# uts journal 2021 - Front Reno BlueBank mono



## uts

So the weather has been mild here in the northeast and it seems to be improving. While today was 10F, the next few days are touching 50s.

Its a great time I feel to get some bed work done since the lawn is still solid frozen and not soggy like initial spring. It's been mostly dry so all the leaves taht I didnt rake/blow are less wet.

Will start with a few pictures





The yard has lost color especially with the drop in temperatures over the last few days.

My aim for this year are alot but il start for now until spring and keep updating as we go.

Goals

Feb-March

-Blow out beds and rake out all the leaves
-Trim back some of the large shrubs/evergreens next to the house in size and bottom branches to make bed maintainence easier

-Perimeter wild bushes need to be trimmed back and blown out, they are encroaching on the lawn
-Rent a bed redefiner (HD I think) and get better definition of most beds
-Small trees and shrubs also need a better definition of their perimeter

-need to decide on a pre-Em for the beds and commit to it. Been debating between a 27$ preen for a 22lb bucket vs snapshot 50lb for $120.

Trim back the rhododendrons next to the house both in size and the bottom branches to make working in the bed easier- though I think this will be after they bloom I think


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## uts

2/21

Got my trusted honda mower out. I didn't winterizE it and had started it once in between. One pull and it started right up

Did blow some beds out at the back of the house and then gathered the leaves up with the mower with the bag in. Life was easier.

Aim is to start doing this, once or twice a week to get everything cleaned out before soft and rainy spring arrives.

Also bought an ego rapid charger a few days back on sale.





Didny get a chance to do the central bed since it needs a few things cut before I can blow it. Il plan to trim it with a weed wacker and rake everything out.





As you can see the beds need to be redefined or in some cases just defined .. lol

Also the last picture shows one of the shrubs that needs to be trimmed at the bottom a bit


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## uts

I also need to prune this crab apple tree soon. Anyone with any advise on how to do so?


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## Green

For anyone reading uts's journal, the 10F was an overnight low. I think 8F was the lowest we've had so far this Winter. Or maybe it was 10F another time as well. Something like that. No negative temps this year.


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## uts

uts said:


> 2/21
> 
> Got my trusted honda mower out. I didn't winterize it and had started it once in between. One pull and it started right up
> 
> Did blow some beds out at the back of the house and then gathered the leaves up with the mower with the bag in. Life was easier.
> 
> Aim is to start doing this, once or twice a week to get everything cleaned out before soft and rainy spring arrives.
> 
> Also bought an ego rapid charger a few days back on sale.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Didny get a chance to do the central bed since it needs a few things cut before I can blow it. Il plan to trim it with a weed wacker and rake everything out.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> As you can see the beds need to be redefined or in some cases just defined .. lol
> 
> Also the last picture shows one of the shrubs that needs to be trimmed at the bottom a bit


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## Chris LI

Nice Rhodies! We had them growing up and I don't have any now, but am partial to them, because my Dad loved them. They usually do well in shaded, acidic soil, so keep an eye on that for lawn care considerations.


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## uts

Green said:


> For anyone reading uts's journal, the 10F was an overnight low. I think 8F was the lowest we've had so far this Winter. Or maybe it was 10F another time as well. Something like that. No negative temps this year.


True that.. have some temperature fluctuations over the last few weeks.. highs of 60s, lows of teens. It was low 20s low today ..


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## uts

Chris LI said:


> Nice Rhodies! We had them growing up and I don't have any now, but am partial to them, because my Dad loved them. They usually do well in shaded, acidic soil, so keep an eye on that for lawn care considerations.


I am sure my soil is crazy acidic. It gets some shade especially in the evening since these are planted on the east side of the house. 
I will need to prune them though soon.


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## uts

The milder temperature and some rain had made some of the lawn fairly soft. I was trying to blow some beds and borders and started sinking/rutting at one place.

Will try pruning some trees today to decrease shade and some moss issues. Also need to expand where the grass grows.


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## Chris LI

I liked the Rhodies so much, I breezed past your pruning question. If you haven't gotten to it yet, I would start with the branch hanging low and to the right. Cut near the base, but not into the collar, where the wound would be much larger. The bark on the collar will repair over time. Also, if you thin out any gnarled limbs, that will give the good limbs more opportunity to flourish, and may get a little more light through the canopy down to the turf. Start lightly and step back several feet every so often to visually inspect for appearance, symmetry, etc. You can always go back another day to trim a little more, but you can't undo big mistakes. And never top a tree. If you cut the leader (topmost vertical branch up from the trunk-typically the tallest central branch), you essentially begin the slow demise of the tree. Sorry if I'm late to the game with the suggestions.


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## uts

Chris LI said:


> I liked the Rhodies so much, I breezed past your pruning question. If you haven't gotten to it yet, I would start with the branch hanging low and to the right. Cut near the base, but not into the collar, where the wound would be much larger. The bark on the collar will repair over time. Also, if you thin out any gnarled limbs, that will give the good limbs more opportunity to flourish, and may get a little more light through the canopy down to the turf. Start lightly and step back several feet every so often to visually inspect for appearance, symmetry, etc. You can always go back another day to trim a little more, but you can't undo big mistakes. And never top a tree. If you cut the leader (topmost vertical branch up from the trunk-typically the tallest central branch), you essentially begin the slow demise of the tree. Sorry if I'm late to the game with the suggestions.


Not at all. Was planning to do this tomorrow so you are on point! Thank you.


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## uts

Started with this today



Yup filled that up



Raked raked and blew it out.



Lots of new growth as well that iwas not expecting .. I need to get the snapshot down very soon


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## uts

Started cutting some branches down





There is a decent amount of moss growing underneath so hopefully this will help.


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## uts

Cleaned the beds out today.







The weed party has started.. my snapshot hasn't even delivered yet..



Some small flower notsure what that is



Btw do I have to remove the moss from these beds before putting in snapshot?


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## Kallgren

Hi UTS,

I am hoping to leverage some of your experiences regarding your flower beds. I have been "reclaiming" some overgrown areas and getting some perennials going. I also get a lot of weeds. You mentioned in the caption on one of the photos "my snapshot hasn't delivered yet" in the context of some weeds. It isn't clear if snapshot is a product or referral to you photo being a snapshot.

In any event what are your recommendations for strategy to control weeds in your flower beds?

Weeds and seasonal grasses have overrun my phlox as an example.


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## uts

Kallgren said:


> Hi UTS,
> 
> I am hoping to leverage some of your experiences regarding your flower beds. I have been "reclaiming" some overgrown areas and getting some perennials going. I also get a lot of weeds. You mentioned in the caption on one of the photos "my snapshot hasn't delivered yet" in the context of some weeds. It isn't clear if snapshot is a product or referral to you photo being a snapshot.
> 
> In any event what are your recommendations for strategy to control weeds in your flower beds?
> 
> Weeds and seasonal grasses have overrun my phlox as an example.


Hey,

I am by no way experienced as I just started doing this.

Snapshot is a pre-emergent for broadleaf weeds. It's a combination of Isoxaben 0.5%, and Trifluralin 2%. For the grassy weeds I would spray some prodiamine. Also mulch beds.

I feel the fight in flower beds is much more difficult than the lawn. Do some parts at a time. A good plan is what is desperately needed - timely action, pre-emergent and mulch is my plan for this season.


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## uts

Dealing with a slightly confused weather situation

Morning at 7 am



At 3pm


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## uts

Walking the lawn today and saw these 2 patches which are in completely different areas where the grass is turning orange..









I havent applied any fertilizer or herbecide yet. Not even a pre-emergent.

Havent walked in these areas either.


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## uts

Also put down this pennington seed which I had bought 2 years back before finding this site in areas where I am completely hopeless of any growth. Had gotten them for 4 bucks. Lol









Stomped on the soggy soil in most areas for good contact and let it be. It will rain intermittently every 2-3 days, will see how it goes.


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## uts

Starter out with this





Had to be careful because there are 2 sprinklers at either corners and a line running between (I assumed) 
There is also a tree which the wife hates but i have a soft spot for some reason and it has a lot of roots above ground which i could see even before i started

Like this huge thing



Look what I almost hit ...



Saw a lot of earthworms which was great.





End result



This is what came out



Decent size area that's left



For the most part I tried staying superficial to not hit anything.. between 4-6 inches. Im sure I ledt some roots back. If something grows i can just pull them up by hand.


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## Kallgren

Looks like you have loads of bulbs in the garden beds, must be spectacular when the come into bloom.


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## uts

Kallgren said:


> Looks like you have loads of bulbs in the garden beds, must be spectacular when the come into bloom.


Yes, that's what we realized. The previous owner were very enthusiastic about the beds. I had no idea what to do with them..lol.. even cleaning then was painful for me initially. Kinda still is.. lol


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## uts

Put down Snapshot in the beds today.

I had bought the Scott's whiz handheld spreader and had no idea on the calibration.

Aim was to put down a mid-rate of 3.3lbs/M (recommended is 2.3-4.6lb/M)

This bed of mine is approximately 300sqft so I measured 1lb and went to town





Started out at a setting of 3 but it was slightly low so used a 4 and it seemed good. Even if I was slightly under, i was above the recommended level and even if i went heavy or did a double pass in some place I wasn't terribly high either.

Filled her up brimful twice after that and finished all the beds. It supposed to rain for the next 3 days so it will be well watered in.

One thing I did not like is the product does tend to accumulate in the sides of the discharge chute so when you tilt it to get the product in the front it suddenly drops a load in one spot.


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## uts

Also was able to take down one of the trees which was coming very close to the house almost leaning over.

I was quoted $700-1000 last fall for this job.

I had to start cutting significantly higher because if I cut at the base the tree would have landed on the house. 
I had a worx polesaw but that was not high enough to first cut the trunk high enough. Bought a 16ft manual fiskars saw from costco for 45 bucks.

After a lot of elbow grease the first came down.





After another half hour the second half came down but split the trunk down which was exactly what I feared so I had placed a small cut down which made it land close to the house but didnt touch it. Should have made it much higher.



I was cutting at the branch points about 16ft high at least so to be honest I was impressed with what I could achieve. That said this was not even remotely close to the best way. I feel this was better than being on a ladder and a heavy polesaw.





Cleared most things but lots of branches are left. Ordered a sunjoe chipper today and hopefully I should be able to chip as most branches are under 1.5"







The leftover cleanup will be done in a day or two .. everything is sore after working above shoulder for a few hours .. lol


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## Chris LI

Nice job and documentation!


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## uts

Started with what was left



Took all of this out.



Again you can see how the roots are against the bed of the pavers pulling out the gravel.





This is what it looks like now.



I got a bag of whiney farms organic planting soil from costco a few days back for this area to make this nice and even and cover up all the roots. I dont think il be taking of these small dried up sticks which broke off in the removal process. Hopefully they will decompose over time.

Also was able to trim this section of the beds. It was drooping all over the pavers since we bought the house and nobody had bothered trimming it back.

Once it starts growing again this year I will trim it further back to the green metallic edging and keep it that way. This was also a great way to learn how to edge with a string trimmer which I am fairly bad at.





In other news also cleaned up more leaves from different areas.

I'm really debating of getting a bed redefiner to edge out my beds in the lawn. Or should I do this by hand? It's a lot of area so I feel the took would be very helpful and then I clean nicely some areas with a manual edger. The ground is soft and great for this purpose right now.


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## uts

Chris LI said:


> Nice job and documentation!


Thank you. Just trying to log everything I do this year so I know it's hard work put to good use at the end


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## Kallgren

I like the half moon shaped edgers, helped my brother on his yard last Thanksgiving. Fast and easy, no fumes and cheap. I've got a square ice chipper, but isn't as great in the ground, so edges aren't quite as easy.

Edges around the pavers are looking good!


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## uts

Kallgren said:


> I like the half moon shaped edgers, helped my brother on his yard last Thanksgiving. Fast and easy, no fumes and cheap. I've got a square ice chipper, but isn't as great in the ground, so edges aren't quite as easy.
> 
> Edges around the pavers are looking good!


I think I saw one of the half moon edges today in the set of tools that the previous owners left us. It's just old and might have some rust. Il take it off the rack tomorrow and see if I can clean it and sharpen the edge(dont know how to do that)

That said I've seen quite a few reviews of using the bed redefiner and it seems like a great tool. I was thinking of renting one from HD for 40 bucks for the day. Would take me probably 2-3 hours max with redefining, cleaning maybe going a second time in some areas.

Maybe the pictures make it look better but there are places I went off the curve but yes now that they are cut they do look better!


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## Kallgren

Renting is a good idea in my opinion for tools you don't need often. As for rust and sharpening, if your soil is like around here, there's so many stones, don't need to worry about sharpness, just durability.


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## Chris LI

uts said:


> Chris LI said:
> 
> 
> 
> Nice job and documentation!
> 
> 
> 
> Thank you. Just trying to log everything I do this year so I know it's hard work put to good use at the end
Click to expand...

Exactly, it's easy to forget about all the hard work 6 months to a year from now. I put info in my journal so I don't forget and so others can see what worked or bombed for me, so others can learn from my mistakes (or successes, if I get it right).


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## uts

So dropped a bag of this planting soil from costco. The reviews for these were mixed, someone had even received a bag with plastic and wood so I was a little less hopeful but turned out to be okay. I can probably drop a bag or two more but i want to mulch this bed and I think that will take care of the unevenness.







Started cleaning out this bed which houses the well. It is in the backyard but is very visible and a focal point for anyone who comes into the driveway. This area has received the least attention both in terms of trimming, edging and cleaning out - 2 years

I cleaned out a little before I took this picture but as you can see so much grass has created in where the bed was that the perennials are now almost a foot outside.



Cleaned out some more





I'm unsure what these two bushes are but they had an insane amount of stems coming up from the roots.. this made the whole area look crammed, ugly and very difficult to clean

Like this



Cut most of these out. I did leave some at the back because I didnt want it to seem absolutely empty though now I think I should have.



This is what it looks like now.





Will trim it with the string trimmer tomorrow so I get some better definition. A bed definer rental option is looking increasingly necessary. Mulching then.

This is atleast a 12Ft circular bed = ~3 yards of mulch at 2"


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## uts

Kallgren said:


> Renting is a good idea in my opinion for tools you don't need often. As for rust and sharpening, if your soil is like around here, there's so many stones, don't need to worry about sharpness, just durability.


Honestly I'm not big on renting but for 40 bucks once a year I'm not game on buying a whole new platform... hopefully ego comes with a similar attachment in a year or so. The power head is great with the edger, saw and hedge trimmer for now. I was also looking at the brush tool for the patio.


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## uts

This bed is in the backyard southeast area of the lot. This is what it looked like when it started.
You can see some daffodil plants peaking maybe



Lots and pots of leaves and at least 2 years worth of crap. Raked the crap out of the area. The perrineals took it surprisingly well.



This is what it looks like now. Wet leaves were honestly easier to remove overall. Will blow the area tomorrow to take out the smaller stuff and put down snapshot.



Forsythia bushes blooming. Will also put down pre-emergent this weekend.


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## uts

Did a little bit everyday over the last few days.

Trimmed some.big branches around the perimeter of the house. This is addition to previous.

Bought a sunjoe chipper - didnt have high Hope's but it worked okay.

This



Became this



Most of this came as nuggets and not anywhere close to even a single ground mulch but it reduced heaps of branches to just this which works out for me.

Also puller out a bunch of vines which were getting out of control. Pulled most of them from the root. Not sure if I got all but at least that area looks better.





On a side note bittercress is going crazy at some areas.


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## Kallgren

Hey UTS,

Was looking at your photos a bit more carefully, you have some great field stones and what looks close enough if it isn't a natural erratic (the big one). Those are awesome and worthy of being feature pieces.

I'd trim all the nonsense around them and let them stand out.

In my mind, like winning the lottery.


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## uts

Are you referring to this one?



If yes, we have been debating of taking all these bushes out and maybe just putting a cherry blossom tree and mulch all around to make that area stand out. Maybe some tulips for early spring. What do you think?.


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## Kallgren

Yes that is a nice one, plus this big guy...sorry if I am mixing them up...sometimes hard to tell if I'm seeing the same thing from different angles.

https://i.postimg.cc/ZYDmQn1S/20200328-133036.jpg

Here is our big rock and apple tree nearby


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## uts

You are probably referring to this one



I'm def planning to trim quite a bit of stuff down around it but leave the perineal.


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## Kallgren

Yes! That one is awesome!


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## uts

Got 3 inches of rain 2 days back and high winds which led to quite a few sticks and branches coming down. Spent the last few hours getting those.

Also our lot has a lot of unclear out land with trees and wild stuff growing probably about 0.6-0.75 acre. When we I initially bought it we had a plan to increase the lawn but life happened and we got busy as hell.

I had some time today due to reduced work hours and went into this area to see how everything looked. Last summer three trees had come down and I tried cutting them up with a borrowed chainsaw and got done with some stuff. Both the trunks are still standing one 6' off the ground and the second about 30'. Both these trees falling down had really opened up the canopy in this area.

When I was down there I had found some pavers sitting there. I thought before I get on clearing this wood from here might as well get these out of the way.



Initial thought was will get done in 20 mins or so take a wheelbarrow put these next to the house 200' away and all done. After one load and 2 hours later I just piled these on a huge concrete block taht was there- unsure where that came from either.



Stones are probably both from the patio and the front walkway that we have and someone just dumped the rest of them hoping the owner wont find it.

Inspected some of the beds and saw lots of creeping Charlie growing in full bloom. It will be triclopyr thursday tomorrow.







I also tried edging with an old straight blade spade. The result was horrendous for multiple reasons (one being what I was using since it was not slicing at all through the turf) and I also kept hitting the irrigation line (no damage).





Lesson learnt, i will have to come further out to get a good straight edge and not hit the irrigation line as well.

Also ordered the fiskars straight blade spade to have a better tool.


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## uts

Had to mow the lawn today because the spring growth flush is happening and some areas were well above 6". Problem being that it's been raining every 2 days. Yesterday was alot as well. That said it also supposed to rain for 4 days straight.



The front liked the cut



There was so much water in the soil in the back. Could only do a part till the mower and reet started to go in the water.



I'm pretty sure il be cutting 12" grass next week


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## Chris LI

Yikes! The spring flush hasn't hit us yet. I think you need PGR. When was the last day you mowed? Oh boy!


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## uts

Chris LI said:


> Yikes! The spring flush hasn't hit us yet. I think you need PGR. When was the last day you mowed? Oh boy!


That's what I had expected considering we are still getting frost spells here and there but the backyard is a different story. I had done a small mow 4 or so days back and had received minimal clipping and all of a sudden things changed. It's a swamp out there.


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## uts

Starting to turn into a good day with clear sky. We were expected to have rains from tuesday night all the way into next week. I had mowed the lawn on tuesday - front, sides and outside. Couldn't do the back as expected. It rained pretty much all of yesterday and pretty hard last night.

Right now though it looks like this



I'm glad to see very little dandelion in the front. One or two here or there in about 6k of lawn is not bad at all.

BUT

The wild violet is coming back with vengeance this year. Not just the back but the front as well.





The back is bentgrass and wildviolet only .. lol



This is over a fairly huge section. I dont mind the bent grass though. I might try to just reel mow this area when I get to that stage to see how it goes. 

