# Another I'm Building a Putting Green Post!



## CarolinaCuttin (Sep 6, 2019)

I know there are so many posts this fall detailing everyone's putting green construction, but it won't hurt to have one more so we can all learn from each other! 



I started by marking out the green and tee space and spraying it with a combo of glyphosate and diquat. The green is approximately 2500 square feet and the tee is about 500 square feet. I then tilled the soil a few weeks later in multiple directions to loosen it up and shred any plant material that was there. I graded the tee with a gentle slope (1-2 percent) to provide adequate surface drainage and then sprigged it on 8/23 with 419 bermuda that will be overseeded this fall with perennial ryegrass. More on that below. After tilling the green in multiple directions, I did some rough grading that provided a few soft and interesting contours but without leaving any low lying areas in the green itself. This weekend the plan is to get a few thousand pounds of sand tilled into the existing soil to improve drainage and dilute the organic matter. I will follow this up with detail grading and if the weather holds up I hope to seed it with Penncross creeping bentgrass as soon as the surface is prepared. I will update this post with pictures and additional information about the project. I'll be making the first cut at 0.200" approximately 2 weeks after the seed goes down and will slowly drop it down to putting green height as it matures and increases in density. Mowing with a JD 220B with a grooved front roller. I will be applying weekly foliar fertilizer sprays during the growing season.

August 23rd, 2020:

The soil on the tee has been sitting undisturbed for about 3 weeks, so I roughed up the top layer with a metal rake before putting the sprigs down. I covered them with a light layer of peat moss and then pressed them in with the tires of my riding John Deere mower. Irrigation is an oscillating sprinkler that turns on for 20 minutes every four hours. Planning to apply foliar fertilizer as soon as the sprigs start to tack down, probably 4-7 days. I'll update with details of the mix later.


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## HoosierLawnGnome (Sep 28, 2017)

Tagged!

Looking solid!


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## Betterthanmyneighbor (Jun 17, 2020)

How do you like the 220B

Looking at 1 for sale right now.


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## CarolinaCuttin (Sep 6, 2019)

Betterthanmyneighbor said:


> How do you like the 220B
> 
> Looking at 1 for sale right now.


They are great mowers, I've used all the JD walk mowers and prefer the fixed head versions especially for homeowners. Less electrical stuff to worry about and easy to operate. More prone to scalping uneven areas, but even so I prefer them.


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## Betterthanmyneighbor (Jun 17, 2020)

Appreciate the feedback. I'm way good with less to go wrong. Any quirks with them ?


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## DbShep (Aug 10, 2020)

You may want to find a solid front roller. The grooved rollers are hard on seedlings, especially on your cleanup cuts around the curves.


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## RussellJ (May 31, 2020)

I'd love to follow this!


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## CarolinaCuttin (Sep 6, 2019)

@Betterthanmyneighbor No quirks that I know of, I've been using JD fixed head mowers for almost 3 years now and if you just take care of them with common sense they will perform fantastic for you.

@RussellJ @HoosierLawnGnome Great to have you two along!

8/28 and 8/29:

Got the sand tilled in and the surface leveled off. I was able to seed Friday evening and get the water going immediately after. I'm using two impact sprinklers on a splitter/timer and I'm able to get full coverage of the green which is great. Water is running for 20 minutes each station every 6 hours. Hopefully we'll see some bentgrass popping up towards the end of this week. I spread a touch of Milorganite on the green before seeding to give it around 0.3 lbs N to get going when it starts to pop up.

8/30: Checking on the green shows that this is the perfect amount of water, it stops just as the water is starting to film up on the surface. Drainage is great, there is no puddling anywhere even when I run extra water, the surface drainage is going to get water off the green fast even during strong rains. The only issue I see so far is the very slight uneveness of the surface. I'm going to dummy roll the green a few times with the mower before I actually put the first cut on it so that the ground isn't shifting beneath me. I left the top 1/4" of soil loose so that the seed could nestle in and not wash away. If I need to do some fine leveling I can go aggressive and bury it in sand or I can topdress heavily every week for a month and get the desired sand output. I'm not sure what I'll decide to do, if the grass can handle it I would love to bury it in sand to prevent scalping as I walk down the HOC this fall.

Gave the sprigged tee a good soil booster spray:

20-20-20 @ 1 lb/M
Soaker Plus @ 4 oz/M
Humic12 @ 6 oz/M
RGS @ 6 oz/M

My work is probably done for the next few days, I'm going to enjoy this time and get the mower ground and tuned up for the mowing season.



Tilling sand into the profile



Green after final leveling and seeding


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## DbShep (Aug 10, 2020)

Rolling with the mower works great, (reel off obviously), and if you need some extra weight, throw a bag of fertilizer on top of your grass catcher bucket.


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## CarolinaCuttin (Sep 6, 2019)

DbShep said:


> Rolling with the mower works great, (reel off obviously), and if you need some extra weight, throw a bag of fertilizer on top of your grass catcher bucket.


Great idea, will definitely resort to that if I can't get it pressed out with just the mower weight.


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## CarolinaCuttin (Sep 6, 2019)

Well, it's officially one week after putting the seed down. We got a huge thunderstorm two days after I seeded, so the uniformity of the stand isn't great, but I honestly thought it would be worse. The surface drainage of the green is excellent, the water isn't sitting on the green surface, it is quickly running off. Unfortunately, that means it is prone to washing out during intense rains as I try to grow the grass.

There is grass almost everywhere even if it is too thin or thick in some areas. Bentgrass is such a tiny seed and the plant really doesn't have much energy, it's got enough to sprout up and that's about it, but it is enjoying the cooler weather that has just hit the Carolinas. I went out and spot seeded thin areas and backed off the irrigation a little, but it is still enough to get grass to grow. My main goal for September is to get grass everywhere I want it, once October hits I can begin to feed the bentgrass and push it to grow and thicken up. Other than the light shot of Milo at seeding, this green probably wont get any food for 3 more weeks when I'll hit it with the first fungicide/foliar fert spray.

