# Colonel K0rn's Journal



## Colonel K0rn

As pictured in some other posts, I realized that I was going to have a green & winter weed infested yard because I opted not to go with a PreM this past winter. I had a huge stand of poa annua on the North side of the house, but to be honest, I couldn't stop looking at the overgrown mess from my neighbor's lot that has destroyed sections of my fence. The past 2 days, I have been practicing no restraint when it comes to using a 16' pole saw. I got my prodiamine down on Thursday, and rented the saw on Friday for the weekend. My neighbors that are next to me on the other side of the overgrown lot are going to use the saw to clear their fence line tomorrow.

Friday, I scalped and sprayed, and I started feeling some of those muscles awaken that I haven't used for a few months. It might be time for some new yard shoes  You can see the nice stand of annual bluegrass in this photo, but I did scalp it as low as I wanted to go in this area. I'm hoping that with the increased amount of light that will be coming through on this side of the house will help with the grass growth. 


Yes, I can leave stripes on my dormant bermuda. The front yard wasn't as bad as the North side of the house. But it's still bad. I have no doubt my grass will repair and take over what damage is there now. I also have plans to get drainage installed in the lot soon, before the Spring rain comes. Fun Fun!


Here's where I spent the most "painful" portion of the weekend. Today, my Fitbit says I've walked 17,118 steps today, which is 8.51 miles (13.68 KM) and my legs don't hurt; it's my arms. They feel like spaghetti.  The pole saw STIHL HT 131 has a cutting length of 16' and a weight of 17.2 lbs (7.8 kg). I found what allowed me to go for the past 2 days and not get burnt out quickly was to cut for 3-5 minutes, and then take a break. I'd usually get a limb or two cut down, pieced, and then I would move to the next. I'd take the non-saw time to chunk it over the fence. I worked from 8AM until 4 PM, with many breaks in between. It got into the low 80's here, and spotted several areas of the new bermuda poking through the canopy. :mrgreen:

My wife snapped this yesterday. I was dealing will all kinds of ground vines that were crawling up the trees into the branches. So I'd cut a limb loose from the tree, and it would be suspended in air by the vines on the next highest limb.

This AM


An example of what kind of damage this lot has done to our property.


Finally done!



"Oh, that doesn't look that bad man." Pfft, I didn't realize how messed up my fence was and how much crap I had removed until I snapped this picture. That one large limb at the bottom of the photo is about 8" in diameter. The blue barrel was sitting upright and full of water. I got my hole boring bit, drilled a 1 1/4" hole in it to drain, and when it was empty, flipped it over. Hope this cuts down on the mosquitos that always came from over here. My wife has commented that she wanted to get a PVC fence like our neighbors. Going to give pressure washing ours a try first.

Next up on the agenda, for tomorrow is to go with a high rate of Celsius, along with a high rate of Certainty all over everything that is green in the front and the back yard. Hoping this will give me a leg up come spring, which really isn't that far away in my neck of the woods. I already have visible pollen on my vehicles, and I know a lot of it was coming from trees that I was cutting down, because they'd let off huge clouds of pollen when they fell. I also was being checked out by several carpenter bees


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## Ware

Wow - that was some work CK!

The lot next door is a foreclosure? Does the city do anything to help? I know municipalities can be reluctant to sink much time/money into that kind of stuff because while they can file a lien for the clean-up costs, it's sort of a 'get in line' type thing where any money actually recovered could take years to see.

Here we have a state statute with a provision for a "priority clean-up lien" where a city or town can actually be granted priority status over other lienholders for clean-up work undertaken on an unsafe and vacant structure or weed lot, but it's a lot of legal legwork and the caps are pretty low.


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## J_nick

Dang nice work K0rn. I'll give you a pointer to save your arms next time. You're cutting way too high next time cut them at ground level :mrgreen:


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## g-man

I was thinking the same as j_nick. Take the panels off the post and cut low.


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## Colonel K0rn

g-man said:


> I was thinking the same as j_nick. Take the panels off the post and cut low.


Fair enough. There were several trees that had a lot of branches that were way over my property line and were leaning over the fence. The pine tree at the end is one of those trees. I had to leave those up, and am probably going to hire an arborist to take them down. However, there were trees that were leaning away, and had a lot of limbs on them. Those were felled as I used the ladder to climb over the fence, and drop them where they lay. Those larger ones are underneath all the cut up limbs. There's a ton of stuff that got removed. I just didn't take a panoramic picture before I started. You think I'm gonna make this as hard on myself as possible? :lol:

I think it'll be really evident once the leaves come in how much was removed. Compare it with the pics from last year.


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## Movingshrub

Time to spray your neighbors yard with spike 80df or basal base applications of triclopyr when the weather is correct for it.


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## Colonel K0rn

I'm about 3 days behind from posting this, because this past week, I've been working on getting power out to my shed. I got a quote from an electrician for $1,700, so I decided to take it on myself, with some guidance from a friend who is an electrician. Total cost is a little over $400, and a few days worth of work. I've been wanting to have power out to my shed since I had it installed, because I dabble in woodworking, and general repairs around the house.

The most arduous task was digging the trench to the required depth to bury the 4-conductor 2 AWG wire to my shed. Thankfully the run was only about 20', which took the better part of a day. I installed a 100 amp sub-panel on the inside of the wall, along with a few breakers for outlets and lights, and a dedicated GFCI circuit for the pool pump. I checked the cost of renting a trencher, and the local rental place wanted $155 for a 4-hour rental :shock: ... wow, I'm in the wrong business. I put my son to work with the 5" trenching spade, and we got it done.






After driving in the two 8' ground rods, and running some bare copper for the ground of the sub panel, and a ground for the pump motor, I was pretty wiped. I got up the next day, and felt pain in muscles that I haven't used in a while. My wife gave me some Aleve with my morning coffee  , because I had to fish the wires through the attic into 1 1/2" conduit, across the raised ceiling in the living room, and down the walls into the service panel, which is at the front of the house. In total, the run is just over 95' long. That size wire doesn't like to be moved easily. I've still got some holes in the drywall to patch up, where I found it easier to just cut the holes to guide the wire through the fire blocks on the wall, and into the panel. I told my wife that I wouldn't consider the job done until I have the holes patched up, mudded, sanded and ready to paint, of which I have a quart of Sherwin-Williams ready to apply.

I do have to say that after I got the pool pump hooked up on the second day, and some of the lights and outlets wired in the shed, we sat down for dinner. I said the blessing, and we started eating. I had just put my second fork full of carrots into my mouth when all of the lights in the house went off, and the UPS'es started beeping. My wife and I looked at each other, and I had one of those OSh*t moments... Then the power came back on. Long enough for me to start running through the protocol of what went wrong. I asked her to text our neighbor if her power went off, and when she was typing it, she got a text from said neighbor who asked her what I had done to make the power go off. We laughed, and said, "Whew, ok I didn't do anything to make that happen."

While filling in the trench the next day, I had to snap a picture of some of the bermuda that was by the pool, and I was absolutely amazed at the root lengths of the sections that I was replanting. Keep in mind, I do not irrigate this area regularly, and this is the only area that got treated with N-Ext RGS and PGR last season. 

I do need to throw this picture up, because this is what the back yard looked like on 2/28/18.I sprayed the front and the back yard with Celsius and Certainty as an attempt to get some of the winter weeds dead, and hopefully harm some of the poa that covered everything. In this picture, everything that is yellow was a weed that was affected, and I would have had a faster kill had the temps been higher. It's been unseasonably cold here, but it's getting warmer daily.


I've walked the front yard almost every day, checking for some of the areas where I had thick growth, and I'm seeing more and more of the renovated areas waking up, and I'll be damned if I'm not seeing some of the areas of carpetgrass reappear. Well, I know what will take care of that grass. I've got more weeds that I need to spray that aren't dying, but I'm wondering if I should just hold off until I get more of the "new" grass to wake up more before I do another application of Celsius/Certainty. If they haven't died yet, I'm sure another spritz will do them in. Also, we're due to get a pretty decent soaking on Sunday, so I'm hoping that will bring forth some more green-up of the lawn.


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## Colonel K0rn

Today I applied the rest of the N-Ext RGS that I had at 3oz/K and Bifen to the entire lot. I despise ants, and have a pretty severe reaction to their stings and don't want them anywhere near my yard. Having an insect free yard last year was an awesome experience, and I wanted to keep that continuing. Nothing more enjoyable like walking through your own grass barefoot, considering I had stickers and assorted things in the yard last year that would make you avoid areas! 

As I was walking the lawn yesterday, :search: I noticed that there were areas in the front that were coming out of dormancy, which I attribute to those being closer to the driveway and road. The soil temps in those areas are naturally higher, even though the weather here has been unseasonably cold. It's encouraging to see that I didn't lose the whole lawn, as I see more and more signs of life from the areas that I spent a lot of labor on last year. What I didn't like were the new areas of growth of carpet grass, that has reared it's ugly head in my lawn again.

I spot treated the areas of carpet grass that I saw with a medium rate of Celsius, and hoping that I'll get ahead of the game with some rainfall in the forecast, and warmer weather coming up in the next few weeks.

On to the pics. I'm embarrassed by the condition of it, but then again, I'm not. I know what is still dormant underneath, and what I had growing last year. Pre-E won't be missed again. I knew when I undertook the renovation, it was going to be a 2-3 year project. Just growing pains, pardon the pun. :lol: 



Here are two pictures of the thick areas of carpet grass that were sprayed today. They were primarily along the edges of the property, 


This picture shows the bermuda that is coming out of dormancy by the driveway, along with some of the carpet grass that got zapped, and the dying poa that got sprayed last month. 


Last area is the large dormant area in front of the house, where I had a load of sand spread out, and surprisingly enough, no signs of carpet grass. Although this area seems to be the most dormant area of the lawn, I see more and more leaves coming up every day.


Comments/suggestions/encouragements are welcome.


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## Mightyquinn

Looking good CK, I'm sure once the lawn wakes up and starts to thicken up, a lot of your weed issue will start to diminish.


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## raldridge2315

Mightyquinn said:


> Looking good CK, I'm sure once the lawn wakes up and starts to thicken up, a lot of your weed issue will start to diminish.


What he said.


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## social port

I can't believe how much work you've already done. Not everyone can install electrical lines, fight a neighboring property disaster, and create the conditions for a perfect lawn all in the same month. That's pretty awesome, if you ask me.


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## Colonel K0rn

*I discovered this evening that you can view past street images that Google takes with the Street View car.* I clipped this picture of my lot when it was taken about 10 months after we moved in. I miss my Prelude 

Indicative of the poor soil, I can make out 4 dead trees that I planted out of 7, and none of them survived. Also present is the huge overgrown lot that I cleaned out this year; you can see how long I was dealing with this hot mess. I tried to make it work as best I could for an amateur.


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## Colonel K0rn

Well, so much for the warmer weather in the forecast.









My front yard looks slightly greener than it did on the 10th, and I've seen more and more areas of bermuda that were bare start showing signs of life, and the back yard is looking much better. I still have some poa that's growing, but not as much as there was over the winter. I'm hoping that the prodiamine that I put down in Feb helps limit the new germination that we had when the weather got "warmer" for a few weeks that kicked off the Spring blooms, and that with warmer days forecasted, the grass will come out of dormancy and choke it out. As for spraying anything else to kill any weeds, I'm just going to save my money, since it's not warm enough for Celsius to be effective to allow it to translocate through the plant effectively. I might get the green of the plants that's growing now, but once that dies, there's still more that will grow.

My biggest issue, if I were to rank them, was the drainage of any rainfall/irrigation through the soil, and lots of standing water when I got more than 0.5" of rainfall. Part of my plan to remedy the sodium barrier was to treat with gypsum, and it seems that it's been effective. We had 0.4" of rain 2 days ago, and after it rained, I didn't have the muddy mess I had been dealing with in the past. It didn't matter when it rained... I would always have standing water. Well, no standing water so far, so that's a plus! Seems like it's working.

Something did arrive today that I've been anxiously waiting for. I spoke about doing this last year, and I'm going to do something similar to what @Mightyquinn is doing with regard to his total fertilization program, with some tweaks of my own. I've spoken with the COO of GCF in detail about my situation last year, and got some recommendations on what to do to remedy my problems, and set my lot up for success. I am not one who likes to waste, and after doing calculations, to go with a granular application only of fert vs. liquid, the cost was significantly less. The responsible thing we need to be doing as lawn sculptors, is to try to be as efficient as possible with the products that we apply, whether it be herbicides, fertilizers, water, etc. So, if you want to say that I bought into the "snake oil", sure that's fine. I've spent more money on other things in the past that weren't a good value for my time or expense.





What's not pictured is the 2.5 gallons of 18-0-1 Greene Punch that's in the top box.
My application plan will be: 
RGS at 6oz/M biweekly until the temp reaches 85°F, then reduce to 3 oz/M
Humic 12 at 1 gal/Acre biweekly
Air-8 at 6 oz/M biweekly (until we reach the rainy season, then reduce to 3 oz/K) I think this is going to be the biggest helper in conditioning the soil/humus layer that I've got and helping the groundwater percolate
18-0-1 Greene Punch at 16 oz/M Bi-monthly
Milorganite bimonthly on the months I don't spray liquid fert. I've got 10 bags stacked up in the second picture, along with the bag of Lesco fert on top(that's going to be the first fert app in 2 weeks)

I did gain some insight as to why LCN and Pete are the portal for homeowners to buy their products. GCF only has so many sales reps, and they were getting lots of calls from homeowners and commercial accounts. As a means to service all the customers that were interested in their products, by having people who already have established followings of both types of accounts(LCN for homeowners and Pete for commercial), having them set up storefronts on their own sites (both Pete and Allyn had them set up prior to offering the GCF products)helps service the customers with a good selection of products, but also allows them to focus growth on larger accounts, and that's good for everyone who is interested in trying their products. I had an account already set up with GCF, so I was able to buy direct, but anyone else who wants to get the products to try on their own will need to go through LCN or Pete.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to spraying this tomorrow!


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## wardconnor

Awesome. Humic Acid is not snake oil. I can not wait to see your results and your opinion on them after you apply or at the end of the season.

At some point in time I will be trying their products out.


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## Mightyquinn

I too will be following your progress CK. Even though I do have some of the GCF stuff I am just leery of it as it seems too good to be true. I'm in a holding pattern right now with the stuff as I want to see more results plus I have all the stuff I just bought that I would like to use up first. It does seem very promising though.


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## FlyMike

I have some GCF products I bought last year that I'll be using this year. Although I'm a cool season guy, I'm interested in your results. Is your plan fairly standard for Bermuda or is it on the aggressive side?


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## Colonel K0rn

FlyMike said:


> I have some GCF products I bought last year that I'll be using this year. Although I'm a cool season guy, I'm interested in your results. Is your plan fairly standard for Bermuda or is it on the aggressive side?


I'd say my application of all 3 of the humic-based products are on the higher application rate side, but I know several people who put 1# of N on their bermuda monthly. Pretty sure that's standard practice with the lower HOC. I'm going to try to maintain 0.75" this year, to let it fill in more but I was surprised how fast it filled in after it got it's first mowing.


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## GrassDaddy

Pete sent me some of those products so I'll be trying them out too! It sounds like it should work so I'm curious how they work vs the home remedies we've been using.


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## Colonel K0rn

GrassDaddy said:


> Pete sent me some of those products so I'll be trying them out too! It sounds like it should work so I'm curious how they work vs the home remedies we've been using.


Great stuff! Did you get some of the natural adjuvant? I'm particularly interested in that product. I thought he said he was going to do a video on it, and how it was the key in the products that he was applying, but I don't remember if he put it up or not.

Today, I sprayed the GCF RGS and Air-8 at 6 oz/M and Humic 12 at 1 gal/A rates. I started out using my pull-behind sprayer, which seemed like it didn't want to prime, so I fought with that thing for a while before it finally started working. Got me aggravated. :evil: I guess i was going a little slower than I should have on the left side of the front yard, because when I started on the right side, I got my domination strip done, and was out of product. Whoops! I opted to roll out the Chapin 24V push sprayer, and finished up the rest of the front and the back yard at the appropriate rates. If anything, I'll be able to tell what an increased application rate on the left side will look like compared to the rest of the lot. Most people test things behind the house, guess I'm going to do it in the front for this app.

I noticed that I had seed heads on some of the bermuda by the pool, so I've got to mow tomorrow. I'm debating on putting down some PGR, since it's almost fully greened up. I also want to wait another week or two for the weather to get warmer to fertilize everything, but the back yard is much greener than the front. I've got about 75% green in the back, and about 55% in the front.


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## SCGrassMan

I got angry just looking at that damage, on your behalf. If it was me, I would have knocked down the fence, gotten a chainsaw and gone 6 feet back from my property line, piled it all up on their lot, and put a new fence up. And then sent them the bill.


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## Colonel K0rn

SCGrassMan said:


> I got angry just looking at that damage, on your behalf. If it was me, I would have knocked down the fence, gotten a chainsaw and gone 6 feet back from my property line, piled it all up on their lot, and put a new fence up. And then sent them the bill.


 :lol: I completely understand. Fixing the fence is yet another task on my to-do list. Right now, I'm just doing things that I can afford. Don't think for a minute I didn't consider taking down the large trees, like others have alluded to. .I just didn't want to replace the fence at the moment. I'll probably have to rent a backhoe with a grapple to get up all the crap I threw down in piles on their side when it comes time to replace the fence line.

Today, I was enjoying the weather outside, with a high in the mid 80's, and tired of looking at the poa that was not chlorotic, and also wanted to survey the lot. I spent a few therapeutic hours hand pulling clumps and other weeds, and removed 25 gallons of plant material. I did find a mature crabgrass plant along the fence, which really surprised me. I didn't see any in the yard, which is a relief; just cool season weeds. It gave me a chance to get a closer look at what was going on in the barren landscape that I was disgusted looking at, but I needed to get closer to investigate.

I would say approximately 60% of the front yard survived the winter. :crying: I spoke to @Redtenchu on the phone a few days ago regarding whether or not I should throw down some N. What made sense was that he explained that the back yard was established, and had a longer period of time to store up nutrients for the winter, where the front didn't have as much time, and that's why I wasn't seeing much green in the bare areas but I've already had to mow the back. Four days ago, I gave the front and the back a shade over 1# N, and I've noticed a lot more growth, and even had quite a few seed heads thrown up in the front, which I regard as a good sign. Lots of lateral growth, and green up all around. What I'm not seeing is more crabgrass, and warm season weeds. I hope this holds out. I still have some carpet grass that made it through the renovation, but when it warms up, it's getting smoked.

What I did see is my neighbor putting out his fan sprayer, and watering the whole front yard. We had winds today that were gusting around 10-15 MPH today, so it was getting his house and car more wet than the grass. :lol: I'll take some pictures tomorrow. I've got a project related to the lawn that I should have started in February, but got the materials for it tonight. I'll have pictures of that to post as well.


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## Ware

Colonel K0rn said:


> ...I've got a project related to the lawn that I should have started in February, but got the materials for it tonight. I'll have pictures of that to post as well.


Leaving us hanging - that ain't right. :lol:


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## J_nick

Colonel K0rn said:


> I would say approximately 60% of the front yard survived the winter. :crying: I spoke to @Redtenchu on the phone a few days ago regarding whether or not I should throw down some N. What made sense was that he explained that the back yard was established, and had a longer period of time to store up nutrients for the winter, where the front didn't have as much time, and that's why I wasn't seeing much green in the bare areas but I've already had to mow the back.


I was curious how it would survive the winter with your late seeding date. Being farther south should stretch the dates a little but I remember this from when I reasearched during my reno.



J_nick said:


> In my area (northern Oklahoma) the time has come and past for seeding Bermuda. The last recommended seeding date is July 15th and that's with using cold hardy cultivars such as Riviera or Yukon. Any later and you'll experience quite a bit of winter kill as the grass doesn't have enough time to mature and store energy to make it through the winter.


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## Colonel K0rn

J_nick said:


> Colonel K0rn said:
> 
> 
> 
> I would say approximately 60% of the front yard survived the winter. :crying: I spoke to @Redtenchu on the phone a few days ago regarding whether or not I should throw down some N. What made sense was that he explained that the back yard was established, and had a longer period of time to store up nutrients for the winter, where the front didn't have as much time, and that's why I wasn't seeing much green in the bare areas but I've already had to mow the back.
> 
> 
> 
> I was curious how it would survive the winter with your late seeding date. Being farther south should stretch the dates a little but I remember this from when I reasearched during my reno.
> 
> 
> 
> J_nick said:
> 
> 
> 
> In my area (northern Oklahoma) the time has come and past for seeding Bermuda. The last recommended seeding date is July 15th and that's with using cold hardy cultivars such as Riviera or Yukon. Any later and you'll experience quite a bit of winter kill as the grass doesn't have enough time to mature and store energy to make it through the winter.
> 
> Click to expand...
Click to expand...

I knew it was a gamble, but I have to say having my lawn look amazing for a few months made it worth it. I've never had a lawn look that good in *any *place that I've lived in, and I've mowed a lot of grass. It was so nice to really #enjoyethemow, even into November of last year. If we hadn't had such a cold winter, I'm sure I wouldn't have lost as much as I did, but I didn't lose the whole lawn, so that's a great thing. What I'm learning is what will be necessary should I decide to kill everything and go with a different cultivar, like what I would do in the back yard. If I had to do it over again, I'd have already sprayed everything with glyphosate twice, and be really dirty right now.


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## wardconnor

Ware said:


> Colonel K0rn said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...I've got a project related to the lawn that I should have started in February, but got the materials for it tonight. I'll have pictures of that to post as well.
> 
> 
> 
> Leaving us hanging - that ain't right. :lol:
Click to expand...

^^^^^ this


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## J_nick

You didn't really have a choice in your seed date after the Celsius mishap. 60% Bermuda lawn and a pro Plugger will be a 100% Bermuda lawn before ya know it. The grass that you suspect winter kill on might come back too but just be slower to wake up.