I will start spraying triclopyr on Sunday. Cant do it over the weekend because my little one loves to run around in the lawn plus it's too soggy in the back and I want to hit everything in one go. The next few days are mid 60s so this should help dry up some.

I also have a lot of places where I have moss. I never paid attention last year but this year wanted to get it out. Thought of trying the easy way of dawn detergent in a sprayer. Couldn't find any exact dosaging and online I could see 4oz in 2 gallon for 1k area.

I went a little crazy and put down 6oz in 1 gallon and started spot spraying. I also sprayed some weeds to see how they would react to this.







This beautiful thing got drenched as well.



Il report back in 24 and 48hours with pictures to see how the moss, grass and plants have fared to this dosage.


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## Chris LI

I need to get some Dawn down in a few locations. I'm interested on how the 6 oz/gallon works for you.


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## uts

So a few good things first.

Was able to mow the entire yard this morning. Took 2 hours. Ready for rain and 3inches of snow .. yes snow in may



My crab apple tree is in full bloom this spring. Very happy to see this. Could be from the heavy fall fertilization that the grass was getting and it was absorbing. Last year it wasn't even close to this. Was in face worried about it.



I also sprayed about 4k worth of lawn with triclopyr and some trimec. This was mainly for the violet but some plantains, dandelion and some chickweed. This was done on the 4th of may.









I have also been monitoring where I put down dawn on the moss.

These are pictures on successive days.

May 4


May 6



May 7



May 13



Part of it is cut on the top because I edges this area.

May 4



May 6



May 7



May 13



In the 96h I dont think there has been a huge difference. If nothing changes on monday I will apply dawn directly. Give it a week. If not moving to liquid iron.

I was also.able to edge a few areas. These beds have been here forever but no one ever edged them. This is my first time edging so forgive the rough nature. I was also hitting a lot of rocks and was also afraid of the irrigation line. I purposefully took out good chunks (they were also invading in the bed) because I want to tra splint these. I have not picked up the grass up, waiting for the gorilla cart to arrive


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## uts

And this in May


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## uts

Much better weather today. The snow has melted already.

I have noticed this damage across a few small areas in the lawn. Unsure what this is.

It does not look like a mole or even a vole damage. It looks like short digs with no real tunnels. Seems like a squirrel digging which we have ALOT.

Seeing this for the first time in 2 years or maybe now that I walk the turf more, I have noticed it.


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## uts

Added pictures to the previous post about the moss and dawn with water. There does not seem to be any difference.

I applied some dawn directly today using my wheel brush. It's supposed to rain tomorrow night so will get at least a good 24hrs.


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## uts

5/14 Spot sprayed about 5k with triclopyr and trimec. Not the ideal thing considering that it rained 14 hours later but I'm assuming that's good enough time. Cant spray on weekends because of my kiddo and the rest of the week is all rains.

Need to mow today or tomorrow. A warm spell is coming in for the weekend.


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## uts

Mowed half the yard. I def need to get a ride on mower.

Also received the proplugger today. Hot some plugs out for soil analysis.



Some interesting findings both expected vs unexpected.

1. Decent amount of thatch buildup. Considering this lawn was mowed with a side discharge for 20 or so years that makes sense.





2. I could identify moss growing in the thatch layer. This area is decently drained, gets 6 hours so direct sunlight. I'm guessing I know what my problem would be...



I also found one grub from almost 50 cores that I got. Grass is growing in all these areas. The lawn has never had a grub treatment.



Can anyone help identify this? Should ibe putting down a curative application or a preventative/ nothing?

My plan was not to this year. Spending the 100 bucks on different segment soil testing and the relevant stuff I would need after it.


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## Chris LI

Did you notice grub damage last year? If you did, I would scout those areas by cutting out a 1'x1' section of sod in a couple of suspected locations to inspect for grubs. If you only find a couple, that's no big deal. If you find a dozen, then you would need to treat. I don't remember the exact numbers per square foot, but you get the idea. If you're not familiar with IPM (Integrated Pest Management), that is one of the aspects. If you can tolerate a few of them, let it go, so you don't waste time, money and put unnecessary chemicals into the soil that can damage beneficial insects. If the number breaks the threshold, treat, so you don't have a major infestation/damage. If you scout and map bad areas this year, you can preventatively spot treat them next year, without having to blanket spray/treat.


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## uts

Honestly did not note anything. The lawn is thinner in that area but that is partly due to the shade. I cleared out some canopy this year and hopefully after the soil test will know more. So for now I will live with out applying. I'm seeing some massive lime purchase fairly soon. Lol


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## uts

As the ground at the back is getting better, I pulled some plugs un different areas



The first one is from level ground. The amount of moisture is crazy. No watering for 2 weeks



This is from the slope. Much much drier



Also ALOT of thatch and moss. Mind you these are full sun areas







Also did a mason jar test

At 1 min



At 30 mins



I always thought my soil was heavy clay but this says otherwise .... explains the lack of water retention and some hydrophobicity


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## rjjrmiller

How's it looking now? From the picks those holes are animals digging for grubs. My lawn has a skunk that digs holes exactly the same about 4am and all the neighbors who get the holes too agree we get more after we water the lawn making it easier to dig up.

Doesn't mean grub problems for sure, but it's a signal.
,


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## uts

rjjrmiller said:


> How's it looking now? From the picks those holes are animals digging for grubs. My lawn has a skunk that digs holes exactly the same about 4am and all the neighbors who get the holes too agree we get more after we water the lawn making it easier to dig up.
> 
> Doesn't mean grub problems for sure, but it's a signal.
> ,


Havent been updating much so I disnt see this message. I actually identified a chipmunk running around the yard. The digging pattern is consistent with that. The holes have decreased I think. Not exactly sure why. We also have a ton of squirrels around so they do some digging too.


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## uts

Adding my soil tests here







Considering these results, I was looking for

1. Calcitic lime but was unable to find any simple ones. The two options that I found was

A. Solucal at $16-18 for a 50lb bag, their recommended application for pH correction is 50lb/~4.5M. This also has a small percentage of iron.

B. Similar to the above is Lovelands hi-cal lime. Similar application rates. Both products have a small amount of humic acid. This does not have any iron. Got this for 13.5/50lb bag.



2. Needed K. Found some SOP. Will be applying a total of 4lb this season.



Mowed a few times and raised the mower height today because it's going to get in the high 80s consistently for the next week of so.

I also cut a few burning bushes which are encroaching. This is what they looked like



This is what they look like now.



Sprayed gly on some of the foliage and applied roundup brush killer (gly+triclopyr) without any dilution to the cut stumps. Will see how this goes.

The above three trees will also be cut down this summer and stumps grounded down. Increase grass area and have some space for tulips/annuals.

I also need to find out how aggressively I can trim my 12' burning bushes. I want yo keep them around 5' in a nice round shape. Again utilizing the bed space which have some hostas now and add good annuals.

This is how they looked last fall.


----------



## uts

This week is supposed to be a good amount of rains. Out of the 3 days unfortunately its only been one day.

Put down 250lbs of pellitized lime today. Wanted to put down K as well but didnt have the time.

Creeping charlie is starting to invade the front again which was sort of gone in the spring with multiple applications of triclopyr.

got hit by fungus in the front. It's the same place that I got hit last year as well. Will take some pictures to keep track.

Also have an outside area that is toasted. Unsure why. Seems like grubs but I can't complain since I didnt put down grub protection.


----------



## uts

Mowed the back lawn

I think we received close to 1inch of rain in the last 48h or so. Supposed to rain in a few hours again.

I put down 100lbs of SOP today for a total of 2lb of K/M. Hopefully this gets watered in soon.





This is the area that gets hit by fungus every year.



This is the outside area that got toasted or killed by grubs. There is a small amount of green grass poking through now after rains so I'm hopeful.


----------



## abstract

uts said:


> Creeping charlie is starting to invade the front again which was sort of gone in the spring with multiple applications of triclopyr.


I had good luck with Weed B Gon on creeping charlie last year, I had big patches of it that crowded out the grass and matted up, probably about 40-50 square feet. It's coming back a bit this year, but it's much much weaker, and haven't had to spray it, as it's easy to spot the new shoots after a mow and pull it by hand before it gets established and starts to spread laterally. I usually have no more than 10-15 of the little shoots every couple of days. Since I pulled all the flowers in the spring, hope to have even less next year.


----------



## uts

@abstract I really wish, I had the patience and time to do it by hand. I need to upgrade my mower and then hopefully will have much more time on hand. I will try pulling these by hand soon though.


----------



## uts

Pretty sure it rained about 0.5" with in the span of an hour. Dont know what would have happened with the K that I put down earlier. The grass is loving these showers though.


----------



## uts

Mowed yesterday. Put down a 50lb bag of carbon X, older version for 0.5lb/M of N. Got some rain yesterday. Sprinklers ran this morning.

Also replaced 8 heads myself and my irrigation guy came in and replaced 4. Some of these were old toro which he said were about 20 year old at least. Definitely getting better coverage now with the i20s. I'm hoping I can resolve my dry spot issues with these calibration and changes.


----------



## uts

7/10 - sprayed feature 2oz/M in the front and side, 1oz/M omin the back.

Rained almost 8 hours after. Got 0.9" of rain which is a very welcome addition. Grass is kicking into a good growth spurt.

Will be doing an irrigation audit this week.


----------



## uts

7/14-15 mowed all around. Good growth with the water and carbon X. Some real surge growth because of carbon x. I think my next app will be a mixed fast and slow release to avoid the high carbon X surge.

Sprayed 24D for plantains only in the backyard.

Hacked down this burning bush as an experiment. This was almost 12' high prior to pruning.

Now sits at 4-5'. Will try and maintain at a 6' height



Grass color is improving. Here is the line between my neighbor and me.


----------



## Kallgren

The burning bush (we call it fire bush) is wicked invasive. You could probably trim it back even further. I trim my one in the fall after the leaves have dropped. It spreads like crazy!


----------



## uts

I.can def see that. I already see new shoots and leaves sprouting out from the roots. I will def trim this back more in the next few days. I wanted to keep this as civil as possible initially .. lol .

Have 2 more to go after this.

Been have 90+ days with heat index well in the 100. The grass is def looking stressed. I needed to mow but didnt. Will wait till wednesday for stuff to cool.

Been syringing 5 mins each zone.


----------



## uts

So, while I have been improving my cultural practices and irrigation setup, one thing that I did not pay attention from the start is actually identifying my actual grass type. I will get to this in a bit.

Last year when I started out spraying for creeping Charlie and wild violet (triclopyr) in the fall I ended up damaging some of my turf.

It was rather perplexing because even though I was inexperienced, i had a large carrier volume and lower limits of products.

I sprayed again in the spring and similar results, a little less maybe..

I sprayed a few weeks back on a relatively cool summer day.. high 70s (utilizing an ester formulation) I had very similar results again...major turf damage...

Obvious thing did not click.. I do not think it's the formulation.

I have a MAJOR bentgrass invasion, even in places where i didnt think so... it's in the lowerish level.

There are some areas in the back that are pure bent which i really like for the carpet that it is but didnt expect this much....

This is a fairly sad situation.














The only real solution is a complete kill and reseed which I did not plan this year.

I wanted to improve my soil profile by improving nutrient deficiencies and pH and was preparing for a renovation next year...

Il post some pictures... the weeds are really coming back now... uggghhhh



Unsure where to go from here. Some.major poa outbreak this season.


----------



## uts

The sad contrast is that right up the slope where the bent grass is, there is ALOT of fine fescue which is like a brown haze right now even with decent watering. His area had a ALOT of canopy which I have slowly but surely cleared out .. Soooooooo again difficult situations
..





Again only solution I see is gly the crap out of it and reseed. Also needs ALOT of leveling because of the roots.


----------



## uts

On a brighter note some perrineals flowering.









The hydrangea didnt bloom at all.last year. I know one problem is that it is over watered.


----------



## Chris LI

Remember, Rome wasn't built in a day. Renos take a bit of planning and you would need to be all set now to pull the trigger on the gly. I would continue to work on your cultural practices and techniques and plan for a reno next fall (July-August).

If you want to do an overseed and take back some Poa A prone areas, you might just have enough time. It will not be perfect, but you might want to consider: 
1. Stop watering to let the Poa A fry
2. 8/15 or so scalp and PGR to slow turf
3. Check timing on PGR label for overseeding and drop seed PRG with Tenacity at seed down ASAP after PGR. Ryegrass will pop quickly and establish 
4. You probably will not have enough after that for regular PreM, so continue with Tenacity.

Other option is to regular PreM and ride it out with Tenacity apps to take out bentgrass. This is a more realistic approach. You can try to break the barrier to spot seed bad areas. Then you can try a dormant seed of kbg in Jan/Feb, while you plan and purchase supplies for next year's reno.


----------



## uts

@Chris LI I appreciate you reading all my rant and actually formulating an entire plan for me. I do appreciate it.

I think I am getting better and better for a reno everyday. I do think that some small areas that I have can even be renovated in the spring because I have full irrigation, if i plan well.

That said major renovations I will keep for next fall. A lot of yard needs to be smoothed out and needs a lot of topsoil.

I think my main aim is to get rid of the ground ivy and wild violet this fall along with all the bent that I can. This has been established for years and needs to be dead dead dead before i reno anything. I have realized it's not very difficult killing the bentgrass (I hope it does not prove me wrong) but the ivy has come back after 2 fall sprays of triclopyr - less but it is there significantly -i know killing it takes time but it's been 2 seasons already and I think I need to go head on with it.

I'm going to start spraying tenacity in a few days. Do at least 2 blanket apps. Kill as much of everything I can that is not needed. By mid August I am thinking of dropping TTTF from Hogan seeds. This will be fairly cost effective I think for now .. hopefully this will germinate faster as well.. I cant settle on PRG for some reason, even though I love how Ryan Knorr's lawn looks.

Let me know what you think.


----------



## Chris LI

Your plan works, too. There's no absolute right/wrong way to do it as long as you don't violate the cardinal rules. As you know, timing with certain things is crucial. On that subject, I would check the label on Tenacity for the seeding interval after spraying. I think you need to get it down ASAP, to do one application ahead of your seed down date. It might be 21 days, unless I confused it with the 21 day interval for application after germination.

I also thought of another nasty weed to scout out that I don't think was mentioned, Poa Trivialis. From my understanding, it's best to kill it with glyphosate in the spring when it's actively growing. If you need help with ID, there is a great video by tgreen on YouTube. I remember seeing info/links on TLF.


----------



## uts

8/2 got 0.25" of rain.

Turned irrigation off for the week as it will rain on tuesday as well. ALOT more.

8/3: sprayed sedge hammer on relevant areas. 
Sprayed quinclorac on the crabgrass areas along with some clover and wild violet area. Just want to see how it performs on those.

Ordered a bottle of generic meso.

Unsure how much I will spray but likely the front yard first and reseed on the second round of spray. Need to order seed. Will do that once i read the label.

Debated putting down lime at the bag rate of 12.5lb/M but did not due to the storm coming in tomorrow. Will do it after that.

Also need to out down some nitrogen..will have to decide how to manage both.


----------



## uts

8/3: 0.5" of rain with the storm. Didnt have electricity for 36 hours or so. Painful with no generator.

Top half of a maple tree cracked and fell. Need to buy a chainsaw now. Lots of twigs branches and leaves. Desperately need to cut while bagging.

Let's see how this goes.


----------



## uts

Mulched mowed the leaves that fell and bagged clippings in some areas to clean stuff out. The lawn seems to be growing faster now, a tiny bit.

The fine fescue still looks dormant but with the rain and cooler temperature, I am hoping it will awaken.

I put down 0.5lbs of N via a 50lb carbon X bag. Started raining so couldn't put down the K that I wanted. Will do in the evening when it stops. It's more of a drizzle, I hope we actually get a good downpour. We are in a mild drought right now.

I was also able to find this which is close fo carbon x type fertilizer. Much cheaper. It's funny how much stuff I am now able to find which is priced better. Hopefully it works close to these as well. It does have MOP but I feel it's so small that it does not matter. I put most of my K as SOP regardless.


----------



## uts

Dug 2 out of the 4



Applied gly to the roots at full concentration.





Was a pain to dig them up with these huge rocks, hitting them everytime.


----------



## uts

I promise this was not the plan till this morning. But the fine fescue is dormant as crap and it's bothers me so much. So this afternoon I ordered a bag of titanium LS and 4th millennium.

Put down gly on this side yard part which has some shade. This is about 3k. This will be a great test for the above cultivars.
I was planning on heavily overseeding quite a few areas so this is just the additional step. I had.put down 0.5lbs on N a few days back so this should help.

Plan to put seed next Friday, once the heat wave goes and good rain starts to come in. So I will scalp on tuesday and put 1 application of gly 8 days later from today so on thursday. This was a low weed area so I'm not too concerned about fallowing, not that I have the time.. lol.


----------



## uts




----------



## CTTurfDad

Best of luck to you! I'll be rooting for you.


----------



## uts

CTTurfDad said:


> Best of luck to you! I'll be rooting for you.


Thank you.


----------



## uts

Pretty much a waiting game right now for the reno area. Not leveling anything except for a few big dips. Still debating on the dethatchinh part but will see how the first scalp mow goes and how open the canopy is..

Will mow everything tomorrow. I need to gly another FF area which I should have done before but have not gotten the time.

I will likely also start applying an app of tenacity to the entire lawn to kill the bent that I have been looking at.

Seed down date is looking like Aug 29. Weather is cooling off, a rain or two in sight. Will also give me a good time for some of the bent to die. Although I should have sprayed a week earlier and gotten a second app in before seed down for the front reseeding project. Oh well.


----------



## uts

Mowed the whole yard sunday. Put down feature in area where there was moss growing
More than expected areas.

Put down PGR for the first time at 0.16oz/k for the first time. Let's see how things react.

Rained 0.25" . Irrigation is still running.

Reno area felt crispy before the rain. Looks toasted.



Toasted lawn looks the same as my neighbors who doesn't care about his at all.



Will scalp tomorrow. Let's see what's underneath. I think there 8w one big dip that I might need top soil for. Will stop at HD tomorrow.

Will do a second app of gly tomorrow as well.


----------



## uts

Scalped it down to the second lowest setting. The grass is matted down not just from how it is but also from the rain yesterday. 
The mower just could not take the lowest setting yet.

Went over it twice with the bagger to clean as much as I possible in the east- west direction.



Then went at it north to south.





As I was getting done it started raining. Didnt remember that it would rain today.

Will apply 2nd round of gly tomorrow because it will rain in tid bits all day.


----------



## uts

Look what came today


----------



## kay7711226

looks like a tough reno, good luck man, whats total reno lot size? Any reason going with TTTF vs any other?


----------



## bf7

Did you get your Rhizing Moon seed yet?


----------



## uts

bf7 said:


> Did you get your Rhizing Moon seed yet?


No they are still out here in CT. They are saying most likely will be in stock next week. Unsure if I want to wait till that time. I was planning to.put seed down over the weekend.


----------



## uts

kay7711226 said:


> looks like a tough reno, good luck man, whats total reno lot size? Any reason going with TTTF vs any other?


