# Wlodyd's Lawn Journal



## Wlodyd (Aug 27, 2018)

Hey guys -

I'm a novice lawn nerd, but gaining a ton of knowledge reading and trying to contribute where I can on these posts. You guys are awesome here and I'm looking forward to creating a great lawn! But as of right now I'm not there... I use to take care of my lawn, mostly just blind not really knowing what I was doing... weed and feed, mow often, night watering when I felt convenient, sometimes it looked good, but I had grubs one year, disease the next, then children came and I threw in the towl and hired a lawn care company. For three years someone else has been largely caring for my lawn, and it's pretty much maintained status quo from where I had it. I also miss taking care of my own lawn and get immense satisfaction out of it (whether I fail or not)… I just sleep better when my lawn is green and I did it. So I'm ditching the lawn service after this year (I paid up front) and taking care of it myself from here on out. They still owe me a couple fertilizations (somewhat following the fall Nitro blitz from what I've gathered), so I'm letting them handle the rest of the fert this year and I'll run with the rest. This fall I'll be focusing on just laying the ground work for next year and take care of some of the biggest issues I've observed and learned through my short time on this forum.

First off, I'd like to introduce you to my lawn. I live in a suburb of Columbus, OH. A pretty typical 1/4 acre lot, lawn measures about 7,000 square feet. I'm not great at identifying turf types yet, but I think I have a pretty typical northern mix of ***/PRG/FF... and I think I have a lot of fine fescue . Over the past several years I've battled grubs (mostly under control now) and disease (not under control at all). My lawn has been rattled by disease year in and year out. Not going to get into it too much, but I've learned a lot about identifying, preventing, and controlling and will be one of my main focuses going forward.

One of the first things I'm looking to take care of this fall that I think has been a major factor to my disease problems is the debris and thatch layer below my lawn. See some photos below. My lawn feels super "thick" but it's not green at all when you look up close. It's that brown, spongy layer of grass, debris, thatch, etc. I'm confident there's way too much of that and that is likely contributing to a lot of my disease issues.

So it's already mid-September so I don't have ton of time, but I've cut my grass into December the last 2 years, and a typical Columbus winter I should be able to grow some new grass well into November so I'm confident I can still make some improvements and get some seed down. This weekend I plan to power take, aerate, and overseed. The lawn care company is coming out on Monday to do an application of Air8. I'll just let them do that on top of the new seed.

Today I took the thatch rake out to a portion of my front lawn just to see what I had to work with, and I pull three full refuse bags of thatch / debris in about a 500 sq. ft. area. I will be ditching the rake and getting a power rake this weekend! I always like to try the manual method first to understand what it is I'm doing, and how hard it is, and then I appreciate the machines more!

That's enough for my first post! I'll provide updates as I progress!


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## Wlodyd (Aug 27, 2018)

Here's some of the thatch layer I'm dealing with and looking to remove this weekend. This will also help me thin out the grass for an overseed. I've got some Traverse 2 TTTF en route. I also show the grass I have an the large variance I have in HOC of blades due to them being caught up in the thick debris and just "flop over". My HOC is set to about 2-1/2" now, I've been brining it down in preparation for this weekend, and I as you can see I can find some grass that's almost 7" long!







[url=https://postimg.cc/image/5kj4t1cqz/]


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## Wlodyd (Aug 27, 2018)

Completed my big fall day today.... power rake, aeration, and overseed.

Started the day by giving the grass a good low cut and bagged clippings. Hard to get too low due to thatch build-up. Then hit the lawn with the power rake... I feel like my grass was saying "THANK YOU!" as I was going along with the power rake and bringing up all that dead debris. It felt like my lawn could breathe again, but certainly not easy work.





After clean-up, I gave the lawn another good mow and was surprised at how much lower I could go and with that was still bagging a ton of debris and grass clippings. Lawn was beat up pretty good, but it looked good!



Hit it with the aerator (more hard work man!), smoothed out select low spots, and overseeded heavy. I hate my existing grass, a lot of KY31 and fine fescue so I put down about 7 lb/1000 (50lb bag over 7000sq ft) of Traverse 2 TTTF, heavier in the thin and level areas. I was going to mix in some Scotts KBG I had on hand, but figured it wasn't even worth it and didn't want to introduce a potentially sub-par grass species to the lawn.

A long hard day of work in the lawn, but I'm stoked for the results!


