# New CalTrimmer - Scalped from 1.25 to 0.5 - Need Assurance



## Drewcati (Jun 12, 2019)

Hi Everyone,

Just replaced my Fiskars with a CalTrimmer due to the mowing becoming too difficult from the thickness of the lawn.

Following the advice from other threads on the topic of resetting HOC. I scalped my back yard from 1.25 to 0.75 and front from 1.25 to 0.5. I didn't go to 0.5 in the back because I got so tired of dumping clippings.

I could really use a little reassurance that everything's going to be ok. Timetable for full green up? 2-3 weeks?

Also, if there are any tips you have for ensuring the green up process is smooth, I'd greatly appreciate it (watering, Nitrogen, general care, etc.)

My current plan is to give the lawn one app of 46-0-0 at 0.5lb/K, continue with 1" of water per week in one weekly application, and begin mowing the front at 0.75 and back at 1. Happy to make adjustments based on your advice.

Thank you all for your knowledge. It has been so helpful in my lurking!

AFTER:









BEFORE:


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## rhanna (Jun 7, 2017)

I wouldn't change anything as far as what you normally would do. It will be fine. I believe your grass is going to grow faster the shorter you mow. I think if you drop a ton of N on it you will end up scalping again. If you don't use pgr yet you might want to look into that next


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## adgattoni (Oct 3, 2017)

Moooooore - go lower!

Looks fantastic. I can see it in my mind two weeks from now, you'll already be searching for a greensmower on Craigslist.


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## SGrabs33 (Feb 13, 2017)

Great looking machine there :thumbup:

Just make sure to move up one notch or two for your next cut.

A little water and N and it will be back in no time!


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## ctrav (Aug 18, 2018)

Your lawn looked really good and getting the powered reel mower will make a big difference in my opinion (Im a rookie and no expert). From my limited experience says you will love it! My grass was cut with a rotary for 2 years and I switched to a Toro GM1000 this year. I was cutting at 2-3" with the rotary and took the lawn down to close to 1" with the rotary before doing my first scalp. I feel your pain on dumping grass clippings because I went down to .50" and had something like 18 large bags of clippings  It took my lawn about 2-3 weeks to recover but we had good rainfall here in North Texas. In fact I have only ran my irrigation once this year. My plan is to maintain at .75". You and I have the same grass (419)...

From what I understand fertilizing after the scalp and watering is good. I wouldn't be over concerned with the 1" of water per week because "MY" thought is the shorter grass will have much more runoff. You have a nice reel mower and the whole purpose of a reel mower is to go below 1" (again a novice opinion). The Bermuda grass will LOVE it and Im already noticing a thicker lawn (I only use the reel on the front).

I really love cutting with the reel and once I have my machine running like it should I will be back out there maintaining at .75" and I encourage you to consider the same but its all a personal choice. Understand that you will be cutting more often and leveling may be something you will need as well. I have a very uneven lawn but the reel handles it well and I will work on sanding next year.

Have faith in your grass, don't overdo things and in a couple of weeks you will be like wow look at this... :thumbup:


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## Spammage (Apr 30, 2017)

@Drewcati looks good, and your plan is good. Tomorrow morning go ahead and lower the back to .5" also.  If you don't, you will regret it. As far as the water, if it's hot/dry, it may dry out quicker than normal until the canopy grows back, so you may want to consider splitting your water into two apps for a couple of weeks.


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## TN Hawkeye (May 7, 2018)

Drewcati said:


> Hi Everyone,
> 
> Just replaced my Fiskars with a CalTrimmer due to the mowing becoming too difficult from the thickness of the lawn.
> 
> ...


Follow the advice on here, go out and buy a nice bottle of champagne or whiskey, wait about 10 days, Sit back and sip on what you bought and enjoy your beautiful lawn. You are heading down the right path.


