# nikmasteed Lawn Journal- Southeast PA



## nikmasteed (Apr 30, 2020)

Hello all,
New member here in Spring 2020. I plan to use this Journal to share my progress, however PLEASE say hi and ask questions, offer feedback, tips, encouragement, and suggestions for beers to enjoy in the lawn (I've got the mini-fridge ready in the garage).

This is also my FIRST year in this house with this lawn, and my FIRST year stepping up my lawn care game beyond basic big-box/Scott's seasonal products. I plan to own this property the rest of my life (although that was the plan with my first house too :lol: )

I am going to start this journal with a series of consecutive posts to organize my initial thoughts and maybe help make it more digestible and a bit easier for folks to respond to specific items:
1. Intro to myself/goals (this post)
2. Intro to the Lawn- what I know about it
3. Spring 2020 steps taken so far (3/15-5/3)
4. "Trouble spots" and plan for rest of 2020

I made a somewhat lengthy intro of how I came to find/own this property as well as what brings me to this forum here:
https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?p=260559#p260559

So, kick off your shoes, enjoy the grass, and again, SAY HI! Looking forward to interacting with you all.


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## nikmasteed (Apr 30, 2020)

*The Lawn and what I know*:

Bottom line-- I know some, but need to know more and this starts with knowing what kind of grass I have. I've done my best to research and ID this myself, but I am a novice at identification so please help if you can:







So, I see rolled vernation, pointed leaves, and absent auricles (I think) which leads me to Tall Fescue. Please let me know if you agree.

I do not think it is 100% TTTF-- I do see some rhyzomatous growth when I edge the landscape beds, so I'm sure I've got a mix of several of the cool season grasses. Further evidence is a partially full bag of seed left behind by the previous owner that is the following mix of cultivars:
20% Rebounder Tall Fescue, 20% Cochise IV Tall Fescue, 20% 4th Millenium Tall Fescue, 15% Essential Tall Fescue, 10% Palmetto Annual Rye, 10% Green Supreme Perennial Rye, 5% Brooklawn Kentucky Blue.

The Property/Lawn Sections-- Overall, I have about 10,000 sf of turf, maybe slightly less, but that's what I go with to determine how much to throw down. I dont have any reason to believe that I've got different stuff in different areas, and I'd prefer my entire property to be consistent anyway. Here's each of the main sections in their glory:

Front Lawn (South), roughly 4000 sf total





West Lawn, roughly 3000 sf total



Back Lawn (North), roughly 1600 sf





East Lawn, roughly 1300 sf
This also happens to be the most shaded area, however the whole property is pretty unshaded, so it's relative



Finally, a little bit about what I know of the lawn's history. The previous owner was a lawn care nut, so by my judgment he really established an excellent lawn. He bought the property in 1999, and apparently the property was extremely overgrown with large areas devoted to overgrown vegetable gardens and rodent infestations. Obviously he completely overhauled the lawn, presumably in the early 2000s. I am told by neighbors that he destroyed the entire existing lawn to renovate it, and brought in mushroom soil and did alot of leveling and fine grading. When I mow, I do find the lawn very level overall aside obviously from the slope dropoffs which generally define the property edge, the grass areas against the street technically are within the right of way.

So there she is. I'm proud of her, even though I didnt build her. I still don't quite know how to react to frequent comments and compliments from passersby. I do love the fact that it's admired throughout the neighborhood, but still working on a repertoire of responses to avoid conversation becoming awkward, haha.


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## nikmasteed (Apr 30, 2020)

*Spring 2020 Lawncare To-Date (3/15-5/3):*

My goal, short and long term is a Tier 2-2.5 in g-man's cool season guide. I want to minimize weeds as much as possible, as we all do, but I dont foresee myself ever doing a full renovation unless a significant problem develops. I want to stay as one of, if not THE premier lawn in the neighborhood.

The house was on the market since mid 2018 and previous family moved out by beginning of 2019, however despite it being unoccupied during most of 2019 I do know that he continued to come back regularly and maintain the lawn because, well, that's what he did. That said, I don't really know what, if any, Fall maintenance he performed since by Aug/Sep he knew he was selling.

So, you'd think I would've ordered a soil test, right? That would've made sense. I didn't really start researching/developing my regimen until late February, so I bought a crappy DIY test kit from Lowe's. I honestly couldn't tell you what I learned from it, so I'll say that I basically learned zero. Therefore, now in early May I plan to see if I can send off for a proper soil analysis. Side question-- anyone have experience with PSU extension? They appear to be open during pandemic but may be holding off running non-essential analyses from what I can tell.

Aaaannyway, here's some photos from March as the lawn started to wake up, followed by what I DID do so far this spring:





3/21: light raking for entire lawn; threw down 0-0-7 granular Prodiamine PRE-M @ 3lb/1000
3/28-3/29 mostly dedicated to prepping/weeding landscape beds, some power washing (I love powerwashing). I also tuned up my mower (6-yr old big-box TroyBilt rotary push) and sharpened the blades (my first attempt at doing so, think it came out ok)
4/1: FIRST MOW; I did the first one at 2-1/2" HOC which didnt seem to take that much off, so even though there hadn't been much growth yet this year, I'm thinking that PO may have kept this lawn at about 2"
4/2: FERTILIZED with CarbonX/CX DIY 24-0-4 @ about .75lbs N/1000 sf. Not knowing when the last fert app was on this lawn, I elected to go heavy on the Nitro.
4/4-4/12 I was focused on landscape beds, edging, weeding, pruning, mulching. So I even let the lawn go for too much time before mowing again (2 weeks!)
4/14: 2ND MOW at 3" HOC
4/20: By now I was FINALLY (mostly) done with all the landscape beds (nearly 10 yards of mulch) and mowed for 3rd time, again at 3"
4/25: 4TH MOW at 3" HOC. This was also my first time attempting to correctly maintain the soft landscape edges with weedwhacker to keep them nice and crisp. I made some mistakes and scalped a few areas, but chalked it up to practice and the fact that I had let the edges get pretty hairy before attempting, so I couldn't see the defined edge clearly in some areas. I also realized that I should've tuned up my trimmer beforehand
4/29: GRUB-X. I've seen plenty of grubs while edging the beds, however am not too concerned with the number. Applied this the day before a heavy rainstorm.
5/2: 5TH MOW at 3" HOC. Also spot sprayed weed control (Ortho Weed B Gon). The most significant thing I've seen are relatively small patches of clover here and there. A few other weeds and maybe 4 dandelions. The unfortunate thing about this was that unexpected rain occurred overnight-- so although I think 6 hrs elapsed since spraying, I might not have gotten much effectiveness from this round. I also didnt use a surfactant (I'm learning) so I'll plan to spray again in a week or so. I have Weed B Gon CCO on hand if needed.

A note about my mowing:
I am starting with 3" HOC for the time being (still learning the property and how to avoid accidentally scalping), and probably will work my way down to 2". Lower than that I'm not sure is really (reely) my preferred aesthetic. Final/ongoing HOC is subject to change depending on confirmation of mostly TTTF-- if I have mostly tall fescue maybe I should stick around 2-1/2"?

I rotate my mowing direction by 45 degrees every mow. I've been practicing double-wide striping technique/cadence even though I dont have a striper yet. I intend and am starting to get into the habit of a 5-day mowing frequency.

