# JohnP Lawn Journal



## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

Late in the season, but it's been a crazy year for me. Wanted to start one of these a while back but never got around to it. Gonna do thumbnail images so I don't nuke the first post too hard....

2017 I got bit by the lawn bug and started turning our yard around. We bought the house in 2015 and I was a terrible GK the first few years. My yard was mostly clover. I got spousal approval to spray as long as I followed the two rules:

1) No killing her plants.
2) No killing the pets.



I'm 99% sure it was @g-man that said, "Get a full season of maintenance under your belt before you do a reno", so I didn't nuke, which reflecting back I'm 100% okay with.

Did some basics of 2,4-D, Triclopyr, and then Tenacity. Scalped the lawn just before Labor Day 2017, soil leveled some spots. Threw down the SS5000 Sunny Mixture from SeedSuperStore.com (which at the time was a blend of Midnight/Diva/Everglade/Fiesta 4/Zodiac), layer of Tenacity and peat and water water water water water water. Did the fall nitro and winterized.









It came out of all that lookin' pretty good, lots of compliments from the neighbors (I don't think the yard had seen this much attention in 20 years), I'm terrible at straight lines.





This spring it popped out lookin' like a lush carpet, even the Domino's driver was complimenting it. I blame Fall Nitro. I was mowing a lot and it still wasn't enough. Should've had that PGR in my life but I didn't know better.



The back had some dog pee damage from the winter, they don't like goin' out too far when it's cold (don't blame them)



I'm okay with the damage. It just means it's a challenge for me and I have really been enjoying this hobby.

Gave it some Prodiamine, did some watering (I have above ground, drag hose and use Melnor RainCloud timers, love 'em), minor weed control, had some fungal issues that I rotated Azoxy, Tebuconazole and Propocanzole (spellings...whatevs) and even threw down lots of N-Ext products (Humic, 002, RGS, Air8). Did some insecticides with Demand CS, Bifen and Permethrin.

Dropped some Milo in the spring and on Memorial Day. Did some cracked corn and alfalfa pellets, some Dylox. Did drip irrigation along the picket fence up front for some Rugosa roses that the wife picked out, and dug a 6' x 4' x 1' hole that I tamped 1500# of rock into for a 1500# fountain the wife got for her birthday. Bought some pink flamingos.






(Dennis the creator of the fountain standing next to it)





Annnnnd that basically brings us in a Cliff Notes kinda version to today. I've been mowing at 4" all season long. Never lower. Until tonight. Dropped the Ego deck down to the lowest setting and bagged it up. Filled one of the yard waste bins with just 1500 sq ft worth of mowing.










(Thanks Connor for the sweet scalpin' shirt!)

I'm planning to use the D&K Turf Signature Elite w/ Xalt blend to overseed. I'm going to be doing more soil leveling this year than I did last year so I think I'll have generally more places that will be bare. I am also planning to dethatch with a Greenworks electric dethatcher that @gravylookout recommended. I'm gonna hit it with PGR as well, which will be my first time with that so we'll see how badly I do.



Wife thinks I'm crazy. She's not wrong, but this is a hobby I really enjoy.

The plan is to maintain this low cut this week, there are some rainy days coming up. I'm going to try to detatch and PGR during the week so that this weekend I can do the leveling and seeding and peat and hopefully enjoy a majority of the day off on Labor Day with the wife (we don't get many days off).


----------



## iowa jim (Jan 22, 2018)

Looks like your getting a good handle on this lawn stuff, love the fence in the front lawn. They say it is hard to overseed with kbg but with your pgr i think that will really help. Good luck and i will be following along, hope there will be pics and updates.


----------



## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

iowa jim said:


> Looks like your getting a good handle on this lawn stuff, love the fence in the front lawn. They say it is hard to overseed with kbg but with your pgr i think that will really help. Good luck and i will be following along, hope there will be pics and updates.


I plan to really beat up my lawn before it's done. Going to dethatch and probably aerate. We'll see how much it hates me for it.

Tonight I bag mowed at 2.5" out back and mole activity is INSANE out back. I did 2.5" because I didn't think I'd have enough room in the yardy for doing the 1.5" cut. Grabbed another trap and some bait. Will see how that does. Filled the backup yard waste bin. Gave the front a touch up at the 1.5" mark. I had to double check, but 1.5" is the *1* setting on the mower. We got some rain this morning.

I think next year I will maintain a lower cut out back. 2.5" made it much easier to spot the dog crap!


----------



## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

I let the dogs out during a mid morning break and thought, "Dang, the grass is starting to recover from the abuse...can't have that!"



