# piotrkol's lawn



## piotrkol (Oct 27, 2018)

Hello from Poland! Just joined but instantly loved this journal idea and decided I might as well start my own. First post will cover a brief history of the lawn, then I'll go quickly over the big renovation I just finished, and hopefully things will be picked up from that. Also daily updates on instagram @piotrkol_lawn

*2007-2018
The lawn was first established way back in 2007 when we got the house. At that time I wasn't much into lawncare so it was rather standard - glyphosate the weeds, rake the soil up and throw down some standard grass mix. Over time I got to like spending time in the lawn, which led to some nice results, but also got me thinking more and more about starting over - with much more knowledge then before. Here are some photos of the first lawn ranging from 2007 until July 2018.

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The next post will cover the renovation. Thanks!


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## piotrkol (Oct 27, 2018)

*August - October 2018
A full renovation was on my mind for years now. After having a rough spring with huge amounts of Poa and some crazy Millet spots I finally did it. The area is about 2600 square feet. My main focus (apart from getting rid of weeds) was to level the terrain out, that alone took me 3 weeks of running around with a wheelbarrow and a shovel all day long. It was a tough job - I had to take out almost 8 inches of soil from one end of the lawn and add that to the other side. Also there was a nasty bump in the middle and tons of rocks and pebbles all around. I also decided to install a basic irrigation system - nothing fancy, just one line and 3 sprinklers running through the middle.

The grass seed of my choice for the new lawn was Kentucky Bluegrass and Perrenial Ryegrass. The renovation started late July (glyphosate), and lasted all the way through August (lots of soil work), and ended with seeding on September 10th.

Time for some pictures then 

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Thanks!


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## piotrkol (Oct 27, 2018)

And finally, a fresh picture that I took today after throwing down some fertilizer and mowing. Just minutes before rain hit.

So as you will be able to tell, I'm a stripe guy and seeing that I live in Europe - a football (soccer) guy as well. So ultimately I'm going for a stadium look - thus the goal, wide checkerboard patterns etc.

Using mainly a rotary Hayter 56 on the new lawn - it has a roller on the back which stripes wonderfully well. Started using a hand pushed cylinder as well and hoping to change to a normal cylinder in the future.

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## samjonester (May 13, 2018)

Nice! Love the goal.


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## piotrkol (Oct 27, 2018)

Thanks! I must admit I'm a bit crazy about goals and goalnets especially. Recently bought a full sized goalnet, the very same model that was used during the 2018 World Cup. Had to do a lot of cutting and fitting pieces together but the results are quite nice. That's my 4th goalnet so... yeah :nod:

goalnet


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

I was going to ask about the net, where to find a small one.

The yard looks great. Your leveling looks perfect. What is your hoc with the rotary?


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## piotrkol (Oct 27, 2018)

Thanks! I did everything I could to make it as level as possible and it's almost perfect - 3 spots kinda dipped a bit more then the rest but I'm pretty sure a little bit of sand will handle it just fine 

That goalnet from the photo above is pretty much custom made by me, but they offer similar ones for small goals. It's from a spanish company called "El Leon De Oro"

Only mowed a few times so far and the hoc at the moment is around 23mm which is just below an inch (0.9"). Pretty late in the season now so it's not growing very fast, thus I set it low enough to just clip the tips of the grass.


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## Belfort (May 21, 2018)

Great work! Those stripes are awesome. Must have been a lot of work to make it that level...


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

Very very nice! :thumbup:


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## wardconnor (Mar 25, 2017)

holy crap... I LOVE this. Watching a thread like this makes me want to do a full renovation. I wanted to do one anyway but this one... gee dude... dont tempt me.


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## piotrkol (Oct 27, 2018)

@Belfort - Thanks! It was way more work then I imagined actually. I'll put it that way - my back was still hurting a month after finishing :mrgreen:

@Ware - Thanks, happy to hear that 

@wardconnor - thanks! Nice to hear that and quite interesting because one of the bigger reasons that I decided to do this came from some of those videos of yours. Tried putting sand down in spring but the lawn was way to bumpy so had to go the long way 

It rained for the past 3 days but the sun came back today along with crazy temps - 71 degress which is really warm for this time of year. So I took out the hand pushed reel mower and gave the lawn a little mow and then went over with the rotary just to pick up leaves. Might be able to finish the beds around the lawn if it holds up... They're pretty messed up at the moment.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

@wardconnor No pressure, but I think your fan base will love to see some renovation videos. A Bewitched or Mazama monostand.


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## wardconnor (Mar 25, 2017)

g-man said:


> @wardconnor No pressure, but I think your fan base will love to see some renovation videos. A Bewitched or Mazama monostand.


