# Pete1313's 2019 Lawn Journal



## Pete1313

New year, new lawn journal. I figure since my lawn is not a renovation anymore, it is time to start a new journal to record some of the things I will be doing this year. To go back to the beginning, here is a link to my renovation journal.
Pete1313 Reel Mowed Bewitched Kentucky Bluegrass Renovation

This years focus will be on fine tuning cultural practices with a strong emphasis on water management. I also plan on doing more foliar fertilization with 40-50% of my nitrogen coming from sprayed urea.


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## Pete1313

It felt good to finally get out in the yard yesterday after a long winter, even if most of the day was spent picking up a winter's worth of dog poop. I also removed the snow stakes by the street and picked up any large sticks/debris. I then put down some gypsum between the street edge and drainage ditch to minimize any road salt damage. I had some salt injury last year and it set that area back alittle to start the season. Growing the grass right up next to the street is already a challenge, so hopefully no setbacks.

I cleaned up the garage alittle, and moved the mowers to their "ready" position in the garage.


Lastly, this was a rough winter here this past year with some record breaking cold temps and prolonged periods of ice and snow. The coldest air temp here was less than -30°F in the end of January.


As a result the lawn lost some of its green winter color this year, but in some interesting patterns. During one particular cold spell I noticed some the grass was exposed to the wind and cold temps and other spots were snow covered. Snow is a good insulator and the spots that were covered have more green. Here are some pics to hopefully show what I mean. See if you can tell where the snow was and wasn't.








Lastly, some of the most heavily trafficked spots by the dogs are obvious in early spring as they lose their color as well. Here is a pic of some color loss by the fence that they would stay along when there was alot of snow.


I'm not too worried about any of the color issues and they should be a distant memory in a month. I can't wait to get out in the yard some more and hopefully the weather cooperates. I plan on getting the cutting units cleaned up and ready to go this week at work, and then do all the rest of the preventative maintenance on all the other equipment next weekend.


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## GrassFarmer

I also see similar color loss where the wind blows all the snow off but for the most part it was covered with snow.


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## Pete1313

It is interesting to see, especially in the fairly straight line next to the drainage ditch. You can look at that picture and tell exactly where the snow line was at one point in January/February.


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## jessehurlburt

I notice dissection too. I snowblow a path around the backyard for my lab and 6 year old to have a path in deep snow. That circle always appears more brown in the spring while the rest greens up first.


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## g-man

Why is the snowblower so close to the garage door? It should be all the way to the back corner until December. Have faith, no more snow this season.


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## Pete1313

@g-man, I have faith! That is why I removed the snow stakes! No other place to put it, so that is where it stays all year.


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## Chris LI

Pete1313 said:


> @g-man, I have faith! That is why I removed the snow stakes! No other place to put it, so that is where it stays all year.


Mine is located at the front of my garage too, for the same reason. However, I have only one bay and an 18" wide path to squeeze through next to my snowblower to get out of the garage. I think my excuse holds water, but not so sure about yours. Lol. Happy Spring! Let's hope it's here to stay.


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## Pete1313

Chris LI said:


> I think my excuse holds water, but not so sure about yours. Lol. Happy Spring! Let's hope it's here to stay.




Pardon the mess, but this is the back wall of the garage. There is not too much room to store stuff back there. Between where the mowers are currently and the cabinets I end up storing the fertilizer and amendments. On the other side of the garage my wife and daughter's cars get parked. Unfortunately now that spring is here, it means my truck gets parked outside for the season and the mowers get the third garage spot. In winter I move the mowers back by the cabinets/work bench so I can squeeze the truck in the garage. Either way, the snow blower finds it's nice cozy spot there all year. Hopefully it stays there until next winter! 

Happy Spring! I agree, let's hope it is here to stay! :thumbsup:


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## Chris LI

Pete1313 said:


> Pardon the mess


Mess! I wish that I had that mess. Your garage is darn near immaculate! Lol. I won't post a pic of mine. :sorry:


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## Colonel K0rn

My lord, I couldn't imagine picking up a month's worth of dog poop. I swear my canines are part goat, and if I go more than a week without cleaning up the back yard, I'd be done by lunch if I start at daybreak!


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## Pete1313

@Colonel K0rn, filled up the 5 gallon bucket twice and then some. It is not a fun chore.


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## Pete1313

First round of equipment maintenance was yesterday, so I brought the cutting units to work to get them tuned up for the season.


I'm going to run solid smooth front rollers to start the season. I picked up a set from RRproducts, but before I could install them I needed to replace a snapped off lock bolt on one of the front roller brackets.


I drilled it out and used an easy out to remove the remaining part of the bolt.




Ran a tap thru the old threads and installed the new bolt.




I then began working on the rear roller section of the cutting unit. I had a broken worm gear on one side of the rear cutting unit. I removed the top cap,


Removed the old damaged gear,




And replaced it with the new one. John Deere redesigned the worm gear by making the worm gear section wider. As a result, the fit is tighter and you will need to pull out the other section of the worm gear with the 16mm head in order to fit this one in.


In the housing for the rear roller adjuster there are metal bushings. They all had play. If you grabbed the roller forward and back, you could feel the movement. They are tough to get out, but after some trial and error was able to remove all 6 and replaced them with new.




One of the rear rollers I replaced last season, but the other 2 were original to the triplex. The bearing in those 2 rollers developed play, so with the help of a bearing puller I picked up from RRproducts,


I put the puller in a vice, and pulled the 4 old bearings.




Here is a picture comparing the old bearing to the new one.


I then pressed the new bearings in, and completed the roller reconditioning with some new zerk fittings.


Here are some pics of the rollers when done. They have some surface rust on them, but the rust will be quickly removed during the first dewy mow.






After cleaning them and greasing all the fittings, I began setting them up for the season. I cleaned up the front face of the bedknife with a homemade "bedknife buddy",


Set the HOC to 7/8" to start the season,


And set the groomer assembly to 21/32"


When done I checked and all reels are easily cutting paper across all blades with minimal contact. I will use them for the first clean up mow or two before giving them a backlap.

The new rollers look so nice, too bad they won't stay looking that way forever. Here are some pics of them all done and then loaded up and ready for a new season. 








Here are the grooved front rollers cleaned up and greased. I will probably switch them over at some point during the season. The reason I want to start with the smooth rollers is I have been battling triplex ring, and a grooved roller is one of a few things that will help contribute to the issue. During tighter turns with a triplex the cutting heads slide sideways against the turf as they can only pivot so much in the yoke if that makes sense. The result with a grooved roller is kind of like dragging a rake across the turf in tight turns. This is more apparent in soil conditions that are soft and when the turf growth is slower limiting recovery. The grooved rollers tend to pick up more debris in soft conditions as well and is a chore to clean after a mow.


I also did some maintenance on the power rotory scissors.


I ended up getting another set of blades, installed them, and will sharpen the old ones so they are ready when it is time to swap them out. I also greased the cutting unit and took out the flex shaft in the tube and lubed it.


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## Chris LI

Nice write up! You answered my my question about the reason for the roller change. Those rotary scissors are cool. I'm not familiar with them. Do they reduce damage to tree trunks, posts, etc., as compared to string trimmers?


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## g-man

@Chris LI They cut the grass instead of hitting it with a string. It does a clean cut. More info here Landscape Blade and John Ware youtube video.


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## Pete1313

@Chris LI, as @g-man said they give a cleaner cut, and lots of good info in the post and video he linked to. Trimming with these when you cut lower becomes more important because a slight slip with a string trimmer and you are scalping into the dirt. My favorite use for them however is during the fall cleanup of landscape beds. I like how it cuts and then just drops the clippings instead of flinging them all over the place.


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## Chris LI

@g-man 
@Pete1313

Gotcha...cleaner cut with less damage and scalping like a reel mower vs. rotary (i.e. "scissors" in the name). I should have picked up on that. I'll check out the links. Thank you.


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## SNOWBOB11

Nice job Pete. The rollers look great. I've been thinking about the rollers on the 220E I got. They are pretty rusty and it's kind of annoying. Not only to look at, but the other day I pushed the mower over the concrete patio stones in my backyard and they left a rust stain where I turned the mower. I've cleaned them a bit, but there still rusty. It got me thinking about removing them and getting them coated. I could send them out to get powder coated, anodized, or ceramic coated like you would do to headers on a car. It would be less expensive than buying new rollers and new ones will probably end up the exact same soon enough. Curious what your thoughts would be on that? I know I'd have to take out the bearings and seals because of the heat from coating them, but is there any other issues you can think of that would come from coating them?


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## Pete1313

@SNOWBOB11, issues that come to mind with coating them would be the possibility of rolling over concrete or mowing in general would wear the coating away. I would wait to do anything to the rollers until you try a morning mow with a heavy dew. Not when the soil is soft, but just dew. You will be surprised how clean the rollers and cutting unit will be after you rinse it off afterwards.


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## g-man

If you want to remove the rust faster, get rag wet with Evapo-Rust. Wrap the roller with the rag and then wrap the rag with Saran wrap (avoid evaporation). Let it be for 24hr.


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## SNOWBOB11

@Pete1313 That's true. I guess the coating could wear off. I will definitely give it some time and just use the mower a few times and see if the rust comes off.

Thanks for the suggestion @g-man. I scrubbed them off a bit and wiped them with wd-40 but they are still rusty. I might try the rust remover if the rust doesn't come off by itself.

Thanks guys.


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## Pete1313

Finished the rest of the equipment maintenance on Saturday. Both the 2500B and X590 got the usual filters, plugs, oil change, and re-greasing.


I had to repair the lift arms and replace the bushings on the 2500B as there was alot of play in the arms. At the end of last season, when raising the cutting heads, they would barely lift off the ground. It was a job that I am glad I have some mechanical ability as the cost for repair on something like this would make one consider against a triplex. Here are the front lift arms on the machine.


The bushings are behind here.


Here are the lift arms off of the machine. You can see where the bushing rides on the lift arm was ground down significantly. As a result the arms had to get repaired.












Quick call to my uncle and within 2 days he had them built up with weld and then taken down to the original thickness






I worked on getting the old bushings out. The back ones came out easy with a air hammer,


But the front ones need to be cut with a reciprocating saw, finished with this chisel bit, and then pried out with a screwdriver






Some pics showing the old vs. New and how the bushings were significantly ground down.




Pressing the new bushings took various combinations of adapters and a ball joint press,




And here are the new ones all pressed in.




Took the opportunity to rattle can some new JD green paint on the lift arms,


A pic of the lift arm machined surfaces all repaired, and cleaned up


Threw some grease on them and the bushing surfaces, added loctite blue to the threads that hold them in the back, reassembled, and then greased them until it came out past the bushings.








What do you think @J_nick? Once all assembled there was no play in the lift arms and they raised all the way up to their normal height.

After all that work you know what I was itching to do.. I threw the baskets on and did my first clean up mow at 7/8".


You can see in this pic some of the brown appearance that the grass had that I mentioned earlier from lack of snow cover disappeared as I brought it down.


The smooth rollers worked great on the yard, the soil was soft and I would have never attempted this cut with the grooved rollers as it would have required constant cleaning out of the grooves. Here is a pic when i was done mowing. You can see the gold coating RRproducts uses doesnt last long.


And a pic of the yard that isn't looking too bad for March.


I tried taking soil samples but was having issues getting good consistant cores, so hopefully I will get those pulled and sent out this week.


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## CenlaLowell

Man that was a job that I know I could not have done. Hats off to you!!


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## HoosierLawnGnome

Good call on the bushings. My guy found some missing entirely so I bought a bunch and will keep them on hand.

I get clumpy dirt on my smooth rollers sometimes, which I think is more detrimental to HOC variances then dirt in the grooves roller grooves.


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## J_nick

Looks good Pete! Those front bushings on the front arms are a bear. Glad I could help ya out. It's crazy how much that little amount of play will effect the travel of the cutting heads.


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## wardconnor

Love this journal. Cant wait to see the stripes


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## Pete1313

CenlaLowell said:


> Man that was a job that I know I could not have done. Hats off to you!!


You can do anything you put your mind to! 



HoosierLawnGnome said:


> I get clumpy dirt on my smooth rollers sometimes, which I think is more detrimental to HOC variances then dirt in the grooves roller grooves.


I hear ya on that, although it is alot easier to clean the smooth rollers then the grooved ones. Look down, stop, swipe and go. JD and RRproducts also make a smooth roller scraper attachment which is basically a cable that is installed across the roller that cleans it as you mow. I might make a version of that if buildup is an issue. The main reason for the smooth ones, at least in the spring and fall, are to be part of a plan to try and minimize triplex ring. With some experience behind one yourself, you know that these things are better suited to cut straight lines instead of tight turns. Some of my cleanup rings around the firepit and front trees are less than 10' in diameter. Turning that tight causes the cutting unit to slide and the grooved roller causes more stress as a result. 
There are a few things that cause the thinning of turf in those areas and am trying a few things this year to minimize the injury. I switched back to smooth tires, and will go with the smooth rollers at least thru spring. The 2500B also has an offset cutting design, where if you mow clockwise one time and counter the next, it will help minimize it. I will try and alternate which way I mow the trim passes each time. Some other tips to minimize the issue during my research are slowing down during the cleanup/trim passes, disengaging the groomers, skipping or offsetting those areas from time to time, and not mowing when wet.



J_nick said:


> Looks good Pete! Those front bushings on the front arms are a bear. Glad I could help ya out. It's crazy how much that little amount of play will effect the travel of the cutting heads.


