# Marks Poa Supina journal



## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

2020

Jan - Mar
Iron sulphate for moss. Test different rates as to effects of moss killing, and how much is too much for the fescues at the front, ie makes the grass turn black. ✔ (edit: some info in posts further down this page).
Cut down/move trees.
Gly the celandine in the front fescue grass. ✔
Move black elder tree. Too much shade. ✔ Mar 14th 
Start sowing indoor pots of grass seed for plugging. ✔
Core aerate bare areas and sow winter beans as ground cover/green manure for composting and to fix some N in soil. ✔ Feb 14th and 19th.
Aerate, apply lime and top dress with sand and compost from my compost pile. ✔ well, no sand because I didn't get any...

Keep applying lime to adjust my 5.8pH to 6.5pH as per my 2019 soil test (which recommended to apply a total amount of lime at 7t/ha or 700g/m² or 143lbs/M). 
Apps done so far: Front area - June 2019 (33lbs/M), Nov 2019 (33lbs/M), March 2020 (60lbs/M). 
Back area - June 2019 (33lbs/M), Nov 2019 (33lbs/M), March 2020 (50lbs/M). Retest 2021.

Apr
Gly any celandine in the grass. Plug as required. ✔
Soil temps above 10C, apply Nematrident CT Plus chafer grub nematodes. edit: I've dug a few holes in various spots, it seems like the chafers are destroyed, the nematodes I applied last year have worked. I have noticed leather jacket grubs however, so buy the lj nematodes. https://www.nemasysinfo.co.uk/en/Products/Overview/NEMASYS-LEATHERJACKET-KILLER.html
Spray Triphos seaweed, humic and phosphite.✔
Start with organic slow release fertiliser.
Rates: Maxwell Mycorrhiza 7-2-8. 35g/m² is ½lb/M of N rate. ✔
Continue prepping for a reno of front lawn. I'm attempting to condition the soil with Vitax chicken manure, humic, sand and compost. Will crack on with leveling the area which will be akin to a cycling velodrome as per the slope I'm dealing with here. 
Will go with my poa supina/kbg seed mix as this front area is on a heavy soil and north and east facing with limited sunlight. The supina will probably dominate as the conditions favour it, I certainly hope so as thats a helluvalot better than the fescue mixes I've tried there which do not thrive.

May
Top dress back lawn with topsoil and compost and plug edges that failed last year. ✔
Triphos seaweed, humic and phosphite. ✔
Maxwell Advance Generate 12-3-9 ammoniacal based N. 20g/m² is ½lb/M of N rate. ✔
Organic slow release fertiliser. Maxwell Mycorrhiza 7-2-8. 35g/m² is ½lb/M of N rate. ✔
Spoon feed reno grass urea 46-0-0 at 2g/m² (0.2lb/M) dissolve and spray as required. 
May 24th PGR 25%AI at 2.5ml/100m². (oops, went with 5ml first app and had phytotoxicity, turned the grass at ground level a squishy yellowey brown)❌

June
Triphos seaweed, humic and phosphite.✔
6X pelleted chicken manure.✔

July
Triphos seaweed, humic and phosphite.✔
PGR 25%AI at 2.5ml/100m² (went with 2ml to be a bit safer, after getting burned in May)

August
Triphos seaweed, humic and phosphite.
PGR 25%AI at 3.5ml/100m²
Start N blitz. ✅

Sept
Triphos seaweed, humic and phosphite.
Crane fly leather jacket nematodes. First adult crane flys hatched Aug 7th. Nematodes go down 2 weeks after peak adult flight time.✅11 Sept


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

The last 3 months has pretty much been like this.
10C/50F, soil temps the same.


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## bigbew (Jan 23, 2020)

It's so frustrating up here, we're getting temps just below ten, but my soil temps are around 4 so nothing is going to germinate any time soon.

Hurry up, Spring!


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

9 days for germination! I'm getting excited for the season now...
The bigger pot at front is my crappy soil. Back right is same but topped with ¼" of bagged soil. Back left is bagged soil.

I wondered if my failed germination areas on my 2019 reno was due to my soil (I modified it slightly with sand) but it seems not. (Maybe the rains since then have flushed any contaminants out of the added sand that possibly caused failure). Probably failed due to rotted seed from over watering by hand.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Today, I spiked and heaved with a garden fork for a couple of hours on the front lawn. Was compacted a fair bit so it was music to my ears to hear the air escaping as the ground shifted when I heaved the fork. It spurred me on to keep at it.
Will be following up shortly with the next lime application.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Yesterday, sharpened mower blades and mowed at 1.5".
Finished spiking to the front reno area ready for lime app, too wet last week to work on soil.
Turned the compost heap. Compost is looking great, ready for using as a topdress. I'll mix it with some sand to make a 50:50 mix and get it in the holes I've made, after liming.
March 1st, applied moss killing rates of iron sulphate.
February 2020 was the wettest month on record for UK. 288mm or 11.3" rainfall for the month.


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## ScottW (Sep 16, 2019)

What have you found to be a moss-killing but fescue-sparing rate of iron sulfate?


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

@ScottW 
I use the following:



I go with 4g/m² for moss killing and observe no detrimental effects to the fescue grass. I'll rake out the black moss after a week or so.
I did observe blackening of the ff last season at the 5g/m² rate I did try out, the grass rebounded ok quite quickly.
Bear in mind that this is a 20% iron sulphate product.
I can't do the grams to ounces conversions right now. Hope that helps


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

If I wanted to go with that moss killing rate of 4g/m² over 93m² (1000sqft) then I'd be using 372 grams (13oz) of product. (13oz/M) Again, bear in mind this is a 20% strength product.

Make sure the moss is wet. If necessary, run irrigation first.

If you are going to use a watering can with a fine rose attachment then use about 30 litres of water. In that case that's 3 X 10 litre watering cans with 124g or 4.25oz of product per can. Spread the 3 cans evenly over the whole area.

If you are going to use a sprayer then use about 10 litres of water for the 93m2 (1000sqft). Mix the whole amount of iron sulphate in 10 litres. Spray evenly in both directions.

It is important to be mindful of temperature too. Do not apply at this high moss killing rate in summer. It must be cool (lower than 15C/60F) for this rate.


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## ScottW (Sep 16, 2019)

Thanks, that gives me some good info to start with. The product I have is chemically the same as yours, just with a different label on the container... iron sulfate heptahydrate, which is 20% iron by weight.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

@TheWhiteWizard FYI, if you type "4g/sqm to oz/1000sqft" in the Google search field, it will do the conversion.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

g-man said:


> @TheWhiteWizard FYI, if you type "4g/sqm to oz/1000sqft" in the Google search field, it will do the conversion.


 :thumbup: thanks


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Applied calcitic lime at 167g/m2 (33lbs/M) to the front.

Applied Vitax chicken manure at 100g/m2 (20lbs/M).


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Spent a whole day in the garden. Felt like some kind of karma, spring beating winter, even though I nearly couldn't move by the end of the day haha!


Spread another 80g/m2 (16lbs/M) of chicken manure to the front upcoming reno area to condition the soil.
Dug a few holes to check the soil out, It's not pretty atm. Noticed a few leather-jacket bugs, I'd been thinking they were chafer grubs but after doing a bit more thorough research, I'm now positive about the identification. Will adjust the nematode app accordingly.
Need to call Mr Hulk Hogan to help with the rocks I've found underground, this one is double the size of a basketball.


Forked 4 inch holes over some of the back lawn in anticipation of a lime application.

Decided to spray 2g/m2 of urea 46-0-0 (0.2lb/M of N) on the back lawn. Its been so mild and wet all winter and it looked like it could do with a little help.

Really want a lawn roller...


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## bigbew (Jan 23, 2020)

TheWhiteWizard said:


> Really want a lawn roller...


I picked up one from amazon, the garden gear one for 26 plus delivery. Haven't tested it yet but it seems solid enough and isn't too big for storage.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

bigbew said:


> TheWhiteWizard said:
> 
> 
> > Really want a lawn roller...
> ...


Sounds like a bargain! Let us know what you think of it


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Decided to go for it and spread another 27lbs/M of calcitic lime to the front future reno area. Total of 60lbs/M this month. I'm hoping that 10lbs/M over the recommended app rate won't cause me any problems. Been a bit of an eager beaver here but wanted the majority of the lime done before the reno.
I mowed at 1.5" then spiked more 4-6" holes before the app, then brushed in a 50:50 sand and compost mix. I'll be power raking and levelling after I kill all the celandine and grass with gly.

Soil test in spring 2019 recommended 143lbs/M total lime.

33lb/M in June 2019
32lb/M in Nov 2019
60lb/M in Mar 2020
125lb/M total. Theoretically bringing my pH to around 6.4


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

There is a safety factor in the 50lb/M recommendation as long as it is not a "fast acting" lime.


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## social port (Jun 19, 2017)

You have been busy already this year. I've also been making some lime applications. It is one of my favorite products to apply because the rate is heavy, so it feels like you are putting down a lot of product.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

social port said:


> You have been busy already this year. I've also been making some lime applications. It is one of my favorite products to apply because the rate is heavy, so it feels like you are putting down a lot of product.


I have! Best of all is that I'm loving it! 
I like applying lime too, it has a nice sweet smell :lol:


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Spiked the back lawn to 4" and applied calcitic lime at 250g/m² (50lbs/M)

Redefined a couple of borders.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Applied glyphosphate wherever I saw celandine and blanket sprayed the front area because it's infested good and proper. My concern now is what to do all spring and summer with the resulting bare areas. I will scarify and level. Haven't got a target seed down date yet. Shall I simply fallow and allow weeds etc to sprout? It's on a fairly significant slope, so heavy rain will cause runoff problems potentially.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Sprayed 2g/m2 of urea 46-0-0 (0.2lb/M of N) on the back lawn. Mixed it with Triphos seaweed, humic and phosphite at 50ml/100m2.
Plugged a few bare patches with some tester pots. Noticed some tiny grass sprouting. Is it the seed I put down last autumn or something else? Hoping its not triv but its a possibility so it will be monitored.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Mowed at 1.25" then put my new homemade lute to work today. Made a mix of 3 parts compost to 1 part topsoil and topdressed. Adding a bit of weight on the lute really made it work well.
Applied 35g/m² (½lb/M of N) of organic Maxwell myco1 afterwards and watered it all in.
Felt good to do that, the compost is nice and dark. I'm already looking forward to using maybe sand next time for more levelling.
Hoping the grass will start filling the gaps soon.



Putting the el cheapo lute to work. It's fab!


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## Chris LI (Oct 26, 2018)

Hey Mark, those thin/bare areas you were concerned about last fall are slowly starting to fill in. You're definitely on the right track with what you've done so far. It's enjoyable to watch your progress. Good luck!


