# Brackin4au's Bermuda Bowl lawn journal



## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

So I've been saying for a while I was going to get a journal started, with several folks reminding me haha... today is finally the day.

Little background... my wife and I moved into our new construction home January of 2016.... the lot is 0.77acre, and at the time of putting down the deposit, it was a nice, big, flat lot. More to come on the evolution of that later...



As you may can tell, the yard was not installed very well, and lumpy is a generous way of describing it. I watched the landscapers install sod on my neighbors house shortly after we moved in, and it involved them rolling over the seems with the bobcat to flatten it out. What a joke...

Anyway, I cut with a rotary all that year and the next. Nothing special, just cut once a week and not much else. Now, fast forward to 2018 and I really decided to get more serious. I rented a power rake to dethatch a bit, and started cutting twice a week. From the time I moved in, all through 2018 I used a lawn service for my weed and feed, but I've always done all my mowing. Here are several pictures from 2018...























As you can see in the backyard, my lot became a bowl shape, due to the developer not being finished making the lots at the time I put my deposit down (I was not informed of this). I found out a week or so later when I drove by and my flat lot was a bowl shape and the foundation had been laid... quite an argument was had and some other issues, but I've moved passed it, and actually kind of enjoy the shape now... it's unusual and I like that. Not saying I wouldn't have preferred flat, but oh well.

One main issue I've had, and continue to deal with, is some bare spots on the side yard. The bowl shape drains a ton of water, as you would expect. It doesn't usually resort in standing water for very long, but it still stressed the lawn out in the main areas of water. Here are pics of the drainage (river) and the bare spots from last year where I plugged some grass from healthy spots...













The bare spots are improving significantly, but it's still a work in progress.

Another issue I had last year that I will be keeping an eye on is localized dry spots shown here...


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

In the February Weeks auction, I made the dive down the reel low rabbit hole and purchased my first greens mower, a JD260SL. Pretty nerve wracking not knowing the condition, but I went for it. It has given me a few problems, but overall I'm pretty pleased with it. Still have some tinkering to do with it, but it's cutting well and serviceable, so I will just do this and that as I go through this season.







I also came across a great deal on Facebook on an earthway 2170 spreader. It had been put together but never used. Drove an hour and 15 mins to get it. The lady thought I was crazy for driving that far for a spreader... she has no idea haha... $250 spreader, got it for $100







I also bought a SunJoe scarifier/dethatcher, and I love it. It's way more durable and impressive than I even hoped for. Here are some pics of the front yard dethatching I did recently...









And finally, to present day. I've got several cuts under the belt with the greensmower. It's definitely taken some getting used to, but I feel pretty good with it now. Looking forward to the season and full green up... next up, perfecting stripes and cleaning up landscaping beds and such...


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## ctrav (Aug 18, 2018)

Nice finds on spreader and mower. You have a very nice lot and it looks fantastic with the new mower cut. :thumbup:


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

ctrav said:


> Nice finds on spreader and mower. You have a very nice lot and it looks fantastic with the new mower cut. :thumbup:


Thank you sir. Stripes are much more difficult to keep straight than I realized haha. Oh well, I will get plenty of practice with 3 cuts a week!


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

Brought my HOC down to 5/8" today. I was surprised it didn't hit dirt a single time, only scalped a couple spots... trying to decide if I'm going to leave it at 5/8" and push fert to try and green up good at that height, or bump it back up to .7-.75... prob leave it at 5/8" for a few cuts and see how it does...













It actually looks even greener at 5/8" than it did at 3/4" ha. Probably more due to it thickening up some already.. still a long way to go though in the front mostly. It's still very thin there, in spots..


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

Double fat stripes today in 2 different directions...









Also throwing down some of this stuff this afternoon...


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

Update after spreading Carbon X. I initially tried spreading at setting 11-12 (Earthway 2170), as suggested by the LCN. However, the fert was barely getting out of the spreader. Tried bumping up to setting 15 and it did much better, but still wasn't consistent. Ended up settling on setting 17 once it was all said and done. The 50lb bag is rated for 16,600sqft, at 0.75N/k, but I have 21k and was able to cover the whole yard, front yard twice after adjusting settings. Curious to see how far it goes next app when I go with setting 17 from the start...


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## Thor865 (Mar 26, 2018)

Looks good. I like the bowl as well. Just wanted to say If you had been maintaining at .75 and brought it down to .625 then you may eventually have to do a mid season scalp. You always want to scalp below what hoc you want to maintain. For example I scalped to .25 and maintaining at .325 currently. If I was to take it down to .29 I would more than likely start to scalp and see more brown as the season continues.


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

@Thor865 Yeah, that's what I've always gone by as well.. it was just throwing me off when I went from .75 to .625 and it actually looked greener haha. I'm just attributing it to the thickening and further general green up. Every thing so far this season has technically been some level of scalp ha. Because this is my first year with a greens mower. So the .75 I was at, was the lowest it had ever been until I dropped it further the other day to .625. I've pretty much decided to bump back up to .7 or .75 and maintain there, for now. Until I can level it out some more. Because .625 was a bit of a stretch for my turf, I don't know if I could go lower in a lot of areas, without leveling first... thanks for the input!


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

Have an aerator rented for tomorrow, so had to get a late evening cut in tonight after I got home from work... finished up about 830, cutting half the backyard in the dark. Just a reminder to the neighbors who the crazy lawn guy is around these parts..... my wife said she's pretty sure they were aware.. haha


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

Aerated today... no pics but it went well. Used a ride on aerator and it is infinitely better than a walk behind. Specially if you can get a few guys to split the cost. 3 of us (who live several miles apart) did all 3 of our yards in about 4.5 hours, including a waste of about 45 mins diagnosing an issue with the machine right out of the gate. Returned the machine and only had to pay for the 4 hour rate instead of full day rate, since we had issues. Letting the cores bake today and cleanup starts tomorrow. Yippie. Something tells me cleanup will be miserable ha.

Edit to add pics... felt wrong making a post with no pics so I got my lazy butt up and went and took some haha.









Couldn't get the top 1/3 of the slope in the backyard... machine was struggling to stay stable. Overall pretty happy... even though it kinda hurt a little to tear it all up when it was starting to look so good. Oh well. It'll grow back :bandit:


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## walk1355 (May 31, 2018)

Where'd you rent the machine and what did you pay? I'm in Madison and will be aerating in a few weeks.


