# 1mowbeer's 1st Journal



## 1mowbeer (Mar 3, 2020)

Hello everyone! After lurking for a few months, I've finally joined and thought why not go all-in with a 1st post and start a lawn journal!

Now for the details. My Tiff 419 will be 3 years old this summer and is needing a rejuvenation. I fired my lawn service company early last summer as it was just not working out. Plus, I was pretty sure I could do a better job!

So far this year, I applied Barricade DG in mid-February. I'll confess that I just eyeballed the application rate but that won't happen again. I've got my lawn square footage accurately measured and will be weighing future granular applications. I'm exploring backpack sprayers now for future liquid applications.

For mowing, I've been using a Toro rotary and have been cutting at 1-5/8" to 2" depending on intervals between cuts. That's going to change though as I picked up a JD 220B a few weeks ago 😊. I was going to go the "homeowner" reel mower route, but thanks to this darn forum, I jumped in head-first! I'm sure I'll posting in the JD Greens Mower Questions thread reel soon. If all goes well, I plan for a 1st scalp with the 220B, and then maintain at 1" or slightly below for this season. I've got some areas that need leveling before I go to low and I'm undecided on tackling that this year.

Pics below are from Monday's 1st clean-up mow of the season at 1-5/8" HOC. Weather permitting Saturday, I'm going to drop rotary to lowest setting (1-1/4") and mow again, and then dethatch. My soil tests resulted in PH of 5.8 so lime will be going down after dethatching. I'm also pretty high in phosphorous and it was recommended 1st fertilizer application at green-up be 15-0-15. Then a 16-4-8 rest of season.

Don't laugh at the checkerboard sod pieces in the front yard. That was an attempt last year to replace some mis-matched sod our builder's landscaper had installed (long story that I may explain eventually). Our yard was not looking well last year (hence firing our lawn service company), and these new sod pieces really stood out like they do now. I'm hoping it'll all blend in once I get on top of the fertilization and maintenance.

Any and all feedback / advice will be greatly appreciated! I'll be posting pics along the way as often as possible.











One of my favorite Sessions


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## wking (Jun 7, 2019)

Sweet! A fellow Apex area resident! Looking forward to seeing your progress this year.

I live down in Holly Springs, so not far from you at all.


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## SGrabs33 (Feb 13, 2017)

Welcome from Apex and congrats on the new REEL. Did you pick that up from the local course? How did the units look?

Hopefully the rain holds off some this weekend as I would also like to scalp.

Beautiful house BTW.


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## 1mowbeer (Mar 3, 2020)

@SGrabs33 , Yes, picked one up from Tobacco Road. They had 4 of them and all seemed in decent shape. Thanks for the compliment on the house!

So yesterday, I lowered the rotary to 1-1/4" for a pre-scalp. Then, me and Mr. Bluebird got medieval on that grass! Definitely found the high spots in some areas. Had to hold on tight! I also hand-raked various areas and ran back over entire yard with the rotary to vacuum it all up.

Broadcast 280 lbs of lime and called it a day. I was whipped.







Good thing we don't have to bag!


One of the original Pale Ales and a favorite


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## 1mowbeer (Mar 3, 2020)

Well folks, this past weekend yielded a couple of bone-headed mistakes! Let the story begin.

I've been anxiously awaiting firing up the JD to give my lawn it's 1st proper scalp. My plan has been to get the scalp over with and then drop her off at my local JD dealer for reel / bedknife replacement. I originally wanted to attempt it myself, but with my limited time / experience, and growing season about to start, I'll let the pros handle this one. I've got her back-lapped and cutting paper across 90% of the reel for now.

So after a lot of hand-raking, more rotary mowing / bagging over the past few weekends, it was finally time to test drive the JD! I set the HOC at the max (right at an inch), fired her up and held on tight! It wasn't as bad to maneuver as I though it would be, and by the time I was finished, I had a good feel for how she handled.

Now comes the 1st bone-headed blunder. On Sunday, my plan was to drop the HOC to 5/8" and run over the yard again as I want to maintain around 7/8" for this 1st year. Then throw-down the 1st round of 32-0-10. We had a neighborhood "socially-distanced" driveway hang-out to attend at 2:00 so I was rushing a little bit, well, actually a lot. Sunday morning, I grabbed a wrench to lower the front roller, but instead, loosened the bolts on the reel / bedknife adjusters and cranked away on those damn knobs until my HOC bar hit 5/8"!! So yeah, I ran over the entire yard with almost a 3//8" gap between the reel and bedknife and the HOC still at the max! I kept wondering why I wasn't seeing more of a difference in the cut height, but since I was mowing in another direction, thought it was just an illusion.

I did not have enough time to fertilize and water it all in, so decided to just take care of the front. Did all my calcs to know that I could get two applications out of the 42lb bag of 32-0-10, and it would yield about 0.9LB/1KSF. Weighed out my 9.8LBS for the front, threw it down and watered away.

Today, with the HOC set properly at 5/8", I ran back over the entire yard again (my neighbors are probably starting to wonder..) I then proceed to measure out my 11.2LBS of fertilizer for the rear, and bone-head blunder #2 revealed itself. My mini crane scale was set to KG yesterday!! I threw down 2LB/1KSF on my front yard! :crying: . Nothing I can do about it now I guess, but water, water, water and hope for the best.


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## SGrabs33 (Feb 13, 2017)

All mistakes that you can recover from! Those are the best types! Just keep it watered and you will be fine.

You mind me asking what revels is charging for a new REEL/bedknife? Their turnaround time isn't always great I've heard so make sure you get it back before you need to be cutting again. Or better yet, if it's cutting descent now wait for the replacement over the winter and it may be cheaper when they are less busy. Just a thought.


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## 1mowbeer (Mar 3, 2020)

I never got a firm quote from them, only that it was a 2 - 3 hour job with $120 / hr labor rate. I have thought of getting through the season if the cut is decent, and then attempt the reel/bedknife replacement myself. I've read through @Pete1313 thread on the 220SL reel replacement 20 times and feel I could handle it if I take my time. The only extra hurdle I'll have is the GTC (it's not working right now).


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