Oh it would definitely be a KBG monostand. That is not even negotiable. Just have to figure out what cultivar. I would have done it yesterday had my wife gotten on board. That is the only thing holding me back really.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

You could "accidentally" throw down too much nitrogen in June, which means you have to "fix it".


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## rob13psu (May 20, 2018)

g-man said:


> You could "accidentally" throw down too much nitrogen in June, which means you have to "fix it".


 :shock: :lol:


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## piotrkol (Oct 27, 2018)

A renovation series would be epic I must admit 

Meanwhile, my favorite "wide checkerboard" pattern is up and running at 3/4". Double cut + some broom action :nod: Can't wait till this grass thickens up, we're expecting at least a week of sun and temps in the 70's but I don't think that will be enough. This will be the longest winter ever :|

And can't wait to get my hands on a proper cylinder mower. The hand pushed one I have is killing me with it's tiny 11 inch wide blade. Takes ages :lol:



ps. ignore the driveway - it's a work in progress


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## piotrkol (Oct 27, 2018)

I'll begin with a question - is it safe to put sand into the lawn now? It's 8 weeks old and I'd like to level out a few bumps...

Beautiful day today, it's like summer decided to give me another go for a few more days  Mowed as usual and sprinkled a bit, mainly because it looked cool in the sun. Halloween not really a big thing in Poland (yet) but dominated the entire street anyway :mrgreen:



And had some fun at night with lights


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## piotrkol (Oct 27, 2018)

Not a whole lot going on at the moment, mowed on Saturday and then decided to let it grow for a few days to change things up a little bit. Weather still rather pleasant (high 60s in the day, mid 40s at night). Lawn looked great in the sun today!

A little late evening action in the flood lights from yesterday.


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## PokeGrande (Mar 25, 2018)

:clapping:


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## social port (Jun 19, 2017)

Good grief, man. Words can't express how awesome this looks.


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## friscolawner (Sep 24, 2018)

Really fantastic result.


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## piotrkol (Oct 27, 2018)

Thanks for the kind words everyone 

Weather still surprisingly good so the grass is still growing. Felt a bit creative today so I went for the double, single pattern. cheers @wardconnor 



Having a little trouble with annual ryegrass (slightly lighter patch in the middle), I was told by a greenkeeper that it happens with the mix that I bought. If I don't let it produce seeds it should die in spring though so not panicking at the moment.


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## JDgreen18 (Jun 14, 2018)

Looking good


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

@piotrkol a pre emergent will also help with the annual rye.


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## wardconnor (Mar 25, 2017)

piotrkol said:


> Thanks for the kind words everyone
> 
> Weather still surprisingly good so the grass is still growing. Felt a bit creative today so I went for the double, single pattern. cheers @wardconnor
> 
> ...


Single doubles. So awesome. Looks great


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## Rule11 (May 5, 2018)

piotrkol said:


> *August - October 2018
> A full renovation was on my mind for years now. After having a rough spring with huge amounts of Poa and some crazy Millet spots I finally did it. The area is about 2600 square feet. My main focus (apart from getting rid of weeds) was to level the terrain out, that alone took me 3 weeks of running around with a wheelbarrow and a shovel all day long. It was a tough job - I had to take out almost 8 inches of soil from one end of the lawn and add that to the other side. Also there was a nasty bump in the middle and tons of rocks and pebbles all around. I also decided to install a basic irrigation system - nothing fancy, just one line and 3 sprinklers running through the middle.
> 
> The grass seed of my choice for the new lawn was Kentucky Bluegrass and Perrenial Ryegrass. The renovation started late July (glyphosate), and lasted all the way through August (lots of soil work), and ended with seeding on September 10th.
> ...


This is some awesome Work! Well done


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## piotrkol (Oct 27, 2018)

Thanks @Rule11 and @wardconner!

@g-man - I'll definitely look into using some pre-emergent. A bit tough finding it here where I live but I have loads of time to search now 

Anyway - this happened last week:



But it got better after a few days so I was able to put down some more stripes (Hayter rotary + going over everything with a broom  :mrgreen: Can't believe how good it looks seeing that it's almost December. The level surface makes it even better. I knew it was gonna make a difference but it's crazy.


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## Rule11 (May 5, 2018)

piotrkol said:


> Thanks @Rule11 and @wardconner!
> 
> @g-man - I'll definitely look into using some pre-emergent. A bit tough finding it here where I live but I have loads of time to search now
> 
> ...


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## AZChemist (Nov 7, 2018)

Awesome stripes! Applaud you for getting them so straight!