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

Robin Rents on 72 toward Athens. It was $125 for a full day rental. But if you are just doing your yard, it won't take very long. 4 hour rate was $102 tax and all. I'll try to remember next year, and you can jump in with us when we rent it. I would gladly pay $102 myself for the ease of use compared to a walk behind. I legitimately didn't even break a sweat.


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## ctrav (Aug 18, 2018)

Brackin4au said:


> Aerated today... no pics but it went well. Used a ride on aerator and it is infinitely better than a walk behind. Specially if you can get a few guys to split the cost. 3 of us (who live several miles apart) did all 3 of our yards in about 4.5 hours, including a waste of about 45 mins diagnosing an issue with the machine right out of the gate. Returned the machine and only had to pay for the 4 hour rate instead of full day rate, since we had issues. Letting the cores bake today and cleanup starts tomorrow. Yippie. Something tells me cleanup will be miserable ha.
> 
> Edit to add pics... felt wrong making a post with no pics so I got my lazy butt up and went and took some haha.
> 
> ...


Aerating is a good thing! Can you run the JD reel over those plugs or wait?


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

@ctrav I am going to rake up the plugs, then if the grass is still pretty beat up, I may run over it with the rotary first. We shall see. I let the cores bake for the day today so they would be easier to gather up. Plan to get after it tmrw.


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## BadDad (Mar 13, 2019)

Robin rents has some cool machines, glad you tested it out for the rest of us in the valley.

Yard looks great. When you gonna start the PGR?


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

@BadDad I'm glad I tested it out too. I would pay twice the rental cost before I would rent a walk behind ever again. It was so easy. Now the issue remains of getting the cores up. I tried sucking them up with my rotary, only picked up maybe 1/4 of them. So I started raking and it took me 3 hours just to get the front picked up. Backyard is 4x the size..... sooo I'm borrowing my brother in laws backpack blower tomorrow and after they dry out again I'm going to try and blow them all into piles. Hopefully that works...

Yard looks terrible now actually haha but thanks. It was looking pretty good pre-destruction. It stung a little as soon as I put the tines in the ground, but that's part of it. It'll grow back haha. Not sure yet on the PGR. It's growing pretty fast now, but I will probably let it recover a week or so then try PGR. So maybe next week...


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

Finally got around to mulching my flower beds. It's amazing how much better things look with fresh mulch...







And this came in yesterday.... time to sharpen her up a bit..


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## ctrav (Aug 18, 2018)

Brackin4au said:


> Finally got around to mulching my flower beds. It's amazing how much better things look with fresh mulch...
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Nicely done...


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## BadDad (Mar 13, 2019)

Those bushes are looking shaped and crisp... I have to figure out what to do with my overgrown jungles aka flower beds one of these days.


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

BadDad said:


> Those bushes are looking shaped and crisp... I have to figure out what to do with my overgrown jungles aka flower beds one of these days.


Thank you sir. The small ones in the front are new azaleas... can't wait for those to grow and bloom. The roses and begonias (I think, builder planted those) have exploded since I took that picture just a few days ago. My beds were overgrown with several shrubs I hated. So I yanked those out and put the azaleas in...


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

So I finally got my yard back in shape after aeration...







Few takeaways from that experience...

1. Ride on aerator was worth twice what I had to pay to rent it versus using a walk behind. Me and 2 buddies split the cost of it $125/day (ended up paying $102 because we got all 3 houses done close enough to the 4 hour rate). It was so much easier than using the walk behind style.

2. I got the city to paint my utility lines for me, which likely wasn't necessary, but I really wanted to know exactly where the ATT fiber wire was. Because I remember moving in to our home and I could actually see the line in places until the sod fully thickened up. So I didn't want to hit that.

3. Al that being said, I will probably never do it again haha. Not for my current yard at least. The front yard wasn't a big deal on cleanup, I could handle that once a year. But the backyard was just too much. It took me 3 hours of solid raking to clean my front yard, and the back is 4x the size. Ended up using a backpack blower to blow the cores into manageable strips there, then raked and scooped it all up.

All in all it took me over a week to get things cleaned up, partly due to a crappy timed stomach virus. If I had a smaller yard, I could absolutely see myself doing it yearly with the ride on. I would never use a walk behind again after using that machine. We never even broke a sweat doing the actual aeration. Cleanup on the other hand, literally almost put me in the hospital haha.


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## ctrav (Aug 18, 2018)

Looks absolutely awesome. Are you still cutting at .75? Before the reel mower what did you use and what was the HOC? I ask because Im new to the reel mowing and just scalped down to .50 on the front. I use the rotary at 1" on the back in some sections and the ZTR at 1.5" in other sections.


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

@ctrav thanks. It's still recovering but doing so pretty quickly. I am cutting at 0.7" right now. Lowest I got scalping was .625, then moved up to .7 after that. I used a 21" rotary before this year. Cut around 1.5". So glad I have the reel now. I used my rotary mower to cut once after aeration, to take care of the spots that grass was pulled up. Using it again made me even happier that I have the reel. It's such a big difference that can't be understood until you have one, right?... I'm following your journal, pumped for you that you went for it and scalped the front down to .5. Looking forward to seeing it green up and maintained reel low.


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## ctrav (Aug 18, 2018)

Brackin4au said:


> @ctrav thanks. It's still recovering but doing so pretty quickly. I am cutting at 0.7" right now. Lowest I got scalping was .625, then moved up to .7 after that. I used a 21" rotary before this year. Cut around 1.5". So glad I have the reel now. I used my rotary mower to cut once after aeration, to take care of the spots that grass was pulled up. Using it again made me even happier that I have the reel. It's such a big difference that can't be understood until you have one, right?... I'm following your journal, pumped for you that you went for it and scalped the front down to .5. Looking forward to seeing it green up and maintained reel low.


thanks for following my journal...it was challenging to say the least. Now I have to get a HOC bar so I can reset the reel up to .75. The HOC bar I had was borrowed from a friend and he is too far away to keep using it. I don't want to spend $140+ for a digital HOC bar. Agree the difference in the cut is much better!! I also picked up the "rotary lawn scissors" and let me tell you that is an awesome tool as well...


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

ctrav said:


> Brackin4au said:
> 
> 
> > @ctrav thanks. It's still recovering but doing so pretty quickly. I am cutting at 0.7" right now. Lowest I got scalping was .625, then moved up to .7 after that. I used a 21" rotary before this year. Cut around 1.5". So glad I have the reel now. I used my rotary mower to cut once after aeration, to take care of the spots that grass was pulled up. Using it again made me even happier that I have the reel. It's such a big difference that can't be understood until you have one, right?... I'm following your journal, pumped for you that you went for it and scalped the front down to .5. Looking forward to seeing it green up and maintained reel low.
> ...