Reno size.is about 4k. It would have been easier if it wasn't matted down grass. The rain hasnt helped either. Hard to cut damp matt of grass. I scalped at the lowest setting today but I feel I do need to dethatch. What was your experience with dethathing?

Two reason for TTTF

1. This borders my neighbour and it had a lot of weeds. I want this to be a low input area.

2. This area only has one row of irrigation on my side and therefore coverage isnt the best. So again want something that is drought resistant.

My front yard I will be renovating next year after taking a few trees down. Will be about 20k. That will get pure bluegrass. I need to source it cheaper though.


----------



## uts

8/25: sprayed 2nd round of gly all around on the reno

8/28: scalped at the lowest setting. My poor mower did some levelling work, lol. It wasn't as bad as I thought though there are some big dips.

This is how it looks overall





There are a lot of areas that are thick like this.





I'm pretty sure I would benefit from a dethatch. Not sure what everyone else thinks or how much i will benefit from it.

@Green do you think i could put seed on this?


----------



## Aggrorider1

I would rake it out and break up soil as best you can.


----------



## kay7711226

uts said:


> kay7711226 said:
> 
> 
> 
> looks like a tough reno, good luck man, whats total reno lot size? Any reason going with TTTF vs any other?
> 
> 
> 
> Reno size.is about 4k. It would have been easier if it wasn't matted down grass. The rain hasnt helped either. Hard to cut damp matt of grass. I scalped at the lowest setting today but I feel I do need to dethatch. What was your experience with dethathing?
> 
> Two reason for TTTF
> 
> 1. This borders my neighbour and it had a lot of weeds. I want this to be a low input area.
> 
> 2. This area only has one row of irrigation on my side and therefore coverage isnt the best. So again want something that is drought resistant.
> 
> My front yard I will be renovating next year after taking a few trees down. Will be about 20k. That will get pure bluegrass. I need to source it cheaper though.
Click to expand...

I think it guarantee higher yields with better seed to soil contact, even just racking will not be enough. I have the electric greenworks that have done me well in all my Renos and overseeding.


----------



## uts

I guess we are renting one rom HD then. I wish I could buy an electric one but it's out of stock.


----------



## kay7711226

uts said:


> I guess we are renting one rom HD then. I wish I could buy an electric one but it's out of stock.


@uts I'll trade you mine for as long as you need to get the seed down for a sip of prodiamine :thumbup: But yea if you need it let me know.


----------



## uts

kay7711226 said:


> uts said:
> 
> 
> 
> I guess we are renting one rom HD then. I wish I could buy an electric one but it's out of stock.
> 
> 
> 
> @uts I'll trade you mine for as long as you need to get the seed down for a sip of prodiamine :thumbup: But yea if you need it let me know.
Click to expand...

Ypu can get a big sip man. Just PM me how much you need and when can we meet.


----------



## kay7711226

whenever you need it, I am helping my neighbor do an overseeding and promised it to him, but that's not for another week or 2.


----------



## uts

kay7711226 said:


> whenever you need it, I am helping my neighbor do an overseeding and promised it to him, but that's not for another week or 2.


PMed you.


----------



## kay7711226

uts said:


> kay7711226 said:
> 
> 
> 
> whenever you need it, I am helping my neighbor do an overseeding and promised it to him, but that's not for another week or 2.
> 
> 
> 
> PMed you.
Click to expand...

replied but still showing in Outbox, let me know if you got it


----------



## Green

@uts you could probably dethatch a little, spread the seed and then rake it down into the dead grass, cover with peat moss, but very lightly, and rake the peat moss into the dead grass as well. Then roll it all in and spray Tenacity at the 4oz pef acre rate (does not matter if you use surfactant or not; use it if you think the glyphosate didn't get everything after 2 apps).

Not that hard. I've done it on small spots. Don't see why it wouldn't work on a large area. The dead grass acts as straw...but you have to rake the seed into it, and you might need a slightly higher than normal seeding rate (like 2.5 lbs per M for KBG) to compete with the dead grass straw.

It does slow down the germination. It takes longer this way. But once it comes in, it comes in strong.


----------



## uts

A few developments

The zone that I am renovating has old rotors which are functioning suboptimal, so I had ordered a dozen rotors a while back and they finally got delivered a day or so back. Replaced 3 already. Will replace a few more around the area in a few days.

2 days before I had planned to put seed down, my last cultivar for TTTF, rhizing moon got delayed for delivery so that was sad. I thought I could go without it.

1 day before the valve for the zone that I am renovating failed and I basically had a zone that was watering no matter what. It got worse because I had no idea where the valve box was. I had a busy day so I called my irrigation guy. 2 hours later a few boxes located and changed a valve. All is good now.

I have dethatched the area and it has opened up but I also see a lot of moss. I sprayed feature in these areas and will rake these out by hand before seed down.

My little one got a cold last night and therefore no daycare and no yard work. Oh well, that's why advanced seed days are good but I think it should still work as long as the frost date is not September this year.. its 2020, who knows..


----------



## JP900++

Where did you pick up your R.M.?


----------



## kay7711226

Lot going on man, hopefully all goes well and can get seed down soon, weather has been behaving nicely past week or so.


----------



## uts

JP900++ said:


> Where did you pick up your R.M.?


Still havent been able to. I was told that it would be in stock beginning of last week and on Thursday they told me it hasnt even shipped out. So my use of RM seems less and less likely.

That said my seed down date will be Friday so if they get it by then, I will use it.


----------



## uts

kay7711226 said:


> Lot going on man, hopefully all goes well and can get seed down soon, weather has been behaving nicely past week or so.


Yeah man, too much I havent been able to do much with the lawn till today. Hoping to get some stuff down by the end of the week.


----------



## uts

9/8: sprayed FEature on the moss in the reno area. I should have done this earlier but oh well.

Sprayed 5oz/acre rate of tenacity + 0.5oz/M of tnex on the outside 4k or so area in anticipation of overseeding. I plan to give it 48h before I mow it low and plan to overseed. Wanted to get rid of some mild bentgrass and hurt some FF in the process.

I also used the same rate in my non reno area of backyard which has heavy bentgrass infestation and wild violet coming back. I did not have the courage of another reno yet so this will get an over seed as well to reclaim some area.

Will be overseeding with a 3way blend of TTTF with 4th mellinium, titanium 2LS and hopefully if I can get it rhizing moon. No KBG in this mix.

I will use Mazama for the reno area with the above mix.


----------



## kay7711226

uts said:


> 9/8: sprayed FEature on the moss in the reno area. I should have done this earlier but oh well.
> 
> Sprayed 5oz/acre rate of tenacity + 0.5oz/M of tnex on the outside 4k or so area in anticipation of overseeding. I plan to give it 48h before I mow it low and plan to overseed. Wanted to get rid of some mild bentgrass and hurt some FF in the process.
> 
> I also used the same rate in my non reno area of backyard which has heavy bentgrass infestation and wild violet coming back. I did not have the courage of another reno yet so this will get an over seed as well to reclaim some area.
> 
> Will be overseeding with a 3way blend of TTTF with 4th mellinium, titanium 2LS and hopefully if I can get it rhizing moon. No KBG in this mix.
> 
> I will use Mazama for the reno area with the above mix.


Are you using FEature primarily as moss killer/preventative? Our as Iron supplement for the lawn? I'm looking up products for adding Iron to my lawn and thought this was an option.


----------



## uts

kay7711226 said:


> Are you using FEature primarily as moss killer/preventative? Our as Iron supplement for the lawn? I'm looking up products for adding Iron to my lawn and thought this was an option.


My main use of Feature is foliar iron spraying as it has micronutrients such as manganese and magnesium in addition to the iron. It's a great product no doubt.

I used it for moss so I didnt have to buy another product.. lol


----------



## uts

Been a little bit of time before an update.

So I did a few things.

The right side of the house I scalped yesterday 9/14. I was surprised how low I could go without hitting too much stuff. The only problem were some surface roots of the crab apple tree. Plan to level the lawn next year so this should not be too difficult.

Total area 1k. 
Seed down 9/16
8lbs TTTF blend (4M and T2LS) and 2lbs of mazama.

Outside lawn/street area

Total area 4k overseed
Applied tenacity and PGR 9/8. Mowed low on 9/11
Seed down 9/16
6lbs/K of TTTF blend as above.

Renovation left side of house. 
Applied glyphosate a few times over the last few weeks. 
Scalped and raked out stuff again 9/16
Seed down 9/16
I will apply tenacity tomorrow and maybe cover with peat moss but I think the existing grass is a good enough cover and I dont see any washout in this area.

Sprinklers soaked all these area for 20 mins

I drove my neighbours zeroturn for quite a bit on all these areas to push the seed down. Hope this helped.

Now set to run 5-7 minutes each 4 times a day. 
8am, 11am, 2pm, 5pm

For the overseed area i left the schedules of watering twice a week (deep) left on. If anyone can comment on that it would be helpful @Green ?

Also mowed the front lawn.


----------



## Green

@uts, if it's in full sun and is drying out rapidly, you might get away with it for a week or two. But I would think eventually it might retain too much water.

Another way to do it: Think about how much water you're adding per day, and add it up for the week. If you don't think it's enough to make the total you need, or if some evaporates you can add a bit more to bring it up to what you need.


----------



## kay7711226

uts said:


> Been a little bit of time before an update.
> 
> So I did a few things.
> 
> The right side of the house I scalped yesterday 9/14. I was surprised how low I could go without hitting too much stuff. The only problem were some surface roots of the crab apple tree. Plan to level the lawn next year so this should not be too difficult.
> 
> Total area 1k.
> Seed down 9/16
> 8lbs TTTF blend (4M and T2LS) and 2lbs of mazama.
> 
> Outside lawn/street area
> 
> Total area 4k overseed
> Applied tenacity and PGR 9/8. Mowed low on 9/11
> Seed down 9/16
> 6lbs/K of TTTF blend as above.
> 
> Renovation left side of house.
> Applied glyphosate a few times over the last few weeks.
> Scalped and raked out stuff again 9/16
> Seed down 9/16
> I will apply tenacity tomorrow and maybe cover with peat moss but I think the existing grass is a good enough cover and I dont see any washout in this area.
> 
> Sprinklers soaked all these area for 20 mins
> 
> I drove my neighbours zeroturn for quite a bit on all these areas to push the seed down. Hope this helped.
> 
> Now set to run 5-7 minutes each 4 times a day.
> 8am, 11am, 2pm, 5pm
> 
> For the overseed area i left the schedules of watering twice a week (deep) left on. If anyone can comment on that it would be helpful @Green ?
> 
> Also mowed the front lawn.


Got any pics?


----------



## uts

Right side



Reno area





Street area


----------



## uts

9/18: put down tenacity in reno and right side overseed @5oz/acre rate.

Put down PGR in the front 6k @0.75oz/M and 2oz/M of feature.

Dropped 0.5lbs/M of nitrogen with urea.

Put 1.5 bales of peat moss over entire reno area and some on the small island by the street with the mailbox since that area dries off easily secondary to the traffic/wind.



This is a small area of my neighbor which I decided to out some seed and peat moss. No irrigation so if it rains it might help.



Although I did get a starter fertilizer I didn't put it down yet. Will do after first mow or two.


----------



## uts

Green said:


> @uts, if it's in full sun and is drying out rapidly, you might get away with it for a week or two. But I would think eventually it might retain too much water.
> 
> Another way to do it: Think about how much water you're adding per day, and add it up for the week. If you don't think it's enough to make the total you need, or if some evaporates you can add a bit more to bring it up to what you need.


I went about it the second way so thank you for writing this. Watering it 4 x 5min makes it 20 mins each day and 140min in total. I usually run these zones for 70 min x 2 so it about equals it.


----------



## uts

9-21: Mowed the backyard. Tenacity has been bleaching the bentgrass. Second window of spraying is approaching soon. Will combine this with PGR application.

Growth has been slow also because the temperatures were fairly low for the last 3 days, last night low was 34F. Highs have been barely in the mid 60. Temperature will warm up this week into the high 70s. No visible germination of the seeded areas, hoping thsi warm spell will change that, otherwise a spring reno it will be, lets see.

Put down 0.7lbs of N/M today using a 20-0-5 with humic, iron and CaCO3. Both the front and back nonoverseed/reno areas are under regulation at this time.


----------



## uts

JP900++ said:


> Where did you pick up your R.M.?


RM is now available FYI


----------



## uts

9-24:

DAS 8, DAG 2,
I saw some small germination in a corner a day back so il put today as day2, these are from this morning.


----------



## uts

9-26

DAS 10
DAG 4

This section of the reno has excellent sprinkler coverage and this shows it.





This section is small but oddly shaped with some trees and not covered head to head so lagging def. I do see some small germination. Hopefully it picks up.



Hoping some rain in the next day or two helps some more


----------



## uts

9-28

DAS 12
DAG 6



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Thinking of dropping some starter fertilizer today @0.3lbs of N. There are only a few 70F days left in the season and I want to push what has grown plus there will be q decent amount of rain over the next few days.

Then its 60s weather which I think should still be okay for growing especially for the mazama though the TTTF will def slow down I think.


----------



## kay7711226

Are you using the Trio mix from Newsome? Hopefully we get a couple more really good sunny days to Boudreau boost germ.


----------



## uts

kay7711226 said:


> Are you using the Trio mix from Newsome? Hopefully we get a couple more really good sunny days to Boudreau boost germ.


I ended up getting 4th mellinium and titanium 2LS from newsom, blended it together and added mazama so made a custom blend.

I hope so too. I'm hoping the rain and continued 70s helps more germination over the next 2 days. I will surely put out some starter fertilizer tomorrow. I think areas where there was fresh topsoil (bagged miracle gro) are growing faster def. They also had more peat moss so maybe it's a moisture thing. We will see but hopefully with the rain it should be better.

I adjusted sprinklers again today. It's becoming an obsession.

Leaves are really starting to come down.


----------



## uts

9/29

Put down 0.36lbs of N/M in the reno section. Threw some leftover in the small mailbox 9verseed area. From what I see the bare soil is where I have had best results. I am surprised by that.

Put down the 2nd app of tenacity @ 5oz/acre rate + 0.5oz/M of PGR and 2oz/M of Feature to the backyard. Bentgrass is lighting up.

The backyard will be fairly bare the way this is going so I ordered some PRG to overseed. Hopefully it will be here in 48h and I can mow low and put that in. Temps will be in the 60s over the next few days so I hope this works. Dony want bare ground.

Unsure if i can make a 3rd app of tenacity with rye grass in baby stage but we will see.


----------



## uts

Got 1.2" of rain last night. Ground is fairly soggy in many spots.

Did someone say leaves coming down?


----------



## kay7711226

what leaves???   Good time to put the side discharge to use.....


----------



## uts

Had the day off today and the weather was awesome so I knew I would be in the yard. I blew all the leaves and collected them, 8 gorilla carts full of them.

The PRG from newsom arrived as well. Earlier than expected which was great.

This is the tag. A little other crop seed but for the price and shipping I couldn't complain. This is also a temporary fix for the backyard.



I then mowed the backyard 6.5k with my push mower and bagged clippings on the second lowest setting. I tried the lowest but was too much. You can see some rows lower.





Then mixed the seed (39lbs) with a 8oz bag of seed moist. I am not sure how much it works but I have seen good successful renovations with it and what's 15 bucks when I was doing everything else.



Used the fancy spreader



Good seed spread



Didnt get the time to roll it. Maybe tomorrow after the rain. Dead now.


----------



## Chris LI

:thumbsup: That looks like a nice tri-rye. I've been interested in the Apple, but couldn't get my hands on any. @Green and I have conversed about it if memory serves.


----------



## Green

Chris LI said:


> :thumbsup: That looks like a nice tri-rye. I've been interested in the Apple, but couldn't get my hands on any. @Green and I have conversed about it if memory serves.


Yeah, and I bought some Apple SGL last year after that conversation. I used some in my mix today. I've also seen Apple SGL/3GL/Fastball in Scotts mixes over the past year.

@uts, nice spreader. Hoping to one day get one of those, myself.


----------



## uts

Green said:


> Chris LI said:
> 
> 
> 
> :thumbsup: That looks like a nice tri-rye. I've been interested in the Apple, but couldn't get my hands on any. @Green and I have conversed about it if memory serves.
> 
> 
> 
> Yeah, and I bought some Apple SGL last year after that conversation. I used some in my mix today. I've also seen Apple SGL/3GL/Fastball in Scotts mixes over the past year.
> 
> @uts, nice spreader. Hoping to one day get one of those, myself.
Click to expand...

Thank you. I recently got this and did a decent drive for it. They dont come around often. I wish I would have found that ad earlier because he said he sold the last one to me, which meant he had more. Oh well.



Chris LI said:


> :thumbsup: That looks like a nice tri-rye. I've been interested in the Apple, but couldn't get my hands on any. @Green and I have conversed about it if memory serves.


I'm pretty sure I read through a few topics here about apple and newsom lists it but they were out of it as a single cultivar. They aren't planning to restock it either from what I heard which is a shame. But their blend overall is great when I looked at NTEP.


----------



## uts

10-6

DAS 20
DAG 14

Reno area precut





First mow with fresh blades and lots of leaves and pine needles removal





These.few bare spots I will dormant seed. I dont think i will be able to do much with the weather turning cold now.

Outside mailbox area

Pre



Post





Since this area is watered from the sprinkler behind the pole you can see the low germinating area in a line which is blocked by the pole.


----------



## kay7711226

uts said:


> 10-6
> 
> DAS 20
> DAG 14
> 
> Reno area precut
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> First mow with fresh blades and lots of leaves and pine needles removal
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> These.few bare spots I will dormant seed. I dont think i will be able to do much with the weather turning cold now.
> 
> Outside mailbox area
> 
> Pre
> 
> 
> 
> Post
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Since this area is watered from the sprinkler behind the pole you can see the low germinating area in a line which is blocked by the pole.


which areas are the Newsome TTTF? Want to follow progress/notes on my neighbors lawn with yours....


----------



## uts

Both of these are TTTF.

There is a different section which has PRG


----------



## kay7711226

uts said:


> Both of these are TTTF.
> 
> There is a different section which has PRG


Kool thanks


----------



## Butter

@uts How do you like the Andersons spreader?


----------



## uts

Butter said:


> @uts How do you like the Andersons spreader?


I really like the spread pattern. I spread some PRG a few weeks back and it came down really good. I honestly was fed up with how the product in my Scott's hit the wheels and just dropped down. This led to lots of lines of fertilizer and more recently when I seeded my lawn for renovation even though I went in 2 or 3 directions.

This picture is from today and you can sde grass growing in both horizontal and vertical direction in rows. I feel this might be one reason for repeated seeding that we do and dont realizd it's a poor spreader. (Maybe I'm just venting.. lol)



On the flip side you dont have any instructions on rates/settings on most products so I just pulled up some rates from comparative anderson products guidef via SGN and pasted it in my garage. Lol


----------



## uts

10-8

Put down 0.25lb/M of N in reno and side overseed area via a starter fertilizer

10-9

DAS 23
DAG 17

Mowed the reno, side overseed and mailbox area. While not much top growth, the leaves, pine needles and debris cause shading and I wanted to clean that for the next 3 days which are bright, sunny and warm for maximum growth potential and for stuff to dry out as well (maybe I'm grasping at straws here becuade it's getting cold).


