# Jeep4life's Zoysia Lawn Journal



## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

I've been wanting to start a lawn journal for several seasons now, but never had the time with two little kids, work, etc. However, i've enjoyed reading and learning from so many other journals here that i've been keeping all the data as I go and finally wanted to put it all in one place.

The yard and weather are my two main hobbies so you'll see a lot about both, as it's fun with both of them obviously overlapping in many ways. My yard is just under 6k sq ft of zeon zoysia. Here's where things stand currently:



The sun angle goes from the right side of the house to the left (in the above pic from the front yard). So the portion of the back yard (below) in front of the patio and deck fills in last due to it being shaded during the winter from the house (plus foot traffic).



I also have a berry garden with 4 raspberry bushes, 3 blueberry bushes, 2 blackberry bushes and a tomato plant. Hopefully will have some lettuce filling in spots soon.



In the back I have 2 raised beds with strawberries, herbs and hopefully broccoli soon.



If that's not enough we also have plenty of perennial and annual flowers around the yard.







Rewinding a bit, it's been an interesting spring with the yard starting to wake up in early March. There were a few last arctic blasts we had, but it really only took a bit of the color for a few days and then things seemed to get right back to zooming towards spring. These images were from the beginning of March.





With the yard waking up I dethatched mid-March and was nervous that I had done it too early, but the zoysia REALLY responded well and took off after that.





One thing I really focused on last year into this year was spring dead spot or fungus and trying to keep things as healthy as possible throughout the fall and all of last season, which was difficult with all the heat/humidity/rain that we had. I've still got work to do going into this fall and next spring, but several of the trouble areas last year (below image is this time last year on left and current on right) came out well this year with a few other areas that remained.

Overall, though, spring greenup with significantly more consistent and well this year until we went into a wet period with cool nights and heat during the day when I had a few areas of trouble. I applied Headway G to those areas several weeks ago and followed up with Exteris (plus started the Bifen + Imidacloprid apps for insects) this week and seem to be getting past it.



Soil test results from the Nov as well as the prior year have everything in a pretty good spot. Left the PH alone and I did OM for the first time this year to see how that trends in the future.



I applied 18-0-18 (half lb of N) middle of April after I was out of transition and began monthly Carbon Pro G apps back in March. Specticle was put down in fall and winter for weeds before transitioning to Prodiamine for spring and summer.

Next up I hope to aerate later in May, as I wanted to wait until I was growing really well in all areas (back is a bit slower than front yard) to help heal quickly. Last year I did it first of June and recovered in a week, but everything is well ahead of where things were at the same time last year (my clipping yield in the front yard is already higher than it was at any point during the summer last year). I would like to do some topdressing after aerating as well, but i'll see how the budget is at that point and then probably start PGR apps once recovered (if I don't end up having to start earlier).

HOC is 0.75" and a bit higher in some of the areas that don't get as much sun, but I may raise it more in those areas to help with the stress from kids playing and shade.

More to come!


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## Redtwin (Feb 9, 2019)

Your place is beautiful. I love the berry garden!


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

Redtwin said:


> Your place is beautiful. I love the berry garden!


Thanks so much!! The berry garden saves me a little on groceries since my kids eat their weight in berries. Guess more so this year with everything so expensive. Ha!


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

Taking a quick look at the weather today since we're now into May.

April ended up about average to slightly warm across the south and southeast with it being obvious why those in the north are struggling to see much spring thus far. Texas looks to already be on their way to a warm and dry summer.



Many of us in the south and southeast also saw above average rainfall for the month of April. When combined with warmer temps it explains why some of us have seen a quick greenup this spring.



Modeling seems to think May will continue a similar trend to April with warmth across the south and cooler weather not letting go across the north.



Rainfall relative to average over the next 2 weeks looks to keep many across the east wet as the warmth in the south and cold weather to the north battle against each other.


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

Summer has arrived in the southeast with heat and afternoon/overnight storms. May get to 90 at the house today (forecasted highs shown below) for the first time of the season or just below it before a front comes through tomorrow to push it back down.


This was after 4 days of growth before we started getting the rain. I'm at the point of needing to mow every 4-5 days max to keep it at 0.75". I also applied my 3rd monthly Carbon Pro G app of the season. With it's crazy pricing I may only go another month or two before stopping it. I did that last year too, as it really seemed to help with the spring transition. 


The stripes are looking good from above after the mow. The shade shows you the main areas in the front that are difficult (near the front door and just in front of the retaining wall). I had a couple limbs taken out of the trees over the winter to help the zoysia on the far right. I've been thinking about raising HOC in those areas to create a "collar" look to see if it helps, but not sure yet about that since it seems to have come back OK this spring other than being a little thin and having fungus issues a month ago that i'm hopefully past.


A shot from above shows where i'm currently at pretty well. The front is already REALLY thick and then back is a bit farther behind, as it came out of winter pretty thin. It's made a lot of progress, though, over the last 2 weeks. I was going to wait until the end of May or beginning of June to aerate, but with it growing so fast now I think i'm going to aerate late next week in order to recover so I can get everything under regulation ASAP. Another week should get me in a good place to where i'm ready to aerate. I really need to topdress as well, but it may not be in the cards again (I had a moment of weakness last year and bought a GM1600 with the money I was going to use for topdressing...TOTALLY worth it) this season due to several major unexpected expenses we've had lately with the house. 


Excited to see the garden taking off from the heat as well. The blackberry plants have been blooming like crazy and now have fruit. 


Blueberry plants are also on their way. Not pictured, but we should be getting our first raspberries next week and we've begun getting strawberries as well.


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## Twodollarblue (May 26, 2020)

@Jeep4life you have an amazing looking property, turf and plants all around. My front yard has just been really slow to green up and I assume because it was laid last spring. My back yard that was installed a year earlier has greened up much quicker even though it gets less sun. This years project is all the plants between the grass and the new fence that was just put up.


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

Twodollarblue said:


> @Jeep4life you have an amazing looking property, turf and plants all around. My front yard has just been really slow to green up and I assume because it was laid last spring. My back yard that was installed a year earlier has greened up much quicker even though it gets less sun. This years project is all the plants between the grass and the new fence that was just put up.


Thanks @Twodollarblue! The yard is definitely one of the things we enjoy most about the house. While it's been great actually getting a spring this year instead of going straight to summer it's made for a strange transition time in the yard for sure. My lawn seemed to green up really fast while my neighbor's zoysia across the street is just now starting to look decent. There's another zoysia house around the corner from me (2 or 3 houses over) that still looks rough too. So things seem to be inconsistent all around.

I'm sure your front yard will look great once it gets through the transition since you'll be in the honeymoon phase with the sod. Looks like we'll get into the 90s next week, too, which i'm sure will help as well. Fence looks great! Best of luck with the plant project. Soooo many different choices out there!


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## dubyadubya87 (Mar 10, 2020)

Beautiful property, following.


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

dubyadubya87 said:


> Beautiful property, following.


Appreciate the follow. Will be keeping an eye on your journal as well. You've done a ton of work and it looks great!


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

Another mow with the HOC now at 0.825" and first time doing the single/double/single stripe pattern. I've moved the HOC up a hair to help with the heat/dry spell and see if it helps a bit in the areas that get more shade. I'm also using my Mclane at an inch up near the front door in the front yard and several areas in the back that don't get as much sun. You can't really tell the difference from afar, so i'm curious to see if it helps those areas get healthier and thicken up better.

I hate to mess things up, but i've reached aeration time and weather permitting hope to do it Friday. The lawn is growing consistently to where i'm just keeping up mowing every 4 days, so my hope is to get the lawn healed by later next week in order to start PGR.



The back has thickened up a decent amount over the last couple weeks, but still have a ways to go. The aeration will definitely help in front of the patio, deck and the center of the yard that gets compacted from kids and kid sprinkler time.







I had a few areas that are finally getting better from fungus back a month ago when I was trying to see how long I could go before beginning fungicide treatments and then we hit a hot day/cold night wet period. I started fungicide treatments right after that. I just now raked those areas lightly to pull up the rest of the dead material and ran over them with the rotary to pick everything up. Doing that usually helps them fill in quicker (or at least seems like it).

I'm 12 days in on my last Exteris Stressgard application at the lower rate (2.1oz/k), so I thought long and hard about whether I should go ahead and spray my next preventative. However, I've decided to see if I can stretch it out until next week since pressure seems low and things seem OK at the moment. I've got some rust in the back corner near the patio, but it doesn't seem like an emergency at the moment.



I've got 2 peonies in the yard that started blooming the other week. Beautiful flowers. Interesting thing with these - there's always ants on the blooms and it's a myth that the ants help open the blooms. The flowers provide food for the ants and in turn, the ants protect the blossoms from other floral-feeding insects.



Looking at the weather and it looks like we've officially hit summer with 90+ making its way here next week. I haven't hit 90 yet at my house, but looks like a decent chance that happens next week (Hartsfield is usually warmer due to the "urban heat island effect" and winds coming from Atlanta making it warmer than surrounding areas.)



Many non-irrigated areas around me are starting to look pale and thirsty from the heat ramping up and the dry spell we're currently under. The last 14 days show why with much of the southeast being over an inch below normal over the last 2 weeks.



Unfortunately there's not much help over the next 10 days either with pretty much the entire south being below average for projected rainfall during that time.



I have a soil moisture sensor in the backyard that's in the root zone of the lawn, which I use among many other things to gauge when I need to water. If you've never seen data like this it's interesting to see how much it fluctuates day-to-day (and even night-to-night).



Another interesting visual from that sensor (along with other data collected from my weather station) is that ET or evapotranspiration is already up to 0.21" meaning right now i'm loosing almost a quarter of an inch of moisture from the ground due to evaporation and what the lawn is using. Usually in the hottest parts of the summer you'll get up to a quarter of an inch, so it's not far off! Full disclaimer, that's not TOTALLY accurate because there's a million variables like how tall i'm mowing and other things that impact the calculation, but you still get the gist of what's going on. So that's why in the summer things seem to dry back so quickly.