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## piotrkol (Oct 27, 2018)

Thanks! To be honest I spend way more time than I should on getting the stripes straight. Some kind of OCD maybe :mrgreen:

But yeah, my new top tip for reno is to get the lawn as level and straight as possible, huge difference :shock:

I'm repeating myself but I just can't wait for spring with this project. If I get my hands on a proper reel mower and with the help of everyone here the next season will be epic :nod:


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## jabopy (Nov 24, 2018)

Don't think you need a different mower piotrkol!! That lawn is fantastic. Did you level out the bumps with sand in the end ?


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## piotrkol (Oct 27, 2018)

Thanks!
The reel that I use gets the job done, but it's hand-pushed and only 12" wide so it takes ages to go through the entire lawn. And I suspect a self propelled one will have the reel spinning faster thus producing an even better cut(?)

There is also the Hayter rotary which I'm using now as the season is about to end. It's pretty heavy, and has a roller on the back so the stripe effect is great, but I definitely want to go reel all the way next season 

I didn't do anything to the bumps actually, they are still out there but you can only really see them from up close. I will be putting down sand in spring though


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## Butter (Nov 14, 2017)

Awesome!


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## jdc_lawnguy (Oct 30, 2018)

That is absolutely awesome. Looks like you put in a log of really hard work. It clearly shows and definitely paid off


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## piotrkol (Oct 27, 2018)

Thanks @jdc_lawnguy & @Butter

Meanwhile the weather is going crazy. Last 3 days absolutely freezing with temps dropping to 5F (-15C). Starting tomorrow though I will be getting a massive change, the forecast say it might reach 60F around Tuesday.

That's how it looked today out in the lawn. Looks like the stripes froze along with the grass :lol:


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## piotrkol (Oct 27, 2018)

And back to some warmer temps. 50f today. Double mowed yesterday (just to pick up a few leaves and stripe) and today went over the stripes with a brush and a light roller to complete the checkerboard pattern.

December 4th stripes, crazy


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## NoslracNevok (Jun 12, 2018)

Amazing. What's your process to make it so level?


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## piotrkol (Oct 27, 2018)

^Well it was a very DIY, no tools and no experience type of process  I'll try to explain and show some pics along the way.

First I carefully layed out string with the future level of the lawn using a water level thingy. The lawn is ~25m (82ft) long and I decided to have one end higher than the other by 12cm (4.7in) so that water can have a place to go and not stay on the lawn. It's about a 0,5% gradient which should be enough.

Turned out there was a lot of material to transport from one end to the other. The north side was about 23cm (9in) higher than my established level and the south side was lower by almost the same amount (9in).

So I divided the area into about 12 sections, trying to keep each section around 2m (6,5ft) wide. Using more string and a spirit level I digged in some boards so that I knew how much soil I should add or take away. The goal was to have the soil level with each carefully placed board.





When there was enough soil in a section the roller came in to settle (compact) the soil down. Using a 2m long board or the metal spirit level I leveled each section to perfection. By sliding the metal along the boards I took away any soil that was sticking out above my desired level. It was also easy to notice any low spots and fill those in as well  
Every section took a lot of rolling and adding soil, I'll just say that :mrgreen:



After each section was done I'd remove the boards and dig them into the next section. So after a while it looked like that:





At all times I was carefully controlling the level of the whole thing. As I mentioned I left a small gradient for the water:


So I repeated the process with sections throughout the whole lawn which took at least 20 days







When this happened I was thrilled: 


The only problem I had (and have) is with the spots where the sections meet. I didn't do a good enough job on compacting the soil and after a few weeks a few of the connections dipped. I'm pretty sure that a little bit of sand or soil will take care of that though so I'm not worried.

Other than that everything worked perfectly. It was ridiculous amount of work because all the soil work was done with a shovel and a wheelbarrow but all my weird tricks with sections, string and water levels worked and the lawn is nearly perfectly level. Like I said there is a 4.7in drop looking from north to south but from east to west it's level completely. No bumps, no low spots, just a leve surface I always wanted 

Well I hope all that makes sense :lol:

As a bonus here is a cross section of the before and after I made  Slightly exaggerated of course


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## NoslracNevok (Jun 12, 2018)

You've created my favorite lawn I've seen so far, I love it! Adding the permanent goal is an unexpected amazing and unique addition, it ties it all together. What you've done there is truly stunning. The grid system using boards is clever, I'll be using that next fall in my reno, gave me enough motivation to commit, I'm already excited. Well done, a payoff well worth 20 days.

edit: How many hours (minus unrelated interruptions) would you estimate it all took? Inspiring you did it all yourself, by hand.

edit 2: What was the process for screening/sifting your soil? Was the bike tire with wire mesh looking thing used for that?


