# BU Bear Lawn Journal



## BU Bear (May 15, 2020)

Figured I'd start a lawn journal this year to keep better track of everything I'm doing (mainly when I'm doing it) and to see my lawns progress throughout the season. We'll see if I keep up with it as were due to have our first child at the end of May and work gets really busy in the summer.

Things I've done so far:
- PRG overawed over winter
- Sprayed out PRG with MSM beginning of March
- Dethatched because I had horrible cultural practices the first year and a half at this house resulting in a dense thatch layer
- PreM
- Soil test showed low P/K so put down 13-13-13 at .5 of N/M

Plans for this year:
- Keep a good fungicide program as several of the yards around me have had fungus problems the past few years
- Level the front for sure, maybe try to do the back. The back needs it the most, but I'm not sure I want to bite off that much right around when my wife is due
- Test out Hyrdetain, my wife wasn't happy with last years watering bill over the summer

Front today (just above .5in):


Back after dethatching (maintaining just below .75):


The dogs did a number on it over the winter and we also had a patio put in resulting in several bare spots.

Aftermath of dethatching:


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## BU Bear (May 15, 2020)

Mowed the back and applied Azoxy @.38fl oz/1,000 as I found out the smart watering feature on my b-hyve controller has been watering way too often. Also set up a manual watering schedule since it seems like I won't be able to rely on the smart water feature.


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## BU Bear (May 15, 2020)

Double cut the front today and was going to cut the back as well, but I sheared a bolt off while adjusting the height on my swardman and the back will now have to wait until I can run to Lowe's to pick up an extractor. Pro tip, don't use an impact driver on the max torque to adjust the bolts. It works fine on the lowest torque, but I didn't realize it was set on the driving mode and it came straight off!


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## BU Bear (May 15, 2020)

Sprayed certainty to get rid of some nutsedge popping up, as an added benefit it should hopefully kill some of the poa and the remaining PRG. Just hoping the rain holds off for another 2 hours like it's supposed to!


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## BU Bear (May 15, 2020)

Scalped the front and back down to .25" in preparation for leveling. I'll be aerating tomorrow and leveling tomorrow/Monday. Surprisingly more green than I though there would be. Hit dirt quite a bit in the back. The area up next to the patio is pretty bare and super uneven from the skid steer used when they were putting the patio in.


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## BU Bear (May 15, 2020)

Posted in the leveling thread, but wanted to post here as well so I have record of it in the future. Sand leveled the lawn with 11 tons of masonry sand this weekend and spent majority of Monday repairing sprinklers and 4ish hours manually pulling the drag mat around the front. Manually pulling the drag that long really sucked, but it really helped to even everything out and hopefully locked the sand in. We have about 2 inches of rain expected this weekend, so hopefully there isn't too much washout. Also put down just a bit over 1lb of N/1,000 via 46-0-0 and have watered the heck out of it to avoid any burn.


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## BU Bear (May 15, 2020)

What a difference a week makes! The front is coming along much better than the back since it gets more sun. Cut both at 1/2in today. Hoping the front is mostly filled in this weekend as we're hosting Mother's Day. Hoping the back is more filled in because nieces and nephews will be running around and my wife is gonna kill me if she has to keep stepping on sand in the house.


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## DFWdude (Aug 28, 2020)

Really nice progress!


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## BU Bear (May 15, 2020)

Thank you! At this point it's filling back in more and more every day - I always forget how quick bermuda grows when the temps get into the 80s.

I went and sprayed 3336F. I definitely had dollar spot, but it looks like my app of propiconazole cleared it up, but I followed up with a preventative app of 3336F as Syngenta model says we're in elevated/moderate fungus conditions for the next 2 weeks.


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## testwerke (Apr 4, 2019)

Looks great! Love seeing sand leveling stories.


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## BU Bear (May 15, 2020)

Sprayed .2#N/1,000 today to really try and push more growth this week...my wife is tired of the dogs tracking sand into the house. Front is mostly filled in and just thickening up.

Didn't take a picture of the back, but it's filling in nicely, but still has a ways to go. Hoping it'll be fully filled in by June. Definitely worth it, both the front and the back are noticeably smoother to cut.


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## JayGo (Jun 13, 2019)

How much sand did you use per 1K? Sure filled in quickly with the cooler temps we've been getting in Texas. Looks good.


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## BU Bear (May 15, 2020)

JayGo said:


> How much sand did you use per 1K? Sure filled in quickly with the cooler temps we've been getting in Texas. Looks good.


I used just over 1 ton/1,000. I probably went a little heavier in the back, which is filling in slower. The weather hasn't been too bad since I put the sand down, the first week was pretty much all rain and high 60s/low 70s and last week was great weather with full sun and high 80s.


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## BU Bear (May 15, 2020)

Been a while since I updated this - life got a little crazy the past month with the birth of my daughter! I think I should have more time to maintain the yard as we get more into the swing of things…that's the goal at least. May be purchasing some Paclo to get extended regulation in combination with the TNex.

Scalped the front down to .25" to reset and maintain just under .5".


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## dubyadubya87 (Mar 10, 2020)

Congrats on the birth of your daughter! Yard is looking great!


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## robbybobby (May 15, 2017)

Congrats on being a fellow girl dad! Mine was just born on May 13th.


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## BU Bear (May 15, 2020)

robbybobby said:


> Congrats on being a fellow girl dad! Mine was just born on May 13th.


Thanks, congrats to you as well! Ours was born May 30th and already has me wrapped around her finger. In the words of Joe Exotic, "I will never financially recover from this."


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## BU Bear (May 15, 2020)

Mowed for the second time since putting down tnex/paclo. Hadn't been mowed in 8 days and I barely had half a grass catcher worth of clippings in the front (3,500 sq ft)! That stuff really puts a lockdown on growth and I think it's definitely helped with color retention, it's been almost two weeks since I put down anything.


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

Looking great!


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## BU Bear (May 15, 2020)

Ware said:


> Looking great!


Thank you! It's come a long way this season.


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## BU Bear (May 15, 2020)

My stripes are never very straight, but overall I'm happy with it after today's mow.


There are some seed head stalks starting to pop up in patches, so I'm thinking I may have to scalp it down pretty soon :|


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## BU Bear (May 15, 2020)

Ended up striping pretty well today. Ignore near the valve boxes…that's just runoff from where my neighbor waters for an hour or so each morning. Never dries out and is a nightmare for fungus control.


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## BU Bear (May 15, 2020)

Double cut this morning because it needed it, I went a little heavier than I should have on my last N app and it's growing like crazy with this heat. Trying to make it the rest of the season without needing a reset, but we'll see. Thinking I don't want to reset past 9/1 if I do.


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