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Chris LI said:


> Hey Mark, those thin/bare areas you were concerned about last fall are slowly starting to fill in. You're definitely on the right track with what you've done so far. It's enjoyable to watch your progress. Good luck!


Hey thanks for the encouragment Chris, its much appreciated. I do hope things are improving, regarding the soil mostly, then the grass surely has a better chance to look decent right? I'm patiently doing what I can to amend things and enjoying the work on the way. I know the grass type I chose isn't to everyones taste but lets see how it peforms this year and we'll take another look at the end of the season.

If you look closely, you can see I've cheated a little by cutting wider borders, this has amplified the filling in effect lol. But don't look too closely please :lol: , the bare areas have quite a few weed type grasses, both semi mature and baby size. I'm digging the odd few out on occasion but I believe that once I've defined a new back border I will be mixing some glypho up, hitting a strip on the edge of the border and reseeding.

My wife and I had to use a pick axe to make a few planting holes on that back border because of the rocks underground. Whoever built this place was very lazy and buried so much stuff. We are pretty much finished with planting for now, so next I'm thinking I'll define the border with a few bricks and get some mulch down.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

TheWhiteWizard said:


> Applied glyphosphate wherever I saw celandine and blanket sprayed the front area because it's infested good and proper. My concern now is what to do all spring and summer with the resulting bare areas. I will scarify and level. Haven't got a target seed down date yet. Shall I simply fallow and allow weeds etc to sprout? It's on a fairly significant slope, so heavy rain will cause runoff problems potentially.


That was 2 weeks ago, slow spring growth rates and here's where we are at 5th April...



And 8th April...



I'm about to give the area another blanket of gly as its calm dry weather today.

edit: I gave this area a spray of urea at 1/2lb/M to get it growing before the first gly app


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Got my meat thermometer today. Here it's modelling against a backdrop of poa supina panicles that are in full flush in early spring.
I'll be mowing shortly.


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## Chris LI (Oct 26, 2018)

Good luck the spring reno!


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Chris LI said:


> Good luck the spring reno!


I have no seed down date yet. I think it might be a way off as I've quite a lot of groundwork to do that I haven't started or mentioned yet. At this point I'll say that its going to involve shovelling a few tons from the front to the back and vice versa. A swop of soil from the front with coal ash from the back. The lovely previous owners of the house deposited their coal fire ash in the garden around the veggie patch area and there is not enough depth of soil to grow grass properly. I have spent years adding organic matter to the veggie patches after initially digging a massive pit and disposing of large ash clumps, and the veggies are getting more productive each year. However, I have done nothing to the surrounding grassed areas other than top dressings and fert, but an overhaul is needed. :| I'm really looking forward to this bit...not! 
I believe I can get away with mixing in some of the ash with the heavy front soil, while sieving out and disposing of the larger clumps. Any thoughts welcome as always.


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## Chris LI (Oct 26, 2018)

That sounds like a lot of work! I've used wood ash a little bit from my fire pit, but I had to look up coal ash for its nutrient value and other properties. In a nutshell, the NPK is generally 0-1-3 with a pH of 6.5. It can have a slight alkalizing effect if your soil is acidic, according to a couple of scientific papers I looked up (with it a neutral pH of 7.0, I'm not sure how much pH will really be pushed higher with a 6.5 amendment). It also has some calcium and boron. It should help with the heavy soil and is free.

Just keep at it with adding the OM. That will always help. Just curious, what have you been doing to add OM? I mulch leaves each fall, starting very early, so they break down more quickly with warmer temperatures. Sawdust is also very good, if you can find some in bulk without treated wood in the mix. Composting is another option if you already haven't done so yet.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

@Chris LI Thank you for looking up the info on coal ash, I was concerned a while ago after reading articles about industrial coal ash waste, but a couple of years later and the coal ash that's been left behind by previous owners hasn't killed me or the grass yet so after I spread it out over a much wider area, rather than where they dumped it in concentrated areas, I imagine it will have a much lesser effect on things anyway. Home owner coal fires are probably very different to industrial ones and hopefully produce less toxic waste but I couldn't find definitive info on it.

My pH should be approaching 6.5 this year, after starting liming apps last year after a soil test. My calcium and boron were slightly low so if the coal ash does have some thats cool with me.

Regarding organic matter, in 2019 I used a 2" top dressing of racing horse composted manure, the stuff they eat contains no pathogens. I've been creating my own compost more seriously since 2018 and use that as a top dressing when possible. The spring summer fert I use is composed of organic bone meal, feather meal and cocoa shells. I also apply concentrated poultry manure a few times a year. I don't get too many leaves fall in my lawn, the hedge you see in my photos surrounds my property and keeps most things out.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Just a little side update about moss killing in an area I volunteer to help out with.

This lawn didn't get much attention over the last 5 months as it was a very mild wet winter. There was an infestation of moss here.
We applied iron sulfate at 4g/m2 (13oz/M) to this lawn on March 30th. 
The temperatures have been 12C/54F. 
10 days later it looks like this. See where we missed with the watering can application! :lol:





There is minimal blackening of between 2-5% of the grass blades.
We will lightly scarify the blackened moss out and reapply iron sulfate at 3g/m2 (10oz/M) to finish it off next week.



ScottW said:


> What have you found to be a moss-killing but fescue-sparing rate of iron sulfate?


Bit more info here for you Scott.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Deleted


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Mowed at 2½" and ran the thin tine dethatcher over again, two weeks after the last light dethatch and iron sulfate. Dropped it down an extra notch. We raked out roughly 2500l of material!
It's far too dry for another iron application and there's no rain forecast this week so it'll have to wait a bit for more iron to finish killing the moss completely.
It's looking bruised 😅 but it'll bounce back soon hopefully.
It's desperate for some fertilizer too but that will also have to wait unfortunately, I can't babysit the sprinklers because of only being allowed out once a day atm.
Temps are 15C/60F average this week.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Sprayed urea at 2g/m² (0.2lbs/M of N) and iron sulfate at the same rate on the back 2019 reno'd lawn this morning as I saw a rain shower coming lunchtime, so that sat on the grass blades for 3 hours before being watered in.
Daytime temps averaging 16C/61F this week. Apart from possible brief showers today and tomorrow, theres no rain forecast for another week here to make it the driest 4 week period I've ever known.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

It's been an abnormally dry spring so far, I had to to water the grass, I can't recall ever having to do this in April before. 
I put down 1/2lb of N via some ammoniacal nitrogen 12-3-9 I had delivered the other day.
The 2019 reno grass so far has had 1/2lb of organic N and two sprays of urea at 0.2lb/M of N, so I'm at 1.4lb/M of N so far.

I'm seeing more and more baby grass poking up and it seems like its coming from the rhizomes of the kbg and/or the stolons of the poa supina. I'm really happy about that as its noticable mainly in the bare areas  
Pulled some weed grass and this beauty was some unfortunate collateral damage. It's spreading yay!


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## bigbew (Jan 23, 2020)

Rhizomatic for the people!


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## Chris LI (Oct 26, 2018)

bigbew said:


> Rhizomatic for the people!


That should be in a university textbook!


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

@bigbew @Chris LI haha! :lol:

Mowed today, 5 days after previous mow, this stuff is really taking off!

I've been throwing soil around in the front reno area to level for days now, its amazing how much it was out of shape.
North facing. Hill. Slope. Heavy shade. 
This is a difficult area to work with so far but I want to address it as best as I can this season until its ready for seeding later on.
So far, I've destroyed existing green growth with two apps of glyphosphate.
There are highs and lows of roughly 3 inches.

I'm concerned about the amount of root system still in the ground. When I use a garden spade to dig down into the high spots, I only can manage to tear up 2 inches of what resembles a coir doormat, its full of roots both thin and thick. I am trying to remove as many roots as possible but I doubt I will get them all.




I think I'll spring sow something immediately after levelling to establish some roots to hold the soil in place (its a fair slope). Kill off everything again in late summer and sow desired grass seed.
I'd briefly considered leaving it bare to encourage weed seeds etc ready for another kill before sowing but with the slope I'm on here, I reckon the soil will end up washed to the bottom.


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## Chris LI (Oct 26, 2018)

I'm not sure if it applies to your situation, but I had a situation where dense surface tree roots from a maple spread beyond the canopy, into my vegetable garden. I bought a long bladed square point, landscaper's spade, used for edging, and I cut an edge in, at the perimeter of the garden. I buried the spade all the way to the foot pad and stripped out whatever roots I could, and left the rest to rot over time. I think it worked pretty well. It might be worth a try for you, unless you think you really need to remove all the roots.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Hand raked, mowed, raked again, mowed again. Mowed off plenty poa annua seedheads. I also have spots of quackgrass/common couch/Elymus repens in the lawn. Been hand pulling as much as possible. The hand raking before mowing exposed the true height/extent of it and I mowed it off at 1.75". Time for the kbg and supina to step up and compete.
Daytime temps 17C, lows of 8C.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

I had tried a few weeks ago the method of painting any weed grasses (pretty much couch/quackgrass) with a glyphosphate glove. Dipped my triple gloved fingers in a pot of gly and painted tips of weed grass. I thought I was being careful but I must of been heavy handed as it resulted in dead spots with a yellow surrounding area. I thought it would only affect the isolated plant leaves I painted. I'm torn about the result. On the one hand I hate the dead and yellow spots it results in for several weeks, on the other it felt good to kill the invaders. Without doing it, I think I'd get too far behind in the overall battle vs weed grasses. I'm not sure about doing the gly glove again, I'll stick to teasing the weed grass out with a screwdriver in the meantime.
I plugged with my bulb planter, taking donations from unneeded spots and putting them in the dead spots. The good grass is bouncing back, there is definitely less weed grass noticable and the good grass is getting aggressive.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Yesterday I sprayed Triphos (seaweed, humic and phosphite), along with 2g/m2 of 46-0-0 urea (0.2lb/M of N). Ran the irrigation for 1/2" of water this morning. Total of 1.6lb/M of N so far. I'm pushing a bit more N this year to get the grass to fill in. I feel it won't take long as this poa supina is aggressive! 
The panicles are pretty much done which I'm glad about, the purple seedheads were interesting for a while, they seemed to be producing seed heads for about 4 weeks.
Although this was a 15% supina 85% kbg blend, this "Supreme" cultivar of supina is dominating more and more. I personally love the colour, I call it at about 6 at the moment and it will get a touch darker, but I'm mostly happy about the uniformity and health of the grass compared to previous years with a no mix weed fest.

I've picked up a bottle of tnex which I'll start using shortly, its a first for me, I'm excited to try it.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Dropped a high rate of iron at 4g/m2 (13oz/M) yesterday. Had a few spots of moss lingering in bare areas, so I went for it. I've dropped this rate many times before with rarely any ill effects. I'll drop the rate for higher summer temps. Temps only rising to 17C/63F this week, no rain forecast.
I'll run the irrigation again this morning for another 1".