Forecast for the next week is cooler and drier than the previous weeks, so it should be ideal for germinating bentgrass in these thin areas.



Notice the green hue, the leaf is so thin on new bentgrass that unless you seed at a high rate its not going to be apparent from far away.



Up close example of an area that is thin but has been reseeded.


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## CarolinaCuttin (Sep 6, 2019)

Multiple days with isolated thunderstorm chances and warm nighttime temperatures means it's time for the first systemic fungicide spray, so I'm going to go ahead and throw some other goodies in the tank with it. Also turning off the water until I can see what's going to happen. Will update with pictures this weekend to see how the spray does!

Soaker Plus @ 4 oz/M 
AzProp Select @ 3 oz/M
20-20-20 @ 0.75 lbs/M
Largo @ 3 oz/M
Perk Up @ 3 oz/M
Protesyn @ 6 oz/M
Turf Mark Blue @ 1.5 oz/gal


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## DbShep (Aug 10, 2020)

Any updates? How are things growing? I was struggling to get the damage from the cutworms to grow in because I became overrun with dew worms. I have that sorted now and hoping to see some good recovery before snow.


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## CarolinaCuttin (Sep 6, 2019)

@DbShep I've been just busy enough to keep working on the green but neglect posting updates. It's been a bumpy first month of grow in, but I think I've finally gotten past the big hurdles. I'll still probably spot seed an area or two, but overall I'm now pretty happy with the amount of grass on the green and I'm confident that I can grow it in from here with an aggressive spray program.

I had washout after washout, ran into some unevenness in the green surface from settling of sand, and couldn't get it to dry out enough to mow as much as I wanted. I did plenty of fungicide sprays during the critical development period when it was hot and humic but never saw any disease pop up, so mission accomplished. I haven't had any pest issues apart from some worm castings, but since it is a native clay soil green I'm happy to have the worms around. I just use a soft bristled broom on them before I mow so I don't leave quarter sized pancakes that end up killing grass.

The 10-day forecast is perfect bentgrass weather, highs in the 70s and lows around 50 and not a drop of rain in sight. I should finally have the chance to let the green dry out to the point that it needs irrigation.

I brought the edge of the green in slightly so allow for about 20 inches of collar to surround the green. This will help give it that golf course look. It will be maintained at 0.500"

Today (10/1/20) I gave everything a double cut (it was long!) in prep for a heavy topdressing tomorrow. I picked up a half yard of sand that I will be applying tomorrow afternoon. This should really help level out any low areas, and I'm prepared to do it again if needed. Plan in to use the rotary spreader wide open and go over as many times as I think it needs.

I also made another spray application today after the mow to keep the plant growing at this super fast pace. I added a foliar phosphite into the rotation every 7 days as a preventative for pythium, and today was the day to add that. I doubt I'll need to use a true fungicide for the rest of the year but they are ready in case we get some crazy weather. The next spray will probably be Sunday (10/4/20) if the sand is settled enough to allow for a foliar spray. It will be back to the Perk Up, Protesyn, and Knife Plus in addition to urea.

Spray today:

Urea @ 0.43 lbs/M
Phite 0-0-26 @ 3 oz/M
Blue Dye @ 1.5 oz/gal



5 passes with the mower and I had half a basket full of clippings!



Post mow, shining in the sun



After the spray


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## CarolinaCuttin (Sep 6, 2019)

PRG tee was no issue to get established, this is after the 2nd mow. A little over two weeks since seeding, very happy with progress. Small patches of pythium in one area that I'm not going to treat because it's going to get cold quickly, it'll dry up on its own and I can fill in with divot mix.

Green continues to make progress, biggest issue right now are earthworm castings, I have to scout and do a good job of brushing and blowing them before mowing or else I leave quarter sized mud pies that choke out the bentgrass. I love the earthworms on my native soil, they provide free aerification so it's just something I'll deal with.

Green and tee got sprayed today.

Green:

Knife Plus @ 3 oz/M
Perk Up @ 3 oz/M
Protesyn @ 6 oz/M

Tee got Largo instead of Knife and I added 0.15 lbs N from urea. One more good month of growth before we get a serious slowdown, big push to get this filled in!


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## SOLARSUPLEX (Aug 4, 2020)

Whats the distance from tee to green on this one?

I'm not keeping my grass at putting height but earthworms are going crazy on my lawn this fall as well. You just brush them away and then mow?


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## CarolinaCuttin (Sep 6, 2019)

SOLARSUPLEX said:


> Whats the distance from tee to green on this one?
> 
> I'm not keeping my grass at putting height but earthworms are going crazy on my lawn this fall as well. You just brush them away and then mow?


It's about 40 yards, nothing huge just a pitch and putt area. I'm sure I'll spend more time maintaining it than playing on it, but my two favorite hobbies are growing grass and playing golf!

Yeah so my procedure is to take a soft-bristled shop broom and brush the green, sometimes in two directions if the castings are bad, and then blow the area clean. Then I can mow without messing up the surface or dulling the mower.

On golf course putting greens, a good blow is all that is required to disperse the casting, but on my heavy clay soil it needs to be broken up with a broom first.


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## uts (Jul 8, 2019)

It's nice going through this thread. I started researching the type of sand that golf courses use and that was like a rabbit hole which led me to a simplified document by the USGA for greens creation. It was great to see the process, though I am sure there are quite a few secrets. I was amazed at the root zone soil profile and how 60% is supposed to be 0.25-1mm sand. The bigger stuff was classified as fine gravel (>2mm or very coarse sand.

Also the intrececies of things like angle of drainage pipes was amazing to read.


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## CarolinaCuttin (Sep 6, 2019)

uts said:


> It's nice going through this thread. I started researching the type of sand that golf courses use and that was like a rabbit hole which led me to a simplified document by the USGA for greens creation. It was great to see the process, though I am sure there are quite a few secrets. I was amazed at the root zone soil profile and how 60% is supposed to be 0.25-1mm sand. The bigger stuff was classified as fine gravel (>2mm or very coarse sand.
> 
> Also the intrececies of things like angle of drainage pipes was amazing to read.


