# adgattoni's Lawn Journal



## adgattoni (Oct 3, 2017)

*Current Status (9/8/2019):*


So, about time I start one of these.

Prior year lawn notes:
*2017*
* Started caring more about the lawn mid-2017 after my son was born and found The Lawn Care Nut. I had approximately 7k square feet and was using a Kobalt 40v mower and string trimmer.
* Saw a LCN video where he mentioned "some guys with bermuda going crazy low" and showed what I think may have been @Redtenchu footage. This made me want to start reel mowing.
* Found @wardconnor on YouTube and became obsessed with the lawn. If I remember correctly I subbed before 1k subscribers. The latest video on his channel at the time was the first leveling video.
* Found TLF towards the end of the 2017 bermuda season.
* Bought an older California Trimmer on Craigslist for $350.
* Started a bluemuda experiment. It was great for the time I had it (see next bullet point), but due to herbicide conflicts I'm not sure I will do it again. I've driven by the property a few times since moving and it still looks great.

*2018*
* Got a new job in a city closer to family. Sold our house over the internet (Offerpad).
* We rented a house while building a house. May have been the best maintained rental lawn in the area?
* First started using PGR. It's the only product my wife knows by name and is happy to spend money on.
* I picked up a Pellet Pro for wetting agents. Earned my own LCN reputation in the neighborhood through this tool, as I typically apply it in the rain. Neighbors don't quite understand why I water the lawn in the rain.
* Wife got me a landscape blade for Father's Day.
* Took a chance on a $60 4-cycle string trimmer. Ran fine when I met the guy but a week later it exploded and leaked oil all over me. I ended up just draining the oil and gas and sending it to the dump. Got a 57v Echo on Amazon Warehouse Deals ($90) to replace it.
* Bought a Honda HRR216 for $40. It has some janky wheels and had a hole in the deck. I changed the spark plug, filter, oil, blades, and it runs fine now. I patched the hole with some JB weld.
* Sold the Kobalt 40v mower and string trimmer for $150.
* Found a Greensmaster Flex 21 on Craigslist and ended up getting it for $400.
* Sold the California Trimmer for $400.
* Picked up a Lesco 80lb spreader on Craigslist. Think I paid $100 for it. Gave my old scott's mini to my neighbor.
* Found a BlueBird Lawn Comber with bagger on Craigslist to replace my Greenworks scarifier. Paid $300 for it.
* Sold the Greenworks for $50.
* December 18: Finally moved into the new house. Standard "sod to the back corners and seed the rest" situation. Paid extra to have 20' extra feet of bermuda installed. I have 0.47 acres total, about 17k sq ft of turf.

*2019*
* The landscaper had abandoned about 3 pallets of sod in a lot across the street. The builder told us he'd left messages and got no response. He needed them gone and said I could have them if I moved them myself. This was early January, which in my area was basically non-stop rain. I moved all three pallets of soaking wet sod with a Gorilla Cart. The sod probably sat on those pallets for a month, but everything is greening up well.
* I've applied penterra to my swales and tournament ready pellets to the rest of the lawn. Two applications of bifenthrin thus far.
* Landscaping was the standard builder package in the front. I outlined landscape beds all around the house with the landscape blade (very handy tool for cutting sod), moved that sod to the back yard, dug natural edging all around the beds, then had 6 cu yd of mulch delivered. Between the 3 pallets I got from the builder and the sod I moved from around the house I probably added another 20' of sod to the back.
* I've slowly added a few plants:
* Japanese maple (Red Dragon)
* Japanese aucuba
* Boxwoods
* Variegated euonymus
* Hostas
* Forsythia
* Butterfly bush
* Blueberry bushes
* The back yard was seeded and strawed. It was fairly light so I got a 50lb bag of PRG, raked the straw, dragged it smooth with a drag mat, seeded it, rolled it in for solid contact, and re-spread the straw. I put some 13-13-13 down, set up a couple sprinklers, then started watering. My back yard is the greenest in the neighborhood at the moment. My primary goal with this project is erosion control. I don't have irrigation so I expect most of it will get smoked by the NC summer heat. Once the sod takes root I will start pulling plugs and transplanting it into the ryegrass.
* I am attempting to niwaki an Autumn Blaze Maple in the front yard to keep it short. It's "the neighborhood tree" and is required by the city so I can't remove it. I used some twine to pull the branches down into position last week, and removed competing leaders.
* I scalped the bermuda (0.5 HOC) Thursday night. I have high HOC brackets for the flex 21, so I will mow at 1 inch until the bermuda roots. Once the bermuda has rooted I will do a HOC reset to a lower HOC. I also applied some Screamin' Green (the free 1800 sq ft bag they had going a while back) and some cheap 24-0-11 I had from Lowe's last year (I estimate I have about 5k sq ft of bermuda, so needed a bit more than the Screamin' Green).


