# STI's 5 Acre Turf Management Journal



## STI_MECE (Aug 4, 2020)

My wife and I just recently purchased 5 acres near The Woodlands, Texas. We could not have been more fortunate to be in the right place at the right time to buy this.

I will be adding a 3500 sqft shop on west side of property behind the barn. Hopefully construction of that will start within a month.

My current objectives is to turn the areas that have sprinkler's into an automatic irrigation system. I believe those sprinkler's cover about an acre.

As it stands, and not work ahead of myself, I'll fertilize and treat the areas with water than the other areas. As I figure out an efficient way to irrigate the 5 acres, I'll start expanding fertilizers and such as I go.

The good news is I got the nice pretty dark loamy soil. All my gardening tools are in a storage unit right now. I'm Gunna take a soil sample soon if those items are not buried in the unit.

My yard work is limited to weekends as it stands because we are not living in the house yet. We are going to remodel the entire house and we probably won't be in the house until September.

I will be cutting the lawn with a Scag Tiger Cat II. I had a mulching kit installed on it so it really chops up the grass. I have ran a few test patches and man this thing cuts like a dream. I just gotta work on turning and this soil is super soft and takes quite a few days for the soil to dry out.


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

I am anxious to follow this one. That's a beautiful piece of property. :thumbup:


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## The_iHenry (Apr 23, 2019)

Congrats on the purchase! Triplex coming soon?


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## STI_MECE (Aug 4, 2020)

Thanks guys. @The_iHenry, No triplex. I pulled the trigger on a Scag Tiger Cat II with a mulching system. Cuts down to 1 inch in 1/4inch increments.

This machine has cut up the leaves beautifully.

I still need to get to the hang of the turning. My soil is super soft so I am trying to go the K point turn and really exaggerate my turns.

Still trying to mull over my irrigation ideas. I am getting close to where I need to put down some pre-m. I have been trying to figure out if I can get by with just a pull behind sprayer and and not have to worry about irrigation.

There is alot of clover and the grass is scarce. I should be able to get more of my tools this weekend to get some soil samples.

I'm going to be installing a 1000 gallon water reclaimer tank that will catch all the water running off the new shop being built. I will use that water to irrigate the back half as needed. The other half I will use the well pump for irrigation.

My father in law gave me his old four wheeler which needs a carb rebuild. That is what I'm Gunna use for pulling small trailers and items around the property. Gunna put some turf tires on it too.


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## STI_MECE (Aug 4, 2020)

Forgot to add, the wildlife here is awesome. I added a bird feeder to the back of the property. I just got some general wild feed for birds and put it in a regular feeder hanging on a tree.

I have also unofficially adopted (sarcasm) a hawk that comes to the property every Saturday and Sunday for the past 3 weeks. He might be here more but those are the days I'm typically here. He isn't bashful at all. I am Gunna be focused on making sure this environment doesn't change too much for him and keep him coming back. I am worried about the shop because I know they like natural land and a quite environment.


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## Redtwin (Feb 9, 2019)

I have one that hangs out in my front yard and does a fly-over several times per day as his normal hunting route. I can't let my chickens free range because of him. Last weekend I also saw a bald eagle chasing an osprey over my neighbor's house. I think they were fighting over a nest or territory. It's nice seeing the wild life for sure! You have a beautiful and peaceful place there.


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## SumBeach35 (Jul 11, 2019)

Definitely want to follow this. Congrats on the fantastic looking property.


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## STI_MECE (Aug 4, 2020)

I think the lawn is going to pretty tough to manage when the house is getting remodeled. We are adding to the house on the back side of the property which means that most of the irrigation already installed is Gunna have to be pulled out.

So I started working on other things. Installed my first fence over the past couple of weeks. I forgot to take a picture of the final product but it was a fun job.

This was a 300ft run....the other sides are 900 feet deep. Should be pretty fun though


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## STI_MECE (Aug 4, 2020)

One thing I believe people who manage turf should be an expert at is being able to interpret the weather forecast on your own. Here in houston, during this transition between fall and spring, the sign of overcast along with a steady and strong wind to the south is obvious. Rain is coming soon and one should not be caught with their pants down.

The previous owner of the house has 3 x 50 lb bags of 16-6-12.

