# TTown85's Lawn Journal



## TTown85 (Jan 25, 2021)

Alright, it's May 7th, 2021 but I'm going to go back in time to document what I've done over the past year or so.

Let me preface this journal by stating that after I bought this house in Aug of 2019 I found out that the original owner of the house was the Course Superintendent for Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, OK. I'm sure he kept the lawn immaculate, but I actually contacted him and he said the bermuda was just a contractor's grade common bermuda. I am the 3rd owner of the house, the 2nd owner did NOT take care of the yard; however, they did focus a TON on landscaping. Needless to say, I kind of inherited a gold mine as far as "baselines" go.

I researched and researched and researched both here and on the Reddit lawncare forum. I read the Bermuda Bible probably 20 times. I had access to a riding mower, a cheap broadcast spreader, and an off-the-shelf manual pump backpack sprayer. I didn't have fancy gadgets. I finally decided I had to stop reading and just start DOING. There were some adjustments and modifications on the way, but overall it's been a blast thus far.

What you'll find here is a candid journal regarding my attempt to give my kids a beautiful lawn to play in. I own a small company here in Tulsa (not lawn related) and have 3 kids now (just had our 3rd on April 11th). Lawn care has become my hobby and I honestly feel like it's the one thing I have complete and utter control (or rather, influence) of right now.

This is my lawn journey...


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## TTown85 (Jan 25, 2021)

September 8, 2019

This was right after I moved in. The grass was TALL and thin. I "scalped" at this point mainly to get a uniform look. There were several grassy and broadleaf weeds, so I wanted to get it short. At the same time, I knew I was coming into dormancy rather quickly so I didn't go as low as I could have - cut down to 2" from probably 4"


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## TTown85 (Jan 25, 2021)

Fall/Winter 2019

I didn't quite document this via pictures but I will say that I F***ed up farily bad in this time frame. I applied a Post-E (Lesco 3-way) via a new backpack sprayer that I hadn't calibrated. I mixed enough chemical to cover my entire backyard and ran out after spraying about 1/3 of the yard... I should have done my homework and determined how much liquid I was applying per 1,000 sq ft.... You live and learn as they say. The perimeter of my backyard pretty much got fried by too much Post-E. I also think the yard was just in poor health to begin with, so I'm not 100% sure how much my over-application affected the yard. The weeds were gone for sure, but I think I stunted my bermuda too.


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## TTown85 (Jan 25, 2021)

March 20, 2020 - Applied 32-8-12 after a 1" scalp (lowest setting on my JD Z445 riding mower)


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## TTown85 (Jan 25, 2021)

March 26, 2020 - I hired a company to come out and do a core aeration, I then mulched the plugs back into the yard with old blades on my riding mower. I had fairly good soil quality, and frankly didn't want to mess with raking up the plugs


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## TTown85 (Jan 25, 2021)

April 5, 2020 - applied a round of Celsius to manage Poa Annua. This definitely helped as a Post-E. My neighbors had Poa Annua problems drastically longer than I did. Between the Celsius and hand pulling, I had a pretty good plan of attack for the Poa Annua


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## TTown85 (Jan 25, 2021)

April 23, 2020 - Here is where the pictures start. I had a plan to mow low and mow often (mowing at 1.25" was considered low for me at the time). I decided to "spoon feed" my grass by applying Nitrogen at .25lb/k every week. That's the equivalent of 1lb N/k each month, just split into smaller doses. I wanted to give the bermuda consistent nutrition while I was agressively mowing.


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## TTown85 (Jan 25, 2021)

April 30, 2020 - Mow, Spoon Feed nitrogen - 0.25lb/k


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## TTown85 (Jan 25, 2021)

May 3, 2020 - Mow, sharpen blades


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## TTown85 (Jan 25, 2021)

May 6, 2020 - Fertilize 0.25lbN/k, Mow


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## TTown85 (Jan 25, 2021)

May 10, 2020 - Mow, Fertilize 0.25lbN/k

May 14, 2020 - Mow

May 19, 2020 - Mow

May 29, 2020 - 8 days of rain, grass grew LONG - mowed 1.25" in front, 1" in back. Applied 20 lbs 46-0-0, spreader setting - 5.75


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## TTown85 (Jan 25, 2021)

June 3, 2020 - noticeable recovery after essentially scalping previous mow. Grass growing faster - mow 1.25" all around. Started sprinkler system. Temps in mid 90s


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## TTown85 (Jan 25, 2021)

June 6, 2020 - mow 1.25"

June 10, 2020 - mow front at 1.5" (flat tires) 40lbs of HumicDG on front, 40lbs of 32-3-8 on entire yard

June 13, 2020 - mow at 1.25" with flats fixed - smoother cut

June 18, 2020 - mow 1.25"