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## Butter (Nov 14, 2017)

@Mark B Looking good! What is the green weeping Japanese Maple in your garden? Viridis? 
Its really nice!


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Butter said:


> @Mark B Looking good! What is the green weeping Japanese Maple in your garden? Viridis?
> Its really nice!


Thanks! Yes, it's a 'Viridis'. You know your maples  Have you got one/ thinking of getting one?
Ours is 14 years old. 7' x 7'. Great autumn color! We've pruned a little gap in ours and planted my fave variety 'Shirazawanum aureum' in there (full moon maple). Kinda ran out of prime space so tried it there lol, we can see it perfectly from the kitchen everyday now. Also pruned out that stupid looking branch just now, that was in the last photo you saw :lol: it was a bit thick for the secateurs, needed a handsaw. I'm so timid when it comes to pruning trees.


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## Butter (Nov 14, 2017)

@Mark B
I don't have a Viridis, maybe someday. I am a bit of a plant nerd. I do have a pretty cool Tamukyama. There are pictures of it in my lawn journal if you want to check it out. 
I really like how you nestled the full moon in there and I know what you mean about being timid with the pruners.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Mark B said:


> Dropped a high rate of iron at 4g/m2 (13oz/M) yesterday. Had a few spots of moss lingering in bare areas, so I went for it. I've dropped this rate many times before with rarely any ill effects. I'll drop the rate for higher summer temps. Temps only rising to 17C/63F this week, no rain forecast.
> I'll run the irrigation again this morning for another 1".


This app has burnt parts of the kbg grass. Maybe that is no surprise to some of you but it kind of was to me. I guess it is the first time I've applied this rate to kbg and supina. Maybe they are less tolerant types of grass to the fescue mix I used to have. It has also only rained here for one day in 6 weeks which is extremely rare for me to have to deal with. I have been watering for an hour/1" per week so maybe (probably) my soil does not hold moisture well as it is currently low in organic matter. I probably should have watered the day before the iron, not the day after.





Sharpened blade and mowed at 1.75"/45mm. I'm very happy that it is filling in well, the grass is taking advantage of the fertiliser and this lovely spring!


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## RCUK (Jul 16, 2018)

Hey Mark, that burn looks exactly what I had and my drop rate was half of yours. Had plenty of die off unfortunately but it did recover.

Overall the lawn looks great :thumbup:


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

RCUK said:


> Hey Mark, that burn looks exactly what I had and my drop rate was half of yours. Had plenty of die off unfortunately but it did recover.


That's interesting. I am sure the grass will recover. 
If you put 2g/m2 (6.5oz/M) and had leaf burn then is the main factor of leaf burn the amount of moisture in the soil? We have had next to no rain for weeks. Or is this type of grass really that much more susceptible to iron burn? I rarely had any problems with 4g/m2 (13oz/M) on fine and chewings fescue types. I have never had issues with 2g/m2 on any grass type. Parts of the burns were from application error on my part.



RCUK said:


> Overall the lawn looks great :thumbup:


Thanks, I'm attributing that to fertiliser and of course spring weather. Our winter was mild and very wet and probably depleted nitrogen availability due to leaching. I didn't think to fertilise in the constant 5-10C (40-50F) winter temps, however maybe that was what was needed. A little spoon feed for replenishment? I allowed pearlwort weed to establish and go unchecked during the winter due to weaker grass, and I am currently dealing with it as a result.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

I've been battling with pearlwort weed for years now without ever identifying it. I hand pull it whenever I can but it's always lurking somewhere. Now I'm getting more and more into lawn care, I used the PlantNet app recently to identify the weed. Seems like the wet winter we had encouraged it to spread far more than I can culturally manage. Thankfully it is susceptible to selective weedkiller so I'm spot spraying from this week.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Over the last week I've sprayed glyphosphate on the areas I have to remove old coal ash the old owners buried. It's clear there is not enough depth of soil to hold sufficient nutrients for good grass, so I will dispose of the worst it and bring new topsoil in. I had an idea to spread the ash thinly elsewhere but realise that is lazy of me and not the best idea.

Made lots of headway levelling the front and the soil is settling and sprouting weeds during this fallowing period. I've thrown in various old random seeds in there I had lying about as well just to have some roots holding the soil on the slope.

May 20th I mowed at 45mm and spread another 1/2lb N of ammoniacal 12-3-9 on the 2019 reno area to total 2.1lb N so far. It is growing and filling in really well.

About to go for it with my first ever PGR app on a small test area. I'm using a cheap 25% strength tnex. 5ml/100m2.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

PGR applied to test area at 5ml of 25%AI of tnex.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Well I won't lie, I spent another few hours on my butt holding a screwdiver teasing quackgrass and annual rye out of the grass today. What the hell, I'm all in haha! :lol: (I'm sure I heard the neighbours giggling at something at one point!) It's kind of therapeutic when you manage to tease out the underground stems of quackgrass. I mostly get the whole root system but on occasion one will break underground, these might well produce another plant later. 
I am hoping that the summer will be kind with some ridiculous heat to burn out the rest of these undesirable weed grasses I have lurking.
Top dressed with a 70-30 soil and peat moss blend to fill the holes I made, along with a little fresh grass seed.
I'm undecided about what HOC to go forward with. I'm at 1.75"/45mm. Do I go 2.5" and get some better photosynthesis going for better growth/health? Or a tad lower, 1.5" to continue promoting rhizomes and stolons for thickening? *Shrugs


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## Chris LI (Oct 26, 2018)

Do you like 1.75"? If so, maybe stick with it. If you want to go a little shorter, I would do it right away, before summer hits. You may have to up your mowing frequency a little at the lower HOC. 2.5" will yield a darker color albeit with less density, but also lower mowing frequency.

FYI- Work is crazy for me right now and I missed two mows at 1.5", so I will have to break out the rotary and mow at 2"-2.5". I might not be able to get it back down to 1.5" anymore this season.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Chris LI said:


> Do you like 1.75"? If so, maybe stick with it. If you want to go a little shorter, I would do it right away, before summer hits. You may have to up your mowing frequency a little at the lower HOC. 2.5" will yield a darker color albeit with less density, but also lower mowing frequency.
> 
> FYI- Work is crazy for me right now and I missed two mows at 1.5", so I will have to break out the rotary and mow at 2"-2.5". I might not be able to get it back down to 1.5" anymore this season.


Decisions decisions! Thanks for the reminder about missing mows and it being difficult to recover lower HOCs. 
I guess I like 1.75" but I am flexible on it. My main concerns are having density for aesthetics and weed cover, but giving the grass the ability to dry out as quickly as possible to avoid potential fungus or disease issues. (To date, I have never applied a fungicide and I do not have any to hand). However, I am always up for having the grass a tad darker at a higher HOC, but have concerns that higher HOCs take longer to dry out. As we do not have a large lawn, it does receive a fair amount of gentle traffic.
Why would you recommend going shorter asap before summer hits?

I have a new tool to my arsenal this year, tnex PGR, I applied my first app a few days ago so I'm hoping that will give me greater flexibility regarding mowing frequency, along with other benefits. I feel like I will be in quite a different position in a short space of time and I will be happy with the density. I've been making holes in the lawn by pulling out grassy weeds and roots and I've been mowing every 4-5 days since late March.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

What a wonderful sight! Great cool season growing weather.


Fallowing the front 2020 reno area.
Plenty of weeds and weed grass popping up. Better growing (ready to round up) now than coming up with the baby grass later.


May 27th I mowed at 1.75"/45mm. Over the next few days I will be keeping an eye on the difference (if any) to the tnex PGR test area and the rest of the lawn for differences in growth rates. It was half the full rate, first ever app for me so I am not expecting a massive difference but I'm interested all the same.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

The tnex 25%AI PGR (5ml/100m²) seems to have stressed the grass on the test area. It's expendable grass here so whatever happens, happens. I have not pulled any weed grasses out of this small area, and it looks like they are the ones suffering the most.

Scalped with the rotary on lowest setting a few days ago and applied second lot of round up to all areas needing renovation.

As the sun was going down, I got a couple of overhead snaps.


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## Chris LI (Oct 26, 2018)

That's a thick carpet you have! :thumbup:


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

@Chris LI Thanks Chris, now if I can manage to get it looking like this all over...😅 It is getting there fast to be fair.

I've noticed a couple of spots of rust show up this week, just around the edges and mainly on the kbg, so I believe the mower wheels have spread it a little. 
Going to spray some urea N on it to attempt to help it grow out.
I want to mow tomorrow evening at a new HOC of 1.35". I'll now need to cut when it hits 2", I like this range.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.

Here is a triple whammy of the bad stuff in my garden today.

A profile of the "soil" in an upcoming reno spot. This one shows the value of digging a hole to have a look see what is going on and causing problems. I have barely 2" of topsoil followed by an abundance of pain in the form of coal ash buried by previous neglectful and lazy owners. I realised this a while ago but it didn't fill me with joy thinking about dealing with it, so I haven't dealt with it until now. The grass showed signs of yellowing roughly 4 months after germination and went slowly downhill from there, thinning, weeds taking over and not responding to care. I am digging the coal ash out by hand, disposing of it properly and replacing with topsoil.


8th Nov and today. 



Not surprisingly, these crane fly larvae are taking advantage of terrible soil conditions and chomping on any remaining roots they can find. I missed my spring nematode app due to unseasonal dry conditions but the birds helped me out today, there were several robins and blackbirds keeping me company as I dug, greedily gobbling the larvae as I exposed them while shifting the topsoil.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

After making many trips to the recycling centre, I have completed the removal and disposal of several tons of coal ash and subsoil. After skimming the top 2" of top soil and moving it to the side, I dug out roughly 4-5" of coal ash over a 30m² area. About 300sqft. 
There is quite a dense orange subsoil with a lot of rocks at 6-7" depth which is my limit of excavation. I can't use machinery due to the sloped layout so its all being done by hand.

Some of the material at the top layer containing some topsoil I ran through a garden sieve, and I have a pile of about half a ton of 8mm screened blend of coal ash and soil. Not 100% sure what to do with that yet, maybe I'll spread it thinly at the 7" depth, maybe I should throw it thinly over the soil in the front that is fallowing and mix it with the heavy soil there.

I'll backfill with the set aside topsoil and fallow it for a while.

Will get the remaining 4" fresh topsoil in soon but not quite yet. I have to run the solid plate scarifier over the second half of the front section, bag mow the debris, rotivate and add home made compost and start the fallowing process there too. Hope to finish the fallow of the front by July and then get the topsoil in, level and seed in August.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Mark B said:


> Will get the remaining 4" fresh topsoil in soon but not quite yet. I have to run the solid plate scarifier over the second half of the front section, bag mow the debris, rotivate and add home made compost and start the fallowing process there too. Hope to finish the fallow of the front by July and then get the topsoil in, level and seed in August.


