# KSTurfguy Lawn Journal 2020



## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Hey guys I'm new to this site, been over on the Lawnsite.com for a few years but just stumbled upon this site the other day. I've been documenting some tests that I've been doing over there so figured I might as well do it here too. So quick summary, last fall I did a test plot of 100% TTTF and right next to it 100% KBG. Basically was looking at two things, one the blade width difference between KBG and the newer varieties of TTTF and was also testing how much better TTTF does compared to KBG in low or no irrigation situations.

Well this summer was brutal and I didn't water enough and basically lost 90% of both plots. The fescue has rebounded a little and there is some KBG left and is slowly increasing but as of now the test was a total fail. I plan to keep trying to nurse both plots back to health with some fert and plenty of water this fall and see what happens.

So this fall I got bored again and did 3, 10x10 plots. one plot is 100% TTTF, one is 100% KBG, and last plot is a 90/10 mix of fescue/KBG. Haven't really decided what I'm going to do with these plots yet. Can either just treat it how I do the rest of my yard and just compare colors, density, drought/heat tolerance, basically just see which of the 3 I think looks best so I know which seed to go with next time I buy a bunch or I also thought about testing some of the Greene County Fert products or humic acids, or Nature's Lawn products who basically makes a lot of the same products as Green County but doesn't seem to have any publicity so maybe I should take that as a hint lol. Either way we'll see, I have until Spring to decide.

I prepared each plot by spraying round up a week prior to seeding to kill off everything. I then scalped it and raked out the dead stuff the best I could. I screwed up and bought 1/2 as much top soil as I needed so each of the 3 plots had 1/2 of it covered and 1/2 of it was just what I scalped. I then seeded, applied a liquid starter fert and then a thin layer of peat moss. Started seeing germination in day 5. Have not noticed a difference in germination rates in the areas that had top soil vs areas that were just scalped. In face I might have slightly more germination in the areas just scalped and then peat moss on top. I threw some seed down in areas outside the plot that have received the same amount of water as my plots but were not covered in peat moss and I have very little germination in those spots. I have germination in all 3 plots which surprised me with KBG. Last year it seemed like it took 2 weeks or so until KBG finally germinated. Below is a picture of the plot I took yesterday which was the 1 week mark. Sorry due to the width of the plot its hard to take a good picture of it.



Also below is a picture of my main lawn that I took last fall. Haven't took any pictures recently. It was a hot/dry summer so lost a little bit of it but reseeded and it's coming back. I have 20,000 sqft that I maintain. It's a TTTF. I plan on having an irrigation system installed in the large/front section of my lawn which is about 14,500 sqft. Getting tired of dragging hoses around but haven't decided if the $3,000 price tag is worth it or not. Either way I'm glad I found this site and hope to learn a lot from you guys.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

Welcome to TLF.

What cultivars you have in your plots? Do you have pictures from spring on the previous plots? It is hard to kill KBG in the summer. If you water it once every 3 weeks and dont walk on it, it will survive in dormancy. Yes, it will be brown but it comes backs in the fall.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

The TTTF is a 3-way blend of Falcon IV, Falcon V and Tribute II. The KBG in the 90/10 mix is called Rockstar and the 100% KBG is Baron I believe. I can't remember off top of my head. Biggest reason I initially thought of a test plot using this seed was this seed was quite a bit cheaper then the business I usually buy it from so figured I would test it out.

Last year's TTTF plot was a 4 way blend of Rowdy, SR 8650, Speedway, and Grande 3. The KBG was a Scotts KBG Mix but do not remember exact blend. I've gotten fairly knowledgeable with turf care over the last couple years but my 1 weakness is identifying disease vs drought stress. It's possible maybe brown patch got it? Here is a picture from May and then another picture from about a week ago. The area around my plot was also pretty dead but I over seeded it so a lot of the green grass around it is new.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Any ideas gman? I know its hard to tell know but that whole area died out and several other areas of my yard. Main reason I felt like it was drought/heat was because all the areas I had die were in full sun or almost full sun areas. Most of my areas that received some shade during the day were fine.

I've read some stuff on here about chinch bugs. I haven't tested it to see if I have any or not but could be it? Either way I've been studying turf care a lot over the last couple months so I feel like I'll be a lot more prepared for the 2019 season.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

It is hard to tell from those images. This is the end result from something (eg. drought, fungus, pest).


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Lawn is starting to come around after a rough summer. Mowed it today at 3". Probably have 5 to 6 mows left before winter. After the mow, I applied a 32-03-08 fert at about .6 LBS of N per 1,000 sqft. I over seeded and seeded a few larger dead areas 1 month ago so wanted to give it a boost to help it fill in a bit more. I also threw down a little bit more seed in some thin spots.

It's kind of hard to see in this picture but right in the middle was a large tree that was removed about 4 or 5 years ago by previous owners. The ground is pretty rough there so my goal is to even it out this Spring.

My test plots are really thickening up, I'll post a picture of that tomorrow which will be the 14 day mark.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

My test plots starting to thicken up.



Here is the 100% TTTF



100% KBG



And the 90/10 Mix



I hope to mow the fescue for the first time next week but were supposed to get around 5 inches of rain in the next few days so if it's too late I might not mow it. Will also apply a 2nd round of starter fert in 2 weeks to try to get it a little thicker before dormancy sets in here in about 5 to 6 weeks.


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## jessehurlburt (Oct 18, 2017)

I would also check for spots where the peat went down heavy. I bet if you let that dry out a touch and carefully brushed back some of the peat you'd see germination under it.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Yeah I thought I did a good job of making it even but clearly I didn't.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Today is day 21 since I put down seed. Its been cool and cloudy with a lot of rain the last few days. Our area got 5-10 inches. No rain today but i feel like its still too wet to mow. Hope to mow the fescue for first time tomorrow. Tomorrow morning the low is around 33. Hopefully we will get enough warm days where the KBG can thicken up.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Almost embarrassed to post my pic from my mow today. HOC is 3". I never took a before picture but the area that looks really good right in the middle of the picture had completely died out this summer. Planted on Sept 1st and is thickening up nicely. The area at the bottom of the picture has always been a problem spot for me. It's on a slop so seed doesnt hold very well and my sprinkler doesn't reach that far. It's also very uneven so my mower scalps there a lot. Goal next Spring is to try and level several areas of my large front yard. Also 50/50 chance I install an irrigation system so that should also help. I wish I took a before picture because it's really came a long ways. Still got a long ways to go to compete with you guys though.

Also did mow the fescue areas of my test plots for the first time today. This morning's low was 36 and high of 55. This Sunday there is a chance of snow and low around 32 on Monday morning. Seems like winter has came early. But they talking 60's again mid next week so maybe my KBG plot can still grow some.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Today is the 1 month mark since seed down. Weather hasn't been on my side the last month. 1st week was hot and dry. Then we had about 1 week of decent weather. The last 2 weeks have been cold and cloudy. Couple days we didn't make it out of the 40's and lows were in the 20's. Today and yesterday we were back up into the 60's and looks like 60's for the next week or so. I applied 2nd round of starter fert today so we'll see if the fert mixed with warmer temps and plenty of sun will help thicken it up a little more before winter.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

This is one of my problem areas, it's heavily shaded and doesn't drain water well. Also the area are dog is when she outside. Every year by August it mostly just dirt in areas. If I end up buying the N-EXT products this Spring, this will definitely be an area I try it out on.



I mowed today at 3". Growth has really slowed but leaves need chopped up in spots.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Tomorrow will be the 5 week mark. Anxious to see how it thickens up this spring. For the most part it came in well besides where i must have went to heavy with the peat.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Mowed the test plot with the big mower for the first time. Also mowed up some leaves. HOC was 2.75"


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## rob13psu (May 20, 2018)

ksturfguy said:


> Mowed the test plot with the big mower for the first time. Also mowed up some leaves. HOC was 2.75"


 :thumbup: That's looking really nice. Really liking the color and stripes. I'm cutting my TTTF/PRG/KBG at that height and it's looking the best it has since I moved in.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

It's finally Spring! Been a long winter here but finally getting out in the yard. Plan to mow tomorrow and throw down some pre-emergent.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Yesterday I mowed for the first time this Spring. HOC was 2.75". Today I applied my pre-emergent. I used Lesco's 14-0-7 with .43% prodiamine at a rate of 4 LBS per 1,000 square feet. This equated to approximately .56 LBS of N per 1,000 sqft. I was going to buy the Prodiamine 65 WDG product but I wasn't confident enough to make the switch. Bought a backpack sprayer last fall but haven't used it yet and have never applied pre-emergent in any thing other then granular form so just wasn't sure how much work it would be for my 20k sqft yard. Maybe next year????

Also need to decide what I want to do with my test plot. Just treat it like I do the rest of my yard and just see which one of the 3 grasses does best or should I apply products like Humic DG or N-EXT products to half my test plot and see how it performs compares vs just my regular schedule. Decisions, decisions.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Its April 2nd and I already feel defeated. My yard was really greening up and was looking good, i had made up my mind i was going to order the N-EXT biostimulant package tonight and then I come home from work to this.







The county is in the process of replacing the water lines on my street. They told me they would just be in my ditch line and they would reseed. Well clearly they didnt use the ditch line and i dont want them to reseed. Im sure they will use the cheapest k31 seed. I feel so defeated.