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## adgattoni (Oct 3, 2017)

*Bluemuda at previous home:*


*Rental Lawn as of November(still green!) last year:*


*Landscape beds (pre-edging):*







*Ryegrass (builder seeded, 3/17/2019):*



*Ryegrass (my PRG, 4/15/2019):*


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## adgattoni (Oct 3, 2017)

Mowed the bermuda again at 0.75" or so today, but it's still working on greening up from the scalp last week. Also planted a few Stargazer Lilies.


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## adgattoni (Oct 3, 2017)

Planted some Bloodgood japanese maples last night ($13.99 from Aldi). Ordered a refill of T-nex from DoMyOwn (159.95+free shipping).


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## adgattoni (Oct 3, 2017)

Trimmed up the sacrificial PRG yesterday before getting a nice heavy rain.

Also, just documenting the current state of the landscape beds:

Bloodgood japanese maple, forsythia, japanese aucuba, stargazer lilies


Another Bloodgood, some blueberry bushes, butterfly bush, euonymus, more stargazers


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## adgattoni (Oct 3, 2017)

Mowed the sacrificial ryegrass tonight. Will probably do the bermuda tomorrow or the next day.

For anyone curious, I'm currently at about 0.75 inches. I have not leveled this lawn yet. Builder grading and sod. Just jumped straight to scalping at 0.5 inches, and really haven't had much of an issue. Once the bermuda has fully rooted I'll do a HOC reset to get even lower.


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## adgattoni (Oct 3, 2017)

*The humic acid test:*
I'm setting up five (5) 10' by 10' test plots to evaluate whether humic acid is worth my dollars.

*The products and rates I will be testing:*
1. Carbon-X (5 oz)
2. Microgreene (1 oz)
3. RGS (1 oz)
4. Air-8 (1 oz)
5. Anderson's Humic DG (2 oz)
6. No wetting agents plot
7. Kelp4Less Extreme Blend (2 g)

Generally I took the label rate per 1k sq ft * 10% (since my plots are 100 sq ft). A bit higher than label rate in some cases for convenience.

*Plot Setup:*
All test plots will receive:
- Reel Low Lovin'
- PGR
- Wetting Agents
- Ammonium Sulfate (except Carbon-X plot)
- FEature 6-0-0 (except MicroGreene & Carbon-X plots)
- Herbicides, fungicides, and pesticides as necessary
- Non-irrigated turf, but I will be watering with above ground sprinklers.

The remainder of my turf will serve as the control (i.e., my typical program).

All of my turf, including the test plots, have already received:
- Fertilizer
- Wetting agents
- FEature 6-0-0

*Tests will include:*
- Screwdriver test (compaction)
- Root mass comparisons 
- Turf density comparisons
- Summer color comparisons (stress tolerance)
- Fall color comparisons
- Requests from other forum members (sorry - can't afford soil testing for each plot)

*I hope to be able to answer the following:*
- Can I just use Carbon-X in place of fertilizer+FEature+humic?
- How does MicroGreene compare to RGS+FEature? (2% sea kelp vs. 3% in RGS)
- Does Air-8 relieve compaction? (FWIW I could barely get my ProPlugger into the dirt in these spots.)
- Is there a difference between granular humic and liquid humic?

*Preliminary pictures:*


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## SGrabs33 (Feb 13, 2017)

Nice project!


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## adgattoni (Oct 3, 2017)

SGrabs33 said:


> Nice project!


Thank you sir!

Obviously this is all anecdotal, but a comparison point nonetheless for someone out there on the fence like me. I think it'll be a pretty decent test since it's not another example of going from barely taking care of the lawn to dumping tons of products and giving humic all the credit. You'll be able to compare a regularly mowed, watered, and fertilized lawn to the same program + humic to see the incremental changes from just the humic (in various formats).

And I'll be able to make the judgment call for myself on cost/benefit. I'd probably save $100/year or more downsizing my program if the humic doesn't give me a noticeable improvement in either appearance or root development.


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## adgattoni (Oct 3, 2017)

Laid down some double wide stripes today.


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## adgattoni (Oct 3, 2017)

PGR @ .25oz/1ksqft + FEature 6-0-0 @ 1.5oz/1ksqft were applied last night. I will probably put out more wetting agent (H20 maximizer pellets) tonight as I'm seeing some spots starting to dry out.