Yeah I really want to get the rotary scissors too. Maybe next year. I've blown my budget out of the water this year already haha


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## ctrav (Aug 18, 2018)

Im so poor now I had to make my own HOC bar because $220+ for a real one is out of the question :lol: 




Its set at somewhere between 0.70 and 0.80 using a ruler to judge. Thats close enough for me as I just want to be below 1" :mrgreen:


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

@ctrav i made my own HOC bar too. I use a cheap set of calipers from harbor freight to get precise measurements between the bar and the bolt edge (washer for your set up).


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

Applied PGR for the first time this morning. Chapin 20v backpack sprayer with 2 nozzle boom with red teejet nozzles. Applied 0.25oz/k T-nex with 2oz/k of Feature 6-0-0 mixed in. Probably could/should have just done 1oz/k of the Feature. We will see how it does.

Learning experience for sure. Hoping I applied evenly. My first section is a perfect 1000sqft, so I started there to make sure I had my speed correct, but had a brain lapse and only put 1/2 gallon of water in the sprayer instead of full gallon and ran out halfway through the section. That part of the section will likely have some yellowing, but hopefully not terrible as I've seen plenty of PGR dose mixup stories work out okay haha. Once I got going with the next section and got in a groove, it went pretty well. I had a good pace where I could cover each section twice at 90deg. No pictures taken as I was in a hurry to get done while the dew was down and I could see where I had been. I'm definitely going to look into buying/building a push sprayer of some kind. It took me right at 2 hours to spray my 21k with the backpack.

Eager to see the results of PGR!


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

Cut the back this afternoon after PGR this morning. Terrible decision to cut because heat index hit 105 while I was out there.... but I survived. And it was worth it in the end...





Happy Memorial Day weekend everyone!


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## ctrav (Aug 18, 2018)

Way to tough it out. The reward is so worth it...


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

PGR is already at work... applied Friday and today I cut and barely got 1/4 of a trash can worth of clippings over my 21k. No much to cut, but used the time for stripe practice. Got a little creative today just for the heck of it. Turned out pretty good... hard to get the picture angle on semicircle stripes, can still see the previous stripes at certain angles... @Redtenchu I was thinking of you when putting these stripes in the backyard haha... not diamonds, but definitely not basic straight line stripes...













Front yard I stuck with my trusty double fats, but on a different angle this time...


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## Redtenchu (Jan 28, 2017)

Yes! Looks awesome!


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## ctrav (Aug 18, 2018)

I think the creativity adds to the space which is awesome to my eye. Tell me again your HOC plz...


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

Redtenchu said:


> Yes! Looks awesome!


Thanks! Hope it held up to expectations haha.



ctrav said:


> I think the creativity adds to the space which is awesome to my eye. Tell me again your HOC plz...


Thanks, turned out better than I expected it to. I'm cutting at .7 right now. I could probably scalp at .5 and cut at .625, but it's pretty bumpy as is. So planning to keep it where it is for this season, then level next year and drop it down. As me and you have discussed already, I've obliterated my yard budget this year, and still trying to figure out a way to get an Eley hose reel. So sand for 21k is out of the question haha. If I get crazy, I may level the front, but not expecting to at this point.


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## ctrav (Aug 18, 2018)

Brackin4au said:


> Redtenchu said:
> 
> 
> > Yes! Looks awesome!
> ...


I hear ya buddy... How do you like the PGR? What did you use and if you don't mind sharing what was the cost for 21k size lawn? I ask because as things are I will have to cut every 2-3 days and that does not sit well with my wife. I think she's jealous


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

@ctrav I use T-nex. Bought some from another TLF member that lives in the area. The gallon costs $160 but I just bought 32oz from him for $40 since it was 1/4 of the gallon. I love it so far. This was my first time spraying it. So we will see how it does going forward. It's already slowing the top growth for sure. I was needing to cut every 2-3 days too (although I wasn't getting it done ha) but I sprayed Friday, and today (Tuesday) I only filled up 1/4 of the trash can I normally fill about once and a half before PGR. Buying PGR is pricey for a whole gallon, but it goes a long way (I'm using 0.25oz/k right now), and it's worth it even if you have to buy the whole gallon yourself. There's an app online that keeps up with the timing for you, so you know exactly when to reapply the PGR for the most efficient suppression. Greenkeeperapp is the website. PGR effectiveness depends on the weather/heat, so it keeps up with the weather in your location and adjusts timeframes as needed to let you know exactly when to spray again.

I used my 4gal backpack sprayer to apply, and it went fine, but I had to fill up 5+ times to get the whole yard done. So I'm hoping to build a push sprayer eventually. It took me almost 2 hours to get the whole yard sprayed, but a lot of that time was due to fillups.


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## ctrav (Aug 18, 2018)

Brackin4au said:


> @ctrav I use T-nex. Bought some from another TLF member that lives in the area. The gallon costs $160 but I just bought 32oz from him for $40 since it was 1/4 of the gallon. I love it so far. This was my first time spraying it. So we will see how it does going forward. It's already slowing the top growth for sure. I was needing to cut every 2-3 days too (although I wasn't getting it done ha) but I sprayed Friday, and today (Tuesday) I only filled up 1/4 of the trash can I normally fill about once and a half before PGR. Buying PGR is pricey for a whole gallon, but it goes a long way (I'm using 0.25oz/k right now), and it's worth it even if you have to buy the whole gallon yourself. There's an app online that keeps up with the timing for you, so you know exactly when to reapply the PGR for the most efficient suppression. Greenkeeperapp is the website. PGR effectiveness depends on the weather/heat, so it keeps up with the weather in your location and adjusts timeframes as needed to let you know exactly when to spray again.
> 
> I used my 4gal backpack sprayer to apply, and it went fine, but I had to fill up 5+ times to get the whole yard done. So I'm hoping to build a push sprayer eventually. It took me almost 2 hours to get the whole yard sprayed, but a lot of that time was due to fillups.


Much appreciated on all the info. Im going to take a look at the PGR for next year and just deal with it this year. Keep me/us posted on the results and any side effects please...