Knowing that you went thru the same repair yourself, I appreciate you sharing your experience, tips, and prepping me to bring more tools home from work then I thought I needed. Having the right tools made quick work of the repair, and I am glad it is all fixed with the only cost being the new bushings.



wardconnor said:


> Love this journal. Cant wait to see the stripes


Thanks for following! I can't wait to see some awesome stripes either! It is still going to be about a month or so before the lawn starts getting going here, but it felt good to do something lawn related after what was a long winter for me.


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## GrassFarmer

I had to do the same thing on the 3245c they get pretty sloppy.


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## Pete1313

Pulled cores for a soil test last week. Put them in a bucket, mixed them up, bagged, and sent them to Waypoint in Iowa. I know it is probably just my eyes/hands deceiving me, but I think I see/feel improvement in the soil over the past 3 years. 




Received my test report yesterday. Quick turnaround from Waypoint. I mailed them on Wednesday, they received them on Friday, and I had the results on Monday. Here are the results comparing 2018 to 2019.

2018 Soil Test


2019 Soil Test


It's always interesting comparing the results, but also seeing how Waypoint has different recommendations for a bluegrass lawn vs athletic field. P went up, no surprise there as some milorganite was used last year. That is not in the plans for this year. Ca is up due to gypsum, and will use some more this year. Other then that, I will be applying mostly N with probably alittle K but might play with an app of elemental sulfur this spring.


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## drenglish

Looking good Pete! It is nice to see the positive changes in the soil test over last year's. Nice work with the JD - which brand of spray paint did you use for the lift arms and how did you prep them for painting?


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## Pete1313

Thanks @drenglish! I used this product from lowes. https://m.lowes.com/pd/Krylon-Gloss...ay-Paint-Actual-Net-Contents-12-oz/1000459657
I have used it in the past and matches well. Prep work was not too intense, a cleaning/degreasing, then a light scuff with some sand paper and steel wool, clean again, tape off the parts I didn't want paint on, and then spray.


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## drenglish

Krylon. Thanks! I know a color match might be a bit difficult when other painted areas fade, but I'll give it a shot on my JD 220A. Got to fix a leaky transport wheel too.

Did your recent soil sample not include %sand %clay numbers? Really fast turn around time on the soil test - I see most people are getting theirs done st the start of a season - I failed to collect samples this year before adding fertilizer and other soil amendments (N-EXT)....should I wait until Fall coming out of Summer to take samples? I guess I'm concerned about recent additives throwing off a baseline reading because of not being broken down yet by the soil...


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## Pete1313

GrassFarmer said:


> I had to do the same thing on the 3245c they get pretty sloppy.


I apologize, I forgot to reply to your post @GrassFarmer. I enjoy working on this machine. It was a fun repair with instant results. With the wear and tear a machine like mine and yours saw on the golf course, it makes sense that these bushings would wear out regardless of the greasing routine. I'm glad they are fixed, and the repair should last a while.


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## Pete1313

drenglish said:


> Krylon. Thanks! I know a color match might be a bit difficult when other painted areas fade, but I'll give it a shot on my JD 220A. Got to fix a leaky transport wheel too.
> 
> Did your recent soil sample not include %sand %clay numbers? Really fast turn around time on the soil test - I see most people are getting theirs done st the start of a season - I failed to collect samples this year before adding fertilizer and other soil amendments (N-EXT)....should I wait until Fall coming out of Summer to take samples? I guess I'm concerned about recent additives throwing off a baseline reading because of not being broken down yet by the soil...


@drenglish, give it a try, hopefully the match will be close enough with the faded areas.

My recent test did not include sand, silt, clay numbers as I tested for them the year before and numbers should not change. The physical test is an additional $25 from Waypoint. I test my soil first thing in spring before adding anything so that what might have been applied the previous year has had the most time to work into the soil. Regarding when you should test maybe that question would be better addressed by @Ridgerunner, @g-man, or others that might have a better answer based on what you have added already but some wait time would be most likely needed.


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## Ridgerunner

Best to wait a month or more before sampling after a recent application. It would depend on what was applied and the form (e.g. slow release etc). That's the reason most testing is done after long periods of non application and prior to another application. Either Spring for all grasses or late Summer if a cool season grass where nothing was applied from late May/early June, but before any fertilizer is applied to bring the turf out of Summer slow down.


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## Pete1313

Thanks for the response @Ridgerunner! :thumbup:


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## drenglish

@Ridgerunner @Pete1313 You guys are always very helpful. Thank you for the sound advice. Pete, I saw the golf course superintendent mowing with a Toro triplex this morning near my backyard and was thinking about how nice it must be to mow lots of low cut turf like that (and what you maintain). I think I read through your journal probably 2-3 times last year and was sold on giving Bewitched and attempting to give it a fighting chance here in the transition zone. I've got plans for "bluemuda" down the road if I can keep this wonderful grass alive.


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## Pete1313

@drenglish the triplex is a fun machine to mow with. Bluegrass where you live will be a challenge and am glad I live and grow KBG further north. Your bluegrass driveway lawn looks really good, and I will continue to follow to see how it holds up during the summer. If not, bluemuda seems like an option, and one that I am interested in following as well.


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## Pete1313

Always a good day when you get to play in the yard. Started off tilling up about 1.5yds worth of soil from my back pile to fill some problem areas that eroded away by the street throughout the winter. Mixed in some composted manure at about a 2:1 soil:compost ratio.


Here is one of the worst areas by the street that I filled, compacted, smoothed with a level rake, and then rolled. The spots needed to be filled and smoothed, otherwise the cutting units take a beating when they transition to the asphalt.


The street area is always going to be a struggle for me. The road erodes, its rocky, its first to show drought and heat stress, and takes a beating with salt and snow plows thru the winter. At least the salt damage was minimal this year thanks to some gypsum. All you can do is fill the low spots, watch the KBG fill the spots in this spring and hope the summer is not too brutal on it.

After that, I gave it another cut. Dropped the HOC down to 3/4" to get it to the height I want to maintain it at this year before the growth starts to take off. But lets be honest, that is still about a month away up here.






It has been a good early spring here so far. Soil temps are creeping into the upper 40's low 50's at 4",


The air temps have been fairly typical for this time of year,


And it has not been too wet as of late.


That last spreadsheet is my ET watering log, and is something I really like to track and monitor throughout the year. I think more problems happen when you over water compared to under. I also think it's important to keep it as dry as possible thru spring and have some degree of controlled stress if possible before the tougher summer weather sets in. Forcing the roots to grow deeper to chase after moisture.

What the spreadsheet is telling me is I'm just over a .75" deficit on some of the zones. It's not truly a .75" deficit as my log goes to 0 when the ground is saturated and field capacity happens at some point a day or two later. Regardless, the zones turn red at .75". This year the red isn't going to tell me to water, but to start scouting and looking for signs of drought stress. I will wait to water until I see those signs and then start recording that deficit number. Once summer and the tougher weather arrives, I will have that number and plan to irrigate at some point before the graph hits that number to avoid further stressing the plants during that more challenging weather. I geek out on some of this stuff with the spreadsheets, especially watering, but I find it interesting tracking some of the data.

Light all day rain is forecasted for tomorrow, otherwise I would probably drop the pre-m on the lawn. If it is too wet I dont want to drive all over it, so right now it looks like my next opportunity to spray it will be Tuesday after work.


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## Pete1313

The rain stayed away until the afternoon, so I took advantage and sprayed some prodiamine in the AM. Received about a tenth of an inch of rain afterwards, just enough to move it off the leaves. Sun came out later and took advantage and played some sports. 


It is looking good for early April. It is easily out competing every other lawn around.


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## Rucraz2

Pete1313 said:


> It is looking good for early April. It is easily out competing every other lawn around.


Geez, you think Pete?? I really don't think there's much to probably compare to.


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## mribbens

Your lawn looks amazing again, it probably looks better than every golf course within 50 miles as well


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## Pete1313

@Rucraz2, @mribbens thanks.



Rucraz2 said:


> Pete1313 said:
> 
> 
> 
> It is looking good for early April. It is easily out competing every other lawn around.
> 
> 
> 
> Geez, you think Pete?? I really don't think there's much to probably compare to.
Click to expand...

Haha, yeah.. I guess what I meant though is that it is green when some of the other lawns are still partially dormant and i am starting to see alittle bit of growth that I'm not seeing on the other lawns. Which is impressive to me since kbg is typically slower to wake up compared to other species.


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## ksturfguy

Awesome work Pete!


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## Pete1313

Picked up my supplies for the year on Saturday. Got a pallet(2000 lbs) of SuperCal SO4 gypsum.


I have been using gypsum for the past few years to try and get the Ca:Mg ratio better as a low number makes the soil tighter and have a compacted feel. Some may think it is not necessary, but I think I'm feeling a difference after a few years.

When I first moved in these were my Ca and Mg numbers(although at a 3.5"-4" sampling depth)

Converting from lb/acre to ppm I had in 2016:
Ca : 1418ppm
Mg : 614ppm
Ca:Mg ratio : 1.39:1

My latest test in 2019(0"-4" sampling depth which I have done the past 2 years) is

Ca : 2034ppm
Mg : 524ppm
Ca:Mg ratio : 2.33:1

As of the 2019 test I used 96 lbs/M of gypsum. Small improvements, but the numbers are going in the right direction. I will continue using it for at least the next few years. Last year I used Anderson's gypsum, but didn't like all the dust it created during application. The SuperCal SO4 product cost about $80 more a ton, but spreads alot easier and is more soluble. Here is a pic of the SuperCal SO4 product. 


So right off the truck, I had my 10 year old help me by following around the yard in the tractor as I spread 850 lbs of gypsum(~21 lbs/M). 


I will save the rest for an application in late summer/early fall and set some aside for an app by the street to minimize road salt damage next year.

Some of the rest of the supplies I picked up were,
400 lbs of ammonium sulfate
100 lbs of potassium sulfate
100 lbs of elemental sulfur
100 lbs of urea
10 gal of ferromec AC




Finalizing what I wanted to use for granular nitrogen was a tough choice for me for this year. I posted in the off season about using MESA or XRT as a slow release, but decided based on my soil test numbers to go back to ammonium sulfate(AS) 21-0-0 which I used at my previous home in 2014-16 with good results. I plan on blending some of the AS with the potassium sulfate(SOP) 0-0-50 at a 60/40 ratio to use this spring. After blending it will be a 12.6-0-20 fertilizer that I will target to put down .75 lbs/M of N with 4 apps thru May and June. The rest of the AS(250 lbs) I will save to use thru fall.

The elemental sulfur will be put down sometime early May at 2.5 lbs/M and with the combination of it and the AS should help get the PH alittle below 7.

The urea will be dissolved and mixed with the ferromec and trinexapac-ethyl and sprayed throughout the year as I try and target 40-50% of my N to be foliar.

Here is a link to ferromec AC label.
https://www.pbigordonturf.com/products.php?PRODUCT_CODE=9701126
I like using this product. It is liquid, has iron, nitrogen, some sulfur, and helps lower the PH of the spray tank. For comparison, 1 gallon has over 2x the iron(although not chelated)of a popular 3 lb product FeAture and about 9x the nitrogen. A gallon is about $6 cheaper then a 3 lb bag of feature as well.

After picking up my supplies and spreading some gypsum, I spent the rest of the day working on the mulch beds. I decided not to get more mulch this year as some of the beds are getting a good base. Instead i turned the 8000 sq ft of mulch beds with an echo PAS cultivator attachment and it worked really well. I then redefined the mulch beds in the front before dark.

On Sunday I woke up early before the forecasted snow and sprayed a mix of prodiamine at .55 oz/M and isoxaben at .4 oz/M to the mulch beds as a pre-M.


Here are a couple pics of the front beds and as I just finished spraying the snowflakes started to fly. Ended up with about 3" of snow on sunday when it was all done.


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## DiggingHoles

I love reading about all you are doing in this huge yard. Amazing results thus far. It is pushing me to up my game! I have to imagine your neighbors have quit trying to keep up.


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## iowa jim

Pete1313: with a ph over 7 won't you need a chelated iron to be effective?


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## Pete1313

DiggingHoles said:


> I love reading about all you are doing in this huge yard. Amazing results thus far. It is pushing me to up my game! I have to imagine your neighbors have quit trying to keep up.


@DiggingHoles, thanks for following! In my journal this year I'm not trying to just show the pretty lawn pictures but also try and get more into detail of what I do and why.

The neighbors do their thing. Some are into lawncare and some just mow. All the lots in the area are 1+ acres and can be a time commitment to maintain. Most keep the yards presentable, and a few I admire as they look pretty good for a NoMix with no irrigation.



iowa jim said:


> Pete1313: with a ph over 7 won't you need a chelated iron to be effective?


@iowa jim, this is correct if you are applying to the soil. In my case the spray is targeting just the foliage for foliar uptake. Bypassing any limitation of having a soil PH of 7.1.

https://turf.unl.edu/turfinfo/6-7-Iron-Chelates.pdf This is a read from Bill Kreuser of UNL on foliar iron sources.



> Only foliar iron fertilizer applications reduced deficiency symptoms. Don't water in Fe.





> The chelated products did not outperform the cheaper iron sulfate (aka ferrous sulfate).


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## HoosierLawnGnome

I basically add FAS to everything now on my high pH acre+. Milorganite is too much to spread and too expensive per app for me.

PGR + FAS this year on the regular.


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## Pete1313

HoosierLawnGnome said:


> I basically add FAS to everything now on my high pH acre+. Milorganite is too much to spread and too expensive per app for me.
> 
> PGR + FAS this year on the regular.