Thinking about adding a test plot for wetting agents too (a control plot that does NOT receive wetting agents).


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## SGrabs33 (Feb 13, 2017)

adgattoni said:


> Thinking about adding a test plot for wetting agents too (a control plot that does NOT receive wetting agents).


I'd def like to see that. I have some tournament ready pellets coming tomorrow.


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## adgattoni (Oct 3, 2017)

Still some dry spots, but it's looking better.

I'm letting it grow a bit taller (about 1 inch) so that I can harvest more sprigs later in the summer to transplant into the sacrificial ryegrass. I've already started taking some plugs with my ProPlugger, but adding sprigs to the mix will further aid in transitioning that section of the lawn to bermuda. The rye simply isn't doing well in this NC heat (though it would surely be doing better if I had established it in the fall vs. the spring).





I also added some drip irrigation to the landscape beds:


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## adgattoni (Oct 3, 2017)

SGrabs33 said:


> adgattoni said:
> 
> 
> > Thinking about adding a test plot for wetting agents too (a control plot that does NOT receive wetting agents).
> ...


FYI I just posted a new picture. The new test plot for wetting agents is in front of plot #1 (on the far right - I ran out of stakes so I'm just going to guesstimate 10 feet back from the existing stake). It's not terribly different at the moment, but you can definitely see some yellowing in that area that isn't in other areas. The area in front of plot #3 is recovering from some brown patch I believe, but I think this spot is from heat/drought stress.


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## adgattoni (Oct 3, 2017)

So my neighbor's Sunjoe dethatcher wore out its belt in the middle of his bermuda seeding project, so I let him borrow my BlueBird power rake. After he was done, I couldn't resist myself and went ahead and verticut the entire lawn. It has a bagger, so I was able to easily dump the sprigs onto some of my sacrificial ryegrass area. I set up some sprinklers to water this area. I'll be trying to water this area 5-6 times a day.

I also put the following cocktail on it:

- Generic fertilizer I had left over from last year (I think a 28-0-11)
- FEature 6-0-0 (micros)
- Tournament Ready (water efficiency)
- PGR (stress reduction; carbohydrate efficiency)
- Melatonin (stress reduction; don't fully know how this works yet)
- Anderson's HumicDG
- RGS (stress reduction)
- Humic12 (would have done Microgreen for the additional kelp, but I had already mixed the FEature before I thought of it)
- Preventive rate of fungicide

I am still a humic skeptic, but I figured I'd throw everything in the arsenal at this to give it the best chance of survival. I do not have an irrigation system, so my sprinkler+timer+stay-at-home-mom setup will have to do.

This is the section I'm attempting to sprig:



Some other pictures from today:

*Ryegrass is looking crispy*



*Flamingos installed*



*I mowed the grass with the flex 21 (to gently pick up any loose sprigs) and the honda (basically a lawn vacuum) to clean up the debris from the verticutting. Doesn't look half bad considering it was post-verticutting!*


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## adgattoni (Oct 3, 2017)

I have no idea how the sprigs are doing, but this section of the lawn sure looks better. I'm not sure if it's simply from the extra water or from the stress reduction cocktail.


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

I noticed you said you put Penterra in the swales and tournament ready everywhere else... have you tried tournament ready in the swale to see if it worked on it's own there, to try and eliminate the need for Penterra? Just curious because I'm needing something for localized dry spot, but also have some issues with swales. So trying to figure out if one will do both and lessen the costs incurred.


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## SGrabs33 (Feb 13, 2017)

Brackin4au said:


> I noticed you said you put Penterra in the swales and tournament ready everywhere else... have you tried tournament ready in the swale to see if it worked on it's own there, to try and eliminate the need for Penterra? Just curious because I'm needing something for localized dry spot, but also have some issues with swales. So trying to figure out if one will do both and lessen the costs incurred.


Not trying to hijack.

In prep for all the rain we have coming our way I just put out another app of TR. I'll let you know how it works on my swales as they usually hold quite a bit of water for an extended period of time.

Also wouldn't mind to know @adgattoni opinion on this.


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## adgattoni (Oct 3, 2017)

SGrabs33 said:


> Brackin4au said:
> 
> 
> > I noticed you said you put Penterra in the swales and tournament ready everywhere else... have you tried tournament ready in the swale to see if it worked on it's own there, to try and eliminate the need for Penterra? Just curious because I'm needing something for localized dry spot, but also have some issues with swales. So trying to figure out if one will do both and lessen the costs incurred.
> ...


