# Ricwilli's Lawn



## ricwilli (Feb 18, 2019)

Hi everyone.
I started a thread in the "Soil Fertility" section about my soil test, and was suggest that I start a thread here to specify my goals. Thanks to everyone who helped and is helping me with my soil. Here is a link to that discussion. https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=9144&start=20.

So here we go. I've been living in this home for only 9 months. The builder put down KBG Sod in the front yard and Tall Fescue in the backyard. The grass in the backyard was coming up really bad and I couldn't keep up with the watering, so I killed the whole thing. It is now all dirt. Mainly clay. My plan is to run a sprinkler system and run the water from the gutters away from the house underground. I also purchased some Round Up to kill the weeds that do come up while fallowing the backyard. Hopefully I can get this done so I can start seeding in the Fall.
Below are pics of my front lawn. It is *** and not looking good at all. I'm also planning on putting in a sprinkler system in the front yard. A part of the front yard has sunken in from I believe a pipe that was ran to the house by the builder. I've told the builder about this and he said he will be filling it in. Most likely he will remove the grass where the ground has sunken, fill it and lay new sod.

I envision this grass to be Lush and Green. A really Dark Green. So I am here requesting your help. If you read my post on my soil test, you will see that the soil needs a lot of help. I am willing to try and get my grass to the way I envision it. Below is what I have done and what was suggested for me to do.

FRONT YARD = 1300 SQFT
10/15/2018 - Spread Milorganite
3/11/2019 - Sprayed Tenacity on front lawn. 3ml in 2 Gallons of water
5/4/2019 - Spread Scott's 0-0-1 Weed Control. Added 4lbs (This was suggested. Late, I know)
5/6/2019 - Spread Expert Gardener 10-10-10 Fertilizer on front lawn. Added 13lbs. (10 lbs per 1k) (This was suggested)


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

Ricwilli welcome. We will make this front lawn green and the backyard.

My house is 4 yrs old and the initial soil was really bad. As you can see in your soil test it needs nutrients. After your sod was installed it used the nutrients it had in the 2in of roots/soils. But those ran out and the lawn needs more nutrients. The product you applies is a balanced one and will start to move thing in the right direction.

I forgot to advise you to water it in. Some parts of Indiana had rain today, but if yours did not, then please water it in. This feeding should last you until the first week of June. You should do an additional one then. After that we will have to see how the weather is.

I think your next task is to figure out how to water your lawn. Get a hose and a sprinkler that could cover your area and test it out now before the summer. My front lawn is a similar layout and I had success with this one. I set it to Right and created a semi circle to avoid watering the driveway.


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## ricwilli (Feb 18, 2019)

Thanks for the response. I have watered in the fertilizer and weed control. I've built two PVC sled with water sprinkler heads on it for the watering. 
So, for right now, I will wait till the first week of June to add more fertilizer. I will add 5lbs of 10-10-10 per 1ksqft like you stated in my soil post. If you think I need to add something else, please let me know. Or maybe even get another test on my soil. Thanks again for the help.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

@ricwilli how is it looking? Indiana had great weather, so you should be seeing some green up.


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## ricwilli (Feb 18, 2019)

Hey g-man
I was just prepping the mower to mow the lawn until I saw your post. I took pics right now before mowing. Looks a lot more green than before. Don't know how it's going to look after I mow it. The grass is hovering around the 5-6 inch mark in height. I'm going to mow and not bag the clippings. I just hope we can get rid of all the brown in the grass. I think that's dead grass. If there's anything you think I should add, please let me know. Thanks


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

It is going to take some time to recover and keep growing. It looks better and the addition of nitrogen helped. Just keep mowing and but dont let it go too tall.


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## ricwilli (Feb 18, 2019)

Well, looks like I have lots of POA Annua in my lawn. I'm guessing that I can kill it with Dithiopyr, correct?



I also have mushrooms growing as well.



Killing the POA is going to be a loosing battle for me. I have a neighbor that does not take care of their lawn and let's the grass grow high. Their lawn is just full of POA. At least that's what I think it is. My lawn is on the right.


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## cfinden (Aug 7, 2018)

I can't tell if it's Poa A or not, but if you keep doing Pre-M Spring AND Fall you should be able to prevent most of it from spreading. Since you have KBG you don't need to seed in Fall, so you can do a Fall app of Pre-M (Scott's Scott's 0-0-1 Weed Control).

I get a lot of mushrooms that look exactly like that too. I always thought it was because of high organic matter in the soil, yours is fairly low @ 1.9% but I suppose there could be something buried underneath there? I have no idea if this will work or not, but I'm going to try applying Blackstrap molasses this summer to kick up the microbes. My hope is that they eat whatever organic matter is causing the mushrooms...

It's looking good, it might struggle in the summer heat, but you'll have lots of time to feed it in the fall and get it green and thick for next Spring.