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## jstephens (May 22, 2019)

Beautiful place man! My zoysia still hasn't recovered from my scalp in late march for some reason. It's my first year of doing a real scalp and got it down to .5" with a lot of dirt hitting in places due to lawn being old and a total disaster when i bought the house 3 years ago. I'm still only cutting it once a week so hopefully soon it will wake up. Been thinking about raising my HOC from .625 to .75 and see if that will help.


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

jstephens said:


> Beautiful place man! My zoysia still hasn't recovered from my scalp in late march for some reason. It's my first year of doing a real scalp and got it down to .5" with a lot of dirt hitting in places due to lawn being old and a total disaster when i bought the house 3 years ago. I'm still only cutting it once a week so hopefully soon it will wake up. Been thinking about raising my HOC from .625 to .75 and see if that will help.


Thanks for the note! I'm sure it will get going soon and you'll be mowing like crazy. Especially since we've apparently reached the end of spring and full steam into summer!


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

Successfully made a big mess in the yard. Now the clock begins to see how quick it can recover so I can get it under regulation…


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

Cleaned up all the cores with a blower, landscape rake and shovel. Then had to mow at 0.825" and now to the point where 4 days is pushing it. Will see how this week goes, but thinking I may lightly topdress. Everything is doing really well considering how dry it is.

Finished the weekend with a rack of ribs for the family since it's felt like BBQ weather out…


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## WillyT (Jun 26, 2019)

Looking good! I smoked a couples pork shoulders while I did yard work a few weeks ago, nice to eat good after working in the yard.


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

Went ahead and cut the lawn yesterday @ 0.825" so I wasn't adding to the heat stress it will go through today with our first 90+ degree day of the year (haven't reached it yet at the house). Many records will be broken across the southeast today (square boxes are stations that could beat records).


Made a preventative app this morning of Armada at 0.6oz/k sq ft to get ahead of the wet weather that looks to be coming. I've had barely a drop of rain over the last 2 weeks and only 0.75" going back a month. Thankfully above average rainfall looks to be coming over the next 7 days. 


I'm just about a week past aeration and the front yard has recovered amazingly. 


Unless standing over the aeration holes you can barely tell anything was done.


The backyard has been slower to recover, but it is making progress.


It's been interesting to see a couple spots post aeration where you can tell the aeration has helped dry out the soil (along with very hot temps and no rain). Will keep an eye on these areas to improve roots/drainage this season.



I've got a few Siberian Lilies around the yard that are now opening to show their beauty.


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## Twodollarblue (May 26, 2020)

Love the lawn, love the flowers, and love the weather reports. What weather application/site do you use?


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## trvjohnson (9 mo ago)

Looks incredible. Did you just collect the cores and put them in yard bags for pickup, or what did you do with them?


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

Twodollarblue said:


> Love the lawn, love the flowers, and love the weather reports. What weather application/site do you use?


Thanks for the nice words! Glad you're enjoying the weather info as well. Wasn't sure if people would think it clogged up info on the lawn, but I enjoy posting it since it ties in so well with what's happening in the yard and makes the journal a bit more unique (plus I love following the weather).

I mainly use WeatherBell for model data, but it requires a subscription. Pivotal Weather is a feature packed model site that has a lot you can see for free as well as Tropical Tidbits that is free. I also use NWS Storm Prediction Center and Weather Prediction Center among MANY other sites. For apps I really like Radar Omega and Windy to name a couple. Before Radar Omega came along I used Radarscope.


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## Twodollarblue (May 26, 2020)

Thanks for the insight to the weather tools. I will definitely check them out. As far as apps I am very familiar with Windy. Always used it for when I was trying to determine fishing conditions.


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

trvjohnson said:


> Looks incredible. Did you just collect the cores and put them in yard bags for pickup, or what did you do with them?


I put them in yard bags for pickup and used some of the cores to add some soil to a shaded area behind my deck where grass will never grow because there's not enough sun and stays wet too long. I need to create a walkway back there, but it's lower on the list.

I've also let them break down in the yard before instead of sending them off, but the grass was growing too fast and I wanted to remove the OM.


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

Been just about a month since my last app in the continuing battle against yellow nutsedge. I sprayed Image via hose end sprayer back on 4/22 in the front yard and spot sprayed the back yard on the patio end of the yard.

As of 5/20 the front yard is now thick enough that I don't see any sticking up 2 days after my last mow so I did not spray there. However, the back yard continues to have it on the patio side but it seems to be growing pretty slow. I hit it again today with Image, which i've had good luck with early in the season (not so much later in the season, though). Sometimes it's nice to just stick something on the hose and spray instead of mixing up the backpack!


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

Earlier in the day today it looked like it may be raining during the day tomorrow so I went ahead and mowed again at 0.825" today to give the grass time to heal beforehand. Then made my first PGR (T-Nex) app at .125oz/k along with monthly Bifen app (1oz/k). 



The Orange Daylilies have now opened for some great color in the front yard. 


The small hibiscus that I planted a month ago is now blooming too.


Two of the hydrangeas have started showing their colors in the back yard.


As for the weather - the need for rainfall continues to be the concern despite the heat we've been going through as well. Although I won't complain about the heat since the yard enjoys it and I think i'd be fine with the lack of rain (harder to have fungus issues if you're controlling when there's moisture) if it wasn't so much work to keep everything watered. Thankfully that rainfall looks to arrive soon with over an inch projected over the next 5 days.


Interestingly the next 15 days have models projecting large amounts of moisture coming into the south and almost entire eastern US being above average for rainfall. If that verifies it will be interesting to see if it makes for a cooler than average June with that much moisture being put into the ground.


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

Took advantage of the break in the weather to get into the yard. Still at 0.825" and noticing a darker green from PGR, fungicide app and rain. Back yard seems to have recovered from aeration and is finally starting to get thicker.

I neglected to mention on last post, but my 2nd pre-emerg split app for the spring went down a couple days ago of Lesco Stonewall 0.43% 0-0-7. For pre-emerg i've done 4 apps (2 split fall and 2 split spring) using Specticle G in the winter and prodiamine for the spring. I was VERY happy with Specticle G (went granular specticle to avoid as much of an upfront cost) over the winter and barely had any poa despite neighbors around me being covered with it, but a bit frustrated with granular prodiamine. I may just move to spraying next year.





My FAVORITE plant of the entire yard is now in bloom, which is a Gladiolus. My phone barely captures it, but the blooms are neon and so bright. 


My hostas or plantain lilies are starting to bloom around the yard as well. Funny thing with them, though, is I have to enjoy the blooms in the backyard because nearby deer will mow them down in the front. 


Quick garden update - my tomato plant is about 6ft tall already and has tomatoes on it as of a couple weeks ago. We've been getting a handful of raspberries about everyday for a few weeks now. The blackberries are finally starting to turn colors and hopefully may start getting some later in June. Strawberry plants have been working their guts out, but I keep having issues with slugs and bugs. Been spraying Seven and have platforms on order to help keep the fruit off the ground and away from bugs.


As for the wet period we're FINALLY in the middle of, I've had 1.44 inches over the last 2 days. Rain totals over the last 3 days (as of 5/25am) below show the huge amount of moisture flowing in from the Gulf.


Projected rain totals over the next 2 days (ending Fri night) show plenty more on the way. I need to look into collecting rain for the garden/yard since a large portion of what's coming will runoff with the soil already saturated (or at least it is in my yard). 


For anyone curious - this shows the mean temperature anomaly so far for May. The wet weather may erode some of this in the south, but a large part of the east and much of the south may end up above average for May.


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## rvczoysia (Jul 18, 2021)

How often do you put down fungicides in the growing season? Do you have o problem with dollar spot in the warm months?


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

rvczoysia said:


> How often do you put down fungicides in the growing season? Do you have o problem with dollar spot in the warm months?


Last season I put them down from April until early October. How long each one goes and when I put them down depends on the product, how the lawn looks and how high the pressures are (can be found on GreenCast). This season I started seeing things again as soon as April rolled around, as I was seeing if I could go later before starting. I get dollar spot in certain areas, large patch and spring dead spot issues in certain areas as well as some rust in some more shaded areas. With all that said I also try other things beyond fungicide to see if I can get away from them like aerating, I need to topdress but am behind on that to improve drainage, watering only when needed, PGR to get better root system, stronger grass with potassium, etc.


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## rvczoysia (Jul 18, 2021)

Jeep4life said:


> rvczoysia said:
> 
> 
> > How often do you put down fungicides in the growing season? Do you have o problem with dollar spot in the warm months?
> ...


I appreciate the feedback. In my area and with the grass cut low with the reel mower it has a tendency to dry out in the warm months. I see a lot of comments to never water zeon but that will make mine go winter dormant very quick. Then you have fungus problem on top of that which makes things tricky. I too apply fungicides all growing season. I'll have to look into aerating and top dressing. I'm a one man show and that is a lot of work on one fella..lol. I do verticut a few times a year.


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## jricky (Oct 13, 2021)

Loving all the garden pictures. Everything looks great! Your zoysia is amazing!


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

rvczoysia said:


> Jeep4life said:
> 
> 
> > rvczoysia said:
> ...


I don't follow the "don't water" suggestions, but I keep in mind that it needs around an inch of water a week and make sure things definitely need water before doing so (versus just watering on a schedule). I also bought a cheap soil moisture sensor from the local nursery and use that as another tool to make sure it needs watering. Aerating and dethatching each year makes a big improvement in improving drainage and make sure it's not holding water to help prevent fungus issues. I've never verticut, but may later this season for the first time with my new sun joe. I hear you on limited timing to do things, as I have 2 kids and no longer have all weekend to take care of the million things that need to be done in the yard...ha! Good luck this season!


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

jricky said:


> Loving all the garden pictures. Everything looks great! Your zoysia is amazing!


Really appreciate the message and words! I'm from upstate SC as well with my parents still living there. I've been keeping an eye on your journal as well. I like the fountain/bird bath - i've been wanting to add one as well, but i'm torn because I also don't want the birds spending too much time in the yard to see what I have in the gardens. Ha! Good luck this season and thanks again!


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## glenns5 (Jul 28, 2019)

Jeep4life said:


> rvczoysia said:
> 
> 
> > How often do you put down fungicides in the growing season? Do you have o problem with dollar spot in the warm months?
> ...