FWIW I planted on June 11th and we had a horrible cold and dry winter. We went over 4 months without over 1/4" of precipitation plus a lot of single digits temps and even a few days below 0°. I can just now see some signs greenup on some of the better kept yards in town while mine is green. It looks odd


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## SCGrassMan

Colonel K0rn said:


> SCGrassMan said:
> 
> 
> 
> I got angry just looking at that damage, on your behalf. If it was me, I would have knocked down the fence, gotten a chainsaw and gone 6 feet back from my property line, piled it all up on their lot, and put a new fence up. And then sent them the bill.
> 
> 
> 
> What I did see is my neighbor putting out his fan sprayer, and watering the whole front yard. We had winds today that were gusting around 10-15 MPH today, so it was getting his house and car more wet than the grass. :lol: I'll take some pictures tomorrow. I've got a project related to the lawn that I should have started in February, but got the materials for it tonight. I'll have pictures of that to post as well.
Click to expand...

One of the neat features on the Rachio is the ability to have it skip watering any time there is wind over a certain velocity.


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## Colonel K0rn

SCGrassMan said:


> One of the neat features on the Rachio is the ability to have it skip watering any time there is wind over a certain velocity.


Neat feature, I'm sure it's tied into local weather stations to get that information. I'd set up my system to water when the wind is the most calm, so it doesn't blow everywhere, around the pre-dawn time frame, with maybe a syringe watering during the really hot hours.

As it was made known to me by prior posters, I left y'all hanging, and that wasn't intentional. I was pretty beat. Today, I'm slightly sunburnt, and my hands are sore from picking weeds.

Here's what I spent most of the day doing. Finding undesirable things in my lawn and removing them by hand. I was able to remove the neighbor's kid off of the lawn by using my voice.

Step 1: Locate undesirables. I located some actively growing carpet grass that survived the renovation. 


Step 2: Ready the Weed Hound


Step 3: Engage removal mechanism and extract 


Step 4: Deposit into refuse container


Step 5: Repeat

Made a significant dent in the population of active growth of Poa, but discovered a few cool things as well. I'll share those in my next post, as well as show what my "project" I was putting off was.


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## Redtenchu

Keep up the hard work! If it was easy, everyone would have a beautiful lawn.


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## raldridge2315

Redtenchu said:


> Keep up the hard work! If it was easy, everyone would have a beautiful lawn.


Truth! You don't buy a nice lawn. You earn it.


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## Ware

raldridge2315 said:


> Redtenchu said:
> 
> 
> 
> Keep up the hard work! If it was easy, everyone would have a beautiful lawn.
> 
> 
> 
> Truth! You don't buy a nice lawn. You earn it.
Click to expand...

+1, no truer words. :thumbup:


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## pennstater2005

I'm jealous CK! Getting to work in your lawn.....it's snowing up here


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## SCGrassMan

@colonel

I always wondered if those weed hounds worked! I might have to pick one up for the HOA common areas. I think between the landscaper treating it, combined with me and my neighbor running the last dregs of the spreader over it, we've hit the yearly max for herbicides in that area  LOTS of dandelions seem to be surviving everything we've put down.


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## Colonel K0rn

SCGrassMan said:


> I always wondered if those weed hounds worked! I might have to pick one up for the HOA common areas. I think between the landscaper treating it, combined with me and my neighbor running the last dregs of the spreader over it, we've hit the yearly max for herbicides in that area  LOTS of dandelions seem to be surviving everything we've put down.


@SCGrassMan Oh yeah, the Weed Hound works great. I bought it several years ago when I was at another property, and had it sitting in the shed unused for quite some time. It came in handy last year when I was fighting the war with crabgrass and goose grass. Worked great on the goose grass, but when you had an infestation like I did, I was glad I found herbicides to combat them. It helped when I was getting the larger ones in the areas where I had new seed, and didn't apply any herbicide.


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## Colonel K0rn

Up late, putting some butts on the smoker for the weekend. Plus, I left ya'll hanging.

I have to put this first and foremost. My neighbor, bless his heart, asked me a few weeks ago about some broadleaf weeds, as well as the poa that he had in his side yard on the North side of his house. I told him to get some Weed B Gon and spray on his hose end sprayer. Dandelions and a few other easy kill weeds. Two weeks go by, and he's already mowed. While I was picking poa, he came over, and he's toting a gallon of Roundup Weed and Grass killer. I said, "Oh, doing the fence lines?" He said, "Nah, I'm spraying those plants you told me to kill. This is working great." I said, "Is that the Roundup for Lawns?" At that point, he was close enough I could see it was glyphosate, with the blue label. I said, "So I guess you planned on killing your grass too, eh?" to which he replied, "Nah, it ain't hurting the grass." I just said, "OK" and carried on plucking the weeds. :roll:

I also offered to spray PreM while I did my yard, and he declined. I mean, it's cheap, and I didn't mind. I'm a good neighbor like that.

I took this picture this afternoon, after doing a quick cut on the back yard. 


Here's an update on what I've been working on for the past three days. Early Friday morning, we received 0.41" of rain, which was welcome. I was hoping to get at least 0.5" from Mother Nature, and she helped us out a little bit. My first fertilization feeding was on 3/24, and we had about .25" of rain since then, and I noticed some green-up from the front that survived the Winter, and even spotted seed heads on the grass in the back, as well as some seed heads on the grass in the front! I estimate about 60% of the new seed from the renovation survived. As @J_nick stated in a prior post, I seeded a little late, but we've got a resilient grass, it'll grow. It's just going to take a bit longer for a full yard. I've got something planned for that… like I've said before, I knew this was going to take 2-3 years before it was full, and it's a marathon.

I got tired of looking at the ugly clumps of green Poa mocking me, so I took to my hands and knees to remove as much as I could stand. I opted not to spray any herbicides since I was already dealing with weakened turf, and wanted to push it with N through this initial green up. There was a lot of dead poa on the surface, so I figured I would get as much as I could, even though it was probably futile, and I am more than likely going to be battling Poa for quite a while. I had considered that I might have gotten contaminated compost, because I never recalled that much poa in my yard before, but then again, I wasn't paying that much close attention to it. I couldn't have told you what Poa looked like if you offered me $100 a year ago. I could identify henbit though.

So, here's the good, bad and ugly, and I'll share some cool things I found.

Front Panoramic


Hell Strip 1


Hell Strip 2


Left Side


Right Side


North side facing back


North side facing street. I expect this to start thriving now that it's got more sunlight than it has had in the past.


Side view


View from the front porch


Now with those pictures out of the way, I need some help with the flowerbeds. That's the next large project, besides drainage. Trenching for the irrigation, and gutter drains might go together, but probably will be separate since I think they'll be at different depths.

As a quick update, here's some pictures of the back yard. The dogs have free reign over most of the yard, but I'm considering fencing off ¼ of the yard to allow the grass to creep toward the back of the lot, and to keep them off of the "nice section". They've made a few runs, and I call it the "chute" along the North side of my shed. They take off at full speed when let out of the house, and grass doesn't stand a chance, and I still haven't gotten rid of the "burn pile" yet. Soon™.

A heck of a lot better than it used to look, weed control, some fert and mowing practices. I'll give some older pics for reference. I have to keep the orange construction fencing up, because I haven't decided what I'm going to do back here. Right now, I'm just enjoying the grass, and keeping another "chute" from forming behind the pool. I have one that likes to dig, if left unsupervised.

Obligatory dog photo 3/30/18. Lucky on the right, Sage on the left


Facing South 7/9/2017


3/30/18


The Chute 7/9/17


3/30/18


Facing West, by the boat gate 7/9/17


3/30/18


West side of the house 7/9/17


This is looking South, but back at the area I was standing. This has been the donor site for many of my plugs, and going to be the first area I level when I start that project. 3/30/18


This area was covered in goose grass, and actually one of the first sections to respond very quickly once weed pressure was removed. I dug the trench for power to my shed here. 7/9/17


3/30/18


So, for the cool photos I have, I was working on pulling poa, and filled up a lot. I learned a good lesson on why I needed PreM (obviously :lol and when I was scooting along the property line, I was looking at my neighbor's lots which I sprayed and saw that they responded well to Prodiamine, including my fert that got tossed over a little bit into their lot. Here's an example of a photo that shows how much poa I was pulling and how green the carpet grass was from a little bit of fert overtoss. My goal wasn't to remove it all, which was damn near impossible. Just in the areas where I saw active bermuda growth, and to open the canopy as much as possible. I'm going to cut as much of it as I can with the reel at 0.5" tomorrow/today.


So, next post I'll have the cool stuff I found, and what I left hanging.


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## Colonel K0rn

Some people said that they have a lot of worms on their lawns after it rains, and I can understand why. You put a lot of work and money in your lawn, and they're unsightly. I completely understand. I'm actually really glad to see them in my lawn. I spotted several castings while I was pulling poa by the driveway. Just a few of them, but that's more than I have had for a long time.



While I was by the sidewalk, this was what I was facing. Here's a pic at chest height


Get a little closer


Closer still


I regard these little mounds as a great indication that I have improved the microbial and organic activity in the soil, even with the temps being in the high 60's with some days hitting 75-low 80's. I've committed to using a high rate of the GCF products, and I noticed a similar increase in organism activity after I applied the Mirimichi Green as well as the GCF products last year to my whole yard, which I documented in a video last year. My lot has been neglected for a decade and a half, and I feel that I'm doing things that can provide me visual response from the turf vigor, as well as something that's in the soil that I didn't put there: worms. We often don't think about the soil ecology from a cultural standpoint practice, we're looking for color response, and it's easy to overlook signs for what's going on underneath the grass until we see problems. You've got to look at the whole picture, not just what's on top. That's one of the reasons why we test our soil, so we can see what's going on with non-visible components that we can change. But the real key is to provide an ecosystem that's going to aid in the root cycling effect, part of which I believe that all that dead poa is going to contribute to when the bermuda takes over. Sure the seeds will be there, and I plan to try to abate that as much as possible. But if I can get the worms to work their magic, and break up some of the compaction, and crappy soil that I bought on this tract of land, then that's all the better.

It's really kinda disheartening when I was talking to my extension agent (we've become friends) to hear him describe my soil type as "muck".  I didn't see that soil type in the soil triangle, along with concrete. However, I can say I'm hopeful that the GCF products will lead to an improvement in this whole plan I'm working on.

I spotted seed heads in the back yard, and the front yard. Pretty stark difference in them. They got chopped off today. I think the back yard is common, and I know the front yard is Royal Bengal. I'm really surprised at how quickly the front shot them up.
*Back yard*

*Front yard*


Last, but not least, I should have already been cooking these up, but better late than never. I think they'll come in at just the right time, and aid in revitalizing some of the spots that didn't survive the winter. I picked up two methods of germination and a grow light. First one is peat pellets, that came with a capillary mat, and a cover. Second has hexagonal cells, that are squishy, and no capillary mat. I only had one grow light, so I'm going to see how they do. I have left the grow light on 24 hours/day. Today is day 3 after planting. I saw germination of the seed on the lawn in just a few days in my soil. Let's see how they do in peat.

*Hex Cells*

*Peat Cells (not to be confused with Pete1313)*

*Grow Light*

*Cells before expansion*

*Capillary mat*


*Add the water, and they rise up!*

*Seed down*

*I also planted some other type of grass*


*Grow light on and lights out in the shed*


As an aside, I've got 10# of seed, and I halfway thought about sending @wardconnor a packet of "noxious weed" seeds :lol: for him to try out in a section of his yard in the back. I don't think they'd survive the winter there though, although he's got the magic touch.


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## wardconnor

Don't think so pal.


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## Fishnugget

Dang Colonel, that's a lot of work you have already done! You have a lot of lawn area and I am sure once fixed, will look bada$$.

I really like your Pete cell flowering kit/tray. I better not show the wifey because she will want some. 

I am thinking we can add flower seeds and it will be much cheaper than buying the flowers.


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## Colonel K0rn

Fishnugget said:


> Dang Colonel, that's a lot of work you have already done! You have a lot of lawn area and I am sure once fixed, will look bada$$.
> 
> I really like your Pete cell flowering kit/tray. I better not show the wifey because she will want some.
> 
> I am thinking we can add flower seeds and it will be much cheaper than buying the flowers.


Thanks for the compliment @Fishnugget. I read a post someone made a little while ago that said that a trophy lawn is earned, not given. Check out my renovation thread that's in my signature. You'll see what a hot mess my yard was until the middle of last year. I've got a long way to go, but I'm already ahead of the game with the knowledge gained from members on the forum, and other lawn care dudes who care enough to make videos. To give you an idea of why I'm partially sad, this was last summer before I got the Flex. If you watch my October renovation update video on my channel, you'll see why I'm sad that I didn't have more survive through the winter. :|


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## LawnNerd

Colonel K0rn said:


> .... I'm actually really glad to see them in my lawn.....


I love seeing the worms too. They get to do all the aerating so i don't have to. :lol: After a good thunderstorm i usually see them crawling along the driveway. I've even been spotted by neighbors picking them up off the driveway and throwing them back into the lawn. (I know, i'm weird...) Their job isn't done there is more soil to loosen!

Nice job on the peat pots. When i did my KBG reno, i started some pots in the peat cells like you did, and then transferred them to the cheapo paper pots when i started seeing roots come out the bottom. Just gave them more time to mature and establish before plopping them down in the yard.


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## Colonel K0rn

I walked the lot today to survey for weeds, and I'll be darned if I didn't find 3 tillered out Goosegrass plants with seedheads along the Northern fence line in the front. It was around the same area that I found the Crabgrass plant the other day. I'm wondering if I just didn't get a heavy enough dose of Prodiamine down in that area, but if anything I thought I might have gone a little heavier with it. I used the Weed Hound to pluck them up, and muttered a few choice words.

I've got 3 patches of Doveweed that were present last year, and I sprayed them last year with 2,4-D, and this product below has that in it as well, so I'm curious to see what kind of results I'll get. It's a pretty hard weed to kill, and I have a patch in the front yard that I just kept a close eye on, and it's coming back strong. It's got to go!

I've got a lot of other weeds here and there, and I'm waiting until tomorrow to hit them with some of the samples of Avenue South that I received from my Site One store. Rain is forecast on Wednesday, mainly after 7 AM with predicted rainfall amounts of 0.1-0.25". We need the rain, so that's great news, but I'm still going to drag out the hoses and water everything. We've received less than 0.5" of rain in the past 2 weeks. Label suggests that I wait 2 days for mowing before and after application, as well as if it's been dry to irrigate for 8 hours before and after application. So, if I wait for the rain to come, and give me some free water, I can spray on Thursday. More rain in the forecast later on in the week, which would be good to put down another dose of Prodiamine, although our soil temps are in the high 60's, and with the evidence of seeing Crab & Goose grasses, it's past that time. Glad I got mine down in February :thumbup: I'm going to see how I feel tomorrow, and how the forecast plays out.

There was a time when I dreaded the forecast calling for more than 0.25" of rain, but with the improvements that I've seen with the drainage so far, I'm hopeful that the stuff I've been putting down is actually working. The true test is going to be in a week, when we're supposed to get almost 1" of rain. I will have applied my second dose of the Greene County Fertilizer products as I outlined in this post. The rain will help with that I'm sure!



Colonel K0rn said:


> My application plan will be:
> RGS at 6oz/M biweekly until the temp reaches 85°F, then reduce to 3 oz/M
> Humic 12 at 1 gal/Acre biweekly
> Air-8 at 6 oz/M biweekly (until we reach the rainy season, then reduce to 3 oz/K) I think this is going to be the biggest helper in conditioning the soil/humus layer that I've got and helping the groundwater percolate
> 18-0-1 Greene Punch at 16 oz/M Bi-monthly
> Milorganite bimonthly on the months I don't spray liquid fert. I've got 10 bags stacked up in the second picture, along with the bag of Lesco fert on top(that's going to be the first fert app in 2 weeks)


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## Fishnugget

Colonel K0rn said:


> Fishnugget said:
> 
> 
> 
> Dang Colonel, that's a lot of work you have already done! You have a lot of lawn area and I am sure once fixed, will look bada$$.
> 
> I really like your Pete cell flowering kit/tray. I better not show the wifey because she will want some.
> 
> I am thinking we can add flower seeds and it will be much cheaper than buying the flowers.
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks for the compliment @Fishnugget. I read a post someone made a little while ago that said that a trophy lawn is earned, not given. Check out my renovation thread that's in my signature. You'll see what a hot mess my yard was until the middle of last year. I've got a long way to go, but I'm already ahead of the game with the knowledge gained from members on the forum, and other lawn care dudes who care enough to make videos. To give you an idea of why I'm partially sad, this was last summer before I got the Flex. If you watch my October renovation update video on my channel, you'll see why I'm sad that I didn't have more survive through the winter. :|
Click to expand...

Wow, just read the lawn reno thread, you really did turn it around. I am certain it will bounce back, you have the formula down. You have come a long ways especially after reading your challenges with your soil. Although, I too have some hard areas that I will probably spray with a watering agent. I thought they were dry spots but there is plenty of water that hits these areas. I have to reiterate what I read about probably using some drains. That's what I used for my backyard lawn because its got some serious low spots.


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## Mightyquinn

Not sure if I read it or not but are you using straight GCF NeXT products on your lawn this year or are you going to supplement with another type of fertilizer?


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## Colonel K0rn

Mightyquinn said:


> Not sure if I read it or not but are you using straight GCF NeXT products on your lawn this year or are you going to supplement with another type of fertilizer?




:lol:


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## Mightyquinn

Colonel K0rn said:


> Mightyquinn said:
> 
> 
> 
> Not sure if I read it or not but are you using straight GCF NeXT products on your lawn this year or are you going to supplement with another type of fertilizer?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> :lol:
Click to expand...

Sorry :shock: I just saw your "application plan", it was early in the morning when I wrote that! I'm curious to see how it goes with just supplementing the GCF products with Milo. :thumbup:


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## Colonel K0rn

Update time! Day before yesterday, I found a GC super in Richmond Hill who said he could take care of sharpening my reel and knife. I took it to him, and he called me up the next day at 9AM. I picked up the unit, and came back home and put it on the unit. It wouldn't engage the reel, which was very strange, as it was working before I took it to him. I checked the reel to knife contact, and it was very hard to turn by hand. Upon closer inspection, it seems like the mech was a little heavy handed with the adjustment screws, as I had threads visible on one side, and none on the other. Uh oh...

I called him back, and said that it stalled out on the mower, so he asked me to bring it back, on the machine. That meant I needed to bring my Blazer out of storage on insurance, hook up the trailer, and drive it down to him. My Blazer is my drive 2-3 times a year vehicle to the dump and back home. Spent the day checking it out, pumping up the tires, checking fluid, charging battery, etc.

Thought I'd share my portable air station with you.
















So, with the Blazer in the back yard, I commenced to cleaning off the side of the driveway that they occupied, along with the golf cart. If you've got to pressure wash a driveway/sidewalk, you really should get one of these attachments. It makes it MUCH easier.

















Here's photos of the lawn, even in it's sad state


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## Colonel K0rn

I took the cutting unit to the course in Richmond Hill and he had his tech check it again. He said that since they use Toro triplexes, they can spin them up with more power since they're hydros. The fact remains that even though they have that equipment (it was a Foley grinder)it'll make the reel concentric, which it was, but the angle to the knife has to be incorrect. I tried to manually cut a piece of paper at a 90° angle to the bed knife like I had been doing before, similar to what I've seen in the videos. The reel just pinches the paper, and becomes harder to turn, and doesn't have that "zizz" sound like a sharp pair of scissors. Something just isn't right.

The super is nice, we got along just fine and he's got a nice looking course, but if you're hard on equipment, and not getting good reel-knife contact, and just mashing the grass blades and not cutting them, no wonder you're going to have the turf stress that you're experiencing. I saw this first hand on a ride-along with him on the course while his tech was looking at my machine.

Long story short, I should have just called Toro and scheduled the local tech come to my house to service it for $150. This is the option that I'm left with. I was grumbling a good bit when I left, but as of now it's only cost me $40 cash, some time and a piece of my wife's pound cake.

I came back home, and decided to take the cutting unit apart, check the blade, clean the reel, and set the cut myself. I was also waiting for the Accu-Gage to arrive via FedEx on Saturday.


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## Greendoc

Spin grind only? Last thing I want done to any reel is to have all of the relief ground off and not put back. If the mechanic then adjusts the reel tight to the bedknife, bye bye to the belts or chains driving the reel. If he adjusts it for Zero Contact like the geniuses of Bernhard Grinders wants everyone to do, say hello to mashed leaf tips on the grass.


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## Colonel K0rn

I reassembled the cutting unit, and got it to where it was cutting paper decently, but not like it should. My grass is looking pretty long, and I figure if I have to put another knife on it, so be it. I saw that my FedEx package was on the truck out for delivery, so I went ahead and made a quick cut of the back yard, and when I was done and came through the gate to the front yard, I saw the FedEx truck pulling away. Great! Now I can get an accurate bench HOC.

I was shooting for 0.625 with my homebrew HOC gauge, but was actually closer to 0.600 on one side and 0.580 on the other. Not too shabby, in the ballpark which was working for me on my undulating surface of a yard. I measured both sides to 0.600 and let it ride. Gave the front a quick clip, edged the concrete and blew off the debris.

My wife asked me if I would take care of my neighbor's yard, which has visible knee-high dogfennel from the road. UGH, "OK, It's the Christian thing to do." I cranked up the Snapper, rolled over there, and got more dirty from cutting that weed patch than I did using my reel mower on my yard, and I got my yard done much quicker. :|

*It's so much more pleasurable, less dirty, and faster to cut grass than it is to cut weeds.*

After the new additions to the flowers on my lot, I had the stuff I needed to hook up micro-irrigation to everything. I just needed to manually do it. I had about 2 hours of sunlight to go, so I took my time. The wind was picking up, but the temp was nice. It was in the mid 80's today, perfect weather for growing Bermuda grass. Mother Nature is supposed to give us about 1" of rainfall tomorrow, and we do need it. They're calling for 20 MPH gusts of wind throughout the night increasing to 45-60 MPH. I'm hoping we don't blow away! :shock:


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## Colonel K0rn

Greendoc said:


> Spin grind only? Last thing I want done to any reel is to have all of the relief ground off and not put back. If the mechanic then adjusts the reel tight to the bedknife, bye bye to the belts or chains driving the reel. If he adjusts it for Zero Contact like the geniuses of Bernhard Grinders wants everyone to do, say hello to mashed leaf tips on the grass.