Because I didn't have time to think, and I arrived at the property just shortly before I realized the rain is coming sooner than I thought, I threw a bag of fertilizer in my wall behind spreader and started walking.

I put down an extreme light rate down maybe somewhere between .10 or .15 lb of N per 1000 sqft. I must have spread that 50 lb bag over 2-3 acres.

Until the time I have the finances to start putting in a proper irrigation system, I do believe trying to be a weather man and dropping fertilizer before a mid-light rain will be the best path forward for the time being.

Now with spreading an extremely light rate down obviously green up is not going to happen for awhile or it won't make a difference because it's too light. My logic says if I keep spreading an extremely light rate before a rain event. Eventually the lasting effect of slow release fertilizer will show itself. I would much rather be the tortoise than the hair here because 1, putting a high rate down is $$. And two, I lower the chances of burning with a light rate.

Right now my lawn is probably 50% clover, poa anna, and some weird st augustine looking in the very back quarter of property.

The previous owner did put various bermuda seeds down at some point.

My first plan of attack is to simply feed the yard whenever I get the chance, be patient and see what grows.

First cut of the season will be this weekend


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## Deltahedge (Apr 1, 2020)

Welcome from the West side of Houston. I'm interested to follow along. Its a great looking property you've got there.


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## STI_MECE (Aug 4, 2020)

@Deltahedge hey neighbor. Thank you for the kind words.

I did my first cut of the season this year. Took 4 hours....and 5 gallons of gas. I am probably Gunna have to invest in a gas powered leaf blower. 1 battery pack on my milwaukee won't cut it anymore.

There is different kinds of bermuda scattered around the property but the best kind as I can tell is actually right next to the burn pile.

I would be crazy if I said I thought about plugging. But I might actually attempt to do that considering areas in my front yard are pretty much just straight dirt. And if I plug, it will be easier to water starting off since it's contained to a small area.

I cut the front yard at 1"


The back yard got 1.5inch.


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## STI_MECE (Aug 4, 2020)

Progress is being made on the house....getting itchier to live here more and more as the days go by. Also realized the yard is getting overcome by grass burrs and right now there is nothing I can do about it. I am trying to find a selective post emergent solution but its just not in the cards right now.

I did order a 17 cu. ft pull behind trailer for my 4-wheeler. Once that comes in, I am going to start leveling quite a few areas around the yard. I am going to order around around 10 yards of masonry sand and get at it. I might even consider clay, I know it sounds crazy, but my soil is more sand that clay. It absorbs water super fast, and when dry it is soft, when wet, its mushy lol


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## STI_MECE (Aug 4, 2020)

Got myself a new tow. 101 Gallon pull behind sprayer.


I had to make an internal decision here, now quite a few areas the grass is growing pretty well with some weak spots. And obviously, the best weed management is a solid fertilization plan and grow your grass.

However, I am jumping the proverbial gun because of how bad the infestation of sandburs are. I have a new born coming in July and I'm going to try my best to irradiate them by the end of the year.

I am going to spray probably 75% of the area. I paid 250 smackers for Dithiopyr L. The bottle I got is only good for for 4 acres at label rate which is 2 pints per acre. I am probably going to drop 1 pint per acre then in another 6 weeks I'll drop another app.

My biggest concern is not being able to water it in. I'm just going to wing it and see what happens.


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## jasonbraswell (Aug 18, 2019)

Nice. Looks like that thing can take flight with those boom arms!


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## BBLOCK (Jun 8, 2020)

How's that sprayer working out for you?

Any other new toys to add to the fleet yet?


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## Buffalolawny (Nov 24, 2018)

Are you looking into a tow behind gang reel mower for such a large acreage?


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## CenlaLowell (Apr 21, 2017)

I'm interested in that sprayer.... Boom arms are long. Do you plan on modifying the sprayer in anyway??


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## STI_MECE (Aug 4, 2020)

To be honest guys, I have yet to fire up the sprayer yet.  Along with trying to manage the lawn on weekends, I am rebuilding my father-in-laws 2002 F250 7.3L Powerstroke. I am about 2 weeks away from completing that project.

