# Re: moedank's Mid-Missouri Lawn Adventures (new Fall 2022 TTTF/KBG reno page 3)



## moedank (Sep 10, 2019)

*Fall 2019 - Before and After Renovation*

*Background:* Bought a new construction home in April 2019. The front yard (~2,300sqft) was sodded with a fescue blend, likely Jonathan Green Black Beauty (JGBB) Original TTTF, since there is a sod farm that grows it close by. The rest of the yard (~9,500sqft) was seeded and covered with erosion mats. The mats were laid a few weeks before closing on the home in June, and the builder admitted to only watering the sodded portion, so little grass and a bunch of weeds grew elsewhere.  It would have been an uphill battle renovating the bad sections over the summer, so everything was postponed until early fall.

*Early August Pics:*






*Reno Time (9/6/19):* 
The reno was divided into sections. With a baby due in late September, I decided to focus on the side yards and a section of the backyard (~3,700sqft) closest to the house. Also, this was a test run. I didn't know how successful this would be, so if I screwed up it would only be a part of the yard. The yard experiences high winds, lots of rain and erosion due to being on top of a hill in an old farming field with no trees. My thinking was, if runoff were to occur, which it did, at least the seed, topsoil, fertilizer etc. would flow down into the lower sections of the yard.

Q4 Plus herbicide was sprayed the 3rd week of August. My initial goal was to preserve some of the grass (what grass?) but that changed later on. I began to painstakingly remove the erosion mats and scarify with a Sun Joe. However, this took too long so a buddy brought over his Kubota tracker and we tilled up the backyard. The scarification from the Sun Joe was sufficient for the side yards. 5 yards of topsoil was spread with JGBB Original TTTF seed on top. Everything was leveled with a lawn roller and leveling rake and then covered with Scott's Starter Fertilizer with Mesotrione.

Since there was a concern for erosion from storms, EZ straw and Pennington Slopemaster, both with tackifier, were placed over the seed and watered in. The reno took several days, so there was a great sense of satisfaction with being done. That night's weather only called for a 40% chance of rain, so I wasn't concerned.

Around 1:00am, I awoke to the sounds of incredibly loud winds, rain and thunder. I darted outside to the back porch and witnessed a site of horror - two corrugated pipes had blown off the gutters. In there place, were newly formed mini rivers of zigzagging rain through the just finished reno. I ran out into the rain and in ankle deep mud shoved the pipes back on. It only took 30 seconds to refasten them, and I was already drenched. I was thoroughly pissed but couldn't do anything so I waited until the next morning. It took three days of sun before the area could be walked on. Clay soil sucks.

Overall, the damage was moderate but not as bad as I had expected. The worst areas were around the gutters and a side yard with a decent slope that had some topsoil and seed wash away. I ended up getting some more topsoil, reseeded and this time placed erosion mats over the hilly areas. The tackifier products couldn't hold up to heavy rains on any type of slope.

The drain pipes were extended beyond the reno area and secured into the ground with spikes. A second, lighter seeding was done about 4 days after the heavy rain.

*11 days later (9/17/19):*






*~1 month later (10/9/19):*






Some sections of the erosion mats were densely packed with straw, so grass has had difficulties penetrating through those areas. [These sections did fill in fairly well by the end of the next summer.] I don't really care. I plan to core aerate, top dress and reseed next year. My baby son was born on 9/19/19, so I'm basically done with the yard except for occasional watering.

More to come eventually. A large section of the backyard needs to be renovated and some spots in the front yard should be leveled a bit. Also, rust fungus is a problem that I have been combating with fungicides. Hopefully, it will lessen as the soil/lawn improves over time.

Thanks for reading.


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## pennstater2005 (Jul 17, 2017)

@moedank Welcome to TLF and congrats on the new baby boy!!!!

Grass came in nicely on the hillside. I know all about looking out and seeing water destroying your hard work. This past time I just laid face down on my bed and refused to look :lol: My kids gave me play by play though.


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## moedank (Sep 10, 2019)

*Spring 2020*

Thanks for the welcome and compliment, pennstater2005.

The reno from last fall survived the winter and appears to be doing well. There are some intermittent weeds and patchy spots but it's a vast improvement. Much won't happen this spring and summer except for maintenance. I hope to minimize weed growth in the 2nd half of the back yard that wasn't renovated last year, which will be my big fall project.

*Action Plan:*

March - Applied Menard's Forever Green Crabgrass Preventer with Turf Food, which contains dithiopyr, at a rate of 3.2lb/1000sqft. This equals 0.768lb nitrogen/1000sqft. The front yard received a slightly reduced rate of 2.4lb/1000sqft since my dog heavily fertilizes there and it's the least weedy area.

Mow every 4-5 days at a height of 3.5 inches. Changed to 4 inches in mid May.

April 14th - Applied Gypsum at a rate of 6lb/1000sqft.

May - Applied Menard's Forever Green Weed & Feed on both sides and the back yard at a rate of 3.2lb/1000sqft. I didn't apply this on the sodded areas since these sections are growing fastest and have hardly any weeds. Sprayed Propiconazole 14.3 fungicide at a rate of 2oz/1000sqft on the renovated and sodded areas of the lawn.

