# Which users have large lawns??



## dbarlow (Jul 8, 2018)

Who has a large lawn and maintains them??lets say maybe over an acre? I've seen a couple while searching in the past.


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## Way2low01 (Mar 9, 2019)

Guilty


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## Art_Vandelay (Nov 20, 2018)

Yep. 3 acres of Bermuda, 3 acres of fescue


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## Spammage (Apr 30, 2017)

Art_Vandelay said:


> Yep. 3 acres of Bermuda, 3 acres of fescue


Sounds perfect for a 14" manual reel to me. :thumbup:


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## Art_Vandelay (Nov 20, 2018)

Spammage said:


> Art_Vandelay said:
> 
> 
> > Yep. 3 acres of Bermuda, 3 acres of fescue
> ...


It's a work out for sure! I need one of these:


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## dbarlow (Jul 8, 2018)

Who all uses a fairway style mower? How do y'all fertilize? What type of sprayer? I'm wanting to transform my back few acres from weed central to all common Bermuda. I've started this spring with my first apps of pre emergent, and will be spraying some post emergent soon. I've noticed having large areas is pretty expensive to maintain also.


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## J_nick (Jan 28, 2017)

My main lawn is around 10k then I have an acre to the north of me that I maintain with a rotary. Main lawn gets all the goodies regular fert, PGR, and irrigation. I spray pre-emergent on the north acre a couple times a year and normally only spot spray for weeds. I'll give it a few feedings of fertilizer. I'm only using a 48" lawn tractor to mow it with, it's my work horse. As for my spray rig I've been using a spray trailer but over the last month or so I've been working on upgrading it to 3 point so I don't have to deal with the trailer any more. Mock-up stage:


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## Art_Vandelay (Nov 20, 2018)

dbarlow said:


> Who all uses a fairway style mower? How do y'all fertilize? What type of sprayer? I'm wanting to transform my back few acres from weed central to all common Bermuda. I've started this spring with my first apps of pre emergent, and will be spraying some post emergent soon. I've noticed having large areas is pretty expensive to maintain also.


It is expensive to maintain. You just have to look at things a little differently than most people do. I'll never be able to use Milo or any of those expensive organic fertilizers or any chemical in a granular form. It's just waaayyy too expensive. I find cheaper ways to fertilize. Like using 34-0-0 or water soluble urea. I use a pull behind fertilizer spreader and a 20 gallon trailer type sprayer. I wish I had a larger sprayer but this one works. I keep weeds in check usually with MSMA and triplet (along with prodiamine) and this year I'm using a PGR. It'll be neat to see how it affects this amount of lawn.

Im not able to irrigate either. I have to wait for rain to fertilize. Or if I don't get rain and dry out then that's sorta it until I get rain. I do have a triplex reel mower, a John Deere 2653B. It's kinda slower than I would like but it cuts well and I enjoy mowing with it. I have a 52" rotary JD that I cut under trees with and along the driveway. I would like to get a zero turn someday.

It's a lot to maintain. I don't think I'll ever mow it more than once a week. It's just too time consuming and wears on you in the heat. Hopefully the pgr will help with that too


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## Buffalolawny (Nov 24, 2018)

Art_Vandelay said:


> Spammage said:
> 
> 
> > Art_Vandelay said:
> ...


Bet those reels cut "reel" nice :thumbup:


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## dfw_pilot (Jan 28, 2017)

Art_Vandelay said:


>


I think this is what @turftoes uses.


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## SWB (Sep 22, 2018)

2 acres here. As someone else mentioned it is a lot to maintain especially at a high level.


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## FranksATX (May 7, 2018)

I have about 75K sqft of grass area on my property. About 24K gets my full attention, and the rest gets maintained at a reasonable level. Glyphosate can be used as a growth regulator and helps with the mowing.

Irrigation will be your greatest challenge if mother nature does not give you enough water.


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## Texas MH (Jan 20, 2019)

2.2 acres of irrigated and completely maintained Bermuda lawn (drilled a 850' well when we built). 
Really glad to see this thread! I've never found much on the internet for managing large properties and finding economical solutions that also get the job done can be a big challenge. I watch a lot of the YouTube content because i enjoy lawn stuff, but i laugh when someone mentions a product and says "its expense, but it will last you for years". I'm sure that is absolutely true for most, but that usually equates to about one app for me... BTW, having irrigation doesn't always solve problems on a large property. It took 30 zones to get coverage on my entire lawn (40 if i include the beds). I'm running Rainbird 5000s in each zone which takes about 1 hr to put down .5" of water in the summer. If you do the math, you'll see that i have to run my system 4x/week from dawn till dusk just to get 1" of water down per week. Concepts like "watering more and less often" and "watering only in the morning" just can't be implemented.


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## Art_Vandelay (Nov 20, 2018)

Yep. One gallon of PGR will last about year on my lawn. I get one app at medium rate of Celsius if I blanket it. Msm turf? One app. Plus it takes 1.5 hours to spray it anyway. 2.5 if I spray the 3 acres of fescue

Some products are way too expensive to even think about on three acres. I use prodiamine on my lawn because there isn't anything else that is affordable.

I was able to score some water soluble urea for $11/50lb bag


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## CenlaLowell (Apr 21, 2017)

I wish I had this kind of acreage. Unless I move the most I can obtain is another 11k SQ ft.


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## wardconnor (Mar 25, 2017)

no way I would want to maintain an acre. I have an acre but only about 1/2 of it is improved.


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## Art_Vandelay (Nov 20, 2018)

wardconnor said:


> no way I would want to maintain an acre. I have an acre but only about 1/2 of it is improved.


You've got that 3100d now. You'll be looking for grass to mow!


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## dbarlow (Jul 8, 2018)

Yeah I'm going to maintain up close to my house pretty strict, and the back lot with just the basic pre emergent, post, and some fertilizer in the spring. I think it's to much for me to be stressing over. Although those large maintained yards look awesome. The geo zoysia around my house in enough work for now.


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## Texas MH (Jan 20, 2019)

dbarlow said:


> Who all uses a fairway style mower? How do y'all fertilize? What type of sprayer? I'm wanting to transform my back few acres from weed central to all common Bermuda. I've started this spring with my first apps of pre emergent, and will be spraying some post emergent soon. I've noticed having large areas is pretty expensive to maintain also.


I use a 31g Northstar tow-behind sprayer calibrated to put out 1g of liquid per 1K sqft. To keep the product calculations _very_ simple, I divided my property up into 1/2 acre sections and only put 22g in the tank at a time. To calculate how much product to add, i simply take the acre rate of whatever product i'm using and divide by 2. I realize now that i could have gone with a smaller 21g sprayer for my 1/2 acre sections or stepped up to one that holds 45g so i could cover a full acre with 1 tank.

I also have a Strongway tow-behind plug aerator and would definitely recommend having one. They're around $230, but i will use it 2-3x per year. It has a very beneficial effect and wish that i had invested in this sooner.


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## seebryango (Feb 21, 2019)

@Texas MH

What did you have to do to calibrate that sprayer to get to 1gal/M? My dad has 30,000 sqft and he just bought that Northstar 31gal last week. I know it depends on the speed he has the mower set to, but also the pressure of the pump will determine gpm, right?


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## CenlaLowell (Apr 21, 2017)

Texas MH said:


> dbarlow said:
> 
> 
> > Who all uses a fairway style mower? How do y'all fertilize? What type of sprayer? I'm wanting to transform my back few acres from weed central to all common Bermuda. I've started this spring with my first apps of pre emergent, and will be spraying some post emergent soon. I've noticed having large areas is pretty expensive to maintain also.
> ...


