# Manny's Lawn Journal



## Mondeh6 (Jul 4, 2018)

My current residence is my first house that my wife and I purchased back in 2015. Whatever was planted was a mix of cool season grass (looked more like fescue) after some research I decided that I want to redo the lawn from seed. Below are the steps and mistakes made and I learned from them.

*FALL 2016*
I did a test plot/area with some cool season grass from scotts (tall fescue) everything I read online recommended tall fescue, it did well got it from lowes. I realized that the soil was clay and sticky but didn't think much of it. Did not know about various cultivars for tall fescue.

*SPRING 2017*
Because of the results of the test area in fall 2016, Spring OF 2017 I started to take things seriously, I took on a full reno of the backyard with pennington Kentucky 31 from lowes with not much experience (wasted about $225 on seeds). I knew nothing about soil testing or pre-em, another mistake was no topsoil was added, I later learned that spring was not the best time to plant cool season grass, by summer crabgrass infestation was in full swing. Maintenance practices was unknown at the time, no nitrogen or other fert used to manage the lawn only some milo was put down during seeding but that was it. Little or no watering occurred unless it rained. Logic was its drought tolerant why water. :roll:

As I watched the takeover of crabgrass day in and day out. I figured putting some fert would help the lawn because it now started to suffer from summer heat and didn't look as lush and green as in late April and May. I was now in August and got some fert from tractor supply store (big mistake) it was synthetic (didn't know how to use it) and ultimately burned the lawn.

*WINTER 17/18*
I got back to researching and discovered that cool season grass does not do well in summer heat even though it fescue was drought tolerant :shock: Started to read on warm season grass and wanted to give it a try. Perticully bermuda. Wanted to see how it will perform during summer months of high temps.

*SPRING 2018*
In late April/early May, I removed previously planted fescue and everything else that was there. The first time around proved to be a learning experience. I which I had more time to research the various bermuda cultivars and what advantages they had I planted saharah II which is decent but not so good for cold tolerance and lags behind in many ways but was a upgrade looking at what was there before.

 
   

*JUNE 2018*
The seeded area had begin germinating, this time around starter fert was put down (stat gen), because of my adverse result with synthetic fert I was easy on the starter fert, I could see the difference in how aggressive the plant was growing in nice and thick but weeds was an issue early on. :x and then crabgrass which I would manually remove, I figured let it grow with the grass and I'll take care of it later (big mistake), later I discovered Quinclorac and begin using it. it helped a lot. crabgrass was under control but other weeds did return around July into August time frame.

  

*JULY 2018*
Started the month with a few milo app that was largely insufficient given the nitrogen requirement, but that's now a lesson learned and a thing of the past. Lawn was looking like it was coming along, I didn't want to risk things so I kept is around 3 inches, that was my plan for the first year but started to cut it low with a rotary mower. At this point I still did not fully grasp what HOC was and how it could hurt the type of cultivar if it was not suitable. I later realized that my practice of cutting saharah about 1.5" or at times lower was really scalping it especially with no fert maintenance practices.

 
 

*LATE JULY/EARLY AUGUST*
Not much rain came down and not much or any fert was put down, during this time there was a milo shortage all around.
I tried a few things like miracle gro lawn food but not much improvement. What I was not going to do was to use synthetic fert and burn the lawn this time. Some weeds started to come back.

   

*MID TO LATE AUGUST*

With the lawn no longer looking green and fresh I got desperate to feed it (never again) At this point I was not giving it an inch of H2o weekly (never was anyways) or any nitrogen fert the lawn was basically heading downhill but I did not have a clue how to undo it. I continued a miracle gro plant food but not much there.

  

*SEPTEMBER*

It was now after labor day, I decided to do some scotts weed and feed for summer months because I had some weeds coming back strong, I over applied and poof lawn was basically gone  I would later realized that my fear had come to reality. I had destroyed all I practically worked for in disbelief, I had to remind myself that this phase of the project was to learn about establishing the lawn from seed and do all the required things so that I can do the same in front of the house. Sad of how it went south but I learnt a lot of lessons. The good thing is I can start from scratch next spring with a cold tolerant cultivar. I've settled on Riviera for its 25% shade tolerance and have done a lot of reading on it. looking to give it a try.

