# Bentgrass Round 2



## AdamC (Feb 10, 2017)

_***The images should be working now***_

So last Autumn (fall) I planted Penncross bentgrass in my front yard (My Avatar is my front yard at its best). I went with Bentgrass for a couple of reasons; 1 - I wanted a fine blade lawn that I could mow low with my reel mower, 2 - It was too late in the season to sod bermuda, and 3 - A cool season grass would allow me to mow lawn in winter when my Bermuda in the backyard goes dormant.

I did my research and I settled on either 007, Dominant or Tyee Bentgrass. Unfortunately, getting the amount I wanted was just too hard as no one would sell me less than 25lb. So I needed to settle for Penncross. However seeing as the Average temperatures in Adelaide range from 60 degrees in winter to 85 degrees in summer (although the temperature is often pushing 110 here in February and we regularly get weeks of 100+), I didn't think Penncross would cut it. I was right. Although I was able to nurse it through the heat, I still had close to 20% die off.

So I decided to get back on the hunt and eventually I managed to get a seed company to break a bag and sell me the amount I wanted. I picked Tyee Bentgrass for its superior heat tolerance.

I sprayed off the old lawn 


Raked up the old lawn and threw it away


Today I was able to add 2 tonnes of 80/20 sandy loam, rolled and level out with a straight edge (as best I could)


And finally I fertilised and seeded


I used a starter fertiliser from "The Andersons" especially designed for fine blade lawns. The Analysis is 12-11-7

I'll post progress shots as I go


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

Great story - I'm anxious to follow your progress! Most of us are warm season turf guys, but I'll go out on a limb and say we all enjoy anything that involves a project and a lawn. :thumbup:

Thanks for sharing!


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## Redtenchu (Jan 28, 2017)

Ware said:


> Great story - I'm anxious to follow your progress! Most of us are warm season turf guys, but I'll go out on a limb and say we all enjoy anything that involves a project and a lawn. :thumbup:
> 
> Thanks for sharing!


+1


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## dfw_pilot (Jan 28, 2017)

Thanks for sharing this, Lawn Nut. I'm excited to follow your progress. Also, happy birthday <two days late due to the dateline>.


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## Wes (Feb 15, 2017)

Lawn Nut said:


> A cool season grass would allow me to mow lawn in winter when my Bermuda in the backyard goes dormant.


It's funny to me how some people pay other people to mow their lawn so they can spend their time doing "other things"; and then there are people like us... people who specifically install an "off-season" lawn just so we can mow year round. 



Lawn Nut said:


> However seeing as the Average temperatures in Adelaide range from 60 degrees in winter to 85 degrees in summer (although the temperature is often pushing 110 here in February and we regularly get weeks of 100+)


I still have to read things like this twice. Although it occasionally gets up into the 80's here in February, that's not the norm. Seeing that it gets to 100+ on your side of the world always reminds me how big this world is.

On another note, perhaps I should look at saving up for a Winter home in Australia just so I can mow down there when my Bermuda lawn goes dormant. :lol:


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## AdamC (Feb 10, 2017)

Ware said:


> Great story - I'm anxious to follow your progress! Most of us are warm season turf guys, but I'll go out on a limb and say we all enjoy anything that involves a project and a lawn. :thumbup:
> 
> Thanks for sharing!


I must admit, I prefer warm season grass too but I wanted to have my cake and eat it too! 



dfw_pilot said:


> Thanks for sharing this, Lawn Nut. I'm excited to follow your progress. Also, happy birthday <two days late due to the dateline>.


Thanks for that!



Wes said:


> Lawn Nut said:
> 
> 
> > A cool season grass would allow me to mow lawn in winter when my Bermuda in the backyard goes dormant.
> ...