It is certainly a specialized method/process. It would be great if I had a sand base, the clay just holds so much moisture after heavy rains. Once I get coverage the way I like it, I will begin to do some sand leveling to allow me to gradually drop the height.


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## Kallgren (Nov 10, 2018)

Subscribed. My Bentgrass green got a few inches of snow today. Was looking pretty good.


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## CarolinaCuttin (Sep 6, 2019)

Kallgren said:


> Subscribed. My Bentgrass green got a few inches of snow today. Was looking pretty good.


I'm hoping I've got a good month of decent weather and I'm sure there will be warm days from December-February.

I saw you sprayed Trimec on your green, what kind was it? I ordered some Trimec Classic for some broadleaf weeds and wanted to know what your experience was.


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## DbShep (Aug 10, 2020)

Here is a picture of my green taken a couple of weeks ago. It is about 1300 sq ft and I put down 14 metric tonnes of sand and tilled it into about 2" of soil before seeding on May 20th. I finally was able to putt on it in October though I am still dealing with damage from cut worms that is slowly growing in. Dew worms have been a big problem for the past couple months and I finally broke down and applied Sevin liquid just to the green area to slow them down. I applied 50ml diluted in about 1.5 gallons of water and the treatment lasts about 3-4 weeks before castings get bad again. Next week looks like warm weather up here, then it will be time to put it to bed for the winter. It's been a very fun project in these crazy times.


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## CarolinaCuttin (Sep 6, 2019)

@DbShep That is a gorgeous green and background. Well done, sir.

I should have done more soil prep, the amount of sand I tilled in wasn't nearly enough. The green still holds a ton of moisture, when it's dry it's firm as a brick but once it gets wet it takes a week to fully dry. The next week here is forecast to by cool and dry with highs from 55-70 and lows 35-50. Should be fantastic growing weather, and I'll be able to dry everything down.

Did you do a snow mold application?


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## DbShep (Aug 10, 2020)

CarolinaCuttin said:


> @DbShep That is a gorgeous green and background. Well done, sir.
> 
> I should have done more soil prep, the amount of sand I tilled in wasn't nearly enough. The green still holds a ton of moisture, when it's dry it's firm as a brick but once it gets wet it takes a week to fully dry. The next week here is forecast to by cool and dry with highs from 55-70 and lows 35-50. Should be fantastic growing weather, and I'll be able to dry everything down.
> 
> Did you do a snow mold application?


For what it's worth, my green gets pretty firm when it is dry as well. My gut is that this is due to a lack of thatch to act as cushion. Most 'new' construction greens at local courses tend to play firm for a couple years and my thought is that it is related to a low amount of thatch but it could also be that over time the coring and top dressing changes the surface profile. Not sure, but time will tell.

I haven't done a snow mold application yet but will be doing one in the next couple of weeks. Oddly, we are getting upwards of 4" of snow tonight in a lake effect squall, but the rest of the week is forecast to be 14 - 17 degrees C with sun. So...one last hurrah before our golf courses shut down.

If you can find someone local to do a core aeration next spring, you can fill the holes with sand and that will change your surface rather drastically. If I recall, a core aeration will allow you to replace roughly 20% of your surface.

One other tip I may add. If your soil profile is heavy on clay, you might think about installing the practice green depth cups as it is hard to put a regulation depth cup in a clay based green. I went with the 4" depth cups and I am happy I did so.

Here is the view currently from my back door.....(yuck!)


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## HoosierLawnGnome (Sep 28, 2017)

Wow, finally getting back on this forum a bit.

Things are looking very good!

I thought I'd have bare spots come winter, but I let mine grow out a bit, and it has filled in nicely! Those bare spots will be fine in the spring if they aren't already!


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## CarolinaCuttin (Sep 6, 2019)

Everything is looking great right about now, I think the last few frosty mornings scared some of the earthworms away, but I'm loving this late fall look. It's cool, it's dry, everything is firming up nicely.


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## CarolinaCuttin (Sep 6, 2019)

I'm very happy with the progress of this project. The areas that needed to fill in are getting smaller and smaller, I'm pretty confident that I can have this ready for play by next spring. The green finally got its first shot of Primo on 11/8, and I reapplied today for maybe the last time this year. More than just reduced clipping yield, the Primo has tightened up the surface and given me a higher shoot density by shrinking the leaf blade. I'm continuing to add fertility with the Primo with the goal of removing roughly one bucket of grass every time I mow (mowing every ~3 days). To reduce wear on the clean up passes, I will probably go down to once every week on those. I will also stop the Floratine biostimulants when it gets too cold to have them taken up by the leaf. Here was today's spray:

Primo @ 3 oz/A
15-0-0 @ 0.10 lbs N/M
Knife Plus @ 3 oz/M
Perk Up @ 3 oz/M
Protesyn @ 6 oz/M
Blue Dye @ 1.5 oz/gal


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## DbShep (Aug 10, 2020)

CarolinaCuttin said:


> I'm very happy with the progress of this project. The areas that needed to fill in are getting smaller and smaller, I'm pretty confident that I can have this ready for play by next spring. The green finally got its first shot of Primo on 11/8, and I reapplied today for maybe the last time this year. More than just reduced clipping yield, the Primo has tightened up the surface and given me a higher shoot density by shrinking the leaf blade. I'm continuing to add fertility with the Primo with the goal of removing roughly one bucket of grass every time I mow (mowing every ~3 days). To reduce wear on the clean up passes, I will probably go down to once every week on those. I will also stop the Floratine biostimulants when it gets too cold to have them taken up by the leaf. Here was today's spray:
> 
> Primo @ 3 oz/A
> 15-0-0 @ 0.10 lbs N/M
> ...


It looks great! I'll be completing my snow mold treatment and putting mine to bed for the winter in the next couple days. It'll be a long winter up here without a putting green to fuss over.....


