# Herring's Centipede to Arden 15 Journal



## Herring (Sep 19, 2020)

In October 2019 this became my new backyard. I'm not sure how the grass was established but my guess is a contractor seed mix. This lawn only got a couple of mows before winter dormancy.


The year 2020 was a learning year. I got to see goose grass, crab grass, green kyllinga, spurge, very little centipede grass mixed in between. I had no weed control but was mowing two to three times a week. I learned about cost per application, commercial vs homeowner, soil tests, warm vs cool season lawns.


By the end of 2020, I had Celsius on hand but no control of sedges. I hand pulled goose grass, green kyllinga took over but the grass started to look better. I mowed with a Honda HRN rotary mower and in all I applied a 15-0-15 fertilizer and one bag of Milorganite. I decided by the end of 2020 I wanted to renovate to bermuda. I applied prodiamine in the fall of 2020 and skipped pre emergent in the spring of 2021.


----------



## Herring (Sep 19, 2020)

2021, Arden 15 seed has arrived. There is no irrigation so I built a pvc above ground sprinkler system with Rain Bird 5000 rotor heads that are controlled by Orbit B-Hyve hose end timers.


The recommended lime amount of 50lbs/1000sqft has been applied per soil test recommendations.


10-10-10 has been applied. My soil test recommended 10lbs/1000sqft.


I bought a John Deere 220b greensmower, will be replacing the reel with a Coretask 11 blade reel and a Hi-Cut fairway bedknife.

On April 26, 2021, 4oz/1000sqft glyphosate was applied to the backyard. I plan to do three applications three weeks apart.


The front will remain centipede this year. I plan to renovate to perennial rye this fall and bermuda in the summer of 2022. @Brodgers88 inspired this dream.


----------



## littlehuman (Jun 10, 2020)

Nice! What date are you planning to put down the Arden seed?


----------



## Herring (Sep 19, 2020)

littlehuman said:


> Nice! What date are you planning to put down the Arden seed?


I'm planning on mid May for seed down. This is our first week of 80 degree daytime temperatures, the five day average soil temp is 63 degrees. Last week we had a low of 42. I'm hoping for soil temps to be much higher by the end of the three rounds of glyphosate. After that, scalping and running a Greenworks dethatcher to remove the centipede, then level as smooth as possible with a topsoil/sand mix and then seed down with starter fertilizer.

I'm still debating the topsoil/sand vs sand for leveling and what would be best to not create more weeds.


----------



## littlehuman (Jun 10, 2020)

Herring said:


> littlehuman said:
> 
> 
> > Nice! What date are you planning to put down the Arden seed?
> ...


Sounds like a good plan - I did the same in my yard with the Greenworks corded dethatcher (great tool for the price). Though, I'm opting for just topsoil at the moment. My yard is on a hill, so a sand mix with no grass/roots to hold it in place would wash away pretty easily. I'll likely topdress next season at some point using sand, once I've gotten the yard to fill in.

As far as the weeds go, you'll be lucky if you don't have to deal with any during seeding and germination. I fully plan to just let them do their thing (minus getting mowed every other day or so to keep them short and allow sunlight to the soil/new seedlings) until the end of the season, at which point I _might_ consider a light dose of celsius. Though, likely just going to deal with the weeds for a season while I let the grass get nice and established.


----------



## Herring (Sep 19, 2020)

littlehuman said:


> Herring said:
> 
> 
> > littlehuman said:
> ...


I agree with letting the weeds go for at least the growing season, from what I've read Arden 15 should compete with them well compared to centipede. What's going to be your seeding rate? I read Arden 15 is one to two pounds per thousand, other bermuda seed is in the two to four pounds per thousand range.


----------



## littlehuman (Jun 10, 2020)

Herring said:


> I agree with letting the weeds go for at least the growing season, from what I've read Arden 15 should compete with them well compared to centipede. What's going to be your seeding rate? I read Arden 15 is one to two pounds per thousand, other bermuda seed is in the two to four pounds per thousand range.


Going to lay down 2lb/1K over here. Ron Henry, who runs a really nice YT channel for his Arden 15 lawn in Georgia, laid his at that same rate and had nice results.


----------



## Brodgers88 (Feb 26, 2017)

@Herring can't wait to see the progress!