Is this 1gal per 1k SQ ft PER nozzle or all the nozzles together equal 1k?


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## Texas MH (Jan 20, 2019)

The total for all nozzles (2 on this unit)


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## Texas MH (Jan 20, 2019)

@seebryango Correct. There are lots of videos and content on calibration, but the 2 main variables to adjust how much liquid goes down over a given area are the speed you are traveling and the sprayer pressure (PSI).

That unit has a 10' Wide spray path so you would need to 'time' how long it takes to drive 100 ft (sqft/w = L) which will be spraying 1K sqft. However long that takes (dependent on how fast you drive) is the amount of 'time' it takes for you to cover 1K sqft with liquid. Next, you need to collect in a large measuring cup how much liquid comes out of each of the two nozzles using the 'time' it took to cover 1K sqft from the previous step. Add the two nozzle outputs together and that will tell you how much total liquid is being applied to 1K sqft from the sprayer. If you want to adjust (calibrate) that number, you can either change your drive speed, change the sprayer pressure (psi) or both. For reference, i drive equivalent to a fast walk pace and then adjust the PSI to get it dialed in. Hope this helps


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## dbarlow (Jul 8, 2018)

I don't use weed and feed for my yard close to m house. My lot be hind my house still has a lot of weeds in it. I've applied my pre emergent already. I can get several bags of this to help fertilize and help knock out the weeds?


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## Art_Vandelay (Nov 20, 2018)

You could use that. I'm not fond of weed and feed for a couple of reasons. 
1.) it's expensive
B.)it only works if the grass is wet
D.)it still doesn't work very well
6.)there are many many cheaper alternatives that work much much better


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## seebryango (Feb 21, 2019)

Texas MH said:


> @seebryango Correct. There are lots of videos and content on calibration, but the 2 main variables to adjust how much liquid goes down over a given area are the speed you are traveling and the sprayer pressure (PSI).
> 
> That unit has a 10' Wide spray path so you would need to 'time' how long it takes to drive 100 ft (sqft/w = L) which will be spraying 1K sqft. However long that takes (dependent on how fast you drive) is the amount of 'time' it takes for you to cover 1K sqft with liquid. Next, you need to collect in a large measuring cup how much liquid comes out of each of the two nozzles using the 'time' it took to cover 1K sqft from the previous step. Add the two nozzle outputs together and that will tell you how much total liquid is being applied to 1K sqft from the sprayer. If you want to adjust (calibrate) that number, you can either change your drive speed, change the sprayer pressure (psi) or both. For reference, i drive equivalent to a fast walk pace and then adjust the PSI to get it dialed in. Hope this helps


That's what I was thinking. Measuring how much comes out of the nozzles and how fast the mower can cover 1K, then adjust as necessary. What are you towing the sprayer with? My dad has a JD X350 lawn tractor.


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## Texas MH (Jan 20, 2019)

@seebryango I have a tow hitch on my bobcat ZT Mower and it doesn't have any problem pulling it, but my property is pretty flat. I'm guessing the JD shouldn't have any issues either, but I have no experience with it.


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## Texas MH (Jan 20, 2019)

dbarlow said:


> Who all uses a fairway style mower? How do y'all fertilize? What type of sprayer? I'm wanting to transform my back few acres from weed central to all common Bermuda. I've started this spring with my first apps of pre emergent, and will be spraying some post emergent soon. I've noticed having large areas is pretty expensive to maintain also.


I applied T-Nex PGR and FEature 6-0-0 this weekend to the entire property. First time using either of these, so looking forward to seeing how they do. I feel the pgr is an investment. It's about $80/app for my property, but I'm mowing 2x per week right now (takes around 2 hrs to mow all the grass if I get after it). Edging and trimming Is easily another 1 hr, so hoping it helps with this too.


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## MrMeaner (Feb 21, 2017)

I live on 1.1 acres and have approx 33ksq ft of turf...I now use a Toro 3100d triplex to mow... its a lot of work, not just the mowing its all the edging and weed eating, around the fence line, pool, shop, sand play area and driveways etc...

Personally would love to have a smaller house and yard...say on 1/3-1/2 acres now that my kids are grown


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## Lawnboy_03 (May 6, 2019)

4 acres here. Bermuda/St. Augustine. 76 head irrigation system just installed.


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## cglarsen (Dec 28, 2018)

I have just under an acre of grass that I maintain without irrigation. You guys are making me feel much better about my situation.

@Art_Vandelay now I know why you know about all the different varieties of Bermuda. I'm sure you have multiple on your lot like me.


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## Texas MH (Jan 20, 2019)

So I applied T-Nex on Sunday and now its Thursday evening. Pretty impressed with the pgr results. I went a little under label rate at 30oz/acre. It did ding my color a bit with some minor tip burn, but its greening back up now. We had hard rains yesterday and then sun+heat today. Normally that would cause the grass to take off, but it still looks like I just cut it. Best of all... no seed heads!


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## Texas MH (Jan 20, 2019)

MrMeaner said:
 

> I live on 1.1 acres and have approx 33ksq ft of turf...I now use a Toro 3100d triplex to mow... its a lot of work, not just the mowing its all the edging and weed eating, around the fence line, pool, shop, sand play area and driveways etc...
> 
> Personally would love to have a smaller house and yard...say on 1/3-1/2 acres now that my kids are grown


I'd love to have a triplex for my place. Edging and trimming takes for ever... I have about 800ft of drainage ditch that is wet most of the time. I pay a crew each week just to come trim it. Worth every penny, but I actually feel bad for them when I see them out there doing it. (BTW Love Lubbock! Red Raider here)


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## Texas MH (Jan 20, 2019)

I've been researching tow behind spreaders to pull with my zero turn mower for quite awhile now. The problem with every spreader I looked at, is that the shut-off handle can't be reached on a ZT. Recently I came across the Chapin 150lb tow spreader with auto-stop. If you stop, it automatically stops the flow of fert so there is no need for a shutoff handle. I used it today and it worked perfectly spreading 500lbs of fert in no time. I'm also really impressed with the quality and engineering they put in to this spreader. If you have a larger property and looking for a spreader solution you should definitely take a look at this one.


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## ctrav (Aug 18, 2018)

Texas MH said:


> I've been researching tow behind spreaders to pull with my zero turn mower for quite awhile now. The problem with every spreader I looked at, is that the shut-off handle can't be reached on a ZT. Recently I came across the Chapin 150lb tow spreader with auto-stop. If you stop, it automatically stops the flow of fert so there is no need for a shutoff handle. I used it today and it worked perfectly spreading 500lbs of fert in no time. I'm also really impressed with the quality and engineering they put in to this spreader. If you have a larger property and looking for a spreader solution you should definitely take a look at this one.


Very nice. I have a tow behind and have to be careful where I stop so I don't end up with a big spot of Fert in one place. This looks like a good solution. Where did you get it and how was the price if you don't mind?


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## Texas MH (Jan 20, 2019)

Tag price is 219 at TSC. I originally ordered a less expensive spreader, but as I was putting it together wasn't impressed with its quality... not being able to reach the shut-off handle also really bothered me.


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## MrMeaner (Feb 21, 2017)

Texas MH said:


> MrMeaner said:
> 
> 
> > I live on 1.1 acres and have approx 33ksq ft of turf...I now use a Toro 3100d triplex to mow... its a lot of work, not just the mowing its all the edging and weed eating, around the fence line, pool, shop, sand play area and driveways etc...
> ...


Nice!! Are you keeping up with Tech Athletics? They are kicking *** in all sports...only thing left is to see how the football team does this year!!


