# JWall's Lawn Journal



## Jewall84 (May 11, 2019)

5/22/19
Hi all. I've been a lurker here for a while. I have finally acquired a complete arsenal of lawn equipment required to level my Bermuda lawn and want to share the experience and get any feedback I can. I had sod put down 3 years ago and have paid a service to mow it too high the entire 3 years. It is also horribly uneven, causing scalping even at the tall HOC. This is how it's looked for years:





I recently bought a used Mclane 20" reel and today I scalped down to 5/8" on one side of the yard after running the Sun Joe scarifier at its deepest setting:





Being my first time using a reel mower and my first time ever scalping my lawn, I'm a little worried I went too low. Even after reading this entire thread multiple times over the last year, seeing comments like, "you cant kill bermuda", and "go for it", I'm still concerned I did damage.

I plan on doing the same thing to the other side of the yard tomorrow unless I hear different from you guys. I have 2 yards of masonry sand being delivered Friday and will spread that with the drag mat I ordered from Amazon.

I really enjoy the community here and am looking forward to any feedback/critisicm you all can give.


----------



## Jewall84 (May 11, 2019)

5/24/19
I did a number on my reel mower scalping the lawn and had to sideline it the night before sand was being delivered. Had to have a lawn service come out and scalp it as low as they could with their rotary mowers. Not nearly as low as I would've liked but had to work with it. Sand was being dumped in the street and I had to get it spread right away.



My young neighbor was supposed to come help me spread it but he decided he liked sleep more than back breaking manual labor for $20 an hour. Got 2 yards of masonry sand all spread and could've used another yard. I wasn't able to level about half of one side of the yard.


----------



## Jewall84 (May 11, 2019)

We got a decent amount of rain today in DFW. Sand seems to be settling okay and more green is coming through. 5 days post level:





I was planning on maintaining at 1" this season but not sure what I'm going to do now since I don't think the grass got "scalped" below 1"


----------



## ctrav (Aug 18, 2018)

Its coming along nicely. Scalping does make the mower work really hard (mine is in the shop after going down to .50"). I just use my rotary at 1" for now but will go down to .50 again and then maintain at .75". Once you let the sand settle and keep cutting at 1" with rotary you should give it another go with the reel mower. :thumbup:


----------



## Jewall84 (May 11, 2019)

@ctrav, that sounds like a good plan. Thank you!


----------



## Jewall84 (May 11, 2019)

3 weeks post level. I touched up some spots and have more to do. I think it's coming along okay. I put out .75lb N/m of 46-0-0 a week ago followed by 1.5 inches of rain in one hour the next day. A lot of it likely got washed away so I may put down another .25 or .5 N tomorrow. We have more rain the forecast the next 5 days so I'm not sure.


----------



## ctrav (Aug 18, 2018)

Looking good! What is your HOC? Are you using the reel mower?


----------



## Jewall84 (May 11, 2019)

Thanks @ctrav! Yea I decided to use the McLane at the 1-1/16 setting, which I think is actually a little lower. Have been washing it real good after each mow to make sure I get all the sand out. Have already had to backlap once.


----------