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

Mowed today and still pretty amazed at the PGR. I've mowed twice now since applying it, and have only filled the 33g garbage can half way. I will say @ctrav , thus far, the only side effect I have is more of a double edged sword situation. The PGR is keeping it in check so well, that I had a really hard time seeing where I had and hadn't cut. Partially due to different striping today too though I guess. I did double fats in the back yard, and every 3rd line was the same as the faint stripes from the last time I went that direction, so it made it difficult to see when it was the same as the stripe beside it. Anyway, got a good mow in today, and I think double fats are my favorite, even though these are a little faded in spots from being laid over in the other direction recently. The circles were different, and neat for sure.... but as far as regular stripes, the double fat look is definitely my favorite. I will try double single double one day, but doing double fats today already took me a good bit longer than normal, since you're basically cutting the area once and a half.... oh well..

Also, disregard the dry spots. This heat wave brought those to light. Going to have to get a wetting agent soon looks like, since it's just going to get hotter...


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## ctrav (Aug 18, 2018)

Way to go bro! Looks awesome and surly inspires me...


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## manthatsnice (Mar 30, 2019)

Brackin4au said:


> Mowed today and still pretty amazed at the PGR. I've mowed twice now since applying it, and have only filled the 33g garbage can half way. I will say @ctrav , thus far, the only side effect I have is more of a double edged sword situation. The PGR is keeping it in check so well, that I had a really hard time seeing where I had and hadn't cut.


I hear ya on the PGR man. I applied it for the first time on the 17th and cut my grass yesterday for only the second time. I had about half a trash can of clippings. GDD gave me a few more days but I'm gonna be out of town for more than a week so I reapplied PGR after the cut.

As for cutting while on PGR, I turn on the sprinklers for a couple of minutes just before I mow. Helps track my progress.


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

manthatsnice said:


> As for cutting while on PGR, I turn on the sprinklers for a couple of minutes just before I mow. Helps track my progress.


Neat tip... I use the dew in the early morning to track progress while spraying. Hadn't really thought of it for cutting


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

Cut front and back yesterday.... had something come up and didn't have time to try the zigzag pattern for @OD on Grass and @TheTurfTamer , but I will try it soon.

I finally got down 1/2lb/k of potassium using 0-0-60... been meaning to do this already, after getting my soil test a couple months ago, just hadn't gotten around to it yet. Planned to put down 1/2lb/k 3 times throughout this year. Then see what it looks like on a soil test next season.

Also sprayed my fenced in drainage ditch, death to that area. Used Hi-Yield Killzall extended control, first time trying it so we will see how that did. Meant to take a before picture but forgot.


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## OD on Grass (Nov 1, 2018)

Brackin4au said:


> Cut front and back yesterday.... had something come up and didn't have time to try the zigzag pattern for @OD on Grass and @TheTurfTamer , but I will try it soon.


Yesssssssss!


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

I was really worried throughout this weekend.... we got 3-4" of rain and my PGR was supposed to wear off on Friday, as the rain began... luckily the grass still didn't grow vertically too much. Pretty pumped about that. Cut the front and back today, and will be spraying PGR in the morning with the assist of the dew to keep me consistent...





Dominating the neighbor on both sides.

I've noticed a significant difference in my front and back as far as green color. I put down 2 passes worth of carbon X on the front, and just 1 on the back. So the front likely got close to 1-1.25# of N per K. From this point forward, I'm going to stick with 1#N per K and see how it does....

I also noticed in the back, with the grass being less dark green, there is an interesting side effect of my dog's pee spots... instead of the pee spots being more brown/burn spots, they are the opposite. A dark green spot. I'm assuming that's pee spots at least...


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## ctrav (Aug 18, 2018)

Brackin4au said:


> I was really worried throughout this weekend.... we got 3-4" of rain and my PGR was supposed to wear off on Friday, as the rain began... luckily the grass still didn't grow vertically too much. Pretty pumped about that. Cut the front and back today, and will be spraying PGR in the morning with the assist of the dew to keep me consistent...
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Always looking clean and sharp...


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

@ctrav Thank you sir. Back is looking pretty lame lately, didn't get any good pictures of it today. Not sure what's going on other than less fertilizer than the front. Pretty frustrating. Thinking about grabbing some 34-0-0 and kicking it up a notch in the back to see if I can get it greened back up. I think the drought, then tons of rain in 2 days may have just depleted the nutrients on the hill due to run off. I really need to get some wetting agent on that hill, to help soak in the water better...


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## mha2345 (Mar 30, 2019)

Looking fantastic, interesting result from the dog pee, did you water it in? &#128514;. In all seriousness, I randomly will get spots like that in my backyard too, then other spots that look like actual pee spots


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## ctrav (Aug 18, 2018)

Brackin4au said:


> Thank you sir. Back is looking pretty lame lately, didn't get any good pictures of it today. Not sure what's going on other than less fertilizer than the front. Pretty frustrating. Thinking about grabbing some 34-0-0 and kicking it up a notch in the back to see if I can get it greened back up. I think the drought, then tons of rain in 2 days may have just depleted the nutrients on the hill due to run off. I really need to get some wetting agent on that hill, to help soak in the water better...


Baby shampoo (cheapest you can find like at the dollar store). I stocked up on some but have not used it. I was going to and my neighbor game me 2 1/2 bags of this stuff...


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

mha2345 said:


> Looking fantastic, interesting result from the dog pee, did you water it in? 😂. In all seriousness, I randomly will get spots like that in my backyard too, then other spots that look like actual pee spots


Yeah I'm not terribly sure it's pee spots. I just don't know what else it would be. I pick up the poop, bc it doesn't play well with a greensmower ha. So it shouldn't be related to that.


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

@ctrav keep me updated on the turf builder... and the shampoo if you try it. I'm probably going to pull the trigger on some tournament ready wetting agent though.


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## ctrav (Aug 18, 2018)

Brackin4au said:


> mha2345 said:
> 
> 
> > Looking fantastic, interesting result from the dog pee, did you water it in? 😂. In all seriousness, I randomly will get spots like that in my backyard too, then other spots that look like actual pee spots
> ...


I feed my dog super enriched spinach so she only pees and poops green :thumbup:


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## mha2345 (Mar 30, 2019)

Brackin4au said:


> mha2345 said:
> 
> 
> > Looking fantastic, interesting result from the dog pee, did you water it in? 😂. In all seriousness, I randomly will get spots like that in my backyard too, then other spots that look like actual pee spots
> ...


