# g-man 2020 Lawn Journal



## g-man

An Indianapolis suburbs lawn reel mowed at 22mm (~15/16in). Front yard is sod from the builder of the house, the backyard is bewitched KBG.

_Cross References:_
The early years: 2016-2018
220E Rebuild
Soil test 2019
Soil Test 2016-2018
 2019 Lawn Journal + Renovation 

*Goals for 2020:*
- Reduce my inputs (aka move more into maintenance)
- Plan to use XGRN thru the year. I liked the color response from it.
- Redo the front the of house landscape
- Finish one irrigation zone (HVAC side)
- Maybe renovate the front right section.

*Winter*
It was a mild winter. The front northern mix did really good. The backyard renovation area looks ok, but it need nitrogen.

09Mar2020

I could not resist anymore and mowed the lawn. We had a few days above 50F and it was nice to play outside with the kids. I had to rush to buy some gasoline before a rain storm. I dont know my HOC. It was the same as last year.

The front yard had clippings in the 0.5in. Not a lot of them, but it is growing. The renovation area of the backyard had zero clippings. The non renovated sections did and color looks good. From experience and just looking at the clippings I know the renovation needs nitrogen. Temps are supposed to drop again this weekend, but after that I will do the soil sampling, drop MAP and some AMS.

The phone "corrected" the lighting in the backyard and it makes the image look ugly.


----------



## Guest

pics? spraying prodiamine in a couple of weeks?


----------



## g-man

@macdawg I was typing in the PC but the pictures are on the cell. I added them plus some from the cameras.


----------



## Green

Which is the front right?


----------



## Guest

looks to be in great shape for March g-man. nice and thick, good color, good edges. It was 72 in the KC area today, once things warm up your lawn is going to take off.


----------



## Socks

@g-man Interested in how you can tell it needs nitrogen coming out of winter? This is my first spring with the yard "in" and I'm really struggling with holding off on more N after the falls N blitz, but I trust everyone here.

I'm in almost the exact same climate as you (just north of Kings Island here north of Cincinnati) So getting antsy to get PreM down here in the coming days...


----------



## g-man

@Socks I did a renovation in the backyard last year. That area is very young without the root structure of a mature lawn. For a mature lawn, wait for it to really wake up. Wait at least two mows to judge how it is looking/growing. I bet that you won't need nitrogen once temps go up. Some of the roots in a mature lawn die during winter. That dead stuff is still in the soil 4-8in deep and full of nutrients. It will decompose and release those nutrients to the rest of the lawn, therefore feeding it. It is part of the normal root cycling and spring flush growth. In my opinion, root cycling is a way more effective than aerate (3-4in cores?) plus adding Npk plus adding organic matter.

So what to look for: color/growth/clippings. The lawn is not fully awake yet, so I can't expect much yet. But when I did the mow I noticed that the not renovated areas are growing, I had clippings and they are greener. Experience also tells me the reno will need constant feeding in spring because it doesn't have deep roots or quantity of roots.

Last night I spreaded AMS (0.20lbN/M) in the reno only. I took this image so you can see the before. Look at the border with the side neighbors, it is greener. Look at the 8 ft at the back (2018 reno), it also looks good. If you also look at the front north facing lawn (5yr sod), it is all looking good.










And now look 30min after at the white stuff we are getting here. At least the AMS is getting watered in.  I will likely do PreM in next two weeks.


----------



## Socks

Yeah that is starting to fall here now too... thanks for the advice. I'm in a little bit of a strange situation considering the timing of our seed (late fall 2018) and the fact that we had blight last year... But going to hold off nonetheless. Worst case I'll pamper it through the spring and summer best I can and Reno in the fall :lol:


----------



## g-man

Star day 20200318 - I'm not wired to work from home

We had mostly cold cloudy days. Yesterday was nice with 50s and some sun in the afternoon. A line of storm was approaching, so I gave the lawn a quick mow. The front lawn is growing. It had plenty of clippings and worm mud piles. The backyard reno area is still not growing. We are supposed to get even colder in the weekend with lows in the 20s. PreM window should start this weekend.

I've seen some poa a that I need to take care off (hand pull) and some weeds. Hopefully we will get some sun and warmer temps soon.


----------



## pennstater2005

Front yard is looking tight!


----------



## HoosierLawnGnome

Things are waking up quickly around here, eh?!

Looking forward to watching you enjoy that lawn this year with all the busy, remote work we have in front of us


----------



## g-man

@HoosierLawnGnome I just wish the weather was warmer. Daily mowings would be a thing. 

@pennstater2005 it is cool to see how green it is already.


----------



## g-man

I know some of us are more visual. I went to get the mail and grabbed a couple of pictures of the clippings after the rain.





These clippings look to be around 1in in length. My hoc is below 1in (I don't remember). My last mow was 09Mar and we had snow and not much sun. No nitrogen since October.


----------



## g-man

20200320

0.2lb of N /M in the reno. It is starting to green up. Weather is cold and I'm getting concerned with fungus.


----------



## Mark B

g-man said:


> 20200320
> 
> 0.2lb of N /M in the reno. It is starting to green up. Weather is cold and I'm getting concerned with fungus.


To help us understand please, why are you concerned about fungus?


----------



## g-man

I'm paranoid. It's been cold, wet, warm, wet, foggy, wet, cold, snow, 60F, cold. The lawn is young so it is more susceptible to fungus. When I walked it, it look like rust fungus, but it wasn't. Once the weather warms up, I will do azoxy + propi as a preventive application (aka peace of mind).


----------



## g-man

20200324

HOC is 22mm.

Yesterday I did a mow right before another rain event (see the rain drops in the sidewalk). The lawn was very moist and soft. I tried to do single doubles in the front and the turns did some damage.



Earthworms are making me mad. It looks like I aerated the lawn.



The backyard is waking up. The reno still has some yellow areas with some purple blades. It looks to be at the tip, so I'm assuming it is just desiccation.



I closer view of one of the worst spots


I zoomed in more


20200325

Finally a sunny and warm day. Amazing what a day of good weather improves the lawn. The yellow from the backyard is fading away, so it is not a fungus. I can mow the front again from all the growth. I moved patio furniture out and enjoyed the yard with the kids. The prem i have is 18lb of 0.25 dithiopyr for this weekend. I also need to deal with the poa a.


----------



## Babameca

Front looks awesome! Back will look even better, very, very soon .


----------



## beardizzle1

g-man said:


> 20200325
> 
> Finally a sunny and warm day. Amazing what a day of good weather improves the lawn. The yellow from the backyard is fading away, so it is not a fungus. I can mow the front again from all the growth. I moved patio furniture out and enjoyed the yard with the kids. The prem i have is 18lb of 0.25 dithiopyr for this weekend. I also need to deal with the poa a.


Still thinking about putting your prem down this weekend? I've yet to put mine down (Prodiamine). Planned to do this Wednesday and didn't get to it. Then yesterday, but didn't get to it due to all of the rain we are/were supposed to get.


----------



## Biggylawns

@g-man what do you use to dig out/treat poa A that you get?


----------



## doverosx

g-man said:


> Pete1313 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Embrace the imperial units @g-man! :lol:
> 
> Grass is looking good btw! :thumbsup:
> 
> 
> 
> Hahahah!! Even the British gave up on their imperial nonsense system. It is time we move on.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> During the reign of King Edward II, in the early 14th century, the inch was defined as "three grains of barley, dry and round, placed end to end lengthwise." At various times the inch has also been defined as the combined lengths of 12 poppyseeds.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> - Britannica
> 
> So my hoc is around 10 poppyseeds.
Click to expand...

Lol


----------



## Lobster Poutine

looks great - what are you using to green up!


----------



## g-man

@Lobster Poutine I've posted everything I've used this year and last in the 2019 journal. The front and existing lawn has 0 fertilizer in 2020. The reno gets spoon feedings.


----------



## g-man

I've been doing little jobs thru the week and weekend.

- I drop some sand I had in a few spots.
- moved plugs
- I cleaned up and reshaped two mulch beds. I pulled like 6 sod pieces like this. 









- I got rid of the POA t in the front yard and filled it with the sod from the mulch bed. It looks horrible, but it will look ok by June.










I used the sod pieces in other spots and gave the rest to the neighbor.

- sprayed tenacity at 4oz/a rate to start getting rid of the POA a. I think the timing is too early with the cold weather this week, but it was driving me nuts.

- ordered XGRN. I wanted to buy it local at Dayton, oh, but corona changed those plans.


----------



## Biggylawns

@g-man I have a question about plugs. In general, how many plugs do you use per sq foot, i.e., how many would you use for a 2x2 ft area? I have the pro plugger but haven't used it yet and have about a 6 ft by 4 ft area to plug that I killed off. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Also, the grass in the bottom pic looks like a carpet. Super thick!


----------



## g-man

@Biggylawns it depends on how many spots you have to source the plugs. You can go as close as possible.

This is a close up of a plug area I did.










The plug in the bottom right was actually from Nov last year. It started to spread. The other are a week old. This area should be full by June.


----------



## Biggylawns

Thanks for the info! Looks like I'll be doing it this weekend.


----------



## Alex1389

@g-man Have you seen any reaction by the Poa A to your Tenacity app? I'm getting ready for my second app but didn't see much of a reaction from my 4 oz/a rate from last week. I'm thinking the temp swing did me in.


----------



## g-man

It is too cold. I'm not walking out if the house.  It should be too soon with 4-5 days since application. 7-10 is more typical with tenacity.


----------



## g-man

After a cold and rainy week, we had a really nice day today. The goal was to keep the kids outside most of the day, grill and relax. We enjoyed the yard.

Compacting the soil with bocce balls. My 4yr gets too competitive and complains if someone moves the pallina.









@Alex1389 the POA a is starting to bleach. Since it is easy to spot it, I will start pulling some of it.










I backslaped the reel and did single doubles in the north to south in the front. North to south is really hard to do with the curb and hill and tree. I need to drop the hoc more and check the roller to be even. The cut was uneven.

#nofert


















The back also got the north to south but singles.










Lastly I unpacked a sprayer that I'm going to start building using the gorilla cart.




























The lawn is growing too much. I will need to start pgr soon. You will think that WFH means more free time, but I like to spend it with the kids than the lawn. I'm going to back off the spoon feeding on the reno. I will start using XGRN with the peptides on the reno.


----------



## Alex1389

Looks really good! My Poa started to bleach as well. Going to hit it at the 2oz rate today.


----------



## Ohio Lawn

Looking forward to seeing your Gorilla Cart sprayer when it's done. I might do the same thing, so thanks for posting info.


----------



## g-man

@Ohio Lawn there is not much to this build.

The sprayer ($135) has everything: 2.2gpm pump, regulator, recirculation loop and a wand with 15ft of hose. I plan to make the metal wand into a 2 nozzle boom. Meanwhile I bought another sprayer wand ($10) and fitted a teejet nozzle. I ordered 50ft of coiled 3/8 hose that I will attach to the sprayer ($20). That's it.

I will place the cart mid yard and spray. When I get close to the cart, I will just move it. If my calculations are correct, I will move it a total of 5 times for the whole yard.


----------



## social port

g-man said:


> I will start using XGRN with the peptides on the reno.


@g-man, do you have any concerns about the effect of the peptides on weeds? For example, what if a difficult-to-eradicate weed like triv or quack has that surge of root hair growth? Might these weeds be even more resilient under such circumstances?


----------



## g-man

@social port I'm not. It is not going to make a super weed that round up will not handle.


----------



## g-man

I mowed today because of the forecasted rain. I noticed I screwed up. First the clippings were not as much. Then I noticed stressed spots in the front yard. The grass turns like an off gray green color. I finished mowing and started to look at the log.

Yep, with the 0.1in ET per day and only 0.22in of rain in the last days, it was dry. Way too dry. The spots I plugged or sodded are very dry. We had a couple of cool days with a lot of wind. The wind actually doesn't help since it can dry thing up even more. I stayed indoors and was not paying attention to the yard.

I also checked the rachio and this is the graph / table for moisture. Depleted.





It is supposed to rain tonight. I need to turn on the irrigation and get it ready. Normally I do it in May. The POA a areas need their second application, but I'm not going to stress the lawn more.


