# PRG 2022 Full Reno



## gatorguy146 (5 mo ago)

Howdy,

Never planned on posting anything but have enjoyed following along with the other journals posted here and don't see many Ryegrass journals so figured it might interesting to compare. Didn't take enough pictures during the renovation because it was 97 degrees when I went through all of the work last Sunday 8/7. Took a solid 8 hours of work from 11a to 7p. About 30 miles west of Saint Louis, MO. This is my wife and I's first house, lived here for about a year and a half now. The lawn (and the house) were seriously neglected for many years prior to us moving in. I've renovated much of the house and figured now was the time to pull the trigger on renovating the front lawn. The front lawn had massive amounts of bermuda, dallisgrass (I think, or something like it), and spotty amounts of several grass types that I couldn't stand to look at anymore.

Ryan Knorr Perennial Ryegrass - front lawn is about 1,200 sqft, seeded roughly 12.5 lbs total.

Appreciate the renovation guide in the Cool Season forum by gman as well as everyone's replies and pictures. Really helped me out with a few things I didn't know.

Started glyphosate in mid July. Put down a second covering of gly on July 30. Didn't put down another coating on seed day even though I knew I could have from reading through the reno guide and everyone else's advice. I chickened out, no other way to explain it.

Power raked using the electric Sun Joe deal that you can get at menards. Did a great job, honestly. Multiple passes, multiple directions. Laid seed. Rented a roller from lowes and rolled the seed in. Dropped the scotts starter fertilizer with mesotrione. Covered with peat moss.

We got a storm on Tuesday morning 8/9, wasn't horrible but dropped about 1/3 of an inch of rain in 45 mins and it did washout some of the peat moss and some grass seed from a few areas. I hand spreaded some seed on the areas that I could tell were completely washed out on Tuesday night but the washout wasn't too bad.

Today is Friday 8/12 and there is significant germination already. Will try to upload some pics this weekend. Appreciate everyone's knowledge on the forum, enjoying this whole process.


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## SeanW78 (6 mo ago)

Looking good! With Ryan's PRG blend you should likely see a nice field of green babies in no time.


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## gatorguy146 (5 mo ago)

Green babies are popping up! Getting excited to wake up each morning and check out the new growth. Do have one issue because my sump pump is routed into the gutter on the side of the house. It's been running non stop as my area has gotten pummeled with over a foot and a half of rain in the last couple weeks. It's completely saturated that area. Quick fix for now with some corrogated pipe that was left here by the previous owners. May try and run something underground before I reseed that area. Will see how things come in over the weekend and make a decision.


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## Green (Dec 24, 2017)

Cool. Good luck.

Is this going to be cut high?

Btw, you probably want to angle those downspouts away from the Reno if you're forecasted to get a lot of rain. Better on the neighbor's side temporarily. Not to mention, you don't want it sitting on the same spot all the time preventing germination.


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## gatorguy146 (5 mo ago)

Planning on cutting it around 1 to 1.5 inches but going to experiment and see what looks best. I've read that the higher you cut ryegrass the more you deal with seed stalks but it'll be fun to learn.

Agree with you completely on the downspout. I didn't have any foresight to think about that being a problem until after my seed was laid down and the sump pump kicked on. This is completely a temporary fix until I can run something underground. It's never been too big of an issue but now with bare dirt I'm afraid it'll never dry out


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## jskierko (Sep 5, 2020)

You could even make some V-shaped stakes and place them every few feet to prop that tubing up off the ground. That will help prevent an area of no germination. You'll just want to make sure it stays below the level of the downspout so water drains out instead of back.


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## M32075 (May 9, 2019)

The great thing about PRG is fast germination you will have a lawn in no time. Keep the area moist not wet and sharpen that mower blade you will be cutting that lawn sooner than you think


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## gatorguy146 (5 mo ago)

Appreciate your replies and ideas. The V-shaped stakes was a great idea. Decided to solve this problem once and for all. The idea here was that I used solid pipe until I got far enough away from the foundation then transitioned to the slitted pipe that allows the water to weep before it reaches the daylighted grate. There isn't much of a gutter that feeds this specific down spout. The sump pump is the main issue. Now the water will be distributed away from the foundation. The problem was it was weeping right back into the sump pump, so it pumped water out constantly throughout the day. Like I said, my house was owned by multiple idiots.