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## piotrkol (Oct 27, 2018)

Thanks so much for such nice words, it means a lot  I'm very happy you like what I did.

I don't know the exact number but from some estimates I'll say I put in about 120-140 hours. That includes everything else besides the soil work though, like putting in the irrigation system, filtering some of the soil (there were some little pebbles I didn't want), paving the edges around the lawn (almost 300ft), seeding etc. All that lasted all the way through August and the first few days of September.

Yep, I filtered with the bike wheel with a screen over it :mrgreen:

Keeping my fingers crossed for your reno then! Looking forward to seeing the outcome 

The goal is actually removable. I fitted a metal sleeve for both posts and put those in the ground, so I can actually take the goal out and that will just leave small holes in the ground which can be covered up  I don't really do that though because it's too much hassle.


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## piotrkol (Oct 27, 2018)

Well, 2018 is just about done, what a year for the lawn. Ending it strong with some festive week stripes  Very warmish winter so far, with just a few days with snow cover and a handful of temps below freezing. I could not resist to take out the hayter rotary and have some fun because of that


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## NoslracNevok (Jun 12, 2018)

The reno would have been awesome to see in video time lapse!

What's the game plan for '19?


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## piotrkol (Oct 27, 2018)

Yep, unfortunately I don't have much footage, but I'll see what I can do. A timelapse would be pretty cool and I can't believe I didn't plan that before starting :?

Game plan for '19. Haven't given it much though yet actually. My priority is to get a proper reel mower, that is certain. After that it all depends on how the lawn survives winter. A good fertiliser strategy is much needed so I'll probably look into that. Other than that, I'm really not sure to be honest, but there is still plenty of time to come up with new ideas for the season


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## piotrkol (Oct 27, 2018)

Winter came with the new year surprisingly. We had about 7" of snow at one point but it got pretty warm today and started raining so the snow is disappearing like crazy. Not much going on, winter is killing me


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## piotrkol (Oct 27, 2018)

Nearly 2 months later  
Winter seems to be gone for good. Today the temps reaches 65f and it was wonderful. The lawn looks ok, we had some tough conditions in January - plenty of snow, some deep frost, then a lot of rain etc... I discovered some snow mold spots but not very crazy so it should be ok.

Played around with my floodlights. I use 3 metal halide lamps, 2x 150W and a big 400W one. It's the type of lamps that they use in some sport stadiums except they usually use 2000W ones and the have close to a hundred of them scattered around the grounds. But these 3 are enough for my lawn to use it comfortably. They output around 42000 lumens of light and I'll just tell you that the photos don't do it justice - you can literally sit in the middle of the lawn, in the middle of the night, and read a book with no problems.

Anyway, I changed the location of the 400W one and put in opposite the house in the middle of the lawn. The two 150W sit in the window. 
[feb 2019]


And a photo made today below. It's looking good, the garden is coming back to life, I've been really busy with the other side of it - there's a good 3500sq ft of garden on the other side of the house which is still a bit wild and needs attention. Our big project for this season is to bring it to life. We've been cutting down some dead trees and shrubs, doing a bit of leveling and stuff like that. Also getting ready to finish up the wooden fence on the main lawn. The front and side is done, the back is waiting. After that I can finish the beds around the lawn and finally say it's done 



I'll tell you want. I really can't wait to start mowing again


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## jabopy (Nov 24, 2018)

Piotrkol are you going to continue your lawn round the other side of the house? that would be good for us lawn fanatics.!!


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## piotrkol (Oct 27, 2018)

That is the plan in the long run  Can't say when it's going to happen but it definitely will


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## piotrkol (Oct 27, 2018)

The season is officially open over here  mowed the grass today and actually got some clippings and great stripes. Still plenty of bare spots but it should start growing back in :nod:


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

A LOTM contender. I need to nominate you the next month.


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## piotrkol (Oct 27, 2018)

Thanks, happy to hear that 

Spring is in full swing now and today was awesome. Got to spend a few hours in the lawn which led me to create my favorite "Wide checkerboard" pattern  Went over the lawn with a broom and then got the small reel mower out to do the side to side stripe. Snow mold seems to be healing quickly.

I love that perennial rye and Kentucky bluegrass mix more and more :mrgreen:


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## mowww (Jan 16, 2018)

Beautiful!!!


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## OnTheOxbow (Jan 27, 2019)

Those are some handsome stripes! Well done sir.


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## ctrav (Aug 18, 2018)

Very nice and looks like a LOM nominee  I really like the extra wide stripes...


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## Shindoman (Apr 22, 2018)

Well Done. Looks fantastic.