----------



## CTTurfDad

Man do I feel your pain about Scotts spreaders and their thrower being positioned lower than the hollow wheels. A few bold green lines through my turf this Spring led me to an upgrade, as it obviously did to you too. Good luck with that spreader!


----------



## uts

CTTurfDad said:


> Man do I feel your pain about Scotts spreaders and their thrower being positioned lower than the hollow wheels. A few bold green lines through my turf this Spring led me to an upgrade, as it obviously did to you too. Good luck with that spreader!


I'm glad there are people who understand this. My wife thought I was being crazy till she saw seed growing in criss cross pattern in a section.. lol .. what are you using now?


----------



## uts

10-14

We received 2.5" of rain over the last 2 days. The temperature was mostly in the 50s but next 2 days are going to be in the mid 70 and full sun which is great. I knew the lawn would be soft but also wanted to blow the leaves and cut as much as I could early and did exactly that to give it a full 2 days of great sunlight and temps.

I will also put down some more starter fertilizer today and water it in the evening to push growth as much as I can over the next week. This will be my 3rd spoon feeding.

DAS 28
DAG 22





Things are filling in better.


----------



## CTTurfDad

uts said:


> .. what are you using now?


I went with an Earthway 2150 that I was able to get on sale, and boy what a step up it was. But part of me is wishing I had spent the money on a Lesco or Andersons. I am trying to take exceptional care of it so that it lasts me forever, but I'll always wonder if a more commercial-type model would have been a better choice. How do you like yours?


----------



## uts

CTTurfDad said:


> uts said:
> 
> 
> 
> .. what are you using now?
> 
> 
> 
> I went with an Earthway 2150 that I was able to get on sale, and boy what a step up it was. But part of me is wishing I had spent the money on a Lesco or Andersons. I am trying to take exceptional care of it so that it lasts me forever, but I'll always wonder if a more commercial-type model would have been a better choice. How do you like yours?
Click to expand...

I've really enjoyed mine for the little that I have used. I will start putting down some heavier applications like lime at the absolute end and I think it will make my life much much easier (most air filled tire spreaders will do that though). The spread pattern is great which I think is what was most frustrating for me.

The part that I am sad about is that it does not accommodate a spreader mate so I might either have to get a spare lesco or go with a pull behind.


----------



## uts

10.15

Mowed the overseed on the right. This is the shadiest part of my lawn. Havent watered this in a week and half atleast, rain is doing its thing. It seems thin but will hopefully get better next spring. 
.


Mowed the front as well. Again with the sun changing angles and tress blocking sunlight this is a wet and soft area. Lots of leaves. I have not pit any herbecides on it and there is decent weed pressure. I am just trying to build up root mass before I kill it next season.

Half mowed



All done



Edit: also put down a bag of 20-0-5 throughout the lawn which translates to about 0 4lbs/M of N. Bit heavy on the 9verseed and reno areas but this does have a 20% component of slower release as well so we should be okay. Rain early morning will water this all in.


----------



## kay7711226

What HOC are you mowing the TTTF at now and what height are you targeting?


----------



## Green

uts said:


> CTTurfDad said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> uts said:
> 
> 
> 
> .. what are you using now?
> 
> 
> 
> I went with an Earthway 2150 that I was able to get on sale, and boy what a step up it was. But part of me is wishing I had spent the money on a Lesco or Andersons. I am trying to take exceptional care of it so that it lasts me forever, but I'll always wonder if a more commercial-type model would have been a better choice. How do you like yours?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I've really enjoyed mine for the little that I have used. I will start putting down some heavier applications like lime at the absolute end and I think it will make my life much much easier (most air filled tire spreaders will do that though). The spread pattern is great which I think is what was most frustrating for me.
> 
> The part that I am sad about is that it does not accommodate a spreader mate so I might either have to get a spare lesco or go with a pull behind.
Click to expand...

My Earthway 2030P Plus (square design, not the bucket hopper style like yours) just broke. Maybe 5 years now with it. Gotta try to figure out what happened and how to fix it.


----------



## uts

kay7711226 said:


> What HOC are you mowing the TTTF at now and what height are you targeting?


My target was to keep it at 2". My mower allows it to be at 2.25" so I have started and stayed at that.

This also allows the canopy to be open, dry out faster and the mazama to grow as well.

10-16

Snuck in a quick cut of the reno before work. The heavens will open for a predicted 1.5" of rain so wanted to get this cut before the ground goes softer. Still thin but not shabby.


----------



## uts

Green said:


> My Earthway 2030P Plus (square design, not the bucket hopper style like yours) just broke. Maybe 5 years now with it. Gotta try to figure out what happened and how to fix it.


Sorry to hear that man, though this might be a good time to buy a better product, used. People seem to let go of stuff at this time of the year.


----------



## uts

Rained 2.3" yesterday. Everything that had dried is now soggy again. I was glad I sneaked a cut in but not so sure about the fertilizer. Oh well. Everything has a better look to it though both the front and the back.

The PRG that I had put down has germinated. I had gotten a little bit in the beds and I see about 3" of growth there . Lol. Also see a lit of fuzzy green in a lit of area.

Have the first frost advisory tonight with temperatures in the low 30s.

The PRG germinating.


----------



## uts

So almost hitting the 30 DAG mark. Small timeline

Reno area

Day4



Day 14



Day 27 today



Mailbox area

Day of seed down



Day 14





Day 27 today





I forgot to take a picture of the side overseed area and will do taht tomorrow.

The only area that I am disappointed with is the outside street area which is a full 4k that I overseeded. Unsure what went wrong here though in hindset could be a few things.

I ran the sprinklers today for a few mins on these new area. Rain predicted tomorrow or day after. Will be dropping another 0.5lbs of N tomorrow and this will be my last app.

I didn't drop as much N as I hoped this year. I think a total of 2.8lbs.


----------



## uts

Leaves are coming down hard now. My renovation got dumped on by leaves by the maple in between. Blowing it once in the morning and mower it while bagging. Looked the same this morning. Pffffftttt...

Today is probably the last 60s temperature for a while. I expect growth to slow down significantly very soon.

Applied my last dose of fertilizer yesterday at 0.4lbs of N/M using the few nutrien bags that I got. I have a few bags of urea and AS left which I had forgotten. I will use these next season with SOP mixed in to create a good custom blend.

In 2 weeks I will throw down the 4 bags of lime at a full 12.5lbs/M.

I will try getting dolomitic lime and probably put it down in early spring to complete the 50lbs/M that is needed.

Need to buy a chainsaw and start cutting a few trees this winter.


----------



## uts

Line between my 30d old grass and my neighbors. The KBG should fill in my heavy handedness of gly during the kill off phase.



This is the right side overseed area.


----------



## uts

Got 2.8" of rain, some of which was in the form of 3" of snow. Still have some areas covered that have not melted. Got a good freeze last night. Blew out sprinklers this afternoon. A few freezing nights and then its back up to the 60s. 
I did blow some leaves but ground is fairly soft. Rain tomorrow again. Will probably get to mow mid next week.


----------



## kay7711226

Looking good, are you seeing a color difference between the KBG and TTTF or is it just the camera angles?


----------



## uts

kay7711226 said:


> Looking good, are you seeing a color difference between the KBG and TTTF or is it just the camera angles?


Mostly is camera angle though I feel the KBG is slightly lighter in some areas but it darkens up with my fert apps. I am done for the season though. I will time my lime app in about a week with a gentle rain. Most of the rains have been 2" which is crazy. lol


----------



## uts

Have been monitoring soil temps via greencast

11/4: max 52, 24hr avg 44.2F (daytime68)
11/5 max 56F 24hr avg 46.5F (daytime71). The grass def needs a cut.
11/6 max 60F 24hr avg 51.5F (daytime73)
11/7 max 63F, 24hr avg 53.2 (daytime 79F)
11/8 max 63F 24hr avg 53.3 (daytime 79F - maybe for an hour)
11/9 max 62, 24hr avg 53.1 (daytime max 76F)
11/10 max 63, 24hr avg 53.0 (daytime max 77F)
11/11 max 63, 24hr avg 57.5 (daytime max 72F but night time temperatures did not drop much)


----------



## uts

Mowed the reno area. The grass had grown but I dont think I broke the 1/3 rule. The grass looks thicker definitely. Lots and lots of leaves in the canopy which I vacuumed up.

DAG 45.





This is the thinner area where I dropped some very late seed. Some might have germinated.



The backyard with the PRG has also germinated okay and is thickening up though this area gets very little sun because of the surrounding trees.



One problem that I see is the residual bentgrass that is there pulls and and shreds when I mow at a lower height this causes brown stuff to come up.


----------



## uts

This is a better picture of the reno


----------



## kay7711226

looking good and nice color already compared to the left!


----------



## uts

Mowed some single doubles today



Put down 12.5lbs of lime/M fast acting. There is a 0.25" of slow rain expected so this will be ideal. The lime will get a few rainshowrs to dissolve and work into the soil.

I will be sending a sample early spring for the remaining amount that I need since all I have applied has been fast acting. The rest I will dump as dolomitic lime.


----------



## uts

Things have slowed down though we have gotten a few days of 60ish temp. More importantly it has been constantly raining. Soil feels very soft. On a day or two that I should have, I didnt have time. It's not a big concern since growth is very slow. It just looks a little shaggy.

We did get another rain blast today. It has already rained 2.1" and looks like more coming till midnight. Let's see what happens.

Edit got 3.0". To say the lawn is soggy is an understatement.


----------



## uts

End of February and I have some good and not some good news.

The weather seems to be milder than the usual and the next 2 week prediction is mostly highs in the 40 to 50s. While this is delightful to hear I am sure we will hit many more freezing temperatures.

This leads to the point that a lot of bulbs and vegetation are sprouting up from the ground. As much as I would like to see this overall now may not be the best time. We still have 6 inches of snow in must areas of the lawn.



I hacked down a 12 ft high burning bush yesterday and hacked down 2 very overgrown hydrangeas. I hope the hydrangeas do pkay buy I left one fairly large to compensate if needed. Well at least the daffodils will be good looking.. lol

This is the burning bush hacking. There are 3 in this area and I just cut one to see how this looks plus the 2 also act as a screen from the road.


----------



## uts

Havent been able to post much but here are some updates.

- grass has started to grow well. All he reno and overseed areas are looking good.

- havent put any N yet.

- sent out a soil sample yesterday.

- put down grub prevention a week or so back.

- bought lime but will await soil results

- 4/27: sprayed a mix of triclopyr (0.75oz/k, tenacity and trimec 1.5oz/k/g) for the undying wild violet and ground ivy that I have. This has survived multiple rounds of gly as well.

Will be doing a follow up in 10 days or so.

Getting some good rain tonight and tomorrow. I wish I would have put down some K and N but got busy in other things.

Tulips are coming up with flowers now!

Things to do:

Spray crabapple with miconazeb for apply scab. It is blooming well for now.

N and K need

Setup chapin walkbehind sprayer.

Mulch beds


----------



## uts

3rd mow for this back area. Need to start fertilizing it. Lots of thin and some underfed looking areas



The front reno area looks good as well. Will add pictures soon. But how do you keep weeds out when 3ft from your reno you have this growing.


----------



## uts

Mowed a few times mow. Been lazy this season. Havent put any fert even though the grass wants it. Will def do this weekend.

5/7: sprayed second round of herbecide: a mix of triclopyr (0.75oz/k, tenacity and trimec 1.5oz/k/g) for the undying wild violet and ground ivy and bent grass that I have. Also added quinclorac to the mix.

Tulips are blooming



Reno area



Backyard where I have been majorly spraying.


----------



## Lust4Lawn

uts said:


> 5/7: sprayed second round of herbecide: a mix of *triclopyr* (0.75oz/k, *tenacity *and *trimec* 1.5oz/k/g) for the undying wild violet and ground ivy and bent grass that I have. Also added *quinclorac* to the mix.


That's quite the cocktail. No agent orange? :tease:


----------



## uts

Really trying to prevent resistance since this wild violet has probably been here for a decade if not more. This has survived 2 rounds of gly in the reno area too. So triclopyr and quinclorac was for that and some clover. Trimec for some broadleaf stuff. Triclopyr and tenacity for bentgrass.

Good compatibility so why not. Matt Martin's video also encouraged me to do this.


----------



## VALawnNoob

Just read all 11 pages... no wonder you are active in the Deals section looking for goodies! It is a lot of work but keep at it and it is starting to look good!


----------



## Lust4Lawn

What was the dosage for the mix you put down? I didn't realize some of these were possible to spray in the same batch.


----------



## uts

Lust4Lawn said:


> What was the dosage for the mix you put down? I didn't realize some of these were possible to spray in the same batch.


So trimec and triclopyr is well known. Triclopyr and tenacity for bentgrass is known as well. Trimec with quinclorac is also know so I kind of took those bits and combined them. No problems in the sprayer.

Rates were as follows.

triclopyr 0.75oz/k, tenacity 0.5tsp/M/G, trimec 1.5oz/k/g and quinclorac DF 0.367oz/M (all are label rates for spot spraying.


----------



## uts

VALawnNoob said:


> Just read all 11 pages... no wonder you are active in the Deals section looking for goodies! It is a lot of work but keep at it and it is starting to look good!


Lol. Yeah it's becoming a habit to scan a few things. It's coming along. Just takes time to get good deals and stay in a budget.


----------



## uts

Have been fairly lazy interms of fertilizing but that changed today.

Put down

50lbs of SOP (K current app 1lb/M, season total 1lb/M

25lbs of urea (N current app: 0.5lb/M, season total 0.5lb/M)

Supposed to get a soaking of 0.5" of much needed rain so everything should go in.

Getting ready to cut next week.

Will be spoon feeding both reno areas weekly for the next 4 weeks.

Forgot to mention that after pouring the 75lbs of material in the spreader I realized it was fairly hard fo push. Checked the air pressure and it was 4psi and 0psi.. so was fun spreading. Will have to take them out tomorrow to check.


----------



## kay7711226

uts said:


> Mowed a few times mow. Been lazy this season. Havent put any fert even though the grass wants it. Will def do this weekend.
> 
> 5/7: sprayed second round of herbecide: a mix of triclopyr (0.75oz/k, tenacity and trimec 1.5oz/k/g) for the undying wild violet and ground ivy and bent grass that I have. Also added quinclorac to the mix.
> 
> Tulips are blooming
> 
> 
> 
> Reno area
> 
> 
> 
> Backyard where I have been majorly spraying.


Satisfied with the Reno results thus far?


----------



## uts

@kay7711226 it looks good, nice and thick. Few stubborn broadleaf but they are dying back. Satisfied probably not and won't be till I can reel mow it and pure KBG.

For now with work and everything incant do much. Also I need to reclaim another 25k of tree area to my front and then level it all out.

That will satisfy me .. lol


----------



## uts

Turned the sprinklers on yesterday as the heat is rising and temps will touch 90s. No real sight of rain either. The lawn looks to be in need of water especially with the urea it got about 2 weeks back or so.

As a side note I am with Connor ward on collecting clippings. I do not like them at all on the lawn.

Maybe I need to get a good mulching kit with gator blades or something.


----------



## Chris LI

If you have the time to double cut, Gators will do a nice job and add back N. I like the clean look of a bag mow, too, but switch over to mulching for the Summer. If you haven't tried side discharging, give it a shot with double cutting, before you order the mulch kit.


----------



## uts

Chris LI said:


> If you have the time to double cut, Gators will do a nice job and add back N. I like the clean look of a bag mow, too, but switch over to mulching for the Summer. If you haven't tried side discharging, give it a shot with double cutting, before you order the mulch kit.


Thanks, I will. I just mowed to a bigger ferris walkbehind so il see what the options are. I really do like the bagged look but those baggers are $500 😳


----------



## uts

Mowing has been slow for me due to work but the lawn has responded well to the N and especially the water with the sprinklers.

I've also added some mid day 10min cycle with these 90F days.

I do need a round or herbecides on a few missed spots. Will do that on Sunday night as monday and Tuesday max temps are <75.

Will also put down a small 0.25 dose of granular N.

Perennial game is strong right now.

Rhodes. The purple ones have not opened yet.







Azaleas



Guelder-rose - this will get a thorough hacking when it's done blooming.





I also planted up some petunias in hanging baskets and they have some superb uptill now. I didn't think they would have grown this much. I only put 1 in each 12" pot instead of the 3 that everyone recommends. Will put some pictures soon.

I also planted seeds for marigolds.


----------



## Chris LI

uts said:


> Chris LI said:
> 
> 
> 
> If you have the time to double cut, Gators will do a nice job and add back N. I like the clean look of a bag mow, too, but switch over to mulching for the Summer. If you haven't tried side discharging, give it a shot with double cutting, before you order the mulch kit.
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks, I will. I just mowed to a bigger ferris walkbehind so il see what the options are. I really do like the bagged look but those baggers are $500 😳
Click to expand...

OK! Now, I have a better idea of your situation, and saw some trees in the background of your photos, so I'll give you my 2 cents. BTW-your property looks beautiful! My Dad always loved his Rhodies, so I love seeing them in photos (I have none of my own).

1. Do your homework! Usually, winter is the best time to research your options, but it would be a bad time to wait until leaf season to start looking.

2. You have to know your end goal, first. Do you want/need to bag anything, or are you mulching/side discharging/blowing/raking clippings/leaves? If you think you need a bagger, then you will need a bagger. Only you will know what will be the most desirable method will be for you.

3. That being said, if you're not traditionally a bagger, don't buy one if you won't use it more that 2-3 times a year. If non-bagging results are poor the first year in the fall, you can always buy one next year. I would suggest that you experiment without it first, with other options (#4).

4. 
A) Side discharge only-develop techniques for dealing with flush growth in spring/leaves in fall. See my journal regarding Zamboni pattern with photos of end results. You can also work them to a wood line, if you don't mind alternating forward/reverse.
B) Chute block plate only or with mulch kit (baffles) 
C) Adjustable Chute block; bolt-on plate with lever to adjust various amounts of partial to full opening or completely closed. Disadvantage is it cannot accept a bagger when installed (double check for your model...there could be exceptions).
D) If A, B, and C don't work, or aren't for you, buy an Accelerator bagger. I don't have/need one, but plenty of YT videos have demonstrated that this is the way to go.

I like versatility, and the ability to switch options quickly. My 21" Snapper Hi-Vac with 4 different blades, detachable bagging chute with mulch plug, and side discharge chute allow me to switch to any of the above in 30 seconds or so with a Gator blade. If there was only one blade I could own, it would be a Gator. I mulch/side discharge a lot of leaves, but will sometimes throw the bagger on afterwards (sometimes raising HOC to not pick up as much), for a clean look. I've learned that there is a diminishing law of returns with leaf mulching. As long as you are doing the Fall N blitz (either weekly urea, or one or two heavy N apps with mostly fast release), the leaves will be digested early-mid season (especially if pulverized by a Gator). I bag late in the season when temps drop and microbial activity is low. Otherwise, I've witnessed reduced turf density by smothering with leaf mulch. Besides, I need some for the vegetable garden.