I can imagine.. I thought it might be where some fert collected in spots throughout the yard, but even that sounds unlikely. If you try the baby shampoo method, would love to know how it works out


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

ctrav said:


> I feed my dog super enriched spinach so she only pees and poops green :thumbup:


 :lol: :lol:


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## ctrav (Aug 18, 2018)

Brackin4au said:


> @ctrav keep me updated on the turf builder... and the shampoo if you try it. I'm probably going to pull the trigger on some tournament ready wetting agent though.


I will use the turf. builder since its 34-0-0 and I just scalped. They cost like $60 a bag and I offered my neighbor $40 but he said I could have it all for $20. As a general rule I don't use Scotts because of price. SiteOne and my local feed store have much better prices for sure.


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

ctrav said:


> I feed my dog super enriched spinach so she only pees and poops green :thumbup:


 :lol: :lol:



mha2345 said:


> If you try the baby shampoo method, would love to know how it works out


 :thumbup:


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

Lot of yardwork today... 0.25oz/M of PGR and 2oz/M of FEature early this morning with dew assist for coverage. Waited about 5 hours then cut front and back.... looks great in the front, back still isn't green like I want, mostly the hill...







Then I applied 3oz/M of RGS, dethatch, air8, microgreene, and humic12 to the front, and just the bottom section of the back yard. I'm thinking that could be contributing to the color differences in the back. At this point I'm going to keep it up for this season, as sort of an experiment to see how much the NEXT products help.

Ordered the tournament ready liquid last night. Should be here early next week. Eager to get that down and see if it helps my localized dry spots, and hopefully assists in the swales some too.


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## mha2345 (Mar 30, 2019)

Looking good as always&#128077;&#127995; How long you been using the NEXT products? I did my first app last month of RGS/Air8, next one coming soon. Any difference thus far?


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## ctrav (Aug 18, 2018)

Brackin4au said:


>


In this pick the black box in the lawn (water main?) how do you cut around this? Is yours low enough to just roll over? I have the same thing and thought mine was low enough but ended up hitting it just right and bent/broke a blade. Maybe its best to avoid all together and use a string trimmer?? Just curious...


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

mha2345 said:


> Looking good as always👍🏻 How long you been using the NEXT products? I did my first app last month of RGS/Air8, next one coming soon. Any difference thus far?


Thank you sir. This is my first year using them. I've done 3 applications so far. I think it's definitely helping the surface water that I used to get in my backyard. I assume that's from the air8. Still kinda hard to tell overall though. Going to keep it going all this season and re-evaluate.



ctrav said:


> Brackin4au said:
> 
> 
> > 1560567719[/url] user_id=1905]
> ...


@ctrav Yes that's the water box. I just go around it and then trim with the weed eater. I've thought about dropping it down under the turf a tad, but just haven't fooled with it yet. I actually busted it a few weeks ago with my rotary. You can zoom in and see it on the left box. My rotary used to go right over it with not issues, when I cut on the 2nd from lowest setting. But I was using it to cut some seedheads and had it at the lowest setting. Didn't think about it and went right over it and BAM. Quite the noise and jolt. Cut the mower off ha. Oh well...


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

Finally back in the yard after being out of town all last week. Yard was doing great upon return, big thanks to the PGR. Fresh cut today and the stripes were popping quite a bit...











Rest of the week will be dealing with the weeds that showed up while I was gone. Along the fence and in the flower beds mostly.


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## ctrav (Aug 18, 2018)

Welcome back buddy...I see you got things back in check quickly! Wish my lawn would stripe but so far its very faint at best...


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

I think a week off, plus a little rain, really helped the stripes. My stripes have been faint for a while too... this was a pleasant surprise. I'm sure the PGR and FEature app I put down a couple weeks ago helped too haha. PGR is seriously magic juice. I didn't cut the backyard for 10 days, and it still barely needed cut when I got back. Front yard I cut the night before we left town so it only went 7 days without a trim, it was still looking good when we got home. I'm sold on the PGR for sure. Now I have this week and next week to get it back in tip-top shape and then going out of town for a week one more time.


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

Becoming a believer in the N-EXT Air8.... last year, this section would flood and stay flooded for most of the day if we got any significant amount of rain (more pics of that earlier in the journal). But this year I've been applying Air8 monthly, and today we got 1.6" of rain in 30 mins. Area drained within an hour and a half from first pics to last pics.... pretty pleased


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## BadDad (Mar 13, 2019)

Your yard is looking sweet man... the bowl reall shows it off.
Glad you liking Air8, do you water less now?
PGR and Feature are amazing, much less time spent in lawn and it looks better.


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

BadDad said:


> Your yard is looking sweet man... the bowl reall shows it off.
> Glad you liking Air8, do you water less now?
> PGR and Feature are amazing, much less time spent in lawn and it looks better.


Thanks man. The PGR is like freaking magic juice. I love it.

I am watering less this year than last year, but I'm not sure I can say it's all due to Air8. It feels like we are having more timely rains, which allows me to skip waterings. I don't know. I just know it has absolutely helped my drainage during heavy rains...


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

So I've been busy with vacations this year and haven't been updating my journal.. just been trying to keep up with the yard. On our last vacation I had a double whammy of PGR wearing off a few days prior, and a lot of rain as soon as we got home. Ultimately wasn't able to cut for 10 days. Front yard I bit the bullet and scalped down to 0.5. It returned to good form in right at 2 weeks.

Backyard I couldn't make myself endure the process of scalping 17k again, so I just kept cutting it at the normal 0.7. It looks crappy thanks to the brown stalks growing while gone so now I'm basically scalping spots on every cut...

Basically.. I just gave up on the back because it was becoming more of a chore than an enjoyment....

In true TLF obsession, I flipped the script and made a drastic decision... I began the process of forming a putting green in the backyard... here is the progress thus far.

First I scalped the 0.7 down to 0.5, in a 1000sqft section... went over it in 3 directions... but then a storm popped up and I had to quit for the day.





Next day (today) I got after it again. Scalped down further to 0.3", in 3 directions.





Then scarified in 2 directions, cleaned up with rotary...





Then dethatched in 2 directions, cleaned up with rotary...





Had to end for the day again, but happy with the progress... next up will be to pound it with sand and smooth it out best I can... @cosgrc has a leveling rake I'm hoping to borrow for that haha...

Will try and update the progress best I can... @TheTurfTamer I may be tagging you with questions periodically haha


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## ctrav (Aug 18, 2018)

Welcome back...it will be awesome come September...