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## piotrkol (Oct 27, 2018)

Thanks everyone! 
Lawn is looking amazing even considering some problems with poa annua. I'm pretty much mowing everyday now :mrgreen: Still using that 12" hand pushed reel mower, couldn't find anything decent through the winter and new machines are totally out of my reach at the moment.

That RPR perennial ryegrass is something else. Cutting at 1/2" (12mm) and some places are thicker than my bedroom carpet :lol:







Some bare spots behind the goal at the back of the lawn. They are filling in nicely though.









I love this time of year


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## ctrav (Aug 18, 2018)

Hand pushed reel mower...you da man! Lawn looks awesome...


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## TonyC (May 17, 2018)

Very Nice!

Great to see the Fatherland on TLF. :thumbup:


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## piotrkol (Oct 27, 2018)

Thanks!
@ctrav - the small width (12") is killing me but at least it's nice and quiet :mrgreen: 
@TonyC - happy to share 

Also, big thank you to the people who nominated me for the LOTM, it's a big honor :nod:

Just a few night shots this time.


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## ctrav (Aug 18, 2018)

Awesome night shots...


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## Sbcgenii (May 13, 2018)

Awsome stripes cool photos and a chart showing the grade of your lawn. :thumbup:


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## llO0DQLE (Dec 4, 2017)

I find it very interesting that your lawn looks quite even in growth despite not having head to head coverage with irrigation. Very nice!


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## piotrkol (Oct 27, 2018)

_tl;dr - poa took my lawn away from me and I'm thinking of starting over. Tip for all - if you have access to pre-emergents, use them, it'll save your lawn!_

Welcome back, had a long break from updating on my lawn which I'm really sorry about. The reason behind that will be the main topic of this post. Sometime in May, not long after winning the LOTM (Thanks again!) I took a stroll in the lawn one evening and saw something that absolutely destroyed me. Poa Annua. Maybe I was a bit optimistic or even naive but when I started my big reno in July last year I was really hoping that the Poa problem I had in the old lawn will be gone. Some of you might know that getting Pre Emergents in the European Union is... tough. I never found any here in Poland anyway. :roll:

Last year I did all the work, brought in new soil, did the leveling, put in edges around the whole lawn, built a new fence, seeded, watered, mowed, spent many long hours and it was great until May. First I noticed Poa in a few areas. It was spreading like crazy and I just kept finding it in new places. As of today literally 85% of the lawn is Poa Annua. I tried spraying it with experimental stuff that farmers use but it didn't do anything. I tried verticutting and power raking, cutting the N, cutting the water - nothing was any good, poa just took over, it even survived a 100F heatwave. All that pretty much took away all the fun away from working in the lawn hence the lack of updates. I limited myself to mowing every few days because that seems to make poa look a little bit cleaner :|

I'm not sure why it's so bad, but my best guess is that after finishing my leveling last year (August) the area was bare for a good few weeks before PRG started growing. There must've been millions of Poa seeds in that soil I brought in and they just went crazy when they got their chance. I'm not an expert so I didn't recognize it at the time but it probably grew along with my PRG and just waited until spring to make my lawn life a disaster and start producing those terrible seed heads.

So what now you might ask? Well I'm starting to look for ways to make sure this won't happen again. I am ready to spray my lawn again with glyphosate, even though it's only 10 month old and start fresh. But I have to find a way to prevent poa from coming up in such force. I can deal with a few spots here and there but not with the whole area being covered. I'm getting my motivation back and I'm excited to start over 

The obstacles I'm facing besides poa: lack of funds to replace the soil, it's out of the question. Pre-Em's are probably impossible to get here as well so there's not much I'm left with. I'm trying to learn about Poa's life cycle now and I'm thinking of seeding new grass when Poa isn't very active.

Any tips or suggestions on my poa problem will be greatly appreciated! Hoping to be back in full swing again! Every time I look at the April-May photos I have the urge to just start working instantly and get those stripes back! 

A couple pics:

There's barely any ryegrass left. Poa took over big time.









Looks semi-all right after mowing and when the sun is out... You can tell though. Seed heads are so ugly, and that yellowish uneven color. ugh..









Thanks for reading!


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## 86halibut (Jun 23, 2019)

Had a blast reading through your journal. The leveling process, seedling pictures, and striping were amazing. Looks like you had really good results at the time. Absolute bummer about the poa problem though, not the update I was hoping for. But it looks like you've got the motivation for a new reno so the prep work should be smooth sailing. I imagine the results would be an even more beautiful lawn than before.