Had no germination in this area, can only assume the seed either washed away or it was just too saturated for it to grow. Threw some more seed down following the same process. Figured I probably churned up some weed seeds during this process so laid down more of the starter fert with mesotrione, and covered with peat moss.

Feel like I'll be mowing next week, plenty of germination on the rest of the lawn.


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## gatorguy146 (5 mo ago)

Had some rain come through today. Was never heavy at any point so I think it only helped and didn't wash much of anything out. Gutter drain is working really well. Really strong growth in most of the yard. Some thinner spots, but most of the grass is close to 2 inches. Threw a little bit of seed down in some thin areas. Thinking I'm going to let the soil dry just a little bit from all the rain today and mow with a manual reel on Thursday.


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## gatorguy146 (5 mo ago)

Mowed twice now with a manual reel. Areas closest to the retaining wall and the side of the house are both growing in well. Front portion of the yard is still sparse and isn't getting cut when I go over it with the reel.

Sprayed 4oz/K of EqualizORR 18-18-18 last night around 8:15 pm and watered it in at 5am this morning. Planning to keep that schedule once a week until mid September or so and then start pushing urea. I like the idea of getting a little more phosphorus to young grass blades.

Area below the drain pipe isn't germinating, I think it's getting saturated. I've adjusted my sprinklers not to hit that area (as much as possible at least). Going to rake the area and drop some more seed today and try not to water it. Should stay wet enough to grow.

Good germination above the drain pipe where I had to re seed. Closing in on all of the bare areas like Patton's 3rd Army


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## gatorguy146 (5 mo ago)

Pics after mowing tonight. Been mowing every other day. Noticing slow germination on the areas I've re seeded and slow growth in sunny areas, like many of you guys. The side of the house and areas below the retaining wall are thriving, which experience a lot more shade throughout the day. Wonder if it's just a little too warm for the young grass in the mostly sunny areas?

Sprayed urea at .25lb/K tonight. Planning on spraying straight urea one week and then EqualizORR the next and maybe mix in some urea to get the N content to a quarter pound per thousand.

Still a lot of thin areas but Temps supposed to cool off next week so plan to overseed the thin areas lightly on Sunday after mowing. Time for a cold one


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## gatorguy146 (5 mo ago)

Chance of rain tonight and tomorrow so decided to pull the trigger on overseeding the thin spots. Which ended up being most of the lawn...
Used a metal rake to rough up the surface of the dirt. Didn't seem to disturb the growing grass much at all. Spread seed by hand and raked over again. Seemed to embed most of it in the loose dirt. I used this method on the area below the drain last week and it seems to have taken well in that area. Didn't cover with peat moss but figure the current grass will hold seed well enough.
Lawn looks great from a side angle but when you get above it and look straight down you can see how thin it is. Hoping to see it fill in and be striping in a couple weeks


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## gatorguy146 (5 mo ago)

28 DAS, I believe. Overseed from last week is germinating. That plus it's been steady rain the last two days has caused me to skip a day of mowing. I've also skipped the urea this week but will probably hit on Wednesday or Thursday depending on when I mow again.
Since I can't sit still I made a diy striping kit for my rotary mower. Worked good on the backyard and allows me to back up, which is what kept me from buying one or some of the other diy ideas. Looking forward to using it on the front lawn in a few weeks


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## LIgrass (May 26, 2017)

Looking good. I attempted a PRG monostand in my backyard a couple years ago but didn't like how it looked in the summer (got too stalky and some thinning/die off). I think it had to do with the conditions in my backyard
https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?p=340625#p340625 
Other than the middle of the summer it's a great grass. So dark and stripes well. Does Ryan list the cultivars in that blend on the tag?