I need to turn the sprayer on and make sure it matches the calibration table I got in the manual. In regards to modifications, I won't know till I turn it on and start using it. I am sure there are going to be some things I want to change. The nice thing about this pump is that if my regulator is set below 60PSI the pump will continue to run and when not spraying.

I am holding off on spraying anything until I level out some ruts in the yard which I plan on starting in July. Going to get a full truck load (about 12 yards) and I am going to have to take time off work for that one because once I get that masonry sand delivered I ain't stopping till its out.

I am going to be using an AgFab 17 Cu. Ft. pull behind trailer to haul some sand around. Then I am going to just knock the sand down with a leveling rake I have. I do not need anything massive to spray the sand because these ruts are rather isolated to themselves. Whenever I had the trees trimmed, the Arborist did what he could to minimize the impact on the yard from the equipment.


After the ruts are filled, I am going to start using some MSMA and Dithiopyr L. But I really want to pick up a smaller sprayer of some sort first and try out a really small localized area to test the MSMA out and get comfortable with it.

As of right now, I am feeding portions of my lawn some slow release fertilizer. I am taking my 50lb spreader and just walking around the 5 acres with it. lol I am just trying to make sure the grass is getting its good before I start targeting these weeds and filling the ruts.


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## STI_MECE (Aug 4, 2020)

Buffalolawny said:


> Are you looking into a tow behind gang reel mower for such a large acreage?


Not at the moment. I think those gang reels are like a mob of reel mowers arent they? I was looking at them at first, but I can only imagine how often I would have to sharpen those blades considering all the crap on my lawn. It is not worthy of anything reel mower related.....yet lol Maybe one day.


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## STI_MECE (Aug 4, 2020)

These blades only have 6 hours on them....these are standard blades with the "optimum" amount of lift. Per Scag, optimum lift is one that offers the best balance in cutting whenever it's wet or dry.

I ordered a set of low lifts blade which are 1/4inch thick. They also have a cutting edge on both sides of the blade. And no swoop. Hopefully I can get more life out of these blades. Because that divot in the blade was so bad I could not get them in that area unless I removed material from the rest of the blade.



Scag Lo-Lift Blade


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## STI_MECE (Aug 4, 2020)

Had a alittle critter with me on the lawn today. Nice little fawn. I have some lumber and dirt over here and it had some tall thick grass. These fawns come around June July. I think I'm Gunna start leaving this area untouched for awhile to keep them safe.

I live a couple hundred feet next to a state forest.


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## STI_MECE (Aug 4, 2020)

What a disappointing year it has been. The house still isn't ready. Was supposed to be ready beginning of September and the house still doesn't have brick on it and HVAC is 50%. The inside of the house is still just sticks.

It's been a grueling battle with the contractor but I am hoping we finally got them lined out to finish this house.

The lawn has been neglected. I have had no ability to water the grass. I was going to get irrigation installed in the front half of the property but we actually had to buy nicer items for the house because cheaper stuff had no ETA on coming back in stock.

I have not had a chance to even fire up my pull behind sprayer. I have changed the blades on my scag mower to low lift blades. Sharpening after 6 hours (2 cuts) I have been able to extend the life of the blade much better. I have less blowout. And these things cut more grass without bogging.

There is one downside to low lift blades, they cant discharge the grass clippings very well or far when cutting tall grass down, pretty much a scalp cut. However, if you stick to the 1/3rd cut rule you will be fine. The blade by design doesn't generate the necessary lift to throw the clippings out nicely

I am installing a operator controlled discharge chute on the scag this weekend. I can essentially mulch the grass instead of discharging it to the side, this will help me prevent the cut grass from laying on top of the fresh grass.

Living here is a dream at this point. I am betting we will be in the house some time early next year.


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## SumBeach35 (Jul 11, 2019)

I feel your pain with the construction delays. Our property has been sitting idle until this last week when the concrete guy finally showed up after having his equipment there for 3 weeks. Did his work in a day and then had to wait for the inspection. Once he pours the footers and finishes the foundation for the addition, we can wait for the framers to get in there to start the main part of the work. We have had roof trusses sitting in the driveway since May.


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## STI_MECE (Aug 4, 2020)

Well, long story short, if you want the job done right, do it yourself. I ended up being my own GC on the house and finished it May31st. I was finally able to get my wife and baby in the house on April 1st. I got alot of carpentry tools now table saw, miter saw, levels, nailers all sorts of stuff. I did all the trim work myself. At the same time I subbed out the MEP's, painting and drywall etc.

