# SeanW78 Lawn Reno 2022 - 4th Millenium TTTF



## SeanW78 (6 mo ago)

After living in our house for 17 years and mowing bare patches and weeds for far too long I finally got fed up and planned and started my first (partial) reno.

The yard between the house and trees was somewhat grass, better on the edges where it sees more shade. In total it's 4600 sq. ft. Our septic leach field is in this portion of our property and the lawn was never properly established when that was redone. I did some rapid research and settled on a glyphosate treatment and took the dive.

I picked up some Compare N Save 41% gly and a pump backpack sprayer. The first application was on 7/15/22.
This is what it looked like one week later on 7/22.


Things changed quickly. 7/23


7/24


7/28


You know things are getting real when new tools and seeds show up.




8/1


On 8/3 I scalped, bagged, dethatched, and swept up more than I expected.




We received .4 inches of rain the next day. You can clearly see where there was grass and also where it wasn't.


6 yards of screened top soil are scheduled to be delivered this afternoon.


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## jskierko (Sep 5, 2020)

SeanW78 said:


> On 8/3 I scalped, bagged, dethatched, and swept up more than I expected.


It's kinda wild how much is actually growing in your lawn. You don't realize it until you have to scalp and bag it all. Best of luck on the reno!


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## SeanW78 (6 mo ago)

Scattered storms delayed the topsoil delivery. Now coming today around 12:30. What a way to lose a few hours of potential progress. I guess I'll spend the time installing the mulching blade and plug on the zero turn and give the backyard a mow.


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## SeanW78 (6 mo ago)

Topsoil was delivered on 8/6. After 5 hours with the help of my lovely wife, it was all spread, dragged, and rolled.






This wasn't enough topsoil so I called on 8/8 and took delivery of 4 more yards of topsoil on Tuesday 8/9 afternoon. Another 4 hours of spreading, dragging, and rolling. I then spread 15-23-10.


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## Jeff_MI84 (Sep 28, 2020)

4th Millenium is good seed.


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## SeanW78 (6 mo ago)

Jeff_MI84 said:


> 4th Millenium is good seed.


Glad I picked a good one. I'm hopeful for the best.


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## Jeff_MI84 (Sep 28, 2020)

@SeanW78 by day 5-6 you'll have lots of grass babies.


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## SeanW78 (6 mo ago)

*8/10* 
Seed down. I was pleased that my peat moss math was spot on. I came within 1/2 of a 2.2 cu. ft. bag. The Landzie spreader works very well at putting down an even layer. I'm glad I picked one up.


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## Butter (Nov 14, 2017)

Monostand of a top tier TTTF variety! This is gonna be cool! I'm exited to see how it goes!


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## SeanW78 (6 mo ago)

Butter said:


> Monostand of a top tier TTTF variety! This is gonna be cool! I'm exited to see how it goes!


@Butter I have to admit I'm a bit nervous. I will be away for a day and a half this weekend. I have high hopes to see little green babies when I return. It will be day 4, but one can dream, right?!?


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## SeanW78 (6 mo ago)

DIY irrigation for 5,000+ sq. ft. of yard is no joke. A mix of rotors, impact, and hoses. So many hoses.


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## SeanW78 (6 mo ago)

*8/16*

DAS 6 and we have little green babies.



Small patches are starting to pop.



*8/17 am*

Much more progress by daybreak.


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## SeanW78 (6 mo ago)

So much progress from 8/17/22 to this morning.

*8/18 am*

8 DAS



*8/22 am*

12 DAS



With a little over 1/2" of soaking rain on Sunday and temps climbing a bit this week, I expect a big push with the filling in of some lagging spots. The forecast looks ideal for the lawn. Highs in the low 80s, lows overnight in the low 60s. I may be roughing a few patches and spot seeding by the end of the week.


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## Jeff_MI84 (Sep 28, 2020)

@SeanW78 how do you like that tripod sprinkler? I need something for the 135sqft side of my house. Watering by hand before work takes more time than I sometimes have.


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## SeanW78 (6 mo ago)

@Jeff_MI84 We have low pressure from our well, I actually confirmed that with a gauge yesterday. With 20 PSI when the pump is running, I needed to find something to cover a lawn width of 85'. The tripod came with a brass impact head that worked well, but I didn't have enough oomph for it to switch direction. I originally swapped out the metal impact for an Orbit plastic one. I could get to reverse on less than 360 and it threw about 60' spread across. I noticed it was leaving a light area under the arc when going full circle so for a few days I would water with it in one direction, then manually switch it over and let it run in the other. I've been tweaking my watering along the way and have settled on Orbit rotors for all positions. With that on the tripod it could through a bit more than the others on the ground, but I was still seeing less coverage under the arc, especially just around the tripod. It was dry almost 4' around the base of the tripod.

Long-winded story aside, the tripod is nice with an impact head. If you have better water pressure than I do, it can likely serve you well I went to the rotors mainly because I can spread a bit more consistently in less time. With the impact running 360 I would turn it on, go for a 25-minute run, and would come back to mostly damp soil/peat moss. The rotors can do similar in less than half that time.


