# Looking for feedback on process to improve for next year



## dvon (Sep 17, 2018)

I'm looking for some feedback about what I might adjust in my process to have a better fall next year. I' live 20 miles west of Boston and have a Fescue, Rye and KBG mix. I'll give some background first. We moved into our first house last September, I didn't know anything about caring for a lawn. A buddy of mine said to put down milorganite so I did that and seeded some bare spots but not a full overseed in October. Shockingly the seed did take and carried through spring.

In spring I had a lawn company put down starter fert and pre-emergent. I then put down Milo ever 6 weeks or so. By late July the lawn was looking pretty great. 




The challenge came just after this, I had some lime green patches in the lawn, that I posted to some FB groups, people kept telling me it was POA but it kept spreading. I eventually realized it was bentgrass, and it was spreading aggressively. You can see the lime green below.



I read up on bentgrass and found tenacity would take care of it. After first app and then after second





Fast forward to Sept. I mowed down from 3.5" to 2in gradually in advance of aerate and dethatch. That work was done Sept 10th. I seeded the day after due to heavy rains of the 10th.



I'm now a week after seeding and things are starting to come back slowly. I put down Air8 and RGS with seed as well as some Ringer. 3 days after seeding I put down a light app of starter fert as well. 


I feel like the lawn looks worse than I would expect from how healthy I started the year. Anything you'd do to adjust next Summer to give me a better start next fall?


----------



## LawnNeighborSam (Aug 14, 2018)

It seems from the pictures progression that it's coming back gradually. I think you've done enough for now. Let the grass start working and filling the rest of the lawn on its own and you stay on top of watering/fertilizing


----------



## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

Getting rid of the bentgrass will help. Avoid too much nitrogen in the summer (Milo)and keep up with watering. I think you will be fine.


----------



## dvon (Sep 17, 2018)

LawnNeighborSam said:


> It seems from the pictures progression that it's coming back gradually. I think you've done enough for now. Let the grass start working and filling the rest of the lawn on its own and you stay on top of watering/fertilizing


Yeah feeling good about the plan now but it entered fall in really rough shape, trying to start from a better place next year


----------



## dvon (Sep 17, 2018)

g-man said:


> Getting rid of the bentgrass will help. Avoid too much nitrogen in the summer (Milo)and keep up with watering. I think you will be fine.


Appreciate the feedback, I think I was putting down a little too much Milo, and my ph was a little low. I think I'll trying dialing back the nitrogen as you noted and focus on root growth


----------



## Jdaniel611 (Aug 12, 2018)

@dvon I bet you brought home bent grass seed from a local golf course and didn't even know it.


----------



## Harts (May 14, 2018)

Drop nitrogen down this fall and keep watering. Another couple of weeks and you're lawn will look great. It usually takes about a month to bounce back and recover from scalping and all the other work you did.


----------



## ken-n-nancy (Jul 25, 2017)

Sounds like you did a good job this year for a northern mix without supplemental irrigation. The late July photos look great.

I live probably about 30-40 miles due north of you. For northern mix cool season lawns in our area, May-June and September-October are prime growing months. July and August are about surviving until September.

This year, July turned out to be great weather for non-irrigated lawns (it was comparatively easy compared to most July's) as even though month started out hot and dry, by the middle of the month we started getting about 2+ inches of rain each week, which continued until about the 15th of August. However, those last two weeks of August and first week of September were brutal, with daytime highs typically 85-95F and overnight lows typically 65F-70F and essentially no rain for three weeks.

It looks like your lawn was doing pretty well, apart from the Tenacity damage (which is a necessary part of eliminating the bentgrass), and some dry areas in the backyard near the shed and just behind the house.

For next year, avoiding fertilizer after about mid-June and working all spring towards developing deeper roots through deep and infrequent (if any) irrigation will help the grass survive July and August better. Learning when the grass is first showing signs of needing to be watered will also help.

