# Sam36's 2021 Futile Lawn Journal



## sam36 (Apr 14, 2020)

Continued from my 2020 Journal: https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=16821

2020 turned into a comparison between Monaco and other varieties in preparation for what to plant in 2021.

A summary of Monaco Vs Sahara II:

The drought tolerance was hard to judge. In 100+ degree temps and a complete lack of water... Sahara II, Monaco, and Common all equally seemed "brown" at the same rate. But Common seemed to more struggle when coming out of a drought induced dormancy.

As far as growth rate. Sahara II seeds can sprout in 5 days it seems whereas the Monaco takes 10 days minimum. But the Sahara II label stated that the seed coating contained Cytokinin which is a plant growth hormone. Perhaps that is why, not sure.

So Sahara II sprouts sooner than Monaco, but it also outgrows it. In the pictures from last year's journal, you can see it grows thicker and taller. However, it has less "vertical" growth than Common. And moving on to Monaco, it for the most part only grows horizontally. But to me, it grows SLOW. Which I find strange since others on here act like Monaco is a fast grower. Perhaps it is just because of the clay soil here, not sure.

For cold tolerance, Monaco wins, but is not much different than Sahara II. However, both were miles ahead of Common. Before I show the picture "proof", a bit of backstory...

In July 2020, there was a small bare section in my backyard that I could not ever get anything to grow on. I raked it really good and threw probably 1/8 or 1/4 a pound of Monaco on it and watered it until I had a huge mud hole:



And now in November, we had a few nights in the 50's and a couple of nights where it got down to 40 degrees. I was really drowning my backyard trying to get it as thick as possible for the winter. But no matter what I did, the Common would not grow and only got browner and browner. The Monaco would not grow either, but it stayed green until it froze:



So if you want seed that is cheap and guaranteed to grow quickly and fill in thin spots or provide cover for a pasture/field, grab some Sahara II. It's cheap at $200 for a 50 lbs bag (which is about 25 lbs of actual seed since it's coated).

But, for a lawn or a place where you'll actually be able to irrigate, my vote goes to Monaco. It's expensive though at $160 for a 10 lbs bag (or 5 lbs of seed since it's coated).


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## sam36 (Apr 14, 2020)

And now on to the whole point of the Sahara and Monaco comparisons...

Last year, I discovered that my front lawn was 50% King Ranch Bluestem and/or Kleberg Bluestem. I tried killing it but nothing worked. At the end of July 2020, I gave up and blanket sprayed about 10k sqft of my front yard with roundup. That still didn't kill it... there was fresh growth of bluestem and some bermuda in August so did a bunch of spot spraying. There was even more growing again in September so did another blanket spray followed by more spot spraying in October. Went ahead and sprayed the lanes behind my barn too. I'll use the cheaper Sahara in that area.

Figured I'd "plow" up the yard in February and get any roots exposed to hopefully let the last of winter finish off anything still living.



And then the Texas Blizzard came 14 days later:



I wanted to do my planting on March 1st, but it still hadn't really rained all winter (other than the snow) and I didn't want to waste water trying to get any remaining weeds to sprout before my last roundup blanket spray.

Mid March my neighbor was going to get 2 tons of fertilizer for his fields. I told him to get 4500 lbs and give me 500lbs. I bought some plastic barrels on craigslist and got to shovling. I think I might have taken more than 500lbs though... It is roughly 66% AMS and 33% DAP. We need 100% DAP, but the price went from $350 per ton to $800 a ton compared to last year...







Around March 23rd, I went ahead and did a blanket app of roundup to kill a few weeds popping up. But so far, haven't had any bermuda or bluestem showing up.

Put 20 lbs of Monaco seed out March 27. Tried to rig up a railroad tie "dragbox" :



But that really didn't help cover the seed as well as I had hoped. The ground isn't 100% level, and neither are the ties so it felt like I was just dragging seed from high spots and dropping them into any low spots. I drove around the yard for probably 45 minutes before switching to raking only. Thinking I could rake and stir up 10k sqft with a big plastic rake... and like 3 hours I was finally done... The plus side was the raking got any remaining rocks and dead grass up which I gathered and hauled off.



I should have my first spouts coming up in two or three days.


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## Sbcgenii (May 13, 2018)

That old tractor looks sweet. Is it a Ford? Are you putting the goats back on the field this year?


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## sam36 (Apr 14, 2020)

Sbcgenii said:


> That old tractor looks sweet. Is it a Ford? Are you putting the goats back on the field this year?