I am always hopeful in my thinking, however many times I sweep reality under the carpet. This time, reality was hiding underground. :? 
So I did bag mow and scalp the debris etc etc, but I also removed another ballpark figure of 2 tons of stone in this reno area. In the past, whenever I've forked holes into the lawn and heaved backwards a bit for what some may call aerification, I have hit many lurking rocks just a whisper underground. I had this opportunity to have them gone so I went for it. I could bore anyone reading with details of pulled ligaments and swollen tendons but lets just move on. Please be careful if you decide to use a hand held fork to lever basketball size stones out of your soil.

OK so I'm finally done with the heavy foundation work. Fallowing is going well, plenty of undesirables have reared their ugly heads and I have gly'd them twice so far.

I'm hoping for a delivery of 5 tons of topsoil next week. My mate will loan me a wheelbarrow to help me get the soil where it's needed.

I have scalped the 2019 reno lawn area down to the lowest setting on the rotary mower and it looked like crap immediately. All the colour dissapeared and the high and low spots were brutally exposed. I kinda expected such and had faith and 3 days later there is plenty of new green growth coming through. I'm almost ashamed to say that @jrubb42 Going Low journal has been inspirational because I surely should have commented on it earlier. Thank you for your documentation and for the members that commented on it and have ultimately helped me out with my decisions.

I have bought a battery powered reel mower and it will be delivered tomorrow.

Sharpened the rotary blade.

On the menu is topdressing for levelling, the lawn is stressed for now so I'll hold.
More PGR is on the menu, the test plot I did has educated me, although now I am in a different position, but suffice to say, I like it! I would never have said that after a week of the initial application but long term you can see the effects are very beneficial especially if only doing a brief visual analysis.

I'll edit soon with a few images.

Peace.


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## Chris LI (Oct 26, 2018)

"Please be careful if you decide to use a hand held fork to lever basketball size stones out of your soil."

Your entire post was well thought out and detailed. This excerpt is absolutely hilarious! I love dry British humor!


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

@Chris LI thanks 

June 17th and 22nd. Took it down from just over 2" to lowest on the rotary (½"?) It took away the colour and scalped the lowest spots to bare dirt. 
In this first picture, my glass marks the line I sprayed the pgr beyond.
Yes I had a beer for courage before going for it, and yes I had a beer after to help with recovery from shock! :lol:



PGR line and starting to regrow from the crowns a few days later.
June 27th Used my new reel mower at 14mm.
Sprayed urea N at 2g/m² (0.2lb/M) to aid recovery. Also 1ml/m² of molasses to help the microbes.



Reverse angle.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Put down chicken manure 3-2-2 at 75g/m² (½lb/M of N) as we have some good rain in the forecast.
Temps have dropped, 18C daytime, where did the summer go?
Over seeded some bare patches.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

I put my first 5ml/100m2 of 25% PGR down on a test patch with a 1½" HOC on May 24th and am still waiting for the rebound effect.
I now know that was a high rate for the first ever app of pgr, it equates to roughly 10ml/100m2 (0.33floz/M) of tnex 11.5%.

Base temp at 6c, GDD is showing 334.
Base temp at 0c, GDD is showing 568.
I do not fully understand why there is such a big difference in the GDD figures.

edit: 39 days from May 24th times by 6 (degrees C) is 234, which is the difference in GDD. Still learning...

I want to go into rebound so that I can confirm how many GDDs it takes to do so. Then I can fine tune my applications of PGR based on visual data like clipping yields, and data from the greencast site.

edit 2: I experienced significant visual rebound on my pgr app at around 550-600GDDs. It might well have been in rebound before this but damn the grass was growing fast at 600GDDs.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Yesterday I brushed in the chicken manure which had swollen in the rain but was still sitting on top of the grass, then mowed at 39mm/1.5". It just took a few tips off. It's taken 10 days to grow an inch after the 14mm/0.5" scalping.
Aim is to get it thick again at 1.5" before dropping to 1.25"/32mm and then ultimately 0.9"/23mm setting on the new reel mower. I want a low cut to help it dry quicker in our often cool and wet climate. I love the low mow look now!


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

July 5th I mowed at 1.25". The scalped areas are recovering well. The new growth popping up here is encouraging. I had never scalped like that before and was a bit worried lol.


July 6th Sprayed weedkiller for pearlwort which is still lurking in some areas very low in the canopy, and a few spots of broadleaves.
Plan to spray PGR on July 16th, 10 days after weedkiller as per the label.
Also sprayed gly on to be reseeded areas.

July 8th I mowed at 1.25" in a 3 hour window of dry weather during a 36 hour rain period, ugh. It will be dry for at least 5 days from tomorrow. Temps 21C/70F max.

Ordered 2 tons of topsoil for filling and 2 tons of 50:50 sports sand/topsoil mix for seeding. I hope that will be better than the 4 tons of excavated coal ash.

Plan to mow at 0.9" on July 10th.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Mowed every 2 days for the last 2 weeks. HOC now at 0.9"/23mm. Grass is looking great atm, and the new reel mower is giving such a superior cut to the grass blades, very happy. It even leaves a few stripes.

This morning I sprayed 2g/m² of urea N (0.2lbs/M) along with seaweed, humic and phosphite. Current total 3.2lbs/M. Rain has come in 2 hours later and will be on and off for 4 hours.

Did some final rough levelling on the reno section at the front this morning and then the new topsoil arrived. I started using the plain topsoil to fill the back excavated areas until the weather turned wet. Had to cover the soil up, want to get that spread asap, maybe I can do some more in between the rain this pm.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Here is a picture of the two different types of soil I'm using.
The spadeful on top is the plain Baileys topsoil (with the only piece of junk I had to pull out and discard), underneath is the 50:50 sports sand and topsoil 4mm screened reno mix.



Both are great, I'm very happy with it. Spreads easily.
The plain topsoil is a sandy loam, good stuff.
The 50:50 I'm using to seed into, also using to topdress/level some parts of my lawn.

The only delay has been that I realised that I needed to trim the hedges so that the task wouldn't disturb the reno. That has taken me the best part of 2 days


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Sabre PGR goes down today at 2ml/100m².

edit: tank mixed with 0.5g/m² of urea and 2g/m² of Fe.

Estimate 280 GDDs on Aug 5th


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## RCUK (Jul 16, 2018)

Good choice! At the last second I switched the order to the 50:50.

Are you doing a complete renovation?


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

RCUK said:


> Good choice! At the last second I switched the order to the 50:50.
> 
> Are you doing a complete renovation?


Yes, in the front where the fescues never thrived because of shade and buried rocks. Its been fallowing for months, I dont know how I've got away with it!😂
Parts of the back I am doing again also.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Love the new Einhell cordless double battery system I bought into a month ago!
I have used the reel mower 3 times a week for 4 weeks now and it outperforms the self propelled rotary by a wide margin. Light (good for my slopes), scissor cut quality, battery spins the reel so no worries about how fast you need to push, and just easy to use. Even stripes a bit with the rear roller. Has an alley key adjustment for the reel to bedknife that took getting used to but I'm there now and it is great.
Only the blower/vac needs two batteries to work (lasts for 20 minutes with 2 x 4.0Ah batteries). The extendable hedge trimmer is brilliant. Small hedge trimmer is average.
edit May 2021: I bought the Einhell Sprayer GE-WS 18/75 and this is a brilliant sprayer for me. I'm really happy I bought into this X-Change range


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Edged and mowed at 23mm. Spread 70g/m² (1lb/M of N) of organic Maxwell mycorrhiza + bacillus 7-2-8 bone meal, feather meal and cocoa shells for the rest of the summer. I timed it before 2 hours of rain came to water it in. That will last 8 weeks until the fall blitz when I will switch to urea 46-0-0. I am at 4.2lbs of N for the season so far. This is grow-in year so N has been heavier. 
Temps are not even close to high.
20C/68F forecast for the next week, we are stalled at this temp for a few weeks now. Grass is happy, it's enjoying being at 23mm and its getting nicely thick and dense. I have a 14mm setting on the reel and I really want to go there...


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Something came to me whilst out and about today. I need to be careful with using the thin tine dethatcher for any debris removal on the supina grass as it is stoloniferous. Not too low to so as not to rip up the stolons. I will have to play around with the settings. Or maybe sharpen the scarifier up real sharp so as to act as a verticutter and slice thru them lol. Hmmm.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

2 weeks ago I spread 50:50 new topsoil and sports sand. Worms are coming up for a looky lou already! Pretty much ready for seeding. I am watching the forecast now, just waiting for primetime!  






Just for comparison, these are during last years reno. Too much overhanging shrubbery shading and just plain bad weather causing the resulting drips from the plants to cause germination fail, booo.




Lets continue... Around the veggie and fruit patches.








2 days after levelling. There are urban foxes living in the forest that come into the street for food that some people put out for them. They seem to like to lounge in my corner plot using the hedges as cover. They are wrecking my levels within days! :roll: 😅
I'm not sure how this will affect things after I drop the seed and can't walk there to fix anymore.


A few of the rocks that I mentioned digging out: @Chris LI


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## Chris LI (Oct 26, 2018)

Looking great all around! You've made a lot of progress. The before/after photos of the backyard really show the pruning/clearing has made quite a difference...and those boulders, wow!


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Chris LI said:


> Looking great all around! You've made a lot of progress. The before/after photos of the backyard really show the pruning/clearing has made quite a difference...and those boulders, wow!


Thanks. Yep, those areas failed the screwdriver test.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Seed down was yesterday! A whole month earlier than last year.
One upside to rubbish summer temps is that one can bring forward seeding dates. 


A person I visited had an old rusty lawn roller lying about, so I made an enquiry about it and they were happy to get rid! A little grease and she ran smooth as ice.

Raked, seeded at 15g/m² (3lbs/M), raked, rolled. Weird how it takes so long. I guess the weird layout slowed me significantly.
Tenacity at 4 floz/acre or 2.9ml/100m². Nice steady rain, about 4mm over 4 hours next morning, perfect!
Not sure how the poa supina seeds in the mix will respond to the tenacity. 85% kbg 15% poa supina.







Plan to spread Maxwell myco 4-6-12 organic slow release tomorrow as a starter fertiliser.
https://www.pitchcare.com/shop/maxwell-turf-food-myco-2-4-6-12-4mg-20kg.html
The tester pots I have done including this fert show increased root mass, compared to control pots. Also I'm building K levels as per my soil test so this fert fits the bill for me.


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## RCUK (Jul 16, 2018)

Looks fantastic Mark, great work! Smooth like butter that sand/soil, love it.

A few questions if you don't mind?

Did you lay the sand on top or blend into native soil?

Did you spray Tenacity before seeding or after or it doesn't matter? Not sure myself as haven't used it before during seeding.