It was a hell of a battle. The last 3 weeks before May 31st, I did my worky work job from the house on a fold out table, and slept on a air mattress. I worked on the house in the evenings. The last week i was going to bed around 3am-4am and getting up at 8am to work.

This was a defining moment in my life and i never wish anyone has to go through this. But I had to do it because I didn't want my wife to compromise on everything she wanted. With me doing the work, I got her everything she wanted.

Here is small glimpse of the living area. its a 40'deep x 35' wide.


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## STI_MECE (Aug 4, 2020)

Now on to the yard. I am getting 85sqft of the lawn covered with irrigation. 40 zones. 2 controllers.

Install will start in June. Next thing will be checking out fertilizer prices. I have not even glanced at them with all the craziness going on. Might be getting some celebration bermuda brought in and im just going to light it up with fertilizer.

I think im going to need to till or aerate some areas around trees. The soil a double feet down is like concrete clay, but some of these desolate areas are just compacted to death for whatever reason. I need to break it up and get it to spread.


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## STI_MECE (Aug 4, 2020)

Got irrigation installed on a good chunk of the lawn. I have 38 zones and operating it with the Hunter HCC metal enclosure.

Doing a baseline 20 minute run over the front. Going to bring in celebration Bermuda sod over the next few months and just keep soaking it.

I can't sod the entire yard because I couldn't water it all fast enough to keep it damp. Will be slow and steady


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## WillyT (Jun 26, 2019)

Looking good! Have you looked into sprigging Bermuda? Much cheaper and just as effective now that you have irrigation. I sprigged my yard this spring and others in the forum have also. Just throwing it out there as sod for that property would be expensive. Others on here have sodded an area of their yard and then sprigged it later to another section of the yard. Keep up the good work!


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## STI_MECE (Aug 4, 2020)

WillyT said:


> Looking good! Have you looked into sprigging Bermuda? Much cheaper and just as effective now that you have irrigation. I sprigged my yard this spring and others in the forum have also. Just throwing it out there as sod for that property would be expensive. Others on here have sodded an area of their yard and then sprigged it later to another section of the yard. Keep up the good work!


Thanks Willy! I think I might consider sprigging down the road. It really depends on how successful I am with keep fresh sod alive. I just did some GPH test on my zones, get this.... 1 zone will put out 3/16inch an hour. So my biggest challenge will be time. At some point we might put in a 500 gallon tank with a booster pump. Then I will be able to run more zones at once.

So around 33 zones are pure grass...trying to get 1 inch of water a week with head to head coverage, its going to take a minimum of 2.5 hours per zone to get just under 1 inch of water on the ground. so that means you are looking at 82.5 hours to give the yard 0.9375" of water a week.

I need a fire hydrant

I am going to need to optimize my calculations more to really see how to calculate the actual water on the ground. This was a conservative calculation but its evident I need to dig a little deeper to how much water an area gets when its irrigated by a second zone.

I know some areas will get covered by 4 sprinklers in 4 seperate zones so I will have to comb through every single zone and start measuring.


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## STI_MECE (Aug 4, 2020)

Going to pick up a 2022 Kubota L2501DT with a FEL hopefully this weekend. Going to use that to fill the ruts and holes and just small dirt work. Going to get the post hole digger and build a 3 rail fence at the front. Then subbing out the work to get a custom gate installed for driveway


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## DocTodd (9 mo ago)

Great job with the construction@STI_MECE !
It really is a labor to manage and manicure a larger property. This is our first summer on 5 acres and boy it can consume all your time very quickly.


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## STI_MECE (Aug 4, 2020)

@DocTodd , yeah the one thing I've learned is maintenance is everything. I'm mowing 1 time a week. And if I let it slip to 2 then I'm having to double cut. And that's only because the weedy stringy grass I'm cutting is too long and matted in top of the grass so I just have to go back the 2nd time and mulch it.