@Brackin4au @SGrabs33

I can certainly just do a test next time. I will apply Penterra to one side of the house and TR to the other, then try to get some pictures during a rain to compare. The pictures will still be a bit different given the swales handle different volumes of water. I will try to give some perspective on it, but you'll have to just trust me  . Anecdotally, in the past I have only had the TR pellets, and I think it would help with both water percolation and LDS issues.

The coming week would be great for this (storms coming through), but unfortunately I'm leaving town for vacation this afternoon.


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## Brackin4au (Jun 13, 2018)

No worries @adgattoni thanks for running. The experiment for us haha. I will certainly trust your findings. @SGrabs33 did you use pellets or the TR liquid?


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## SGrabs33 (Feb 13, 2017)

Brackin4au said:


> No worries @adgattoni thanks for running. The experiment for us haha. I will certainly trust your findings. @SGrabs33 did you use pellets or the TR liquid?


Pellets. They did well tonight but only got about 1/4 inch I think. Should be getting more rain soon.


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## cglarsen (Dec 28, 2018)

Excellent experimental design. I'm really interested in whether Humic is worth the money or just the latest/greatest offering from the industry.


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## adgattoni (Oct 3, 2017)

Topped off the test plots after work yesterday. FYI no noticeable different in color. I haven't done any of the other tests yet though (there may be increased root mass/improved flocculation that isn't visible/hasn't affected the topgrowth yet). One unexpected perk of CarbonX thus far is that the polycoated urea prills make it very easy to see where you're applying the product. I also added one more plot: Kelp4Less Extreme Blend.



Other recent apps/projects I haven't posted about:
- AMS (granular), HumicDG on the sprigged area - 6/14
- PGR, FEature, ammonium sulfate (foliar) - 6/15
- Bifenthrin, Celsius (blanket app since I broke my pre-emergent with the bluebird) - 6/18
- I've pulled about 100 or so plugs in the last week or so and have been transplanting them into the rye. I'll be ramping up the fertilizer out there to push growth.

I'm due for wetting agents so I'm also going to be applying that soon. Penterra on one side of the house and Tournament Ready everywhere else.

Pics:
It was raining earlier so I didn't get a good picture. Will try to get something better later.

All this rain and watering the sprigs has brought the ryegrass back from the dead.


FYI some of the yellowing in this one is from built up clippings from that major rain storm a couple weeks back. I was out of town and they sat on the turf for about a week.


Cleaned up my baby this past weekend.


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## adgattoni (Oct 3, 2017)

Put down a cocktail of things on the ryegrass tonight:
- Quinclorac (0.367oz/1ksqft)
- Kelp4less Extreme Blend (~15-20g/1ksqft)
- Melatonin (2g/1ksqft)
- ~0.5 N worth of 13-13-13


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## adgattoni (Oct 3, 2017)

*Tournament Ready vs. Penterra Showdown*

@Brackin4au @SGrabs33, I got the wetting agents applied today. Tournament Ready on one swale and Penterra on the other.

One interesting thing the Penterra does that the Tournament Ready doesn't: it's incredibly noticeable on the turf. It looks nothing like this when simply wet. FYI obviously I skipped the "no wetting agents" plot.



Just to confirm I didn't compromise the test plots by not applying wetting agent to all of the plots:



As a comparison shot, here are some pictures from a nice heavy rain recently (I've been behind on getting wetting agents reapplied):


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## adgattoni (Oct 3, 2017)

Ryegrass sure does stripe well! Got everything mowed today.


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## adgattoni (Oct 3, 2017)

Got some pictures during that thunderstorm yesterday. Generally i saw improvements in percolation with both tournament ready and Penterra, but it seems the Penterra did a bit better. @SGrabs33 @Brackin4au

Tournament Ready


Penterra


This side showed improvement, just not as much as the Penterra side imo. Both work well for dry spots though.



Test plot update:
Generally about the same as the rest of the lawn thus far. Plugs were still difficult to pull. No apparent difference in floculation, rooting, color, or soil moisture.

CarbonX


Microgreen


Rgs


Air8


HumicDG


Control


No wetting agents


K4L extreme blend


Thinking about doing another verticut next weekend, spreading the sprigs, then doing a mid season scalp.