Good luck with the renovation. I was planning to seed this coming week but temps are showing 30C+ for Friday/Saturday.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

RCUK said:


> Looks fantastic Mark, great work! Smooth like butter that sand/soil, love it.
> 
> A few questions if you don't mind?
> 
> ...


Thanks, its been hard work but I find it quite energising!

2 different areas. At the front (the area in the previous posts pics), just before spreading the new 50:50 soil, I raked the native soil to rough it up a bit with a hand rake before dropping the 50:50 in piles, spreading and rolling. There is only about ¾" or 18mm of 50:50 to seed into. I guess I would call it semi blended. 
In the back where I excavated the coal ash from around the veggie patches, there is about 4 inches of the sandy loam from Baileys (not my native soil), followed by 2 or 3 inches of the 50:50. It is very closely matched soil. It will be interesting to see if the new grass blends well with my existing grass growing in a slightly different soil profile.

I sprayed the Tenacity after seeding. I wouldn't do it before seeding because of the disturbance from raking. I raked, seeded, raked again and rolled, then Tenacity.

London seems to be up to 10C hotter than us currently. Massive difference! Last year we seeded within a few days of each other but maybe not this year huh lol. Our forecast shows up to 26C in a weeks time. I'm home babying the watering :thumbup:


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## RCUK (Jul 16, 2018)

Thanks. Sounds like a lot of work has gone into the renovation, knowing how much pain I feel after a few hours of moving soil, you must be smiling the hard work is over &#128514;


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

I certainly am smiling now the hard work is done@RCUK !😅 Starting to be replaced with the usual pre germination anxiety.

A day after seed down, I spread Maxwell myco2 at 75g/m² which is 6-8 weeks slow release organic, 0.7lb/ksqft of N, 1lb/ksqft of P, 2.1lb/ksqft of K. 
I also sprayed humic, seaweed and phosphite.

The urban foxes are still running through the reno area, although now I have rolled it, the prints they leave are nowhere near as deep. The cats in the area have been attracted to the smell of freshly turned soil and are "fertilizing" regularly...Not too much can be done here unfortunately, until I can walk over there again, hope they don't do too much damage. The worms are active too, I have the usual love hate relationship with them. More love than hate, they're doing a great job!

Glad I was prepared and had the choice of a seed down date, the weather has been great.
We have had 3 periods of light rain. I have only had to spray water close to the hedge line 5 times in 5 days to keep the seedbed moist, and barely at all on the main area. Not too much water evaporates at these temps.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Still waiting for germination 6 days later, so took a few pics on the way around.


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## Chris LI (Oct 26, 2018)

Beautiful! I love them all, especially the lilies (Star Gazers, even more so). I have Black-eyed Susans, too (Rudbeckia, for plant nerds, lol).

What are the red and purple flowers? The red ones remind me of Dahlias, but look different.

You did sneak a background shot of the lawn in the first one. :mrgreen: It looks nice and lush.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Chris LI said:


> Beautiful! I love them all, especially the lilies (Star Gazers, even more so). I have Black-eyed Susans, too (Rudbeckia, for plant nerds, lol).
> 
> What are the red and purple flowers? The red ones remind me of Dahlias, but look different.
> 
> You did sneak a background shot of the lawn in the first one. :mrgreen: It looks nice and lush.


You were right! The red flowers are both dahlias, variety is 'Bishop of Llandaff". I love the look of newly opened flowers with no pollen yet formed.
The purple flowers are chinese meadow rue/thalictrum delavayi 'Hewitt's Double'.

Haha, I did sneak a pic with a bit of the lawn in, I was experimenting with a few angles to make it look half decent, it was overgrown that day! :lol:


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

The worms, birds and leather jackets are doing a number on my reno!

I won't treat the worms, I can cope with the unsightliness they are making right now. Same thing happened around the back last year and after the grass is more mature, you don't really have the same problem. As many like me, I consider them mostly beneficial.

The birds are pecking up to 3 inches deep to get to the leather jacket grubs. Bit of a pain as I can't get to most holes to repair the damage, I will have to deal with it later.

Last night we had a few crane flys come into the house. The leather jackets are hatching! I will monitor over the next few weeks and aim to put nematodes down 2 weeks after peak adult flight time. This allows time for them to lay their eggs, then the nematodes can do their work on the young larvae. Nematodes are great, they dealt with a chafer grub infestation really well a few years back.

The figs are ripe, I wanted to log the date here so we don't make the mistake of looking too late and losing them to birds and insects like we did last year.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Started seeing one or two on day 7 after seeding but lots more coming up now. Excited! Finally going to have some green after months of bare soil!


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## Chris LI (Oct 26, 2018)

Congrats on being a grass baby papa! :bandit:


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Chris LI said:


> Congrats on being a grass baby papa! :bandit:


 :thumbup: Thank you Chris!


I just got soaked to the bone and deafened by a tstorm! Ran out to put a few plastic sheets over the highest washout risk areas. Hope this passes quickly...


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## RCUK (Jul 16, 2018)

Not sure what is worse, 33-36C I'm getting or the heavy rains you have &#128513;

The sheets should also help keep the birds off.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

RCUK said:


> Not sure what is worse, 33-36C I'm getting or the heavy rains you have 😁
> 
> The sheets should also help keep the birds off.


It passed already. I am considering that a very close shave! 
If that system had hit one pixel further over on the map I would have been in trouble! :shock:  
The forecast is extremely troublesome, plenty of t-storms swirling around the country over the next few days...

Humidity is potentially reaching 98% tomorrow morning!
I am concerned about that and fungus potential.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Yesterday I ran the Einhell electric dethatcher on highest setting. Still managed to snag many stolons of the dominant poa supina, but removed a fair bit of debris. Mowed at 14mm afterwards for a good cleanup. The grass has thickened a lot and the scalp marks I made a while back have totally recovered.

Scalping a few weeks ago.

Yesterdays dethatch and 14mm mow.

It has been a long patient wait (lazy) to get this strip seeded and growing.


Today I applied a tank mix of PGR 25%AI at 3.5ml/100m², Fe at 1g/m² (3.28oz/ksqft) and 2.5g/m² of 46-0-0 (0.25lb/ksqft of N)
GDD was 414 since last PGR app.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Got blasted by a tstorm at 2am. Nothing I could do this time.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

14 days since seed down.
Not sure why the germination is better against the hedge line?




Rain has made lots of grass babies to stick in the soil.
Anything ideas on what to do, if anything?


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

17th Aug. Put more seed on poor germination and washed out areas, sieved some compost over them where I could reach without walking on the babies.


Last week was very wet. We had a few dry spells when I was able to do a bit of work.
So I gently ran a stiff nylon yard broom over the matted down baby grass and it lifted most of it so it wasn't stuck to the soil anymore. Worked quite well, a few days later and it seems hopeful that it will survive. 


Shady shade corner, just testing what happens here, might well cut a corner border if the grass doesn't do well enough.


The back. 11 months old. A week after the dethatch, iron and urea N.


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## Chris LI (Oct 26, 2018)

It is so hard to be patient, when we're so used to "working on" the lawn and garden. The 11 month old looks great! That 14mm HOC seems to really be working for you. Do you plan on maintaining the same HOC?

The only thing that I can think of to help with the matted seedlings, would be to use a blower to lightly fluff them up. It works well for me, especially when removing fallen leaves that become matted on top of the seedlings.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Chris LI said:


> It is so hard to be patient, when we're so used to "working on" the lawn and garden.
> 
> The only thing that I can think of to help with the matted seedlings, would be to use a blower to lightly fluff them up. It works well for me, especially when removing fallen leaves that become matted on top of the seedlings.


Yes that ugly weather system we had over the last 10 days or so has been testing! There is plenty more rain around in next weeks forecast too, ideally would have had a bit more sunshine to help out.
I'll try your idea of using a blower again, I did try before but I can't reach too far with it, I don't want to step on the babies too much while the soil is still so darn wet. But hey I'm reasonably happy with the situation considering  Here we are at 12 DAG.
Viewing up the slope.

Viewing across the slope.


At the bottom of the slope in the shaded part, I will cut a new border, the edge currently consists of odd bricks and stones to contain the soil until we have more grass roots to hold.
I threw more seed in the thin areas last week, I am hoping to see a few more babies asap!



Chris LI said:



> The 11 month old looks great! That 14mm HOC seems to really be working for you. Do you plan on maintaining the same HOC?


Thanks for your kind comments Chris. I'm really pleased about how it has done this grow in year. I've thrown a fair bit of N at it so far (4.65lbs/ksqft) and will probably end the season somewhere in the 7-8lbs range. The kbg and supina love N it seems!
I do love the 14mm HOC, and I plan on attempting to maintain it there sometime in the future but atm it just doesn't stay there very long! :lol: With me pushing the N bus, the spread and growth rate of this grass is rapid! More so the supina and it is slowly crowding out the kbg, the supina is getting darker too. 
I have been using the 14mm HOC for a couple of reasons, one it helped me dethatch, which dramatically improved the look of the grass imo, the previous post I made shows the grass in its best ever condition for me. Second reason was to help it thicken up and get a tighter and more dense sward. Looking back, I have really enjoyed the journey from the shocking scalp I gave it to the current condition.
I feel that it needs a mow 3-4 times a week at 14mm, however I have struggled to do that recently due to excessive rainy conditions.

I've been on a learning curve with the new to me PGR and I'll document about that soon, it is very useful for mowing low and I'm nearly up to full speed with it. :thumbup:


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Sunday mowed and rolled with the 300lb roller I picked up, love that thing, flattened the grass and a few wormcasts great. Ground was nicely moist, seemed to smooth the area a decent amount.
Monday I applied PGR 25% tnex at 3.5ml/100m² (0.11floz/ksqft) on the year old grass. I'd hit 222 GDD according to Greencast but I noticed some degree differences to actual temps so it was more like 250 GDD since last app.
2g/m² of urea 46-0-0 (0.2lbs/ksqft of N) on all grass.
Seaweed, humic and phosphite too.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

The tenacity I put down on seeding day has not in any way hindered germination or otherwise of the 15% of poa supina in the KBG blend I used. So as I understand it, the tenacity restricts germination of poa annua but does not restrict germination of poa supina even though they are closely related.

19 DAG
Mowed the reno grass on the highest setting my reel will go, 39mm. The 85% KBG in the blend had hit 50-60mm but some of the poa supina had hit 100mm in places. I practised my levitation skill whilst mowing, it seems to be coming on well.


Applied 35g/m² of the slow release organic 7-2-8 for another ½lb/ksqft of N.

In the washout problem areas, the rainy weather has made fresh germination slow but its coming along. I have a few trays of grass I can use for transplanting in the worst areas later.



Gave the 11 month old a reel mow and used the roller afterwards. I'm liking the flattening and aesthetic effects a lot. Helps remove the dew too.