This year my yard was decimated by Large Patch Fungus. I'm pretty sure its not going to recover. When you say "I put them down from April until early October" you put it down every month?


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

glenns5 said:


> > This year my yard was decimated by Large Patch Fungus. I'm pretty sure its not going to recover. When you say "I put them down from April until early October" you put it down every month?
> 
> 
> Yes I was making apps at some point each month. When I was applying depends on the product and how much pressure there was. Most products say to reapply between 14 and 28 days. So If I was making a preventative app and pressure wasn't high I'd use the lower rate and try to go 28 days keeping an eye on things. Then if pressure is really high and I have some showing up I'd use the higher rate and keep an eye on things to see if I needed to reapply after 14 days. Keep in mind that using throughout the season you need to use several products in a rotation that are in different classes to prevent resistance.


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## glenns5 (Jul 28, 2019)

Jeep4life said:


> glenns5 said:
> 
> 
> > > This year my yard was decimated by Large Patch Fungus. I'm pretty sure its not going to recover. When you say "I put them down from April until early October" you put it down every month?
> ...


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

glenns5 said:


> Jeep4life said:
> 
> 
> > glenns5 said:
> ...


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## glenns5 (Jul 28, 2019)

Thanks for the advice and the link. I've done all 3 over the past month. Hopefully the completed soil test will lead me in the right direction.


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

First mow in 5 days after being out of town and PGR helped keep things under control. Had to take the GM1600 to the doctor, though, which thankfully doesn't sound like it will be a major issue after initial inspection. Hoping to get it back by the end of the week. Hopefully today will be the only full mow with the OG 20" Mclane. Since it has a smooth roller I use it around the edges of the yard since it's easier to maneuver than the GM1600 with grooved front roller. I don't mind the smaller stripes, but it's nice how much quicker it takes with the extra 6". Amazing the difference in the quality of cut between the two as well.

Right now i'm in the 4-5 day window of needing to cut. I may increase PGR a little on next app to see if I can get to the 5-7 day window. That seemed to be a good window last season (maybe a tad less stress and if i'm not tearing the blades as often maybe it helps with fungus issues?). 


I raised the HOC on the back to 1" to see if that helps now that i'm to the point where the kids will want to play in the sprinkler often and there will be more traffic. Still have a ways to go on the recovery of the area just off the patio (to left in image), but it's making progress. It's usually 3/4 of the way through the season before that looks good. 


The front bed over the retaining wall is very colorful with the lilies continuing to shine and now the gardenias in bloom (top/left). 


A few more lilies from around the yard



As for the weather, it's looking like Florida will see the first tropical system of the season later this week with a front pushing through the southeast beforehand to push it towards the Atlantic (this graphic shows probability of tropical depression between 6/1-6/4).


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## Ben4Birdies (12 mo ago)

Congrats on your Lawn of the Month! Fantastic results with your zoysia... or should we call it your living carpet?


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

Ben4Birdies said:


> Congrats on your Lawn of the Month! Fantastic results with your zoysia... or should we call it your living carpet?


Thanks so much for the message!! Funny you mention it being like a carpet because I often get comments from people in the neighborhood saying that. I think I received the ultimate compliment last season when I looked out the window and saw a husband on his hands on knees at the street rubbing his hands across it with his wife laughing at him. :lol:


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

Hopefully everyone in the Atlanta area has insecticide or grub prevention down because I've seen a dozen or so dead beetles over the last few days. Many more than the usual couple here and there. Side note is that it looks like I need to backlap the McLane. 


Challenges around the yard also come in many shapes and sizes. While walking out of the house this morning a huge buck went running across the yard leaving hoof marks behind. He usually shows up in the middle of the night, but was nice enough to leave half of my hibiscus that he apparently tried last week. I already spray enough stuff around the yard and don't want to have to add something else to the list…ha!


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## dubyadubya87 (Mar 10, 2020)

I had my local herd of deer addicted to Ipomea for several springs. I'd walk out in the mornings and every leaf would be neatly eaten off, leaving a flower bed of stems and vines!


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

Made my June app of Carbon Pro G at 5lbs/k sq ft. Last year I applied once a month beginning April and stopped in August with the cost increase getting ridiculous for it. I wasn't going to do it this year because of this cost, but things really do seem to look better after it's applied. I may stop after next month to see how things look without it this season and move over to the liquid version for next year or find something similar at a better cost.

So far this season I've applied:
3/6 @ 5lbs
4/4 @ 5lbs
5/5 @ 5 lbs
6/2 @ 5 lbs


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## rvczoysia (Jul 18, 2021)

Whats your height of cut?


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

rvczoysia said:


> Whats your height of cut?


0.825" in the front and I just went up to 1" in the back to see if it helps with the extra traffic, more shade areas and stresses it gets (previously I had the back the same as the front). I may go back down a bit in the front depending on how things go because I liked it at 0.75".


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

Got the GM1600 back late Friday and double-cut the front at 0.825" on Saturday. Then applied 2nd PGR app to both front and back at 0.125oz. The red dogwood (left side in front of the house) also needed a haircut. Then spent some time cutting back ivy that tries to creep into our yard from the neighbors (neighbors on 3 sides are kind enough to not care for their ivy and let it do whatever...boy I HATE ivy!). 



Cut the back yard with the McLane (so I don't have to keep changing the height on the GM) at 1" to see if that helps additional stresses that the front doesn't have as much of (more traffic, shade areas, less air flow, etc). So far i'm really happy with the progress on both the front and back.



Huge leaves = big blooms on the plantain lily that's under my white dogwood tree. All the lilies around the yard are still blooming. Although i'm behind on needing to fertilize them all again. Hoping to do that this week. 


Garden update: we're getting another wave of raspberries (closest to camera left side). Blackberries (right side) are getting close with the first couple coming off the other day. Many are now red with a couple just turning black. You have to wait until they're a matte/dull black instead of a shiny black or else they're bitter. It's a fine line, though, because if you wait too long the ants will find them (and there are TONS of ants around here)...have to check daily. 


The kids pulled out multiple sprinklers as well in the back yard. I'm torn between enjoying seeming them have fun in the yard and the voices in my head concerned about over saturation, fungus and compaction/traffic. Haha! 


Looked for a bit about the upcoming weather as well. June is looking extremely dry in the deep south (left side red/brown) with the core of the warmth (relative to average) being out west (right map). Obviously the wild card this time of year with rainfall (and as a result temps) is tropical weather, which can drastically change outlooks depending on what develops where. It's looking like an active year again this year.


I also looked at comparing temperatures (relative to average) from March to May which was essentially when things started waking up around me this season. I was curious how this year (left map) compared to last year (right map). Interestingly last year (left side) had the cooler area in the country around Texas with the warmth across the north, but this year had cooler weather across the north and warmer weather south and east. Almost the exact opposite!


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## Twodollarblue (May 26, 2020)

Thanks for the weather outlook. I'm probably one of only a few saying this…..but I hope June is very dry. I leveled my front yard which is at the worst angle a 25% grade. I really do not want to rake sand up hill. Fingers crossed.


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## ENC_Lawn (Sep 9, 2018)

@Jeep4life The lawn is looking great! Awesome cut and color!


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

Thanks so much @ENC_Lawn!!

@Twodollarblue, I'm a fan of the dry weather right now too - my water bill was awful last month and it's so much more work keeping everything watered, but it sure is nice from a fungus and growing perspective to be dry (or controlling when there's water) and have plenty of sun.


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

Another mow at 0.825" in the front and 1" in the back. I was nearing the end of my last preventative fungicide app, so with several days of rain I applied 3336F at 4oz per k sq ft. Getting close to when the next fertilizer app will go down and may do it next week depending on the weather.



Excited to see the other gladiolus plant blooming. There was a yellow set of blooms as well that a gust of wind took down. Blah! I dropped another round of 10-10-10 on everything except the roses, gardenias, azaleas and a few other plants that don't get fert as frequently.


I've never used this before, but had to go to SiteOne anyway so picked up a couple bags of their Divot Mix. Price is crazy but I didn't want much and it was in ballpark of trying to get a small amount of level mix from SuperSod...and didn't want to fool with trying to get a small amount of sand from a landscape company.


Used it to lightly top dress off the patio where there's high traffic and fill in a few of the remaining aeration holes.


Also used to it to help level out where I replaced an irrigation valve box late last season. 


Sometimes it's nice to slow down and appreciate the little guys who enjoy the yard too. 


Finally got some rain this week, but it's been VERY frustrating to watch system and after system dump rain to our west and northeast yet fall apart and do nothing here. Or watch individual cells dump rain to my north and south yet barely a drop here. You can actually see this over the last 60 days with AL/TN/parts of SC being having above average rainfall (green) yet GA is below (brown). We've definitely reached summertime weather.


The heat returns next week with a huge dome of high pressure building over the southeast, which drive temps into the 90s. 


Thankfully we should still get some rain due to daytime heating (this shows 7day rain projection), but you can see the higher totals going around where the ridge will be parked.


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## jricky (Oct 13, 2021)

I must be just out of the above average rainfall spots in SC  What's the benefit to using that sand you got from SiteOne over getting some generic masonry sand from a big box store? I've been starting to look around for some leveling sand


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

jricky said:


> I must be just out of the above average rainfall spots in SC  What's the benefit to using that sand you got from SiteOne over getting some generic masonry sand from a big box store? I've been starting to look around for some leveling sand


The last 30 days you're probably above average, but totally different story the last 2 weeks with the upstate being well below average. I'll pull the graph and post it soon, but it's amazing how quick the soil can dry out this time of year. My weather station calculates evapotranspiration, which is the amount of moisture lost from evaporation and turf usage, and you can get up towards 0.25" loss PER DAY. I digress...

The divot mix I got has peat mixed in, which makes it slightly better than straight sand, but if you have a decent sized area to do i'd definitely go with masonry sand from a landscape company. The cost of a small amount of the divot mix is close to the price of SuperSod's LevelMix in small quantities, which is a mix of sand and compost (although the divot mix is green, but that made no difference to me). I've used SuperSod's mix before (and I love their compost for my gardens), but it gets expensive fast as well. So the best thing price-wise is to use masonry sand, which they sell at landscape companies. I'm sure a lot of them would sell in smaller quantities as well if you asked. I've never used it from big box stores, but it would probably be fine as well.