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## DbShep (Aug 10, 2020)

How is the green going? I'm dying for an update, it's winter here so mine is put to bed. Any pictures lately?


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## SumBeach35 (Jul 11, 2019)

Great work. Love seeing putting greens


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## CarolinaCuttin (Sep 6, 2019)

@DbShep @SumBeach35

Thank you both for following along! Not much going on lately, no more Primo for the foreseeable future since the cold is really starting to set in. About two weeks ago I seeded some thin areas and stamped the seed in the ground to ensure great contact, and those areas have finally germinated. Hopefully it can hold on through the winter because those seedlings will blow up with growth come March.

0.2 pounds of N applied last week, I'm not sure that I'll be doing any more applications until we see warmer weather on the horizon. Mowing the green once a week and getting about 1/4 of a basket of clippings, I don't see any reason to mow more frequently as long as my yield stays down.

Projects that are on the horizon are a very heavy topdress to level the surface, one more stamp seeding of weak areas, and aggressive fertilization and mowing. This will probably start late February/early March with a goal of having a high quality putting surface at below 0.200" by the end of April. It is certainly tough during the winter when you can't make any progress!


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## DbShep (Aug 10, 2020)

@CarolinaCuttin Nice! Similar plans here but not likely until April once the snowy season is gone and it starts growing. My surface is pretty decent for level but I will continue with my top dressing program with a goal to do a light dressing 2 x per month. I also have some spots that didn't grow in due to cutworm damage and perhaps from before I got a handle on the worm castings. Those areas will get seed as well. My bigger project is to improve the quality of my collar and approach area. I was given an additional greens mower part way through the season, so my Toro 1000 has been set up for now at about 0.75" to mow an approach and collar. This area needs to be leveled, treated for weeds and over-seeded with better grass. The goal will be to maintain that area at around 0.5" or slightly less. My green is about 1300 sq ft and the approach area and collar will be about the same. I managed to get the height of cut on my green down to around 0.200" and was putting on it throughout October. Ideally I will be to get it down to around 0.156" early in the season and see how the speed and maintenance is at that height. I think my winter project will be to build a stimp meter so I have some sort of reference.


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## uts (Jul 8, 2019)

A greens aerator with a tight core pulling density, collection and then refilling with sand is what I am waiting for to watch.. a video maybe?


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## DbShep (Aug 10, 2020)

uts said:


> A greens aerator with a tight core pulling density, collection and then refilling with sand is what I am waiting for to watch.. a video maybe?


I don't have a thick thatch layer on my green yet so the earliest I will need a core aeration is next fall. When I do I will hire the superintendent from my home club to come and punch it for me, (he previously did a solid tine aeration a couple months after I seeded). The top dressing will be a bit of a pain because I have to spread sand manually with a square mouth shovel. I only have about 1300 sq ft though so it isn't all bad.


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## CarolinaCuttin (Sep 6, 2019)

Two weeks between mows on the green, cut a decent amount, about a third of a bucket. I'll continue to cut once every two weeks as long as the growth rate stays like this. Been very cold lately.

The ryegrass tee has really matured, I started mowing stripes in it to spice up the appearance. Not sure whether I will change directions or just burn these in, they sure look nice. HOC is 0.550



What is everyone's preferred mowing pattern for tee boxes?

I haven't sprayed anything since December 11th, and I can't really see a reason why I would as long as it's this cold. Slow progress, but I'm happy to be mowing grass going into January!


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## thin_concrete (Sep 11, 2020)

I think that looks great as is! The only other ways to do it would be diagonal or checkered, but that stands out nicely.


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## CarolinaCuttin (Sep 6, 2019)

Still not much going on, but I have a little update so I thought I would share to help us get through the winter! I have been chipping off of the tee and so I thought I would take today and fill the divots with a sand and seed mix to heal from the damage. The mix was about 10:1 ratio of sand to seed. I mixed it thoroughly and then filled divots and thin spots. I ran water for 10 minutes on top of the mix and covered the tee. I got a grow cover off of Amazon that I have been wanting to try out, so I figured now would be a good time. It is a 10 foot by 50 foot cover that I cut into 4 pieces, two of them cover the tee and the other two cover a couple of weak areas on the green. Hoping to be able to use these to push some growth over the next month or so until Mother Nature can finish the job.


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## DbShep (Aug 10, 2020)

Nice work!


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## CarolinaCuttin (Sep 6, 2019)

Spring is just around the corner, it was time to mow off the dull colored leaf tissue and let the Penncross start growing again! This is after two more apps of 20-20-20 @ 0.20 lbs N/M over the last month. Time to get back on the weekly Floratine regimen starting next weekend. May even add a super light dose of Primo since temps are rising fast.


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## AndyS (Jun 13, 2020)

@CarolinaCuttin that looks so good! Has me excited for the golf season :thumbup:


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

Looks great! How did I miss this thread?!


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## DbShep (Aug 10, 2020)

I'm jealous! My green still has about 1 foot of snow on the middle of it and has been this way since Christmas. It is playing Peek-a-boo around the edge though so it won't be long before I'm obsessing over 1400sq ft of my 1.5 acres again!


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## Tlox (Aug 13, 2020)

Green is looking great! Great to see another green project


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## CarolinaCuttin (Sep 6, 2019)

Last weekend we saw mid 20s in the morning and today we're up to 80! It's been a great turnaround, no rain at all for nearly 10 days means everything has started to firm up nicely.

I've already done two Floratine sprays, 3/4 and 3/11, and the spray on 3/4 had 2 oz/A of Primo. I'm currently at 12% suppression and getting an ideal amount of clippings while being generous with the N. Thinking I may give it another dose at 3 or 4 oz/A on Sunday. We have rain coming next week and I don't want it to flush out and put me behind on mowing.

Mowed today after dropping the height from 0.250 down to 0.230, I'm loving the progress so far, give me another month of spring! Thanks to everyone who is following along, I really enjoy the comments.