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## Drewcati (Jun 12, 2019)

Thank you for the fast and helpful responses @rhanna @adgattoni @SGrabs33 @ctrav @Spammage @TN Hawkeye

Based on your input, I'm going to:
1. Scalp the back to 0.5" tomorrow
2. Level some of the major areas that are scalping
3. Maintain both the front and back at either 1 notch higher @ 0.75" or 2 notches higher @ 1"
4. Put down 0.5 lb/K of 46-0-0
5. Split my current single app of 1" of water in to 2 apps per week for the next 2 weeks
6. Buy some champagne as I impatiently wait for the 10-14 days to come
7. When the canopy has filled out, put down my first app of T-Nex PGR at 0.25oz/K

If you guys (or anyone else) have more to add to the plan, I'm eager to learn and revise. I'll post update pics over the next several weeks. Thank you all for your help. LOVE this community


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## Redtwin (Feb 9, 2019)

That's going to look awesome... a reel mower and T-Nex are game changers! I just started using both this year and even with all the issues I'm working on (mostly leveling and filling in after storm), there is no comparison between last year and this year. It'll grow so thick and beautiful mowing low and using PGR.


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## Drewcati (Jun 12, 2019)

Thanks @Redtwin . It's hard to picture the lawn being thick and green having never done this before and using T-Nex. BUT, I'm trusting the plan you've all done before.

UPDATE: Step 1 in the plan is complete. I re-scalped the back down to 0.5" and found dirt. Thankful that I listened to you guys to go lower. This'll give me the leeway to possibly cut at 1" if I can't manage 0.75


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## ctrav (Aug 18, 2018)

:thumbup: now we're talking! Did you just scalp the front and back in one direction? I went east west then north south and pulled up even more. I did it to ensure I had a good base to start from and the work is paying off!

Have a cold one


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## Greendoc (Mar 24, 2018)

Now what you do is maintain at 1/2. Too bad you cannot go lower. On the N, more N you give it more you have to mow, more you have to scalp. I would even consider a 1/4 lb N application. 1 lb N applications on reel cut grasses cause a need for a lot of mechanical thinning as well as mowing.


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## Cory (Aug 23, 2017)

It doesn't take long to recover, it's gonna look great in a couple weeks. The first scalp is the worse, the next ones won't hurt so bad. Same goes for making your yard look like a beach :lol:


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## Drewcati (Jun 12, 2019)

@ctrav Well crap, I totally forgot to run a double cut. Just not thinking. That would've been ideal and I'm certain I would've pulled up more as well. Ugh, 75% of the job done. Let's see how it goes. I did double cut the front.

@Greendoc I have one final 3/8 notch but I just don't have the patience and guts to go any lower this season. I definitely think I will consider it next year along with trying to do a good leveling. I'll change the N app to 1/4lb/K

@Cory It is scary looking for someone who has never done it. In March, I paid someone to scalp to 1" and bag clippings with a rotary. I only had my Fiskars at that time so no way for me to scalp. For someone inexperienced like me, it feels like I'm throwing away all of my hard work over the last 3 months. My wife said, "The grass looked perfect already!"


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## ctrav (Aug 18, 2018)

Drewcati said:


> @ctrav Well crap, I totally forgot to run a double cut. Just not thinking. That would've been ideal and I'm certain I would've pulled up more as well. Ugh, 75% of the job done. Let's see how it goes. I did double cut the front.
> 
> @Greendoc I have one final 3/8 notch but I just don't have the patience and guts to go any lower this season. I definitely think I will consider it next year along with trying to do a good leveling. I'll change the N app to 1/4lb/K
> 
> @Cory It is scary looking for someone who has never done it. In March, I paid someone to scalp to 1" and bag clippings with a rotary. I only had my Fiskars at that time so no way for me to scalp. For someone inexperienced like me, it feels like I'm throwing away all of my hard work over the last 3 months. My wife said, "The grass looked perfect already!"


I was just afraid as you just a few weeks ago. Nothing to fear and trust me my wife does not understand either  Your lawn will green up in no time and after a few cuts at .75" it will be the envy of the neighborhood! My lawn is so far from where I want it to be and I see sooooooo many imperfections yet my neighbors and guests all rave about the lawn. All I'm thinking in my head is just wait :thumbup:


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## Redtwin (Feb 9, 2019)

Drewcati said:


> . My wife said, "The grass looked perfect already!"