That is exactly what it looked like on every green I saw. He was dealing with some nematode issues as well as resistant poa and goose grass. As well as beavers and pigs :lol:

It was the first time I had been to this course. As for the tech, I don't think he has been properly trained on how to care for the equipment. Then again, it was only a crew of 3, including the Super. Like I said, I'm just going to have Toro fix it. My wife subtly reminded me of my adage when it came to tools, "Buy once, cry once." I gave her the "I told you so" rights yesterday morning.


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## SNOWBOB11

Nice air compressor cart. Also like the pressure washer attachment. I've seen those before and they look like they would be very useful.


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## Greendoc

Spin grind to make reel concentric, relief grind to minimize drag, and backlap to ensure light, even contact along the entire width of the mower. I do not care how perfect a spin grinder is, backlapping a relief ground reel into a bedknife is the surest way to ensure quality of cut.

When I was a spray only lawn guy, mowing crews would be read the riot act if they ran a zero contact McLane or Tru-Cut on a lawn I was fertilizing. The shredding of the leaf tips, especially on El Toro could be seen from even afar. When that happened, the neighbors would ask what happened to the lawn. I then showed them the shredded leaves up close. That is also how I got a certain amount of business relief grinding and backlapping their mowers.


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## Colonel K0rn

SNOWBOB11 said:


> Nice air compressor cart. Also like the pressure washer attachment. I've seen those before and they look like they would be very useful.


Thanks! It was something I whipped up out of necessity, and got all the stuff from Hazard Fraud Harbor Freight. I think I have under $40 in materials. Makes it easy to move the pancake compressor around, and great for pumping up tires, inflatable rafts, air mattresses, etc.



Greendoc said:


> Spin grind to make reel concentric, relief grind to minimize drag, and backlap to ensure light, even contact along the entire width of the mower. I do not care how perfect a spin grinder is, backlapping a relief ground reel into a bedknife is the surest way to ensure quality of cut.
> 
> That is also how I got a certain amount of business relief grinding and backlapping their mowers.


I'm with you 100%. If I knew that there were more people out there looking to get reels serviced, I would consider getting the equipment to do it, but since it's just me, I can't justify the cost, even on used gear. I did make contact with an equipment broker who had a machine, but I ain't dropping that much scratch just to service my mower. I'd rather buy a Swardman. Honestly, it's probably the best option for me, considering I'm going to need to verticut some areas this year. If I had access to the equipment, like "Hey, you can use my grinder" I'd totally do it, and be fine with learning how to it. But alas, that isn't the case. I'd rather pay a pro right now.


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## Greendoc

I would love to have a spin grinder and single blade grinder. Fact is, that a slightly cone shaped reel is not that critical on a single cutting unit reel. It gets important on a triplex greens mower because the coning makes one side of the reel mow lower and the other reels then do not match. It has not been an issue at lawn heights and a single reel.


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## social port

LawnNerd said:


> I've even been spotted by neighbors picking them up off the driveway and throwing them back into the lawn. (I know, i'm weird...) Their job isn't done there is more soil to loosen!


I'm also guilty of this.

Just catching up on your thread, CK. I think you deserve the nickname 'Mister Projects' because...man, you've always got some new endeavor in the works. Your lawn is going to look amazing with all of the work that you put into it.
Also, a CK youtube channel sounds like fun. I'm gonna check it out.


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## Colonel K0rn

social port said:


> LawnNerd said:
> 
> 
> 
> I've even been spotted by neighbors picking them up off the driveway and throwing them back into the lawn. (I know, i'm weird...) Their job isn't done there is more soil to loosen!
> 
> 
> 
> I'm also guilty of this.
> 
> Just catching up on your thread, CK. I think you deserve the nickname 'Mister Projects' because...man, you've always got some new endeavor in the works. Your lawn is going to look amazing with all of the work that you put into it.
> Also, a CK youtube channel sounds like fun. I'm gonna check it out.
Click to expand...

LOL, I'll admit, I haven't posted many videos on YouTube, and would think that it would be boring, but then again, maybe not. I have plenty of projects going on all the time, and perhaps I should shoot another video. I haven't done one since my final mow of last year.  I'm trying to think of what I could use for the next video, maybe just a "State of the Yard" at my address


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## social port

Colonel K0rn said:


> I'm trying to think of what I could use for the next video, maybe just a "State of the Yard" at my address


I've never made any youtube videos, so I really don't know what it's like. But speaking as a consumer, I would say that concept videos make a lot of sense, but they seem like a lot of pressure. Basic videos work too, IMO. I can totally watch simple grass cutting videos. There are all kinds of uses: For watching during winter (gettin' your lawn fix on) or for comparing notes like mowing patterns, degree of overlap, striping methods, pace, width of perimeter passes etc. You never know what the audience will connect with.


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## Colonel K0rn

social port said:


> You never know what the audience will connect with.


Well, if they're into boating in their own yard, I've got a video idea for them! I took this picture today at 5PM and we had received 0.81" of rain. 

I just checked the rain gauge (11:50 PM EST), and we received 1.37" of rain today, over the course of 6 hours, so it was a nice soaking rain, but it was rather depressing seeing the front get that much water again. What I found of particular interest is that the front still has the low area, where the majority of the water is in the center of the picture. I observed some water flowing over the driveway to the North side of the property to the swale along the fence line. On the South side of the front, the water flows off my neighbors roof into the shallow swale that runs between our properties. There is no visible water there now, and in my back yard, there's no visible water in the swale by the gutter on the back door, which is a huge win for me. There used to be standing water there all the time, even when we'd get a small amount. I'm anxious to see how much is left in the morning. If I have a little, I can live with that.


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## social port

Colonel K0rn said:


> Well, if they're into boating in their own yard, I've got a video idea for them! I took this picture today at 5PM and we had received 0.81" of rain.


 :lol: 
Come on Air-8. You need to be kickin' in. Did you not use the Air-8 in the front? 
We also had a lot of rain this weekend. Kept me from getting a PreM down. Got cold too = 39 degrees.


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## Colonel K0rn

@social port yes I did, along with Humic 12 and RGS. The front and back have both been treated twice. That's why this morning I was encouraged to see the only place I had any water was the low spot in the front yard. As I'm posting this, it's half of this size. Once it gets subsurface, I'm going to take my home brew drain out and modify it. I'll shoot a video


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## raldridge2315

@Colonel K0rn it seems to me that you may have to bite the bullet and get a load of topsoil and start again.. Of course, I don't know the entire situation, but I don't see where drain lines would drain to.


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## Colonel K0rn

raldridge2315 said:


> It seems to me that you may have to bite the bullet and get a load of topsoil and start again.. Of course, I don't know the entire situation, but I don't see where drain lines would drain to.


I do plan on moving the water from the downspouts to the South side of the property, along the fence line to the back of the lot, and then at the back of my neighbor's property (he's already given me permission) to discharge into a drainage easement that sits between his house, and his neighbor's property. That's the most direct route. I'll be tying in the waste drain from my pool into that line, so I can discharge the excess water there too, instead of the back yard. The stormwater runoff from both sides of the street in front of our house drains into the same ditch. Funny thing is that area is designated as a wetland, and he called the city to have them come out and excavate the ditch a few months ago, and they were dragging their feet about it, and when he called back up there, he said he wasn't very nice. They came out the next day with county prisoners to come clear the ditch with chainsaws and other power tools.

What made me laugh when he told me this is that his fiancee' was there by herself when they were cleaning out the ditch, and she saw the prisoners at the back of the lot coming into their yard, and she grabbed her pistol and went out to confront them. The armed guard there saw her coming and yelled at her "Woah, hold up don't shoot!" He then explained what was going on, but all she saw were prisoners in her back yard moving toward her house. :lol:


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## Colonel K0rn

Yesterday (4/19), I did my bi-weekly application of RGS, AIR-8 and Humic 12. It was time to fertilize, so I added the 16 oz/M of 18-0-1 Greene Punch. I also needed to put down my 2nd application of Prodiamine, since it's been over 60 days. I got the front yard sprayed, and moved on to the back yard, and was 2 gallons in when the Chapin sprayer pump started acting up. :evil: Turns out there was some debris in the bottom that was clogging the pickup screen, so I had to stick my forearm into the mix. I immediately washed it off after I cleared the screen, but I still looked like I went to a spray tan booth on my right forearm. I'm pretty sure the debris was some of the material that had settled into the bottom of the 18-0-1, and I just didn't agitate the 2.5 gallon container enough before I started pouring. I noticed some chunks in the bottom of the pitcher after I poured it into the sprayer. I guess I should keep the large screen on the spray body when adding things into it...

The GCF Humic 12 and RGS stuff is interesting. It sticks to the side of the 32 oz plastic measuring pitcher that I pour it into for measuring for applications, and I have to aggressively wipe it off of the sides of the container to get it rinsed off. I'd venture to say it would stain concrete easily. I've dripped some on my floors in the shed, and it does stain.

I got everything sprayed, and even squirted some on the shrubs that were trimmed, and a shot or two into the flowerbed for good measure. Afterwards, I put my applications into my spreadsheet, and also into GreenKeeper which was very helpful for determining the rates of everything that I needed to apply. After looking at them both, I realized that I was only planning on putting down .25#/N per month. I could see that this might be a goal for someone with an established yard, but for me, I needed more. I looked at the bags of Milo stacked on the wall, and thought to myself, "It's not warm enough to put that down, it's going to be in the 40's tonight, and 60's tomorrow." I needed more, so I will take action in the morning.


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## Colonel K0rn

Today I decided to take a trip to Site One, and I picked up a bag of 46-0-0. @Mightyquinn, I'm diverting my plan. I'm going to pound my lawn with upwards of 2#N/month. Today, I put down an additional 1.5#/N per M.

I have watered the lawn once, and I'm not sure if that's what is causing the seed heads to come up so quickly, but it's like this.


I had several areas of the front lawn that had seed heads sticking up over 1", and I mowed it 3 days ago. The areas that are well established are throwing up seed heads, which tells me it's time to put down PGR. I had to manually mow them off with the Scott's push reel, then I raised the HOC on the Flex 21 to 0.750. I consider this a compromise height since I was mowing at 0.600 on a lean fertility plan, and I don't have irrigation. I noticed that the majority of the seed heads are along the Northern fence, which is growing in great now there's no shade.

Once I see the growth start kicking in, which I honestly have no idea how long it will be since I haven't used urea before, I'll put an app of PGR down. The forecast shows we're supposed to get 0.5" of rain Sunday starting late, then over 2" of rain on Monday. :?

Anyone have any suggestions? Would it be better to go ahead and do my first app Sunday morning?


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## Mightyquinn

I would go ahead and apply PGR now before the rain gets here as it will take a few days for the effects to kick in and if you wait until after the rain it may be too late


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## Redtenchu

Wow, that's a lot of N!


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## raldridge2315

I love reading "The Lawn Book" by Dr. Louis N. Wise, Professor of Agronomy and Dean of the School of Agriculture, Mississippi State University, 1961, " My copy is getting worn from use. In the chapter on fertilization and referring specifically to bermuda grass, he states; "Top-dress with 1 to 2 pounds of nitrogen per 1000 square feet at 1 to 2 month intervals. For the finest lawn use at least 6 to 9 pounds of nitrogen per 1000 square feet per season. On golf greens, use twice this amount. Within reason, the more nitrogen the more beautiful the lawn or green." And this was in the days when PGR was just coming into use. He makes no mention of PGR.

I've said before - fertilizer, water, sunshine, and sharp mower blades. Of course, we all know that the closer and more often it is mowed, the denser it will become. It will also require more fertilizer.


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## Colonel K0rn

As the sun was setting, I decided that I should water in the urea that I spread. I hosed down a good portion of it, and when it was dark, I set up the sprinklers to water in the rest of the front yard. I didn't bother with watering the back yard.

Today I walked the lot, and all of the urea prills in the front were gone, and some were visible in the back yard, but not all. I'm guessing they've dissolved? I mowed the back yard, edged all the concrete and trimmed everything that wasn't 0.750" tall with the string trimmer. I heeded the advice of @Mightyquinn, and sprayed the whole lot with PGR. I also used the GreenKeeper app to help me calculate usage, which was pretty spot-on. I had to pick up the pace a bit in some areas, which was a lot easier to keep track of the amount that you're putting down when you're using a 2 gallon hand-can. I haven't modified the Chapin push sprayer yet to get it all in one spray, but that's another project on my list to do.

I was using the blue Lesco turf marker dye in the mix, which made it easy to see on the grass that was actively growing in the back yard, but not so much in the front. One of the neighbor kids rode by on his bike with his friends, and he said, "Man you sure are killing all your grass. That man's making his yard blue. " I replied "Hey, you know that the sun is yellow, I'm putting down blue. What's that mean? It'll all be green in a few days." #dadjoke

Also, I had let the PGR dry for a while on the turf, and after about 2 hours, the dogs were able to come outside. As they were playing, they started coming up with blue spots on their white fur. :roll: Another reason to give them a bath!



Redtenchu said:


> Wow, that's a lot of N!


I know, right? I figured I had to make a modification to my fertility program to push the grass *HARD*. I've never used urea, so I'm not sure what to expect. @raldridge2315 I'm on board with the high N level now, and for getting some growth going on, I'm hoping that the combination of the pounds on the ground, with the PGR will promote a lot of lateral growth.

Furthermore, I get encouraged when I see this type of activity in areas that have been treated with the GCF products, but don't have any grass. I took this picture on the North side of the house, where it's shaded all the time, and constantly damp. I saw the same thing when I put down the Mirimichi Green product all over the yard. I've got a video that I'll upload, and I was pretty fascinated by it. I even sent it to Mirimichi and didn't get anything other than, "Hmm, we've not seen that before either." To me, it looks like worm castings, but the spots are no larger than a quarter, and the "castings" are like grains of sand. I'll take another picture with a ruler so we can reference what's going on. I'm going to reach out to John Perry of GCF to get his take on it too.





Oh, I almost forgot to post pictures. Shots of the front yard from 4/20 prior to putting down 46-0-0









































And the most drastic change of all
*BEFORE*









*AFTER*


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## social port

:lol: #dadjoke.

What the heck is going on in the North side of your lawn.
Do fungi or spores ever look like that?


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## Colonel K0rn

social port said:


> :lol: #dadjoke.
> 
> What the heck is going on in the North side of your lawn.
> Do fungi or spores ever look like that?


Ehh, there's a lot of moss there, but the thing I was pointing out was the dirt that's obviously not the same color as what's on the surface. No fungi or spores there. It's very odd. I've got a video of something similar that happened when I added a biostimulant to the soil. I'll edit it and post it on YouTube, with a link here.


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## Tellycoleman

Are you mixing Air8 RGS and Humic into one tank?
Have you tested the PH? Just asking


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## Colonel K0rn

Tellycoleman said:


> Are you mixing Air8 RGS and Humic into one tank?
> Have you tested the PH? Just asking


I am, and I have not. I've been meaning to get a pH tester, for checking out some of the herbicides when I spray. I've got some citric acid from another hobby that I can use to change it should it be necessary. I wouldn't assume that I need to change it, but I'll measure it for you.

On another note, just looked at the forecast, and they're calling for 2-3 inches of rain. :shock:


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## balistek

how long have you been using the n-ext product? It's on my short list of to buy items. Im hoping to be thoroughly impressed with the air8 and other products.


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## Colonel K0rn

balistek said:


> how long have you been using the n-ext product? It's on my short list of to buy items. Im hoping to be thoroughly impressed with the air8 and other products.


I did my first application of RGS and 18-0-1 Greene Punch, and 0-0-2 Micro Greene (chelated minors) on 9/20/17, with a follow up app on 10/11/17. My yard was going dormant around that time, so my next application of any of their products was 3/10 of this year, with biweekly applications of RGS + Humic 12 + AIR-8. I've put down 3 applications at the highest rate so far.

John Perry just posted a 10-day video series about an Air BnB that he was staying at in FL that received a spray treatment from a local company that uses his products. The results are pretty amazing. Check it out, they're pretty short. Go from Day 1 to Day 10. The increased amount of root mass and hairs off of the roots of the treated area is pretty astounding.




https://youtu.be/BJ4xlsXdEYU

I've got trepidation about the outcome of the next day or so, especially when one of the local meteorologists posts this on his Facebook page.


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## balistek

thanks for the video. Great stuff. I have high hopes. Are you seeing any notable results in your yard?


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## Colonel K0rn

balistek said:


> thanks for the video. Great stuff. I have high hopes. Are you seeing any notable results in your yard?


We got 3.75" of rainfall from 4 AM-11 AM, with more coming, but not as torrential. I shot some video, but I'm terribly slow at editing. I have islands in the back yard. :? I suspect this was more rainfall in a shorter period of time than Hurricane Irma. I have seen areas where the clippings were piled up, and the water had receded a good 2-3' since it stopped raining. @SGrabs33's swale woes ain't got nothin on me. :lol:


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## raldridge2315

Dang CK. Water, water everywhere. It pasted through here late Saturday and Sunday. It's still raining now. There is some water standing in my yard, but nothing like this. I had to pump the pool down as it was about to overflow.


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## tnlynch81

It may be time to give up on the dream of a perfect lawn and embrace the dream of having a lake house


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## Ral1121

How long does it take to drain when it is that bad?


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## Colonel K0rn

Ral1121 said:


> How long does it take to drain when it is that bad?


Last year, it looked like this during the rainy season when we got 0.5" of rain. I've got a video coming up that has some pictures. I've used a sump pump to drain water from some of the low areas before. :|



tnlynch81 said:


> It may be time to give up on the dream of a perfect lawn and embrace the dream of having a lake house


Heh, might be time to stock the pond with some fish! 



raldridge2315 said:


> Dang CK. Water, water everywhere. It pasted through here late Saturday and Sunday. It's still raining now. There is some water standing in my yard, but nothing like this. I had to pump the pool down as it was about to overflow.


There was water coming out of the skimmer, and I'm going to have to drain it some, but the level was about halfway on the skimmer when it started raining. I'd say the pool collected a few hundred gallons that will need to be shocked soon.


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## Colonel K0rn

So, I'm a novice editor, and I finally had a rain day to get this done.

https://youtu.be/-z1R6cve-VU


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## Colonel K0rn

Yesterday, I got a cut on the lawn, and my machine just wasn't cutting well at all. When I would get the reel to where it would cut paper cleanly, it required a lot of hand pressure to move. It just wasn't right. I cut the yard with the Scott's push reel, and decided that I would seek assistance from a golf mechanic. This area has a ton of courses, and I'll admit, I haven't been as proactive in finding someone to help me out as I could have been. It just wasn't pressing. When I was looking at the grass, I saw large seed heads that hadn't been hit by the PGR, and lots of seed heads down in the canopy where the PGR was working. I cut as well as I could with what I have.

This morning, I took the cutting head off of the Flex 21 and set out to find a golf course and mechanic near me that could tell me whether or not I was going to have to replace the cylinder and bed knife. A little voice in my head said I should try our local course again. The mechanic that helped me out when I got the mower last fall left the course, and is now working with the Recreation Department on the other side of the county, and my conversation with another employee a month ago at the course left me with the impression that there's only 3 full time employees that are tending to the city's 18-hole course, and the "pro" in the shop is acting as a superintendent for the course. It's not in good shape, and they're understaffed.

I rolled up to the shop, and caught one of the grounds crew there who was filling up his machine with fuel. I explained what I needed to do, and he opened up the garage door. My first order of business was to make sure that I had enough meat left on the cylinder, and it wasn't ground off by the young'un who ground the reel and BK. I found the first thing I was going to need was the reel measuring tape. I put it on the reel, wrapped it around and I measured just over 5.15" in diameter. I let out a sigh of relief; the service limit is 4.5" and this meant that I didn't have to replace the reel! :clapping:
I knew the knife was flat and the cylinder was ground to be concentric. Maybe just a backlapping would work?

I paid attention the last time I was in the shop, which was when I replaced the bed knife and backlapped. I walked over to the entrance of the shop, and pulled the machine out from under the table, as well as the 25# tubs of 120 and 180 grit compound. As I began moving the backlapping machine into position on the floor next to the cutting head, the fellow that I was talking to said, "Oh, that's what that machine is for." I chuckled, and started out with the 120 grit, and spun my reel for what seemed like forever, before the grinding got subtle. Once it got pretty quiet, I then switched to the 180 grit. After I was satisfied that it had been properly backlapped, I checked the reel/BK tolerance, and found it would cut paper easily and required little force to make this happen. Here's a video of what I spent about an hour and a half doing.






While I was backlapping, I had an epiphany. The dude who ground the reel was used to cutting greens and tee boxes on a triplex, which can have the cutting heads reversed to backlap on the machine. When I took my mower back to him the day after he ground it, the super of the course told him to take it over to a patch of overgrown Centipede to see how it cut. He didn't know how to use my machine, which meant that he wasn't familiar with how to use a walk behind. That meant that he didn't backlap it while it was off of the drive unit, and only did my job halfway because he's either: A. too proud to ask B. too ignorant to ask or C. a combination of both. :x

I came home, excited to tell my wife that I wasn't going to have to spend a chunk of money on my "new to me" machine. I put the cutting head on, and made a few passes in the front and the back. I was cutting about 1/8" of grass off of what was mowed yesterday, and I was extremely satisfied that I listened to that little voice in my head.

In other news, here's some photos of the planters that I created a little over 2 weeks ago. I've been following Connor's recommended watering schedule, and it's paying big dividends for the bloomers. I'm pretty sure the petunias in the watering trough are going to overtake the Red White and Blue salvia that are in the middle. I find it funny that in the teal planter, there's a petunia that's growing pretty vigorously, and there's only one purple bloom on the darned thing!


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## pennstater2005

Flower pots look great @Colonel K0rn !!! I love all the color. The more the better.