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## DbShep (Aug 10, 2020)

CarolinaCuttin said:


> Last weekend we saw mid 20s in the morning and today we're up to 80! It's been a great turnaround, no rain at all for nearly 10 days means everything has started to firm up nicely.
> 
> I've already done two Floratine sprays, 3/4 and 3/11, and the spray on 3/4 had 2 oz/A of Primo. I'm currently at 12% suppression and getting an ideal amount of clippings while being generous with the N. Thinking I may give it another dose at 3 or 4 oz/A on Sunday. We have rain coming next week and I don't want it to flush out and put me behind on mowing.
> 
> Mowed today after dropping the height from 0.250 down to 0.230, I'm loving the progress so far, give me another month of spring! Thanks to everyone who is following along, I really enjoy the comments.


Looks awesome! Things are just starting to wake up in my neck of the woods and some cool weather and snow coming over the next 14 days. Excited to get back in the swing of it. By the look of yours, you will be putting before you know it. What is your HOC goal, 0.125?


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## CarolinaCuttin (Sep 6, 2019)

@DbShep It's hard to tell from the picture but the green is actually pretty undulating so I doubt 0.125 is feasible with a fixed head mower, I'll probably start to scalp before I get to point. My goal is to get it to roll between 10 and 11, over 11 would probably be unplayable. I think I can do that in the 0.140-0.160 range with a double cut and double roll, but that is what I'm thinking so far.


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## CarolinaCuttin (Sep 6, 2019)

The opportunity presented itself, so I pulled the trigger. I've been needing to do this for quite some time, but I finally got the green leveled so I can reach my goals for mowing height and speed. 0.75 yards of sand over 1500 square feet, it turned out to be the perfect rate.



I will now be looking to get some serious Primo down, maybe 6 oz/A as it grows through the sand. I have to buy some time because I need the sand to settle so I don't dull my mower. We are expecting rain Tuesday through Thursday, I'm thinking a good shot of Primo on Monday before the rain should keep things in check and the rain will force the sand into the canopy.


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## DbShep (Aug 10, 2020)

Nice work. I need to get out and top dress mine as well though I'll give it some time to wake up from winter first. My plan is to over seed afterwards and brush it in with my push broom to try to get soil contact. Up here we are a month or so away from having enough warm weather for that though. This year I am going to try to keep up a biweekly top dressing program. A light top dressing every two weeks to keep it smooth and try to prevent thatch build up. Last summer I top dressed 4 times. I'd really like to get a spreader for my sand but they are pretty expensive so for now I'll stick to fanning it out by hand with a scoop shovel. Top dressing and brushing it in is the most time consuming part of my maintenance and takes me a couple hours.


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## CarolinaCuttin (Sep 6, 2019)

@DbShep Yes topdressing is a time consuming task. Fortunately I had a friend who came and helped push sand around while I was flinging it with the shovel. I've got a spreader but for this amount of sand it was just better to sling it by hand. I can't wait to see your progress, you went into winter in much better shape than me so I think the sky is the limit for your green.

I've had a few dry days where the sand can be easily brushed into the canopy, so I've been doing that multiple times. Today I finally revealed enough leaf tissue to feel good about spraying Primo. I went at the max rate for bentgrass greens (6 oz/A). It will have plenty of time to dry before the rain comes early Tuesday morning. This rain should finally settle the sand out enough that I can be mowing by the weekend. The Primo will buy me time and increase density at the same time. I will be starting to brush before every mow in order to stand the leaves up and prep them to go down to 0.150. Right now they are long and fat, I want them growing upright and tight to the ground. That will mean staying on an aggressive PGR and nitrogen program. I feel like I'm only 30-45 days away from having a real green that is truly golf course quality.

Here is a picture of the green earlier today right before the spray and after brushing in multiple directions.


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## CarolinaCuttin (Sep 6, 2019)

Sand is working in nicely and HOC is down to 0.180

The sand has been incredible for playability but terrible for my mower. Going to get the reel and bedknife ground next week and bump up HOC to make sure I'm done mowing up sand. Water, water, and more water. That seems to be the key with sand.

Got a strong pop up storm tonight that allowed me showcase the surface drainage and work the sand even deeper. I'm looking forward to toning down the N and continuing with heavy Primo apps to get the grass locked down. I no longer need my exorbitant clipping yields, eyes are on the prize: speed and firmness.

Here is a shot of the green after mowing in 5 directions and brushing in between. Might as well clean everything up this week as I will not be messing with sand anymore, gotta keep the machine sharp!



After the bottom fell out


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## CarolinaCuttin (Sep 6, 2019)

Things came together really nicely in time for Masters Sunday. I consider this project a success, if I can keep it alive all summer that's a plus but this is a pretty cool spot to practice golf as well as growing grass.


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## DbShep (Aug 10, 2020)

Nice job! I flew the Masters flag today.


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## thin_concrete (Sep 11, 2020)

Nice! Looks great!


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## GoDawgs (Jun 18, 2020)

@CarolinaCuttin absolutely beautiful! Your hard work has really paid off. Awesome thread start to finish.


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## jsams22 (Apr 20, 2021)

+Following!


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## DbShep (Aug 10, 2020)

Hey @CarolinaCuttin How is the green doing?


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## CarolinaCuttin (Sep 6, 2019)

@DbShep @jsams22 @GoDawgs Thanks everyone for following along!

The green is still great, the continuous pounding with growth regulator means it doesn't have that bright green look to it, but from a playability standpoint it's only getting better. Today I started to brush before mowing to clean up the canopy and get as much of the grass standing up and cut every time. The height is down to 0.150 which is producing speeds of around 10. I'm thinking as I continue to brush and get a closer cut I can get it up to 11. Above an 11 I don't know if the green is playable because of the contours I've put in it to move water off the green's surface during rain. We'll see, I'm not opposed to experimenting to see how fast it will go.