So...I made sure to take advantage of the weather this evening and ran the Greenworks Dethatcher over the front sections. Went back over with the Ego and bagged up a majority of it. Blew some of it with the Ego blower. And yes, if Ego made a dethatcher I'd probably buy it. Damned cord always catching on something or making me have to stop and reposition and start again.

I think the mower itself cleaned it up fairly well, I just wanted to see what blew out with the blower. Not a lot, but some.

*Rugosa Side:*






*Tree Side:*






Project: *Beat The Hell Out Of My Lawn* is progressing nicely!


----------



## iowa jim (Jan 22, 2018)

johnp: The area in the front lawn by the flamingos looks like it is pretty heavy shade, are you concerned about that with the kbg cultivars that you have chosen. Just a suggestion but that looks like a good area for some bewitched. Its hard for me to judge the amount of shade and you would know better than me, just giving you something to think about.


----------



## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

@iowa jim it's gonna be close. Googling Bewitched Monostand is how I found TLF (pete1313 specifically) back in the day. It's what I would probably use for a proper reno. We're gonna push this seed though and see what she's made of!

That area gets more morning/early afternoon sun but late afternoon/evening it's mostly shady there. I've beat the hell out of my existing grass but there's enough that I'm fairly sure it'll come back with the fall love it's about to get. Gonna still hit it with some PGR though.


----------



## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

Rainy days ahead...will need to find some windows to do the work.



Today was a long day with work so I got home only in time to admire the front looking terrible next to the neighbor's freshly cut lawn.



Then I headed out back to set some death for the moles creating a mess.





I really like the Victor Out 'O Sight trap over the Tomcat plastic one but when I needed extra traps it was all I could get.


----------



## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

Long day with work. Got home with about 20 minutes of daylight and quick dumped some dirt out. Some decent low spots.



More to be done to it though.



Wife picked up some more plants for the back. Hope to dig them in at some point this weekend.


----------



## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

I did what I was able to today with the dumb rain. I did throw down a cocktail of Azoxy, Tenacity, PGR and Bifen. Used the marking blue, spilled the marking blue.





Whatever little bit of leveling of the low spots I did got messed up a bit with the rain. I'm not going to worry about that too much though. I'm more worried about the seed at this point.





I'm ready to strike though as soon as I can. I have 10x 3cu ft bales of peat.



And the dumb moles in the back are kicking my butt. Stepped on a tunnel by accident and nearly lost my foot.



Hopefully I will be okay with throwing seed tomorrow morning.


----------



## iowa jim (Jan 22, 2018)

You better look at the forecast for tomorrow.


----------



## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

@iowa jim so far morning is my best window. The afternoon rains never came, wish I would've thrown seed and peat after the PGR...but spent afternoon planting stuff in the fenceline with the wife. So I guess a trade of sorts. My time to her this afternoon for some forgiveness tomorrow to sneak away. 

This whole week looks uncooperative


And tomorrow I have the whole day off, and morning looks open.


----------



## social port (Jun 19, 2017)

@JohnP moles are the worst...as if we don't have enough to contend with when trying to grow some grass!


----------



## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

Realized I didn't include what the Xalt coating was.



> *XALT COATING - SEED ENHANCEMENT COATING*
> D & K Products is please to offer many of its Premium Grass Seed blends with the new, state of the art XALT Seed coating. XALT seed Enhancement is a science based technology that can help seed reach its genetic potential by improving seedling performance.
> 
> *XALT CONTAINS:*
> ...


----------



## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

So I took a chance on the weather, and I'm glad I did. Hopefully our weather holds out the next few days and everything can get a good running start.

I emailed the awesome guys at D&K Turf late last night that I wanted to stop in and grab some Urea (fall blitz) and some Andersons Starter Fert. It's a Green's Grade starter fert and I was excited to try it.

I woke up excited like a kid goin' to Disney World at 6AM, and was outside doing a final clean up mow by 7AM.



I was going to leave the boulevard alone, but I last minute decided to scalp the one on the side that I share with the neighbor. I did hit everything with the PGR, the boulevard just didn't get dethatched. There's a strip after my mailbox as well that leads up to the corner that had a lot of weeds and bare spots, that got PGR pretty well as well, but not much of the rest of it. So I scalped that section and we'll see what happens. It's not a priority, it will get secondary attention really. We'll see how resilient the seed is I guess.





After I finished the clean up mow I threw the seed down at the seed rate of 3# per thousand. Then I ran off to D&K Turf to pick up my stuff.