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## Jeff_MI84 (Sep 28, 2020)

Oh okay. I've seen them at the store and a few people use it, but never heard how the quality was.


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## lawn-wolverine (Aug 15, 2021)

Sean- Godspeed on your project. You are already seeing success on your efforts. I am excited to watch this unfold, as '4th Millenium' would have been my first choice in a monostand TTTF if I had not gone KBG, up here in the U.P. of Michigan. Your temps are considerably milder with longer growing season.
Your choice should be fantastic!
&#128077;


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## SeanW78 (6 mo ago)

@lawn-wolverine Thanks! It definitely is going well. My next post will show a few concerns I have, however.


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## SeanW78 (6 mo ago)

Filling in nicely 2 weeks in. I'm getting concerned about the weeds popping up, though. I think I may be overthinking it a bit. I'm definitely kicking myself for either not using the Scott's start fert. with Mesotrione or not spraying Tenacity as I had intended.

*8/25*

15 DAS



But, we've got weeeeeds, man! The spots that look wet or white in the morning pictures are definitely taking up more and more space. There are a few varieties there too. What am I looking at here? Will spot spraying be necessary or even be enough?

Weed #1


a more mature Weed#1?


Weed #2


Weed #3


This area is particularly bad where more weeds, and less grass is visible.


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## uts (Jul 8, 2019)

Spraying tenacity really helps so I understand your frustration. I did a TTTF reno with 4th Mel and Titanium 2 LS only so I can relate. You will see the grass explode in growth soon.

If there are any big areas you can pick the weed out by hand but I don't like walking on baby grass. I'd rather deal with it post. You can spray once you start cutting down on watering and the ground is more firm. Time it just after watering.

You can easily use quinclorac as the chart shows.



At 30 days you can spray meso.


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## SeanW78 (6 mo ago)

@uts Thanks! I was thinking of waiting to spray meso when I have mowed a few times. I grabbed an old Scotts reel mower from my parents' shed and may do my first cut as high as that will go this weekend.

I've been pulling some every day. I also don't love walking over the baby grass, but it's doing so well, I'm running with the theory that it can take light traffic early in its life.


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## lawn-wolverine (Aug 15, 2021)

Just have to state the obvious…THIS is a great thread going !
Bravo…


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## lawn-wolverine (Aug 15, 2021)

SeanW78 said:


> @uts Thanks! I was thinking of waiting to spray meso when I have mowed a few times. I grabbed an old Scotts reel mower from my parents' shed and may do my first cut as high as that will go this weekend.
> 
> I've been pulling some every day. I also don't love walking over the baby grass, but it's doing so well, I'm running with the theory that it can take light traffic early in its life.


Seriously, I'd be more concerned at this point in time with safety of those seedlings than the weeds.


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## SeanW78 (6 mo ago)

Hand-pulled some of the offending weeds last night. Trampled the babies a bit, but I'm glad they were relatively easy to pull. There are definitely more weeds where the grass hasn't popped. I can still see seeds that haven't germinated. How likely is it that those seeds are goners and spot reseeding will be in order?


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## SeanW78 (6 mo ago)

I couldn't resist. After taking a lot of time hand weeding, there were some shaded areas that were getting quite tall. I borrowed a vintage Scotts reel mower from my parents. It only cuts 18" between the wheels, so it was difficult to not leave mohawks in the lawn. Man does 4th Millenium stripe. I think I'm going to like this. By the next morning, the young grass has mostly stood back up. While the stripe show was nice I'm glad the little green babies are still growing up.

A little worn, but it cuts pretty nicely


*8/27*

16 DAS Stripes



The next afternoon after a bit more weeding.


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## Jeff_MI84 (Sep 28, 2020)

It's looking pretty good.


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## Bob Loblawn (Apr 10, 2020)

Looking nice!

What kind of weeds are you noticing?

Did you end up deciding to seed a bit more in some of the bare spots?


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## SeanW78 (6 mo ago)

@Bob Loblawn Thanks! I haven't identified the weeds except for a few dandelions that have popped up. The pictures above in this thread are the 3 main types I'm seeing. Only one is that tough to pull.

I am going to seed some of the bare spots. They're showing some growth so I'm giving it a little more time. My watering wasn't as good in the beginning as it is now and we got 2 good storm fronts that came through yesterday that soaked everything nicely. Pulling the weeds and mowing really exposed where the grass hadn't taken off but looking back at the difference between DAS 12 and DAS 16 there has been some really nice progress from some areas that were just lagging a bit. I think I've settled on the fact that some of the thin areas are where less topsoil was spread as these areas were the higher spots before my attempt at smoothing everything out.


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## GCGreen (Sep 14, 2019)

Keep this journal going please. I'm interested in seeing you progress.