Front Yard

Side Yard

Back Yard

Back Yard

There is another 1200-1500sqft of yard just beyond the miscanthus grass mounds. This area has a steep slope and will be renovated last.


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## moedank (Sep 10, 2019)

*Summer 2020 - Lawn Dormancy and Sloped Section*

A decent percentage of the lawn went dormant in late June and early July. Some sections remained green and avoided dormancy due to dog fertilizer "hot spots," partial shaded areas around the house and low spots in the lawn that held moisture longer. A few sections of brown patch were treated with a couple rounds of Propiconazole and Scotts Disease Ex. I watered a hand full of times throughout the summer whenever there were several consecutive 90+ degree days with no rain. Recently, temps have cooled and a few rain showers have happened so the grass is waking back up.









Below are some pictures of the very back section of the lot, which is moderately slopped at 17-19%. It is mostly weeds and junk grasses. My lot includes a little more than half of that hill. I consider this the really crappy section of the yard.


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## moedank (Sep 10, 2019)

*Summer 2020 - Finishing the Backyard Renovation*

August 15th - 10 cubic yards of topsoil sitting in the driveway.


Pictures of the yard before tilling. You can see where last fall's reno ended near the house. This is a good comparison between sod quality TTTF seed vs KY31. I will say, the KY31 handled the summer just fine with no help from me. It is a beast of a grass. 




Friend's tractor that made moving the topsoil and tilling possible. 


8 hours later. Tilled and roughly graded about ~6000sqft. Why till? The ground was really compacted and I wanted to incorporate the topsoil into the clay. Also, freshly tilled soil is easier to grade. 




Family and friends helped with the project. Couldn't have done it without them. We got lucky with the weather; storm clouds danced around us all morning and afternoon. The lawn is now a more leveled slope. I'm going to finish the hill over the next week or so.


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## moedank (Sep 10, 2019)

*Summer 2020 - Heat Wave with 1 Week Old Grass*

Feeling pretty anxious about the grass seed, especially since this area is supposed to get temperatures in the 90s for several days with no rain in sight.

I've had to improve the irrigation system a couple of times due to underwatering and lack of even coverage. The seed has only received enough water over the last three days, so it is just now starting to germinate... right before the heat wave. There are now 7 sprinklers running on timers, and I'm trying to hone in the correct watering times.

I would have waited to reno until later in the year but before the time of seeding the 2 week forecast seemed favorable and the long term forecast called for a cooler than usual fall. That has since changed. In addition, trying to plan a weekend when my buddy would be free to bring his tractor from out of town along with cooperative weekend weather was iffy, thus I gambled and started early.

Pics of the baby grass. Let's see if I can grow this in a straight week of 90+ temps. Hopefully the erosion mats keep the seed cool and moist.


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## moedank (Sep 10, 2019)

*Late Summer 2020 - 3 week Follow-up and Slope Renovation Progress*

1st week of September. The new grass made it through the August high temps. 








The slope has taken longer than expected to complete, which was another reason why I gambled on starting the reno early. I wanted to be finished with everything by mid September. There is one last section of slope that will be completed tomorrow. It's supposed to be 91F today. Tomorrow is a little cooler and then a cold front is expected sometime Tuesday.

Straw erosion mats from Lowes along with a bunch of biodegradable spikes were used to hold everything in place.


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## moedank (Sep 10, 2019)

*Late Summer 2020 - Front Yard Coming Out of Dormancy*

Here is the sodded section of the lawn that didn't receive much TLC due to my focus on the backyard reno. It went dormant over the summer more easily than my 2019 fall seeded sections.

See my July 30th post for comparison pictures.


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## moedank (Sep 10, 2019)

*Fall 2020 - Before and After Pictures of the Slope*

The section closest to the camera was finished last so the grass is still coming up in that area. The rest of the slope needs to be mowed soon.

Notice the stark difference between my half of the hill and my neighbor's half.


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## moedank (Sep 10, 2019)

*Spring 2021*

The lawn is coming out of dormancy but it's not as evenly green as a few other yards on the street. Last fall most of my attention went toward the back yard renovation, so a nitrogen blitz program never happened. Though, I was able to throw down a couple fertilizer applications, maybe 1lb - 1.5lb N total, but nothing aggressive. There could be some compaction issues in some of the not as green areas. A core aeration may happen this fall.

*Action Plan:*


March 23rd - Ground temps have been in the early 50s. Applied Menard's Forever Green Crabgrass Preventer with Turf Food, which contains dithiopyr, at a rate of 3.2lb/1ksqft. This equals 0.768lb nitrogen/1ksqft. It was watered in by two storms over a three day period that dropped about .75in of rain. They weren't downpours so hopefully the product didn't partially wash away. This can be a problem since I live on a slight slope.


Mid April - Applied about a 1lb nitrogen throughout the yard.