D&K Turf is great. They're like 10 minutes from my house, like 3 minutes from work...locally owned. The Andersons spreader was staring me down again today. Out of curiosity I asked the price. $500. Little more than the Earthway I'm eyeballing but from what I've heard/read Andersons is usually a little more expensive anyway. I skipped it.



The Andersons green's grade is so small next to the KBG seed. I put the fert down at the "heavy" rate of 6.25# per thousand. First experience with green's grade. Loved it.









Then I started spreading the peat moss, no fancy roller like @gravylookout, had to do it the fun, back breaking way like I did last year. Dumped a bale in the wheelbarrow and then grabbed a portion with both hands and rubbed them together to dust over the seed. I got dirty. My Got Grass hat from @wardconnor got broke in today too.













After I finished this I ran the sprinklers briefly to give them an initial soak and took a shower.

I have a Melnor RainCloud that was recommended by @b0nk3rs and setting the schedule was easy. I've already been using it for the drip system I put in for the Rugosa bed. I set them to run each zone for 10 minutes every 4 hours. Depending on zone they either start at 5AM, 6AM, or 6:30AM, and then finish at either 5PM, 6PM or 6:30PM. Will keep an eye on it and see if any adjustments are needed. The RainCloud has mixed reviews, and I think there are two reasons for that.

Terrible WiFi Coverage

They're using a faulty valve unit or controller that needs the Melnor support to get involved

Love mine. Easy to set schedules, turn on or off, manually run zones...without moving from my seat, while away from home, etc...

Here's hopin' that the massive rains are behind us and this wasn't all for nothin'....


----------



## b0nk3rs (Aug 21, 2017)

To clarify on the Melnor Raincloud bit....The WiFi Aquatimer is the old WiFi version which has some pretty bad issues and the Raincloud is the new ethernet version which seems to have resolved them.

Hope your seed and peat survives the rain!


----------



## wardconnor (Mar 25, 2017)

Good work Pink. That andersen spreader looks tempting for sure. The is one expensive spreader. I suppose if your doing this everyday then that is a small price to pay for a good spreader.

I really need and want to try some of that greens grade fert stuff that I keep seeing here on the site.


----------



## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

@wardconnor If only you had an audience, and an outlet where you could demonstrate such a capable fertilizer...you know, if such a manufacturer would want to ship some to you.

Took a trip home to let the dogs out over lunch. All this rain is causing some flash flooding, snapped a picture of a speed limit sign in the park I drive by, kinda blurry but you get the idea. Lots of water.



I've got some worms on the surface the ground is so saturated. Still lots of blue seed poking out...for now. Will do a better walk around tomorrow and see what I can find.


----------



## wardconnor (Mar 25, 2017)

Did you get a bunch of washout and did you lose your seed?


----------



## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

We'll see tomorrow. Should clear up then, starting to level off.


----------



## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

So a week later the PGR is holding strong and the KBG is staying moist.


----------



## iowa jim (Jan 22, 2018)

We finally got some good grass growing weather, so it will take off this next week for sure.


----------



## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

Got some very small growth showing up in the bare spots. Snagged a few pics this morning.

Used my Ego blower on lowest setting to clean the leaves off the boulevard tonight. Too dark for a photo of the "after" though.


----------



## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

More babies showing up, this one closer to shade under the tree, but not the shadiest part.


----------



## ericgautier (Apr 22, 2017)

Woohoo!


----------



## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

https://youtu.be/eT_Q_iAnmys


----------



## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

@b0nk3rs

Hampton (12.46%):
Nicknamed "The Root Monster" do to its standout deep and fibrous root production for improved drought tolerance. Hampton is a favorite of elite trufgrass sod producers and rated near the top in hear strength across multiple blends, mixtures and species at Cornell University. It also adds terrific winter color, excellent spring green up and seedling vigor, drought tolerance and traffic performance with the highest rated horizontal shoot leaf growth habit.

Wear Tolerant. Heat & Drought Tolerant. Salt Tolerant. 
Rated #1 for summer stress.
Rated #2 for Rust Disease
Rated #2 for Winter Color

Establishes in 8-14 days. Good shade tolerance.

Shannon (12.40%):
Establishes FAST! A Hybrid cross of Unique x Lakeshore, Shannon captures elite turf performance from an America type with the yield potential from a Shamrock Type, resulting in improved turf quality and better value. Fast to recover, and fast to green up, Shannon is improved and darker green, medium fine-textured, durable density, and improved heat tolerance. Shannon's vigor and responsiveness allow it to better establish in blends with perennial ryegrasses and tall fescue, and speeds up knitting, sod formation and ground cover density when used in diverse elite Kentucky bluegrass blends for sod production.