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

No pics today, but an update of progress. Didn't get much done on the green as I got started in the yard later than planned. Cut the front yard and part of the back. Put down a good dose of 13-13-13 on the green to kickstart the regrowth. Going to try and put sand down tmrw night after work...


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

Fully sanded... had a little bit of donated sand I started with, then went and picked up a truck bed load of some more and covered the rest... now to wait til the grass grows through...

Ps. Heat index hit 121 while out there... over 100 by 9am... :shock:


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

Last pick was actually from the day prior (Tuesday)... here is a progress pic from this morning, 2 days later...



Already got some green poking through!


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## adgattoni (Oct 3, 2017)

What are you thinking regarding mowing heights? Change HOC every time, or getting a new mower? Weeks auction is going on... just sayin!


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

adgattoni said:


> What are you thinking regarding mowing heights? Change HOC every time, or getting a new mower? Weeks auction is going on... just sayin!


Hahaha yes I have already been browsing Weeks. My wife will probably lose her mind if I buy another mower this year. So for now, I'm planning to just change heights each time I mow the main yard...... but we will see haha.


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

Update pic after first mow post sanding... 0.3"





Filling in nicely... dropped another 1/4lb N on it after mowing. Thinking I will try that 1/4lb N weekly for a bit and see how it does.


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## ctrav (Aug 18, 2018)

Brackin4au said:


> Update pic after first mow post sanding... 0.3"
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I'm watching...keep the updates coming!


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

@ctrav Will do. Hand watered it this evening but no pics. Been watering daily, but with this heat, I'm going to water it twice a day until it cools back off some. Think I'm going to spray some RGS on it tmrw too. Probably cut it again. Going to try to cut it every other day for now. And see how it does.


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

So the rain yesterday made a huge impact on the green... it had come a long way already, but when I got home from work, I was surprised to see it this thick and green...



Didn't want to cut it with the exposed sand still being wet, as I tried that once and all the sand was sticking to the drum and moving out of spots it needed to be in... so I waited and cut this morning...









Still have some thin spots as you can see in the wide angle pictures, but up close in the thicker spots it's looking good. Overall, it's coming along nicely. Tuesday is my normal weekly 1/4N day for it, but I'm going out of town later this week and will miss a few cuts already, so I think I'm going to hold off and fertilize it when I get back.


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

Out of town for a few days, so the green went 4 days without a cut... before I left I brought the HOC down to 0.247". Cut there again today. Just waiting on some spots to fill in more so I can resand the lowest spots again. Hoping I can get it down to at least 0.2" before the growing season is done...


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

Green coming in nicely, these pics are from a few days ago...







Beat up the green some today to encourage more fill in... cut at 0.247", then scarified, then raked, then broomed the existing sand back in, then topdressed with 100lb more sand... rolled after that (no pic after rolling it)...


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

Also, finally tackled/figured out the irrigation issue I've been having..... Ever since we moved in, I've noticed some hot spots now and then. I called the irrigation company that installed the irrigation during the house build the first growing season after we moved in, but they gave me the run around and were going to charge me just to come check it out. So I basically told them thanks for nothing and haven't spoke with them since. Earlier this year I decided to buy some tournament ready wetting agent for some drainage issues I've documented in the past. So I sprayed some of it on my hot spots, and they actually seemed to get worse. So I was pretty certain at that point that it was an irrigation issue, and I was going to have to buckle down and figure it out...

Based on the piss poor customer service, along with the assumption that this irrigation company just blew through all the installs in the subdivision as fast as they could, my first guess was the heads would have incorrect nozzles in them. So I went through and pulled up several heads, and what do ya know.... every head I checked had a 3.0gpm nozzle in it. That includes rotors with a 90deg arc, as well as rotors with a 360deg arc.... all of them. And not surprisingly,, my hot spots were all located near 360deg heads.... because they were getting 1/4th the water that the 90deg heads were putting out in their areas, and 1/2 the water of the 180deg heads. Idiots!

So I headed to Ewing irrigation supply, and met one of the most helpful employees of any store I've ever been in. When I pulled up he was headed to his truck to go somewhere, but asked what I needed. I explained my issue to him, and he agreed that switching nozzles should fix the problem... then walked back in the store and behind the counter and just handed me a handful of nozzle trees at no charge. He even sat and talked with me for 10-15 mins about my set up, and gave advice on which nozzles to use where. I switched them all out yesterday... so we will see how it does now.


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

So I've got it down to regulation height... 5/32" (0.156). Still got a lot of filling in left, but it's getting there. I haven't rolled a putt on it yet because it's still pretty bumpy in the thin areas, and I don't want to ruin the maiden voyage haha...


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

So I cut grass front and back today... nothing unusual, didn't notice anything in the yard.. then this evening I was out spraying some humic12/Air8 on the green, and noticed a couple small rocks. Then when walking back to the porch I noticed a couple more... ended up browsing the yard and found 2 handfuls of these...



There's a baseball field across the street that's has a huge pile of gravel they are using, so I've decided that either the kids are hitting rocks into my yard to be jerks, or birds are picking them up and dropping them as they fly over the yard... either way, frustrating. I think I got them all up, but I hope it doesn't continue. That'd ruin a reel very quickly....


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## ctrav (Aug 18, 2018)

Brackin4au said:


> So I cut grass front and back today... nothing unusual, didn't notice anything in the yard.. then this evening I was out spraying some humic12/Air8 on the green, and noticed a couple small rocks. Then when walking back to the porch I noticed a couple more... ended up browsing the yard and found 2 handfuls of these...
> 
> 
> 
> There's a baseball field across the street that's has a huge pile of gravel they are using, so I've decided that either the kids are hitting rocks into my yard to be jerks, or birds are picking them up and dropping them as they fly over the yard... either way, frustrating. I think I got them all up, but I hope it doesn't continue. That'd ruin a reel very quickly....


Well that's just not nice...hard to believe it would be bids 🤔


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

ctrav said:


> Well that's just not nice...hard to believe it would be bids 🤔


Yeah.. I started to call the school and talk to the baseball coach just so he would keep an eye on it, but figured if he mentioned it to them, they may just keep doing it out of spite. Plus, there's a lot of folks that aren't associated with the school that use the batting cage. So it could be them. Either way, I figure if I just let it go, they will get tired of it and it won't be funny anymore.... I did plenty of stupid stuff like that when I was in school, so this could just be some payback for that ha


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## ctrav (Aug 18, 2018)

Brackin4au said:


> ctrav said:
> 
> 
> > Well that's just not nice...hard to believe it would be bids 🤔
> ...


