# Arden 15 Bermuda; 7500sf of turf, South East Alabama



## WarDamnLawn (Jun 30, 2020)

Today is 31 days since seeding, I brought in 24 yds^3 of "top soil" (very sandy but I'm in the coastal plains), tilled, flattened to the best of my ability (home made drag harrow and 3' grade rake), amended soil according to results of soil test (1 ton/acre lime, 80-40-40 lbs/acre macros), and watered 2.44''/week with irrigation set to run 4 times/day, which I deemed frequently enough to keep soil moist for germination. Fertilized with a Milorganite equivalent last weekend(6/20/20) and sprayed with liquid fish fertilizer this past weekend (6/27/20). So here I am. My plan moving forward is to mow this coming weekend on max height (rotary mower until i find a deal on reel), adjust irrigation down to daily early A.M. watering after mow, mow the following weekend down to 2.5"ish, then broadcast spray with Certainty and Celsius herbicides a couple of days later. The lawn is riddled with (in order of density) pig weed, nut sedge, crabgrass / goose grass, and some mini mimosa frond looking shit that I haven't Identified. My current question is how crazy am I for broadcast spraying the herbicide (Chapin adjustable rate hose end sprayer) on relatively new seeded lawn? Hand pulling is not really an option because its overwhelming and crab, goose, and sedge leave too big of a divot and spot spraying is also overwhelming. I'm confident in my rate and application precision as long as the hose-end sprayer is accurate to published specs. I welcome your comments.


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## BakerGreenLawnMaker (Mar 13, 2018)

That's going to look awesome!


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## WarDamnLawn (Jun 30, 2020)

A little update. Here are pics of the lawn last week on 07/03/20 before the first mow. I could use my lawn to teach a weed science class. Its bad.







I mowed at 3.5". I don't have after pics. I'm going to mow this evening 3.0"

Here's a pic I snapped this morning on my way out the door.



I've been busy. I acquired a Mclane 25". Needs a new bedknife and a backlap so I've got that coming in the mail, I also gave a small fortune to reel rollers for a groved front roller which should be here soon. I'm holding on some minor parts from Spraydepot to finish up the spray rig. Hopefully they'll be in early next week and I can put out Certainty and Celcius mid week and try to get a handle on the weeds. I will follow that up with another application of liquid fish a few days later.


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## dubyadubya87 (Mar 10, 2020)

You'll love what Celsius is able to accomplish on your yard. I've become Bayer's biggest fanboy after using it on mine. Subscribed.


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## chadh (Aug 8, 2019)

Looks good. Dothan area?


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## probasestealer (Apr 19, 2018)

Nice work. Are you planning to slowly lower the HOC?


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## WarDamnLawn (Jun 30, 2020)

@chadh Yep, Dothan it is.
@probasestealer I am. I lowered the HOC to 3" last Thursday and I just finished up a cut at 2" Today.

Parts finally came in for me to finish my spray rig on Monday.


I'm happy with how it turned out. The cantilever design looks sketchy but the Sheetmetal mounts on the mower are plenty strong. The only change I'm going to make is going with steel angle instead of aluminum. I gambled with aluminum because I was feeling too lazy to drill steel. The aluminum holds okay but at 16 gallons in the tank there is significant deflection.

Used pipe hangar mounts and All thread to give me some vertical adjustability to get the nozzles to their design height.



The front roller for the Mclane came in Monday.


I had to email Mclane Tuesday and ask why the bedknife I ordered a week earlier hadn't been shipped yet. They shipped it Yesterday. I'm just going to do all that work on it at once.

Unfortunately I found on TheLawnForum that for about half of what I paid for a stupid front roller I can double the power of the mower with a 212cc predator engine. I don't know how I am not supposed to do that.



Tuesday I was able to get the herbicides out. Rates hit right where they were supposed to. I'm happy with how it went. 3rd gear on the old Murray holds a remarkably consistent 1.8 MPH so I was able to extrapolate out of the low side of the TeeJet tables.

This morning I mowed at 2" then put out the liquid fish fertilizer. The fertilizer nozzles from TeeJet are significantly larger than the turbo twinjet nozzles I used for herbicide so I was happy about the vertical adjustability I built into the spray rig.





I'm not a fan of the fertilizer nozzles, I knew there were some larger particulates in the fish fertilizer so I wanted a nozzle that could be sure to pass it but the streams are really segregated.