LOL! My wife tells me the lawn looks awesome but she doesn't notice all the green kyllinga and unlevel spots. It does look way better than last year but there is so much more that it needs. I guess it's a non-stop process. We all just keep taking it up to the next level.


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## Jimefam (Jun 22, 2018)

Lol i just did the same thing this morning although i am not sure if mine looks so uneven because it not that leveled or because i suck at mowing with that big reel. Took it from 1" rotary mowed to .5" reel mowed. Post progress pics of yours im curious to see how quickly it comes back.


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## Jimefam (Jun 22, 2018)

Greendoc said:


> Now what you do is maintain at 1/2. Too bad you cannot go lower. On the N, more N you give it more you have to mow, more you have to scalp. I would even consider a 1/4 lb N application. 1 lb N applications on reel cut grasses cause a need for a lot of mechanical thinning as well as mowing.


I thought when you scalped you had to raise the HOC a bit going forward or it would look scalped every time? I just cut mine to .5" with the plan of bringing it up to .75" going forward but only because i didnt dare go lower as my front is not that level.


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## TN Hawkeye (May 7, 2018)

Drewcati said:


> Thanks @Redtwin . It's hard to picture the lawn being thick and green having never done this before and using T-Nex. BUT, I'm trusting the plan you've all done before.
> 
> UPDATE: Step 1 in the plan is complete. I re-scalped the back down to 0.5" and found dirt. Thankful that I listened to you guys to go lower. This'll give me the leeway to possibly cut at 1" if I can't manage 0.75


The areas that still show green, check them to see if there is a slight divot in the ground there. If so now would be a great time to spot level those areas with a little sand.


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## Greendoc (Mar 24, 2018)

Jimefam said:


> Greendoc said:
> 
> 
> > Now what you do is maintain at 1/2. Too bad you cannot go lower. On the N, more N you give it more you have to mow, more you have to scalp. I would even consider a 1/4 lb N application. 1 lb N applications on reel cut grasses cause a need for a lot of mechanical thinning as well as mowing.
> ...


That is applicable if you choose to overfertilize. Otherwise, without the excessive N the grass gets trained to grow low and not grow as fast.


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## Jimefam (Jun 22, 2018)

Greendoc said:


> Jimefam said:
> 
> 
> > Greendoc said:
> ...


This year i have just put down one application of 34-0-0 about a month ago. I know next to nothing about lawn care though trying to learn so i just followed the recommendations of doyourown when i bought the bag which was to put my scotts mini edge spreader to setting 3. Was planning on putting down another application tonight since i scalped it and plan on leveling soon. Would you bump up the height of cut or keep it like that? My ultimate goal more then a specific height is thick dark green growth. Thank you for the feedback and hopefully the questions i asked you apply to the OP as well so im not highjacking his thread.


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## Greendoc (Mar 24, 2018)

Many years ago, good friend, sod grower now, former golf super set me straight on what I was actually dealing with in terms of grass. "you are keeping a golf green or tee. on dirt not sand. That is not an easy thing to do" Golf greens and tees are mowed low, but they are not fertilized at high rates. High rate fertilization is done on football fields, that are also mowed daily. They are also aggressively thinned many times a year. A home lawn mowed reel low is more like golf grass. It is not required to repair the kind of physical damage that a football field needs to so high rate fertilization becomes a questionable practice once the lawn has achieved ground coverage from seed or sprigs. Sod, definitely does not need high rate fertilization at any time. It has been a long time since I have applied more than 1/2 lb of N at a time to a lawn. Very long time since I have applied a full lb of N per month.


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## Jimefam (Jun 22, 2018)

Greendoc said:


> Many years ago, good friend, sod grower now, former golf super set me straight on what I was actually dealing with in terms of grass. "you are keeping a golf green or tee. on dirt not sand. That is not an easy thing to do" Golf greens and tees are mowed low, but they are not fertilized at high rates. High rate fertilization is done on football fields, that are also mowed daily. They are also aggressively thinned many times a year. A home lawn mowed reel low is more like golf grass. It is not required to repair the kind of physical damage that a football field needs to so high rate fertilization becomes a questionable practice once the lawn has achieved ground coverage from seed or sprigs. Sod, definitely does not need high rate fertilization at any time. It has been a long time since I have applied more than 1/2 lb of N at a time to a lawn. Very long time since I have applied a full lb of N per month.