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## Butter (Nov 14, 2017)

@ksturfguy That's a bummer. Hang in there. I would be very adamant about not letting them seed it with K31 or anything. You never know what they might use.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Butter said:


> @ksturfguy That's a bummer. Hang in there. I would be very adamant about not letting them seed it with K31 or anything. You never know what they might use.


My plan is to go talk to them while they are out working and see if instead of them seeding maybe they can cut me a check for $100 or 200 so I can buy my own seed and fert. If not yeah I'll them not to even put down what ever seed they have and I'll just do it out of my own pocket.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Mow #2 for the year. HOC was 2.75". Tomorrow i plan to spray some post emergent as the clover type weeds have been bad this year.

Also ordered the bio-stimulant pack yesterday. I wont treat my entire 20k yard but plan to do about 10k of it. Cant wait to start.


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## Butter (Nov 14, 2017)

@ksturfguy Looking good! We are having a nice spring aren't we?!


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Applied Gordon's SpeedZone today with the Chapin 20v backpack sprayer. First time using the backpack, also bought the red TJet nozzle to go with it. Still unsure of how fast to walk but I think I applied close to the right amount of product so we'll see how much of the weeds it kills.

Can't wait to try the N-EXT products out later this week. I might post a separate thread for my test plot. Right now plan to use N-EXT products on half the plot and treat the other side like I do the rest of my yard. I'll compare the looks of both sides and probably do a soil test from both sides.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Did some burning tonight.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Received my N-EXT Bio-stimulant Package today. Going to be windy the next few days so will probably wait until Saturday to apply it. Don't plan on applying it on my entire yard this year, will probably only do 6-9k sqft of it.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Today I applied the N-EXT products for the first time. I applied 3oz per 1k sqft of AIR-8 and the RGS. I only applied it to 8,000 SQFT of my yard. Plan to do 5 monthly applications of all 4 biostimulant products.

Also I'm only spraying 1/2 of my test plot. The top portion of the test plot is 100% TTTF, Middle Section is 100% KBG, and bottom section is TTTF/KBG Mix. The other half of my plot that doesn't get N-EXT products will still get my normal fert program.



BTW the Chapin 20v backpack sprayer sucks, or maybe I'm doing something wrong. Filled it up to 3 gallons and sprayed the first 5K sqft and it worked fine. Felt like the normal 30-40 psi. Then shut it off, took about an hour break, filled it up to 2 gallons to finish the rest of my yard and it feels like it has no power. It's spraying but seems to be very weak. The battery was fully charged when I started so shouldn't be a battery issue. But put batter pack on charger, charged it back to full charge and boom, sprayer seems to be working normally again. It did this to me the other day too. I spot sprayed Speedzone, when i ran out and went back to refill it and started using it again it just had no pressure.

Also made a rookie mistake today while spraying. Just wore tennis shoes and one of my nice pair of jeans. Whoops shoes and bottom of my jeans are all brown. Hopefully it will come out, but we'll see. Guess I need to invest in a pair of boots to spray with.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Sprayed 3oz per 1k of Humic-12 and Microgreen this morning. Also plan to spot spray some weeds this afternoon or tomorrow. 1st round of Speedzone knocked a good portion of the weeds out but looks like a 2nd round will be needed.

Mowed yesterday at 3". Will continue at that height through most of May and then will bump it up a little once it gets a lot hotter. We need rain bad, haven't got a good rain in a couple weeks and soil already has cracks in it. Grass still dark green though so will continue to hold off on irrigation.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

You can take all of my rain. I might end up mowing in the rain today.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Busy day yesterday, spot sprayed my 2nd round of Speedzone. For the most part the clover is gone but a few broadleaf weeds have emerged. Then applied some top soil/sand mix in a few areas to level them out.

Then the hard work came when I cleaned out 2 of our 5 big flower beds. They were really neglected the last couple years. Tore out the weeds, rearranged a few flowers, applied mulch and pre-emergent. Hope to get others taken care of later this week.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Another mow at 3". Turf starting to look pretty good in most spots. We have received less than an inch of rain this month and less than a half inch over the last 3 weeks so things really dry. Finally supposed to get some rain this week.



Starting to get a little worried about the test plot. The soil is pretty rocky in spots under the thin layer of top soil i applied. Starting to see browning in spots, not sure if fungus or drought stress. The entire test plot I'm treating just like the rest of my yard but the right side of my plot I'm also using the N-EXT products so we'll see here in a couple months if any visible difference. Just a reminder the far section is 100% TTTF, Middle section is 100% KBG, and near section is 90/10 mix. Curious how quickly if at all the KBG can fill in those bare spots. I'm starting to see some new growth in those areas.


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## Chris LI (Oct 26, 2018)

The backyard cut at 3" looks really dense. Is it TTTF, kbg or both?


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

It's TTTF. For the most part most of my yard has thickened up nicely after losing several spots last year due to an extremely hot and dry summer and no irrigation system. I still have a couple bare spots that I will focus on this Fall if they don't fill in on their own.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Had to mow the smaller section of my yards with the push mower to avoid tearing it up with the pro-stance due to all the rain this week. Plan to throw down some fert tomorrow and we supposed to get more rain Monday.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Applied my late April/Early May fert today. Was approximately .8 lbs of N per 1k sqft. Been using this product the last few years this time of year and then again in late Aug/early Sept. Like it for the Iron. Need to do a soil test to see where I'm at P and K wise. Might be over doing it.

But lawn is looking great right now, probably the best its looked in the 4 years ive been here. Expecting rain the next few days so fertilizer should get watered in.



Below is my main problem site. It's hard to see but towards the back it is 90% dirt. It is heavily shaded and gets traffic from the dog. I've tried just about every type of grass known to man but nothing will survive there. I'm finally just content with how it is.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

We had another 3 to 4" of rain this week so finally dried out enough to mow. The small areas I again had to mow with push mower to avoid tearing it up. HOC is 3". Ignore the crappy stripes as I was in a hurry and wasn't too worried about how straight they were.



Went ahead and mowed large front lawn with the pro-stance. Broke the 1/3 rule a little but it will be alright.



And the test plot I've been mowing at 2". Its slowly filling in and outside of a couple spots that have a fungus it's looking pretty solid.



Tomorrow the plan is for round 2 of RGS and Air 8.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Here is an update on the area that was torn up by the county crews earlier this Spring. They still aren't finished and will level the ground when they finished but the turf has rebounded nicely.

April 2nd


May 10th


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## social port (Jun 19, 2017)

@ksturfguy just getting caught up on your thread here. I like your comparisons.
It looks like the bluegrass is finally catching up with the TTTF in terms of color.

Would you mind saying where you sourced your speedway? I've been after that one for years.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

If your talking about the SpeedZone, there are a couple farm and home stores in the area that carry it.


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## social port (Jun 19, 2017)

ksturfguy said:


> If your talking about the SpeedZone, there are a couple farm and home stores in the area that carry it.


No, speedway, the cultivar. Post # 3. It was used in a TTTF mix from another year perhaps.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

social port said:


> ksturfguy said:
> 
> 
> > If your talking about the SpeedZone, there are a couple farm and home stores in the area that carry it.
> ...


Oh my bad, the same farm and home store I bought the SpeedZone from also sells two blends of fescue that included the Speedway. One blend is called Defiance XRE and the other is Green Resistor. The Green Resistor is the one I used. I'm not sure if there anywhere to buy just Speedway by it's self or not. Sorry.

https://3qbjdyotwye2jtieg16p2v1f-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/TECH-SHEET-EC__Green-Resistor.pdf


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Applied round #2 of RGS and Air 8. Just going with the 3 oz per 1,000 sqft rate for all products this year And will apply all 4 products once a month for 5 months (APR, MAY, JUNE, SEPT, OCT). No clue if this is the best plan for these products or not, but it's easy and I'm still learning to use them so it is what it is.


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## social port (Jun 19, 2017)

@ksturfguy thanks for that info. BTW, there is a relatively new youtube channel called N-EXT DIY Lawn. The guy offers a lot of details about the various N-Ext products you are using. I'm not sure about his affiliation with the company, but he uses the N-Ext logo as his channel logo.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

@social port that guy is Castleberry. He used to work do domyown making their videos. I think he is now working for John Perry making videos of his N-EXT products.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

social port said:


> @ksturfguy thanks for that info. BTW, there is a relatively new youtube channel called N-EXT DIY Lawn. The guy offers a lot of details about the various N-Ext products you are using. I'm not sure about his affiliation with the company, but he uses the N-Ext logo as his channel logo.


Yeah i subscribe to his channel and i think he suggested the 3oz per 1k sqft once a month.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Mowed tonight at 3.25". Had a lot of growth since my last mow on Friday. I'm not a cool kid like a lot of you with a reel mower but my Pro-Stance is a beast and leaves a good cut.








I feel like every week the test plot area is getting a little thicker. Were finally seeing temps in the 80s so we'll see how the KBG holds up. The right side of the plot is the side thats been getting the N-EXT products. Right now no visual difference in my opinion besides the left side did get a small fungus in the KBG plot while the right side hasnt. Could just be coincidence.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Spot sprayed some Oxalis, chickweed, a couple dandelions, and a few other broadleaf weeds today with some SpeedZone.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Sprayed some Bayer Advanced Fungus Control on my test plot. Never used a fungicide before but still dealing with a couple spots in my KBG section of the plot so figured I might as well try to fix it and prevent further issues.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Yesterday I mowed at 3.5" and sprayed Humic 12 and Microgreen.



