# OOPS



## tblood (Aug 7, 2018)

The rain is killing me. The yard is a swamp and I am trying to get a gravel bed built so I can have my shed delivered. I just ordered my swardmann, but have been cutting with my old craftsman rotary push mower. I dropped the deck as low as it would go and cut an outline in the back yard in order to use a line level on the the perimeter of where I want my shed.

Well, the front was dry enough to cut, since I have been mowing the grass pretty high until my reel gets here. I cut the first pass and turned around to look because it was tougher to push than normal, and guess what? I forgot to raise the deck back up.

An August reset it is. I don't have a bagger on the mower. I got a lot of clippings out of the grass, but there are still a to left. I'm going to have to borrow a friend's mower with a bagger to get the rest of the clippings up so I can start the N applications.


----------



## jonthepain (May 5, 2018)

NC State recommends leaving the clippings unless clumpy.


----------



## tblood (Aug 7, 2018)

I got most of the clumps out. It should be dry when I get home from work, so I guess I could rake the remaining clumps around.

There were a ton of clippings, though. Should I rake to get the to settle under the canopy?

I'll check out State's website.


----------



## tblood (Aug 7, 2018)

Would now be a good time to kill the crabgrass as well?


----------



## RandyMan (May 17, 2018)

Do you have a leaf blower?You could blow them .Doing it with a blower will send the clippings under the canopy where they will be like fertlizer/compost to the lawn/soil.


----------



## tblood (Aug 7, 2018)

After I raked last night, I ran the blower over the entire area. There were still some clippings sitting on top, but not too much. I just don't want to build a huge thatch layer that is going to be tough to clean up in the spring.


----------



## tblood (Aug 7, 2018)

jonthepain said:


> NC State recommends leaving the clippings unless clumpy.


You are pretty close to me. Have you guys been getting pounded with the same rain as us here in Greenville? If so, How has it changed your irrigation schedule?


----------



## Suburban Jungle Life (Mar 1, 2018)

tblood said:


> After I raked last night, I ran the blower over the entire area. There were still some clippings sitting on top, but not too much. I just don't want to build a huge thatch layer that is going to be tough to clean up in the spring.


You can spray molasses or GCF dethatch to help reduce that if you want.


----------



## tblood (Aug 7, 2018)

Suburban Jungle Life said:


> tblood said:
> 
> 
> > After I raked last night, I ran the blower over the entire area. There were still some clippings sitting on top, but not too much. I just don't want to build a huge thatch layer that is going to be tough to clean up in the spring.
> ...


I'll look into that. Is any particular brand more effective than another?

I got the verticutter and dethatcher cartridges with the swardman, so that part won't be so bad. It will just be the actual clean up of the debris that is going to be a pain.


----------



## tblood (Aug 7, 2018)

Well, it's been 4 days since my mishap, and one side of the yard is almost completely green again. The other side is coming along a little slower, but I can still see progress. I think the giant birch tree is slowing down that side.

All I had was the Bayer 3 in 1 in my garage that I had planned to put down next month, but I went ahead and threw down about 10 pounds to get my 1 pound per k of N yesterday and watered it in today.

The last time I put down fertilizer, the grass absolutely took off. I am hoping for similar results this time, and my swardman will be here Tuesday. I'm ready to keep it low for a month and a half before I set at 1.5 inches for the winter.

I'll post pics tomorrow, as it it too dark to take them now.


----------



## tblood (Aug 7, 2018)

7 days post scalp:





It's coming along.


----------



## mantnyh (Aug 12, 2018)

Looking better. Amazing how resilient Bermuda is.


----------



## tblood (Aug 7, 2018)

Yeah, it is hard to mess it up. I cut it today with my manual reel, and it was so much easier to cut.

On an unrelated topic, my wife wanted edges cut around the raised beds in the yard. I broke out the edger and cut an outline. I carefully removed to grass and was able to harvest some really nice plugs.

My swardman will be here tomorrow, so I scalped a little section on the other side of the driveway that is mostly weeds. Tomorrow I will scarify to the ground, then drop the verticutter as deep as it will go, remove the debris and plant the plugs. I'm not going to spread them out and let them fill in, I don't think. I'll lay them down like sod, since I didn't get a chance to get a good kill on a larger area.

I had just watered in the nitrogen, 24d and preM a few days ago, so hopefully it will resist the onslaught of weeds that it will encounter long enough for me to get the yard sprayed with celcius and certainty.