I'm sure we all owe some sort of restitution for past deeds. Go easy on the young ones as society is not so forgiving as when we/I was young...


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## Two9tene (May 27, 2018)

Man this project is ambitious! I wish I had the guts to try putting a putting green on the lawn. I suppose I would need another reel mower&#129300;


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

Two9tene said:


> Man this project is ambitious! I wish I had the guts to try putting a putting green on the lawn. I suppose I would need another reel mower🤔


I'll admit, changing cut heights between the green and rest of the yard has been very tedious, but it's been a fun project overall. I've still got some thin spots that I started worrying wouldn't fill in before dormancy, so I'm cutting at 0.3 now until it fills in all the way...


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

Happy birthday to me!



Gotta get it mounted in the backyard. Pretty pumped!


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

Forgot to update but finally got my preemergent down couple days ago (10/15). Cut front yard first, backyard hadn't grown much. Things seem to be slowing down big time. Also put 3lbs/M of Carbon X for my last fert application of the year. Green is the best looking area I have now, I guess the hand watering and spoon feeding of fert makes a big difference haha







Almost fully filled in, finally. Cutting at 0.3" now, so not green height, but I'll probably leave it at 0.3" until spring. Rest of the yard as you can tell in the pics looks like garbage. Oh well. I thought very seriously about over seeding with PRG this year. But I'm about ready for a break... maybe next fall.


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

Oh, forgot to mention an epic fail ha. @thompwa brought his Electra by my house and we cut my side yard since his new sod wasn't ready yet... after he left I was going to cut the rest of my front yard, but forgot to check the HOC (which was set to my putting green 0.3").... oops...


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

So I've really hated trying to mow around my mailbox and the street light pole in my sidewalk strip... so I decided to make some changes. I dug up the turf at an angle that I could easily slide by with my greensmower, and not have to do a lot of back and forth. While I was there, I dug up the sprinkler heads, which were lazily placed next to the road side by the irrigation company doing the mass subdivision quick jobs. I moved those over to the sidewalk side, because my next step was to plant some tulip bulbs. I knew I'd I left the sprinkler heads on the road side of the bed, they would demolish the tulips when they bloomed (5000 series rotors). Shout out to @thompwa on a connector to lengthen my funny pipe to where I needed it to be...







So after I got the heads fixed where I wanted, I backfilled the new beds with a guesstimated 50/50 mix of sand and soil conditioner mulch from my local nursery. Then I placed the bulbs, 25 in each bed... and covered with 3-4" of more soil conditioner. Turned out pretty nice I think...







Also, an update on my backyard putting green.. it's holding its color as hard as it can. I'm very surprised. I guess the low cut soaks in the heat from the sun. But it's killing it still... (pic from 11/19 after a trim)


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## thompwa (Aug 26, 2019)

Now that you've moved one head, might as well move the rest to the right spots and put in R-VANS. Haha


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

thompwa said:


> Now that you've moved one head, might as well move the rest to the right spots and put in R-VANS. Haha


Haha. I like where your head's at... but not seeing that happening anytime soon.


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

Got bored and noticed the putting green was a little shaggy looking. 59deg today so I figured what the heck. Went over it with a push broom first, then cut at 0.3". Took off a decent amount of grass, and a lot of dormant tips. The green itself is still holding a lot of color even after the trim... interested to see if it holds all winter. Didn't get a before pic, but here is after the trim...


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## adgattoni (Oct 3, 2017)

@Brackin4au how's the color on the green? Curious if some of the folks in the more southern zones could maintain a green-ish color year round by mowing that low.


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

It's pretty close to the same as the last pic. It's a little shaggy looking bc I haven't mowed it since then either. We've had a ton of rain, and I that corner of the yard is the farthest point from my gate, so I haven't wanted to trample the dormant grass with my mower too much.

I've wondered the same thing, and if it ever dries back out a little, I plan to cut again. I'm gonna keep cutting as long as it's green, but only when it looks shaggy. It's still green and growing, but slowwww. So I'll probably just trim it once every few weeks, as weather permits. It's been mid to upper 60s here all this week, but it's just so soggy that I can't get back there very easily.


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## Steely (Sep 24, 2017)

@Brackin4au Very nice lawn you have. 👍 How does the JD perform on your slopes? Any slipping and sliding? How severe are your slopes in degrees?

I ask because I have some pretty steep hills on the sides of my house and I'm wondering how a greens mower would do on these. I have about 18 degrees in the worst spots. Been thinking a Mclane, Trucut, or Cal Trimmer might be better options for me because of the treads on the rear wheels.


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

Steely said:


> @Brackin4au Very nice lawn you have. 👍 How does the JD perform on your slopes? Any slipping and sliding? How severe are your slopes in degrees?
> 
> I ask because I have some pretty steep hills on the sides of my house and I'm wondering how a greens mower would do on these. I have about 18 degrees in the worst spots. Been thinking a Mclane, Trucut, or Cal Trimmer might be better options for me because of the treads on the rear wheels.


Sorry for the late reply, I've been out of town and not checking in as frequently as I normally do. Thanks for the compliment, it's a lot of work, but I enjoy it. The JD handles the slopes much better than I anticipated. I was pretty worried about it honestly, but went for it and bought the JD at the weeks auction. I wondered about a homeowner model like you mentioned, for the same reason, the treads. But I'm glad I skipped those and went full greens mower. I'm not sure what my slope is in degrees, but I feel sure it's more than 18 in some areas. The easiest way for me to mow the slope is on a diagonal, very little issue at all. I CAN go straight up and down, I just usually choose not to. The mower will get up the slope, but the challenge is keeping the front roller on the ground as you crest the slope. Feel free to ask any other questions. I'll try to respond quicker haha.


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

My yard is still very wet, mainly in the lower areas, but..... Couldn't stand waiting any longer on the putting green... so I went for it today...







Made a little mess on the way to the putting green... but... oh well ha. We will deal with that later...


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## Bmossin (May 31, 2018)

Can't wait to see the green this year


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

Bmossin said:


> Can't wait to see the green this year


Yeah I'm looking forward to getting it smooth and quick...


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## chadh (Aug 8, 2019)

How's the new Jacobsen?


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

chadh said:


> How's the new Jacobsen?


