of Pramaxis. Mixed in some NIS and Daconil. Observed a large number of gnats while spraying. Wish I had mixed in some Stryker with the mix, although that's supposed to be watered in. Maybe it's best if I do a followup app later.


----------



## ionicatoms

ionicatoms said:


> Today I continued the test of the Ortho WeedClear spray product. I sprayed doveweed and dollarweed.


Ok, so this yellow top gets a 👎 from me. To be fair a sprayed it on … the wrong stuff? I dunno. It's basically weak sauce as far as I can tell. Before I got my hands on some Celsius, I ordered a different product. It came in today. So I'll give it a shot to and see if it's any better.


----------



## ionicatoms

Well, it's raining again. I decided to do some online shopping.

First up is the Inzecto Mosquito trap. I've been waiting on these for a looooong time and it's finally on domyown (https://www.domyown.com/inzecto-mosquito-trap-p-24049.html). I ordered 2 of them to try out.

Second up: I ordered the Chapin 3 Nozzle boom to try out on the Cyclone 2. I'm pretty confident the Cyclone can push out enough volume to get a nice spray. Time will tell!


----------



## ionicatoms

Cut the side yard at 3.25"





Cut the front yard at 3.25"


----------



## ionicatoms

Here's the next edge I want to redefine.



Also I need to get this bed cleaned up.


----------



## UltimateLawn

@ionicatoms , your summer lawn is looking really good!


----------



## ionicatoms

Thanks, @UltimateLawn!

Wife thinks the lower cut makes it look "bristled." Guess I've got to let it grow! :lol:

Not sure if I should though with fungus being a persistent threat.


----------



## UltimateLawn

@ionicatoms , how is the Stryker pesticide working out? I'm still looking for that 'perfect recipe' to address my mosquitos.


----------



## ionicatoms

@UltimateLawn Wife and I have been too preoccupied to spend much time outdoors; couldn't say how it is performing yet.


----------



## ionicatoms

Mowed the backyard at 4.25".


----------



## ionicatoms

Mowed the front yard at 4.25"

Trying to get back into the lawn routine.



The side yard was really shocked by the PGR app. I think 6.5cc's on 2.2k was twice the actual required amount. Going to go very light on my next app.


----------



## leefjl63

So thumbs up to PGR? I'm getting killed cutting 2 or 3 times a week.

I hope this tropical storm is not a factor this weekend!


----------



## ionicatoms

leefjl63 said:


> So thumbs up to PGR? I'm getting killed cutting 2 or 3 times a week.
> 
> I hope this tropical storm is not a factor this weekend!


Yes, the PGR is amazing. But 0.1 fl oz per 1k is too much IMO. It practically stopped the growth, which is not what I really want. It was nice while I was too busy to deal with the lawn, but the grass yellowed a bit. Maybe a function of rain and PGR together. Not really sure how to explain the difference in coloring yet.


----------



## SeanBB

i like your lot!


----------



## UltimateLawn

I was thinking this was the PGR year for me but I have a number of spots I want my StAug to fill into. While mine gets fried during the day, the growth rate is astoundingly fast.


----------



## ionicatoms

Thanks @SeanBB.

This morning I sprayed some of the mulched areas where I didn't get good pre-emergent coverage and the pavers around the pool with RoundUp. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough product to get the proper concentration, so we'll see if it's enough to knock back the weeds.

I decided to give up on RoundUp and will use a different generic glyphosate product in the future. Maybe something dissolvable.


----------



## UltimateLawn

@ionicatoms , I have had very good luck with the straight glypho product...

https://www.amazon.com/Compare-N-Save-Concentrate-41-Percent-Glyphosate-1-Gallon/dp/B00ARKS3XO/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=glyphosate&qid=1628966460&s=lawn-garden&sr=1-4

It does take about 2-3 weeks, so you will want to plan ahead. It helps to do another application weekly if it remains green. 
Where I have applied it, the bermudagrass is absolutely destroyed. I've used it destroy some bermuda encroachment spots before new sod.

Before...



10 days after application...



15 days after application...



20 days after application...



23 days after application...cutting out bermudagrass....so much easier after the glypho apps...



Immediately after the sod lay...



Two months later...bermuda gone and no lingering effects from the glypho app...



I've also used it to spot kill some dallisgrass. Easy fix with a replacement piece of sod...dallisgrass killed.


----------



## ionicatoms

Mowed front and backyard at 3.75".


----------



## ionicatoms

The reduced concentration of Roundup did not produce consistent results amongst all my different weeds. The vines we're not nearly as impacted. I had 2.5 gallons left over from last week, so I added a different glyphosate product into that batch and re-sprayed.

Not knowing how much degradation has occurred in the last week in the previous batch, I only added 1.5 ounces of this product to 2.5 gallons of premixed solution..


----------



## ionicatoms

Darn Doveweed.





Time to break out the sprayer.


----------



## ionicatoms

Mowed the front and back yards at 3.75". Clipped the gladiolus at ground level (getting ready to spray weeds in the flower bed).







Here's one of the side yard so you can see how the Bermuda prospered under the PGR and the St Aug went yellow.


----------



## UltimateLawn

@ionicatoms , what is your fall pre-emergent plan for the StAug? Here's mine...

*Round 1 - September 15th (Earlier if Cooler)*
Sunniland Prodiamine WG (65% Prodiamine) - 0.18 oz = 5 grams / 1,000 ft²
Specticle Flo (7% Indaziflam) - 0.138 floz = 4.08 ml = 81.6 drops / 1,000 ft²
Princep (41.9% Simazine) - 0.37 floz = 10.9 ml = 218 drops / 1,000 ft²​*Round 2 - October 15th (Earlier if Cooler)*
Specticle Flo (7% Indaziflam) - 0.069 floz = 2.04 ml = 40.8 drops / 1,000 ft²
Princep (41.9% Simazine) - 0.37 floz = 10.9 ml = 218 drops / 1,000 ft²​


----------



## ionicatoms

@UltimateLawn I haven't given it much thought beyond Isoxaben on Sep 18th and Jan 1st. I will need to consult my journal before making any additional plans.


----------



## ionicatoms

I've been out of town recently. Son mowed the front yard yesterday. Looking good!


----------



## ionicatoms

Mowed the backyard at 3.75". Edged the front.


----------



## UltimateLawn

Is it just me or does your corner street drainage look elegant against the curve of your edging?


----------



## ionicatoms

UltimateLawn said:


> Is it just me or does your corner street drainage look elegant against the curve of your edging?


I don't think it's just you. I'm pretty happy with that corner. I'm hoping to apply the lessons learned from this year to my other two yards next year and get a nicer look all around the house. But I'm only going to get so far without killing the Bermuda and resodding. The last couple of months have really been challenging with family stuff; I don't think I'll be able to do much more in the yard this season.

The good news is I expect to have my folks moved in by year end, so next year I'll get to work on their new lawn too. Pretty happy I won't have to drive 3 hours to visit them anymore after October.


----------



## ionicatoms

Cut all three lawns at 3.75". Forgot to get pics until it was dark.





I am way behind on my lawn maintenance. The weeds are really coming through now.


----------



## 12620

Everyone in TX is putting their pre-emergent down now and it's making me anxious - are you still planning on early October? Can't tell if monsoon season is over yet or not.


----------



## ionicatoms

@thundergunexpress My plan called for isoxaben to be applied this past weekend (didn't get around to it).



ionicatoms said:


> @UltimateLawn I haven't given it much thought beyond Isoxaben on Sep 18th and Jan 1st. I will need to consult my journal before making any additional plans.


However, I am noticing the soil temps are dropping, so it's definitely time to start getting serious about making a plan. We finally got my parents house on the market today, so hopefully I can get them moved and settled-in before the end of the year and have some normality starting with my January app of isoxaben. They had 30 years-worth of "crap" in/around their house to go through before we could get photos taken. My poor lawn is suffering; @leefjl63 sent me celsius to try out and I still haven't had a chance to use it.


----------



## leefjl63

What's taking you so long! I sprayed some Celsius last week to knock down some weeds. Trying to go into Fall as weed free as possible. What ever is left behind will get some Atrazine. This is also to help with the bermuda grass.


----------



## UltimateLawn

@leefjl63 , Atrazine stunts bermuda grass?


----------



## TampaBayFL

ionicatoms said:


> @thundergunexpress My plan called for isoxaben to be applied this past weekend (didn't get around to it).
> 
> 
> 
> ionicatoms said:
> 
> 
> 
> @UltimateLawn I haven't given it much thought beyond Isoxaben on Sep 18th and Jan 1st. I will need to consult my journal before making any additional plans.
> 
> 
> 
> However, I am noticing the soil temps are dropping, so it's definitely time to start getting serious about making a plan.
Click to expand...