----------



## tblood (Aug 7, 2018)

Here is what I was able to harvest. I threw a little water on it to keep it from drying out until I can get it in the ground.


----------



## tblood (Aug 7, 2018)

That is stacked three bricks high. I manually removed any weeds before I stacked it.


----------



## tblood (Aug 7, 2018)

I'm ready to roll when I get home today. This came in the mail at lunch;


----------



## Tellycoleman (May 10, 2017)

Nice thread.
One question or comment. 
I hope you plan on digging out a section before you put down the sod pieces.
You just put down pre emergent a few days ago?
Do you have a proplugger? That would be a better solution to get below the pre-m barrier.

Nice mower. Get ready for another scalp!!
There is really no way around it when going from rotatory to real. 3/4 inch on a rotary is not the same as 3/4 on a real. Can't wait to see more pictures


----------



## tblood (Aug 7, 2018)

Yes. I will be digging a section out. The area to which I am moving the grass hasn't been treated with anything. The preM is in the plugs themselves.

I use a Scott's manual reel on the front when I can. Right now it is still easy to push it. I will set the swardman as high as it will go and work my way down until I am happy with the hoc.

I will mainly be using the verticutter to soften the ground to make it easier to dig and get as much junk out as possible before transplanting the other grass.


----------



## tblood (Aug 7, 2018)

I got two strips about 12 fee long each in the ground. I wish that I had the time to properly prepare the ground before hand, but this is just an experiment for me, so I'll take whatever results I get.


----------



## tblood (Aug 7, 2018)

On a side note, the cut quality from the swardman is excellent.


----------



## tblood (Aug 7, 2018)

The hoc was less than 1 ".


----------



## ctrav (Aug 18, 2018)

Congrats on the new mower and lawn recovery! When you were using the old mower what was your cutting height normally? I ask because I was cutting at 3 1/2 inches with my zero turn but just went down to 1 1/2 inch with a plan to maintain at 2. I would like to maintain at 1 1/2 but I would need to do some serious leveling for that. I think 2 inches will look nice considering I didn't mind 3 or 3 1/2.


----------



## tblood (Aug 7, 2018)

ctrav said:


> Congrats on the new mower and lawn recovery! When you were using the old mower what was your cutting height normally? I ask because I was cutting at 3 1/2 inches with my zero turn but just went down to 1 1/2 inch with a plan to maintain at 2. I would like to maintain at 1 1/2 but I would need to do some serious leveling for that. I think 2 inches will look nice considering I didn't mind 3 or 3 1/2.


I can't honestly say that I measured the hoc when in was using the rotary. It was a craftsman 22 inch push mower. I had it set on the next to last tooth.


----------



## ctrav (Aug 18, 2018)

No worries...


----------



## tblood (Aug 7, 2018)

ctrav said:


> No worries...


I can tell you that the lowest setting g was less than an inch, and I was one notch above that.


----------



## ctrav (Aug 18, 2018)

I will check to see how low my push mower goes.


----------



## tblood (Aug 7, 2018)

Ok. About 1 month post scalp:


----------



## William (Oct 2, 2017)

Nice!


----------



## tblood (Aug 7, 2018)

Still fighting the weeds, but got the Bermuda triangle down and a fresh cut. I'll probably need to broadcast quinclorac over the winter for safe measure.

The grass was a super deep green before the hurricane, but standing water and not being able to cut mage it leggy and I didn't raise the hoc enough, so the brown is showing through a little bit.


----------



## tblood (Aug 7, 2018)

I did put down so.e 10-10-10 to replenish before it goes dormant. The amount of rainfall we got just washed everything away. I also put down some spectracide bug stuff. I found a ton of grubs when I was digging the gravel pad for my storage building.


----------



## Rockinar (Jul 21, 2017)

jonthepain said:


> NC State recommends leaving the clippings unless clumpy.


Unless NC State is going to sweep all the clippings off my floors, Im bagging them.


----------



## Tellycoleman (May 10, 2017)

Not sure about your idea to broadcast quinclorac when your lawn is dormant.
All the summer weeds will be dead as well
your pre emergent will cover winter weeds.
Just make sure you make another Pre emergent app before spring
And spot spray the few that pop up. Not a fan of broadcasting weeds unless you have a huge outbreak.