FWIW, there are a couple of YT videos I would suggest checking out. If you can't find them searching for leaf mowing/mulching, I'll send links, if they are still up.

1. Joe Shamrock Landscaping-ZT rider side discharging heavy leaves and disintegrating them. I watch this one every year, and love every minute. Great technique, very satisfying.

2. I forgot what it was titled, but a guy with a new/newer dark green walk-behind with sulky. He has an Accelerator catcher and uses a piece if cardboard as a mulch plate, with the bagger holding it in place. After mulching to reduce the size of the particles, he takes the cardboard out and leaves the bagger on for a second round to pick them up for a clean look. I think he might be a TLF/ATY member, but not 100% sure.

Sorry for the long post, but if some info/research can help you to wisely spend money (or save you from an unnecessary expense), I think it's worth it. At minimum, the Gator alone is well worth it. It can mulch, bag, or side discharge effortlessly in any conditions. Only the Ninja blade will outperform it in mulching spring flush growth, but the Ninja has virtually no lift.


----------



## uts

Picked this up today. Had to move fast when I saw the price. It does not have the deflector kit but otherwise looks in excellent condition. No rust anywhere. One of the tires didnt have air but filed it up on the way back and seems good.

It def needs new cotterpin, the previous owner pit a big nail and bent it and that is rusted. Zeros look nice and clean. Yes it needs a good wash.







5/24. Spot sprayed some minor areas with the cocktail as temp today was low 70 as will be tomorrow so good opportunity.


----------



## uts

5/26 Rained 0.6" which was much needed. Sprinklers dont do the job that rain does for sure. We hit almost 95F.

5/27: mowed today after god knows how long. Broke the 1/3rd rule a few times over but was needed.

The lawn does look thick





Will be getting some good cool weather for the next 3 days with rain. I am going to try and put down my 12-0-24 at a rate of 1lb of K/M and 0.5lbs of N/M. This has 65% slow release methylene urea so it's good timing going into summer.

The lesco spreader tires didnt have air so took them off and filled them with air.

Still need to get the 2 cotter pins and unsure what goes here? Sliding pin, the diagram is quite congested for this.



Pulled out and cleaned tons of old grease with gunk and all. Also need to figure out if these plastic collar type stuff (there are 2) on the right is at the correct place?


----------



## kay7711226

Is that the TTTF on the reno? liking the color!!


----------



## Jut60

I'd use a new cotter pin for the rusty one, easier to service if needed. Also the Newington Site One had the Permagreen agitators some time ago that work with the Lesco.


----------



## uts

Jut60 said:


> I'd use a new cotter pin for the rusty one, easier to service if needed. Also the Newington Site One had the Permagreen agitators some time ago that work with the Lesco.


I got new cotterpins for both wheels but the gear I think uses a roller pin. Il order the permagreen agitator when I order that and a hopper cover The screen though costs $100 😳🤯.. seems fairly ridiculous..

It needs to be recalibrated but otherwise looks good.


----------



## uts

kay7711226 said:


> Is that the TTTF on the reno? liking the color!!


Thanks. Il post better pictures tomorrow.


----------



## uts

@Chris LI thank you for your detailed response. Its incredible the amount of help and support everyone gives.

I completely agree with every lawn being different and personal preference dictate. With that said I started out with a beater 42" ztr snd hated the clumping lines of the side discharge. Moved to push mower and loved how clean the bagging makes it look. It's a pain emptying hut il take that any day.

My newer mower has a side discharge only option for now. I dont like t hff e clippings everywhere but it has stock blades on and im thinking of trying the gator blades before anything but I think I will get the accelerator jumbo bagger.

I also agree with you on the leaves. We get tons and tons of leaves and just cant lunch them up. Combined with rain this mats down the grass in places so I stopped doing that. Il spend some money and out down some OM separately. I fo compost the clippings with free woodchips that we can get from local tree guys.

I need to be mowing frequently to get a better idea of side discharge. I've broken the 1/3rd rule 2 out of 3 times so that's a factor aswell.


----------



## uts

Kind of glad that I didn't spread my fertilizer. Got 2.5" of rain and another 1.5 tomorrow. Runoff and leaching both would be a concern.


----------



## uts

6/3: put down 80lbs of 12-0-24 with micros, humid and kelp. 80% of this is slow release.

K current app 1lb/M, season total 2lb/M

N current app: 0.5lb/M, season total 1.0lb/M)

I will be adding a dose of 0.5lbs of N with urea tomorrow as the temps dip below into the 70s for the week before summer hits. This will help in recovery of the some of the stressed weed spots.

The reno area bare spots are also filling in. Its unreal to me how good KBG spreads.


----------



## uts

Mowed the entire area today.

With the bigger mower at 3" it was scalping a few areas. Raised the height up to 4" and the cut was great!

Mowed the side reno area (mazama) with the smaller honda at 2" and that looks good.

Will put down urea tomorrow and spray some small areas of clover.


----------



## uts

Was able to put in an hour on sunday which I am usually unable to with the little one.

Put down 25lbs or urea over the entire lawn for almost a 0.5lbs of N/M.

K current app 0 lb/M, season total 2lb/M

N current app: 0.5lb/M, season total 1.5lb/M

Rain is happening as I write this which is good. Over 2 days we are expected to receive about 0.5" which is a good amount considering the conditions overall. My next watering session will be longer on Thursday and Friday depending on how much we actually get. But at least the urea should get watered in.

My shade renovation area is getting hurt by the dense canopy all around. Il have to prune some trees (these are 20ft up branches at least) this fall or have someone take the tree out all together.

Was also able to spray some tenacity&quinclorac on some spring seeded area to get rid of clover and some broadleaf stuff. Also had some clover in some mature areas that I sprayer with the same stuff. Sprayed for sedge separately.

I also dropped some PRG seed in some shaded areas where the bentgrass was danamged by the triclopyr (which was for the creeping ivy).

Thinking about a renovation. I need to get a bigger bagging mower if I am going to go that route and a way to level areas more efficiently.


----------



## uts

Got 0.6" of rain. Urea got watered in well.

Mowed the side area bagging due to crabapple tree getting applescab. Should have applied fungicide. Dropped the ball on it.


----------



## uts

Welcomed myself to the tall mowing club at 4". With the wider deck its almost impossible to mow lower than 3" and some areas even scrape at 3.5"





Renovation area



Also getting some pink thread in a very small patch


----------



## uts

Got 0.25" if rain a few days back and a sprinkle this morning.

Mowed yesterday all around.

This is the mazama overseed area. Looking a bit better with some feeding. I need to do more as all the guides say.


----------



## kay7711226

uts said:


> Got 0.25" if rain a few days back and a sprinkle this morning.
> 
> Mowed yesterday all around.
> 
> This is the mazama overseed area. Looking a bit better with some feeding. I need to do more as all the guides say.


looking nice and filled.....what's HOC and amount of sunlight/day


----------



## uts

kay7711226 said:


> uts said:
> 
> 
> 
> Got 0.25" if rain a few days back and a sprinkle this morning.
> 
> Mowed yesterday all around.
> 
> This is the mazama overseed area. Looking a bit better with some feeding. I need to do more as all the guides say.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> looking nice and filled.....what's HOC and amount of sunlight/day
Click to expand...

Direct light is maybe 3-4h some filtered here and there.

HOC is around 2". This is the only area I am.mowing with my small walkbehind rotary.


----------



## uts

Got 1.25" of rain yesterday out of no where. Grass definitely needed it. Will be getting almost 2.5" over the next 3 days.

Will mow today and follow it up with an app of 0.5lbs/M of N and 1lb/M of K. Some good weather ahead.

K current app 1 lb/M, season total 3lb/M

N current app: 0.5lb/M, season total 2lb/M


----------



## uts

Came back from vacation over the weekend and this is total of the last 4 days or so.



Wont be watering much this week as things def need to dry up before I can cut anything.


----------



## M32075

I think you got a good soak lol. Property looks great keep up the good work.


----------



## uts

Total rain count

July 2-7 we got 4.5"
July 8-13: 3.5"

Still have a week or mild rain ahead of us. Could have probably done a reno during this time. The temp has been mild too.

Some pictures of things other than the grass.

Hanging baskets doing well. First year I did these.





We planted some other baskets as well but much later so they need some time to get full.

These broadleaf hydrangeas have worked well this year.


----------



## uts

Been busy this week both with work and the yard.

I have a circular section in the driveway which has these huge burning bushes (which do help us with privacy since we are on a busy road). With these were these 3 haphazardly planted blue spruce with 6ft golf branches remowed and previously might have had some disease.





The surface roots were huge and mowing here has been very difficult.

SO RENO TIME!

Trees came down and the stumps. You can see the roots now





I have a few stumps around the property (8 I think). I will likely be renting a big grinder to get them deep).

7/21: i mowed it slightly shorter at 2.5"
7/22 I sprayed glyphosate. 
7/26: i mowed on the second lowest setting on my honda push mower while bagging.

I will aim for a seed down date of mid August.

Mowed the side yard yesterday. Looking bad



I am also planning to reno my front lawn.

On a side note seed came


----------



## jskierko

Nothing better than Bewitched in Avon! Best of luck on the reno!


----------



## Liquidstone

Your property is awesome. Love your flowers/plants/landscaping.

How many sq ft of bewitched will you be Reno'ing?


----------



## uts

My total reno area would be around 10k. The part that is daunting me is leveling it by hand. Getting 15 yards of topsoil coming in next week after those stumps are grounded.


----------



## Liquidstone

uts said:


> My total reno area would be around 10k. The part that is daunting me is leveling it by hand. Getting 15 yards of topsoil coming in next week after those stumps are grounded.


10k by hand and you definitely have your work cut out for you. I hope you've got some help!


----------



## Chris LI

uts said:


> My total reno area would be around 10k. The part that is daunting me is leveling it by hand. Getting 15 yards of topsoil coming in next week after those stumps are grounded.


You can make a cheap large levelawn to drag with your Timecutter. Pick up a leftover wood pallet from a business and tie a rope to it. This should get you in the ballpark, and save your energy for hand work with a levelawn.

Also, look for a tool rental company that has either a Toro Dingo or power dump cart/wheel barrow. The extra expense will definitely be worth it to save your back.

I just found this when I poked around. I haven't seen it in action, but it looks interesting. If you can't find or tow a rental, maybe these are an option. 
"Snapper 1696858 XD 82-Volt MAX Lithium-Ion Self-Propelled Utility Cart Tool Only - No Battery Or Charger" https://www.mowersdirect.com/Snapper-1696858/p107612.html?gclid=CjwKCAjwgISIBhBfEiwALE19SYLWA6iiS1caZDFnytzQWxMBSTXy_jYltnn0KfwPJLh-vSNMGTAGehoCRg8QAvD_BwE

"Snapper 1760966 XD MAX 82-Volt 5 aH Lithium-Ion Battery" https://www.mowersdirect.com/Snapper-1760966/p107620.html

"Snapper 1760263 XD BSRC82 82-Volt Battery Charger" https://www.mowersdirect.com/Snapper-1760263/p71436.html


----------



## VALawnNoob

Liquidstone said:


> uts said:
> 
> 
> 
> My total reno area would be around 10k. The part that is daunting me is leveling it by hand. Getting 15 yards of topsoil coming in next week after those stumps are grounded.
> 
> 
> 
> 10k by hand and you definitely have your work cut out for you. I hope you've got some help!
Click to expand...

Is there another way of leveling if not by hand?


----------



## JDgreen18

You can rent a subcompact tractor from Home depot for like 300 a day...that would make easy work spreading that soil...I have used mine for every reno I have done in my yard. 
Also dragging a pallet is a great idea it works pretty good, old chain link fence makes a good drag as well.


----------



## Dude

This place is fairly close to you:

https://tools.bremarrental.com/m/cat-pics.asp?action=all&id=10

I rented a mini excavator from them to bury my electrical line. Can't remember what the delivery cost was, but they'll drop it off and pick it up for you.


----------



## kay7711226

This is my 4K lawn size hand held drag version(1/4 the size of a pallet), full size pallet with chains/ropes and some weights will do the trick.


----------



## uts

VALawnNoob said:


> Liquidstone said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> uts said:
> 
> 
> 
> My total reno area would be around 10k. The part that is daunting me is leveling it by hand. Getting 15 yards of topsoil coming in next week after those stumps are grounded.
> 
> 
> 
> 10k by hand and you definitely have your work cut out for you. I hope you've got some help!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Is there another way of leveling if not by hand?
Click to expand...

I think there are three ways, either by hand with a level rake (I grabbed a 48" one recently), use a brush/brush cartridge on the swardman and the last is a drag. There are a few combinations of drags that I have seen with brushes etc which look great.

The problem is two fold. One spreading it initially and then actually levelling it. Loading carts isnt easy but I think its doable for 10-15 yards but yeah a toro dingo would make work easy.

After that knock piles down and run around for a while.


----------



## uts

Dude said:


> This place is fairly close to you:
> 
> https://tools.bremarrental.com/m/cat-pics.asp?action=all&id=10
> 
> I rented a mini excavator from them to bury my electrical line. Can't remember what the delivery cost was, but they'll drop it off and pick it up for you.


Thanks man. I will call them today and check.



JDgreen18 said:


> You can rent a subcompact tractor from Home depot for like 300 a day...that would make easy work spreading that soil...I have used mine for every reno I have done in my yard.
> Also dragging a pallet is a great idea it works pretty good, old chain link fence makes a good drag as well.


That's one of the options for sure. I dont know if I could use it for a drag though? Dont know how the weight would transfer with the soft soil right now. Looking for a lighter option but I dont think there is any.


----------



## JDgreen18

You can use the tractor for a rough grade spreading the dirt and back dragging the bucket will get you in the ballpark then use a drag on your zturn to get you real close then finish off by hand.


----------



## VALawnNoob

uts said:


> VALawnNoob said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Liquidstone said:
> 
> 
> 
> 10k by hand and you definitely have your work cut out for you. I hope you've got some help!
> 
> 
> 
> Is there another way of leveling if not by hand?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I think there are three ways, either by hand with a level rake (I grabbed a 48" one recently), use a brush/brush cartridge on the swardman and the last is a drag. There are a few combinations of drags that I have seen with brushes etc which look great.
> 
> The problem is two fold. One spreading it initially and then actually levelling it. Loading carts isnt easy but I think its doable for 10-15 yards but yeah a toro dingo would make work easy.
> 
> After that knock piles down and run around for a while.
Click to expand...

Is the 48" rake good? It seems so big and I was hoping for 40" but if you think 48" is good I'm going to go with it since there is a discount currently. Lastly, can this be used as an option?


----------



## uts

VALawnNoob said:


> Is the 48" rake good? It seems so big and I was hoping for 40" but if you think 48" is good I'm going to go with it since there is a discount currently. Lastly, can this be used as an option?


You probably hit the jackpot if you can get that. I've seen most people being very happy with a 48" unless you have a tight area where you cant get it in.


----------



## uts

So some updates.

The grass is dead. I did miss a few small sections and I will spray again today. I.have bag mowed it down to the lowest setting and after this I dont think I need to go lower with the soil I'm adding.





Got someone to ground the stumps out. I probably would have saved 150 bucks ot so if I would have done them.myself but felt with utilities and septic right there it was better to leave the risk to them.



Grinded stump area.









The challenge now will be to clean up these holes which seems difficult but oh well let's see.

Also got some USGA sand with peat and compost. Very clean stuff.



Almost a full triaxle load at 20 tonnes

After seeing the amount and with the stump area clearance I think a tractor is needed or il kill myself spreading this over the next 10days or so.


----------



## kay7711226

HAPPY FRIDAY!!  YOU GOT THIS :thumbup: GOT THE POPCORN AND CHEERING YOU ON!!


----------



## JDgreen18

With a tractor that will be done in a day...


----------



## uts

Been sometime since I updated unfortunately a few things happened which threw me a few days off and then with Fred and Henri, 11" of rain the entire yard looks like a mud field. I'm planning to spread sand on thursday and seed friday.

I started noticing a soft spot in my front yard in June, that progressively got worse and held a lot of water. With all these rains it was a pool of water in that area while most other areas had drained. I thought it might be a leaking zone valve since I dont know where most of old boxes are, so I started digging and realized that it was one of the drains for the downspout. It had a combo of big and small rocks and had lots of mud inside it.



I debated of wether just clean it and bury it back or put a pop-off, even posted it on a thread here but at the end decided to get one and that's fitted in. I will get some pea gravel to put underneath this to provide some better drainage, left it open for now. Will cover with sand for better drainage again.



I also got my septic tank pumped to avoid any digging and left the whole open, I will add a septic extender and cap to make this a no digging again situation.


----------



## kay7711226

I hate those unexpected's......just grow grass already!


----------



## uts

kay7711226 said:


> I hate those unexpected's......just grow grass already!


Lol. Tractor getting delivered today. Will likely put down seed either tomorrow or saturday. Then it's all grass growing. I remember last week I out down TTTF around 18th sept so that gives me a 2.5 week headstart which should be okay in terms of pouring stage. Dont mind if it's a little thin, will blitz the crap out in the spring. The 10+" of rain would have been devastating for my slope. Need no rain at all for the next few weeks. There is about 0.2" and 0.1" predicted over the next few days but I think I can tackle that.


----------



## JDgreen18

uts said:


> kay7711226 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I hate those unexpected's......just grow grass already!
> 
> 
> 
> Lol. Tractor getting delivered today. Will likely put down seed either tomorrow or saturday. Then it's all grass growing. I remember last week I out down TTTF around 18th sept so that gives me a 2.5 week headstart which should be okay in terms of pouring stage. Dont mind if it's a little thin, will blitz the crap out in the spring. The 10+" of rain would have been devastating for my slope. Need no rain at all for the next few weeks. There is about 0.2" and 0.1" predicted over the next few days but I think I can tackle that.
Click to expand...

Good luck to you! Forecast looks pretty good, going to cool down a bit after tomorrow.


----------



## M32075

Good luck &#129310;


----------



## uts

JDgreen18 said:


> Good luck to you! Forecast looks pretty good, going to cool down a bit after tomorrow.


Thanks man. The tractor came in around 7pm, they will pick.it around the same time. Should be done by then easy. Just have no idea about the controls, lol. It will be fun. It's a 3 series so a decent size.


----------



## uts

So got on the tractor early morning. First time on a tractor, used YouTube how to operate a backhoe and digger initially but for the most part it was quite intuitive.

Used the backhoe to dig stumps and dug way more than I expected due to the amount of roots that spanned out. I then filled the area with sand and tried levelling it with the bucket the best I could. Mid way I was quite frustrated. Lol . This is how it looked like around 1pm. I needed practice I guess.



This is how it looks now with a little hand work added to it.





My front yard was getting torn up pretty bad with the tires so I carefully dumped out loads which I will spread some by hand and then some sort of drag I guess.



Honestly working all day in the 90s made me think I should have rented this on Saturday and literally as I looked at my phone the forecast predicted 2" of rain tonight. By 5pm we already had a big shower go through and that's when I stopped.

Let's see what happens tonight and how those piles look and if I can spread anything tomorrow.