May 14th - Sprayed preventative Propiconazole at 2oz/1ksqft since the forecast called for over a week of rain with highs in the 80s and lows above 60. I will rotate this with Scotts Disease Ex every 3-4 weeks.


Late May - Applied Menard's Forever Green Weed & Feed at a rate of 3.2lb/1ksqft.

The lawn was hit fairly hard with fertilizer this spring. The baby grass is the back half of the yard. 
Back Yard

Back Yard


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## moedank (Sep 10, 2019)

*Spring 2021 - Jonathan Green Black Beauty (JGBB) Original TTTF vs GCI Turf TTTF*

JGBB is the front or closest half (Fall Reno 2019) to the camera and GCI is the back half (Fall Reno 2020). GCI may be slightly darker or the slightly brown section separating the two may be throwing off the color cohesiveness. Curious to see how it establishes over spring. No lawn stripe pics were taken since it was wet from a recent rain.

The slightly brown section has been there for a couple of seasons now and is located below a downspout. Since I tend to put down fertilizer whenever there is anticipated rainfall, maybe more of it gets washed away. Or it needs to be aerated. It is also in a slight depression. I never got around to aerating or lightly overseeding the established sections last fall. 


The bare areas below are from dog urine burns that have slowly accumulated over the last 1.5yrs. Since no major reno is planned, the goal is to lightly overseed and level some uneven areas in the fall.

Note the empty lot to the left. 5-6 ft tall weeds will eventually appear over the summer. They are my nemesis. I tend to mow and spray glyphosate several feet inward but still get a decent amount of weed seed due to wind.


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## Lumalux (Aug 23, 2019)

What is everyone's impression of JG Black Beauty and Black Beauty Ultra? Some have given it glowing reviews, for exceptionally dark turf. Is it durable and drought-resistant? I am in the transition zone, no supplemental irrigation.


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## moedank (Sep 10, 2019)

I have been pretty impressed with JGBB Original. It went in and out of summer dormancy just fine and has thicken up a lot over the last 1.5 years. No reseeding needed, except for the dog spots that will need to be taken care of eventually. Yes, it is durable and drought resistant. Though, a couple early morning manual waterings were done during the peak heat and drought period of its first summer as a precautionary measure.

I will provide some comparison pics from late fall 2019 to now. Can't comment on the Ultra, my thinking was the small percentage of KBG wouldn't do as well in a non-irrigated yard in the transition zone. I thought the fescue would eventually crowd it out.


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## moedank (Sep 10, 2019)

Lumalux, the pictures below were taken this evening. These are the JGBB Original lawn sections. Grass was cut at 3 inches 4 days ago. No reseeding since the original reno. It looks pretty decent for a Tier 1.5-2 approach. Check out my original post in this thread to see how it has matured.

It has not been perfect. It did get brown patch in some sections over the summer but recovered well. A round of Propiconazole and Scotts Disease Ex were used to treat it.

Left Side Yard


Right Side Yard


Back Yard - The dark spots in the grass along the house are from where I walked a couple days ago during a morning frost to remove some hosta frost blankets before work. I know. Don't walk in frozen grass.  Temporary damage.


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## Tablerock (May 3, 2021)

Nice work Moe. That is huge strides from where you started! I'm in southern Missouri and I wish I had a buddy with a Kubota... nothing is level and I deal with rocks everywhere. You're inspiring me to post a journal.


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## testwerke (Apr 4, 2019)

Well done. Looks dense and very healthy!


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## moedank (Sep 10, 2019)

Tablerock said:


> Nice work Moe. That is huge strides from where you started! I'm in southern Missouri and I wish I had a buddy with a Kubota... nothing is level and I deal with rocks everywhere. You're inspiring me to post a journal.


Thanks. I was lucky to get help from a buddy with a tracker. Though, if I had my own truck and trailer, I probably would have rented a dingo or ditch witch with a harley rake to better remove the lawn debris and level the ground.

Several passes with the Kubota and lawn roller made the yard fairly level. However, the outside perimeter where the tracker tilled needs to be leveled some this fall.


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## moedank (Sep 10, 2019)

*Mid Spring 2021 - First Time Using a Stripe Kit*

Thank you testwerke for the compliment.

Installed a CheckMate lawn striper. Below is a single-double-single pattern cut at 3.5 in. It took too long to do the backyard so I plan to only stripe the front and side sections going forward, except for show off opportunities like kid birthday parties and family events. Didn't edge this time because it's good enough. Last two pics are to show off the hostas.  






It's a PITA getting perfectly straight lines on this slope. 


Notice the arrows pointing to the faint line of lighter grass separating the old and new reno sections. That is a strip of KY31 from the initial lawn. I plan to kill it and seed this fall.


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## ksturfguy (Sep 25, 2018)

Looks good! Also like the hastas


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## moedank (Sep 10, 2019)

*Late Spring 2021 - Drought/Heat Stress and Possible Brown Patch*

Signs of drought and heat stress are beginning to appear. About 3/4 of the yard has been moderately to deeply watered once since the heat arrived a couple weeks ago. The grass hasn't been mowed in 1.5 weeks. The goal isn't to keep it cohesively green during the summer. I don't care that much. Just don't want any grass to die. 