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## trvjohnson (9 mo ago)

@Jeep4life Looking amazing! What is your PGR strategy? Are you applying at half the recommended rate? What is your GDD reapplication target? I applied PGR to my Zeon for the first time last weekend and trying to get a better feel for how often and at what rate. Thanks!


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

trvjohnson said:


> @Jeep4life Looking amazing! What is your PGR strategy? Are you applying at half the recommended rate? What is your GDD reapplication target? I applied PGR to my Zeon for the first time last weekend and trying to get a better feel for how often and at what rate. Thanks!


Thanks a lot! I apply at 0.125oz per k sq ft and never have any yellowing issues, which I think is the fairway rate per the label. 0.25" is the residential rate for zoysia, but I get decent suppression with the .125 rate once I get into 2 applications and beyond. Right now I'm mowing every 4 days and can push it to 5 if needed. I may go up on my rate a little bit to see if I can get to the 5-6 day range, but it's interesting how much better fungicides seem to work with mowing a bit less frequently and PGR. It's also been great with the health in my more shaded areas. As for GDDs, I use GreenKeeper to track, but I also have a weather station where I track them too (now sure where GK is pulling the weather data from). Right now it's falling at every 2 weeks, but it's tracking to 200 GDD per GreenKeeper which is about 300 GDD from my weather station.


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

Had to replace one of my soil temp/moisture stations that randomly quit sending data after only a couple years. This station takes soil temp and moisture readings every 5 minutes from the root zone about 6ft out in the lawn as well as in the garden. I use it among several other things to gauge when I need to water as well as the temperature readings help gauge when the yard is transitioning in/out of dormancy and for some applications (such as fall fungicide apps). It's really interesting to see during storms how much actually soaks into the ground versus runoff. 


This is the plot of data over the last 3 months. The station connects to my Davis Vantage Pro 2+ weather station to use the solar radiation sensor and calculate ET (evapotranspiration or amount of moisture being lost by evaporation and plant use). It helps show how drought can come so quickly due to loosing almost 0.25" of moisture every day during the hottest times of the year.


Also trying a new fertilizer for the gardens for the 2nd app of the season. Getting a ton of raspberries right now from my older plants and starting to harvest some blackberries already.


Finally got around to cleaning up the strawberry bed as well. Thinned them out a bit to see if I can get them focused more on fruit rather than growth/spreading. Also trying some platforms to see if they'll help with the slugs and other bugs. I've been spraying Seven, which has helped a bit.


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## jstephens (May 22, 2019)

Yard is still looking great! Just dropping in to see if you've done a cost analysis on your preventative fungicide treatments? I'm in my third full season with my zoysia (second season reel mowing and really trying to dial it in) and this spring my yard got really hit by what i'm assuming is spring dead spot. I dethatched for the first time about 3 weeks ago and last summer I was applying disease ex rotated with propicanzole on an as needed basis. The disease ex is labeled for spring dead spot but the prop is not. I guess my main question is do you think there are big advantages to using the 3336f and headway G vs the big box store items I've been using? The per app price with the products you are using seems to be about triple what i'm used to spending right now and seems like you are applying at the recommended 28 or so day intervals no matter what.


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## rvczoysia (Jul 18, 2021)

What's the main purpose for 3336F? It's rated low for controlling dollar spot and large patch. I'm battling dollar spot now and had a preventative app of 3336F down. Is it just a spring dead spot fungicide?


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

rvczoysia said:


> What's the main purpose for 3336F? It's rated low for controlling dollar spot and large patch. I'm battling dollar spot now and had a preventative app of 3336F down. Is it just a spring dead spot fungicide?


I've had decent luck with 3336F and dollar spot, but it doesn't last as long as many other fungicides and is more of a 7-14 day application vs a 14-28 day app. I made the preventative app due to higher pressure of leaf spot and rust (plus needing to rotate classes), both of which I'd also had good luck with in the past. We haven't really had very high dollar spot pressure yet because we've been so dry. If you're not under PGR regulation I've had success with propiconazole and headway g for dollar spot. I let mine come out of regulation in the fall and apply headway g for spring dead spot and had good success this spring too.

Spring dead spot is treated in the fall with 1 or 2 apps once the ground reaches a specific temp. https://www.greencastonline.com/diseaseguide/spring-dead-spot Is a good read for spring dead spot and there are alerts you can sign up for to help time the apps correctly.


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

jstephens said:


> Yard is still looking great! Just dropping in to see if you've done a cost analysis on your preventative fungicide treatments? I'm in my third full season with my zoysia (second season reel mowing and really trying to dial it in) and this spring my yard got really hit by what i'm assuming is spring dead spot. I dethatched for the first time about 3 weeks ago and last summer I was applying disease ex rotated with propicanzole on an as needed basis. The disease ex is labeled for spring dead spot but the prop is not. I guess my main question is do you think there are big advantages to using the 3336f and headway G vs the big box store items I've been using? The per app price with the products you are using seems to be about triple what i'm used to spending right now and seems like you are applying at the recommended 28 or so day intervals no matter what.


Thanks for note! https://www.greencastonline.com/diseaseguide/spring-dead-spot Is a great read for spring dead spot and there is a alert you can sign up for to help time the fall applications. There's 1 or 2 apps in the fall and potentially some in early spring to tackle spring dead spot. I used headway g with success.

As far as cost and what fungicides to use, it really comes down to what fungus issues you diagnose in your yard, trying different products that are rated to treat that fungus and always trying to address the underlying cause of fungus in the first place (watering schedules, drainage issues, thatch, etc). I do try to stretch my applications 20+ days or longer, but always keep an eye on what the yard looks like, what the upcoming weather is, what the fungus pressures are in my area and adjust accordingly.

I've used the cheaper products such as Disease Ex (haven't really had much success other than a few specific instances) and propiconazole (hose-end, granular and headway g). I still use propiconazole because it's worked well, but only use it at beginning and end of season when I'm not under PGR regulation (DMI fungicides have growth suppression characteristics too and can over regulate when used with PGR). As a result, I needed to add other classes to my rotation and now use 3336F, Exteris Stressgard and Armada based on what I've read on this site (there are others that I'd like to try but add little by little due to cost). To answer your question, I've definitely noticed a difference in how well the more expensive products work vs cheaper options. But like I said, I've had success with cheaper options as well.


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## rvczoysia (Jul 18, 2021)

Jeep4life said:


> rvczoysia said:
> 
> 
> > What's the main purpose for 3336F? It's rated low for controlling dollar spot and large patch. I'm battling dollar spot now and had a preventative app of 3336F down. Is it just a spring dead spot fungicide?
> ...


Thank you sir for the info. I'm in NE texas and would think our areas are the same in regards to heat/humidity. I check the greencast smith-kerns dollar spot model and it's always an elevated risk. We may get more rain than y'all.


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

A few quick updates - first, made a spot app on 6/10 of Certainty (1.25/acre) to address nutsedge in the front and back. I also lightly dethatched the front prior to my last mow (highest setting in 1 direction to avoid too much stress due to the extreme temps we're seeing) as a test to see if it helped address blades that were bent over and not getting cut as well as stand everything up better and remove some of the "spongy" feeling. In the past i've only dethatched one time in the spring, but i've REALLY liked the results. I didn't seem to pull out very much, but it has a much tighter feel, mower is't floating and I never noticed any negative effects after despite the high temps. It was almost exactly 3 months since I did it in the spring, so i'm now thinking if I may do it several times through the season and may do it soon in the back as well.



Even at a very light setting it seemed to stand everything up very well before cutting with the mower.






I applied Lesco's 33-0-3 when there was rain coming (2.1lbs per k for 0.6lbs N per k). Love the fertilizer and the white prills that are so easy to see when spreading. 


I tried to get smart and apply the fertilizer just as the rain was approaching in the evening only to watch it go perfectly around my house and blow up into a mass of heavy rain just to our west. Sometimes you win and a lot of times you don't!


The extreme heat doesn't look to relax any time soon. We get a brief "break" this weekend only for the temps to go north again next week. 


Sadly it looks like last night's storms that missed me were the best chance of rain over the next week with this showing no high projected rain totals over the next 7 days in GA.


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## Jeffersonzoysia (12 mo ago)

Jeep4life said:


> trvjohnson said:
> 
> 
> > @Jeep4life Looking amazing! What is your PGR strategy? Are you applying at half the recommended rate? What is your GDD reapplication target? I applied PGR to my Zeon for the first time last weekend and trying to get a better feel for how often and at what rate. Thanks!
> ...


Just to let you know, I applied PGR (T-Nex) on my Emerald and Zenith Zoysia on 6/1 at the recommended rate of 0.25 oz per 1K FT2 and did not get any bronzing or yellowing (I set my GDD for 235 and with this heat, it's saying I need next application by Saturday). I am about to apply my 2nd application next 2 days and based on the results I got, will do 0.25 Oz per 1K ft2 again and add some liquid Iron. I am able to cut both only 1x per week, maybe 6 days, but at 1 week i am only removing 3/16" at a HOC of 7/8" on both. Just thought I would share since Zeon is similar to Emerald.

Your Lawn is looking GREAT by the way.


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

Jeffersonzoysia said:


> Just to let you know, I applied PGR (T-Nex) on my Emerald and Zenith Zoysia on 6/1 at the recommended rate of 0.25 oz per 1K FT2 and did not get any bronzing or yellowing (I set my GDD for 235 and with this heat, it's saying I need next application by Saturday). I am about to apply my 2nd application next 2 days and based on the results I got, will do 0.25 Oz per 1K ft2 again and add some liquid Iron. I am able to cut both only 1x per week, maybe 6 days, but at 1 week i am only removing 3/16" at a HOC of 7/8" on both. Just thought I would share since Zeon is similar to Emerald.
> 
> Your Lawn is looking GREAT by the way.


Thanks for the note and info! I may get up to that soon, but my concern is too much suppression to recover from kid traffic more so than the bronzing/yellowing. I'm probably overthinking it. Ha!


