# ShadowGuy's Lawn Journal - Kikuyu to PRG



## ShadowGuy

We are approaching a year in our new place, and I have been learning and taking care of a mostly Kikuyu/Bermuda mix lawn in the back yard. I wanted to give a go with the current grass, and use it for an opportunity to learn before doing a full renovation. I have not done much extra in the front yard as the Kikuyu/St Augustine/PRG mix seems to look decent and better than most in the neighborhood with just a little extra love. I was surprised to see the little bit the PRG is still doing well through the summer. The front parkway area has not done very well.

Being in the transition zone, I have the option to do a cool season grass too. I have liked seeing the PRG results from others on the forum, both as an overseed and a single grass type. We are coastal, so I think I have a decent shot at keeping PRG looking good year round as it is very rare to have temps over 90 and even rarer to have a hard freeze.

This front parkway section has not faired very well, it is mostly Kikuyu and Bermuda. But since I left it long to match the Kikuyu/St Augustine mix in the front lawn, it does not look very good. It is also horribly uneven, with an odd mound and hole from where they removed a 60' pine tree and replaced it with the current tree a few years ago before we moved in.

So the plan is to follow Cool Season Renovation Guide, level it, and go with SS9000 PRG. The area is about 150sqft, so this will be a good practice to see what kind of results I can get. If I can keep it looking good through next summer, I would consider a renovation for the rest of the front lawn to match.

Seed down date is planned fro 10/2 and I just ordered the seed.

Before pics:


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## ShadowGuy

A little ahead of schedule. I decided to kill off the grass early and then scalped to 1" to get rid of most of the debris. It's been about a week since the first kill and I have sprayed again to get what was greening up. Today I dug up half the area and removed the turf. I am trying to save most the soil, so I am moving the cut up dead sod to a tarp and letting it dry out and shaking out the dirt to reuse. Since I am reusing the same dirt, I expect I will probably get some Bermuda or Kikuyu coming back. I still plan on getting some new topsoil and sand to level the top 2-3". I just hope it will be in the next 5 weeks so I can kill it before the seed goes down. Planning to put seed down mid September now.

I figured out why I had humps on either side of the tree. When they replaced the tree years ago the just laid sod on top of the damaged sod.

Halfway there to removing the old grass.


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## ShadowGuy

Shortly after my last update, I finished removing the old turf and did a rough leveling/fallowing with the existing topsoil. A week later, I had some bermuda/kikyuyu come back and hit it with Gly. It has been another week, and I have even more bemuda and kikuyu coming back. I have been watering as normal and encouraging growth.

This weekend, I did a second round of leveling as the watering has caused settling, and I did a bit of compaction work with a half sheet of plywood and my bodyweight.

This week, I have another round of gly planned and to bring in a little bit of sand and topsoil for a final leveling before seed down. 3 weeks until seed down.

Don't mind the grass in the front, I had to do a mini scalp HOC reset, as I was maxing out my rotary height. It is still recovering.


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## ShadowGuy

I am a bit ahead of schedule and I am thinking of bumping up my seed down date to next weekend.

Today I leveled the parkway with a 80/20 sand top soil.

I also decided to overseed the rest of the yard, so it will match. I cut down the kikuyu and St. Augustine to 1.25 inches with the rotary. Then I used a thatch rake across all 1000sqft. I need to get a SunJoe, that was rough.

Tried to go lower with my McLane, but it was bogging down and jamming up the reel. I think going from 1.25 to .875 was too much, especially with all the runners. Ran out of time today, but I still need to edge/ trim and run the bagger across it a few more times to pick up more debris.


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## ShadowGuy

Seed Down!

I decided to seed the full reno area in the parkway today. I was running out of reasons to wait, since I fixed the broken sprinkler head. Good thing I did. I realized I had only bought a 5lb bag of seed. Only needed 1.2lb of seed for the 150sqft of parkway at 8lb/k, but it only left me with only 3.8lbs of seed for the other ~850sqft of the front lawn. I thought I had ordered a 10lb bag rather than 5lbs.

The 3.8lb of seed would be at the minimum lb/k amount, but I wanted a thicker overseed as I really thinned out the existing turf. I ordered a 10lb bag and hopefully it will be here in a week or so.

Raked, spread seed, raked again, pressed in with my feet, then spread peat moss.


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## ShadowGuy

Germination has begun 18hrs after seed down.