Since then we've received about 2.75" of rain and today had a tornado about 5 miles north of us. Trees blocking it but a fairly decent size tornado was on the ground.


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## Butter (Nov 14, 2017)

@ksturfguy 
Turfs looking good. 
We've had about enough rain for awhile, too bad we can't save some for August.
Tornadoes are exciting but 5 miles is kinda close!


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

@Butter Thanks, that portion of the yard, especially farther back in the corner is mostly a fine fescue. Don't really like it up close but it stripes really nice. I think old owners planted it there because it gets a lot of shade. But I'd say for late May this is the best my yard has looked in the 4 years I've lived here. Of course all the rain and cool temps we've got all Spring is a huge reason for that lol


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Mowed the plots today. Everything is still soaking wet. Haven't decided yet but might add a zoysia plug section???? Hmmm


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Mowed today at 3.75". Yard was a jungle as it's almost been a week since last mow. And of course it rained on me during the mow. But ill be out of town all weekend so had to be cut.

Also got my shipment of Innovation Zoysia grass plugs today. Only ordered 70 plugs, planted them in a 10x10 plot and watered it in. Tomorrow will go buy a liquid fert from Home Depot that I'll just use in this 10x10 area. Obviously Zoysia going to need fert at different times compared to my cool season lawn so just easier to buy a bottle of something and spray and pray every couple weeks through the summer and see how much I can get it to thicken up. Gonna be a long process.

Going to make it the entire month of May without irrigation. Completely different then last May.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Mowed at 3.75". Things are finally drying out.



The very back section of the test plot is where is planted my zoysia plugs. It was poorly planned so we'll see how well it works. Going to spoon feed it with fert the next few weeks and try to water the heck out of it. Original plan was to spray plot with roundup, scalp, apply top soil and plug with pro plugger.

I got super busy and Instead scalped and then planted plugs with a small garden shovel. Basically just eye balled where to put next plugs. So we'll see how successful it is.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Applied RGS/Air8 today and irrigated for the first time. Forgot how much of a pain in the you know what it is to drag hoses around my big yard.

The picture doesn't do it justice but the test plot area is looking really good. Going to maintain it at 3" through August and then go back down to 2-2.5" for the fall. Baron KBG isn't even that good of a cultivator but it really looks and feels good. This fall I plan to renovate probably about a 1,000 sqft area next to my test plot and as of now plan to go with a 100% KBG. Haven't decided if I'll go with a monostand from one of the online seed stores or just see what I can buy locally. Also have to remember this has been a pretty easy summer so far so haven't really tested the KBG out yet.

Zoysia starting to send out a couple runners. Going to spoon feed it, about .15 lbs of N per week, for the first month or so. Also cutting it at closer to 2 or 2.5". Not sure as push mower doesn't say height and I haven't measured it.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Mowed at 4". My zoyzia plugs are almost at the 2 week mark. Kind of cool to see them sending runners out already.

When i planted it, i did it in a rush so did not kill out all the weeds and fescue in this area so the zoysia just intermingled. An untrained eye probably couldn't tell where it was. My plan all summer is to cut at 1.75 inches, hopefully that will help kill the weeds and fescue and let the zoysia spread.


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## Butter (Nov 14, 2017)

Looks great!


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Plot area, especially the KBG starting to show signs of heat/drought stress so watering it today. Only second time this year which isnt bad for Mid June


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

*


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Mowed yesterday after some heavy rain this weekend. I forgot to put rain gauge out but I think we got somewhere between 2 and 3 inches. For June 25th I'm very pleased with where the yard is this year.



Test plot still being cut at 2.5". Starting today its going to be in the 90s for the foreseeable future so will really test it out but should be good for the Zoysia section. Starting to lose some color in the cool season sections which I kind of expected this time of year. Looking forward to fall to see how much more the KBG fills in. Also plan on trying to level this section a bit more.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

So since I didnt clear any of the existing fescue/weeds out prior to plugging the zoysia it's really hard to take a pic of the plot and see what is what but here is an area that was already pretty bare when i planted. Thursday will be the 4 week mark.

I mowed the 10x10 area today at 1.75". The TTTF in this area is very dark green still. I think the spoon feeding of fert plus the reg watering is keeping it strong despite the low HOC.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Watered a couple sections of my yard. It's hot, 96 degrees today and been in the 90's 3 straight days. My test plot mowed at 2.5" is definitely a lot more brown then the rest of my yard that I',m keeping at 4". I've only watered yard twice but have watered test plot a little more.

I don't know how you guys maintain cool season turf at sub 2" levels during the summer. God bless ya.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Got a late night mow in. Temps were around 95 today so waited until it cooled down some.


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## Darrell_KC (Mar 20, 2019)

ksturfguy said:


> Watered a couple sections of my yard. It's hot, 96 degrees today and been in the 90's 3 straight days. My test plot mowed at 2.5" is definitely a lot more brown then the rest of my yard that I',m keeping at 4". I've only watered yard twice but have watered test plot a little more.
> 
> I don't know how you guys maintain cool season turf at sub 2" levels during the summer. God bless ya.


I had no luck with this myself. I used to live in Michigan, and always like the lawn to be lower and tight looking. Coming to KS I was surprised so many people had their lawns long. Last summer I realized why. I tried cutting the grass short for looks, and promptly killed large sections because I wasnt watering enough to support it. This year I kept it at about 4 inches and its done a lot better


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## Butter (Nov 14, 2017)

@ksturfguy Looking good!
Seems like summer is finally here.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Butter said:


> @ksturfguy Looking good!
> Seems like summer is finally here.


The good news is here in a few weeks Fall will be here and we can start overseeding or doing any reno's. As of now I only have a couple small sections I want to fix. Last year this time it was already clear my yard was nuked and I was going to have to buy a lot of seed lol.

Right now my plan for Fall is to aerate whole yard and fix/level a couple small areas of the yard. The county hasn't finished the water line work so I hope they get to that soon so I can seed it in early Fall when they done tearing up my yard.

Grass seed wise I plan on buying probably either a 25 LB or 50 LB bag of TTTF, Will be same seed I usually buy from Premiere Farm and Home here in Topeka. I will also get a 5 LB bag of Fine Fescue for my shaded areas and then a 5-10 LB bag of KBG. Plan on seeding a 1,000 sqft area in my backyard with KBG mix or a KBG monostand. Most likely it will be what ever KBG mix Premiere sells unless they can get me a monostand of what I want. Really don't want to buy seed from Seed Super Store, my only other option is Bewitched from United Seed. This will be a play area for the kids so want a shorter/softer feeling grass that they'd enjoy playing on.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Been a little busy so was late to react but appears I have brown patch or dollar spot in my test plot and in a few areas of my main lawn. Did apply some Disease X yesterday and will order a few more bags when they go on sale on Amazon. The plot in general just kind of has a sick green/yellowish look especially compared to my main lawn. It might need some Nitrogen but will hold off until late Aug or Early Sept. Also just a reminder the right half of the plot has been getting N-EXT products, the left side has not. I really can't tell a difference between the two.







Also here is an updated shot of some of the Zoysia plugs. I did finally spray some of the weeds in the Zoysia plot area so hopefully they will start to clear out and allow the Zoysia to spread a little more in spots. I like the color so far of the Innovation Zoysia and for a cool season guy, it's cool to see how the Zoysia spreads.


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## JP900++ (Aug 24, 2018)

ksturfguy said:


> Been a little busy so was late to react but appears I have brown patch or dollar spot in my test plot and in a few areas of my main lawn. Did apply some Disease X yesterday and will order a few more bags when they go on sale on Amazon. The plot in general just kind of has a sick green/yellowish look especially compared to my main lawn. It might need some Nitrogen but will hold off until late Aug or Early Sept. Also just a reminder the right half of the plot has been getting N-EXT products, the left side has not. I really can't tell a difference between the two.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Check out Preferred Seed. More variety than most local stores...more cost effective than SSS.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Not really a proud update but hey its summer, its been hot and humid so fungus pressure has been high and I dont have an irrigation system so I can't get too stressed about it. Last fert/iron was a little over 2 months ago. This area is my large front lawn and its 100% sun basically all day so always struggles in summer.



Here is my test plot. Still cutting 2.5". The 100% TTTF section which is the closest section in this picture seems to be doing the best.



And here are a few of the Zoysia plugs. Will give it another spoon feeding of fert tomorrow and will give it and the rest of the test plots a good soaking.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Applied 4oz of RGS and 10oz of Microgreen to my Zoysia plot and half of my cool season plot.

Spot sprayed some Ortho Nutsedge Killer.

Tomorrow plan on giving the yard a really good soaking to help prepare it for the 5 straight days of 100 degree weather coming up.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Been extremely hot lately. Been trying to water twice a week. Fescue for most part looks ok but as you can see the KBG has taken a beating. KBG is middle section.


Zoysia keeps slowly filling in.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

We've almost made it to August! Fescue area of the plot doing a lot better then I expected at a HOC of 2.5". July has been pretty dry and the KBG has checked out. Hopefully in about a month it will rebound.