Poa annua invaded along the flower border on the left of the photo, you can see it is a much lighter green than the poa supina dominant main section. Undecided what to do here, I hate that strip. I am thinking of a few fall topdressings to get the levels right and a spring kill and reseed.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

20 DAG, a day after its first mow at 39mm/ 1.5in.
(Renewed the apple tree stakes, for some reason its not rooting well enough to not lean/fall. Maybe the crane fly larvae have been at it. Nematodes incoming shortly)


Shady shade corner. Heavy tree shade plus house deep shade. North facing. Difficulty rating...off the chart. imo. Failing badly/doing my best :lol: 
12 DAG

20 DAG, a bit of moss forming.

Viewing up the slope.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

23 DAG

The kbg is 40mm/1.6in today, the poa supina 60mm/2.4in. I think I will give it another 39mm/1.5in mow tomorrow.




The poa supina is more easy to spot in this shady shade corner. 
The extra seeding I did 16 days ago on 17th Aug came up at a reduced germination rate as seems per usual with shaded areas. 
Gave the top of the slope a bit of of hand watering, the bottom of the slope is holding plenty enough moisture.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

25 DAG
I mowed the reno at 39mm/1.5in. The reel doesn't cut super clean on the thinner new grass at this height.

The Scotts Wiz sometimes drops a bit heavy if I am not really careful. Here I believe this fungus is simply organic fert breaking down.









The areas with a depth of 6-7in of totally new soil are lagging a little bit behind. Only a few worms have been moved into the area. Maybe the difference in microbes are causing a difference in available nutrients, I don't know.





There is no heavy rain forecast for a week so a couple of days ago I added some seed to more bare areas and sieved some compost on top.

I purchased beneficial nematodes for leather jacket crane fly larvae.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Mark B said:


> 25 DAG
> 
> The Scotts Wiz sometimes drops a bit heavy if I am not really careful. Here I believe this fungus is simply organic fert breaking down.


A few days later and that organic fertilizer mould has broken down into the soil.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Beneficial nematodes went down today, to eat the insides out of the crane fly larvae. Here is a pic of a female one with the pointed tip of her abdomen. Caught her red handed, bobbling up and down laying her eggs!


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## kdn (Aug 26, 2020)

Walking the dog today across some fields and saw thousands of them, way more than previous years. Might be due to last years wet autumn.

What are you thoughts on nematodes, do you think they actually work?


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

kdn said:


> Walking the dog today across some fields and saw thousands of them, way more than previous years. Might be due to last years wet autumn.
> 
> What are you thoughts on nematodes, do you think they actually work?


Wow! That's crazy! I am seeing 4 or 5 a day in my place but I'm not even looking carefully. The birds massively helped me during the dig over I gave the reno section and were with me constantly eating any exposed grubs.

Yes they definitely work, nematodes have eradicated chafer grubs for me before. I way prefer to use them as an organic option and the chemical solution is out of reach for us. Acelepryn? No thanks.
I have also used the slug nematodes to good effect, however, they do not target snails.


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## Chris LI (Oct 26, 2018)

Keep on that N Bus! That is really filling in well. I'm enjoying following your adventure and learning along the way.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Chris LI said:


> Keep on that N Bus! That is really filling in well. I'm enjoying following your adventure and learning along the way.


That's cool, happy you are following along having fun like me! :bandit: :thumbup:

The poa supina looooves the N :lol: I just came in from mowing and was noticing the growth of the 1 year old on the reno line, invading the space I made for the grass toddlers. Just so aggressive!

I'm happy to be at the stage now where I can mow, turn, twist, shimmy, shake etc etc on the grass without being concerned about damaging it. 
I'm at 37 DAG today and HOC is 39mm/1.5in. After 20 DAG, I am mowing 3 times a week.

At seed down it had organic with mycorhizza 0.7lbs N, 1lb P and 2lbs K.
14 DAG, a spray of urea at 0.15lbs N.
28 DAG, it had organic with mycorhizza 0.5lbs N, 0.1lb P and 0.5lbs K.
30 DAG, a spray of urea at 0.2lbs N.

12 DAG.
Viewing up the slope.

20 DAG

37 DAG


Shady shade corner.
12 DAG

20 DAG, a bit of moss forming.

37 DAG


20 DAG

35 DAG


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

44 + 45 DAG I gave the reno sections two lots of 0.25lbs of N via urea spray. It rained very heavily after the first app so I gave it another the next day.
I am still mowing it 2-3 times a week at 1.5in, except for a rust infected section.
I noticed that rust invaded the back section of the reno on Sept 21st/42 DAG. I'm not sure why. I currently don't use fungicides. I am using N to push the rust out with new growth. I plan to bag mow next when I see the rust has been pushed out high enough.
Here's a picture of some neglected tester pots full of rust that are responding well with new growth after spraying with urea N. You can see the orange rust at the tips and the new green growth from the base. 


Weather is misbehaving again.



I have talked about the crane fly larvae around my area previously, I want to be as sure as I can to combat them so I put a second lot of beneficial nematodes down over the whole garden 2200sqft, two weeks after the first lot. I maybe jumped the gun a little on the first app so plowed another few £$¥ in. The label recommends a two week gap in apps for better results.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Some comparison pics;

20 DAG

37 DAG

50 DAG


20 DAG.

37 DAG

50 DAG


20 DAG

35 DAG

50 DAG


I can't wait to redefine the borders!  :lol: 
I'm really pleased with the situation atm. This new baby grass growing has certainly tested my patience but hey I think it's doing okay! I can already observe the aggressive, dominant nature of the 15% 'Supreme' poa supina in the mix compared to the 85% 'Rubix/Tetris' kbg. Yes it is a lighter green than the kbg but not too light at all for me, and the shade tolerance will certainly be heavily tested in this section (north and west facing, house shade, heavy tree shade), a main reason for choosing the poa supina.
It eats N for breakfast, brunch, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner and supper! It actually just gets an average of 0.35lbs of N per week since seed down. Half organic with bacillus and trichoderma, half urea N. 
Interestingly, one other section that had the new 6-7in of soil was slower and had more yellowing, and I gave that an additional boost of ammoniacal N at ½lb/ksqft on 30 DAG which it responded well to, within a few days it was green and growing well again. I believe the soil microbes are not as active here yet and struggled to make enough of the organic N available for uptake by the grass plant.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Oct-Nov big update.

So it started raining in Oct and didn't stop much at all. Microdochium invaded the one year old section. I did nothing.

A 3oz/acre rate of tenacity on Oct 8th lit up a decent bit of poa annua on the reno section, that really helped the annua pop ready for plucking. I spent about 10 half hour sessions pulling it out with the help of a screwdriver. The moist ground along with the easy to spot, splayed out crowns helped a lot. Also because I hadn't mowed much due to the rain, the seedheads were very visible. I inserted the screwdriver in a few mm next to the crown and a quick flick and up they came. Half a bucketload each session. When your back won't straighten when you try to stand back up its time to quit and rest.

I got some prodiamine down late, on Nov 8th. Wanted to pluck as much annua out as poss before pre-m because I didn't want to risk breaking the barrier with the tiny holes I'm leaving after plucking. I sense a sandy top dress next spring. Anyway, it's my first time with prodiamine and was a bit mentally back and forth with it. Thanks to others comments and journals, I eventually put it down at a 3 month rate.

Mowed whenever dry enough and carried on spraying 46-0-0 at 0.25lbs of N/ksqft weekly, except last week when temps dipped to 4C/39F because I thought those temps would persist, however we are back at 10-15C/50-60F so I did an app today. Will it promote too much new lush growth that will get ravaged by winter? Oo its a risky one lol. I had noticed a lessening of deep green colour so I imagined the excessive rain had pushed the N out of the root zone. Foliar N to the rescue. Got dark a bit quick so no pics. 7lbs/ksqft total for the season for the one year old.

(Random interjection haha first time I said cheers to Alexa just now - she says cheers back with the biggest smile!&#128514;&#128077;&#127996

I have been surprised how much compost I have managed to make this year, so I have fine tuned my situation here. I want to use it to top dress the lawn next year. Of course the bagged clippings containing poa annua get destroyed, but most others things get composted. I am glad to have enough plants, shrubs etc to use here. New to me this year is a lawn blower/vacuum/shredder and it has been invaluable recently with all the leaves dropping. Many, many bagfuls of shredded leaves have gone on the pile to increase the carbon ratio. If spring and summer brought the green, nitrogen heavy things, then fall brings a lot of carbon to the party as the lush growth of trees and shrubs has hardened into a more woody nature. There is a nice pile that will be ready for next spring.

It has been a very interesting year for lawncare for me. Extra available time due to the global situation was largely spent in the garden. I have energized massively from most aspects of gardening including lawncare. I have learnt a helluvalot from others comments and journals. Next year will bring more challenges, bring it on!


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## Chris LI (Oct 26, 2018)

Glad to see that you're back with an update. This year was definitely interesting/testing. My area also got clobbered in October with rain, to the extent it limited mowing and fertilizer apps. Do you have any recent photos?


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Chris LI said:


> Glad to see that you're back with an update. This year was definitely interesting/testing. My area also got clobbered in October with rain, to the extent it limited mowing and fertilizer apps. Do you have any recent photos?


Hi Chris, thanks for the comments. Definitely limited mowing here, but hey I kept the HOC at 23mm regardless! Not so much the fertilizer apps, I managed to sneak out and spray on the odd rain free days.

I do have a few photos. The usual 4 angles of the reno section and a few bonus ones of the one year old.

20th October. 70 DAG. 12 days after a 3oz/acre tenacity app. (I should mention that powdery mildew has invaded the grass near the apple tree in the first few photos)

28th October.


20th October. 70 DAG. 12 days after a 3oz/acre tenacity app.

28th October.


20th October. 70 DAG. 12 days after a 3oz/acre tenacity app.

28th October.


20th October. 70 DAG. 12 days after a 3oz/acre tenacity app.

28th October.



Maybe the tenacity is also bleaching the poa supina heavily, there has been zero research done on its effects on poa supina as far as I am aware. It's a 15% poa supina 85% kbg blend. I am trying to be cautious with tenacity here, as I believe the supina will start to dominate more and more next year so I don't want to hurt it too much. But I also don't want the closely related poa annua so using tenacity is a learning curve/balancing act.

Nov 6th.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Oct 10th


Oct 16th


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Leaves are nearly all down. The corkscrew hazel and the cotinus smoke tree still are shedding their last few. The Einhell battery vac/blower continues to be awesome for shredding the cleanup.
Turned the compost pile yesterday.
My first ever app of pre m on Nov 8th was way too late, there is a lot of poa annua thats germinated all over the one year old grass and I can see a lime green effect thats difficult to catch on camera. The N that I gave it five days ago hasn't helped the colour. Probably will try multiple tenacity apps next spring when we restart vigorous growth again. 
Also noticed a patch or two of quack grass that have spread quietly.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

October 2020 we received 5.9" or 150mm of rain. 
Novembver 2020 we received 5.2" or 132mm of rain.
Long cloudy days and temps averaging 8C or 46F.

