# Carlson's 2022 Journal - Five Fescues + Microclover



## Carlson (Apr 16, 2020)

Happy 2022 everyone! The lawn has held up fairly well over the winter - just a couple problem spots that had snow melt & turn to ice that in turn killed the grass in those spots. The TTTF is taking its usual long time to really green up, but we seem to be off to a decent start.

I took the dethatcher over the few really matted areas today and threw down my leftover ~15lb of seed from last season in the thinnest areas.

In what may be a controversial move, I also threw down microclover seed at 1lb/k. I am interested to see if a fescue lawn made up of low-input varieties can get enough N from clover to only need one or two feedings this year.


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## bf7 (May 11, 2020)

There he is!

Love the microclover idea. I'm excited to see what happens. Where did you source that seed?

The yard looks ready to rock!


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## Carlson (Apr 16, 2020)

Hogan Company!

If it goes well (and if I need to seed anywhere this fall) I may have them make me up a blend with a few of my favorite fescues and 5% microclover all in the same bag.


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## simplesimon (Aug 25, 2021)

Interesting about the microclover - what made you want to do that? Are they not affected by traditional herbicide or will you have a different weed strategy?


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## Carlson (Apr 16, 2020)

@simplesimon Clovers fix atmospheric nitrogen to the soil, so in theory I can get "free" fertilizer. And since my fescue varieties are mostly low-input ones, I am hoping to cut down on fert costs significantly!

I'm going to have to do spot sprays for problem weeds/grasses for sure. The usual chemicals will kill the clovers, BUT clovers spread via stolons - so any patches of clovers that get harmed should theoretically get filled back in over time.


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## Carlson (Apr 16, 2020)

Doing some more research to plan my weed control strategy... some places seem to indicate microclover can tolerate some quinclorac:
https://sportsfieldmanagementonline.com/2019/06/18/microclover-mixes-for-recreational-turf/10490/
Quinclorac sold on domyown is labeled to kill clover, but maybe being selective with it coupled with the stolon spreading will have me in a good spot.

Obviously this is something I will be providing updates on as the season progresses.

I wish 2-4D wasn't illegal in MA haha. That is supposedly another option.


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## Carlson (Apr 16, 2020)

Just ordered my fungicide for the season. I have two bags of heritage left from last year that I'll start with around mid-may. Ordered 5 bags of headway and 5 bottles of fosetyl-al. Super expensive to get it all at once but at least I don't need any more for the season.

Gonna be rotating azoxy and fosetyl since pythium has been my biggest issue these last two years.


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## Carlson (Apr 16, 2020)

Nothing significant to report yet. Got in a mow at 2.25" today. Microclover should be germinating soon and the lawn is still grinding its way out of dormancy.

I probably need to get out here on Tuesday and spot-spray weeds with quinclorac. Maybe hand-pull a few poa plants, too.

I'm also itching to get out to the garden center to get some fert. Thinking about giving Bay State a go. (I feel like they should rename that to "South Shorganite")


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## Carlson (Apr 16, 2020)

Had to have the local shop take my Timemaster for service. The engine was surging a lot while idling. Lead time is 5+ weeks right now. Rather than forego mowing, I decided to pick up a greenworks battery mower to try out.

25" wide with two 60v, 4aH batteries. Definitely a little slower than the timemaster but it did a great cut and I still had half of one battery left after mowing 18k sq ft on the turbo setting. We'll see how it performs when the lawn thickens up more but I may end up selling the timemaster (and maybe getting the greenworks zero-turn that takes 6*60v batteries).


I need to do a spot spraying tomorrow for sure. Was gonna do quinclorac but I think I need to go with tenacity as there's a fair crop of poa out there, too. There's a strong chance of it getting away from me this year as we are having our first baby around the end of July!


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## Carlson (Apr 16, 2020)

Microclovers have sprouted!


The three things I'm hoping to get done tomorrow are spraying for weeds, spreading some fert (bay state or milo depending on what the garden center has), and maybe spread fungicide since we have a few hot days coming up soon.


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## Carlson (Apr 16, 2020)

Got 2 of my 3 tasks done, plus a roosting bar upgrade in our chicken coop. Think I'm done for today.