 
 
  

*Areas Identified for improvement*

October, 2018 -Identified some of the branches to be removed from the oak tree in the backyard. Won't be able to do anything about my neighbors trees :x Also, will need to remove the tree stump from the yard and shave the exposed roots down to soil level.
  

*10/14/18 - Second app of Lesco 007 Pre-Em down
*12/4/18 - Soil Test Returned, I now have a maintenance plan for the first year. Hope it makes a huge difference



*JANUARY 2019*

Begin the process of removing the tree stump

     

*FEBRUARY 2019*

Feb 3, 19 - removed some branches to reduce some shaded areas.
 

Given the recent polar vortex and freezing temps on the east coast (20s, teens, single digits) I was curious to see how a common, non-cold tolerant cultivar would do, especially knowing that I have to redo this yard. I've been studying the cultivar planted (Sahara II) so far it looks like some of the plants that survive the fert burning developed roots with stem that was green during dormancy  some of the plants do show winter kill but did have roots when I pulled it out the soil.



*MARCH 2019*

Update - March 10th, 19
Temps came up so decided to spend some time doing to prep work. This time it was shaving exposed tree roots.
Have a few more to remove, will do so this sunday March 17th. There's a concern with the downspouts channeling water into the yard. That is a serious issue. I've thought about rain barrell but not sure if it will make a big difference.

  

*Update - April 2019*
With May around the corner, it was time to begin prepping the area for seeding.
Sprayed some Glyphosate down and waited about a week, I figured I'd manually remove the weeds and let the Glyphosate handle what was left primarily due to the size of my yard. At this point the weeds had begin to turn yellow.







*Update - May 2019*
Some few days later and time off from work, loaded up the Ranger and started adding dirt to amend the predominantly clay soil, I layed down a 50/50 mix of top soil and compost, average is about 8 yards but I opted for the low end due to the material being added was much dense, maybe it'll come back to bite me. I layed down a little over 4 yards.







Day one of laying soil down was over, because I was working alone, it took me 2 days to haul 4 yards and lay it down, on to day 2.





Was hoping the weather would behave and let me till the added soil with base soil, but it rained all weekend and I had to wait another week. With more rain in the forecast for the weekend of the 11th thru the 12th, I decided to push through and till the soil. Below is a pic after I tilled the soil, followed by construction of a home made leveling tool.





I got my thang in action! leveling time was a beast!






Day after seeding, followed by the weekend rain, Friday night at times, Saturday afternoon at times, basically raining off and on Friday night through late Sunday afternoon, more rain in forecast, so I'll save on water, don't think the seeds would wash away they were rolled in place with a lawn roller and covered with top soil. Sun returns later in the week, hoping to see germination by then.



It's now a little over a week (Day 9), I am starting to see some germination occur, just not as much as I expected, perhaps due to lower temps most of last week, hoping things really take off this week, temps are trending upward. Also, it looks like some nutsage activity is brewing. See pics below.







This update is for the 2nd week of warm temps, mostly 70s during the day some 80s here and there.
Its day 16 and things are still much slower than expected I guess the first week didnt count much.
However, germination is trending up! most of the area appears to be suffering or not germinating yet.

This area is next to the shed did't but much seed there because I plan to put a flower garden there.
Nice to see the seeds growing there.


One of the few areas either not saturated with seed or might have had some seeds washed away.



This area is closer to the current flower garden, I had concert of germination through the added top soil.
Maybe this area gives me hope that other seed will pop through if they were not washed away.



This is one of the few areas that really trending upward.





Next 10 days look nice and warm, looking forward to more improvements


It's been 3 weeks since I seeded and about 2 weeks since germination started. I am starting to see some progress. There met up with some crabgrass and sadge and manually removed them. I'll give it another week before I start the post emergent treatment. Also, I threw down 2 bags of Milo to help. My goal is to begin the aggressive N fert next week after I get some Quinclorac down.