Do you actively monitor soil temperatures in your yard? I ask as I started doing that a few weeks ago as I found a weather station that allowed the easy integration of soil temperature sensors as well so I have started doing it. I've been surprised at the variance even around my small yard. It's been cloudy and rainy the last few days so I have definitely seen the soil temperatures drop, especially in the shady areas.


----------



## ionicatoms

TampaBayFL said:


> Do you actively monitor soil temperatures in your yard?


No, I use Greencast soil temperature notifications. Great idea to have an integrated monitoring solution on site though!


----------



## TampaBayFL

ionicatoms said:


> TampaBayFL said:
> 
> 
> 
> Do you actively monitor soil temperatures in your yard?
> 
> 
> 
> No, I use Greencast soil temperature notifications. Great idea to have an integrated monitoring solution on site though!
Click to expand...

If you click the link in my signature you can see all
of my data, including 3 soil temp sensors and trending data. I think I may add a couple more spil probes. This weather station is pretty nice for the $.


----------



## leefjl63

UltimateLawn said:


> @leefjl63 , Atrazine stunts bermuda grass?


 I'm just following what was said on here https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=25257 and what's in this article https://ugaurbanag.com/postemergence-bermudagrass-control-in-turf/

Although not listed for St. Augustine I'm going to try sethoxydim at a lower rate. But this will be spot treated.


----------



## ionicatoms

Hurt my neck over the weekend. Just can't seem to catch a break. Noticed the lawn is looking thirsty. Got a late start, but watered this morning.


----------



## ionicatoms

Mowed the front yard at 3.75".



Need to sharpen the blade!!


----------



## leefjl63

Looking good! How are the weeds? Mine is all clear after the Celsius app. Virginia buttonwood was my main enemy.


----------



## ionicatoms

leefjl63 said:


> Looking good! How are the weeds? Mine is all clear after the Celsius app. Virginia buttonwood was my main enemy.


I keep pulling Doveweed when I find it. Does seem to be making a difference. I haven't sprayed anything at my own house in months. Doing ok considering the lack of attention. Wife seems to be getting better. She hasn't been able to drive in 3 months; I'm hopeful she will regain full mobility by the year end.


----------



## ionicatoms

Cut all three lawns at 3.75". Trimmed the hedges. Did not edge or blow yet.

Sprayed the side yard 2.2k:

1.25 fluid ounces Azoxystrobin 
1.5 fluid ounces tekko pro IGR
1.0 fluid ounce of Stryker insecticide
0.5 fluid ounces Cyzmic CS
30.89 g Isoxaben 75
1.1 ounces weight Prodiamine
12 fluid ounces of FloraGreene and 
12 fluid ounces of MicroGreene
Green marking dye


----------



## ionicatoms

Pulled some of the weeds growing around the palm tree in the front yard. Need to do a little bit every day to keep up.


----------



## ionicatoms

Yesterday I cut the front and side yards at 3.75". Noticed the leaves were folding in half, so I watered for 35 minutes overnight.


----------



## ionicatoms

Greencast "pre-alert" notification for _large patch_ and _spring dead spot_ popped today. Good thing I already sprayed and watered-in Azoxystrobin on my side yard a week ago!


----------



## ionicatoms

Got the Penntek floor put in my parent's house today. Looks pretty good.







I don't have good "before" shots, but you'll get the idea from these:


----------



## leefjl63

That looks pretty good. So that floor won't peel?


----------



## ionicatoms

leefjl63 said:


> That looks pretty good. So that floor won't peel?


I sure hope not. It has a 15 year warranty and pretty good reviews. Ware did his garage with it. I'm looking forward to seeing how well it holds up.


----------



## leefjl63

Mine has regular floor sealer. It's been holding pretty good but wished I did something like yours.


----------



## ionicatoms

EditIt's the temperature)


----------



## ionicatoms

Sprayed a mixture of Celsius and Image-Southern. Added NIS and Blue Dye.

I noticed my neighbor once again (probably) killed a portion of my grass near our shared mulch bed. I suspect glyphosate but haven't talked to him yet.

This picture was taken from his driveway looking toward my yard.


----------



## ionicatoms

Deadlawn said:


> Interesting article:
> 
> https://www.paceturf.org/member/Documents/0109.pdf


I'm bookmarking this awesome article on nitrogen management. Just what I wanted!


----------



## ionicatoms

Cut the backyard (severely overgrown and neglected) and sideyard at 3.25"


----------



## Redtwin

Wow! You're still getting some good growth over there. I'm assuming you are coastal... Jacksonville area?


----------



## ionicatoms

Redtwin said:


> Wow! You're still getting some good growth over there. I'm assuming you are coastal... Jacksonville area?


Not really much growth - it's just been a _long_ time since the backyard was cut, plus I dropped the deck half an inch which I'm sure makes it seem like there's even more growth.

I'm in Gainesville.


----------



## ionicatoms

Sprayed Cyzmic+Tekko+Stryker around the perimeter of my home today. Also hit many of the shrubs/beds and fencing.

Edit: also sprayed the front and side yards with Cyzmic alone, watered in for 10 minutes afterwards.

2nd edit: Weather forecast is looking _mostly_ good!


----------



## ionicatoms

Wife finally agreed to take down lights in the yard. Edged and mowed front and side yards at 3.25". Was running out of light, so photos are probably color corrected.















I need to get my isoxaben tomorrow if possible!


----------



## ionicatoms

Pre-emergent and fungicide. Sprayed the whole yard, including mulch beds. 
Used 16 gallons total. Sprayed with Flowzone on the low setting and Chapin 2 nozzle boom. Watered in afterwards.

4 gallon batch recipe:

1 oz Isoxaben 75WG
0.75 oz Prodiamine 65WDG
6 floz Propiconazole 14.3
4 floz green marking dye​


----------



## ionicatoms

3 days after mowing, weather turned cold today. The rain I expected never materialized. Decided to grab some photos.









Risks for the immediate future are predominantly crabgrass and take-all patch.


----------



## ionicatoms

Treated 625 sqft of Pavers with 62.5 floz of Ortho GroundClear Year Long (0.47% Imazapyr, 5.0% Pelargronic acid). I added enough water to make 4 gallons of solution.

Couple of things I think are going against me here. I sprayed near sundown, not sure how quickly it will dry. Expecting rain around midnight. Furthermore, the temperatures are fairly low (65F) and dropping. Finally, I used quite a bit more carrier water than the label wants. It wanted about 3 gallons of solution, but I used 4 (it's easier for me).


----------



## ionicatoms

Holy moly that was a lot more rain than I expected.


----------



## ionicatoms

ionicatoms said:


> I think I'm going to try one (or both) of the suggestions above next winter.


Alright, we have some frost coming, so I decided to experiment a little with Matt's suggestions.

In the side yard, I've got half cut at 3.25 and another half cut at 2.75. Additionally, cutting across those two halves, next to the fence, I've just sprayed 10 oz of Calcium Nitrate 15.5-0-0 diluted in 4 gallons of water. I was uncertain about watering it in, so I ran the sprinklers for 5 minutes. Hopefully this application doesn't cause any harm, but we'll see.

In the back yard, I only went with a lower cut in the higher area. It's already starting to go dormant, so it could be that I waited too long to start the experiment.


----------



## leefjl63

I was thinking of using potassium on my SIL lawn to prep for the cold.


----------



## ionicatoms

leefjl63 said:


> I was thinking of using potassium on my SIL lawn to prep for the cold.


Potassium nitrate is the other suggestion Matt made. He said to spray ~48 hours before frost strikes. Unfortunately he didn't specify any particular amount to spray.


----------



## leefjl63

I think 1 to 2 lb of 0-0-50 should be ok. This pro told me to try it when fungus appears before using chemicals.


----------



## ionicatoms

leefjl63 said:


> I think 1 to 2 lb of 0-0-50 should be ok. This pro told me to try it when fungus appears before using chemicals.


Might be fun to leave a control spot untreated. Like a 3x3 covered with cardboard during application.


----------



## ionicatoms

Frost hit the lawn this morning in my open sky areas. As in years past, the areas next to the jasmine-covered fence were decently protected. I looked at my neighbor's lawn a couple houses down the street (also has open sky) and he did not seem to have any frost. I wonder if his "excessive" watering in the early part of January made the difference or if there is some other explanation. I was originally thinking that height of cut might be an important factor. However, seeing no frost on his lawn sort of leads me to believe there's something else at play here. I know he was watering a lot (3x per day) 3 weeks ago.



Since it was warming up, I ran the sprinklers for 5 minutes to knock down the frost.



Unfortunately, I've got this one spot that doesn't get watered efficiently, so there was still frost afterwards.



I left the front yard alone. It only had small areas of frost.