I can't help myself! I have a 4 year old and an 18 month old at home. If i didn't find something to keep me both occupied (to keep me sane) and home (to keep the wife happy) all year round, I think I'd go crazy! And what could be better than the smell of freshly cut grass and striped lawn multiple times a week 

As for the weather, we're lucky here that our winter is fairly mild. Even my bermuda lasts well into winter without doing dormant where it gets full sun. Being a market gardener I keep a keen eye on the frost and we really only get a decent frost 4 or 5 times a year


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## Wes (Feb 15, 2017)

Your kiddos are the same age as mine, or close enough. My 4 year old will turn 5 on Sunday, and the younger one is 19 months old.


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## AdamC (Feb 10, 2017)

Happy birthday to your eldest!


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## AdamC (Feb 10, 2017)

So overnight the first bit of lawn has popped its head up. I seeded late tuesday afternoon and by early Saturday morning it's begun to come up. 3 and a half days, I'm happy with that. Now just to nurse it through the 100 degrees that is forecasted for tomorrow and I'll be over the moon!


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## AdamC (Feb 10, 2017)

Ok so 24 hours after I first noticed the lawn coming through, two great things happened. The forecast for the weather today was reissued with a maximum temperature of 93. I know it's only 7 degrees lower but more importantly the forecast was for cloudy weather (originally it was 100 and sunny).

the other thing that happened was I woke up to a really nice coverage of lawn starting to come through


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## Redtenchu (Jan 28, 2017)

Wow, that's great! Coming along nicely!


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## J_nick (Jan 28, 2017)

Looking good! I had no idea Bentgrass germinated that quickly


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## AdamC (Feb 10, 2017)

Well they say 3-5 days in the right conditions. But last year the penncross took over a week


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## Mightyquinn (Jan 31, 2017)

Very nice Lawn Nut!!!! Looks like you are going to have a lawn back there in no time!

Are there any special treatments you are going to have to do since it's Bent grass, like fungicides and the like?


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## AdamC (Feb 10, 2017)

Given the dry conditions here in Adelaide fungus isn't a major concern, just something I'll have to keep an eye on and treat if necessary.

The biggest hurdle with bent is the high nitrogen requirement and the shallow root system. Combined they're a great recipe for excessive thatch build up. Tyee especially has a tendency to build a lot of thatch in the first 12 months, after that it shows no major difference to other bent varieties. With the Penncross I treated it every 7-10 days with a kelp/seaweed solution for root strength, plant vigour and as a wetting agent. I get it made up locally from an organic fertiliser producer. He makes us up a lot of products for the farm so is only too happy to make something for my lawn. Also he's originally from the UK, and has experience working with Bentgrass.

As long as I stick to a routine with fertilisation and watering I really don't think it's that much of a problem (the opposite actually!)


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## AdamC (Feb 10, 2017)

So here we are at 7 Days



If you look at the picture below, I think i'm at least 2 full weeks ahead (maybe a little more) of where I was at last year with the Penncross



I've now cut the water by 25% as well. I'm doing 15 minutes of water every 6 hours down from 20 minutes


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## J_nick (Jan 28, 2017)

Any updates Lawn Nut?


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## AdamC (Feb 10, 2017)

Yes, I'll be doing the first mow tomorrow (23 days). This week has been really busy for me so I havent had a chance to get out as much as I'd like.


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## J_nick (Jan 28, 2017)

Lawn Nut said:


> Yes, I'll be doing the first mow tomorrow (23 days). This week has been really busy for me so I havent had a chance to get out as much as I'd like.


Ok good deal. It had been 2 weeks since you last updated so I was hoping didn't die on ya


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## AdamC (Feb 10, 2017)

haha, it has yellowed off in a couple of areas, but i'm pretty sure that's down to a little too much water. It's certainly not dead though!


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## AdamC (Feb 10, 2017)

Ok so here is the lawn at 23 days just after its first mow.

You can't tell from the photos but it has browned a little in sections due to over watering. I'm not overly concerened though as I've pilled up some lawn from those areas and the roots still seem strong. It's probably just put me back about a week or so. I reduced the water and it's looking better already.

It's a little patchy but you'll see th picture above from the Penncross (that was 21 days) that was the same and it filled in beautifully.