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## DbShep (Aug 10, 2020)

CarolinaCuttin said:


> @DbShep @jsams22 @GoDawgs Thanks everyone for following along!
> 
> The green is still great, the continuous pounding with growth regulator means it doesn't have that bright green look to it, but from a playability standpoint it's only getting better. Today I started to brush before mowing to clean up the canopy and get as much of the grass standing up and cut every time. The height is down to 0.150 which is producing speeds of around 10. I'm thinking as I continue to brush and get a closer cut I can get it up to 11. Above an 11 I don't know if the green is playable because of the contours I've put in it to move water off the green's surface during rain. We'll see, I'm not opposed to experimenting to see how fast it will go.


Nice! I don't use growth regulator but it's been cold here until the last two days so we haven't had a lot of growth. Even the trees have been slow to get leaves. I've been top dressing frequently and the green is starting to speed up and level out. I still plan to lower the height of cut, (I'm a bit over 0.125). I don't have a real stimpmeter but get an average of about 7.5 feet currently on a makeshift one I made. What kind of stimpmeter do you have? Based on the speed of mine, I would say that most of the local clubs we play around my house are about 8-8.5. My Jacobsen is a hybrid so it has an onboard backlap function which is pretty slick. It also allows you to adjust the clip rate very easily so I may start experimenting with that.


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## fredjmillard (Jul 26, 2021)

@CarolinaCuttin really enjoyed reading this detailed thread and has me on the hunt for a greens mower. How has the green held up this summer?


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## CarolinaCuttin (Sep 6, 2019)

fredjmillard said:


> @CarolinaCuttin really enjoyed reading this detailed thread and has me on the hunt for a greens mower. How has the green held up this summer?


The bentgrass itself held up well, I had pretty high weed pressure since I tilled the soil and brought up a huge crop of fresh weed seeds. The green is now dead (sprayed with glyphosate) and I am doing a renovation to upgrade to nicer bentgrass cultivars on the green as well as installing a bentgrass collar and ryegrass fairway/approach. If there is interest I will keep another log of exactly what I do and what changes I make during this grow in. I could have easily spot seeded a few weak areas this fall and kept everything growing but I'm looking forward to the challenge and applying what I learned the first time to make this a smooth renovation. My tentative seed down date is August 28th/29th.


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## jsams22 (Apr 20, 2021)

@CarolinaCuttin I am in Greenville. My first stab with an UltraDwarf Bermuda did not go as planned and will chalk it up as a learning opportunity. I dont think I had enough sand in my rootmix and sunlight for the bermuda to thrive and spread in on all sides.

I am moving the green and bringing in 6 tons of sand for my small green. It will be closer to 500sqft and looking to have a sand rootmix of 4-6 inches. I just ordered a 1lb bag of 777 Bentgrass. It was between the 007 and 777 and ultimately went with the 777. I am hoping to get the seed in the ground before the last week of September.

I am more worried about fungus problems with the Bent. Which fungicide were you going with? And would you have any interest in splitting or selling off some?

Thanks for your inspiration.


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## fredjmillard (Jul 26, 2021)

@CarolinaCuttin for sure that would be appreciated. I have read alot of other threads on putting greens and yours was by far the most helpful and detailed.


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## CarolinaCuttin (Sep 6, 2019)

jsams22 said:


> @CarolinaCuttin I am in Greenville. My first stab with an UltraDwarf Bermuda did not go as planned and will chalk it up as a learning opportunity. I dont think I had enough sand in my rootmix and sunlight for the bermuda to thrive and spread in on all sides.
> 
> I am moving the green and bringing in 6 tons of sand for my small green. It will be closer to 500sqft and looking to have a sand rootmix of 4-6 inches. I just ordered a 1lb bag of 777 Bentgrass. It was between the 007 and 777 and ultimately went with the 777. I am hoping to get the seed in the ground before the last week of September.
> 
> ...


I have seen some great native soil bermuda greens but never great shaded bermuda greens! Bentgrass will tolerate slightly more shade (afternoon shade is better than morning shade) but it's still not very shade tolerant. Even with a sand based system I would place a lot of emphasis on the surface drainage of the green. When you get those quick shots of heavy rain you need to be able to move sheeting water off quickly.

Late September/early October is probably the latest you can seed and still get a great surface by April. But the good news is that you probably won't have to worry about much disease activity at that time. Last year all I did for the grow in was one good systemic fungicide (azoxystrobin will work well) in September and one pythium fungicide (mefenoxam) in September. By the time October came it was smooth sailing, and with your seeding date you won't be mowing until probably October 15th so I wouldn't be worried much at all about fungicides. I'm happy to split some mefenoxam (rate is 0.5-1.0 oz/M and I have about 28 oz left) but I am just about out of the other stuff, I will be reordering for next spring.

My two biggest mistakes last year were trying to use an ag grade (huge prill size) urea and burning straight lines in the green in October from not being able to get it to melt down even with a ton of water (you can see this all during the fall grow in) and then becoming afraid of granular products all together and not giving the new plants nearly enough food to mature and grow in by winter. I am going to pre-plant with Milorganite (cheap, safe, and slow release N) @ 0.75 lbs P/M and 1.12 lbs N/M and that will be all the food it gets for the first month of growth. Then I'll make my post-plant fert apps using Country Club MD greens grade 18-3-18 in early October when the threat of disease is almost gone. These particles are as small as sand so there is no threat of burning as long as you knock them down with water into the canopy.

After going through this last year, my new philosophy is the best way to grow it in is by seeding early (late August/early September) and at a lower rate of seeding (1.0 lb seed/M) to keep disease at bay, not pushing at all it until October and then applying 0.5-1.0 lbs N/M every week in order to reach full coverage. Last year where the urea did not burn the grass totally blew up and filled in quicker than I thought would be possible. By seeding August 28th/29th it will allow me to reseed some areas by Sept 15th if a terrible storm washes the seed before it can tack down, but I need all the grass rooted by October 1 so I can go hard with fert all month. I hope this helps, as always any questions you have I'll be happy to answer what I can!

@fredjmillard Awesome, I will do an even more detailed log this year (and hopefully a much better job!) Thanks for following along!