This is the only section of grass that died last year and it was the first area (a week before anywhere else) to show signs of stress this year. Fungus was the assumed culprit but now I'm suspecting something is buried underneath, gravel or cement chunks, since it's rapidly drying out in the exact same shape as last summer. It will be dug up in late August. 






Don't know for certain, but it looks like brown patch may be creeping into the side lawn from the neighbor's side. A 5 ft curative rate strip of Scotts Disease Ex was spread along the lot edge and the rest of that side and front yard received a preventative rate. Will water it in tomorrow morning. 




New grass doesn't appear to be showing any more drought/heat stress than the sodded front yard as of right now. If the yard needs watering, the new grass gets priority. I haven't watered most of the perimeter around the house since it still looks pretty good. The forecast calls for about 4 more days of sunny upper 90s weather.


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## Green (Dec 24, 2017)

Nice journal. I always like seeing minimally irrigated Fescue lawns. Keep up the great work.


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## moedank (Sep 10, 2019)

*Mid Summer 2021 - Brown Patch in JGBB but not GCI*

Thanks Green for the comments.

Brown Patch reared its ugly head in part of the lawn over the last few days. I haven't been on my lawn game as much since my daughter was born last week. Thus, fungus took advantage of a vulnerable moment. :evil:

My area has received well over ten inches of rain in the last two weeks. Storms almost daily, and rain is in the forecast for the next three days. The area was treated with Scotts Disease Ex and spray Propiconazole. I usually only do one or the other at the curative rate but did both to give it a double whammy.

Interestingly, the brown patch is only noticeable in the JGBB section and not in the GCI that was seeded last fall. The GCI section wasn't treated because now I'm curious: How much longer will it last before showing signs of fungus? Probably not long but my lawn is a lab. I like doing these comparison tests. 




Below are images that compare the two grasses. That little section of brown, dormant crap grass is the dividing line that separates the renos. 


Without the line.


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## moedank (Sep 10, 2019)

*Mid Summer 2021 - Back Slope Struggle, Summer Stress and Dormancy*

Except for manually watering the back slope 2-3 times, I haven't done anything besides mowing and weed eating over the last month. I need to spray a post emergent soon to hit some sporadic weeds, especially since temps are going to hover around 80 over the next several days.

The back slope was part of last fall's reno, so it's newish grass. This area gets full sun and doesn't retain water/moisture well due to the moderate slope. It dries up in half the time compared to the flatter areas. It has not been mowed for at least three weeks. This is a prime location to showcase its summer dormancy awesomeness. This look is common in fescue transition zone, non-irrigated lawns. I'll try to post comparison pics every 2-3 weeks through September.







Pictures of the rest of the yard.

Notice the dark green urine spot. It looks under fertilized but I'm not going to push any fertilizer until late August/early September. 






The mature grass sections have been holding up well. The front lawn has been manually watered 3-4x this summer, both sides once and the back yard, except the slope, has been watered twice. Most of the flat back yard is newish grass so it is only cut every other mow. Height of cut has been 3-3.5inch for mature grass, 3.5inch for back yard new grass and 4inch on the slope.

So far, this summer hasn't been as stressful on the lawn as compared to last year. More rain, shorter drought periods? Though, I plan to water 1-3x in August, if needed.


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## moedank (Sep 10, 2019)

*Mid Summer 2021 - Neighbor's Bermuda and Weedy Lot*

The morning dew reveals bermuda grass in my neighbor's lawn. It's beginning to creep onto my side. 




Weedy lot on the other side of the lawn. 




I have been following this random clump of fescue (to the left of my kiddo) over the last two years. This grew from some Black Beauty seed that had washed down during a fall reno in 2019. It started out as a small 6in semicircular clump. I usually spray anything within 3 feet of the side yard but haven't had the heart to kill it.


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## moedank (Sep 10, 2019)

*Mid Summer 2021 - Dug up Construction Debris*

This spot near the road kept going dormant the fastest and parts of it would die each summer requiring a reseed. 


Found the culprit. That large slab of concrete alone weighed 60-70lbs. Not included in the pics but I also dug up another 20-30lbs yesterday evening. I'm certain there is more but I think I got most of the big chunks.


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## moedank (Sep 10, 2019)

*Late Summer 2021 - It was a Dry August and September*

Behind on an update; though, there isn't much to see. A large portion of the lawn has been in various stages of stress and dormancy. These pictures were from the 3rd week of August and the lawn had looked about the same until 1-2 weeks ago. It was heavily watered 3-4 times from mid August to mid September, not to green it up but to keep it alive.

This has been the most stressful late summer/early fall since living here. I think one or two of the hostas may even die, which is hard to do. My micanthus grass mounds had seedhead stalks this time last year. Currently, they must think it's still mid summer because there are no visible stalks yet. 






The two brown spots in the upper right hand corner were low areas leveled with topsoil. The white strip was nuked with glyphosate since it had some KY31 grass from when the home was originally built.