Earlier Spring Green Up. Better fall color retention. Strong wear tolerance. Faster recovery from drought and stress. Improved pest resistance. Improved darker green color.

Establishes in 7-10 days in warm soils.

Gaelic (12.23%):
Premium bluegrass that's outstanding for establishing new turf areas and over-seeding existing turf on sports fields, commercial landscapes and golf courses. A Hybrid America Type x Shamrock Type, GAELIC is an ideal choice for broadening the genetic base of bluegrass blends and mixtures as well as adding to turf type tall fescue.

Resists dollar spot and stem rust. Well in sun and moderate shade.

Establishes in 8-14 days.

Midnight (11.72%):
One of the most popular bluegrasses in America. Its beauty and performance have stood out in NTEP and private, and university trials more than 25 years. Midnight is the strongest performing Kentucky Bluegrass a unique compact-type variety with dark green color.

Uniform, desnse turf with very dark green color.

Rated #2 for Turf Quality
Top 5 for Genetic Color
Top 10 for seeding vigor
Rated #3 in density
Rated #2 in summer stress

Establishes in 8-14 days.

Xalt Seed Coating (50%):
Xalt contains L-Amino Acids to stimulate root growth; water absorbent polymer that holds moisture close to seed for germination and an Apron XL Fungicide to protect from seedling disease.


----------



## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

I think I've got some fungal issues cropping up. It's been hotter these last few day and I haven't adjusted watering. Going to back down a bit.

I did treat with Azoxy when I did seed down and the seed was coated with Apron XL.

For now I'm going to adjust watering.

But I did do Tenacity at seed down....


----------



## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

@Greendoc pointed out the leaves emerging in threes is likely Nutsedge turning white and praised their death.


----------



## ken-n-nancy (Jul 25, 2017)

JohnP said:


>


"You tiny little grass sprout... You tiny little grass sprout..."


----------



## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

Lol @ken-n-nancy that damn tune has been stuck in my head all week!


----------



## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

So the lawn is definitely getting that nice green pube stache thing happening. I did drop the watering back a little bit. Today is *Day 12*. I'm happy how it's growing in:





I have a neighbor that enjoys chopping wood like I enjoy mowing. He has quite the wood pile he keeps in the back to burn during the winter in his wood stove. Fine and all, but it sure does create a mouse potential. I refreshed my "Death Rocks" today as well as he was over there disturbing the pile a bunch prepping to move it into his garage for storage.


----------



## Stellar P (Apr 13, 2018)

JohnP said:


>


Is that marker dye stain still there? I'm about to do a herbicide application and was wanting to use it. I'm hesitant depending on how long it stains for. Did you attempt to remove it with anything (Chemical or Pressure Washer)?


----------



## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

Didn't attempt to do anything to clear it off other than hitting it with the hose when it happened. It's almost gone now. I'll snap a picture when I get home.


----------



## iowa jim (Jan 22, 2018)

Whats going on are you in sprout and pout phase , fertilizing, mowing, any updates, inquiring minds want to know?


----------



## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

lol @iowa jim I'm full on pouting. The cooler temps caused the trees to start dropping leaves. I've had to use the Ego blower on lowest setting to clear the leaves off multiple times, and I have some sticks I need to clear off today when I get home. On my way out the door I snapped these photos:

*Day 19:* I still haven't mowed. My last NON SCALP mow was more than a month ago.

My car this morning was casting a deep shadow on here, this is the shady spot because of the maple tree above. It's not doing bad though considering.


This is the side I call my "Rugosa Strip" because of the roses on the side we planted this year. I think they're going to really shine next year, they were very young when we planted in June. These are the most favorable angles I could get on this side.




There's definitely two washout spots on the Rugosa Strip and a spot or two on the Maple Side. The plan for today when I get home is to hit it with 0.25# of N. I'm going to try it as a foliar and mix in some GCF Humic12. Then I will throw some seed down in the bare spots and cover with peat. I have plenty of both left.

I did order some MP2000 Rotators and spike bases to replace the Orbits on the Rugosa side. I think the Orbit has kind of a "harsh stream" compared and might've contributed to some of the washout. It's late in the season but I will likely begin doing the spoon feeding at this point for the rest of the season. I had debated doing another PGR dose but I think I'm going to skip for now and see how it goes "unregulated".