----------



## ionicatoms

I'm starting to get ready for Spring. Today I ordered more Isoxaben from Solutions Pest and started thinking about mosquito control. Had a late start with the trap last year, didn't observe any bad results. Don't know if it was just a really low pressure year for mosquitos or if the Inzecto trap was making a difference. Will continue trying it out in 2022 and see if I can come to any conclusions.

Here's their timing recommendation for placing traps in the southern areas:


----------



## ionicatoms

Woke up to frost on the lawn again. I ran the sprinklers for 5 minutes to knock down a majority of the frost. Looking at the 10-day forecast, it appears we are going to have a hard freeze this weekend. I suppose my efforts to keep the lawn out of full dormancy will come to naught.


----------



## ionicatoms

Did some scouting at lunch today. Found small, I suppose early-stage, outbreaks of large patch fungus. I base my diagnosis off the pull test.







Also took some general landscape photos for archiving.


----------



## ionicatoms

Decided to grab a 30lb bag of Scotts Green Max 33-0-3 with 5% iron. Paid 49.99 after coupon at Ace. I really didn't want to pay that much, but the 21% slow release content combined with the industry supply constraints pulled me in.


----------



## ionicatoms

Ordered more GrubEx today. Will plan to start the sod webworm control program (1.5lbs per 1k) again at the beginning of April. Last year we had that brutal winter, so I think the sod webworm pressure was reduced; wasn't a good year to test out the GrubEx on Sod Webworm.

As long as the price doesn't change much in the next 12 months, I'll switch to Acelepryn SC next year as a matter of convenience. The 4oz bottle isn't terribly expensive.


----------



## ionicatoms

We had a hard freeze last night. It's been several years since it got down to the mid 20's. The tropical plants are looking pretty sad, but tbh they haven't had a good die-back in years. I haven't checked on my orange tree yet, I hope it will be fine.





As for the grass, I hope the sudden burst of warm weather coming this week will prevent it from losing all its green. Would be nice not to have it all go dormant like it did last year.


----------



## ionicatoms

Unfortunately most of my grass slipped into dormancy with the hard freeze.



The line demarcating the different cut heights is evident, but functionally irrelevant as far as a I can tell at this moment.





Can kind of see the Tiger stripes:



I expect a fairly quick recovery over the next month.


----------



## ionicatoms

Applied RGS and Air-8 on 3/4 of the side yard using the Chapin hose end sprayer. After I ran out of product, I went over to the untreated section by my neighbor's driveway and watered it to try to nullify any difference in the response that might be explained by the extra water. Goal is to see if I can observe any differences between the two areas.


----------



## ionicatoms

Decided to roll the dice on an early fertilizer experiment. Put out 5-6 floz of GreenePunch 18-0-1 on a ~435 sq.ft test patch. Used the Chapin hose end sprayer. High temperature above 80 for the next two days, so I'm hoping to see an effect by day 3 or 4.


----------



## ionicatoms

Greencast alert popped for the Crabgrass and Take-all Patch today. Glad I already put out prodiamine.


----------



## ionicatoms

Greencast alert popped for Doveweed and Large Patch this morning. What a joy.


----------



## ionicatoms

Applied 9 ounces each of Air-8, RGS, and GreenePunch to 3/4 of the side yard (experiment area). Mixing was only by shaking; dunno how well that works.

Sprayed on setting 7 using Chapin. Next time I should go for setting 5 or less. Dilution with water seems to help with the consistency of the spray; I noticed the Chapin was having a difficult time pulling up the N-Ext product.

Am expecting rain tonight so it will get watered in nicely.


----------



## ionicatoms

Weather is turning warm so I'm bringing down the HOC.



This year I'm experimenting with different heights in the side yard.

Center most test area (single strip) = 1.25"
Next area = 1.75"
Surround = 2.25"
Front yard = 2.75"

I definitely see some scalping at 1.25" on the high spots. But most of that center strip is actually nice and green compared to the other parts that I left higher.







Front yard is only half cut.


----------



## ionicatoms

Finished cutting front lawn and trimmed up the hedges.







Weather looks ok, except for cold front coming through. I doubt we'll see frost.



Edit:

Cut the backyard at 2.25". Didn't bag. Also trimmed some of the elephant ears back.


----------



## ionicatoms

ionicatoms said:


> This year I'm experimenting with different heights in the side yard.
> 
> Center most test area (single strip) = 1.25"
> Next area = 1.75"
> Surround = 2.25"
> Front yard = 2.75"


Initial results are in!

The center-most strip is noticeably greener than the rest, however, I fear it was just too aggressive and perhaps not the healthiest cut.

The next higher area was also noticeably greener, but not as much as the single strip. This may be the best height for a spring reset.

Finally, the surround was also a tad greener than the control section.

So bottom line seems to be lower gets you more green faster, but going too low may cause other problems. I'll continue to watch these test areas over the next month.





Think I'll wait at least another week before doing anything too aggressive.


----------



## ionicatoms

Cut the front yard at 2.25". The Oak trees are dropping leaves at a high rate now.



Am starting to see greenup in the side yard.







I also decided to do a validation test by cutting at 1.75" in a small square section in the front yard. The preliminary results from the side yard looked ok.


----------



## ionicatoms

ionicatoms said:


> Decided to roll the dice on an early fertilizer experiment. Put out 5-6 floz of GreenePunch 18-0-1 on a ~435 sq.ft test patch. Used the Chapin hose end sprayer. High temperature above 80 for the next two days, so I'm hoping to see an effect by day 3 or 4.


Saw no effect. Retreated test area again today. If it looks different, it's because it's wet.


----------



## ionicatoms

ionicatoms said:


> Applied 9 ounces each of Air-8, RGS, and GreenePunch to 3/4 of the side yard (experiment area). Mixing was only by shaking; dunno how well that works.


Saw no results from the first app. This time I separated the RGS and the Air-8 from the GreenePunch. I only applied GreenePunch to the area closest to the driveway.


----------



## ionicatoms

Mowed 4 days worth of Oak leaves at 2.75".


----------



## ionicatoms

GreenePunch kicked in on this test area.



Sadly it looks like we're going to have another frost. I'll continue holding off on fert for the majority of the yard.


----------



## ionicatoms

Mixed up a batch of Azoxystrobin, Cyzmic, and a touch of Propiconazole. Sprayed on side yard and watered in afterwards.

That Lazer green marking dye looks fantastic on the side yard.


----------



## 12620

Your yard is looking good coming into spring! Is your oak done dropping leaves or still transitioning? I'm still waiting for the massive leaf clean up here in a couple of weeks. These temperature swings are driving me nuts trying to spray out the weeds in the yard.


----------



## ionicatoms

thundergunexpress said:


> Your yard is looking good coming into spring! Is your oak done dropping leaves or still transitioning?


No, I think the Oaks are still shedding. It may be slowing down a little bit; I was doing pretty good at keeping up with it but now we're getting so much rain. Dunno what it's going to look like after this cool system moves through. I'm gonna keep my fingers crossed and hope the St. Aug doesn't do a full dormancy cycle again.

Sometimes I wonder if North Florida really belongs in "Florida" at all. The dormancy thing is a bummer. Might as well be in Georgia!


----------



## ionicatoms

Yep, seems about right. Way too much rain over the last two days.


----------



## ionicatoms

I didn't see any frost at sunrise today, so I think the grass did ok. Lucky, because the weather forecast was for overnight temps around 29.

Did some edging and worked on getting the leaves up.

I've still got a lot of winter damage to grow through. Cut at 3.75" in the front yard. Left the side and back yards alone for now.


----------



## ionicatoms

ionicatoms said:


> ionicatoms said:
> 
> 
> 
> Decided to roll the dice on an early fertilizer experiment. Put out 5-6 floz of GreenePunch 18-0-1 on a ~435 sq.ft test patch. Used the Chapin hose end sprayer. High temperature above 80 for the next two days, so I'm hoping to see an effect by day 3 or 4.
> 
> 
> 
> Saw no effect. Retreated test area again today. If it looks different, it's because it's wet.
Click to expand...

Second app produced an effect in the test area. Everything is still waking up, so I'm still waiting to really get things going with fert, but the experiments to date have shown that a little extra N does produce a good early spring response.



In other news, I found my first seedhead of this year. I must have cut it loose while edging over the weekend and not noticed it.


----------



## ionicatoms

Cut the side yard at 3.75". Still has a bunch of dormant spots which makes me sad.

Also decided to spray some MicroGreene (4 fl oz) and GreenePunch (9 fl oz) on my "dry" spots in the front yard. With all the cold nights, I'm still holding back on a full fertilizer application. It's not even Spring yet and I'm ready for some heat!


----------



## ionicatoms

Washed the roof.



Mowed the side yard at 3.75" after I took that photo.