----------



## g-man

This morning before the rain I tried to take pictures of the dry spots, but the camera doesn't show it correctly.


----------



## g-man

I picked a lot of poa a using the hori-hori tool.

I then spread 3lb/ksqft if XGRN in the reno last night. It's time to make this reno green with iron. It was supposed to rain, but so far it is cloudy.


----------



## Ohio Lawn

g-man said:


> I picked a lot of poa a using the hori-hori tool.
> 
> I then spread 3lb/ksqft if XGRN in the reno last night. It's time to make this reno green with iron. It was supposed to rain, but so far it is cloudy.


Is there iron in the X-GRN?


----------



## g-man

The label says 4% iron.


----------



## Stuofsci02

g-man said:


> This morning before the rain I tried to take pictures of the dry spots, but the camera doesn't show it correctly.


I had to turn on the sprinkler and water yesterday too. It was really dry cold and windy the past week and it made the grass look desiccated..


----------



## g-man

I was bored and the rain was delayed, so I mowed again. The back yard looks like it lost steam. I dropped 3lb/M of XGRN but it is more slow release so I did 0.1lb N/M of AMS today. It is finally raining.

I cleaned up two more mulch beds. This one had a lot of small Bewitched from seeds that landed there. I need to buy more mulch for those 3 trees.

#nofert









#nofert


----------



## Babameca

Front is beautiful!!! Back has similar behaviour to my reno. Started somehow strong and then set itself on pause for 10 days now.


----------



## g-man

@Babameca the reno is just lack of nitrogen and lack of water. It will be back in 3 days. Also the shot of iron should help it get some color.


----------



## Babameca

g-man said:


> @Babameca the reno is just lack of nitrogen and lack of water. It will be back in 3 days. Also the shot of iron should help it get some color.


How much N do you see yourself applying on the Reno before summer. I assume, the 1/3 rule for spring rate does not apply at this point.


----------



## g-man

I don't know. I apply when it looks like it needs it for the current weather. I don't know what the 1/3 rule is.


----------



## Babameca

@g-man Not a rule per say but applying the bulk of N in fall. Cheers


----------



## doverosx

Babameca said:


> @g-man Not a rule per say but applying the bulk of N in fall. Cheers


Despite the amount of work I still need to do, the Fall blitz has transformed my young lawn/rehab program. The compliments never end!


----------



## g-man

28APR2020

PGR 5mL/M (0.15oz/ksqft) + 1oz/M of FEature to the whole lawn. Used the new sprayer setup. It worked great.










Edit: I forgot that I finished the mulch beds. A neighbor ordered 5 yards of mulch and ended up using 3 and gave the rest away to get it off their driveway. I only grabbed two gorilla carts of it and it was more than enough for what I needed.


----------



## g-man

I had the soil test results for like 2 weeks. I just posted it. 2020 Soil Test


----------



## g-man

Finally mowed last night after 6 days. I might mow again tomorrow right before the rain.

A bit of color response even with all the rain.


----------



## SNOWBOB11

Looks good g-man. Your neighbors lawn to the left of the house behind you looks like it's doing good too. Seems to have good green color.


----------



## g-man

Yeah he is a tier 1 approach. Great results with store brought items and frequent mowing.


----------



## g-man

Dropped 3lb/M of XGRN.

I serviced the 220E grease points and lowered the hoc to 20mm (close to 13/16). Doubled mowed. My son did the first pass. He did not get straight lines but that's ok. He was happy to use the 220E (I did the turns since it is too heavy). The double mow helped with some bobbing effect I'm seeing in the reno area. I finished just in time for the rain to start.




























I noticed like 2 small spots with what I think it is leaf spot. Weather is not going to be great, so I will likely treat when I get a chance (if the rain allows me).


----------



## g-man

@Biggylawns update. It is almost a month later. 20mm hoc. The sun shadows make it hard to see.










@JERSEY here is the reno this am at 28F. I covered some of the plants, but they suffered. Im going to drop XGRN today.


----------



## doverosx

Wow the colour fell away, it's ready to drink all of that XGRN! Are you treating the pH at all?


----------



## g-man

@doverosx yes color is low. I'm a bit under fertilized, I dropped the hoc, seedheads and the weather is not great. But it is all going to be ok. I don't worry too much about color. It is healthy and growing.

I won't spend money lowering my pH. I think it is pointless for my soil.


----------



## Biggylawns

Filling in nicely! Thanks for the update on it as I was curious how fast kbg plugs filled. Do you think its too late to do it now?


----------



## g-man

With the cold weird springs, go for it.


----------



## JERSEY

Just saw this g man.

Looks good!

How much n this year?


----------



## g-man

@JERSEY front lawn: nothing, reno area: ~0.2lb of N/weekly to 10 days.


----------



## g-man

20May2020

We had a ton of rain. It screwed up my plans for nitrogen and fas. The day I tried to apply some N, the spreader battery died on me and It created a small spill  in the reno. I noticed some fungus prior to the rain/cold days but treating it would be just a waste of product with rain runoff.

On Wednesday I was finally able to mow. I raised the hoc to 22mm since the new roller is giving me a closer hoc to bench hoc. Before mowing I applied:

Reno area
- 4lb/ksqft of XGRN 8-1-8 (0.32lbN/M)
- 1lb/ksqft of AMS (0.21lbN/M)

Front area
- 3lb/ksqft of XGRN (0.24lbN/M)

Whole yard
- grub ex

After the mow, the reno looks bad. The constant rain, 50F days, under fertilized and PGR made the fungus came back with a vengeance. It is yellow patch. I also think I saw some PB, but not sure on the id. Weather model for Dollar spot was 48%.

The whole yard:
- azoxy 22.9% 15mL/M
- a fungicide 82.5% 2 dry oz/M

We more cloudy weather until this afternoon. Finally had some sun to help the backyard recover with new growth. I was supposed to reapply PGR, but I'm going to let it rebound. PreM should go down this weekend and along with priming the irrigation.


----------



## Mark B

You will come through this, I have no doubt.
I wish you sunshine and recovery.


----------



## JERSEY

Gman
I'm doing a area with new seed...turf. northern mix..kyb.rye ,fescue.
Really crappy soil....hydrophobic...was dormant for 50 years at least...

I have yelllow spots like you, but it's more dry...and poor soil.

I dropped 1.5 lbs n on it in past 2 weeks. Will it get hurt? I don't know,or care...it's an experiment.

But I can tell you it greened up and really got better after that wimpy rain we got yesterday. 14 days dry.

I feel for ya..... I got different conditions. ..different approach.
Keep at it!!!!


----------



## g-man

@Mark B it looks much better now. We had a 0.5in in 30min rain over the weekend. I mowed in 2 directions on Saturday. Clipping length was more than 1in and some into the 2in (not good). I need to mow today again since I'm in rebound. The xgrn is starting to kick in.





Today, I need to do a Menards run. I screwed up a thread in the irrigation when I was getting ready to fire it up.


----------



## Alex1389

@g-man That's a nice recovery in just 6 days!


----------



## JERSEY

Looks great!!!
Maybe xgreen kick started it? With rain


----------



## Mark B

g-man said:


> @Mark B it looks much better now. We had a 0.5in in 30min rain over the weekend.


Excellent! That recovery was fast.



g-man said:


>


Really looking nice now 👍🏼👍🏼 That's your best looking overhead pic yet. I love the checkerboard pattern.


----------



## doverosx

Great recovery! I'm beating a dead horse, but this spring is really keeping us on our toes. Yesterday, for example, in Ontario Canada we had our 10th hottest day in May in 100 years... today will be 4C warmer!

I either have disease or drought dormancy in one section of my lawn with a majority of fine fescue. Your recovery gives me hope either way!


----------



## g-man

Thanks all. @JERSEY the xgrn takes a bit to kick in. I'm guessing by this weekend.










The fungus damage is almost gone.


----------



## Babameca

This looks darn dense.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Babameca said:


> This looks darn dense.


+1


----------



## JERSEY

falling together
schweeet.


----------



## g-man

I've been busy with life and kids. I keep forgetting to update this journal.

- 29May2020 dropped 1lb MAP/ksqft (some phosphorous)
- 01Jun2020 - 10mL/ksqft of Tnex + 1oz/ksqft FEature

We had some rain over the week so I ended up mowing Saturday. It was way too long, like +3in. I'm in the tnex rebound, plus the nitrogen and nice weather it is growing. The cut was so bad that I mowed again on Sunday. The idea was a charity mow, but it wasn't. I was mowing. I fired up the irrigation. I have one nozzle that's spinning like crazy, so overall it is good. I'm pushing the lawn a bit with limited watering since summer is approaching.

Today I needed another mow, but I wanted to get back into regulation. I started the mixture of AMS/citric acid (lower the water pH), but a rain cell was approaching. After it rained, I finished the mix and sprayed the yard.

I'm still getting used to the new sprayer and I screwed up. I think I was too trigger happy on the edges or the pressure too high. I noticed I was going to run out with like a 1g left in the tank. I added more water (diluted) to the tank and finished spraying. Those last few rows will not regulate the same.

Some pictures from Saturday and yesterday.


















^ I missed a strip



















Sunday after the second cut


















I will irrigate in the morning. I still need to do prodiamine and get more XGRN.


----------



## Biggylawns

Everywhere look so good. I know you switched to using only xgrn this year - have you noticed a difference on the no-mix?


----------



## Alex1389

g-man said:


> I've been busy with life and kids. I keep forgetting to update this journal.
> 
> - 29May2020 dropped 1lb MAP/ksqft (some phosphorous)
> - 01Jun2020 - 10mL/ksqft of Tnex + 1oz/ksqft FEature
> 
> We had some rain over the week so I ended up mowing Saturday. It was way too long, like +3in. I'm in the tnex rebound, plus the nitrogen and nice weather it is growing. The cut was so bad that I mowed again on Sunday. The idea was a charity mow, but it wasn't. I was mowing. I fired up the irrigation. I have one nozzle that's spinning like crazy, so overall it is good. I'm pushing the lawn a bit with limited watering since summer is approaching.
> 
> Today I needed another mow, but I wanted to get back into regulation. I started the mixture of AMS/citric acid (lower the water pH), but a rain cell was approaching. After it rained, I finished the mix and sprayed the yard.
> 
> I'm still getting used to the new sprayer and I screwed up. I think I was too trigger happy on the edges or the pressure too high. I noticed I was going to run out with like a 1g left in the tank. I added more water (diluted) to the tank and finished spraying. Those last few rows will not regulate the same.
> 
> Some pictures from Saturday and yesterday.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ^ I missed a strip
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sunday after the second cut
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I will irrigate in the morning. I still need to do prodiamine and get more XGRN.


The backyard got noticeably darker!


----------



## g-man

@Biggylawns I'm not only using XGRN. I applied MAP to the whole yard last week. The reno gets AMS/urea as needed. Overall I like the color response.

As an example, I killed some poa t and transplanted some sod to the front lawn. I sprinkled some XGRN around it. Look at the response (grow and color). I like that I get N, K and iron in one single easy to use product.

15May2020









19May2020









02Jun2020 - just now, but the sun is strong.









Also, this is the spot that I plugged a month or so ago.


----------



## SNOWBOB11

@g-man What rate did you do for the AMS/citric acid?


----------



## g-man

I used a scoop of ams and 2 handfuls of citric acid. I need to measure it. I know that combo gets me the pH in the right spot based on my water source.


----------



## SNOWBOB11

Scoop and 2 handfuls check. :thumbup:


----------



## g-man

I wanted to show images before and after pgr/FEature. I was trying to get the same time to get the same exposure from the webcam (wyze). Weather did not help. :-( but here is it.

Before PGR/FEature:


The morning after PGR/FEature:




Mowed the night before, so that takes off color:


----------



## Babameca

Oh that color. IME foliar Iron is snapping fast for color response. My FAS though wears out in abut 10-14 days. Does Feature last longer being chelated? I may try Kelp/Humic at low rate in it to see if is going to last longer.


----------



## OnyxsLawn

How do you like the XGRN? It seems a little expensive for what it is. I know that foliar Iron is more effective but do you see a good result from the granular?


