# Dabeevm25's 2022 Journal and Reno



## dabeevm25 (8 mo ago)

Hi Everyone!

New to this forum but not to lawn renos! I did some renos in 2014 and 2015 at my current house with KBG blends including Prosperity, Blueberry, Bewitched, and Blue Velvet. I am going to be moving into my new build north of Pittsburgh in early July and am starting to think about preparing for the lawn now.

My yard will probably be between 5,000 and 7,500 sq ft. My builder had the landscape company bring in topsoil last week but they still need to spread some out in the back. I will get some pics of it when I am at the house next. I'm sure that it is going to need a lot of work once I get a soil sample. I had a conversation with the landscape company on Friday and they are willing to use my *** seed. If I can get them to do the hard labor, I am all for that!

I am interested to get thoughts from people on how I should approach this with the landscape company to save me time from killing the lawn in a year and starting from scratch.

I am going to do a blend of Prosperity, Moonlight SLT, and Blue Velvet this time. I ordered the Prosperity and Moonlight SLT from Pawnee already and got a quote from Hogan for the Blue Velvet of $9.99/lb (that seems high compared to what I paid at Pawnee). I am going to try and hold off the landscape company from planting the lawn until mid to late August which gives me some time after I move in to fallow and kill anything that comes up with roundup.
I asked them about applying Tenacity on the seed down date and he said they are willing to do it but prefer to use the granular/starter in one. I'm thinking I can live with that and then just do a spray in 4 to 5 weeks. Anyone have any experience with the granular? I've sprayed my renos in the past.

They also want to put down seed blanket when they seed. Some of my neighbors have moved in already and had their lawns seeded and they did seed blankets on the entire yards. I've historically used peat moss for my topping. Any downfalls to letting them use the blanket on the entire area or should I push for peat moss?

Looking forward to connecting with the community!


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## jskierko (Sep 5, 2020)

Welcome!



dabeevm25 said:


> I am going to do a blend of Prosperity, Moonlight SLT, and Blue Velvet this time.


@bf7 must be the area influencer!



dabeevm25 said:


> I asked them about applying Tenacity on the seed down date and he said they are willing to do it but prefer to use the granular/starter in one. I'm thinking I can live with that and then just do a spray in 4 to 5 weeks. Anyone have any experience with the granular? I've sprayed my renos in the past.


I used granular on my first 2 renos and was very pleased with the results. Weeds bleached as they would with sprayed Tenacity and efficacy seems similar.


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## Ben4Birdies (12 mo ago)

I've been very happy with the granular starter fert with mesotrione. If your soil test comes back and is already high in P, perhaps spraying Tenacity would be better since you wouldn't be needing to overdo your Phosphorus levels.

I haven't used seeding blankets yet, but it's been a drought the times I've seeded and haven't had any washouts. I've got a sloped area I want to reno this fall. Been reading horror stories of people's hard work washing out after heavy rains, so consider how much contour your yard will have, and how much risk you want to take on if weather gets bad.

Looking forward to seeing your journey!


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## dabeevm25 (8 mo ago)

jskierko said:


> @bf7 must be the area influencer!


Definitely! I've read through his journal and reno and see how great his mix looked. I've had a good experience with Prosperity and Blue Velvet too.



jskierko said:


> I used granular on my first 2 renos and was very pleased with the results. Weeds bleached as they would with sprayed Tenacity and efficacy seems similar.


That is good to know. I should be good with letting them go granular then!



Ben4Birdies said:


> I've been very happy with the granular starter fert with mesotrione. If your soil test comes back and is already high in P, perhaps spraying Tenacity would be better since you wouldn't be needing to overdo your Phosphorus levels.
> 
> I haven't used seeding blankets yet, but it's been a drought the times I've seeded and haven't had any washouts. I've got a sloped area I want to reno this fall. Been reading horror stories of people's hard work washing out after heavy rains, so consider how much contour your yard will have, and how much risk you want to take on if weather gets bad.
> 
> Looking forward to seeing your journey!


Yeah, I get the worry about the heavy storms and wash out. I'm on a hill at my current house and had some similar worries and anxiety after heavy storms when I did my previous renovations.

I will have some slopes on the sides of my yard but the front and back yards will be pretty much flat.


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## dabeevm25 (8 mo ago)

I snapped a few pics yesterday when I was at the house checking on a few things. You will see the topsoil isn't exactly very clean that was brought in. I am seeing a lock of larger sticks and debris that will need to be addressed.

The 2nd pic is the one slope that I will have to worry about. that is just behind my driveway and it is pretty steep as it goes down to where my walkout basement is. That will definitely require the seed blankets to not have a washout in a storm.


