# TTTF / SPF30 IN DFW Texas



## Lem855 (Mar 24, 2021)

This spring I took the journey of growing a test plot at 300 Square feet of SPF30 hybrid kbg. I killed off the existing bermuda grass and leftover st. Augustine and much unwanted poa. 3 good doses of glyphosate timed several weeks apart. I dug up and pulled all the remaining dead grass, bagged, and left out for trash pickup. Yeah that's a bitch! 
I tilled the soil by hand and then leveled the soil with a diy drag made from a small pallet and paver blocks. I must be nuts. But by the end of day it was level and ready for fertilizer and then seed. Here's a Pic of the progress.


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## Lem855 (Mar 24, 2021)

After spreading lesco starter fertilizer and a quick leveling I spread the seed for the recommended Sq ft.


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## Lem855 (Mar 24, 2021)

After looking at these photos I think I needed more seed coverage to be more lush. That will be remedied at a later date.


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## Lem855 (Mar 24, 2021)

Time for some coverage with peatmoss.


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## Lem855 (Mar 24, 2021)

I kept the soil moist by water 4 times per day. Well the spring brought much needed rain too, a little too much. Flooded spots, seed drifting and floating away. At least she's growing.


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## Lem855 (Mar 24, 2021)

By summer she looked good and what I expected from KBG. Bi monthly spoon feeding of fish oil and kelp and mostly organic products seemed to make this lawn shine. We still had some bare spots due to loss of seed but I was hopeful that she would fill in on its own.


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## Lem855 (Mar 24, 2021)

And now for the summer heat and higher levels of heat index. It surely did a number on my lawn , yes and some dog spots and some possum damage but she has given up and maybe at best has 50% left in her. I'm surely hope for some cooler temps and for a reseeding. I also have issues with the roots not seeming to be deep enough which is puzzling. It maybe time for a reset.


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## Lem855 (Mar 24, 2021)

After some help from a landscaper friend who was intrested in my project he asked if I had some flooding issues during some heavy rains we had. He was under the impression that my grass roots have been starving of oxygen due to stagnant water. Sure enough we had several days where flooding was terrible. So we are planning to put some drains in the low spots and drain it out to the street. This should solve my issues. We'll here goes another reason to re reno the yard completely.


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## Lem855 (Mar 24, 2021)

Final dug the trenches for the new drain lines in the French drain system. Just need to set the slope and run the 4" perfered flexible pipe and connect to solid pipe running to the street. Hopefully this will allow the soil to not be so saturated and flood the grass from now on. 
Also my 1st application of glyphosate is finally doing a number on the common bermuda which riddles my larger section of the back yard. She's dead as a door nail.


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## Lem855 (Mar 24, 2021)

So after installing the French drains and purchasing 2 yards of mix soil in preparation for leveling I decided to conduct some human core aeration. Tonight I'll apply some humichar, Air8 and humic acid before and after leveling. Then start to do pre germination of the seed for the throw down next weekend with some starter fertilizer.


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## UltimateLawn (Sep 25, 2020)

Following. I thought KBG would not grow in DFW due to the Summer heat.


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## Lem855 (Mar 24, 2021)

UltimateLawn said:


> Following. I thought KBG would not grow in DFW due to the Summer heat.


There a few of us in North Texas that have this KBG, some just the SPF30 and some mixed with either tttf or a different version of a heat tolerant variety. I had some flooding issues or I'd be still going strong on my original test plot.


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## Lem855 (Mar 24, 2021)

After doing some research for starter fert I decided on scotts starter fert with mesotrione then finally seeded and fert and raked in like @jeffcaton mentioned. Hosed in some gcf GreenStart and Rgs, then decided to go with Pennington straw with tack. I couldn't find mulch lock localy so I decided to go with this option. Water schedule for 10 min on 7am-11-3-7pm till we see green. I was planning on pre-germinating the seed but with the weather dropping to between 60-mid 80's there's no better time than now! And didn't want to lose this window. Lets hope and 🙏 she will come in nicely.
Nothing more happier than watching your babies take a nappy nappy until they wakey wakey!
Thanks to all you SPF30 guys for helping me along the way!