It's a 1976 John Deere 400 garden tractor. My grandfather bought it from the Mooney aircraft company in the mid 90's. They used it to push aircraft around on the taxiway. They also apparently don't like "John Deere Green" and painted it. They also threw away the front bucket, 3 point hitch, and belly mower since they didn't need it. I was going to get the needed parts off of ebay to get the 3 point hitch going again, but figured I might as well get something else that also has a front bucket. That would be super handy.

I turned the back field over to the goats. It's theirs now.


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## sam36 (Apr 14, 2020)

As it stands now:



I moved the sprinklers about 6ft over to the left last night since we are going to get a constant 10mph wind from the south for the next few days. I swear I saw some sprouts popping out, but when looking this morning, only thing spouting I could find was weeds (and a lot more than I'd like at that). So the wait continues. Thankfully, even though it is hot and dry out, we get cloud cover for about half the day so that helps. Mostly been getting by with a watering for 1 hour at 5am when the wind is low and then three 10 minutes sessions throughout the rest of the day.


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## sam36 (Apr 14, 2020)

I think this is like day 13. I have found a few sprouts here and there, kind of confused that there isn't way more. In my prior experience, by day 18, there should be a nice green hue. Only 5 days until then, maybe they will start to shoot up really quick. Or maybe a residual herbicide issue from last year (used a ton of MSM)? Or perhaps a temperature issue? Was dipping down into the 50's for the first week after planting but mostly staying above 65 at night now, getting up to 90+ during the day now:



I really need to fertilize too, but hoping to wait until roots are well established. Too muddy to walk out there right now anyway.

In other news, this is a spot that has not had any water for probably 2 weeks and old bermuda is still literally popping out. It has survived several roundup blanket apps from last summer and before winter and the last one just 3 weeks ago.



And found some surviving bluestem here. Hopefully this is all, would really suck if it ends up being a problem (again)


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## sam36 (Apr 14, 2020)

I'd been discouraged thinking something was wrong (and maybe there is), so hadn't really looked at the dirt up close for a couple of days. And then today, day 17, much to my surprise:



I think most of that is bermuda and it is about time. Normally, that is what day 10 looks like. But it has just been so hot and zero rain since I planted. I think that is the issue. All the other times I've planted, within 7 days or so, we'd get some super soaker storm that would help mix everything up and add some compaction. And that hasn't happened (yet).

Once you get about 10 feet away from the sprinkler, I really can't keep the dirt wet enough. I mean, it's wet, but within an hour, most of it is drying out and turning back to powder. I dug around in a few bare areas. There's seed below the dirt and mixed in really good, just need a way to keep it completely soaked for a few days. With the sun and random high winds, can't really do 10k sqft with two impact sprinklers.

With no rain in the forecast, perhaps I'll try to pick a day that will be mostly cloudy and low winds in the early morning and then just run the sprinkler for 3 hours instead of 1 over night... That might get those harder areas. I'm going to go by my local feed and seed store and get 50lbs of 18-46-0 (DAP) tomorrow and dump the whole thing out. Judging by all the "purple" foliage, I really need to be pushing more phosphorus.


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## sam36 (Apr 14, 2020)

I've been in luck. We've had about 2 days now of mild temps, low wind, and mostly cloudy and foggy weather



Been keeping everything soaked really well. Right before the weather change, I managed to pick up some DAP, mixed it with a bit of AMS and then spread that out around 4lbs/1ksqft. So once the sun comes out in a day or so, should get some really explosive growth.


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## sam36 (Apr 14, 2020)

Figured this would happen eventually. Dang mail lady.


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## sam36 (Apr 14, 2020)

This was taken on the 17th (day 21 after planting). It's growing, but so slooow. Hasn't really raining in like 4 weeks now. Hopefully that will change soon (hopefully)



Also spent the day picking up rocks



Yes we actually picked all those up over the last couple of months. It never ends.


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## sam36 (Apr 14, 2020)

Not much of a change, now day 25 after planting. Been too windy to really run the sprinklers for the last two days and it was getting down into the low 50's at night. So probably really set me back. Super low humidity too so any watering just ends up with the grounding being dry in an hour. Oh and I also just found out we are under stage 1 water restrictions right now which means you can only water your lawn twice a week. Thankfully they don't really enforce anything...



I did find one area that had some decent sized babies:



And there were a lot of other areas that were getting some yellowing:



Not sure why... Can't really tell if due to too much water or just the nature of infertile clay soil. Been putting out around 3-4lbs per 1k sqft of an AMS and DAP mix each week. The winds are low right now and going to be low wind and cloudy for the next couple of days. So went ahead and put out another spread of fertilizer and going to super soak it with the sprinklers tonight. Usually water for 1 hour over night, going to go for 2.5 hours tonight and hopefully I can keep it pretty wet for the next few days.