Gotcha. Well i used pennington 34-0-0 on the 3rd setting of my Scots mini spreader as recommended by the place i bought it from but no clue how much that actually is per lb etc. So your input would be just keep it at .5" and with some time it will thicken up and look more green then yellow and scalped the way it does now?


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## Greendoc (Mar 24, 2018)

Yes. Last thing I do after a scalp is go heavy on the N. I am trying to train the grass to stay low. High N defeats that purpose.


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## Jimefam (Jun 22, 2018)

Greendoc said:


> Yes. Last thing I do after a scalp is go heavy on the N. I am trying to train the grass to stay low. High N defeats that purpose.


Ok thank you!


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## MasterMech (Sep 24, 2017)

Jimefam said:


> Greendoc said:
> 
> 
> > Many years ago, good friend, sod grower now, former golf super set me straight on what I was actually dealing with in terms of grass. "you are keeping a golf green or tee. on dirt not sand. That is not an easy thing to do" Golf greens and tees are mowed low, but they are not fertilized at high rates. High rate fertilization is done on football fields, that are also mowed daily. They are also aggressively thinned many times a year. A home lawn mowed reel low is more like golf grass. It is not required to repair the kind of physical damage that a football field needs to so high rate fertilization becomes a questionable practice once the lawn has achieved ground coverage from seed or sprigs. Sod, definitely does not need high rate fertilization at any time. It has been a long time since I have applied more than 1/2 lb of N at a time to a lawn. Very long time since I have applied a full lb of N per month.
> ...


It will not stay looking the same as it does now, for sure. It will slowly start to grow in and then pick up the pace. You will swear it's trying to grab your ankles a week in.

Figuring out how much N you applied is simple.

Example: You spread one 15lb bag of 24-0-6 on 5000k.

That first number (the 24) is the percentage of N by weight. So that 15lb bag of fertilizer has 3.6lbs of N in it. So here we go:

15lb bag of 24-0-6 on 5k of turf:

15lb * 0.24 = 3.6lbs of N in the bag.
3.6lbs / 5 = .72lbs of N per 1k

Get ready to mow! :lol:


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## Greendoc (Mar 24, 2018)

@MasterMech knows what I am talking about. On golf turf, 0.1-0.25 is a normal N application rate.


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## MasterMech (Sep 24, 2017)

Greendoc said:


> @MasterMech knows what I am talking about. On golf turf, 0.1-0.25 is a normal N application rate.


Up north, we had "push up" (natural soil) bentgrass greens. I think we did 1-2 granular apps for fert annually. Typically as we were overseeding post-aeration. The rest was liquid fert applied throughout the year. I do t know the specific rates but it really was not that often.


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## Jimefam (Jun 22, 2018)

MasterMech said:


> Jimefam said:
> 
> 
> > Greendoc said:
> ...


That would assume i knew how much i put down weight wise. But im not that smart or careful lol. All i did was fill the hopper up out of the 40lb bag and start spreading it all around the yard. Didnt use the whole bag probably not even half the bag. It used almost all of what was in the hopper and what was left i was too lazy to try and get back in the small opening i made in the bag i just dumped it into a bag of clipping and branches etc i had already in the backyard. I assumed there was some table somewhere on scotts website that said 3rd setting throws out X lbs of product per sq ft but now that i think of it i guess thats not realistic as each product probably varies in density and size making it spread in different amounts even on the same settings.

I can weigh whats left in the bag and that will give me a rough idea of what i used although like i said some of it was not spread. Next time i will be more precise now that i see how important it is to know what youve done.


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## Greendoc (Mar 24, 2018)

Most likely Urea and Iron. Urea at 0.1 lb N per application. Works on Bermuda too. The granular after aeration would be high P and K. My message to people is that when they go reel low on Bermuda, that is not a normal "lawn", that is "push up" green. My golf super friend used that term as well.