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## Spammage (Apr 30, 2017)

MrMeaner said:


> Nice!! Are you keeping up with Tech Athletics? They are kicking @ss in all sports...only thing left is to see how the football team does this year!!


I believe that Wells is the right guy for the job to lead us back to relevance.


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## ochresprings (Oct 29, 2018)

We have 33kSF of turf on our property. Use a CubCadet 54" for mowing and towing of our AgriFab spreader and NorthStar sprayer. We've started posting a couple videos on YouTube that focuses on taking care of a bigger lawn. Check 'em out!!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZXIEWsBs2WaKvK54G-mfDw


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## Texas MH (Jan 20, 2019)

MrMeaner said:


> Texas MH said:
> 
> 
> > MrMeaner said:
> ...


Yeah! It's been a fun year. I actually played football there in the early 90's, so I always want to see them do well. Wish I could have made it out to some of the basketball games this year. The Lady Raiders won the National Championship while I was there.


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## Still learnin (Sep 9, 2017)

Texas MH said:


> I've been researching tow behind spreaders to pull with my zero turn mower for quite awhile now. The problem with every spreader I looked at, is that the shut-off handle can't be reached on a ZT. Recently I came across the Chapin 150lb tow spreader with auto-stop. If you stop, it automatically stops the flow of fert so there is no need for a shutoff handle. I used it today and it worked perfectly spreading 500lbs of fert in no time. I'm also really impressed with the quality and engineering they put in to this spreader. If you have a larger property and looking for a spreader solution you should definitely take a look at this one.


Read the reviews of this on amazon. Someone actually hooked this spreader up to a remote control lawnmower. Now that's awesome.


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## Belgianbillie (Apr 3, 2018)

CenlaLowell said:


> I wish I had this kind of acreage. Unless I move the most I can obtain is another 11k SQ ft.


Careful what you wish for.


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## jakemauldin (Mar 26, 2019)

3 acres here. such a difficult task to maintain. I have dreams of one day having lush grass across the entire thing.


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## TNTurf (Mar 20, 2019)

My lawn is small at a half acre but my brother has a couple of acres he maintains. I have to keep this in mind when we talk. I have made various suggestions based on what worked for me only to hear him laugh on the phone. I explain the expensive but it will last theory mentioned here but once I do the math for his 90k+ the products just dont go that far. I get 6 apps to his one roughly. Good for you guys keeping up with the space. Its a lot of work on my small area, no way I would want to do many times more than I do now. I just told him this weekend I ordered a 5lb jug of Prodiamine and asked if he wanted what I could not use in the 3 year shelf life. It's one app for his front yard. Wow. The Co-Op is his friend.


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## Way2low01 (Mar 9, 2019)

I maintain 2 acres of Bermuda and the ditch along the road (which is a pain) and the rest of the acreage in green is used for pasture Bermuda (hay). Yellow is what I maintain around the house using the rotary mower. The backyard I use a reel mower which isn't captured in yellow (don't use mower app for back). The mower plus app is pretty cool, tracks your mows/time.


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## mbaisley (Apr 8, 2019)

I have about 6.6 acres, of which about 2.8 is mowed regularly. We bought it in fall of 2016 and it's gotten a little better each year. The front (pictured) is about 2 acres and as you can see, it started off pretty rough with all kinds of winter wheat interspersed with crabgrass, dallis grass, sedges of every flavor, and briers that literally looked like miniature cotton in the summer. In fact I bush-hogged it the first season. Then in spring of 2017 I hired a guy to start mowing it weekly in the warm months and he does a fantastic job at a fair price. Without any chemicals, fertilizer or irrigation whatsoever, you can see how it has improved in 2 full years of mowing. The fescue, ryegrass and most of all, the common bermuda, have slowly taken over. There are still weeds, no doubt, but it keeps getting better each year.

Next year, I am tinkering with the idea of interseeding a mix of micro clover (in the late winter / early spring), then in June a mix of hybrid bermuda (probably celebration and yukon) and .... wait for it ..... buffalo grass. I think mowing every 2 weeks would be possible and with no irrigation, it should thrive except in the shady areas where the clover will fill in the thin spots. Talk about low maintenance.

I want it to look nice, but at what cost? I'm not running a private golf course here. It will look plenty nice, I think.

Behind the house (not pictured) is my current project and it is not going as well as I had hoped, but I did get a late start. I'm converting bare clay and rock (post construction mess) to a "bluemuda" lawn. Again, there is no irrigation and a mix of all day 100% sun and then some areas with heavy shade, so we'll see how it goes.

October 2016:


February 2017:


April 2017:


May 2018


April 2019:


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## FranksATX (May 7, 2018)

mbaisley said:


> April 2019:


Beautiful property! :thumbup: :thumbup:


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## Darth_V8r (Jul 18, 2019)

I have 1.75 acres, of which 1.25-1.5 is maintained grass. Been taking down gumball trees to let more light in and get rid of those spike balls. Maintained area used to be under .75 acres from previous owner. I've kept the pine trees, since the canopy seems to avoid the burning when it gets hot out and no afternoon clouds.

For maintenance, so far I've been killing crabgrass and broadleaf weeds, along with spraying heavily with cyper to prevent fire ant infiltration. Mower is a Ariens ZTR Ikon XL 54". Yard was pretty much a "salad" of Palmetto St Augustine, common centipede, common bermuda, and some as yet unidentified zoysia variety. After taking the trees down, I overseeded the more sparse areas with some tifblair, which has done well so far, but still in its first year. Last time I used tif (twelve years ago) to overseed common centipede, it really kind of popped on its second or third year. Everywhere I've opened up the new yard, the tif has out-competed the palmetto grass, which I have welcomed.

So far my poisons of choice have been Sethoxydim (controls all the crabgrasses and killed off the bermuda), MSM, 24D, and Tenacity, I've tried Image, but it was worthless. For a sprayer, I use a chapin hose end and walk the yard dragging the hoses. Takes a WHILE to spray the yard. I probably should invest in some yard maintenance stuff like the drag behind tank sprayers, etc, but i have a racecar habit that takes priority.

No built in irrigation, so I do the dragging 200-300 ft hoses thing and it takes three days to water the yard. One perk is the irrigation well is shallow and in a mineral rich water deposit, so when I water, the yard gets iron, magnesium, etc, so the yard always looks very green. I have not fertilized at all since moving in. Have not needed to. I've considered putting down some milo just to get some organic matter into the soil, but for the amount of yard, it's alot of milo.

This part of the yard used to be mostly palmetto and is now tifblair-dominant:


The lower portion of this pic was common bermuda and is now tifblair-dominant:


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## Darth_V8r (Jul 18, 2019)

@mbaisley, that is one heck of a transformation


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## tcorbitt20 (Aug 31, 2018)

Looking forward to joining this club. Two pictures looking in opposite directions from where the house will be.


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## jhealy748 (Jul 25, 2019)

Awesome thread! Although I only have about a half acre of irrigated turf I just seeded, I am on a 5 acre lot and will more than likely expand once or twice! I have definitely already learned to adopt the acre rate and divide by 2 instead of try and calculate by the Sq ft. I will enjoy learning what you guys do for spraying and fertilizing. I seeded last weekend and checked my pedometer Sunday evening and it was just about 14 miles of walking over the 2 days! Time to adopt some different techniques!