Agreed! I have used Milo in the past but on a large property cost/benefit comes into play. I have had a hard time sourcing reasonably priced ferrous sulfate heptahydrate locally the past couple years and is why I have switched over to ferromec AC. It is still cost effective, and I enjoy the reduced measuring.

Trinexapac-ethyl + iron is a great combo to get nice color!


----------



## HoosierLawnGnome

I get my ferrous sulfate from the only place in Indy that I know carries it on the shelf. Happens to be a few miles away and owned by my neighbor too!

I put a pint of triclopyr, a pint of primo, and then FAS in 25 gallons with som surfactant and go over my area twice with that mix. Great results. Clover almost gone. 16 oz is giving me good control on a bit over an acre of turf at about 1.5 inches HOC.


----------



## Pete1313

@HoosierLawnGnome, good to hear about the triclopyr mix having good results! I will give that one a try next time I need to use some triclopyr. IIRC, you had a negative experience mixing in a 3-way in the past? I will most likely be at 8-10 oz of primo, only 38k sq ft, and at .75" HOC. This rate(.2-.25 oz/M) works good for me on short cut bewitched.


----------



## iowa jim

Pete1313: I noticed in your soil samples that your iron is high and I'm in the same boat as you. So if you go with a foliar app of iron will the grass respond, even though its getting plenty of iron from the soil? I was thinking of trying a app of feature. Thanks for your response.


----------



## Pete1313

@iowa jim, no problem! The grass will respond to an app of feature. The iron levels are high, but with a PH over 7 much of it is not available. Even still, foliar iron still works different. It forces the grass to to take in iron at a higher rate then it normally would to give it an even darker color.


----------



## mribbens

I love Ferromec AC, looking forward to putting that down sometime in May for that pop of dark green


----------



## GrassFarmer

How much nitrogen per app do you plan on spraying foliar to get to 50% of your total nitrogen?


----------



## Pete1313

mribbens said:


> I love Ferromec AC, looking forward to putting that down sometime in May for that pop of dark green


 :thumbsup: what rates are you going with this year?



GrassFarmer said:


> How much nitrogen per app do you plan on spraying foliar to get to 50% of your total nitrogen?


I dont think I will get quite to 50%, but somewhere between .1-.2 lb/M of Nitrogen per app. It will mainly go down when I spray primo, so around 10-12 sprays throughout the year on around a 2 week interval. If the grass looks like it could use alittle N, I will go with a higher rate. If it is growing too much, I'll put less in the tank.


----------



## HoosierLawnGnome

Pete1313 said:


> @HoosierLawnGnome, good to hear about the triclopyr mix having good results! I will give that one a try next time I need to use some triclopyr. IIRC, you had a negative experience mixing in a 3-way in the past? I will most likely be at 8-10 oz of primo, only 38k sq ft, and at .75" HOC. This rate(.2-.25 oz/M) works good for me on short cut bewitched.


I had some muddy discoloration in the past using a slightly different mixture that was a podium and proxy mix. This year I didnt apply primo and proxy together. Was that it? Hard to tell. I am cutting it much shorter now too than i was at that time. 🤷‍♂️


----------



## mribbens

Pete1313 said:


> mribbens said:
> 
> 
> 
> I love Ferromec AC, looking forward to putting that down sometime in May for that pop of dark green
> 
> 
> 
> :thumbsup: what rates are you going with this year?
Click to expand...

Well, since I went a little heavy handed in the fall with the full rate, 8oz/1000, I will put down 4 oz/1000 here in the spring, late spring. The grass looks very good, color, right now, so 1/2 rate will be just fine. Even though it states fast green-up without the top growth, I would be worried about keeping up with the cutting during the spring flush.


----------



## Pete1313

@mribbens, I remember in a different thread talking about the higher rate you used last fall. I think 4oz/M is a good rate for the product. I use 1 gallon on my 38k per app which comes to around 3.4oz/M


----------



## mribbens

Pete1313 said:


> @mribbens, I remember in a different thread talking about the higher rate you used last fall. I think 4oz/M is a good rate for the product. I use 1 gallon on my 38k per app which comes to around 3.4oz/M


Yes you are correct, I went full rate and I went over a few areas 2X, which resulted in some black stains to the lawn. However, coming out of the spring, the color was back to a dark green and I was, and still am, light years ahead of my neighborhood in regards to color and density. My front and side lawn is 2500 sq ft, so I will put 8-9 oz in my sprayer and put down. How has your growth been using this? Do you see an uptick in growth, or are you using a PGR to offset this? I want to try and use a PGR, trying to find someone on this board to split with. With working 60 hrs a week I have trouble mowing every 3 days in the spring, and would love to cut back on that.


----------



## Pete1313

A PGR will cut down on the growth, but I dont think I see much additional growth when just using the ferromec. At a 4oz/M rate, the ferromec is putting down only .05 lbs/M of nitrogen.


----------



## Jayray

Are you or have you considered doing a PRG overseed this year?


----------



## Pete1313

@Jayray, have I, yes. Am I planning this year, no. I really like the look of PRG, its ability to leave a good stripe, and be mown close, but dont think it is a good fit for me, the size of my yard, and the climate. It is a big yard and committing to an overseed would be costly. I enjoy having a single cultivar of bluegrass. The green up and growth is very even, and now that it is established the maintenance part is easy.


----------



## g-man

Dont do it Pete. The prg grows faster and forces mowing more often.


----------



## Pete1313

g-man said:


> Dont do it Pete. The prg grows faster and forces mowing more often.


Yeah, and even maintenance tasks such as spraying primo change. PRG takes a higher rate to regulate. So do you go with a higher rate to keep it in check and over regulate the KBG? Or a less rate and have the PRG not be as regulated. Either way, with or without primo adding PRG equals a less uniform stand that will require more mowing to keep it even.


----------



## Pete1313

The lawn is definitely growing. I did my first two true full mows this week(4/16 and 4/20), by that I mean the whole lawn had growth and needed a trim. On Sunday morning I sprayed a mixture of primo(.25oz/M), ferromec(3.37oz/M), and urea(.06lb/M of N). Total N in the tank was .10 lb/M. The N and Fe are intended to be a foliar app and were in a low carrier rate of around .9 gal/M. I wont water this app in.

Granular urea is really cheap and mixes well, but I would recommend getting some type of screen to filter out any impurities.

Here is the urea


And here are some impurities caught by a 50 mesh screen and some left in the bucket. Not too much, but I dont want them making their way into the tank.




Last week I de-winterized the irrigation to check and make sure all was well. Only one sprinkler blew off a riser which was a quick fix.

Here is a pic of my irrigation meter showing I used 3040 cubic meters(over 800,000 gallons) since installed in 2017. That is a sickening number to me, and one thing I will be working on reducing this year


It is getting dry in NW illinois. No precip this past week and ET rates have been high some days


I'm keeping an eye out for any signs the lawn needs water. The usual first spots by the street are still looking good,


And taking a few samples thru the yard there is still some moisture. 


I will wait until it absolutely needs water, but if no rain comes thru tonight(as forecasted) I will have to turn on the irrigation at some point this week.

Last are a couple fun pics. One is family enjoying the turf on easter.


And the other is a pic of some stripes on Sunday. HOC is still .75". Since the ground is dry, you can see some spots in the background that I need to work on to get them filled in.


----------



## HoosierLawnGnome

Looking sweet, @Pete1313


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## fusebox7

Looks so awesome Pete. This week is green-up time for Michigan... high 70s today - it's here!!!


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## Pete1313

@HoosierLawnGnome thanks!

@fusebox7 Thanks! It's here! Happy lawn care season!


----------



## ericgautier

Awesome stuff!


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## SNOWBOB11

Looking great as usual pete. How are you liking the smooth rollers compared to the grooved ones now that you've got to mow a few times?


----------



## Pete1313

Thanks @ericgautier!



SNOWBOB11 said:


> Looking great as usual pete. How are you liking the smooth rollers compared to the grooved ones now that you've got to mow a few times?


Thanks @SNOWBOB11! I'm liking them. I think, combined with the smooth tires, they are limiting damage in the turns. The cut is still really consistant and even. Cutting on Saturday, when things were dry, I might have considered switching over to the grooved ones but the time involved in changing them over might make me just stick with the smooth ones. I'll watch the turf and if I see any negative differences with cut appearance or thatch/puffiness I might switch over to the grooved, but if all is well I might just stick with the smooth ones all season long. I think the combo of smooth front and rear rollers is making the stripes pop more on the KBG as well.


----------



## mribbens

The yard looks great and family enjoying the lawn barefoot, that is where it is at!! I am thinking about a half rate of Ferromec, 4 oz/1000 late this week. My only hesitation is doing this during the spring flush, what are your tips when putting that down? I do not have any PGR, and I have mowed on Friday 4/19 and Monday, 4/22 already, more of a charity mow on Monday in some spots but other full sun spots needed it.


----------



## Pete1313

Thanks @mribbens! What good is a lawn if you can't enjoy it! The whole family loves the yard, and bewitched holds up well to the traffic.

I would not worry about the spring flush when deciding to put down the ferromec. At 4oz/M of ferromec, you will only put down .05 lb/M of N.


----------



## mribbens

Pete1313 said:


> Thanks @mribbens! What good is a lawn if you can't enjoy it! The whole family loves the yard, and bewitched holds up well to the traffic.
> 
> I would not worry about the spring flush when deciding to put down the ferromec. At 4oz/M of ferromec, you will only put down .05 lb/M of N.


Great, I will put that down within the week, working on getting 8-10 oz of PGR, T-Nex, with a KBG/PRG mix the rate for a 4 week supression is .75 oz/1000, does that sound correct?


----------



## Pete1313

mribbens said:


> Great, I will put that down within the week, working on getting 8-10 oz of PGR, T-Nex, with a KBG/PRG mix the rate for a 4 week supression is .75 oz/1000, does that sound correct?


I personally would start lower and go more often. With your grass type and HOC, I would start out at .4 oz/M. See how it goes and adjust up or down from there for the next app. In regards to spray frequency, I think the best way is to repeat based on GDD(growing degree days). It is work done by Bill Kreuser of UNL. You can search the pgr threads for more info, but if GDD based reapplication doesnt seem like it would be a good fit for you, I have had good success spraying every 3 weeks in the past.


----------



## pennstater2005

Looking ridiculous as always @Pete1313 :thumbsup:


----------



## mribbens

Pete1313 said:


> mribbens said:
> 
> 
> 
> Great, I will put that down within the week, working on getting 8-10 oz of PGR, T-Nex, with a KBG/PRG mix the rate for a 4 week supression is .75 oz/1000, does that sound correct?
> 
> 
> 
> I personally would start lower and go more often. With your grass type and HOC, I would start out at .4 oz/M. See how it goes and adjust up or down from there for the next app. In regards to spray frequency, I think the best way is to repeat based on GDD(growing degree days). It is work done by Bill Kreuser of UNL. You can search the pgr threads for more info, but if GDD based reapplication doesnt seem like it would be a good fit for you, I have had good success spraying every 3 weeks in the past.
Click to expand...

Got it, thanks! 4oz/M for the Ferromec and PGR, easy for me!


----------



## Pete1313

@mribbens, no problem! :thumbsup:

Thanks @pennstater2005!


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## Pete1313

What a change weather wise from my last update on 4/22. Things are no longer getting dry in NW IL, but instead are now very saturated. I was on vacation from 4/23-4/28 and since I could not see the lawn, nor guarantee the upcoming rain, I ran the 5 sunny irrigation zones on 4/23 and 4/24 to put down .7" of water each. I am glad I got my first primo app down on 4/21 because on 4/27 we received about 4" of snow(glad I was gone for that) which melted by the next day and on 4/29 and 4/30 there were washouts as well. The end result is I had to go 11 days between mows and mowed yesterday on 5/1.

Here is a screenshot of my irrigation log, you can see the deficits were creeping up and why I decided to run the irrigation. Then you can see all the precipitation that followed and that it is all reset to 0 and saturated right now.


The 5/1 mow was a delicate one, and am happy to say the smooth rollers and tires handled the conditions well with minimal damage. Due to not being able to mow for 11 days, I had to raise the HOC to 1.125". Here are a couple pics from after the mow.




The lawn has good color compared to the other lawns in the neighborhood. The neighbors lawn in those pics is around a 2.5"-3" HOC. I'm not going to lie, it is mows like this that make me contemplate keeping the HOC slightly higher throughout the season. I enjoy the feel and playability of the .75" HOC, but there is no denying the beauty of the reel mowed 1.125" HOC as well. It is a HOC more similar to what you would see on a bluegrass baseball field like at Wrigley Field. Reel mowers such as the 2500B and also a 220E really shine at this HOC due to their ability to slow down the reel speed and decrease the FOC to give a really clean cut.

It looks like dry weather for Friday-Sunday, and am looking forward to getting out this weekend after things dry up a bit and getting another mow in. Right now I'm not sure if I will start working it back down, or leave it at this height for a while.


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## social port

Still looks great, Pete. Love that color.


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## Scagfreedom48z+

That's crazy. Looks like a carpet!


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## ronjon84790

Looking great! @Pete1313

I think you should keep it at 1.125" It just really makes the KBG pop at that height. I chopped mine at 5/8 and it looked horrible. The bluegrass/rye mix in the front looked fine at 5/8. I'm going to up mine to at least an inch. I think it's actually a little softer on the feet at and 1"+.


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## SNOWBOB11

Those are some laser stripes there pete. That HOC looks amazing. The difference between your lawn and your neighbours is let's just say quite noticeable.