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## adgattoni (Oct 3, 2017)

Doesn't really show up as clearly in pictures, but I think the Carbon-X plot looked slightly bluer than the rest of my lawn today:


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## adgattoni (Oct 3, 2017)

*New Air-8 Test*

The area below is a low spot on my property and holds a lot of water. So much so that the ryegrass I had established here drowned out and died after I watered hourly for a week to encourage some sprigs to root (approximately an 80% fail, but I am starting to see patches of bermuda all over this area). Wetting agents alone have not improved water infiltration in this area. I plan to do a leveling project to improve the overall slope this area, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to get to it this season (probably next season). Therefore, I'm going to start applying Air-8 to this entire area to see if anything improves. There won't be a control area for this, so the comparison point will be the other pictures in this thread (you can see a distinct spot where water has pooled in several pictures) and my own memories of how this area has held water for days after a rain (been here about 7 months now, and we had a pretty rainy Winter).



Not to scale but here is an updated test plot map:


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## adgattoni (Oct 3, 2017)

Started another project tonight. I've had an annoying dry spot right in front of the house. Finally did some screwdriver testing and unfortunately it's more impregnable than Mike Tyson's defense. Pretty sure the builder left a pile of gravel in this spot and the landscapers just sodded over it. About 2 inches down starts a 3-4 inch layer of gravel. I suppose the next few days will be digging all of this rock out.


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## adgattoni (Oct 3, 2017)

Finished up the excavation project tonight. I ended up taking another 2 inches or so out of this hole after this pic was taken. It was dark when I finished so I don't have a pic of the finished project - will add one tomorrow showing the sod reinstalled.



Side note - after that massive storm this past weekend, I've decided to eliminate the mulch down the driveway idea. Half of it ends up in the road every time it rains anyway.



Sod reinstalled:


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## adgattoni (Oct 3, 2017)

Started another project tonight. I am going to reset my HOC this weekend, so I wanted to make use of the material vs. just throwing it in the trash. I went over the back yard (approx. 5k sq ft) in one direction with the power rake, and made it half way across again going in a perpendicular direction. I was able to get enough material to cover about 1,000 square feet pretty heavily. I'm seeing little bits of bermuda here and there in the area I sprigged last time, but it's pretty sparse. This time I went heavier in a smaller area (I also have a better watering setup now). Will upload a picture of the finished product tomorrow, it was dark when I finished up.


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## cglarsen (Dec 28, 2018)

adgattoni said:


> Started another project tonight. I am going to reset my HOC this weekend, so I wanted to make use of the material vs. just throwing it in the trash. I went over the back yard (approx. 5k sq ft) in one direction with the power rake, and made it half way across again going in a perpendicular direction. I was able to get enough material to cover about 1,000 square feet pretty heavily. I'm seeing little bits of bermuda here and there in the area I sprigged last time, but it's pretty sparse. This time I went heavier in a smaller area (I also have a better watering setup now). Will upload a picture of the finished product tomorrow, it was dark when I finished up.


Did you rent that?

I'm interested in doing the same thing if it works. I've never gotten sprigs to take they just seem to die on me the next day or two. What's your process?


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## adgattoni (Oct 3, 2017)

cglarsen said:


> adgattoni said:
> 
> 
> > Started another project tonight. I am going to reset my HOC this weekend, so I wanted to make use of the material vs. just throwing it in the trash. I went over the back yard (approx. 5k sq ft) in one direction with the power rake, and made it half way across again going in a perpendicular direction. I was able to get enough material to cover about 1,000 square feet pretty heavily. I'm seeing little bits of bermuda here and there in the area I sprigged last time, but it's pretty sparse. This time I went heavier in a smaller area (I also have a better watering setup now). Will upload a picture of the finished product tomorrow, it was dark when I finished up.
> ...


I actually own the machine (got it on Craigslist for $300 - very happy with this purchase). To be fair my last sprigging project was not very effective so take my advice FWIW, hah.

Suspected root causes of the failure:
- I spread the sprigs too thin.
- Insufficient watering (only 4-5 times a day for the critical first week).
- No attempt to get better sprig-to-soil contact.
Results: a few patches of bermuda across a large area.

This time:
- Heavier layer of sprigs over a smaller area.
- 3 minutes of watering every hour around the clock (I got a new timer).
- I watered the sprigs for 10 minutes after spreading them, then I pressed them into the dirt with a lawn roller.

I also plan to add another cocktail of stress reducing products tonight (PGR/Melatonin/Wetting Agent/Humics/Micros/AMS).

Here's what it looked like this morning:


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## adgattoni (Oct 3, 2017)

Sprigs are still looking good! I think laying it thick and watering hourly is going to work well. I started topdressing it with sand after work today but didn't get very far before dinner was ready.


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## adgattoni (Oct 3, 2017)

Verticutting and 3/8" scalp project is complete. I would've went lower but I was too lazy to swap the high HOC brackets to the regular ones on my Flex 21. I have not done any leveling, so the answer to the question "can I get into reel mowing without a level lawn?" is YES. Test plots were topped off as well.