----------



## tblood (Aug 7, 2018)

Tellycoleman said:


> Not sure about your idea to broadcast quinclorac when your lawn is dormant.
> All the summer weeds will be dead as well
> your pre emergent will cover winter weeds.
> Just make sure you make another Pre emergent app before spring
> And spot spray the few that pop up. Not a fan of broadcasting weeds unless you have a huge outbreak.


My back yard is almost completely weeds. I guess it got to be too much to maintain for the guy who had the house before me. Crabgrass everywhere. The Celcius is starting to do some work. One the crabgrass dies, if I pull it up, I will have some significant bare spots. Should I just leave the dead stuff in the ground and clean it up during the spring scalp?


----------



## tblood (Aug 7, 2018)

Ok guys. I was pulling weeds and accidentally pulled this up. Since I have it in hand, can you identify what kind of bermuda this?


This piece is pretty small. Less than an inch.


----------



## tblood (Aug 7, 2018)

Tellycoleman said:


> Not sure about your idea to broadcast quinclorac when your lawn is dormant.
> All the summer weeds will be dead as well
> your pre emergent will cover winter weeds.
> Just make sure you make another Pre emergent app before spring
> And spot spray the few that pop up. Not a fan of broadcasting weeds unless you have a huge outbreak.


Here are some pictures of the back after the celcius/certainty application. I broadcast both.

This is actually the strip that runs along the driveway towards the street in front:



These were taken early while there was still few on the ground. There is more bermuda left than I had originally thought, but next spring is going to be a lot of work. The hoc is at about 7/8".


----------



## tblood (Aug 7, 2018)

The grass looks fluffy because I cut lower earlier in the season, and then let it grow higher so I wouldn't scalp, and the Bermuda grew back over top of the weeds.


----------



## Xoque (Jul 10, 2018)

Looks great. I bet next year it will look even better.


----------



## tblood (Aug 7, 2018)

The brown streaks and patches are not a result of scalping. Those are actually dead weeds from the Celcius/Certainty cocktail. I had started to pull the dead weeds out, but was worried that I might compromise my Prodiamine by disturbing the ground. Is that a legitimate concern?


----------



## Colonel K0rn (Jul 4, 2017)

tblood said:


> The brown streaks and patches are not a result of scalping. Those are actually dead weeds from the Celcius/Certainty cocktail. I had started to pull the dead weeds out, but was worried that I might compromise my Prodiamine by disturbing the ground. Is that a legitimate concern?


It is good that you're thinking about this. I would advise you to leave them be, as they're actually going to help contribute root mass to the soil, which will break down and become food for your lawn. Any time you disturb the soil, you're going to break the barrier, and give winter weeds a chance to come up in that area. Leave it be


----------



## tblood (Aug 7, 2018)

@Colonel K0rn 
That is what I figured. It is killing me,though. They pull out so easily when they are dead, and the grass just keeps growing over the to of them. I guess I'll just have to try to ignore it. I'm going to have to raise my hoc to keep from scalping too. I can cut it down some once it goes dormant, correct?


----------



## Colonel K0rn (Jul 4, 2017)

Springtime is the best time to scalp!


----------



## Movingshrub (Jun 12, 2017)

Colonel K0rn said:


> Springtime is the best time to scalp!


+1

Or whenever you have a enough growing season left and need to do a mid season reset scalp.


----------



## tblood (Aug 7, 2018)

I didn't mean scalping. I just meant to cut it back to about 1/2" so there isn't so much to scalp in the spring.


----------



## Tellycoleman (May 10, 2017)

yeah like others said now is probably not the best time to cut down and reset the lawn.
Your grass is using all available energy for root production and energy storage over the winter.
Resetting or giving the grass a mini scalp will force the grass to divert from energy storage and use energy to produce top growth. Depending on how harsh your winter is it could lead to a increase winter kill.
Its more work in the spring but worth it in my opinion.

Now lets talk about that tree in the picture. lol lol
How much do you love that tree?
Do you love it more than your grass?
Is it an oak?


----------



## tblood (Aug 7, 2018)

Tellycoleman said:


> yeah like others said now is probably not the best time to cut down and reset the lawn.
> Your grass is using all available energy for root production and energy storage over the winter.
> Resetting or giving the grass a mini scalp will force the grass to divert from energy storage and use energy to produce top growth. Depending on how harsh your winter is it could lead to a increase winter kill.
> Its more work in the spring but worth it in my opinion.
> ...


I meant after it goes dormant.


----------