Yard in general is pretty beat up. The last 2 weeks we've been painting the house and had to completely replace the siding on one side of the house so it's seen a lot of foot traffic.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Mowed today at 3.75". Going to start gradually lowering Hoc back to 3". We got 3.25" of rain this morning so wasn't even sure if I'd be able to mow but it wasn't too bad. Yard held up pretty well over summer but probably needs some fert. The color looks a little better then what shows in the picture but still it's hungry. Early May was last round of fertilizer.



Fescue areas of the test plot look great, KBG ugh not so much. Still mowing this at 2.5".


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## social port (Jun 19, 2017)

Wow, the bluegrass is having a tough time. What do you attribute that to?


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

social port said:


> Wow, the bluegrass is having a tough time. What do you attribute that to?


Hard telling, it did pretty well until about Mid July and then it went to hell. We had almost a week straight with no rain and temps in the 98-103 range in Mid-July and it took a beating. I tried to water as much as I could but clearly it wasn't enough. It was enough to keep the TTTF a dark green but KBG went dormant and possibly even died it spots? I had a little bit of a fungus issue too so that probably didn't help. We'll see how it rebounds in a few weeks. I have another very small area of KBG and it went completely dormant or maybe even died as well.

I had my mind made up to renovate a 1000 sqft area with 100% Mazama KBG but now I'm questioning that. I still will probably try to buy a couple pounds of some elite KBG cultivator and try it out somewhere but w/o irrigation I'm not confident I can keep KBG looking good. This has even been a pretty mild summer for us besides that 1 week of hell.


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## social port (Jun 19, 2017)

ksturfguy said:


> social port said:
> 
> 
> > Wow, the bluegrass is having a tough time. What do you attribute that to?
> ...


Dang, that was fast. 
The test plot was grown last fall? I've been told that first-year bluegrass doesn't do dormancy very well. I hope that yours is an exception.
I received some unexpected rainfall periodically during July, so that helped with the irrigation demands on my end.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

@g-man and @social port Guys here is an updated pic of my KBG plot. We've received a lot of rain over the last week and half to green things back up so I'm guessing clearly the brown spots are dead and not dormant. Should I just go ahead and rake it out or be patient with it. With KBG I assume it will eventually fill back in.

Not sure if disease or heat got to it. Went really bad when we had our 1 bad week of temps near 100 every day and never recovered. The rest of the section has recovered fairly well.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

Did you water it at all during the 100 degree weather? I see hints of green I think the crowns/roots are there and it will return, but it needs more time. This could be a good experiment to see how dormant kbg recovers.


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## social port (Jun 19, 2017)

:crying: 
If I were in your position, I would absolutely give it more time.
Sounds like g-man is at least a little optimistic about recovery, so that is encouraging.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

g-man said:


> Did you water it at all during the 100 degree weather? I see hints of green I think the crowns/roots are there and it will return, but it needs more time. This could be a good experiment to see how dormant kbg recovers.


Yeah I watered 2 or 3 times that week and all were deep watering, I had a little fungus issue at the time I was dealing with so maybe the combo of the two just made it even worse.

There is some green underneath I just didn't know if it would help things if I just tried to rake that brown stuff out or if I'm better off just seeing what happens. As it is my test plot and not really my lawn I guess no harm in letting it ride and see how it recovers. Here in a couple weeks I plan on lowering the HOC again and giving it some fert so that should help.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Welp I think I figured out the issue, I have Dollar Spot. Went out there this morning on my hands and knees examining the grass and I see spider web type stuff on the grass. I was trying not to really use any fungacides but that was clearly a mistake. Guess I'll run and buy some disease x


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## social port (Jun 19, 2017)

ksturfguy said:


> Welp I think I figured out the issue, I have Dollar Spot. Went out there this morning on my hands and knees examining the grass and I see spider web type stuff on the grass. I was trying not to really use any fungacides but that was clearly a mistake. Guess I'll run and buy some disease x


Scott's disease ex? I wouldn't use that. Azoxystrobin isn't great for DS.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

social port said:


> ksturfguy said:
> 
> 
> > Welp I think I figured out the issue, I have Dollar Spot. Went out there this morning on my hands and knees examining the grass and I see spider web type stuff on the grass. I was trying not to really use any fungacides but that was clearly a mistake. Guess I'll run and buy some disease x
> ...


Wish i read this before i went and bought it lol oh well at this point I'm done caring


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## social port (Jun 19, 2017)

ksturfguy said:


> social port said:
> 
> 
> > ksturfguy said:
> ...


ksturfguy! Take it back. You've got some bluegrass to grow. Look into the intervention strategy a bit. I think you want prop and a little N, but I am not certain, and I'm even less certain about timing that.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Mowed the lawn today at 3.5" and test plot at 2.5". As you can see the 100% TTTF and 90/10 mix look good in the plot. I have a few weeds that I've hand picked but haven't sprayed anything in several weeks.



Zoysia area is really spreading, there are runners everywhere. I can't wait to see this section a year from now to see how it's progressed.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Haven't given an update in main lawn in awhile. It's doing alright. Mowed at 3.5" today. Color isnt great. It probably needs some fert and iron. 3 months since its received anything. Next year considering some liquid iron treatments during summer to help hold color a little better. Got a few weeds, mostly crabgrass, but it's 100 times better then last year.



This area of my lawn I'd love to renovate to 100% KBG but it wouldn't work due to shade. It's a smaller section and already pretty flat so would be nice to maintain. Couple areas i need to put some seed down, will probably mix some TTTF and Fine Fescue.



This will be one of my major repair areas this fall. I have a large bare area where i couldn't get grass to grow due to shade. I cut a tree down a few weeks ago. Still a lot of shade but i think I can at least get some fine fescue to grow, will also mix in some TTTF. Also need to level it out.



And finally the area that Im considering a 100% KBG reno. Need to make mind up by end of week so i can start roundup apps. Going to borrow my brother in laws bobcat soon to help level this area out and remove a lot of gravel. If i dont go with 100% KBG i might just try a TTTF and KBG mix.


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## Butter (Nov 14, 2017)

@ksturfguy 
Please go 100% KBG. I'm really interested in your results. There are not many all KBG lawns in our area. Will it be a monostand or a blend?
As for the shaded area, how much shade does it get? Some of the only KBG in my yard gets a lot of shade. Maybe 50% or more shade. It spread from TTTF sod that I patched in. It's very aggressive. I wish I knew the variety.
I'm looking forward to your updates.


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## gmorf33 (Jul 30, 2019)

Yeah i'd really be curious how a *** lawn does for this area.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Butter said:


> @ksturfguy
> Please go 100% KBG. I'm really interested in your results. There are not many all KBG lawns in our area. Will it be a monostand or a blend?
> As for the shaded area, how much shade does it get? Some of the only KBG in my yard gets a lot of shade. Maybe 50% or more shade. It spread from TTTF sod that I patched in. It's very aggressive. I wish I knew the variety.
> I'm looking forward to your updates.


I'd either go Monostand of Mazama or the United Seed KBG blend.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

I don't usually track this stuff but dang Dollar Spot models pretty high the next few days. @g-man Do you know does the Dollar Spot model also give you a pretty good idea of Brown Patch possibilities as well? Obviously when it's hot and humid the pressure is going to be high for fungus so I assume both are usually pretty high at same time.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

I'm not aware of a correlation, but it is possible.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Fescue areas of my plot looking good. KBG not so much lol


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Mowed today at 3.25". Will apply some 32-3-8 with 2% Iron this coming weekend. Will also lower the HOC to 3" this weekend and will probably stay at that through the rest of Fall.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Mowed today, HOC was 3". Mowed test plot at 2 1/8". Be curious how much the KBG fills back in this Fall. My spreader broke so waiting on a part before I can spread some fert. Bought 32-3-8 with 3% iron. In October I will switch to 46-0-0 and will either spread at 1/4 LB of N weekly or 1/2 LB of N every other week.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Not gonna lie my front lawn isn't picture worthy right now. It's been upper 80s to low 90s for the last week and almost no rain. Basically same forecasted for this week. I'm a week behind fertilizing because my spreader broke and realized today I ordered wrong size part so delayed another week.

This area really only area that looks good and that's because I overseeded it so have been watering a lot.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Test plot after today's mow. Hoc was 2.25". I finally got my spreader fixed so plan to drop my first round of fert tomorrow since early May. I also will spray some N-EXT products. Hopefully with a couple rounds of fert I can get that KBG section to recover.

Again the right side of the plot received the N-Ext products. The left side didn't. I also think the right side sits a little lower so probably retains moisture better so not sure which of the two reasons is why the KBG did so much better on the right side. It's a pretty clear difference though. TTTF sections its I see no visual difference.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Finally got some fert down this morning. May 5th was the last round. Applied at a rate of approximately 0.79 lbs of N per 1k.

Also applied RGS and Air-8 at 3oz per.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

While spraying I found this. I have no clue what it is but I'm guessing it's not good.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Mowed today at 3". Lawn starting to improve but still a long ways to go. Finally getting some rain and cooler temps starting today.