How am I doing? Suggestions welcome! Photos from post#2 of this thread are from the other day so you can compare progress from mid-March to early-May


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## nikmasteed (Apr 30, 2020)

*"Trouble Spots" and plan for rest of 2020*

As described briefly in the last post, I don't see anything that concerns me too much. Part of this is because the previous owner had a good maintenance regimen, and part is probably just because I don't know better or have high enough standards yet! Haha, I am a perfectionist by nature, so I'm sure I will get to the point where any single weed, poaA, poaT, or other anomaly will annoy the crap out of me.

That said, here's a few areas I have questions about and want to improve:

"Thin areas":
This is happening primarily at two locations-- West lawn, on the slope:



Close-up:



Front lawn, at bottom of the slope:





Close-up:



I don't know if this is due to the sloping? Which I imagine is tougher to maintain thickness as it is, it's certainly tougher to mow the slopes. My plan is just to rake it again this week, and continue to fert/mow on schedule. Any other thoughts?

The other thing I'm going to share/ask about right now is suspected poa annua. This is happening in two areas in the front lawn.

One small area between two landscape beds:





And a larger area, also in front yard underneath the large crabapple:





This area under the tree seems to have thinned out since I first noticed it (cant find pics from week ago when the seed heads were denser) but I'm also assuming it is just less noticable with more frequent mowing.

My plan for the poa is to not try to hard to eradicate it, at least for this year. From what I'm learning it will die out in summer and then I can go into fall with a pre-emergent app. I also dont really think its negatively affecting the look of the lawn much. Any thoughts?

Other "problems" are minimal in my mind until I learn more. I have a few minor neon green areas, but I feel like it's a bit out of my identification capability for now. Maybe will post pics at a later point in time, not too concerned.

So that's a good segue to my plan for rest of the season:

Early May:
1. due for the second Prodiamine app, another 3 lbs/1000 probably this upcoming weekend. I'm at about 45 days since the first app and soil temps here are mid-60s generally
2. Also due for a second fert app. Again I'm going to throw down another .75lbs of N with the CX DIY 24-0-4. Probably the last N-heavy app until Fall, sound right?
3. Soil test, hopefully I can get some cores ready before I fert again in a week or so (make sense on timing)? Just ordered a sample probe, seems easier and less invasive.

June/July/August:
On my to-do list is to think more about what fert to use in the summer months. Based on what I'm learning, I should lighten up the N amounts so as to not cause too significant of growth/strain during the hot weather. I know that if I get a soil test this well help determine, so I'll share the results if I can make that happen.
I do not have in-ground irrigation, but will basically just try to keep up with daily hose watering

Sept/Oct:
1. Dithiopyr pre-emergent: While I would probably prefer to aerate/overseed, I am thinking that a fall pre-M is probably the right move to keep the poa annua at bay. My lawn seems generally pretty thick so overseeding probably not crucial-- maybe next year.
2. Maybe look into liquid aeration since I dont plan on a mechanical aeration? If so, should I do this any earlier than fall?
3. Fall nitrogen blitz as recommended in cool season guide. I'll have enough time to research a broader array of fertilizers but then, so might divert from the CX DIY, I've gotten the sense that people think this is too expensive for what it is. I went with it because of the benefits it promotes, call me a sucker.

This is the last of my "intro" Journal posts. VERY much interested in hearing feedback and will post shorter more specific items here on out. Thanks all in advance!


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## Chris LI (Oct 26, 2018)

Welcome to TLF! You've started off strong with keeping your new acquisition in tip top shape. I think your plan overall is good.

Unless I missed it, I didn't see you mention whether or not you have irrigation. Coupled with grass type, that should be a factor in deciding on a HOC. You can go for the shorter, dense cut, if you can supplement with some type of irrigation (I have a poor man's DIY on about 85% of my yard). 2" HOC seems a bit low for a mostly TTTF lawn. A section that is primarily TTTF in my yard doesn't like to be cut at 2" (right side of the RV). 2.5"-3" might be a bit better for you if you have irrigation, and still want a tight look. For a long time, I mowed at 3" and went to 3.25"-3.5" for peak summer. When I got a new mower (Snapper Hi-Vac), I went up to 4" for the two hottest weeks of August.

This year, I started off the season cutting everything with a vintage push reel mower, set at its max HOC of 1.5". The TTTF isn't too fond of the low HOC, but seems to be adjusting a little bit. One last factor is mowing frequency. The lower the HOC, mowing is needed more often, to stay within the 1/3 rule. TTTF can grow pretty quickly, especially with the spring flush. If you can mow 2x per week, that will help a lot. I raise and lower HOC throughout the season, based on growth rate and heat/drought.


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## nikmasteed (Apr 30, 2020)

@Chris LI Thanks! This is very helpful feedback for HOC. Did you happen to see the pics of the grass plants I posted? While I think I've got mostly TTTF, I guess I just don't feel confident in my ID skills yet.

What you said about raising/lowering HOC makes alot of sense. I do intend to keep it a little longer during summer-- my irrigation is strictly manual hose setup so it will be up to my diligence with watering especially during the summer months. On my to-do list is to get a better feel for how much 1" is with the hose.

I'm getting into a mow every 5th day mode, which I'm pretty sure has been keeping me within 1/3. I think I'll make 5 days my max and lean towards day 3 or 4 if I get a real nice weather day to enjoy the mow. You've given me some food for thought that maybe I should try some 4" HOC mows and see if the lawn reacts positively to it. Would ultimately prefer to be on the lower side but this experiment will help me learn about what my turf likes.

Thanks again!


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## nikmasteed (Apr 30, 2020)

Also, just thought of something else in regards to watering.

I've always been one to take what mother nature provides, meaning that I tend to tell myself that if it rained today or yesterday, I shouldn't need to water with the hose or a sprinkler within next day or two even if there's no rain in the forecast.

But then today it occurred to me... my neighbors receive all the same benefit from rain equally as much as I do. But I want to DOMINATE... therefore I suppose I really should be making an effort to self-water pretty frequently even if the skies are fairly generous.

When I go for a walk, I'm noticing I don't see a difference in color from my neighbor from a block away. I'd like to dominate from that visual distance. Gonna start giving the water company more of my money going forward...


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## Chris LI (Oct 26, 2018)

Yes. The first two photos are TTTF. I thought they might have been K-31, until I scrolled down to the info off the seed tag.

Unfortunately, the later photo of the seedhead is Poa A. If you can easily find them, you can easily pop them out with a weeding tool after a decent rain. The other option is to "light them up" with a Tenacity blanket spray, and then go about pulling them. PreM around Labor Day will stop them for next year.


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## Thejarrod (Aug 5, 2018)

subscribed to your journal.

especially interested in how you deal with that Poa. i have the same issue and i'm leaning towards your approach of fall pre em. have you considered doing a third dose of Prodiamine in fall, which would be the max application of 9 lb/1k annually for TTTF? i'm also considering switching to Dithiopyr, but dont really know what would be best.


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## nikmasteed (Apr 30, 2020)

@Chris LI Perfect, thank you! While most probably wouldn't express happiness about a positive ID of poa annua, I'm mostly just glad to hear I'm getting better at ID'ing myself. Also, very thankful for confirmation on the TTTF. Knowing is half the battle.