I'm going to take my blades off tonight after sunset and attempt to do my first sharpening of them. Either it'll go great or I'll lose a finger to my angle grinder. I'm hoping to give it the first cut yet this week and I want those blades sharp.


----------



## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

Tonight I got in the front yard and cleared a fair amount of leaves off with the Ego blower. I ran the mower over the one section that didn't get scalped. Got everything bagged up and cleaned up. While I was doing it a neighbor walking her dog stopped and asked what happened to my yard. Fair question lol, it does look like crap now.

Then I whipped up a cocktail of every GCF product I had on hand as well as 1# of Urea for the 1800 sq ft up front. Dissolved that, mixed it in with the GCF and sprayed. Did 10oz of each Air8, Humic12, RGS and MicroGreene. Threw in the last few ounces of Humic12 to empty out the gallon. Threw a round of seed down in the fairly bare areas. Didn't cover with peat. I might throw some down tomorrow just to cover the bare spots a bit but it got dark before I was able to tonight.

Either it'll work or it won't at this point, not a thing I can really do about it now, but I am going to continue the 0.25#/week for a bit.

@iowa jim here's some unflattering angles.


----------



## iowa jim (Jan 22, 2018)

Your only on day 20 so you have to be patient, mine was pretty thin at day 20 also and thats about the time it started to take off. Your heavy shade area looks goods by the tree, it looks like you had some washout by the sidewalk and if the reseed don't take this fall there is always next spring. How much N is in everything you put down last night?


----------



## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

Only ~0.25# of N. I did 1# of Urea for the ~1800 sq ft up front.


----------



## iowa jim (Jan 22, 2018)

How do you like the GCF products? Im kind of on the fence on them as some say they work great and the next guy says its snake oil.


----------



## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

@iowa jim I think a lot of it depends on how you use it and the state your yard is in. It's not an overnight miracle cure all. Like all things in this hobby it's a marathon, not a sprint. I plan to buy more, especially the humic, next year. We could do a split if you end up wanting to get some to try. I think some people think it's going to be a one and done kind of thing, and it's certainly not.


----------



## iowa jim (Jan 22, 2018)

I think your right on that and if i do try it next spring i don't think i would be interested in a split as i have 12,000sf. and if i try it, i would give it a full years worth before i really evaluate it. That would take a lot of product.


----------



## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

Hey guess what...more rain forecasted for this week. I haven't had to worry about running sprinklers, but I got some MP Rotator 2000s with bodies. They're nice, I wish it was dry and hot out so I had reasons to use them.

I'm gonna hit the front with some fert again tomorrow.











Edit: I plan to clear up the leaves tomorrow after this next round of rain that will bring more.


----------



## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

I added a mystery fertilizer to the yard.


----------



## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

We are at *Day 30* since I threw the first seed. I blew the leaves off this morning before leaving but after I took pics. Yesterday was 80 but day before that and today are both 60s.

More rain is forecast in the coming days. I picked up some Turface Quick Dry from D&K Products and will throw that down fairly lightly at first to see if I can counteract some of this drowning.


----------



## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

Ran the manual reel over it today on highest setting to just knock off the tips then blew off the leaves. If memory serves it should be a 1.5" HOC. Didn't have time to check.

It's a far cry from a year ago. 

Next year baby.


----------



## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

So I threw down the 50# of Turface. I could've probably justified another 50# easily. Standing water in the yard in places. It's pretty bad out front.

So I cleared the leaves first then went back over. I started small at the 2 setting and after one pass realized not enough. Each pass I was cranking the knob up until I finally landed on 14.

I will probably pick up another two bags. One more later this week and one next week. We'll see how it goes.


----------



## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

Last time I got a little crazy I scalped and dethatched my yard. Then I didn't pay proper attention to watering and killed most of it. 'Cause I'm crazy. And dumb. I do dumb things sometimes.

Tonight after clearing the leaves off and trimming parts of it down with some freshly sharpened blades I poured some D&K Ignition 12-28-12 into my Scott's Mini. I poured until it was *FULL* set it to 6 (should've done 7 or 8 probably) and put some _***_ into it. Probably did about 10# per thousand. Swung by D&K and picked up another 100# of Turface. Ran out of time though and didn't get it thrown down. Tomorrow.


----------



## iowa jim (Jan 22, 2018)

Do you think the turface is necessary now that there is no rain predicted for the next ten days?


----------



## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

iowa jim said:


> Do you think the turface is necessary now that there is no rain predicted for the next ten days?


Not at all, but my lawn is so damn wet I'm ready. Also I'm _crazy_ lol


----------



## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

Mowed at 2" with some freshly sharpened blades.