----------



## g-man

@OnyxsLawn I really like it. I do see a good response on color with my pH at 8. Look at the sod patch post on this thread (02jun).


----------



## g-man

05Jun2020

6lb/ksqft of XGRN. This should be my main Nitrogen push for the summer. I could add ams in July if it continues to rain.


----------



## g-man

12jun2020

5grams/ksqft prodiamine. A bit later than what I wanted, but it is ok.

The color of XGRN is starting to really show. It's getting really dry in Indy. There is a light line of rain approaching but that's it until next weekend, per WTHR.

The lawn is more in autopilot. Water and mowing. Pgr reapplication is coming up this week. I might push the Bewitched to 12mL/ksqft. The hot/dry weather will also suppress some growth.

I had a pisseroffer last week. Right when the irrigation cycle finished, a USPS delivery tried to do a 180 turn and drove on the grass. It will need sand.










The wife noticed a red tailed hawk on the neighbors house. She called the kids to see it, and then the hawk dove down and grabbed something (I think a small rabbit). It flew to the roof of the next house to feast for a bit. I have a video of it too.










Connor wanted to see some zoom in images. Here it is. I need to backslap the reel.


----------



## jrubb42

You can really see the color difference from your neighbors in the front yard. Looking good man!


----------



## bernstem

g-man said:


> I had a pisseroffer last week. Right when the irrigation cycle finished, a USPS delivery tried to do a 180 turn and drove on the grass. It will need sand.


I usually lift areas like that with a pitchfork to reduce compaction before any top dressing. It also reduces the amount of sand you will need.

We have had a couple hawks around my lawn. Some owls too, but I only hear them at night. It still doesn't seem to make a dent in our rabbit or squirrel population, and those bastards still do a number on my gardens. At least they aren't grazing on the grass yet. What I really need is a small caliber sub-machine gun on a motion sensor turret. I don't think that would be overkill at all either.


----------



## g-man

@jrubb42 they don't fertilize much, so not a good lawn to compare. I forgot to post the backyard. All of these are somewhat fertilized. The one at 3 o'clock is trugreen (horrible job for $80/application). 11 o'clock is more properly fertilized, but irrigation will start to be an issue. You can see behind my center tree that I don't have irrigation coverage and it is a bit stressed. The swale also has gravel rocks from the sump pump pipes. I want to remove some of the rocks and add soil.










@bernstem I did the pitch fork after the picture. It was deep, so sand will be go there this weekend.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Looks fantastic.. how did you end up with a bunch of neighbors that didn't immediately put up fences.. must be nice!


----------



## Alex1389

@g-man do you normally continue your PGR apps through the summer? We had temps in the 90s here during the week, so the lawn definitely slowed. I suppose I could continue using it for the color response.


----------



## g-man

I do unless it gets very drought conditions or we get into the +95F for a few days.


----------



## Babameca

@g-man Is your Prodiamine timed or under 75F soil temp (which I honestly still can't understand) condition.


----------



## g-man

@Babameca I try to do 3 apps for the year of 5g each. Spring, late may and early August.


----------



## Babameca

g-man said:


> @Babameca I try to do 3 apps for the year of 5g each. Spring, late may and early August.


I guess that's toughly 2 months apart.
Thanks


----------



## g-man

This is a view of the color effect from XGRN. It makes the lawn look more blue/green. I like it.









Yesterday was PGR + FAS day. The front regulation is really good and how I like it. The back was still growing too much. I've done a lot of N since it was a reno, but I'm backing away from it.

@SNOWBOB11 asked about my FAS steps. I've been using soft water (after water softener), 1 scoop of ams and 2 handfuls of citric acid. But I took some measurements:

~3gallons of soft water 7.93pH
1lb of AMS 6.53pH
60grams of citric acid 2.67pH
I then add the FEature and mix, then the pgr and then add more city water to get the tank gallons I need.

I think Greendoc told me a better approach is to mix the citric acid first, then feature, then ams. This way the citric can chelate the the iron without interference from the ams.

I should also repeat these measurements using city water to see how the pH changes. From my past experience the extra calcium causes precipitates.

I took the prep water and split it in half. The front yard and some of the side got 10mL/ksqft TNEx + 1oz FEature/ksqft. The back got 12mL Tnex/ksqft + 0.5oz of FS/ksqft. Both of these rate yield a 0.1oz of Fe/ksqft, of course with Feature having other micros. I took the oportunity to try to stripe FS, FEature, FS, FEature in an area to see if we can see a difference.

I'm adjusting the irrigation. The weather is super dry. Our last rain was 04Jun (0.45in). We might have some rain this weekend, but too early to tell. I'm kinda regreting the 6lb/M of XGRN with this weather. Look at the dry spot in the bottom of the image.










Random stuff in the cell phone.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Looks really great. Do you need to drop the ph so much to chelate the iron. I would have thought 4 would do it..


----------



## g-man

Stuofsci02 said:


> Looks really great. Do you need to drop the ph so much to chelate the iron. I would have thought 4 would do it..


No. I just evolved what I was doing without taking the time to measure. I'm going to tweak the approach.


----------



## Babameca

Schmuck! Do you have earthworms? Those drive me crazy. I started using Lawn Tips method flushing the castings out. I don't see any in your lawn, but from this angle even mine are not visible.
This is thick anyway!


----------



## SNOWBOB11

g-man said:


> @SNOWBOB11 asked about my FAS steps. I've been using soft water (after water softener), 1 scoop of ams and 2 handfuls of citric acid. But I took some measurements:
> 
> ~3gallons of soft water 7.93pH
> 1lb of AMS 6.53pH
> 60grams of citric acid 2.67pH
> I then add the FEature and mix, then the pgr and then add more city water to get the tank gallons I need.


Thanks. This info helps. :thumbsup:


----------



## Stuofsci02

g-man said:


> Stuofsci02 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Looks really great. Do you need to drop the ph so much to chelate the iron. I would have thought 4 would do it..
> 
> 
> 
> No. I just evolved what I was doing without taking the time to measure. I'm going to tweak the approach.
Click to expand...

Sounds good. I assume when you add more carrier water the pH will climb slightly.


----------



## g-man

We just got 14 days without a drop of rain. I've used 10,043 gallons of irrigation water this month. The borders of the irrigation zones are noticable. Everyone is watering but it is hard to keep up.

Can you notice the difference between FS and FEature?

















From right to left, FS, FS, FEature, FS, and Feature all the way to the driveway.









The 3 stripes from the patio are FEature, the rest is FS.

I mowed late last night. The back is still growing at a good rate, the front is just at the right rate.


----------



## Biggylawns

You seem to be doing a great job managing the grass' water needs. Everybody else's grass is browning whereas yours is green (minus the spots you said). Another week without rain and I expect the difference to be astonishing. Could you point out the demarcation for the FS/Feature? I think it's midway in the second pic but it could be the camera angle.


----------



## Pete1313

Also once you point it out, let us know the rates you used for FS vs. Feature.


----------



## HoosierLawnGnome

Yes, it's been hot and dry!

I'm watering regularly as well now, but the browning is showing up where my zones miss.


----------



## g-man

Pete1313 said:


> Also once you point it out, let us know the rates you used for FS vs. Feature.


I updated the post trying to show the stripes but I don't see a difference. Both used an iron rate of 0.1oz of iron/ksqft. The post a few days ago has the details. In hindsight I should do a control section (no iron) and a higher rate too. Maybe in the fall.


----------



## g-man

After 17 days without any rain, we got 0.50in yesterday. Temps drop too, so the ET is at around 0.11in  I managed to mow right before the rain. The front lawn clipping yield is too low. I might need to give it some nitrogen. The back was just perfect.










This morning I had some fake DS (spiderwebs) all over the lawn. The lawn loved the rain and it looked great this afternoon. Chlorine city water will never match mother nature. We got another light rain this afternoon (0.03in), but now at 11pm we are getting another 0.44in and counting. The late rain is worst for fungus. I will need to monitor tomorrow.


----------



## doverosx

Dang, only 0.2" for my area, the green up for your lawn will be great over the next few days with Mother Nature finally helping us out!


----------



## DiabeticKripple

scientific. i like it


----------



## g-man

No fungus but DS model has me at 50%. I kinda want to see how the Bewitched handles it.

It was a nice day and I could not resist doing a charity mow. I also had to try to take an image with a flower @bernstem style. . Single doubles 22mm.


----------



## cfinden

@g-man is that a hibiscus flower? Do you keep it inside for winter? If so, do you put it out in the spring or wait till it's warmer? Thanks.


----------



## bernstem

Very nice! Like the Hibiscus!


----------



## g-man

@cfinden it is. Every year I buy a tree at Costco for like $30. I have a large pot (see the wyze cam) for it in the patio. I add some mulch and this year I added more annuals (Rio) in the bottom. It does great and we get a lot of hummingbirds. But I let it die in the winter and replace it in spring. It would be too much work to move it inside and try to save it. It is not worth the $30, so I just buy a new one. I've changed the flower colors, yellow one year, red the other one. This year is pink.


----------



## cfinden

@g-man ah that makes sense, good idea, they're beautiful. I've had a tree for 3 years that I bring in every winter, but I have no idea how to time it so that it blooms in the spring. It always ends up blooming when we bring it in for winter which is kinda nice.


----------



## HoosierLawnGnome

Mother nature sure showed up!

Of course I've been gone all week and am trying to mow between thunderstorms now &#128514;&#128514;&#128514;


----------



## g-man

@HoosierLawnGnome I managed to mow yesterday between rain waves. I had to stop and wait for the rain to slow down.










Some mulch got into the reel. The electric drive motor stopped. No damage.










Today it raining and tomorrow and Monday. I had plans to do some irrigation work. Sprinkler warehouse never shipped my order (from Wednesday am), but the rain screwed up the plans.

Last week stripes are still visible. I mowed east to west yesterday. I really like the XGRN.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Good deal on the rain. I could go for that. Got 1mm overnight instead of the 10mm they called for.


----------



## SNOWBOB11

g-man said:


> Some mulch got into the reel. The electric drive motor stopped. No damage.


That happened to me once. Heart skipped a beat but like you no damage. I did give it a backslap though.


----------



## doverosx

You back slapped the mulch or the mower? ;-)


----------



## HoosierLawnGnome

I get mulch stuck in my blades at times. It's never done damage. Sometimes it stops the blades.


----------



## g-man

It's been a busy yard week. I had the week off from work, so I worked on the yard.

Lets start with Sunday 28Jun, In the backyard I have a swale area. I know there are some rock in there the builder used. The placed a pipe to connect all the basement sump pumps to and take it to a retention pond. I'm at the top of the hill. It seem that I got the least amount of soil on top of the rocks. I started digging a section to remove the rocks. The lawn struggles in here because the roots in the rocks. I took out up to around 15in deep and backfilled with 4 bags of soil.










I also took out two large evergreens from the front of the house. I gave them to a neighbor. It was something the builder planted and never liked them.










Monday 29 Jun
I went to Lowes/HD to get supplies. On the way back I drove thru the sod farm area. The sod was not looking too good. It had a leaf spot look to it.









Tuesday 30
I spent the whole day digging and adding one last zone. This is in the 8 ft side of the house that is mostly shade. It doesnt really need water unless we are without water for 2 weeks. I used mp side strips at 5 ft x 30 opposing but with 14 feet spacing. The other 3ft are just mulch, HVAC, gas meter against the house, so no turf.

Since the gpm is so low and only 4 total heads, I cheated with funny pipe for the heads further away. I took out a 4-5in wide section of lawn to bury the funny pipe. Look at those roots in 22mm hoc lawn in clay going to 6 inches deep. 













































Of course, I cant dig without finding something. Here is a brick.










Wednesday
I did the first weed spot spraying of the season. The mix was a bit too hot for the weather, so some minor discoloration.

I noticed an area in the front lawn with a 2-3in depression to it. This was something new and assumed there was a void in there. My plan was to lift the sod and add topsoil underneath to level it. Of course, if I dig I will find something. A 2x4 and a bunch of construction rocks. The quick 5min job turned into a 1hr.

FYI-there is a blue tint to the image. I dont know why the cell phone had the wrong white balance.



