Edit: Sprayed 32 floz GreenePunch on the side yard. Focused on the control area that wasn't previously fertilized. Seems to be a good product.


----------



## ionicatoms

Mowed all three lawns at 3.25". Had to bag in the front yard; oak tree doesn't seem to be done dropping leaves. Mulched the other two yards.

Observed a bunch of weeds in the pine nugget mulch beds in the back yard. I guess the pre-emergent didn't stick to the right layer.

Edged the curbs/driveway.

Tried to put out 3 year old Bonus S, but it's pretty clumpy. Going to let it dry out some before I continue to try and put it out.


----------



## ionicatoms

Put out GrubEx at 1.5lbs per 1k on all yards. Echo RB60 setting 2. Noticed the spreader is having difficulty spreading at times. Probably jammed up with that 3 year old Bonus S from yesterday. The issue seems to be that the gate doesn't always open when I pull the handle. Takes multiple pulls.

Spread DiseaseEx fungicide on front and side yard at 1.75lbs per 1k. Setting 2 on the RB60. That's a bit under the preventive rate, but it's too convenient to drop in a single 10lb bag and just go. I figure even a little is better than nothing.





Wife planted freesia and liatris in the front bed today. The gladiolus from last year are coming back again. Pretty cool.


----------



## ionicatoms

Put out 25 lbs of Lesco 15-0-15 over 7.1k. That's 0.5 lb of N per k. Watered in for 10 minutes.


----------



## ionicatoms

Grass is waking up. Finally getting some consistent growth. Exercising patience!!


----------



## 12620

ionicatoms said:


> Put out GrubEx at 1.5lbs per 1k on all yards.


How often do you put that amount out per year? The lighter rate seems like a better idea for my sandy soil composition.


----------



## ionicatoms

thundergunexpress said:


> ionicatoms said:
> 
> 
> 
> Put out GrubEx at 1.5lbs per 1k on all yards.
> 
> 
> 
> How often do you put that amount out per year? The lighter rate seems like a better idea for my sandy soil composition.
Click to expand...

Target dates are April 1, June 1, August 1, Oct 1


----------



## ionicatoms

I spot sprayed some of the broadleaf weeds in my backyard with the Ortho Weedclear RTU (Yellow Top) this morning.


----------



## mjh648

Good luck and have fun this year!


----------



## ionicatoms

What's the difference between North Florida and Central Florida? Feel like this pretty much sums it up.


----------



## ionicatoms

Cut the front and side yards at 3.25"







My neighbor did a heck of a job killing that spot by our shared bed.


----------



## ionicatoms

Went to HD, bought two kinds of sand to play with. Started with the Play Sand, dropped a little in some low spots and brushed it out.



Sprayed 6 floz per k of:
Air-8 + RGS (spiked with a little GreenePunch)

followed by a short watering and then:
D-Thatch + MicroGreene 0-0-2









Edit:
Sprayed the backyard:
12 floz D-Thatch
8 floz GreenePunch
in 4 gallons.


----------



## ionicatoms

Sprayed Cyzmic, Tekko, and Stryker around the perimeter of my house. Had leftover so went ahead and sprayed the front yard too.


----------



## ionicatoms

Received D-Thatch, MicroGreene, and GreeNeEfFect today.



Mowed all three yards at 2.75".









The backyard really suffered with the super low nitrogen experiment last year. I'm going to have to push it harder this year.


----------



## ionicatoms

ionicatoms said:


> Treated 625 sqft of Pavers with 62.5 floz of Ortho GroundClear Year Long (0.47% Imazapyr, 5.0% Pelargronic acid). I added enough water to make 4 gallons of solution.
> 
> Couple of things I think are going against me here. I sprayed near sundown, not sure how quickly it will dry. Expecting rain around midnight. Furthermore, the temperatures are fairly low (65F) and dropping. Finally, I used quite a bit more carrier water than the label wants. It wanted about 3 gallons of solution, but I used 4 (it's easier for me).


I had a couple weeds pop up so I sprayed again today under pretty much ideal conditions, so hopefully I'm not going to have to spray again in 3 months.


----------



## TampaBayFL

ionicatoms said:


> What's the difference between North Florida and Central Florida? Feel like this pretty much sums it up.


Palm Harbor shout out!

The climate does change notably when it comes to the more extreme events when one gets near Tampa on the west coast, especially if near the Gulf. Ive been logging weather (through various weather stations) for this area for close to 20 years and it has however frozen a handful of times in my yards. I think the coldest Ive logged was 29.xx back in 2009 or 2010. Otherwise, we usually get a few nights of mid 30's (and sometimes flirt with the unfortunate 32F mark) but usually dont fall below it. So, St. Augustine/Bermuda/Zoysia etc never goes fully dormant. It does slow down alot though. The low this winter was a slightly cringey 33.9F in my yard.


----------



## ionicatoms

Did my first experiment with Black Diamond Dominator Polymeric Sand. Used the Taupe color. Most of my attention was on the four pavers closest to the corner.

Before wetting:


After wetting/drying:




Leaned that the sand is incredibly fine, it can go in very narrow joints, however it takes a long time to get the sand in very fine joints. I also learned that I can fill the joint higher if I don't brush them so much.


----------



## ionicatoms

It's been incredibly dry. My irrigation problems are starting to show again. I hand watered this spot and bumped up the timer for the run tomorrow morning.



Also I put out some EZ Patch in two spots.



Earlier today I did some more sand leveling but didn't catch any photos. It was play sand and watered in really well.

Lastly I cut the front and side yards at 2.75".











Edit: Put out 25 lbs of Lesco 15-0-15 over 7.1k. That's 0.5 lb of N per k. Used setting 3.5 on the Echo RB60.


----------



## ionicatoms

Replaced another sprinkler today. I like the 5" popups.

New K Rain on the left, old Hunter PGP on the right.



Here's a view of the patch I pulled up to access the old sprinkler head.



The packaging changed since the last one I bought. I'm not sure why but the nozzles are also a different color.





I'm also really proud of this comparison photo showing my progress in suppressing the Bermuda:


----------



## ionicatoms

ionicatoms said:


> Ok, so this yellow top gets a 👎 from me. To be fair I sprayed it on … the wrong stuff? I dunno. It's basically weak sauce as far as I can tell.


I was in the store today and realized Ortho relabeled the yellow-top WeedClear as Weed-B-Gon in Purple color:



Cheeky bastards trying to catch me off guard!


----------



## ionicatoms

Curbs/walkway/driveway pressure washed today.


----------



## UltimateLawn

@ionicatoms ...looking excellent!


----------



## ionicatoms

Thanks, @UltimateLawn!


----------



## ionicatoms

Pressure washing chemicals put a hurting on the grass. It will recover and then maybe I'll start using PGR for the season.


----------



## UltimateLawn

@ionicatoms , I'm curious how the PGR goes. Please share the results with close-up pics.


----------



## ionicatoms

@UltimateLawn I'll get close ups this year. I had good results last year.


----------



## ionicatoms

I think it's time to get a smart irrigation controller. I've been trying to manually control irrigation for the past couple of years and I never seem to get the right amount of water out. Typically it's too little, sometimes it's too much.


----------



## ionicatoms

Cut all three lawns at 3.25"

Sprayed D-Thatch



Checked up on EZ Patch spots


----------



## ionicatoms

Sprayed the backyard.

Dash of citric acid
8 floz MicroGreene
20 floz GreenePunch


----------



## ionicatoms

Mowed the sideyard at 2.75". All my yellow streaks are now gone. I think the extra fertilizer + micros made the difference. I gotta check the other areas first before declaring victory.

Also received in some triclopyr and flower holder things. Going to start working on the Virginia Creeper.


----------



## ionicatoms

ionicatoms said:


> All my yellow streaks are now gone. I think the extra fertilizer + micros made the difference. I gotta check the other areas first before declaring victory.


Nope. Backyard is still looking like crap. There is some improvement. After on the left. Before on the right:



Mowed the front and back yards at 2.75". I was surprised to see that the GreenePunch test spot is still growing significantly better two months after I applied it.

Here's a picture of the spot on March 2:



Here's the same area as I was about to cut it today:



Also did some more spot leveling today:



And checked on the EZ Patch spot. After on the left, before on the right. It's been about two weeks:



Overall, the front is looking pretty good.





Sprayed the backyard and sideyard with RGS and Air-8. I'm all out of these two products now. Not sure if I'll will buy again. I do see that my drought stress is in the untreated areas, but I'm not convinced there is a relationship. Will think on it some more.


----------



## wilsonline

I'm still at page 6, but this is one hell of a great journal! So many details, comparisons, good stuff. But for now I will jump to the end to check what is going on now lol.


----------



## wilsonline

ionicatoms said:


> What's the difference between North Florida and Central Florida? Feel like this pretty much sums it up.