Also gave the back a mow to 2.5" for the first time since 8/23.


----------



## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

This season has left me feeling defeated for sure.

The spring started off with it growing so rapidly and so thick that I couldn't keep up. I was too busy with work and never got around to PGR and my Ego couldn't maintain a clean cut at max height with that thick of a lawn.

The summer found me fighting disease. I got the fungicides down timely and rotated and I was able to stop that. Likely due to the combination of too much N the season prior, too few cuts in the spring, weird stupid weather.

The fall in my frustration I scalped and detatched and failed to irrigate after stressing it, and we hit a hot dry patch that nuked the existing turf. When I did seed (twice) intense rains came and washed my work down the street (twice).

Now we're pushing Halloween and I've definitely gone from the best lawn on the block to the worst lawn on the block. It is thin. Where I mowed last time the tire tracks are death tracks and the days are short enough that Wednesday afternoon and Sunday afternoon are my only opportunities for yardwork but it doesn't much matter because for me the season might as well be over.

Now that the pity party is out of the way.

I enjoyed the lessons taken from this season. I'm excited for the challenge this presents me next year. I'm going to setup some indoor KBG pots to help fill in the gaps early and work to promote lateral growth as best I can. This year I found an excellent local resource in the way of D&K Turf and they're minutes from work. I can fire off an email the night before half asleep and the warehouse guy (Justin) will have my stuff ready for me when I come in the next day.

Pictures.

You can see the washout stream here running towards the flamingo on the left. I will continue to level that section out in 2019. Last year this was the part that showed off the stripes fairly well even though my Ego doesn't have a striper.


*Compared to 2017:*


The top of what I call the "Rugosa Strip" because of the roses by the fence is not terrible. However there is recent death from my last mow where the tires ran. Sigh.




*Compared to 2017:*
You can see how deep and dark green this section was in November when I was putting up lights last year.


The nearly bare spots will get the KBG pots. I don't know how many I'll be able to do but we'll see. Even if it's just a couple sq ft worth it'll speed things along.


----------



## iowa jim (Jan 22, 2018)

Weird stupid weather is a under statement with what we had to put up with this year. I think you have a very good base to start with in the spring and if your like me this was a good learning year. I also have some patch work to do in the spring. I will still give you a atta boy.


----------



## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

Sunday I gave it a bag mow to clean up the leaves. While I was baggin' the front my neighbor walked over to be neighborly and blew the leaves off to the street. The city comes through with a leaf vac and sucks up leaf piles from the curb. He was building a big pile and thought he was helping. He didn't realize he was stepping all over the tender growth I've struggled to bring in. I stopped him, and I'm sure he thinks I'm even more crazy now than ever. They still haven't picked up his massive leaf pile that's killing his front yard...



*Tuesday (Day 49):*
I threw down a cocktail of RGS (10oz/M); 0-0-2 MicroGreene (10oz/M) and Air-8 (10oz/M) with whatever Urea I could fit in this scoop...twice....my scale was MIA and I was in a rush. Super scientific.





It's fairly thick at the top of this shot:





But this shot it's still strugglin'



@iowa jim I'm looking forward to the spring. I'm going to ignore the Carbon X recommended bag rate and hit it weekly at 1#/M and some PGR. I have a winter project of some KBG pots to help fill in the bare & thin spots. Will start a new thread for that later this week.


----------



## Outerspace (Sep 7, 2018)

Seems like a top dressing of sand could help with the mud/too wet issues


----------



## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

Sunday 10/28:

Woke up to a ton of leaves knocked down from the rain we got. Was able to get in the lawn and take care of them though, decided to bag mow to keep the sun on the grass as much as possible.











The KBG Pot Project is coming along nicely. I'm hoping that I can jam them in the ground in the barest spots I have in early December. Then I'll reset the pots and do a 2nd round to jam in first thing in the spring.


----------



## kds (Apr 28, 2017)

How're things looking now?


----------



## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

kds said:


> How're things looking now?


Lots of bare. Was thinking today about getting some photos uploaded of the thin. Carbon X should be along shortly. Mowing soon. Probably try and get some pre down in the next week.


----------



## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

Lots of bare patches. Got spousal approval to take the maple out of the front. Lots of surface roots that will go away!


----------



## NoslracNevok (Jun 12, 2018)

How will you handle the tree/stump removal?


----------



## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

NoslracNevok said:


> How will you handle the tree/stump removal?