Prior to digging I prepped a tank of PGR +FS. I used 8mL/ksqft and 1oz FS/ksqft. I want to measure things up a have a better picture of my water pH.

I used exactly 1 gallon of water for both test.

Soft water pH 7.30
5 grams of citric acid 2.5pH
15grams of FS 2.5pH
*Clear water*

Hard water pH 7.1 (if my water hardness is 24 grains)
5 grams citric acid 2.5pH
15 grams of citric acid 2.5pH
*Cloudy water *

I never enjoyed chemistry classes. I was surprised the pH was pretty much the same. Why the water was cloudy? I dont know. Maybe it has to do with the extra calcium carbonate in the hard water.

Thrusday
Mowed to get the lawn ready for the heat. I also took the hose to all the trees and water the drip line areas.


----------



## Stuofsci02

@g-man I think you are precipitating the calcium (and other minerals)in the hard water when you drop the pH.

I have seen this tactic used to sell water softeners to scare people into thinking their hard water is not safe to drink...


----------



## Babameca

Stuofsci02 said:


> @g-man I think you are precipitating the calcium (and other minerals)in the hard water when you drop the pH.
> 
> I have seen this tactic used to sell water softeners to scare people into thinking their hard water is not safe to drink...


Adding acid may form insoluble salts, which causes the clouding. Citrate is 3- ion in a CA solution. CaCO3 binds the Ca ion to citrate and forms Calcium citrate, which has very little solubility in water.
@g-man what was your herbicide mix?


----------



## g-man

Half bottle rate of spectracide 4way + half rate triclopyr.


----------



## bernstem

+1 you made calcium citrate in the hard water which precipitated out.


----------



## Mark B

What a great update, so detailed! I geeked out haha!



g-man said:


> I know there are some rock in there the builder used. The placed a pipe to connect all the basement sump pumps to and take it to a retention pond. I'm at the top of the hill. It seem that I got the least amount of soil on top of the rocks. I started digging a section to remove the rocks. The lawn struggles in here because the roots in the rocks. I took out up to around 15in deep and backfilled with 4 bags of soil.





g-man said:


> Of course, I cant dig without finding something. Here is a brick.


Never nice to find things lurking underground and I would know about that :shock: :?



g-man said:


> Monday 29 Jun
> I went to Lowes/HD to get supplies. On the way back I drove thru the sod farm area. The sod was not looking too good. It had a leaf spot look to it.


I love the tire marks you left in the road to mark your presence. :bandit: :lol:

Some solid work gone on here, kudos to you, you are winning, what a great lawn :thumbup:


----------



## Babameca

g-man said:


> Half bottle rate of spectracide 4way + half rate triclopyr.


 :shock: :shocked: I spot sprayed full rate par 3 (Killex) and quinclorac not long ago... and burnt it :nod: It's back now. But lesson learned.


----------



## HoosierLawnGnome

I dont miss my subdivision lot. You never get rid of the junk.


----------



## JERSEY

NICE DIRT.
Turf look pretty darn good there G man. Your kicking butt



g-man said:


> It's been a busy yard week. I had the week off from work, so I worked on the yard.
> 
> Lets start with Sunday 28Jun, In the backyard I have a swale area. I know there are some rock in there the builder used. The placed a pipe to connect all the basement sump pumps to and take it to a retention pond. I'm at the top of the hill. It seem that I got the least amount of soil on top of the rocks. I started digging a section to remove the rocks. The lawn struggles in here because the roots in the rocks. I took out up to around 15in deep and backfilled with 4 bags of soil.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I also took out two large evergreens from the front of the house. I gave them to a neighbor. It was something the builder planted and never liked them.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Monday 29 Jun
> I went to Lowes/HD to get supplies. On the way back I drove thru the sod farm area. The sod was not looking too good. It had a leaf spot look to it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Tuesday 30
> I spent the whole day digging and adding one last zone. This is in the 8 ft side of the house that is mostly shade. It doesnt really need water unless we are without water for 2 weeks. I used mp side strips at 5 ft x 30 opposing but with 14 feet spacing. The other 3ft are just mulch, HVAC, gas meter against the house, so no turf.
> 
> Since the gpm is so low and only 4 total heads, I cheated with funny pipe for the heads further away. I took out a 4-5in wide section of lawn to bury the funny pipe. Look at those roots in 22mm hoc lawn in clay going to 6 inches deep.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Of course, I cant dig without finding something. Here is a brick.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wednesday
> I did the first weed spot spraying of the season. The mix was a bit too hot for the weather, so some minor discoloration.
> 
> I noticed an area in the front lawn with a 2-3in depression to it. This was something new and assumed there was a void in there. My plan was to lift the sod and add topsoil underneath to level it. Of course, if I dig I will find something. A 2x4 and a bunch of construction rocks. The quick 5min job turned into a 1hr.
> 
> FYI-there is a blue tint to the image. I dont know why the cell phone had the wrong white balance.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Prior to digging I prepped a tank of PGR +FS. I used 8mL/ksqft and 1oz FS/ksqft. I want to measure things up a have a better picture of my water pH.
> 
> I used exactly 1 gallon of water for both test.
> 
> Soft water pH 7.30
> 5 grams of citric acid 2.5pH
> 15grams of FS 2.5pH
> *Clear water*
> 
> Hard water pH 7.1 (if my water hardness is 24 grains)
> 5 grams citric acid 2.5pH
> 15 grams of citric acid 2.5pH
> *Cloudy water *
> 
> I never enjoyed chemistry classes. I was surprised the pH was pretty much the same. Why the water was cloudy? I dont know. Maybe it has to do with the extra calcium carbonate in the hard water.
> 
> Thrusday
> Mowed to get the lawn ready for the heat. I also took the hose to all the trees and water the drip line areas.


----------



## g-man

BP treatment

15mL /ksqft of azoxy 22.9
0.5oz/ksqft FS

The FS is there to maybe help with DS after using azoxy.


----------



## Babameca

g-man said:


> BP treatment
> 
> 15mL /ksqft of azoxy 22.9
> 0.5oz/ksqft FS
> 
> The FS is there to maybe help with DS after using azoxy.


That's right in the middle of currative-preventive. Did you notice any signs?


----------



## g-man

Oh yes, I posted in another thread. The front lawn has BP. I noticed it starting 2 days ago, but we are getting pop up storms with thunder and lighting. The storms prevented the applications and cause more problems. 89F with a 74F dew point. It was a matter of time.


----------



## Babameca

That looks somehow similar of what I've had minus the shapes. I assumed anthracnose in my case, considering it was bone dry here and humidity is low. There was some root rot as well.


----------



## HoosierLawnGnome

Ug sorry about the bp. I have a spot of crapp in my back yard too.


----------



## g-man

The azoxy stopped the progress of the BP. The weather also helped. I pushed for growth with nitrogen. I did 1lb/ksqft of AMS in the worst areas. I also did 1lb MAP/ksqft to the front yard. I'm debating if I should do 3lb/ksqft of XGRN to the whole yard. The back is growing pretty good, but it will run our of nitrogen soon.

On Friday I did a no stripe mow. I mowed in one direction and then mow backward over the same pass. This makes sure I pick up any stranglers and it lift most blades that did not get cut in the first pass. The end result is a very even looking mow, but it takes twice as long and no stripes. From a distance, you cant see the BP damage anymore.

I need to take more images of the lawn. It loss some color, but it is doing ok.





































I saw this guy/girl this am on the neighbors house.









The mate was near by too.


----------



## HoosierLawnGnome

My lawn is looking stronger now than a month ago, mostly due to the solid, natural rainfall. If anything, too wet as of late. Looking forward to it drying out a bit front of this week.

Nice job knocking down the BP!


----------



## Babameca

Your security camera sucks :lol: Your lawn certainly looks sooo much better with a phone.
I think Lawntips called this 'carpet' pattern (going opposite directions on same strip).
Looking at the BP, I may change my mind about my issue. Reading of it (and SP) it starts early in the year (in the soil). Isn't it better to treat in May and simply prevent it? And do you water your azoxy and how much water per M do you put when spraying. I am back with same, but worse only 14 days after azoxy at 0.7oz...


----------



## JerseyGreens

@g-man is this what you used during the Reno?

https://yardmastery.com/products/xgn-diy-fertilizer?variant=31765071396916

Looks like you applied this and Urea. I'll have to track back and see your application rates on both and schedule.

Thank you!


----------



## g-man

@JerseyGreens I did, but I got it locally. Way cheaper than online. Thye have now a X start that is formulated with higher phosphorus for seeding (and the peptides). But don't sweat it. If your soil has phosphorus, you don't need more or you can use any other phosphorus product (eg. Starter fertilizer, milo).


----------



## JerseyGreens

Thank you sir.

Called my local (well 20miles away) landscape supply shop and they have a 50LB bag at $24.25...

I love LCN but he's at $58...

Appreciate you making me look local @g-man Already spending a ton on this reno so any cost savings like this will add up at the end of the day.

If I spoon feed with XGRN only, weekly, do I even need Urea apps?

Thanks!


----------



## g-man

I mowed yesterday. It has good growth, so I'm going to wait for the heat wave to pass before I do XGRN. I might do some diesel fluid after the rain storms.

Stripes vs carpet look.


----------



## g-man

Pgr was due on 14Jul, but I wanted to stretch it a bit since it is getting hot and that slows the growth. I applied last night at 8mL/ksqft. I added 0.5oz FS/ksqft and 6oz/ksqft of diesel exchange fluid.

Irrigation is now running in most of the zones. I will run a hose to some of the trees. The birch needs water and dried up the soil around it.





There was a small stripe I missed in my last pgr application. It had a lighter green color and growing faster than the rest (likely rebound). It happens when you spray in the dark . It might be hard to see from this image.










The weather pattern is not the best. Heat advisories and pm pop up storms. I will likely do a re application of azoxy or something else soon. August is just around the corner.


----------



## JERSEY

diesel fluid....assuming DEF

how much per 1000 are you applying?



g-man said:


> I mowed yesterday. It has good growth, so I'm going to wait for the heat wave to pass before I do XGRN. I might do some diesel fluid after the rain storms.
> 
> Stripes vs carpet look.


----------



## g-man

@JERSEY


> I applied last night at 8mL/ksqft. I added 0.5oz FS/ksqft and 6oz/ksqft of diesel exchange fluid.


10oz ~= 0.1lb of N


----------



## JERSEY

10 oz/ gal/ 1000 sqft =0.1lb N
1000 thank you's Mr G


----------



## g-man

20Jul

Mowed, edged, trimmed.

Dropped 2.67252lb/ksqft of XGRN (what remained in the 5g bucket).






























August is just around the corner. I'm going to be using XGRN for most of the fall and see how it does.


----------



## Ohio Lawn

g-man said:


> 20Jul
> 
> Mowed, edged, trimmed.
> 
> Dropped 2.67252lb/ksqft of XGRN (what remained in the 5g bucket).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> August is just around the corner. I'm going to be using XGRN for most of the fall and see how it does.


Looks great. Are you doing the fall blitz?


----------



## Stuofsci02

@g-man ... why use DEF instead of dissolving 46-0-0 Urea granuals? Is there an advantage? I assume the DEF is considerable more expensive?


----------



## g-man

@Stuofsci02 with the covid issues, the place I get spray grade was closed. Walmart is open. Yes it is more expensive but 2.5 gallons at $8 solved my issues.


----------



## Babameca

@g-man On the 1st and 2nd picture, you have those little brown dots on grass. Does it pull off easily? It looks Identical to mine...Is this your BP?


----------



## Stuofsci02

g-man said:


> @Stuofsci02 with the covid issues, the place I get spray grade was closed. Walmart is open. Yes it is more expensive but 2.5 gallons at $8 solved my issues.


Got it! Makes sense.... might have to try it just so when the neighbors ask I can tell them it's just diesel exhaust fluid..


----------



## g-man

@Ohio Lawn yes.
@Babameca I have to look in the am. I think 1st picture was DS. Second might be the fine fescue checking out in the front lawn.


----------



## Thor865

@g-man is it normal for Bermuda to be darker than kbg? Looks lime green


----------



## g-man

I keep forgetting to update my journal.

