# OL 2019 Journal



## OnyxsLawn (Mar 15, 2018)

Finally back at it! Spring has been busy trying to finish up projects from winter and getting ready for the warm weather. 
We had a fairly mild winter here. No consistent snow cover and only the polar vortex to do damage. Both the back and front yards came out of winter well with no snow mold damage.

In the off season I picked up some new lawn tools including a jacobsen PGM 22 off Craigslist for very cheap, and some new Milwaukee tools, new backpack sprayer and their new attachment trimmer/edger. I also sold my tacoma and bought an Audi S4. Far less practical but it can still do the important jobs. 

The Jacobsen was in pretty good condition when I got it but still needed some tuning up. In addition to the usual oil change/airfilter/spark plug tune up, I cleaned with reel with a flap disk on a rotary tool and then backlapped to sharpen it. The reel only has one small bend at the end of one of the blades but its been ground down so it still cuts properly. It should get me through the year. I'd like to replace it with a 9 blade reel eventually. The front roller bearings were completely destroyed (wouldn't even roll) so I ordered up a new smooth front roller and the extra long front brackets from R&R. The new roller is great but the brackets that were sent were too wide for the slots they slide in. After some time with the belt sander the brackets now slide easily up and down for adjusting the HOC. I set the HOC to 7/8" to start with for the year and will likely stay pretty close to this until I get the lawn a bit smoother.

Last year I renovated both the front yard (fall, KBG) and the Back (spring, TTTF PRG KBG mix). Let's start with the good:
The front yard filled in nicely last fall and i look forward to pushing it to thicken up in some areas throughout the spring. 
Where it started:

Where it finished last year:

This year I started with a good raking to clean up the dead leaves and winter debris. Last weekend I applied a low rate of an 18-3-6 liquid fert with some iron in it to kick things off as well as some Tenacity to act as a temporary pre-emergent (forgot to pick up prodiamine early enough) and to take care of some broadleaf weeds popping up. I also mowed for the first time with a real reel mower today. Apart from being a bit of a learning curve it's good fun and leaves the lawn looking great.





The Bad:
My back yard is not looking near as crisp as the front. Between the 2 dogs, summer stress after spring seeding, and building a new fence (lots of compaction and ruts from the tractor used to pull and set posts), it needs plenty of love, but first the background. 
A year ago I planted TTTF and after poor germination threw down some PRG and KBG seed is a desperate attempt to get it to fill in. 




Before the neglect to reno the front yard and the fence build.





This spring i've transplanted about 75 KBG plugs that I grew in trays into the bare and dead patches. I've also pulled about another 100 plugs from where I will be building a shed to fill in the rest of the bare patches. The back also got the same fert/tenacity mix as the front yard. 



The Plan: 
First and foremost I need a shed to hold my growing collection of lawn equipment.

I will hopefully be framing the majority of it this weekend. 
My plan for the lawn this spring is to continue spoon feeding both the front and back yards at a low rate (0.5 lb N/ K every 3 weeks) in order to push the grass to fill in. Once the spring flush starts I'll be doing some leveling in the back yard to get it smooth enough for the reel mower to not scalp the patches of good grass. I'll also slowly lower the HOC in the back from 2" to the same height (my goal is 3/4" but we'll see how I like it) as the front yard. 
As always this big guy will be there to help whenever i'm outside.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

Awesome news on the reel. If you want prodiamine, let me know when you are in Indy. I have plenty for a few decades.


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## OnyxsLawn (Mar 15, 2018)

As soon as the back yard started perking up and looking good. I trampled it significantly in order to build a shed for storing all my lawn supplies. 

I finished most of the frame in one day but didn't get any further because yesterday it rained all day and even snowed a bit. These cold temperatures really aren't helping the front lawn take off. It's still barely growing and has a lot of brown in it, much more than the grass in the back.


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## OnyxsLawn (Mar 15, 2018)

Figured its time for a lawn update even though I'm still not thrilled with how it's going. Last week I got a little heavy handed with my weed killer spot spray and did some damage to the surrounding turf. we'll see if it ever comes back, if not I'll be transplanting some plugs. 
Over the weekend I went to my favorite nursery in Cleveland and bought a ton to fill in my beds especially along the back fence.





This week has been filled with constant rain (about 3") but I have had a chance to get out and mow a couple times and put down about 0.5 lbs N/k from urea.