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## bf7 (May 11, 2020)

My new 2nd favorite journal!  don't be surprised if I'm commenting on every update.

We're probably within a 20 min drive of each other. It will be fun to compare and contrast experiences.

I know the blend is going to look fantastic on that hillside. Will this be reel or rotary mowed?


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## dabeevm25 (8 mo ago)

bf7 said:


> My new 2nd favorite journal!  don't be surprised if I'm commenting on every update.
> 
> We're probably within a 20 min drive of each other. It will be fun to compare and contrast experiences.
> 
> I know the blend is going to look fantastic on that hillside. Will this be reel or rotary mowed?


Thanks, bf7! Looking forward to keeping up with your journal too.

This is going to be rotary mowed.


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## dabeevm25 (8 mo ago)

I was hoping to be able to be more active, but life has been pretty crazy with the move and getting into my new house. I finally had my landscaping done this week and got my seed down on Tuesday evening.

I used about 12 bales of peat moss and granular mesotrione. I had irrigation put in as well knowing I wouldn't be able to stay on top of watering without it. Everything was looking good for the first few days, but last night was not only a total washout with heavy storms, but I basically had a waterfall in my backyard from a poor drainage setup from the builder and landscape company. I told them I needed a catch basin to re-direct the water, but they wanted to do a natural stone drainage.... Well that just redirected the water into my back yard. Pics are below of what I am dealing with.

I'm pretty demoralized at this point. It looks like there is rain in the forecast until mid next week. I will probably hold off on doing anything until then and then decide if I need to put down more seed at a 1 lb/k rate.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

I would take a shovel and make a trench between the rocks and the mulch towards the right of that first image. Channel all that water to flow downhill there and avoid it going to the backyard. Backfill the path the water was taking.


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## dabeevm25 (8 mo ago)

g-man said:


> I would take a shovel and make a trench between the rocks and the mulch towards the right of that first image. Channel all that water to flow downhill there and avoid it going to the backyard. Backfill the path the water was taking.


That is a good idea. I just did that and it seems to be working temporarily until i have the builder put a drain in to route the water elsewhere.

I'm just hoping the rain holds off for a while but the forecast doesn't look promising.


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## dabeevm25 (8 mo ago)

I am on day 9 from seed down. I am feeling a little optimistic as we've had a few days without any heavy rains and the forecast is looking good for the next 4 days.

The back yard is starting to fill in although there is definitely overcrowding in areas where the water pushed the peat moss and seed. The areas where the water ran the most don't have much germination at this point. I did put a little more seed in some of those areas, so I will see how the germination is in those areas over the weekend.

Always great to see the green haze!


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## dabeevm25 (8 mo ago)

I'm at day 32 now and still feel like I never fully recovered from the initial river that I had in my backyard. The ground has been soft pretty much since then and I've had a hard time getting grass to come up in the area that the water flowed through.

I added a 50/50 mix of top soil and mushroom compost a few weeks ago in the worst areas, but it doesn't seem to have helped much. I put down more seed on August 25th in the bare spots, so I am hoping some will come up in the bare areas. I'm a little skeptical though because I was gone all week for work and the neighbor told me we had a torrential downpour one day while I was gone.

My front yard is slightly better, but I still have some runoff areas that just aren't growing any grass. The areas in the front and back that are growing are turning a little yellow. I had a few bags of Milo leftover so I put those down yesterday. I did an app or Propi/Air8/RGS in the front yard yesterday and once I get better weather, I will do the same for the back yard.

If the rain stops today, I will get some more pics. I'm really not sure where to go from here. If the last seed I put down got all washed out, I'm thinking I will need to put down seed, peat moss, and seed blankets to stop the wash out.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

I think you should do some fast nitrogen instead of just milo. Depending on how many pounds/ksqft of milo you used, lets see how it responds to the milo since it does have some fast acting nitrogen in it.

The area in the left of the first image, I would throw more seeds there. A top view might be more useful, but I think the rest will spread.


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## dabeevm25 (8 mo ago)

g-man said:


> I think you should do some fast nitrogen instead of just milo. Depending on how many pounds/ksqft of milo you used, lets see how it responds to the milo since it does have some fast acting nitrogen in it.
> 
> The area in the left of the first image, I would throw more seeds there. A top view might be more useful, but I think the rest will spread.


I seeded all of those areas again on the 25th, but there has to be some washout from all the rain. I was going to give it to the end of the week to see if I see if I get any new germination and then put some more.

I know everybody usually does the spoon feeding with urea around this stage. I don't feel I have my sprayer calibrated great right now, so I'm skeptical spray. I had a bag experience with burning at my last house with granular too. That is why I opted for Milo for now.

Here are some pics from above after heavy rain this morning.


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