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## Pete1313

@social port, @Scagfreedom48z+, @ronjon84790, @SNOWBOB11, thanks for the replies!

It does look good at this height, but I also enjoy the shorter feel. Maybe I need to renovate a portion in the back to creeping bent, pick up another mower, and have the best of both. 

It looks like it will stay up at this HOC for a bit, as after Sunday lots more rain is forecasted for next week. Seems like mowing opportunities will be limited.


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## iowa jim

Lawn looks great, i was wondering if you have gotten all your damaged repaired from when you mowed around the beds with that heavy mower? The bed in the pic looks good. Was it the weight of the mower, tires, or to young of grass?


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## Pete1313

@iowa jim, I have not gotten them all repaired yet. I might do some work to them this weekend. I think the damage was initially caused during establishment and thru last year slowly got better, but then started getting worse last fall. I believe the setup I had last year on the mower contributed to the fall decline. I think they got worse in fall due to slower growth/recovery as well as wetter soil conditions. This year I switched back to the smooth tires as well as smooth front rollers to try and help those areas improve.

Here are some pics I took on 4/21 of a couple of the trees/mulch beds that have some damage.




So what I find interesting as well is that all the front tree rings have some sort of damage in the same spot. Looking at the tree shadow the worst damage is on the east side of the tree. Maybe the soil stays softer? Maybe there is slower recovery on that side? Curious what others make of that as well. I will be monitoring throughout the year to see how the tire/roller combo helps the issue. As far as repair, I am thinking of hand coring, adding alittle compost, and transplanting some plugs. If anyone has any other suggestions for those areas, I would welcome the advice.


----------



## Pete1313

Backlapped the cutting units on 5/4. Re-greased all fittings on the cutting units and the mower. After 2 years since reconditioning the reels, they still are really sharp. Kept them set at 1.125" HOC.

Sunday 5/5 did a full edge, trim, mow, and blow to the yard. Dropped some elemental sulfur at a rate of 2.5 lbs/M. Finished up hand aerating a few spots, transplanting plugs, and topdressing the trouble spots with compost.

Took a money shot as the stripes were really popping on Sunday.


But it's not all about the good, here are some of the uglies that I aerated, moved some plugs, and topdressed.








In the last pic you can see some of the tools used. A pro plugger, a leveling rake, and a homemade aerator(modified shovel with two 3/4" tines mounted to it). I noticed that the soil in the troubled spots near the trees was harder then the rest of the yard. Compaction from the weight of the mower might be contributing to some of those trouble spots. I might plan on running the aerator around the trees more often in the future.

The 2 pics I showed to @iowa jim in the previous post I did not do any plugging or aerating to. I want to keep taking pics of those 2 spots thru the year and see how they recover and see if the new mower setup makes a difference. Here are those 2 spots on 4/21 and how they were on 5/5

4/21

5/5


4/21

5/5


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## zeus201

Always impressed with your work!


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## rob13psu

Looks awesome!


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## Pete1313

@zeus201, @rob13psu, thanks!


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## iowa jim

I have been using my pro plugger this spring also and it works well. Have you tried going real slow when you mow around a bed or tree? If the damage is on the sloped side it good be from the weight shifting, just a thought.


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## Pete1313

@iowa jim, I enjoy my pro plunger as well! It can be hard to tell from the pics at times, but you are correct my whole yard has a good slope. The highest point of the yard is about 30ft taller then the lowest spot. I have been actively trying to go slower around the passes now and sure it will help. I have to remind myself at times though, especially during a weekday mow after work when you are trying to get the job done quicker. I mentioned some of the other things that contribute to the issue a few pages back that will help minimize the issue as well that I'm working on. Besides the smooth tires and rollers, I alternate the direction of the cleanup pass each mow, try not to mow those areas when wet, and, if I remember, try and turn off the groomers before the cleanup passes.


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## DiabeticKripple

3000m3's of water over the summer?

I get rid of that in 4 hours at work, and this water ain't coming back! Haha


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## HoosierLawnGnome

I hate those wheel rings. I try my darndest to move the reels but they still show. Those spots get a lot more traffic. I'm thinking about doing double perimeters and rings to lessen traffic.


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## Pete1313

@DiabeticKripple, it was over the last 2 seasons with 2017 being the renovation year. Still alot of water, and something I'm looking to reduce as much as possible this year.

@HoosierLawnGnome, you know my pain. They can be an eyesore! I'm hoping some of the things I'm doing this year will help minimize them. As you know, they do get better during times of more active growth as well as when conditions are not as wet, but in early spring and late fall a triplex is not kind to the turf in the tight turn areas.


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## Togo

@Pete1313 your lawn looks amazing and the new HOC really sets it off. If I can ever get to the level you're at I'd stick with the 1.125" HOC. Looks fantastic!!!


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## Pete1313

@Togo, thanks for the kind words! I'm enjoying this HOC right now, but will I change it down the road? I dont know yet.


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## Togo

@Pete1313 well I suppose that's half the fun of it. If you grow tired of it you can always just change it up a little.


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## Guest

oh man that is just awesome.

I am excited to see how the plugging dead spots work. I love the look of KBG as well as the rhizominous growth habit. I suspect in a really healthy lawn like you have it will fill with the pro plugger, no problem.

Do you bag primarily? I notice no thatch, amazing clean ground surface. I am guessing either very frequent mowing or some bag mowing, perhaps both


----------



## Pete1313

Togo said:


> Pete1313 well I suppose that's half the fun of it. If you grow tired of it you can always just change it up a little.


Yep!



macdawg said:


> oh man that is just awesome.
> 
> I am excited to see how the plugging dead spots work. I love the look of KBG as well as the rhizominous growth habit. I suspect in a really healthy lawn like you have it will fill with the pro plugger, no problem.
> 
> Do you bag primarily? I notice no thatch, amazing clean ground surface. I am guessing either very frequent mowing or some bag mowing, perhaps both


Thanks! I'll update the pics of the plugs later this year. Its not an instant fix and takes some time, but does work.

I do not bag and clippings do not contribute to thatch. I will put the baskets on for the first mow of the year, but otherwise return all that goodness to the soil. The soil biology does a good job making any clippings disappear. As far as mowing, I mow when the lawn needs it. During the spring flush that would be 2x a week with the use of trinexapac-ethyl, and when growth slows down I can stretch it to almost 1x a week.


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## Guest

Thanks for the response.

You are nailing it!


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## JDgreen18

Wow good results with moving plugs, I have to start doing this in a few spots from my kbg reno last fall. 
As always your lawn is amazing. Nice job Pete


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## Pete1313

@macdawg, @JDgreen18, thanks! I hope to show progress photos of those areas this fall filled in.


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## Chris LI

Wow, that looks fantastic! Thanks for your helpful replies in other thread, with regards to the 220E. I enjoy watching your reno progress and it gets me thinking that a 220E might be in my future, some time down the road. I have a ways to go, but this thread is inspiration to step up my game.


----------



## Pete1313

@Chris LI, thanks! And no problem! Think of my 2500B as three 220Es all getting pulled by one machine. It is the exact same cutting head(just a different mounting yoke). The advantage to the 220E(and any walk behind in general) is it is alot kinder to the turf when compared to a triplex, especially in the turns. The triplex cuts faster obviously, but trying to fine tune the setup to fit my yard has been a learning experience.


----------



## Pete1313

The KBG seed heads are starting to show up. Here is a pic I took yesterday. You can see them sitting just below the HOC.


The result is a slightly off color look to the lawn after a mow, here are a couple pics after mowing on 5/14.




I've gotten a few mows in since I last updated, and currently have the HOC slightly shorter at 1.0". On 5/15 I was due for another primo app and upped the rate alittle due to the HOC being alittle higher then the last time I applied. In the tank was 12 oz of T-Nex (.316 oz/M), 1 gal of Ferromec (3.37 oz/M), and 9 lbs of urea (.237 lb/M). Total N applied was .15 lbs/M.


Weather has been good so far this spring in NW IL. It's been wet, then it dries out. The rains have been alittle heavy but timely IMO. Soil temps are just starting to go into the 60's and with warmer weather forecasted, should stay up there.


----------



## Pete1313

Another mow yesterday (5/18). The KBG is really going to seed. It makes me want to look into a primo/proxy combo for next season to suppress them. Here is an up close pic that hopefully shows all the seedheads.


Here is a pic from an upstairs window that shows the overall condition of the lawn. 1.0" HOC, and is looking good overall. You can see a couple of the triplex ring marks around the trees that I showed being plugged in a previous post. I seem to be minimizing damage in those areas this year, and appear to be recovering some.


On 5/15 when I did my primo/ferromec/urea spray, I took out my PH meter and played around with it a bit.

Here is a pic showing the PH of my water used for the spray tank. 7.67 PH, which will also be the PH of my irrigation water.


Here is a pic of the water in a 5 gallon bucket(pre-mix bucket) with 4.5 lbs of urea dissolved in it. 7.61 PH, so mixing in urea does not change the tank PH.


Here is that same pre-mix bucket with the 4.5 lbs of urea and now 6 oz of T-Nex mixed in. The PH dropped to 6.02. T-Nex drops the PH of the spray tank, how much is not clear to me yet though as I also mix ferromec in the tank.


Here is a pic showing the PH of straight Ferromec AC. 2.05 PH and is so acidic do to ferromec still having some sulfuric acid in it I believe.


Here is an old MSDS of Ferromec AC, the old MSDS shows it having sulfuric acid, but the new MSDS does not show it. However, both MSDS show the same PH of 2.1-2.5 so I would assume it is still in there(trade secret?).


Here is the new MSDS, same percentage of urea and ferrous sulfate in it. See that it doesn't say it having sulfuric acid in it, but has an asterisk below mentioning trade secret.


Anyway, I fill my spray tank half full, add the ferromec, begin agitation, mix the contents of my pre-mix bucket, and top off the remaining of the tank with water. The end result is a 2.67 PH spray.


I conclude that the ferromec(with alittle help from the T-Nex) really keeps the tank PH down. 2.67 PH seems alittle too acidic, but the results are good. Maybe the low PH is what helps keep the iron in the solution from binding with anything else or becoming unavailable. I welcome any thoughts on spray tank PH, as I am just learning and experimenting with the subject but is interesting to me as some sprays will be less effective at a certain tank PH.


----------



## NoslracNevok

How do you like that yellow digital pH meter? I threw away my old digital pH meter due to inconsistency.

Playing with pH strips recently, I found interesting warm water had .25 lower pH. I wonder if the pH stays the same after cooling off. Never would I thought the pH as it relates to lawncare, is so important. Great post.


----------



## Pete1313

@NoslracNevok I do like it. Got it on amazon, PH Meter. It seems fairly accurate, priced right, and like how it comes with the buffer packets to calibrate it.

I did follow some of your posts between you and @g-man a few days ago on discord. Suggesting to do the AMS first in the mix. Another thing I can suggest, along with that recommendation, is if you plan on adding trinexapac-ethyl to the tank down the road, is to add it before the iron as well based on the PH drop I saw with it.


----------



## g-man

I've been mixing Ammonium sulfate with water prior to any mixture to drop my water pH.

Background info: 
This article from MSU around AMS and round up.
A UNL  article


----------



## Pete1313

Good articles @g-man. :thumbsup: The 8.5lbs-17.0lbs of AMS/100gal of water is the recommendation to prevent hard water antagonism. That would be 1.36-2.72 oz/gal. The AMS will also reduce the PH to increase the effectiveness of some sprays. These charts by A.J. Patton from Purdue are also helpful.









Here is a webinar from turfnet where A.J. Patton discussed alot about what we are talking about and is a great listen/watch.
https://www.turfnet.com/webinar_archives.html/adjuvants-a-helpful-addition-to-the-spray-tank-r163/

Glyphosate is not the only herbicide that is subject to hard water antagonism. 2,4-D, 3-ways, quinclorac, and even mesotrione are subject to hard water antagonism. As far as iron, I believe the ideal PH for non-chelated ferrous sulfate is below 6 and chelated sources of iron being effective at a higher PH range.

Chelated sources of iron and when they start loosing their effectiveness in the tank.


Another good webinar about iron from Doug Soldat of Wisconsin
https://www.turfnet.com/webinar_arc...-most-interesting-nutrient-in-the-world-r182/


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## Pete1313

Not too much of an update, but I dropped some granular ammonium sulfate and potassium sulfate yesterday. I like to blend them together since they are the same prill size(220 SGN). It saves me a trip around the yard when applying.


Ended up going with a 50/50 mix, so the analysis would be 10.5-0-25 and applied 100 lbs. Totals for the app were around .25 lbs/M of N and around .6 lbs/M of K2O. That was my first K2O app of the year and so far combined with the foliar urea, the N applied is up to just over .5 lbs/M.

Attempted to give the full lawn a mow afterwards, but the rains came and was only able to get half of it mowed. The rain did a good job of watering in the app, but cant wait to get home and finish the rest of the mow today..


----------



## rob13psu

Pete, I may have missed this in an earlier post, but is there an advantage to foliar N applications as opposed to granular? Is it just a matter of preference?


----------



## Pete1313

@rob13psu, it is a more efficient use of nitrogen. More is absorbed directly into the plant, and by bypassing the soil less is tied up in the soil or possibly leached, volatilized, or subject to run off. Somewhere around only 20% of the N applied to the soil immediately goes into the plant and the rest is tied up relying on mineralization and release at a later, less predictable time or possibly lost. Where with foliar up to 50% (depending on the study) goes directly into the plant, and the rest that is eventually washed down into the soil will still act like that 20% that I mentioned above. I will try and find the podcast that talked about it and link it here.