Really frustrating because I'm still waiting for the county to finish the water line in the large front area so haven't done any seeding yet. Getting kind of late now.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

The test plot is really starting to grow vertically at a greater rate thanks to last weeks fert app. Now need the KBG to fill in laterally.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Some early morning shots of the test plot and the front lawn. Mowed yesterday, test plot is at 2.125" and rest of lawn is at 3". KBG section of the test plot is thickening back up but don't think it will completely fill in by Winter. By next May I think it will be looking good again, I just have to keep it alive next summer haha. This weekend the plan is to apply 1/2 LB of N via 46-0-0 to the lawn. Also today I'm going to spray 3oz per 1k of Humic12 and Microgreen.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Test plot mowed today at 2". Pretty significant color difference now between 100% KBG and other 2 sections.



My fert program has been delayed all Fall. Got my Sept app down about 2 weeks later then normal and now been trying to apply 1/2 LB of Urea for last few days but keep getting busy or weather doesn't cooperate like today really windy. Will try to do it tomorrow.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Mowed today at 2.75". The main yard looks decent but really haven't done much to it this Fall compared to normal. No aerification, no overseed, and pretty much just let mother nature handle the watering. Its received about 1.3 pounds of N per 1k sqft since Sept.

Was waiting all Fall for the county to level the lawn before I seeded but they never got to it. Oh well I guess. Need to clean out the ditch line. Also the brown spots you see in the close up shot is some dead crabgrass. Clearly yard wasnt weed free this summer but was way better then last year. I'm getting there.





*Got a new phone recently and still trying to figure out what setting takes the best picture. First picture the lawn looks fairly close to what it does in person but 2nd picture the lawn in person looks a lot darker then that.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Mowed maybe for the last time today at 2.75". Mostly chopped up leaves.


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## Butter (Nov 14, 2017)

@ksturfguy Looks good!
This has been a challenging fall...oh every season in Kansas is challenging!


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

@Butter yes it has. I saw the National Weather service tweet the other day that SEPT was the 6th warmest on record and OCT was the 6th coldest. We've been below average for a lot of November so far too. Kinda sucks but what can you do lol.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Some leaf cleanup today.

Before



After


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Well time to get this going again. Winter was fairly mild and slightly wetter then average. This Spring is definitely off to a quicker start then last year. Using the GDD Tracker which is one of the sites I use to time Pre-Em apps, last year on this date the 32 GDD was 135. This year it's 381.



I applied 4 LBS per 1k of Lesco's 14-0-7 with Prodiamine today which equates to about .55 LBS of N per 1k.

I still haven't mowed but most likely will next week. Today and tomorrow going to be warm but a strong cold front moving in Thursday night that will bring lows into the mid 20's for Friday and Saturday morning and highs in the 30's and 40's. Next week it should warm back up and will be go time.



This Spring I have a few areas I want to level but other then that want to keep focus more of my attention on cleaning up my flower beds.



Well see if I can get the test plot to thicken back up. If you remember the KBG struggled late last summer.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Mowed for the first time today. HOC was 3". Meant for it to be 2.5" but appears the shop fixed the deck height so the blade height actually matches what the gauge shows. I didnt check it until after the mow.

Overall I'm very pleased with the yard. Color looks great for late March. I do have a few weeds that I'll try to treat in a few days but I really can't complain.





As you can see in this picture the county never came out last fall to fix that mound they left in the yard. I will make sure they do it late this summer so I can seed in the fall.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Mowed again today at 3". Will probably start spot spraying weeds soon.


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## social port (Jun 19, 2017)

ksturfguy said:


> Mowed again today at 3". Will probably start spot spraying weeds soon.


Looks like that color is coming around.

Will you remind me: do you use a striper with your Gravely?


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

social port said:


> ksturfguy said:
> 
> 
> > Mowed again today at 3". Will probably start spot spraying weeds soon.
> ...


I do not. Only thing I have adjusted since i bought it is installing high lift blades vs the standard.

And thanks color is amazing for this time of year. Actually much darker green then picture shows.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Mowed yesterday. Will start spot spraying weeds tomorrow.



Also I find this picture interesting. Really shows how much slower the KBG is waking up compared to the fescue. The far left is the TTTF/KBG mix, middle is KBG and right is TTTF. My 1000k reno from last fall which is 100% Mazama KBG has also been very slow growing compared to the main fescue lawn.


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## Butter (Nov 14, 2017)

Looking good!


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Not much to report lately. Spot sprayed some weeds on the 7th. This last week temps were much colder then normal. We look to get back to normal this week though.


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## Butter (Nov 14, 2017)

Very nice!


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## social port (Jun 19, 2017)

Wow, @ksturfguy. That is looking really good.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Been mowing like crazy and spot spraying weeds. Will do a fert app here in a week or 2.



The Husky enjoying the nice Spring day.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Mowed. Also applied 32-3-8 with 2% iron. Equals about 0.80 Lbs of N per 1k. Things are looking great right now. Outside of mowing haven't done a lot. Ive applied about 1.3 LBs of N so far this spring and wont apply anymore until Sept. Spot sprayed weeds a couple times and just mowing twice a week. Haven't had to irrigate yet.

The mazama reno from last fall is the only area im treating different this year. Im mowing that about an inch shorter, spoon feeding it with N, also applying some N-EXT products i had left over from last year. Yesterday i also threw some sand down to help level a couple areas.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

3.25" HOC.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Haven't shown the 2019 test plot lately. Its actually filled in pretty good. If you remember right from last year I lost half of the KBG (middle) section. Mowed it today at 2.5". This year just treating it the same as my normal lawn. No N-EXT products or any tests this year.


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## Chris LI (Oct 26, 2018)

The kbg really recovered and filled in. Do you think you will get any more spreading before the summer heat hits?


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Chris LI said:


> The kbg really recovered and filled in. Do you think you will get any more spreading before the summer heat hits?


Possibly a little. We have had a pretty cool Spring but supposed to warm up into the 80s in the next couple days. I'm also done applying fert until sept.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Grass is starting to struggle. Started watering last week and just can't keep up. We've been 88 degrees or higher 13 out of last 14 days and no precipitation for over a week. The large 15k section of my lawn faces the west and half of it is full sun so it's really getting baked. The areas that receive a lot more shade are doing good still.


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## Butter (Nov 14, 2017)

This hot, dry spell we're going through is brutal and it's only June! How's the KBG holding up compared to the TTTF?


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Butter said:


> This hot, dry spell we're going through is brutal and it's only June! How's the KBG holding up compared to the TTTF?


So far so good. Mowing my TTTF at 3.75" and KBG at 2.5" last time I mowed. Really both areas where they receive shade still look good. Just struggling in a couple areas in my large TTTF area that is 100% sun and then a couple small spots in the KBG that also receives mostly sun. The last couple days have gone out in the afternoon and hosed things down a bit just to cool it off some.


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## gmorf33 (Jul 30, 2019)

ksturfguy said:


> Grass is starting to struggle. Started watering last week and just can't keep up. We've been 88 degrees or higher 13 out of last 14 days and no precipitation for over a week. The large 15k section of my lawn faces the west and half of it is full sun so it's really getting baked. The areas that receive a lot more shade are doing good still.


yeah this 90+ degree kansas weather kind of caught me a little off guard so early. I had to go to every 2 days watering with extra spot hose-watering on a few of the spots that don't get quite enough irrigation coverage. About a week of that and my lawn is finally starting to look good again. It was really thinning and browning up quick as there's not much shade in the front.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

HOC 3.75". Its hanging in there despite the rough weather.





Here is my test plot from last year. I've barely watered it and it shows.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

And here is the KBG section mowed at 2 and 7/8". Same area that had some fungus earlier is browing again. I think it heat stress but idk.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Added a new toy to the fleet. Was a rental from my local farm and home store so got it $80 off. Looks like its in good shape. Only the 50 pound hopper so maybe someday will upgrade to the 80. Either way its an upgrade over my Earthway.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Mowed today at 4". Browing up in spots. Hate doing it but had to water this evening.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Got rain over the weekend and cloudy and under 80 degrees this morning so spot sprayed some Ortho weed b gone with crabgrass control and mixed in some SedgeHammer. Weeds haven't been terrible this year but do have a few broad leaf weeds, crabgrass and nutsedge that has popped up in spots. Been so hot and dry lately that I haven't sprayed any herbicides since late April. My guess is this will be my last round until Fall.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Been awhile since I posted an update. Mowed today. HOC 4". I have some nutsedge and crabgrass that have broken out in spots. Will spray some Quinclorac and Halosufuran when I get a chance. We got a lot of rain the last couple days so color has came back some. Going to get dry again for the next week or so it looks like.

Ive never done a soil test so finally gave in to the peer pressure and ordered one of the yardmastery ones. I know its not as good as Waypoint or some of the others but wanted to start somewhere. Should get the kit and the results just before I need to start applying fert again in late Aug or early Sept.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Collected cores today for my soil test. This will be my first time ever doing a soil test so I'm looking forward to the results. I went with a mysoil test which I know isnt highly recommended here but wanted to start somewhere. I'll probably start doing a soil test every Spring or every other year and then will use K-State lab or maybe one of the bigger labs recommended on here.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Took some random pics of my property today.



So last Fall I threw my kids old pumpkins into the burn pile. Now I have a small pumpkin patch. It's unreal how fast this plant grows and spreads out. It's like Bermuda on steroids. So far we have 3 pumpkins that I can see. This was not planned at all. Of course now it gave my wife the idea to clear this area out and start a garden. Sounds like a lot of work to me lol







Also relaxing and enjoying a nice cold beverage.


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## Darrell_KC (Mar 20, 2019)

Nice landscape and lawn!