I might need to grow pRG if things go like this . Lol


----------



## Liquidstone

Running big machinery like that takes some doing! Back dragging isn't quite as easy as some of those people that do it all day every day make it out to be.. I'd be in the same boat. At least you were able to get it distributed well with the tractor to work on it and drag it. That is a big old pile!


----------



## Chris LI

To knock the piles down, try a steep blade angle while back blading, to distribute the material. Then when the bulk of the piles are down, try a shallow blade angle with downward pressure, to fill in the low spots and scrape the high spots. Finally, try light pressure (or bucket in "float" mode), still with the shallow blade angle, for a gentle final grade. Try cross hatching to get the best results.

A levelawn drag (try grabbing a pallet from a loading dock-many places give them away) as a final drag will help with final grading.


----------



## uts

Liquidstone said:


> Running big machinery like that takes some doing! Back dragging isn't quite as easy as some of those people that do it all day every day make it out to be.. I'd be in the same boat. At least you were able to get it distributed well with the tractor to work on it and drag it. That is a big old pile!


Yup. I realized that very fast. more practice you have the better. This was my first time on any big machine so was challenging yet had some fun. The areas where I dug out the tree roots worked out really well actually.


----------



## uts

Chris LI said:


> To knock the piles down, try a steep blade angle while back blading, to distribute the material. Then when the bulk of the piles are down, try a shallow blade angle with downward pressure, to fill in the low spots and scrape the high spots. Finally, try light pressure (or bucket in "float" mode), still with the shallow blade angle, for a gentle final grade. Try cross hatching to get the best results.
> 
> A levelawn drag (try grabbing a pallet from a loading dock-many places give them away) as a final drag will help with final grading.


I wish I knew this before, I didn't even think about the angles. I just worked with one angle. I couldn't really go over it in the front section because it was making such big gouges, 3" deep, I felt I was backfilling those holes more than anything.

This morning I knocked the piles down as much as I could with a landscape rake. My little one wouldn't let me do more. Il head out in a bit and use my neighbours zero turn with a pallet and drag it as much as I can for an hour or two and make it as smooth as I can.

Tomorrow il do some spot levelling and drop seed hopefully.


----------



## uts

I knocked down the piles this morning and then in the evening got the zero turn and a pallet and went nuts for about 2 hours.

This is how it looks now. I do see the high spots are still there and in hindsight I should have scraped these to make it more level. Adding sand is going to be a lot of sand.

All that said the seed bed looks good. I do have a few spots to hand touch and 1 area where I will dump a cart of sand more but overall the pallet worked great.





Moving to some of the actual grass area I think I am getting some fungus. unsure what it is. It's in a linear pattern near the driveway


----------



## Green

Looks good. I still have not gotten to seed, either! We will get it done.


----------



## JDgreen18

The pallet drag works good I have done this many times...are you going to wait and see what happens with the hurricane in the gulf right now, they say it might give us some heavy rain later this week.


----------



## uts

JDgreen18 said:


> The pallet drag works good I have done this many times...are you going to wait and see what happens with the hurricane in the gulf right now, they say it might give us some heavy rain later this week.


It certainly did. Yeah Ive trying to track how much we will get. 2.5" seems quite a bit to contend with, considering my slope. We had 0.5" of rain within the span of 20 mins or so last night and althought most stuff looks okay I'm not sure how 2.5, would be. If I've held of this much, I can hold off for 3 more days.


----------



## JDgreen18

uts said:


> JDgreen18 said:
> 
> 
> 
> The pallet drag works good I have done this many times...are you going to wait and see what happens with the hurricane in the gulf right now, they say it might give us some heavy rain later this week.
> 
> 
> 
> It certainly did. Yeah Ive trying to track how much we will get. 2.5" seems quite a bit to contend with, considering my slope. We had 0.5" of rain within the span of 20 mins or so last night and althought most stuff looks okay I'm not sure how 2.5, would be. If I've held of this much, I can hold off for 3 more days.
Click to expand...

Good move


----------



## Green

JDgreen18 said:


> uts said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JDgreen18 said:
> 
> 
> 
> The pallet drag works good I have done this many times...are you going to wait and see what happens with the hurricane in the gulf right now, they say it might give us some heavy rain later this week.
> 
> 
> 
> It certainly did. Yeah Ive trying to track how much we will get. 2.5" seems quite a bit to contend with, considering my slope. We had 0.5" of rain within the span of 20 mins or so last night and althought most stuff looks okay I'm not sure how 2.5, would be. If I've held of this much, I can hold off for 3 more days.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Good move
Click to expand...

I'm going to be delayed even longer due to flooding if we get 2+ in of rain.


----------



## uts

Green said:


> JDgreen18 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> uts said:
> 
> 
> 
> It certainly did. Yeah Ive trying to track how much we will get. 2.5" seems quite a bit to contend with, considering my slope. We had 0.5" of rain within the span of 20 mins or so last night and althought most stuff looks okay I'm not sure how 2.5, would be. If I've held of this much, I can hold off for 3 more days.
> 
> 
> 
> Good move
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> I'm going to be delayed even longer due to flooding if we get 2+ in of rain.
Click to expand...

Honestly I'm looking to buy the biggest tarp to prevent the flooding and water running into the woods.. It's getting expensive to even think that.


----------



## Green

uts said:


> Green said:
> 
> 
> 
> [I'm going to be delayed even longer due to flooding if we get 2+ in of rain.
> 
> 
> 
> Honestly I'm looking to buy the biggest tarp to prevent the flooding and water running into the woods.. It's getting expensive to even think that.
Click to expand...

Tarps...that sounds familiar...

Last year when I originally seeded part of this area: https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?p=328010#p328010


----------



## uts

Green said:


> uts said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Green said:
> 
> 
> 
> [I'm going to be delayed even longer due to flooding if we get 2+ in of rain.
> 
> 
> 
> Honestly I'm looking to buy the biggest tarp to prevent the flooding and water running into the woods.. It's getting expensive to even think that.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Tarps...that sounds familiar...
> 
> Last year when I originally seeded part of this area: https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?p=328010#p328010
Click to expand...

Lol. I covered two big sections with tarp. If I can find one more this morning, I will get that as well and put it down. It's going to rain almost 0.5" an hour for about 5 hours straight. That will be the real erosion maker so will try to prevent that as much as possible


----------



## uts

Have had 1" of rain already. Another 5" more of rain to come through. Honestly that much rain will cause some damage no matter what I do. It will rain 0.6" of rain x 6hours at night. That will be a washout to say the least.


----------



## joec-ct

Water is still getting underneath both of our tarps  Fingers crossed for you!


----------



## uts

Got about 7" of rain. My little rain guage topped out at 5" ..lol



I had about 5 gorilla carts of material at the end of my driveway from multiple areas washing out. It's not that much compared to what I dumped on the lawn but it was a pain to shovel up 3" of wet sand mix on a busy road. My wife's car almost got beached.

I dumped these back in places which I saw had deep trenches.

Took down both the tarps which was quite painful.. lol





I am kind of upset that I went cheap and didn't pick another 50x50 tarp which was available 30 mins away.

These are some washout areas and some ginormous earthworms









I raked some of the areas already but I think if I drag it one more time it will be the best thing.

Letting everything dry as much as possible and then will decide in the evening. I will likely try and put seed down either in the evening or tomorrow morning followed by peat moss.


----------



## Chris LI

Sorry to hear about the washout. It's still early enough to reseed for a good outcome. Good luck!


----------



## uts

Chris LI said:


> Sorry to hear about the washout. It's still early enough to reseed for a good outcome. Good luck!


hey, I never seeded and the window that I did have some other things came up. Ive been on hold for this storm to pass.

Seed down tomorrow.


----------



## Green

uts said:


> I never seeded and the window that I did have some other things came up. Ive been on hold for this storm to pass.
> 
> Seed down tomorrow.


Good to hear you hadn't put down the seed yet.


----------



## JDgreen18

Looks like a nice stretch of weather coming up....


----------



## uts

Things looked better this morning after allowing everything to dry as much as reasonably possible. I initially went and tried to knock down some piles that were created by hand and that was fairly brutal.

I then added a few carts of soil to multiple areas (pulling by hand was not fun) and then used my walk behind with the pallet drag and made it earn it's money. The ZT3100 hydros in it worked perfectly. It was a little dancing fiasco Everytime I turned lol..



Overall the seed bed looks pretty decent. A few areas to hand smooth but otherwise pretty decent. I know there are quite a few dips and highs but I think I didn't have the expertise to flatten this and everything was to soft at that point too.

This is how everything looks now.





I had booked a peat moss spreader for the weekend but when I went today to pick 8t up they had already give to someone .. might just put peat moss on Monday and get everything done now. Will just need to water a little more frequently.


----------



## uts

Seed is down.

I cleaned out some areas by hand just to make it smooth, fixed 2 sprinklers that got hit by the drag a little.



I then measured out about 22lbs of seed, mixed it a pack of soil moist seed coat. The kbg seeds are really tiny and when I spread them o felt I may be over doing a little but I got good coverage.

I then spread 30lbs of 12-24-10 from last year for about 1lb of P and 0.5lbs of N, per M

I also spread a 50lb bag of XGRN 8-1-8 for a total of an additional 0.5lbs of N for slow release.

Watered it all in. Il spray tenacity tomorrow morning, was fairly beat up. Hopefully can spread some peat moss before.


----------



## Liquidstone

Looking good. I'm sure you're relieved that you've overcome the prep work and seed down! Good luck with that peat. Next time I Reno I will definitely be erring on the lighter side with that stuff!


----------



## JDgreen18

Woohooo now water water water and wait for them babies lol


----------



## uts

Woke up late this morning but had to get most of the stuff done. One thing I realized is that I did not roll the seed in. Funny though I couldn't even see the seed at most places but I think it helped flatten out a lot of stuff.

I then sprayed meaotriome at 4oz/acre rate.

I then put down 7 bales of peat moss and fell short. I will get 3 more in a bit and put them down. A big thank you from @Kissfromnick for letting me borrow his peat moss spreader.


----------



## uts

We got about 0.2" of a slow rain which was perfect for the peat moss to soak up slowly. The popup from the downspout though was washing away a bit so i might disconnect the drains for a bit till I can get a mow of two. Il pit down some seed and peat tomorrow when I do the remainder of the area, I got 4 bales of peat. Weather's looking clean right now except for a few 0.2-0.5" of rain over the next few days. Hopefully things should be okay.


----------



## kay7711226

Dude I'm running out of popcorn over here :clapping: :wave: , keep emm coming, When do you guesstimate first sight of germ?


----------



## uts

kay7711226 said:


> Dude I'm running out of popcorn over here :clapping: :wave: , keep emm coming, When do you guesstimate first sight of germ?


Lol.i think tomorrow evening would be the time to see it. My concern is the amount of shade I am getting already. Usually the front gets about 8h of sun but it has decreased considerably already.. the leaves have also started to come down.


----------



## uts

I gave the entire place a cut at 3.25". The south section of my backyard is very wet still. Could hardly go there. It's supposed to rain about 0.5" tomorrow. Slow but all day which is great.

I then put down 50lbs of XGRN on the both sides (total of 6k) area for a total of 0.8lbs of N and K/M.

Both sides

K current app 0.8 lb/M, season total 3.8lb/M

N current app: 1lb/M, season total 3lb/M

I also put down the remainder of the urea on a older bag, maybe about 10-12lbs to about 6k of my backyard. Couldn't go in certain sections. For a total of 0.5lbs of N/M. I do have a bag of MOP which I should have used in the back but time ran out.

Back

K current app 0 lb/M, season total 3lb/M

N current app: 0.5lb/M, season total 2.5lb/M

I tried to mow around the periphery with my walk behind and that's what happened. The other marks are from the spreader.


----------



## joec-ct

As long as the rain is slow I'll take it. How the heck did those marks happen? Loose soil + new grass?


----------



## uts

joec-ct said:


> As long as the rain is slow I'll take it. How the heck did those marks happen? Loose soil + new grass?


Oh no. That's my south side of the backyard. A lot of stuff drains here from the hills. It has a drain there but there is only as much that flows. The soil holds water like crazy. I can feel it flowing out when I stepped there. I tried mowing there with my walk behind and wasn't fun as you saw. The two other tracks of me going with my spreader and coming back.


----------



## uts

Rained about 0.3" last night and 0.3" throughout the day. Some areas look like they are collecting a bit of water now. Definitely won't need to run the sprinklers tomorrow for a while.


----------



## JDgreen18

I was worried for you, I got some good down pours last night. Glad you dodged it... weather looks good for the next week.


----------



## uts

I checked the forecast before I slept, not that I can do anything about it now, lol. It should 0.4" at night and 0.7" during the day. Got significantly less during the day.

The color on my last year's Reno looks better than earlier summer. Waiting for the XGRN to kick in


----------



## uts

We have germination! Been a few days.


----------



## Dude

&#127867; :thumbup:


----------



## Green

Very nice.

I am so itching to seed the reno. Thankfully, only got 0.25 inch of rain total here yesterday. That means the area might dry out this weekend.


----------



## Liquidstone

uts said:


> We have germination! Been a few days.


Nice! Congrats!


----------



## kay7711226

Now that's what I'm talking about bro!! Proud Grass Daddy!(again) :lol:


----------



## JDgreen18

Awesome nothing like seeing the first grass start to germinate in a reno....


----------



## VALawnNoob

uts said:


>


Congrats on the germination! 
I am curious on what you planning on to do with this spot. I have something very similar where the soil just holds the water. A temp solution is to dump a lot of peat moss on the spot but that's not sustainable. I assume some type of a french drain needs to be done?


----------



## Chris LI

VALawnNoob said:


> uts said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Congrats on the germination!
> I am curious on what you planning on to do with this spot. I have something very similar where the soil just holds the water. A temp solution is to dump a lot of peat moss on the spot but that's not sustainable. I assume some type of a french drain needs to be done?
Click to expand...

^+1
If you're not looking to make a big trenching project, I have an idea that might help, unless the water table is really high.

I've used a 3/4" masonry bit (13" long) to do a drill and fill with mason sand. What if you try something on a larger scale? Say, a small diameter (4") power auger used for fence post installation, making a couple dozen holes (or more) and drilling down 2-3 feet and filling with sand might give somewhere for the water to go. Just check to make sure no utilities are in the area.


----------



## uts

@VALawnNoob @Chris LI . It's a slightly complex problem because.i already have a drain around here. Il explain with pictures.

This view is from my second floor. It shows almost the entire back yard. I've marked the location of the drain which goes around which has a few catch basins (unsure where it how they empty). This entire area is also wet wet and wet right now. You can see how the hill rises and the damaged area on top.



These are from the left and right side respectively. Hope it makes sense. You can see how wet this area is. This is also my worst weed hit area due to grass being thin and you can see some kyllinga growing. This will be a slow improvement area I think





The damaged area is also on the south side of my house with ALOT of older mature trees which prevents sun shining down and remains relatively shaded throughout the day.

@Chris LI what you mentioned I actually did something like that already in one spot here.



The drain finishes just prior to this area. This was a low spot which always accumulated water. I accidentally bought some play sand a few years back to level and was horrified with the small pebbles so this was the place. I dug up the sod about 2' x 2'. I then dug out about 6 inches or so and added all the sand there. I then replaced the sod which had about 2" of original soil. This has worked out well.

I plan to something similar with areas having similar problem and put down mason sand to improve drainage. I'm just not sure what to do about the drain area and how much I can drill dig and add.


----------



## uts

JDgreen18 said:


> Awesome nothing like seeing the first grass start to germinate in a reno....





kay7711226 said:


> Now that's what I'm talking about bro!! Proud Grass Daddy!(again) :lol:





Liquidstone said:


> uts said:
> 
> 
> 
> We have germination! Been a few days.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nice! Congrats!
Click to expand...




Dude said:


> 🍻 :thumbup:


Thanks everyone. This had me worried but glad it's starting.

@Green nice few days of 80s weather. It should help dry a lot. I would just go for it, throw seed, throw peat moss and it will absorb some of the moisture, making it manageable.


----------



## uts

Day 8


----------



## Chris LI

uts said:


> I plan to something similar with areas having similar problem and put down mason sand to improve drainage. I'm just not sure what to do about the drain area and how much I can drill dig and add.


Hmmmmmm, thinking a little more about a more shallow approach with drilling, digging, and adding, a great tool that might be useful for this (amongst its regular uses) is a Pro Plugger. If you don't use any washers for spacers, you should be able to pull plugs at a 6" depth, and fill with mason sand. If you don't want any unsightly polka dots, you could save just the top of the plug to reinsert afteradding sand. It may not be very deep, but if you use a lot of them, it might help make room for some water to collect and percolate. If you don't have one, I suggest picking one up, in case you need to move plugs to bare areas in your reno next spring.


----------



## uts

Day 9

Lots of leaves. I tried to blow as much as possible without stepping in but very limited got cleaned up. I won't be stepping in till at least day 20 so whatever happens it happens. Il keep blowing as much as possible.



In the above picture you can see where the downspout popup washed away the peat and seed. There is almost no germination in that area. There is lots of germination at the corners where the peat accumulated. I will try and step in to spread seed only in the bigger area and put some peat as well. I won't do anything of the fowntrail because most of them are 6" or less and I think the spread will/should be enough.


----------



## uts

Car light shot.


----------



## JDgreen18

Wow looking awesome man nice job


----------



## uts

JDgreen18 said:


> Wow looking awesome man nice job


Thanks man. The fuzz is definitely increasing each day. One thing that really bothered me in these night shots was how uneven the lawn is even though daylight shots made it look much better.. lol.

I guess there is a lot of top dressing and some major corrections in the next few years. It also would be a good way to visualize the imperfections.


----------



## JerseyGreens

uts said:


> JDgreen18 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wow looking awesome man nice job
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks man. The fuzz is definitely increasing each day. One thing that really bothered me in these night shots was how uneven the lawn is even though daylight shots made it look much better.. lol.
> 
> I guess there is a lot of top dressing and some major corrections in the next few years. It also would be a good way to visualize the imperfections.
Click to expand...

LOL - the most level lawn will look like high tide down the Jersey Shore if you took night shots of it.

Everything looks good!


----------



## uts

Day10



These are some smaller corners of the middle oval driveway section. Odd sections and poor sprinkler coverage so lagging behind but there is decent germination. I might add a little bit of peat.


----------



## kay7711226

Nice, very nice. Did you do a starter fert?


----------



## Jut60

Looking good!


----------



## uts

kay7711226 said:


> Nice, very nice. Did you do a starter fert?


Thank you. Yes I did. Had some left oerfrom let year's Reno. Even though my phosphorus is high in the last soil test it made me feel better to put down some phosphorus for the baby grass to absorb initially.



Jut60 said:


> Looking good!


Thank you!


----------



## uts

Not much in terms of pictures but I have been noticing over the last few days that the areas where the peat moss was light or non-existent the germination will rate was significantly lower. I therefore went to Lowe's and got three more bales of peat moss. I spread two of them out in various locations. Another thing I noticed though was the color of the peat moss provides a good contrast to see germination which was not visible with sand and although I did see more germination after putting down peat moss the sprouts were much less. You can literally see germination in the turns of the peat moss spreader and little around it.