Based on that, can I presume I have a growing season all year here in Fort Lauderdale? At full potential even in the winter? 
Sorry for my ignorance, I'm just entering the hobby. lol


----------



## ionicatoms

wilsonline said:


> Based on that, can I presume I have a growing season all year here in Fort Lauderdale? At full potential even in the winter?
> Sorry for my ignorance, I'm just entering the hobby. lol


Could be! I'm not sure what the potential chart means in detailed terms, but I think it's good news for you!

@leefjl63 is down in your area and I don't recall seeing his yard go dormant. His yard always looks fantastic!


----------



## 12620

ionicatoms said:


> Sprayed the backyard and sideyard with RGS and Air-8. I'm all out of these two products now. Not sure if I'll will buy again. I do see that my drought stress is in the untreated areas, but I'm not convinced there is a relationship. Will think on it some more.


Glad to have your observations from these products. :thumbup: I bought a 1 lb bag of humic acid I plan on mixing and spraying it this year, but my expectations are low. My only hope is that it helps with my tree root issues and maybe alleviating some drought stress.


----------



## leefjl63

ionicatoms said:


> wilsonline said:
> 
> 
> 
> Based on that, can I presume I have a growing season all year here in Fort Lauderdale? At full potential even in the winter?
> Sorry for my ignorance, I'm just entering the hobby. lol
> 
> 
> 
> Could be! I'm not sure what the potential chart means in detailed terms, but I think it's good news for you!
> 
> @leefjl63 is down in your area and I don't recall seeing his yard go dormant. His yard always looks fantastic!
Click to expand...

LOL....too kind Ionic!!

You'll go from cutting twice a week to one  Maybe every two weeks if we get a really good cold spell.

@wilsonline Let me know if you need any help.


----------



## ionicatoms

thundergunexpress said:


> Glad to have your observations from these products. :thumbup: I bought a 1 lb bag of humic acid I plan on mixing and spraying it this year, but my expectations are low. My only hope is that it helps with my tree root issues and maybe alleviating some drought stress.


Don't forget to feed the tree directly! I've been spraying mine with FloraGreene, but probably anything works just as well.


----------



## ionicatoms

Snagged a photo while out checking on the flowers.


----------



## ionicatoms

Sprayed 11 floz of GreeNeEfFect 7-0-0 on the side yard and part of the front yard.

I never had good luck with any iron supplements before, so not expecting anything.


----------



## ionicatoms

My grass is really struggling with this drought in particular areas. Over the weekend, I saw rain on the radar all around me, but not a single drop landed in my yard. I'm fairly sure the main issue I've got is that my thatch layer is just too thick, I've got stolons on top of stolons and there's gaps between the top of the soil and the bottom of the stolon. It was already thick when I moved in and nothing I've tried so far has really helped to bring it down. I'm fairly certain the thatch (and not watering) is what did me in over the winter as well. So for this season, I'm going to keep hitting it with D-Thatch (sugar) and hope I can get enough progress that I can avoid the dreaded verticut.

In other news, I made the plunge on an Echo Bed Redefiner attachment for my PAS powerhead. Looking forward to putting this to use soon!


----------



## ionicatoms

Edging in progress. Looks like I'll need to work at it, but overall looks promising. I really don't like having to bend forward though. These tools aren't made for tall people.


----------



## ionicatoms

The Bed Redefiner is very powerful. I would describe it as a stick trencher. It makes plenty of mess! Pretty happy with this purchase so far.

Pool deck was covered in debris:


So were the stepping stones:


Used to blower to move some of the debris around:


I've got a lot more work to do to clean up the mulch beds!


----------



## ionicatoms

Found paint on my lawn. Oh boy. Not sure why the water line is marked.









Lawn has quite a bit of shade on it in the morning.


----------



## mjh648

Those are marker lines for digging yeah?

Replacement of lines, sidewalks?


----------



## ionicatoms

Yeah, I assume they are going to dig. But I don't know why; nothing obvious to me. No sidewalks there, the utilities aren't that old. I think they were put in circa 1998.


----------



## mjh648

Maybe a neighbor pulled a permit and they are just marking lines that are close.


----------



## ionicatoms

Went out to mow and instead found drought stress. Dang it.



Hand watered these areas but don't know how much it helps. I think I'm going to need an irrigation system redesign. This corner gets half the water as the other 3 corners.


----------



## ionicatoms

Did some more work with the bed redefiner. This tool is great. I think I've settled on a technique that doesn't immediately kill my back. It basically involves me dragging the tool from the motor head end. One problem though: if I hit a rock or thick root, the tool jumps (because I'm not holding the handle) and creates a divot.

Still much better than using a half-moon edger.


----------



## ionicatoms

ionicatoms said:


> Hand watered these areas but don't know how much it helps.


Hand-watering helped enough to let me mow. Drought is still evident but still looks better than the neighbors' lawn's.









Follow-up on the EZ Patch:



April 16 vs May 5


----------



## ionicatoms

Mowed the front and backyards at 2.75". Edged along the curbs.

Sprayed half the sideyard and all of the backyard with N-Ext Double dark formula.

6 floz MicroGreene per 1k
6 floz GreeNeEfFect per 1k

Here's the before picture:



We'll see if anything happens. This damn drought has been killing me.

Here's a bunch of other photos:


----------



## ionicatoms

EZ Patch update

May 7 vs April 16


----------



## sangheili

ionicatoms said:


> Mowed the front and backyards at 2.75". Edged along the curbs.


That corner looks so damn clean. Very nice.


----------



## ionicatoms

sangheili said:


> That corner looks so damn clean. Very nice.


Thanks! I'm not used to cutting this low, but I'm starting to like it!


----------



## ionicatoms

ionicatoms said:


> Sprayed half the sideyard and all of the backyard with N-Ext Double dark formula.


3 days later… no joy, just more drought stress. Half was sprayed, other half not sprayed.


----------



## ionicatoms

Drought stress continues.



Received this product today:





Not sure when I'll spray it.


----------



## UltimateLawn

I tried Hydretain and didn't think it was worth the money. I get high direct heat with my StAug. In the end, healthy grass going into the summer helps it to make it through the hotter months. May is an important month here to put on growth. I'm already cutting at 4" to keep the ground and stolons reasonably cool.


----------



## ionicatoms

Yeah, this is sort of a desperation move for me. Greencast shows soil moisture is down to 14% and headed to 11% by May 19th. My irrigation system is not putting out enough water, and what it does put out is uneven, and I'm pretty sure my thatch layer is thick enough that the roots are having to grow through about an inch of space before getting down into the soil. I'm skeptical that Hydretain is going to help me much given the amount of thatch, but I'm going to give it a try anyway.


----------



## sangheili

UltimateLawn said:


> I tried Hydretain and didn't think it was worth the money. I get high direct heat with my StAug. In the end, healthy grass going into the summer helps it to make it through the hotter months. May is an important month here to put on growth. I'm already cutting at 4" to keep the ground and stolons reasonably cool.


I have used it with seemingly good success in the past 2 years, but I don't face severe high temp draught. For me, it seems to bridge the gap if I get no rain for a week or two.


----------



## ionicatoms

Tonight I sprayed 12 floz of Hydretain on the side yard. Before and after doing so, I ran the sprinklers for 23 minutes each time. I'll run them again early tomorrow morning and then they won't run again until Sunday.


----------



## ionicatoms

I wasn't able to get out into the yard yesterday, so today I'm just going to focus on the side yard.

Started with watering for 23 minutes at 3am.

Side yard
1.1 oz Isoxaben
0.85 floz Azoxystrobin
2 floz Propiconazole
Mixed in 4 gallons

Watered for 3 minutes.

0.6 floz Cyzmic
1.0 floz Stryker
1.5 floz Tekko Pro
Mixed in 4 gallons

Waited 10 minutes to let soak/dry. I'm seeing quite a bit of insect activity. Don't know if this is a factor in my drought stress symptoms.

40 floz GreenePunch
20 floz D-Thatch
Mixed in 4 gallons

Watered for 5 minutes


----------



## ionicatoms

Confirmed presence of two-lined spittlebugs in the front yard. They were easy to find on the gladiolus.



I will look for them elsewhere tomorrow.


----------



## ionicatoms

Mowed the side and front yards at 2.75". Didn't have time to edge or blow.

It rained pretty well, but the poorly irrigated area still suffers. I do think there must have been a bug problem over there. I didn't see as much insect activity tonight, so between the rain and the insecticide, I hope I'm back on track.



Still no impact attributable to the GreeNeEfFect:









Ez Patch looking good 👍



I need to spray the front and back yards next!


----------



## ionicatoms

Sprayed insecticide in the front yard.

1 floz Cyzmic
2 floz Stryker 
3 floz Tekko

Afterwards put out an Inzecto trap by the garage and then this guy landed on my glasses. I suppose it's a two-lined spittlebug.