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## Butter (Nov 14, 2017)

Nice! I really like the water feature.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Today is kind of one of them days when you ask yourself is it worth it. Last night I planned to spot spray some nutsedge and crabgrass so I mixed up a tank of Quinclorac and halosulfuron. I saw some clouds building to the NE so pulled up the radar and sure enough a small shower was forming. Held off on spraying and glad I did because it rained about 30 minutes later.

Fast forward to this morning and I went out and spot sprayed some weeds. Only mixed up 1 gallon and realized quickly I had way more weeds then I thought and 1 gallon wasn't going to be near enough. Also saw mycelium in several spots in both my TTTF and my Mazama KBG. I fully expected this with the rain shower last evening and the high humidity Dew Point is 71 degrees and humidity is 88% this morning. The DS index is over 60 for the next few days.

As I was walking around my property spraying the never ending patches of crabgrass and nutsedge and seeing Brown Patch take over, I wondered is it worth it? I spend countless hours each week researching lawn care topics, I follow the university guides on when to fert, how high to mow, how often to mow, when and how much to water, etc etc and every year about the end of July into August I say WTF is the point. Yard just looks like crap for my standards.

This winter I need to sit down and tweek my program. I'm not doing something right, maybe its time to start spraying my Prodiamine apps? Maybe need to apply a small round of N in June/July? Start using fungicides more regularly? IDK but what I'm doing isn't working but I have to be careful with 20k of turf not to go too crazy or I'll be spending way too much money. This hobby can be very frustrating. RANT OVER.


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## kmw (Jun 27, 2020)

ksturfguy said:


> As I was walking around my property spraying the never ending patches of crabgrass and nutsedge and seeing Brown Patch take over, I wondered is it worth it? I spend countless hours each week researching lawn care topics, I follow the university guides on when to fert, how high to mow, how often to mow, when and how much to water, etc etc and every year about the end of July into August I say WTF is the point. Yard just looks like crap for my standards.
> 
> This winter I need to sit down and tweek my program. I'm not doing something right, maybe its time to start spraying my Prodiamine apps? Maybe need to apply a small round of N in June/July? Start using fungicides more regularly? IDK but what I'm doing isn't working but I have to be careful with 20k of turf not to go too crazy or I'll be spending way too much money. This hobby can be very frustrating. RANT OVER.


retweet


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## Butter (Nov 14, 2017)

@ksturfguy I hear ya brother! I go through the same thing every year this very same time of year. There just seems to be a constant barrage of issues growing turf in our climate in the summer. Too hot, too dry, too humid, too wet, grubs, fungus, drought stress. It seems like whatever you do its not right or its never enough or its too much. Its like the grass just gets tired of existing in the summer. I honestly think your not doing anything wrong its just how things are. I know its very frustrating. I try to understand that I can't have May quality turf in August, it's just not gonna happen. Last night after I mowed my yard looked stressed and tired and fungusy. So I sat in my favorite spot, drank a beer and listened to baseball. That seemed to help. Hang in there fall will be here soon.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

@Butter speaking of the Royals, it sucks I have Dish Network which no longer carries Fox Sports KC so can't even watch them this year. Might have to resort to listening on the radio as well. Crazy that in 2020 you can't even watch your local MLB team on a major cable/satellite company.

And yeah this time of year always frustrating. Keep telling myself Sept is almost here and things will get better. The heat/drought stress I live with because I don't have irrigation and my schedule doesn't allow me to drag the hoses around everday for hours at a time. Also living here I know fungus will be an issue. I've tried educating myself on it more this year and finally using fungicides more but not regularly or on my entire lawn. I think the weed issue is the most frustrating. Nutsedge seems to be worse this year and I have crabgrass in same spot of my lawn as always. It's on a down slope so Idk if my granular product washes off more there or what. It's a constant battle for sure.


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## SEKBrian (Jul 20, 2020)

I'm in the same boat also. I'm going to give the Turf Blue KBG that I messaged you about the other day a shot. I'm not doing a full reno but I'm going to make my current yard hurt this fall and see what happens next year when I throw the whole playbook at it.


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## rob13psu (May 20, 2018)

I hear you! It doesn't help that this year has been a train wreck. We have increased stress at home/work/geopolitical/personal to deal with.

This was the first year I put down pre-emergent for crabgrass and I actually some popping up in places I've never seen it before. I used granular dimension and I'm to switch to spraying prodiamine. I just try to remind myself that even the folks with the best looking stands on the forum deal with these issues, and that I'm constantly learning to improve my cultural practices everyday.

I think what you said is accurate. Once the weather starts to cool a bit and the lawn recovers you'll feel a lot better about the state of the lawn.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Good to see I'm not the only one struggling with this. Like @rob13psu said this year in general has been a train wreck and I think maybe now it's finally just hitting me mentally. It's been very stressful at work lately and the whole COVID thing certainly hasn't helped.

I think just seeing how easy @GrassFarmer@Pete1313 @O_Poole @HoosierLawnGnome etc make it look can be frustrating for us common folk lol And the reason I mention them is because they have large properties, even bigger then my 20k and still have amazing looking lawns. They are the end goal. #keepgrinding


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## HoosierLawnGnome (Sep 28, 2017)

@ksturfguy Thanks for the nod, but I promise you it's not all cupcakes and rainbows with my lawn right now - sedgegrass, the quackgrass spots I killed that I need to reseed, some dollar spot etc.

An irrigation system is a game changer. It gives you so much control and flexibility as to what and when you can do things. If all I could afford one year was some urea and gas for a mower so I could save up for an irrigation system for next year, I'd be all over that.

For me personally, I try to remember it's just a hobby. I try not to get worried if someone has a better lawn than me, or if it's not perfect.

Heck, I think half of lawn care is being willing to do something "crazy" that may not end well. Like spraying roundup on your entire yard for a renovation, or buying a triplex you don't know how to maintain in order to cut grass really low you aren't sure you can maintain if you get it.

Shoot, I just sprayed roundup on a cat-shaped outline in my yard in hopes I'll be able to maintain bentgrass at greens heights. I sure hope it works out! :lol: :lol:

I'm pretty fortunate right now. I worked from home most of the time anyways, now it's almost 100% due to the pandemic. Lawn care, especially mower time, is time for me to clear my head, plan my day, organize my thoughts for work, and take a break. Most people think of it as work and a chore.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Raining like crazy the last 2 days here. 2.9" here in the last 48 hours. Haven't mowed since last wed and not sure when ill be able to with all this rain. Gonna be a mess lol UPDATE: 2 day total ended up being 3.3"

Also spot sprayed Quinclorac on Tuesday in a few areas I have Crabgrass. It rained probably within 3 hours of spraying so was worried it wasnt going to be effective. Well 48 hours later and this is what the area of my Zoysia plot looks like after being sprayed. Really good browning pretty quickly.



I had Halosufuran mixed in the tank but the nutsedge I sprayed I'm not seeing much discoloration yet.


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## Butter (Nov 14, 2017)

The rain can stop for awhile now!
How has your turf responded to the cooler, wetter weather?


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

@Butter greening up nicely but needs mowed bad lol what about you?


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## Butter (Nov 14, 2017)

@ksturfguy Except for some fungus damage mine is perking up nicely. I don't think I got the large amount of rain that some in the area did but I got enough. Mine also needs mowed.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Got my soil test results today. This Fall I will try to do a core aeration and apply Lime and my first fert app in late Aug/early Sept I think I'll go with a starter fert. My local place offers a 16-24-12 with 2% iron. I'll apply it at 5 LBs per 1k. In October I will switch to Urea. @g-man I know you don't like the mysoil tests but does my plan seem alright? This Spring I plan on using Waypoint for my test and will do that every Spring or at least every 2 or 3 years .

Preliminary Fall Plan:

Apply either 16-24-12 with 2% Iron at 5LB per or apply 32-3-8 with 2% Iron along with 0-46-0 Triple superphosphate at 2.5 LB per. 
Appy Lime at 10 LB per. 
October: Switch to normal Urea apps. 
November: Use Ammonium Sulfate?





Also mowed yesterday at 4". Will start gradually bringing it down to 3. I'm hoping the county will finally come level out that mound they left. I told them it needs done by the end of August so I can plant seed.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

@ksturfguy it is not that I don't like it. I just don't trust it. I would not to lime. When I lived in Kansas City, we had hard water. Normally hard water means high pH. I think the 5.23 will not be right.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

g-man said:


> @ksturfguy it is not that I don't like it. I just don't trust it. I would not to lime. When I lived in Kansas City, we had hard water. Normally hard water means high pH. I think the 5.23 will not be right.


Yeah I was very surprised when I saw the pH, thought for sure it would be high. A couple of the outside faucets are connected to the water softener but our water softener is old and I'm not even convinced it works very well. Anytime my wife refills the hot tub she always says the pH is really high.

I will test it again in early Spring using Waypoint or a better lab and see what it says. For now I will hold off on the lime then.


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## Butter (Nov 14, 2017)

@ksturfguy You could also do the free soil test through K State. It is very basic and doesn't give much information but should be accurate. You can drop it off at the extension office so you don't even have to pay shipping.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

@Butter I don't see any of their test being free. Looks like $10 for their basic test (ph, P and K) and then $15.50 for a more complex test. Still half the cost of what the mysoil test was. Maybe every county extension office has different prices? Who knows but yeah I might try them out to.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Some updates for several areas of my property. First and foremost here is my Mazama KBG. It is doing well. A couple small areas still battling either DS or BP and then a couple spots that were damaged when I sprayed some weeds. Overall though it looks great.