----------



## Herring (Sep 19, 2020)

One week after the first glyphosate app. Second app is applied today.


----------



## Herring (Sep 19, 2020)

The front that's staying centipede got a tank mix of 20-20-20 at .25lbs/1000 with Celsius and Certainty. Lespedeza control last year was tough and has already began showing up in places. I chose the 20-20-20 at a spoon feed rate due to my soil being so low in numbers across the board. So far the results have been good so time will tell how the centipede responds.


----------



## Herring (Sep 19, 2020)

Temperatures finally look to be in the high 70s and low 80s. We've had one full day of rain that I hope will encourage weed growth. I've been using the Greenworks Dethatcher going over the back and bagging the clippings. I plan to spray another round of glyphosate and dethatch again. There's still a lot of dead grass to be removed.


----------



## kalcormier (May 9, 2021)

Following. I am doing an Arden reno as well. Also have the B Hyve. Its been a ton of work prepping bit it will pay off in the long run. Best of luck!


----------



## Herring (Sep 19, 2020)

kalcormier said:


> Following. I am doing an Arden reno as well. Also have the B Hyve. Its been a ton of work prepping bit it will pay off in the long run. Best of luck!


Nice! It took me a while to figure out the B Hyve app and its zones, I think it should work well though I have two, one for each side of the yard. Have you already thrown seed down?


----------



## kalcormier (May 9, 2021)

@Herring I tried to look into the zones but it looked like it only had one to me. You can do multiple zones off 1 hose connector or is it when you pair 2 together. I plan on getting another for the back yard. Im hoping to get seed down in the next week or so.


----------



## Herring (Sep 19, 2020)

kalcormier said:


> @Herring I tried to look into the zones but it looked like it only had one to me. You can do multiple zones off 1 hose connector or is it when you pair 2 together. I plan on getting another for the back yard. Im hoping to get seed down in the next week or so.


I learned they have to be controlled completely separate, so one timer will have one zone and set the run times for it. Then back out in the app to the second timer in the app and set the run times for that zone, and the two cannot overlap times.

Nice! I'm hoping to have seed down in the next couple of weeks!


----------



## Herring (Sep 19, 2020)

The backyard got its third round of glyphosate, there were three remaining green patches of centipede and no new weed growth. The weather here has been dry with no rain in the forecast.

The 220B got its new Coretask 11 blade reel and hi-cut fairway bedknife. I still have more maintenance to do, oil, air filter, spark plug, but I'm happy that project is near complete, greasy is an understatement and a parts washer will be a great help.


----------



## Herring (Sep 19, 2020)

After the dethatch and scalping process, today was the big day for seed down. First three yards of masonry sand were brought in and leveled some lower areas. I built a mini leveling tool but a landscape rake seemed to work best.





I applied 10-10-10 at 1lb/1000sqft.



I decided to use a greens grade milorganite to act as a carrier for the small Arden 15 seed. Milorganite has a good amount of phosphorus which is good for seed development? This seemed to blend well together.





Now I am keeping an eye on water coverage and adjusting as I go. This has been the biggest project I have undertaken and I am hoping for great results.


----------



## GrassDad (Sep 18, 2019)

Looking good so far. Can't wait to see how this turns out!


----------



## Herring (Sep 19, 2020)

GrassDad said:


> Looking good so far. Can't wait to see how this turns out!


Thanks! Hopefully some rain will help in the next week, I'm excited for germination and counting the days at this point!


----------



## Herring (Sep 19, 2020)

Eight days after seeding, the temperatures turned cooler after seed went down and had a low of 49! Finally the rain came, much of the sand moved and made more low spots. The sun was out today and I've been out studying what's germinated. Lots and lots of dirt mounds, I'm assuming worms or ants? There's tons of ants crawling throughout the backyard. I'm still hoping for 85+ degree days after seeding.


----------



## kalcormier (May 9, 2021)

Following. We seeded about the same time.


----------



## Herring (Sep 19, 2020)

kalcormier said:


> Following. We seeded about the same time.


Nice! We've had a torrential rain come through over the weekend. I have a lot of sedge growing fast. Also looks like a lot of seed washed to the sides where I don't want bermuda but is coming in better than the main yard.