----------



## ionicatoms

Oh yeah! Got me something new to play with today. I'll be looking at GLS response on treated vs untreated areas.


----------



## ionicatoms

Continued to work on the drought stress in the side yard. Sprayed 8 floz of Hydretain. Followed with 10 minutes from the sprinkler. Focused the Hydretain app on the stressed spots. Here's one such spot:



Here's a comparison photo showing results from the first application. After photo on the left; Before photo on the right.



As you can see, this is no miracle product. There does seem to be some relief though. I do suspect the amount of thatch and the fact that I'm already under drought stress is going against me. Will keep up the experiment to see how it goes. I'm not treating the drought spots in the front yard or the backyard so those will be my controls.

Looking forward to the next week, it looks like we're going to get plenty of rain. This could be good for drought relief, but given how stressed the grass is, I decided to go ahead and prepare for GLS. To that end, I sprayed 4.4 oz of 3336 EG on the side yard.





Overall, it doesn't look terrible. I'm hoping for complete recovery by July 4th.



Hope this illustrates how dry it has been this spring:


----------



## 12620

Does this mean monsoon season is on it's way?!


----------



## ionicatoms

thundergunexpress said:


> Does this mean monsoon season is on it's way?!


Yes, sir, I believe it's about to get hot and humid. The grass is going to be growing like crazy and next thing you know we'll get the big insect population boom. I'm already feeling anxious about getting out my next app of GrubEx because LCN said he already found sod webworm damage. That is alarmingly early.


----------



## Redtwin

No worms yet up here but I'm seeing the moths. I have a small army of lizards and toads patrolling my yard and I will occasionally see them munching on a moth.


----------



## ionicatoms

Mowed all three lawns at 2.75".

Found GLS in the backyard, which isn't too surprising. I let the backyard grow way too long and I didn't pretreat with any fungicide.

I'm noticing a lot of uneven growth and it's pretty evident which areas need additional fertilizer. Now that we're getting some rain, think I'll try and even it out. Wishing I had a robomower right now. &#128513;


----------



## ionicatoms

Mixed up 9 floz of Subvert Depth Silica with some NIS and 4 gallons of water.

Sprayed alternating bands on the side yard; I used the expansion joint cuts to establish the boundaries between treatments and controls.

Started with the section at the driveway and alternated "+", "-", and so on.





I also sprayed on half the backyard in a semicircle around the pool, being sure to hit these areas where GLS has been going strong.



I also sprayed half this bush, just on the outside of the bush, no real expectations here.



Finally, I sprayed a long stripe across the front of the lawn, starting at this green utility box and walking toward the opposite side of the yard.





So, according to the labeling, this stuff needs to be applied throughout the growth cycle. Consequently, it seems the earliest any detectable difference might be observed will be several weeks, depending on growth rate and possibly after multiple applications. I got plenty of product to run this experiment.

Mostly hope it helps with the health of my grass, gives me some protection against GLS and maybe helps with wear tolerance.

Snapped this photo from the street. Drought stress recovery is still in process. Getting better though.


----------



## bbbdkc79

Stupid question, but I have to ask. What year Highlander is that? We have an '05 that I can't bear to get rid of. Yours looks around the same year.


----------



## ionicatoms

bbbdkc79 said:


> Stupid question, but I have to ask. What year Highlander is that?


2006 Honda Pilot. Been a great vehicle. Reminds me of good times driving my Dad's '94 Ford Explorer when I was younger.


----------



## bbbdkc79

Heck, I was old even in 94. Yard's looking good.


----------



## ionicatoms

Plans for this weekend:

Fertilizer, GrubEx, Cyzmic on backyard, edging. Looks like rain on Sunday, so will see how much I get done on Saturday.


----------



## ionicatoms

Edged the curbs and blew off the street.



Realized I needed to mow. Cut the side yard at 2.75". Cut most of the front yard at 3.25".





I can definitely see the difference between the side and front yards now. The side yard got an extra dose of GreenePunch and it looks better overall.

Spread GrubEx over all 3 yards, setting 2 on Echo RB60. ~1.5 lbs per k.

Spread 14 lbs 29-0-3 over front and side yard. That comes out to 0.7 lbs N per K. Used setting 3 on the RB60.


----------



## Ben4Birdies

ionicatoms said:


> Edged the curbs and blew off the street.


Looking really nice!


----------



## ionicatoms

This is interesting. I don't normally get GLS here by the driveway.



Do I let it run toward the silicon streak to see if the silicon stops it or squash it with fungicide?


----------



## ionicatoms

Got in a late mow on the front and side yards. Cut at 2.75".


----------



## ionicatoms

Drought stress is back. Thankfully it's supposed to rain soon.


----------



## ionicatoms

Didn't do anything in the yard this weekend.

Reattached the sink (GD contractors never installed it correctly). Replaced the kitchen faucets, soap dispenser, and disposal. Also replaced the hot water valve. Total cost was a little north of $500.









Also replaced the water filter cartridges while they were accessible.


----------



## ionicatoms

Today I went out to inspect the drought stress areas. Using the soil sampling probe, I determined that the areas struggling with drought stress are also those which are most difficult to take samples from.

Since I don't have a proper wetting agent, I'm considering using the highest rate of Hydretain to see if I can get some relief.

To date, application of a normal rate of Hydretain has shown limited success. I have no doubt that my attempts to apply this to areas already struggling are an impediment to success.

Here's the before vs after:



I didn't include photos of control areas, but they are obviously stressed as well.


----------



## ionicatoms

Instead of going to the max rate, I dropped another 20 floz of Hydretain on the experimental areas and just focused my attention on those areas which are doing the worst.

It rained just before I applied the Hydretain, and I watered in afterwards, so I'm hoping the product penetrates a little further into the soil.


----------



## ionicatoms

Mowed the front yard 2.75 inches on Friday. Mowed the side yard at 2.75 inches today. Also did the edging around the curbs.

Before:


After:


----------



## TampaBayFL

Lookin good! The more I see the St Aug cultivars that are capable of being cut lower, the more I
like them.


----------



## ionicatoms

Mowed the back yard at 2.75". The 1x treatment of Silica didn't seem to help the GLS.

Sprayed the side yard; mix of Azoxystrobin and Cyzmic. Watered in for 3 minutes.


----------



## H12Mike

What made you decide to mow your St. Augustine at the 2.75" height? I am currently mowing at 3" after mowing at 2.5" all spring. I changed because of the new sod being laid in areas by the pool at the recommendation of the sod grower. But I wish I was back at the 2.5" HOC because it had a much more groomed look and it appeared denser. Do you think I can reduce my HOC in this extremely hot weather?


----------



## TampaBayFL

@H12Mike ..... What cultivar of St. Augustine do you have? Some of them are much more taller than others to lower mowing heights.


----------



## ionicatoms

H12Mike said:


> What made you decide to mow your St. Augustine at the 2.75" height?


My open-sky areas have proven to be less resilient than I want, especially when exposed to cold or dry weather conditions. I suspect that a reduction in thatch will improve the situation, and perhaps reduce susceptibility to fungus as well. I tried a low-N feeding schedule last year, but it didn't help much in reducing thatch. Consequently, this year I'm lowering the HOC to get a little more heat, and also I am spraying D-Thatch to encourage bio-activity and thatch digestion. If I don't see net progress this year, I will explore mechanical de-thatching (verticutting) next year.

As for reducing your HOC ... I think it's a judgement call. Roots are probably going to be deeper with a higher HOC, but if you can stay on top of the watering should be fine.


----------



## H12Mike

TampaBayFL said:


> @H12Mike ..... What cultivar of St. Augustine do you have? Some of them are much more taller than others to lower mowing heights.


I have Floratam St. Augustine.


----------



## TampaBayFL

H12Mike said:


> TampaBayFL said:
> 
> 
> 
> @H12Mike ..... What cultivar of St. Augustine do you have? Some of them are much more taller than others to lower mowing heights.
> 
> 
> 
> I have Floratam St. Augustine.
Click to expand...

Spell check owned me again up there..... I meant to say more tolerant.

Floratam at 2.xx" sounds like a nice trick if you can pull it off. Were you able to get it that low by training it over time?


----------



## ionicatoms

Update on my drought stress / hydretain experiment. At this point I'm waiting to see if it stops raining long enough to evaluate the effectiveness. The odd thing is that the spot which I applied hydretain to heaviest seems to be even better than the surrounding areas.

Not sure what to make of it.


----------



## ionicatoms

Forgot to get pics today. Mowed the front and side yards at 2.75".


----------



## TampaBayFL

ionicatoms said:


> Forgot to get pics today. Mowed the front and side yards at 2.75".


Are you able to maintain all cultivars at 2.75?