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## moedank (Sep 10, 2019)

*Fall 2021 - Morning Pics*

These pics were taken about 1.5 months after my last post. I've hit the lawn hard with fertilizer since the second half of September. 


A few small 6in sections in between the sidewalk and the street that died over the summer were reseeded. Could have been a watering issue, dog pee or more buried debris. I also blanket overseeded about a 1ksqft area to fix the dead urine spots in the backyard. 


This is the area where the cement debris was dug up. The grass came in well; though, it struggled in September due to higher temps and little precipitation. The edge was reseeded in some areas. It needs to be cut soon.




I killed and reseeded a strip of old grass from when the house was built. Kind of hard to tell but my shadow intersects the strip. 


Back slope came out of dormancy just fine but I did miss a square section with fertilizer back in September. That area appeared more dormant until about a week or two ago.


Some slight erosion on the neighbor's side of the hill. This is nothing new. Since it has little grass and mostly weeds, the bare soil spots tend to continually erode up and into my side of the lawn. I will probably buy a couple bags of dirt and throw down some seed and straw today or tomorrow. It's late but better than nothing. 


Larger view. My back neighbors don't care about their hill. 


An occasional mowing is the only real difference between my back neighbor's part of the hill and the weedy lot.

Erosion, significant weed pressure (6 foot tall weeds in the summer full of who knows what) and now common bermuda are issues that I continually deal with from adjacent lots.


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## badtlc (Aug 22, 2019)

Any thoughts to integrating some KBG? I'm in KC and deal with the same issues as you and my KBG seems to survive everything from fungus, grubs, heat, etc. It may look bad from the damage but when the heat breaks and rain comes, the KBG heals crazy fast and looks like nothing ever happened without having to reseed.


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## moedank (Sep 10, 2019)

@badtlc, how much/often do you irrigate?

I had considered seeding a KBG test plot but decided against it since I figured it wouldn't hold up well due to minimal irrigation over the summer (let the grass go dormant but water enough to keep it alive). I closely followed ksturfguy's test plots over the last two years and overall the KBG didn't seem to handle the summers as well as the TTTF under minimal care/irrigation conditions. Now, the KBG in his lawn that receives more TLC and partial shading looks great.

My situation is FULL sun from sunrise to sunset (no fence, no mature trees - it's an open field), transition zone weather and a minimal care/irrigation mindset. I get annoyed just having to move the sprinklers around a handful of times throughout August and September. Even if I had an irrigation system, I wouldn't use it for the purpose of keeping the lawn green. I can't/won't use water for that purpose alone. It's not a money issue.

I don't think my situation would equal a prosperous KBG mixed lawn but I could very well be wrong. Again, I'd go the test plot route. Kill a 10x20 ft section and give it a go. I don't know how successful integrating KBG into an already fully established TTTF lawn would be.

With all of that said, I have recently learned of a grass that does extremely well under my lawn conditions and that is common bermuda. My neighbor has it in his lawn and it keeps trying to infiltrate mine. At first I hated it but I'm beginning to somewhat admire it. I appreciate plants, trees, grasses etc that do well in their environments with minimal care and this grass appears to be king. I'm going to keep battling it for now but I may convert in the future. Going to think about this possibility for a good while before making any major change.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

If you are thinking Bermuda, consider Tahoma 31 for your area.


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## badtlc (Aug 22, 2019)

moedank said:


> @badtlc, how much/often do you irrigate?
> 
> I had considered seeding a KBG test plot but decided against it since I figured it wouldn't hold up well due to minimal irrigation over the summer (let the grass go dormant but water enough to keep it alive). I closely followed ksturfguy's test plots over the last two years and overall the KBG didn't seem to handle the summers as well as the TTTF under minimal care/irrigation conditions. Now, the KBG in his lawn that receives more TLC and partial shading looks great.
> 
> ...


I water every 3-4 days. When it is over 90F, i have to do 3 days. When it is 80-90F i can go about 4-5 days. When it is less than 85F I can water once every 7 days.

I dont think i'd recommend 100% KBG for you but the KBG won't die during the summer. It is more drought tolerant than TTTF when it comes to going dormant. It might go dormant a bit sooner than TTTF but not by much.

I was just wondering if you had considered adding some small amount when you overseed so that during the spring and fall the KBG will fill in the thin spots that come with TTTF. It would possibly reduce the need to overseed every fall but if you are going to overseed every fall anyway then it doesn't matter.


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## moedank (Sep 10, 2019)

@g-man, thanks for the suggestion. I will look into it. A bermuda lawn has been teeter tottering on my mind for some time, but I don't know how _truly_ serious I am about it. Do I really want to renovate to a different season grass? Sometimes I think I'm wearing rose-colored glasses when it comes to my vision of a "low maintenance" bermuda lawn. I'll probably cautiously watch this grass engulf my neighbor's yard over the next summer or two and see what I think about its appearance, growth habit, dormancy, etc.