For me, it is the efficiency, but also the better coverage I get when spoon feeding such low rates of urea. Minimizing the growth flush you would get with higher rates of urea, but still taking advantage of a very cost effective nitrogen source.

Another note about sprayed urea, as long as it is sitting on the leaf and not touching the thatch/soil it is not subject to volatilization. As long as it does not come in contact with the urease, it will not volatilize. Also when spraying foliar N, spray volumes are important to get better uptake, with carrier volumes of 1gal/M or less being ideal.


----------



## Pete1313

Here are some good listens on the subject from turfnet. I'm a bit of a turfnet junky, but love listening to professors talking about some of the turf research they are doing.

This one is a podcast with Dr. Bruce Branham of the University of Illinois talking with Frank Rossi. The whole podcast is good, but if you just want to hear about the foliar stuff, tune in at the 23min mark.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/turfne...ham-on-nitrogen-fate-physiology-foliar-uptake

Here is a webinar from Elizabeth Guertal, Ph.D., of Auburn University talking about "The Ins and Outs of Foliar Fertilizers."
https://www.turfnet.com/webinar_archives.html/the-ins-and-outs-of-foliar-fertilizers-r27/


----------



## rob13psu

@Pete1313 Thanks, that makes a lot of sense. I'm using my 1,000 sq ft side yard to test FAS/PGR and I will likely add some foliar AS applications to that.

Thanks for the links! I enjoyed the webinar on iron. It changed everything I thought I knew about foliar iron applications. I used to apply it regularly to my azaleas given our high pH soil, but never fully understood the chemistry behind it. Learn something new every day!


----------



## Pete1313

@rob13psu, what makes this hobby great is there is always something new to learn!

Careful with the N rates with foliar AS as the burn potential is higher then urea when using equal rates of nitrogen.


----------



## rob13psu

Thanks Pete. Normally I apply 0.5 lbs of N/K at a time when spreading AS. I was always a bit leery of applying more with my old Scott's spreader because of it's tendency not to close when I wanted it to, and my paranoia has carried over to my new Lesco spreader. I will definitely be cautious.


----------



## Pete1313

Took advantage of a dry afternoon on Sunday (5/26) and did a double cut to the lawn. First cut was at 1" HOC and then I brought it back down to 13/16". Here are some pics from today.






The higher HOC was fun while it lasted and the stripes were great but I knew it is not where I wanted to be. I enjoy the smoothness of the shorter grass, and will probably still work it down alittle shorter in the next month. With the grass shorter I can get a mow done quicker as I needed to go slower at the higher HOC to get an acceptable aftercut appearance. I think this is because of the volume of grass that goes across the front roller and then entering into the reel/bedknife. If I went too fast at the higher HOC, I would get some bobbing of the cutting heads that would leave a washboard effect regardless of clip frequency. Going slower solved this problem. At a lower HOC, the cutting heads seem to glide over the turf alot easier and am able to mow at faster speeds.

The story this week has been all the rain and seedheads. You can see from my watering log, that almost 3" of rain has fallen in the past week, and a couple more inches are forecast for the next 2 days.


May is going to go in the books without a single irrigation cycle ran. I have only had one good dry down this year and would like to get at least one more before any hot weather sets in to try and drive those roots alittle deeper.

Soil temps are mid 60's and pushing to 70,


And the Smith Kerns dollar spot model is worth starting to keep an eye on as the numbers are going up a bit. Although the stand is currently disease free, as those numbers get higher scouting becomes important and I will take action as needed. The plan is to try and stay fungicide free this year and act with a curative only if absolutely necessary, but know that is dependent on mother nature cooperating.


Here are some close up pics showing the density, but also showing all the seedheads. If I had to guess, it will be another week before they start fading away. Their presence is causing the turf color to look off from a distance.




In this pic you can see the haze of seedheads in the background, but also the adaptability of the grass to keep those seedheads below the 13/16" HOC.


Lastly, here are some progression pics of the two trees that had the worn triplex ring spots. I did not do any repairs to these two areas so I could access how the smooth rollers and tires on the triplex help reduce the wear. So far, I think the new setup is being gentler to the turf and the spots are slowly closing up. I'm especially impressed as a few of the mows have been done on some fairly saturated soil.
4/21

5/5

5/27


4/21

5/5

5/27


----------



## DiabeticKripple

Wow that's filling it amazing!


----------



## Pete1313

Thanks @DiabeticKripple! It will get there, in time.

Finally getting some dry days in NW Illinois. I haven't had any real measurable rain in 4 days and it has allowed me to spend more time on the yard. It is also good to see the zone ET deficits creep up a bit.


Thankfully the seedheads look to be just about done, and on Saturday (6/1) I was able to work it down to 11/16" HOC. On Saturday evening I sprayed another round of T-Nex(.21 oz/M), Ferromec(3.37 oz/M), and Urea(.24 lbs/M). Total N was .15 lb/M. Had a pop up shower that wasn't forecast drop .02" of rain shortly after I was done, but the app darkened things up a bit the next day so I believe the app was not wasted. Redefined all the mulch beds with the Echo bed redefiner on Sunday (6/2). Due to all the rain it has been a while since I was able to use it as it clogs up easily when the soil is wet.

Here are some pics from Sunday. Our newest pet addition with the baseball is one of my favorites.


----------



## JDgreen18

Nice looking yard and congrats on the new pup


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## ronjon84790

Looks great! @Pete1313

Did you restrain your fence?


----------



## Pete1313

Thanks @JDgreen18!



ronjon84790 said:


> Looks great! Pete1313
> 
> Did you restrain your fence?


I adjusted the sprinklers so they didn't hit the fence anymore, then pressure washed it, shot some more of the same color stain on it, backed brushed it, but you can still see where the sprinklers used to hit it alittle. It was a natural colored transparent stain that was used, same color and brand as before. So I dont know if I should have prepped it more, or gone with a semi-transparent or solid stain this go around. It's not as noticeable as before, but not perfect. Maybe it will even out some over time now that the sprinklers wont hit it. I dunno. I will try and take a pic the next time I make an update that shows it.


----------



## ronjon84790

Looks good :thumbup: I have the same problem with concrete in the desert. I painted my backyard concrete around my pool with some acrylic that keeps the temps down in the summer. It has faded and worn down in spots where the sprinklers hit it. It needs to repainted only after 3 years. Its a never ending project


----------



## Pete1313

@ronjon84790, agreed on never ending projects. Paint, just like stain, new never exactly matches the old. In my case I went over the whole outside of the fence, and the stain darkened up the parts that still had stain more than the worn spots.


----------



## ronjon84790

@Pete1313 I wonder if a wood conditioner would help blend it in better next time?


----------



## Pete1313

@ronjon84790, probably. Was in a hurry, like most things that dont turn out the best, and is a hassle setting up the pressure washer and graco down there. If it bugs me too much I'll redo it. The faded marks were my fault as I over did the coverage adjustment during the reno to make sure no seed was without water. I'll see if it evens out thru the year. I did not do the inside of the fence, only outside, as the inside still looks good and will be a couple years before it needs to get done. If I can get by until that time, I'll make sure I do a better job prepping, and possibly go with alittle darker and maybe less transparent stain.


----------



## ronjon84790

@Pete1313 I agree with you on that. I've been dragging my feet on repainting my concrete! I'd rather be in the yard mowing.


----------



## Pete1313

ronjon84790 said:


> I'd rather be in the yard mowing.


Agreed!


----------



## iowa jim

Nice to see the rings starting to fill in for you, they bothered me and its not even my lawn. You have such a nice lawn that i hate to see that as the rest of your lawn is so nice. cute pup


----------



## Pete1313

Thanks @iowa jim! The tree rings brother me as well. Hoping they fill in on their own by fall. I could probably do more to help them along, but finding time to tend to them is an issue. It's good to see them fill in some and haven't seen any new damage yet despite the really wet spring here.


----------



## Pete1313

Fun mow day. With the soil drying up, I was really looking forward to this mornings mow. Did a full edge, trim, mow, and blow. Was finished by 11am. Here are some pics when I was done.












My favorite tool has to be this guy here. It is an Echo PAS-2620 with a bed redefiner attachment and I consider it mandatory equipment for my yard. Saves me alot of time and keeps all my bed edges looking pretty good.






Dropped my second and final app of blended AMS/SOP to the lawn. Here are some current totals of nutrients applied so far this year.

1.006 lb/M of N (50% by granular AMS and 50% by foliar urea)
1.25 lb/M of K20 (done with potassium for the year)
4.463 lb/M of Ca (from gypsum, and planning another app in a few weeks)
Lots of sulfates and alittle bit of Fe.

I am now looking to really dial back on the N as we go into the summer months. No more granular AMS until fall, and will keep foliar urea to .10lbs/M or less based on how the lawn looks every time I spray my PGR(about once every 2 weeks or so based on GDD). Mineralized N will be coming out of the soil now that it is warming up, so not much additional N will need to be dropped. Good growing weather in NW IL. It is drying up, but am still withholding irrigation until I see some stress. Will try and push these roots alittle further and try and better prepare the plants for the summer stress season.


----------



## ronjon84790

Looking great as always! Love the live edge look in the beds! It's clean. I would definitely pickup that tool if I didn't have concrete curbing around my lawn. What was your HOC?


----------



## Pete1313

Thanks @ronjon84790! I bumped it up just a hair to 3/4"


----------



## gilly

Pete1313, this is just awesome stuff! I've read your reno thread and have subscribed to this one as well. Truly amazing documentation, ingenuity and passion. Reading through all the pages, I seriously wish I was one of your neighbors so I could help you out with some of these projects! Maybe take a few ground balls on that turf too. :thumbup:


----------



## Pete1313

@gilly thanks for following my journal and for the kind words! If you were closer, I would put you to work! There is always something to do, but never enough time in the day!


----------



## Pete1313

Dropped another round of gypsum on 6/15 and did another T-nex/Ferromec/urea spray on 6/16.

I was able to get a good dry down of the soil last week. To the point where I saw enough drought stress by the street to finally run a round of irrigation.


It's funny that I look forward to dry soil. I was excited to have my irrigation when I got it working in 2017. I couldn't wait to use it. Now I get excited to see how little I use it.

The dollar spot model is up there, but no disease issues yet.


Here are some pics. Grass is alittle shaggy as they are taken 3 days after mowing.












Loving the color and seems that it is on cruise control, but the next couple months are the toughest for a cool season lawn. I believe I have prepped it well for summer stress, and hope to keep the cruise control on until September.


----------



## ChadStokes

Looking really good! I've been maintaining my KBG around 2-3" and I'm looking to get back down to an inch. The stripes from the longer cut are nice but to me, it appears the grass stands up better when its maintained at the lower cut of 1-2"


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## ronjon84790

Looks awesome @Pete1313 Loving the color!


----------



## Pete1313

Thanks @ronjon84790!



ChadStokes said:


> Looking really good! I've been maintaining my KBG around 2-3" and I'm looking to get back down to an inch. The stripes from the longer cut are nice but to me, it appears the grass stands up better when its maintained at the lower cut of 1-2"


Thanks @ChadStokes! The grass does stand up better at the lower cut. Just make sure you dont make too much of a drastic HOC change going into summer.


----------



## KoopHawk

Pete1313 said:


> Thanks @ronjon84790!
> 
> 
> 
> ChadStokes said:
> 
> 
> 
> Looking really good! I've been maintaining my KBG around 2-3" and I'm looking to get back down to an inch. The stripes from the longer cut are nice but to me, it appears the grass stands up better when its maintained at the lower cut of 1-2"
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks @ChadStokes! The grass does stand up better at the lower cut. Just make sure you dont make too much of a drastic HOC change going into summer.
Click to expand...

The end of summer is a great time to drop your cut. I typically keep it in the 3.25" range during summer and drop it down to 2" or lower once the temps start falling. Use a lot less water that way.


----------



## Pete1313

So life happens(late nights at work and baseball games) and had to go 7 days between mows. The result is I had to bump the HOC back up to 1". Took some pics this evening.










A couple things to note since my last T-nex/Ferromec/urea spray on 6/16. The spray sat on the leaves for 72 hours before the rain washed it down and the the grass didn't get mowed until 6 days after application. The lawn seems to be responding very well to the foliar urea and the quality is looking good right now. Here are some close ups of the turf.




I'm having an issue with a tree in the back and posted about it here. If anyone can answer some questions as to what happened to it, lmk.
https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=10916

Some nice, warm weather is forecasted for next week. Summer is here, and the kids will be excited to get some more use out of the pool with the warmer temps.


----------



## social port

Pete1313 said:


> The result is I had to bump the HOC back up to 1". Took some pics this evening.


I know sub 1 inch is very popular, but I think the 1 inch cut looks great, too.

I'm just now noticing how many rolls/mounds/inclines that you have across your lawn. Do those ever present a problem when you are mowing below 1 inch?


----------



## Pete1313

social port said:


> I know sub 1 inch is very popular, but I think the 1 inch cut looks great, too.


I know, and this is what I struggle with the most. Every time I make a HOC adjustment, for whatever reason, it seems like the new HOC is my new favorite. Shorter has a unique feel and the ball rolls are smooth, but man you cant deny the beauty of it when it's alittle taller. The grass seems to have more vigor when it is alittle taller as well. Similar HOC to what would be on a cool season baseball field like Wrigley. I'm not sure what this means for HOC for the rest of the season now. The lawn is really healthy, and I dont want to do anything to it that would change that at this time of year.



social port said:


> I'm just now noticing how many rolls/mounds/inclines that you have across your lawn. Do those ever present a problem when you are mowing below 1 inch?