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## gatorguy146 (5 mo ago)

Here's the sticker listing the cultivars.

From what I've watched and read, the stalking issue is the worst during the first spring and gets better as the years go on. Trying to keep that in mind 6 months from now


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## gatorguy146 (5 mo ago)

Noticed a few areas of what looked to be pythium yesterday morning. Put down Scotts Disease Ex (azoxystrobin) at the curative rate last night 9/6/22.

Posting as a note to myself.


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## gatorguy146 (5 mo ago)

32 DAS

Was bleesed with tickets to the Cardinals game the last 2 nights and couldn't take it anymore. The pristine ball field told me just to go for it.


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## gatorguy146 (5 mo ago)

You guys, this is just too much fun!


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## Babameca (Jul 29, 2019)

Month in and PRG kicks ***. Well expected results when is done properly. Congratulations.


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## gatorguy146 (5 mo ago)

Thank you, my friend. Congrats to you as well, yours is looking great!


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## qrkid (6 mo ago)

Looks great. I hope my little patch of PRG looks as good. What roller do you have on the back of your Kobalt? Seems to do a really good job with the stripes.


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## gatorguy146 (5 mo ago)

I made one myself. It's 4 inch PVC pipe. I filled the inside of the pipe with concrete. I have a piece of electrical conduit that goes through the middle and then a piece of threaded rod that fits inside of the conduit so that the pvc can roll freely.

To get the conduit inside the pvc I drilled a hole in a piece of melamine the same diameter as the conduit so I could stick it through the hole and have it stand straight up and down. Then placed the pvc on the malmine surrounding the pipe and poured the concrete in. Concrete doesn't bond to melamine so the piece just popped right off once everything was dry.

I would guess it weighs 15 to 20 pounds. Doesn't seem to make the mower any harder to push bc it's already so light, being baterry powered. Cost about 50 bucks for all of the parts


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## M32075 (May 9, 2019)

WOW looking fantastic. The great thing about PRG is in one month you have a lawn. Keep cutting twice a week it will get thicker and tiller even more.


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## gatorguy146 (5 mo ago)

@M32075 
Thank you! I'm enjoying the hell out of this. Plan is to mow every other day and alternate spraying EqualizORR and Urea every 3 to 4 days making sure they add up to .25lbs of N every week. I think my wife is even more irritated with me now than when the lawn was completely brown for 2 weeks :lol:


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## gatorguy146 (5 mo ago)

Having fun trying out new patterns and making the wife roll her eyes and shake her head.
Hit it with another round of EqualizORR tonight. Plan on spreading another application of DiseasEX on Friday. Supposed to heat up here for 5 days or so and don't want anymore fungus getting a chance to take hold.


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## bf7 (May 11, 2020)

This looks fantastic! I've always been impressed with RK's blend on the tv. He keeps it so dark all year. I was holding out final judgment until I saw someone else use it and have success. You sold me 100%.

Any plans to reel mow this beauty?


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## gatorguy146 (5 mo ago)

@bf7 
Thank you so much! I'm absolutely thrilled with it. Feels good to read all that, it was pretty nerve wracking to commit to this project without any prior experience. Nothing but good things to say so far, this is really good stuff. I'm most interested to see how it holds up through the summer next year, so I'll try to keep this going. 
I can see getting into reel mowing in a year or two. It still needs to go through some sand leveling. There was a large tree stump that I removed last spring with several roots that were above the surface and I haven't quite got all of that levelled out yet. Even with levelling before seeding and packing the areas down, they seem to keep sinking. But we'll get there eventually.


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## gatorguy146 (5 mo ago)

Enjoying the mow. Wife didn't seem to think any of my jokes about giving her diamonds were funny.

Laying off the urea this week with the higher temps. A few weeds and clover here and there. Might just wait until spring to take care of those, though I do handpick sometimes. Still spreading seed on thin areas every now and then


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## gatorguy146 (5 mo ago)

Another weekly application of EqualizORR. Dropped the last round of seed over remaining thin areas for the year. Saving left over seed for any problem areas next year. Gotta say, this stuff is great! Just drop it and water it and it sprouts in a couple days.