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## mbaisley (Apr 8, 2019)

Darth_V8r said:


> Yard was pretty much a "salad" of Palmetto St Augustine, common centipede, common bermuda, and some as yet unidentified zoysia variety. After taking the trees down, I overseeded the more sparse areas with some tifblair, which has done well so far, but still in its first year. Last time I used tif (twelve years ago) to overseed common centipede, it really kind of popped on its second or third year. Everywhere I've opened up the new yard, the tif has out-competed the palmetto grass, which I have welcomed.
> 
> This part of the yard used to be mostly palmetto and is now tifblair-dominant:
> 
> ...


@Darth_V8r , that TifBlair looks beautiful. Great job and thanks for sharing.

So every time someone talks me out of using TifBlair, I see something like your turf and I can't help but wonder if I'm missing out on the best thing since sliced bread?? I wonder if it just might be the PERFECT solution for my property, which has a mix of sun and shade, no irrigation, and LOTS of surface area to cover..... which means I'm looking for a miracle grass to meet a lot of different needs. Could it be TifBlair?? I don't know, but I have a few questions for you:

(1) When you say you overseeded with TifBlair, did you kill off the existing vegetation first and sow it on bare soil? Or did you overseed the existing vegetation the way you might overseed with annual ryegrass?

(2) Do you know what seed rate you sowed (per 1,000 sq. ft.)?

(3) What time of year? Spring or summer?

(4) How long did it take the TifBlair to germinate for you? (My test plots were very unsuccessful. Only 1 out of 5 had any germination.)

(5) Am I understanding you correctly that the TifBlair is actually choking out the Bermuda? If so, that is AMAZING!! How quickly is that happening and are you doing anything to encourage that process?

(6) Are you happy with how it looks in the colder months? Does it go fully dormant for you?

Thanks in advance for any tips or advice on these issues. I should mention that I am very impressionable about this subject.... I am easily talked into trying TifBlair, and then each time I am easily talked out of it. You seem to have great results with it. I'm all ears....


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## Darth_V8r (Jul 18, 2019)

mbaisley said:


> @Darth_V8r , that TifBlair looks beautiful. Great job and thanks for sharing.
> 
> So every time someone talks me out of using TifBlair, I see something like your turf and I can't help but wonder if I'm missing out on the best thing since sliced bread?? I wonder if it just might be the PERFECT solution for my property, which has a mix of sun and shade, no irrigation, and LOTS of surface area to cover..... which means I'm looking for a miracle grass to meet a lot of different needs. Could it be TifBlair?? I don't know, but I have a few questions for you:
> 
> ...


Thanks for the kind words. I think it might be helpful to tell you the story of the first time I tried it. So, 12-13 years ago when I previously lived in SC, my yard was decent common centipede but I was not really happy with it. pH was pretty low (in the 5's), and I had a lot of crabgrass that I dug up manually since at the time I didn't know how to kill it. I then went back and overseeded with Tif in April or may that year. I decided on tif mainly due to the pH tolerance and internet searches. Spent $x00 on seed to cover a half acre (overkill). I never saw it germinate. For an entire year I griped to my wife about having wasted all that money on seed. Next spring I am digging up more crabgrass, and I start noticing this different infiltrating grass I couldn't identify and started trying to dig it up, but then I realized that where it was prevalent the yard looked the best. It took a while for me to realize it could be tif coming in. This is now almost a year after seeding. That year I did nothing but fertilize and mow. The following year (now two years after seeding), my neighbor says to me "What did you do to your yard?". I took it like a "WTF, bro?" and I immediately went into this rant about having wasted all this money on seed and the damn thing was fighting me, and I'm ready to just go hybrid bermuda, etc. Then he says "Come over to my house and then look at your yard again" So I do, and I was like "holy crap it looks great!" So then he says, "So what did you do?", so I said the only thing I did was mow fertilize, and that tifblair seed I threw down. So he says that stuff is a weird turf. He said on the third year it kind of leaps, and that maybe what it did was kind of slowly crept, and then coming out of the second winter dormant period it just POPPED. Not long after that I moved to Arizona and sold the house.

So, last year I moved back to SC from AZ, and the newly acquired yard is decent. It's not like the yard was bad by any means, but I also felt I could work it. I didn't put near the amount of seed down this time, because I'm still toying with the idea of going zoysia. I used it to patch damaged areas. I'll explain. First thing I did was remove a ton of gumball trees, and then all the damaged areas in the yard (tree trucks, branches, truck tires, etc), I leveled, seeded with tifblair, and then just covered it with a bit of sand. no fertilizer. Just kept it wet. And again, I have a low pH soil like before. *My thought was to pick a grass that works with the soil instead of fighting the soil.* I think that is the key. It took about 28 days to even start coming in (and AGAIN I was thinking I wasted money), but then about 4-5 months in I noticed those areas getting thicker and fuller. Some of it was common centipede creeping in, the rest was the seed growth. It's very sneaky and subtle as grass grows, especially if you overseed with common already established.. Now to answer your questions:

1. I've done it both ways. I would say overseeding took longer to show anything vs raw dirt. I do think getting a bit of sand over the seed makes a difference. If I overseed this spring, I will aerate overtop of the seed. I did not actually kill anything with the intent of sowing tifblair. Instead I used it to fix areas that I had killed by other means.

2. Hard to say, because the bags are seed and mulch AND the areas were patched. I seeded heavy vs the bag instructions, I know that. On the yard I did 12 years ago, that was 100 pounds seed and mulch mix over a half acre.

3. Late spring. May/June. i have considered trying a summer seeding since that is when the grass seems to go to seed, which tells me mother nature thinks that's the best time to seed. I have not tried it though.

4. Took about 14 days to start showing, 28-35 days to look like much of anything beyond green peach fuzz.

5. It's not choking out the bermuda. I used sethoxydim to weaken the bermuda. I'm finding on centipede sethoxydim is a good poison. Kills most of the tramp grasses and leaves the centipede alone. So far the tifblair seems unaffected by it.

6. I am happy with the winter performance, but then I don't care about it going dormant. I had a bit of a struggle, because I had the palmetto grass die back, so the yard looked bad going into last winter, but has since recovered. I does go fully dormant, but seems to be one of the early ones to green up.

Last point is that I'm still not sure how well it chokes out other weeds. I think the roots do go deeper than common centipede so it seems better, but one reason I'm still contemplating zoysia is that I do not think I'll need near the chemicals to control weeds as I do with my current yard. Time will tell. If after a couple of years I am still fighting weeds, I will likely sprig with zoysia and let it take over. However I've talked to people who killed their zoysia yard and went back to centipede.

Hopefully all that helped. I'm by no means an expert, and I still suspect that I have a large amount of luck in that my irrigation water is as good as putting ironite down every time I water. But hopefully that helps you make a decision without pushing you one way or the other. What primarily drove my decision to try it was the soil pH. If your soil is near-neutral, likely a better option out there. if it is very acidic, it may do quite well for you. If you do try it, give it three years before you punt.


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## mbaisley (Apr 8, 2019)

@Darth_V8r , thanks for the detailed response. Really helpful and I truly appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions. That was exactly what I needed to know from your experience.

And BTW, I'm jealous of that well water you have with all those minerals. What a great resource. You could grow a killer vegetable garden and fruit trees with that stuff.

I have one area about 15,000 sq. ft. that is pretty compacted red clay and is pretty acidic (low 6 pH range). Next May, I think I'm going to try the TifBlair. It gets some shade in the afternoon, but it gets 3 or 4 hours minimum of direct sun. Hopefully that'll be enough.

I don't think the TifBlair is being used much if at all here in East TN. It might be a bust, or I might get lucky.

Thanks again.