Yeah, they can be hard to photograph, but basically the whole yard is a side hill. There are only a couple spots that are flat enough to play sports on. From the highest point to the lowest, there is a 30-35ft change in elevation over a distance of about 300ft. No issues mowing below an inch over the mounds and rolls with the reel. That is what the design of the reel is meant to do. I could see it maybe becoming an issue if I were to mow .5" or lower, but that isn't happening! :lol: For comparison though, with my rotory(54" deck) I would have issues cutting below 2.5". When mulching leaves in fall, I need to be careful or I will scalp spots.


----------



## social port

Pete1313 said:


> Every time I make a HOC adjustment, for whatever reason, it seems like the new HOC is my new favorite.


I've been doing different HOCs in sections of my lawn this season, and I can definitely relate. I think that I'm just in love with freshly cut grass.



Pete1313 said:


> No issues mowing below an inch over the mounds and rolls with the reel. That is what the design of the reel is meant to do.


I didn't know this, but that makes sense, especially with their use on golf courses. On TLF, it seems to me that most reel mowers are used on lawns much, much flatter than mine.

So...if someone wants to use a reel, their lawn can have hills, rolls, etc. The important thing is that the ground is smooth, so that changes in the height of the landscape aren't abrupt. Is that correct?


----------



## SNOWBOB11

Colour and thickness wise this is the best I've seen your lawn look from your pics. I really like that HOC.


----------



## Pete1313

Thanks @SNOWBOB11!



social port said:


> I didn't know this, but that makes sense, especially with their use on golf courses. On TLF, it seems to me that most reel mowers are used on lawns much, much flatter than mine.
> 
> So...if someone wants to use a reel, their lawn can have hills, rolls, etc. The important thing is that the ground is smooth, so that changes in the height of the landscape aren't abrupt. Is that correct?


Exactly, and like you mentioned, think of a golf course fairway with undulations being mowed. How smooth the lawn needs to be is debatable as well. At a 1" HOC, I would argue that almost any lawn would have no problems being cut with a reel mower. Steep hills, however, could be a problem with certain walk behind models. Especially when mowing when wet.


----------



## Sinclair

I know you reel guys are obsessed with going super low, but your lawn looks incredible at 1"!!!!


----------



## Pete1313

Thanks @Sinclair! I'm guilty of obsessing over the low look, but also enjoy the taller look of KBG as well. If I had my way many years down the road(when the kids are grown), I would have multiple HOCs throughout the yard. Maybe some bent would be part of that equation somewhere in the back? ardon: I do have a small section of 18" tall bewitched in the far back, and that looks kind of cool as well! I think the QA5 cutting head that is on my mower and on the 220E walk behind mower is really the perfect fit for KBG. With a HOC that goes all the way up to almost 1.5" and the ability to adjust clip rate and bedknife attitude, you really have options when it comes to HOC, all while getting the benefit of a smooth and clean cut of the reel.


----------



## SNOWBOB11

Pete1313 said:


> I do have a small section of 18" tall bewitched in the far back, and that looks kind of cool as well!


18" bewitched? Would love to see a picture of that.


----------



## Pete1313

Here ya go @SNOWBOB11! They are all in the far back corner of my yard where I keep my pile of yard debris waiting to be burned and where I keep a pile of excess topsoil. They are small patches right now, but plan to let them be and see what happens. Unless someone complains about them.

This is one patch where you can see the seedheads approaching 30".




Here are two more patches with less pronounced seedheads. The longest blades in these are about 18" tall.




Anyone have a maintenance strategy for these, assuming knowone objects and makes me cut them down? Keep them long and see if they expand? Cut them back in the fall once they go dormant? It would be cool if they expanded and filled in over time/years. I wonder what would happen if I harvested the seeds this fall and planted them next spring? I cant get the triplex back in those spots and they are not irrigated. Although I'm sure they have some deep roots and wouldn't need much water!


----------



## rob13psu

Pete1313 said:


> So life happens(late nights at work and baseball games) and had to go 7 days between mows. The result is I had to bump the HOC back up to 1". Took some pics this evening.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> A couple things to note since my last T-nex/Ferromec/urea spray on 6/16. The spray sat on the leaves for 72 hours before the rain washed it down and the the grass didn't get mowed until 6 days after application. The lawn seems to be responding very well to the foliar urea and the quality is looking good right now. Here are some close ups of the turf.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm having an issue with a tree in the back and posted about it here. If anyone can answer some questions as to what happened to it, lmk.
> https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=10916
> 
> Some nice, warm weather is forecasted for next week. Summer is here, and the kids will be excited to get some more use out of the pool with the warmer temps.


Looking great Pete. Do you ever break out a wedge and chip a few?


----------



## ronjon84790

@Pete1313 That uncut bewitched is sweet! It would be cool to leave it be and see how it does over time. One of my local golf courses uses uncut Kentucky 31 to divided some of the holes. It looks cool but is nasty stuff trying to hack your ball out of.


----------



## SNOWBOB11

So, that's what bewitched actually wants to look like . Super cool. I wonder how much they would expand being left to grow without trimming? I don't see any reason you couldn't use the seeds once they are fully dried.


----------



## J_nick

Looks great as always Pete. I'm glad to see the new setup on the JD is curing the triplex ring. Beautiful property you got there.


----------



## iowa jim

J_nick said:


> Looks great as always Pete. I'm glad to see the new setup on the JD is curing the triplex ring. Beautiful property you got there.


x2 and it is noticeably greener.


----------



## Pete1313

rob13psu said:


> Looking great Pete. Do you ever break out a wedge and chip a few?


Sometimes. My 6 year old son has recently started playing, so he's been whacking the ball around the yard a bit.



ronjon84790 said:


> @Pete1313 That uncut bewitched is sweet! It would be cool to leave it be and see how it does over time. One of my local golf courses uses uncut Kentucky 31 to divided some of the holes. It looks cool but is nasty stuff trying to hack your ball out of.


Thanks! :lol: I think I will leave it. I kind of want to dig one out though just to see the roots!



SNOWBOB11 said:


> So, that's what bewitched actually wants to look like . Super cool. I wonder how much they would expand being left to grow without trimming? I don't see any reason you couldn't use the seeds once they are fully dried.


 :dunno: I bet they would expand more with trimming, but let's let them be. It would be a cool project with the kids to harvest the seeds this fall and see if they are viable.



iowa jim said:


> J_nick said:
> 
> 
> 
> Looks great as always Pete. I'm glad to see the new setup on the JD is curing the triplex ring. Beautiful property you got there.
> 
> 
> 
> x2 and it is noticeably greener.
Click to expand...

Thanks @J_nick and @iowa jim. I'm enjoying the new setup and seemed to really help minimize injury during the wet spring we had. There have been a couple dry mows lately that I've had the itch to switch back to the grooved front rollers, but as long as the aftercut appearance stays good and dont see any other issues, I'll keep rockin' the smooth rollers. I'll try and remember to take the pics of the 2 spots I've been tracking the recovery on after tomorrow's mow.


----------



## Pete1313

Here are some updated pics of the two areas I have been tracking for recovery. The new setup appears to be reducing injury and allowing it to recover.
4/21

5/5

5/27

6/26


4/21

5/5

5/27

6/26


Quick pic after yesterday's mow


Things are heating up with temps approaching 90°F,


And the dollar spot model is going up.


I find myself using my soil probe alot just to check soil moisture levels. They are still looking and feeling good, but it will probably be time to begin irrigation cycles again on Friday night.


Fungus free for the most part this year(I spotted alittle mycelium one morning days back, but it did not cause any infection). I am still fungicide free, and hoping to continue with that.


----------



## Pete1313

Ran zones 5,6,7 last night. Set up some gauges thru the yard to check precip rate.





Placed them in 10 different spots throughout the zones. Not as elaborate as when I was calibrating the sprinklers in 2017, but good to see a fairly even amount in the gauges. .7-.8" in each cup and my target was .75" of irrigation. I spent alot of time designing and tweaking the sprinklers back in my reno year to get them even.


----------



## ronjon84790

Pete1313 said:


> Ran zones 5,6,7 last night. Set up some gauges thru the yard to check precip rate.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Placed them in 10 different spots throughout the zones. Not as elaborate as when I was calibrating the sprinklers in 2017, but good to see a fairly even amount in the gauges. .7-.8" in each cup and my target was .75" of irrigation. I spent alot of time designing and tweaking the sprinklers back in my reno year to get them even.


Sweet Pete! Doesn't get much better than that. Nicely done :thumbup:


----------



## KoopHawk

That's about as spot on as it gets!


----------



## Pete1313

Thanks @ronjon84790 and @KoopHawk! Going to put them out in zones 1 & 2 tonight.


----------



## Pete1313

Zones 1 & 2 audit came back pretty good. All were between .7-.8"(target was .75") except the 2 that were near the corners by the street. They both came back at 1". 




IIRC, during my renovation I had issues getting enough distance out of the nozzles I had selected for the 90° patterns (heads are hunter PGPs) and had to go up in nozzle size. That would explain the extra rate in those spots. I think I'll leave it alone for now. Going to do the last 2 zones tonight.

Gave the lawn a mow this morning, and then gave the triplex its monthly maintenance including grease all points, backlap, run the file across the bedknife front face, as well as make sure everything is all set for another month. I haven't shown too many pics of it lately, so here are a few to give it some love. It is such a fun machine to work on as well as mow with!






Due for another spray tomorrow, and halfway thru our week long temps that have been around 90°F. I'm not sure if I'll add the iron when I spray tomorrow evening. If I do, it will need to get washed down off the leaves before the next day.


----------



## SNOWBOB11

Love the picture with the triplex and grass in the background.

Couple questions if you get a chance @Pete1313. I see you have the fairway tender conditioners on your heads. Does it make a big difference in cut quality? I love the cut the QA5 unit gives on the 220e but sometimes there are some blades that get pushed down instead of cut. It's not bad but is something I notice every mowing and usually have to do a double pass to notice it less. I've been thinking about getting the FTC for the mower but just wanted to get your feedback on if it makes a difference.

Other question, what grit backlaping compound do you use? And just to confirm you backlap monthly?

Sorry to ask so many questions. Feel free to ignore me if I'm being annoying.


----------



## Pete1313

@@SNOWBOB11, never hesitate to ask questions!

I think the FTC makes some difference, but I wouldn't go out and buy the setup right away, especially for KBG. I think it straightens the blades alittle to get a better cut, but really like the FTC for how it disperses the clippings down into the turf as well as some small leaves/yard debris so the reel can cut better. Here is what I want you to try first and see if it makes a difference. Run an aggressive bedknife angle. To do this on the QA5, make sure your front roller is on the lowest setting allowed for your HOC range. Example, HOC of .75", put the front roller on setting 5 instead of 6. By doing this, the reel dips below the HOC more and might help get a cleaner cut. Let me know how it turns out.


I use 120 grit that I get from rrproducts, and have been back lapping monthly. I used to try and do it more frequently but I think monthly is good enough. My theory on back lapping is to keep the blades sharp and maintaining the edge. If you wait until it gets dull, it might be too late to save it with a backlap and a grind would be necessary.


----------



## mribbens

@Pete1313 You mentioned if you were to spray iron you would want to irrigate to get it off of the leaves, can you explain the practice behind this? I am applying my summer PGR and would like to get iron down at a very low rate, 2-3oz/M with the PGR. I have never watered it in, just left if on the lawn. Now with this crazy weather we are having in Northern IL now, rain nearly every day, I have been lucky I guess. Thanks


----------



## SNOWBOB11

Thanks so much pete. I'm going to do this before my next cut. Also thanks for the info on the backlaping compound. I'll be ordering some 120 grit today. Obviously my lawn is much smaller than yours but I haven't backlaped yet so I should get on it.


----------



## Pete1313

@mribbens, I normally leave it on the leaf as well, but you have to use caution with iron and the high temps we are having.

No problem @SNOWBOB11! You are cutting at .75", correct? Do you remember what number the front rollers are on?


----------



## SNOWBOB11

Pete1313 said:


> No problem @SNOWBOB11! You are cutting at .75", correct? Do you remember what number the front rollers are on?


I cut once at .75" but have since raised to 1". The front rollers are on number 7 so if I move it to 6 at 1" HOC it should achieve the same results as setting 5 for .75" HOC I would assume?


----------



## Pete1313

@SNOWBOB11 correct! Question, is your front roller in the in/closest to the reel position, or the out/farthest from the reel position like mine. Mine is out due to the FTC, but you could have yours either way.


----------



## SNOWBOB11

Pete1313 said:


> @SNOWBOB11 correct! Question, is your front roller in the in/closest to the reel position, or the out/farthest from the reel position like mine. Mine is out due to the FTC, but you could have yours either way.


Yes you are right. My front roller is in the closest to the reel position. So I can switch that to the furthest position by just undoing the brackets and switching it around correct?


----------



## Pete1313

@SNOWBOB11, correct. By doing that the rollers will be farther apart, but I'm not having any scalping issues and have more hills and dips then your yard. Play around with the front roller. Try setting 6 at 1" HOC with the roller in the in position. If that doesnt solve your issue, flip the roller out and try setting 5 on the front roller at 15/16" HOC. Maybe pulling the roller out will give the grass more of a chance to stand back up before entering the reel after the front roller runs it over. Remember, you should recheck front roller parallel to bedknife if you rotate the front roller bracket around. A way that might not affect that measurement as much would be to just unbolt the brackets from the cutting head and swap the left one with the right one. Let me know if a different configuration works better as I am curious. Here is the HOC ranges with the roller in the outward position.