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## gatorguy146 (5 mo ago)

Hand picked weeds tonight. Quite a few have popped up with the hot weather we've had over the last week. Mostly nutsedge, bermuda, and crabgrass. Still a lot out there but didn't have the patience to keep picking it through it all. Don't think I'll spray anything this year because I saw several juvenile grass plants while I was hand picking these weeds, plus the seed I laid down this week. Think I'll just keep hand picking as much as I can through the fall and try to keep up. Hoping the turf gets fully thickened up before winter so I can use pre emergent in the spring and then just focus on controlling bermuda through the summer.

Think I've found a new favorite mowing pattern


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## jskierko (Sep 5, 2020)

That color! Looks great. I am very curious to see how this handles the summers down there.


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## gatorguy146 (5 mo ago)

@jskierko Thank you!
I am curious too. It will definitely be high-input but totally worth it if I can hang onto this color for at least most of the year. Basically just following what RK says that he does with his in a similar climate. Trying not to be too much of a fanboy over here but you also can't argue with results.


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## gatorguy146 (5 mo ago)

Went out of town for about a week. Took a couple mows to get it back down to my normal height of cut. Some areas definitely growing thicker and greener than others but looks great overall. Had to give her a double cut tonight, couldn't help myself. 

Sprayed another quarter pound of N, I think this was my 4th application of urea coupled with 6 or 7 applications of EqualizORR. The EqualizORR only amounts to about .05 pounds of N per application. Probably close to 1.5 pounds of N put down on the reno so far. Good weather for at least 2 more weeks is forecasted and will keep up with weekly applications until I'm forced to stop. 

Really digging the single-double diamond pattern.


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## gatorguy146 (5 mo ago)

Go Cardinals!


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## gatorguy146 (5 mo ago)

IT'S RAINING
Nice to shut the sprinklers off for a while now. Mowed and sprayed another .25 pounds of N last night and let the rain water it all in this morning. Sad to remove the arch, would have been fun to keep that going throughout the playoffs. Maybe I can think of something to do for hockey season


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## gatorguy146 (5 mo ago)

Supposed to get some rain tonight so I got another application of urea out there after work. Mowed on Saturday morning so these stripes are 2 and a half days old now. Still getting growth but it's definitely slowed down. Wanted to show the difference compared to the rest of the lawns in my neighborhood, which have all gone mostly dormant. Certainly something to be said having the latest and greatest cultivars in my yard compared to theirs, but I also think this exemplifies the difference spoon feeding can make compared to doing basically nothing.


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## Ben4Birdies (12 mo ago)

Stunning color! All the other yards did not do so well. Has your area been in a drought?

Also, is that a bunny in your neighbor’s yard?


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## Chris LI (Oct 26, 2018)

Night and day difference! You'll be seeing green through the snow until it's completely buried. When the spring melt comes, it'll be like you pulled a tarp off it and instant green!


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## gatorguy146 (5 mo ago)

@Ben4Birdies We haven't had much rain since July when we had a 1 week period where we received about 2 feet of rainfall. There was flooding because it was simply too much rainfall at one time, one of the craziest things I've seen. Since then, almost nothing. Maybe an inch total. That bunny is a stone bunny that my neighbor uses to keep the real ones out of his plants. My 80 pound dog is also deathly afraid of it 

@Chris LI We actually don't get very much snow around here, typically, and if we do it only sticks around for a week or two. Weather is strange around here, I remember a couple years ago there was a day that we got 3 inches of snow in the morning and by 3pm it was 60 degrees and all the snow had melted. I'll keep posting pics to monitor how long she stays green.

Appreciate the kind words from both of you, this has certainly been a labor of love.


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## Green (Dec 24, 2017)

gatorguy146 said:


> Supposed to get some rain tonight so I got another application of urea out there after work. Mowed on Saturday morning so these stripes are 2 and a half days old now. Still getting growth but it's definitely slowed down. Wanted to show the difference compared to the rest of the lawns in my neighborhood, which have all gone mostly dormant. Certainly something to be said having the latest and greatest cultivars in my yard compared to theirs, but I also think this exemplifies the difference spoon feeding can make compared to doing basically nothing.
> View attachment 2469
> 
> View attachment 2468


Come a long way and looks great.