There is also another test going on in these pictures: can you stolonize scalp clippings? I obviously had a lot and thought this might be worth a try. If not I'll just call it a "carbon application."

Post verticutting/sprigging:



Post-scalp:


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## adgattoni (Oct 3, 2017)

2019 soil test is back. Man, I know I gave the builder a hard time during construction, but it's like they pulled some strings to find the worst of the worst soil for my property.

Based on these results:
- Balanced fert the rest of the season.
- 40lb lime per 1ksqft.
- Gypsum as a Ca kicker (maybe it'll flocculate the soil a bit - let's see!).

Advice from the expert was provided here.


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## adgattoni (Oct 3, 2017)

I'm really sick of the hose-end timer game, so I decided to build this contraption. I have an Orbit B-Hyve controller on the way to complete the job.


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## adgattoni (Oct 3, 2017)

Yesterday my yard looked like a swamp, but the rain is helping the lawn recover nicely from the scalp:


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## adgattoni (Oct 3, 2017)

Recovering nicely from the scalp. Still some weak spots here and there. There is also a patch that has continued to give me trouble (visible just in front of the test plots in the picture below). I'll be doing some screwdriver testing in this area to see if there might be debris under there.

Sprigging update: there are many small patches of bermuda growing in every area I sprigged. The initial verticutting/dethatching brought up the best looking sprigs, which obviously have taken off the best. However, I have no doubt heavy rates of fertilizer (which I am already applying to remediate the phosphorous deficiency) will get those areas to take off similarly. We'll see how much I can get filled in by the end of the growing season.

Test plots are due for an update today or this weekend if it isn't raining. I need to get some wetting agent down too, which I will probably prioritize over the test plots since I really want that watered in by the rain.


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## adgattoni (Oct 3, 2017)

I've been manually weeding a lot of the grassy weeds in this area, but I put out some quinclorac this weekend to help. It seems to be working already, but there are a few clumps that haven't yet showed signs of weakening. I know a majority of this is crabgrass based on the seedheads. I'm thinking the others are likely goosegrass based on the growth habit.

Side note: the areas where the sprigs took are starting to appear better in pictures. I think I can push a good bit more growth this season.


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## adgattoni (Oct 3, 2017)

Update: there's some dallisgrass in there too. It was fairly easy to find after the quinclorac killed off the crabgrass. I pulled a bunch of it using a fiskars weed pulling tool. Any that comes back I will paint with glyphosate.





Here's some closeups of the patches of bermuda in this area (from the sprigging projects - I finally feel I have a decent setup for sprigging):


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## adgattoni (Oct 3, 2017)

Sprig Project #4
I ran the bluebird over the bermuda again this weekend. I didn't get nearly as many sprigs so I'm not sure how much I'll get out of this one, but anything is better than nothing (my only real cost to doing this is water, gas, and equipment wear and tear).

Watering schedule: 10 minute run of each sprinkler at 8:00 AM and 1:00 PM. 3 minutes per sprinkler every 45 minutes imbetween until 5:30 PM (might drop this last one, dunno yet).

This project was completed Saturday morning (8/10). The section I covered with this batch is outlined in red below:


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## adgattoni (Oct 3, 2017)

Just wanted to document my thoughts on this before I forget.

Sprig watering regimen
Weeks 1-2:
8:00 - 6 minutes
8:45 - 3 minutes
9:30 - 3 minutes
10:15 - 3 minutes
11:00 - 3 minutes
12:15 - 3 minutes
1:00 - 6 minutes
1:45 - 3 minutes
2:30 - 3 minutes
3:15 - 3 minutes
4:00 - 3 minutes
4:45 - 3 minutes

42 minutes per day. The ground is consistently moist, but not pooling.

Week 3-4? 
8:00 - 10 minutes
1:00 - 10 minutes

Need to research: How critical is moisture after sprig root establishment? When precisely does that occur (any difference in moisture needs between weeks 1-2?)? Can the week 3-4 schedule be even further reduced? 10-15 min a day?


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## adgattoni (Oct 3, 2017)

*Test plot update:*
Yard is still looking a little dirty. I haven't mowed since the verticutting (I mowed after this though). Side note - I need to figure out how to get better pictures out of my phone.

*Personal opinion: I don't really see any difference at this point.*


*Carbon-X - on hold due to soil test results showing I need phosphorus. I have another plan for Carbon-X that will begin next season.*


*MicroGreene*


*Air-8*


*RGS*


*HumicDG*


*Control area*


*Kelp4Less Extreme Blend*


No wetting agents - I think I'm gonna change this test plot. It's along the edge of my yard where water flows between my property and the adjacent house. It's not really the location I would expect to get LDS now that I think about it. I think I'm gonna move this plot next year to somewhere higher in the yard.

