# Stellar P - 2022 Lawn Journal



## Stellar P (Apr 13, 2018)

Moved to new property at the beginning of 2022. Greater North Houston. Dormant St. Augustine and weeds throughout. 5,000 sq ft. 2,500 front/2,500 back.

*Basic 2022 goals:*

- Monitor soil grade and water runoff. Low spots. Standing water. Dry spots.

- Soil health. Airate. Soil conditioner. Several apps of low % fert to kickstart things.

- Round 1 of Pre-Emergent, Post-Emergent and insecticide.

- 100% flower bed overhaul. Get underground utilities marked for future site prep.

- Gameplan 2023 goal to transition away from St. Augustine to either Bermuda or Zoysia.


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## Stellar P (Apr 13, 2018)

A few cropped photos from the property listing that showed the lawn before moving in.

Front section leading up to the front door is severely compacted. Previous owners obviously walked a direct path through the yard.







Back:
Gravel pit has got to go. I found out from a neighbor, the previous owner had an above ground pool. I'm assuming they made a "fire pit" area for the resale. I personally think its poorly made and not very functional for my climate. We may concrete or wooden deck that area with a overhead canopy, in the future. But we first must get rid of the rocks.







Ariel of back lawn from 2nd story. ~ 20' section behind the back fence before it slopes to the pond. I may add a gate to the back fence and use this area as a nursery for future projects. Neighbors walk around the pond for exercise. Property belongs to the HOA. I'd like to mark it for utilities before I decide to do any mainatince.


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## Stellar P (Apr 13, 2018)

*02/07/22** General Maintaince Spring Prep*

Cut entire lawn around to ~ 2" to take off any winterkill and get some sunlight down to the soil.
Used dethatcher at -5 setting, in the heavily compacted areas, to hopefully loosen it up some. Used the power rake at +5 setting to get a lot of thatch up. Got about 10 contractor bags of material out of the lawn.

Front flower beds are a unknown variety of Holly and some Indian Hawthorne. The were a little out of control, so I aggressively hedged them up to prepare for the Spring growth. They'll be removed within a couple months and given to a family member who could use them.

*02/20/22* *Pre- Emergent + Insecticide*

Soil temps were starting to peak around the low-mid 50s, so I pulled the trigger on Pre-Emergent.
*Prodiomine WDG (2 oz per 5000 sq ft per 4 gallon tank)*. I avoided the flower beds, because I wasnt sure if I was going to put down some annual seeds.

Property had some ant beds forming. I applied *Advanced Insect Killer (Imidacloprid 0.72%*) 20 oz per tank for front and 20 oz per tank for back.

Removed mulch volcano and exposed oak tree trunk flair. Cleaned up the mulch ring around front tree. Added potting soil and seeded Royal Carpet (purple) and Carpet of Snow (white) Alyssum at base of Oak.

*Mid March* *Garden Bed*
Removed all Holly and Indian Hawthoren from front bed. Planted a few Dallas Red Lantanas and another variety that blooms white and yellow.

Utilities marked for future bed along the back fence line.


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## Stellar P (Apr 13, 2018)

*Mid May - Post Emergent + Front Flower Beds*

Sprayed my salad bar of a lawn with *blanket app of Celcius. 16g/5k sq ft/4 gal.*
I have no pictures of the die back, but 95% of the weed pressure died back.
2 weeks later I made a small mix and spot sprayed some more mature looking grassy weeds to ensure die back, and Lespedeza that looked like it was surviving the initial app.

All plants in front flower bed removed. Mulch graded to slope away from foundation.
Below planted into front beds:
_2 Dallas Red Lantanas, 3 New Gold Lantana, 1 yellow variety of lantana that was trained to grow a bare trunk (3'), Pink variety of Hydrangea, Sunshine Privet/Ligustrum, Annual Vinca_

I'm worried about the intense morning/mid day sun the Hydrangea will get. It may need to be moved closer the the front door, where the morning sun turns to shade earlier in the day.


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## Stellar P (Apr 13, 2018)

*Summer 2022 PSA + General Property Mainaince + Airate + Flower Bed Creation*

_PSA_
I haven't done the best job at dating my work, so up to this point I'm posting from what I remember doing. Sometimes I disregard status updates and just grind to get the job done. With a small child and a pregnant wife ,during the summer, the additional expectation to document my progress was disregarded. When my window to put man hours into the lawn is narrow, I've got to capitalize of every minute.

_Airate - Early Summer_
A 10'×20' section of the front lawn is severely compacted. It's obviously from foot traffic to the front door. Airator rented from local big box store. Spent several hours on the full property. You guys don't lie about the workout those machines put you through. I was spent and slept good that night. Equipment returned. I would have liked to dry and dicenegrate the plugs back into the lawn, but with my current St. Augustine HOC, I had to settle on using a power rake to bag and dump. Overall success with the process.

_General Maintaince/Observations_
Not a lot of growth in the end of spring/beginning of summer. I ramped up the watering and nitrogen to push some growth. I eventually got the HOC to about 3.5".

Weed pressure seems low. I'm noticing spots that are drying out earlier than others. Big low spot in the middle of back yard. Sections between homes don't get a lot of sun. I'm growing concerned that the bermuda would be too thin in these spots. I'm considering Zoysia more than before.

At the beginning of summer, I noticed the east property line looked to have a silver sheen to the "St Augustine". We'll address this a little later. I'm trying to keep this thread chronological. Because I assumed it was the St. Augustine checking out from drought or heat stress, I watered more in an attempt to get a more lush deep green. I also began applying *Lesco Moisture Manager*(Apps in April and July) to prevent sprinkler runoff.