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## Wlodyd (Aug 27, 2018)

Put down some Air8 and RGS clone on Monday September 17th. Only 2oz / 1000 for the RGS, but I'll look to put some more down in 2 weeks. Hopefully that'll give me some solid germination and kick start some root growth from there.

I didn't take any pictures after the aeration and overseed, so I took some today to measure progress over the next few weeks. The big bare spots were areas I leveled out completely as well as some areas that just got a lot more beat up from the power rake.


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## Wlodyd (Aug 27, 2018)

First signs of gemination! 5 days in, so pretty quick, but it's only in a couple of patches where I leveled, so spread a good amount of fresh topsoil. Probably just a lot better seed to soil contact.

Can't seem to upload any photos right now to the forum, but I'll try again later.


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## Wlodyd (Aug 27, 2018)

Grass keeps coming and existing turf is greening up nice. Got some good rain the last couple days which was a nice reprieve from hauling the hoses around multiple times a day. Some comparison photos for reference taken a few days after the power rake/aeration/overseed and then just today.


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## Wlodyd (Aug 27, 2018)

Progress photos 10/2/18:


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## jessehurlburt (Oct 18, 2017)

Its looking great! Nicely done.. :thumbup:


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## Wlodyd (Aug 27, 2018)

Random note, but I found a mole tunnel in my front lawn today... I saw them in my neighbor's yard earlier this year, but they never made their way into my lawn. I guess it was only a matter of time. No major damage, just soft raised turf where the tunnel was. I didn't see an entrance hole but it's probably in my neighbors lawn. I just bought some Trapline mole traps so we'll see how they work! Gonna have to ask her if I can put a trap down if entrance is in her yard.


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## ken-n-nancy (Jul 25, 2017)

Wlodyd said:


> I found a mole tunnel in my front lawn today... I didn't see an entrance hole but it's probably in my neighbors lawn. I just bought some Trapline mole traps so we'll see how they work! Gonna have to ask her if I can put a trap down if entrance is in her yard.


I've never really found an "entrance" hole for moles. Try to find the "main tunnel" of the moles, rather than just their feeding tunnels, and put a pair of trapline traps in there. Good luck!


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## Wlodyd (Aug 27, 2018)

Thanks @ken-n-nancy, good info. i probably would've spent way too much time looking around for an entrance/exit hole.


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## Wlodyd (Aug 27, 2018)

Photo update. 3-weeks since power rake, aeration, and overseed. This is the best my lawn has ever looked in the 5 years I've been in this house! Pretty stoked about the results... now if I only didn't have a mole, my heart would be content. Feeder tunnels have extended, waiting on my traps still... but he's not doing too much damage (yet).


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## NoslracNevok (Jun 12, 2018)

Quite the improvement! Power raking is even more satisfying than mowing. I laughed when you say it said "thank you!". Each time I do mine, I'm thinking If grass could feel, it'd feel like a barber combing your hair.


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## Wlodyd (Aug 27, 2018)

Mowed again today to drop the HOC. Took it down to 2". I could never mow this low before power raking (at least not without it looking like crap). So that's why I always went high and then tended to have fungus problems. Going to see how low I can go with my rotary. This may be about it, but the grass took it pretty well and is looking good. I can probably get my striping kit back on it by this weekend, just been babying the new turf a little bit. Working on backing off on the watering as well. Been watering every day still since the overseed, but going to every other day this week.


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## Wlodyd (Aug 27, 2018)

NoslracNevok said:


> Quite the improvement! Power raking is even more satisfying than mowing. I laughed when you say it said "thank you!". Each time I do mine, I'm thinking If grass could feel, it'd feel like a barber combing your hair.


Thanks! I think if there was any one thing that improved my lawn the most this fall, it was that. However I think I'd do it in the spring next time, mainly just to avoid doing so much all at once (power rake, aaerate, overseed, etc.). It was a lot of work, but seems to be paying dividends. How often do you typically do it? I've heard some do it every year, others 3-5 years.


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## Harts (May 14, 2018)

Hell of a transformation. Very very impressive.

You can certainly power rake every year if you wish, but not necessary. Most often this is personal preference. Unless of course you have a bad build up of thatch, which you shouldn't now.