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## Colonel K0rn

Thanks @pennstater2005. I think I spotted one more purple bloom on that petunia this morning. I'm hoping I'll have more on it come this weekend. The in-laws are coming to visit, and I want the yard to be in the best shape it can, all things considered.

Today, I pulled plugs from the thicker areas of the yard, and moved them into the thinner areas. I spread sand over all the areas that had plugs pulled, and plugs placed and then watered it in.


















I also decided it was time to plant the peat pots that I had been growing the grass seed in. Some of them were quite tall! It's going to look odd to see the areas where I plant the new grass in, because they've not been treated with PGR, and the rest of the yard has. The cats have been tearing up the cat grass. I'm going to plant some in a pot all by itself, they love eating it... I guess it's because I took their normal foraging diet of weeds out of my yard. :lol:


















I got a couple of boxes in today, with some stuff for an upcoming project.


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## FATC1TY

Forgive me if I missed something, I enjoy reading your thread, and sometimes skim for pictures like a 3 year old reading a book; but why are you currently using PGR when it appears you have quite a bit of bare areas that haven't come up?

While I understand the whole premise of lateral growth, that can be obtained quicker by not hindering growth as a whole, right?

Seems a bit counter intuitive to slow the growth when it appears this is the time to really be feeding it tons of nitrogen and pushing it to go wild.


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## social port

CK, I've got some of those brown pots--picked mine up from Lowe's last year. They have held up well. I use them for storing hoses.
I enjoyed the update video! Your bermuda is looking pretty nice back there, and it is easy to imagine how great it will look once the bermuda crowds out all of those grassy weeds (grassies). 
Plant counter was the magic :thumbup:


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## Colonel K0rn

Sure thing @FATC1TY. I understand your question, and here's my thinking behind using PGR on the front yard at this point. The back yard has quite a bit of bare areas as well, so this applies to it also.

I gave my entire yard a pretty heavy dose of N just over 10 days ago, and then hit it with PGR 2 days later. There's a few things working against me right now: the lack of GDD's, no in-ground irrigation which ties into the lack of rainfall that has been forecast/has actually fallen. Since the MOA of T-NEX is to inhibit gibberellic acid, which is the final thing needed by the plant for growth, the plant is still producing it and storing it up. Once it comes out of regulation, there's the flush of growth. That's going to be when the temps are going to be a lot warmer, we will usually have more rainfall, and I won't mind doing the extra mowing.

I'm also hitting the whole lot biweekly with my cocktail of RGS, AIR-8 and Humic 12. I want to be pushing those roots deep into the soil, searching out the nutrients that are there, and getting through the chemical barrier of sodium that's permeated my lot which was confirmed by the Total Dissolved Salts test last year. If I can drive those roots deep into the soil, I'll have a much healthier plant that survived, and is sending out stolons all across the bare areas. This is important because of the next reason, which is my PreM applications.

I applied my PreM on 2/15 and 4/19 at 1#/A. This is creating a situation where the lateral runners being sent out by the healthy plants aren't having a good time tacking down to the soil, and getting roots into the ground, and it's getting pretty leggy. This is the reason why the plant that's sending them out needs to be as healthy as possible, to provide all the nutrients for the lateral growth, as well as top growth, since those points of contact aren't being established by the stolons that would normally be tacked down.

Individually, each separation causation doesn't seem like it would preclude a necessary reason enough to apply the PGR, but when I look at them as individual situations to remedy the whole problem, it makes sense to me. For what it's worth, the plugs that I was pulling on the left side by the hydrant had roots that were extending past 6", which is past the barrier depth of the plugs that I pulled last year. I hope this gives you some insight as to why. Also, the front yard was throwing up seed stalks that were over 1' in height, and ain't nobody got time for that.

@social port I happened to pick one of those barrel planters up at the Lowe's garden center where I've made friends with one of the employees who likes to talk plants. She gave me a generous discount on that planter because it was banged up and weathered, and also marked down some opened bags of potting mix. Magic discount marker FTW!


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## FATC1TY

Thanks for the info CK!

Makes a fair bit of sense I guess, as ultimately the long game wins.

I asked because my yard, and most around here have really slowed compared to last years green up. I think I had some Celsius/Dismiss kill out front in a stand of goosegrass that I finally got pissed and I scalped to like .250 in what was a rocky and patchy yard once you got down that low.

I'm hesistsnt to toss the PGR down, but encouraged with the stolons growing and how short spanned they are and thick. Praying my yard finally meets some goals so I don't have to rip it up and put in some TifGrand.

Looking forward to to seeing the dramatic changes as I remember you from day one just about!!


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## Colonel K0rn

Quick update with some pictures, as my in-laws are visiting for the next week, and I've got to hit the links in the morning with the FIL.

Gave the front and back yard a cut, and I was finally able to see some stripes on a "large-ish" portion of the front yard. Don't beat me up about the dirty driveway, that's on the to-do list  









Weather has been pretty warm, with a few days in the past week that have been 90-93°F. I have to thank @Greendoc for the recommendation of the FEature, because it really made the grass quite a bit darker than other lawns around me, even with the thin coverage that I have. I put that app down on Thursday, when I did my application of RGS, Humic 12, AIR-8 and another shot of Greene Punch (I had just enough to do .25#N/M for the front).

A week ago I used the ProPlugger to move some plugs around the lawn, and several of those have started to spread laterally. The holes that I filled with sand are almost not visible any more, everything is picking up the pace, and I'm still under regulation with the PGR, although with the temps rising, it'll soon be time to re-apply... but not until after I sand.

The seeds that I put in the peat pellets are starting to grow laterally as well, which is very encouraging. I've been hand-watering them daily, along with deep-infrequent irrigation of the whole lot. The last rainfall that we had was the ~4" on 4/23 that we got that turned my lot into a pond. It's been very dry, and now the temps are starting to rise.

GreenKeeper has me at 171/225 GDD, with 77% suppression, and I'm starting to see more and more seed heads missed by the Flex, so I'm definitely going to have to increase the mowing frequency, but I'm running into an issue of not having a smooth enough surface for the whole unit to roll across and get everything cut. I'll have grass, then a bare spot, lots of grass, some bare spots, more grass, which leads to not everything being cut. I'm having to go over several of the taller seed heads (that's seems to be the tallest thing growing) with the manual Scott's mower.

Best pictorial I can give is this is my HOC---->dirt ____------___|------||____|__|------\|----

Mowing is pretty aggravating right now, so I think that if I were to go ahead and put down fertilizer, then sand when the grass comes out of regulation, at least having everything at the same height would alleviate some of the problems with the uneven surface. That's one of the problems that having a partially grown-in yard. Of course, my neighbors are going to be thinking, "Damn, he just got his grass growing, why's that fool covering it all with sand?" Ha, they don't know what we reel low mowers do, do they? Knowing my luck, I'll probably just have seed heads sticking out of the top of the damn sand. :lol:

Here's a pretty impressive picture. These were taken 25 days apart. Top one, I still had some poa hanging on, but most of it is dying/dead now. I'm now seeing some crab and goose grass, which were promptly dispatched. There's areas of crab in the back yard that are in the dog-paths that I'm not too stressed about. However, I'm inclined to think that the back yard might get into shape before the front yard does, even with the dogs and children undoing my efforts. :twisted: 

















Here's a few more shots for comparison sake
*3/10*








*4/13*








*5/8*









Anyway, I'm off to get some sleep before a round of golf in the AM. Have a great Wednesday!


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## Colonel K0rn

Quick update, I pulled plugs from the front and the back yard and sent them off to a lab in state that participates in NAPT. The rates for the testing were very affordable, as well as pretty expansive. Once they receive the package, they state that I'll get my results in 2-3 days, which is promising.

Friday, I went by the extension office, and chatted with the agent, and we did a desktop analysis of the CEC of my soils as well as the pH. I don't recall what my CEC's were last year, but I know my results from my soil tests showed my pH was in the mid 5's. On the desk, the soil for the front yard had a CEC of .27 and the pH was around 5.9-6.0. The soil sample for the back yard had a CEC of .34 and the pH was 6.3, which had the most improvement at first glance. We'll see what the lab has to say about the accuracy of the desk/field test.

Saturday morning, I stopped by a local feed & seed store, and picked up a bag of 46-0-0, and I didn't realize it until I opened the bag that they were micro-prills. I was cautious in my application, but I was able to evenly spread it across the whole lot, and watered it in afterwards. In total, I applied 1.75#N/M since my grass is about to come out of regulation with PGR, and I'm seeing a lot of lateral growth in some of the bare areas. I think the next heavy feeding is going to be with a 38-0-0 in preparation for the 10 yards of sand I'm planning on putting down. I'm going to push the grass hard with heavy N and water and see how much coverage I can get, even if it means more mowing. But if the heat starts getting too much for me, I'm going to lay down the PGR again. It's been in the mid 90's most of the week, but we have some cooler weather and rain in the forecast for most of next week. Next mow might be with the zero turn :lol:


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## Colonel K0rn

Was running errands with my in-laws and the wife today, and I got back home later in the evening. The first thing I said to my wife when we pulled into the driveways was, "Holy cow!" She replied "What?" I said, "The color response is unreal!" My wife, "Yeah, it's green. :roll:"

The forecast calls for a rainy week, and I mowed the day before yesterday and I already had a lot of seed heads that had risen to 2-3"* in a day*. I told the wife I needed to get a quick mow in before dark.

I was really impressed with the color difference from the urea application yesterday snapped before pictures of the front.









































So I gave the front a double-cut (got a picture of the side with the most grass) It's pretty boring on the larger section...

















Also did a double-cut on the rear yard. 

















After I was done, I rolled the mower back into the front, and she met me on the porch with a cold drink, and I asked her to go through the gate and tell me what she saw when she looked at the lawn. She came back and said, "It looks like a checkerboard." I mentally did a happy dance. I'm hoping that we get some good rain to help ease the drought, but no so much as I can't keep up with the grass that's about to take off.


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## social port

CK, 
It's looking great! 
One nice thing about your thread is it is so easy to see how picturesque your lawn is going to be.

I see stripes!


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## Topcat

social port said:


> CK,
> It's looking great!
> One nice thing about your thread is it is so easy to see how picturesque your lawn is going to be.
> 
> I see stripes!


+1. This is by far my favorite journal. Seeing real progress from cultural practices. Plugging, fertilizing, regulating growth, soil analysis.... the list goes on. There is so much to learn here.

Great job documenting your journey.


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## Colonel K0rn

@social port @Topcat Thank you for your kind words. I really appreciate them coming from others who know how much of a labor of love and passion it is to try to bring your lawn to its full potential. I was thinking to myself the other day if it was really worth all the time and effort and expense that I've put into it, but reminded myself that "Nothing worth having ever comes easy." It is indeed gratifying to see immediate response to your inputs like the color and growth, and it reminds me that I'm on the right path. Thank you for taking note that I'm taking the approach of modifying my cultural practices to fit with the ones that will give me the most likely chance of success.

When I got up and checked the rain gauge, we had received 0.35" of rain, and the front and the back yard were dry. The heavens decided to open up on us and in a period of 30 minutes, over 1" of rain had fallen. The wife and I needed to run some errands, so I snapped this picture on the way out the door.

















I wasn't so much worried about the standing water, as we have needed rainfall for a while. We're in a slight drought, and I can use the natural irrigation. There were some small storms that came through, and we had some pop up showers off and on throughout the day. After my wife and I returned from lunch, I saw the craziest thing: even though I mowed the front yesterday, I had seed heads poking out of the top of the water that was standing in the swale on the North side of the front lot. :| Even more bothersome are those stupid vines from the overgrown lot next door. :evil: 









I really wasn't worried about the standing water in the front, as I had implemented a modification to my "******* drain" in the low spot in the front yesterday. I'll be better able to tell if it worked in the morning. As for the back yard, well, I've let it go to the dogs.


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## Iriasj2009

Colonel K0rn said:


> So, I'm a novice editor, and I finally had a rain day to get this done.


Just saw this, awesome colonel! Thanks for the tour!


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## Colonel K0rn

I received my results back from my soil tests on the front and the back. Turns out that the pH on the desk and the lab results were not too far off, but I was expecting them to be higher. I defer my ignorance of interpretation to those members on here that are willing to give me some guidance, and humbly ask for your assistance! :thumbup: I have to say that I didn't know any better when I started, and I used Soil Savvy to do my test last year, so that's what I had to use as a baseline. I had to dig around to find the results from last year, but glad I did!

*FRONT YARD RESULTS*









*Comparison to last year*









*BACK YARD RESULTS*









*Comparison to last year*


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## J_nick

With that pH and iron levels your lawn should be a deep forest green! That's about all I'm good for


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## Colonel K0rn

J_nick said:


> With that pH and iron levels your lawn should be a deep forest green! That's about all I'm good for


Oh, I know why the iron is through the roof, it's because of the FEature that I put down 2 weeks ago, although those levels were pretty high last year. I'm reading through Ridgerunners soil test thread trying to absorb more knowledge about what I need to do to improve my soil. I've got some product that I used last year called Axilo Mix 5 that I'm debating on whether or not to put out to help with the micros. I can't see it hurting anything at all. I know I'll be planning on putting down a lot more lime. @Greendoc, got some suggestions?

FWIW, all of the water on the lawn that we had on Tuesday was gone by Wednesday AM. Wednesday we got 0.80" of rain, and I have some in the front, but none visible in the back yard.


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## J_nick

I'm no soil wizard I just remember this picture someone posted once


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## Colonel K0rn

@Iriasj2009 Looking forward to seeing your renovation coming up. Sorry you lost your palm trees :|



So far we've collected over 3"+ this week, and I have to admit, I was NOT expecting the results that I've seen so far with my last app of urea. My daughter was hospitalized for Pancreatitis early Tuesday AM after an ER visit, so my wife and I have been tag-teaming observation at the hospital. We're hoping she is released tomorrow, her condition is improving.

I got back from the hospital this afternoon/evening, and I had about 1 1/2 hours of sunlight left. I still had areas in the front and back yard that had some standing water in them, so I wasn't able to get everything mowed. I just mowed what I could. I was amazed at how vibrant the color of the grass was, almost a blue-green. I took my pictures prior to cutting, because I was up against the clock. I had to get my mow done, and get some food back to the hospital for my wife who was staying with my daughter. . When I got into the back yard, I was definitely breaking the 1/3 rule... @wardconnor would be proud :ugeek:

After my mow was done, I spread 150# of lime in the front and 200# of lime in the back. This should give me a good bump in the pH, since we've got more rain in the forecast for the next 10 days. If the chances slack off for a day or two, I'll probably reconsider putting a half app of PGR on everything, since I had to empty the grass catcher in the front yard at least 4 times. I normally empty it 1-2.

To see the little amount of water that's in the front and the back is totally expected. It's been rainy everywhere, and today it was no different. I am just thankful we got the much needed liquid sunshine.













































Here's my favorite view, but I wish I would have mowed it before I took this picture... still awesome to look at from the position of someone who was looking at bare dirt and weeds a few months ago.


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## wardconnor

That will be full in no time. Sorry to hear about your daughter.


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## Topcat

Looking good!


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## pennstater2005

@Colonel K0rn

I like that last view as well. The deep green of your lawn really stands out there.


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## Greendoc

Colonel K0rn said:


> J_nick said:
> 
> 
> 
> With that pH and iron levels your lawn should be a deep forest green! That's about all I'm good for
> 
> 
> 
> Oh, I know why the iron is through the roof, it's because of the FEature that I put down 2 weeks ago, although those levels were pretty high last year. I'm reading through Ridgerunners soil test thread trying to absorb more knowledge about what I need to do to improve my soil. I've got some product that I used last year called Axilo Mix 5 that I'm debating on whether or not to put out to help with the micros. I can't see it hurting anything at all. I know I'll be planning on putting down a lot more lime. @Greendoc, got some suggestions?
> 
> FWIW, all of the water on the lawn that we had on Tuesday was gone by Wednesday AM. Wednesday we got 0.80" of rain, and I have some in the front, but none visible in the back yard.
Click to expand...

Keep going with the FEature. Because of your low Mg and Ca, you will also need to put down more Dolomite. However, shoot for an end pH of 6. I find that it gets hard to keep grass green over a pH of 7. 6-6.5 is the easy spot. If you have Axilo, that is a nice tank mix with FEature. I will often add the label rate of a general micronutrient mix to FEature with no negative effect. Just vigorous grass that is ridiculously green compared to lawns fed N only.


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## Colonel K0rn

I came home last night, and I noticed that I already had seed heads popping up on the right side of the lawn... grr. :x I got up this morning with a host of things to complete. First up was doing the TulsaFan conversion on my Chapin sprayer. Even though he doesn't want to take credit for it, I'll give credit where it's due. It makes application much quicker and consistent.

Once that was done, I needed to get a quick mow done on the front, as the back doesn't throw up seed heads nearly as quickly. Mowing, edging and blowing complete, now it's time to put down an app of PGR. Last application was at .3 oz/M, and I got ~4 weeks of control so I decided to drop down to .2 oz/M because I anticipate having enough coverage of grass to not have a tremendous amount of bare areas for the grass to grow into when I bring in sand.

For comparison sake, this is the front panoramic on 5/8/18








Today, 5/20/18









Was able to admire the nice lawn for a few hours before we got 0.57" of rain, and I watched the blue dye go away, then pool up into the low spot of my front yard. However, watching the rain pool up gave me some ideas that I'm going to implement soon that might help alleviate my swampy situation.



















I also put the hanging plants out for some good watering, and snapped this picture. Look at how much growth I've got on the loropetalums since I cut them way down last month! When I put out the lime the other day, I put a few pinches into the hydrangea pot, and they've started to change a lovely shade of pink.


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## Jamiern123

Hey Colonel Korn. I amnot sure if you remember me but we met at lowes. I was the guy buying all the white stone to build my raised flower bed in the back yard. Will post some pictures soon. Just wanted to reach out and say hi


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## Colonel K0rn

Jamiern123 said:


> Hey Colonel Korn. I amnot sure if you remember me but we met at lowes. I was the guy buying all the white stone to build my raised flower bed in the back yard. Will post some pictures soon. Just wanted to reach out and say hi


Sure do buddy! Post up some pictures of your retaining wall! I got accused of being "That Guy" at the big box stores by telling people about TLF.  Glad to have you here.


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## Jamiern123

Colonel K0rn said:


> Jamiern123 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hey Colonel Korn. I amnot sure if you remember me but we met at lowes. I was the guy buying all the white stone to build my raised flower bed in the back yard. Will post some pictures soon. Just wanted to reach out and say hi
> 
> 
> 
> Sure do buddy! Post up some pictures of your retaining wall! I got accused of being "That Guy" at the big box stores by telling people about TLF.  Glad to have you here.
Click to expand...

Not finished yet but I will. Didn't buy enough and wife wanted to get the new baby's room done first. Don't understand why


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## Colonel K0rn

OK, my last update had me welcoming the rain, and we definitely needed it as we're about 2" down for average rainfall for the month. The latest forecast tells me that it was a good call for me to put the brakes on the growth by applying the PGR to the lawn on Monday. My daughter finally got out of the hospital today, so I finally got to eat a home-cooked meal tonight. :mrgreen: I emptied the rain gauge and I had collected 0.54" of rain in the past 2 days. I still have standing water in the front, and some small puddles in the back yard. However I did notice that I still have somewhat visible stripes on portions of the lawn, which was pretty interesting.

The 10 day forecast looks pretty bleak as far as for me to have any kind of dry surface to run the mower on.


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## Colonel K0rn

I'd say that 40% of my lot is covered in water, and there's some pretty heavy rainfall predicted for the next week. Forecast shows I probably won't have a non-rainy day until 6/4... 

I did have some areas that were dry enough for me to take the greens mower onto, and I was able to get most of the front and the areas in the back cut. Those areas in the back that weren't covered by water were easily 2" tall. That might not seem like much, but when I was keeping everything at 0.75", I was definitely a #1/3rdrulebreaker when I was mowing. I did a double-cut on the front

Just like every time I finish with my mow, I cleaned the mower and catcher off with the sprayer on my water hose. Afterward, I got my blower out, and received one of the strangest yard work related injuries I've ever self-inflicted with the aforementioned blower(it's a first).

I'm not sure if it's because my hands were slightly wet from just handling the hose, or because I wasn't bearing enough weight down with my left hand, but here's the process of what happened, and some pictures of the result. I set the choke, and I bear down on the handle with my left hand, and pull the starter rope with my right. At the moment that I was pulling the rope, I normally get about 6" of slack before it catches the flywheel, and turns the engine over. This time, I only got 1-2" of slack, and because I wasn't bearing enough weight on the handle to hold the blower down on the ground, the momentum of me pulling the rope lifted it off of the ground, and the bottom feet of the blower struck me squarely in the shin.

I yelped, and looked down at my shin, and what I saw was like an old-school cartoon where the character that gets a hammer in the head has the bump rise up comically off of the top of his head. That's what happened with my shin, minus the birds circling around my leg. It rose up about a good 1" from the surrounding surface. I went ahead and finished blowing off the water of the mower and catcher box, and then walked inside and told my wife what happened. By that time, it had swollen up about as far as it was going to, and I sat on the porch with an ice pack.




























And sadly, that is a large amount of water that is still standing on the right side of my yard in the low spot. My neighbor's garden is under water, and it's just plain soggy here.


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## Redtenchu

Ouch!


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## social port

Redtenchu said:


> Ouch!


That's all that I can say, too. And I have the the same reaction towards all of the rain heading your way.

I've had knots on my shin before that have looked a lot like that-but never from a leaf blower.


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## Colonel K0rn

Quick and dirty video. Earlier today, I checked the gauge, and we received a little under 0.27" of rainfall in the past 24 hours. As I post this, we're up to 2.25" and it's still falling. We received 2" of rainfall in just over an hour.
https://youtu.be/nXjRbFdIYpY


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## Colonel K0rn

Really, I'm ready to throw in the towel. I was getting angry yesterday while I was out running errands, because I saw all these homes around me that received the same amount of rain on Wednesday, or more, and nobody has a  lake in their front and back yards. I was really pissed, because I am not one to sit back and do nothing when there's a problem that I can put labor behind to fix. My issue is that I'm paralyzed by the inability to make a decision for fear of second-guessing that I might be making the problems worse and putting a band-aid on something that needs major surgery.