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## TrialAndError (Oct 7, 2017)

The close up of your grass looks like KBG seed heads. Got a little too tall..


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

@ricwilli how is this looking? We had plenty of rain, so it should need some nitrogen soon.


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## ricwilli (Feb 18, 2019)

@g-man I apologize for not getting back to you. I saw that you posted but got side tracked and forgot to post an update. I could be happier with the lawn. It looks thinned out. But I have not given up on it. I still stand/sit outside everyday to look it and enjoy it. Below is what I have done with it so far. I've also been dealing with what I think is Brown Patch.



I am planning for this weekend to add:

- Simple Grow Solutions Humic/Fulvic Root Hume (I am going to do this every two weeks. Will it be to much?)

- Milorganite 13lbs

- Insecticide (liquid) which also treats Grubs. I don't feel like the 4lbs of GrubEx was enough. Maybe because I saw lots of Japanesse beetles.

- Water everything in for two hours

I've also been driving myself crazy trying to come up with an underground sprinkler layout. I've already got all the dimensions but the lawn layout is crazy. :evil:


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

It looks great. Hopefully summer will end soon. If you followed the Grubex bag rate, you are fine. Japanese beetles will lay eggs (or already did), but the grubex prevents those eggs from maturing.

I don't know about the simple lawn product.


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## ricwilli (Feb 18, 2019)

Irrigation install progress - https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=12046

Hi all,
Like I stated in my irrigation thread. I took advantage of the weather and worked outside for a bit. I wanted a raised mulch bed with plants between my house and the neighbors. This will greatly help all the water coming down the neighbors gutter stay on there side since the slope is towards my house.

In this pic i actually used an extension cord to lay out how I wanted the bed edge to look and than I used a shovel to cut the grass. Extension cord not shown.



While removing/pulling the 17 month old sod, I got a surprise. GRUBS!!!!. The section that I am removing is 16'x3'. Out of that whole section, I only spotted 4. I'm sure there are more, but I did not see them.



I got lucky here. Well my neighbor did as this is his cable line. Two more Grubs.



All done removing the grass.





Since they are still building homes in my development, I will grab some clay/dirt and raise the bed.


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## ricwilli (Feb 18, 2019)

I have a few questions below that I hope someone can answer.

1) The North side of the house is not getting to much sun and moss is taking over. Will this be an issue when it comes time for me to seed and grass is grown?
2) Can I do a soil test now or do I have to wait till it warms up and soil not to wet?
3) I have approx. 6K sq ft of front and back lawn. Do I need multiple soil test or will one be enough? Getting soil from each side of the house.
4) I stumbled across @FORT TTTF Reno and I love the color of the grass (SS1000 Tall Fescue BLend). Can this survive in Indiana climate?
5) I am installing my own sprinklers. Should I use 6 inch sprinklers since I want TTTF grass? I currently purchased 4 inch not knowing.

Thanks all in advance.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

1) you will need to kill the miss prior to dropping the seeds. Dawn dish washer soap works.
2) you can if it is not frozen. Likely next week we should be good.
3) I doubt they brought in topsoil to the front of the house. The back is likely sub soil from the construction. You should get multiple samples and mix it into one soil test.
4) yes it can, but mix in some kbg. A TTTF only lawn means no repair capability.
5) 6in heads will help if you keep the hoc above 4in.


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## ricwilli (Feb 18, 2019)

Thanks for the response. I cannot justify the price on 6 inch sprinklers heads. Currently 4 inch are $5.54 and 6 inch are $13.48. That's a big difference. I guess my Max hoc will be 3.5.
I will look into the Dawn dish washer soap for the moss.


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## ricwilli (Feb 18, 2019)

I have a lot of these things growing in the backyard but not in the front yard. Backyard is all dirt. What are they and how can I kill it? Thanks


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

Round up. Cheap and effective since you don't have grass.


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## uts (Jul 8, 2019)

Are you planning to drop seed in the backyard? Because if you aren't, come spring everything will grow like crazy..

As pointed before glyphosate is your best option.

As for the soil test for the first time I would do atleast 2 soil test, one front one back. If you think yoi have any problem areas I would test them separately.

I would do that especially if you are dropping seed and putting in all the effort. Better be ready.


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## ricwilli (Feb 18, 2019)

Thanks for the responses. I do plan to drop seeds this year. My next question is, should I throw down a Pre M on the dirt and front lawn? I will also be killing off the front lawn as I am in the process of installing a sprinkler system.


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## kds (Apr 28, 2017)

If you're not seeding until fall then I would put down pre-em to keep things from getting out of control and spreading. You could use glyphosate on it when you kill the rest of the lawn but this way you won't need to use so much. Now if it was a steep hill, had dogs that walk on it, or had some other reason you wouldn't want to have bare dirt, you could let weeds grow on it and deal with it later.


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