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## Texas MH (Jan 20, 2019)

@Darth_V8r you mentioned milo for organic material and you are correct that it is really expensive to put down on a large property. I found Scream'n Green is very effective and much more economical. I can get a 50lb bag of it for about $22 here in TX. No experience using it on centipede, but my Bermuda responds very well to the chicken manure it has in it.


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## Texas MH (Jan 20, 2019)

@tcorbitt20 Beautiful piece of land there. These are definitely a lot of work, but very rewarding. 
My 2 cents would be to consider investing up-front in getting it as level as you can before you start (if that's an option). Very difficult to correct after the fact. 15 yrds of soil/sand will look like ant piles on a property that size. When we built our place, I had a road grader come out and scrape the entire property and then established the grass with hydromulch. 
Looking forward to seeing what you do with it.


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## tcorbitt20 (Aug 31, 2018)

Texas MH said:


> @tcorbitt20 Beautiful piece of land there. These are definitely a lot of work, but very rewarding.
> My 2 cents would be to consider investing up-front in getting it as level as you can before you start (if that's an option). Very difficult to correct after the fact. 15 yrds of soil/sand will look like ant piles on a property that size. When we built our place, I had a road grader come out and scrape the entire property and then established the grass with hydromulch.
> Looking forward to seeing what you do with it.


Thanks! I am absolutely going to level it as well as I can. A guy had been leasing it the last few years and planting row crops. I figure I can really get it level right around the house where I plan to sod and maintain with a reel mower, and maybe plow up the rest and drag it all with something just to help smooth it out. I'm looking forward to it all if we can ever get a house built.


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## Darth_V8r (Jul 18, 2019)

Texas MH said:


> @Darth_V8r you mentioned milo for organic material and you are correct that it is really expensive to put down on a large property. I found Scream'n Green is very effective and much more economical. I can get a 50lb bag of it for about $22 here in TX. No experience using it on centipede, but my Bermuda responds very well to the chicken manure it has in it.


Thanks for the tip!


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## thebmrust (Jun 29, 2020)

Can we resurrect this thread?

Any of you still working the large lawns? I suggested a sub forum and Ware pointed me here (and others).

We have a 1.6 acre lot and just under 60,000 sq ft is turf (house yard and pasture). No animals in the pasture but I want to get it to a Level 1+.


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## ag_fishing (Feb 3, 2021)

Here I was thinking 34m was a lot of yard to try and maintain


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## tcorbitt20 (Aug 31, 2018)

That's a lot of grass to take care of @thebmrust. What will you be using to mow? Spray?


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## viva_oldtrafford (Apr 4, 2018)

thebmrust said:


> Can we resurrect this thread?
> 
> Any of you still working the large lawns? I suggested a sub forum and Ware pointed me here (and others).
> 
> We have a 1.6 acre lot and just under 60,000 sq ft is turf (house yard and pasture). No animals in the pasture but I want to get it to a Level 1+.


I mean, not a lawn, but a very, very large area! I can try and help provide some help / advice if you'd like.


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## thebmrust (Jun 29, 2020)

We have an oooold craftsman 42" riding mower. But the steering broke last week. Luckily we had been working on a newer (but still old) craftsman LTX 1000. It starts, runs, and the deck works. But needs work.


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## thebmrust (Jun 29, 2020)

Mow & spray:
I mentioned above our resurrected Craftsman LTX1000 for mowing. For spraying we use the LTX and a garden cart with a 15 gal 12v sprayer. 
Once I get the older craftsman steering linkage fixed, it will become the utility rig and the LTX will be mowing only.


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## thebmrust (Jun 29, 2020)

dbarlow said:


> Who all uses a fairway style mower? How do y'all fertilize? What type of sprayer? I'm wanting to transform my back few acres from weed central to all common Bermuda. I've started this spring with my first apps of pre emergent, and will be spraying some post emergent soon. I've noticed having large areas is pretty expensive to maintain also.


This is why I was hoping for a stand alone topic. Large lawns often need different equipment and chemical needs/requirements. A 2,000 sq ft city yard could get by for a few years with some products but others would need pallets of the same product on acreage.


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## BBLOCK (Jun 8, 2020)

Yeah I'd love to see what people are mowing large lots with, post your pics.

I'm on a new 2 acre lot that I'm building out, will have 14k that will be finished and irrigated hopefully by end of year with kbg and another 15k or so I'm mowing but it's rough terrain and just whatever is growing.

The rest of the property I'm Currently trimming w string or blade.

Will likely eventually doze it all and level as best as possible, it's what to do w all the debris, I already have some good piles going of stumps I need to burn. The back yard had a lot of trees grinded to nothing so lots of wood chips and stumps left behind.

First year on the property so working through it.

Brought in ten 22 ton loads of fill to the back so far.


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## epac90 (Dec 14, 2020)

Large lawn here. Currently mowing a little over 3 acres with a 61" zero-turn, but will probably be between 4-5 acres once I get another area prepped properly from previous bulldozer work (currently just bush hog it a few times per year because there are stump holes and ruts everywhere).

Agree with many of the points here. Large lawns are just a whole different ball game than <5,000 sq ft lawns. Most of the time, cheaper routes have to be taken since most of the good chemicals and fertilizer options become economically unviable at bigger acreage. Not to mention, you need much more expensive equipment unless you wanna spend 20+ hours in the yard every week.

I'm currently renovating my lawn little by little and converting my Bahia yard/pasture over to bermuda. Just seeded a little over 30,000 sq ft of Mohawk Bermuda this past weekend, and finally seeing some germination now. I've got a thread started on my renovation process at the link below. I'm figuring it will take me somewhere between 5-6 years to finally get the property to where I want it.

https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=25432


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## Uk0724 (May 1, 2019)

2 acres.

Mow with a JD 8000a. Spray with a tow behind Northstar 41 gallon sprayer.


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## Saint Louisan (Jul 31, 2019)

Texas MH said:


> 2.2 acres of irrigated and completely maintained Bermuda lawn (drilled a 850' well when we built).
> Really glad to see this thread! I've never found much on the internet for managing large properties and finding economical solutions that also get the job done can be a big challenge. I watch a lot of the YouTube content because i enjoy lawn stuff, but i laugh when someone mentions a product and says "its expense, but it will last you for years". I'm sure that is absolutely true for most, but that usually equates to about one app for me... BTW, having irrigation doesn't always solve problems on a large property. It took 30 zones to get coverage on my entire lawn (40 if i include the beds). I'm running Rainbird 5000s in each zone which takes about 1 hr to put down .5" of water in the summer. If you do the math, you'll see that i have to run my system 4x/week from dawn till dusk just to get 1" of water down per week. Concepts like "watering more and less often" and "watering only in the morning" just can't be implemented.


I'm late to this thread but I'm curious about that well. What elevation does your property sit and what size casing? Is it designated for irrigation or is it the primary for the property?


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## UFG8RMIKE (Apr 21, 2019)

Uk0724 said:


> 2 acres.
> 
> Mow with a JD 8000a. Spray with a tow behind Northstar 41 gallon sprayer.


Awesome! I'll have the same setup with jd3500 and 41 gal North Star on 1.11ac


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## BBLOCK (Jun 8, 2020)

Uk0724 said:


> 2 acres.
> 
> Mow with a JD 8000a. Spray with a tow behind Northstar 41 gallon sprayer.


I was looking at fairway mowers and thinking well that would be sweet for getting the job done, but maintenance wise having 5 reels over let's say 3 on a triplex would seem costly w upkeep, sharpening and part replacements and even to backlap at lot more time to do so. Any insight as to how you manage the machine and keep it a top performer.