Spot-sprayed weeds using 3gal of water & 1.5tsp of Tenacity. Gave that a couple hours to dry then spread 7 bags of Milorganite for just about 0.75lb N/K. (Wound up going to Ace HW instead of the garden center so it was either Milo or Ecoscraps).

Looking forward to the color and growth that we should have in a week or so now!


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## Carlson (Apr 16, 2020)

Did another mow today. Probably only took off 1/4" but I've been noticing a distinct thickening up after a few mows so I want to keep that going. Color is starting to look pretty good, too, if I may say so myself. Can't wait to see how dark it gets when the milo kicks in.

Still tempted to put down some Heritage G since its gonna be in the 80s for several days soon, but the air is still on the dry side.


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## bf7 (May 11, 2020)

Hello baby clovers!

Very impressed with the green up since 5/1. Super dark!


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## Carlson (Apr 16, 2020)

bf7 said:


> Hello baby clovers!
> 
> Very impressed with the green up since 5/1. Super dark!


Thanks man - we're getting there. Evening photos always make it look extra dark so I'm cheating a little haha.


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## Carlson (Apr 16, 2020)

On a side note - called up Hogan on Monday and ordered some seed for a probable fall overseeding (and potential for some reno spots if poa control doesn't go to plan). This time I had them do a custom mix for me which is great. They have all my fescue varieties except for Regenerate.

Mix is:
18lb each Rhizing Moon, Rowdy, Valkyrie, and Titanium
8lb Microclover

Total of 80lb so unless things go way wrong this summer I should be able to do some light overseeds and renos and still have some left next spring even if I need it.


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## Carlson (Apr 16, 2020)

I do have a problem area in the back (and a similar one in the front) I need a better gameplan for...

This and the front spot are where the winter snow sits the longest and where snowmelt collects and refreezes every winter. I think the ice sitting on the grass is what ultimately kills it so hard each year.

Maybe I need to add more soil and raise these areas? Or aerate & add some sand/soil mix to help it drain more easily?


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## ken-n-nancy (Jul 25, 2017)

Carlson said:


> I do have a problem area in the back (and a similar one in the front) I need a better gameplan for...
> 
> This and the front spot are where the winter snow sits the longest and where snowmelt collects and refreezes every winter. I think the ice sitting on the grass is what ultimately kills it so hard each year.
> 
> Maybe I need to add more soil and raise these areas? Or aerate & add some sand/soil mix to help it drain more easily?


Wow, I'm really surprised to see that much "winterkill" for TTTF. Is that a low spot where water actually ponds in spring? You mention snowmelt collecting and refreezing there each year.

It may actually be less that the cold and snow are killing it and more that the grass roots are effectively being drowned in the early spring. If so, the solution will need to be changing the grade so that water doesn't pond there but flows to somewhere lower. (Hopefully you have someplace lower available!)


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## Carlson (Apr 16, 2020)

ken-n-nancy said:


> Carlson said:
> 
> 
> > I do have a problem area in the back (and a similar one in the front) I need a better gameplan for...
> ...


Yeah its a lower spot - I think that area is where the buried stumps when they built the house so it sinks a little bit year over year. I think I probably need to add some more soil and bring the grade up like you mention. It just needs to be done repeatedly which is frustrating.

I have a new batch of seed arriving tomorrow in prep for fall work. I may glypho that spot so I can put down a couple inches of soil & fix the grade more than usual.


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## Carlson (Apr 16, 2020)

Man those guys at Hogan are quick



2 bags of goodness ready to go for the fall. I'll order some soilmoist when we get closer to go time later this summer.


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## Carlson (Apr 16, 2020)

Talked to the local garden and farm center right before they closed for the day to ask about getting a loam/sand mix. They carry "superloam" which is basically loam spiked with compost - I've used it before and it is great stuff. For the low spots that got wrecked over the winter, though, I want to add a bit of sand to help drainage.

I think I'm going to glypho the areas that had winter kill in mid-June, then core aerate those areas and do a good leveling. Planning to get 4.5yds of superloam and 1.5yds of screened sand to mix up and top-dress with. Then I'll fallow that for a few weeks before seed time in late August.