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## ShadowGuy

Even though I had some early sprouts, I am calling today germination day, day 5.


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## ShadowGuy

Overseeded the front yard today with 8lb per k of PRG. It will be about a week behind the parkway reno that is growing quickly.


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## ShadowGuy

It has been 5-7 days after germination and the grass was pushing 1.5 -2". I know I wanted to start seeding the thinner areas, but I didn't want the older grass getting too tall. I decided to use my reel mower set to 3/4" to trim the grass. I know it was earlier than most, but I was beyond the 1/3 rule and didn't want it to be more drastic.

After the mow, I seeded the thin areas with a mix of peat moss and seed, and then put down some starter fertilizer (18-24-6) to help the new grass bounce back. I didn't post it, but I also put down some Propiconazole earlier in the week for both the parkway and the front lawn. The humidity recently spiked and I wanted to head off any fungus while I am still watering 4 times a day

I didn't go with Tenacity at seed down, so I have been hand pulling new germinated weeds and painting the bermuda with Gly as it pop ups. There only has been a couple of weeds and bemuda sprouts. So far so good on the weeds.

Before mow:


After mow:


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## ShadowGuy

Updates on the reno and overseed.

10 DAG for the reno and it is growing fast and getting thicker. Still some bare spots, but I think I need to give it more time before doing any more seeding. I will have plenty of time, in my zone, I don't have much of a cold winter.

The overseed is about 7 days after seeding and maybe 4 days post germination. It is growing in quick, but it is still early. It will be interesting how it turns out as the Kikuyu and the St Augustine doesn't totally go dormant here. If I can get the PRG to be thick enough, I may even kill the Kikuyu and St Augustine with Quinclorac. I know it works, cause I nearly killed off my backyard last spring by mistake.


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## livt0ride

Filling in nicely!


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## ShadowGuy

2nd mow at .75" of the parkway at 12 DAG





First mow of the front yard at 1.25" with a rotary bagged at 5-7 DAG. Once again, probably on the early side, but I needed to clean up the kikuyu and St Augustine.

I put down of 18-24-6 starter fert at the bag rate. Would like to get it down to .75" to match the parkway, but it is rather soft and bumpy and I didn't want to tear up my new seedlings. When it is further established, maybe I can get the reel on it.


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## ShadowGuy

Mowed the front yard at 1.25" with the bagger, and went back and reseeded and top dressed the thin spots. Mostly around the edges and corners. I know its is still early at 12 DAG, but hopefull it will continue to thicken up. I need to exercise my patience.

For the parkway at 17 DAG, I reel mowed again at .75" and seeded and top dressed the thin areas again. mostly around the edges.


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## ShadowGuy

Mowed both at .75 on Friday. Still kind of soft, pulled back on the watering and trying to get the soil to firm up.

Color is really starting to pop.


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## ShadowGuy

Mowed at .75 and put down more fertilizer and fungus prevention.


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## ShadowGuy

This really shows the before and after. The parkway grass was all the same across both our yards.


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## ShadowGuy

Couple of setbacks. The kikuyu was coming back quickly on the parkway, so a few days ago I used some Image All in One (quinoclorac & sulfentrazone). Mixed it light, but it still discolored. On the positive side it wiped out the kikuyu, it appears to have burnt the tips of the PRG, and I am hoping it will recover.

I was running my '99 McClane and I notice that it is no longer spinning the reel. The chain broke at the coupler. So with half my yard mowed, I brought out my backup, the '88 10 blade McLane. No roller on that one, so it's not striping as well.


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## ShadowGuy

The parkway recovered from the burn, and no sign of weeds at this point. Still have some thin areas that just won't fill in completely.

The front yard is not striping as well as I would have hoped. The St. Augustine and Kikuyu have yet to go dormant, so I think that has something to do with it. Looking at pictures from last year, it may not be until Dec/Jan till they really stop growing, but never really go brown.

Cutting the parkway at 0.5" and the yard at .75".

It amazing how much the ground has moved in the parkway. It was dead flat before I seeded. I think I will be sanding come this spring, to see if I can get it to go lower.


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## ShadowGuy




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## ShadowGuy

I guess I will call this a mid-season update comparison since the new grass is still only a couple months old. I probably will want to do another comparison in late spring.

Feels like all the work on the reno was worth it. 