----------



## kalcormier (May 9, 2021)

I'm jealous of the uniform germination. I have a few spots I've noticed. We've had over an inch of rain the the last 7 days. Im hoping when the sun shows back up it will take off.

When do you plan on dropping more fert?


----------



## Herring (Sep 19, 2020)

Yes I feel like warmer temperatures will really help. I can see fertilizer that washed to the sides so I may apply more 10-10-10 at 1lb/1000 in a week or so and see. I also have a water soluble 20-20-20 from Southern Ag that I can use as well. I was going to use that later when more uniform germination happens. The areas that were sand leveled are not as dense of germination so probably not holding the fertilizer nutrients. Watering the sand leveled areas are tricky as the top layer of sand dries very quickly, anyone have any tips on this?


----------



## Herring (Sep 19, 2020)

10-10-10 at 1lb/1000 applied this morning. The high is 83 today and sunny so hoping to push some growth. I've decided once it fills in I can see what areas had the most wash out and apply more seed. If the entire yard looked like the sides it would be a full lawn by now. Also, it's somewhat difficult to tell what's Arden and what's not. The Arden that's small is extremely dark green, I first thought some of the lighter blades are Arden but may be wrong.


----------



## kalcormier (May 9, 2021)

I am having the same problem!! I have Arden in the yard and some I started in a starter tray. The stuff in the yard is extremely dark green, the stuff in the seed tray is more of a lime green. I am 100% sure both are Arden but I don't know why the color difference. The only thing I can figure is different nutrients. One in yard soil and one in potting soil.


----------



## Herring (Sep 19, 2020)

kalcormier said:


> I am having the same problem!! I have Arden in the yard and some I started in a starter tray. The stuff in the yard is extremely dark green, the stuff in the seed tray is more of a lime green. I am 100% sure both are Arden but I don't know why the color difference. The only thing I can figure is different nutrients. One in yard soil and one in potting soil.


That makes sense, it's good to know they're both Arden 15. I thought to be sure centipede isn't coming back after all of that! We will see, I can't wait for it to start filling in more!


----------



## Herring (Sep 19, 2020)

Quick update, after seeding we had an extreme washout, the renovation spent a day underwater, then another whole day underwater later in the week. Some of the seed germinated correctly, most was pushed to the sides of the lawn and covered with water. I've heard stories of extreme renovation washouts and thought I would be okay, but check out these rainfall amounts!


Today I applied more seed evenly throughout. Also applied a 16-4-8 fertilizer at 1lb/1000 to push the existing bermuda hard. This all followed up with Bifen IT after I noticed mole crickets throughout the renovation. We'll see the progress in a few weeks!


----------



## kalcormier (May 9, 2021)

Keep up the good fight! How's the weed pressure?


----------



## Herring (Sep 19, 2020)

kalcormier said:


> Keep up the good fight! How's the weed pressure?


Yes, I've giving it my best for sure. The weed pressure is fair, I had very mature sedge that I just hand pulled out. If not it would have taken over completely, the next round I am going to spray out the sedge. I've had some crabgrass, lots of that stringy rye grass that others have talked about, and these things that came in fiercely after the rain. Could be goose grass? They're everywhere unfortunately. 

Hand pulling them is near impossible but I've done a good amount. Celsius or certainty should take them out.


----------



## Herring (Sep 19, 2020)

Making progress with the first mow this morning. Still have lots of bare spots to fill in, there is bermuda there so time will tell. The side yard is way behind after the washout, it was reseeded. It also doesn't get the full sun like the back. We added some liriope along the walkway for more green. Hoping for more growth and spreading in the next week, hot and dry and then a week of rain in the forecast.


----------



## kalcormier (May 9, 2021)

Looking good!


----------



## Herring (Sep 19, 2020)

kalcormier said:


> Looking good!


Thanks! It's been a fun process. I plan to spray weeds coming up soon.


----------



## kalcormier (May 9, 2021)

Its definitely been intensive. I've learned a lot.


----------



## Herring (Sep 19, 2020)

With the rain and being away for work the Arden 15 was 4" when I got home. Overall it's filling in nicely, we've had lots of rain so the ground is still wet and not the best mowing conditions. The weeds also quadrupled in size making them easy to pull and stand out. I plan to spray but have lots of Arden 15 still germinating especially on the side yard which is encouraging. Coming up I plan to apply Celsius and Certainty and maintain the 1lb of nitrogen per week. Some low spots need to be sand leveled. I also plan to start establishing the border, it's a muddy mess right now. Also added a couple of TLF stickers to the 220B and sprayer.