----------



## ionicatoms

TampaBayFL said:


> Are you able to maintain all cultivars at 2.75?


I sort of doubt it. Palmetto is a semi-dwarf cultivar and not all of the blades point straight up so it is supposed to be more tolerant of a shorter cut. My neighbors with floratam and bitterblue seem to struggle with thinning when they cut too low for extended periods. Perhaps it is to do with something other than the mowing, but I agree it's safer to cut those cultivars higher.


----------



## H12Mike

My Floratam is actually denser at 2.5" HOC than at a 3" HOC. Texas A&M and local turf specialists recommend cutting at 2 to 4 inches. I water ever 2 days and the sprinklers are controlled by a evapotranspiration sensor.


----------



## ionicatoms

Well, I don't know what my neighbors are doing wrong then. Maybe it's cut frequency related?

In any case, I got some photos this morning. Didn't edge the curbs this weekend.


----------



## H12Mike

Cut frequency and watering are probably the culprits. I have to mow every two days to maintain the 1/3rd rule. My next door neighbor has his lawn mowed weekly at 3.5" and it is less dense than mine.


----------



## TampaBayFL

TampaBayFL said:


> ionicatoms said:
> 
> 
> 
> Forgot to get pics today. Mowed the front and side yards at 2.75".
> 
> 
> 
> Are you able to maintain all cultivars at 2.75?
Click to expand...

The conversation took a nice turn, which is good, but what I originally meant was could you maintain the different cultivars in your yard at that same height. I thought you had more than one variety of St Augustine, but I am getting old so the memory is suspect....🤪


----------



## TampaBayFL

ionicatoms said:


> Well, I don't know what my neighbors are doing wrong


Honestly, anyone who is posting on this board is right out of the gate going to have a 25% better lawn just due to knowledge and interest.🤪

I think the base question would be for a disinterested homeowner who is not involved in lawn care at all......what is the best HOC? I would guess its going to be 4"ish. That's probably why most of them are in that range.


----------



## ionicatoms

TampaBayFL said:


> The conversation took a nice turn, which is good, but what I originally meant was could you maintain the different cultivars in your yard at that same height. I thought you had more than one variety of St Augustine, but I am getting old so the memory is suspect....🤪


Oh! Yeah, I do have a small bit of Floratam and a couple CitraBlue spots. They're just experimental areas, I wouldn't try to cut them any differently than the surrounding areas. I've only been cutting lower this year for the first time, so may be able to draw some conclusions by next year.


----------



## ionicatoms

Ran out of space in my Plano Stack-and-Store boxes.





Ordered a rolling toolbox from HD:



It's a little awkward but will suffice.

It was delivered without the drawer liners! The manager at the local HD let me snag the liners from their floor model. Thankful for that!


----------



## ionicatoms

Drought stress is kicking back in over in my control areas, but it's still developing. If this treated area doesn't get much worse, I'll declare Hydretain a success. Otherwise, I'll apply more product before declaring failure.

Right now, it's looking ok.


----------



## TampaBayFL

Is that area being tested completely without irrigation?


----------



## ionicatoms

No, I run sprinklers in both the control and the experimental areas for up to 23 minutes twice per week. It's not enough to avoid drought stress.

Here's one of the control areas. Drought stress is most obvious in the area near the gladiolus.


----------



## Ben4Birdies

Have you done any tests of doing longer watering sessions twice per week?


----------



## ionicatoms

Nah, I have uneven coverage and my utility bill is already too expensive. I need to get the system fixed. In the meanwhile, just playing around with hydretain to see how it performs.

Here's my update on the experimental area today:



Drought stress continues to grow, but still not as bad as before.


----------



## ionicatoms

Drought stress is hitting the untreated areas hard now.

I would say it is working even though it seems I need to apply a third dose.

Before vs After:


----------



## ionicatoms

Mowed and fertilized all 3 yards. Used 30lbs Scotts GreenMax. Setting 4 was almost right, maybe try 4.5 next time. I double fertilized some areas, hope it doesn't burn.







Edit/Update:

Edged the curbs and blew back into the yard.


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## TampaBayFL

Love the crisp edges✔✔


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## ionicatoms

Update photo. Too hot to do much in the yard this afternoon.


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## ionicatoms

Mowed front and side yards at 3.25"


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## ionicatoms

Was leaving to go to CVS and snapped this photo.


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## ionicatoms

Positive COVID since July 4. Stuck in the master suite and basically living off DoorDash. Thought I was going to make a quick recovery after my temp spiked to 104 and came back down to normal range. Doesn't seem to be case though; congestion is getting worse not better and temp is hovering around 100 pretty consistently now. Doing my first ever TeleHealth appt this afternoon. What an aggravation.


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## Redtwin

Oh man! I heard it was spiking in just about every county in North Florida. I hope you start feeling better soon and will keep you in my thoughts and prayers.


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## ionicatoms

Thanks! Not sure which strain this is, but it must be _highly_ contagious because I didn't have close contact with anybody. Sold a few items during our garage sale and made a few trips to HD where I didn't talk to anybody to my recollection.

It's a good time to practice social distancing in Florida!


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## 12620

Sorry to hear you're sick. Hope you start feeling better soon!


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## ionicatoms

Grass is overgrown. See a good bit of GLS.


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## ionicatoms

Finally tested negative on rapid antigen test. I think I was exposed on July 1. So that would be:
3 days for symptoms to start, followed by 13 days of household confinement, except to drive through the pharmacy.

Don't know if my experience was typical, but if I could go back in time I would have accepted the anti-viral that my doctor offered as an option, simply because I probably could have avoided 3-4 days of this unexpectedly long recovery. Still coughing BTW. Otherwise doing well.

This latest variant really is a ninja.


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## ionicatoms

Was walking around the front yard, scoping out the yard work that needs to be caught up on when I noticed Sod Webworm moths flying around the front yard. Looks like the GrubEx is going to be put to the test over the next few weeks. No damage observed yet. Will have to keep an eye on my neighbor's yards as well.


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## TampaBayFL

ionicatoms said:


> Was walking around the front yard, scoping out the yard work that needs to be caught up on when I noticed Sod Webworm moths flying around the front yard. Looks like the GrubEx is going to be put to the test over the next few weeks. No damage observed yet. Will have to keep an eye on my neighbor's yards as well.


Still battling the webworms here......Its crazy! Very minimal visible damage but the worms are still trying.


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## ionicatoms

Got in a quick mow on the side yard. Grass is overgrown all around the house.


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## ionicatoms

Front yard is in bad shape. Got it mowed again but it really needs to be sprayed with fungicide.

Garage organizing continues. Replaced this old rack with a new chest of drawers.





I want to use it predominately for consumables, but wife is feeling unsure. Not sure what she has in mind.


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## ionicatoms

Sprayed 2 floz Azoxystrobin in the front yard just prior to a thunderstorm. Guess we're doing a root treatment today!!


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## ionicatoms

Yesterday: Mowed overgrown backyard at 4.25". Mowed front and side yards at 3.25".

Today: Sprayed the yards for fungus and insects.

3336EG 2 oz per k
Tekko 0.667 floz per k
Cyzmic 0.23 floz per k
SiLICA 2 floz per k


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## ionicatoms

Mowed the backyard at 3.25". Was still overgrown, I hope I've finally gotten through the worst of the reset.

Front and side yard was cut at 2.75". It's slowly recovering from the GLS outbreak.

COVID recovery continues. I want to get back down to at least an average of 68. I'm fairly sure this thing screwed with my nervous system and I'm just working on a reset at this point. Although my lungs still aren't back to normal, so who knows.



Note these are heavily averaged:



I do like the Apple Watch and would recommend it to others.


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## ionicatoms

ionicatoms said:


> ionicatoms said:
> 
> 
> 
> Treated 625 sqft of Pavers with 62.5 floz of Ortho GroundClear Year Long (0.47% Imazapyr, 5.0% Pelargronic acid). I added enough water to make 4 gallons of solution.
> 
> Couple of things I think are going against me here. I sprayed near sundown, not sure how quickly it will dry. Expecting rain around midnight. Furthermore, the temperatures are fairly low (65F) and dropping. Finally, I used quite a bit more carrier water than the label wants. It wanted about 3 gallons of solution, but I used 4 (it's easier for me).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I had a couple weeds pop up so I sprayed again today under pretty much ideal conditions, so hopefully I'm not going to have to spray again in 3 months.
Click to expand...

Ok people, my hopes were disappointed. It's been 4 months since I sprayed and that is too long. I had a lot of weeds growing between the pavers. It seems 3 months between sprays must be the upper limit, at least down here in Florida. A little disappointing. I don't believe the results are explained by using too much carrier water. Overall the product is "ok" but I may try something else next year.