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## DbShep (Aug 10, 2020)

CarolinaCuttin said:


> jsams22 said:
> 
> 
> > @CarolinaCuttin I am in Greenville. My first stab with an UltraDwarf Bermuda did not go as planned and will chalk it up as a learning opportunity. I dont think I had enough sand in my rootmix and sunlight for the bermuda to thrive and spread in on all sides.
> ...


Why not melt the granular urea in water and spray? I've had good luck with that on my green.


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## CarolinaCuttin (Sep 6, 2019)

@DbShep Yeah that works great and I've done that a bunch but I was attempting to put 1.25 lbs N/M down, doing that all in one spray is very risky since that salt concentration can burn the leaves in no time. I love sprays as much as anyone but I believe serious N and K applications are needed the first fall to get those tiny plants to pop


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## jsams22 (Apr 20, 2021)

@CarolinaCuttin Thanks for the great write up.

I agree with you on the native soil aspect. I tried sprigging Sunday UltraDwarf. I had a 500sq ft circle green and 50% of the green was pretty flat and full sun, the other 50% was slightly graded like a false front and didnt get full until around 1pm in the afternoon. I think a combination of too much slope, water flowing off and eating at the root base, and not enough sun is what led to its demise. I was told/expected a full or almost full grow in within 6-8 weeks, and I'm on week 11 and its not even close.

I am going to expand it on the 50% side that got full sun and that is much flatter.

So far I was using all foliar type applications. I have a 46-0-0 I was putting out ever 4-5 days with a 10-30-20 Ag South water soluble mixed in at a total .4lb N/M rate. 
Luckily my local Landscapers supply sells the professional grade Milo so I can get the very small prill version at a great price.

I will look to use the Milo for the starter, then push with the 46-0-0 urea foliar spray at the rates/dates you suggested.

I will go ahead and start a journal also!


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## CarolinaCuttin (Sep 6, 2019)

@jsams22 I think 8 weeks is correct, you should be able to go from nothing to open for play (99% coverage) in 8 weeks if it gets full sun, so I think it has to be the shade. I'm looking forward to watching your grow in too!


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## GoDawgs (Jun 18, 2020)

@CarolinaCuttin definitely share if time allows! Enjoying your journey and documentation.


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## Benwag (May 28, 2020)

Absolutely would love to follow along for the second round!


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## CarolinaCuttin (Sep 6, 2019)

@Benwag 
@GoDawgs 
@jsams22

Definitely getting started early, but tonight I decided to start growing grass when the weather forecast looked good. Last year, whether I would get a big washout was so unpredictable that I've talked myself into starting early. I no longer worry about keeping it alive in the heat, I have the tools to do that, I just need grass that is rooted and growing. After 3 rounds of glyphosate (one blanket app and 2 separate spot sprays about 10 days apart to clean up new weeds)I am ready to seed. I went at the low rate for creeping bentgrass, 1 lb/M of seed. I also spread Milo at 20 lbs/M.

Milo went down first, then I blended up 25 pounds of topdressing sand and 2 pounds of seed and put it in the spreader. It worked out perfectly where I could spread the green center to center in two directions with both Milo and seed.

Rather that placing irrigation off the green and going with two part circles, I tried placing the impact sprinklers on the green and running them as full circles for 11 minutes each, staggered by 19 minutes every 6 hours. They will run at 6/6:30am, 12/12:30pm, 6/6:30pm, and 12/12:30am. This will keep an even level of moisture on top and not add significant water to the soil below 1". I am using an Orbit 2 station timer to handle all the watering for me.

I have experimented with potted bentgrass and had success growing it over the last two weeks with only 2 waterings, one morning and one night, so I am confident this 4x/day schedule is plenty of water to get it growing. The faster it roots, the faster we are safe from washouts! If this seeding takes the first time like I hope it will, we could be looking at a first mow around September 5th.

After the first mow, I will apply a good broad spectrum fungicide (probably Xzemplar) to keep up seedling vigor and clean up any summer pathogens. If I am getting good plant density prior to cooler fall weather, I will apply a pythium material to keep that disease at bay. The fungicide I choose will depend on disease pressure and seedling spacing.

I will not be looking to push the green with much fertilizer until late September/early October when the major threat of disease is gone. There should be enough N and P in the Milo to keep it growing at a slow but steady pace until then.

In a week or two this could all turn out to be a washout and I'll have to start over, but the benefit starting early is I won't run out of warmth to get this thing to 100% coverage by Dec 1 even if it takes 2 or 3 tries. Thanks for following along, I'll keep y'all updated!



Here it is after seed, Milo, and the first shot of irrigation


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## jsams22 (Apr 20, 2021)

Great prep work! I found this sprinkler head at Lowes and it worked great for circle shaped greens. Very even distribution.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Gilmour-Gilmour-174-Adjustable-Whirling-Sprinkler-with-Spike-Base/1003163568


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## GoDawgs (Jun 18, 2020)

Following!


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## CarolinaCuttin (Sep 6, 2019)

It's almost time to start seeing some green. We had some rain come in last night but it didn't appear to be heavy enough to mess up my seeding. More rain on the way but it's got to be very close to sending roots down anyway.

I sprayed a phosphite at a very high rate (9 oz/M) and then lightly watered it in to knock down any Pythium/damping off that might brew. I don't mind the rain just hoping it doesn't come down all at once!


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## CarolinaCuttin (Sep 6, 2019)

Well, after the long wait there is some bad news. Remnants of Fred that came through last night dropped almost an inch of rain in an hour or less. There were piles of Milorganite at the bottom of the green. It wasn't a complete wash, there is Milo still at the top but much less dense as far as coverage. I suppose I should come back with a little bit of liquid fert later this week to make up for it.

Anyway, with the potential washing/uprooting of a lot of my seed, I went ahead and broadcast another 0.5 lbs/M of bentgrass and flipped the irrigation back on after the storms last night. There is seed germinating, but it looks very lackluster and spotty so far. I figured another half pound would likely be needed and the 10 day outlook is fantastic, so it's a great time to do it. Part of me wants to go out with another half pound this weekend but too much seed is a terrible problem to have given how early I started, so no more seed is going down until my originally planned seed dates of August 28/29. I will consider these two seedings as a base for my project and in 10 days I can evaluate how much and exactly where the seed needs to go to get relatively even coverage. If this seed isn't up 10 days, it's either dead or gone.

