# Rpatterson's Lawn Journal



## Rpatterson (Jul 13, 2018)

I've always enjoyed doing yard work and somehow find it stress releasing. We built our house and moved in November 2016. I've steadily worked on leveling the lawn over the last few years with some decent results, but still a long way to go...


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## Rpatterson (Jul 13, 2018)

11/01/2016
Lawn just laid and extremely bumpy.


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## Rpatterson (Jul 13, 2018)

6/02/2017
It's green! Sometimes our pond floods into the street, only once a year or so.


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## Rpatterson (Jul 13, 2018)

10/24/2017
Cut Bermuda pretty short to over seed for the winter. I only did the backyard because I'd never done it before. Used cheap annual ryegrass. Kind of a mess, I wouldn't use annual ryegrass again. 

11/11/2017


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## Rpatterson (Jul 13, 2018)

5/14/2018
Added topsoil and compost to fill in the low spots. Helped some... definitely greened up the yard though.


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## Rpatterson (Jul 13, 2018)

9/2/2018
Didn't know it at the time but this was fall army worm damage. 




9/2/2018 As you can tell the backyard didn't recover from the over-seeding because I didn't kill off the ryegrass. It's also where the grass gets very little sun from the fence shade.


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## Rpatterson (Jul 13, 2018)

9/18/2018
This is about the time I identified the brown patches were army worms... wouldn't have known if it weren't for TLF!


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## Rpatterson (Jul 13, 2018)

10/15/2018
Anticipating the arrival of the Swardman Electra I decided to over-seed with perennial ryegrass. We got a little more rain than I wanted and it washed some of the seed away or into the low spots so it wasn't totally even. Starting to come in quickly.


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## Rpatterson (Jul 13, 2018)

10/25/2018
Put down some pretty good strips with the Honda HRX.


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## Rpatterson (Jul 13, 2018)

12/22/2018
The Electra put down some pretty strips. The dark strips are the low spots where the seeds settled.


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## Rpatterson (Jul 13, 2018)

3/24/2019
Finally starting to warm up. Haven't killed the annual ryegrass yet. Need to add sand soon.


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## Rpatterson (Jul 13, 2018)

3/31/2019


Dog pee


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## raymond (May 4, 2018)

Rpatterson said:


> 6/02/2017
> It's green! Sometimes our pond floods into the street, only once a year or so.


This caught me off guard. It doesn't look like it floods into your lawn though. I can imagine a lot of weed seed in that water! Keep up the good work


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## Rpatterson (Jul 13, 2018)

04/30/2019
Bermuda finally waking up. Sprayed MSM to kill off the perennial ryegrass. Itching to use the verticutter cartridge soon. Waiting to receive my reel back so I can cut it reel low, verticut, and sand.


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## Rpatterson (Jul 13, 2018)

raymond said:


> Rpatterson said:
> 
> 
> > 6/02/2017
> ...


Thanks! We had another overflow this week, but haven't seen many weeds in my yard yet... weather has been crazy!


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## Rpatterson (Jul 13, 2018)

About 30 days after msm application. Mowing at 0.75 for the past several weeks to try and pick up the dying ryegrass. Bermuda is struggling to fill in... I think I should have killed it sooner. Applying N at 1lb per 1k sq feet every 30 days.

05/29/2019


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## Rpatterson (Jul 13, 2018)

Trying to figure out why there is dark and light grass. They both appear to be Bermuda (could be wrong). Don't think it's ryegrass as I sprayed msm. Any thoughts?








Here's the darker one I pulled up right next to my yard/property line with HOA.





Lighter color throughout the yard.





HOA has a little bit of everything... dead ryegrass, dark grass, and lighter grass. Could be some live ryegrass as well as I didn't spray msm here.


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## Rpatterson (Jul 13, 2018)

6/01/2019


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## Rpatterson (Jul 13, 2018)

6/17/2019 day after I added a compost "ultra" (screened to 1/4 in) and sand blend. We had a lot of rain and I'm working on front bed landscaping. 

6/18/2019

6/24/2019 it's starting to fill in. Still a few bare spots. While the compost add nutrients and makes the yard super green I won't do it again because of the small wood chips against the reel. I ended up using the scarifier over several passes to try and pick up as much of the little chips as possible.


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## Rpatterson (Jul 13, 2018)

7/03/2019 I'm just letting it grow while I try and finish the front bed. It's a workout digging through clay.