----------



## kalcormier (May 9, 2021)

Dude! Loving the stripes. Man I realoy need a reel mower.


----------



## Herring (Sep 19, 2020)

kalcormier said:


> Dude! Loving the stripes. Man I realoy need a reel mower.


Thanks!

I spent a while looking for one. What seemed to work best is emailing every golf superintendent in the area and by chance found one they wanted to get rid of from a small HOA that had a golf course within their neighborhood.


----------



## kalcormier (May 9, 2021)

Thanks for the tip! I didnt even think of that. I've been watching FB marketplace. Even watched the weeks auction last week but the shipping cost was prohibitive. Maybe I'll hang tight until fall for a better deal.


----------



## Colonel K0rn (Jul 4, 2017)

Looks great! You're battling similar conditions that I had when I had my renovation. The biggest mistake I had was underestimating the weed competition from goose grass and kyllinga after seed down. The torrential rain we had didn't help with germination either.

I would recommend a high-rate of Sulfentrazone, which needs to get into the ground to help prevent further goose grass and kyllinga. I've fought sedges yearly, but since I rotated sulfentrazone into my treatments with Celsius, I've had a relatively weed-free lawn.

One thing you might want to consider for more uniform coverage is to do a split-application like the label on Dismiss says. A split app of 6 oz/acre followed by 6 oz/acre 35 days after your first treatment is on the label. Make sure you've got at least 2 mows on the turf before you apply that rate though to avoid new seed injury. But it's bermuda, it'll power through it.


----------



## Herring (Sep 19, 2020)

Colonel K0rn said:


> Looks great! You're battling similar conditions that I had when I had my renovation. The biggest mistake I had was underestimating the weed competition from goose grass and kyllinga after seed down. The torrential rain we had didn't help with germination either.
> 
> I would recommend a high-rate of Sulfentrazone, which needs to get into the ground to help prevent further goose grass and kyllinga. I've fought sedges yearly, but since I rotated sulfentrazone into my treatments with Celsius, I've had a relatively weed-free lawn.
> 
> One thing you might want to consider for more uniform coverage is to do a split-application like the label on Dismiss says. A split app of 6 oz/acre followed by 6 oz/acre 35 days after your first treatment is on the label. Make sure you've got at least 2 mows on the turf before you apply that rate though to avoid new seed injury. But it's bermuda, it'll power through it.


Thanks! I haven't looked into something like Dismiss, only Certainty. The sedges are sticking out big time, along with the smaller wirey grass that I think is in the sedge family that's blending in when cut low. Would sulfentrazone better attack the sedge than sulfosulfuron? Goose grass was a major problem when it was centipede so much that I spent weeks hand pulling them all out, green kyllinga took its place and was never controlled.

We've had lots and lots of rain and the ground is holding water. Would light topdressings of sand help firm it up or will it just take a couple of days to dry out?

Despite all of the rain I mowed yesterday and while some of the lawn was mud I couldn't be happier with the aggressive growth it's had, already better than the centipede on its best day. These pictures are nine days apart.


----------



## Colonel K0rn (Jul 4, 2017)

@Herring you're going to want to use Sulfentrazone to take care of the goose grass. For prolonged control of it, you're going to need to get it into the ground, since it's a soil-applied selective herbicide. Sulfosulfuron is safe to use if you're just treating sedges, but when you've got both sedges *and *goose grass, you'd be better to apply sulfentrazone as a curative, and preventative treatment. I battled the past 5 years with both, and Certainty didn't knock everything out; only until I started using sulfentrazone to take care of the sedges as a preventative did I see most of the eradication of goose grass from my lawn. It's good to use year-round since there are winter weeds that it will prevent as well, like carolina geranium (I get that as well). Use the link at the top of the page for the DoMyOwn website to get some affiliate $$ to the forum, and just search for sulfentrazone 4L Select. Same AI as in Dismiss, but $20 less.