*Cool Story*: my water meter decided it didn't like my 14 blade reel. I guess I'll be swapping it for an 8 blade this winter. \sigh\


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## adgattoni (Oct 3, 2017)

I pulled a ton of weeds out of the bermuda grow in. I also sprayed roundup over the weed patch beyond the bermuda. I'll be running the verticutter over that area and seeding it with PRG in a few more weeks.



... and she's a growin'!



The other sprigging project is going well. Lots of weeds I need to get after.



Lots of the sprigs are taking hold and coming back up green. I think this one may be my most successful one yet.


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## adgattoni (Oct 3, 2017)

Planted some trees (more on the way as well), and I've been working on preparing the soil for seeding perennial ryegrass.

My plan:
- Glyphosate
- Mow
- Power Rake
- Mow
- Power Rake
- Glyphosate
- Seed
- Fertilize
- Roll


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## adgattoni (Oct 3, 2017)

Nothing significant to report. Mowed the lawn yesterday and had the opportunity to sit back and observe. Things seem to be coming together around here.



Mowed, PGR, FEature, prodiamine. I think I will wait until after the hurricane situation to seed. Just hoping I don't lose a bunch of material from the area I've cleared out.


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## adgattoni (Oct 3, 2017)

Lookin' pretty good from this angle:


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## aj_ (Oct 14, 2019)

Any updates?!

I read the entire thread last night... quite entertaining!


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## adgattoni (Oct 3, 2017)

aj_ said:


> Any updates?!
> 
> I read the entire thread last night... quite entertaining!


Thanks man! I will get some pictures tonight. There's good news and bad news to share.


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## adgattoni (Oct 3, 2017)

@aj_

Updates:
- The sprigged areas have filled in fantastically. 
- Seeding PRG along the slope has filled in decently, but I seeded mid-September before the temps dropped. Finally starting to get some decent coverage from that. I also did this on the cheap because eventually I intend for this to be a landscaped area vs. lawn (mulch or pine needles). I did not remediate PH on the slope, did not remediate phoshorus/potassium (I did use starter fertilizer), initially didn't use tenacity (though I got some on sale a couple weeks back and applied it), and I didn't use peat moss/straw.
- Had a fungus outbreak recently (a black powdery mildew perhaps), but it seems to be recovering a bit after treatment.
- The builder finally got around to clearing the land behind my house for phase 2 of the development. It's pretty upsetting but we expected it to happen at some point.  
- I installed about 15 or so different evergreen trees (norway spruce, canadian hemlock, meyer spruce) about a month ago. This past weekend I found a local nursery overstock sale and bought 20 wintergreen arborvitae's for $3 a piece.
- The grass has barely grown between drought, fungus, PGR, and reduced nitrogen input (I reduced N apps after applying the recommended phos). I haven't mowed in like 3 weeks.

Yesterday afternoon:







This morning made it really easy to see the amount of coverage I've gotten from sprigging. FYI it looks like a frost but it definitely wasn't.


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## adgattoni (Oct 3, 2017)

Officially the weirdest guy in the neighborhood. I have 1320lb of Cary milo in the garage now, haha.



8ft ladder for scale:



Analysis (5.5% iron!):


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## adgattoni (Oct 3, 2017)

Humic test plot update:

Disclaimers: In fairness to Matt, I suspended the Carbon-X test for part of the season to work on a phosphorus deficiency. Also, the GCF products had a one month head start on K4L's Extreme Blend.

Root pictures below. Most of these had more root mass than pictured, but the soil was pretty sticky so some root mass came off in the wash unfortunately. I would say each of these had some roots in the 4"+ depth despite the terrible soil. The Air-8 sample was easier to clean than the others due to noticeably better soil tilth (not crumbly infield clay, but better than the others), which IMO lead to more intact root mass for the picture. If that continues through next year, I will conclude Air-8 is worth my money for the soil tilth improvements. Anecdotally I'm happy with the Air-8 results, though I still don't know how the science holds up.

The cores were all pretty easy to pull, but we've had a good bit of rain lately too. There's still no difference in visual appearance across the test plots (this has been true throughout the season - not due to the recent rainfall). The next tests will be fall/winter color and spring green-up. Will provide a picture closer to dormancy.


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## lilslugger (Aug 7, 2019)

Just applied my first app of Penterra this morning. Curious a) how often are you applying and b) how do you combat the froth to make sure you apply the right amounts? I'm using a Hudson hose-end sprayer.