Also the fish fertilizer was hell on the built in filter for the sprayer pump. I'm not sure how much fertilizer actually made it through. I've only been using the fish because it so mild on the new grass.

In 2 weeks I'll be putting this out

https://www.amazon.com/18-3-6-Liquid-Fertilizer-Micronutrients-Gallons/dp/B07GRJ4T4B/ref=sr_1_6?dchild=1&keywords=liquid+fertilizer&qid=1594930720&sr=8-6

with air induction teejets.

Let me know if you have experience with this fertilizer.

Also, I'd like to upgrade the pressure regulator on the North Star pump, I don't have much confidence in it. Let me know if you have experience with this.

I'm going to give the fert a day or two to green up the lawn then I'll get some updated pics.


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## WarDamnLawn (Jun 30, 2020)

Today is 7 weeks since putting seed out. Rotary mowed at 2" yesterday. The light spots are some from slight scalping from taking off too much at once and some from the dense areas of weeds beginning to brown.





I'm looking forward to watching the Bermuda out pace the sedge since its growth should now be arrested.

I've got a thin spot here.



And this one spot In the back that didn't get good germination,



I'm planning on sprigging this spot beginning in 2 weeks when the no plant period on the herbicides has lapsed.

This evening I'm going to put out another 15 lbs/ksf of milorganite at 4 weeks since the last application. Hoping to get it deep green.

I'll hopefully have the reel mower in action early next week then I'll begin twice weekly mowing.


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## JRS 9572 (May 28, 2018)

Wow what a difference. It's only going to get better. Great job!


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## WarDamnLawn (Jun 30, 2020)

The new bedknife came in.



what a difference. This damage here was my primary concern but there was a ton of uniform section loss across the blade so a new one was definitely due





After installing I had to move the reel from the very bottom of the adjustment range to all the way to the top. I'm confident the reel still has plenty of life left based on how tight of a fit it was between the new bedknife and the discharge veins on the top shield.

I installed the front roller, backlapped, set the height to 1-3/8" and mowed.



Got some feint stripes also



These were all taken Yesterday which was one week since herbicide application and it is KICKING ***.

I don't know if you guys love sick nutsedge as much as I do but here's some



The lighter spots are dense weed areas that are yellowing and browning. Mostly filled with this.



I though is was sick Bermuda, the petal shape and size resembles Bermuda but the leaves alternate perpendicular to each other at each node where as the Bermuda blades stack on top of each other at each node. What kind of weed might this be?

Last week I opted against putting out milorganite and went with some cheap 16-0-8 with 50% slow release N from the local farm supply store. I wanted to get an appreciable amount of quick release N down to hopefully bring about a flush with the weeds withering.

pic for my reference



The yard is getting a little darker green each day. I think it could use more N more often. I've been afraid to overwhelm it with it being new and the mid-summer temperatures but I'm going to start shooting for 0.75 - 1.0 lbN/ksf/month moving forward.

FYI Mclane reel mowers haul ***. I'm used to a leisurely stroll while cutting the grass, I've had to find a new gear. It'll be alright once I get used to it but dang, I might shed a few pounds.


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## dubyadubya87 (Mar 10, 2020)

Looks like it's all coming together, now. Yard is looking good.


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## WarDamnLawn (Jun 30, 2020)

Been a while since I've updated the journal but life has been crazy and progress has been good.

So first of all the Briggs on the Mclane gave me lip the last 2 times I used it and I realized I don't have to live like this.



Thanks to another thread on the forum this swap was EASY and FAST. A single trip to the hardware store and under 2 hours of work and I have a dependable mower.
The added power is huge, it allows me to operate the engine at a lower RPM for a more comfortable walk speed,

Here are some shots of a double cut at 1.25" immediately after cut in harsh mid-day sun.





Here's later that day after a thunderstorm cooled things off





Arden 15 Bermuda lawn review. 10 weeks (74 days) after seeding.

I put out Milorganite last weekend and wow. I believe its the iron component most but the green-up is incredible, no-burn, its easy to use, and I can bear the smell. Milorganite will be a regular part of the summer regiment moving forward.

I'm really very happy with the progress in the war with the weeds. The guys on this forum (and in this thread) again already have this stuff figured out. The post emergents suggested in the "bermuda triangle" work awesome, easy to do it right the first time. Some of the largest bits of crabgrass and goose grass made it through but I sprayed Celcius on medium rate which said that largest crab and goose grass might get through. But now the weeds are majority contained and I can get the rest by spot spraying.


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