----------



## SNOWBOB11

@Pete1313 Great information and thanks so much again for your help. I just cut the grass this morning before I first asked you about the FTC and it's in plant growth regulation so it probably won't be until Thursday or Friday that I cut again. I'll be sure to try the different setups you've suggested and let you know how it works out.


----------



## Pete1313

SNOWBOB11 said:


> Pete1313 Great information and thanks so much again for your help. I just cut the grass this morning before I first asked you about the FTC and it's in plant growth regulation so it probably won't be until Thursday or Friday that I cut again. I'll be sure to try the different setups you've suggested and let you know how it works out.


 :thumbsup: keep me updated. Another thing that I thought of after posting is when cutting bewitched short as we do, if you have a thin spot the blades really like to go horizontal. If an area is thin it could contribute to the problem. I have spots recovering from the dogs and the grass in those spots lay down and get missed at times, even with the FTC. If that's the case, some aggressive N in the fall should help thicken it up. Either way, I would exhaust all options first before ponying up some big $$ to fit a FTC on an existing machine. Another last resort would be looking into a different front roller that would be better suited for a taller HOC. If it comes down to that, LMK, as there are some really good options that would help(2.5-3" rollers with deeper grooves, or even spiral grooved). I would have them on mine already if I didn't have so many tight turns and triplex ring issues.


----------



## SNOWBOB11

Pete1313 said:


> SNOWBOB11 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Pete1313 Great information and thanks so much again for your help. I just cut the grass this morning before I first asked you about the FTC and it's in plant growth regulation so it probably won't be until Thursday or Friday that I cut again. I'll be sure to try the different setups you've suggested and let you know how it works out.
> 
> 
> 
> :thumbsup: keep me updated. Another thing that I thought of after posting is when cutting bewitched short as we do, if you have a thin spot the blades really like to go horizontal. If an area is thin it could contribute to the problem. I have spots recovering from the dogs and the grass in those spots lay down and get missed at times, even with the FTC. If that's the case, some aggressive N in the fall should help thicken it up. Either way, I would exhaust all options first before ponying up some big $$ to fit a FTC on an existing machine. Another last resort would be looking into a different front roller that would be better suited for a taller HOC. If it comes down to that, LMK, as there are some really good options that would help(2.5-3" rollers with deeper grooves, or even spiral grooved). I would have them on mine already if I didn't have so many tight turns and triplex ring issues.
Click to expand...

It's interesting you say that as I have very much noticed in some of the thin areas the blades do grow quite horizontally. Under the trees I have there are a couple areas where it could still use some thickening up and it's thinner than the areas that get full sun. I would say the thinner areas do show more missed blades than the very thick areas. Although I have noticed missed blades in the full sun thick areas as well at time. I'm going to start by doing the things you suggested and see how that works. As you said no point in putting up cash when some simple adjustments might help. If it works great, but if not I'd be willing to look into different rollers and possibly a FTC as well. I will let you know either way. Again thanks for your amazing help. You really know these machines in and out :thumbup:.


----------



## Pete1313

SNOWBOB11 said:


> Again thanks for your amazing help. You really know these machines in and out :thumbup:.


No problem @SNOWBOB11! Hopefully a few small adjustments can improve the aftercut appearance!

A few past due updates. In the morning of 7/1 I completed the sprinkler audit on the last 2 zones(#3 and #4). They were ok for the most part, but a couple gauges came in low in the far back corner of the yard. One was at .5" and the other was .6"(target was .75" again).




I watched that zone and believe I found the problem. A sprinkler kept hitting a low branch on the back pine tree. Quick fix by trimming it alittle, and will redo that audit again next time I do a full run on that zone.

I was a couple days past due for another app of T-nex. It has been warm with temps hitting just over 90°f. On the evening of 7/1 I decided to make another T-nex/urea/iron app. .211 oz/M of T-nex, .1 lb/M of N from urea, and .05 lb/M of Fe. This time I used iron sulfate and mixed in only enough ferromec A/C(16oz in 35gal of water) to drop the final spray tank PH to the mid 4's. Due to the high temps I waited till 7:30pm to spray, knowing that it takes just over an hour to spray and the last light is around 9pm. I had two sprayer malfunctions that almost cost me my spray app and as a result I needed to think and work quick.

The first one was on open circuit in the pump wiring caused by a break in the wire right at the base of the connecter. The other was a shut off valve that is located right before the spray boom was partially shut and wouldn't open or close. I close that valve and run the pump to circulate and agitate the spray while I am filling. Which is not the end of the world if it was stuck full open. I could just pinch off the hose during agitation, but due to it being partially shut, the nozzles had low flow.


The wiring was a quick temporary fix. I cut out the connector and used some wire nuts.


I also removed the valve and ran a straight piece of 3/8" hose. During agitation, I just pinched off the hose with needle nose vice-grips.


Finished my spray and was cleaned up just after 9pm. Due to the high temps forecasted the next day, I set the sprinklers to put down .10" at 5:30 the next morning.

On 7/2 I properly wired in a new connector,


And on 7/3 I added a new shut off valve.


This morning 7/4 I gave the lawn another mow. HOC is still at 1". Here are a few pics.






First pic is my favorite of the day and the 3rd one shows the tree that will be removed once the temps cool off a bit. Thanks to @g-man for helping me diagnose that it is an ash tree that was taken out by the emerald ash borer.

This afternoon I sprayed imidacloprid for my grub preventative(this time no sprayer malfunctions), and tonight I'm putting down .25" of irrigation.

Dollar spot model is nasty high at 70%. 1 or 2 more tough days of temp+humidity in the 160-170 range and then some better growing weather comes back.


Soil temps are getting up there.


Starting to make preparations for a party we throw every year that we host the weekend of 7/12-7/14. There will be lots of yard games and I catch myself thinking about my next spray timing, mowing frequency and timing, as well as soil moisture levels and irrigation timing to try and get the best look and playability I can at the current HOC.


----------



## SNOWBOB11

@Pete1313 I finally had a chance today to make the adjustments to the mower. I flipped the brackets and roller around so the front roller is in the farthest forward position. I then dropped the side brackets settings to 6 instead of 7 and re set the HOC. After that I backlaped with the 120 grit we talked about from rrproducts. I then gave the lawn a trim and there is no question it made a significant improvement. Not only did it miss 95% less stragglers but it seemed to almost give a better, cleaner cut in general. I think the cleaner cut was from backlaping and it not missing any stragglers was from adjusting the bedknife at the more aggressive angle.





I'm not just saying this either. I really mean it. The mower always gave a nice sharp cut but as I said it was the few blades hear and there that it would miss that would be a bit annoying. Obviously a reel mower has no suction like a rotary so you'd have to double cut to get and missed areas. I did one pass today and there was hardly if anything missed.

I contemplated tagging you and posting this in my journal thread instead of clogging up your thread with this but figured just in case anyone was having this same issue at any time I'd just post the results of the changes here being this is where we were talking about it to begin with.

Once again thanks for your assistance with what changes I should make. The grass is growing much slower now with the heat so I'll see how it does when the grass is growing faster but I think it will be just fine. For now you just saved me a bunch of cash on a FTC.


----------



## Pete1313

SNOWBOB11 said:


> Pete1313 I finally had a chance today to make the adjustments to the mower. I flipped the brackets and roller around so the front roller is in the farthest forward position. I then dropped the side brackets settings to 6 instead of 7 and re set the HOC. After that I backlaped with the 120 grit we talked about from rrproducts. I then gave the lawn a trim and there is no question it made a significant improvement. Not only did it miss 95% less stragglers but it seemed to almost give a better, cleaner cut in general. I think the cleaner cut was from backlaping and it not missing any stragglers was from adjusting the bedknife at the more aggressive angle.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm not just saying this either. I really mean it. The mower always gave a nice sharp cut but as I said it was the few blades hear and there that it would miss that would be a bit annoying. Obviously a reel mower has no suction like a rotary so you'd have to double cut to get and missed areas. I did one pass today and there was hardly if anything missed.
> 
> I contemplated tagging you and posting this in my journal thread instead of clogging up your thread with this but figured just in case anyone was having this same issue at any time I'd just post the results of the changes here being this is where we were talking about it to begin with.
> 
> Once again thanks for your assistance with what changes I should make. The grass is growing much slower now with the heat so I'll see how it does when the grass is growing faster but I think it will be just fine. For now you just saved me a bunch of cash on a FTC.


@SNOWBOB11, glad the changes made a difference, and thanks for sharing the results. I knew they would as you are growing the same grass at a similar HOC and using the same QA5 cutting head. It's some of the issues I went thru and kept playing around until I found what worked best for me. I really think making the knife as aggressive as possible makes a big difference gathering the grass blades at a taller HOC. Pulling the roller out will help give it that fraction of a second more to let the grass blades bounce back up as well. I think a 3" grooved or spiral grooved roller would be something to think about down the road to get you an even better cut. The way you have your cutting unit set now on setting 6, it will give you room to go up to 1 3/16" and if you go below 1", set it to position 5.

To you or anyone else reading, never be worried about clogging up my journal thread. The reason I made this thread was to see what I do and why and hopefully spark interest and ask questions. Without follow up and questions, I think the thread would be pointless with me just posting pictures.


----------



## Pete1313

Wednesday 7/10 did another T-nex(.211 oz/M), urea(.125 lb/M of N), iron(.05 lb/M of Fe) spray. Let it sit on the leaf and did not water it in.

Thursday 7/11, mowed. HOC 1".
Friday morning 7/12 mowed again. HOC 1", But switched to grooved front rollers and threw on the baskets.




Ended up getting 6 baskets of clippings in the 12 hrs between mows. Some is from new growth, and some is from just double cutting, but putting on the grooved rollers slightly lowers the effective HOC when compared to the smooth rollers.


Some really small/fine clippings in the basket.


Saturday morning 7/13 mowed yet again. HOC 1". Still with the grooved rollers and baskets on. 3 full baskets of clippings in 1 day of growth. The switch to the grooved rollers and baskets as well as the additional mowing was to try and get the smoothest and cleanest surface I could for friends and family that were over this past weekend. I also had not watered or had any rain in the 4 days leading into the weekend. The end results were some of the smoothest and best looking turf I've had so far.










I'll be switching back to the smooth front rollers for the next cut and am resuming irrigation. Warm and dry here. Alot of lawns are starting to go brown. Currently up to 1.5 lbs/M of N on the year and hope to have about 6 more weeks of cruise control before I start ramping things up for fall. I'm really liking the foliar urea spoon feeding so far.


----------



## wardconnor

Holy awesome Peter... Looks really good. Wish my turf looked that good


----------



## g-man

Wow, that's dark.


----------



## pennstater2005

Where's all the fungus?!


----------



## fusebox7

I'd make a tasty salad with those clippings. Yum. Awesome work as always, @Pete1313!


----------



## Pete1313

wardconnor said:


> Holy awesome Peter... Looks really good. Wish my turf looked that good


Thanks, but who are you kidding @wardconnor! You are the real deal.. landcape, leveling, and a couple months after your renovation your turf will look just as good as anyone else's.



g-man said:


> Wow, that's dark.


Thanks @g-man! There has been alittle love lost for bewitched lately as some might argue it is not dark enough. Its plenty dark for me, and has been a breeze to maintain so far this year.



pennstater2005 said:


> Where's all the fungus?!


 ardon: I don't know @pennstater2005? Last year I had some bouts with dollar spot in May/June, alittle bit of pythium in August, and a touch of rust in September. That was a grow in year however. This year, being its first fully mature year I wanted to give another go at being fungicide free. So far it is working out. Some changes this year are, 
I've really pulled back on the irrigation, watering only when I see the first indicators of drought and using ET as a guide on when that time nears

pulled back on the amount of N applied and went to small spoon feedings of foliar urea

used some acidifying fertilizers in spring(AMS and elemental S) and will feed with AMS in the fall

Other than that, good soil fertility and maybe not being so quick to act when the smallest of an issue doesn't look quite just right.



fusebox7 said:


> I'd make a tasty salad with those clippings. Yum. Awesome work as always, @Pete1313!


Thanks @fusebox7! I normally dont put the baskets on(the last time was during spring cleanup) but with the number of people that were walking barefoot on the lawn and then re-entering the pool, I wanted the surface as clean as possible.


----------



## fusebox7

Pete1313 said:


> Some changes this year are,
> I've really pulled back on the irrigation, watering only when I see the first indicators of drought and using ET as a guide on when that time nears


My old lawn is doing AMAZING despite the irrigation still being winterized. The elite KBG is so resilient once mature!


----------



## KoopHawk

That looks fantastic Pete. The fact that you're doing that to 38,000 sq ft is incredible!


----------



## Ballistic

Pete over here just killing it!

Nice job man!


----------



## ksturfguy

I'm not jealous at all, nope not at all. Keep up the good work!


----------



## Pete1313

fusebox7 said:


> My old lawn is doing AMAZING despite the irrigation still being winterized. The elite KBG is so resilient once mature!


@fusebox7, it does get better once it matures!

@KoopHawk, @Ballistic, @ksturfguy, Thanks for the replies!

Some hot temps are forecasted this week,


And here is the forecasted ET amounts for the next 7 days combined. I think this will be a week that really tests how even the sprinklers output is.


----------



## KoopHawk

@Pete1313 In your reno thread last year you shared a copy of your ET water log but it appears that link no longer works. Could you share it again? Where do you get your ET info?


----------



## Pete1313

@KoopHawk, here is the new water log link. I apologize as I accidentally deleted it.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1f4q1UspoRL5Q_kTte1gzwLZG5KlQ_qtp/view?usp=drivesdk
If you decide to use it and need help setting it up for your system, lmk.