June 22, 2020 - increased HOC to 1.5" - no rain for 21 days

June 24, 2020 - mow 1.5" - had to make 3 passes

June 28, 2020 - mow 1.5" - had to make 3 passes

July 1, 2020 - mow 1.5" - had to make 3 passes, measured after cut and grass is just below 1" - mower deck way out of "level". Front end is riding on anti-scalp wheels even at 2"

July 2, 2020 - leveled mower deck. Dropped rear a touch and lifted the front quite a bit. 1.25" isn't riding anti-scalp wheels

July 6, 2020 - mowed - terrible leveling job from above. Scalped side yard and immediately fertilized with 46-0-0. Back yard 1.5" front yard 1.25"

July 10, 2020 - mowed everything at 1.25". Fertilized front with 13-13-13, and back with 46-0-0


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## TTown85 (Jan 25, 2021)

July 15, 2020 - increased HOC to 1.5", tweaked leveling a bit. Very dark green right now. Spot on hill needs consistent water


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## TTown85 (Jan 25, 2021)

July 18, 2020 - mowed at 1.5" before vacation

July 26, 2020 - one week break - mowed at 1.5" and everything still looks good. A bit of yellowing, but rain forecasted for entire week. Crabgrass is getting REAL bad

August 18, 2020 - been maintaining front at 1.75" and back at 1.25". Both are looking great aside from crabgrass. Applied Weed B Gon + Crabgrass Control today, spot spray but fairly widespread.


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## TTown85 (Jan 25, 2021)

August 21, 2020 - Pics


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## TTown85 (Jan 25, 2021)

Oct 3, 2020 - scalped to 1". Smoother and thicker than expected. Bermuda spread drastically. Over seeded with annual rye - 100lbs. Watering 3x/day


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## TTown85 (Jan 25, 2021)

Oct 9, 2020 - Germination! First sign of green grass and happened practically overnight. Seed on back hill hasn't shown much sign, think it wasn't getting enough water from sprinklers


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## TTown85 (Jan 25, 2021)

Oct 25, 2020 - Pics


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## TTown85 (Jan 25, 2021)

Nov 7, 2020 - Pics


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## TTown85 (Jan 25, 2021)

Nov 24, 2020 - summary update. Rye is noticeably thicker than initial germination seemed to indicate. Growing on back hill now. 2" seems to be lowest I should mow to keep it healthy. Around swing set is some clover popping up.


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## TTown85 (Jan 25, 2021)

Dec 2020 - Jan 2021 - I pretty much didn't do anything. We have 9 December birthdays in our family so I didn't have much time to spend on the yard. The grass stayed green and really stood out against all the neighbors with dormant bermuda. It looked good, but I let it get a little out of hand


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## TTown85 (Jan 25, 2021)

Feb 2021 - Unbelievably cold here - record lows and stayed below freezing for something like 11 days straight. Had pipes burst in the house, but the yard looked good!!!


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## TTown85 (Jan 25, 2021)

From here on out most my pictures focus on the backyard. That's where the family spends most of our time, so I find myself paying more attention here...

March 15, 2021 - busted out the old riding mower again and cut the annual rye down to 1.5". At this point my lawn was the ONLY green lawn in the neighborhood. It stood out, and it looked good. I was pretty proud of what I had accomplished in 1 year.


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## TTown85 (Jan 25, 2021)

April 2021 - At this point in the lawn process I bought a SunJoe scarifier and ended up finding a Toro GM1000 on Facebook marketplace. I feel like the next steps in my journey require some dedicated time for write-ups and narratives, so I'll continue sometime soon - it's 1:30 AM and I'm tired. Be back soon!!


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## Ben S (Oct 6, 2018)

Amazing lawn. Well done.


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## TTown85 (Jan 25, 2021)

April 5, 2021 - Decent overview of the back yard before I started my Spring routine


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## TTown85 (Jan 25, 2021)

April 18, 2021 - Alright, here's where it gets fun! I had been browsing FB/Craigslist/TLF Marketplace for a couple months looking for a modestly priced reel mower. This Toro GM1000 happened to pop up on FB within about 4 miles of me! I had been looking in a 200mi radius and this thing shows up in my backyard. Couldn't have worked out better!


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## TTown85 (Jan 25, 2021)

April 19, 2021 - In preparation for reel mowing, I purchased a SunJoe detatcher/scarifier so I could make sure I got as much debris out of the yard as possible. Here are pics from using the scarifier attachment:


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## TTown85 (Jan 25, 2021)

April 19, 2021 - Followed up the scarfying process with the dethatching tines. I really did this to rake up the mess I had just created. I used the bagger on the SunJoe, which is tiny. I have some sweet 80-gallon lawn bags that I set up at each end of the yard and just emptied the bag at each pass.