Give the ground a bit to dry out before you consider levelling. If you haven't already, test your soil to make sure that you're not deficient with any nutrients, and that will help you figure out what amendments you need and what your best feeding strategy would be. You might be way off on your pH, and find out that you need to throw down lime to unlock nutrients that are already present in the soil.

Moving forward into late Summer, look into getting Specticle Flo for your Fall PreM application. I didn't apply any PreM in the Fall after I did my renovation, and I regretted it because I was absolutely covered in Poa, and it took months for the grass to recover from what the poa killed. Specticle does help ward off sedges, but my experience is that it will delay spring green up by a few weeks, but you won't have nearly as many weeds than if you go with prodiamine only.


----------



## Herring (Sep 19, 2020)

Colonel K0rn said:


> @Herring you're going to want to use Sulfentrazone to take care of the goose grass. For prolonged control of it, you're going to need to get it into the ground, since it's a soil-applied selective herbicide. Sulfosulfuron is safe to use if you're just treating sedges, but when you've got both sedges *and *goose grass, you'd be better to apply sulfentrazone as a curative, and preventative treatment. I battled the past 5 years with both, and Certainty didn't knock everything out; only until I started using sulfentrazone to take care of the sedges as a preventative did I see most of the eradication of goose grass from my lawn. It's good to use year-round since there are winter weeds that it will prevent as well, like carolina geranium (I get that as well). Use the link at the top of the page for the DoMyOwn website to get some affiliate $$ to the forum, and just search for sulfentrazone 4L Select. Same AI as in Dismiss, but $20 less.
> 
> Give the ground a bit to dry out before you consider levelling. If you haven't already, test your soil to make sure that you're not deficient with any nutrients, and that will help you figure out what amendments you need and what your best feeding strategy would be. You might be way off on your pH, and find out that you need to throw down lime to unlock nutrients that are already present in the soil.
> 
> Moving forward into late Summer, look into getting Specticle Flo for your Fall PreM application. I didn't apply any PreM in the Fall after I did my renovation, and I regretted it because I was absolutely covered in Poa, and it took months for the grass to recover from what the poa killed. Specticle does help ward off sedges, but my experience is that it will delay spring green up by a few weeks, but you won't have nearly as many weeds than if you go with prodiamine only.


Thanks I will have to stock up on sulfentrazone. I have a small amount of Prodiamine left so it's a good opportunity to switch to Specticle if it will give more control. I did find a couple of dead mole crickets from the Bifen app, however discovered white grubs also. Imidiacloprid will have to go on the list as well.

I soil tested in February that showed low across the board including PH at 4.7. Lime was applied but need to retest to see it's improved.


----------



## Colonel K0rn (Jul 4, 2017)

Bermuda is really tolerant of poor soils, but with a pH of 4.7, you're going to need to start throwing a lot at it to get it up into an optimal range for the best utilization of the nutrients that you might already have in the soil, but aren't readily plant available due to the low pH. For example, I have a lot of Fe in my soil. My first soil test had a pH of 5.11, and that year, I added 250#/M of lime. Next year I tested, I had only moved up to a 5.9. I figured I literally put out over 2 tons of lime over my yard, and hadn't even moved it up 1 point, but you have to know that the pH scale isn't linear, it's exponential. If it were to take me 2 tons to move it 1 point, it would take 4 tons to move it the next point from 5.9 to 6.9. So with that being said, you should get to throwing lime down, and retest in a year. If anything, you know it's not going to hurt, and is going to help you in the long run.

Once I got my pH into a higher range, I did notice greener grass, and my color response wasn't so drastic of a change(it was more gradual) when I was using FeATURE as a foliar iron spray when I did my PGR applications. I'd like to think that it was because the plants were using more of the iron that was already in the soil, and the product I was adding had a "smoother" color response, rather than adding a product to a lawn that was starving for that nutrient, i.e. not a "pop" like I had seen the year before because the Fe was locked up due to a low pH. That's the best way I could explain it.

What really worked for my PreM applications, and cut down on the overall work load of maintenance and to get on a schedule is to do split applications 45 days apart. I use Specticle Flo for my Fall PreM and Prodiamine for my Spring. This year, I did include a dose of Sulfentrazone in my 2nd application of Prodiamine, and I have much less sedge growth than I did the past years prior.