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## Rhutton (7 mo ago)

I just had my front yard sodded in Zeon. I'm afraid I picked the wrong installer. They ground up the old Bermuda but didn't strip it or kill it. So now I have Bermuda shoots springing up through the Zeon. I would love to cut it myself but can't. So I have my first cut tomorrow by a new landscaper. They use rotary.☹

I'm also in Atlanta - Dunwoody area. I have relied on others for fertilization so I'm very impressed by your, and others in the forum, knowledge of the proper chemical treatments. Doe UGA extension service have good info on Zeon?


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

Rhutton said:


> I just had my front yard sodded in Zeon. I'm afraid I picked the wrong installer. They ground up the old Bermuda but didn't strip it or kill it. So now I have Bermuda shoots springing up through the Zeon. I would love to cut it myself but can't. So I have my first cut tomorrow by a new landscaper. They use rotary.☹
> 
> I'm also in Atlanta - Dunwoody area. I have relied on others for fertilization so I'm very impressed by your, and others in the forum, knowledge of the proper chemical treatments. Doe UGA extension service have good info on Zeon?


Appreciate the note and words. Zeon can still look nice with a rotary mower (I've cut it with a rotary before and several neighbors do it as well). I'm not sure if UGA ext has info specifically on zeon, but they have a lot of info on zoysia in general. Checkout Super Sod's sites because they have a lot of info specifically on zeon since they sell and market it. They have many informative videos as well. There's also loads of info all throughout this site on zeon and zoysia, which is where I've learned a lot over the years too.


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

Made my 3rd PGR app back on 6/14 (0.125oz per k) along with the monthly Bifen app (1oz per k). The front yard is well regulated with barely any clippings during today's mow with the back less so, which i'm fine with since it gets more traffic.

It's been interesting seeing the differences around the yard during this week's heatwave versus last week's. The main difference between the two waves has been the humidity or amount of moisture in the air. Last week it was oppressively humid while this week the air has been a bit more dry. While temperatures have been in the same ballpark both weeks all the plants + turf are WAY more thirsty without all the moisture to pull out of the air. 



I HATE yellow nutsedge. The back yard is under control, but thinning out the front prior to fertilizing has given it new life there. I just spot sprayed on 6/10 with Certainty so looks like i'll be making another app soon. 


The back is holding on pretty well despite some hot spots, which are the higher traffic areas.


Love the purple coneflower that adds a bit of color around the yard.


Been getting a TON of blackberries for several weeks now. First couple tomatoes started turning red the other day as well.


June has been brutal so far across the south and central US. This map shows the overall temp relative to average so far for the month. 


The extreme heat combined with little to no rain has led to expanding drought status across the southeast. It's so hard to stick to your watering schedule when everything in the yard looks so thirsty every single day now.


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

Went with the North/South stripes for Wimbledon. Ha! Although the sun wasn't out when I took pictures of the front so they weren't showing up as well as in the back.

Made my 4th PGR app (T-nex) on 6/29 (0.125oz per k). I was also in the 14-day range on my last fungicide app of 3336F and was seeing some leaf spot showing up in a couple areas so I made an Exteris Stressgard app on 6/23 (2.1oz per k).

Lastly, I still have some Image hose-end left that I need to get through so I sprayed the front yard on 6/24 hoping to get more of the nutsedge that is getting worse. Hoping that can get me to the middle of July when I will hit it again with better stuff.






Happy to see the weather pattern change because June has been brutal in the rain category. 0.2" late yesterday was the highest i've had in 20 days with close to an inch falling tonight.


The next 15 days have above average rainfall across the southeast thanks to stalled fronts.


Rainfall and cloud cover helps to keep the temperatures in check (notice the average to below average temps in the southeast where all the rain was shown in the previous graphic). Wahoo!


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## Jeffersonzoysia (12 mo ago)

I echo your sentiments about the weather in June. I too have had no rain for 21 days with 100+ degree heat on top of no precipitation. We also received about 1" today with 4 separate rain showers and looking at the next 10 day forecast, there's mostly a 40%+ chance of rain most days. Yay!

Your lawn is looking awesome.


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## rvczoysia (Jul 18, 2021)

Do you have a natural edge or do you use some sort of metal or plastic edging?


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## Jeffersonzoysia (12 mo ago)

rvczoysia said:


> Do you have a natural edge or do you use some sort of metal or plastic edging?


I do not have a natural edge, Some of my areas have natural stone and 2 sections in the front have a industrial hard plastic edge. I like the look of a natural edge, but with 20K ft2 it would be a full time summer job keeping grass out of the beds.


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

Jeffersonzoysia said:


> I echo your sentiments about the weather in June. I too have had no rain for 21 days with 100+ degree heat on top of no precipitation. We also received about 1" today with 4 separate rain showers and looking at the next 10 day forecast, there's mostly a 40%+ chance of rain most days. Yay!
> 
> Your lawn is looking awesome.


The rain chances is a double-edged sword because with the heat and rain/moisture we're now getting everyday fungus will take off as well. Already seeing dollarspot popping up all over the neighborhood. Oh boy!!

Thanks for the message. Yours is really looking awesome too!


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

rvczoysia said:


> Do you have a natural edge or do you use some sort of metal or plastic edging?


The area around my mailbox is a metal/steel edge like you get at big box stores. The rest of the yard there is no border and goes straight to mulch in the beds. I'm not as anal about the edges as a lot of people on here because with kids and so many other things to take care of around the yard I just run out of time. But a couple times a season i'll clean them up or do them in sections every now and then.

The metal edging buys you a little more time and i've debated on getting that for more of the yard because it DEFINITELY helps keep the mulch from coming out into the lawn.


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## Twodollarblue (May 26, 2020)

Jeep4life said:


> The rain chances is a double-edged sword because with the heat and rain/moisture we're now getting everyday fungus will take off as well. Already seeing dollarspot popping up all over the neighborhood. Oh boy!!


I'm not in your neighborhood but like your neighbors I believe the DS has caught up to me. Got a little lazy on my preventatives.


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

Still cutting the front at 0.825" and back around an inch. Other than a few areas with shade and traffic issues along with my ongoing nutsedge issue i'm pretty happy with how things look considering the extreme weather we've been seeing so far this summer.

Made my 5th PGR app at 0.125oz along with a preventative app of Armada at 0.6oz. The previous preventative app of Exteris SG held up VERY well with the heat/rain/humidity we've had lately. Also put out a 5th monthly app for the year on 7/8 of Carbon Pro G at 5lbs/k. I have enough left for probably half the yard next month and then may call it good for the rest of the season due to costs (I went to Sept last year).

Interesting to see the visual difference between the front and back not only of the HOC difference but also quality of cut from different mowers. Front is with the GM1600 and back is Mclane (I use both so I don't have to keep adjusting height). 




Higher traffic area off the deck and patio are starting to fill in better with recent rains and heat. I haven't been treating the area any different other than manually aerating a few times.


Finally got around to refreshing a few pots in the front yard that I should have done much earlier in the season. 


Garden update is the strawberries (right side) are doing MUCH better with the platforms that I added the other month. Blooms have started to hopefully start another batch soon. Blackberries (left image right side) slowed down the other week and are tailing off just as the raspberries (left image left side) have the fruit showing and hope to begin harvesting again soon (they already produced a batch early summer). I don't have a picture of it but it's been a rough season for my tomato plant for some reason. We started getting tomatoes a few weeks ago but i'm not sure if it doesn't like the spot where I have it, it doesn't like the new pot or if it's the extreme weather we've had. 


Thought i'd show how wild of a ride it's been with rain at my house. We received half the amount of rain in June compared to the 30yr avg. March was the last month where I was just barely over average. Quite the contrast when looking at May - Sept last year where I was significantly above average each month. 


Last week I was a degree off from recording the highest air temp of the summer (98), which that was just done the middle of June. That managed to drive soil temps up to the low 80s. ET values jumped back up last week too (green bars).


Thanks to heavy afternoon/evening rains from soupy air the last 14 days have dropped a bunch of rain in the southeast with areas receiving over 200% of normal (blue). MUCH needed!


Thankfully a pattern change got underway this past weekend and the heat dome pulled back west with a trough moving into the east. A stalled front along the Gulf coast may develop into a tropical system, but regardless drops a LOT of rain the next 10 days (blue) with more above average rainfall elsewhere in the southeast. 


The recent and upcoming rains will definitely help the drought situation in the area.


The soil moisture and cloud cover also helps keep temperatures below average over the next 10 days in the southeast. THANK GOODNESS!!


And if you're still reading - I said it in an earlier post but hopefully everyone has grub/insecticides down because I'm continuing to see plenty of dead beetles in the lawn from them trying to get down to the dirt. WAY more than I remember seeing last year.


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## jricky (Oct 13, 2021)

Been waiting to see your detailed weather update  247% of normal for me wow! It's been great! Those beetles are struggling to get through that thick carpet haha


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## Twodollarblue (May 26, 2020)

Looking good as always. I hear you on the cut quality. I went from mclane to greensmaster to trucut, and boy do I miss the greensmaster. How's your top growth been in this weather? My last app of PGR was at 0.2 rate on 6/25 and the brakes have really been put on.


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

jricky said:


> Been waiting to see your detailed weather update  247% of normal for me wow! It's been great! Those beetles are struggling to get through that thick carpet haha


Glad you're enjoying the weather info. Maybe I should change the journal title to "Zoysia and Weather Journal"...ha! The mountains actually help you get more rain a good bit of the time from the natural upslope of the foothills. I keep an eye on the upstate of SC with my parents being there and where i'm from.

Hopefully the carpet keeps blocking the beetles because they're trying! Funny enough I see the same thing with worms, too, where it seems like they come up to the top and can't get back to the dirt. :thumbup:


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

Twodollarblue said:


> Looking good as always. I hear you on the cut quality. I went from mclane to greensmaster to trucut, and boy do I miss the greensmaster. How's your top growth been in this weather? My last app of PGR was at 0.2 rate on 6/25 and the brakes have really been put on.