I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the border grass in that yard to the left is some sort of warm-season junk grass, like Nimblewill, or there's some Zoysia mixed into the cool season grass. That might explain the early dormancy. I would just be on the lookout for spreading into your side over time.


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## gatorguy146 (5 mo ago)

@Green You are exactly right. That neighbor is a great guy. We both bought our houses within a few months of each other and inherited awful lawns. All of the grass that I killed and renovated is basically the same stuff in his yard. He thought about reno-ing his yard once I began killing mine off but he wanted to wait and see what happened with mine before pulling the trigger. Now, almost daily, he's telling me how much he wishes he had just done it with me. Says he wants to renovate his yard next year and I told him I would do all of it for him just so I could kill all of that grass and keep it from creeping into mine


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## bf7 (May 11, 2020)

I am continually impressed by your reno. Well done!!


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## gatorguy146 (5 mo ago)

bf7 said:


> I am continually impressed by your reno. Well done!!


Thank you! Means a lot coming from all of you guys who actually know what you're doing. Tough acts to follow for sure


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## gatorguy146 (5 mo ago)

Gave her the full treatment so that all the men who come by tonight will feel inadequate in front of their wives and children


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## Butter (Nov 14, 2017)

That’s funny!!!


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## Chris LI (Oct 26, 2018)

Butter said:


> That’s funny!!!


Damn, that looks incredible! Those guys will be petting it to see if it's real! If you have security cameras, review the footage to check.


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## gatorguy146 (5 mo ago)

Chris LI said:


> Damn, that looks incredible! Those guys will be petting it to see if it's real! If you have security cameras, review the footage to check.


You'd be shocked at the amount of people who did just that 
Actually had a guy who was certain it was astroturf. Pretty funny watching my neighbors argue with him more vehemently than I was


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## santhony1231 (Sep 30, 2021)

It’s my favorite thing to catch people petting the lawn. The wife isn’t even phased by it anymore. She just nonchalantly tells me that another guy is touching the grass. 

This looks SO good. Nice work.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

I would consider trying to move the mailbox to the right side of the driveway (right next to your neighbors).


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## gatorguy146 (5 mo ago)

santhony1231 said:


> It’s my favorite thing to catch people petting the lawn. The wife isn’t even phased by it anymore. She just nonchalantly tells me that another guy is touching the grass.
> 
> This looks SO good. Nice work.


Hahaha my wife is pretty much the same. Just rolls her eyes when anyone compliments it at this point. She does love walking barefoot on it though. 

It's funny how people act, you've got guys petting the lawn then there's my neighbors two houses down that yell at their two kids anytime they walk on it. They'll literally run over and pick up the kids to get them off the grass and apologize as if the kids were feeding my dog chocolate or something. I tell them over and over that it's just grass and it's meant to be walked on. Oh well. At this point I highly recommend for anyone to do a reno just for the fun of people watching


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## gatorguy146 (5 mo ago)

Cold front comes through tonight and it might be all she wrote for the season. Took out all of the sprinklers and they'll sit in the garage until March. Still at least 1 more mow to mulch any remaining leaves, maybe 2. Wanted to make sure I got this one in before the cold hit to mitigate any added stress. It has been a spectacularly fun last few months. Really enjoyed sharing the first season with you all.


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## gatorguy146 (5 mo ago)

Well I thought the season was over. Maybe I'll even get a December mow in at this rate.


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## macattack (Nov 2, 2020)

Looks great, some strong stripes you have there. I almost bought the Checkmate striper kit, will do for sure next year. I figure one more mow in 2 weeks, though I wish the oak tree across the street would drop them already.


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## gatorguy146 (5 mo ago)

It's a lot of fun, I say go for it. Looking forward to the stripes in that dark green front yard


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