*Update - June 2019*
So, it's almost 4 weeks since I seeded (May 9th), Some areas are doing very well while others are struggling. Perhaps due to some seeds being washed away. I'll need to cut down few more branches to decrease the shade. I was able to get my first mow in today (June 6) I want to hover around an inch for the first year, yesterday (June 5) threw down some Sta-Green 18-24-6 that I had laying around in the shed to provide a boost to speed up the establishment process. I want to focus on roots establishment this year, so I am thinking of trying Air8/RGS.








Next 10 days could help with some good watering.


*Update - 2nd Week June 2019*

I've survived the first month. There are trouble areas, overall there's good progress.
Some branches will have to come down to provide some sunlight in the trouble areas.
There are areas that I'll like to transfer growth from/to, even though I do not have as much seeds down compared to 2018 reno, I can see how the knowledge gained have paid off. The plan for the rest of the year is to fertilize and keep the HOC at 1 inc.

1. These are trouble areas, I'll like to add some seed to thicken it up, this area need to have some branches moved, basically the branches in the back to the tree.











2. This area of the yard is not shaded but had some of the seed washed away or did not get a lot off seeds when I seeded, this area I want to add some seeds to









Some of the areas that need plugs transferred in



Transferred from.





3. Parts of the lawn that coming along well before yesterday mow.









After mow to 1 inch.









u]*Update - 2nd Week July 2019*[/u]

Today July 9th marks just about 2 months since I completed the "do-over" process. I am somewhat pleased. If I had waited just about a week maybe I won't have had some of the seeds washed away which have resulted in some thin areas. There were areas where I increased sunlight due to cutting some branches down and it really improved things. Overall things are coming along fine. I am fertilizing a pound of "N" once every week, started using 32-0-12 when I seeded but have switch to 18-24-12 to push roots development, currently I am using both every other week. Below are some pics from my progress this far.





I need to focus on this area but just don't know how to, I'll have to figure something out maybe some PGR or something.





There are spots that's starting to fill in, I have seeing runners in places that are filling in, I didn't experience this last year when I seeded sahara II, maybe it was due to my practices with mowing and fertilizing.









This is the better part of the lawn/Project that seem to have taken off, this area get best sunlight and most of the seeds were not washed. I am still cutting at 1"

* AUGUST 2019*

It's now August, just about 3 months post seeding and things are looking good compared to last year.
I've been feeding 1lb of N every week. Growth have been crazy and I've been mowing on average 2X and week.
Toward the end of July, I finally tried T-Nex and was able to see it benefits. I didn't do the full 0.75 ounce per 1000K sq ft.
I did a little below @ 0.60 once per 1000K sq ft. My clippings have been very little as most have stated. I've continue my fert and weed control program. I am looking to really blast the lawn at the next T-Nex app. I am looking to do the full 0.75 once and do a combination of Milo and synthetic fert this will be my last major feeding and possible last T-Nex app for the season. I am also looking to add some sod to the weak area by the shed.

Getting ready to mix up the T-Nex with Iron, Quinclorac, and some Miracle Gro Lawn Food, used some surfactant because of the Quinclorac that was added. See Pics below.













The turf has started to thicken up, I've been using a Pro-Plugger to spread the wealth. The pics below are just about 3 weeks since I applied the T-Nex, so maybe I have another 1-2 weeks of suppression left. The turf does seem a bit darker much darker in person then the pics seguest, so the feature iron supplement is working. I am looking forward to scalping next spring to remove most of the brown stem.


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## CenlaLowell (Apr 21, 2017)

Get a moderator to move this over to the lawn Journal section


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## pennstater2005 (Jul 17, 2017)

CenlaLowell said:


> Get a moderator to move this over to the lawn Journal section


Done :thumbup:


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## Mondeh6 (Jul 4, 2018)

Thanks @pennstater2005


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## pennstater2005 (Jul 17, 2017)

Mondeh6 said:


> Thanks @pennstater2005


You're welcome! Glad to see you got a lawn journal going :thumbup:


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## Suburban Jungle Life (Mar 1, 2018)

With bermuda, I think the biggest problem you will have is all that shade. Bermuda likes full sun. Maybe consider zoysia or something else if you can't get a lot more light.


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