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## Lem855 (Mar 24, 2021)

Finally after 1 week post fertiling and seeding we finally have germination and young seedlings. Now for 3 more weeks till more fert for root development and the 30 till a regular ferlizer program.


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## Lem855 (Mar 24, 2021)

10 days after seeding, 3 x much faster germination than my first attempt this past spring. Hoping for a deeper root structure this time around!


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## Lem855 (Mar 24, 2021)

12 days from seeding, now changing from 4 times per day to now 2 times and increasing from 7-8 to 20 minutes to get deeper watering and letting the roots chase it deeper. Hope this watering schedule is correct.


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## Lem855 (Mar 24, 2021)

Well after spraying 33 0-0 urea yesterday 10/6 @ .009% per 1k square feet, in The morning today we did a smaller version of 18-0-1 Greenpunch and Rgs. Hopefully this is a faster green up and root growth.


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## Lem855 (Mar 24, 2021)

20 days since seeding and 15 from date of germination and it's starting to look like something. Reseeded some bare spots that just didn't take well. Not sure if it's my dogs or squirrels trying to bury nuts. 
Had a bad storm come through and dumped 1 " of rain in 20 min times with 40-60 mph winds and the grass and straw held up ok. Not so good for dead tree limbs in the neighborhood. 
The new French drains worked like a charm diverting the water that collect in our yard and no flooding or squishy spots this morning. Here are some pics of the progress of the SPF30.


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## Lem855 (Mar 24, 2021)

Day 24 since seeding and the lawn, looks good for such a short time but still far away from my first mow. Hopefully the weather will cooperate since temps are dropping into the mid 70's and low of 45-50 in the evenings. Just wished the temps would go back up for a few more weeks.


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## klsmith259 (Oct 6, 2020)

Don't worry it will still grow throughout the cooler temps and will still germinate.


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## Lem855 (Mar 24, 2021)

klsmith259 said:


> Don't worry it will still grow throughout the cooler temps and will still germinate.


Thanks @klsmith259 , gonna switch from frequent watering 4x per day to 30-40 min 2x per week to start promoting deeper water and root penetration now till the first mow. I've got one more application of RGS and humic then I'll access it from there again.


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## Lem855 (Mar 24, 2021)

Grass has grown quite a bit. Have given it its second cut with my fiskars reel mower at 1-1/2". Also have given it numerous weekly urea applications since it germinated. Have seen a more profound change in the density of the growth. Now my newest problem that I face are squirrels looking to dig holes in the yard trying to bury nuts or food for the winter. My newest toy is now an ultrasonic repellent for outdoors. Purchased a Broox ultrasonic sound wave and light repellent, hoping this will help, and not allow my yard to be destroyed after all this work months ago. Also reseeded some major spots from dog damage and spots just not germinating. Here are some pics updating the progress. 

BROOX ULTRASONIC REPELLENT.




After the second mow


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## Lem855 (Mar 24, 2021)

Well 3 months later and countless fertilizer treatments and weekly urea applications it's finally come in to something respectable. After a 10 day trip back home to Michigan and monitoring the watering schedule remotely it was time for a overdue mow. Here are some December pics before and after the mow and temps in DFW Texas expected to be be in high 70's-80's for Christmas week 😀


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## bertrand_r (10 mo ago)

How is your KBG holding up during this brutal Texas summer? I planted some tall fescue in the spring and it has taken a beating the last few weeks. Planning a full reno for next month. Also in DFW.


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## Lem855 (Mar 24, 2021)

Well after a great fall the lawn looked fabulous and stayed pretty much this way throughout the growing season. Here are some photos of its progress.


