# First time renovating lawn



## FlyMike (Aug 27, 2017)

Hi everyone,
I'm located just a little north of Atlanta and bought a house recently with a lawn that is a mess. It's probably 75% Crabgrass, 5% Zoysia, 10% some type of fescue, and 10% who knows what. I'm planning on killing it all soon and attempting to start a TTTF lawn, and would like a little guidance/help/suggestions.

My overall plan is:
Glyphosate
Water
Glyphosate where needed
Scalp
?
Seed
Peat moss 
Starter fert/tenacity
Water water water

My soil is typical for the area with a lot of clay. It seems very compact since I'm not able to get a screwdriver very far down, maybe an inch or so. Is there anything I should do before seeding to help with this, or will it not be much of an issue?

I'm planning on using Super Turf 1 LS from unitedseedonline because it seems to be quality seed at a good price. Any issues or recommendations here?

Anything else I'm missing/should do?
Thanks for the help,
Mike


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## Vols_fan08 (Jul 10, 2017)

Just curious why you're choosing fescue? Do you have a lot of shade? I'm not sure it could survive the dry hot Summers of Georgia. I would go with seeding Bermuda in Late May next year. I love Fescue as much as anyone but southern Tennessee is about as far as it could survive in the south. And it really struggles there honestly.


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## FlyMike (Aug 27, 2017)

I do have a decent amount of shade. The reason I picked fescue is because I was hoping to have something that is green year round. There are a few houses around the neighborhood that have fescue lawns that look great, so I figured I would give it a shot.

I also forgot to add my soil test from a few months to my original post, so here it is


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## Vols_fan08 (Jul 10, 2017)

If you're dead set on Fescue then I'd go with a 3 way blend of Cochise IV, falcon V, and Monet. Those scored higher in the Griffin, GA trials. I hope you have irrigation &#128526;. Gawga be hawt down there! Looks like all you need is a starter fertilizer. Rent a slice seeder IMO.


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## FlyMike (Aug 27, 2017)

I'm ready to give it the water it hopefully need. I want to give it a shot before I have to go to Bermuda or something like that. 
The mix I'm looking at has Monet, Firecracker LS, Spyder LS, and Titanium 2 LS. They all seem to do fairly well in the NTEP site.


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## FlyMike (Aug 27, 2017)

I'm all in now, I sprayed glyphosate a week ago and my lawn is looking nice and crispy now. I do have a few small patches of some sort of grass, Monkey grass maybe, that seems to be laughing in my face. The glyphosate didn't seem to phase it. 




Any idea how to kill this stuff, or should I just try and dig it out by hand?

Another question I have is about a section on my side yard. It's a nice rectangle and a oscillating sprinkler works great here. What kind of issues will I run into when I'm watering the seed here? I'm think if I leave it there for day's on end while the grass is germinating it will be bare under where the sprinkler and hose have laid. Any ideas for a work around on this? I'm gone for 3-4 days a week with my job so my plan is to hook that section up to a hose timer and let that do the work while I'm gone.


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## GrassDaddy (Mar 21, 2017)

I would try a heavy app of glyphosate for the grass still remaining. As for the sprinkler... it might leave a spot. You could grow a tray of seed to transplant to it after.


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## FlyMike (Aug 27, 2017)

I sprayed it pretty good today, so hopefully that does the trick. Thanks for the idea of growing some grass in pots/trays to transplant. That's probably what I'll end up doing.


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## Colonel K0rn (Jul 4, 2017)

If that's Mondo grass aka monkey grass, you're going to have to dig it up. No way around that my friend.

For transplanting, get the 5-in-1 Pro Plugger. It works great for transplanting grass when you have some established. Grass Daddy has shown how effective it is in his videos, and I've have great luck with transplanting grass in my yard.

You stated that you're having difficulty getting a screwdriver down below 2 inches into your soil. I'd *strongly recommend* that you aerate the mess out of the yard, and then use the slit seeder to get really good coverage. I don't think you'd even have to bother with the peat moss at that point, since all you need is seed to soil contact, set up the timers for watering 3x daily until germination, and then adjust after that.


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## Virginiagal (Apr 24, 2017)

If you use starter fertilizer instead of 10-10-10, you will be lacking potassium. You probably aren't tilling, but you could use 10 lb/k of 10-10-10 without incorporating it into 4-6 inches as U Georgia recommends. That would get you 1 lb/k of phosphorus and potassium and nitrogen. You could do another application next month to get the rest.