And let's see a pic of the mowed lawn w that beast. Beautiful machine


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## thebmrust (Jun 29, 2020)

I can only imagine the cost of tenacity in a 55 gal drum. &#129396;&#129324;&#128557;&#128128;

Anywho... I kind of forgot about the time involved. I spend about 4-8 hours a week on yard care and that's not even close to enough.

We just use a craftsman 42" LTX 1000 resurrected from the scrapyard. Even though we would only have about 60,000k sq ft of grass, I would like to get our place to the point a 3 or 5 gang fairway mower was usable. Unrealistic, maybe... but that's the direction we are going. All of our neighbors have acres... most all use riding or zero turn. I would even offer to mow theirs for a small fee. (hmmmm; thinking, thinking).


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## Darth_V8r (Jul 18, 2019)

i'd also love to get a triplex mower, as the cut will be far smoother vs a 52" deck. However, it's cost-prohibitive. And that harbor freight tow-behind gang reel mower..... yeah.

One thing I do find is that I get far more creative on mixing chemicals, as spraying the yard is kind of an ordeal. I would also say on a larger yard, pre-emergents are even more critical than a smaller yard. it takes a LOT to get an out of control large yard under control.


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## Automate (Aug 14, 2020)

Darth_V8r said:


> And that Harbor Freight *Northern Tool* tow-behind gang reel mower..... yeah.


Easy to get them confused. I just checked and Norther Tool has discontinued them. https://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200377302_200377302

I think the ideas is great, execution not so great on these.


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## Deltahedge (Apr 1, 2020)

I've got just around 3 acres that I maintain, broken into the following areas.

1. 10k sq ft irrigated Front yard sodded tifway 419 Bermuda that I maintain with walk behind greens mower
2. 25k sq ft irrigated sodded grass that I mow with my ZTR
3. 2 acres of bumpy native grass and weeds that I mow with ZTR (not irrigated)
4. Bar ditch also mowed with ZTR (not fun, sloped and ZTR is awful for this type of mowing. Also not irrigated)

You can save money on chems if you want to go the ag route, using items that aren't labeled for residential turf. Just google the active ingredient. (You would be breaking the rules listed on the label by using on residential turf, but each person can make their own decisions.)

My equipment:
John Deere 260SL
Bad Boy Maverick 60" Zero Turn
41 gallon Northstar
ECO Lawn ECO-250 Topdresser
My4sons 4 gallon backpack sprayer
Spyker Spreader 80 lbs

If I didn't have the sloped bar ditch to mow, I would work on my 2 acres of unirrigated turf and harley rake it, irrigate, and purchase a triplex. Then I would mow every square inch of my property with a triplex. But I don't think a triplex would be good for the sloped bar ditch (I already have the zero turn, which isn't good on the slope either)

Because of the bar ditch, I have been dreaming of getting a Ventrac and a few attachments to maintain everything.


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## SWB (Sep 22, 2018)

Deltahedge said:


> I've got just around 3 acres that I maintain, broken into the following areas.
> 
> 1. 10k sq ft irrigated Front yard sodded tifway 419 Bermuda that I maintain with walk behind greens mower
> 2. 25k sq ft irrigated sodded grass that I mow with my ZTR
> ...


You and I have a lot of similar equipment. I'd love to have that top dresser though!
Spreading two pallets of lime from the Co-Op.


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## jhealy748 (Jul 25, 2019)

I currently have a 5 acre lot and 1 acre is irrigated bluegrass. I bought a fairway mower for $500 but had to spend around $2,000 to rebuild all of the reels but once that is done its really not bad for maintenance! I think it's well worth it! I can double cut the good grass and do my edging in just about an hour. I have just backlapped so far but will have my golf course give the reels the once over and possibly have them do a relief grind this winter so I can't speak to how bad that will be. The rest of the native grass I just mow with a zero turn but it is less than ideal. I may see if I can find a rough mower at some point for the prairie grass so I can stripe the entire property! Also, I bought th enorthstar 41 gallon sprayer because it has a 100" boom and my stripes are 100" so it makes it really easy to not get lost while spraying! I would plan on pulling it with a mower or something though as the hydrostat drive on the fairway mower is pretty tricky to get a constant and repeatable speed for spraying.


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

SWB said:


> You and I have a lot of similar equipment. I'd love to have that top dresser though!
> Spreading two pallets of lime from the Co-Op.


Which spreader model is that?

Did you have to special order it as iMatch compatible?

https://www.deere.com/assets/pdfs/common/products/frontier/10_20_spreaders.pdf


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## SWB (Sep 22, 2018)

Ware said:


> SWB said:
> 
> 
> > You and I have a lot of similar equipment. I'd love to have that top dresser though!
> ...


I had to order everything as the dealer had zero inventory at the time. I really didn't care though as I still had my old tractor.
I bought the 1067B. It is I-match compatible. I also bought the wheel agitator and the remote control. 
I have climate controlled storage for all my toys so I didn't feel like the 2067b with the Polly hopper was worth the added expense to me.


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

Thanks again @SWB - can you share more details about the optional remote? Frontier catalogs/brochures are incredibly vague.


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## JLMTX83 (Apr 15, 2019)

Just under 2 acres fully irrigated here, mixed bermuda/st aug but in the middle of an Arden 15 reseed projected.


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## SWB (Sep 22, 2018)

Ware said:


> Thanks again @SWB - can you share more details about the optional remote? Frontier catalogs/brochures are incredibly vague.


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## Deltahedge (Apr 1, 2020)

SWB said:


> You and I have a lot of similar equipment. I'd love to have that top dresser though!
> Spreading two pallets of lime from the Co-Op.


The Eco-250 would work really good in your situation. I assume you have a bucket for your tractor, and that would make quick work of filling the hopper.


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## Darth_V8r (Jul 18, 2019)

Deltahedge said:


> SWB said:
> 
> 
> > You and I have a lot of similar equipment. I'd love to have that top dresser though!
> ...


That thing looks really awesome, but at 2x the price of my mower, hard to swallow


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## jasonbraswell (Aug 18, 2019)

Mowing 3+ acres here with 50" zero turn.
Chapin pull behind spreader for fert and 21 gal north star sprayer.
MSMA is my best friend.


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## MasterMech (Sep 24, 2017)

BBLOCK said:


> Uk0724 said:
> 
> 
> > 2 acres.
> ...


Actually, backlapping is one task that's not all that bad on a fairway unit vs a triplex.. You're running the process simultaneously vs sequentially. You do have to take the time to adjust 2 more units afterwards though.


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## Uk0724 (May 1, 2019)

************ is a breeze. Choose a setting in the onboard CPU and lower the cutting units.

I was asked about maintenance in an earlier post. I'd be run off the forum if I told you the lack of maintenance I do. Lack of time and working knowledge of these machines is the main reason I don't do more. I don't have any turf dealers in my area to take it to either. Nashville would be the closest and that's over 3 hours away…

I'll post a picture tomorrow. For 2 acres that isn't irrigated and mowed twice a week (max) I can't complain. It's the best I'll be able to do with the time I have to put into it. I have too many other hobbies LOL.

My fleet consists of

JD 8000a
Toro 2000d
JD 220B
Thatchmaster TM 60
Buffalo Turbine Blower
North Star 41 gallon sprayer
Kubota L6060
Fimco 60 gallon sprayer
Land Pride 1000lb spreader
Land Pride 72 in. Finish mower

Every piece above gets used at least twice a season.

I don't anticipate adding anything more until I can get a sprinkler system installed. Then I might be in the market for a top dresser.