@Thejarrod Thanks for following! I think my inclination towards dithiopyr this fall as opposed to prodiamine was simply conservatism and not wanting to go over the max, especially since I wasnt entirely sure I had TTTF. Now that I'm more comfortable that I could probably do a 3rd prodiamine, I may, but may still elect to switch also. Plan to research more, so I'll be sure to share my thoughts going forward.


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## Chris LI (Oct 26, 2018)

@Thejarrod 
I believe Prodiamine is preferred for the fall, due to the duration of efficacy (longer than Dithiopyr). This way, it's still preventing late germinating Poa A or other weeds in late winter/early spring, if you use the higher rate. Some folks will use Prodiamine for the first spring app and follow up with Dithiopyr in late spring for better coverage. Dithiopyr also has some early post emergent control of crabgrass (one or two tiller, I think), in case there's any breakthrough.


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## nikmasteed (Apr 30, 2020)

Next two posts are two plants/weeds I'm looking for help ID'ing. Decided to post in my journal instead of the weed ID forum, but feel free to move if this can be more helpful for others.

Area #1:
This is a patchy growth of lime-green fine bladed grass showing up in a few areas. I cant quite tell what type of growth pattern this has but it seemed pretty shallow-rooted as I pulled it out. In my newbishness I wondered if lime-green meant poa triv, but after looking that up some more seems as though poa triv isnt this finely bladed. Any thoughts?


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## nikmasteed (Apr 30, 2020)

Area #2:
Well, not an "area" really, but a spotty weed grass popping up here and there throughout the lawn.

Initially thought it might be crabgrass but now I do not think that is correct. I hope the pics are helpful, this is only about a day and a half after a haircut. Can post more in a few days if itd be helpful. Plantnet app wanted to tell me this was poa annua, but it seems to want to ID anything grassy as poa a. Starting to find that app less and less useful...

I also hit these with 2,4-D about a week ago as I was hitting some clover and dandies.


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## nikmasteed (Apr 30, 2020)

8th mow of the season in today, still cutting at 3"

This one felt particularly satisfying-- was able to finally mostly-complete a full-service session all at once: mowing, weedwhacking including the edges of the landscape beds, edger along the driveway and walkways, and a final cleanup blowing. The only thing I wanted to do but didnt was the "vertical" trim of the landscape bed edges-- and that was only because the trimmer started to act up after the horizontal pass. I think I need to mix up some fresh fuel for it. Overall, I feel like this was the first day I was really able to do pretty well with the weedwhacker along the beds and not make alot of mistakes. I hadn't ever really tried very hard at the old house to learn to use the trimmer correctly. Now I think I'm starting to get the techniques down, feels good.

Also put down prodiamine app #2 down about 10 days ago, followed by CX DIY 24-0-4 the other day with a very healthy watering-in. Took soil sample cores before throwing down the fert, still need to send them off.


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## nikmasteed (Apr 30, 2020)

Soil test is in after neglecting to do it at start of the season



The sample cores were taken just before putting down some 24-0-4 fert, so I did get a little potash in after this. Should I really be putting 3 lbs of K primarily in the fall? Just seems like alot to do in a short amount of time.

My goals right now include darkening my color, so I'm considering getting some Microgreene which should help some of those micros, as well as Greene Effect for my next few apps over the summer.

Anyone have any thoughts on that plan? Or any observations from my first soil test? Time to get a backpack sprayer... I've never done anything other than granular before!


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## nikmasteed (Apr 30, 2020)

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY to everyone!!!! Grateful to be an American and grateful for this forum-- hope everyone had a great and safe day, and was able to celebrate in their awesome lawns.

I'm in the zone with the new lawn now at this point. I always considered 7/4 my yard/garden's peak at my old house, but it feels at a whole new level now.

Since last posting in late May I've done 2 apps of the "Double Dark" N-Ext combo of MicroGreene and GreenefFect about a month apart (most recent about 3 days ago to try for a nice green up for the 4th). Also did a spoon feeding of 8-1-8 granular fert a week or so ago to get some potash in the soil.

This morning while preparing for my family to visit, a neighbor shouted over while walking his dog "Hey Nick I think you've got the only green lawn in the neighborhood!" It feels good to have fared the heat well so far. Then I proceeded to mow my Showoff Stripes for the holiday. I also got to show my brother my domination lines, which are even more pronounced right now with all the poor neighbors getting the heat stress.

On a side note, I've just hit a milestone in the health department, dropping 50 lbs since mid-January and am now below 200 for the first time in at least 13 years. Caring for this lawn has definitely been a huge part of that. Feelin good all around.

Here's some pics of the lawn early on this great 4th of July


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## nikmasteed (Apr 30, 2020)

END OF 2020 SEASON RECAP

I've been meaning to do a season recap post for awhile, as I'm now through my first season at this level of lawncare and wanted to reflect on what I was able to accomplish as well as be able to compare in future years.

First, some NUMBERS:
-42 mows (1st was 4/1; Last was 11/22)
-4.5 lbs N per 1000 sf (1.7 in spring, 0.3 in summer, 2.5 in fall)
-5 different fertilizers used (3 granular, 2 liquid)
-10 yds of mulch in the landscape beds (April)

Things I'm glad to have accomplished:
-A full season of attentive and high quality lawn care; at minimum I have maintained the impressive lawn I inherited, at best I have made some modest improvements (striping!). I am satisfied with my mowing frequency and can count on one hand the number of times I would've preferred to get to a cut sooner than I did.
-Actually learned how to use and properly care for my equipment! In turn, it gave me the confidence to buy alot of new equipment (see below)
-Although it took awhile, finally got good at trimming the landscape bed edges with the string trimmer
-Lost over 50 lbs! Due in no small part to lawn care.

Challenges I was able to manage:
-Summer fungal disease. The lawn at my old house got alot of shade-- not the case here and thus I watered a good amount in the first summer here which eventually caused an issue. I learned the hard way to go preventative rather than curative here. That said, the propiconizole worked and damage didn't last too long!
-Successful management of broadleaf weeds; with use of spring pre-emergents, only very limited spot spraying of occasional weeds was needed. Clover has been the most pesky but even that has been held largely in check.
-Grub control: I don't think I will ever skip this preventative step, would rather be safe than sorry, and they are definitely there.

Challenges to keep working on:
-Summer watering: I did fine, and I always looked greener than most of the neighborhood, but boy did the water bill kill me! I think I can be more efficient (even without an irrigation system) and will likely try to water deeper less often even though that was already my practice. I am also considering trying out Hydretain next year.
-Avoiding burning the lawn at areas due to solar or fire heat: I've finally figured out how to protect the grass from the fire pit I like to plop out there, I just need to remember not to leave out the inflatable pool after deflating it!
-Poa Annua: I've observed it now for a full season, almost a full year. I still feel like I don't quite understand it's life cycle, but I think I've got a biotype that is likely perennial that at present is fairly "patchy" throughout most areas of the yard. I've recently learned that the previous owner core-aerated yearly and did not use fall pre-emergent-- he would kill off poa when it presented itself, spot seed the bare areas, and always did a fall overseed. Id like to take a crack at focusing on combating it head on because I'm not convinced I need to overseed this yard very often. My strategy at the moment is probably at least 2 straight falls with pre-emergent, continue to try PoaConstrictor (I believe I slightly mis-applied it this fall reducing efficacy) as well as trying out Tenacity also next year. I'm optimistic that I can at least reduce the amount of it quite a bit over the course of a few years. I'm also literally the only one bothered by it or that notices it-- I'd rather keep the slight imperfections than do something more drastic like a renovation.
-Poa Trivialis: exists within a roughly 100 sf area at my side yard. I haven't done much to try to combat it yet, as it was clear to me early on that there is little to nothing that can be done to selectively control. It's an eyesore to be sure and even my wife has noticed it!!! Since it's in one of the least traveled/visible parts of the yard, I really am just keeping an eye on it for now. Since I've gathered that spring is the best time to attempt remedies, my plan is to literally cut out the turf at this area, then glyphosate after removal, then bring in sod because it will be a non-ideal time to grow new grass and because I won't be able to stand long periods of time with dead.