29Jul2020

- Mowed
- Tnext 11.5mL/ksqft + 0.5oz of FS/ksqft
- 9lb/ksqft of XGRN (50lb to the whole yard). This is a high rate, but I'm timing it with mid August to start the fall fert. XGRN is slower to release, so we will see how this works and how much I mow.

While I was spreading the XGRN, I had the last few pounds in the bag and dumped them into the hopper. But the spreader was open. Oops!










I scooped most of it.









Then I tried to spread it. The shop vac is in the basement and I still needed to spray, so no vacuum. 









This is how it looks today, 3 days later. Not great. I think the iron is doing most of the damage. It is KBG and in the backyard. It will recover.









After all that application, we had mostly a slow gentle rain yesterday and today is cloudy and nice temps. These are great growing conditions.

A couple of weeks ago I removed a 2x4. The heat/drought caused some damage to the turf. It is recovering and it should be fine in a couple of months.










Dollar spot has been above 40% probability for the entire month. I stopped doing any preventive apps for it. I've been using FS per some study I read around it reducing DS. There is only one area in the backyard that has plenty of DS. The rest is currently clear, but my experience is that DS causes damage in the fall for me. I might do one application of a fungicide.










Overall the lawn survived the summer pretty good. It lost color, but that's ok. My plan is to use a bag XGRN/month for the fall and add MAP for the with maybe some AMS. Prodiamine goes down around Sept since my last app was in June.


----------



## HoosierLawnGnome

Bummer about the fert spill. I do that once a year too 

Nice to see how fine it is though! Can disappear!


----------



## g-man

It was a maintenance Sunday. Cleaned /greased up the 220E. Took apart the rotary scissors (it was bad). Trimmed /shaped bushes. And got rid of some roots from the front maple tree. That tree has to go. I need to figure out how to with the HOA.

Look at the XGRN damage in the bottom right.


















I cut the root 30in from the trunk (5in diameter). 


















The grease comes out from the seals and mixes with the clippings and dirt. The inside looked clean, but the gunk adds drag when rotating. I think this will need to be cleaned at least once a year. It was fairly easy, but really messy. I wanted to take more pictures, but not with the cell phone and greasy hands.









This is clean with added grease. I mixed the new grease with the old one after the picture. Ideally I would have replace all the grease, but I don't think I have enough grease.


----------



## g-man

Uff, I keep procrastinating my log updates. I've been mowing and tried to fix/level the area by the HVAC. It had a slight negative grade.

Last week I noticed an area with significant DS damage. I've avoided fungicides for it to see how the Bewitched handled it. But it was spreading and I chose to use a DMI fungicide. I used all the Myclobutanil I had left. So it was not really a curative rate. It did stop the damage. I'm under PGR and I don't love adding a DMI. I applied this 13Aug with all the MAP I had left (4lb).

Since I needed to buy a new fungicide, I decided to change things up a bit. I looked at multiple options (Velista, Emerald). I bought locally Zxemplar. I will apply it this weekend when the Myclo should run out of protection.

Last Friday I did PGR at 10mL + 1oz FS + 1oz of FEature. This weekend I will do 8lb of MAP (to get 1lb P/ksqft) and maybe another bag of XGRN.

Pictures:










The damaged area for XGRN. There is green leaves showing up. It will recover.


----------



## Sinclair

What's your HOC?


----------



## g-man

@Sinclair 22mm. This year I wanted to keep the hoc constant all year.


----------



## Sinclair

@g-man thanks. I'm trying to decide at what HOC to have the shop set the new reel. You've hit the colour/density sweet spot, I think.


----------



## KoopHawk

g-man said:


> Last week I noticed an area with significant DS damage. I've avoided fungicides for it to see how the Bewitched handled it. But it was spreading and I chose to use a DMI fungicide. I used all the Myclobutanil I had left. So it was not really a curative rate. It did stop the damage. *I'm under PGR and I don't love adding a DMI. *I applied this 13Aug with all the MAP I had left (4lb).


Do all DMIs have a PGR effect?


----------



## Babameca

At 2oz propi watered in, I did not notice any over regulation. Applied 2 days before PGR (8ml) starts fading away (240 ish GDD). Colour starts looking very sweet! :bandit:


----------



## g-man

@KoopHawk yes.

https://greenkeeper.blog/2020/05/05/pgr-gdd-models-v2-0/


----------



## behemyth

Your putting out a bag of XGRN about every 3 weeks or so? I thought about doing a bag a month now until October - I put the first bag out today. I'm only brave enough to do 6lb/1k though.

I feel like every time we talk and I post pictures of my yard your telling me it needs N bad - well I put down 2lb over 4 weeks, and WOW what a difference it makes. Even neighbors walk by and tell me how good the yard is looking now.


----------



## Pete1313

Babameca said:


> At 2oz propi watered in, I did not notice any over regulation.


I've noticed this as well this year.

Leaving propi on the leaf was not good when under regulation from T-nex in the past. Immediately watering it in and i did not see the same issues.



g-man said:


>


i think this picture is cool! Obviously from where you removed the roots, but almost looks like a lightning strike.


----------



## g-man

I've been pretty sick the last week. I was in bed most of the time (not covid). I managed to do a quick mow on Tuesday, but neglected the lawn. Yesterday (Saturday), I was feeling better enough to catch up.

First in the morning, I dropped 9lb of MAP. This was to get the rest of the P I wanted to do (1lb P/ksqft and 0.18lb of N/ksqft).

Then in the afternoon, I spread a 50lb bag of XGRN 8-1-8 (8.3lb/ksqft or 0.66lb N/ksqft)

In the evening, I did a mow, edge and trim.

Lastly I was due for PGR plus some DS prevention. The model has me above 70%.

Tank mixed: 
10mL/ksqft Tnex,
0.5oz/ksqft of FS (0.1oz Fe/ksqft),
0.5oz/ksqft FEature (0.05oz of Fe/ksqft) and
6mL/ksqft of Xzemplar fungicide
All tank mixed at 1g/ksqft.

And here is when things started to go south. First it was too dark at 8:30pm. It is not summer anymore. Oops. Then while spraying, my regulator acted up and was not recirculating. I'm not sure how long it was like that before I noticed. I touched it and it started working again. I was concern of running out so, I started walking faster. At end I had some extra, so I went thru the area again in a different direction. It finished just as I was finishing the last pass, so it all worked out. But I was exhausted after all the days sick. I trigger the irrigation in the morning. I also purchased a teejet pressure valve. I'm not trusting this one anymore.

The trees are sucking a lot of moisture from the soil. We need some rain. I setup a hose and watered each tree ring for 15min. I then spent the day just relaxing with the kids.

Not that many pictures this time:

This is how the damage from the root has recover so far.









The sunset makes it hard to see the rings of dryer areas around the trees.


----------



## SNOWBOB11

@g-man I've been meaning to ask you, now that you've had a season with the new front roller on the 220 e do you see a significant difference in cut quality? The roller I have now does tend to flatten the grass and leave a few uncut blades at times especially if I don't mow for a few days. Was wondering if you see less of that with the new one.


----------



## jrubb42

SNOWBOB11 said:


> @g-man I've been meaning to ask you, now that you've had a season with the new front roller on the 220 e do you see a significant difference in cut quality? The roller I have now does tend to flatten the grass and leave a few uncut blades at times especially if I don't mow for a few days. Was wondering if you see less of that with the new one.


This crossed my mind the other day. I don't have a JD, but I still notice that A TON of my blades are folded over and not cut (even with an 8 blade reel cutting at 0.75). I have to double cut for most of them to disappear, but even then I still I have a ton of stragglers.


----------



## Babameca

@g-man Fast recovery!


----------



## g-man

@SNOWBOB11 I see a difference in cut quality. The roller hugs the terrain better and makes the front float less. But stragglers do happen. It happens more when the cut is too long. I mowed on Thursday after not mowing since Saturday. It was long and I had a ton of stragglers. It is simple physics of the reel diameter and space between the blades that doesn't catch the leave blades. The real way to fix it is to mow more often or pgr. I do need to set my head to be more aggressive, but that should only give me a small improvement (it is in the todo list).


----------



## SNOWBOB11

@g-man Thanks for letting me know. I think I'll look into that roller next season. I do know stragglers are going to be there but hoping to minimize as much as possible.


----------



## Pete1313

SNOWBOB11 said:


> I think I'll look into that roller next season. I do know stragglers are going to be there but hoping to minimize as much as possible.


@SNOWBOB11 since you don't have a GTC/FTC, I think the 3" version of the roller @g-man has would be a perfect fit for you. Identical to his, but has grooves that are alittle deeper.


----------



## SNOWBOB11

Pete1313 said:


> SNOWBOB11 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I think I'll look into that roller next season. I do know stragglers are going to be there but hoping to minimize as much as possible.
> 
> 
> 
> @SNOWBOB11 since you don't have a GTC/FTC, I think the 3" version of the roller @g-man has would be a perfect fit for you. Identical to his, but has grooves that are alittle deeper.
Click to expand...

Pete thank you. Good idea. The grooves on the 3" are deep so you are obviously right that it would probably be a great choice. As always I appreciate your input.


----------



## ricwilli

g-man said:


> It's been a busy yard week. I had the week off from work, so I worked on the yard.
> 
> Lets start with Sunday 28Jun, In the backyard I have a swale area. I know there are some rock in there the builder used. The placed a pipe to connect all the basement sump pumps to and take it to a retention pond. I'm at the top of the hill. It seem that I got the least amount of soil on top of the rocks. I started digging a section to remove the rocks. The lawn struggles in here because the roots in the rocks. I took out up to around 15in deep and backfilled with 4 bags of soil.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I also took out two large evergreens from the front of the house. I gave them to a neighbor. It was something the builder planted and never liked them.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Monday 29 Jun
> I went to Lowes/HD to get supplies. On the way back I drove thru the sod farm area. The sod was not looking too good. It had a leaf spot look to it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Tuesday 30
> I spent the whole day digging and adding one last zone. This is in the 8 ft side of the house that is mostly shade. It doesnt really need water unless we are without water for 2 weeks. I used mp side strips at 5 ft x 30 opposing but with 14 feet spacing. The other 3ft are just mulch, HVAC, gas meter against the house, so no turf.
> 
> Since the gpm is so low and only 4 total heads, I cheated with funny pipe for the heads further away. I took out a 4-5in wide section of lawn to bury the funny pipe. Look at those roots in 22mm hoc lawn in clay going to 6 inches deep.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Of course, I cant dig without finding something. Here is a brick.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Wednesday
> I did the first weed spot spraying of the season. The mix was a bit too hot for the weather, so some minor discoloration.
> 
> I noticed an area in the front lawn with a 2-3in depression to it. This was something new and assumed there was a void in there. My plan was to lift the sod and add topsoil underneath to level it. Of course, if I dig I will find something. A 2x4 and a bunch of construction rocks. The quick 5min job turned into a 1hr.
> 
> FYI-there is a blue tint to the image. I dont know why the cell phone had the wrong white balance.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Prior to digging I prepped a tank of PGR +FS. I used 8mL/ksqft and 1oz FS/ksqft. I want to measure things up a have a better picture of my water pH.
> 
> I used exactly 1 gallon of water for both test.
> 
> Soft water pH 7.30
> 5 grams of citric acid 2.5pH
> 15grams of FS 2.5pH
> *Clear water*
> 
> Hard water pH 7.1 (if my water hardness is 24 grains)
> 5 grams citric acid 2.5pH
> 15 grams of citric acid 2.5pH
> *Cloudy water *
> 
> I never enjoyed chemistry classes. I was surprised the pH was pretty much the same. Why the water was cloudy? I dont know. Maybe it has to do with the extra calcium carbonate in the hard water.
> 
> Thrusday
> Mowed to get the lawn ready for the heat. I also took the hose to all the trees and water the drip line areas.


Hey g-man
Do you always check the PH before you apply anything? What citric acid do you use? Will a food grade citric acid like from walmart work to lower the PH?