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## adgattoni (Oct 3, 2017)

lilslugger said:


> Just applied my first app of Penterra this morning. Curious a) how often are you applying and b) how do you combat the froth to make sure you apply the right amounts? I'm using a Hudson hose-end sprayer.


I mix the product with a bit of hot water to make it a bit less thick, then put the sprayer on the weakest dilution setting and just keep going over and over until I run out. It doesn't work as well with a hose end sprayer, but is easier than a backpack sprayer due to the carrier volume requirements (1 oz per 5 gallons).

I've built a push sprayer that I plan to use this year, which should let me apply it with the required carrier volume without refilling a backpack sprayer 12 times. FYI I use Penterra on my swales and Tournament Ready pellets everywhere else.

On timing, I try to go roughly every 30 days once things heat up (no need when evapotranspiration values are still low). I'll probably start at the end of May this year. I say roughly 30 days, because I try to apply it when there is a rain event approaching. That helps get things worked down into the soil, as I don't have irrigation yet.


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## lilslugger (Aug 7, 2019)

Great, thanks! I'm hoping for the general assistance since my irrigation isn't great, but right now am hoping for help with drainage for spring storms. The application rate has been a bit of a mystery as every label I find online has varying levels of information and instructions. This morning I applied the initial 4 oz per 1000ft diluted in 50 gallons, but the maintenance rate just shows 1 oz/1000 without a dilution rate.


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## cglarsen (Dec 28, 2018)

adgattoni said:


> Humic test plot update:
> 
> Disclaimers: In fairness to Matt, I suspended the Carbon-X test for part of the season to work on a phosphorus deficiency. Also, the GCF products had a one month head start on K4L's Extreme Blend.
> 
> ...


That's a very interesting photo - are you continuing the experiment this year?

And how in the hell did you move that 1300lb sack into the garage?? I had to cut mine open in the truck bed - terrible mistake.


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## adgattoni (Oct 3, 2017)

cglarsen said:


> adgattoni said:
> 
> 
> > Humic test plot update:
> ...


I've had a ton of projects this spring that I haven't kept up with the humic plots. I need to type up a big update with everything haha. I'm finally getting caught up so perhaps soon I'll start the humic plots again.

To move the fert into the garage, I backed the truck into the garage and scooped the fertilizer with a 5 gallon bucket out of the truck and into a second sack on the floor. It was quite dusty haha.


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## adgattoni (Oct 3, 2017)

Okay about time to update this thing. Here we go!

Last winter I built a push sprayer that sat in the hopper of my lesco spreader. This spring I picked up a lesco spreader with a busted hopper from @SGrabs33, and I mounted the sprayer tank to the lesco frame. Originally it was 7 nozzles, but that was just too unwieldy. 5 nozzles is actually easier.

Here is the final form:


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## adgattoni (Oct 3, 2017)

Sand project:

12 yards masonry sand. It was soaking wet too, so probably twice as heavy.



Double pass core aeration:



Moved the sand manually with a gorilla cart. I don't have a lawn tractor or an ATV so this was the toughest part of the job.



Here it is after knocking down the piles and dragging it with a drag mat:


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## adgattoni (Oct 3, 2017)

Built a shed. Shout out to Carolina Yard Barns - this thing is very nice.



My FIL is an electrician and he wired it for us!



Tons of storage:



Lots of cleanup from digging the trench. While we had the trencher I also added a water line for water access at the back side of the property (barely visible at the back right corner of the shed). I also put in a valve box with a couple valves. I've got a 7-wire sprinkler wire buried along with the water line for future expansion.



I'm working on adding landscape beds all the way around the back of the property, starting around the shed. I've sprayed the grass beyond the live edge with glyphosate. I'll probably till up the area afterwards. I've got a few more yards of landscape mix from building some garden beds that I'll add as the top layer.


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## adgattoni (Oct 3, 2017)

I grew tired of mowing the bumpy hill on the back slope of the property. It was PRG that I threw down last fall, and I've always intended for this to be a naturalized area in the future anyway (hence all the trees planted here). I found a site called Chip Drop that will connects arborists with homeowners looking for wood chips. You get them for free, but you have to take everything they have on the truck. I've gotten two loads, one about 18 yards, and another that must have been close to 30 yards.

First Load:



Second Load:



After laying the first load:



In the midst of laying the 2nd load (still need to knock down the piles and kill off all the weeds):



Another shot (also shows the garden and where I'll be digging the live edge along the back):


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

@adgattoni how is the yard looking?


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