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## Twenty02 (Sep 26, 2021)

Looks great. I overseeded a portion of my backyard with this last year. Was only about 1k SF.... this was an area with a real hodgepodge of weak turf and a lot of shade from huge trees. I just threw it down pretty heavy and did my best to water it during germination.... didn't expect a heck of a lot. Turns out this part of the lawn has done incredibly good.... with very minimal irrigation through a hot/ dry summer. Kind of shocked how little water it has needed compared with the all KBG area that is adjacent to that. If I was starting from scratch I would definitely use this seed everywhere.... particularly if irrigation is a concern.

I'm thinking next year I'll scalp the *** low and overseed that as well with this. Love the KBG from about April- June... but by late August I'm always disappointed with it.


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## SeanW78 (6 mo ago)

Working from home on Wednesdays now affords me to cut the new grass over lunch. I got a hand seed spreader today, so I'm going to go out, rough up the bare spots, spread some fresh seed, and rake it in. Then a nice watering. The nights have been in the 50s this week so there's lots of morning dew. I'm seeing some very small mushrooms pop up in the shaded spots. I don't want that to happen too much.

*8/31*

21 DAS


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## TooMuchTuna (Jul 4, 2020)

SeanW78 said:


> Weed #1
> 
> 
> a more mature Weed#1?


I'm getting a lot of these too. I've been hand pulling a handful every day. I try not to walk on the new grass if I don't have to but it doesn't seem to mind when I do


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## SeanW78 (6 mo ago)

@TooMuchTuna My eye snaps to any light green thing sticking up above the grass at this point. At some point, I had a plastic grocery bag that I filled at least 3 times with these little bastards. It looks so much better with them gone though. The grass has snapped back quickly after any steps on it, including a full reel mow. I had stripes for the day, but the next morning the young ones mostly stood right back up. Gotta love their resiliency.


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## TooMuchTuna (Jul 4, 2020)

SeanW78 said:


> @TooMuchTuna My eye snaps to any light green thing sticking up above the grass at this point. At some point, I had a plastic grocery bag that I filled at least 3 times with these little bastards. It looks so much better with them gone though. The grass has snapped back quickly after any steps on it, including a full reel mow. I had stripes for the day, but the next morning the young ones mostly stood right back up. Gotta love their resiliency.


Yeah I definitely like how TTTF always wants to stand back up. I've noticed that the longer the grass is the longer it will stay pushed down it seems. So if you're mowing short and the stripes disappear a day later then you have an excuse to mow more often  . The footprints that get left on TTTF is one of my favorite things


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## SeanW78 (6 mo ago)

Another work-from-home Wednesday gave me a chance to give the new grass a haircut. It was also 7 days after reseeding some bare spots. Those are just showing signs of peeking through. The manual reel is about as gentle as I can be on the new grass. Things are filling in nicely.

There was a re-emergence of some weeds. I took some time over the weekend to remove a large portion of those and am awaiting the delivery of RGS and Humic-12 that I will add Tenacity to spray and pray before a N blitz starting next week or so.

*9/7 *

28 DAS


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## Bob Loblawn (Apr 10, 2020)

Looking great!


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## SeanW78 (6 mo ago)

Football Saturday called for a mow. I cut it on the highest the mower could do (about 2") on the first pass and lowered it to the Medium setting (about 1 1/2") for the second. I'm seeing some more growth from the second spot seeding I did. I still may need to add a bit more. I'll monitor those spots as I go. Still waiting on RGS to get delivered. USPS is just the worst!

*9/10*

31 DAS

First pass



Second pass



Had to get this guy out before kickoff. Go Blue!!


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## Jeff_MI84 (Sep 28, 2020)

A U of M fan in Ohio? Is that even allowed?


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## SeanW78 (6 mo ago)

Jeff_MI84 said:


> A U of M fan in Ohio? Is that even allowed?


Hell yes it is! I'm within a mile from the border but it's not all that uncommon. Urban Myer and Jim Harbaugh were both born in the same hospital as I was in Toledo. We're literally in the middle of the rivalry.


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## Jeff_MI84 (Sep 28, 2020)

@SeanW78 well alrighty then.


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## Butter (Nov 14, 2017)

@SeanW78 How has you renovation developed since your last post?


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## SeanW78 (6 mo ago)

Wow, how time flies. I was able to get the zero-turn out to mulch the leaves a few times. 2 healthy silver maples worth of leaves are mulched and worked into the new grass in hopes to have a good spring. 

*11/4*

87 DAS 

I didn't want to completely scalp the new grass but with mulching blades on, in order to not just fling the chopped leaves around (even with the chute covered) it had to be set to 3" lower. I hope to get it growing thicker and taller next year as that will help. There is some color difference even though I applied .5 lb/K a few times separated by 10 days or more. I'm already planning on a pre-emergent and a good fertilizer schedule for the spring.










*11/20*

103 DAS 

The first light snowfall of the year. It was nice to still see lines from the final mulching mow.


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## SeanW78 (6 mo ago)

I took the opportunity to spray out 24 oz. of Humic-12 while the air temps were over 60 for most of the day. Here's hoping this helps nutrient uptake come springtime.


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