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## OnyxsLawn (Mar 15, 2018)

That sucks! Fallowing for a while once the temps cool off to force some Poa to germinate then kill it will help. At least all your hard work leveling won't go to waste. Without available Pre-M its gonna be tough next year again. I wish I could send you some. There are some types of KBG that advertise the ability to crowd out Poa but I'm not sure if they work.


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## cfinden (Aug 7, 2018)

@piotrkol That's amazing how far the Poa-A spread, I have a ton of it in my lawn as well. I think you'll need a pre-M for sure even if you reno again.

Could you run a whole spring season with no grass and let all the Poa-A seeds sprout and then glypho them?

Could someone send you some Prodiamine WDG (I have extra)? Would it get stopped at the borders?


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## piotrkol (Oct 27, 2018)

Thanks for the kind words everyone!

@86halibut - Yep, real bummer but you are right, I'm back at it so definitely hoping to achieve some nice results. It should be a lot easier as most prep work is done. All I need to really do is get rid of the current grass, figure out a way to stop poa and plant new grass. Luckily the leveling and soil work is already done 

@OnyxsLawn - Exactly, soil work is done so no need to worry about that, it makes life a lot easier  I was thinking of getting some Pre-M from overseas but I'm pretty certain that the border control would go nuts :lol:

@cfinden - Oh yeah it is pretty amazing how quickly it spread. I did consider just leaving the ground with no grass and killing anything that pops up but I'd go crazy with so much time without a lawn. And the family wouldn't like that I don't think  
I'm not sure how the border guys would react to that sort of mail if I did get someone to send me some. It's pretty sketchy I think :lol:

I did a bit of research and found a few products that contain Prodiamine. They are mostly farming related products but I will definitely have a closer look at them and try to compare them to a standard Pre-M product.

Also I had a lot of free time today so I went out and did a good old double cut with the reel mower, then rolled and brushed to make the stripes stand out. It's nowhere close to the good days but it looks fairly ok from a distance...

Also on the side note I'm thinking of getting some green paint and experiment with that. Seems like a good time for those kind of experiments :|


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## piotrkol (Oct 27, 2018)

A plan for the lawn is slowly coming along, I might be able to get my hands on something close to Tenacity. If it happens then I'm thinking of doing something similar to what Connor is doing - verticut, aerate, sand, spray glyphosate, spray tenacity + fertiliser and seed new grass!

Meanwhile I'm having fun with what I have. A visit from some family members we haven't seen for a long time meant that I had the perfect excuse to spend way more time than needed in the lawn :mrgreen:

A double reel cut at just under an inch + double roll + double broomsweep + liquid Iron + sunlight and the result is quite pleasing! I might roll once or twice more just before they arrive 

Don't be fooled though - as soon as the sun hides the lawn looks real bad and patchy so there is no going back from renovating :|


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

@piotrkol you can use the tenacity to kill your POA a without killing your lawn. It is an off label use, but it works too.


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## piotrkol (Oct 27, 2018)

Ha, didn't know that to be honest, will definitely try that first!


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

Check this study out: https://journals.ashs.org/hortsci/view/journals/hortsci/47/4/article-p522.xml

Adding Triclopyr helps with less whiting of the desired turf.


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## piotrkol (Oct 27, 2018)

First app of Tenacity-like product went on the lawn today  Excited to see what happens!


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## Vtx531 (Jul 1, 2019)

Poa will outcompete other grasses and eventually take over when mowed short. I don't think there is any getting around that.


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## piotrkol (Oct 27, 2018)

Oh yeah, I can tell it'll do that. That's why I'm trying to kill it. It was tough finding products for that but after a bit of digging around I _might_ have found some (big thanks to this forum and g-man for pointing me to the right direction! 

I also noticed in the past few days that Poa a is starting to show signs of weakness - the hot and dry summer might have something to do with that :mrgreen:


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

@Vtx531 I've mowed at 1in (24mm) for 1.5years and I don't have POA a problems.


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## piotrkol (Oct 27, 2018)

A week passed since I sprayed (Mesotrione) and there are things happening which make me very happy indeed 
Most basic weeds are pretty much done for - they turned white and look dead. 
Recently something looking like Nutsedge (but I'm not sure what exactly) attacked not only the lawn but pretty much the whole garden but that is also white and dried up. That makes the lawn very spotty again but I am really happy to see that. It has to look bad to look good 

And finally Poa a. It is most definitely struggling very much. The blades are turning white, the whole plant is more yellow than ever before and it's hard to explain but it looks thin, like it's lacking water or something :mrgreen: The Poa a spots are also a lot more visible in the lawn which is also a good sign I think.

PRG is looking untouched at the moment!

Two pics from yesterday, I'll try to get a photo of Poa a and the whole lawn tomorrow! It's looking promising guys!