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## Carlson (Apr 16, 2020)

Wound up spreading fungicide since last year's pythium carnage has me feeling anxious this year. Put down my last two bags of HeritageG from last year across the whole yard - about 3.33lb/k. With the Fosetyl and HeadwayG I bought a few weeks back I should be able to do fungicide every other week until October so hopefully no pythium for me this summer.


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## simplesimon (Aug 25, 2021)

Good luck with the fungus and stay cool this weekend!

How big is your problem area? The side lawn I plan to work on is about 500sqft.


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## Carlson (Apr 16, 2020)

simplesimon said:


> Good luck with the fungus and stay cool this weekend!
> 
> How big is your problem area? The side lawn I plan to work on is about 500sqft.


I'd have to measure to say for sure, but I'd estimate maybe 500sq ft in the back yard and maybe 250sq ft in the front. I'll probably gly out a little more than what's actually toasty when I start prepping for leveling just to make that job easier.


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## Carlson (Apr 16, 2020)

Got out and mowed/bagged before the peak of heat today. Figured I could collect a bunch of the poa seed heads and then give myself 48hrs before I go do round 2 of Tenacity on Sunday. It might rain though so we may push spraying to Monday.


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## Carlson (Apr 16, 2020)

Round 2 of Tenacity on the poa this morning. Was gonna wait for tomorrow but we have rain in the forecast.

Hoping tenacity works on yellow wood sorrel. Got a bit of that on the front lawn / driveway border.


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## Carlson (Apr 16, 2020)

Attempted to get a mow in to bag up more poa seed heads but it started to rain just as I was finishing the front yard. Bummer since the back definitely has more poa to deal with. Hopefully I can finish up tomorrow if the rain lets up.

The milo has definitely kicked in. I just mowed 2 days ago and was cutting probably 0.5" off at a 2.5" HOC today.


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## Carlson (Apr 16, 2020)

Work lunch got bumped to next week so I got the back mowed before thunderstorms this afternoon.

Pretty happy with the color at this point - finally nice and dark green - lime green spots are the poa I have been spraying. Density should continue to improve as I start raising the HOC I think, too.

Definitely some spots to reno and/or overseed this fall, but no complaints!


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## Carlson (Apr 16, 2020)

Have some spots out front that the grass died from getting crushed by a crane doing tree work over the winter. The microclovers are blowing up there!

Obviously more clover-heavy than I want, but that is a spot I need to kill and level later in the season anyway. It'll be good to let them add N to the soil for a couple months before hitting them with the gly.


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## Carlson (Apr 16, 2020)

Been noticing a few of these clumps of some kind of chunky bluegrass showing up. They aren't lime green like poa A or poa T, but they are definitely at odds with the rest of my TTTF.


Probably 20-30 of these across the yard. I'm thinking I'm going to give them the "white glove treatment". And by that I mean put two nitrile gloves on one hand with a white cotton glove on top, then dip my fingers in some barely-diluted glypho and finger paint the plants that are in areas where I don't plan to fully nuke later this season. Might get any other stubborn poas that I missed with the same method.

Edit - maybe its KY31. The line up the middle of the blade had me thinking some kind of bluegrass but the blade width is very KY31 looking. Gonna kill it off either way lol.


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## Carlson (Apr 16, 2020)

Somehow it is going to be approaching 100° here on Saturday/Sunday. Gonna try to mow today and treat weeds on Friday.

Edit - Done. Mowed at 2.875" (the greenworks has weird increments). Barely clipped anything but the lawn looks cleaned up. Should be good to go for gly finger painting on Friday.


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## Carlson (Apr 16, 2020)

Another mow at 2.875" today... Didn't get to deal with weeds on Friday, unfortunately. If my week goes to plan, I'd like to:
Tuesday - finger-paint grassy weeds w gly
Thursdat - mow again at 3.25"
Saturday - spray fungicide plus hydretain & cytogrow

We'll see what the week has in store for me...


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## Carlson (Apr 16, 2020)

I mentioned a few posts back how there are some very microclover-heavy spots in the front yard where a tree work crane crushed the grass over the winter. One positive is this makes it really easy to see where I am going to have to level out front later this season.