Likely a lot of digging over the next couple seasons, the roots on the surface will be easy to follow and pull but I'm sure there will be some surprises.


----------



## NoslracNevok (Jun 12, 2018)

I cleared an area behind my house, tress up to ~6" diameter. I fell them about chest high, then took a reciprocating saw with a long blade into the ground and cut the roots around the stump. I was able use the leverage to push most of them over by hand.

Unsure how effective it would be for larger trees.


----------



## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

Tulips are coming up. Got the Prodiamine down yesterday. Went at the 0.55oz/M rate. Grass is starting to thicken up but the repair spots from Operation: "Beat The Hell Outta My Lawn" are very visible.

Also have a weird dry/death spot that will need attention.


----------



## iowa jim (Jan 22, 2018)

Great minds think alike as i put my prodiamine down yesterday also. The rain also helped to get it watered in right away.


----------



## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

Interesting rate on prodiamine.


----------



## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

g-man said:


> Interesting rate on prodiamine.


Heck yeah it is! What you think this is a CHURCH LAWN?! This here's crazy town!!!


----------



## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

This will be a nice experiment.

For those reading in the future, JPink 0.55oz/ksqft rate is the yearly max rate for prodiamine (1.0lb ai/acre). It is correct per the product label, but all at once on a new lawn does have some risks. We will see how it turns out. A 5grams/ksqft (0.18oz/ksqft) would be more appropriate.


----------



## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

@g-man's not wrong by any means but I'm okay with it.


----------



## kds (Apr 28, 2017)

Pedal to the metal, I like it!


----------



## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

Got in the lawn yesterday and it felt gooood! Pretty much everyone in my neighborhood had already done a mow and some even a fert. The pressure was mounting but I knew Easter Sunday was a full day off for me and I wanted to take the time and enjoy the mow. She was looking shaggy.







Threw on a freshly sharpened blade and gave it a 2" bag cut. Plenty of scalping was had, I am debating whether to keep it at 2.5" in the front most of the season this time around. I know in my "Ideal Section" I violated the 1/3 rule pretty hard.





Keeping at 2.5" would pry limit the scalping but I have a lawn level I intend to use as well at some point this season. 2" would certainly hep me work out the issues and it is soooo much easier to pickup dog poop in the back so either way the back will remain at 2". Edging took a while because it had overgrown quite a bit.







I have a Craigslist alert setup for Spyker, Lesco, Earthway among other terms. A month or so ago I snagged an Earthway off a guy for $65. I picked up the side deflector on a Grainger deal thanks to @Kicker and popped that bad boy on there. I also threw a *Dominator* sticker on the front of it as my homage to Allyn Hane for making the videos that gave me this lawncare disease in the first place. It's a nice addition to the wall of tools.







I filled one of the front tires with some air earlier in the day but by the time I went to load it up it had deflated a bit. I'm going to have to investigate that a bit but I moved forward with it. I loaded the hopper up with my full pound of nitrogen per thousand and went to town throwin' down!

Today rain is in the forecast and there has been rumbling and sprinkles here and there. Half inch is on the menu, if Mother Nature doesn't deliver I will drag some hoses out and setup sprinklers but I was trying to wait a good week or two.

I will be using PGR regularly this season. I also have some Anderson's Humic DG I need to go pickup and throw down here soon. I didn't get it in time like I had planned to throw down yesterday. Oh well.

I'm so stoked for this season despite the issues I ended last season with.


----------



## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

Oh yeah. The back. Lots of dog pee death from the winter.


----------



## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

Here's a shot I took last night. Ignore the messy grill. That fert Sunday -> Wednesday lookin' good!


----------



## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

Very happy with how fast the dog pee kill is filling in from the feeding it got Sunday.



Yesterday I gave the yard an overdue cut. With a week of wet rainy days in the forecast I went with 2" bag cut again. I really prefer mulch mowing but my Ego doesn't mulch as well when it's removing over an inch of growth. I'm planning to get PGR down next week.




Brutus approves of the fresh cut.

Last year the fall got away from us and we didn't get the garden mulched so we started yesterday but didn't get it done before dark. Wife drove the car into the back and it was kinda weird to see a car parked on the grass.


----------



## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

So. Much. Rain. Can't. Mow.

But the backyard continues to recover from winter pee. That 4# per thou of Carbon X sure helped! Scroll back and check what it looked like on Easter!


----------



## Alex1389 (May 23, 2018)

That color!


----------



## iowa jim (Jan 22, 2018)

John: I have the same problem with my dog a 90lb. lab. What i am doing is i bought a pro plugger and plan on plugging that area to help it fill in faster. Might be a good investment for you, i think they are right around $40.00.