Haven't used it yet. While I was working on it and getting it running smooth, I found a bend in the reel. Going to have to get a new bedknife and reel grind before I can use it.


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## erdons (Apr 3, 2018)

crazy the way your green was holding so much color deep into the year. Working on a green in my front yard, hoping for results like yours.


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

erdons said:


> crazy the way youre green was holding so much color deep into the year. Working on a green in my front yard, hoping for results like yours.


It finally went fully brown for about 2 weeks then greened back up haha. I feel certain that if I was able to maintain a regular cutting on it, it would've stayed green all winter. It just got so wet that I wasn't able to get my mower back to it since it's at the top of my back yard... I had a mud pit between me and the green for a couple months haha. It's super green now already...





I scalped the surrounding areas yesterday... green is at 0.5" right now, but I plan to scalp it down to .156" soon and topdress with some more sand to try and smooth it out a little more..


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## cosgrc (May 6, 2019)

Looking good. Don't forget to hit me up if you need that rake when you topdress with sand. Or if the garage is open at my folks, and my dads sitting there, go see him and he'll get it down for you.


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

cosgrc said:


> Looking good. Don't forget to hit me up if you need that rake when you topdress with sand. Or if the garage is open at my folks, and my dads sitting there, go see him and he'll get it down for you.


Sweet. Thanks. Will do. I plan on topdressing possibly tmrw.


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

Got some work in on the green...

Yesterday (4/1) I scalped down to 0.3".. then went and played real golf haha



Today I got back out to work on it some more.. intended to scalp to .2ish, but went for it and dropped down to 0.156". Went over it in 3 directions.







Topdressed with a little sand, thought I had more than I did... could use some more. Thanks again @cosgrc for the level rake..







After that I spread a couple pounds of CarbonX I had left over from last year, then sprayed max rates of the N-EXT biostim pack I won in LazyLawns YouTube giveaway a few months ago, then hand watered it in good...



Now, we wait......


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## BadDad (Mar 13, 2019)

How'd that level rake work for ya? Such a steep price tag I have been hesitant to buy one.


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## walk1355 (May 31, 2018)

BadDad said:


> How'd that level rake work for ya? Such a steep price tag I have been hesitant to buy one.


I have a 48" RR level rake I'd be willing to loan out. Only cost you a 12 pack of Coor's light.


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

BadDad said:


> How'd that level rake work for ya? Such a steep price tag I have been hesitant to buy one.


Works pretty great. Easy to push. This one is the 36" I think. Helps to have good neighbors haha.


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## BadDad (Mar 13, 2019)

walk1355 said:


> BadDad said:
> 
> 
> > How'd that level rake work for ya? Such a steep price tag I have been hesitant to buy one.
> ...


That is a good deal, will keep you in mind thanks.


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

Bittersweet trim on the green today. Starting to look really good, but today we also met with a realtor to put our house on the market.

Finally starting to fill in all the way, just not quite greened back up yet. Highly doubt the next owner will appreciate the work put in, and definitely don't expect them to keep it going... oh well, just have to build a new one at my next house haha


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## chadh (Aug 8, 2019)

@Brackin4au 
Staying in town or moving far away?


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

chadh said:


> @Brackin4au
> Staying in town or moving far away?


Moving 8 miles away haha. Crossing the limits into Athens. By about 200 yards haha


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

In typical fashion for my ways of doing things... I got bored today and finally sat down and modified the frame for the push sprayer I planned to build. My current yard is 21k and was getting way old using a backpack and constant refills.... the house I have an offer on only has 5-6k of grass total ha. Oh well...


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## cosgrc (May 6, 2019)

Brackin4au said:


> chadh said:
> 
> 
> > @Brackin4au
> ...


Bummer: my brother said he saw the For Sale sign this evening. Hopefully the next person takes as good as care of the lawn as you did!


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

cosgrc said:


> Brackin4au said:
> 
> 
> > chadh said:
> ...


I can foresee myself driving by now and then to check on it haha. If I see your dad out I'll stop by...


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## mha2345 (Mar 30, 2019)

Good luck with the sale and buy. Will you keep the 260 with less grass?


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

mha2345 said:


> Good luck with the sale and buy. Will you keep the 260 with less grass?


Thanks. That's a great question. I've been thinking it over and can't decide... so probably yes haha.


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

So yesterday I made the executive decision to push the green for the last few weeks I'm at this house before we close and move. I sprayed PGR on it, and plan to try and cut/roll it every day. It's really starting to fill in and it was killing me to not see it through. So hopefully I can get it just right and look at it once before I leave haha...


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## tcorbitt20 (Aug 31, 2018)

Looking really good! It'll be painful to leave it once it get it looking so good. Don't make the mistake of going back once you move. I did, and they haven't touched it in two months. Looking forward to seeing what you do with the new place. What kind of grass does it have?


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

Yeah I've already debated if I'll ever swing by to check on it ha. New place has Bermuda, I assume 419 like most everywhere around here... I plan to put a putting green there too. Yard is significantly smaller though. Which can be good and bad depending on how you look at it ha.


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

Don't think I'm gonna quite make it to perfection before I move... but dang, it's gonna be awfully close. It's looking really good despite the low temps and slow green up this year...


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

Played 27 holes in the backyard today with a couple buddies ha. Didn't have a hole cutter so had to improvise with the proplugger and then widened the hole to 4.25" with a chisel. Spaced out the tees around the yard. All par 3s. Pics in order from 1-9. Hole 7-8 definitely were the toughest, but 5 was the scariest. It was the longest and right behind the fence is an intersection... We only hit 1 over the fence.. ha. Luckily we were careful to listen for cars before each shot, just in case.

Here's the holes in order 1-9...

Hole 1


Hole 2


Hole 3


Hole 4


Hole 5


Hole 6


Hole 7


Hole 8


Hole 9


Kinda bummed about the "rough" on the face of the hill. It was super dark green a couple weeks ago.. I guess the cold temps zapped it. Oh well...

Green played nicely. Tricky getting one to stop on the green from the lower tees, but that's expected from an uphill shot.


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## Lawn Burgundy (Apr 27, 2020)

So it sounds like you need to start another journal with the move happening. hope all goes well with that!


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

STRES said:


> So it sounds like you need to start another journal with the move happening. hope all goes well with that!


Yeah I plan to eventually ha. Been working on the new yard a lot and haven't taken as many pics as I should have. It's coming along nicely though. Hopefully I can sit down and start a new journal soon.


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