# ScottW 2021 (TTTF, northern VA)



## ScottW (Sep 16, 2019)

I'm on 1/3 acre in the DC 'burbs. My lawn is mostly TTTF with some low % of KBG from various seed mixes over the years. Cultivars are all highly rated in the NTEP but it's still a mutt. Lawn has never been completely killed & reno'ed, but large areas have, particularly in the back where it gets a lot of shade and triv can be problematic. Front yard is full sun.

No shame in starting with some pics in all of its pre-spring glory before it properly wakes up.

Front main:

another angle of same area:

Front side:

Back yard (most of it):


Parts of the back yard that get the most sun (just outside the right edge of the pic) are greening up nicely.
Those are also the same areas that have had a serious Poa annua problem the past couple of years. I hit it with apps of Tenacity + ethofumesate last fall and will do another app of etho sometime this spring. Excited/anxious to see how well it did/didn't work.

Sunday I pulled cores for a soil analysis. When I get that back, I'll post last year's analysis, and what I did last year to correct deficiencies (primarily, low K), and then this year's results to chronicle the progress.

Also hand pulled a few winter weeds, mostly the odd hairy bittercress or three in the landscape beds. Not many weeds showing themselves yet.

With several consecutive days in the 70s last week I've been wanting to get the prodiamine down. Got that done today after work. For various reasons I decided to do split apps this year instead of doing the full monty in one shot, so I'll make another app later.


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## ScottW (Sep 16, 2019)

And so I don't forget...
Dumb $#!^ I did last year and need to avoid this year:
1. Don't overdo the PGR and/or combine with DMI fungicides.
2. Stop applying N by around late April-early May-ish.

This is obviously not an exhaustive list, probably because it's incomplete. I'm sure my memory will get jogged as the year progresses. :lol:


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## estcstm3 (Sep 3, 2019)

being in Nova too subscribed....


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## ScottW (Sep 16, 2019)

Received my soil analysis from Waypoint.

I made a sperate thread in the soil fertility subforum for discussion but will drop the report here for posterity.










Not planning any drastic changes from my fert routine last year, except to apply even more K than I did last year.
Need to check my stock of SOP and maybe start looking for another 50# bag (can be difficult to find around here).

Supposed to rain ~1/2" tomorrow and then be up in the 70s for a few days. Starting to think about the first cleanup mow of the year, probably do that later this week.


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## ScottW (Sep 16, 2019)

Starting to green up but not quite there yet. I did a cleanup mow yesterday at a 2.5" HOC and there were sections that were barely/not cut.

I had not done a late fall winterizing fert app last year so figured it could be a little extra hungry heading into spring.
I applied 1 lb K/M via granular SOP, and 0.25 lbs N/M via foliar spray AMS.
Got 0.4" of rain this morning to water things in.

Back yard:









Front main:









Front side:


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## ScottW (Sep 16, 2019)

Got in a mow today and ran the string trimmer. Need to break out the Edge Hog to get a better definition along the sidewalks, but didn't have time today amongst our other plans.

Most of the lawn has greened up except for small spots here and there. Not all of it has started to really grow yet, but the mower took off >1/2" in places with a 2.5" HOC.










Hell strips lookin' pretty good. These are often among the nicest turf I've got. :lol: They get a little extra fert since I'm just throwing it down by hand. They drain pretty well and get full sun so they're also less hospitable to triv.









Back yard still getting decent sun because my poplar and the back neighbor's maple haven't leafed out yet.









Supposed to be sunny and dry with 68-70F highs until later in the week. Will keep an eye on the forecast and figure out when in the next 1-2 weeks to run another foliar app of 0.25 lbs N.


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## ColeLawn (Nov 11, 2020)

ScottW said:


> 2. Stop applying N by around late April-early May-ish.


Any reason for this? I wasn't going to START applying until around then...


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## ScottW (Sep 16, 2019)

ColeLawn said:


> ScottW said:
> 
> 
> > 2. Stop applying N by around late April-early May-ish.
> ...


I had fungus issues last year. I always get a little dollar spot and brown patch, but things were worse last year than in previous years. Comparing my notes, one big difference was I had applied smaller doses of N but continued them later into the spring (early-mid June) than usual. I was also using ammonium sulfate exclusively (for the gradual lowering of pH). Everything was looking green and nice all through May so I didn't really pump the brakes on it until it was too late. Had to make a curative rate app of fungicide, and made the poor choice on my part to use propiconazole for the DS while I was also using a PGR. Quite the fiasco.

In previous years when fungus wasn't as bad, I had done one big drop of 1 lb N/M around mid April, with a big portion of that being slow releasing IBDU. Then didn't drop more N until fall.

I at least need to quit dropping fast releasing synthetic N early enough before the high fungus pressure arrives.


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## ColeLawn (Nov 11, 2020)

@ScottW Good to know, thanks for the info. Seeing as I'm a bit North of you I should be able to push N into late-May/early-June or even later, but definitely something I will keep in mind. I think I will spoon feed 12-0-0 until July 4th Milo app and then not put down anything until Labor Day Milo app, which I will then resume the 12-0-0 spoon feeding targeting 0.3#N, 3x/month for a total target of ~6# N this year.

Thanks for your help in crafting my fert plan  I will be following along and using your journal as inspiration.


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## ScottW (Sep 16, 2019)

Yesterday evening I applied 0.25 lbs N/m of granular urea, which would basically be impossible to spread evenly had I not mixed it in with 2 lbs per 1000 sqft of Anderson's Humic DG. I still have one partial bag and one full bag of the humic, I need to get to using it to free up some space, and it's the same prill size as the urea so it makes a good carrier. We got 0.5" of rain overnight to water it in for me.

Normally for that dose of N I would spray it, but my sprayer was acting up last time I used it. Uneven dribbly flow from one of the two nozzles even though I kept it pumped up pretty high (manual lever backpack). I suspect a piece of debris somewhere in the system, need to pull things apart and see what I find.


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