----------



## VALawnNoob

uts said:


> Not much in terms of pictures but I have been noticing over the last few days that the areas where the peat moss was light or non-existent the germination will rate was significantly lower. I therefore went to Lowe's and got three more bales of peat moss. I spread two of them out in various locations. Another thing I noticed though was the color of the peat moss provides a good contrast to see germination which was not visible with sand and although I did see more germination after putting down peat moss the sprouts were much less. You can literally see germination in the turns of the peat moss spreader and little around it.


That is my observation as well and why I always apply Peat Moss with seeding.


----------



## uts

Day 14 from seed down. DAG 7







Overall I am happy with the progress. Very decent germination in most areas. There are a few spots where my sprinkler coverage was less than ideal and I made those adjustments around day 10ish, so those will hopefully catch up. In some areas I noted no peat moss resulted in minimal germination so I added that as well.

I only added seed around the popup drain but only in a 6 inch area or so.

My trouble spot is this area where 5 sprinklers overlap. It was also the corner of the tarp so was wet at baseline before seeding. After 2 days of carefully rotating sprinklers at each watering it has gotten better but not good. I will keep working. You can see the lack of germination here.



These are the thin areas but they have germination and should fill in


----------



## uts

There were these two small rocks poking their head out. I noticed one a few weeks back and one yesterday when I almost twisted my ankle on it. They had to go.

This is what I could see.



To his is what I ended up with.







Packfilled this with sand which was left over.

Mowed today. Looks decent.

Last year's Reno:



Backyard:



I might be saying goodbye to this. It cuts great and my time to mow has decreased so much but I think I need something more versatile than this and I don't want 2 or 3 machines.


----------



## JDgreen18

Reno looking good...what are you thinking of replacing the mower with a zero turn?


----------



## uts

JDgreen18 said:


> Reno looking good...what are you thinking of replacing the mower with a zero turn?


Either a zero turn or a lawn tractor something like an x5xx. I need the towing and if possible some snow removal ability. I know the cut on most JD stuff is pretty good. The 7iron deck is fantastic. The lawn tractor has the extra benefit to maybe mount a sprayer! Hate doing it with a backpack. Lol


----------



## bf7

uts said:


> Day 14 from seed down. DAG 7
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Overall I am happy with the progress. Very decent germination in most areas. There are a few spots where my sprinkler coverage was less than ideal and I made those adjustments around day 10ish, so those will hopefully catch up. In some areas I noted no peat moss resulted in minimal germination so I added that as well.
> 
> I only added seed around the popup drain but only in a 6 inch area or so.
> 
> My trouble spot is this area where 5 sprinklers overlap. It was also the corner of the tarp so was wet at baseline before seeding. After 2 days of carefully rotating sprinklers at each watering it has gotten better but not good. I will keep working. You can see the lack of germination here.
> 
> 
> 
> These are the thin areas but they have germination and should fill in


So much progress in the last 6 days!!


----------



## mac_mellow

nice progress! I didnt do a reno, but I hope my overseeding efforts this year fair well.


----------



## uts

DAS 19 DAG 12. Trying to take the pictures from the same angle and light.


----------



## joec-ct

Looking good! In that first photo, did you throw more seed down in river washed area, or do you believe it's too soon to walk on the young grass?


----------



## Liquidstone

Looking great! Prep yourself for that pout stage, it hits!


----------



## kay7711226

How long can you resists the urge to cut it :search:


----------



## uts

bf7 said:


> So much progress in the last 6 days!!


Thanks man. It sprung out all of a sudden.



mac_mellow said:


> nice progress! I didnt do a reno, but I hope my overseeding efforts this year fair well.


I'm sure it will be great!



joec-ct said:


> Looking good! In that first photo, did you throw more seed down in river washed area, or do you believe it's too soon to walk on the young grass?


I've already walked on a few areas already. I did drop some seed in the main washout area. The biggest one but very little and some peat moss. The entire rest of it I will not. The peat that accumulated over there has lots of germination and will fill in. Il get some pictures tomorrow.



Liquidstone said:


> Looking great! Prep yourself for that pout stage, it hits!


I think I'm in it already. Trying to get a mower soon so this is welcome.



kay7711226 said:


> How long can you resists the urge to cut it :search:


I understand the urge but I don't think il be cutting for at least another week with the pouting.


----------



## uts

joec-ct said:


> Looking good! In that first photo, did you throw more seed down in river washed area, or do you believe it's too soon to walk on the young grass?


This is what I wanted to show you. You can see there are some small seedlings in-between and the crowded surroundings.







I added seed and peat moss 9nly around the popup where you can see the darker peat moss


----------



## joec-ct

I see - interesting! Definitely looking to see how that turns out. I look my streams in the side and keep throwing seed at them, lol. I know KBG is slow, but working from home actually worsens the effect for me, I go out every morning expecting to see something from the previous day.


----------



## jskierko

I have the exact same issue from my reno this year (and also experienced this in my reno last season). In hindsight, I should have disconnected the downspouts that led out to the pop up and re-routed the water... seemed like too much work at the time, but would have saved me from spots similar to what you are experiencing.


----------



## uts

joec-ct said:


> I see - interesting! Definitely looking to see how that turns out. I look my streams in the side and keep throwing seed at them, lol. I know KBG is slow, but working from home actually worsens the effect for me, I go out every morning expecting to see something from the previous day.


I'm working from home these days and trust me I go out for every watering. So I take 3 20 mins break just for this. It's crazy .. lol. I have really resisted the urge to put seed down. Worst come, I will likely plug a few spots in the spring.


----------



## uts

jskierko said:


> I have the exact same issue from my reno this year (and also experienced this in my reno last season). In hindsight, I should have disconnected the downspouts that led out to the pop up and re-routed the water... seemed like too much work at the time, but would have saved me from spots similar to what you are experiencing.


I didn't even realize it would be that much water since these are only from a small section till this washout happened. I have since then disconnected the spouts. Luckily we haven't had. More than 2" of rain total in the last 3 weeks

This was initially buried and I think this is why I got away for a long time, till we finally saw 18" of rain within a few weeks and the whole spot went soggy. Dug it and put a pop-up. In hind sight I should have moved the popup to the very corner or buried it much much deeper with lots of gravel around it. I might still bury it next season.


----------



## uts

Safe to say that the lawn didn't like 3" of rain with a 6hr timeframe.


----------



## joec-ct

Same thoughts, wasn't expecting 3" - I need to clean out my gutters, but I cant really get up there without killing some grass with the ladder! Weather looking better for weekend into next next week though.


----------



## uts

joec-ct said:


> Same thoughts, wasn't expecting 3" - I need to clean out my gutters, but I cant really get up there without killing some grass with the ladder! Weather looking better for weekend into next next week though.


This is just runoff because my entire property is on a hill. It also at the bottom of the hill so the water table is higher especially after a heavy rain which makes it even more difficult. My backyard almost drains out front .. lol .. I think my gutters are okay-ish. One needs it's outflow drain cleaned. The pipe is buried buy I think I know where it opens on the other side. That one was pouring out


----------



## uts

Had a decent washout of the sand in some areas. It looks thinner in those area but I guess it will grow in and be thicker.

The grass in some areas is well above 2" and I think it needs a cut. I will likely be doing this on Monday or Tuesday. I will throw down my first N app tomorrow as well.

Day 23 from seed down now.


----------



## uts

DAS 24: put down 30lbs of 8-1-8 to the entire reno area. 0.24lbs of N/M. 0.18 being fast release and the rest is slow release which should be good. It does put a decent amount of K and puts a splash of P which would be good.

I will use the rest of the bag and then thay would be it. Will be using urea and AMS after this. Likely just AMS on the reno. Urea everywhere else.


----------



## uts

DAS 26:

I give the grass a haircut today. Some of the blades were well above 2" and needed the cut. Hopefully this will help with some tillering so it fills in. Loosing sunlight fast in some areas. I guess I could have waited about 3-4 days more but i am happy with my decision. I will need to watch my watering as with all the rain the distal part of my lawn are soggy and need drying up.

Mowed at 1.25" which was pretty much the lowest I think the reel goes. Once I shift to a powered reel I will be <1" . I got paper cutting all through out the reel with moderate contact. With light contact it wasn't a maybe I just need some fine adjustments to get it there I think.


----------



## uts

10-1: put down 7lbs of urea for 0.5lbs of N/M.

10-3: DAS30.

Things are looking better. Leaves coming down fast and sunlight disappearing. Watering once a day only. Next 2 days are mostly rain. About 1" in total.







These are the thin areas. Some might need help in the spring.


----------



## uts

Progression pictures for my own sanity

Front main

Day 14



Day21



Day30



Side circle

Day 14



Day 21



Day 30



Front strip

Day14



Day 21



Day 30


----------



## Chris LI

:thumbsup: Great progress! You're sanity should still be intact. Stay cool as a cucumber. :gum:


----------



## joec-ct

Wow, that front main filled in nicely, especially in the center where the first few photos showed thin. Now boom! Looking good!

Hope the rains the next couple days are light.


----------



## uts

10-4

We already got 1" of rain last night. I didnt get time to put a fert app last night so there was a small hiatus in the rain to a drizzle so I stepped out and put 14lbs of urea on 14k for 0.5lbs of N/M. Will get another 0.5" of rain though the day so it will be watered in well and not run off hopefully.


----------



## uts

Chris LI said:


> :thumbsup: Great progress! You're sanity should still be intact. Stay cool as a cucumber. :gum:


Yeah the sanity is better now because it sat for like almost 10-12 days after the first 7 days of germination. I feel a noticeable difference now. Thank you for following along.


----------



## uts

joec-ct said:


> Wow, that front main filled in nicely, especially in the center where the first few photos showed thin. Now boom! Looking good!
> 
> Hope the rains the next couple days are light.


already got an inch of rain here and another 0.5" expected to come in. Wont be watering for at least a day of not more. lol. Hoping the big areas with a few sprouts start to grow fast! Your reno is looking sweet!


----------



## uts

DAS 41

Front reno put down 12lbs of urea for 0.75lb of N/M.

Last year Reno: put down 6lbs of urea, 0.75lb of N/M

10/15

Put down 17lbs of urea in the back and outside (12k) for 0.7lb of N/M.


----------



## uts

The reno area. This was completely cleaned at 4pm yesterday. This is at 11am.


----------



## Chris LI

Ouch! Silver lining...it looks like a lot are already down and you have a decent amount of conifers that you won't be as concerned about. Think of the extra OM as you are mulching them. It helps me cope.


----------



## uts

Chris LI said:


> Ouch! Silver lining...it looks like a lot are already down and you have a decent amount of conifers that you won't be as concerned about. Think of the extra OM as you are mulching them. It helps me cope.


Conifers do this.


----------



## Chris LI

Usually, a little bit, but that's crazy. The black pine right behind my fence drops a few (say a few hundred if the wind blows the wrong way) and my parents 3 or 4 white pines would build up some needles over time, which we left as pine straw, but that's an insane amount in a short time. What happened?


----------



## gm560

From my experience with a few white pines, it depends on the year. Some years they drop no needles, while others I get heaps of them. When I first moved in, it was one of the bad years and I was a nervous new homeowner. I asked my tree guy and I forget the exact response but I think he said something like they are one a 2-3 year cycle. One of mine is dropping lots of needles this year, too so maybe the weather plays a role.


----------



## uts

I was able to get a cut in after quite a few days. The lawn was not crazy grown because we did cool down all of a sudden down into the 30s last night.

I bought a John Deere 220 greens mower as a set with a few different CT members. The mower is an 11 blade (I think). I had ordered a few maintenance parts for it from RR but it took almost a week to get here.

Today I got some time to take a look at these things.

The mower did not come with an air filter so I added that. I also replaced the fuel filter that I got from amazon, since its the same that I put on my Toro and Honda I got a 6 pack. I do need to get some 1/4" tubing and hose clamps as I can see the distal end of the fuel line cracking.

I changed the gear case oil, which was black as crap. Replaced it with some valvoline 85w140.

What came out vs what went in





I wasnt able to change the engine oil since my vac was giving me some trouble. will do that tomorrow. Doing it by tipping over will make a mess the way things are located.

I also got a fairway bedknife but I will not replace it right now. I think in the off season, when I get the reel ground, I will add the knife then and get it set together. I got some lapping compound and will backlap it tomorrow.

I set the height of cut at 0.9" and gave the lawn a cut. It turned out decent but since the mower cant run well on lower RPM (surging) turning is an issue. I do not have a ultrasonic cleaner and might have to get one to clean this. Again something that I will likely address in the off season. I think we have less than 4-5 mows left for the season.


----------



## uts

Day 47.

I vacuumed the lawn because of the sheer amount of maple seeds that came down. Still have a ton of them but less than before.


----------



## uts

Chris LI said:


> Usually, a little bit, but that's crazy. The black pine right behind my fence drops a few (say a few hundred if the wind blows the wrong way) and my parents 3 or 4 white pines would build up some needles over time, which we left as pine straw, but that's an insane amount in a short time. What happened?


It was partially surprising because I didnt see this many last year but I remember seeing them the first year we mowed in 3 years back.

These are the 2 big pines right next to it.



This is how it looks now after a good bag mow.


----------



## kay7711226

Official welcome to the "Mow Low Club"! Looking good man, what HOC thinking about keep it going forward?


----------



## uts

kay7711226 said:


> Official welcome to the "Mow Low Club"! Looking good man, what HOC thinking about keep it going forward?


I'm at 0.9" right now but definitely want to be below 0.75". Funny thing is that the wifey likes the grass a lighter shade than dark green/bluish so I might just take it lower, sacrifice the color and make both of us happy .


----------



## situman

uts said:


> kay7711226 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Official welcome to the "Mow Low Club"! Looking good man, what HOC thinking about keep it going forward?
> 
> 
> 
> I'm at 0.9" right now but definitely want to be below 0.75". Funny thing is that the wifey likes the grass a lighter shade than dark green/bluish so I might just take it lower, sacrifice the color and make both of us happy .
Click to expand...

U should have just gone bewitched lol


----------



## Green

How soon after germination did you drop your first N, and how much did you use? I'm at that point now, and there is not much time left this year, but I think it's about ready for a bit. A lot of the seed washed out, so it's very thin and I need it to thicken up. It's coming out of pout.


----------



## Chris LI

I went up to Bethpage State Park for a dinner this evening and I saw a large pine tree along the entrance road with a ton of needles under the entire canopy. @gm560 must be right about the cyclical needle shedding. I will keep an eye on the pine in the yard behind us. Your needle cleanup looks good! :thumbup: I will sometimes take out a metal spring rake to fluff them up before I bag mow. It helps a lot to get them up. Hmmmmm, if you tie one to the cross piece of you mower (or drag it behind you), you can double cut perpendicularly and not have to rake.


----------



## uts

situman said:


> uts said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> kay7711226 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Official welcome to the "Mow Low Club"! Looking good man, what HOC thinking about keep it going forward?
> 
> 
> 
> I'm at 0.9" right now but definitely want to be below 0.75". Funny thing is that the wifey likes the grass a lighter shade than dark green/bluish so I might just take it lower, sacrifice the color and make both of us happy .
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> U should have just gone bewitched lol
Click to expand...

I debated this point so much, I got a bag of Bluebank and Bewitched. Its sitting in my basement. I have a plan to expand the front after cutting down some trees over the winter. Will be using that.


----------



## uts

Green said:


> How soon after germination did you drop your first N, and how much did you use? I'm at that point now, and there is not much time left this year, but I think it's about ready for a bit. A lot of the seed washed out, so it's very thin and I need it to thicken up. It's coming out of pout.


I had dropped almost 1lb at seed down and dropped [email protected] 28 but honestly I wish I would have dropped it at 20 days or so at max. I started dropping fert on some of the small late patch repairs I did at day 7 after germination and they are working well. Il show you ske pictures.


----------



## uts

Chris LI said:


> I went up to Bethpage State Park for a dinner this evening and I saw a large pine tree along the entrance road with a ton of needles under the entire canopy. @gm560 must be right about the cyclical needle shedding. I will keep an eye on the pine in the yard behind us. Your needle cleanup looks good! :thumbup: I will sometimes take out a metal spring rake to fluff them up before I bag mow. It helps a lot to get them up. Hmmmmm, if you tie one to the cross piece of you mower (or drag it behind you), you can double cut perpendicularly and not have to rake.





gm560 said:


> From my experience with a few white pines, it depends on the year. Some years they drop no needles, while others I get heaps of them. When I first moved in, it was one of the bad years and I was a nervous new homeowner. I asked my tree guy and I forget the exact response but I think he said something like they are one a 2-3 year cycle. One of mine is dropping lots of needles this year, too so maybe the weather plays a role.


I have never read on pines ( I guess I should) but your observations are in perfect alignment to what I see. I actually saw ALOT of pines around dropping/having brow needles this year (more than usual). Maybe weather maybe something else, unsure.

For something this dense I usually do double cuts in opposite direction to the first, it fluffs everything up and picks most. At this time with the amount of fert and good weather I'm mowing every 2 days so it works out okay. Lol

Edit: ended up reading this and makes a lot of sense.


----------



## Green

I'm noticing a good amount of needles the last few weeks, too. I think this happened the year before last as well. Hard to say yet whether this is more than usual.


----------



## Green

uts said:


> Green said:
> 
> 
> 
> How soon after germination did you drop your first N, and how much did you use? I'm at that point now, and there is not much time left this year, but I think it's about ready for a bit. A lot of the seed washed out, so it's very thin and I need it to thicken up. It's coming out of pout.
> 
> 
> 
> I had dropped almost 1lb at seed down and dropped [email protected] 28 but honestly I wish I would have dropped it at 20 days or so at max. I started dropping fert on some of the small late patch repairs I did at day 7 after germination and they are working well. Il show you ske pictures.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I'm about a month after seed down, and about 2 weeks after germination. I think it's time. It would not be smart to keep waiting, or to lose the opportunity to fertilize. I think I'm going to drop starter with weed prevention (Tupersan, not Meso) plus regular Scotts starter, totaling 0.3-0.5 lb of N, a bit of K, and a good amount of P.

I should check soil temps, too. They are warm now, but will start cooling soon. Have not checked in a long time.


----------



## uts

Havent updated the journal in a while.

Reno has come by okay. It will need some nice feeding in the spring but overall looks good. It's quite speckled which I am unsure if because of fert or disease.





Got the irrigation blown out a few days back as well.







Zone 4 has a sticky valve I think, it was leaking water and was open throughout the irrigation blowout as well. I need a wire tracer to find the box.

The temperatures have been decent. Some good frost nights but 60s as well during the days. Almost 70s on some. We got 1.2" of rain yesterday with lots of leaves. I think I will put down app of [email protected]/N.


----------



## uts

Seemed like I abruptly ended last years journal.

Season starting for us now in Central CT. My lawn is slower to wake up due to a lot of trees. Backyard is very soggy as usual but the front is surprisingly firm. Very happy to see that the sand has had some affect.

As far as equipment goes, I had run the timemaster dry and it started on the 2nd pull. I didn't run fry the honda and the 220 so I drained the fuel and filled fresh gas. Both started on the 2nd pull. The 220 is not surging now which is great. The reel to bedknife contact was quite tight and I wasn't able to loosen it. Also tried to take the bedknife off and chipped the screw tip on the impact. The 220 will need some love on Monday.