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## Sbcgenii (May 13, 2018)

It looks really dry. I would try watering more often but for less time.


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## sam36 (Apr 14, 2020)

Sbcgenii said:


> It looks really dry. I would try watering more often but for less time.


Indeed. Was too windy to run the sprinklers and super low humidity that day. Wasn't too hot thankfully so figured it would be fine. Took advantage of the dryness to get some up close pictures and spread some fertilizer.

I got it soaked today though, but unfortunately, it got down to like 45 degrees last night and the high today is only 65 so that will stunt it again


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## sam36 (Apr 14, 2020)

Alright finally, got our first real rain of 2021. .5" in just 30 minutes and still going. Will be hot and sunny tomorrow. This aught to get things moving!


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## sam36 (Apr 14, 2020)

Sunny and steamy out now. Got over 2"


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## Sbcgenii (May 13, 2018)

Is your seed still good? I am about done with warm season seed. I don't have irrigation either and it is a pita.


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## sam36 (Apr 14, 2020)

Sbcgenii said:


> Is your seed still good? I am about done with warm season seed. I don't have irrigation either and it is a pita.


Looks like a lot of dirt got moved around but I can still see a slight green hue in most places so I think I'm good. But know what you mean... I sometimes feel like I should have just gotten sod. Last year I was seeing tifway 419 pallets going for $90 per 450 sft. I'd need 22 of them or so. That's like $2k right there + delivery. Though this year, cheapest I can find is $140. I wanted to be "different" going with monaco though. Hopefully it will be worth it and will look better than tifway. Was $300 for seed plus about $200 a month to water.. if I don't get fined for watering more than twice a week since we are now under restriction :lol: I'm amazed at how horrible pure clay soil is though. I'm going to try to truck in some sand before spring next year and get on some kind of core aerator schedule.

Oh and not shown is about 3 acres of land that I put about 50lbs of sahara II on. Used the tractor to plow up about 40k sqft of it but for the rest of the field, just threw the seed on top of the dirt. Was only $240 for the bag, so we'll see what happens. I've had non irrigated bermuda grow from seed before, but it was raining a few times a month luckily.


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## sam36 (Apr 14, 2020)

Threw out the whole 40lb bag of Andersons Humic DG I got from amazon onto 10k sqft. For $66, it better be a miracle worker...



Sprayed my neighbor's front and backyard with a 2 gallon hand pump with a yellow tee jet nozzle (2 gallons over 6300 sqft). Usually go with medium rate of Celsius and try to do that twice over the summer, but I never get around to the second dose. So just went for the full high rate. 20 grams into 2 gallons. Also added MSM and pre-e. I've got a tow behind, but always a pain trying to maneuver in a cramped back yard setting.


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## sam36 (Apr 14, 2020)

Today's update. Looks like in another week or so I'll have a nice green ring in the middle of the yard. Then the fun begins with moving sprinklers around several times a week to try to push the edges. If I was smart, I should have planted some quick growing stuff along with the bermuda to better protect against wash out and better bind the soil together. Like rye or millet or something. But oh well.


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## sam36 (Apr 14, 2020)

Now 5 days later (and 33 days post planting)



Got cloudy weather and rain for the next 3 days so should really start filling out. Also noticed way more common than I'd like coming back. Annoying, but if I remind myself that the whole reason of killing my lawn was to just get rid of bluestem, that helps some.


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## sam36 (Apr 14, 2020)

Went ahead and dumped out my last 50lb bag of DAP. Felt like it is still not growing fast enough. Plus got more rain in the forecast so shouldn't have to worry about burning. I think in like 6 weeks I've put out around 170lbs of fertilizer on 10k sqft :lol: Really regretting not putting out a few truck loads of sand before seeding but oh well. Another task for next year.


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## sam36 (Apr 14, 2020)

Ugh. Got 2 inches of rain slowly through out the day yesterday. Then it dumps another 2 inches in one hour this afternoon. Hold fast tender roots....



And a couple of hours later:


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## sam36 (Apr 14, 2020)

A couple of weeks ago I was really feeling like this was a failed project. Growing super slow, bare spots everywhere. But then it started to really take off. And the bare spots started shooting out new germination. Not sure how stuff was still germinating 42+ days after planting in areas that had been kept wet the whole time but anyway... I've got quite the salad going on, mainly one weed in particular that I've never seen before. There's still a few bare spots. I went ahead and picked up 6 more lbs of monaco. Every Saturday I'm going to put out 2lbs where I see fit. So by the end of June, I aught to have some pretty good coverage. If I can get a nice big green circle around the tree and fill in the bare spot in front of the house (bottom of the picture), I'll be happy. I'll worry about the bare spot next to the driveway next year. Will have to move the sprinklers to get that.