----------



## g-man

I dont check it. It should not change much since the water source is not changing. Yes any food grade works.

https://smile.amazon.com/Milliard-Citric-Acid-Pound-VERIFIED/dp/B00EYFKNL8/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=citric+acid&qid=1599574649&sr=8-5

If you find it locally in 25lb qty, let me know. I want to try to spread it on the lawn too.


----------



## JERSEY

Hi Gman

I saw that root you removed. I am amazed how much water-nutrients the trees suck away from turf. I struggled this year, in my under tree areas with the lack of rain and Heat.

chainsaw fall coming.

Friendly tip? want to clean your nice landscaping stones (red ones that have black on them?)? 6% bleach in a pump sprayer, a touch of dishsoap or arm n hammer with oxi and shake..... those are tough, might take a few apps. I get that too..

That mold-like on roofs.....is something That I dont like. Afterward, the color Pop - contrast with green turf is Nice.


----------



## g-man

@JERSEY The trees are sucking a lot of water plus 3 weeks without rain is not helping me. I normally hit the stones with the power washer. It is on the north side shade, so they retain moisture. It is in the to do list.


----------



## g-man

11Sep2020 - 1lb/ksqft of AMS

13Sep2020 - 10mL T-nex, 10oz of DEF, 0.5oz FS all /ksqft I avoided the drought stressed areas.

Xzemplar is definitely working on DS.


----------



## ricwilli

g-man said:


> @JERSEY The trees are sucking a lot of water plus 3 weeks without rain is not helping me. I normally hit the stones with the power washer. It is on the north side shade, so they retain moisture. It is in the to do list.


I use a treegator bag on the trees once a week. Maybe it can help.

https://www.amazon.com/Treegator-Original-Release-Watering-Trees/dp/B0006GT6C6


----------



## g-man

@ricwilli I have one of those, but these trees are larger. I'm getting a 25ft soaker hose with a quick disconnect. A neighbor has one and it is working really good for him.


----------



## JERSEY

Yea, i had trouble with grass under trees this year.... in the drought

Tough year. Coming back now...nitro and rain with cooler temps...

To do list...yea...me too.


----------



## g-man

High flow detected in zone 2.

That was the wake up message this am. I adjusted the height of one of the heads yesterday, in zone 2. I guess I will be digging today.


----------



## g-man

I had to dig. First I took the nozzle out and the filter was very dirty. I cleaned it last week. Bad sign.










That did not fix the problem. So I noticed water was coming from the bottom of the head. I started to try to make sure it was tight, and I broke it off.










I crossthread it when I reinstalled it. Oops. Now I had to dig to remove the broken piece. No pictures because it was a muddy mess. I ended up having to also add some bag soil (a black hole that evaporates soil? Compaction?). Tested and it all works.

Since I wanted it smooth, I used the 220E drum roller. Then I saw some stragglers from yesterday mow, so I mowed again in the opposite direction.

The white balance is off in this image. I need some photoshop skills on the cellphone. You can see the black spot in the center after fixing the head.









This is the spot I spilled XGRN. It is recovering.










Wyze cam views. We could use some rain.


----------



## ricwilli

g-man said:


> High flow detected in zone 2.
> 
> That was the wake up message this am. I adjusted the height of one of the heads yesterday, in zone 2. I guess I will be digging today.


What controller are you using? Any special hardware you added for this feature? I have the Rachio but I run it manually for now untill the grass matures. I have an alarm go off every three hours to check on the weather. I'll read up and set schedules on the controller during the up coming months when the grass season is over.


----------



## g-man

I have a Rachio 3. I also have a flow meter before the master valve. It is tied to the rachio so the rachio knows the flow for each zone. If a zone is +/- the expected, it triggers and alarm and shuts the zone off.


----------



## g-man

High flow detected zone 6 Front yard

What! Another one. This is a zone I haven't touched this year. I force it to run and look at the window, yes the head are not lifting. Turned it off.

To be continued after I manage to fall as sleep again.


----------



## OnTheLawn

Jeez Louise! Well hopefully it's just a strange coincidence that it happened to two different zones back to back and isn't something that'll reoccur.

Don't these systems know we're just trying to have a nice lawn? So rude of them.


----------



## g-man

I think I figure it out.

I ran the zone again this am and it was all working. Flow is at the normal spot. So what is different. Water pressure.

At 5am, everyone is doing irrigation around here (golf courses, hoa common areas, houses, schools football fields) and our water pressure drops a lot. They are actually building a water tower to address the issue.

The pressure needs to be enough to lift all the stems so the stems can seal and flow thru the inside. Without the pressure, water will leak thru the stem lifting portion. I have 11 heads in this zone and one of them is 12in to clear the cable/electric boxes. This zone ran at 3:30 and 4:15am doing the soak/cycle approach, but at that time pressure was higher. I'm going to check the flow control on the valve and open it more so reduce pressure losses. My other option is to run the irrigation 15min earlier.


----------



## g-man

11,174 gallons of water so far in September. It's very dry. A lot of mature trees leaves are turning red. The forecast is calling for some rain on Monday.

The yard is on cruise control. I still need to do PreM and one last application of tnex at 5mL/ksqft. I want to do more FS iron as a dollar spot preventive. Xzemplar worked really good. I'm impressed. Smith model looks good right now.

Single doubles in the back, doubles on the side and straight singles in the front. 



























It looks weird with the green lawn against all the dry areas from the hoa.






Lastly, the dry weather made the habanero and tomatoes explode.


----------



## Babameca

You can make a great Mexican tomato sauce! My wife is just making some (tomatoes are dirt cheap right now). Garlic, hole onion, chilli all boiled together and then put in the mixer. Yummi!
Lawn looks mint!


----------



## JERSEY

Thats alot of water.

ALOT.



g-man said:


> 11,174 gallons of water so far in September. It's very dry. A lot of mature trees leaves are turning red. The forecast is calling for some rain on Monday.
> 
> The yard is on cruise control. I still need to do PreM and one last application of tnex at 5mL/ksqft. I want to do more FS iron as a dollar spot preventive. Xzemplar worked really good. I'm impressed. Smith model looks good right now.
> 
> Single doubles in the back, doubles on the side and straight singles in the front.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It looks weird with the green lawn against all the dry areas from the hoa.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Lastly, the dry weather made the habanero and tomatoes explode.


----------



## g-man

I dont think it is that much. An inch of precipitation into 1ksqft is 624 gallons. I used almost 3 inches/ksqft in a month with zero rain.


----------



## Alex1389

Looking really good! I have a feeling the fall colors are going to be a dud this year because of the lack of rain.


----------



## JERSEY

As for 3 inch for month, no....

But in shear gals, its eye opening.

Im afraid to ponder mine. Afraidof emptyingbthe well.....

Your looking good


----------



## Gaddis

Man, that front lawn is looking smooth and DARK! Hope I can get mine to be that flat next season. I have dreams of reel mowing it but it's too bumpy right now.


----------



## bernstem

We seem to be having the exact same issues here. Saint louis is crazy dry as well, though it just started raining as I type this. Our first rain in 3 weeks or so was last night. Got 3/4 of an inch. My wife's Tomatoes and Peppers are better than I can remember this year. With the lack of rain, I have noticed a couple areas that are not quite getting enough irrigation so I moved a head in the front to even up the irrigation. The back I increased the cycle time.


----------



## g-man

They forecasted 0.5in of rain today. It mostly split north and south of me. We got 0.09in. it was a slow drizzle rain that helps, but not what I wanted. I think the news was talking about 4in of rain deficit.

My main problem is the tree sucking all the moisture from the soil. Irrigation can be perfect even coverage, but the trees will win. Temps dropped today. ET is at 0.07in and growth potential is at 30%. The season is coming to an end.


----------



## Biggylawns

@g-man Are you still using darksky or did you switch to another?


----------



## g-man

DarkSky. The log file is updated to use other sources too.


----------



## doverosx

g-man said:


> They forecasted 0.5in of rain today. It mostly split north and south of me. We got 0.09in. it was a slow drizzle rain that helps, but not what I wanted. I think the news was talking about 4in of rain deficit.
> 
> My main problem is the tree sucking all the moisture from the soil. Irrigation can be perfect even coverage, but the trees will win. Temps dropped today. ET is at 0.07in and growth potential is at 30%. The season is coming to an end.


It's a strange way to go into deep freeze; after drought....


----------



## g-man

03OCT2020

2lb/ksqft of MAP
0.33lb/ksqft of urea

Mowed, trimmed, edge and removed weeds (Bewitched kbg) from the beds. Watered it with a quick 10min ahead of some rain.

I still need to do pgr and iron, likely late tomorrow or Monday.


----------



## Babameca

You keep on pounding K? Isn't it late?


----------



## g-man

K? I did not apply any potassium.


----------



## Sinclair

@Babameca

MAP = monoammonium phosphate

12-60-0, 10-50-0, or similar.


----------



## Babameca

@Sinclair @g-man Poor wine batch... Don't ask me how I saw SOP vs MAP...


----------



## g-man

05OCT2020

5g/ksqft of prodiamine. Two weeks later from when I wanted, but it's done. Irrigation is running.

Next is mowing + pgr + FAS.


----------



## ricwilli

Xzemplar..... Sounds like this stuff really works. How much of this stuff are you putting down? How long does the bottle or jug last you?


----------



## g-man

I used 6mL/ksqft (0.2oz). The bottle has 11.4oz, so that should give me 10 applications. It cost $170, which is $17/application ($2.80/ksqft). It is expensive.


----------



## Biggylawns

I saw that you switched from myclo to Xzemplar...Did you look at the Fraq 1 for DS as an alternative to myclo or did you choose Xzemplar for another reason?

The backyard looks great. How do you like the mono-Bewitched vs previous years?


----------



## g-man

I wanted a frac 7 to have in the rotation. Emerald was my other option, but it is sold in the packets and not great for a small lawn.

The Bewitched (and likely any other good kbg) is 10 times easier than the contractor no mix I had in the back. Less fungus issues and consistent growth.


----------



## g-man

07 OCT2020
Mowed. Too windy to spray.

I took this image to try to show how little prodiamine is needed. This is 15g in a 2oz cup (used for dessert/gelatin).


----------



## KoopHawk

The first time I used prodiamine I was sure I made a miscalculation because there was so little product.


----------



## g-man

11OCT2020

1 lb/ksqft of AMS
Mowed and edged.
Prep for FAS but too much wind. We might get some rain tomorrow. Im doubt full.

Fall leaves are showing up. Also some animal was eating my grass. I was thinking rabbits, but a neighbor walked by and told me she saw a 5 pointer buck in my yard. It's so dry around here that they must be starving. I also have some spots that look like hydrophobic soil.




























It is still warm here but we might get the other style of precipitation if the long range forecast are correct.


----------



## Stuofsci02

Color looks nice and dark.. We had a fall drought going here until a weeks or so ago. The lawn dry out sneaks up on you..


----------



## doverosx

Stuofsci02 said:


> Color looks nice and dark.. We had a fall drought going here until a weeks or so ago. The lawn dry out sneaks up on you..


Absolutely. My trees are soaking up the areas days after a god deep watering. I've never had to hand water areas before buuuut tis the season apparently lol.


----------



## g-man

@doverosx I got a soaker hose at harbor freight. I added a quick disconnect to make it easier to move around. I placed it around the tree rings and water for 30min each. If it doesnt rain today, I will need to do it again. Crazy dry year.

Look at all the leaves from just last night.


----------



## Sinclair

g-man said:


> It is still warm here but we might get the other style of precipitation if the long range forecast are correct.


Mother Nature switching from liquid to granular apps? :lol:


----------



## dwaugh

g-man said:


> Look at all the leaves from just last night.


This is what I got overnight  Mulched mowed yesterday at around 4pm, this it was it looked like at 11am today.


----------



## g-man

Yesterday It rained!!! 0.14in in two low rate waves, which is great.


----------



## deboy922

@g-man - Lawn and trees are looking good. Good to get the trees a good drink before winter.

Are you done with MAP this year? I put down 2# MAP on 9/15 and will put another 2# down on 10/15. Without irrigation and the dry fall (Lafayette, IN), I have not put down any urea. Do you think I should try getting down some urea in the next week or 2 before some predicted rain chances...and/or maybe winterize around Thanksgiving...or skip the urea this fall??? My lawn is not dormant, but it is stressed. I have mowed each week for the last 5 weeks, but the yard has some brown and growth is spotty.