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## Lem855 (Mar 24, 2021)

Now what happen next was unforseen and just down right awfull. The heat index and temps in DFW were just out of this world over 60+ days with out rain, no excuse as it's irrigated. But the temps where over 95-110 at times and the lawn just fried and died no matter what did.


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## Lem855 (Mar 24, 2021)

9/22 - Now for the big redo, a reno in the fall and looking at changing grass types with a specific goal heat tolerance. 
After much research and calls to seed companies with prices going up I settled on a combination of fescue and kbg. Outsiderspride *combat zone extreme* southern zone seed is the new look for my small yard.


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## Lem855 (Mar 24, 2021)

With temps still high in DFW in September I took the time to start to change over and pre the lawn for the renovation. Dethatching, sacrifing, leveling, and regarding a portion of the yard was in order.


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## Lem855 (Mar 24, 2021)

What would we do without Google and YouTube and the lawnforum.com. Fact!👊

With downtime and a new direction I research what would be the direction for my next journey in my little plot of real-estate. 

I embarked on researching pregerminaton practices and settled in on a 2-1/2 day soaking for the fescue / KBG seed mix with water changes every 12 hours and an additional hydrogen peroxide boost on the final 12 hours. The hydrogen peroxide is for loosen the seeds coat and ensure a higher success rate of all the seeds germinating once in the ground. I used 2- 5 gal paint strainer cloths for the seed and soaked the 8lbs of seed in a 5 gal lowes bucket.


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## Lem855 (Mar 24, 2021)

After 2-1/2 days it's time. A little prep on the borders, adding andersons humicar into the soil and tilling it in with my Rock n Rocker dethatcher blade and loosening the soil it was time to spread the seed.


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## Lem855 (Mar 24, 2021)

With the soil prepped I used 1 bag of Milorganite as my carrier for spreading, again see youtube.com for how to and Milorganite website for more information 😀. 
In my tub that was used for mixing I added 1 4lbs bag of Hy-Yeild triple Super phosphate 0-45-0 for root development.


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## Lem855 (Mar 24, 2021)

After spreading the seed in several directions making sure to maximize coverage I used scotts starter fert with mesotrione/tenacity as I had good success with this product in the past. I rented a lawn roller, worked on ensuring good seed to soil contact and spread 3 bags of peatmoss down lightly over the seed and began the long waiting game. My water schedule was set at 4 x per day @ 3 min per cycle. On the first few days until germination happened. 
Germination happened on day 4 with more coverage by day 6. 
Here are some photos of the progress.


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## Lem855 (Mar 24, 2021)

Week 2 -
I watered in my first application of 33-0-0 UREA nitrogen in liquid form. I watered in .1 lbs or 8oz in warm water and added a very small amount of hydrolyzed fish emulsion with my hose in sprayer.

3 full weeks from seed down the first haircut happened. After a light racking and blowing of the leaves, pine needles, and pine cones I used my Fiscar reel mower to trim things up. I also spread out 4 lbs of NEPTUNES HARVEST CRAB AND LOBSTER 🦞 powder. Things are starting to smell fishy.

Now for the new growing season, I'll be using a new product called Tidal Grow at 2% and 4% and adding this product into my tank mixes monthly and seeing how this affects the rate of growth and if it will help in fighting fungus and help with heat stress prevention.
This product is similar to the product GCI turf sells 02-YS except without the yuca product.

CHITOSAN EXTRACT is what farmers are researching for in seach of better environmental and sustainable practices.
I also spoke with my county extension after my soil test and they agreed it would be a very organic direction for the soil and grass.
I also can't turndown free samples so next week will be the first application of the product till the grass slows down its growth.
I'll keep posting photos of the different percentages on the lawn and on the section without.


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## Lem855 (Mar 24, 2021)

Week #5
2nd mow with rotary mower, lowered 1 notch to about 3-1/4" hight of cut. Seeing some change to the color of the lawn with the fertilizer cocktail I've been using. Pleased with the outsiderpride combat zone extreme southern grass.


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