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## MasterMech (Sep 24, 2017)

Greendoc said:


> Most likely Urea and Iron. Urea at 0.1 lb N per application. Works on Bermuda too. The granular after aeration would be high P and K. My message to people is that when they go reel low on Bermuda, that is not a normal "lawn", that is "push up" green. My golf super friend used that term as well.


Our course was built in '57-'58 and still had the original, manually operated, (Ag style impacts) irrigation system. Asbestos mainlines and all. USGA root zone? What's that? :lol: It was not uncommon to unearth flat rocks the size of my hand while changing cup locations. You learned over time, some things quicker than others, what the grass really -needed- vs what you'd like it to have.


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## Greendoc (Mar 24, 2018)

Long education process for my customers. How come my neighbor's lawn is so green? It is also thatchy, disease prone and needing mowing more than once a week.


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## Drewcati (Jun 12, 2019)

I'm so glad this thread is helping more people than just me. I'm learning as I read through these comments.

UPDATE: 2 days after scalp

We had over 1" of rain overnight and it looks like we are going to get 1-2 more inches today and tomorrow followed by 4 days of sun with highs in the 90s and lows in the 70s.

I raked and used my electric rotary to suck up the thatch that came up due to the heavy rains.

Based on the advice, I'm going to level the green areas with sand and apply a max of 0.25lb/K of 46-0-0 N and not apply any Urea for at least the next 3 months. I will just stick with Milorganite, T-Nex, and mowing at 0.75.

As always, open to your revisions.

FRONT:







BACK:


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## ctrav (Aug 18, 2018)

You are certainly getting lots of advice and I have been following to learn from this. Hope you don't mind me asking a few questions...

@Greendoc and @MasterMech what I gather from your advice is:

- less N application vs the "normal" recommendations of 1 lb N per K. I can see the point in this as we are training the grass to grow more lateral vs vertical. So 1/4lb/k or at the absolute most 1/2lb/k this I can get my head around.

- Now us newbies with reel mowers (at least I do) scalping our bermuda down from say 2" to 1/2" is scary. The concept of once its scalped to leave it at 1/2" and NOT raising HOC to say 3/4 is harder to get my head around. Before I scalped my lawn it was green but post scalp the grass is brown with some green patches. As the grass grows out a bit if I cut at the initial 1/2" the the new green growth is lost and I will continue to have brown grass with some green patches. Am I wrong or are you saying that as we train the grass at lower HOC it will still green up when growing laterally?

At the end of the day (me personally) we want a health low cut green lawn. I like your term of "Golf Grass" and as soon as I get my reel back from the shop it will go back down to 1/2" and stay there with 1/4lb/k of N application. This is my commitment to your concept because I really like the theory and if (sorry) correct it would eliminate the need for PGR. I don't mind cutting twice a week but don't want to have to cut 3-4 times a week or purchase another product.

Thanks to all...


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## Greendoc (Mar 24, 2018)

Here, scalping is not necessarily done with mowers, a common practice is to tear off all of the grass with string trimmers down to dirt. Because of who normally does that, I have a NSFW name for that process. But, I do not ever call mowing to 1/2 a scalp. I typically mow down to 1/4 or 5/16. Hitting dirt is not a worry because I want that material removed or it becomes a high spot the rest of the year.


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## Jimefam (Jun 22, 2018)

ctrav said:


> You are certainly getting lots of advice and I have been following to learn from this. Hope you don't mind me asking a few questions...
> 
> @Greendoc and @MasterMech what I gather from your advice is:
> 
> ...


Im also a little surprised by the idea of keeping HOC the same as the scalped cut. Seems like every thread on here i had seen that as a recipe for continuously cutting off all the green growth. I plan on cutting twice a week and had planned on spraying PGR soon as well.


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## Greendoc (Mar 24, 2018)

Jimefam said:


> ctrav said:
> 
> 
> > You are certainly getting lots of advice and I have been following to learn from this. Hope you don't mind me asking a few questions...
> ...