Thanks for the advice and your journaling...really appreciate it!


----------



## ricwilli

g-man said:


> Yesterday It rained!!! 0.14in in two low rate waves, which is great.


Yeah!!!!!!!, it was great to see the rain coming down. Do you have a date on when you will be winterizing your irrigation system?


----------



## g-man

@deboy922 I might do one last app of MAP at the end of the month. P is so slow to move thru the soil profile that doing one more before winter can help long term. I've been doing fast N and will continue until ~26 OCT. I keep my lawn irrigated. If yours is dormant, then dont add more stress.


----------



## g-man

@ricwilli I don't have a set date. Normally around the first week of Nov or before a hard freeze. I have insulation in all of the outside pipes and can do a quick drain (to take the pressure off) if it is getting close to freezing. We have a couple of nights getting into the 31F, for those I just run the system at 5am for a few minutes. The city water temp will keep the pipes from freezing, but the risk is extremely low.


----------



## deboy922

@g-man - Thanks for the reply. Take care.


----------



## g-man

18OCT2020

I ordered one of these scott's hand spreaders  during amazon prime days. I own two of the Wizz spreaders but I wanted a no battery backup. I used it today to spread 3lb of urea to my yard (0.5lb urea/ksqft).

Some observations:

- The hopper holds just about 3lbs. 
- I started with setting 1, but with my prills size it was too low. I did the whole lawn at setting 1 and had around 2.5lb of urea in the hopper. I then used setting 2 and it was great. I finished the whole lawn without a problem.
- The hand cranking is very effective. I would say too effective. It was throwing it really far and it looked like snow. It is an easy problem to solve, just crank slower.
- For the perimeter, I held the spreader at 45 degrees from my body so it was throwing most of the prills to the right of me.

It was $13 and I think it is great. I was done with spreading in 5min (with setting 2). It is supposed to rain in a few minutes.


----------



## Sinclair

I use a hand powered Scott's spreader also, and I can do my lawn in under 3 minutes total including loading and spreading. I use setting 4 and move quickly.

For a 1500sqft lawn the math is beautiful. Full hopper = 1lb N/k, half hopper = 1/2lb N/k


----------



## Alex1389

@g-man Do you prefer the hand crank version over the battery powered Wizz? I feel like I go through far too many Wizz spreaders and the spreading is never consistent with that thing.


----------



## g-man

I like the wizz better. I take mine apart and clean it and it works for me. The hand one also worked too.


----------



## g-man

21OCT2020

We had a very dry fall as I described in other post. Since we are in a deficit, mother nature is trying to catch up. We had rain since Sunday night (0.11 in), Monday (0.81 in), Tuesday (2 in), Today (1.37 in). The Tuesday actually started last night (a total of 3.37 in). We are having a couple of warm days and then it turns cold. I'm going to blow the irrigation today.

The lawn color is looking pretty good. I need to mow it, but it is too wet. I did not do the PGR, so I'm in rebound. The rebound is being controlled by the cold temps, so grow is just about right. One more app of N this weekend and MAP next and that's it for the season.


----------



## Ware

Looking nice!


----------



## bf7

g-man said:


> 21OCT2020
> 
> We had a very dry fall as I described in other post. Since we are in a deficit, mother nature is trying to catch up. We had rain since Sunday night (0.11 in), Monday (0.81 in), Tuesday (2 in), Today (1.37 in). The Tuesday actually started last night (a total of 3.37 in). We are having a couple of warm days and then it turns cold. I'm going to blow the irrigation today.
> 
> The lawn color is looking pretty good. I need to mow it, but it is too wet. I did not do the PGR, so I'm in rebound. The rebound is being controlled by the cold temps, so grow is just about right. One more app of N this weekend and MAP next and that's it for the season.


Your lot next to all your neighbors reminds me of the Midnight KBG logo 👍

https://www.seedsuperstore.com/content/images/Prodoct%20logos/midnight%20Kentucky%20bluegrass%20logo.jpg


----------



## ricwilli

g-man said:


> 21OCT2020
> 
> We had a very dry fall as I described in other post. Since we are in a deficit, mother nature is trying to catch up. We had rain since Sunday night (0.11 in), Monday (0.81 in), Tuesday (2 in), Today (1.37 in). The Tuesday actually started last night (a total of 3.37 in). We are having a couple of warm days and then it turns cold. I'm going to blow the irrigation today.
> 
> The lawn color is looking pretty good. I need to mow it, but it is too wet. I did not do the PGR, so I'm in rebound. The rebound is being controlled by the cold temps, so grow is just about right. One more app of N this weekend and MAP next and that's it for the season.


So at this point, you are going to let mother nature water in the N and MAP? Will the N be slow or fast release?


----------



## g-man

@bf7 yes it looks unreal to me. Reminds me traveling to an Arizona desert and playing golf around cactuses with a green patch of turf.


----------



## g-man

@ricwilli yes I will use rain. I can do the irrigation later, but I don't like to deal with cold days. All I am using now is fast nitrogen, either urea or ams.


----------



## g-man

22OCT2020

Yesterday I blew the irrigation. Today I mulch some leaves and mowed. The front slowed down with the colder weather. It is facing north and has shade. The back is growing really fast. Clippings at 1in. I ended up doing a double cut to pickup all the stragglers.

Right in the middle above the leaf is the spot I killed with XGRN a few weeks ago. Yeah, it recovered.




































Around 50F is the high temp for the next week. :-(


----------



## bernstem

That is looking great! If only we could keep the mid fall weather longer...


----------



## JerseyGreens

g-man said:


> 21OCT2020
> 
> We had a very dry fall as I described in other post. Since we are in a deficit, mother nature is trying to catch up. We had rain since Sunday night (0.11 in), Monday (0.81 in), Tuesday (2 in), Today (1.37 in). The Tuesday actually started last night (a total of 3.37 in). We are having a couple of warm days and then it turns cold. I'm going to blow the irrigation today.
> 
> The lawn color is looking pretty good. I need to mow it, but it is too wet. I did not do the PGR, so I'm in rebound. The rebound is being controlled by the cold temps, so grow is just about right. One more app of N this weekend and MAP next and that's it for the season.


Most of us have domination lines but you have a full blown domination rectangle!

I love the color on your lawn.


----------



## g-man

@JerseyGreens in ground irrigation causes the green rectangle. Moving hoses around gets old.

@bernstem 68F and sunny with some weekly irrigation would be nice. Soon we will have the white stuff around here.

When the work for home started in the spring, it was great for lawn care. Now as we head into winter, I need to figure something out to do while at home.


----------



## JerseyGreens

g-man said:


> @JerseyGreens in ground irrigation causes the green rectangle. Moving hoses around gets old.
> 
> @bernstem 68F and sunny with some weekly irrigation would be nice. Soon we will have the white stuff around here.
> 
> When the work for home started in the spring, it was great for lawn care. Now as we head into winter, I need to figure something out to do while at home.


I get that but those right angles are super crisp! I'd stare at that camera all day if I were you.


----------



## g-man

25OCT2020

1 lb AMS/ksqft + mow.


----------



## Green

@g-man, how much has the no-mix composition shifted in the past couple of years? I'd imagine the low mowing reduces the vigor of the TTTF and the cold Winters do likewise to the Ryegrass.


----------



## g-man

@Green I dont know. I dont know the initial composition and it will be hard to even get a good percent of the KBG, PRG, TTTF, fine fescues in there. All I could say is that it is still a no mix. There is plenty of all of them. I dont overseed, so what's there is the survival of the fittest. KBG, PRG and fine fescues all spread (KBG being the fastest). I dont notice any winter issues with PRG.


----------



## Green

g-man said:


> All I could say is that it is still a no mix.


Fair enough.



g-man said:


> KBG, PRG and fine fescues all spread (KBG being the fastest). I dont notice any winter issues with PRG.


So does the TTTF. At least the newest ones seem to do it better than older ones. I pulled some up last month and there were tons of rhizomes. I had used NoNet seed a few years ago, among others.

PRG: I have a neighbor that has a lot of it in like 30-year-old sod. I don't know if he's ever overseeded, but I know he hasn't in the last 10 years though, and it hangs on just fine. One of his hellstrips went dormant and apparently partly died this year, and weirdly, it seems like the PRG is the thing that is coming back in little bits.


----------



## Biggylawns

Yard is looking on point, as usual!


----------



## JerseyGreens

g-man said:


> 22OCT2020
> 
> Yesterday I blew the irrigation.
> 
> Around 50F is the high temp for the next week. :-(


Can you please let me know what compressor you are using to blow out your irrigation lines, most notably how much SCFM it's pushing out at 40 psi?

My longest length of poly pipe is roughly 300 feet away from the valve box and I'm having trouble thinking a 5-6 SCFM compressor at 40 psi compressor will do the job. Hoping that's plenty but who knows - thanks!


----------



## g-man

You might need to do some math. I have a 4 gallon tank that gets full to ~110psi. I then regulate the output to ~40psi with a ball valve. V * P / T or some formula like that. On top of that the pump adds 3.2 cfm @ 100psi trying to fill the tank.

But I also designed my system. I know all of my pipes run downhill, so there is little chance for water to accumulate in a low spot that could then freeze.

My advice, do the best you can and then call/pay someone to use a big compressor to blow your system. Watch them blow it and see how much more water they cleared. That way you know what to do next year. Focus mainly in the tank since than the pump.

And read irrigation tutorials winterization. https://www.irrigationtutorials.com/winter.htm


----------



## ricwilli

Hey g-man
Have you had to treat for Crane flies? It looked like I had thousands of them on the lawn. It might be to late, but I'm going to treat the lawn with Sevin. First time me ever seeing them.


----------



## g-man

I used grubex (Chlorantraniliprole) 20May. It should give me enough protection. Do the soap test, but don't be too concerned. I never seen damage from them.


----------



## CoopyHarry

Happy birthday !


----------



## g-man

30oct2020

We had our share of rain and cold weather this week. It is a busy weekend, so I had to mow today. Of course I started late and had a ton of wet leaves. I ended up taking them since everything is wet.

While mowing I ran out of gas. Starting it again was a challenge. Maybe some dirt from the tank managed to get in there carb. I finished the backyard in the dark using the mower light and the full moon (7:30pm and 45F). Those stripes will be curved.

The front is looking pretty good. It is barely growing.


----------



## g-man

Backyard stripes look ok for this distance. The windy day with lots of gust cleared all the leaves.










We weren't home for holloween, but the videos of folks touching the grass to check if it was real are hilarious.


----------



## Biggylawns

g-man said:


> Backyard stripes look ok for this distance. The windy day with lots of gust cleared all the leaves.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> We weren't home for holloween, but the videos of folks touching the grass to check if it was real are hilarious.


Halloween really is the day of days for us lawn nuts. I downloaded from my ring cam like 5 videos from yesterday: people feeling the grass, 2 guys debating whether it's artificial turf or not, and a kid rolling down my lawn. Pretty sure that's how you know that your lawn is A grade.


----------



## g-man

03Nov2020

~2lb/ksqft of MAP (11-52-0) (10lb actual). This was the last fertilizer application of the year. The totals for the year are:

4.23lb N/ksqft	
4.57lb P2O5/ksqft 
2.83lb K02/ksqft

Nice weather in the next few days. I need to break down the garden area and start thinking on moving the patio furniture.


----------



## JERSEY

I use the EXPERT model all the time.

If lucky, can find them for $2.00

I regret not buying 3 of them. Use the scotts at moms......easyyyyy



g-man said:


> 18OCT2020
> 
> I ordered one of these scott's hand spreaders  during amazon prime days. I own two of the Wizz spreaders but I wanted a no battery backup. I used it today to spread 3lb of urea to my yard (0.5lb urea/ksqft).
> 
> Some observations:
> 
> - The hopper holds just about 3lbs.
> - I started with setting 1, but with my prills size it was too low. I did the whole lawn at setting 1 and had around 2.5lb of urea in the hopper. I then used setting 2 and it was great. I finished the whole lawn without a problem.
> - The hand cranking is very effective. I would say too effective. It was throwing it really far and it looked like snow. It is an easy problem to solve, just crank slower.
> - For the perimeter, I held the spreader at 45 degrees from my body so it was throwing most of the prills to the right of me.
> 
> It was $13 and I think it is great. I was done with spreading in 5min (with setting 2). It is supposed to rain in a few minutes.