As another plus, this will give me a chance to test the idea that microclover can handle some quinclorac. There's definitely some wood sorrel mixed in in a couple spots.

I'll try mixing up maybe a quart of quinclorac at full prescribed strength to dose one square section, and then after using half of that I'll water it down to 50% strength and use that on a neighboring square. We'll see how the clovers respond.

Then obviously in a few weeks its time for the initial wide-area gly where needed to prep for the to-be-reno'd areas.


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## Carlson (Apr 16, 2020)

Death-gloved some grassy weeds this evening since it isn't too bad outside. Got a clump of triv and a few annuas out front, plus some annua and KY31-style fescue out back. Will do some more in a week or so when this first round starts to look rough.


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## bf7 (May 11, 2020)

Carlson said:


>


Do I see a 100% clover reno in your future? This is cool.


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## Carlson (Apr 16, 2020)

bf7 said:


> Carlson said:
> 
> 
> >
> ...


Haha - I'd be lying if I said the thought hasn't crossed my mind. But, at least so far, the clover-only patches' color isn't very impressive. Maybe if they darken up as they mature it'll be more worthy of consideration.

I will say the clovers that are coming up in the dense turf areas blend in really well.


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## Carlson (Apr 16, 2020)

Mowed Friday - 2.875" again. Was planning to do 3.25" but after two passes it didn't feel like I was mowing too much - I'll bump it up next time.

Sprayed today. Did Fosetyl-Al at 4oz/k for round 2 of fungicide, and added CytoGro at 0.8oz/k.


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## Carlson (Apr 16, 2020)

I am at a point where I'm not sure I want to keep the clovers. Where the turf is dense they stay compact and blend in, but thin or bare spots they are not really staying "micro". I'm not sure if they were mislabeled or if they cytogro app made them go crazy, but they are a little out of control. Also the fact that they are hampering my selection of herbicides is getting frustrating.

I'm still going to do a quinclorac experiment this weekend (mow today, selectively spray tomorrow). Depending on how that goes I may break out the tenacity for the overseed/reno later this season.


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## Carlson (Apr 16, 2020)

Mow done - did 3.25" today. Back yard is looking pretty good for the most part. Front yard has a big patch of clover & woodsorrel. This will be where I set up my experiment tomorrow.

I think this salad bar is large enough I can flag off 3 * 500sq ft sections and try three different dosages of quinclorac. Maybe one full dose, one 3/4 dose, and one 1/2 dose. Or maybe 3rds... I'll think it over before setting up tomorrow.

Edit - thinking it over I can probably do 4*500sq ft and do 1 - 3/4 - 1/2 - 1/4


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## Carlson (Apr 16, 2020)

Ok I have four 500sq ft sections flagged off for tomorrow.

I was planning on dosing quinclorac at various rates to see what happens, and still probably will - but I have read that woodsorrel won't be affected by it. Hmmph.

Maybe I should be trying varied dosages of MCPA, but I don't know where to find that by itself / not mixed with other things. Or maybe I'll try Tenacity at various dosings...

Edit edit - I found I have a bottle of 2-4D / Quinclorac / Dicamba. I'll try that. (I guess Ortho or whoever makes it sneaks in the 2-4D under a legal dose or something?)


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## Carlson (Apr 16, 2020)

Adjusted the gameplan slightly after reading the label on today's product of choice.

This stuff is dosed for 2.5oz/400sq ft, so I sized down my flagged areas accordingly. I also decided that since this is a trio of herbicides that I would just do 100%, 75%, and 50% - I left the area to the right in the photo to be a control.

My hypothesis at this point is that the clover will be just as prone to damage from this as everything else. Ideally the 75% or 50% doses kill the woodsorrel but not the clover, but I highly doubt it.

I'll report back on this when results start showing!


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## Carlson (Apr 16, 2020)

Ok we're about 30hrs post-app and my hypothesis seems correct. The clovers and all other weeds are looking pretty smoked in all 3 sections.

100%


75%


50%


As I've been thinking about it, my bags for fall seeding still have clover in them. Depending on how vigorous those clovers are, I may leave them and spray them out in the spring or spray them out later in the fall. They will certainly make for a nice constant micro-feed for the baby grass while it is getting established and they are super easy to eliminate as soon as desired.