Where that is a problem is most likely due to overgrowth forced by high N rates


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## Jimefam (Jun 22, 2018)

Greendoc said:


> Jimefam said:
> 
> 
> > ctrav said:
> ...


Knowing that i will definitely keep the fertilizer to a minimum. Would you skip the PGR as well?


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## Greendoc (Mar 24, 2018)

Keep the PGR if you have it.


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## FlowRider (Apr 7, 2019)

Dude, what did you do to your lawn? It is all yellow and dirt is showing. What happened to all the grass that was there?

Just kidding. :lol:

I went through the same thing when I scalped my yard - I thought I had wrecked it and it would never be the same. :shock:

Now it looks better than it ever has since it was first installed. :thumbup:

But there were more than a few anxious moments when I thought I had really wiped out my whole yard. My wife did, too! :nod:


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## Jimefam (Jun 22, 2018)

Greendoc said:


> Keep the PGR if you have it.


Yup got about 48 ozs of T nex so will use it the rest of this year then. Thanks for all the info.


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## Drewcati (Jun 12, 2019)

@ctrav @Jimefam

I think the original comment by @Greendoc implied that I should have scalped lower than 0.5 so that I could maintain at 0.5. I believe that's one of the more desirable HOC. His second comment about going to absolute dirt seemed to reinforce that.

I think the principle you guys are referencing regarding cutting off top growth is the same as was also mentioned early in the thread by @SGrabs33: Now that I'm at 0.5, I need to raise 1 or 2 notches as my HOC and maintain there.

Experts, please correct me if I'm wrong!


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## Greendoc (Mar 24, 2018)

Not cutting down to dirt means you will always have dead material below the green part. Therefore negating the effort put into scalping.


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## Drewcati (Jun 12, 2019)

Greendoc said:


> Not cutting down to dirt means you will always have dead material below the green part. Therefore negating the effort put into scalping.


I think my fear is that at least 50% of the green that I had before the scalping was from above ground stolons/runners and the other 50% was from below ground rhizomes.

I worked for the last 2-3 months to develop both. If I cut away everything on the surface, in theory, don't I also cut away the stolons that developed? As a result, I may have missing patches in the areas where rhizomes did not develop a below ground root system and I was seeing green from above ground stolons that I just chopped off?


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## Greendoc (Mar 24, 2018)

Clearing away the old allows for new to take its place. A much more aggressive procedure involves star shaped carbide blades that cut vertically into the grass after scalping has been done. That normally takes out 50% of the existing root system. Grass has no problems growing back. if anything misuse of that procedure can cause the very problem one is addressing


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## Jimefam (Jun 22, 2018)

Greendoc said:


> Not cutting down to dirt means you will always have dead material below the green part. Therefore negating the effort put into scalping.


So for those of us who dont cut down to dirt should we slightly raise the hoc after dropping it substantially(aka scalping) so we cant see that dead material and instead simply see deep green? Or will that become less visible as it thickens even keeping the same low hoc? Bit confused on that part there.


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## Jimefam (Jun 22, 2018)

Speaking of taking it down to dirt i was just reminded at my old house my neighbor behind me his son one day set the grass on fire by mistake. Probably 3/4s of his yard burned before the firefighters got it out. Was in the winter time and wouldnt you know it in the spring the damn grass started growing before they even got to put sod down. So yeah i suppose taking it down to dirt is viable lol.





Images suck but they were from our shitty camera system back then.


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## Greendoc (Mar 24, 2018)

When I can, I take a propane torch and incinerate all old growth down to dirt. Grass grows back green and full in less than a month


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## Jimefam (Jun 22, 2018)

Greendoc said:


> When I can, I take a propane torch and incinerate all old growth down to dirt. Grass grows back green and full in less than a month


My neighbors already tell stories about me covering my whole lot in sand as if i was crazy i would really get a kick out of what they would say if they saw me walking around with a torch setting fire to my own yard. Wife would probably have me committed though.


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## Greendoc (Mar 24, 2018)

I"ll write to you when you are in the secure ward.