I am waiting for my edger attachment to come in for my Honda Versatach. Holding that string trimmer it might as well be 1 mile worth I'm holding it upright and walking lol

Got the new tractor yesterday. Kubota L2501DT, manual transmission and 4WD. I've never operated a front end loader before but I have several years of running the big old turbo diesel Ford tractors. It's funny this one is about 30 years newer than the Ford tractors I run brush hogs on and the controls are exactly the same.


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## DocTodd (9 mo ago)

STI_MECE said:


> @DocTodd , yeah the one thing I've learned is maintenance is everything. I'm mowing 1 time a week. And if I let it slip to 2 then I'm having to double cut. And that's only because the weedy stringy grass I'm cutting is too long and matted in top of the grass so I just have to go back the 2nd time and mulch it.
> 
> I am waiting for my edger attachment to come in for my Honda Versatach. Holding that string trimmer it might as well be 1 mile worth I'm holding it upright and walking lol
> 
> Got the new tractor yesterday. Kubota L2501DT, manual transmission and 4WD. I've never operated a front end loader before but I have several years of running the big old turbo diesel Ford tractors. It's funny this one is about 30 years newer than the Ford tractors I run brush hogs on and the controls are exactly the same.


I'm running on a shoestring budget at the moment. Got a commercial zero turn, and have been brushhoging with a 70 year old Ford 8N tractor. Not ideal by any means, but its what is in the budget for the time being. We also have a lot of cedar trees that need to be cut down, limbed up, and a bunch of other trees and fence lines that need some TLC. I think living out here this summer is helping clarify what all needs to be done over the next year, and helps set a better timeline in my head about how to go about it all.


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## STI_MECE (Aug 4, 2020)

I put down 10 yards of bank sand in about 6-8 hours with the tractor this weekend. I probably could have done it alot faster if i had the dirt dumped near where I was spreading it, but didnt want to create more ruts trying to fill ruts lol.

My fathers day gift was having extra time outside Sunday to organize my barn. Since I was building the house myself, the barn was a mess with all my carpentry gear, now most of that stuff is stored away.

Getting a 70 lb drag mat on Wednesday 6.5' x 4' (W x L) Link. This should help me knock the dirt down a lot faster than what what the bucket can do. I can back drag pretty well with the bucket to achieve what I want, but its the extra 10-20% knock down is what I'm really after.

Running around the yard with the front end loaded with dirt was a great way to find where the ruts were really bad. I ultimately just decided to throw the dirt down in groups and evenly space it out.

I did it in steps, first just kept making runs to get dirt and dropping each bucket where i wanted. After that, I put the bucket down close to the ground to knock the peaks off the mounds and disperse it a tad. Then I just dropped it in 3rd gear and and drove around in reverse. After i got the dirt spread out evenly, I started doing patterns like mowing. That made a big difference in knocking the dirt down.

Hopefully the drag mat will help with knocking the dirt down, I should be able to knock it down faster with the drag mat than the tractor.


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## Deltahedge (Apr 1, 2020)

STI_MECE said:


> Well, long story short, if you want the job done right, do it yourself. I ended up being my own GC on the house and finished it May31st. I was finally able to get my wife and baby in the house on April 1st. I got alot of carpentry tools now table saw, miter saw, levels, nailers all sorts of stuff. I did all the trim work myself. At the same time I subbed out the MEP's, painting and drywall etc.
> 
> It was a hell of a battle. The last 3 weeks before May 31st, I did my worky work job from the house on a fold out table, and slept on a air mattress. I worked on the house in the evenings. The last week i was going to bed around 3am-4am and getting up at 8am to work.
> 
> ...


That looks great. Congratulations on rising to the occasion, and doing an awesome job!!!


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## STI_MECE (Aug 4, 2020)

I dropped about 14 pallets of celebration bermuda here over two days.

This is the only picture I got prior to dropped the sod down. Day before laying sod I dropped 24-25-0 I forgot my application rate, I just had 6k sqft and one bag was good for 5k sqft, i dropped two bags over this area.

I think this place oversells these pallets, one pallet was good for 450 sqft, but I feel like I was covering 150% more than what they said. I ended up throwing another 2 pallets in some other spots on my property.

Just had the irrigation installed


June 16, 2022


June 21st, 2022


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## STI_MECE (Aug 4, 2020)

Prepping for more sod. I widened my driveway and had to reset the slope on the side. I needed just a few more yards to get it perfect. Not sure if I will order another load or just roll with it.