----------



## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

iowa jim said:


> John: I have the same problem with my dog a 90lb. lab. What i am doing is i bought a pro plugger and plan on plugging that area to help it fill in faster. Might be a good investment for you, i think they are right around $40.00.


I need to invest in one of those. I've been wanting to..maybe this season.

I was able to get a mulch mow in today at 2.5". I am pretty happy with the 2.5" height. D&K is fetchin' some goodies from Des Moines for me. Need to order some fancy Teejet nozzles for the Chapin for the PGR apps.


----------



## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

Been a hot minute since I updated.

I've been mowing about every 4-5 days. Usually removing more than an inch and bag mowing almost every time.

Monday last week I put down .5oz/M of PGR and added in 2oz of MSO. Not required but all the cool kids were doing it on here so I figured why not. I had wanted to cut prior but I didn't have time so I went for the PGR.

Wednesday I did a bag mow to clean it up.

Thursday I threw down Acelepryn G at a higher rate of 2#/M. We've had plenty of grub issues in years past. I also threw down another 20#/M of Anderson's Humic DG.

Tonight I MULCH MOWED at 2.5" and removed at most half an inch. Awesome. Thank you PGR!! It was almost a charity mow...almost.

There are still plenty of bare and thin spots that I am working on. Here's some photos in no particular order!


----------



## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

Why are you bag mowing?


----------



## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

g-man said:


> Why are you bag mowing?


Only when I had to bale hay. My rule of thumb this year is if I'm removing less than an inch my mower can handle mulching else it needs to be bagged.


----------



## iowa jim (Jan 22, 2018)

It looks like its getting thicker and color is nice. Keep up the good work, also forgot to tell you that i bought a dozen of your cupcakes and they are awesome, we had 6 different people try them and they all said it was the best cupcake they ever had.


----------



## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

iowa jim said:


> It looks like its getting thicker and color is nice. Keep up the good work, also forgot to tell you that i bought a dozen of your cupcakes and they are awesome, we had 6 different people try them and they all said it was the best cupcake they ever had.


It is for sure coming in much thicker than I ended last year, and that makes me happy!

Thanks for the kind words! We work hard for that  You ever make it down this way again let me know and maybe I can sneak away and grab a burger!


----------



## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

Last year about this time I started having some fungus issues showing up. I wanted to get ahead of any issues so I went out tonight with a similar cocktail to Mr. Paul Outlaw.

I mixed up a tank of Azoxy, Propiconazole and a biostim from Plant Food called Adam's Earth. D&K sells the biostim, it has 8% Humic and 4% fulvic along with a huge list of other things.

Per thousand I did: *Azoxy* @ 0.25 ounces. *Propiconazole* @ 0.5 ounces and *Adam's Earth* @ 3 ounces.

I also squirted a little at the base of each rose bush that had any yellowing signs. I didn't want to stain any of the leaves with the humic.


----------



## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

The PGR has really put the brakes on top growth. To the point I had some yellow tips, though maybe that was from the fungicide app? Unsure.

We've had soooo much rain. Almost too much. More than 5" in the last 7 days. Today and tomorrow are forecast to be clear and Saturday another 0.25" so tonight was a good opportunity for some #weeknightlawnwork

I hit it with about 1# Nitrogen per thousand from Carbon X tonight. Then I went behind and did 3oz per thousand of the Plant Food Adam's Earth, 3oz per thousand of the Plant Flood 12 Iron (6% Iron) and 6oz per thousand of Earthworks brand KICK (Soil Conditioner with some kelp and molasses in it).

I am coming up on needing to do another PGR round, wondering if I should let it come out 100% and grow out of the yellow or hit it again and keep it under regulation. Guess we'll see how the 12 Iron and this app of Carbon X does.


----------



## kds (Apr 28, 2017)

Dang, you are all about applications!!! Looking good.


----------



## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

Do half the rate of pgr not the full dose.


----------



## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

g-man said:


> Do half the rate of pgr not the full dose.


My first app of PGR this year was .5oz/M, so a little more than half (full is 0.75oz/M IIRC). Are you saying go closer to 0.375oz/M?

*Edit:* loljk full for KBG is 0.6oz/M vs Fescue is 0.75oz/M. Whoopsidoodal I had the bottle marked from last year when I was mostly Fescue....


----------



## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

I do 10mL (0.33oz) as my regular application. If you are considering doing none, I think you should do half (0.25oz) to avoid too much rebound.


----------

