# RentalLawn's Rental Lawn



## RentalLawn (Jan 4, 2022)

*First post!*

*Backstory: * All lawn photos before October 2021 were mowed with an old 19" Snapper Rotary mower. I kept the blade very sharp all season and varied mowing direction with every mow. Keep in mind, this is NOT my own lawn. We rent a townhouse with about 3,000 sq. ft. of Bermuda - of which has _never, never_ been cared for correctly for about 5 years since installed new. Hence, "RentalLawn" - Minimal input for maximum results!
In late September 2021, I acquired a 2002 20" McLane with a 7-blade reel. It was recently refurbished and just needed some TLC and an oil change. So, there I was at the end of the growing season with a new-to-me reel mower. At least, I got to cut 4 or 5 times with it and have already learned so many new facets to reel mowing. Definitely looking forward to 2022!

*The 2021 Lawn:*
Signs of life! The green haze begins! March 9, 2021


Scalp Day 2021 - March 21, 2021 - Did a ~0.5" scalp with the rotary mower. Didn't bag as I thought I could rake the clippings. LOL! WRONG! Boy, was I in for a dusty mess!




March 30, 2021 - The green returns.


April happened, but I had a busy month. Didn't take many lawn photos at all...The lawn had a hard time recovering due to my lack of bagging the scalped clippings/dust. I did raise HOC to 1.50" due to FOC randomness.

May 7, 2021 - Lumpy lawn! In retrospect, I let it grow up too much to about 1.50" with infrequent cuts. Here's what that looks like...


May 10, 2021


May 21, 2021


June 8, 2021 - Looking smooth! Lowered HOC to 1.25"


June 12, 2021


July 26, 2021


August 14, 2021 - Why not do a late summer scalp? ...This is why we can't have nice things... Too low and too late in the year. Lesson learned.


September 21, 2021


The McLane has landed! September 28, 2021


September 30, 2021 - First reel cut. Notice the hop spots and general n00b cut quality. Also, the dude in the suit on the motorcycle is me. 


October 1, 2021 - That sharp reel cut up close, after first reel cut. Notice maybe 60% of blades cut are reel-cut. The other 40% moved and got sucked up in the last rotary cut...


October 8, 2021


Post Reel Hard Cut - October 13, 2021 - Dropped HOC to 1" because dormancy was around the corner - Why not?! - hence all the brown at 0.25" less HOC. See next photo of greened up 1" Tifway in November. Because Georgia...


Samhain Smashing Pumpkins! November 14, 2021 - The Holidays are coming...Good night! See you in March 2022!


----------



## RentalLawn (Jan 4, 2022)

*2022!*
Scalped to 0.5" with the McLane on 3/5/22 due to a perfect weekend with highs in the upper 70s. A week of rain was coming. Grass was getting a green haze in full sun areas of lawn. Soil temps averaged 58°. Let's go!



Greened up 4 days after!


----------



## RentalLawn (Jan 4, 2022)

April 2022

After scalping, I bumped it up to 5/8" and have cut every week since the scalp. Most cuts were barely 1/4", but the grass is starting to favor lateral growth now - getting thicker rather than taller. Submit to my demands, Bermuda!

April 5 - 2.5" of rain in an hour equals a turf pond. 


April 5 - :shock: 


April 5 - Post-downpour "tiger stripes" 2" tall... "Liquid dethatching". Lots of hand-collecting clippings, raking and blowing out...


April 10 - Charity cut for the Masters 2022.


April 10 - 5/8" and balls for scale.


April 15 - Easter Weekend cut. (A little bit of chlorosis in the back part of the yard. Applied liquid iron before this photo...)


----------



## CenlaLowell (Apr 21, 2017)

As soon as you think you have all the clippings it rains and proves you different. I'm going through this right mow


----------



## RentalLawn (Jan 4, 2022)

@CenlaLowell You're telling me, man! 
I've considered hiring a lawn crew that uses Walkers just to suck it all up. But, I think this washout was all it needed, in retrospect - there's nothing left now! Haha! 
I'm thankful the stripes happen less as the lawn thickens up into the growing season.