For those who want to see the lawn up close here is a photo from one of the thickest patches.


We have really good cool season lawn growing weather here the next week or so, Clear blue skies with high temperatures of around 77/78 and overnight lows of around 55. So I'm expecting some good growth in that time


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## AdamC (Feb 10, 2017)

So I thought that the issue with my lawn was too much water, but I backed the water off and i continued to get yellow areas that would eventually begin to die off. I had an agronomist look at a lawn and root sample and lawn sample and he confirmed both insect damage and minor fungal damage. I've treated both but I've sent a sample off to determine if the fungal disease is brown spot. The agronomist is pretty sure that it's brown spot but it's better to sure.

I've decided that as bent is susceptible to brown spot and brown spot is so hard to treat I'm going to just plant some PRG over the top and mow that at half an inch. I'll keep that until spring time when I'll put down some TifSport Bermuda and be done with it. I've had 2 goes at Bent now and I'm just going to concede that Where I live the conditions are just not conducive to bent.

here is the lawn at the moment:









The photos make it look better than it really is. I could go over with more bent seed but the roots of the established lawn wouldn't cope with the water it'd take to germinate the new seed and I'd have the same issue again


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## dfw_pilot (Jan 28, 2017)

That looks like a lot of afternoon shade - how has your Bermuda/couch done there in the past?


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## AdamC (Feb 10, 2017)

When we purchased the property there was Kikuyu there. Kikuyu has similar shade tolerance to bermuda and that grew perfectly. The photo was taken in the morning. It's 1:30pm here now and the yard is in full sun. In winter the two trees on the footpath loose all their leaves so there is sun all day long. In summer the sun is higher and there is sun all day long. it's only this time of the year that there is any shade on our yard at all


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## Redtenchu (Jan 28, 2017)

I'm sorry to read this, how long before the test results come back to confirm the brown spot?

Not sure if I've seen a successful residential bentgrass project. It must be a difficult task.

Good on you for trying again.

That PR will still look amazing, I'm sure!


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## Mightyquinn (Jan 31, 2017)

Sorry to hear about the Bent grass, I was really looking forward to seeing and hearing all about it. Are there any golf courses or other venues in your area that have Bent grass? I am just curious as that may be an indication of whether it can be grown there or not.

A lot of the golf courses here have switched from Bent greens to bermuda greens in the last 10 years just due to the hot and humid weather here.


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## AdamC (Feb 10, 2017)

Redtenchu said:


> I'm sorry to read this, how long before the test results come back to confirm the brown spot?
> 
> Not sure if I've seen a successful residential bentgrass project. It must be a difficult task.
> 
> ...


The test will take up to two weeks for results.

I had Penncross Bentgrass here last season and I managed to maintain that quite well. I lost a little due to heat and I decided at that point I'd switch over to Tyee as I wanted a premium bent originally but struggled getting the seed. After I decided to switch over I kept a strip about 30ft x 6ft to try and see how it went over summer coping with our 100+ degree temperatures. It survived better than I thought with a combination of wetting agents, seaweed/kelp mix and regular watering. Because of this I was confident that I could maintain bent.


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## AdamC (Feb 10, 2017)

Mightyquinn said:


> Sorry to hear about the Bent grass, I was really looking forward to seeing and hearing all about it. Are there any golf courses or other venues in your area that have Bent grass? I am just curious as that may be an indication of whether it can be grown there or not.
> 
> A lot of the golf courses here have switched from Bent greens to bermuda greens in the last 10 years just due to the hot and humid weather here.


I live within a 5 mile radius of the 4 highest rated golf courses in the state. They are all predominantly bent greens. They have a couple of holes with bermuda greens that get full sun all year round, but not to many. Interestingly enough, my parents live across the road from a lawn bowling club and I've spoken to the guy that maintains the green there and he tells me that almost all the bowling clubs in the state use bermuda greens and try and keep the ground temperature up in winter with specialised fertiliser programs to avoid dormancy (our winters here are very mild). Although we do get hot summers here, we have very little humidity (South Australia is knows as the "driest State in the driest Continent in the world" - even if they are forgetting about Antarctica). I did speak to a couple of the courses about bent before I seeded the Penncross last year and they were quite encouraging. I may have gone too heavy on the water which in turn created the perfect, moist habitat for the fungus to thrive.