I got in touch with a contractor that does irrigation (bonus) and drainage. He's supposed to come out to the house on Tuesday to take a look, but I was hoping he could come out today. Since he couldn't, I took some pictures this morning, and sent those via email, as well as included the link to my latest video. Here's what the front/back looked like this morning.




























I'm actually standing in the swale on the right side. The water is about at the same level as I'm typing this post.



























The water in the front yard was far enough down on the grown in areas where I was able to take the Scott's classic reel, and cut off all the seed heads that had been popping up, and thankfully, the PGR is holding down the growth to where it's not going too crazy. There's no way I could use the Toro in the front, and I can't even push-mow the back if I wanted too. It's a swamp.

I've been wanting to add catch basins to the two front downspouts, channel drain right by the driveway where the 3rd downspout is. I also wanted to add a catch basin in the front low spot on the yard, and then routing all of them into a sump basin by the front of the porch, where all of the lines would empty into. From there, the discharge would route along the left side of my property, have my pool waste line tie in the back, and empty into the waste trench where the storm runoff from the streets runs between my two neighbor's houses. My adjacent neighbor said it would be fine for me to dig a trench and run my discharge line along the back of his property.

I had lined up a supplier locally that had the sump pump I wanted to get, so I headed to Site One where they sell NDS parts/pipe. The store manager and I get along well, and I showed him my pictures, and he was shocked at exactly how much water was on my yard during the rainfall. He advised me that I should consider putting in 6-8" drains in :lol:

In all seriousness, he said I should contact a contractor to have them come shoot the levels of the terrain, and regrade the property. When I told him the name of the contractor that I spoke with earlier, he said that was exactly the person and company that I needed to work with, and that he knows several people that have used them for work and that they are just as courteous as could be, from the owner down to the guy who can't speak much English and digs trenches all day long. That made me feel better, because I really just want to "Enjoy The Mow".

I left without buying anything, and just will chill out for the weekend. NAHHHHH... I can't do that.

I stopped by The Home Depot, and picked up a 1/3 HP utility pump, because I have had success in the past speeding up the "drying out" of my lawn by just pumping it out to the street. I set the pump up in the front yard on top of the cover that I had for my makeshift vertical drain, and what I found did and did not surprise me. *I have tadpoles swimming in not only the front, but in the back yard where there's standing water!* YUCK! What makes this bad is not because they're frogs (my wife hates frogs) but when the water goes away, there's going to be the smell of rotting baby frogs that will be worse than Milo on the hottest day in July.

It happened last year. It was not pleasant. This also led to a huge plague of flies. If you don't believe me, here's a picture I took of the flies that I caught this morning when I unrolled a section of sticky paper and put it on top of an empty cat food can. What is pictured, is what was captured in 2 hours. The flies are getting worse every day it gets hotter. Next are the mosquitos, and I will flatten everything before I have a breeding ground for Zika or West Nile.

With all of this going on, I feel like Pharaoh, except I've yet to see Moses come and ask me to soften my heart.


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## social port

CK, it absolutely stinks.
The shortcoming of lawn photos is that they don't show how many obstacles have been overcome to get the stand of grass.
I've seen plenty of people posting photos of great looking lawns that have been cultivated by good cultural practices alone. 
When you put so much effort into your lawn (do a reno, keep up with weeds, including grassy ones, frequently spray soil supplements etc) and still face major problems, it can be baffling-and really frustrating.
My assumption is that hard work, attention to detail, and grit pays off. I'm looking forward to the day when you get your return on your investment.

I've already seen some stripes.


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## pennstater2005

Colonel that does stink. You've put so much effort into your lawn. Well, you can't stop now so I'll be interested to hear what the contractor recommends. Good luck!


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## Topcat

When I lived in Texas, my backyard did the same as yours. One strategically placed french drain resolved the issues I had.


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## Ware

CK I should have said this before now, but I admire your positive attitude with regard to all the drainage woes. :thumbup:

I do think your best bet is to get a good contractor involved and get it fixed.


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## Colonel K0rn

@social port @pennstater2005 @Topcat @Ware Thanks for the encouragement. I'm a stubborn man, I just got depressed yesterday, and know that there's going to be a solution, I'm just thinking I'm going to have to redo everything that I've done so far. But if it means that I no longer have a swamp when we get heavy rains during the Spring, I'm fine with that. Depending on what we come up with as a solution to my ponding issue, I don't know whether or not that means that I'm going to have to start over from scratch, or what. There's so many variables in the air that I don't know what's going to happen. But for now, I'm just going to work with what I've got, and then change direction as necessary.

I knew we were going to get more rain this afternoon, so I got to work draining the back yard early. I was able to get my GCF Cocktail (AIR-8, Humic 12, and RGS) sprayed as well as 0.25#N/M of 46-0-0 and FEature and some Bifenthrin for that extra bit of flavor that all the bugs love. The beauty of this was that I was able to spray everything in one pass with the modified Chapin 24V sprayer.

I was weighing the option of whether or not to apply PGR as I'm at 214/225 GDD with 69% suppression right now. Because I saw how quickly that I had coverage in one month with a few heavy doses of N, with very little rainfall, I opted not to reapply PGR. I'm also going to go with weekly 0.25#N/M feedings (in the front for now). My local feed and seed store sells 46-0-0 in very small prill size that is easy to dissolve, and I've usually got something I need to spray, so I'll just make this a weekly regimen for now, until I get more coverage then I'll put on the brakes with PGR so I can get some rebound growth through sanding (if it's even an option in the future).



My neighbor's son was having a birthday party, and they had a very large inflatable slide up, and I was wondering if I was going to be able to catch it on video with the strong winds carrying it down the street.



It was a very hot and humid afternoon, that was punctuated by some pretty strong thunderstorms that pretty much erased the drainage in the back that I did. However, I had the pump ready to go in the front prior to the rain starting up and it tried to keep up, but the puddle kept getting larger and larger. My daughter and I were on the porch watching the effects of the wind blowing the trees, driving the rain and the beginning of the rainfall (and the big slide down the street). She was poking fun at me when she sarcastically said, "I don't think your pump is going to get rid of all that water. You've failed!" It wasn't more than 10 seconds after she said that than a bolt of lightning flashed across the sky and the crack of thunder that rattled the entire house and front door resounded across the lowcountry. I quipped, "I think you're right! :? " We laughed.

It took about an hour or so for the water to be pumped out of the low spot on the front lawn, and I plodded back to the rear, where there was slightly more water than there was the day before. I've got the pump running now, hoping it'll be somewhat drier when I wake up in the morning. There's a LOT of water back there, and the chorus of frogs is deafening.

I was able to catch this beautiful sunset that looked amazing. It not only matched the colors of the Mimosa blooms, but the float in the pool, which was most welcome on this hot day! But I've got to clean out all the leaves and debris in the morning.


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## Lawnhunter

It's the journey not the destination. I look forward to reading your posts and the effort you put into your lawn inspires me to do the same.


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## Fishnugget

Whoa! That is a lot of water. :shock: :shock:

I can understand the frustration but I it looks like your on the right track as far as getting a contractor to review the issues.

I look forward to your posts on the solution CK! :thumbup:


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## FRD135i

@Colonel K0rn buddy, I feel for ya. At my last property we too the ENTIRE Nieghbor hoods' water. We sat at the very bottom and used to hold water for days. It was so bad they it was actually causing our foundation to sink. After talking to a local "stump grinder" who also happened to do bobcat and re grading we brought in 5 or 6 trucks of river sand and regarded the entire lot. You will see an end to this, it's just the journey that will try you.


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## Colonel K0rn

@FRD135i after seeing those pictures, I no longer feel as bad about my yard. It still sucks, but I it reminds me of a saying I heard a long time ago, "No matter how bad things are going in your life, someone else always has it worse."


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## FRD135i

Colonel K0rn said:


> FRD135i after seeing those pictures, I no longer feel as bad about my yard. It still sucks, but I it reminds me of a saying I heard a long time ago, "No matter how bad things are going in your life, someone else always has it worse."


I guess I should show you how it ended up, that would be fair. Keep in mind, I was not a lawn nut at this point in time and was just starting out. If I did it again, I'm sure I would have had some better results.














It still took a bit to fill in. It caused some stress and sleepless nights, but made it through that one. Now the water flows to the sides of the property and right on past. Drains much better now, and renters don't have to go gator hunting now. For me it's just a new year, new project, haha. It seems to never end.


----------



## Colonel K0rn

My daughter's been back in the hospital for the past 3 days, so I've been tag-teaming with my wife on staying there and helping out. We expect she'll be released tomorrow.

Yesterday, I had a drainage/irrigation contractor come to the house to assess the lay of the land so we can come up with a solution for my standing water. After looking things over, we determined that it would be prudent to put catch basins in the low areas, rather than regrade the whole lot or install french drains, since I don't have much of a natural fall of the lot to move the water one way or the other. It's going to be directed more toward capturing what falls on the roof and the ground and moving it off of the lot. The plan is to also get gutters installed and tie those into the drain lines from the catch basins.

He looked at my neighbor's house to the South, and said that if he could get them to put gutters on the North side of their house in to catch their water, and tie it into the drain that would run down the swale that it would help out my front yard as well. Fortunately my neighbors, the contractor and I all agree that would be a good solution. They're receptive to entertaining a quote for tying into the drainage and gutters, because their yard is almost as bad as mine. They've got a river going through their front yard when the water from the street flows over the curb, and the back yard is catching all of the runoff of their roof as well.

I was told it would be a month before they could do the install if they put me on the schedule, which would put the install before the height of hurricane season, but the gutter guy is supposed to be here at 8AM to look at my place for an estimate. It would give the grass some time to grow in, but I'll reseed those areas as well.

I asked him about levelling, and whether or not that would cause any problems, and he said it wouldn't. We're going to be using the lower areas of the yard for collection points, and rather than have the increased cost for materials and labor for the installation of the French Drain, this is a lower cost alternative. I'm all for "buy once, cry once", but I'll defer to the experts in this situation.

I got my second shipment of GCF products in and gave all my potted plants and flowers a dose of the FloraGreene 4-0-2 product. I'm still continuing with the alternate waterings with FertiLome blooming & rooting and plant food along with clear water, just adding this at the 1oz/gal weekly. Let's see what it does; everything is growing very rapidly right now, and the petunias are growing like crazy. I'm thinking they'll take over the whole trough if allowed to, I've had to redirect several of the vines already.


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## pennstater2005

Glad to hear you've got a start on this already and that your neighbors were agreeable. Hope your daughter is ok.


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## Colonel K0rn

@pennstater2005 thanks, I'm hoping to have this resolved by the end of summer. The forecast doesn't look good for drier weather. The contractor for the drainage install came out today to measure my property and the neighbor's property, and will return tomorrow to shoot the grades to come up with options for his estimate. I got the estimate to install the gutters, and will need to get at least 1-2 more from other contractors.

While I was waiting for the gutter contractor, I gave the yard a mow, and wasn't sure if the stripes would show up, but as the day wore on, they did. They look much better in person than the picture on my phone. I need to clean my lens or just take my phone out of the case. Knowing that if I do that, I'll likely drop it the way my luck has been running lately.

I'd like to pressure wash the concrete tomorrow, since we're due for rain for the next few days, and I figure if it's going to be crappy, and today was the last day I'll be able to mow for a while, then so be it.

I get encouraged when I look back at the pictures over this year, and really since I did the renovation. It's hard not to be discouraged when you have tadpoles swimming round where you should have grass, but when it finally dries out, it looks good to me. I'll post the usual four shots that I take in the front from today, compared with photos from 1 month ago(5/8/18).
















Some obligatory shots of the planters and baskets that are growing like crazy. I'm up to watering 2x daily on some days now.


5/18

Today

My winter annuals finally kicked off thanks to the warmer weather, so I've got room in the flowerbed for some summer annuals. Yay!

5/8
Today


While I was watering the plants yesterday, I found this frog nestled into one of the vines that I have in my planter. I was trying to be artistic as I could with lining up the shot in the foreground, and the colorful flowers in the background. I wanted to take a picture with my DSLR, but the lens and focus wasn't working for how I wanted to line it up. It's an 18-135mm, and I would have liked to have used a smaller lens. So I just used my iPhone 6+.


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## social port

I see STRIPES...again :thumbup:


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## Colonel K0rn

social port said:


> I see STRIPES...again :thumbup:


+1 I wasn't sure if they'd show up or not since I mowed a lot earlier than I usually do. I told my wife I'm going to start getting up really early to mow, like 7 am or so. :lol:


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## Colonel K0rn

It's been hot the past couple of days, but here's a quick and dirty update. I've been playing catch-up since Thursday. I had to go out of town last Friday. That was the 2nd week that I've been doing a weekly spray application spoon-feeding of 0.25 #N/M, and wasn't sure what to expect when I got back home. I knew my grass was coming out of regulation, and as I write this post, I'm at 43% rebound. I was trying to time my application of PGR with a window of where we wouldn't have complete washouts of rain, but we're getting into the time of year where we have afternoon pop-up showers from 4-8PM, with usually at 30% chance of showers. My luck usually runs that if I were to plan to do something where I don't need rainfall, it's gonna rain, and a lot of it.

I had to do a quick pass on my rotary to get most of the tall stalks, as my HOC I maintain is 0.750, and I had grass that was at 2" in some places. As it turns out, my rotary doesn't do too bad of a cut at that height to remove that tall stuff the reel can't get, it's just that my yard is so bumpy and uneven that it scalped in several places in the front and the back. TBH, the grass looked pretty nice and really green at a tall height, and it didn't have near as many seed heads as it's had in the past month. Here's a few pics of the before, during and after mow on Thursday.



Time to break out the reel mower. The scalping is visible on several areas that were solid green prior.



All done!


Since the weather has been really heating up, and we're getting adequate rainfall, I put down Milo on the front and the back at 0.75#N/M, and with my spray application of urea, it brought it up to 1#N/M this week. My last heavy fert application was almost 1 month ago at a 1.75#N/M rate and I saw a crazy explosion of growth, so this little bit of Milo won't be as drastic as that app. However I'm tempted to crack open that back of 46-0-0 spreadable urea, but I wouldn't dare do that without the help of some PGR 

I also was due to reapply my GCF cocktail of AIR-8, Humic 12 and RGS, and another application of FEature since my package arrived on Thursday. The label on RGS says not to exceed 3 oz/M when temps are above 85°F, and I wasn't sure if that was just an average for the day, or if I'm in the later part of the day can I spray at the 6 oz/M rate that I've been using. I called my contact and he said that they experience some tip burn when it's applied over 3oz/M when the temps are high, and but it would be fine to apply at 6 oz/M when the temps are dropping toward the evening, or even spray in the morning when the dew is still on the grass.

I also decided to up my rate of Humic 12 to 12 oz/M, and just paint my lawn "dark". The crazy thing is that the last time I put down FEature with my humic application, my yard was dark, and it kept getting darker... I took this picture after I was done spraying. I definitely left some footprints and tire tracks from the sprayer on the driveway and sidewalk. It's on my short list to pressure wash, going to try to get that done tomorrow. Going to go "easy" on Father's Day!


----------



## Colonel K0rn

I say that because I'm pretty sure I got some heat exhaustion today. It was pretty brutal outside, and I'm used to the heat. I tried to do some single-doubles in the early morning, but I think the heat of the day really did a number on me. I started cutting at 8AM, and by 11AM, I was pretty beat. Temps were around 92 with heat index of 102'ish. I did a blanket spray of Celsius and Certainty on some areas of doveweed that are still hanging around in the back, as well as some sedges in the front and the back.

I have surprisingly enough found goose grass in the front yard that was pretty sizeable which escaped my eye prior to me pulling it up. Sorry about the blurry photo. Look how large this thing got, considering I'm mowing at 0.750". Blows me away.


Anyway, the plants are sparse enough that I'm able to pull them prior to efflorescence, so the Dismiss was a hedge against an area that was problematic last year, and I've been pulling a lot of goose grass from as well. I'm pretty sure that the seed count was pretty prolific if they're breaking through the PreM barrier willy nilly.

After I got done spraying, I needed to change out some of the annuals, since the winter ones finally checked out. I extended the edge of my flowerbed, planted a few butterfly/pollinator bushes, and some annuals. I was pretty wiped out. I just ran out of energy after planting the flowers, and laid down for a nap. I'm tired even thinking about yard work now, and I know a sanding job is going to be a lot more laborious.

Oh, BTW, I've got a quote for my drainage install, and found out some interesting things about my lot. I'll put that into another post.


----------



## pennstater2005

@Colonel K0rn That did green up a lot in the pic above. I actually thought it was greening nicely in the prior pics. I'll be interested in hearing about that quote you got. Water can be devastating. We have neighbors behind whose backyard happens to be at the low point in the neighborhood. It gets nearly waist deep and that is after a multi-million dollar water project was completed to attempt and fix it.


----------



## social port

Say, CK, once you resolve the drainage issues and then win LOTM because your lawn is so awesome, are you going to change your avatar? Personally, I'm of two minds on the matter.

BTW, I almost always have a tall glass of ice water waiting in the garage when I'm outside. This heat is no joke.


----------



## Crabbychas

Colonel K0rn said:


>


@Colonel K0rn What kind of plant is this? I have them all around my house but can't figure out what they are.


----------



## TigerinFL

@Crabbychas that looks like a Tiki Plant? we have them in our flowerbeds and they look just like that


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## Colonel K0rn

Crabbychas said:


> Colonel K0rn said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> @Colonel K0rn What kind of plant is this? I have them all around my house but can't figure out what they are.
Click to expand...

I forgot the name of it., but I'll find out, and I'll PM you.


----------



## Green

Colonel K0rn said:


> I say that because I'm pretty sure I got some heat exhaustion today. It was pretty brutal outside, and I'm used to the heat. I tried to do some single-doubles in the early morning, but I think the heat of the day really did a number on me. I started cutting at 8AM, and by 11AM, I was pretty beat. Temps were around 92 with heat index of 102'ish.


We had almost the same today (92 degrees with a 100-degree heat index). I tried not to stay out too much, but was trying to get some shrubs and potted plants watered. I screwed my nozzle onto the hose, and pressed the trigger to try to run all the hot water out of it before using it (it had been sitting on the sidewalk all morning). Apparently, something in the nozzle melted instantly; it started spraying everywhere. I almost burned my hands. So much for trying to run the water out with the nozzle.


----------



## Colonel K0rn

Green said:


> Colonel K0rn said:
> 
> 
> 
> I say that because I'm pretty sure I got some heat exhaustion today. It was pretty brutal outside, and I'm used to the heat. I tried to do some single-doubles in the early morning, but I think the heat of the day really did a number on me. I started cutting at 8AM, and by 11AM, I was pretty beat. Temps were around 92 with heat index of 102'ish.
> 
> 
> 
> We had almost the same today (92 degrees with a 100-degree heat index). I tried not to stay out too much, but was trying to get some shrubs and potted plants watered. I screwed my nozzle onto the hose, and pressed the trigger to try to run all the hot water out of it before using it (it had been sitting on the sidewalk all morning). Apparently, something in the nozzle melted instantly; it started spraying everywhere. I almost burned my hands. So much for trying to run the water out with the nozzle.
Click to expand...

Oh man, I laughed out loud when I read that. Maybe it's time to upgrade? I love the Eley spray nozzle I got when I ordered my reel. I use it to water the lawn, plants, and the cleaning nozzle works great to clean off the reel after mowing. This thing is a beefy piece of brass.


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## Green

Colonel K0rn said:


> Oh man, I laughed out loud when I read that. Maybe it's time to upgrade? I love the Eley spray nozzle I got when I ordered my reel. I use it to water the lawn, plants, and the cleaning nozzle works great to clean off the reel after mowing. This thing is a beefy piece of brass.


You know, I really like the Select-a-spray nozzles that cost 12 bucks at Ace Hardware. They're fragile (you drop it and the plastic front will break, so don't drop it), but I love the control and versatility with all the different settings. They usually last a year or two with careful handling, so I'm due to buy a new one (almost a year). Maybe someday I'll go for something more durable like what you posted above.


----------



## Colonel K0rn

Crabbychas said:


> Colonel K0rn said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Colonel K0rn What kind of plant is this? I have them all around my house but can't figure out what they are.
Click to expand...

I found out the name of the plant for you. It's called a Purple Heart, Tradescantia pallida . I remember buying it because it would trail, and it sure has done that so far.

Last week, I did a blanket spray around the back yard for some problem weeds like doveweed, and some small crabgrass plants and sedges. I used a combo of Certainty and Celsius for the blanket spray, and went around the perimeter of the driveway/sidewalk and along the property lines where I was getting encroaching weeds. I've had some discoloration of the turf, but nothing irreparable. It's noticeable, but I mowed today and used the directions of the stripes to hopefully make it less noticeable. The heat's been pretty brutal, with very little rain this month. Temps are predicted to be near 98°F every day through Monday. I am going to wait until near sunset before I do my foliar feeding later today, just because I want to sleep in tomorrow morning, and I don't want to discolor the turf any further than it is with possible tip burn.

Did some double-fat stripes on the left today, and some single stripes on the right. Yesterday and today I syringed the lawn by hand with the spray nozzle, just to cool it down. Some areas were looking a bit dry, and this morning they looked better. If we don't get any rain by Sunday, I'll have to irrigate. That being said, we got 0.05" of rain 2 days ago, but other than that, no serious rain since Alberto came through and dumped a lot on my lot. I can't help but wonder how much better this lot would look with in-ground irrigation. I'm envious of y'all with those systems.

I'd have to say that I'm pretty happy with the condition of the yard at this point considering where I was a year ago. Heck, I'm impressed looking at the growth that's taken place just in the past week. I did a side-by-side comparison of the photos, and it is improving every day. It would seem the "*Double Dark*" application kicked it up a notch. 




Growth progression over 1 month of "spoon-feeding" at 0.25#N/M via weekly foliar feeding + some Milo last week.