Equipment bought:
-Echo string trimmer (wow did this one make a huge difference, #1 best purchase of the year)
-4 gallon Chapin battery pump sprayer
-A basic Craftsman blower (battery)
-Checkmate lawn striper
-Measuring scale
-Soil sample probe
-As an aside, the very basic no frills Troy-Bilt rotary mower continues to serve me well in its 7th season. Although I will eventually upgrade likely to a Toro Super Recycler someday, I see no need to for the time being.

Goals for 2021:
-Research TTTF cultivars in order to purchase seed to use for spot repairs (and if satisfied with it, for an eventual fall overseed). The blend that was left by previous owner and that I've been using appears to be a high performer, but if I had to change it I'd prefer something that is more consistently darker.
-Continue to observe and learn about Poa A and hopefully the budget allows me to cut out the small area of Poa T.
-Try out leveling a few minor low spots, namely a pesky area by the garage that ponds during heavy rains
-Continue to hone my mowing/trimming routine so that I can complete it more efficiently and in turn more often
-Try out liquid aeration
-From a landscaping perspective, do a better job at managing disease in some of my shrubs/roses/trees
-Hopefully buy less equipment now that I'm setup alot better with my Year 1 purchases (although I WOULD like a drone!)

Photos below are from October and shows the status of the Poa A becoming more prominent with the cooler weather. Plus a bonus pic of this year's Christmas lights, where some late-season stripes are still looking good!


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## Green (Dec 24, 2017)

Great journal and intro. Looks like you're doing a ton of things right.

As far as researching cultivars for future use, absolutely do it, and also keep the label from the old bag so you always know what to buy if a section needs to be totally redone. That way, it'll match.

That said, I think just the soil testing and nutrient applications will help the color, and you might be satisfied after another year. It looks like it may be a little deficient in something at certain times. Also, fixing some of the likely Poa areas will go a long way as well (another use for the original seed, so it matches). Spring is the best time to glyphosate 3x and then reseed the areas that have Poa Trivialis issues. I would tackle the ones that are likely to encroach on other areas or borders first and make them a priority, so you can try to contain the problem to central areas and at least keep it from spreading all over that way. If you plan to cut out the patches as mentioned, glyphosate 3x first, rather than the other way. I don't cut out areas, because it's too much work. I just glyphosate them 3x in Spring, and reseed.


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## nikmasteed (Apr 30, 2020)

Thanks @Green ! I'm definitely gaining the confidence to battle the poa triv, thanks for the additional tips. I'll post how it goes in the spring.


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## Butter (Nov 14, 2017)

I remember your journal from when you first started it but I guess I lost track of it. You have a wonderful property. The turf looks great. The trees, shrubs and plants all look really nice. I'm kind of a tree/shrub nerd. Keep up the good work you're gonna have a great season next year!


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## nikmasteed (Apr 30, 2020)

@Butter 
Thanks! I've just perused your journal and so glad I did! The consistency you have across your front lawn is what I strive for and I think I've still got some work to do with this poa annua.

I'm really fond of trees/shrubs myself and you may have seen one of my goals for 2021 is to treat them better-- far too much disease in some of my roses, rhodos, a crabapple, and a pear tree that I basically didn't treat at all. I also bought a bunch of perennials and a lilac for the front landscape beds since the previous owner's plantings were just a bit too sparse for my liking. Looking back through my photos, I cant find any from when I planted in October-- I think they may be on the sd card that still sits in my old phone. When I get around to it I'll probably try to post those here and add some progress on that over time as a component to my journal.


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## nikmasteed (Apr 30, 2020)

First journal post of the 2021 season-- year 2 in this lawn!

Greencast has me at 51F last few days. Prodiamine will go down within next few days timed with upcoming rain-- glad I didn't do it yesterday though, we had a washout today.

The winter was rough on this lawn, quite the opposite from last winter that had basically no snow at all. This year snow mold was widespread with basically full snow cover for the whole month of February. It's all raked out now.

If you read my December update, I'm dealing with both Poa A and Poa T:

For the Poa A, I did pre-emergent in the fall to stop further germination. I also had sprayed 2 apps of ethofumesate on the established poa-- how effective this was, I still really don't know, but alot of what I thought was poa looks like dog$# right now. So, it either was at least partially effective or it is not related at all and I've screwed up these parts of the lawn. Either way, the plan here is to try to do a mini overseed to fill in bare/thin/dead with the TTTF and get some competition for any leftover poa.





I plan to glyphosate a 1000sf area this weekend where Poa T is prevalent in roughly 60% or so of that area. I will be nuking it 3 times with the goal of re-seeding the area by late April if not earlier. Below are some pics from yesterday after a more aggressive raking, the shallow rooted triv pulls right out as you can see. I discuss this a bit more here:
https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=26205







Aside from that, in general things are starting to wake up. In addition to the rough winter, I put alot of foot traffic on certain areas when putting up and taking down Christmas lights, but those areas will come back in time also. Really excited to get out there more frequently-- might even run the mower this weekend to cut away some dead top growth.


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## nikmasteed (Apr 30, 2020)

Applied glyphosate round 1 yesterday at the poa triv area taped off as shown in my last post. I also learned that I shouldn't expect to see results for 5 days or so since I used generic glyphosate, not RU which apparently has another chem in it that gives the killing "aesthetic" next day while the gly actually kills it several days later. Anyway, there was intermittent slight breeze occasionally while doing this but I kept the spray pretty tight to the ground so hopefully it didn't impact anything else.

Yesterday I also started repairing the area under my big Crabapple (also shown in last post) that has alot of dead area, I believe it to be killed off poa annua from my fall ethofumesate apps. This area was skipped with prodiamine. Raked out as much if the dead as much as possible, down to bare dirt in many patches. Ran the mower over the area on a low height to get as much as possible bagged. Also used the garden rake to poke as many holes as I could manage in the areas still with turf on it. Then put down fresh TTTF seed the entire area and covered with peat moss. I realized later I probably should have put the Tenacity down before the peat moss, so will wait a bit for the peat moss to break down a bit before applying that. I think I'll still be able to keep the weed situation manageable here hopefully.

Today a thunderstorm is about to hit-- I knew it was going to rain today but didn't realize it was going to be a T-storm, hopefully washout won't be an issue!


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## nikmasteed (Apr 30, 2020)

The box-store Troy-Bilt is all tuned up now for its 8th season


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## nikmasteed (Apr 30, 2020)

So the vast majority of the lawn has woken up and receives daily compliments from passersby as normal, which is nice to have happen and I always appreciate it! An Amazon driver yesterday said he wouldn't be walking on THIS lawn!