Here is my test plot area from a couple years ago. This year has been a complete 180 from last. The 100% KBG is doing the best of the 3. The other 2 plots have battled BP. My Zoysia plot looks pretty good too for not really doing too much extra to it.



Now the not so good update. Holy Brown Patch for my main front lawn. Its freaking awful. Will definitely have to start applying fungicides on a schedule starting next year. Ouch. Also mowed today at 3.75", Mowed it twice to try and burn in some double wide stripes.


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## badtlc (Aug 22, 2019)

ksturfguy said:


> @Butter I don't see any of their test being free. Looks like $10 for their basic test (ph, P and K) and then $15.50 for a more complex test. Still half the cost of what the mysoil test was. Maybe every county extension office has different prices? Who knows but yeah I might try them out to.


Those might be commercial rates. All kansas residents are entitled to one free sample per year.


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## badtlc (Aug 22, 2019)

ksturfguy said:


> Some updates for several areas of my property. First and foremost here is my Mazama KBG. It is doing well. A couple small areas still battling either DS or BP and then a couple spots that were damaged when I sprayed some weeds. Overall though it looks great.
> 
> Here is my test plot area from a couple years ago. This year has been a complete 180 from last. The 100% KBG is doing the best of the 3. The other 2 plots have battled BP. My Zoysia plot looks pretty good too for not really doing too much extra to it.
> 
> Now the not so good update. Holy Brown Patch for my main front lawn. Its freaking awful. Will definitely have to start applying fungicides on a schedule starting next year. Ouch. Also mowed today at 3.75", Mowed it twice to try and burn in some double wide stripes.


I had similar results to you this year. My TTTF just got obliterated but the KBG did really well. I put in a swing set back in april/may and the fungus developed and immediately killed off the grass under the swings where kids stood all the time. Within a month the KBG had moved in and fixed the areas. The only thing I did was add sand weekly in these spots to help keep them level and hopefully prevent compaction.

The TTTF was so beautiful in the spring but I couldn't do anything to keep it going. I think I am going to just overseed with KBG moving forward when I run out of TTTF. I'm mixing TTTF/KBG for the time being.


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## Mtsdream (May 2, 2019)

[/quote]
I similar results to you this year. My TTTF just got obliterated but the KBG did really well. I put in a swing set back in april/may and the fungus developed and immediately killed off the grass under the swings where kids stood all the time. Within a month the KBG had moved in and fixed the areas. The only thing I did was add sand weekly in these spots to help keep them level and hopefully prevent compaction.

The TTTF was so beautiful in the spring but I couldn't do anything to keep it going. I think I am going to just overseed with KBG moving forward when I run out of TTTF. I'm mixing TTTF/KBG for the time being.
[/quote]

^+3 my kbg did far better seems like, I even did a spring reno bewitched plot that did great, only 5-6 hours of sun a day in that spot though


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

I've kept my lawn in decent shape most of the summer but the last couples weeks has been a challenge. We have received almost no rain in the month of August and temps have been in the mid to upper 80's and some 90's over the last week or so. I've been fairly busy so haven't been able to water consistently. Also in one area of my lawn I got tons of mole damage over the last 2 days or so. UGHHHHHHHH.

Looks like it's going to stay in the upper 80's to low 90's through the remainder of the month with very little rain. Early Sept some cooler weather showing up in the models. Plan on seeding the last weekend of August.


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## Chris LI (Oct 26, 2018)

Hang in there! It always seems like a roller coaster when we get to August. We hang on through the typical July drought, with "pounding it with water" as I call it, and then that insidious fungus gets us in August when we think we hung on by our finger nails. In our area, we saw some recovery this week, before the upcoming predicted shot of heat. I hope you start seeing some better growing conditions soon.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Update on different sections of my property. HOC was 3.25" besides my Mazama monostand which was 2.75". My main section of my lawn which is direct sunlight is struggling. I'm watering every other day but it's not enough. It's been Mid 90's the last week and we've received less than a 1/2" of rain all month. Tomorrow is supposed to be the last real hot day so I plan on starting to overseed this weekend.



My Mazama is mostly doing good besides the corner closest to you in the pic. This area receives a lot of sunlight and the soil here is fairly rocky because the gravel drive right next to it. It has gone dormant in spots but I'm confident in a month it will look great again. I also tore out my old dog kennel in the far section of the pic and plan on seeding it this weekend with more mazama.



Here is my test plot from 2 years ago. The center section which is 100% KBG has started to go dormant due to no rain and almost no suplimmental irrigation. The section closest is the 90/10 split and it's also not looking too hot. The 3rd section is the TTTF and it's doing good now. It struggled with brown patch a month or so ago but has recovered. You can also see the Zoysia in the far section.



Here is a close up of the zoysia. HOC 1.25". It has really thickened up this Summer. I really haven't given it much Nitrogen, iron or irrigation and it has had no problems at all. I'm sure with more care I could improve the color a lot.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

So I gave up on the excavating company coming back to fix this hump they left in my lawn last year.



I asked my neighbor if he had any equipment that could get the job done. He brought over his large tractor with a blade. We did a little more damage then I wanted to the lawn due to the rain we received in the morning but in the end he dug the mound out. He was also kind enough to give me a couple scoops of top soil from his property.

I spread the top soil and then drove over it with my stand on mower a few times to compact it. I then went and got 18 more bags of top soil which ended up not being near enough but at that point i gave up caring. I then spread 5 lbs of seed and then again compacted it with my mower. Then spread peat moss and began the process of watering.



It found out quickly how hard it was to level everything out without the proper equipment and a crap ton of top soil. So its a little bumpy and ill have to add sand or soil a few times next year to even it out. Either way it should be better then that stupid hump.

Also I mowed the lawn 3 times, final HOC was 2.5". I ran out of time today but tomorrow I will walk through the lawn and spot seed any bare spots. I was going to aerate and do a full overseed but honestly most of the lawn is pretty thick so will just focus on a couple trouble spots.


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## badtlc (Aug 22, 2019)

Sounds like an easy fall for you this year.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Took damn near 2 full days but got the entire lawn mowed at 2.5" and spot seeded all the thin or bare areas I could find. Now just time to water. Will fertilize next weekend. While doing all this work I thought thank god for the 1k sqft area of Mazama that all I will need to do is fertilize lol


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## synergy0852 (Jun 30, 2018)

Do you think you'll ever go to full kbg? Seems to do surprisingly well in your location.

Is next weekend when you'll start blitzing?


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

@synergy0852 I will definitely consider it especially if my next house has in ground irrigation. Not sure if I'd go with a monostand like Mazama or a blend but KBG will be in the running.

For the most part the Mazama did great but the area that receives the most sunlight did struggle this month. Up until yesterday this was the driest August on record for my location and it had been hot. The KBG started to check out. So will be interesting to test it out over a couple years. This was the 2nd year in a row I threw in some Mazama to overseed a couple small areas of my property.

And yes I will start doing my fert rounds next week. I would have done it this weekend but since I seeded several areas I wanted to hold off until after germination. This round I will be using a 32-3-8 with 2% FE. I also bought a 24 LB bag of XStart that I will throw down in the areas I seeded.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Mowed KBG area at 2.5". Also the area i leveled and reseeded has germinated at the 5 day mark.


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## badtlc (Aug 22, 2019)

How well does your KBG stand up?


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

badtlc said:


> How well does your KBG stand up?


I cut it at 2.5 to 2.75 inches and it seems to stand up good. Now I have a small 10x10 patch of Baron KBG and mowed it at 4" this summer and I thought it laid over too much.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Here is the area I seeded on Saturday morning. This was the 1 week mark.



And here it is today.



This evening I plan on throwing down some XSTRT and maybe a little more seed. Today is the last hot day in the forecast. The rest of the week will be cool and rainy. Perfect for growing grass!


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## Chris LI (Oct 26, 2018)

:thumbup: That's filling in quickly. Which seed did you use?


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## Butter (Nov 14, 2017)

Looks good! You got a jump on seeding, the cooler, wetter weather is gonna work out perfect for you.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

@Chris LI It was my leftover Winner's Circle blend from last year. I believe it was Titanium 2LS, Raptor III, and Valkrie LS

Also tonight I threw down a little bit more seed. Also fertilized with XStart in the areas I seeded. Rate was 4 LBs per 1k. Also threw down 32-3-8 in the other areas, equaled about 1 LB of N per 1k in those areas. Now time for mother nature to do its thing.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

2 weeks since seed down. Its looking pretty good. Was going to mow it today but was still too wet.



Here is my KBG 5 days past fert. I had a mole doing some damage in this section but finally killed it.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

The KBG is growing like crazy after the fert application about 10 days ago. Lowered the HOC today to just over 2". It looks amazing in person.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

:thumbup:


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## badtlc (Aug 22, 2019)

ksturfguy said:


> The KBG is growing like crazy after the fert application about 10 days ago. Lowered the HOC today to just over 2". It looks amazing in person.