Thanks for the message! Why did you move from GM to Trucut? Don't think i've ever seen/heard anyone go that direction. McLane cut quality is still OK I think, but I wish it was easier to backlap and work on as the GM. Top growth has been interesting...I treat the front and back the same other than the mower and HOC, but the backyard has still been growing fast whereas the front top growth slowed down significantly after I got 2 PGR apps in (and dethatched). It's starting to speed back up a bit now with the rain/heat so some of it may have just been timing with when I needed to fertilize again. I'm fine with it, though, because the backyard is where I need more top growth anyway to help recover from more traffic and kid play time. Haha.


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## Twodollarblue (May 26, 2020)

Jeep4life said:


> Twodollarblue said:
> 
> 
> > Looking good as always. I hear you on the cut quality. I went from mclane to greensmaster to trucut, and boy do I miss the greensmaster. How's your top growth been in this weather? My last app of PGR was at 0.2 rate on 6/25 and the brakes have really been put on.
> ...


Your are right that my mower progression has been very UNCOMMON. I got the GM when I only had a back yard (minor slope) with turf. Once I renovated the front yard to include turf the slope there was too severe for the GM to handle (was doable but not enjoyable). Decided to go Trucut for both front and back. It is comical how complicated they make McLane/Trucut mowers to maintain/adjust compared to the GMs. Now I wish I would have saved the GM :crying: .


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

@Twodollarblue makes sense. Maybe one day in the future you can get back to a greens mower


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## trvjohnson (9 mo ago)

Looks incredible! What is your post emergent weed control strategy? I see where you spot spray nutsedge with Certainty, but is that all the post emergent control you have to deal with or do you ever get broadleaf weeds too? It doesn't appear you do by the looks of your lawn! I have found that "Image Kills Nutsedge" (imazaquin) does pretty well controlling my poa and nutsedge, but I'm looking for something a little more reliable for broadleaf control. I've tried "Image Weed & Crabgrass Killer" (MCPA & Quinclorac) and "Image All in One" (Sulfentrazone & Quinclorac) but both products really yellow/stunt my Zeon. I'm wondering if you had any success with broadleaf control that doesn't stunt your Zeon. I am thinking about giving Celsius a try. I see a bunch of Zoysia cultivars listed as tolerant on the Celsius label but I don't see Zeon so wondering if you had any experience with it or other broadleaf control that you've had success with. Thanks!


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

trvjohnson said:


> Looks incredible! What is your post emergent weed control strategy? I see where you spot spray nutsedge with Certainty, but is that all the post emergent control you have to deal with or do you ever get broadleaf weeds too? It doesn't appear you do by the looks of your lawn! I have found that "Image Kills Nutsedge" (imazaquin) does pretty well controlling my poa and nutsedge, but I'm looking for something a little more reliable for broadleaf control. I've tried "Image Weed & Crabgrass Killer" (MCPA & Quinclorac) and "Image All in One" (Sulfentrazone & Quinclorac) but both products really yellow/stunt my Zeon. I'm wondering if you had any success with broadleaf control that doesn't stunt your Zeon. I am thinking about giving Celsius a try. I see a bunch of Zoysia cultivars listed as tolerant on the Celsius label but I don't see Zeon so wondering if you had any experience with it or other broadleaf control that you've had success with. Thanks!


Thanks for the compliments. I do get some broadleaf weeds along with spurge later in the summer, but thankfully they're few and far between so I hand pull most. Yellow nutsedge and a few areas of kyllinga are the frustrations for me. I've also had good success with Image (imazaquin) and continue using it because it's easy/quick and I am trying to finish it off. However, it seems to not work as well later in the season.

I really like Certainty and had good success with broadleaf weeds and nutsedge/kyllinga using it. It's definitely slow (similar to Image) and you won't see immediate results with it, but I'm OK with that as long as it works and I know that it won't ding the lawn. I was also curious to try Celsius because I've heard/read good things about it, but went with Certainty due to the temp restrictions on Celsius and didn't want to spend the money on something I wouldn't be able to use at any point in the season.

Basically I've taken the route of trying to get a good pre-emerg barrier down (I do split apps and apply every 3 months) and really focus on the health of the grass to try and limit weed growth and crowd out anything else that may have germinated.


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## Humbert810 (8 mo ago)

Jeep4life said:


> trvjohnson said:
> 
> 
> > Looks incredible! What is your post emergent weed control strategy? I see where you spot spray nutsedge with Certainty, but is that all the post emergent control you have to deal with or do you ever get broadleaf weeds too? It doesn't appear you do by the looks of your lawn! I have found that "Image Kills Nutsedge" (imazaquin) does pretty well controlling my poa and nutsedge, but I'm looking for something a little more reliable for broadleaf control. I've tried "Image Weed & Crabgrass Killer" (MCPA & Quinclorac) and "Image All in One" (Sulfentrazone & Quinclorac) but both products really yellow/stunt my Zeon. I'm wondering if you had any success with broadleaf control that doesn't stunt your Zeon. I am thinking about giving Celsius a try. I see a bunch of Zoysia cultivars listed as tolerant on the Celsius label but I don't see Zeon so wondering if you had any experience with it or other broadleaf control that you've had success with. Thanks!
> ...


There are no temp restrictions on Celsius itself. Only need to be mindful when using a surfactant in warm weather. However, Celsius alone does not have any temp restrictions


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

The weather has obviously done a 180 degree flip for parts of the southeast this month with everything so much more colorful than last month. Still mowing the front at 0.825" and back closer to 1". With the heat and rain the entire lawn has thickened up and starting to look better in the thinner areas. I'll make another PGR app later this week and have a decision on fungicide app because i'll be nearing the end of one and needing to make another one with us being out of town and pressures being really high. I'm also due for a bifen app as well.





With the rains come additional challenges with worm casings as seen here (I read the other week that sand/topdressing should help so that's another reason to hopefully get sand down next season). I'm also planning to make another app against nutsedge, as it's loving the weather as well. Fungus pressures are really high as well so need to keep an eye out for that and keep on top of preventative apps.


Moving to the weather, here's a more detailed look at my rain totals for July. My totals are a bit skewed with one cell over the 4th dropping over 3" at one time. With the air so saturated it's easy for single storms to drop A LOT of moisture at one time rather than the usual summer storms that form and die quickly.


It's interesting to see a plot of rains (green), soil temp (red) and soil moisture (blue) from my weather station over the last 3 months. May and June were really dry outside of a few short wet periods, but the heat and rains have picked up in July (soils saturated and soil temps higher). No wonder everything is growing like crazy if you can keep the fungus and weeds at bay. The gap in data is my transmitter having to be replaced due to ants...frustrating!


Zooming out it's been wet the past 14 days in GA and Carolinas with totals well above average (green/blue). 


This has helped improve the drought status (left in green) across much of GA. Fortunate for us considering TX and the Plains going the opposite way. 


The next 2 weeks continue the dry weather across TX and Plains with it also being dry across the Gulf Coast and FL. Note that the model isn't showing an obvious connection yet for tropical weather and keeping the rainfall in the Gulf/Caribbean. 


The next 5 days keep temps normal to below normal where it's wet in the southeast. Elsewhere is HOT.


The next 5 days (7/25-7/30) has the heat getting pushed back, but still above average across TX/OK and mid-atlantic.


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## Twodollarblue (May 26, 2020)

@Jeep4life I am curious what your watering schedule is. With the sensors and data you have, do you water based on;

1.) Schedule
2.) Rainfall (sensor data)
3.) Soil Moisture (sensor data)
4.) Or grass looks like it needs it


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

Twodollarblue said:


> @Jeep4life I am curious what your watering schedule is. With the sensors and data you have, do you water based on;
> 
> 1.) Schedule
> 2.) Rainfall (sensor data)
> ...


I definitely don't water on a set schedule and adjust based on the many variables some of which you mentioned.

To start, you know that zoysia needs about an inch of water per week. So just based on rainfall, irrigation and ET (evapotranspiration or how much water is being used by the grass and evaporated by the sun) you can treat it like a bank account. Rainfall and irrigation are deposits and ET is withdrawals (during hot/dry periods you can loose almost 0.25" of moisture a day). I mention that to say rainfall and ET are initial things I look at. The soil moisture sensor is another thing I look at often to get a quick overall picture of things. It's easy to water when needed during a dry spell, but more difficult to figure out when you need to start watering again after it rains...which is where the soil moisture sensor really helps. It's interesting to see storms that really saturate the soil vs storms that runoff and a day later you're back where you started. I also have a moisture probe for plants that I got at a nursery, which i'll spot check around the yard to see as well (the moisture sensor I have in the root zone can be removed, but it's meant to be left where you bury it). Visual inspections are important as well, which I can use to see whether I can push it a little longer when the data is telling me I need to water.

It sounds like a lot, but you get used to it and it's not as time consuming as it sounds (especially since my weather station runs the calculations for most of it). During the really dry spells we've had recently I was needing to water about every 4-5 days.


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## Twodollarblue (May 26, 2020)

Thank you for this explanation @Jeep4life. Look forward to using more data in the future to make sound watering decisions.


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## Highlife159 (May 19, 2021)

Always enjoy the weather reports that go along with the zoysia updates! Do you have a WeatherBELL account for personal enjoyment or for your work?


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## Twodollarblue (May 26, 2020)

@Jeep4life any recommendations you would make for an entry level weather station setup. I've done some googling and that makes my decision making more difficult. Most the ones I see seem to be more real time with a stand alone monitor. Looking for something that actually logs data and would be used on a computer. Would like to monitor precipitation and temperature for sure and then have the ability to add other sensors such as soil moisture. As always any and all advice is greatly appreciated.


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## Twodollarblue (May 26, 2020)

@Jeep4life any recommendations you would make for an entry level weather station setup. I've done some googling and that makes my decision making more difficult. Most the ones I see seem to be more real time with a stand alone monitor. Looking for something that actually logs data and would be used on a computer. Would like to monitor precipitation and temperature for sure and then have the ability to add other sensors such as soil moisture. As always any and all advice is greatly appreciated.


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

Highlife159 said:


> Always enjoy the weather reports that go along with the zoysia updates! Do you have a WeatherBELL account for personal enjoyment or for your work?