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

Tenacity peaks at day 10 from my experience. Remember to hit the POA a again so it doesn't recover. Tenacity is a miracle herbicide.


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## piotrkol (Oct 27, 2018)

Yep, I'm spraying again tomorrow if weather permits. It's definitely a miracle herbicide especially for a guy who didn't know a thing about those things just a few months ago :mrgreen:


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## cfinden (Aug 7, 2018)

@piotrkol did you use a 2oz/acre rate of Mesotrione?


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Very interested to know what exactly you are using and where you got it. I'm in UK and have a similar lack of pre emergents available &#128555; help please!


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## piotrkol (Oct 27, 2018)

@cfinden - yep exactly, 2oz/acre.

@TheWhiteWizard - I found a product in Poland for corn fields called Juzan 100sc with Mesotrion as the only active ingredient. Try looking around for products in the farming industry, you might find some. It's a bit of a "do it at your own risk" kind of deal but I figured I had nothing to lose. Seems to work so far!


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

> TheWhiteWizard - I found a product in Poland for corn fields called Juzan 100sc with Mesotrion as the only active ingredient. Try looking around for products in the farming industry, you might find some. It's a bit of a "do it at your own risk" kind of deal but I figured I had nothing to lose. Seems to work so far!


Thanks piotrkol! Very helpful push in the right direction.
I did a little deeper digging about mesotrione availability and indeed some products seem to be available to farmers in UK. I am hoping to take a journey today to a farm store that's a little detour on the way to the in-laws.

On a side note, and I really should have mentioned already, what a fantastic lawn you have! I read your whole journal.
Hoping that now you have a new product to help with the poa annua, you can make the progress you desire. Best regards


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## piotrkol (Oct 27, 2018)

23 days since the first app of mesotrion (Tenacity). I sprayed 3 times so far every friday. Results are amazing with a few minor drawbacks 

First things first - I need to work on my spray game, I clearly oversprayed some sections and have a few really white spots  Most of it should recover though and I'm planning on overseeding in the fall anyway.

Poa a is reduced to a minimum. any other weeds are pretty much gone. The lawn itself is really thick and looks really good apart from some white spots and stripes 

Plan is to spray again in 21 days to reduce the risk of new Poa a germinating.

The leftover Poa a isn't looking well :mrgreen: 


Hehe, joy to my eyes


And the mentioned stripes where I overdone it a bit. Looks better in real life though :lol: 


It looks good! Really happy!


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

@piotrkol is the POA a finish?


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## sider1977 (Oct 9, 2019)

Great lawn Piotr !!!
Piekna trawa !!! Brawo !!!
Pozdrowienia zza oceanu i czekam na kolejne czesci


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## piotrkol (Oct 27, 2018)

@sider1977 - Thanks a lot! I appreciate it. I spent 4 years in Chicago actually. Pozdrawiam! 

@g-man - Not totally finished, but I reduced it to a minimum, you have to look around for a bit to find some, so I call that a huge success 

Anyway - a long overdue update on the lawn. This season was dominated by the fight against POA. After finding help here on TLF I managed to reduce the POA population to a minimum which is amazing as I was ready to start from scratch at one point in June 

Still mowing with the hand-pushed reel mower. The season is slowly creeping towards the end but I was lucky to get some record breaking october weather with temps reaching an amazing 80f today which doesn't really happen very often. We had some frost in September but it didn't seem to affect the lawn, it's still going 

Just a few days ago the soccer goal started to lean backwards - turned out that one of the posts rotted I guess and cracked, so I had to remove it completly for safety reasons. Feels odd without it, looking around for something new...

As for plans - I really want to core aerate but I'm not sure if it's gonna happen this season or in spring. After that I will want to put sand down to flatten a few bumps that appeared throughout the year.

And finally a few pics


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## jabopy (Nov 24, 2018)

Great update piotr, lovely pictures of the lawn looking fantastic. :thumbup:


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## RCUK (Jul 16, 2018)

@piotrkol Just read through your entire journal, amazing work my friend. Really impressive the amount of time and effort you put in and sorry to hear about the Poa troubles. Sounds like you have it under control, like you us UK guys have limited access to Tenacity type herbicides but the idea about finding a source via the farming sector is interesting!

I have a couple of questions if you don't mind answering.

I see you are using a Webb reel mower, I think they are the only low cost good quality manual reel mower here in the UK. Although you said you find it tiring, by the looks of it your cut quality looks great. Are there any downsides to it other than it being manual? Tempted to get one next year as like you I have a Hayter 41 and spending £1000+ on an electric Allett for my small lawns isn't really justifiable. Well maybe 

What type of RPR mixture did you use? Looks like RPR Sport/Stadium. Will you continue with this seed blend?