I then took the trusty honda with the bagger. Lowest setting and went to town.



On a separate note saw DEF at Costco. Def cheaper than other places. Need to up the spraying game.


----------



## joec-ct

I've had alerts set up and wondered what you and your lawn were up to. Good luck this season. Let's hope this CT weather is good to us.


----------



## kay7711226

How's the lawn looking?


----------



## uts

@kay7711226 it's been a busy last few weeks and I haven't been able to do much. The lawn could have been in much much better shape but it is what it is. Been trying to write this reply for 3 days now, lol

One of my zones is leaking but I don't know where the valve box is. I need to rent a tracer to find this and repair it. Till then I can't turn it on and have to rely on rain for my apps. It's spring so it's okay.

5/20 (I think)

I applied my first N dose via 12-0-24 for 0.8lbs of N/K and 1.5lbs of K/K) on the reno area and 21-0-0 (0.75lbs of N/K)on the rest. Got 0.4" of nice slow rain and it got watered in.

5/27 had predicted rain of 0.6" so I put my grub ex app down, little late but better than never. We got dumped with 2" of rain. Hopefully most of it got in the soil.

I've mowed a few times but haven't been able to use the greens mower. Been mowing with my honda on the lowest setting.

Will be doing a 2nd app of N via 8-1-8 for 0.75lbs of N/K on 6-2 with rain on 6-3.

Also had the timemaster blade brake spring break on me which I replaced and replaced the blades too (got them for $0.01 in the winter, lol).

Need to change the oil in both the walk behinds.


----------



## uts

joec-ct said:


> I've had alerts set up and wondered what you and your lawn were up to. Good luck this season. Let's hope this CT weather is good to us.


Thanks for checking in man. Going to be a shorter season since we started a month and a half late. Hopefully it goes well. Swinging temperatures are wierd though.


----------



## kay7711226

Hope all is good, don't just tease with the updates where are the pics? How's the bluebank stripping? :roll: :roll:


----------



## uts

kay7711226 said:


> Hope all is good, don't just tease with the updates where are the pics? How's the bluebank stripping? :roll: :roll:


Lol. Just didn't get time to take pictures. I finally got the greens mower on it after cutting with the honda. Some places are def scalped and poa is really a big thing this time. My side circle is just filled with it.

Overall the grass is very hungry. Even with a good spreader I could see where I missed putting some. The color difference was insane.

I had planned to put another app on wed/Thursday but the rain never really came and I'm glad I didn't. Will do next week.

Front.



Circle part

I cut down all my burning bushes which were almost 10ft high. Beds need to be defined and I need to clean up some more. Lots of poa as evident. Debating on etho or a nuke.





The side TTTF area has def responded this year to good fert app. Growing well, small weeds coming up but overall very happy with this.



Color looks a little washed in this but is much better in person.

In other news, saw 2 rocks poking out in the back lawn. Decided to dig them out.

First one: 
Relatively easy dig



2nd one (not so much)

Had to break into 2 pieces to wrestle it out.





Il put some fresh pictures tomorrow.


----------



## joec-ct

I have rocks like that too. Some are so close to the surface that the grass is multiple shades lighter (grass is talking to me). It's looking good so far man, the TTTF is nice and dark.


----------



## uts

joec-ct said:


> I have rocks like that too. Some are so close to the surface that the grass is multiple shades lighter (grass is talking to me). It's looking good so far man, the TTTF is nice and dark.


Yeah everytime I dig I hope it's a 6" one and not a 3' one like this one. Ugh.


----------



## uts

I got some time late afternoon and gave a cut to the side yard. It looks good. I haven't irrigated it this season due to a leak in my system. I do have some weeds that I need to spray. Will do that tomorrow morning. I have a few small spots of fungus. Unsure what this is. Unsure what this is.











I have a few of these surface maple roots that I really want to get rid off.



My outside area is pretty badly hit this season. I initially though it was the FF going to sleep with the heat spell but surely isn't. Unsure if it red thread or pink snow mold since there is a lot of bentgrass in this area. It's the native mix with a lot of maple seedlings from last fall. Il spray this with a broadleaf tomorrow. 
Really want to nuke it.


----------



## Chris LI

Looking good! 24k is a lot to care for, and you're doing well. Maple roots in my backyard used to drive me nuts. However, I didn't want grind or cut them out, and destabilize or injure the tree (I've accidentally scalped them at HOCs, as it appears it might be the case in your photo). The turf always suffered under the trees, so I started doing foliar apps to get the nutrients directly to the grass plants, so the trees couldn't steal them from the soil. It not only improved the turf, but reduced the bumps, with more rootmass of the grass cushioning the ride and hiding the tree roots a little better. I still use granulars for the fall blitz, but mostly foliar sprays in the spring-summer.


----------



## Jut60

Looking good!


----------



## uts

I cut the front yesterday and did an app of 3 way. Spot sprayed the front and sides and quite a decent section of the outside area.

Got 0.35" of rain last night which was much much needed. Things perked up.

Today I applied 50lbs of 8-1-8 to the front reno for 0.5lbs of N/M and 0.5lbs of K/M.

I also applied 15bs of 21-0-0 to 10k for almost 0.7lbs of K to the sides and outside area.

Will be getting 1" of rain tonight into tomorrow. Fingers crossed.


----------



## kay7711226

What spreader and settings are you using for the Xgrn? I'm liking the results this far my first time using it. 
Keep pushing those newbie's.


----------



## uts

kay7711226 said:


> What spreader and settings are you using for the Xgrn? I'm liking the results this far my first time using it.
> Keep pushing those newbie's.


Used the anderson spreader. I pit the entire 50lb bag so it was easy to use it.

We got 1.35" of rain in maybe 6h, unsure how much of the fert actually dissolved in. Bit it did give us the much needed rain.


----------



## uts

Was unable to mow or do anything for the past few days.

We got 0.25" of rain yesterday.

Mowed the sides, outside and front. Il get pictures of the front tomorrow.

Got 24 yards of mulch. Need to start dumping in beds now.

Unable to attach pictures right now.


----------



## Dude

uts said:


> Got 24 yards of mulch. Need to start dumping in beds now.


 :shock:

Got Vitamin I on the ready? Good luck there!

Looking forward to the pics.


----------



## uts

Been a while since I posted. Couldnt upload pictures and i finally realized why. My phone is taking 40MB pictures. Definitely cant upload those. Lol

Not much has happened. Minimal rainfall and my irrigation still isn't fixed. I tried the rental process from sprinklerwarehouse.com but they made some error and it will come on Saturday now I think.

I haven't pit any fert yet. I did do an app of a 3 way with quinclorac for lots of spurge popping up. That and 85F along with drought stress didn't help the cause.

I have a big section which has lots of crabgrass, I will need to put down some quinclorac with meso, will try to find a good window for applying.

Front





Side





Circle



Outside



This is the mulch that came. Took a few days to dump it multiple areas. Small pile still left but bed prep is cumbersome and it's HOT.


----------



## uts

Dude said:


> uts said:
> 
> 
> 
> Got 24 yards of mulch. Need to start dumping in beds now.
> 
> 
> 
> :shock:
> 
> Got Vitamin I on the ready? Good luck there!
> 
> Looking forward to the pics.
Click to expand...

Had to take that for a few days. Having a gorilla cart only did not make it easy. I think I need to get a tractor. Lol


----------



## Green

Still green! Have you been able to water at all? Guessing that you have. (Using part of the system, or using above ground watering)?


----------



## joec-ct

Looking good especially right now with little rain!


----------



## uts

Green said:


> Still green! Have you been able to water at all? Guessing that you have. (Using part of the system, or using above ground watering)?


I've only gotten 1 session for 30 mins about 2 weeks back. The lawn is also longer than it usually is. Once I get the system running il shorten it out again.


----------



## uts

joec-ct said:


> Looking good especially right now with little rain!


I can't complain. It's only been my laziness that I haven't fixed the system. Hopefully soon. Needs lots of water for the upcoming blitz.


----------



## Green

uts said:


> Green said:
> 
> 
> 
> Still green! Have you been able to water at all? Guessing that you have. (Using part of the system, or using above ground watering)?
> 
> 
> 
> I've only gotten 1 session for 30 mins about 2 weeks back. The lawn is also longer than it usually is. Once I get the system running il shorten it out again.
Click to expand...

Looks great, especially considering that. I wonder how much rain you got over the last 3 weeks, and whether there's any soil moisture left, or conversely, whether it's mostly depleted, and it's about to wilt and brown.

Here, we've had nothing measurable over the last 3.5 weeks (not super far away from you; you know the halfway point between us). If I had watered only once for 30 min during this period, my soil would be moisture depleted and the grass would be brown now (which my neighbor's is, in fact). I can see from the drought monitor that we are both in abnormally dry.


----------



## uts

Green said:


> uts said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Green said:
> 
> 
> 
> Still green! Have you been able to water at all? Guessing that you have. (Using part of the system, or using above ground watering)?
> 
> 
> 
> I've only gotten 1 session for 30 mins about 2 weeks back. The lawn is also longer than it usually is. Once I get the system running il shorten it out again.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Looks great, especially considering that. I wonder how much rain you got over the last 3 weeks, and whether there's any soil moisture left, or conversely, whether it's mostly depleted, and it's about to wilt and brown.
> 
> Here, we've had nothing measurable over the last 3.5 weeks (not super far away from you; you know the halfway point between us). If I had watered only once for 30 min during this period, my soil would be moisture depleted and the grass would be brown now (which my neighbor's is, in fact). I can see from the drought monitor that we are both in abnormally dry.
Click to expand...

You are right l. My ousie area and backyard have areas of crispy brown but the front has 2 things going for it.

1. It is heavily shaded after 3pm so avoids the hottest part of the day.

2. The leech fields of my septic are located here too so I think it gets some water from there.


----------



## kay7711226

For the weather conditions not doing to bad at all and looking good man! Can only imagine the fall diamond stripes :thumbup:


----------



## uts

kay7711226 said:


> For the weather conditions not doing to bad at all and looking good man! Can only imagine the fall diamond stripes :thumbup:


Amen, looking forward to fall.

Got 1.2" of much needed rain. I got the rental wire tracer but wasn't able to find the zone. Il see if I can do some tomorrow but I need to return it tomorrow.

I need to put down my fall pre-emergent (5-6 month rate) soon to avoid any more poa addition.


----------



## uts

Had been out for work for a few weeks and the lawn went under some good stress. Also have had a crabgrass breakout. Really need to spray both a pre-emergent and some quinclorac with meso. The 90-100F temperature along with all the trees that I have removed have really given it a lot more sun/heat.

Went to Costco today and found the greenmax 46lb bag for $32. It was the last few bags so was marked down. Will be a good start to the fert and then I'll switch over to my urea and then AMS at the end.


----------



## uts

Last 2 days, I got some work done finally.

Front yard

Put down 4 month rate of prodiamine down 
Put down a 50lb bag of XGRN over 7k for 0.6 lbs of N/M and 0.6 K/M
I then watered in the entire thing with 0 4" of water. Rest will be on Sunday.

The next day I sprayed quinclorac. Need to do a better app next time.

Side yard 2020 reno

Moved a sprinkler head to a much better position. It's was heading towards dormancy. 2 days of good watering and it's looking better. 
Put down 4 month rate of prodiamine
Put down 0.5lbs of N/M via AMS 
Watered in with 0.5" of irrigation

Mowed everything and edged the beds with the string trimmer.

Spread some mulch and weeded some beds.


----------



## uts

Caught a break and got a few inches of rain.

8/23
Rained 1.8", 2 hour break and then another 0.7" and then after 6hr almost 0.3".

The lawn really kicked in the growth when I saw it this morning. Looks better definitely. Rain > sprinklers.


----------



## joec-ct

Same here. Rain really made my backyard (un irrigated) pop. Sometimes I wish I had a way to store rain water (barrels) but I don't think my town allows it.


----------



## uts

9/4

I put down 50lb bag of XGRN over 7k for 0.6 lbs of N/M and 0.6 K/M

Brings the fall total to

N: 1.2lbs/M P: minimal K: 1.2lbs.

Got 0.7" of rain everything got watered in. My front has a decent amount of kyllinga on the perimeter coming from a lot of my property perimeter. I sprayed some sedge hammer for it.

9/5.

It's supposed to rain for the next few days. There is a small section in the circular driveway area that I needed to seed. I had leveled it some after edging the bed a few days back but didn't get time to really do much. I had been putting gly down every 20d but things grow fast. I sprayed some more gly this morning and put down seed and covered with Peet moss. Il spray tenacity down on Wednesday after the rain stops. Unsure how much washout there will be with 3" of rain.

There is a small section that still needs more soil.



The front. The specs are crabgrass which are from the missed prodiamine application-i think.

I sprayed them early morning and 10 mins later it started raining. Stopped after 20 mins so we will see what got left behind. Obviously didn't rain for the next 5 hours (which it was supposed to)



The circle area. Small areas of poa and kyllinga. Needs a tenacity spray to light up some areas.


----------



## VALawnNoob

joec-ct said:


> Same here. Rain really made my backyard (un irrigated) pop. Sometimes I wish I had a way to store rain water (barrels) but I don't think my town allows it.


Surprised no one commented on this but that's amazing color all of us cool season owners would love to achieve :thumbup:


----------



## joec-ct

@uts How are things holding up with this rain? Looking forward to see your lawn darken up this fall!


----------



## uts

9/16:

Put down 25lbs of scotts greenmax 27-0-5. Surprised by how good a prill size it was. Spread really well too.

Put down 6.5lbs of N over 8k for 0.8lbs of N/M

Fall total
N: 2lbs/M P: minimal K: 1.4lbs.

Been trying to cut every 2 to 3 days.


----------



## uts

joec-ct said:


> @uts How are things holding up with this rain? Looking forward to see your lawn darken up this fall!


Hey man. Your lawn looked amazing in the picture. The grass looks okay. I've hacked it a few times from 2" down to .75 so it isn't happy. The rain overall has done good to everything else. The TTTF looks great.


----------



## Green

uts said:


> 9/16:
> 
> Put down 25lbs of scotts greenmax 27-0-5. Surprised by how good a prill size it was. Spread really well too.
> 
> Put down 6.5lbs of N over 8k for 0.8lbs of N/M
> 
> Fall total
> N: 2lbs/M P: minimal K: 1.4lbs.
> 
> Been trying to cut every 2 to 3 days.


27-0-2 ? One of my favorite no-nonsense blended fertilizers. Excellent performance with it in cold temps, too, as we talked about...and lower leaching potential than pure 46-0-0 or 21-0-0 (due to the methylene urea) if used judiciously...


----------



## uts

Green said:


> uts said:
> 
> 
> 
> 9/16:
> 
> Put down 25lbs of scotts greenmax 27-0-5. Surprised by how good a prill size it was. Spread really well too.
> 
> Put down 6.5lbs of N over 8k for 0.8lbs of N/M
> 
> Fall total
> N: 2lbs/M P: minimal K: 1.4lbs.
> 
> Been trying to cut every 2 to 3 days.
> 
> 
> 
> 27-0-2 ? One of my favorite no-nonsense blended fertilizers. Excellent performance with it in cold temps, too, as we talked about...and lower leaching potential than pure 46-0-0 or 21-0-0 (due to the methylene urea) if used judiciously...
Click to expand...

Yup 27-0-2. I've never used it before so let's see how it does.


----------



## uts

Mowing a little more regularly. Saturday mow pics







Side yard looking dark as usual with minimal input.


----------



## uts

Expecting 0.5" of rain tonight into tomorrow.

Mixed 25lbs of MOP and 24 lbs of urea. Nice custom mix



Put down over my 16M of backyard, side and outside area for 0.7lbs of N/M and 0.85lbs of K.

Side yard fall total

1.7lbs N/M, 1.2lbs of K/M.

This will be my last K app I think.


----------



## uts

9/22

Got 1.2" rain

9/23

Temps dropped drastically. High today was 58. Mowed again. Much less growth. Reno area is looking decent.


----------



## uts

I had not looked at soil temps in a while. This describes the whipsaw journey. Above average for quite a while and then plummeted. Consistent 40 nights and highs of 60s


----------



## kay7711226

Is your KBG looking as good as your TTTF? My KBG seems to be waiting on something to kick into full growth season. How much N on the front KBG since the heat broke?


----------



## uts

kay7711226 said:


> Is your KBG looking as good as your TTTF? My KBG seems to be waiting on something to kick into full growth season. How much N on the front KBG since the heat broke?


It's def lagging behind. It perks up after a good amount of rain. I think I am lagging in my water input. I sometimes don't remember that I do have a few inches of sand in most places. The lack of organic matter and nutrition holding capacity I am sure is hindering growth.


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## uts

Gave the front a trim. The clippings were significantly less in the bigger area. Normal in the circular area. 

I feel 2 weeks is too long for fert especially since most of the stuff I put down has a slow release component. The grass looks hungry. So I bit the bullet today and tossed 30lbs of AMS on 7k for about 0.95lbs of N/M. The slow release will last through the next month which should be fine. Expecting 0.5" of rain tomorrow.


Fall total
Front
N: 2.95lbs/M; P: minimal; K: 1.4lbs.

Side yard 
1.7lbs N/M, 1.2lbs of K/M.


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## uts

Been a few days. Color has improved


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## uts

Had some good rain incoming, so I took the opportunity to put down some fert. Had the day off so did everything in the morning. Thought rain would br around 12ish but didn't happen till 9pm

Front

Put down 0.5lbs of N/M via AMS. I also sprayed trimec over certain areas with plantains. Overall the grass looks much better.


























Fall total
Front
N: 3.45lbs/M; P: minimal; K: 1.4lbs.

Side and outside put down 27lbs of urea for 1lb of N/M

Side yard and outside
2.7lbs N/M, 1.2lbs of K/M.


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## uts

We got 1" or so of rain. The rain gauge tipped over so don't have an accurate read.


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## uts

Been a while since I posted. Quite a roller coaster of a ride this fall. Very cold snap and then a record warm November. Was also out for vacation for a bit in between. I think it might be the last mow soon. I did take off quite a bit 2 mows prior. End of the season pictures. Lots of lessons learnt, many more to go. 
























I


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## joec-ct

Looking good! Are you reel mowing? Do you know where I can get a used reel mower in CT? Was thinking of getting one in Feb and getting it ready for next year.


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## uts

joec-ct said:


> Looking good! Are you reel mowing? Do you know where I can get a used reel mower in CT? Was thinking of getting one in Feb and getting it ready for next year.


I am reel mowing. The leaves mulched in make it look quite dirty. 

I have a john deere 220 (groomer, basket, wheels) that I am looking to sell. Let me know if you might be interested in that. I completely serviced it and it will get a grind in 1 week with a new bedknife.


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## joec-ct

Ok, will PM you. Thanks!


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## uts

Sometimes I don't appreciate the minimal approach TTTF I have. I really want to level it next season and I would really like to make a drag for it in the off season.


picture shows my neighbour's lawn on the left and my no mix backyard on the right.


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