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## Wlodyd (Aug 27, 2018)

First mow with the striping kit after the overseed project. Also first mow in my new Milorganite Camo Cap! I think the cap must've been the missing link as this was probably my most enjoyable mow ever. Not trying to post pics after every mow, but the lawn is the best it's ever looked after every mow, and I'm stoked and lovin the results! Cut it down to 2-1/8" again, the grass was already at about 3-1/2" after 3 days before I cut. This is probably the lowest I can go on my rotary, altho I may try one more notch (1-3/4") and just see how it goes. New seedlings took the striping kit pretty well, there were a few soft areas in shady parts of the back yard I beat up on the turns a little bit, but meh, it's fine. Still opportunity for improvement too as there are some areas that can be thickened up a bit. Not a super "thick" lawn now, probably from beating it with the power rake, but it's going to fill in with time and I'm planning on dormant seeding this winter.


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## samjonester (May 13, 2018)

Dang! That looks fantastic!

Random, not lawn related, question. That playhouse & swingset looks new. Did you just get it? Was it a kit? I'm starting to plan one for my yard in the spring.


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## Wlodyd (Aug 27, 2018)

@samjonester Yes, swingset is brand new this year. It's from a local distributor called Recreation Outlet. It's a "Playground One" system. They're pretty common I think, you can go their website to find a dealer in your area. They're very customizable to suit your space/budget, and it's a well built product, I'd definitely recommend it.


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## Wlodyd (Aug 27, 2018)

Put down some Urea again yesterday (10/17) at 0.5lb/M. Grass has been looking great and ive been cutting every 3 days consistently. I picked up a manual reel mower to use on the soft spots and new seedlings in the back ive been beating up with turns on the rotarty.


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## Wlodyd (Aug 27, 2018)

Likely the last mow of the year... grass is done growing for the year. Mulched up a lot of leaves in the front again today and got a light cut in with it. There's still a lot of leaves on the tree near the street, so may end up mulching one more time before i store the mower away for the season. Grass looks pretty good still, hopefully the green stays up for a while, sad the a season is over tho!


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## Wlodyd (Aug 27, 2018)

Ooooohhhh, lawn season is so close i can taste it! Grass really started to green up this week. Soil temp still in mid-40s, but I'm thanking the fall nitrogen blitz for the early green up. Neighborhood domination is starting early!

Today i lightly raked most of the lawn and cleaned up all the winter debris and all those peaky sweet gum spiky ball things i get. Today was a happy day! Will probably put down prodiamine later this week with several days creeping into the 60s. I may bee mowing in 2-3 weeks!


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## Wlodyd (Aug 27, 2018)

Got my prodiamine down today, I used the WDG in my sprayer at 0.4 oz / M. Per the label that should give me 5 months or preM protection. I combined with some RGS as well. A little windier today than I thought it was going to be, but some rain coming the next couple of days followed by some warmer temps so today was looking like a great day to get it down. It was good to be back in the yard again!

I avoided some spots where I did a dormant seeding... I may pick up some tenacity, or I may just let it go and deal with it... mostly small pockets. I don't have high hopes for the spring seeding, but was a little bare in more spots than I'd like coming out of the beating I gave my lawn last fall and I'm interested to see how it goes.


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## Wlodyd (Aug 27, 2018)

Got my first mow in today and applied my early spring fert too. Mow probably wasnt entirely necessary, but i bagged up all debris off the yard so it looks a lot better. I used Scotts Starter Fert at a rate to give me about 1/2 lb N / M. Keeping the N low early and just hoping to encourage root growth, green up, and thicken up! Lawn is the greenest in the neighborhood too! I thank the fall Nitrogen blitz.


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## Wlodyd (Aug 27, 2018)

Second cut of the year and decided to get the striping kit out... Lawn thin in some spots. I don't see hardly any germination from the crap seed I threw down as a dormant seed. I decided it must be bad seed, I even have a small test plot I've been watering and nothing... So I purchased some more Traverse 2 from seed super store today. Hopefully I can still get some growing in before summer.


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## Wlodyd (Aug 27, 2018)

Mow 3 of the season today. Mowed just 4 days ago and glad I got that weekday mow in cuz it's growing like crazy. Maybe a little too much N early? But the grass is filling in great and just looks about the best it ever had throughout so I'm cool with it.

Places where I sprayed Tenacity are bleaching pretty bad. If I could go back I'd probably just nix the Tenacity all together and roll the dice. It's ok for bare spots, but not on existing turf. Weeds would look better. I hope it grows out quickly, we'll see.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

Next time add triclopyr to the tenacity. It reduces the bleaching. What rate did you use?