Regarding cultivars, I thought stick with the common variety since my neighbor and his neighbor on the opposite side both have it uninhibitedly spreading throughout their lawns. That's the main reason. I wouldn't want to choose a cultivar that can't complete with the common variety or has a distinctly different look in appearance. Makes me think of the continual battles I read about with poa annua/trivialis in elite kbg lawns. I'd rather just give in and stick with the lighter green grass. That last sentence could come back to haunt me in the future. 

@badtlc, I get what you're saying. Hmm, if my lawn is going to go dormant anyway, and KBG is more drought tolerant than TTTF, then why not incorporate it into the yard? This could work quite well in the small, specific areas where my dog urinates. Could this be done with sod plugs? I'd transplant plugs right onto the nuked urine spots. There is a sod farm 10 miles from here that sells Barenburg HGT. Each 2x5ft roll is $2-3 bucks. I don't see how this would be any different than seeding since it would eventually fill the bare spots regardless. Seems like I'd save a lot of time and effort. Thoughts?


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

Tahoma 31 is more cold tolerant than common and less of a pain. Many football fields use it. I know of a nice one near Columbus, Ohio.


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## badtlc (Aug 22, 2019)

moedank said:


> @badtlc, I get what you're saying. Hmm, if my lawn is going to go dormant anyway, and KBG is more drought tolerant than TTTF, then why not incorporate it into the yard? This could work quite well in the small, specific areas where my dog urinates. Could this be done with sod plugs? I'd transplant plugs right onto the nuked urine spots. There is a sod farm 10 miles from here that sells Barenburg HGT. Each 2x5ft roll is $2-3 bucks. I don't see how this would be any different than seeding since it would eventually fill the bare spots regardless. Seems like I'd save a lot of time and effort. Thoughts?


With an existing yard, yes, your plan would probably be easiest. KBG seeds are slow to germinate. So trying to plant seeds with existing TTTF grass growing and blocking the sun can make it hard to get good KBG germination. Doing plugs should take rather easy when it isn't hot outside.

Barenburg KBG varieties are supposed to be great for the midwest, too.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

https://mobile.twitter.com/fieldsourceohio/status/1285342773760143360


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## moedank (Sep 10, 2019)

*Spring 2022 - Minimal lawncare. Greater emphasis on gardening and landscaping.*

This spring has flown by and I haven't had time to update the journal. In late March or early April, I applied Lesco Stonewall 0.68% 0-0-7 as a preemergent and Milorganite at ~0.5lb per 1ksqft. Yesterday, Scott's Weed and Feed was put down at the suggested rate. The lawn gets mowed about once a week at 3 inches. No stripe kit, just regular mowing so far. Pics were taken over the last two days. This year my focus has been more geared toward landscaping and gardening.

*This section of the front garden consists of two wine and rose weigelas (large pink flowered bushes); four hostas surrounding a little lime hydrangea in the back center; three clumps of leafy day lilies up front and four small multicolored geraniums in between them.*

*Wine and rose weigela*

*Sunny knock out rose bush surrounded by two day lilies. Black eyed susans were recently planted on both ends. Hard to see since they are small.*





*Hostas*



*
4x8 ft and 17 inches tall. Raised garden bed by Vego. Eye bolts were installed around the top to protect the plants with plastic lattices, which are secured by bamboo sticks, during storms and high winds.*


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## moedank (Sep 10, 2019)

*Summer 2022 - Severe Drought and Heat Stress*

Total precipitation since June 1st for my area is 3.75 inches, based upon nearby Columbia Regional Airport data. 2.61 inches in June and 1.14 inches so far in July.

I have heavily watered the front yard and backyard hill area twice and once almost everywhere else. By now, I probably should have manually irrigated 4-6 times but I've been sidetracked with a kid medical emergency and a couple other time consuming issues so the yard hasn't received much attention.

The forecast calls for rain over the next four days and temperatures to drop into the 80-90s, so I'm curious to see how the grass responds over the next week.

Back

Back

Front

Hellstrip

Left Side

Right Side

On a positive note, the neighbor's invasive common bermuda still looks nice and green. This grass in ridiculous.


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## Chris LI (Oct 26, 2018)

I hope the little one is OK. If you have time to get back to lawn care...

I'm looking for a silver lining for you:


with rain predicted, it would be good if you could lightly irrigate most areas to keep the soil from being bone dry, so it accepts the rainfall (unlike a dry sponge in which it would runoff)


one area that I would not irrigate would be the areas with devil grass. If your TTTF is completely dormant, you might be able to put a hurtin' on it with low dose of glyphosate. 
There's also another herbicide others use that I can't recall the name. If you're interested, there are threads on the subject on TLF


while you're waiting for the grass to grow, 
sharpen your blades, change the oil on the mower and other maintenance, and get your fall game plan together


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## moedank (Sep 10, 2019)

​*Summer 2022 - Drought Recovery and Front Yard TTTF/KBG Reno Prep*

@Chris LI, thank you for the comments.

I let the lawn go dormant every year but this summer has been more worrisome due to not keeping up with the manual watering. Luckily, it has rained a few times over the last three weeks (about two inches total) and the temps have been down so the yard is beginning to recover. This is why I love TTTF in the transition zone: it has amazing resiliency toward heat and drought conditions while receiving minimal care.