Grabbed 1000lbs of AMS for $200 a few days ago. I'm going to start a weekly 5lbs per 1k sqft regiment for the entire property and see what happens.



Day 51 after planting (and just reel mowed to .75") and 4 days ago put out 5lbs per 1k of DAP and went back over with with 5lbs per 1k of AMS (10lbs per 1k total):


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## sam36 (Apr 14, 2020)

Filling in. Slow slow, but getting there.



Sprayed quinclorac a couple of days ago to try and kill some weeds since quinclorac is the easiest on bermuda. But no evidence of dead weeds yet.


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## Chocolate Lab (Jun 8, 2019)

Just seeing this... But even in San Antonio, I'm wondering if the soil temps were just too low back in April to get good germination... Maybe that's the reason it took so long to come out?


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## sam36 (Apr 14, 2020)

Chocolate Lab said:


> Just seeing this... But even in San Antonio, I'm wondering if the soil temps were just too low back in April to get good germination... Maybe that's the reason it took so long to come out?


Yea something was off. My test last year with Monaco was done at the end of May and performed way different. I think humidity also comes into play. It was incredibly hard to keep the soil wet with a north wind blowing at 10% humidity which happened multiple times over a month.


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## sam36 (Apr 14, 2020)

We got an inch or two of rain every week during May. I thought that would be a good thing... but the soggy ground started growing black slime everywhere, some low spots never dried out for weeks and started smelling like sewage. Ended up buying two yard of a "sand and compost" mix from new earth compost and started filling in low spots.





Of course as soon as I threw all that out, it never rained again until 4 weeks later. The clay soil went through quite a transformation after having been soaked for a month and started to dry out over a week of 90 degree heat. Severe localized dry spots started popping up everywhere no matter how much extra water I tried to apply:



And within the first week, huge sections of common bermuda just went brown and seemed to die. Then strangely over the next couple of weeks, everything started to green up again even though it never rained or got any other watering. It was bizarre to watch. Thankfully, the Monaco in the front yard mostly fared well.

From June 4th:



June 16th:
(right after a low dose of Celsius)



June 28th:



I started noticing the yellowing. Thought it was from the heat so started adding more water (from 50 minutes at 5am to 70 minutes). But eventually I wandered out to pull some weeds a few days later and realized it was way too wet out there. Hence the yellowing, so I was actually making it worse.


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## sam36 (Apr 14, 2020)

I haven't added any extra water since the end of June. Amazing how a good layer of sod holds water. Been getting a small shower every couple of days for the last few days though. Had some weeds that survived my low dose of Celsius from mid June. So put out MSMA at 1floz rate a couple of days ago. 
I think it is coming along better than I thought (the renovation project as a whole). As it stands now:



For comparison, this is what last year looked like after putting out MSMA. The brown is KR bluestem:



There is still quite a bit of Common coming up. But I'll take that over bluestem any day.

This was next to the drive way where the sprinklers can't reach. The "great divide", half Monaco and half Common. This "version" of Common has a teal color, but it mostly only grows horizontally, so I don't mind it. Especially since it grows without ever being watered.


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## sam36 (Apr 14, 2020)

The lane behind the barn also went under "renovation" this year too. Mostly I just dumped glyphosate a few times on it in March and then threw about 20lbs of Sahara II and stirred it in after digging it up really good with a box blade. Even though there was no irrigation, it is growing. Had lots of weeds and then noticed some form of bluestem creeping back in. It is not KR, but either kleberg or medio bluestem. I could tell it was growing back from seed and not from established roots so herbicide should be able to tackle it. And I will give it no chance. Did an app of MSMA at 2floz per 1k sqft and MSM at 1.5 oz per acre. So looks bad right now, but the only green is certainly Sahara II:



The field on the far right is where all my problems have come from. It is solid bluestem, like 20 acres of it. I try to walk the fence line once a month now and lay down a swath of glyphosate.


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## sam36 (Apr 14, 2020)

From July 9th. Push reel mowed to 1.25" the day before. Honestly getting tired of reel mowing. Not sure if I'll keep doing it. Getting blotchy from rain everyday for the last week. Looking out the window sometimes is shocking. Like "Man that's a lot of green!"


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