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## Wlodyd (Aug 27, 2018)

Thanks for the tip @g-man It was probably around the 3 oz / acre rate. It was such a small area (total of about 500 sq ft), I used like 1 tsp or something of the stuff. My first time using it, so a little hard to judge. I used turf mark tho to limit overlapping, but maybe just too much of it


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

The key with tenacity is to spread it over the area correctly. For example a 4oz/acre rate means 1/2tsp/ksqft. If you grab that same 1/2tsp but apply it to 500sqft, then you are not getting the 4oz/acre rate but an 8oz/acre rate.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

@Wlodyd I think I have bad news. If you used 1 tsp in 500sqft, then that's 16oz/acre rate. That rate will cause damage to our cool season lawns. Are you sure of your measurements?


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## Wlodyd (Aug 27, 2018)

Mow #5 of the year today... Grass where Tenacity hit hard see s to be recovering. I went backed and checked calcs and looks like I applied about 3/4 tsp to ~600 sq ft. Seems I did my calcs for 1k, and then didn't divide by 2! Oh well... The large area I applied in seems fine, the smaller areas where maybe I didn't move as quickly through seem harder hit, but they look to be recovering. I think they'll be fine.


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## Wlodyd (Aug 27, 2018)

Cut it down to 2-1/2" yesterday. Just mowed 2 days ago at 2-7/8" but wanted to bring down the HOC this spring. The lawn is super thick, I wasn't taking off a ton but the mower seemed to still struggle in a few spots! Some of that may be due to unlevel surafces and the like. It looks good tho! I like the lower HOC but putting down heavy TTTF last fall means I may need to live with taller grass. But we'll see how this height fairs for now.


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## mribbens (Jul 13, 2018)

Looks great!


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## Wlodyd (Aug 27, 2018)

Put down Carbon X a couple of days ago. Looking forward to some results. Been cutting often trying to keep the HOC down at 2.5". The front and side yards look great with it, the back seems a bit more stressed out. some more weeds back there And also what may be some early signs of disease...

Put down Scotts Disease Ex today as a preventative. Had a lot of disease issues the last several years, so I'm staying ahead of it this year. Also put down some NExt Humic12 and MicroGreene. I'm gonna keep the HOC down for a couple of weeks and hopefully it greens up back there. If not, may take it back to 3", at least in the back.


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## Wlodyd (Aug 27, 2018)

So I wasn't liking the way my grass was cutting at 2.5" so I pushed it back to 2-7/8". I know, I have no patience, but it just didn't seem to be taking it well. A lot of the TTTF is young, so I didn't want to push it too much. Let it grow more mature this year, root a bit more, and maybe bring it down this fall or next year. It feels great on the feet tho and I couldn't find a single weed today.







Also, I would call all the area I out down Tenacity completely bleach free! It's been pretty much exactly 1 month since that was applied, I was going to reapply, but think I'm just gonna skip it... I'll think about it tho. Areas off Tenacity application below:







Lastly, had some POA triv creeping in from the neighbors... We chatted about it and he actually beat me to the punch and glyphed it.


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## Wlodyd (Aug 27, 2018)

Having some fungus issues (again! Grrr...) My own fault as it's been 5 weeks since I put down Zoxy. But the kids were in the lawn everyday and grass looked fine and weather was fairly cool so I thought it'd be alright. I saw some signs of red thread and maybe leaf spot, decided I'd get down PPZ over the weekend and in 2 days it swarmed over my back yard. But got a full service fert and the PPZ down.

Milo @ 10 lbs/M
MicroGreen @ 9 oz / M
RGS @ 3 oz / M
PPZ @ 3 oz / M

Except I way over applied RGS in the back on accident. I crossed up with my MicroGreene numbers and put down 9 oz / M. Oh well, it should be fine. It was hell to get down to as it kept clogging my sprayer.


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## Wlodyd (Aug 27, 2018)

The PPZ has helped a ton, really halted the spread of fungus and 2 weeks later is roughly 75-80% recovered. If you look at the back yard photos closely you can see a lot of the brown patches, but it looks pretty good overall!


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## Wlodyd (Aug 27, 2018)

Haven't updated for a while but lawn is doing ok.. fungus came back pretty hard in the back even though I put down Clearys 3336 on 6/26. Today is 7/10 and I just dropped some more Zoxy (Scotts Disease X), no time to get the PPZ down as well but I'll do that here in the next day or two. Front looks good tho for July, a couple developing fungus patches, but nothing crazy.





Looks like I forgot to take a pic of the back (maybe subconsciously because it doesn't look very good?) So you get the filtered version of my lawn... I could just tell you it all looks like that!


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