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## Carlson (Apr 16, 2020)

We're expecting about an inch of rain here tomorrow - perfect opportunity for me to get Hydretain down today. Sprayed a full gallon of hydretain plus a half gallon of Enviroplex (humic acid) over my 18k with 18gal of water.

Giving it a light watering now per the hydretain label - tomorrow's thunderstorms should take care of the rest.


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## Carlson (Apr 16, 2020)

So with the baby coming in 2-3wks now, I don't think my plan for the fall is really going to go off as expected. I am, however, coming up with a new plan for 2023...

Doing a reno and doing all kbg or a kbg + tttf + (maybe) prg blend. That would make it really easy for me to fix all spots that need leveling in the summer next year, and then I would get the benefit of being able to do plugs when needed in the future for small spots.

Scratching my head on seeding process if I am doing a blend though... KBG first then the rest post-sprout?


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## Carlson (Apr 16, 2020)

It has been an interesting couple of months at the Carlson house. Our little girl arrived on August 1st, so the lawn has been low-priority. Fortunately (or unfortunately) there was a long drought in MA and my lawn hadn't been growing much - in fact, an awful lot died from lack of water.

I did get a new mower last week - the Ego Z6 zero-turn with the 52" deck.




I've done one mow so far - used ~40% of the batteries for that, since I was driving slow (to learn how to handle a ZTR) and had the blades on max speed (since the grass that was still growing was super-long). Once I get the hang of it I should be able to do my whole lawn in 15-20mins on maybe 25% of the batteries.

I am definitely doing a reno next year. The neglect this year has a lot of weeds popping up and I definitely have some poa coming back too.

I know I will use KBG, but still considering a blend. Maybe I'll still use Rhizing Moon and Titanium II fescues and mix them with some shade-tolerant A-List KBG. Open to suggestions on KBG varieties and percentages of KBG to TTTF.


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## rookie_in_VA (Sep 27, 2021)

That's a sweet looking machine.

What's the total Ah capacity of the battery bank?


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## Carlson (Apr 16, 2020)

rookie_in_VA said:


> That's a sweet looking machine.
> 
> What's the total Ah capacity of the battery bank?


The six batteries are 12Ah each, so unless I'm doing electricity math wrong I believe its 72Ah total. It only needs 15Ah worth of batteries to be able to start though - I test drove it in my driveway with 2 batteries just to see if it would go, and it did.


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## simplesimon (Aug 25, 2021)

Welcome back and congrats on the little one!

I wish I had the lawn size and room in the shed a big mower like that!


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## Carlson (Apr 16, 2020)

simplesimon said:


> Welcome back and congrats on the little one!
> 
> I wish I had the lawn size and room in the shed a big mower like that!


Thanks man! Little girl is 6 weeks today and slept for 5 hours straight for the first time last night so I'm feeling pretty good today.

The mower is probably a little oversized for my needs, but getting the mow done fast is nothing to complain about lol. Just need to keep it in the garage as the shed getting really hot in the summer is not great for the electronics.


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## simplesimon (Aug 25, 2021)

Carlson said:


> simplesimon said:
> 
> 
> > Welcome back and congrats on the little one!
> ...


I have two under three myself...the number of hours you'll save will be huge! I wish Ego would come out with a 30" walk behind.


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## Carlson (Apr 16, 2020)

simplesimon said:


> Carlson said:
> 
> 
> > simplesimon said:
> ...


I wish _anyone_ would come out with a 30" battery walk-behind lol.

I had my eyes on the allet c34 evolution thinking I might do all KBG but the $20-30k price tag after all the cartridges are considered was wayyyy too much.


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## libertysod (2 mo ago)

I would love to chat with anyone who is interested or has experience with microclover- I work at a sod farm in Northern New Jersey and we are trying to get the word out about our Microclover blend sod. anybody willing to chat send me an email [email protected]. Thanks - Katee


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## libertysod (2 mo ago)

I'd love to chat with anyone who has any interest or experience with clover / microclover lawns. I work at a sod farm in New Jersey and we are trying to get feedback on clover lawns as we have a new product- Microclover Sod! If anyone is willing to chat send me an email [email protected]
Thanks- Katee


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