What can you do? Grass looked not great overall. Fairly confident that michrodochium/fusarium hit hard. Plenty of green but yellow and brown too. Poa annua has germinated in a few patches, some 6 inches across.

A patch of Elymus Repens next to my foot. Nice color, wrong shape lol.

Managed to mow at 23mm on Dec 12th.

Next year, I want to continue to build my soil health to give it more chance of resisting disease. 10 years ago when we moved here, we barely had what you could call soil, but we had dirt severely lacking in microbial life. (the ground was simply full of chipped old builders building bricks and mortar. The dirt was a dust bath that crusted over so easily and it was next to impossible to grow any healthy plants).

In October this year, I amended the veggie patch and fruit patch soil with clay pebbles/supalite/hydroton, this I had already purchased for part of some bonsai soil I made. I forked holes to 7 inches and filled the holes with the clay pebbles after drenching them in a seaweed solution. They only hold 15% extra weight of water when soaked for 8 hours, so they remain extremely light and will help drain the high amounts of rainfall we get here. They are considered excellent for keeping soil open and aerated, allowing oxygen to the rootzone. Good for my soil that is so often saturated with rain.

The case study at Okehampton golf course has helped keep me interested in the possibility of adding a biochar turf improver containing biochar charged with seaweed, wormcasts, mycorrhizal and trichoderma fungi. In that case study, they eliminated fungicide use. Very confident that my soils carbon ratio is lacking so feel that this would benefit my situation. Also helps maintain oxygen in the rootzone. It is very expensive at the suggested rate of application.
https://www.carbongold.com/okehampton-golf-club-case-study/

My compost pile is looking great, much of it is ready to be used now. Have been careful to correctly balance carbon and nitrogen ratios here and am confident of its value as a turf topdressing for 2021. Have also added some diatomacious earth for silica and to help bring the good microbes. I am also using the DE for slug and snail control.

Worm cast activity has been very high in Oct and Nov. (Purity soil conditioner with tea tree saponins for next year).

I have also extensively mulched with wood chips to cover my soil in the borders, fruit patch and veggie patch. This is helping tremendously in preventing soil erosion and compaction on the slopes. Hoping it will further improve structure
and also moderate temperature. It certainly has already had a massive impact on preventing moss and weeds that so easily took hold on previously bare soil.


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## Alisonpv (Apr 6, 2021)

Hey Mark!

Do you have a spring 2021 update?

I planted supina this spring. And my 35 days post seeding (15-20 days post germination) results so far look similar to yours. Super thin in some areas.

Your thread here was really helpful in my decision to go with supina! Thank you.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Alisonpv said:


> Hey Mark!
> 
> Do you have a spring 2021 update?
> 
> ...


Hey Alisonpv 

I do have an update. Glad to hear you have succesfully got started with supina, you've taken on a spring seeding challenge, I like it! Hoping it works out for you  Would love to hear/see your experience with it. Spoon feeding nitrogen and regular mowing have been my best shots at helping it thicken up. It is an aggressive grass, once it feels like its got its feet down it takes off! I have a main section of supina thats a year ahead of other areas and the density is great now.

Happy the journal has helped you, thanks for the comments :thumbup:


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

April 2021 
Barely a drop of rain fell in April. Irrigated just once because 5-10C/40-50F temps weren't evaporating much moisture from the soil. Growth was slow.
Sprayed EM (Effective microbes) with 5g/m2 of 21-0-0 (0.2lb of N/ksqft) and seaweed and humic on the 14th as it looked a little hungry. The EM and also fish hydrolysate are new for me this year, I want to get more good microbes in my soil, which convert the organic fertiliser I use into plant available nutrients.

Ran the thin tine dethatcher on the 28th, highest setting doesn't disturb too many stolons of the supina but gets a fair bit of yellow and brown winter debris out.
Ran the rotary mower on setting 2 (30mm) for cleanup.
Mowed 4 times at 23mm but it was slow growing.

Battling spots of quack grass and poa annua as per usual, they annoy me. I believe I also am getting some triv, plan for this is to rake it upright and paint the tips with gly. The supina will dominate more in the summer and I'm hoping it will thicken enough this season to outcompete the bad guys. Hand pulling the annua as much as I can.
Lots of purple seed head flush from the supina grass, it lasted for about 3 weeks in April. It attests to excellent coverage of the supina throughout the sward. It is almost totally dominant now at 90-95% coverage.

I'd say 20% of my lawn got damaged and thinned out due to crane fly larvae eating the roots, despite the beneficial nematodes I applied last year. I feel that I got the timing right but there were a lot to overcome. The other 80% was unaffected, when I took soil samples for testing, I found only one larvae lurking. Mixed success but the nematodes are the only tool against the larvae we are allowed to use. I dug over some badly affected areas and removed a few stones, replacing the mass with home made compost and some sand. I'll seed these areas real soon.

Soil test shows low K and Sulfur. P has slightly increased but I want to raise level a bit more. pH is now showing 7.1. 
I believe that the coal ash that I removed from areas of my soil in 2020 was skewing my 2019 test result of pH 5.8. Based on that test I added enough lime to only raise to 6.5.
Bought SOP 0-0-50 to add 10g/m2 (1lb/1000 per month of K.) The 17% Sulfur is much needed too.
Bought TSP 0-46-0 to add 10g/m2 (1lb/1000 of P) twice this season.
I still have Maxwell Myco 7-2-8 granular organic too.
CEC is up from 11.7 to 17, so the heavy organic regimen I've been on is surely helping. 
The texture of the soil I took for sampling is nicer now, I believe the lime I added has binded the gritty nature of the soil I used to have into something a little creamier. Holds well in a ball and crumbles when poked with my finger. Update for May later.


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## Alisonpv (Apr 6, 2021)

Mark B said:


> Hey Alisonpv
> 
> I do have an update. Glad to hear you have succesfully got started with supina, you've taken on a spring seeding challenge, I like it! Hoping it works out for you  Would love to hear/see your experience with it. Spoon feeding nitrogen and regular mowing have been my best shots at helping it thicken up. It is an aggressive grass, once it feels like its got its feet down it takes off! I have a main section of supina thats a year ahead of other areas and the density is great now.
> 
> Happy the journal has helped you, thanks for the comments :thumbup:


I am so hopeful!!

I should start a thread. We bought the house 18 months ago, and It's been a SAGA.

What does your fertilizing schedule look like? I'm trying to figure that part out.

I'm very very new to lawncare and gardening, it's my first home.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Alisonpv said:


> I am so hopeful!!
> 
> I should start a thread. We bought the house 18 months ago, and It's been a SAGA.
> 
> ...


Congratz on your first home, very exciting times! 
If you haven't already, take a look at the excellent cool season lawn guide here https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1595

Unfortunately, there are so many differences in soils and climates that recommending a fertilization schedule is next to impossible. Regarding specific nutrients, one person might need a lot of one thing but the next person might have an over abundance of it. The hands down best way to know what you will need for fertilizing is to spend a relatively minor amount ($20?)on a soil test. This will ensure that any nutrients you buy for fertilizing will actually help you out and are not wasted. Here's an option for you.
https://ag.umass.edu/services/soil-plant-nutrient-testing-laboratory
Try to do a soil test before you put any fertilizer down, otherwise it will skew the results.
It is possible to get by without one but considering your early days into lawncare, you are in a great position to set yourself up nicely for the future here.

Forum members local to you might be able to help you find materials you may need for your lawn.
https://thelawnforum.com/viewforum.php?f=57

I found your journal, nice work. I'll follow along as a fellow poa supina grower!
Wishing you all the best! :thumbup:


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## liamjones (Apr 29, 2020)

Mark B said:


> Bought SOP 0-0-50 to add 10g/m2 (1lb/1000 per month of K.) The 17% Sulfur is much needed too.
> Bought TSP 0-46-0 to add 10g/m2 (1lb/1000 of P) twice this season.


How you getting the SOP and TSP down? I considered SOP but thought I'd really struggle to get it down evenly over 100m2 in granular form. I've read it doesn't dissolve particularly well either.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

liamjones said:


> Mark B said:
> 
> 
> > Bought SOP 0-0-50 to add 10g/m2 (1lb/1000 per month of K.) The 17% Sulfur is much needed too.
> ...


I use a Scotts wizz hand held spreader.
I've never tried dissolving it because I find it easy to spread the granular 👍🏼


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Way behind on the journal, here's a quick summary of recent activity.
May 2021
It was mid May before temps finally hit 21C/70F and stayed higher than 11C/52F at night.
Growth remained very slow for early to mid May as temps stayed between 5C/41F and 12C/53F.
Mowed twice a week at 23mm sunny back, 32mm shady front.

May 2nd - 10g/m2 of TSP 0-46-0 and also 10g/m2 of SOP 0-0-50 to give 5g/m2 (1lb/1000sqft) of P and K.
May 19th - Sprayed AMS 21-0-0 at 5g/m2 (0.2lb/1000sqft) using only 1.3 gallons of water to burn the grass tips and give the lawn a lovely beige brown hue. Bad idea to try and get away with using less than 2 gallons/1000sqft with this rate of AMS. It grew out and within a week I had mowed the burnt tips off.
May 31st - Spread organic 7-2-8 at 35g/m2 (1/2lb per 1000sqft of N)
June 6th - AMS 6g/m2, citric acid 15g, iron sulphate 0.6g/m2 (2oz/1000sqft) in a bucket, solution was green/blue :thumbup: 25% active tnex PGR 2ml/100m2 first app, caused minor bronzing. Way too late on pgr this year but I'm happy to get the grass used to it for the season.
edit June 15th: bronzing not visible after three mows and the response from the ams, ca and iron spray was great.

I need to take some photos. Been far too busy with using my energy installing a new small polytunnel for tomatoes and sweet peppers, and also converting the north facing area for growing vegtables etc. It gets full sunlight in the summer to grow well, so this winter shady side of the house is no longer grass.

Next up is another 1/2lb per 1000sqft of P and K via TSP and SOP, finally some rain in Mondays forecast so hoping to get that done Sunday.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Yesterday, I adjusted my plan and used up some organic Maxwell Myco 7-2-8 at 35g/m2 and also the last of the chicken manure 3.5-2-2 I had. 
Today I brushed the swollen chicken manure into the canopy before mowing at 23mm without catcher then applied TSP 0-46-0 at 5g/m2 for 0.5lb/1000 of P, the rest of the manure stuck to my wifes shoes. SOP 0-0-50 at 7g/m2 for 0.7lb/1000 of K.