Almost all fo my chemicals I buy off of do my own. Annually I load up on Dismiss, PGR, Fungicide, and Prodiamine in February so they are here for spring. Occasionally I will buy Blindside but haven't needed it yet in 2021. I'm in farm country so 46-0-0 is plentiful.


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## Darth_V8r (Jul 18, 2019)

Uk0724 said:


> ...
> I don't anticipate adding anything more until I can get a sprinkler system installed.
> ...


This is where I am. I feel like right now, anything I could do is limited by my ability to get water on the turf. Although I need to drill a bigger well for this, so I'm looking at a $10k sprinkler system. :bd:


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## BBLOCK (Jun 8, 2020)

Uk0724 said:


> My fleet consists of
> 
> JD 8000a
> Toro 2000d
> ...


That is one heck of a fleet for a homeowner!

i hope to accumulate a couple more of those toys as well.

Now as to which sprayer do you prefer as I'm currently in the market for a pull behind sprayer.

Reason for 2? And which do you prefer?


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## Uk0724 (May 1, 2019)

BBLOCK said:


> Uk0724 said:
> 
> 
> > My fleet consists of
> ...


I accumulated most of my turf equipment through Weeks auctions over the years.

As for the sprayers. I'd take the 60 gallon 3pt Fimco. The reason for two is I used to have a 30hp open station tractor. I got a bigger tractor with cab for farm use and in doing so lost the ability to reach back and cut off the 3pt sprayer to make turns, etc. via the valve on the sprayer (PTO pump) I now use that sprayer exclusively for food plots and dont worry as much about over application during turns.

I have the tow behind for the yard which I pull with an old riding lawn mower. I can turn it off during turns via the switch for the electric pump. It's the least enjoyable experience of yard work. I just cant get it dialed in…


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## Uk0724 (May 1, 2019)

Darth_V8r said:


> Uk0724 said:
> 
> 
> > ...
> ...


I understand. I dread the mess its going to make on the yard, even though I know it will be worth it. Not to mention the cost.


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## Darth_V8r (Jul 18, 2019)

Uk0724 said:


> Darth_V8r said:
> 
> 
> > Uk0724 said:
> ...


For sure. What I'm kind of working out in my head is getting the well done so I can at least run more hoses simultaneously. Then, next spring, during green up, go ahead and run all the trenches. Since I'm converting to zenith, I'll top the loose trench dirt with sod strips of zenith, which will help with jump speeding up the conversion, and give me more turf to pull plugs from as the conversion progresses.


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## jasonbraswell (Aug 18, 2019)

Big yard pics


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## Automate (Aug 14, 2020)

jasonbraswell said:


> Big yard pics


Nice! How may sq ft is that finished front yard?


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## jasonbraswell (Aug 18, 2019)

Automate said:


> jasonbraswell said:
> 
> 
> > Big yard pics
> ...


Front is probably 2 acres.
It's irrigated so 99% from seed 2 years ago.
Still filling in with some spots.


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## Uk0724 (May 1, 2019)

Here is the front. 1/2 in HOC, no irrigation or rain in 10 days. Under PGR regulation.


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## jasonbraswell (Aug 18, 2019)

Spraying some iron and some lamdastar.
Keeping it green and bug free (as much as possible) for the 4th🇺🇸🎆
3.5 ****ey's cups per tank🤠


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## Amoo316 (Jul 8, 2021)

This is what I'm working with. Just shy of 60Kft2 of mowing area. Over 35K of it is covered by in ground irrigation with manual valves to turn on zones.



The google earth image is from late fall 4 years ago after a Fedex semi tried to get through my lawn after 6 inches of rain the week prior....

When we moved in, in 2011 the 22K "field" was all common cetipede, the 18K "front yard" was a mix of common centipede and common bermuda and weeds, the 19K "dog yard" we fenced in was common centipede and heavy weeds.

I installed what I call "manual irrigation" in 2015, basically I go out to the valve box in the ground and manually turn on a zone. All of the Front Yard is covered and 95% of the Field is covered. Next month I plan to cover the Dog yard and fix any bare spots in coverage in the rest. (Neighbor has a trencher I have free access to)

2017 saw Lawn Burweed become a MAJOR thing in our yard. This resulted in me roto tilling the entire front yard and reseeding with a blend of improved bermuda commons Lowes had at the time. I slowly overseeded (5lbs per season) the front yard with Tifblair Centipede through last spring. Between heavy Atrazine and overseeding the entire front yard was basically all Centipede this spring. Sadly the Lawn Burweed came back with a vengeance this year. I hit my annual Atrazine limit by May of this year. I also noticed the improved Bermudas had spread basically throughout most of the dog yard and any areas where I had to do repairs, like the pictured above. There was also noticeably less Burweed pressure in the Bermuda.

At that point I had enough. I had already ordered some MSM Turf to take care of a persistent Bahia grass problem in a few areas, so instead of applying at the centipede rate in the whole yard at .5/a I went in at .5/a in two separate applications (1oz/a total). We had a small amount of Virginia Buttonweed I was going to Glypho, but the full rate knocked it out. As you can imagine this did a massive number on all of the centipede in my yard. I waited my 8 weeks, got some dethatching, core aerating and fertilizing knocked out and at the end of last month did a light overseed with 50lbs of Blackjack Bermuda.

Funny enough all of that Bermuda that was in the front yard and mostly gone, really started to thrive with most of the centipede out of the way. My Front Yard and Field are currently about 25% Centipede, 65% unknown improved commons and 10% Blackjack Bermuda sprouts. This doesn't count all of the crabrass and POA that showed up once the Centipede canopy was lifted that I am currently living through.

At the end of the day, after living with both Bermuda and Centipede, Bermuda is simply better for country/farm living in my situation. I have more/cheaper chemical alternatives to take care of issues in the yard and it repairs itself better/faster than any of the Centipede varieties. None of that is counting the improved color going from the lime green of the centipede to the darker green of the improved commons.

My Equipment consists of:
Jone Deere Z540M ZT
Kubota LA525 with bucket (Implements = Bushhog, Disk Harrow, Box blade)
25gal ATV Liquid Spreader
Earthway 2150C Spreader
Pull Behind 30gal/36" Core Aerator
Pull Behind 30gal/36" Spike Aerator

Access to at neighbors:
Terramite
Rototiller implement
Walk Behind Tencher
Pull Behind Tine Dethatcher

This image is from June 2020


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## jasonbraswell (Aug 18, 2019)

Fresh cut at 2". Gonna give it a good drink and a cold 🍺 for me.


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## ag_fishing (Feb 3, 2021)

Reviving this for 2022. 
32,000 sq/ft total and all irrigated.

My equipment consists of:
-JD 42" zero turn for 22,000 sq/ft
-Greensmaster 1000 for the remaining 10,000sq/ft
-31 gallon north star stank sprayer for pre-em and Celsius/certainty if needed
-4 gallon field king with TeeJet nozzle for fungicide/insecticide/small areas
-Spyker Ergo Pro 80lb spreader new for this year. I had a Scott's edge guard mini that finally broke and got tired of re-filling it 4 times every time I fertilized.


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## PoisonOkie (10 mo ago)

7 acres of pasture trying to convert to bermuda. I started off by controlling most of the weeds on the front two acres and just last year have moved on to the other 5 acres. No irrigation, totally dependent on rain, so I have to plan my pre & post emergence around the weather. I have a 25 gal. sprayer and a tow behind spreader when I can afford fertilizer. I am very interested in what post emergence products (Brand name) some of you use to save money while maintaining a decent looking property. For instance I use 3D by Quali-pro (3 way) from Solutions Pest & Lawn, Any help is appreciated.