But, there's alot going on that I've been tending to and to me it feels very much a work in progress in preparation for what I hope to be a vast reduction in problem areas by the time I get to around Memorial Day:

The +/-900 sf area that had triv is now +15 days from glyphosate app #1 which I think had some issues in even coverage, as there's still a fair amount of green. Glyphosate app #2 was 4 days ago, so we should see another hit to what's left living over the next week. I've scalped with the mower a few times and used the garden rake over it once. I was originally planning on renting a dethatcher before seeding, but I'd rather skip that if I can get enough bare dirt manually by additional scalping/raking this week.

Is it a mistake to skip dethatching? I'm really eager to get seeds down this Saturday if possible. Will be doing glyph app#3 that day as well and Tenacity.





Project area #2 is under the big Crabapple at the corner where some patchy dead poa annua was ripped out, and the whole area overseeded. +15 days from seeding and no real signs of germination yet, aside from maybe a tiny bit I think I can see. I think it'll be another week since there's been some cold temps and this area gets a good amount of shade from the tree. I also probably chanced it a bit by including this area in my 2nd blanket Tenacity spray-- did it without thinking but since I don't really see any germ yet I think I'll be ok. You can see remaining poa a is lit up





Thirdly, poa annua is raging. I put down prodiamine this past fall but this is all established poa-- moved in here Fall 2019 and most of this probably spread that year before I knew what I was dealing with. Anyway, I'm trying Tenacity for the first time and plan on doing 10+ 2oz/A 4 days or so apart. I'm 2 apps in and some of it has bleached so far. Blanket applying the Tenacity has just made me realize really how much there is, it is very pronounced right now. I'm kinda worried about how many bare areas I might be dealing with in early summer if the Tenacity kills this all.






Finally, there are still a plethora of bare/thin patches. Most are easily explainable-- salt/snow by the road or paths, or heavy foot traffic. I haven't fixed any of these yet-- haven't prioritized and frankly I was hoping some would rebound on their own. Given that I have already dropped prodiamine, I will break up the barrier, re-seed, and drop the Scott's starter fert w/mesotrione.






Overall, although I'm not overwhelmed, I am concerned about potentially having a subpar lawn this year compared to last year due to this number of items going on right now. We'll see.


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## nikmasteed (Apr 30, 2020)

Today was seeding day. Did glyphosate Round 3, then top dressed with blend of screened topsoil and mushroom compost. Glyphosated again over the soil for good measure. Seeded, then covered in peat moss- I ran a bit low on the peat moss at the end so will need to get a bit more. Then put down Scott's starter fert w/ mesotrione and watered. Excited to see how this turns out!


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## nikmasteed (Apr 30, 2020)

Sunday I spent 12 solid hours in the yard, almost exclusively spreading the mulch on the landscape beds. Got through everything except one bed at the way back behind the swingset/garage, which also still needs to be cleaned of leaves and the butterfly bushes need to be cut back heavily.

Today (Monday) after work I finally got around to laying seed on my bare spots leftover from winter. I also had enough time to cover with peat moss, but didn't water or put down fert yet, will try to do that early tomorrow AM.

On another note, rethinking my current Tenacity regimen (for established poa annua) based on the discussion generated by this thread I started late last week. 
https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=27245
The lawn looks horrible right now with the insane amount of bleaching. Given that I might not kill any of the poa since it's April and likely too early, considering whether I should just give up on the regimen and let it all recover for the time being so it at least looks decent.

Someone either encourage me to stick with the Tenacity, or reinforce my second thoughts. Help!


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## nikmasteed (Apr 30, 2020)

Germination of the TTTF 4th Millennium started yesterday. I'm pumped, it made alot of progress today.


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## nikmasteed (Apr 30, 2020)

Although I originally was planning on up to 10 repeated/frequent Tenacity applications in order to try to wipe out some of the Poa Annua, I've decided to stop this week after app #5. I've started to see some die-off of some poa, which is encouraging and allows me to claim a partial success, but I'm just not able to stomach the overall look of the lawn for this long at this time of the year. I may start up another round in October based on one of the tests that's in the study floating around the forums. All in all, these were the 5 Tenacity blanket applications, all at approx 2oz/A rate:
-April 4 (also mixed in some Poa Constrictor @ 0.75oz/M for the heck of it on Rd 1 since I also applied that this past Fall)
-April 8
-April 13
-April 18
-April 24

And here are some pics yesterday/today. Yesterday hit 87F here so it helped with a bit more die-off before I start to aid recovery of the TTTF.













Short-term Recovery plan, aimed at improving the visual somewhat before family gathering this Sunday:
-Fertilized this morning w/ XGN DIY 8-1-8 which was what I happened to have around. Applied over roughly 8500sf resulted in +/- 0.42 lbs N. Gets a bit of Iron in there too.
-Rain today will water in the fert 
-Mow will likely be tomorrow when not too wet, at normal HOC 2.5"
-Friday Apply GreeneFfect at 8oz/1000 to try to give a bit more of a short-term boost/kick with a bit more iron.
-Mow again Sunday, might go a bit lower this one time at 2" HOC. Should be fine with the 1/3 rule.
-Beyond that just wait, back to normal routine and try to mow twice a week

I recognize there might only be minimal visual improvement between now and Sunday, but I think the steps above will also aid in long-term recovery back to normal. What remains to be seen is how many bare spots are left over, since I have primarily TTTF with only a bit of KBG.


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## M32075 (May 9, 2019)

In my experience doing a late summer pre m to control poa is a long term process but does work overtime


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## nikmasteed (Apr 30, 2020)

Thanks @M32075 . Yeah, I think I need to attack it from both ends since the existing poa is mature. Last fall was year 1 of fall pre-emergent (dropped 8/31, soil temps started dropping below 70 mid-Sept) so my intent is to continue with prodiamine yearly at that time for 2 or 3 more years, while also trying to kill the mature poa here and there.


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## M32075 (May 9, 2019)

nikmasteed said:


> So the vast majority of the lawn has woken up and receives daily compliments from passersby as normal, which is nice to have happen and I always appreciate it! An Amazon driver yesterday said he wouldn't be walking on THIS lawn!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Great curb appeal my older brother has almost the same house in merrick long island..lf I remember correctly it's a high end sears catalog house.


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## nikmasteed (Apr 30, 2020)

@M32075 Thanks!


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## nikmasteed (Apr 30, 2020)

10 days post-germination on the renovated area. Gave it the first mow today at 2"


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## nikmasteed (Apr 30, 2020)

Reno'd area at 25 days post-germination. It's doing alright, some of it is clearly getting thicker/darker but still some areas very thin. 7 days ago I lightly seeded the thin/bare portions and covered with peat moss again, today I think I see some signs of some of that seed germinating. Been a battle keeping it moist in these 90 degree temps but I think we're hanging in there. I mowed it 3 times so far but stopped last week after adding the extra seed.


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## nikmasteed (Apr 30, 2020)

Rest of the lawn is more or less back where I'm used to it being, all recovered from the Tenacity earlier this spring and bare areas are starting to fill in. So, I put the striping kit back on the mower today and did some diagonals for company tomorrow. I also put down Grubex in the morning, watered it in, then late in the day today I did a preventative fungicide of propiconizole.