This is the time of the year when you can fertilize heavily to get good spreading and start to set the lawn up for an even better summer next year!


----------



## MichiganGreen (Aug 7, 2018)

That color in the top pic of the front is amazing. And so thick. Love this.


----------



## dvon (Sep 17, 2018)

Jdaniel611 said:


> @dvon I bet you brought home bent grass seed from a local golf course and didn't even know it.


I don't golf so that's not it


----------



## dvon (Sep 17, 2018)

Harts said:


> Drop nitrogen down this fall and keep watering. Another couple of weeks and you're lawn will look great. It usually takes about a month to bounce back and recover from scalping and all the other work you did.


Good feedback, I hope you're right!


----------



## dvon (Sep 17, 2018)

MichiganGreen said:


> That color in the top pic of the front is amazing. And so thick. Love this.


hoping to get back to that soon!


----------



## dvon (Sep 17, 2018)

ken-n-nancy said:


> Sounds like you did a good job this year for a northern mix without supplemental irrigation. The late July photos look great.
> 
> I live probably about 30-40 miles due north of you. For northern mix cool season lawns in our area, May-June and September-October are prime growing months. July and August are about surviving until September.
> 
> ...


Great feedback, I think you're right about dialing back the N leading up to summer. I put down quite a bit of Milo 4th of July and you're right August and September were rough.


----------



## iowa jim (Jan 22, 2018)

I see you stated that the PH. was a little low, was wondering if you had a soil test done or just used a PH. kit from a big box store. You have been throwing a lot at your lawn and you may have ben throwing the wrong things. A soil test will tell you what your lawn needs and how much.


----------



## dvon (Sep 17, 2018)

iowa jim said:


> I see you stated that the PH. was a little low, was wondering if you had a soil test done or just used a PH. kit from a big box store. You have been throwing a lot at your lawn and you may have ben throwing the wrong things. A soil test will tell you what your lawn needs and how much.


I did a Soil Savvy Test, results below. I put down Jonathan Green Magi-cal as I had low PH as well as calcium deficiency. Switched from Milo to Ringer during my overseed as my P levels are high but K is too low.


----------



## iowa jim (Jan 22, 2018)

You might want to add some iron to your lawn as its a little low, to help with the color. I read somewhere that a soil savvy soil test will show your PH. lower than it really is. Cant remember where i read it though.


----------



## dvon (Sep 17, 2018)

iowa jim said:


> You might want to add some iron to your lawn as its a little low, to help with the color. I read somewhere that a soil savvy soil test will show your PH. lower than it really is. Cant remember where i read it though.


Yeah I read the same recently, once the new seed is ready for first mow I'm going to get a little iron down as well. I've been reading a number of things recently around Soil Savvy not having the best accuracy, but none of it is backed up with fact so it's hard to know what to trust. What do you use for testing?


----------



## iowa jim (Jan 22, 2018)

I use Waypoint Analytical, i think g- man and peet1313 use the same. If you go to my reno post there is a sample of the test but i didn't get the right test so i didn't everything done. If your interested in getting one done check different states as to the price varies, i know Peet lives in Illinois and it was much cheaper for him to do it in Iowa.


----------



## dvon (Sep 17, 2018)

iowa jim said:


> I use Waypoint Analytical, i think g- man and peet1313 use the same. If you go to my reno post there is a sample of the test but i didn't get the right test so i didn't everything done. If your interested in getting one done check different states as to the price varies, i know Peet lives in Illinois and it was much cheaper for him to do it in Iowa.


Doesn't look like the cover MA at this time.


----------



## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

You sample the soil and mail it to them at their facilities (we used the Memphis, TN). A simple USPS small box will do. The soil link in my signature has the info or a how to find other labs.


----------



## dvon (Sep 17, 2018)

While it's still coming around, the lame has made a real comeback. We had a ton of cloudy days for a whole and I'm seeing some blue grass coming up that was put down 6 weeks ago now that there's more sun.


----------