Totals:
Organic N 0.75lb/1000
P 0.75lb/1000
K 1.3lb/1000



A naked and exposed photo.  :blush:


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Grass is out of regulation, I missed a couple of times oportunity for pgr app, now at over 400 gdd. Grass is growing way too fast. Got 25% tnex pgr down last night at 2ml/1000sqft with AMS and Fe at 60g/100m2 (2oz/1000sqft). Rained heavy overnight, but long enough after spraying to let the pgr into the leaf.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

2mL/1000sqft is very low. Is this a typo?


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

g-man said:


> 2mL/1000sqft is very low. Is this a typo?


Just to be clear for anyone reading, its a 25% active ingredient tnex product. I am thinking to do more frequent low apps rather than less frequent full strength ones to try to avoid phytotoxicity and bronzing. I am working my way towards stronger rates. Maybe I am being overly cautious?


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

> June 6th - AMS 6g/m2, citric acid 15g, iron sulphate 0.6g/m2 (2oz/1000sqft) in a bucket, solution was green/blue :thumbup: 25% active tnex PGR 2ml/100m2 first app, caused minor bronzing. Way too late on pgr this year but I'm happy to get the grass used to it for the season.


This one's was at 2mL/100sqm of the 25%. This will be very very high.

I normally use 10mL/1000sqft (~1mL/100sqm). But it is of the 11-12% type. I think you should try 5mL/1000sqft (or 0.5mL/100sqm).

Also, the amount of product has little effect in the duration for re application. You should reapply every 300 GDD 0C (10-14 days).


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

g-man said:


> > June 6th - AMS 6g/m2, citric acid 15g, iron sulphate 0.6g/m2 (2oz/1000sqft) in a bucket, solution was green/blue :thumbup: 25% active tnex PGR 2ml/100m2 first app, caused minor bronzing. Way too late on pgr this year but I'm happy to get the grass used to it for the season.
> 
> 
> This one's was at 2mL/100sqm of the 25%. This will be very very high.
> ...


Thanks for your comments G-man. Maybe I've created some confusion by quoting both m² and sqft. But 100m² is near enough to 1000sqft, right? 
My plan is to apply up to 5ml per app based on grass response and 300gdd like you mention.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

July has been fairly routine, mowing a few times a week at 23mm. It looked good imo.

I have had a lot of poa annua seedheads showing up. The tnex has been yellowing the poa annua. I also had a few patches of bent grass spreading. I scalped the back lawn the other day with the rotary. It looks quite rough now but I'm watching carefully to see which type of grass recovers fastest, I have faith and am cheering for the supina. We are real close to a fall N blitz. Pre m is about to go down. SOP and TSP at 5g/m2 each (0.5lb/Ksqft of K and P).

This year I have spent a good deal of time on my compost. I found an easy place to pick up free aged horse manure so I'm bringing a load back then making additions to it to increase the quality of the composted end product. Additions have been of rock dust, zeolite/cloptilolite, seaweed meal and a micorrhizal fertiliser, then innoculating it all with with effective microbes (EM). I have been thrilled with the results so far, there are an unbelievable number of worms working through it. I've used the first batch as a unsieved top dressing to a no till area we grow vegetables, 3 weeks later there have been zero weeds germinating so I am now confident to use the next batch as a sieved top dressing for the lawn. I hope that these efforts I've made to enhance my soil biology are worth it.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

The shady shade north facing section that I converted to a semi raised bed now looks like this mid July.
I think it's nice to have a splash of colour somewhere amongst all the green.


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## Chris LI (Oct 26, 2018)

That's a big splash of color. Your flowers look beautiful!


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Chris LI said:


> That's a big splash of color. Your flowers look beautiful!


Thanks Chris :thumbsup:


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

We just had the thunderstorm that was forecast. Great news as we have been dry dry dry for weeks now. I'd irrigated 0.5in after the TSP and SOP app a few days ago so the ground wasn't too dry and hard and the tstorm rain was soaked up nicely.

Today 0.5lbs/ksqft of granular AMS, to help with the regrow after the scalp. It's coming on quite well already, the organics I used a month ago are still having an effect. Spray of EM and phosphite, seaweed and humic at 60ml/100m2. Going forward, let's see how long I can keep up with 14mm HOC.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Love 14mm HOC but it is challenging keeping up. Need a few more photos to show the 14mm cut, some of the following are taken at a bit random times in between mows.
9th Aug 5ml/100m2 25% AI tnex. Now we are passed the heat and slower summer growth rate, I upped the tnex rate.
It's still growing in after the HOC reset but it's looking less patchy and lusher green everyday. 
We are at 20C/67F. Pre m went down Aug 1st.
July 28th AMS 21-0-0 @0.5lb/1000 (12.5g/m2). Aug 8th AMS @0.5lb/1000.

3rd Aug. Morning shot, sun in the east.


4th Aug. Midday shot, sun in the south.


8th Aug. After sundown shot. Strip nearest back border shows the lighter 15% supina in the seed mix already starting to outcompete the 85% kbg at the year one stage. Main area of lawn is 2 years old and is almost fully supina, only random spots of kbg have survived the supinas onslaught. Seeing as I've mentioned it, I'll say that ultimately I'm happy that the supina has dominated as expected as I feel it is the most appropriate grass type for my weather conditions.


10th Aug. Shaded at the bottom of the photo. 




Birds already digging for the crane fly larvae. Dreading the next few weeks.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Only a few more crane fly larvae have been spotted emerging these last few weeks, first actual crane fly seen today.
25th Aug urea 46-0-0 at 0.5lb/1000sqft N. 
1st Sept 25% Tnex 5ml/100m2, AMS,Fe at 60g/m2 (2oz/1000sqft), GDD had hit 350, so a little late .

Spread a ton of sand over 1000sqft for about 0.25in depth. There was a few crushed sea shells in there but nothing worth fretting over, hasn't affected the reel mower at all. The homemade wooden lawn level worked great. Brushed in with a yard brush. Really happy with the outcome, plenty of bumps now smooth as ice. 

Still plucking poa annua out, seedheads have been popping up quickly in between mows recently.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Sept 8th urea 46-0-0 at 0.5lb/1000sqft N.
SOP at 1lb/1000sqft of K.
Granular seaweed at 30g/m2.
Purity at 20g/m2. Second time I've done this rate, plenty of worms responded, moved them into the borders, gave them a quick rinse and they soon had dissapeared. Didn't see any birds collecting them so assumed most of them burrowed down, a few didn't make it. Happy to get them away from the lawn as the casts were on the rise.

Crane fly hatching seems to have peaked between Sept 7th- 10th. Finding nowhere near as many empty larvae shells on the lawn this year so have to conclude the nematodes last year worked for the most part. I'm very happy to say there has been no more bird damage since I mentioned my anticipation about it back in my August 14th post.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

The cut quality has deteriorated on my reel so I've got myself some grinding paste and a 17mm socket to attempt my first backlapping and see if I can improve things. :?


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Did my first backlap on the reel! Was a learning curve but managed it in about an hour and a half. What a fantastic difference! I think I had gotten used to some clunky noises while mowing but they've gone now. Will need the grass to grow a bit more to truly test the cut quality difference, I had mowed yesterday after returning from a holiday and todays mow after the backlap didn't really take anything off.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Sept 23rd AMS spray at 0.15 lbs/1000sqft as conditions were awkward for granular but I wanted to keep on the N bus. Added some iron and citric acid to the mix.
Sept 26th AMS granular at 0.5 lbs/1000sqft. 
Totals so far 4.9N. 2.85P. 5.6K. per 1000 sqft
Sept 27th + 28th lots of rain. Looks like a window for a half strength PGR app tomorrow. Temps have taken a nosedive to 18C/65F daytime.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Did a very quick mow after work today, should have cut in a checkerboard to get the stragglers but was too tired. It is not regulated anymore, the planned final pgr app didn't happen due to poor weather conditions - either too windy or too much rain. Not too much of an issue, I like mowing atm, three times a week. 
There was some melting out showing that was ugly at the 23mm hoc. The sun also is getting lower in the sky this time of year.
I raised the hoc to 32mm to see if I can be ok with it. It has its advantages considering the aforementioned, more leaf mass for better photosynthesis and hopefully better health. Even the 23mm hoc was getting trampled a bit from a fair amount of foot traffic but that should ease off going forward.





After a mow today I applied 10g/m² of granular AMS (0.4lbs/ksqft of N). Also 20g/m² of tea tree seed saponins as the worm casts are making a naughty comeback.


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

Poa supina


Goal for 4lbs of mostly organic N this year and 7lbs of K to continue to build reserves. 
P levels I am happy with improving with compost.
I now have a hot composter (200 litre insulated compost bin) which I feed with kitchen scraps, grass clippings, shredded leaves, composted wood chip, seaweed meal, horse manure, bonemeal, rock dust, unrefined sea salt and fish hydrolysate. Also a tiny amount of effective microbes and molasses. Over the winter I enjoyed learning how to achieve a balance of carbon and nitrogen additions to achieve a good end product. I had most problems with too much moisture mainly because I added a very wet banana tree trunk without thinking (I was short of greens during the winter, I used chicken manure to bridge the gap) It reaches 65C(150F) to kill off weed seeds. This produces a nice compost for top dressing which I will be using for the grass this year. It fulfills my micro nutrient needs and builds soil health.

Apr 13th
SOP at 10g/m2 providing 1lb/ksqft of K. Will aim for 7 or 8 apps this year. 
AMS spray at 4g/m2 providing 0.15lb/ksqft of N

Apr 28th
AMS spray at 5g/m2 providing 0.2lb/ksqft of N
Organic chicken manure 5-2-3 at 75g/m2 providing NPK at 0.75-0.3-0.45lbs/ksqft

May 11th
Its been a cold spring but we reached warm enough temps now so switching to urea for foliar N. I'm nearly out of AMS.
Urea at 2g/m2 providing 0.2lb/ksqft of N. SOP at 10g/m2 providing 1lb/ksqft of K.


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## ABC123 (Jul 14, 2017)

wait, your purposely planting poa?


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

ABC123 said:


> wait, your purposely planting poa?


Haha, yes indeed! Have done since 2020. Its not the deep dark green many aim for but there are good reasons I chose it. A couple being that I'm okay about the color and it blends well with the poa annua I will never win the battle against. It has other advantages that work well in my climate and it helps keep lawn care relatively easy.


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## ABC123 (Jul 14, 2017)

honestly would poa be darker with a lot of foliar Iron?


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## Mark B (May 30, 2019)

ABC123 said:


> honestly would poa be darker with a lot of foliar Iron?


A lot? How much foliar iron were you thinking?
It does respond to the iron I use, but it also has its limits, I may have burnt the tips before...


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## ABC123 (Jul 14, 2017)

Like 4oz feature per k


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