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## ctrav (Aug 18, 2018)

This should help to calm your fears. On June 9th I scalped a section of the lawn at 4/16" (not intentionally). 
Here is the scalped look...


This is today June 17th...


I did not apply any fertilizer at all since I had just fertilized on June 1st. Point is all will be fine and Bermuda recovers very quickly. :thumbup:


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## FlowRider (Apr 7, 2019)

Greendoc said:


> When I can, I take a propane torch and incinerate all old growth down to dirt. Grass grows back green and full in less than a month


When I was a boy, me and my best friend were walking to his house to build a tree fort, and on the way he pulled out a pack of matches. We started messing around with the matches, and I ended up lighting my neighbor's yard on fire. I sent my friend to get some adults to put the fire out while I tried to put it out with my shirt. All I did was fan the flames....

My friend quickly arrived with two fathers in tow and they dragged some hoses out, coupled them, and snuffed the fire out.

That night my friend and I had to go face the homeowner. My dad talked to my friend's dad by phone, and we were ordered to go see the man that night. He was a school teacher, and for punishment and to teach us a lesson, we had to write "I will not play with matches or light fires" 100 times and turn it in to him. We both turned ours in and all was forgiven.

We were both "scared straight" because of the incident. The next spring that area of grass was the greenest area in that guy's lawn. From then on, all the neighborhood fathers started burning their lawns in the early spring. Thanks to me.... :|

So, I know it works to burn it to the dirt. It was soot black, and then when it grew back in, the grass was all green and lush.

The moral of the story is: don't play with matches around school teachers. And burn your yard if it is legal to do so...! :lol:


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## ctrav (Aug 18, 2018)

FlowRider said:


> Greendoc said:
> 
> 
> > When I can, I take a propane torch and incinerate all old growth down to dirt. Grass grows back green and full in less than a month
> ...


You were a trend setter way ahead of your time... I remember folks burning lawns as a kid as well I just don't remember the results...


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## Jimefam (Jun 22, 2018)

ctrav said:


> FlowRider said:
> 
> 
> > Greendoc said:
> ...


In before the videos start popping up of forum members setting their turf ablaze!


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## Redtwin (Feb 9, 2019)

FlowRider said:


> ...don't play with matches around school teachers. And burn your yard if it is legal to do so...!


That there is some sage advice!


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## JAC311 (Apr 14, 2019)

Hey guys I'm new here from Huntington Beach ca. I just put some Tifgreen sod in late May and I'm 5 weeks in and every time I mow it at 1 inch it scalps. Let me know your thoughts. We got June gloom here so there's not much sun but stays in low 70s and 60s at night.

I've got an old school California trimmer. Probably from 1989


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## Redtwin (Feb 9, 2019)

Cut it as low as you can go until you hit dirt then bump it up one notch and mow it every second or third day.

As I always like to say...
"Mow less, more often;
Water more, less often."


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## Drewcati (Jun 12, 2019)

I've really been enjoying reading about alternative methods of clearing the dead material LOL

UPDATE: Day 4 - Spot leveled the front and back with masonry sand. Is it ok to completely cover up the area that is being leveled?

Seems to be some green coming in. On Thursday, I'm going to take a shot at the first mow at 0.75" to see if I get anything. I have not yet put down any nitrogen.

FRONT:









BACK:


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## Jimefam (Jun 22, 2018)

This is how i left my front yard last year lol. Yes its ok to completely cover the grass at least in my case it grew through the sand pretty quickly.


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## jayhawk (Apr 18, 2017)

Like your turret...I think that is what they are called. How's the side of the house by the fence?

How big will the builder tree get?


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## Drewcati (Jun 12, 2019)

@Jimefam I'm starting to feel a lot better after seeing some green yesterday and this morning, seeing your pics, and reading through the giant post on leveling. Thank you for putting me at ease!

@jayhawk Thanks, yes, that's what the builder called it. One of the main selling points for our house. We had Bermuda on the side, it didn't survive and the builder was nice enough to split the cost of putting zoysia in. I trimmed the trees back and it is doing very well.


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