----------



## Herring (Sep 19, 2020)

Colonel K0rn said:


> Bermuda is really tolerant of poor soils, but with a pH of 4.7, you're going to need to start throwing a lot at it to get it up into an optimal range for the best utilization of the nutrients that you might already have in the soil, but aren't readily plant available due to the low pH. For example, I have a lot of Fe in my soil. My first soil test had a pH of 5.11, and that year, I added 250#/M of lime. Next year I tested, I had only moved up to a 5.9. I figured I literally put out over 2 tons of lime over my yard, and hadn't even moved it up 1 point, but you have to know that the pH scale isn't linear, it's exponential. If it were to take me 2 tons to move it 1 point, it would take 4 tons to move it the next point from 5.9 to 6.9. So with that being said, you should get to throwing lime down, and retest in a year. If anything, you know it's not going to hurt, and is going to help you in the long run.
> 
> Once I got my pH into a higher range, I did notice greener grass, and my color response wasn't so drastic of a change(it was more gradual) when I was using FeATURE as a foliar iron spray when I did my PGR applications. I'd like to think that it was because the plants were using more of the iron that was already in the soil, and the product I was adding had a "smoother" color response, rather than adding a product to a lawn that was starving for that nutrient, i.e. not a "pop" like I had seen the year before because the Fe was locked up due to a low pH. That's the best way I could explain it.
> 
> What really worked for my PreM applications, and cut down on the overall work load of maintenance and to get on a schedule is to do split applications 45 days apart. I use Specticle Flo for my Fall PreM and Prodiamine for my Spring. This year, I did include a dose of Sulfentrazone in my 2nd application of Prodiamine, and I have much less sedge growth than I did the past years prior.


That makes sense for the PH, I did add the recommended amount of 50lbs/1000sqft but I'm sure that was just for the year. I'll have to be in it for the long haul to move it up to where bermuda likes it. What I found interesting was on two different soil tests the backyard PH was 4.7, but the front PH was 7. The only thing I can figure is a lawn care company must have previously treated the front and not the back.


----------



## Herring (Sep 19, 2020)

Day 49 after seeding, overall things are going good. I sprayed Celsius and Certainty in what I think was over application, the lawn turned yellow and stopped growing for around a week or two. It's starting to recover now, and the herbicide combo worked fantastic. I discovered grubs, army worms, and mole crickets. Birds were all over along with low flying wasps, hovering over the lawn. I treated with Sevin Insect Granulars and 24 Hour Grub Control. Mowing has been every day to every other day at 3/4". There's still lots of bare spots that need to fill in, and a sanded low spot that I plugged.


----------



## Herring (Sep 19, 2020)

Mowing almost daily at .75", the weaker areas and edges are filling in. The sanded circle got more plugs today, hopefully it'll fill in soon. Tomorrow I'll be going away from granular fertilizer and to the water soluble 20-20-20 at .20lb/1000 weekly.


----------



## ENC_Lawn (Sep 9, 2018)

@Herring Lawn Looks Great!


----------



## Herring (Sep 19, 2020)

ENC_Lawn said:


> @Herring Lawn Looks Great!


Thanks!


----------



## Herring (Sep 19, 2020)

Missed two days of mowing, back at it today still at .75". This is the second mow after the .20lb of 20-20-20 application. There's a 60% chance of rain today, hopefully it will and push some growth. The weaker shaded corners are slowly filling in, the plugs are seeming to do well. We added some plants along the borders. The perennial rye seed has been ordered for the front, I chose Hancock's Perennial Ryegrass seed. I think it will do well for a temporary front lawn and some dark green this winter which I'm excited about.


----------



## Herring (Sep 19, 2020)

The lawn was hit by heavy rains for a week. I wasn't able to mow for a few days, when the sun came back out it wasn't looking good.





It's dried out this week and I raised the height to 7/8". Yesterday I was able to apply 20-20-20 at .25lbs/1000, also applied Celsius and Certainty to the side yard for doveweed and sedge. I really like this Wednesday to today comparison picture from the back camera.


----------



## Redtwin (Feb 9, 2019)

That has recovered well! That bare spot has really filled in also.


----------



## Herring (Sep 19, 2020)

Redtwin said:


> That has recovered well! That bare spot has really filled in also.