If you go with the starter fertilizer instead (maybe to get the mesotrione in the Scott's starter?), I would try to find sulfate of potassium 0-0-50 so you could get some potassium. Their recommendation is for 1.5 lb/k of potassium. Two applications of SOP at 1.5 lb/k (maybe one now, one in February) will supply you with 1.5 lb/k of potassium. Using starter at bag rate will probably get you 1 lb/k of phosphorus, which is short of their 1.5 lb/k recommendation. You could do a follow-up application of starter at half rate to get the rest of the phosphorus.

Go by Georgia's recommendations on when to apply fertilizer. They know their climate best.


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## FlyMike (Aug 27, 2017)

The lawn needed a little bit of water, and it seems to be pretty loose now, I can get a 12" screwdriver down no problem now. I was excited to get started on the project, jumped the gun and just went out poking around without realizing it had been a while since everything had got some water.

I was afraid I was going to have to dig it out, but luckily it's not a huge area.

I was planning on using the Scott's + weed prevent starter fertilizer for the mesotrione. Thank's for the recommendation on how to incorporate the potassium into the project, I like that idea.


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## Roosterchest (Aug 3, 2017)

FlyMike I can only share what I did...

2 rounds of Glypho about a week apart. Scalped the lawn down along the way. Slice seeded and covered with grass. The grass covering was not needed. Used Scott's Starter w/Mesotrione---weeds turned white. About 17 days after seed down (KBG/PRG mix) I put some Milorganite and starter fert down. Grass is coming along nicely.

I was very good about watering and kept the ground moist.

Your #1 mission needs to be seed germination with good watering. You can focus on the weeds later. Tenacity or Scott's w Mesotrione will help.


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## FlyMike (Aug 27, 2017)

Yesterday was the day. My wife unexpectedly had the day off, so I took full advantage of her being able to watch our 4mo old daughter while I was home.

I started the day by raking out the clippings that my mower struggled to suck up while scalping the lawn. I then ran my sprinklers a little bit the get the soil wet before throwing down the seed, and I figured it would sort of help plant the seed when I went over it with a roller.

Threw down about 35ish lbs of seed, rolled it in, then put down Scott's started +weed preventer. I gave it a light water while I returned the lawn roller and picked up some more peat moss.



While running out of daylight I got the peat moss down, and of course was about 1 bundle short. Luckily I got all the major spots that would dry out the quickest covered, and I'll get the other areas covered a little later.



I made a little sprinkler stand for the oscillating sprinkler in the side yard. I thought this might help prevent a bare spot there from the sprinkler sitting in the same spot for such a long time. I going to keep the hose off the ground too. These all might be dumb ideas, but I figure it can't hurt and I enjoy making weird contraptions





I have my timer set up to keep everything nice and wet. Now it's time to sit back and impatiently wait for some grass to start growing.

Edit for a question...
What's the thought on using the bagged clippings from scalping as a cover for the seed? I was cleaning them up from along the street today that were mixed in with some of the dirt dust that I kicked up from raking, and I was surprised at how well they held in moisture


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## FlyMike (Aug 27, 2017)

I was gone with work for 4 days and came back to a nice surprise. GREEN FUZZ!!
The grass has started to sprout in about 5 days.


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## FlyMike (Aug 27, 2017)

I know I just posted a few days ago, but here is an update at 7 days. I'm pleased with how everything is coming in and so far how fast everything is growing. I might have a few bare spots I'll need to reseed later, but overall I think it's looking good. 




I ran out of peat moss and you can really see what a difference it makes in helping the grass seed. I'm also battling a little bit of a leaf issue. When I'm home I will lightly blow them off with a leaf blower every day.


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## OutdoorEnvy (Sep 27, 2017)

It's progress! That's surprising the difference the peat moss made. I won't leave that out if I do a reseed project.


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## ThickAndGreen (Sep 8, 2017)

I noticed a huge difference in using peat moss vs not using it during my recent overseed. I'm a big believer.


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## FlyMike (Aug 27, 2017)

Went outside this morning to blow some of the leaves off the lawn, and I'm starting to see the first signs of the mesotrione in the Scott's kicking in. It's pretty cool to see it in action.


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## FlyMike (Aug 27, 2017)

14 days in and it's starting to look like a real lawn. Some of the smaller bare spots/lightly seeded areas are starting to fill in. It's up to about 2.5"-3" right now, so I think it might be ready for it's first mow next week.