Glad you enjoy the weather info! I'm always looking at it and assumed there'd be people here who would enjoy it for obvious reasons as well. Wasn't sure, though, if people would think it made the journal too long since it's hard to not post a ton of maps to tell the story. So thanks for the feedback!

I have a personal account, as following the weather has been another hobby of mine for a while.


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

Twodollarblue said:


> @Jeep4life any recommendations you would make for an entry level weather station setup. I've done some googling and that makes my decision making more difficult. Most the ones I see seem to be more real time with a stand alone monitor. Looking for something that actually logs data and would be used on a computer. Would like to monitor precipitation and temperature for sure and then have the ability to add other sensors such as soil moisture. As always any and all advice is greatly appreciated.


Wanting a setup that gets into monitoring soil moisture will limit your options because as you saw most consumer stations take your basic readings and display them. It's been fairly recently that more manufacturers are getting into apps and AI to create forecasts from your data. Once you get into soil moisture and other sensors you start getting more into ag/farming.

I highly recommend Davis stations if your budget allows. That's what I run and I went with due to their data continuing to be the most accurate around and having been in business/trusted for a long time. Plus if something breaks you don't have to buy an entirely new system with individual parts being available. Additionally, you can expand the system as you go, which is what I did. Vantage Vue is their consumer setup and Vantage Pro2 is the step up. You would need a WeatherLink Live or logger to send the data to the internet. Then the soil moisture sensor and transmitter are separate. Rainmanweather.com has the best pricing and ships quick.

I started out with an Acurite station, which worked fine for several years and was significantly cheaper but that's a basic station with no soil moisture capability and it's one single unit (no adding things later). I've read/heard good things about Tempest as well (some issues with the rain sensor though), but again that's one single unit.

Most decent stations have a way to send the data to the internet and there are several programs that people use to display and log the data (you may have to buy a "gateway" to read and transmit the data, such as the WeatherLink Live or logger that pulls the data from the console with Davis). Most of the companies have their own sites/software that do the same thing too since they all realized it would be an extra revenue stream. I use Davis' software (weatherlink.com), but there are ways to pull your data and log it for free via 3rd party programs. WXForum.net is a good resource for all sorts of hardware and software info/feedback/questions.


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

Pretty boring journal posts at this point with mainly keeping up with mowing, PGR and preventative fungicide apps. Was out of town for a bit and this was the first mow in 6 days. While away the soil moisture sensor was indicating the yard was really drying out with no obvious sign of rain on the way so I watered deep/heavy. Then as luck would have it I got 1.34" the next two days. With cloudy skies yesterday and saturated soil i'm starting to see some issues, but hopefully things will dry back soon and all will be well.

The latest apps include:
- 7/22 PGR app (t-nex) along with Bifen (1oz per k) + Imidacloprid (0.5oz per k)
- 7/26 preventative 3336f app (4oz per k sq ft).
- 8/1 PGR app (t-Nex)

Will be watching the weather this week to make a fert app and will use the rest of the Carbon Pro G that I have to end that for the season.




The thin areas along the patio are filling in nicely and should be good later this month. I haven't been pushing those areas hard and have been just letting them do their thing occasionally aerating to limit compaction.


As for the garden, we're starting to get our late summer raspberries. 


The strawberries are also blooming again for their late summer fruit.


Moving to the weather - temps so far this summer (June and July) have been well above average across TX, Plains and parts of the south.


Rainfall for July was decent across most of the east with TX/Plains and northeast being the dry areas.


Interesting to see soil moisture anomalies across the southeast still being relatively dry despite the previous map showing a good bit of rainfall in July.


As for August it looks like a similar outlook to how July turned out (dry across central US and west south/east). The wild card is tropical weather, which could start up later this month (no obvious start indicated at the moment). 


August looks to remain warm across much of the country as well with the core of heat remaining in the central US.


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## Twodollarblue (May 26, 2020)

@Jeep4life thank you for the update as always. I was experience the same needs for some H2O. First noticed it near a tree as my blades were starting to curl. Ran my irrigation and then what do you know, over an 1.5" of rain the next two days.


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

@Twodollarblue you definitely win some and loose many more times…especially during the heart of the summer when there's no telling where or when storms will pop up from the heating of the day. Ha! Guess it's better than the alternative of just extreme heat and no rain like they've been dealing with out west…


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## Dono1183 (Oct 11, 2021)

I've been hoping we'd get a low pressure system from the gulf, but at this point, I don't think it's going to happen in August. The active season they predicted really hasn't shown up so far. 
Fortunately the high pressure seems to be moving off of us later this week, so we won't have this crazy fire danger. But even with that, we don't have many rain chances. I'm going on 35 days with no rain at the house. With the forecast we have, I'm likely going to hit 45 days with no rain. It's pretty wild.


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

Dono1183 said:


> I've been hoping we'd get a low pressure system from the gulf, but at this point, I don't think it's going to happen in August. The active season they predicted really hasn't shown up so far.
> Fortunately the high pressure seems to be moving off of us later this week, so we won't have this crazy fire danger. But even with that, we don't have many rain chances. I'm going on 35 days with no rain at the house. With the forecast we have, I'm likely going to hit 45 days with no rain. It's pretty wild.


That's brutal to go that long with extreme temps and no rain. It's always amazed me how TX always seems to be extreme one way or the other with rain and temps. We went a long stretch back at the beginning of summer with extreme temps and no rain, which was frustrating. Hopefully it turns for you soon.

I wouldn't throw in the towel yet on a good system coming in August. The models are starting to show a connection between the Caribbean, Gulf and main development region of the Atlantic. Note the green, or above average rainfall, going through the Caribbean and into the Gulf (this shows the next 15 days). 


You may have seen these graphics before, but we're just now starting to get into the meat of the hurricane season. It's definitely very strange that it's been so quiet thus far (especially the last several years in the western Pacific), but things could turn quickly.


This shows where storms have generally formed in the past. August and September are higher in the Atlantic but the potential is still there where plenty have formed in the Gulf as well.


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## Dono1183 (Oct 11, 2021)

Jeep4life said:


> Dono1183 said:
> 
> 
> > I've been hoping we'd get a low pressure system from the gulf, but at this point, I don't think it's going to happen in August. The active season they predicted really hasn't shown up so far.
> ...


Thanks for all that info! I really appreciate it. I hope we get some type of increase in activity our way. I will say, I'm surprised at the average dates of development. For some reason I always feel like it starts sooner than that. I always enjoy the updates @Jeep4life. :thumbup:


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## typed by ben (Jul 12, 2021)

Looking outrageous! That's what made me pick zoysia for the front yard. Next year I am going to give reel mowing a go from the start of the season. It's a non-starter trying it reel mow when it's already 2 inches tall let me tell you.


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

Thanks @typed by ben! You can't beat the look of healthy zoysia that's so thick it looks fake. And even better when it's mowed with a greens mower! Haha. When you start reel mowing make sure to fight the urge to go super low, though, because fungus and other challenges seem to be magnified the lower you go from my experience (unless you have no shade or drainage issues).


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

Quick mow today so that I wouldn't have to over the weekend. Also trimmed a few shrubs the other day, which is hopefully some of the final trimming that will be needed this season. Cleaned up the Carolina Jessamine to the right and the Dogwood against the house. Got lazy with it being later in the season and use hedge shears for a more formal look instead of pruners for the natural look like I was going for earlier this year. Oh well. Also sprayed Daconil on the Shasta Daisys (front/center), who have a bad case of leaf spot at the moment.


It doesn't come through the camera as well as you can see with your eyes, but starting to see more fungus issues in the back yard. Interestingly I'm wondering if I should dethatch the back yard since the front is holding up fine and I dethatched it back in June as an experiment. At any rate, I need to get another fungicide to mix with 3336f in my rotation because it doesn't seem to be doing as well this season (although I've been applying at preventative rates and disease pressures are sky high). Hopefully I can hold on for the rest of this season to avoid spending the money. For now I'm going to try and see if I can wait until next week's mow to make a Stressgard app to buy a few more days with it being in the back. I was also hoping to make my August fert app this week with rain chances so high, but I'm now shifting that to next week to avoid making the fungus issue worse. Ahhh the late summer fun!


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## typed by ben (Jul 12, 2021)

Jeep4life said:


> Thanks @typed by ben! You can't beat the look of healthy zoysia that's so thick it looks fake. And even better when it's mowed with a greens mower! Haha. When you start reel mowing make sure to fight the urge to go super low, though, because fungus and other challenges seem to be magnified the lower you go from my experience (unless you have no shade or drainage issues).


I have terrific slope and full sun- in fact the slope is the challenge in the whole thing. I'm afraid the mower will slip and slide on me. Going to try anyway though because of how good yours looks


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

Good luck @typed by ben and thanks for the compliments!


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

Mentioned last week that I had patch fungus issues developing in the back, but upon closer inspection it was grey leaf spot. With the daily rain we've been getting (i've been getting small amounts that aren't enough to oversaturate the soil but enough to keep the lawn wet for extended periods) I first dethatched the back in hopes of removing thatch that had fungus in it and open up the canopy to help dry things out. Was surprised how little thatch I actually had except in some of the areas that don't get as much sun now (I need to get some tree limbs trimmed over the winter). I did it lightly and in 1 direction to limit stress since i've never done it this late in the season. When I did it in the front back in June it was about 3-4 weeks to fully recover.


Picture after dethatch and mow at 1". 


Was starting to see some leaf spot up near the house in the front, but overall the front was doing much better. Excited to see the Pampas Grass blooms have emerged meaning we're getting close to fall. 


The crape myrtle is FINALLY blooming in the front. It's later than all others around us because the trees block the sun from it in the morning. I'm enjoying the color but frustrated that it now drops the blooms all over the lawn. 



After the mow I sprayed Armada (1oz per k sq ft) for the fungus and went ahead applying PGR several days earlier than usual. I've done that now on the last 2 applications to try and further drill down my GDD intervals and have been happy with the results. This is the visual of my PGR apps the last few months. VERY happy to see the latest curves going longer with the "cooler" temps we've had lately from all the clouds/rain. 