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## piotrkol (Oct 27, 2018)

@jabopy Thanks, happy to hear! 

@RCUK Thanks a lot! I'll be happy to answer 

No real drawbacks to the webb manual. I wish it was a bit heavier - I noticed it'll sometimes sort of slide around in really thick lawn, which is hard to explain but it makes it tougher to mow very straight stripes. But it's nitpicking really and doesn't happen very often, overall I'd say go for it - it's a great little mower and the cut quality really is quite nice 

Grass seed is in fact Barenbrug RPR for stadiums. I'm happy with it so far, so I'll propably use it for overseeding and stuff. It's amazing when it comes to the self repairing bit - if there's a little bare spot in the lawn for some reason it creeps and grows on it in a matter of a few days. I was amazed to see that.


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## RCUK (Jul 16, 2018)

@piotrkol Thanks. Is the reel mower the Webb WEH13? Have you had to sharpen the blades yet?


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## piotrkol (Oct 27, 2018)

Did not sharpen them yet, they seem ok at the moment, although I will try to do a backlap if I can get some backlapping compound. Having the reel sharpened will propably be a pain to do as there are very few places in poland that will do that for home owners. And it's actually more expansive than the mower itself. :|

It's the weh12:


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## piotrkol (Oct 27, 2018)

A little update to keep things rolling even though not much is going on. Lawn is slowing down and winter is somewhere around the corner. But it's not here yet so I'm still enjoying a cool (literally) mow every few days. Temps in the 50's during the day and mostly 40's at night, with just 3 days or so with a frost so far.










The goal is still down and I'm _very_ tempted to pick up a professional one. Even talked to a guy and got an offer for a miniature version of a pro level goal. Very cool stuff but it's quite pricey, closing in at about $400  Really tempting though...










The lawn is a bit messed up where the goal used to stand. I made little covers for the 2ft deep metal sleeves where the goalposts would go in. Don't want any animals to hurt themselves there, nor get water or dirt in them.










Discovered a little problem in the front. The sun is so low in the sky now that the front part of the lawn doesn't get much sunlight. And you can definetly tell, it's not very thick and very muddy. 
Here's a photo of the problem, pretty much noon, and still the sun is so low that the fence is casting a really long shadow. Meh.


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## NoslracNevok (Jun 12, 2018)

Have you consider buying an entry level welder and make you own goal? Problem is, you may buy it, and never make the things you were intending on making. Er, so I hear.


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## piotrkol (Oct 27, 2018)

I have a welder actually, so it's certainly something to think about  
I'll have a look at pricing of metal tubes and go from there. 
Thanks for the idea!


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## piotrkol (Oct 27, 2018)

First update in 2020, welcome back 

Winter is being very weird this season. Most days temps hang around the 40f mark, and drop to 30 or slightly below at nights. We barely had any snow, in fact this is the most snow that we had so far:



Rarely temps will drop a bit more at night and I get this ridiculous stuff happening. Not happy about the tall fence and low sun, but not much I can do :|



Lawn is well asleep, lost the color and isn't very pleasing to the eye, but hey - it's winter. I can definetly tell that there will be a lot of leveling in spring, there are some nasty bumps here and there. My plan of action is to core aerate, topdress heavily and overseed, should be fun 

Goal update - in the end I went for the cheapest, easiets and quickest option - I got a wooden post and replaced the broken one. Can score goals again 











Anyway, not much happening at the moment, I'm hoping January passes through quickly, so I can start looking forward to spring. It seems like an eternity away at the moment even considering the lack of snow and frost :roll:

See ya later! Thanks for stopping by


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## piotrkol (Oct 27, 2018)

*Mid February 2020 update:*

I mentioned this in my previous post but this winter is something else. It's Feb 15th and I still haven't had a single day with snow cover. Freezing temps? Just a handful at night. I started measuring soil temps the other day and I started getting a reading of 52f on regular basis. And sure enough this is what I found today:



It's tough to see but grass started growing!

I did a light verticut and went over with the mower today to pick up debris and to slightly chop the tips of the grass that are white after being dormant so long. I will get into pre-e asap. Being in europe my options are very limited so I might go with tenacity which I do have (mesotrione to be exact)

I can't decide if I should throw down fertiliser now or not. No winter in the forecasts at all...

Crazy stuff!


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## Green (Dec 24, 2017)

There are differing schools of thought on fertilizing early or not. If you do, I'd keep the rate extremely low (0.25 or less of a full app). Doing too much can throw the growth out of balance while it's resuming activity.


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