----------



## RentalLawn (Jan 4, 2022)

*May 2022*

Dry, dry, dry! As of today (May 22, 2002) the official US Drought Monitor has my area designated as "D0 - Abnormally Dry". 
If it weren't for irrigating 2-3 times a week and an occasional pop-up thunderstorm, we'd be brown as the neighbor's lawn!

Been cutting at 3/4" due to the lack of rain, but dropped it down with a hard cut to 1/2" today as we are expected to have a few days of rain and storms. See the photos below!


----------



## RentalLawn (Jan 4, 2022)

*June 2022*

After many weeks of almost no natural irrigation, the rain gods have blessed us with a few really good thunderstorms. I love the crap out of a good rain - as much as my grass.

I started applying T-Nex two weeks ago (half-rate first, then full rate 2nd app) and wow - it's some cool stuff!

Did a HOC reset back down to 5/8" on May 22 and the grass filled in very nicely. Have had some dollar spot, but a treatment application of propiconazole is taking of that.







SO Thick at 5/8"


Pressing hard into the grass. PGR doing it's thing and thickening up the grass!


----------



## RentalLawn (Jan 4, 2022)

June 23, 2022 - PGR comparison with a sprig from the neighbor's lawn on top and my lawn on the bottom.


June 29, 2022 - Let the house cat out to inspect the turf.


July 22, 2022 - Neighbor walking his dog made a video of the sprinklers - but was complimenting the grass the whole time. It's on Youtube somewhere.




August 12, 2022 - SPOTTED! Son's girlfriend's mom petting the grass. :lol: 


August 16, 2022 - HOC reset from 5/8" to 1/2".


August 16, 2022 - Reppin' that @Reelrollers GrassTopper for my HOC reset. 


August 27, 2022 - 'Shrooms happen when the soil microbes are happy. No fairy rings, thank God! Lovely heavy dew almost looks like frost!


August 27, 2022 - Just looking good! 11 days after a HOC reset. Last chance of the growing season...


September 9, 2022 - Green AF with some laser action - from a McLane!


----------



## Redtwin (Feb 9, 2019)

That looks absolutely amazing! What's your PGR rate and how often are you mowing?


----------



## wilsonline (Dec 18, 2021)

The lawn looks fantastic! Everything is right, edge, color, it's so even. 
I also rent here. This is my goal. haha


----------



## RentalLawn (Jan 4, 2022)

Thanks, @Redtwin and @wilsonline! It's a part-time job, but it keeps the property values up! :lol:

@wilsonline Yeah, even though the mentality with renting is that you don't "own" the property, you can still take _ownership _of it. I won't do hard inputs like sand leveling or aeration, but everything else that's essentially temporary (with good cultural practices) is on my dime and I don't mind making look good. Hell, it's great practice for home ownership at the end of the day.

I applied T-Nex this season at 0.34oz/1000 rate. I played with this rate and found 0.34 optimal at 5/8" HOC. @Redtwin, you may remember my pondering the Andersons granular PGR in a previous thread earlier this season, but after seeing lots of good explanations, I went with T-Nex. I tracked my GDD with GreenCast, by the way. Very easy to follow and the end result is amazing.

With weekly applications in the summer, there was definitely a few PGR interactions from over-spray with our Japanese privet shrubs (PGR effect - condensed leafs compared to neighbors) and our tomato plants never really fruited, but grew like crazy. Will be more careful next season...


----------



## Redtwin (Feb 9, 2019)

I use T-Nex and Greencast as well. I was applying at .38oz/1000sf every 250 GDD but last month bumped it up to .50oz/1000sf and I'm getting much better results.


----------



## RentalLawn (Jan 4, 2022)

@Redtwin Ah, interesting! What's your HOC? And what influenced your increase?

Also, I forgot to mention that I've been mowing 2-3 times a week to just keep it looking slick. During the thick of PGR season, I ended sliding into a bit of over-regulation and noticed my clippings volume was nearly non-existent from mowing on routine. Oops! Fixed that by following up with a cut nearly a week later, I think. LOL!


----------



## Redtwin (Feb 9, 2019)

I mow about every third day at 3/8" and was still not keeping up. I still get clippings even at the .5oz rate but it's much more manageable and I don't get the eventual scalping when I miss a day because of rain or family events.


----------