The bad part about staggered seeding is timing your first mow. You always end up waiting too long or mowing too early since the seed popped at different times. Oh well, there are worse problems to have.


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## DbShep (Aug 10, 2020)

What initial cut height are you aiming for? I wouldn't worry too much about cutting too early, golf courses over-seed greens that are being maintained at playing height around 0.125" with success. I seeded my bentgrass green on May 20th of last year and my initial cut height was 0.625"; I was cutting around 0.156" by the time the snow flew. I had a bunch of small quarter sized spots with very sparse cover, I think a combination of the way the grass germinated and a battle I had with cutworm. Those spots grew into full cover in the spring by the end of May this year. I did several rounds of spot seeding by mixing seed with green mix and peat moss and hand watered them through germination to minimize the chance of damping off. I didn't start to lower my cut height from 0.625" until I had mostly full cover.


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## CarolinaCuttin (Sep 6, 2019)

Well, I'm glad I waited for germination before blanket seeding again, I have great coverage on 80% of the green. I reseeded the top portion again at the full rate since that seed likely washed from the multiple rains we got during establishment. I have adjusted the irrigation to prioritize that area and get it grown in. I am now hoping for a first cut around the middle of September, with a fungicide going down in the next 7 days. If I can get grass growing on the top of the green in the next 2 weeks, this is going to be a breeze compared to last year.



Here is the green, it's definitely on its way! I backed off the irrigation to 2x per day on top (where I need seed to grow) and down to 1x per day on bottom where there is plenty of grass.

@DbShep I will make the first cut when the grass is firmly rooted and at the 2-3 leaf stage. I will cut it at 0.300" to start and then begin cutting 2x per week, dropping it 0.010" after every mow until I'm down to to 0.200", then dropping it down 0.005" after every mow until I'm at 0.150". I will leave it at 0.150" all winter and slowly work my way down to 0.130" by April which is my target height of cut.


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## DbShep (Aug 10, 2020)

CarolinaCuttin said:


> Well, I'm glad I waited for germination before blanket seeding again, I have great coverage on 80% of the green. I reseeded the top portion again at the full rate since that seed likely washed from the multiple rains we got during establishment. I have adjusted the irrigation to prioritize that area and get it grown in. I am now hoping for a first cut around the middle of September, with a fungicide going down in the next 7 days. If I can get grass growing on the top of the green in the next 2 weeks, this is going to be a breeze compared to last year.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


0.130" is a good target height and you can add speed by rolling it with the reel off after you cut it. I had two spots that were sparse, (one small spot washed out every time I seeded it last year, and another spot where my dog peed on the snow in the fall), and I spread a bit of seed in the spring with intentions to get back to them this fall. In the meantime, they have nearly crept in.


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## CarolinaCuttin (Sep 6, 2019)

I haven't had a whole lot to post since lately I have been spot seeding some thinner areas and just running water. I seeded the nursery area (behind and to left of the green) at the same time as the reseeding of the top of the green. Both areas now have tiny seedlings popping up. Here is the green:



I have already mowed one time at 0.300", although I completely skipped the thin spot at the top, I didn't even want the mower on it until those seedlings can mature. I will mow the majority of the green one more time at 0.300" and then begin my HOC lowering program. The thin area will continue to be skipped until I am sure it is rooted enough to not damage the grass, but I will not raise the height for this area, it will just get mowed at whatever height I have worked the green down to. Again I am planning to mow twice a week and drop the height 0.010" every mow until I am at 0.200". At that point I will drop it 0.005" every mow until I hit 0.150" which is where I want it going into the winter.

I do not have a history of damping off on this site, so I didn't apply any fungicides during establishment. Since we still have a few more weeks of hot weather and the density is beginning to rapidly increase as I mow lower and more often, I decided to hit it with a fungicide combo so I wouldn't have to worry about losing all this great progress. Today I sprayed Segway at 0.9 oz/M and Xzemplar at 0.26 oz/M. This will cover me for 14-21 days for dollar spot, brown patch, and pythium blight. Right now I don't anticipate another fungicide application this year, but you never know what we can have thrown at us with hurricanes, heat waves, etc.

All in all I'm extremely pleased with the progress so far, and I'm light years ahead of where I was last year. I will probably push a few areas with some liquid fertilizer as needed to get all the areas of the green to a similar level of maturity. October brings with it virtually perfect bentgrass weather, so it won't be long before I am pushing this grass to turn into a tight knit putting green.


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## DbShep (Aug 10, 2020)

Looks good!


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## CarolinaCuttin (Sep 6, 2019)

Been a while since I have updated this! Lots of good things have happened even during the warmer weather of the last 3 weeks. Before a significant stretch of rain I went ahead and gave everything one more shot of fungicide, Subdue at 1 oz/M and Insignia at 0.7 oz/M. I believe we are now in the clear as far as serious disease issues, I think we are about to hit the nicest bentgrass weather of the year. I also sprayed 20-20-20 at 2 lbs/M before the rain earlier in the week (lightly watered in to avoid burning) to give it a push.

This morning I mowed the green and threw down my first granular application, 0.5 lbs of nitrogen per thousand of 21-7-14. I will not be shy with the nitrogen this fall, I expect to throw down at least 0.5 lbs N/M every week all the way to December 1.

This week I also seeded the approach in front of the green and the tee and tee surrounds. The approach will be the same perennial ryegrass that was on the tee last year, and the tee will be Penncross creeping bentgrass with TTTF rough surrounds.

I have now fully backed off the watering for the majority of the green, it will be only get a full shot of water to the whole thing if I need it to water in a product. I continue to hand water some small areas a few times per week as needed. These areas were touched up with some more seed so it needs a little bit more water as well.

Here is the green after this morning's mow


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