The spots that struggled last year are still slow to take off this spring. I think I'm going to put down an app of azoxy to see if that helps if it is a fungus. I didn't initially suspect fungus because there was a lot of brown from winter but now after reading some other posts I'm second guessing myself.





I'll give it a little more time to take off before I start really freaking out.

In the back I dropped the HOC from 2" to the 3/4" I've been cutting on the front.









Today it looks far worse than when I first cut it. Still lots of flopped over longer blades of grass blades in the thinner areas. the crowns are also turning very yellow. In contrast to the front though, it's growing like crazy. cutting every other day to stay on top of it and help it adjust to the new HOC.



I think I really need some good sunshine to get everything going nicely.


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## OnyxsLawn (Mar 15, 2018)

Spread 40lbs of The Andersons Humic DG on Monday.
Yesterday I mowed with the rotary at 1.5" first to help vacuum up some of the more horizontal long grass blades then mowed with the reel at 1". Only cut the back as the front still isn't growing fast so it didn't need it. Is this just the growth habit of dwarf cultivars compared to big box seed? we've gotten a decent amount of sunshine and temps are in the mid 60s to 70s during the day.


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## OnyxsLawn (Mar 15, 2018)

@g-man I can see how you have a decades worth now!

I weighed out 2 years worth of applications and didn't make a dent. Trying to get my parents to buy the rest off me for their 4 acres. That should use it up before it goes bad.
Got a good mow in this afternoon. 



There are still a lot of stragglers left over and the cut isn't the cleanest so I've been talking to the superintendent of the warren golf course to see if they've got some time to sharpen the reel for me and probably do the bearings and bed knife at the same time.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

FWIW, I don't think it goes bad if you keep it sealed away from heat.


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## MNReel (Jul 18, 2018)

How are you liking the Jacobsen? I'm looking at one for $500 it's a late '90 model.


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## OnyxsLawn (Mar 15, 2018)

MooreGreen55020 said:


> How are you liking the Jacobsen? I'm looking at one for $500 it's a late '90 model.


It's great! Needs a sharpen but still cuts great. I think the combined drive and operator presence control is the best design on greens mowers. A little unwieldy in my tight corners along the patio but I'm getting better.


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## OnyxsLawn (Mar 15, 2018)

Some recent pics of the yard and flowers. Mega stripes were time consuming but look good. Wish the sun was out to make them pop more.


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## OnyxsLawn (Mar 15, 2018)

Some arched stripes for a gorgeous Friday afternoon!


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## OnyxsLawn (Mar 15, 2018)

Some double wides!







The heat is setting in hard and I need to put down some spray applications. Is it best to do early morning applications when it's coolest and water in the evening or evenings applications and water in the morning. Planning on spraying iron sulfate, t-nex fungicide, a small dose of urea and spot spraying some weeds.


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## OnyxsLawn (Mar 15, 2018)

Mowed in the pouring rain for the first time with jake the other day. The rain was a great break from the heat but the front roller was pushing a bow wave it was raining so hard!




Lawn is recovering nicely from its first app of FAS and pgr. Only the area that gets drought stressed showed some browning bits it's mostly gone now. Cutting frequency has been cut in half thanks to the pgr from every other day to every 4th day.

Cut some single single doubles today. Pattern courtesy of a Cubs game my wife had on.


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## OnyxsLawn (Mar 15, 2018)

Time to break out the Fiskars again for a little bit. The Jake went off to the Warren golf course to get sharpened and he said he hoped he could get to it back to me early next week assuming none of their equipment needs major service between now and then. For $100 I can't complain. 
Had a great time geeking out over grass with the superintendent of a prestigious course talking about how to get a better after cut on my KBG and all the prep they had to do for the Senior Open they just held. 
Also sprayed pgr and too much iron (picked my rates from a warm season thread). My Milwaukee backpack sprayer was struggling to spray the mixture but hopefully it improves after I cut the iron rate in half. If not I'll try pulling the inlet screen out and poking holes in it like @synergy0852 did.


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## OnyxsLawn (Mar 15, 2018)

The lawn has been coasting well through the hot summer which is good since I've been busy with other things. My wife and I are expecting our first kid in December so all my projects around the house now have a deadline. This month we are renovating our kitchen with new cabinets, counters, paint, backsplash, and a vented range hood install. This is taking up most of my time but have still had some time to enjoy the nice weather in the yard.