Perennials added last fall to the front landscape beds are starting to take shape. The exception being the itoh peony at the walkway steps that snapped in 60mph wind gusts a few weeks ago-- its lack of fullness is making the lupine stand out more than I'd like, but its a temporary problem.





Now, onto the bad-- I've been watching this fine-bladed grassy weed thats in patches throughout my lawn since last spring when I started learning more about lawncare. I didn't think it was poa triv, since it didn't really look the same as what I was sure was poa triv in the area I renovated this spring. I had chalked it up to being poa annua, since the previous owner said that's what it was, and since it was light green and didn't look like the poa triv. In the back of mind though, I still wasn't sure- it didn't produce poa a seedheads last spring. Since it survived the summer I thought maybe it was a perennial biotype of poa a.

So, thinking it was poa annua, I put down fall pre-M and ethofumesate. The pre-M I don't regret (mostly because there is a large area of obvious poa annua under my crabapple). If you look at my early 2021 pics it looked like garbage-- in my head the etho had killed some of the "poa annua". It was pulling up real easily with my bare hands, pretty much like the stuff that I knew was Triv on the other side of the property. Eh, I shrugged, its annua-- I overseeded the worst area and the bare areas I pulled have at this point in May started to grow in well. The patches in the rest of the lawn where it wasn't pulling up as easily I battled with blanket sprays of Tenacity, again thinking it was annua.

Well, I should have pulled up more. Its clear to me now that most if not all of that finely-bladed light green is Poa Triv. It now looks like the distinctive "side-spiking" leaves I recognize, and with the very high temps right now it is looking poor, as triv will do in the heat.

I'm a bit dismayed, since it's in bits and pieces in pretty much all areas of the 10k sf lawn. Having gone through alot of work this spring, with the renovated area, and 5 apps of Tenacity on the full yard that lit up the triv but of course ultimately didn't hurt it long-term, I'm going to just take a break from trying to deal with the newly identified problem. I need to enjoy the overall lawn for awhile, which I'm only just now getting to for this season. I'll probably switch to the dig-out method as opposed to glyphosate as I did at the reno'd area. If the reno taught me anything, its that I do NOT have a passion for lawn renovations. The 1k area I did this spring has been fine, but I can't imagine doing 10k, even if better timed in the fall. I like my lawn overall and will not be starting over here. Ill probably just try to chip away at the triv over what I assume will be years.


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## walker33 (Sep 13, 2020)

Sorry about your reno. It's very disheartening. 
I know the feeling, going through it myself. I'm gonna keep up with basic lawn care and see how things play out.


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## nikmasteed (Apr 30, 2020)

Thanks. Yeah I think in many ways keeping things basic can be the way to go.

Although sorry if I wasn't clear-- I only renovated 1000sf this year (to take care of an area that had triv) and that area is doing fine as long as I can keep the baby fescue alive thru summer. The disheartening part is now I'm certain that the triv is in spots of the other 9000sf also that I didn't renovate.


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## walker33 (Sep 13, 2020)

You're welcome. I got ya about only doing 1k but somehow I rolled the new and old together. My bad. Mine looked great last fall and up into spring. Then the Poa annua + Triv hit along with Orchard Grass. After looking into options, I decided I didn't have it in me to nuke it all and start over. So I'm just gonna go with the flow now and see where it takes me. Good luck!


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## nikmasteed (Apr 30, 2020)

Progress on the renovated 1000 sf. The light seeding of thin areas I did 14 days ago is starting to fill those areas in. Mowed yesterday at 2", which was the 4th mow.

This is from yesterday, 31 days after germination (6 weeks from seed down).


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## nikmasteed (Apr 30, 2020)

Renovated area finally getting close to looking like my normal lawn again. We're somewhere around 45 days after germination. My last mow I moved the height up to where I cut the rest of the yard at (2.5"). Overall it's still thin compared to the established yard, but it'll get there.





I got a few small patches of powdery mildew last week. My first time with it. Seems a bit strange because this was in an area that gets heavy sun (most sun in my entire yard) and I had recently sprayed preventative app of propiconizole. We have had a few cycles with multiple hot days interspersed with a very heavy rainstorm here and there. Anyway, its confined to a very limited area and I have a 2nd app of prop coming, it'll be fine.



I'll get some overall pics of the lawn up this week. In general we're looking real good


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## nikmasteed (Apr 30, 2020)

The sun hit the stripes just right as I was returning from a walk today


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## Butter (Nov 14, 2017)

Stripes are looking good! I really like your property.


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## nikmasteed (Apr 30, 2020)

Happy belated 4th of July!

Really happy with the lawn right now, I always feel like this holiday is when my yard is in peak form despite being the summer (perhaps it's really just when I feel like I've gotten into a groove with my routines).

I haven't fertilized in over 2 months (aside from supplementals); really have just kept up pretty well with frequent mowing/mulching. A decent frequency of natural rainfall has helped. The astute observer might see a little minor heat stress in the photos below but I have really fared very well so far through alot of 90+ temps for June.

I have put Ironite down twice-- my first year using it and I used only half the bag rate both times since I didn't want to overdo it. While the grass looks great I've never really found that additional iron seems to make a very noticeable difference, last year I used the Next Double Dark combo and felt similarly. Perhaps the grass is just already generally at/near its genetic darkest with my normal care? I'll probably consider doing one more Ironite app at full bag rate this year to try that out.

The last pic below is the 1000sf area I renovated in March/April this year. Although I used 100% TTTF that area and the remainder of the yard I believe is 75% TTTF/25% KBG, it is starting to blend in pretty uniformly with the rest. There's been some crab and a few other broadleaf weeds popping up in the reno area that I've gotta hit this weekend but it's not overwhelming and I should be able to keep that under control. The grass here is slightly thin at this point so the weeds are to be expected. Overall pretty happy with how it is turning out-- I feel that it's gotten established enough to get through this summer well, but I'll keep babying it!


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## nikmasteed (Apr 30, 2020)

Trying to balance the water bill vs giving the lawn what it needs. We're looking a bit stressed right now with some dormant patches-- there are also minor signs of some fungus damage, I believe the fungus has done what its going to do but will spray some propiconizole this week to try to keep it at bay.

I threw down some high-K fert today (Stress Blend) which was the first full fertilizer app since April 29. I'm also going to try out a wetting agent this month for the first time and see how that works for me.








The renovated area fairing decent-- nothing a little seed going into the fall can't fix



All-in-all, still Instagram worthy


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## nikmasteed (Apr 30, 2020)

This morning was app #1 of my fall Nitrogen blitz, using 46-0-0 Urea (gotta love the pee smell of that stuff...). I'll be doing 5 apps of 0.5 N/1000sf each about 1.5-2 weeks apart which will take me to about Halloween. This morning I also applied my fall Prodiamine (granular) at a little under 3lbs/1000 (+/- 2.8)-- I am still looking to prevent as much poa annua as possible despite a realization earlier this year that most of what I thought was poa annua was actually likely poa triv. I've decided I'll continue to keep fall prodiamine as my yearly default, since I don't believe my lawn is in much need of aeration/overseed (I will be doing a little liquid aeration, just not mechanical).