I also went ahead and made my early August fert app of 33-0-3 at 2.1lbs per k for 0.6lbs N per K). That puts me at 1.91lbs N for the season thus far. Will make 1 more app in Sept to end the season. Lastly, I made my last Carbon Pro G app for the season.

Moving to the weather, a big pattern change gets underway FINALLY to bring relief to many. A large trough for this time of the year sets up in the east, which brings below average temps to the east the next 5 days (left) with the cooler weather extending west the following 5 days (right). 


It's been a wet week the last 7 days for a majority of the east. I've had a few decent rains, but have missed the large amounts that others around me have seen. 


The cooler weather that pushes south from the trough (dip in the jet stream) in the east brings drier air and pushes all the humidity out of the southeast, as seen in rainfall anomalies the next 5 days (left). The following 5 days (right) then show the trough almost perfectly with wetter weather setting up along the boundary from the cooler weather to the north and humid weather to the south. Those in TX should be VERY excited to hear that it looks like the worst of the summer is behind them. Tropical activity remains quiet still as well with signs that it could be waking up soon (such as the green in the Atlantic in both images. Will be interesting to see if all the rain along the central Gulf coast may help protect them from tropical weather later in the season (with the rains cooling the waters there).


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

It's been an interesting couple weeks with the weather but overall happy with the front yard for late in the season and the challenges with the weather lately. I don't think i've ever enjoyed a piece of equipment more than the GM1600.

Still at 0.825". Sprayed monthly Bifen app (1oz per k sq ft), PGR (T-Nex; 0.125oz per 1 k sq ft) and after 14 days since last fungicide app went ahead with a slightly higher rate of Exteris SG (4oz per 1 k sq ft). 


The back yard has been a bit of a challenge lately near the fire pit due to the late season sun angle and fungus pressure (leaf spot). I did a little trimming on the trees around there to brighten it up a little. Hope to get it thicker by the end of the season now that it should start getting more sun with the sun angle adjusting as well (still need to get some high branches taken out on the pine trees in the neighbor's yard; maybe next year). Areas just off the patio seem to be better than they were this time last year as well. FYI that the image also has a bit of a blue tint to it due to the coloring in the Exteris SG (I hadn't sprayed yet when I took the pic of the front but forgot to get the back and took it after spraying).


On 8/12 I made a Certainty app to get a little kyllinga in 2 spots in the front. Due to the heat at the time I tried applying without surfactant to see what difference it made. 


The 8/12 Certainty app was also to address yellow nutsedge in the front and back that has taken off with the rain we've been getting. I'm definitely going to need another app early next month so will go back to using surfactant since the temps have backed off for the rest of the summer.


With it being near the end of the summer (June/July/Aug is meteorological summer) this shows where rainfall (left) and temps (right) have averaged out. 


As for temps, the big reversal of the summer pattern across the south continues the next 5 days (left) and the following 5 after that (right). The extreme temps appear to be over this summer across the south thanks to all the rainfall and cloud cover.


Speaking of rainfall, the next 2 weeks continue the wet trend across the south with the lower MS valley being the bullseye for highest totals relative to average.


Another interesting graphic if you're in the Atlanta area is that this is the 2nd summer in a row that has been wetter than average (left). Interesting considering how dry we started. More interesting than rainfall amounts to me has been how humid it seems like it's been this season. The graphic on the right shows that we've had 66 days beginning in early June where the dewpoint has been 70 or higher at some point during the day (70 and higher is considered oppressive). 


The tropics remain quiet, but the models are bullish over the next 10 days for a wave coming off Africa (this shows odds of a tropical depression developing among European model members). It's worth keeping an eye on the Caribbean for a wave as well, but neither are worth getting worrying about now. Models continue to think that things should get active soon.


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## cnet24 (Jul 14, 2017)

Love the weather analysis. Keep it coming. Oh yeah- Lawn looks great too!


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

Thanks for the note @cnet24! Will do.


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

Overall happy with how things are looking for mid-Sept during a wet period. However there's still plenty to work on. The yellow nutsedge has been enjoying the wet weather, so I made an app of Empero (0.9 g for 1 gal to treat 1k sq ft) and applied to about 3/4 of the front yard and 1/4 of the back yard.

The back yard also started to get some fungus in spots due to being away and timing everything. So I applied 4oz per 1k of 3336F along with the final PGR app of the season. The next fungicide apps will probably be the fall apps to prevent spring dead spot.

Keeping an eye on the soil temps now to make my first split app of winter pre-emerg within the next few weeks. I will also put down the final fertilizer app in the next few weeks to give it food before it goes to sleep. Holding it off a little longer than last year since the long range forecasts don't appear to be cooling off majorly yet. 



Kids enjoyed putting out the first fall/Halloween decorations over the weekend. May put the larger items out next weekend to enjoy them for a while before Halloween actually gets here.




Some of the thinner spots at the front of the picture show the fungus that started showing up. Happy with the step off from the patio, as it seems to have done better this year than it was at this time last year. May try to push it a bit more next year to see if I can get there quicker (difficult due to shading from the house/sun angle and compaction).


Looking at weather for the next little bit this week (next 7 days) should be below average in the southeast due to the cooler air moving in. If I can get below 59 Tues morning it will be the coolest morning so far this season.


Next week the warmth builds back in with the core of it being in the Plains.


It's been a wet month at my house. The totals would be much higher around me, as there have been numerous wet periods where I missed many storms. 


The next 2 weeks look to dry back across much of the country where there have been heavy rains. Off the southeast Atlantic coast (blue/dark green) would be an area to pay attention to in the 10 day period as there may be a tropical wave in that area in the timeframe (too far out to know if it develops or where exactly it goes).


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

Finally got my pre-emergent down (Specticle G) at 4lbs per k sq ft and will do another app in 3 months. I also made my final fert app of the season with 18-0-18 at 3.3lbs per k. That puts me at 2.5lbs of N and 1.57lbs of K for the season.

I also made another monthly app of Bifen (1oz per k) and will see how the temps are going this time next month to see whether one more app is needed or not.

The only remaining thing is making the Headway G apps for Spring Dead Spot. My last 3336F app weakens the end of this week and I should be coming out of PGR regulation for the season at the beginning of next week. So I'll probably make my first app next week and then possibly one more to make sure to get me to dormancy. Greencast's Turf Growth Model projects transition to dormancy around 10/22 and fully dormant by 11/18, so things should line up if that's the case.



There's plenty to follow lately with the weather - thankfully fall made its return overnight with temps currently 10-20 degrees cooler today than this time yesterday. Thankfully it looks like we're now past the high summer temps.


The next 7 days keep the cooler weather in the east (blue).


The 7 days after that (going into early Oct) stay normal to just slightly below average for the east.


Unfortunately the dry weather remains over the next 2 weeks as well, but the wild card is the tropics. The blue shows you where the ECMWF model was thinking (from yesterday evening) the tropical storm in the Caribbean that everyone is watching may potentially go.


October originally looked like it was going to be on the warm side, but lately the models have started trending cooler in the east with the warmth staying out west. 


Now to the tropical weather for the storm coming out of the Caribbean - this shows you the current thinking as far as paths go. There's still plenty of time for this to change, but at the moment it's looking like western Florida should be on alert as well as the southeastern Atlantic coasts for once it crosses Florida. 


The players on the chess board that will ultimately determine the path are the two high pressures (red) and the trough in green/blue (at this snapshot of time the storm is over western Cuba). The storm will want to go between the two highs and the trough will pull it north and then eventually northeast as it follows the jet stream before being absorbed.


The one thing that's for certain is that the water is plenty warm enough for major hurricane development. 28 degrees celsius (82F) or warmer waters are needed and as seen here that's just about everywhere.


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

Made an application of Headway G (3.5lbs per k) for Spring Dead Spot preventative with lawn coming out of regulation and soil temps going down. I'll re-evaluate around 20 days to see whether a 2nd app is needed or not. Last year I only made 1 app and things seemed to do well in the Spring. 

Otherwise i'm almost on cruise control now to close out the season. I've still got a little nutsedge popping up so I may hit that in a few weeks before the transition to dormancy gets underway.


























There's been plenty of national coverage on the news regarding the weather. Without getting too detailed into what's been going on here's a satellite image of Hurricane Ian just off the Carolina coast this morning. 










And here's an image prior to landfall in Florida earlier this week. Thoughts and prayers for all impacted by the storm across the southeast!










The next 7 days should stay cooler in the eastern US especially in the path of Ian due to all the moisture and clouds.










The 2nd week in October should stay cool for most of the east, but warmth tries to build back in from the south central and deep south. 










The problem across Atlanta lately has been lack of decent rainfall, which doesn't look to get any better over the next 2 weeks. The cool/dry air we've had lately has made everything in the yard especially thirsty since it's seen such high humidity all summer. 










The lack of rainfall is starting to show up on the drought monitor with "abnormally dry" conditions across GA (left is current) that were not there last week (right side). 










At home this can be seen with my soil moisture shooting up (drying) quickly after irrigation cycles with the green bars nearly going away (no rainfall). The soil temp (red) also fell off a cliff from the cool/dry air that arrived especially with night air temps getting down into the 40s.


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

FINALLY got a decent amount of rain reporting 1.19" on 10/13. 










Ended up being a charity mow, but barely any growth after a week plus a day. Soil temps in the yard are in the upper 60s right now so pretty happy with the color holding well in the front yard (gets more sun than most of the backyard). 










Backyard is still looking pretty good, but loosing a bit of its color. 










Sadly the rain we just received won't last long with cool/dry air back and a nice hole of barely a drop showing up across much of the southeast over the next week. 










Also watching temps for next week with our first frost/freeze looking to overtake the area. Right now Tues-Thurs may see lows at or just above freezing (left shows Wed projections), which would be 20+ degrees below average (right). 










If we do get a freeze it would be one of the earliest on record here with the average being almost mid-November.


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## Jeep4life (Jun 19, 2019)

Forgot to mention I made one final app of Empero (0.9 gram in 1 gal w/ 2 tsp surfactant) on 10/11 across half of the front yard to try and get one last shot against nutsedge before the season comes to a close. With the warmer afternoons the last few weeks it's been trying to make another comeback.


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