After


Before


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## ShadowGuy




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## ShadowGuy

Dropped it to 0.5".

It's starting to strip much better. Single doubles, oriented so the darker wider stripes face the street.


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## ShadowGuy

Loving the PRG, and it is loving the cool, foggy mornings.


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## Green

Nice journal. That warm season mix does not look bad at all. Since it's doing well, and also allowing PR to survive, why not consider just doing a yearly (if needed) PR overseed in early Fall, right into the Kikuyu/etc. mix? Kikuyu is be coming more accepted as a turfgrass lately, and the Bermuda you have is probably an older type that isn't quite as aggressive, and allows other grasses to grow to an extent.

Or maybe Reno part of the lawn, and go with the overseed plan for the rest. Cool/warm season mixes in the transition zone are becoming more accepted as well. I think they are the future.

Our SiteOne manager spoke favorably of Kikuyu out West (he went to school for turf).

I can tell you now, that PR-only hellstrip is likely going to be a battle in the Summer, to keep alive. We have the same problem here, in sunny areas. But Winters are too cold for anything but Zoysia in warm season grass, and it's brown at least 5 months. I think a cool/warm mix would work well in your area. Your existing grass is strong because it's been there so long. Use that to your advantage.


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## ShadowGuy

Green said:


> Nice journal. That warm season mix does not look bad at all. Since it's doing well, and also allowing PR to survive, why not consider just doing a yearly (if needed) PR overseed in early Fall, right into the Kikuyu/etc. mix? Kikuyu is be coming more accepted as a turfgrass lately, and the Bermuda you have is probably an older type that isn't quite as aggressive, and allows other grasses to grow to an extent.
> 
> Or maybe Reno part of the lawn, and go with the overseed plan for the rest. Cool/warm season mixes in the transition zone are becoming more accepted as well. I think they are the future.
> 
> Our SiteOne manager spoke favorably of Kikuyu out West (he went to school for turf).
> 
> I can tell you now, that PR-only hellstrip is likely going to be a battle in the Summer, to keep alive. We have the same problem here, in sunny areas. But Winters are too cold for anything but Zoysia in warm season grass, and it's brown at least 5 months. I think a cool/warm mix would work well in your area. Your existing grass is strong because it's been there so long. Use that to your advantage.


Thanks for the comments. For the summer 2022, I think I will do just as you suggested and keep the kik/prg mix. There is a bit of SA in there too, but I don't think it is going to survive the 0.5" cut all winter. It recently consistently been getting into the 40's overnight, and the kik is starting to yellow more. We have a storm rolling in tomorrow, so I just did another mow since it will be too wet until next week to mow again. Bumped it up to 0.75, to help hide the yellow kik.

We will see about keeping the PR going through summer in the hell-stripe, if I fail, then overseed in fall, and do another reno in spring.  Maybe bentgrass?. Neither the bermuda or Kik has really come back in the hellstrip, but we will see when things start heating up next May. I might not have a choice in the matter.


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## Green

Very cool reply and plan, and please keep the journal going in this section...I and many others only have time to look at cool season forums. Good luck!

You can keep the PR hellstrip going all Summer with lots of water and maybe some fungicide...if you plan to be out hand watering every couple of days...not sure if you have a lot of restrictions on watering there...but yeah.


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## ShadowGuy




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## ShadowGuy

Rained past couple days, and was able to get another mow in before the next storm hit.

Honored to be nominated for LOTM.


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## ShadowGuy

Finally dried out from the last storm, and I was able to get another mow in. 2 weeks left until I have to go back to the office, so the commute might cut into my mow time. Trying to decide where to go from here. Should I should start a PGR treatment to keep it low, or just let it get longer in the 2"-3" range and maintain with my rotary. I was planning on a overseed in March and let it go longer as I will be shifting my attention to the rear yard that will be coming out of semi-dormacy.


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## Green

Is the main front a mix?


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## ShadowGuy

Green said:


> Is the main front a mix?


Yes. Kikuyu and St. Augustine, that has been overseeded by PRG. PRG is the SS 9000.


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## ShadowGuy

It needs a mow, but I have not decided what to do yet.