West/Northwest side of property was a ton of grassy weeds in the Spring. The dieback left a lot of bare spots. A small 4' x 4' section at the end of my driveway had a dinner plate size, and 2 closed fist size spots of unknown Bermuda variety and a few St Augustine stolons. I decided to cut this section as low as possible and get the Bermuda to spread. I wish I had taken a before picture. It was a dirt patch.

_Back Flower Bed_
After several conversations with the wife, I decided to make a large mulch bed along the back fence. I sprayed Glyphosate 41% on a 6-8' swath from the fence line, into the lawn. It took about 5 days to notice stress. On day 7, it was obvious the turf got smoked. I then began hand shoveling a natural edge at the border of lawn and mulch bed. It took a lot of time to dig this border out. I'd spend a few lunch breaks per week and opportunities after the kid went to bed to work on it. Even at 8pm, it was in the mid 90s. With my extra hard soil, even after advanced watering, I feel like I'd only make about 5' advancements per attempt.


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## Stellar P (Apr 13, 2018)

*07/27/22 Fungicide + St. Augustine Doubt + (Texas=Swealtering Sweaty Hell On Earth)*

_Fungus Amongus_
My previous property was St Aug, so I wasnt suprised to see Gray Leaf Spot show up. Especially after I pushed so hard with Nitrogen and waterings. Although I always knew I'd be pivoting from St. Augistine, I couldn't allow the disease to take hold.
I blanket sprayed curative rate of *Azoxystrobin 50% - Group 11 - 10oz/5k sq ft/4 gal*. One tank for the front. One tank for the back. I plan to apply Clearys 3336F next week.

_St Aug Is Stupid And I Hate It_
The section of unknown Bermuda is spreading well and asserting its stranglehold on the land. This progress, combined with the frailty of the St. Aug has allowed me to commit to some minor renovations. 
The goal is to establish 3 sections of Bermuda growth before dormancy arrives. I plan to use these sections as a nursery to take plugs in 2023. These sections will be selected due to their already high presence of Bermuda.

_Texas Heat_
As my sweet mother has said to me many times..._"It's hotter than a fresh f**ked fox in a forest fire"​_HTX is significantly hotter/drought prone than usual for June/July. We usually don't see this kind of heat and drought until August. Good thing I put down that Lesco Moisture Manager. I cant believe I used to run outside for hours in this heat. Maybe I'm just getting old, but its beating me into submission. MUD district eventually issued water conservation statements. Of course I explained to my wife that I put less water into our turf, than my neighbors spray onto the street. She is such a good listener. Whatever... I'm not going to let my turf and landscaping die. I'll definetly be more responsible. I've gotten gotten the turf to about 7 days before drought signs appear. 
I've let the back yard go into drought dormancy. It'll also be transitioned to Bermuda. Because it cannot be seen from the street, I will not waste resources on it until I start the Bermuda.


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## ionicatoms (Mar 8, 2020)

Did Azoxy actually cure your GLS? I haven't had good luck with it in the past.


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## Stellar P (Apr 13, 2018)

ionicatoms said:


> Did Azoxy actually cure your GLS? I haven't had good luck with it in the past.


I doubt the Azoxy itself stopped it. I'm making multiple posts, up to this point in time. The week after Azoxy was applied, I applied a different MOA fungicide at the curative rate. The GLS is gone from what I've noticed.


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## Stellar P (Apr 13, 2018)

*08/03/22 Fungicide + Hell Strip*

_Fungicide_
Applied *Clearys 3336F - Group 1 Thiophanate-methyl 41.25% - 30 fl oz/5k sq ft/4 gal* One tank in front. I've abandoned the St Aug in the back. It'll be replaced. I will not supply it with resources in this drought, when it'll be killed in the future.

_Hell Strip_
I've decided to turn this small strip between the road and the sidewalk, into Bermuda, and use it to source plugs. I hope I can get it established before November, when we start to see cold weather.
I put my old beater rotary on the lowest setting, and scalped the St. Aug down to dirt. Then I took the dethatcher on the lowest setting to pull up a lot of rooted stolons. This also helped to knock down some high spots. I hand watered for a few days to see if any new growth occurred, but nothing broke through.










*08/17/22 Hell Strip*

Leveled with 3 bags of play sand and tossed out Hylander Bermuda seed. I've hand watered every few hours through the day, and twice at dusk/dawn.





The reason I decided to execute this now is because I've realized the "silvery" sheen i assumed was heat/drought stress to my St. Aug is actually *Torpedograss*. It's everywhere. I'm going to cultivate this Bermuda, and plug sections of my main lawn in 2023. I'll kill off the Torpedograss with a few apps of Glyphosate 41%.


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## Stellar P (Apr 13, 2018)

*08/21/22 Hell Strip Washout*

Over the weekend we got about 3" of rain. I know the seed I spread was blue. I assumed it was some sort of coating to help retain moisture. Not sure if I have 100% washout, or that blue coating dissolved and I just haven't had germination yet.



We're expecting more heavy rains for the next week, so I'm letting the broadleaf, sedge and some common bermuda pop up. I tagged the area with some Glyphosate 41% and hopefully set the stage for re-seeding in about 10 days.


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## Stellar P (Apr 13, 2018)

*9/16/22 Hell Strip Germination*

Added more seed and added some peat moss to help prevent washout, about 3 weeks ago. Peat moss definetly helped with washout.



Got some good germination. Greening up nicely. The far side is a little thinner due to more washout, but I think it'll fill in fine.


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