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## ionicatoms

My son sprayed his first yard today. I set him up on the backpack sprayer and he sprayed MicroGreene + SiLICA on the side yard.


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## ionicatoms

Thought this was interesting. My son did a test spot in the front yard. MicroGreene + SiLICA. These pics were taken 7 hours apart.


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## ionicatoms

Sprayed the front yard twice this evening.

First batch was MicroGreene + SiLICA. 
16 floz MicroGreene per k
3 floz SiLICA per K

Second batch was for fungus:
2 oz 3336EG per k
0.5 floz Azoxystrobin per k

If I can get the GLS under control, I'll spray PGR.


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## ionicatoms

Sprayed 20 floz Hydretain on the side yard. It was after a rain storm came through. Watered in for 10 minutes.

While spraying, I observed many leaf hoppers and lots of grey leaf spot. Think I need to treat the side yard again.


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## ionicatoms

Grass is recovering. Didn't do anything in the yard today.


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## ionicatoms

Mowed the front yard at 3.25"


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## ionicatoms

Spot sprayed Celsius. 6.55 grams in 4 gallons of water. Added MSO surfactant and blue dye.

I'm not sure how many square feet I covered, but I'll monitor the results and see how it goes.



Sprayed Cyzmic, SiLICA, and GreeNe EfFect on the side yard.


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## ionicatoms

ionicatoms said:


> I'm starting to get ready for Spring. Today I ordered more Isoxaben from Solutions Pest and started thinking about mosquito control.


Well folks, Solutions Pest & Lawn still hasn't delivered after 7 months. They've been sitting on my money all this time. Not good. I placed an order for Gallery with https://winproonline.com/

Hope this one goes better.


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## ionicatoms

ionicatoms said:


> Sprayed Cyzmic, SiLICA, and GreeNe EfFect on the side yard.


I also sprayed a rainbow shape in the front yard as a test of this mix.



4 days apart:


GreeNe EfFect definitely works!


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## ionicatoms

Edged along the curbs. Was getting ready to mow and noticed the grass wasn't standing up. I guess it's too hot and dry? Decided to water for 5 minutes and then sprayed the front yard with :

0.5 floz Azoxystrobin per k
2 oz 3336EG per k
9 floz GreeNe EfFect 7-0-0 per k

While spraying I noticed a huge swarm of webworm moths. Definitely need to get the next dose of GrubEx down. Hopefully it's not too late.


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## ionicatoms

Mowed the front yard @ 3.25".


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## ionicatoms

Sprayed the front yard:


32 floz Hydretain 
6 floz Propiconazole

Sprayed the sideyard:


4 floz Propiconazole 
16 floz Greene Effect


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## ionicatoms

ionicatoms said:


> ionicatoms said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm starting to get ready for Spring. Today I ordered more Isoxaben from Solutions Pest and started thinking about mosquito control.
> 
> 
> 
> Well folks, Solutions Pest & Lawn still hasn't delivered after 7 months. They've been sitting on my money all this time. Not good. I placed an order for Gallery with https://winproonline.com/
> 
> Hope this one goes better.
Click to expand...

Got my order from WinField.



Emailed Solutions Pest for a refund.


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## ionicatoms

Mowed front and side yards at 3.25"





I can still barely see where I sprayed the rainbow shape in the front yard, which I take to mean I can put down more Greene Effect.


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## ionicatoms

Mowed all three yards at 3.25"

Observed Doveweed and Chamberbitter and a number of stressed spots. Don't think I'm getting this lawn on PGR this year!


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## ionicatoms




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## ionicatoms

Mowed both the side yard and front at 4.25 inches. I edged along the curbs as well.

Sprayed the side yard:

Cyzmic (~0.75 floz)
Sevin (~16 floz)
Tekko (1.5 floz)
Celsius (7 grams)
Azoxystrobin (1 floz)
Non ionic surfactant (4 floz)

I don't think I'll be buying sevin again. It wants 16 floz per k!

I hope I got all these entries correct because I did it from memory.


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## Monocot Master

Looks nice! Not many St. Aug lawns in my area, but I always pay attention to them to see how they are being managed. Some look good, some do not. HOC is always lower than what I see from you FL folks.

My experience with Winfield products and service as been very good.


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## Redtwin

ionicatoms said:


> Mowed both the side yard and front at 4.25 inches. I edged along the curbs as well.
> 
> Sprayed the side yard:
> 
> Cyzmic (~0.75 floz)
> Sevin (~16 floz)
> Tekko (1.5 floz)
> Celsius (7 oz)
> Azoxystrobin (1 floz)
> Non ionic surfactant (4 floz)
> 
> I don't think I'll be buying sevin again. It wants 16 floz per k!
> 
> I hope I got all these entries correct because I did it from memory.


I'm sure it's a typo but the 7oz of Celsius sounds a bit heavy considering the whole bottle is 10oz.


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## Humbert810

Redtwin said:


> ionicatoms said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mowed both the side yard and front at 4.25 inches. I edged along the curbs as well.
> 
> Sprayed the side yard:
> 
> Cyzmic (~0.75 floz)
> Sevin (~16 floz)
> Tekko (1.5 floz)
> Celsius (7 oz)
> Azoxystrobin (1 floz)
> Non ionic surfactant (4 floz)
> 
> I don't think I'll be buying sevin again. It wants 16 floz per k!
> 
> I hope I got all these entries correct because I did it from memory.
> 
> 
> 
> I'm sure it's a typo but the 7oz of Celsius sounds a bit heavy considering the whole bottle is 10oz.
Click to expand...

Going to assume he forgot the . and meant to put .7oz as that would be right between medium and high rate for his 7100 sq. ft.


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## ionicatoms

haha, good catch. It was actually 7 grams over 2,200 sq.ft.


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## ionicatoms

Snapped photos this morning.


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## ionicatoms

Mowed the side and front yards at 3.25" over the weekend.

Hurricane cleanup still in process... the pool was in terrible shape and consumed a lot of my weekend.


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## ionicatoms

Sprayed side yard:

18 floz GreeneEffect (7-0-0)
15 floz FloraGreene
7 floz Subvert Silica.


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## ionicatoms

Sprayed front yard:

0.83 floz Cyzmic
1.5 floz Tekko
6 floz Sevin
7 floz Propiconazole 
17 floz Greene Effect
21 floz FloraGreene


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## ionicatoms

Spread 1.7 lbs / k GrubEx on the Front Yard.


----------



## ionicatoms

Sprayed Front yard:
Celsius 11.36 grams
Isoxaben 49.05 grams

Seems like I might be too late…. will water it in later this week.


----------



## ionicatoms

We’ll see….


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## Victor Von Lawn

So, what was your final verdict on the Hydretain?


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## ionicatoms

It works, but I used 2-3x the label rate so at some point cost becomes prohibitive.


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## ionicatoms

Sprayed all three yards today.
Backyard: Celsius 4.8 grams, Isoxaben 21 grams
Sideyard: Floragreene 4-0-2, Azoxystrobin 0.5 floz
Front yard: Floragreene 4-0-2, Azoxystrobin 2.0 floz


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## ionicatoms

Mowed front and side yards


----------



## ionicatoms

Spread 7-0-20 Stress Blend on Front and Side yards. Used setting 5 on the RB60 and seemed to be a little heavier than necessary.


----------



## ionicatoms

Mowed the sideyard and part of the front yard near the xmas lisghts. 3.75".


----------



## ionicatoms

Mowed the front yard at 3.75”

Applied 30 floz Hydretain plus a splash of propiconazole followed by 40 minutes of watering.


----------



## ionicatoms

Sprayed some test stripes of hydretain on the side yard. We have some freezing weather coming up next week; kind of interested to see if Hydretain makes any difference whatsoever. I’m guessing not.


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## ionicatoms




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## ionicatoms

Well, darn! So ends another season in north Florida 😢


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## ionicatoms




----------



## ionicatoms

I’m experimenting with a frost cover in a test spot. 




























I pulled up the blanket this morning to grab a photo and water the lawn. We have two more nights of freezing weather to endure.


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## ionicatoms

Seems like the freezing temperatures have abated for now. Decided to pull up the frost cover. Here’s an update on the experiment.


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## ionicatoms

Sprayed the side yard today

Isoxaben 30.8 grams
Cyzmic 0.5 floz
Azoxystrobin 1 floz
Propiconazole 4 floz
GreenePunch 40 floz
Lazer Green Marking Dye


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## ionicatoms

Sprayed my mulched areas. 

7.5 oz Glyphosate (75%)
3.2 oz Prodiamine (65%)
2 oz Isoxaben (75%)

Used about 6.5 gallons of water; probably will do 8 gallons next time. Would be good to use a defoamer as well.


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## ionicatoms

I keep looking at this and wondering if Hydretain actually made it worse.


----------