I have 2 small bunches of something that have shot up much taller and a lighter green than the rest of the grass. I'm not quite sure what it is since I haven't been able to walk up and get close to it. Any ideas what it might be from this grainy zoomed in picture?


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## FlyMike (Aug 27, 2017)

It's been 21 days since seed down, and things are looking great. 2 days ago I gave the lawn it's first mow. It was getting close to 4.5" in some spots.









I put down some Milorganite today, and I'm thinking I'll reseed the bare spots in the side yard sometime next week.



I was able to figure out what the tall bunch of green stuff growing was from my last post. It was wild garlic.

I've been pulling weeds by hand as I see them, but it would be a heck of a lot easier to be able to spray them with something. It's mostly just Crabgrass. Would I be able to spot spray it with some weed b gone from.a hose end sprayer in a week or 2 (makes the lawn 4-5 weeks old)?


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## Colonel K0rn (Jul 4, 2017)

Looks good Mike. You might notice some stress on the newly seeded grass if you do use any herbicide. I'm battling crabgrass out the wazoo in my new reno, and I've opted to not use any weed control until next Spring, and then hit it hard with post-E. You're not going to have to worry about crabgrass for much longer, maybe a couple of weeks. Marietta gets frost much sooner than Savannah.


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## Budstl (Apr 19, 2017)

I agree with colonel korn. Let the frost take care of it and put down a pre emergent next year and spot spray with a post emergent later if needed.


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## FlyMike (Aug 27, 2017)

Duh.... I swear I a little slow sometimes. I completely forgot that mother nature will put the brakes on it with the colder temps. For now I'll just go out and hand pick them whenever the OCD kicks in. 
Thanks guys.


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## FlyMike (Aug 27, 2017)

Today marks 4 weeks since I put seed down and I actually have a lawn now. I do have a few trouble spots though that have me a little worried. Is this some type of fungus coming in?




Maybe to heavy on the seed or it's staying too wet?
There are just a few of those spots so I don't think it will be too big of an issue. 
I also have this weed coming up in spots that I'm not to sure what it is.





Yesterday I reseeded some bare spots. Overall I'd say I have a 10 foot yard. It looks good from 10 feet away. :lol:


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## FlyMike (Aug 27, 2017)

It's been 7 weeks since I seeded, and here's a few pictures from today after taking care of the leaves and mowing. I was gone for 4 days and wasn't able to mulch them in like I have been. It was almost a blanket over the whole lawn when I got home yesterday. I left with a green lawn and came back to a yellow, red, brown lawn with all of the leaves. 




I've been mowing at 3.5" but have notices that there are areas where the grass wants to lay down on itself. Those spots seem to hold on to moisture really well and stay wet for a long time. I'm going to lower my cut height and see if that helps to problem. My concern with it staying wet is that I don't want to promote any type of disease or anything that could damage the grass.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

I would lower the hoc to avoid the lay down grass.


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## FlyMike (Aug 27, 2017)

My plan is to lower it to 3" on Friday, and see how it does after that. If it is still laying down I'll take it down to 2.5" and see if that works.


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

FlyMike said:


> My plan is to lower it to 3" on Friday, and see how it does after that. If it is still laying down I'll take it down to 2.5" and see if that works.


I had similar issues at one point with my high HOC in fine fescue -- I found that "fluffing those sections up" before mowing by either using a leaf-blower or raking helped a lot and also kind of "trained" the grass to grow straight.

I don't suppose that area is in significant shade, is it?


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## FlyMike (Aug 27, 2017)

ken-n-nancy said:


> FlyMike said:
> 
> 
> > My plan is to lower it to 3" on Friday, and see how it does after that. If it is still laying down I'll take it down to 2.5" and see if that works.
> ...


That spot that I took the picture is in the middle of the yard, and gets sun about 50%+ of the day. I had blown the leaves off the lawn before mowing, and that's when I really noticed it not being able to stand up. It just kind of flopped over each direction I would blow it. When I mowed I went real slow over those sections thinking I might be able to suck it up straight. That helped a little bit, but there are still spots that are still not standing tall like the rest of the grass.

My initial though was to mow lower, and I'm glad that's whats being recommended here. I'm also thinking that it is still new-ish grass and might need to mature a little more.


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## JohnP (Oct 24, 2017)

Looks great!!


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## FlyMike (Aug 27, 2017)

JohnP said:


> Looks great!!


Thanks John.

I've enjoyed all the learning I've done up to and during the renovation. I think this has been the easy part for me so far. I suspect the hard part will be keeping it going this summer during the heat.


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