Right side facing the front yard

Back Yard

Regarding the bermuda, I've been closely following the "bermuda control options in TTTF" thread. I'm jacked to the tits loaded up with Fusillade, Triclopyr, NIS, and a roundup product with Topramezone in it. My neighbor and I plan on attacking it soon. If we get any improvement by next fall, then I'll keep at it. If not, then a reno along the lot line with the glyphosate tolerant, Tarnation GT TTTF, will be considered or we may simply have to move.

About the front yard, I've decided to kill it for multiple reasons. It's the only section of lawn that hasn't been renovated, so of course it needs to be killed. The sod cultivars are unknown and it tends to go dormant faster than anywhere else despite oftentimes getting more water and care. Also, it's the bumpiest section and needs 2-3 cu yds of topsoil to level it out. Thus, I'm using this opportunity to plant a variety of elite new cultivars from Stover Seeds' New Millennia mix, which contains 34% 4th Millennium SRP, 33% Traverse 2 SRP and 33% Titanium 2LS. *10% Midnight KBG will also be added to the mix.* I'm excited since this will be my first time growing KBG. Only the front main section and hellstrip (~1800sq ft) are being renovated. The left side of the yard on the opposite side of the driveway will stay as is for now. This is a test run. I plan to highly maintain it, not reel mow level but keep it at a shorter hoc and try to avoid dormancy throughout summer. The rest of the lawn will be maintained at the usual Tier 1 level.

I'm behind on time but the plan is to have the area leveled with topsoil and seed down by mid next week. Don't know how I want to cover the seed yet. Usually it's a light coat of peat moss covered by straw erosion nets. This has worked so well for me in the past at keeping everything in place during unexpected storms but my concern is they may choke out some sections of baby grass. I'd have to carefully remove them after a certain period of time. The area has a minimal slope and the gutters will be redirected elsewhere to prevent channels of water if a heavy storm where to occur so it may not be a big deal. Will have to think about this more.

Hellstrip is mostly dead.
Hellstrip

Just resprayed with glyphosate and blue turf dye. 


Tags
I bought the KBG through Walmart.com. Sold and shipped by OutsidePride Seeds. It was $34.99 with free shipping whereas it's over $40 for me on their website. Their 5 and 10lb bags are a little cheaper via Walmart. New Millenia TTTF blend was purchased through Ryan Knorr's website.


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## moedank (Sep 10, 2019)

*Late Summer 2022 - Fall Reno Underway*

It took two evenings with a roller, landscape rake and leveling tool to moderately level the area with ~2.5 cubic yards of topsoil. It's being watered to help the soil settle and to germinate any weed seeds. I will smooth out any dips over the next day or two.



Need to carefully respray glyphosate around the tree. 




Another ~2.5 yards left over for topdressing and filling in low spots throughout the rest of the lawn. 


Test Pots
The red pot is TTTF and the black is KBG. Germination took 5 days for the TTTF and 6 days for the KBG.


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## SeanW78 (6 mo ago)

@moedank My front yard reno is pure 4th Millenium TTTF. I didn't test, just trusted the seed and preparation and had sprouts in 6 days too. A week later and nearly the entire yard is filled with new grass. I think you're really going to like that TTTF blend.


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## moedank (Sep 10, 2019)

@SeanW78, your reno is looking good. May the weather be in your favor. 4th Millennium is a great cultivar. I'm excited to see how it along with the other fescues/KBG mix compares to my Jonathan Green and GCI sections.

Finished everything two days ago so now it's watering and checking the weather forecast several times a day. The 10 day forecast initially showed rain Sunday through Wednesday. That has since changed to only Monday afternoon, which is a relief. Monday will be the test to see how Pennington slopemaster's mulch tackifier holds up.

Not everything went without issue. The KBG seed was hard to spread evenly, even in 4mph wind. I did alright with a Scotts wizz hand spreader. The first 400sqft was sprayed slightly heavy with Tenacity but it should be fine.

Slopemaster and peat moss over the soil and seed.




After this image was taken, I thinned out the mulch tackifier to make it less dense in certain sections. Not too concerned since I've seen grass literally lift up thick straw sections in erosion blankets. 


Test pots
9 days for TTTF (red) and 10 days for KBG (black) since being planted.


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## moedank (Sep 10, 2019)

*Storms All Around*

Reno destroying storms have danced within one mile of the house these last two days. I was certain a storm was going to hit today so a downspout was redirected to pour on the driveway instead of exiting out of an inground drain. I also reluctantly utilized my plan B and threw out/watered in some EZ straw on the slightly sloped sections. This stuff contains a small amount of weeds, mostly annual stuff that is easy to pull up. The storm ended up arcing northwest around me.

Yesterday evening


Earlier today


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## moedank (Sep 10, 2019)

*Germination!*

There were some sporadic baby grass blades yesterday. This morning counts as the first day of mass visible germination, so 6 days post seed down. Now I need to make sure my watering and any fungicide treatments are on point over the next two weeks. The weather is supposed to warm up (upper 80s to low 90s) over the next several days with little chance for rain. Knock on wood, can't complain.