----------



## g-man

10Nov

75F and sunny. The last nice day in the forecast. Mulch mow all the leaves and then mowed in the reverse direction. I enjoyed the mow. Noticed rust on both side yards that get shade. I'm going to let it be with the colder temps.

Some much needed rain overnight and now 45F. Of course the pear tree dropped more leaves with the rain.


----------



## JERSEY

OUTSTANDING COLOR ON FRONT!!!!

BRAVO


----------



## Mark B

Pear tree sounds great, how many pears do you harvest? Which one is it, you have a few trees?
Will the rust spread at all during the next months?
Question time over&#128517; Looking good as always&#128077;&#127996;


----------



## g-man

@Mark B This is an Aristocrat Ornamental Pear. It does not give pears, only problems. I consider it a pest since it is a weak wood that breaks branches with wind and has thick leaves that normally drop really late.

Rust can spread, but with winter, my lawn normally stops growing in two weeks. Trying to control it now is pointless in my opinion.


----------



## Green

g-man said:


> Rust can spread, but with winter, my lawn normally stops growing in two weeks. Trying to control it now is pointless in my opinion.


I noticed that the level of activity of the rust in my lawn decreased substantially after the 15 hour hard freeze. There is not much active disease/spores now. However, the worst area that was affected is currently going through a massive shed with lots of brown blades to the point it looks drought stressed (it's not). I'm hoping it recovers before Winter.


----------



## g-man

I got the other type of rust this am, frost.


----------



## Pezking7p

With the frost in the back yard it definitely looks like astroturf.

Had a Bradford pear at my last house. I hated it. Pretty flowers for about two hours in March, then a pain the rest of the year. It was terrible about growing suckers or shoots from the base and needed to be constantly pruned to prevent it from turning into a ground bush. For some reason they are very common here.


----------



## jskierko

Pezking7p said:


> Had a Bradford pear at my last house. I hated it.
> For some reason they are very common here.


These are all over the place around me. My subdivision is close to 20 years old, so any bad storm we get it's almost a guarantee that you will see a Bradford pear on the ground. Not sure if they are just cheap to plant in new developments, but they are terrible.


----------



## ricwilli

Question. What compressor do you use to blow out the irrigation system? I used a 200psi 6 gallon compressor and will not do that again. Hopefully I find a 20 gallon on sale this year.


----------



## g-man

I use a 4 gallon one.


----------



## g-man

Today I mowed. It is suppose to rain this weekend and I wanted to get it done. The front (north side) is barely growing. Clippings around 0.25in. The backyard is still going with clippings in the 0.75in range.

Halfway point


----------



## behemyth

Man that's really green still. Parts of my yard are starting to yellow for the winter since I have a contractor mix down. Can't wait to start renovating my yard next year and get a single strand down.

You have PRG if I remember correctly right?


----------



## Alex1389

This looks incredible for this late in November.


----------



## g-man

@behemyth with the rain, it now looks a few shades of darker. The backyard is kbg. The front is builder sod.

If your is turning yellow, it probably needs more fertilizer next year. Look at the yards behind me. They are all contractor mix seeded at the same time. The one on the left gets proper fertilizer. The one of the right hired someone to treat it since August and it is a drastic improvement. The middle one gets fertilizer but it needs more. Of course switching to newer cultivars is better, but nitrogen still makes a big difference.


----------



## g-man

27Nov. Likely the last mow of the season. The back had some growth, barely anything in the front. The temps next week are high in the 35F, therefore this is likely it. Very typical for me to do the last mow at end end of Nov, first week of December.

Mid mowing, I went back to take a quick picture before it was too dark.


----------



## SNOWBOB11

In case anyone missed it this sweet lawn you see is currently in the LOTM contest. So go on over to the LOTM sub forum and let's get this awesome bewitched bluegrass monostand to take home the December bragging rights.


----------



## behemyth

[@g-man I have been doing good with fertilizer this year. My lawn was so green all summer long that people stopped constantly and asked me what I'm doing. The problem I'm having with the temps coming down is parts of the yard are starting to show more yellow than green. Make no mistake, I have a lot of green still showing, there's just getting to be yellow grass blades showing now, instead of being purely green.

I did realize something a bit too late this year though, i was using XGRN and for some reason figured this should replace putting down N. I know this has some in it, but its not the same as urea or some other quick release source. I am going to use them both next year, and should get a lot better results.

My backyard has come a long way. It's pretty insane. I have pictures from April and it was a weed infested mess, now its just pure grass, theres no weeds. Since this was my first year doing a real program my goal for next year is to get better with what I'm putting down, and I'd like to incorporate some new stuff.


----------



## JERSEY

behemyth said:


> [@g-man I have been doing good with fertilizer this year. My lawn was so green all summer long that people stopped constantly and asked me what I'm doing. The problem I'm having with the temps coming down is parts of the yard are starting to show more yellow than green. Make no mistake, I have a lot of green still showing, there's just getting to be yellow grass blades showing now, instead of being purely green.
> 
> I did realize something a bit too late this year though, i was using XGRN and for some reason figured this should replace putting down N. I know this has some in it, but its not the same as urea or some other quick release source. I am going to use them both next year, and should get a lot better results.
> 
> My backyard has come a long way. It's pretty insane. I have pictures from April and it was a weed infested mess, now its just pure grass, theres no weeds. Since this was my first year doing a real program my goal for next year is to get better with what I'm putting down, and I'd like to incorporate some new stuff.


great point...behemyth. Importance of N. NPK. 
Gman offers alot of great pointers and shows his lawn.

Congrads to you on improving your lawn....

Nice job Gman.


----------



## behemyth

@JERSEY Yah he's been very helpful to me, ever since I joined the forums. This is my first real yard that I'm taking care of and I've never done it before, so I'm still finding out I have a lot to learn. I would like to just "poof" and have a yard as nice as his, but I also know he has a lot of experience doing this. It's frustrating not having a perfect yard, but I've just told myself that I'm going to set goals, and learn from year to year. My yard now has no weeds and people think it looks great, but I know in my head it can look a lot better.

Next year I'll build on those goals, and try to take my yard to the next level.


----------



## JERSEY

A walk of a thousand miles starts with the first step

Sometimes you fall,trip and get cold.

Later you get the fruit.

Right?

G man is on his game. I like watching what hes up to...haha


----------



## g-man

@behemyth XGRN is a great product and I used 3-4 bags this year. I supplement the N with some fast acting, but as temps start to go lower, I switched to just fast release nitrogen. I still target around 1lb of N/ksqft per month from august to late october.

Your lawn is from a new construction and mine used to be like that 5 years ago. It takes time to change the junk subsoil into a thriving soil. Keep feeding it and try to go more frequent (spoon feeding). Keep the soil moisture and eventually it will improve the soil OM and root depth. This is a marathon unless you want to spend a lot of $$$ to replace the soil.

Snow will be here tonight/tomorrow. Eventually in Januray/Februrary, the dry wind will dry up the lawn and it will turn brown, but in spring it will return to green.


----------



## behemyth

@g-man Yeah, I figured you have been at your house for a bit of time. I'm still learning too so I'm trying to keep my expectations realistic. For the first year, getting completely rid of the weeds and having the grass fill in almost every bare patch was great. I had a major clover infestation and after a couple spray treatments its all gone.

I would like to start applying macros/micros to my lawn, I'm looking at moving to more of a liquid diet for it. Is there anything you recommend? I know a lot of people are spraying seaweed and stuff to help the soil. Have you ever used the liquid aeration products either?

I also saw you apply GrubEx in May. I have to do that. I had an enormous amount of crane flies this fall, and I had a ton of Jap Beetles I'd like to keep from hatching.


----------



## g-man

I stick to granular products when addressing soil deficiencies. I'm not a believer of liquid aeration.

I do GrubEx every year in spring.


----------



## g-man

Cross posting in my journal. I will keep the conversation around the experiment only in this thread.

*2020 Winterizer Experiment​**Goal*
Does an application of 1lb of N/ksqft to a fall fertilized lawn once the grass turns dormant encourages earlier green up in spring? Secondary, does it encourage more growth in the late spring?

_*Background*_
The practice of applying a very late nitrogen from a fast release nitrogen source is one that is encouraged. A few years ago, Dr. Soldat published a report that shows that only around 20% of this application of nitrogen is absorbed by the plant. The main driver for moving the nitrogen from the soil into the roots and into the plant to store as carbohydrates is a simple mass/heat transfer equation. As the temperatures drop and less exposure from the sun, there is less energy for this mass transfer. The effort to apply the nitrogen and getting it watered in gets complex since most irrigation systems are blown at this point and we mostly have to do a rain dance to get it watered in. Is the effort worth the rewards? Is it a noticeable difference?

In previous years I did a similar test and in my conclusion, it was not worth it. This would be a second repetition of this experiment, but trying to control more variables. My intent to is to take images from the lawn camera and for you to be the judge.

*Test setup*
I will be using my south facing backyard for this test. The backyard is 100% Bewitched KBG mowed at 23mm full sun. From 13Aug2020 until today, I applied a total of 2.56lb of N/ksqft (XGRN, MAP, AMS, DEF, urea). The last application was on 03Nov2020 using MAP (0.19lb of N/ksqft). The last PGR was in Sept. I kept the lawn irrigated to ET and it is looking very healthy right now (no fungus or other concerns). For other general details (eg. soil reports), they are available in my lawn journal.

_Plots_
For the plot, I wanted something that would be right in the middle of the yard to compare with winterizer vs no winterizer. I'm going to use the sprinkler heads to define the plots. They are placed at 18ft square pattern (324sqft). This gives me an area large enough to apply granular and not too small.

After some conversations, I'm added one more plot. in the far back corner (next to the neighbor lawn that is not fertilized).

_Fertilizer and application_
The main plot = 1lb of N/ksqft via Urea. This means a total of 0.70lb of urea into the main plot. 
The second plot = 0.50 of N/ksqft via Urea. This means a total of 0.35lb of urea.

The lawn stopped growing with the colder temperatures. I applied the granular urea 11Dec with expected rain on Saturday. The timing is typical with previous years. The hardest part was finding the irrigation heads. I tried to mark the square for you guys to see it from the camera with stuff (eg. scott wizz spreader). The sun angle doesnt help.

Main plot









Second plot









*Expected results*
If the winterizer nitrogen has a strong effect, we should see a green square in the spring from earlier green up than the rest. We should also see a greener square once the whole lawn greens up. I would try to monitor clipping length.

My only fear with the experiment is La Nina. The patterns forecast is for some La Nina this winter, which is a warmer/wet than normal. Time will tell.

After the application it was a nice 57F afternoon (rare in December) before a drop into the 30s after Saturday. I decided to do one last mow to pick up any stragglers and get the stripes to show again. The mower ran out of gas at the last row.


----------



## JERSEY

have you found cutting this late.....removes the color from the leaf?


----------



## Lust4Lawn

Thanks for setting up this test. This is one of the great mysteries of cool season lawns. I'm very interested in the results and now have another reason to look forward to Spring for the results.


----------



## g-man

@JERSEY yes and no. The mow actually made it look more green, because it cuts the tips off. The tips turn brown with the cold dry wind. But now that I cut it, the cut area will then turn brown in a few days/weeks. Since the plant is dormant, it is not really going to heal or get new growth. As winter comes, more of the leaf will turn brown. In my area we get a lot of dry wind thru winter. If we get snow cover, those areas stay green. So, it will loose color over time.

I normally don't mow this late. I let a bit there so I have something to cut in spring and remove the tip damage then. This was more of an impulse mow.


----------



## JERSEY

Yea, i had to do a last clean up. 
I wasnt going to cut, but i ended up cutting anyways. Soo many pine needles. Blew it off with little wonder.
Some of the turf was starting to get a touch brown.

Last pic is after cut. 60f today


----------