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## Rpatterson (Jul 13, 2018)

7/07/2019 finally done. Now I can focus on the lawn again


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## Rpatterson (Jul 13, 2018)

7/10/19


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## Rpatterson (Jul 13, 2018)

7/31/19
Decided to sand... 1 yard mason sand for 1,300 sq feet. Could have used more, but wanted it to try and grow in before winter. 



After using the drag mat it really helps the sand get down below the canopy.


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## Rpatterson (Jul 13, 2018)

8/3/19. First post sand mow.


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## Rpatterson (Jul 13, 2018)

Haven't figured out what these are yet. Sprayed msm to see if it's Bahia. Maybe baby goosegrass?


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## Rpatterson (Jul 13, 2018)

Took some pictures this afternoon in the 100 degree heat. Can definitely see some stressing on the fine leaf darker grass, I just don't know if it's due to the heat or if it's because it's a weed (Bahia). Only time will tell. I sprayed at 8:30pm (temps below 90) to try and give it time to dry before it hit 90 the next day. Didn't mow two days before or after applying either. Applied 0.05 oz for 2,750 sq feet blanket sprayed which equals 0.79oz/ acre with no surfactant (to try and reduce chlorosis).


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## Rpatterson (Jul 13, 2018)

Rpatterson said:


> Haven't figured out what these are yet. Sprayed msm to see if it's Bahia. Maybe baby goosegrass?


After countless hours of research I think it was Bermuda grass stunt mite. No chemical can kill it from what I've read... just scalping and bagging. There was one study that showed abamectin helped. https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/IN/IN121700.pdf

I bought some, but didn't see a difference after 2 applications. Will see if pops up again this season.


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## Rpatterson (Jul 13, 2018)

3/12/20
We had our first baby in January so the pre-em didn't get put down and it shows! POA overload in the back! Sprayed Celsius and certainty.


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## Rpatterson (Jul 13, 2018)

4/13/20
Mow at 0.75 with light dethatch. Can see where the bed knife is higher on one side and lawn not being level makes it worse.


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## Rpatterson (Jul 13, 2018)

4/25/20
Scalped at 0.5 and then at 0.375 and never hit dirt. Dethatched after scalping. Applied fert and T-Nex. Always wondered how to correct the bed knife to ensure it's level. I finally built the bed knife measuring stick with a piece of wood and a screw to see if it's level on both sides and it was about 1/8" lower on the left (near battery/belt). It's been much better after tightening up a few screws and adjusting front roller so it's level on both sides. Surprised to see strips at 0.5 :lol:


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## Rpatterson (Jul 13, 2018)

Had some rain last night. 4 days post scalp, fert, dethatch, t-nex app.


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## Rpatterson (Jul 13, 2018)

5/14/20 - Looking better but the warmer weather hasn't hit for the Bermuda to take off. Can tell a huge difference in clipping yield after T-Nex. 




I got a little glass bottle with a dropper to put on some dallisgrass. Seems to be working and is much easier than trying to "paint" it on (IMO).


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## Rpatterson (Jul 13, 2018)

Got my soil testing results back. Looks like my pH is high (7.8) which is probably why I don't have that deep green all over. There is a light colored green kinda spread throughout the yard due to lack of available iron. Backyard is good, it gets less sun so I think the grass can't use as much N? Front gets full sun so that's why it's N and P is lower??? Just trying to make a logical guess. I bought Phosphorus to bring it up.

Now, about that pH.... undecided on what I want to do. I don't really want to do a FAS and I'm unsure if it's possible to lower my pH. I put out some fertilizer my dad didn't want anymore and it has 16% sulfur so maybe that'll help if I keep adding it.


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## Rpatterson (Jul 13, 2018)

Mowing at 1" and double checking the bed knife is level and I'm still seeing the same issue on the belt side. The thing I don't get is how consistent it is and why it's worse at higher mowing heights.





Let the grass come out of pgr to get rebound growth to try and remove the Bermuda grass mites. I got a cheap microscope and was able to see them so I know that's what is causing the witches brooms. Scalped, bagged and applied abamectin 0.15. at 0.5oz per 1k with non ionic surfactant to backyard. 4 days later I scalped, bagged, and did same application. The next day I pulled up some witches brooms and couldn't find any mites... I'm not holding my breath and I did another scalp, bag, and application this morning which is 8 days after first application. We shall see!


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