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## DocTodd (9 mo ago)

Neighbor bought 20 acres and sub divided it into 5 acre lots of which I purchased the furthest north. We are right on the edge of the city/country and kind of get a bit of the best of both worlds. I'd loved to have moved further out, but I cannot be too far away from the hospitals for emergency call in purposes. We have a common gravel drive that is supposed to be getting asphalt millings at some point this year. We built our house on the half of the property that has almost no trees. One scrub oak out front and a couple small cedars in the back. The area around the house has been sodded with Tahoma Bermuda and the rest of the property is field grass, weeds, and a ton of tiny sprigs of either wild greenbriar or blackberries. The fence line is a mess. No fence on the south. Chainlink on the west. Old barbwire on the north and east, and the neighbor to the east put up a chainlink 3-4' onto our property a few years ago (before we bought it) right up next to the falling down barb wire. I'm trying to work with him to move the fence back over just so I can keep from having to cut down all of the trees that have grown up along and through the fence. We run bee hives out back, and my hope is to smooth the entire property out, seed the back 2-2.5 acres with Dutch white clover, and extend our bermuda yard north and west to fill up our east half of the property. We are on well, and have irrigation that is expandable to hopefully cover the remaining area that I want to make all bermuda. I wish I had the budget for more equipment, but I seem to have spent all that money on the pool that is getting built at the moment. Lots of work limbing up trees, cleaning up fence lines, and want to add a greenhouse, chicken coop, small garden, and really need to add a barn/large shed at some point.
Current equipment:
Ferris 61" ztr
Polaris UTV
Northstar 31 gal sprayer (picked up last week)
1952 Ford 8N with brush hog and box blade

I need to have my buddy bring his drone over to take some more shots, but here is what I've got so far:


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## DocTodd (9 mo ago)

Do any of you have any suggestions about how I can best work to smooth out the pasture areas? I've considered discs and dragging the area, and have had it mentioned to possibly till the pasture up, drag, and roll it. I'm limited on equipment, but don't mind buying an implement or two that I can turn around and sell (or to rent one). The long term goal is to (hopefully) use the zero turn to maintain the height of cut in the pasture areas and use Polaris for general needs otherwise.


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## BBLOCK (Jun 8, 2020)

DocTodd said:


> Do any of you have any suggestions about how I can best work to smooth out the pasture areas? I've considered discs and dragging the area, and have had it mentioned to possibly till the pasture up, drag, and roll it. I'm limited on equipment, but don't mind buying an implement or two that I can turn around and sell (or to rent one). The long term goal is to (hopefully) use the zero turn to maintain the height of cut in the pasture areas and use Polaris for general needs otherwise.


As someone that plowed their yard last year to turn it over I can tell you you're going to need a dozer to ever get the grade right and compacted properly after.

First I plowed, then disked, then harrowed it to try and break it all up best I could, later we dozed it all. I then used what they call a landscaper attachment to help grade it and finally a rock rake to help pull all the rocks out. I also dug out hundreds of stumps along the way. And then hand picked as much debris as I could as well. This was a 30k area. The other 15k I brought in fill and top soil. But the 30k area was just all the native.

A lot of work and a lot of equipment was used to get the job done. I don't know how you would do it otherwise.

I remember Pete did what he called poor man's top dressing, he aerated the area like crazy, over and over again.(had it all calculated for how much he needed) He then used all the material from the plugs to drag and level his yard. It was pretty neat and may be an option! U can go back to his reno journal and see the whole thing from a couple years ago.


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## Iceman01 (Sep 29, 2021)

Can't figure out how y'all are controlling groundspeed unless you have a GPS system!


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## BBLOCK (Jun 8, 2020)

Iceman01 said:


> Can't figure out how y'all are controlling groundspeed unless you have a GPS system!


Currently looking for a mounting solution. Just need the right bracket


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## DocTodd (9 mo ago)

BBLOCK said:


> DocTodd said:
> 
> 
> > Do any of you have any suggestions about how I can best work to smooth out the pasture areas? I've considered discs and dragging the area, and have had it mentioned to possibly till the pasture up, drag, and roll it. I'm limited on equipment, but don't mind buying an implement or two that I can turn around and sell (or to rent one). The long term goal is to (hopefully) use the zero turn to maintain the height of cut in the pasture areas and use Polaris for general needs otherwise.
> ...


Thanks for the info. It is definitely going to be a process, but I'd like to do it right the first time and do it quickly…finances depending. I spent the better part of the afternoon pulling the brush hog while my neighbor zipped around on his ZTR. I wish I did, but I don't have the amount of free time to constantly be on the tractor.

If you have a link to Pete's page, please show me the way!
Thanks


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## Chadwicktr (May 26, 2020)

Texas MH said:


> I've been researching tow behind spreaders to pull with my zero turn mower for quite awhile now. The problem with every spreader I looked at, is that the shut-off handle can't be reached on a ZT. Recently I came across the Chapin 150lb tow spreader with auto-stop. If you stop, it automatically stops the flow of fert so there is no need for a shutoff handle. I used it today and it worked perfectly spreading 500lbs of fert in no time. I'm also really impressed with the quality and engineering they put in to this spreader. If you have a larger property and looking for a spreader solution you should definitely take a look at this one.


Great to know. Thanks so much for posting this!


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## BBLOCK (Jun 8, 2020)

@DocTodd here you go- the whole journal is amazing, page 6 is where the aeration starts

https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=436&start=100


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## thebmrust (Jun 29, 2020)

DocTodd said:


> Do any of you have any suggestions about how I can best work to smooth out the pasture areas? I've considered discs and dragging the area, and have had it mentioned to possibly till the pasture up, drag, and roll it. I'm limited on equipment, but don't mind buying an implement or two that I can turn around and sell (or to rent one). The long term goal is to (hopefully) use the zero turn to maintain the height of cut in the pasture areas and use Polaris for general needs otherwise.


How much time and money do you have?
All kidding aside, it does take time. Think of leveling a lawn to making bread. It has to be mixed, kneaded, set aside to rise. Punched down, kneaded more, maybe a second rise. Punched down again then kneaded some more. Finally you get to start making loaves. Then it has to be sized, baked, cooled then sliced.

One thing I noticed for our pasture, our small mower made ruts after we filled it up. Make sure you go over it from all angles. Move dirt, go over it again. Move dirt. Do it at right angles then 45* then right angles. Try to mix up the drive paths.

So, start working the land. Enjoy!


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## DocTodd (9 mo ago)

thebmrust said:


> How much time and money do you have?
> All kidding aside, it does take time. Think of leveling a lawn to making bread. It has to be mixed, kneaded, set aside to rise. Punched down, kneaded more, maybe a second rise. Punched down again then kneaded some more. Finally you get to start making loaves. Then it has to be sized, baked, cooled then sliced.
> One thing I noticed for our pasture, our small mower made ruts after we filled it up. Make sure you go over it from all angles. Move dirt, go over it again. Move dirt. Do it at right angles then 45* then right angles. Try to mix up the drive paths.
> So, start working the land. Enjoy!


Thanks for the reply. I looked into purchasing a tiller, but have found that the 8N tractor and tillers don't seem to work well with each other. 
Just last night I learned of a local construction site giving away dirt for free from a local monstrous excavation. I think I'm going to borrow a buddy's dump trailer and try to fill, scrape, and level with the box blade. Our kids are from ages 1-8 so I want to get about 2 acres set up for a big play lawn as soon as possible. Hoping to possibly be able to do some sprig sections this summer or at least be ready to get started on it first of next year (most likely).


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