Either way I'm happy I gave it a go. I had the best lawn in the street for a while and more importantly I was able to play with lawn all year round. Our family has a 200 acre farm that we grow vegetables on commercially, I might pick a spot there and have a go with the bent again if I get the urge. I have plenty of seed leftover and a spare 14" reel mower that could do with some use


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## Mightyquinn (Jan 31, 2017)

Glad to hear that you are staying upbeat about the whole process and I think you are right about the water causing the fungus issue. Didn't realize how dry a climate you really live in. I just figured that was on the interior of the country. Good to see that you are not giving up on your dream to have a nice Bent grass lawn!


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## AdamC (Feb 10, 2017)

We're a costal city and my home is about a mile from the coast, but still very dry here.

https://postimage.io/app.php
this is averages until 2013. from 2013 until now all the averages have increased and even though we had a wet year last year, the rainfall averages have also decreased.

I'm not complaining though. I really like the heat but struggle with humidity. Also when the maximum forecast temperatures drop below around 70 I begin to complain. Really don't enjoy cold weather at all.


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

Wow, those average high temps look nice!

Sorry to hear about the bent. We have a course here in my town with bent greens, but I hear they sometimes have trouble with them.


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## wilbury (Apr 28, 2017)

Redtenchu said:


> I'm sorry to read this, how long before the test results come back to confirm the brown spot?
> 
> Not sure if I've seen a successful residential bentgrass project. It must be a difficult task.
> 
> ...


I have read about 1 guy that had a successful residential bentgrass project. I can link you http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/1515594/backyard-penncross-bentgrass-project

Read all the way down the comments to see the timeline.


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## Mightyquinn (Jan 31, 2017)

wilbury said:


> Redtenchu said:
> 
> 
> > I'm sorry to read this, how long before the test results come back to confirm the brown spot?
> ...


I wonder if he even still has that lawn or house for that matter. That thread is about 10 years old :lol:

Looks like a very nice lawn nonetheless!


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## wardconnor (Mar 25, 2017)

wilbury said:


> I have read about 1 guy that had a successful residential bentgrass project. I can link you http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/1515594/backyard-penncross-bentgrass-project
> 
> Read all the way down the comments to see the timeline.


Hello Wilbury and welcome to The Lawn Forum.


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## AdamC (Feb 10, 2017)

Mightyquinn said:


> I wonder if he even still has that lawn or house for that matter. That thread is about 10 years old :lol:
> 
> Looks like a very nice lawn nonetheless!


There is a guy in Melbourne that has kept and maintained his Penn G2 lawn for a few years now

http://www.smh.com.au/national/lawn-envy-is-this-australias-perfect-lawn-20161110-gsmgvg.html


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## AdamC (Feb 10, 2017)

So 6 and a bit weeks ago I put down the Perennial Ryegrass.

As you can see below, it's filled in not too bad, but still has a way to go. Being winter here I have been behind the 8 ball from the get go. But hopefully it'll look nice by mid spring.

I's being mowed at about .75"


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## Mightyquinn (Jan 31, 2017)

Looking good! What was your seeding rate? How do you plan on getting rid of the rye come Spring/Summer time?


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## AdamC (Feb 10, 2017)

I'm in two minds at the moment. I might kill it off completely and sod Tiffsport. The Rye was a quick fix late in the season after the bent didn't work. I might try and keep it through summer if it looks good.

I seeded at just under 9lb per 1000 square feet


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## wilbury (Apr 28, 2017)

wardconnor said:


> wilbury said:
> 
> 
> > I have read about 1 guy that had a successful residential bentgrass project. I can link you http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/1515594/backyard-penncross-bentgrass-project
> ...


Thanks for the warm welcome.


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