----------



## Alan

Looking good CK...gotta love Bermuda grass, well some of us do.


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## trc

:thumbsup:

Looks great. Hard work paying off!


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## Tellycoleman

@Colonel K0rn I may have to get on the spoon feeding band wagon. Im in pgr rebound heck right now with mowing so I don't know if I could take anymore growth right now.


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## Brodgers88

Looks great! I love the photos showing the progression over the month


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## Colonel K0rn

Tellycoleman said:


> Colonel K0rn I may have to get on the spoon feeding band wagon. Im in pgr rebound heck right now with mowing so I don't know if I could take anymore growth right now.


I'm in full rebound too (GKA says it's at 71%), and at least by controlling the N input, I figure I can scale back some of the aggressive topgrowth, but I'm seriously having to cut every 2-3 days to keep it from looking too shaggy. I've even considered raising the HOC up a bit. What's your HOC at? FWIW, I have noticed that the lawn is not throwing up nearly as many seed heads as it was last month. At least now I can mow everything with the Flex, and not have to consider using the Scott's push reel to cut the tall seed heads that were shooting up to 1 ½' in two days, and that's not exaggerating.

@Brodgers88 thanks fam! @Alan if you were here, I'm sure you'd enjoy it too  It feels nice to walk in barefoot. @trc Appreciate the compliment.


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## Tellycoleman

I am at 1/2 HOC May need to bump it up to 3/4.


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## Colonel K0rn

I was out of town for a few days, and I have to say that I'm totally behind on most of the things that I need to do... but mowing is not one of them.

Last mow I did was Sunday, and I had to go out of town until Wednesday evening. I wasn't able to mow until the next day. I shot some video with the intent to edit a video together for a video update. However, most of the footage was pretty shaky, and I'm not completely sure how to edit it where you wouldn't get motion sickness, so I'll put it on the back burner for now.

I'm completely on board with the spoon-feeding method of fertilizing the lawn. I look at it as a matter of controlling the growth with the inputs, granted I don't have any control over the natural rainfall, but since last Friday, we got over 1" of rain. It's been greatly needed, as heat indexes have been over 110°F some days. I can stand the heat, but when it gets to be that bad, I have to take breaks and rehydrate every 10-15 minutes.

I didn't see nearly as many seed heads as I have over the past 2 months, so I'm not sure if it's an action of the grass showing that it needs something (water, nitrogen, etc) like it's in survival mode, trying to reproduce, or if it's an annual thing. I guess I'll figure it out as this is coming up on 1 year with this new lawn. I did have to triple cut the back yard, and a double cut on the front. The discoloration from the herbicide spray is gone, but I still have some persistent doveweed in the front (what I sprayed in the back is gone), along with some goosegrass that keeps popping up along the side. Thankfully the PreM barrier is holding up well across the whole lot, and I'm so *thankful* that I learned a lot of what was necessary to make maintenance by members who started this board, and took their time to write up instructions, and provide advice and tips. We really have a great community here at TLF!

I received a new tool yesterday, and plan to give it a test tomorrow. I'm going to see how my trusty Echo powerhead handles this. I did get a compliment from the UPS driver who delivered it, and he said, "Your yard has come in great!" Hopefully, this will give me another "edge" on the competition. *rimshot*









To be honest, I really kinda liked the grass when it was grown over 1". It had a great color, and the texture underfoot was very nice. The back yard, even though it's a mutt of different cultivars, felt nice underfoot as well. Here's an example of the same area before and after the mow on Thursday, 6/28. I'm not worried about the growth into the front of the house, nor the low spot in the center of the yard. I'm going to be plugging the low spot, and extending the landscaped area with the shrubs out another 3', so pretty close to where the grass isn't growing.



To wrap it up, because I have another day of driving to do tomorrow (Saturday) the usual photos. The stripes didn't show up that great because it was overcast, and the color looked a little light, but today(Friday) the color had returned.


----------



## Reel Low Dad

The front had rebounded well. Looks great. You will love the landscape blade.


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## SNOWBOB11

Looking good @Colonel K0rn.


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## Colonel K0rn

I knew today was going to be pretty dang hot, and it's been 2 days since I mowed. The PGR application I made on 7/2 is working great, and I've found that the rate of 0.2 oz/M is working just fine. I can get about 3 days between mows and take off about 1/4" of growth. I raised my HOC up to 0.850 from 0.750 a week ago in anticipation of some hotter weather. I was also planning on doing a levelling job, by trying to time the grass coming out of regulation with the sanding I was planning on doing next week. I want to get at least 1 level job done this season, but I've got a business meeting in the 2nd week of August in Orlando that's going to keep me away from the house for about 5 days. I know that after you sand, you've got to water, and since I don't have in-ground irrigation, I'll have to do that with my hoses and rotors/by hand.

As the turf has grown in and is spreading to more of the total surface area, I'm getting more uncut pieces of grass that have seed heads on them(they're much lower to the ground thanks to PGR) that are in some of the undulating spots that the mower misses because the surface is not completely level. It looks like I'm missing more than I should, but it's just a product of an unlevel cutting surface. Once I get that taken care of, I'm sure I'll be much more satisfied with the cut quality.

Speaking of irrigation, yesterday was the second time that I've had to water the lawn this season. I did it because I sprayed 0.25#K/M via MOP combined with urea & Humic 12 application yesterday, and I needed that in the ground. I have only irrigated the lawn once before when it had been 3 weeks since any significant rainfall, and then another time I was syringing the lawn by hand so it really doesn't count. I can attribute the steadfast color retention and overall vigor of the lawn to the GCF products that I've been applying.

I've been spoon-feeding my lawn weekly via foliar spray of urea 0.25#N/M since 5/14. I had one application of Milo that I put down at 0.75#N/M on 6/15 in conjunction with the urea that was sprayed. I am 100% on board with the spoon-feeding train. If you can do it, I recommend it. I find that the growth rate of the grass when it was unregulated by T-NEX was predictable, and I had far fewer seed heads produced once I started spoon-feeding.

I think that the yard is striping as good as it can at it's current state, but unless I verticut, it's not going to increase it's density. I wanted to hold off on the PGR for as long as I could to get as much fill-in as possible while I worked out the logistics of when I'd be able to sand while keeping in mind the temps are only going to get hotter for the next month. I'm no spring chicken, and I'm looking at 10+ yards of sand for this project. Rain is predicted for next Tuesday, Thurs and Fri. This is the time of year when we get afternoon pop-up thunderstorms, so when there's a 30% chance, we're probably going to get some rain. Last thing I want to do is be shovelling wet sand.

I believe that my yard stripes much better with an early AM mow, as it was getting brutally hot by 11AM, about the time I wrapped everything up. I snapped a few pics, and then hopped in the pool to cool off. Today was a day that I was glad my wife talked me into making the pool purchase. :lol: Most of the time I'm getting started by `10-11AM; I'm a glutton for punishment.






















And because the stripes wouldn't show up in the panoramic, or the normal spot I take pictures at, I wanted to add this one.


*Growth Progression so far this year, 3/10, 4/13, 5/14, 6/14, 7/11*


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## Ral1121

How is the backyard filling in? Front looking good by the way.


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## FlaDave

What a transformation! You really put in some hard work there. I can see now why everyone's telling me not to worry, it will fill in. Looking great man!


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## Colonel K0rn

Ral1121 said:


> How is the backyard filling in? Front looking good by the way.


Thanks! Back yard is doing fine, it's just a bit leggy, and I'm coaxing some of the areas to grow into the bare spots where they weren't before. I'm trying to edit an update video I made, but it's still on the back burner. If I can move it forward, it'll get done. :lol:


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## Colonel K0rn

I got a late start today, but I installed COL-MET metal edging along the front and partially down the side of the house. That huge overgrown ugly bush that was by my AC Condenser got whacked down, I still have to dig it up. It was nearing dusk, and I snapped some quick pictures. I've got 5 bales of pine straw to get down tomorrow in the beds, along with spraying whatever is green by the side of the house.

















GreenKeeper App has my PGR at 99%, and the timing for putting down a few tons of sand would be perfect for next week, if my forecast didn't look like this. I'll be doing another round of PGR, mowing and spraying weeds tomorrow, and hoping everything will dry out enough to try for another sanding in two weeks. If we get over 3.5" of rain, I might need to break out the pump :?


----------



## Colonel K0rn

I'm going to post this in my journal as well.

I was on the Discord server yesterday, and shared some pictures of my front and back yard with all of the rain we've been having in Coastal GA. Both of these areas would hold water for almost a week after just 0.5" of rainfall. This week, we've received over 3" of rain. It's been interesting to see what's been going on, and I wanted to share the pictures with you guys.

7/17 - we got 1.52" of rain total. The storm dumped 1.25" of rain in 10 minutes. It was a massive downpour.





After that storm was over, here's what the front yard looked like.







Two hours later







I was able to to mow the front the next day. Back yard didn't need a cut.

7/18 - we got 0.87" of rain. I didn't take any pictures, but I did have water standing in the front and back for a day. It's a lot of rain for my lot to take, considering my drainage problems. My lot's just jacked regarding grades and flow of water.

7/19, we got another 0.65" of rain. My pool's been overflowing for the past 2 days.

Yesterday, we didn't get any rain, and I snapped 2 pictures of the front and back. You can see the clippings in the back and the front to see how far out the water was when it was standing. Today, it's completely dry in the front and the back.
















I can say with confidence that using AIR-8 has helped me with my overall health of the soil. If you only knew how frustrating it was to watch my hard work literally go under water, and not know when I was going to be able to mow, or hell, not have to use a canoe or wash the dogs every time they went out, you'd understand. And the fact that I got a quote for over 10K just to install drains for the whole lot, but not really have any guarantees that would fix my problem? Yeah, I'll take AIR-8 any day.

Here's pictures from the mow that I did on Wednesday, 7/18. I'm really liking the density that I'm getting with the PGR, as the shorter leaf size is making it look much nicer underfoot. I like it! FWIW, the pattern that I mowed was toward and away from the house. The grass is still holding stripes from the mow that I did on the 11th and the 14th. I will mow the same pattern 2x, then change to a 45° angle off of what the last pattern was.


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## Ridgerunner

Remarkable! :mrgreen: 
:thumbup:


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## social port

Great news, CK! 
So, is that the plan for now: continue with Air-8 and other N ext products and not install the drains?


----------



## Colonel K0rn

Ridgerunner said:


> Remarkable! :mrgreen:
> :thumbup:


Thanks RR. Your assistance that you've given me with the soil fertility has been helpful. I'm going to do another soil test in a month and see where I'm at since I have somewhat of a baseline, and have been keeping track of what I've been putting in the soil. I absolutely can not discount what I'm physically seeing with the soil after dealing with this swamp every time it rains for the past 8 years.



social port said:


> Great news, CK!
> So, is that the plan for now: continue with Air-8 and other N ext products and not install the drains?


You got it. I can stomach the cost of applying AIR-8 and the other GCF products a lot better than the cost of the drainage install which is exponentially more expensive. I do want to see if I can get a levelling in this year, but with it reaching the middle of the summer, I'm really enjoying having a fully green lawn right now in the front, and aggressive growth in the back yard. I'm on the fence with whether or not to do a mid-season scalp, and if I run the risk of causing any problems for storing up carbs to overwinter so I don't lose it again like I did this past winter. I know for a fact I won't be having nearly as much poa as I did last year, because I WILL be putting down a PreM. I won't make that mistake again!

The other option that is on the table is to rent a stand-on aerator to pull some deep cores, and topdress/level with sand. I'm sure that will help with some of the compacted areas in the lot. I've used a tensiometer(probe that Pete drove into his soil) to measure compaction in some of the areas, and it was pretty difficult to push the probe in past 6" in some areas. I'm going to recheck it in a month.


----------



## social port

Colonel K0rn said:


> The other option that is on the table is to rent a stand-on aerator to pull some deep cores, and topdress/level with sand.


That is one thing that core aeration can do that air-8 can't.

You've really got me thinking here: Are you going to continue treating your lawn with Air-8 etc after the bermuda goes dormant and through the winter?


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## pennstater2005

That's a lot of rain @Colonel K0rn! Interested to see how treating the soil and possibly aerating help with these water issues.


----------



## Ral1121

You have the same reason why I don't want to do another sanding this year. I am enjoying all the green and the full yard that I don't want to start over again this year. Just want everything to completely fill in so I can have a strong start to next year.


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## Ridgerunner

> The other option that is on the table is to rent a stand-on aerator to pull some deep cores, and topdress/level with sand.


Yes.
Or
To really reduce compaction:
See if you can find a Ventrac dealer that has rental.
You're going to need a trailer for a stand-up anyway. Up here, we can rent a Ventrac tractor AND an Aera-Vator at $190 for 8 hours.


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## Colonel K0rn

Ridgerunner said:


> The other option that is on the table is to rent a stand-on aerator to pull some deep cores, and topdress/level with sand.
> 
> 
> 
> Yes.
> Or
> To really reduce compaction:
> See if you can find a Ventrac dealer that has rental.
> You're going to need a trailer for a stand-up anyway. Up here, we can rent a Ventrac tractor AND an Aera-Vator at $190 for 8 hours.
Click to expand...

Really? That's a great deal considering that the rental for the Toro stand-on was $165. I'm not sure which would work out better in my situation, as I can see the benefit to core aeration and topdressing with sand, as I am pretty sure my compaction issues run pretty deep, or at least past 6". You've got me wondering which would would be better. Any thoughts?

@social port I'm going to see if I can swap out some of the product at the actual plant (it's not that far of a drive for me) that I've got but haven't opened, like the FloraGreene, as I am almost out of RGS, and AIR-8. I'm sorry to be flaky, but I've got a lot on my plate right now, and I'm hard pressed to get the lawn mowed as frequently as it needs it, with my business picking up. I've got my anniversary on the 3rd of August, a conference to go to in Orlando in 2 weeks, and then my son's 21's birthday that week, then we head into my wife's birthday then Holiday season. I'm about to get hella busy!


----------



## Ridgerunner

> Really? That's a great deal considering that the rental for the Toro stand-on was $165. I'm not sure which would work out better in my situation, as I can see the benefit to core aeration and topdressing with sand, as I am pretty sure my compaction issues run pretty deep, or at least past 6". You've got me wondering which would would be better. Any thoughts?


A number of years ago, I believe it was the University of Georgia, there was a study conducted of the different methods of soil compaction reduction. The study concluded that vibrating tines (aera-vators) were far more effective than core, spike, slice etc.
Core aerators will pull a core 2 1/2" to 3 1/2" with most being at 3" or less. A vibrationg tine will go much deeper. (depends on the machine but the Ventrac and the pro 3 pt hitch types have very long tines vs something like a grasshopper version with too short tines). A core aerator should be done in "moist" soil, so the hole will end up retaining some structural integrity, and an aera-vator on dryer soil, so the hole is more likely to collapse. Still, maybe a collapsed 5" hole may end up as deep as a 2 12" hole for sand to fall in? Maybe e-mail GCI and ask? (BTW, IMO, using the aera-vator rather than the Air8 is responsible for the majority of the compaction reduction his penetrometer is showing.)
First, I suggest you see if you can even find a rental.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDxIJ2o0slIc3jDW2ETODPg/search?query=aera-vator
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=aera-vator
FYI, my local:
https://www.mastlepley.com/rental


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## Ridgerunner

Couldn't find the Georgia study, but this article refers to it and is a pretty good resource regarding aeration. They state heave action aerators are superior. I've tried to locate a heave action to rent for years with no luck. Should have bought the Redexim 7007 when I had the chance.
http://www.commercialturfandtractor.com/Everything%20You.pdf


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## Colonel K0rn

I finally got around to editing one of the videos I recorded while doing some work this Spring. Do me a favor and give me a thumbs up on the YouTubes  
https://youtu.be/BC7Zw9iTGms


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## Colonel K0rn

https://youtu.be/0EombJNGLH8


----------



## Bermuda_Newbie

Colonel K0rn said:


>


Hey you quoted me! I feel famous


----------



## Colonel K0rn

Bermuda_Newbie said:


> Colonel K0rn said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hey you quoted me! I feel famous
Click to expand...

You're welcome! LOL, I truly felt that your husband was spot-on with his description when I read it the other night.


----------



## social port

Colonel K0rn said:


>


I've got quite a bit of transplanting to do this year. I've seen others use the pro plugger and have considered using that tool. However, the pro plugger seems like it would be tedious for moving larger areas of grass (400 sq ft).

I've thought that a flat shovel could be used with some success, even if some roots are put into jeopardy.

But now, your video has made me reconsider the pro plugger. Do you happen to know how many plugs can fit in the tube before needing to be emptied?


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## Colonel K0rn

@social port I can fit 10 plugs in the tube at 4" depth. It's honestly a very easy tool to use. And you'd have no problem doing 400 ft². I pulled enough plugs to move around the front yard and plugged everywhere that needed to be plugged in about an hour. If you have someone helping you pop in the plugs and step on them after you empty the tube, you can make quick work of the area.


----------



## social port

Colonel K0rn said:


> @social port I can fit 10 plugs in the tube at 4" depth. It's honestly a very easy tool to use. And you'd have no problem doing 400 ft². I pulled enough plugs to move around the front yard and plugged everywhere that needed to be plugged in about an hour. If you have someone helping you pop in the plugs and step on them after you empty the tube, you can make quick work of the area.


Thanks, CK. For 45 bucks...I'm sold. :thumbup:


----------



## Colonel K0rn

I slept in, and got up later and piddled around the house. I looked at the yard, and I had a lot of seed heads. I also knew it was supposed to rain for most of next week. I also was due to reapply PGR, so I planned to do a quick mow, and spray PGR.

I have been using the smooth roller on the front of the mower for this season, and I wasn't really happy with the cut quality that I was getting. I'd have a lot of stolons that would pop up here and there, and I'd have to go back over the yard with the landscape blade. I decided to drop the HOC from 0.850 to 0.750, and install the grooved roller that I got from @Redtenchu earlier this year. Surprisingly, I got a better cut, and it looked OK. I had about 8-10 seed heads I missed, but I could tell I was getting a better cut quality overall with the grooved roller.

Here's pictures of the cut that I got with the lawn. I tried to take some pictures with the sun to my back because I got done around 4PM, and started the scalp then. I wanted to do the back, but was pretty wiped out, and ran out of sunlight. That's why the scalped pictures are pretty poor. The only areas I'm lacking any grass coverage are by the bird feeder, the flowerbed in the front, and a small portion by the driveway. Other than that, it's grass all over and I'm finally happy. Took me about a year to get everything grown in! The North side of the property is still thin, but it didn't have the best light conditions to start with. Removing the overgrowth from the neighbor's property has helped immensely.

I used the cart to collect the clippings from the first pass on the scalp, and had to do a second cut to get the other portions of the grass that weren't cut on the first pass. For posterity's sake, I did a 3rd pass. So in total, I cut my front yard 4 times. Talk about dedication!

What I found humorous was that on the 2nd and 3rd pass, the clippings that were coming out of the front of the mower made it look like a snowblower. I opted not to apply PGR in lieu of scalping. Once I get green all over the yard, I'll spray again at 0.25 oz/M.

*Pre-Scalp pictures*












































After talking with @Redtenchu in the afternoon, he assured me it would be ok to do a mini-scalp on the lawn. Like I said, I was pretty pooped by the time I got to the back yard, so I just focused on getting the front done. Here's some pictures I got before I ran out of daylight. I didn't even bother to blow all of the clippings off of the concrete. We're supposed to get rain tomorrow, so I figure they'll just wash away. I opted not to reapply PGR until I get green all over the yard.

*Here's what it looks like when you go from 0.750 to 0.5*

*Side-by-side comparison of one half done and the other not completed*


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## Colonel K0rn

We have been getting rain off and on this week, which has helped with the recovery. I haven't fed the lawn any N for two weeks, and as of today, my PGR is at 8% suppression. I decided to hold off on a reapplication of PGR until I get full green up, and the mow today at 0.625 was going to let me know what kind of recovery rate I was having. The lawn was looking a bit fluffy in places, and I could tell some areas were definitely out of regulation and starting to rebound pretty quickly. I mowed without the catcher, since I figured it's free N and I want to put that back into the soil. After all, I've paid good money for it, and it's growing great.

I've been blessed to have had a good amount of rainfall, and heat which has helped me to have a solid grow this season so far. The weather is supposed to be in the mid 80's on Sunday/Monday, which will be a nice break from the upper 90's of late.

I had early morning activities which prevented me from getting to the lawn until later in the afternoon. I was in a time crunch, and was only able to mow the front. As I was finishing up there were sprinkles of rain falling on me. We then had 0.85" of rain fall in just over 30 minutes. I was filming the storm with my GoPro and had a lightning strike that was about 2 blocks away from me. My ears were ringing, and it scared me enough to observe on the other side of the storm door. My ears were ringing for a good 10 seconds afterwards. :lol:

As I type this, I still have water in the front, but I'm sure it'll be gone by the morning. Not bad for my first real scalp for my monostand. Thanks @Redtenchu!

It went from looking like this









to this









Here's the rest of the typical shots!






























I'm not quite sure if I want to raise my HOC back up to 0.750 since I'm not irrigated, but we've been having enough rain to take care of the watering needs. I've only had to irrigate a handful of times so far this year. As was evident by my plugging video, it would seem that RGS is driving the roots deep.

I've got a doveweed problem that I'm going to address tomorrow, once the yard dries out a bit. It's still soggy in some places, but I'm sure it'll be dry by tomorrow afternoon. I kinda hope the forecast doesn't have all the rain that they're predicting, but if it does, PGR will hold off the growth. I'm just glad I can mow the grass when it's wet, it just tends to make a mess when I hit some of the thin areas that have dirt/mud; thankfully that low spot in the front by the bird feeder is the only one right now. The back yard is another story :lol:


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## Redtenchu

Looks good, wish I could take half that rain.