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## ShadowGuy

I have decided what to do. Since the days are getting longer and the sustained lower temps are behind us, the Kik is starting to wake up. I need to spray out some broadleaf weeds in the front lawn area. So to reduce stress on the lawn, I am going to let it all grow out to about 1.5", the lowest on my rotary. This should give me a larger interval between mows, and try out the PRG at a higher HOC. I am not confident the PRG Kik mix will look very good, but we will see. If I can keep the PRG in the parkway going strong through spring and summer, I may just reno the whole front lawn and go pure PRG next fall.


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## ShadowGuy

Sprayed Bayer Advanced Season Long https://www.domyown.com/msds/704050_Season_Long_Weed_Control_29oz_CON.pdf. Mostly targeting oxalis, dandelion, plantain and yellow rocket. Last spring, I had a huge oxalis outbreak. There is no weed control in any of the neighboring lawns, so there is plenty of weed seeds to get around.

No picture today, as I want my 1/4 photo to be a contender for LOTM noms. 

The lawn is getting shaggy as it is probably around 1.5 -2". The PRG is dominating the Kik at this temp. Letting it get this long has really highlighted the weeds. Its been 7 days since a mow, and I will plan to do another mow this Sunday with the rotary to clean up the look.


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## ShadowGuy

Green said:


> You can keep the PR hellstrip going all Summer with lots of water and maybe some fungicide...if you plan to be out hand watering every couple of days...not sure if you have a lot of restrictions on watering there...but yeah.


I was just rereading this and had to laugh. I am in California where everything has restriction! Ha!


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## ShadowGuy

Started a fungus treatment. Its staying wetter, and with the longer grass it is retain the moisture more, and I am noticing a some small areas with a slight yellow cast. I put down 2lbs/K of Scotts DiseaseEx (azoxystrobin)https://www.amazon.com/Scotts-Disease-Ex-Lawn-Fungicide-10/dp/B075R7BNXV. It was on sale for about half off.

Honored to be nominated again for LOTM. I was hopeful to have won last month, but after @Herring got in the mix, I knew my chances were low to win. Tried to change up my photo angle to highlight the stripes and got nominated again. Yippee!  Not sure how I feel about going up against @bosox_5 with his ice rink. If I win, it will be against an ice rink :| , if I lose, I will have lost against an ice rink. :|

Either way, I guess I am lucky to have green grass year round. There will always be next month.  Hopefully I can squeeze out a win before the rest of the country defrosts.


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## Green

If you win LOTM, you do realize you have to keep the Kik. Can't nuke a winner!


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## ShadowGuy

Green said:


> If you win LOTM, you do realize you have to keep the Kik. Can't nuke a winner!


 :lol: Very good point.

On the flip side, if it loses to a block of ice, I will have to nuke it. :lol:

Its high stakes.


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## Green

ShadowGuy said:


> On the flip side, if it loses to a block of ice, I will have to nuke it. :lol:
> 
> Its high stakes.


High stakes and ice skates.


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## bosox_5

The block of ice is harder to maintain than the grass under it. I love your lawn. Congrats on the LOTM!


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## ShadowGuy

You need to get a zamboni and start laying down ice stripes!



bosox_5 said:


> The block of ice is harder to maintain than the grass under it. I love your lawn. Congrats on the LOTM!


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## ShadowGuy

The lawn is bouncing back from the broadcast weed spray and fungicide treatments, and I just wasn't liking the way the longer grass was looking, so I opted to get the reel out on it again. I will probably have some more time to keep on the frequent mowing in this yard, while I wait for the rear yard to wake up.

The sun was in the wrong spot to pop the stripes, but I had to get it looking tidy again, and cut down down all the dead weeds.


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## ShadowGuy

I overheard my 8 year old daughter talking to a neighborhood kid.

Neighborhood Kid: "Wow, that grass is awesome"
Daughter: "Yeah, my dad did that"
Neighborhood Kid: " It looks fake"
Daughter: "No, its not fake. If it was fake, it would be greener"

Thanks kid!


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## ShadowGuy

Ordered myself some swag from TLF


Looking back at the mow, it was a little sloppy. Missed some edges on my passes.


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## Redtwin

ShadowGuy said:


> I overheard my 8 year old daughter talking to a neighborhood kid.
> 
> Neighborhood Kid: "Wow, that grass is awesome"
> Daughter: "Yeah, my dad did that"
> Neighborhood Kid: " It looks fake"
> Daughter: "No, its not fake. If it was fake, it would be greener"
> 
> Thanks kid!