Yes it has, there were some bare strips near the back that completely filled in also. The area by the patio is where the water settles and hasn't filled in, I'm thinking of adding a bag or two of sand to help level that area. Also going to keep monitoring and spray Bifen again for the worms if needed.


----------



## Herring (Sep 19, 2020)

Morning mow before the rain, height still at 7/8". The last fertilizer was .25lbs/1000 of 20-20-20 and a greens grade Milorganite I had leftover from seeding day at .75lbs/1000, I think the added iron made a big difference in the color.







The side yard continues to struggle, it wasn't leveled before the renovation and had no sand added. It's color is off due to Celsius and Certainty for sedge and doveweed.


----------



## Herring (Sep 19, 2020)

I've very happy with how the lawn is filling in, the color is looking great. I'm planning to add a slow release fertilizer along with the .25lbs of 20-20-20 to try to get it thicker. Some of the edges and shaded areas still need time. I believe I have the insects taken care of. In the fall I will soil test and try to raise my PH, last February it was a 4.7. Although I love to mow, PGR for next year to cut down on mowing frequency.


----------



## Herring (Sep 19, 2020)

The backyard hasn't looked it's best lately. We went around a month with no rainfall. I supplemented with the above ground irrigation for applications of 20-20-20, Bifen IT, Prodiamine, and a BioAdvanced 24 Hour Grub Killer for army worms. There's a large area that I don't know if it's a disease or heat related due to no rainfall. We just got two inches so I'm seeing how it responds.


----------



## Herring (Sep 19, 2020)

The bermuda seems to be getting its color back after 2" of rain. I'm going to maintain 7/8" height for the rest of the season. The trees have gotten fuller in the back causing some real thinning. The shade is nice to everyone except the grass.


----------



## Herring (Sep 19, 2020)

I haven't been doing much to the bermuda, waiting for the season to wind down. Today applied Bifen at 1oz/1000sqft, no fertilizer applied recently and the color isn't as dark as it was. Mowing height is still 7/8".


----------



## Herring (Sep 19, 2020)

This will probably be my last journal post for the year. We're forecast for a low of 48 tonight. I will continue mowing at the same height.

This has been a fun and great learning experience. I'm happy with how it turned out overall. Here are some of the before and after pictures.









If you're contemplating renovating from centipede to bermuda I say you will not regret it. But if you're thinking of seeding, here are some final thoughts on my experience…

Weeds: The Arden 15 had lots of weeds that can be easily handled with one application of the right herbicides. In the first weeks I had around 60% bermuda to 40% weeds. Once the weeds were taken care of mowing frequency was most important and really helped with spreading. The lawn was mowed nearly every day, even then it was a long time before full coverage.

Prep: I should have spent more time sand leveling and prepping drainage. At the time I just didn't know where drainage would be needed and how much if any bermuda would grow at all. Torrential downpours nearly destroyed the entire project several times with standing water but the lawn seemed to bounce back after a week. We didn't have a useable lawn for a long time so be prepared for that. Also, have a understanding of insects and a plan for them. Mole crickets came first, then grubs, then the great army worm invasion of 2021. Don't ignore any bug near the lawn, or birds, or wasps.

Quality: Although it is a improved common, it's nowhere near the quality of a hybrid bermuda. I don't know how well it will do below .5" and the leaf blade is thicker and less dense compared to hybrid bermuda. But it is a very resilient grass that was tested several times and always came back strong in my experience. It likes lots of water and fertilizer, seemed to tolerate herbicide applications and can go a long time without water and maintain color. It does not like shade at all.

Some the goals for next year are:

-Scalp, scarify, aerate, sand leveling and try to maintain 1/2"-3/4"

-Begin plant growth regulator, micronutrients, and iron applications

-Sod or sprig the front lawn with Tiftuf


----------



## rhart (May 7, 2020)

Great looking turf @Herring and dog as well. Is that a Drahthaar?


----------



## Herring (Sep 19, 2020)

rhart said:


> Great looking turf @Herring and dog as well. Is that a Drahthaar?


Thanks! We're not sure her breed, she was a rescue but the Drahthaar looks right. We also thought Pudel Pointer, or just a wire haired pointer poodle mix.


----------



## rhart (May 7, 2020)

She's a great looking dog…I used to have drahthaars and now have moved to German Wirehairs..she just caught my eye scrolling through your journal


----------