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## Reel Low Dad

Ok that's some good progress on the scalp. Hopefully mine recovers that well


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## Colonel K0rn

I'll keep this update short and sweet. Before I left town for a week, on 8/5 I put down PGR at 0.3 oz/M, .25 # N/M, RGS at 3 oz/M, Humic 12 at 9 oz/M and FEature at 2 oz/M. I figured that the PGR would pump the brakes on the growth for a while and the FEature would give it a nice color, even if there were no stripes and it hadn't been mowed in a week. I was correct.

That being said, I just hit 231 GDD today, and I'll need to reapply PGR in the AM.

Every day that we were out of town, it rained on us. We spent 5 days in Orlando on business and pleasure, and had to get back home within constraints of what we could afford (boarding the dogs) and what people could tolerate (my son being by himself at home and my MIL watching my daughter). I was pretty exhausted when I finally got everyone back under the same roof Wednesday and that evening I started scalping the back yard. I tried to scalp it to 0.450 before I left, but I got 4 passes in before the heavens opened up on me. I worked into the darkness on Wednesday night, and called it quits around 9 PM. Thursday AM, I had one area by the pool that was all that remained to scalp. I wanted to at least get one day in on the back after the scalp before I had both dogs running around pulling up grass from their cutting and dodging when they chase each other. They're like football players!










When everything was said and done, my clippings pile was roughly 2x it's former size.












I finished up the scalp in the back yard around 4 in the afternoon, pretty wiped out and I was in the mindset of "I just need to get it cut, I don't care if there's stripes or not." Which is exactly what I did. I had to change out the roller brackets to the high set, and set the HOC to 0.650. I gotta admit, I do like the feel of a nice stand of turf underfoot, but what was weird about the lawn is that it looked spongy, but not upright. As if all of the stolons were intertwining, and creating masses and masses of foliage.

Here's the growth of stolons over the sidewalk in 9 days.









I didn't take any after pictures of the mow on the front because I was wiped out from the day of labor. I did take pictures before I mowed. I didn't notice the sun glare in the picture, so that's why it's there. It was ridiculously bright at that time of day.





































We did have some gnarly weather come through yesterday. I got this picture when I was coming out of the grocery store, and was successful in getting home before we had the bottom fall out.


I'm thinking we're starting to head into the cooler part of the summer as the forecast is calling for highs in the low 90's/upper 80's. That would be in-line with what forecasters were calling for this fall/winter, with a cooler than normal weather pattern. I'm fine with that, I do enjoy a hot day, but I've had enough 110°+ heat index days for this year. Next Thursday is looking delicious!


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## Reel Low Dad

Seeing how your yard is now versus the beginning of the year gives me goose bumps. Looks great. All the work has definitely paid off.


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## Colonel K0rn

Finally got around to putting out 5 of the 6 bales of pine straw into the bed that I've had for a month or two. :lol: 

















I came out the front door this morning, and there was a clump of pinestraw in front of the rose bushes, and I was puzzled. :? I walked over to it and started picking it up and putting it back into the bed, and that's when I saw clumps of fur, and pulled up stolons. Looks like there was a cat fight last night on the front lawn. :lol:

The day before, I was in a rush to get a mow done, and I was finishing up the trim with the landscaping blade when big drops of rain started falling. I put down some double-fat stripes and realized after I took the picture that my camera lens was dirty. I was sitting on the porch chatting on Discord when I took this picture, and was waiting for some natural irrigation to come by and help with the plants, but it went to the North and South of my city. The yard looks dark because we haven't had any rainfall since I put down a "double dark" application of GCF products and PGR on Wednesday.


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## ttrain

@Colonel K0rn amazing transformation and very well documented! Did you already spray pre-E for fall? How much longer will you spray Feature this season? Until dormancy??


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## Colonel K0rn

ttrain said:


> Colonel K0rn amazing transformation and very well documented! Did you already spray pre-E for fall? How much longer will you spray Feature this season? Until dormancy??


Thanks for the compliment. It's been a while since I posted, and I had to make an emergency trip out of town for a week to Colorado to assist my mother who fell and broke her arm. I'm ordering my Simazine tomorrow after my son gets his wisdom teeth removed (fun times). Depending on what hurricane Florence decides to do next week, that'll affect my timing for when I put down my PreM chemicals. I came back to a pretty overgrown lawn, and my back yard was rather crispy. Turns out we've gotten just under 0.3" of rainfall in the past 10 days. It's been pretty dry and hot. I had to run the sprinklers today, and did a double-cut on the front. Got tired and said I'd cut the back yard tomorrow.


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## Colonel K0rn

Brought on by armyworms... put down Acelepryn in the front and back yard 2 days ago, and was hoping that I'd get some small amount of rainfall. Some is predicted, but I need to sharpen the mower, or at least backlap it. When I came back, the yard was pretty tall, and the cut quality wasn't that great. The back yard looked pretty crispy, and I figure that the worms didn't help the situation at all. I saw more in the front than in the back, and the sprinklers did help green up the front. I'm letting the back go to the dogs, but with the broadcast of the insecticide, depending on whether or not I get some rainfall, it might get some more fert, but right now, it's all depending upon the weather.

I thought we were going to have to evacuate last week, so that's why I was hesitant to put any fert down, but right now, I'm about a week behind in feeding, and applying PGR. Thankfully the grass isn't growing too vigorously, so I can let it get a bit taller. I've got a day of driving tomorrow, so I'll be able to catch up on my yard work this week, and do some honey-do's while my wife is out of town.

Sadly, my petunias aren't doing too well either. They've been on auto-pilot with watering, and I haven't been as vigilant in the alternating schedule of Fertilome products as I should have, but everything else is going just fine. I guess it's a matter of doing what you have the time and energy you can do to make it look as good as you can.

I do need to post some pictures, since I've had my lawn for one year.

I also changed my plan for my PreM product, and I decided to go with Specticle Flo. I've been told that 1 application around the first week of October holds people over through the winter. Some people notice a bit slower green up during Spring, but they have zero weeds, and that's fine by me. I'm looking forward to having a completely brown lawn during the Winter for the first time since I've lived here


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## Colonel K0rn

Two days after my last post, I put down a booster cocktail to try and speed the recovery of the damage. It consisted of 
 PGR at .25 oz/M
RGS at 6 oz/M
FEature at 2 oz/M
AIR-8 at 6 oz/M
 and a heavy dose of Urea at .75#/M

We've been very light on the rainfall, with under 0.5" this month so far at my residence. I've had to break out the sprinklers a few times, and after putting out this cocktail, I had no problem putting them out for 6 hours. I even got to water in the back yard, and it responded greatly. It seems that the mutt yard in the back came back faster than the monostand in the front yard.

I'm sad that my petunias have petered out, but my mums are starting to bloom. Well, they've been trying to bloom, but I stopped pinching them back a few weeks ago, so it'll be nice to see them again.

I have had some spots of doveweed that have been persistent, and I've been spot treating them as I find them. Here's pictures that I took yesterday from the mow 2 days ago. I didn't take much off of the grass, as the PGR really put the brakes on the growth. It make a difference when you're able to keep your grass in regulation. I don't keep the stripes on it all the time, they last a few days, but before I cut it, I was admiring just a nice even green lawn. Keep in mind, the heat index here daily is still near 100°F. Today it was 104°F, but we've got a cold front moving through that's supposed to give us some much needed water, and some cooler weather. I'm looking forward to some cooling off, but mainly water.


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## Iriasj2009

I'm digging these pics man!


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## Colonel K0rn

Iriasj2009 said:


> I'm digging these pics man!


I love the results you've had with your lawn renovation. I'd love to go with Grand on another section of my yard, but the funds won't allow it. I've kicked around the idea of going with sprigging the front yard with Grand, we'll see.


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## Iriasj2009

Colonel K0rn said:


> Iriasj2009 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'm digging these pics man!
> 
> 
> 
> I love the results you've had with your lawn renovation. I'd love to go with Grand on another section of my yard, but the funds won't allow it. I've kicked around the idea of going with sprigging the front yard with Grand, we'll see.
Click to expand...

Go for it!! but i do gotta say that i recently visited a zorro zoysia lawn and i was blown away. if i could do it again, i would actually go with zoysia haha. anyways, I cant wait til next season and see what this tifgrand is all about.


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## Colonel K0rn

Most of the damage from the army worms is healed up, and I'm having an issue where I get a lot of stolons sticking up from the canopy after I mow. I think I can attribute this to the fact that I'm using a 14 blade cylinder, and my HOC is 0.850... I should have it considerably lower, for when I was scalping below 0.500, I had no problem getting a clean cut. Since I like the HOC around 0.750, I will be looking to switch to an 8-blade reel for next season. Here's a pic of the lawn prior to cut; I do like how fluffy and consistently green it is, but the stripes are addicting.

On Friday, I put down my first PreM application of Specticle FLO. I plan on doing another application within 30-45 days. I used 3 oz/A rate, which required 1.1 oz of product, which that would put my application cost around $13.80. Sure, I can get a lower cost per application with Prodiamine, but considering the huge poa problem I had last year, I didn't want to take any chances. Plus, I want to see how good this stuff really is. *What's even more interesting is that I got permission from my next-door neighbor to spray their yard with Prodiamine, which I did on Sunday afternoon.* I lucked out because as soon as I finished up, we got 0.45" of rainfall. :thumbup:

What's good about Specticle is that you have up to 21 days to water it in. With this week's weather forecast, that's not going to be an issue at all. Hurricane Michael is set to dump ~ 4-6" of rain in the next few days on us. As I type this, we've had over 1".

I do have to say this past Saturday was the first time I have driven my van across the lawn, but I had to get it to the back yard to load up my equipment into the van in order to treat some other people's lawns. 

After I loaded up my gear, I went over to @BenC's house, treated his lawn with Prodiamine, and had some great fellowship and food. I then went over to another friend's house and sprayed his 10K front yard with Specticle FLO, but ran out of daylight before I could finish the back. I was pretty tired, but I also had more preparations to make for the coming storm.

I went back over to my friend's house, and treated the back 10K with Specticle FLO. I then returned home, and gave my yard a quick mow before I sprayed my neighbor's yard with Prodiamine. Thankfully, they've only got 5K in the front yard. So I literally sprayed over an acre of lawns with my Chapin, and didn't have any problems.

Here's how the lawn looked on Sunday evening, from my vantage on the front porch. 

My flowers are still blooming, although my petunias are pretty much done for the season.


After the storm passes through, I think that Saturday was the last day we'll see in the 90's for this year. I haven't been as prompt as I'd like on posting updates, but life happens, and we have to move along at the speed that we can.


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## Colonel K0rn

I wanted to share a progress of my back yard. It's super bumpy and not smooth, and it still collects water in the low spots when it rains heavily, but it's no longer a jungle (except for the super goose grass cultivation pile). I've not given it all of the attention that I have given to the front yard, because it's for the dogs to run amok. That being said, the humans spend a good amount of time back there now with the pool and the doggos. But I still have a passion to get my lawn looking as best as I can with the resources that I have. Yes it still floods, but not as badly as it used to. It can only get better. I just wanted to show that with some hard work, dedication and the right tools, you can take whatever hot mess that you have, and turn it into something to be proud of.

All I have done is to mow, fertilize, apply my Greene County Fertilizer products and use my ProPlugger to transplant plugs around into the bare areas. What I find amusing now is that I can visually see that I have different cultivars of bermuda, because some patches have different colors of leaves than others, along with different growing patterns/internode/leaf lengths.

*6/9/2017, prior to getting my hands on the right chemicals/tools to get this mess under control.


8/2/17


10/10/17


3/29/18 (what's interesting is all of the crabgrass is dead in this pic  )


4/21/18


5/8/18


7/15/18 (sorry about the shadows)*


*8/4/18*


*8/16/18, this was the first time I've ever intentionally scalped the lawn, 0.450"*


*8/27/18, it's back meaner and greener than ever*


*1 year ago vs Current Day*


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## Green

Front looks great. So do the plants.

Now, how on Earth is there a perfect line between your yard and your neighbor's? Is it just the different mowing heights? Even so, that would mean your neighbors must mow perfect lines, too. My neighbors can't mow straight to save their lives, and neither can their hired mowing people! Also, cool season grasses tend to blend together at borders. Don't warm season also do that?


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## Fishnugget

Dang Colonel, front yard is amazing. What a great turn around. The flowers look really nice too, adds lots of color.

Great job and your right, hard work does pay off. What did you end up doing to alleviate some of the flooding again?


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## Colonel K0rn

@Green, we definitely have different grass types, as I've got a monostand, and he's got what I used to have :lol:, a salad bar. I'm also mowing at a completely different HOC. What's interesting is that some of my grass has crept into his yard, and is growing quite tall. I also go along the property lines after I mow with my landscape blade to make sure I don't get any stragglers, and there are some chemical deterrents to keep the weeds out. Carpet grass doesn't take kindly to Celsius. He does vary his patterns, and I've offered to help with his weed situation, but he's politely refused. He told me that when the grass goes dormant in the winter (which carpet grass does not) he plans to set it on fire.

@Fishnugget I've got to think that adding more root mass and driving the roots deeper have helped change the soil profile to allow the water to infiltrate better. I'm going to do another soil test in a week or so (after the storm rolls through) to see how much my OM percentage has changed. I have been applying the Green County products to my lawn like I laid out earlier this year. With the temps being over 85, I backed off of the RGS, and only started applying it again as of last week. I've been using Humic 12 every foliar spray, along with Air8 and I have done 2 applications of GreenePunch 18-0-1, with some MicroGreene tossed in for flavor.

If anything, I'd have to say that the Air-8 has had the largest impact. Whether or not there's empirical data to support it, I don't really have scientific data to back it up. I can only say with the land that I have, and the time that I've lived here that something has changed, and the only thing I can say is that I've done something different, and I'm getting different results. That being said, I do look forward to doing some levelling next year, and am not quite sure if I'm going to regrade the back yard or not.


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## Fishnugget

Colonel K0rn said:


> @Green, we definitely have different grass types, as I've got a monostand, and he's got what I used to have :lol:, a salad bar. I'm also mowing at a completely different HOC. What's interesting is that some of my grass has crept into his yard, and is growing quite tall. I also go along the property lines after I mow with my landscape blade to make sure I don't get any stragglers, and there are some chemical deterrents to keep the weeds out. Carpet grass doesn't take kindly to Celsius. He does vary his patterns, and I've offered to help with his weed situation, but he's politely refused. He told me that when the grass goes dormant in the winter (which carpet grass does not) he plans to set it on fire.
> 
> @Fishnugget I've got to think that adding more root mass and driving the roots deeper have helped change the soil profile to allow the water to infiltrate better. I'm going to do another soil test in a week or so (after the storm rolls through) to see how much my OM percentage has changed. I have been applying the Green County products to my lawn like I laid out earlier this year. With the temps being over 85, I backed off of the RGS, and only started applying it again as of last week. I've been using Humic 12 every foliar spray, along with Air8 and I have done 2 applications of GreenePunch 18-0-1, with some MicroGreene tossed in for flavor.
> 
> If anything, I'd have to say that the Air-8 has had the largest impact. Whether or not there's empirical data to support it, I don't really have scientific data to back it up. I can only say with the land that I have, and the time that I've lived here that something has changed, and the only thing I can say is that I've done something different, and I'm getting different results. That being said, I do look forward to doing some levelling next year, and am not quite sure if I'm going to regrade the back yard or not.


Thanks for sharing your info Colonel. Its always nice to hear that products like Air-8 have had a positive impact on your lawn. Clearly, your post application of Green Country products did something to your lawn. I was contemplating using Air-8 but never got around to it. I think I may try after reading your results because it seems water doesn't soak in with my sloped yards.


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## BenC

way to get on it CK!! You took that front yard to the mat from the first time I saw it.


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## Green

Interesting, and that makes sense taken all together. And lol about setting the grass on fire! I was also thinking that maybe the warm season grasses behave a bit differently when it comes to boundaries. I know they like to be edged with defined borders, so there might be something to it. Every grass type has its weirdness...today I was mowing my grandfather's lawn (mostly FF) with his tractor, and it was still a bit wet underneath, and since it was overgrown, it was turning into a green paste that coated the wheels and made clumps as it sloughed off in sheets! I tried to double mow the best I could, but will have wait until next time to get rid of all the green plaster-of-paris clumps!

Stay safe with Hurricane Michael coming near!


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## Colonel K0rn

I didn't realize it had been over a month since I updated my journal, but so I wanted to share some pictures. I had a good Halloween, where I got to sit at the end of the driveway and give out candy. I got a lot of compliments from neighbors, and one who asked me, "Does it take a lot of work?" :lol:

I haven't mowed in two weeks, since I was sure that the weather was going to be dropping in a week, which it did, and the grass would go dormant. Last week, we had highs in the 40's and lows in the 30's. That's cold around these parts. We've been getting rain off and on, and in the past month, have received about 3" of rainfall.

Here's the latest photos from the ground of the lawn. I still have some problem areas that were thin and didn't heal completely from the armyworm damage, but that's no problem. I'll address it next year.


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## Colonel K0rn

But how does it look from the air? @BenC was kind enough to come over and use his drone to take some aerial shots. I wish I would have put down some stripes prior to his coming over, but I'll take it as it is. I did find it funny that 1 out of 4 pools is swimmable, although I wouldn't want to take a dip in the pool right now, as the water temp is around 50°F.

What I find of particular interest is on the left side of my front yard is that from the air, there appears to be a darker green area, which would coincide with the area where a majority of the sand was placed last year when I did the seeding and addition of compost for the seed bed. What effect does that have? I don't know, but I find it interesting that area was loaded with sand, while the area on the right was loaded with compost. It's visibly thinner due to the insect damage, but not nearly as green overhead. That really doesn't matter since most people see it from ground level.


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## social port

It only gets better from here, right?
So much of your hard work is paying off now. Looking good, CK :thumbup:


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## sanders4617

That's some green Bermuda for this time of year. Most the Bermuda I see right now is completely dormant. I've killed off the Riviera I had during a leveling process. May reseed whole yard next year, so maybe the Riviera just holds up that much better to the freezes/frosts?

Your yard is looking great.


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## Colonel K0rn

@sanders4617 thanks for the compliment. It's just now starting to get zebra stripes.

I got almost all of my lights up except for my wreath and star. I've been super busy this past month and today. If you look closely, the flamingoes are in the forest!





The lights go all the way around the house, including both sides. Yep, I illuminated the empty lot side too. 


We had some spooky fog tonight, so I wanted to show what the brightness was from the street.


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## BenC

Nice Colonel- I always thought a green pool made your coat shinier. And while we're at it, when's the last time you had a manicure?!?!? This is really turning into Beauty Journal...


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## Colonel K0rn

BenC said:


> Nice Colonel- I always thought a green pool made your coat shinier. And while we're at it, when's the last time you had a manicure?!?!? This is really turning into Beauty Journal...


 :wink: I'm sorry I don't have soft hands like some desk jockeys I know :laugh: Don't be surprised if you find a gift certificate to the Nail Spa made out to "The roughest-looking man with the softest hands" sitting on your desk in the future.


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## BenC

Haha. You're beautiful just the way you are colonel. Me on the other hand, could use all the help I can get


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## Colonel K0rn

It's been a minute since I've posted, so I literally have been doing nothing to my yard except looking at it as I get in the vehicle and drive on to do work. My wife and I are working on a renovation project, and we've been busy since December, and I finally got a day to spend time in the yard. This was the first time I was able to do a Spring scalp, and it's a very dusty undertaking.

When I was scalping, I shuddered to recall that my front yard actually used to be *loaded* with Poa A.  

As I'm typing this, I'm still a little achy from the multiple passes that I did with the reel to get it down to 0.250. I couldn't see dirt, so that's a good thing, indicating that my turf is a lot more dense than it was last year with PoaGeddon. For comparison's sake, here's what my yard looked like last year, and what it looked like yesterday.




I was able to use my rider to get it down to 1", but after that, it was all Flex 21 & Gorilla Cart action. 

@Movingshrub hey, I wanted to let you know that the "Pile" has created yet another contender for large nuisance plants, Winter Variety...

In reality, this is the size of the plants that I was seeing. I counted less than 10 plants total in my lawn. If I haven't extolled the virtues of Specticle Flo enough, this is proof that the stuff works. It's a game changer, and if I have a problem with it in any future yard, this will be my go-to for PreM on grassy weeds during the winter.

*Here's the difference between 0.500 and 0.250* 


*All scalped, and ready to grow!I took this photo before I grabbed my edger, and landscaping scissors to clean up the rest of the yard, so you can see how tall it was around the mailbox and the growth over the concrete.*


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## Green

Huge improvement since last year! Looks like green-up will start any day now.
Let's hope for sufficient but not flooding rain this Spring and Summer.
Time for Spring pre-M!


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## Confederate Lawn

Awesome Renovation dude!! I'm starting a journal this season also! hope my results are as good as yours but it is a different grass type and weed control/ fert approach.


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## social port

I'm hoping for a great lawn year for you, CK. :thumbup: Green got it right: No more flooding.


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## Colonel K0rn

I took a day off from the whole-house renovation that our company is doing to tend to some stuff at the house. I was able to get a quick mow in on the front, and take care of some pesky weeds that I've been avoiding along the Southern side of the house. I honestly have been so busy with the renovation, I have just been coming in and out of the front door. The first time I walked around the sides of the house was when I scalped the front yard. I noticed then that I had some weeds growing actively in the portion of the flowerbeds that I wanted to extend around the Southern portion of the house. 






I got one of the small torches that use the 1# bottles of propane, and it worked well for some of the smaller weeds, but when it came to getting rid of doveweed, it was seemed slightly impervious to it. I mean, I had the torch cranked up, and a leaf here and there was glowing, but it wasn't wilting and turning into ash.

I opted to return to the store, and got the Lincoln Electric Inferno torch, and connected it to 20lb propane cylinder that I had at the house, and it made quick work of the weeds.



I started the mow earlier in the day, and was curious to see how the grass would look with a mow at the same HOC that I scalped at, which was 0.250, but it really looked bad. I raised the HOC up to 0.375, and it looked much better. We could use some rain, as some of the areas of my yard looked to be greening up a little slower than the rest of the yard, but we're supposed to get more rain tonight. If we don't get any measurable amount, I'll break out the water hoses.