Three things that never lie: 
Kids
Drunk people
Spandex


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## ShadowGuy

Spent the last week sick, so have not mowed since the 7th. Tried something different with the parkway, and took it all the way down on my 7 blade McLane. It could use a leveling, so a few spots got scalped, but overall looks really good at 0.25".

Looking forward to the rebuild of my 10 blade McLane to use on the PRG. It is out getting a fresh grind, then I have a motor swap planned, and a few other goodies.

Parkway PRG is cut down to 0.25"
Front Lawn is back down to 0.75"


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## ShadowGuy

I was surprised to have a dog spot over by the tree. I had not had one since I planted it in October, and just assumed dogs have been peeing, but it had not damaged the grass. What I did notice is that my grass was less green that it could have been, the circle around the dead spot was growing faster and darker than the rest. So about three days ago I spread some granular fert for the first time in a while, and as you can see, it evened out the color and the grass is looking much better. I used this as an opportunity to overseed some thinner areas and repair the hole.


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## ShadowGuy




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## ShadowGuy

Since I kicked off the mowing season on the rear yard Kikuyu, I had to make a choice on the front yard here. I sprayed PGR today to help reduce my mowing requirement and dosed it with iron. Let's see how it reacts.

After the recent fertilizer application last week the St. Augustine has really woken up in patches and is trying to compete with the kikuyu and the PR. Not looking it's best now.


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## ShadowGuy

Sprayed PGR and Iron on Saturday morning then got a light rain overnight and mowed on Sunday. The PR really liked the iron. Mowing higher at 0.75 and it's stripping more than ever.


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## ShadowGuy

Enjoying the sunset on the lawn.


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## ShadowGuy

I feel like I am a bit at a crossroads again.

As it is warming up, its harder to keep the PRG from drying out. The areas where my sprinklers hit light have started to dry up. I am getting common bermuda pressure, and I am not sure I want to invest in expensive chemicals to fight it.

Just with life getting busier post covid, I am not sure I am committed to babysitting the PRG at sub 1in. Another consideration is the St. Augustine in the front lawn is growing and it doesn't appreciate being cut sub 1in.

I am leaning toward letting this get rotary height so the PRG will be less stressed and the St Augustine will be happier.

Dry spots along the curb.


Here comes the Bermuda!!!!





10 feet away across the driveway is a unlimited amount of common bermuda seed.


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## ShadowGuy

It all is doing much better ~2inch. Taking a closer look at the cut my rotary needs to be sharpened. The color has really darkened with the longer cut.

Just happen to check out Google Streetview and they updated the photos from the same time I won LOTM. Great timing!


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## ShadowGuy

July and August was rough. I had traveled half the time for vacation, was sick with COVID and generally really busy, so I could not keep up with the mowing and watering (w/ watering restrictions in CA). Bermuda and Kikuyu and other weeds invaded, soaked up the high temps. Grubs and the crows that eat them started tearing it up, and then when it started looking bad, people started letting their dogs piss all over.

It was a fun experiment, but I don't think I am up to keeping PRG during the summer. Good news is, that it is time for an overseed!

For the parkway, I did a blanket app of Quinclorac to knock out the Kikuyu and other weeds. Then spot sprayed all the bermuda with glyphosate. It's going to look a lot worse before it gets better. I plan to hit it again next weekend, and then overseed with PRG to bring it all back. I am thinking I will kill off the PRG in late spring and seed/sod a warm season for the summer that will play nice with a PRG overseed each year.

For the front lawn, I am not overseeding this year. While it looked amazing, the process was really hard on the St. Augustine and it struggled to recover this summer. I am going back to rotary mowing that area until I decide on a grass type I love and reno both areas.


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## ShadowGuy

I have not been documenting the progress with pictures. It's pretty much the same as the process last time.

About September 3, I sprayed glyphosate across about 80% of the parkway to knock out the Bermuda, Kikuyu and various other weeds. I spot sprayed a few days later to catch spots I missed.

September 10, I mowed at 1.5, then used the SunJoe scarifier to pull out all the dead debris. Then leveled with a light layer of sand with the leveling rake. I then seeded again at 10lb/k and top dressed with peat moss.

It has been 5 day, and I just got germination. The seed was purchased over a year ago and had been sitting in the fridge sealed, so I was not sure if I cared for it right to stay viable.

Looking forward to bringing back the parkway.

The Rachio has really made the watering easier than last year.


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