Raking process:


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## TTown85 (Jan 25, 2021)

April 21, 2021 - My very first Reel mow!!! HOC was at 0.75" and my rotary went down to 1", so it wasn't terrible. I did bag my clippings though. Also, HOLY STRIPES. I'm not really used to striping with a riding mower, so i wasn't paying that close of attention to my direction and pattern.


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## TTown85 (Jan 25, 2021)

April 25, 2021 - Practiced my single-doubles. I've got a reel mower now, why not?! And I'm in love with it!


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## TTown85 (Jan 25, 2021)

May 1, 2021 - Dropped the HOC to around 0.375" to scalp. I'm kind of trying to kill of the annual rye, but at the same time temps have been cooler so the Bermuda isn't quite to "growing season" yet. I've been paying attention to the bermuda throughout the neighborhood to see the "green up" status. The folks that pay attention to their yard aren't quite to 50% green up but they're close. I honestly thought I would be hitting all sorts of dirt cutting this low - lawn seem pretty bumpy and I've got some decent undulations in the yard. It looked a heck of a lot better than expected.


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## TTown85 (Jan 25, 2021)

May 1, 2021 - Here's a close up of the grass. You can see some Rye, some Bermuda, and some dirt. It's not terribly thick, but drastically better than where I was a year ago.


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## TTown85 (Jan 25, 2021)

May 3, 2021 - Raised HOC to 9/16" (0.5625") after the scalp. With the moderate temps we've had, the rye is growing fast!! Still trying to figure out if I'm going to try and spray out the rye, or just let it die on its own. I've heard people say their Rye chokes out their bermuda, but mowing this low I feel like the canopy is open enough to allow sunlight to hit the bermuda coming out of dormancy. Every day i'm seeing more and more bermuda and less rye. Also, the lawn looks great (in my humble opinion) so I don't particularly see the need to get too aggressive killing the rye


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## TTown85 (Jan 25, 2021)

May 4, 2021 - PGR Day!! This is my first time ever using a plant growth regulator. I was scared to do it, reading about the work and details involved:

-Exactly calibrated sprayer
-Bronzing the grass if you over do it
-Getting consistent coverage
-Tracking "effectiveness"

But I was confident I had done my research and I was capable of doing this. Not gonna lie, this step felt like I was going from a "weekender" (even though i mow like every other day) to a full-fledged course superintendent. It was intimidating. But I did it!

I started off light, afraid to mess up. I applied at a rate of 0.18 oz/k ( 1.25oz of product for my 6,800 sq ft backyard). I added chelated iron (12-0-0) as well (32oz, too much?) per the label.


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## TTown85 (Jan 25, 2021)

May 9, 2021 - second mow after PGR/Chelated Iron. Holy Cow! I know this is more the iron than the PGR at this point, but damn! With the lighter dose of PGR my suppression is only around 11% so the mowing hasn't lightened up quite yet, but I'm excited to see what all the hype is about.


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## TTown85 (Jan 25, 2021)

May 10, 2021 - Did you know I still have a front yard too?! I've been so focused on the backyard, but here are some pics of the front yard. The annual rye is still thriving up there, too. I've been mowing with my riding mower with a 1.5" HOC. I did NOT use PGR on my front yard quite yet. Sometime soon, maybe?

I will say this about the front - that Annual Rye overseed worked WONDERS for erosion on this hill next my driveway. With the spring rains, I barely had any dirt coming into the driveway versus last year when I was constantly shoveling dirt so kids could ride bikes on the driveway.

These pics were right after I mowed - hadn't cleaned up the edges or blown off the driveway yet.. Don't judge me






Here's a pic of the hill from Oct, 2020 for reference:


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## Ben S (Oct 6, 2018)

Wow, that is a big difference around the tree. Did you do something to cover or remove the roots?


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## TTown85 (Jan 25, 2021)

Ben S said:


> Wow, that is a big difference around the tree. Did you do something to cover or remove the roots?


All I did was overseed with annual rye. No added soil or anything. As dirt continued to erode while the rye was germinating, I just kept piling it back towards the roots. The rye finally stabilized the hill. Not sure what this summer holds as the rye starts to dye


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## Ben S (Oct 6, 2018)

I see. Interesting.


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## TTown85 (Jan 25, 2021)

Did my second app of PGR at .44oz/K, mixed with Bifen I/T, Iron, and then followed up with 1lb/K of N via 46-0-0.

Mowed today at 9/16". Nice striping, but I think the rye is harming my Bermuda now. Waiting for the Bermuda to get thicker like it was this time last year. It's been fun experimenting!


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