Last week my wife informed me that she volunteered us to host a party for our friends on Sept 7th which threw a wrench into my renovation plans. I had planned to throw down some KBG in the back yard once the kitchen reno was done. unfortunately that would mean a dirt backyard for the party. So with so help from everyone on here I decided to do an impromptu full Reno and throw down some PRG along with the KBG.

Last Monday 7/29 was the first dose of roundup followed by another on Thursday 8/1. By Saturday it was looking pretty brown. I bought a sunjoe dethatcher and put it to work. I tried to do some hand raking before buying the electric dethatcher; well worth the money. Pulled up enough material to fill a 96 gallon trash barrel. 

I used the old craftsman to vacuum up the thatch material once it dried in the sun for a little. Since I've been cutting at 7/8 I didn't find it necessary to scalp, plus I don't want to dull my freshly sharpened reel.

Slit my finger open Saturday and had to get stitches so the rest of the work had to wait till Sunday afternoon. 
I used some of my sifted top soil from digging out flower beds to level a couple low areas. Spread 12.5 lbs SS9000 PRG mix (33% Karma 33% Stellar 33% Grand Slam) and 5 lbs of KBG from my front Reno (30% bluenote 30% Skye 20% Midnight 20% Everest). I also put down a bag of milorganite some starter Fert and sprayed a final app of roundup and some tenacity. Covered up the bare spots with peat moss and put the sprinklers in and used some slat wall hooks from the garage to hold the hose up out of the dirt so I don't have strips of no germination. watering every 2 hours during the day to keep it wet till the KBG germinates then I'll back down. 



Onyx is pretty mad he can't play frisbee for a while but its a good opportunity to teach him to use the gravel bed to relieve himself. Now fingers crossed for some good weather.


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## OnyxsLawn (Mar 15, 2018)

Grass babies!


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## jabopy (Nov 24, 2018)

Congratulations on the upcoming in December :thumbup: a busy lifestyle is always the best when you've got to get things done. The cut finger isn't going to help though. Keep the great thread going, you'll look back and wonder how you managed to fit everything in.


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## OnyxsLawn (Mar 15, 2018)

@jabopy Thanks! We are very excited and very terrified at the same time. Definitely staying busy this past weekend renovation our kitchen (I know it's not lawn related but I'm thrilled with how it came out) 
Before:





During:









After:





The backyard is also coming in nicely. Could practically watch it grow over the weekend. I plan to cut it when it reaches 1.5". I don't want to trample the kbg seedlings as they be behind the prg but i also don't want to let the prg get too long before cutting it.


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## OnyxsLawn (Mar 15, 2018)

The repotty training isn't going well. Onyx hates the gravel and jumped the fence to go pee on the new grass.


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## OnyxsLawn (Mar 15, 2018)

A rare appearance by Jax outdoors after a good pre rain mow.


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## OnyxsLawn (Mar 15, 2018)

First stripes on the new grass. The heavy jake helped flatten out some bumps that showed up from worm activity but I think it's going to leave some dirt spots where the grass got covered. Trying to balance keeping the grass cut low to get it to tiller out without trampling it too much.


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## OnyxsLawn (Mar 15, 2018)

25 days post germination and its filling in nicely. I clearly didn't put enough seed along the edges and the north side of the garage is struggling but everything else is coming along nicely. Pushing growth with Urea every 5 days and will spray some iron and an 18-3-6 once it stops raining. I love the stripes on the PRG and am considering overseeing the front to make the stripes pop more.


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## OnyxsLawn (Mar 15, 2018)

The heat as drought has put a stop to the fall nitrogen push for a bit. The back has gone a full week without water and isn't showing signs of drought stress. Unfortunately the dogs are allowed back in the yard and only one of them has gotten the hang of peeing in the gravel so I have urine spots again. Sprayed tenacity and tnex today since it's the first day in a while below 80.


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## OnyxsLawn (Mar 15, 2018)

Probably the last update of the year as we're doing a lot to prep for baby coming in December.

Tons of leaves coming down so I haven't been using the Jake much. 
I bought a new battery powered toro recycler and a striping kit for a good deal and am loving it. It's really quiet and leaves a nice even cut at 1". I added an additional bush the the striping kit to really lay down some good stripes. 








Overall I'm happy with the progress of the backyard Reno and hope it thickens up even more next year to help tolerate the dogs.


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## Mrotatori (Aug 13, 2018)

looks really good, great job


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