The exception to the above is the area pictured below, roughly 1000sf that I renovated this past spring. Overall I'm extremely happy with how the grass in this reno has fared, in fact I think it looks better than the rest of the lawn right now, after I was away for a week on vacation. It is noticeably darker right now than the adjacent/older grass, although maybe it's just more summer/drought tolerant than the blend used by previous owner throughout the full lawn (that blend included elite TTTF cultivars, including both Rebounder/4th Millennium; this reno and its overseed is 100% monostand of 4th Millennium)



Plan for this 1000sf area is an overseed, so I skipped the prodiamine as well as the Urea there. Today I'll cut it low, and likely drop the seed today as well. No fert for a bit here, after which I have some Scott's starter fert w/mesotrione (I realize I need to be careful about not using this after germination, so might just bag this step) I'll probably use at first then slowly/eventually move to hopefully at least 1 app of urea before season close, after I've mowed it a time or two.


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## nikmasteed (Apr 30, 2020)

Post-overseed. Normal HOC is 2-1/2", yesterday I had cut it to 3" after a week off. Before overseeding I cut it at 1-3/4". Some closeups of some of the thinner areas I hope to fill in from this overseed





Also was a good time to patch a few areas, as well as added a little topsoil to an area out back that gets some pending in heavy rain. This continues to be a problem area but less so once I started adding topsoil occasionally-- this is the second time this season to work towards filling in the low spot


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## nikmasteed (Apr 30, 2020)

Hey all, hoping to solicit an opinion or two on this particular journal post-- I don't feel it warrants a standalone post in the cool-season forum and I kinda like keeping things contained in my journal. Thanks in advance!

This is the 1000sf area of my yard renovated w/ 4th Millennium TTTF this past spring with success. Scroll up to see the status as of Sept 5, when I scalped and overseeded in order to improve some thin areas. Seed down 9/5, germination on 9/9-9/10, so at this point I'm 28 days post-germination for the overseed.

Overall I'm moderately disappointed at the results-- I feel like most of my sprouted seedlings may not have survived and that overall I may even be a bit thinner than I was on 9/5. I felt I was doing pretty well with watering 2-3 times a day, but did travel for 3 days (9/16-19) during which the overseed only received natural rainfall (which was 2 heavy rainfall events so why i didnt bother to try for other watering provisions- i don't have auto sprinklers). That travel I'm assuming was my downfall, since despite the rainfall air temps were on the higher side. This is my first attempt performing a fall overseed so willing to chalk it up to a learning experience and in reality, this patch of grass is doing just fine going into the winter.

I did throw 2 more pounds of TTTF seed on 9/28 (9 days ago) with limited apparent germination-- some areas thats not a surprise because I didnt want to mess with the early September grass by scratching up areas for better seed to soil contact, but since there were still some pockets of bare soil I was still hoping for better germination than I actually got.

At this point my plan is just to get back into frequent mowing of this area (mowed 2-3 times starting about 2 weeks after original germination, then backed off around the time of the extra seed) to th8cken things up hopefully and to start to fertilize along with the fall blitz I'm doing for the remainder of my yard in order to help the roots from the springtime planted grass, not worrying about trying to seed any further and just see how we're looking in the spring here.

I think I'm aware of why this wasn't as successful as I might have hoped, but still appreciative of any tips for the future! Thanks in advance


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## bf7 (May 11, 2020)

I don't think you should be disappointed in these results.

What do you think caused the issues you are describing? Drought? Disease?

I wonder if the frequent watering for the overseed was too much moisture for the young grass from the spring and resulted in fungus.

I would also try to avoid playing volleyball on it


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## nikmasteed (Apr 30, 2020)

@bf7  Yeah we didn't actually play (badminton actually) after the overseed, the net is just still up.

I think that I thought it would be okay when I was away for 3 days given that the forecast had rain, and that in reality temps got a bit higher during that time. I think some of it dried out then and perhaps even that some of the existing grass dried out after the scalping. Your theory about fungus harming that existing grass from the spring is definitely possible, since I did have some light fungus damage in other areas around the same time. Good call.

Overall it's not bad I just feel it's thinner now than before I did the overseed.


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## bf7 (May 11, 2020)

Give it some TLC - nitrogen, water, mow frequently, and consider preventative fungicides.

Reassess at end of fall and early spring and throw down more seed if needed. Get soil tested too if you haven't. 4th M is a good cultivar and should end up looking stellar in the right environment.

I'm sure you know all of that already. This is just a little extra encouragement!


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## nikmasteed (Apr 30, 2020)

@bf7 thanks can always use some of that!


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## nikmasteed (Apr 30, 2020)

END OF 2021 SEASON RECAP

This year's facts and figures
-47 mows (1st was 4/1; Last was 11/25)
-4.45 lbs N per 1000 sf (1.22 in spring, 0.78 in summer, 2.45 in fall)
-6 different fertilizers used (4 granular, 2 liquid)
-7 yards of mulch for the landscape beds (April)

Things I accomplished:
-A successful spring renovation of a 1000sf area that had poa trivialis. We'll see how long the bad stuff stays away, but the new grass itself looks really great and should be well established in year 2. Started 1st of 3 rounds of glyphosate on 3/27, had seed down on 4/17 and it really fared the summer very well
-5 more mows than last year
-Really got a great striping/edging/trimming routine down
-Was able to impart some wisdom to a friend who bought his first suburban home mid-summer
-Did some liquid aeration
-Previous owner stopped by on Halloween and really gave me some great compliments

Challenges I was able to manage:
-Continued strong record of weed control, I think this year was even better than last year
-Although the fungal threat persisted this summer, was able to avoid any significant breakout like I had in 2020

Challenges to keep working on:
-Poa annua (?) or whatever I have. If you read my posts from this year, you'll see what I mean. There's some strange grass under my large crabapple and then there's patches of something similar but different throughout the yard. Tried multiple Tenacity apps in the spring to no significant effect. I had also tried selectively controlling it with ethofumesate the prior fall. This year I may take a sample and get it tested just for my own knowledge. But likely will glyphosate the stuff under the crabapple.
-Also have more poa trivialis than I originally thought. May kill off a patch or two, not going to try to get all of it.
-2 low spots were raised a little bit, will continue fixing these spots in 2022

Equipment:
-No significant new equipment. Cheap no frills Troy-Bilt mower now through 8 seasons

Goals for 2022:
-Hit 50 mows
-Maintain consistency all-around
-Get rid of most if not all of the poa-ish stuff under the crabapple tree

Pics from late Dec/early Jan


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## nikmasteed (Apr 30, 2020)

Hi all, although I've been active on the forum, only now getting to my first 2022 season journal post. Side note, I started a side gig dishing out advice and custom DIY lawncare programs. Instagram account is linked in my signature, check it out and maybe even follow! I feel supremely knowledgeable and confident these days, thanks in no small part to TLF.

5 mows in, it feels great to be out in the yard on a regular basis again. Here's what's going on in these parts:
-PreM has been down for awhile (Mar 23)
-Spot seeded some bare spots (Mar 26). Also did a frankly half-assed "overseed" on the 1k area I reno'd last spring. Most of that spot seeding is now germinated and nearly tall enough to mow
-Ive finally learned I don't need to fertilize early on and have yet to do so. I will eventually fertilize in probably early May
-Bought a dethatcher. Mostly so I can offer it to clients.