The more I read it seems like 2" to 2.25" is the optimal KBG HOC for a lot of cultivars. Good to see you like that height.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

badtlc said:


> ksturfguy said:
> 
> 
> > The KBG is growing like crazy after the fert application about 10 days ago. Lowered the HOC today to just over 2". It looks amazing in person.
> ...


According to the manual Im at 2 1/8" now. Next step down is 1 3/4. The lower I go the more I see why people get obsessed with reel mowing. Dont think thats ever in the cards for me but who knows maybe Ill try it 1 more notch lower and see what it looks like.


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## badtlc (Aug 22, 2019)

ksturfguy said:


> According to the manual Im at 2 1/8" now. Next step down is 1 3/4. The lower I go the more I see why people get obsessed with reel mowing. Dont think thats ever in the cards for me but who knows maybe Ill try it 1 more notch lower and see what it looks like.


I typically do 2.25" and my next step down is 1.75". I really like the 1.75% for 95% of my yard but it starts to scalp in a few places at that height so I try not to tempt myself with it often. I use it as my low mow setting when I'm cutting off the brown stuff and go back to 2.25".


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

1 day short of the 3 week mark for this area. Overall it came in pretty good but the area closest in the pic is thin. I even threw down more seed there over a week ago and doesnt seem to be germinating. Not sure whats going on. Ive gotten busy so watering hasnt been as consistent as the first week. In the 3 weeks of the reno we have only gotten 1" of rain and 2 of the full weeks got no precip at all so that hasnt helped.



Main area of my lawn looking good. The fert is definitely doing its thing. HoC is 3".



Mowed the Mazama at 1 3/4" today and put down some sand in a few lower areas. Will maintain it just over 2" through Fall.


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## Butter (Nov 14, 2017)

Looking good!


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## synergy0852 (Jun 30, 2018)

:thumbup: real nice! Fully recovered from the disease pressure now? What kind of weather are you having down there?


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

@synergy0852 Yeah no fungus issues at the moment which is surprising since I've watered some in the evenings lately due to my schedule. But weather has been good besides the lack of rain. Mid 70's to Mid 80''s for the last week. We did have a couple days last week in the 50's but has gone back to normal now. 7 day forecast showing Mid 70's to low 80's and no rain.


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## synergy0852 (Jun 30, 2018)

I'd like to trade you weather. 60s days 30s nights here. First frost advisory for this fall tonight about a month earlier than normal. I see some 70s starting Monday for a week, but I think those will be the last sadly. This Mazama seems to really like mid 70s... It's going to be a long winter for me.


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## LawnBoy (Sep 30, 2018)

synergy0852 said:


> I'd like to trade you weather. 60s days 30s nights here. First frost advisory for this fall tonight about a month earlier than normal. I see some 70s starting Monday for a week, but I think those will be the last sadly. This Mazama seems to really like mid 70s... It's going to be a long winter for me.


I feel you, Im in Holland. Just when we got a break from the 90s we went right to the 60s. I'm 33days in on new KBG.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Mowed the baby grass for the first time with the Pro stance. HOC 3". Almost to the 1 month mark. It is filling in pretty good. We've had 1 inch of rain over the last 3 1/2 weeks so I've had to water a lot.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Last week I made the mistake of mowing my Mazama at 2.25" with my prostance. It scalped in a few areas but overall still looking good. Also planted some mora Mazama where an old dog kennel used to be. Its pretty heavily shaded but coming in fairly good.





I still have a couple pounds left of the Mazama and it will be 2 years old by next Fall and honestly i really have no other areas i want to use it so I think i might dormant seed with it back in my low maintenance area just to see if any germinates.

This was my Mazma 1 year ago. Its fun to look back at the progress of a reno.


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## Chris LI (Oct 26, 2018)

:thumbsup:


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## badtlc (Aug 22, 2019)

Why dont you want to use the Mazama elsewhere?


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

badtlc said:


> Why dont you want to use the Mazama elsewhere?


Just dont really have anywhere else to use it. The main 15k of my lawn is TTTF and have no plans to renovate it and a few areas I have overseeded with the Mazama the last 2 Falls but thats it. Im out of space lol


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Good lord the moles have been awful this Fall. I've had mole issues off and on the 5 years I've lived here but nothing like this Fall. It's non stop and in every section of my lawn. I've killed 2 so far but there seems to be a million more. Really frustrating because outside of that I would say this is the best my lawn has ever looked.


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## badtlc (Aug 22, 2019)

ksturfguy said:


> Good lord the moles have been awful this Fall. I've had mole issues off and on the 5 years I've lived here but nothing like this Fall. It's non stop and in every section of my lawn. I've killed 2 so far but there seems to be a million more. Really frustrating because outside of that I would say this is the best my lawn has ever looked.


Have you noticed if the moles are more active in the TTTF or KBG areas or does it seem equal?


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

badtlc said:


> ksturfguy said:
> 
> 
> > Good lord the moles have been awful this Fall. I've had mole issues off and on the 5 years I've lived here but nothing like this Fall. It's non stop and in every section of my lawn. I've killed 2 so far but there seems to be a million more. Really frustrating because outside of that I would say this is the best my lawn has ever looked.
> ...


Mostly in my fescue but thats just because 95% of my property is fescue. Ive had a couple runs in my Mazama.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Mowed yesterday. Very pleased with the lawn besides it just been really dry this fall so some of my seeding hasn't been as successful as I would like. Also the moles are destroying a couple areas.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

A view different shots of the Mazama.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

It remains very dry. Im watering like crazy but areas starting to dry out. Im still dealing with moles as well. I just am having no luck catching them. You can see some of the damage in the pic below.





Eventually will do another round of fert if it ever rains again. Also will keep mowing for about another month. Mostly chomping up leaves.


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## badtlc (Aug 22, 2019)

still looking good!


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Thanks @badtlc . Very pleased with the lawn besides the mole damage in a couple spots.

EDIT:

This evening I spot sprayed some Speedzone. Didn't have many weeds but a few broadleaf weeds here and there.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Was hoping to do an app of Urea this weekend but with no irrigation system and no rain in sight I am going to hold off. I was out of town all week so couldn't water. Lawn definitely dried out and some of the grass I planted this fall is not doing well. Unfortunately it's just been one of them Falls. The entire state of Kansas is now in the Abnormally dry category or worse.


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## badtlc (Aug 22, 2019)

ksturfguy said:


> Was hoping to do an app of Urea this weekend but with no irrigation system and no rain in sight I am going to hold off. I was out of town all week so couldn't water. Lawn definitely dried out and some of the grass I planted this fall is not doing well. Unfortunately it's just been one of them Falls. The entire state of Kansas is now in the Abnormally dry category or worse.


I feel your pain. My water bill is going to be pretty dang high this fall even with the cooler temps. My ground soaks up water throughout my entire yard faster than I can put it down (back yard is only exception where it is a LOT of shade). Even the narrow strips on the side of my house that are usually soggy/damp are hard and dry and I have even upped watering in those zones to 4x more than I would water during the heat of summer.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Applied approximately 1/2 LB of N today from Urea. Supposed to rain/snow Sunday and Monday so hopefully it gets watered in. Highs only in the 40's the last 2 days and lows supposed to drop into the teens early this week.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Got our first snowfall of the Fall/Winter. Temps are in the upper 20's today and soil temps have dropped to the upper 30's. I looked earlier and our soil temps were 14 degrees below their 5 year average.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Temps have recovered back into the 60s today. Mowed, HOC 3"



The Mazama is tough to get good pics of this time of year due to the shade. It looks really good though in person. HOC was 2"


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Cleaned up leaves and mowed today. Weather has been great this week. Mostly in the 70s. Mazama still looks great.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

I applied 1/2 LB of N today via Urea. Moles are killing me. Ive had a mole here or there over my 5 years of living here but can usually catch it fairly quickly. This fall its been a nightmare. I have them all over my property and I havent killed any of them. Not sure what is going on.

Used the big mower on my Mazama today to clean up some leaves.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

The mazama is still holding its color good. It's a lot darker green compared to my TTTF.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Did the last mow today. Just kept it at 3". Usually mow shorter on the last mow but decided not to this time. Also took advantage of the perfect weather and got the Christmas lights up. Took an aerial shot of the front lawn.

This year I applied roughly 3.2 LBS of N, 0.15 LBS of P and 0.67 LBS of K. I'm going I try to shoot for 3 to 4 LBS of N each year so in that range. I need to do another soil test in the Spring to see my P and K levels. The ferts I use do not have very much P and K so depending on soil test results I might try to get my ratio closer to that 4-1-2 ratio that a lot of universities recommend.


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## Butter (Nov 14, 2017)

Looks good! This is an amazing fall we are having. Out of curiosity why have you decided to keep it at 3" through the winter?
I leave mine 3"+ through the winter as well because I like to drop it down in the spring for the first cut. I'm just curious if that is your reason or something else.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

@Butter Oh no real scientific reason lol. I usually do 2.5" for the last cut and then again in the Spring for the first cut. This year I'm just going to try keeping it at 3" but will do 2.5" in the Spring. My Mazama's last cut was right around 2" but that is what I maintained it at all Fall.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

First good snowfall of winter arrived yesterday. We got about 2 or 3".


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## badtlc (Aug 22, 2019)

and now how does it look?


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Haven't done anything to it yet. I did buy my pre-emergent today. Not sure if I'll apply it this week before the rain or wait. Supposed to cool off again starting this weekend.


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