It was nice to be able to look at the turf, and not see dirt. It seems that the density is improving, and I'm happy with the condition of it now.


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## tnlynch81

I have been following your thread since you started. Can't recall if you had a sedge issue but do you happen to know if the Septicle Flo does a good job on Sedges? My two biggest enemies are POA and sedges. Don't want to have to spend $$$ if Specticle Flo handles both well.


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## Colonel K0rn

tnlynch81 said:


> I have been following your thread since you started. Can't recall if you had a sedge issue but do you happen to know if the Septicle Flo does a good job on Sedges? My two biggest enemies are POA and sedges. Don't want to have to spend $$$ if Specticle Flo handles both well.


I do have issues with sedges(mainly kyllinga), and treat them with Certainty. Specticle Flo is listed to control Sedges and it's very effective at controlling Poa. I opted not to apply it this Spring and went with Prodiamine due to it being a very strong root pruner, and that was at the recommendation of @Greendoc.


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## Greendoc

:thumbup:


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## drenglish

Hey @Colonel K0rn I hope you're having a great day! I read your comment on Pete's garden irrigation video about planting the annuals today. I'd love to see these at the start of the season again, as last year you influenced me into giving annuals a try. Whole lot of fun!


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## tcorbitt20

I was scrolling through LCN's twitter and saw where you're switching to St. Augustine. Is that right?


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## Colonel K0rn

tcorbitt20 said:


> I was scrolling through LCN's twitter and saw where you're switching to St. Augustine. Is that right?


I was just having a little fun with @LawnCareNut when I posted that, however the picture was from my yard today after I mowed it. We were expecting a strong line of storms this afternoon, and I needed to get my mow done before I headed to the property. I actually had a pallet of Palmetto St. Augustine delivered to that property that we're currently renovating. It was nice to be able to talk grass with the owner of the company who had a really nice rig and some fine looking sod.


__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1119342078734032896


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## tcorbitt20

:thumbup: I thought it seemed like you'd put in too much work to turn back now.


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## BakerGreenLawnMaker

Colonel K0rn said:


> tcorbitt20 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I was scrolling through LCN's twitter and saw where you're switching to St. Augustine. Is that right?
> 
> 
> 
> I was just having a little fun with @LawnCareNut when I posted that, however the picture was from my yard today after I mowed it. We were expecting a strong line of storms this afternoon, and I needed to get my mow done before I headed to the property. I actually had a pallet of Palmetto St. Augustine delivered to that property that we're currently renovating. It was nice to be able to talk grass with the owner of the company who had a really nice rig and some fine looking sod.
> 
> 
> __ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1119342078734032896
Click to expand...

I was like, a Bermuda guy is going all in on St Augustine? Lol!!


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## Colonel K0rn

Just like the title says, today was the day to take my yard from over 1" to 0.250. It's been a while since I posted, but the yard has been growing great this year. Had some spots of doveweed and kyllinga that have replaced my problem child of goose grass. I ordered 8 tons of sand, and it was delivered to the turnaround in my driveway. Soon after, my outside cat was investigating the pile. :lol:

My grass was at 4% rebound, coming out of regulation, and my last feeding was CarbonX at 3#/M on 6/2. The forecast looks like it's not going to be too incredibly hot for the next few days, with some chances of rain in the forecast. Time to get it done! I've been waiting a year to do this.









Here's a picture from the porch from yesterday. I was admiring the color, and was sad that I was going to have to look at a brown lawn for a week or more. But it would give me reprieve from mowing in the heat of the summer. The brownish color around the typically low spot is just from clippings sitting on the surface from the last rain we had a few days ago.









Here's where I started, well over my HOC of 0.750.






The first mow down to 0.750 made the lawn look reasonable, but somewhat scalped. We gotta go lower!



Time to go from 0.500 to 0.250. This mow was the most time consuming and brought up the most material.


@Greendoc said I needed to take it to the dirt.


Here's the finished product, I cleaned up all the grass that was around areas that I usually edge, and just blew the clippings into the lawn. I was beat, and I'm guessing the hurt comes tomorrow evening, but it's a good thing I have the pool opened!

I got a little bit of exercise, and I've never quadruple-cut my front yard before. 






Around 4 PM, I had 8 tons of sand delivered via single-axle dump truck. I think I should have gotten more, but this is what's in the budget.


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## Green

What's the reason for taking the HOC down all at once rather than gradually? And why at this time of year? Is it just so you can level, or are you maintaining at the lower height for the Summer?

Before looks really good.


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## Colonel K0rn

Green said:


> What's the reason for taking the HOC down all at once rather than gradually? And why at this time of year? Is it just so you can level, or are you maintaining at the lower height for the Summer?
> 
> Before looks really good.


Best way to describe it is that the green is coming from the leaves of the plant that have grown upright, higher than the desired HOC I want/need to maintain for this cultivar. I should be between 0.250-0.500. I noticed the last time when I mowed that the lawn looked a lot more leggy than usual (I had a bunch of stragglers sitting above the cut area), and my stripes were not visible. If you remove the green leaves from the plant, you're left with a lot of brown stems, and that's not attractive. It's like a deciduous tree losing it's leaves during the fall; all that's left is the trunk and sticks.

If you let your HOC wander higher than you need to, a mid-season scalp helps you to get back to your desired HOC. I'm also needing to sand a lot of spaces, so I was able to identify the areas that have green in them as being lower than surrounding areas, and I'll pay some more attention to those areas when I start slinging sand tomorrow.


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## Green

That makes sense. I still find it odd that warm season grasses in general (and Bentgrass) grow leaves/stems from other stems, rather than directly out of the ground! :shock:


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## Topcat

Looking good. I need to do the same and not really anxious to look at a brown yard for a couple of weeks. I put sod down last month and it is so lumpy that the lowest HOC I can get without major scalping is 1" My target is .5" so I too will scalp to dirt then level.


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## Colonel K0rn

Topcat said:


> Looking good. I need to do the same and not really anxious to look at a brown yard for a couple of weeks. I put sod down last month and it is so lumpy that the lowest HOC I can get without major scalping is 1" My target is .5" so I too will scalp to dirt then level.


Greendoc said that it's fine to sand lawns as soon as sod it laid to enable them to be reel mowed ASAP FWIW.


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## Topcat

I am sure it would be okay since Bermuda is very resilient. My original plan was to level three weeks after I put it down, but the hot weather is the perfect excuse to delay. Besides, I want to enjoy it for a few weeks before I cover it with sand.


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## jayhawk

The anticipation.... (Update on leveling)


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## ENC_Lawn

Looking forward to seeing how the leveling turns out!

Im still loving the look of that Royal Bengal!!!


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## Colonel K0rn

@jayhawk @ENC_Lawn Thanks for the posts. Here's the update. I was very surprised at how quickly the lawn filled in. I'll show you the before picture, and one week later, from the front view, and the view from my porch. As I write this post, we've received 0.42" of rain over the past week, a lot of it coming yesterday afternoon, after I had mowed the grass. Today, we received over 1" of rain, and yes, my front yard does have a good pond in it, which is good, because it shows me where I need to add more sand  I did raise the HOC up to 0.500, because I had some grass that was already over 1" high. Keep in mind, I scalped this lawn down to 0.250, and it took off, since it was in rebound, and I just hit it with a heavy rate of CarbonX.

6/28/19


7/4/19 after the first mow at 0.500.


Here's the view that I enjoy, before and after the mow. I find it remarkable how much growth took place in just one day. I did put down a little water on 7/2, just to try to keep some of the sand in place, where I'm fighting my outdoor cat who keeps making my level areas not very level... :smile: 
6/28/19

7/3/19

7/4/19


I do have to say that while I was leveling the area with the zero turn, it became much smoother and easier to ride on than I've ever had it before, and that led me to believe I was on the right track with my project. Operating the Flex on it was a much nicer experience, and I was picking up some sand, but not a terrible amount. Of course, I had to stay away from the big sandy area because the drum would get zero traction, so that area might be a little later in the cutting until I can get better coverage. I have no doubt I'll continue to look at that large area for the rest of the season, but judging by the growth rate of the turf in 1 weeks time, I'm sure it'll disappear quickly.

One thing I did find interesting is that I can pick out lines extending from the house toward the road, and they appear slightly darker than the rest of the lawn. Those were created by me dragging the water hose to the front and setting up some sprinklers, and hand watering the yard on Tuesday. Good thing I have a cart full of sand where I can hit some of the areas that need touching up.

One thing I forgot to add was that my neighbor decided to shoot off a LOT of mortars in his driveway in his celebratory fashion for the 4th. My wife and I usually sit on the front porch, and our subdivision goes pretty nuts with the fireworks. He was setting off 6 mortars at a time, and they were going over both of our houses. After they exploded, we heard some stuff falling down, like a sprinkle of rain.

I didn't realize it was bad until my wife came in this morning while I was at the kitchen table drinking my AM cup of coffee and said, "Mark, you're not going to be happy. You should go out front, and look at the house and the yard. It's the same way in the back yard." I mowed the front and the back yard yesterday.

What goes up, must come down. It did over both of our houses. I found cardboard, plastic pieces, shell casings, and a ton of debris in my yard. There were 2 spots on our roof where it looks like some of the mortars exploded.

I ran through my human emotions, and my wife and I were NOT happy. I told the other 2 squatters in the house to come outside with us in the 95°F heat to form a FOD walkdown line, and we cleaned the front and the back yards. When we were done with the back yard, they went inside the house, and that's when I noticed the pool was covered with debris, and had a lot of it that had settled onto the floor, and some stains were on the liner. I was   mad. My wife and I follow the teachings of Jesus Christ, but at that time, I was glad that both of my neighbors were at work, because I had a few choice words that were running through my mind. He had the foresight to park both of their white vehicles at the back of their property, but didn't say anything to us that we might want to do the same. Regardless, I can understand that it wasn't intentional, and I'm going to talk to him tomorrow to bring it to his attention so he can make sure it doesn't happen again. That puts the onus on him, and keeps the peace between us. It wasn't wanton destruction, and they're good neighbors. I was young and irresponsible before, and wisdom has taught me to make sure that he's got a chance to take care of his fallout (literally).

The solace I take in this is that we had over 1" of rain today (still raining right now), and when he picks up his mess, it's going to be very soggy. :lol:


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## ENC_Lawn

@Colonel K0rn

Wow...that was fast!

Went from a beach to a golf course in no time!

Awesome job!

How much Nitrogen did you drop?

There seems to be something about the rain from above that just makes grass pop that irrigation can't do in my experience!


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## Colonel K0rn

@ENC_Lawn my app was about 3.5/4# of CX per thousand, so the math wound up being a smidge over 1#N/M. I'm hoping to get a good fast grow in, because I have enough T-Nex for 1 more application at a low rate. Gotta get some more, and I'm up against a vacation window in a few weeks. Gotta get it regulated before I leave, but I want it to grow in quickly.


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## Colonel K0rn

I received my soil test results yesterday, and I tested the left and right sides of the front yard. I'm not doing any fertility improvements to the back yard this year, due to time and budget constraints. I also collected the samples in March, prior to doing any amendments/fertilization to the property. I'm planning on doing another test in a few months to see what changes might have happened with the products that I'm adding this season.


















In comparison, these were the results from last year's test.


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## Colonel K0rn

Wow, I didn't realize I hadn't updated my journal since July. I just took a hiatus from getting on many forums, spending time with my family, going on vacation, dealing with Hurricane Dorian, having to put down a longtime family pet, and waiting for a break in the heat. This time last week ago it felt like it was near 100°F


My reel mower is out of commission right now, so I'm stuck with mowing with my rider, and I had some swirls in the lawn, but levelling helped the cut quality be a lot better than it was in the past. All of last month I had just under 0.25" of rainfall at my house, it's been exceptionally dry. That being said, I let my lawn grow a lot taller than I had intended to manage this season, even after I sanded. We were due rainfall today, so I did my first PreM app of Specticle Flo yesterday, along with 6 oz/M AIR-8, 12 oz/M Humic 12 and 16 oz/M of Greene Punch 18-0-1. Mother Nature was kind enough to drop over 1" of rain, so I'm thankful for that.

Regarding inputs to the lawn, last year my macro inputs YTD were *18.97# N, 2.2 # P2O5 and 1.44 # K2O*. So far this year, I'm at *3.88# N, 0# P2O5 and 0.75# K2O*. My yard looks better than it did last year, and I only did 2 irrigation cycles (I have no in-ground irrigation), less rainfall and longer periods between what little rain we did get than last year. Frankly, I wasn't trying to grow in from a poa invasion, and I was super busy with some renovation projects. I mowed when it needed mowing, and I didn't overregulate, treated for weeds as I needed, and just let nature run.

I don't have any recent pictures, but I'll do what I can to snap some and upload them soon. All I have is a somewhat decent picture of the front yard when i was trying to figure out where I wanted to mount our Ring Spotlight on 9/15.


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## Colonel K0rn

First, some pictures. I took these yesterday, and I ran out of daylight before I got some after-cut pics. Most of the brown spots are from an uneven cut that I get from the zero-turn, but I gotta work with what I've got right now. The Flex wasn't going to be able to cut down the tall grass, so I had to deal with some scalp marks, and I'm fine with that for now. It's going to be cold soon. Looking at the pictures, the color appears to be pretty splotchy, but it's just due to a crappy cut quality with the mower, and some areas catching the light differently, except for the parkways. Those areas are just thin, and they get whatever Mother Nature throws at them waterwise.








We're supposed to get some serious rainfall tomorrow, and my grass was over 2" tall, so I knew I needed to give the lawn maybe what is it's last cut of the season. I was using my zero turn to collect the clippings, since I had a lot of seed heads from when I let the HOC creep way up out of what I was maintaining it at. It was just ridiculously hot this past month, I was just out of energy, and having a 14 blade reel on the Flex didn't lead to quite a nice-looking cut. This winter, I'm planning on changing to an 8 or 11 blade so I can maintain a decent HOC.

During my usual lawn cutting routine, I'll use the landscaping blade to go around the edges, and then use the stick edger on concrete. As I was passing by my HVAC condenser, I saw an ant mound, which had just popped up, because I hadn't seen it 4 days earlier. I mixed up a gallon of Bifenthrin and Fuse, and thought that this mound had come from another mound that was about 10' away from its current location on the other side of the fence. Seems like the ants decided to make another home.

I thought that I needed to really douse the hell out of the ground, so I was going to poke holes into the ground and the next, and really give it a good soaking by spraying the entire contents of the sprayer into the holes I would create. I sprayed a barrier, about 2' out from the nest, and then started seeing ants come out of the top of the nest. I continued to spray, and soak, and then it was time to poke holes into the nest. When I used the penetrometer, it went into the ground with very little resistance. This surprised me, because the area where I was spraying sees a lot of foot traffic, and I've always driven my vehicles through that portion of the yard. It's pretty neglected. I thought that it was the ants that had softened up the ground.

After I killed the mound, I remembered that I had checked several areas of the yard to see how much compaction there was. *Last year, I couldn't insert the probe more than 10" into the soil in almost every place I tried*. The exception was a few spots mainly by the eternally low spot in the front yard where water usually formed a pond. I stepped out to a random spot, and buried the probe up to the handle with no resistance. *I thought that was a fluke.* I moved to another random place, and did the same thing, albeit with a little more resistance. I was in disbelief... here I was using the same tool that Pete Denny used in several of his videos to show how non-compacted his soil was, and I was having the same expected results in about 75% of my front yard. My back yard yielded similar results, where I was able to bury the probe up to the handle with some minimal effort.

What does this mean? Well, I've been using AIR-8 for the past 2 years, along with Humic 12, RGS, D-Thatch, Greene Punch 18-0-1, MicroGreene 0-0-2 and FloraGreene(doesn't count really on the lawn). I have only mechanically aerated my yard once in the 9 years I have lived here. Up to 2017, if I got more than 0.5" of rainfall, I'd have standing water in the front and the back yard for days. We haven't had a lot of rain this season; September I measured our total rainfall at 0.29". We did get 1.84" of rainfall on Monday, and we're due some more tomorrow. We're in a slight drought, but you wouldn't be able to tell because my yard is still really green, while others around me are struggling.

I'm not sure if I could attribute this change to liquid aeration, or just improved root mass in the lawn. Either way, I asked my wife to shoot some quick video for me, and you can see the results for yourself. I just was excited to share my experience with the community.


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## ENC_Lawn

I know the Reel is the best cut by far...but I think your lawn looks pretty good!

It still looks like a very well manicured yard...just slightly higher cut! :thumbup:


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## Colonel K0rn

Well, it looks like this year started off to an interesting start. I put out my PreM a couple of weeks ago, and we've had a lot of rain. My lawn never really went dormant completely, it's a bit overgrown right now, but I've got some recent developments that I have to attend to.

Day before yesterday, my wife woke me up and said, "Hey, look at the security camera. There's 2 guys in the front yard, and they're digging a hole." I got up, and saw that they were with a local surveying company. Turns out my neighbor hired them to survey the boundary line between his property and my own. When I went out to see what they were doing, I saw they had placed a witness mark (aka stake about 3' high with flagging tape on it) about 35' away from the sidewalk, and about 3' off of the line that we had been maintaining between our lawns. I had NO idea that there was a buried monument in my front yard, and what I've been maintaining as well as the 2 prior residents of the house next to mine was actually not the boundary line of the lot. It turns out that whoever installed the fence on that property installed it pretty far inside the boundary line of their property. It appears that they used the pin at the front of the property and the back of the property, instead of angling it toward the buried monument. If that was the case, then there really wouldn't be an issue, except for the fact that the post that my gate hinges on is on my property, but the fence enclosing my back yard is not.

I have not spoken with the owners, as I'm kinda figuring out what my next move is going to be. Considering his disrespect last July, and giving off the vibe that he's not a nice person, I'm probably going to wait to see what his next move is. Frankly, I'd love to move, and let this become someone else's' nuisance. But its my issue now, and I have spoken with my attorney who referred me to another attorney who actually litigates and doesn't do just closings on RE transactions. Depending upon our consultation, I'll be able to find out what the prudent thing to do would be regarding legal action.

Here's a picture of what the plot lines, as laid out by the plat and the permanent monuments (one of which neither of us knew was buried in my front yard).


I was advised that the fence in the back yard, and the maintained property line in the front yard would almost certainly meet the criteria for Adverse Possession, but honestly, I lean heavily toward the teachings of Christ when he said to settle your differences quickly before you go to court (Matthew 5:25-26). Counsel told me that they would have to spend copious amounts of money and have an uphill legal battle to win that slice of land back. The way I look at it, it's less for me to mow, and treat with chemicals.


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## jakemauldin

That sounds like a massive headache. I'll be praying that yall are able to come to a fair and quick resolve.


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## jayhawk

CK - busy w/ Reno's? Everyone ok?


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## Colonel K0rn

jayhawk said:


> CK - busy w/ Reno's? Everyone ok?


Hey there, thanks for checking in on me @jayhawk. I have been busy the past few months with family stuff, but like everyone else, just waiting out the storm, and keeping our heads down and faces masked up. I literally just placed an order for more christmas lights. :lol: All is going well here this year. This year I didn't have nearly as many problems as last year with the neighbors, even though they still made a mess. The difference is that they were actually over in my yard cleaning up debris this year, so I guess that's a bonus.

Here's what the "turf war" side of the lawn looked like on 6/10. 

This is the time of year that it's oppressive to be outside during the afternoon, and it seems as I've gotten older, my tolerance for the heat isn't what it used to be either. Pretty much have the yard on cruise control, and have it on a diet with regard to N inputs this year. I've put down just under 1.5# N/M so far this year. On 6/24 I applied my Calcium Nitrate + Potassium Nitrate to the lawn along with T-Nex, and was expecting to get some rainfall. The rain didn't come, and I got a combo of tip burn and bronzing from the app, so it looked pretty beat up and stressed for a while, so I literally went 2 weeks between mows. It's been unusually dry here this year, and now that we're in the warmer months, it's only going to become more tedious to dance on that fine line of brutality and care.



When the yard bronzed up like that, I figured I'd give it a few weeks to grow out of it, and my last mow was 6 days ago, and it looks like it's probably going to take a week more to recover. I actually think that I miscalculated one of my inputs, which exacerbated the burn. It looked pretty bad in person, but I also injured my ankle the day after I sprayed, so it's taking me a few weeks to get to where I can walk around without being in pain.

I'm due to do another PGR application, which I'll do tomorrow morning, and then mow Monday AM when it's not a bazillion degrees outside. This next week is forecast to be 96°+ every day after 11AM. I'll upload a picture after I get the cut done.


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## Colonel K0rn

I realized that I didn't post any pictures since my mow, and honestly, it's been stupidly hot and dry here. I mowed the lawn 2 days ago and didn't want to stress it much, but knew that by doing so, it was going to stress out. It got a little crispy, and was still recovering in some places from the last fertilizer application. I figured it was going to be at least 1 month for it to recover completely.

So far this year, I'm at less than 1.5#N/M total. I've been working on making the plants work for their nutrients, and using what's available and locked up in the soil. My strategy this year was to work on the pH, and get it higher than 6.5, with multiple lime applications, and changing from a foliar applied urea to Calcium Nitrate and Potassium Nitrate. My feeding apps amount to a little over .25#N/M.

Here's what it looks like when we have a bit of cloud cover. It looks super green, and lush, and it is. 


These were taken at 11AM yesterday, prior to me putting the sprinklers out, and getting some water into the ground. I wanted to push the turf, and see how it would manage, and it's done a good job in my opinion. Considering the lack of rainfall, and the limited diet it's been on, when it came out of regulation from the T-Nex app, I would have figured I'd have a massive rebound and surge growth like I've seen in the past, but that wasn't the case. Rebound was minimal, but I've also let the grass get up to 0.750" just to allow it to get more leaf tissue, and help with evaporative loss.

In comparison, I like to gauge the health of the turf to the scalped portion that I used to maintain. It looks terrible on the other side of the property line, but that was to be expected. It looked worse about 4 days ago when it was beat into submission by a rotary with a dull blade. :lol:


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## ENC_Lawn

@Colonel K0rn That Royal Bengal is Looking Good! :thumbup:


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