2022 Soil Test posted here:
https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=34666

FINALLY positively identified the mystery poa underneath my crabapple-- it's Poa Supina
You can read about that here, pretty interesting:
https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=32938

Last May I came to realization that I'm fairly certain that finely-bladed Poa Triv is permeated through most of my 10k lawn. Right now is so stress-inducing because it's limeyness is at its peak and it's all I see while I mow. As stated last year I will not be renovating but will try to deal with it here and there. This spring I chose a good-size area where it's most prominent, and bleached it with Tenacity with original intent to dig it out. I learned that is hard work when only using a shovel and that it's alot of soil to dispose of. So far I've dug out about 300sf and re-seeded. I will probably dig out another 50-100 sf and replace that with existing turf cut while redefining my landscape beds. That may be all I have the capacity for this spring.





Here's how last spring's 1000sf reno looked about 2 weeks ago. It has thickened up further after the first mowings of the season



And just some general photos from the past week:


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## nikmasteed (Apr 30, 2020)

Nearly complete with all the landscape beds and edging. Got a great mow in today before company. Spring bulbs are poppin'


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## situman (Nov 3, 2020)

With a large infestation, you either learn to live with it, ignore it or burn it all down. Also, there's no guarantee the new soil doesnt have triv seeds or other weed seeds in it and since you will be reseeding, it means lots of watering and triv likes that so chances are it will just spread like mad into the new soil.


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## nikmasteed (Apr 30, 2020)

situman said:


> With a large infestation, you either learn to live with it, ignore it or burn it all down. Also, there's no guarantee the new soil doesnt have triv seeds or other weed seeds in it and since you will be reseeding, it means lots of watering and triv likes that so chances are it will just spread like mad into the new soil.


Yes, I'm in the learn to live with it camp, kind of at least. Since it spreads, I feel like I need to fight it so I don't ever get to a point of nearly 100% triv. I'll fight it here and there and I do have some hope of whittling it down some. I don't expect to ever be completely rid of it


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## mpm5054 (9 mo ago)

nick - just moved out to the suburbs on station ave in glenside. Looking forward to learning from you!


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## nikmasteed (Apr 30, 2020)

@mpm5054 
Welcome to TLF, and welcome to Glenside!


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## nikmasteed (Apr 30, 2020)

Goal for this morning was to put down these blazing stripes before the high-90s hit this afternoon. Mission Accomplished.

First fertilizer application of the spring was 5 days ago.









Other goings-on....

Spring 2021 reno'd area of 100% 4th Millennium has finally hit its stride, now fully established and super thick



Trying to kill two birds with one stone... The battle with triv is never ending, and at the same time I wanted the lines of the landscape beds on my side yard to be super straight.

So I ran a line and re-edged those two beds perfectly, and took the extra turf (at least that which doesn't have triv) and transplanted it to an area where I cut out a bunch of triv. Still not done with the transplanting, and this won't rid me of the problem by any means, even in this area, but it got rid of a decent amount of triv.







Good turf waiting for new home



Trash triv


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## Butter (Nov 14, 2017)

Those edges are straight. Nice job! What did you use? Half moon edger?


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## nikmasteed (Apr 30, 2020)

Thanks @Butter !

I cut the edge with my electric corded edger/trencher, then followed the cut line with a wood-handle flat-edge tool that I have, to cut/dig the turf out


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## nikmasteed (Apr 30, 2020)

Pretty happy with how the transplant job turned out, and pretty satisfied that I got rid of about 80% of the triv in this area


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## Wile (Sep 17, 2020)

I really love the way your property is set up and how much thought went into mulch bed locations. Just stunning!


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## nikmasteed (Apr 30, 2020)

@Wile Thanks! Very kind of you to say that. I do have to say most of the setup was by the previous owner, but I do daresay that I've improved it.

I'm told that before him (20-25 yrs ago) the property was super overgrown, the backyard had just untended garden crops and a rat infestation. Here's a photo from around then


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## nikmasteed (Apr 30, 2020)

Today was cut #21 on the season... it was the summer solstice so felt fitting to mow deep into the 8oclock hour and soak up every minute of daylight with a midweek mow


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## nikmasteed (Apr 30, 2020)

Happy 4TH all!


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## Butter (Nov 14, 2017)

I've said it before and I'm sure I'll say it again.
I really like your house and property!
Did you ever have an arborist look at your Japanese Maple?


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## Chris LI (Oct 26, 2018)

^+1
Ditto! I love the contoured beds with perennials and those edges are really sharp and clean! Double diamonds really pop! :thumbsup:


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## nikmasteed (Apr 30, 2020)

@Butter @Chris LI Thanks!!!! :mrgreen:

Haven't gotten an arborist out yet-- every 3 or 4 days as I walk (or mow) past it I tell myself I gotta get on it. Maybe tomorrow's the day I finally act!


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## nikmasteed (Apr 30, 2020)

Sometimes you wonder whether your lawn is faring well enough in the heat. Then you buy a drone and realize you're doing pretty okay... especially compared to the struggle bus the rest of the neighborhood is on.

This was a fun day


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## Chris LI (Oct 26, 2018)

Those drone shots tell the story. Looking fantastic! :mrgreen: :thumbsup:


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## jskierko (Sep 5, 2020)

Looks stellar!


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## Butter (Nov 14, 2017)

Love the drone shots! Looks really nice.


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## ReelWILawn (Aug 29, 2021)

great drone shots! Really gives a perspective vs the other homes in the area. The back patio.. :thumbup:


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## nikmasteed (Apr 30, 2020)

ReelWILawn said:


> great drone shots! Really gives a perspective vs the other homes in the area. The back patio.. :thumbup:


Thanks!! Yeah, we have alot of fun with this patio!


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## nikmasteed (Apr 30, 2020)

In the midst of killing off about 1200 sf as part of the ongoing battle vs Triv. This particular area looked awful in the spring when the triv was thriving. I don't think I could stand looking at that again so that's why I decided to focus on this area with the seed I have left. I don't have enough for a full re-seed in the event of a washout so I'm basically crossing my fingers on that (I'll have enough extra for additional spot seeding)

Even though it's purposeful, it's still always a little sad to see the good stuff in its state of decline after the kill.

BTW, I'll be posting the progress on this reno more frequently/thoroughly on my Instagram. I'll be sure to post occasional progress here as well!


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## ReelWILawn (Aug 29, 2021)

sorry if I missed it, but what seed are you putting down?


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## nikmasteed (Apr 30, 2020)

@ReelWILawn 
I still have some 4th Millennium left so using that.


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## jskierko (Sep 5, 2020)

The lineation between your established grass and killed areas is strangely satisfying to my OCD.


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## nikmasteed (Apr 30, 2020)

jskierko said:


> The lineation between your established grass and killed areas is strangely satisfying to my OCD.


I know right? How about another trigger


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## michigreender (4 mo ago)

Any updates? Just read your whole journal. What a great journey.


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## nikmasteed (Apr 30, 2020)

michigreender said:


> Any updates? Just read your whole journal. What a great journey.


I've really been slacking on keeping this up to date! Here are some photos of the renovation as of this week. 

It has been mostly a success, but I do have some thin spots, one area in particular against tye driveway, that got washed out by heavy rains. I seeded those a week ago, about 22-23 days after the initial seeding. I'm up against the clock now with that newer seed but I'm confident it will germinate soon in time to get some growth before cold temps.

I'll also try to post an update on the remainder of the lawn later this weekend


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## nikmasteed (Apr 30, 2020)

Hopefully the photos worked this time...


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