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## moedank (Sep 10, 2019)

4 days post germination. There is a section near the house that appears to be lagging 1-2 days behind but up close there are a bunch of baby grass blades. I hope it will look like the rest of the yard in a couple of days. 




It's mostly weed free except for a few of these:


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## moedank (Sep 10, 2019)

I ended up lightly tossing seed and peat moss over the thinner areas near the house that I could reach by hand without stepping on the grass. Nothing heavy just a light sprinkling. In hindsight, probably wasn't needed.

Two different views at 6 days after germination.








Test pots:
Seeded test pots on 8/18.
8/27


9/05
Days after germination - TTTF 13 days and KBG 12 days


The KBG pot was slightly damaged several days ago due to one of my kids overwatering it and throwing a stuffed animal on top. Seems to have recovered well. Considering the test pots, the fescue looks like it's ready to be mowed but I wouldn't want to walk on the KBG just yet. It still looks pretty fragile but don't want to wait too long either.


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## moedank (Sep 10, 2019)

Noticed a few patches of grass blades bent over in the hellstrip. Humidity has been up with overnight temps in the upper 60s. Don't know if this is fungus related or not but decided to spray it with propiconazole at the new seedling rate. The grass blades haven't reached the 2 to 3 leaf stage yet so taking a risk by spraying early. If it handles the fungicide alright, then the rest of the reno will be sprayed in a couple of days.


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## moedank (Sep 10, 2019)

17 DAS





Had a good rainstorm lastnight. Sprinklers have been turned off for now. I hope to manually reel mow at two inches on Tuesday or Wednesday. Then, 1) fertilize; 2) spray fungicide since it wasn't done earlier in the week due to the ground being too soft; and 3) lightly overseed any areas with KBG that don't appear to have any baby grass emerging.


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## moedank (Sep 10, 2019)

*Fungus in the Reno!*

Got a heavy rain a couple nights ago and was waiting for the ground to dry up so I could safely walk on it to spray fungicide. The areas that received 2-3 inches of topsoil tend to take the longest to dry up.

I waited too long and noticed several of these spots this evening. Along with the rain came cooler temps, lows in the lower 50s and highs in the 70s, so I was surprised to see these spots since my attention has been focused toward later in the week when it gets warmer.

The hellstrip that was sprayed a few days prior shows zero signs of fungus, so I'm guessing the propiconazole stopped it. I did spray the rest of the reno and also applied Scott's Disease Ex at the curative rate just to be safe. I will water in the azoxystrobin in the morning and not water for the rest of the day. Will closely assess over the next fews days and reseed wherever needed. It will be sunny with highs in the 80s over the next several days.

Cut at 2 inches with a manual reel.


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## moedank (Sep 10, 2019)

Haven't updated the reno for well over a week. The low germination areas are filling in. HOC has been 2 inches. 0.3lb per 1ksqft of Scott's Lawn fertilizer was put down a few days ago. Too scared to spray urea since I'm still new to foliar nitrogen applications. Weeds have been periodically pulled up.


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## moedank (Sep 10, 2019)

The lawn hasn't been mowed in a few weeks. It probably could have gotten one last cut but didn't get around to it. There were a decent amount of broadleaf plantain weeds that were spot sprayed twice with Q4 Plus. Some annual grassy weeds from the EZ straw also popped up but they were easy to spot and pull up. I'll deal with sporadic annual weeds from straw over a washout any day. I've never had ongoing weed issues in areas that had EZ straw or straw erosion blankets.


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## macattack (Nov 2, 2020)

Looks good, nice dark green color. The SuperTurf II Blend I used has two of the TTTF cultivars you have. I'd strongly suggest killing the bermuda with glyphosate and then reno it away. If it tries to come back, then hit it with the Fusilade II. It is the devil grass.


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## moedank (Sep 10, 2019)

macattack said:


> Looks good, nice dark green color. The SuperTurf II Blend I used has two of the TTTF cultivars you have. I'd strongly suggest killing the bermuda with glyphosate and then reno it away. If it tries to come back, then hit it with the Fusilade II. It is the devil grass.


Thanks for the comments. I'm pretty impressed with these new TTTF cultivars. Some midnight KBG is sprinkled in there as well. I have separate GCI and Jonathan Green TTTF sections, so it will be neat to compare any differences between them this spring. 

Re: the bermuda, I've been keeping it at bay with multiple apps of topramezone and triclopyr. I have fusilade as well but haven't used it yet. It has been an interesting battle. If I begin to lose and notice it spreading further into the yard, then I'll nuke it repeatedly throughout the summer and renovate in the fall. But right now it's being contained. Kind of a fun experiment.


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## macattack (Nov 2, 2020)

I'd like to see how the battle with Pylex plays out. I am going the Fusilade Ii route. It really weakened the bermuda, but have dead spots. I didn't overseed like I wanted to fill back in.


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