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## STI_MECE (Aug 4, 2020)

Well considering the heat we have here in Texas and luckily the irrigation was dropped in just in time. I'd say a small chunk of my front lawn I was able to salvage. This Bermuda I have in here spreads so well in this little area it's unreal.

You wouldn't believe me but I never put fertilizer down in this area just watered.

These two pictures were taken 60 days apart. 


Below is August 4th


I did drop a balance slow release fertilizer on it after I took the second picture. I did .75lb of N per 1k. I think it was a 7-9-5 blend.

This picture was 1.5 weeks after the second picture 


I'm having density problems in my back yard where I have trees. There is Bermuda there actively growing and it grows well it's always green but Its not growing runners or stolons. I don't understand why, is it actually the shade preventing that? Does it need more light to spread out? It only grows up.


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## STI_MECE (Aug 4, 2020)

Added a few more tools to my arsenal this weekend.


STIHL BR800 C-E Magnum
STIHL KM 111 R w/ Curved shaft edger
 RBG 750 w/ Dust Collector and Mulching Blade Attachment



I am extremely pleased with how much these tools cut my time down. With 900 feet of edging to do on my driveway, and alot of square footage on the driveway itself, these tools were a gods gifts.

My edging time typically took 1 hour, two tanks of gas and 3 refills on the trimmer. I rarely had enough energy to do it all in 1 go. Now my edging takes 12 minutes. and idk how much gas im burning but it didnt need to be refilled.

Blowing the driveway? Between 3 Milwaukee red battery packs, I only had enough patience for 30 minutes of blowing and get 40% of the driveway cleared off. Now, its a solid 20 minutes to blow the ENTIRE driveway and pretty much every single stick, grass clipping, stone blown away. The blower has a really nice side start feature where the pull cord is located on the side of the unit so you can start the unit with the blower on your back and you dont have to take it off to restart it.

I also ordered a RBG 750 unit for sharpening blades. I am on my third set of blades this year, and at this rate, if I can make a single set at least last one year, this unit will pay for itself in 4 years. It also has a flap disc to sharpen the mulching portion of a blade, which really is just the blade that has a wave in it and not completely flat.

LINK

Right now it takes about 10-15 minutes to sharpen my blades with the Oregon, I am expecting this unit to cut that time down in half, with way better results.

Alot more to come especially starting next year. Going to try and scoop up a 4500D or maybe smaller unit if a deal presents it self.


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## STI_MECE (Aug 4, 2020)

Did my first application of MSMA with my 101 gallon sprayer this weekend. This was my first time using a sprayer. Needless to say with the MSMA going in, I knew what was at stake.

I had just under 20k sqft I wanted to try this stuff out on. I set the tank at 30 PSI which, at a 5 mph pace, per the book it said 9.4 gallons per 10,000 sqft. I didn't have enough die, so I spaced some flags out every 15ft to use as my markers.

I ended up going with 40 gallons in total and 20oz of MSMA.

Everything went smoothly although I think these weeds were alot tougher than I thought. I can see little spots on the weeds that appear to show damage but it doesn't seem like a total kill.

I'm wondering if I should push 1.5 to 2oz per 1000sqft.

It's been several days and there is still no major obvious sign of death.

Getting the pressure dialed in on the pump was the hardest it would randomly move 5 psi, but the last half of the spray it was consistent.

At 30 psi the pump does act like a agitator which is nice. The only down side is when I go past the part I'm treating the pump has to be turned off, and it will lose pressure, the. You turn the switch back on to make another pass and then it takes about 1 seconds for it to pressurize. I wish I had a secondary switch that would open valve to nozzles.


The original leads to the pump were these dumb leads. I couldn't put my seat back on with them so I had to modify it. 




The switch sat in between my legs and I was turning the pump on/off.


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## STI_MECE (Aug 4, 2020)

Gotta love days like today. I was getting my mower ready for a fresh Saturday mow.

I didn't use my impact because I didn't want to wake my daughter. So I decided to use a shitty pair of vice grips and my nice wera 1/2inch wrench to tighten my blades.
Wife made me go to minor emergency emergency to get stitches.

My mower is ready to go tomorrow though! I put my mulching baffles back on.


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