For rain data, I get that from a simple wireless rain gauge that is mounted on my fence. For ET data I get that info from the ISWS website, but it only has info for Illinois. I know my hydrawise irrigation app has ET data in it, or maybe others might have more info on where to get ET data as well. @g-man

Here is a link to where I got the picture in my last post that shows Forecast Reference Evapotranspiration across the country. It has alot of other weather forecast info as well.


----------



## KoopHawk

Thanks Pete!


----------



## OnyxsLawn

@Pete1313 How much of a difference in effective height of cut do you see between the grooved and smooth rollers? I assume your 1" is a bench height of cut. Whats that translate to for the effective height on your dense KBG?


----------



## AZChemist

Phenomenal looking grass! I am very jealous of your mower setup! It's not often you find guys catching their clippings with a reel mower for a yard that size.


----------



## Pete1313

OnyxsLawn said:


> Pete1313 How much of a difference in effective height of cut do you see between the grooved and smooth rollers? I assume your 1" is a bench height of cut. Whats that translate to for the effective height on your dense KBG?


Unfortunately I did not really measure the actual HOC, but if I had to guess I think the grooved rollers brought it down another 1/8" when compared to the smooth roller. Correct, 1" HOC is the bench measurement so with the smooth rollers the actual HOC might be closer to 1.125"-1.25" and with the grooved rollers that would be lower.



AZChemist said:


> Phenomenal looking grass! I am very jealous of your mower setup! It's not often you find guys catching their clippings with a reel mower for a yard that size.


Thanks! I typically don't collect the clippings, but due to a party I had, the amount of traffic on the lawn, and wanting the cleanest surface, I threw the buckets on for a couple mows.


----------



## Rucraz2

How much urea are you putting down with the foliar? I have used 10-11.5 lbs each time on my 42.5k and I don't think I have noticed a bit of difference. I'm mixing with different blends if humic, kelp and k4l extreme blend. With no visible difference in appearance. I have read more guys that are falling in love with foliar. Not sure what I am doing wrong? My only thought is my spray tip. I am just using the original one that came with it. I've had to remove the screens to spray and I am getting some very large droplets. So looking at upgrading that. But not seeing anything at all cant just be the droplet can it?


----------



## Pete1313

@Rucraz2, my last app was on Wednesday where I used 12 lbs of urea over my 38K of turf(~.150 lb/M of N). Droplet size would affect uptake. If it is too large it would roll off the leaf and act like a soil app. You want a small/fine droplet size, and lower carrier volumes are preferred. I'm spraying with a .9 gal/M carrier volume and using teejet XR11003 nozzles.


----------



## Pete1313

Today I woke up, looked out the window and said "I have had enough of that dead tree! I think I will cut it down!" 










All cleaned up, and now I say to myself, "Man I'm an idiot!" I didn't really pick the best day to take a 30+ ft tall tree down, upper 80's and full sunshine. Oh well, glad it's done, except for the trunk which I'll get next weekend.

Not much new to report on the lawn. On Wednesday 7/24 I did another T-Nex(.211 oz/M), urea(.150 lbs/M of N), iron(.05 lbs/M of Fe) spray.

Dollar spot model is back down with some better looking numbers.


No rain since 7/18, and not much in the forecast. At least the temps are looking good.


The result is the irrigation is starting to get a workout with over 22k gallons used this past week. 


Alittle bit of a rough cut on Saturday 7/27 as due to some long nights at work I went 6 days between mows, but otherwise the lawn is holding up ok going into August.


----------



## pennstater2005

"holding up ok"

I hate you.


----------



## g-man

The dog doesnt seem to mind the 88F and sunny weather. :-D


----------



## Rucraz2

I was thinking that or any issues with mixing with humics. I am looking at the Teejet AIC11004 for my quick connectors. I think that will give me a better spray for foliar. And use the other ones specifically for the amendments and stop mixing. I'm just trying to kill two birds with one stone as I don't usually have much time to spray to begin with. Thanks Pete.


----------



## rob13psu

pennstater2005 said:


> "holding up ok"
> 
> I hate you.


 :lol: :lol: :lol:


----------



## KoopHawk

I think I know these answers already but:

The fine droplet size should apply to all foliar apps, right? Urea, Iron, PRG, etc...

What speed do you spray at?

Do you mix a tank to run out as soon as you've made 1 pass over the entire lawn or do you checkerboard to ensure even coverage? I assume you wouldn't want to drive over an area you've already sprayed a foliar application.

Do you typically spoon feed N all summer despite the heat? Are foliar smaller applications easier on the plant than a larger granular application in regards to amount of water needed to process the N?


----------



## Pete1313

rob13psu said:


> pennstater2005 said:
> 
> 
> 
> "holding up ok"
> 
> I hate you.
> 
> 
> 
> :lol: :lol: :lol:
Click to expand...

 :lol: 



g-man said:


> The dog doesnt seem to mind the 88F and sunny weather. :-D


Well the dog didn't have to cut down the tree! 



Rucraz2 said:


> I was thinking that or any issues with mixing with humics. I am looking at the Teejet AIC11004 for my quick connectors. I think that will give me a better spray for foliar. And use the other ones specifically for the amendments and stop mixing. I'm just trying to kill two birds with one stone as I don't usually have much time to spray to begin with. Thanks Pete.


No problem. I have no real experience throwing humics in the mix, but try the different nozzles and see how it goes.



KoopHawk said:


> I think I know these answers already but:
> 
> The fine droplet size should apply to all foliar apps, right? Urea, Iron, PRG, etc...
> 
> What speed do you spray at?
> 
> Do you mix a tank to run out as soon as you've made 1 pass over the entire lawn or do you checkerboard to ensure even coverage? I assume you wouldn't want to drive over an area you've already sprayed a foliar application.
> 
> Do you typically spoon feed N all summer despite the heat? Are foliar smaller applications easier on the plant than a larger granular application in regards to amount of water needed to process the N?


Smaller droplet size for foliar, correct. The smallest possible while minimizing drift. Some use AI nozzles for this, but I am having good success using plain XR nozzles and just avoid spraying in windy conditions. I use the AIXR nozzles for soil apps.

I spray at about 4.2MPH for the main part of the yard and go 4.6-4.8MPH for all the trim passes as based on some past sprays the trim passes seem to get a heavier dose if I dont go faster around them. Spray pressure is right around 40PSI.

I fill the tank two times. Each load is 17.5 gallons. The first tank pretty much runs out after I am done making two trim passes around all the mulch beds and perimeter of the property. The second tank does the rest of the lawn. Sometimes I run out on the last pass in the far back of the property and sometimes there might be a half gallon left in the tank. I don't do a checkerboard of two directions, but do basically get double coverage. My spray width on the boom is 120" and each stripe that is made when mowing is 60". I basically go up and down each stripe when I spray and the boom will spray half of each stripe on the left and right to get the double coverage.

This is my first season really getting into foliar N sprays. This summer I have been around .1-.15 lbs/M of N each spray and have been timing it with my T-nex apps that are based of of GDD reapplication intervals, so every 2-3 weeks. I have not skipped any app, despite any heat, but will go up to .15 lbs/M of N if the weather forecast looks good, or down alittle if it looks like some heat is coming. I sprayed once at .2 lbs/M of N in spring and will be looking to go up to that rate(possibly alittle higher) in fall when I will combine it with granular AS apps. I think foliar N apps are easier on the plant then a big slug of granular N. More even and consistant growth. I am still watering based on 80% of ET and have not adjusted from that at all this year. There have been times where I have watered more frequently at a lower rate then usual(for pre-m, imidacloprid, or once where I needed to wash down an iron app due to high temps) but have tried to maintain a deficit based on the 80% ET and not saturate the soil.


----------



## Pete1313

On 8/5 I did another T-Nex(.263 oz/M), urea(.150 lbs/M of N), iron(.05 lbs/M of Fe) spray. Went up on the T-Nex rate some as the grass seems to be growing alittle faster. I might take it up alittle higher in the next spray as well to prepare for higher rates of N this fall. We finally received some rain (.75") on Monday night. It had been 18 days since the last rainfall. Still cruising along. There are a few suspect spots in the yard that might be more than my typical dog pee spots, but overall it is looking good and I see no reason to break a goal of mine to be fungicide free this year.

It feels weird not having any trees left in the center of the back yard. I'm going to have to think of what to do with that area for next year.




A few other random pics of the yard.






A pic of a rainbow that I snapped last night


I'm not going to lie, I have been feeling alittle bored of lawncare lately. The lawn loves the consistency, but the mow, mow, mow, spray does seem alittle plain when I get to see all these renovations in other journals. There was a point a few weeks ago when talking with the wife that I suggested converting a good part of the backyard (4-5k) to bent in the coming years. It is something to think about down the road.


----------



## Alex1389

If you're super bored, I'd love to see a side by side of Mazama vs Bewitched in your yard also.

Hey TLF guys, check out this guy over here bored with his absolutely perfect lawn. :lol:

Jk, Pete, looks amazing as usual.


----------



## rob13psu

@Pete1313 looking good! If you're bored, I've got about 7,000 sq ft that could use some help


----------



## social port

pennstater2005 said:


> "holding up ok"
> 
> I hate you.


In the middle of summer!
I was recently reminded that Pete won LOTM in August last year, so it stands to reason that the lawn would be looking superb during this time of year.

Pete, maybe you should develop the concept of a tier 4 lawn and then try to work your lawn towards that level of achievement?
A fungicide-free monostand should be one of the features (Is that correct?! You are not using fungicides this year?)


----------



## Pete1313

Alex1389 said:


> If you're super bored, I'd love to see a side by side of Mazama vs Bewitched in your yard also.
> 
> Hey TLF guys, check out this guy over here bored with his absolutely perfect lawn. :lol:
> 
> Jk, Pete, looks amazing as usual.


Send me a few ounces and I'll put it in the ground. It would be interesting to compare to an established stand of bewitched.



rob13psu said:


> @Pete1313 looking good! If you're bored, I've got about 7,000 sq ft that could use some help


If only you lived closer!



social port said:


> pennstater2005 said:
> 
> 
> 
> "holding up ok"
> 
> I hate you.
> 
> 
> 
> In the middle of summer!
> I was recently reminded that Pete won LOTM in August last year, so it stands to reason that the lawn would be looking superb during this time of year.
> 
> Pete, maybe you should develop the concept of a tier 4 lawn and then try to work your lawn towards that level of achievement?
> A fungicide-free monostand should be one of the features (Is that correct?! You are not using fungicides this year?)
Click to expand...

No fungicides this year! :thumbsup:


----------



## KoopHawk

A well-managed, mature, elite kbg lawn should be fairly disease and weed resistant, right?


----------



## Pete1313

KoopHawk said:


> A well-managed, mature, elite kbg lawn should be fairly disease and weed resistant, right?


I'm not going to say yes to that as there are too many variables. What is working for me in northern Illinois will not work in middle Tennessee. Besides location, the weather will vary from year to year as well. This year the midwest and in particular northern IL only had 1 maybe 2 tough stretches of weather. During those times the DS model went above 70% and in the second stretch the soil temps at 4" also went above 85°F. I do think that my use of nitrogen as well as being strict on watering has helped keep the turf clean. Many fungicide issues can be self inflicted. Besides all of that, I think soil fertility and also the layout of the yard plays a part. My yard is built on the side of a hill therefore drains well and never has any standing water. It is also wide open, is mostly sunny and has great airflow. It would be a different story in a more densely populated suburban community with mature trees, shade, and poor airflow.


----------



## Pete1313

It looks like some of the spots that I mentioned a few days ago might be progressing a bit. With permission from @g-man, I wanted to share a good chat we had on Discord helping figure out what some of the spots could be to stay on top of them before they progress any further.






















So I ended up dropping some granular ammonium sulfate, am currently running an irrigation cycle to put down 1/3" of water and will bump up my crop coefficient(Kc) in my water log to 100% for the time being. Overall the yard still looks great and the spots are isolated. We will see how they respond to some extra water and some AS. Summer patch is best treated preventively earlier in the spring if using fungicides. I believe I have done the right cultural practices this year to try and grow deep roots and limit the summer patch risk as witnessed in the healthy plug.

Here some general pics of the yard. If you look close, you can see some of the spots I referenced in a couple of the pics.


----------



## ksturfguy

I always thought I took my lawn serious and had a pretty good knowledge of turf care and then I read that chat between you and g-man and realize nope I'm an amateur lol.


----------



## g-man

Summer patch seems to be the most likely cause. It is really interesting to see the root differences. Proper id will involve sending samples to a lab. If it keeps progressing, a strobin will be a good fungicide to use. But weather is starting to get better so it might help.

This is an area to monitor next year. Summer patch fungus stays in the soil and should return, If it is summer patch.

This NC State webpage has more images.


----------



## SNOWBOB11

Unfortunate about the SP. Hopefully some AS and added water help. Very interesting and informative chat you posted there with g-man by the way.


----------



## Pete1313

@ksturfguy don't kid yourself, you know plenty about turf care!

@SNOWBOB11 it was a good chat and thought it was worth it to share! It shows some of thinking and processes used to try and get the best ID you can without sending it to a lab.

@g-man I do agree that summer patch is the most likely cause. It is something to monitor in the upcoming years. It is no where near the point to where I want to break my goal of being fungicide free, but like to look back at the logs and figure out what could of made it noticeable and try and make some adjustments for next year. Maybe pushing the soil to stay on the dry end helped earlier in the year, but contributed to the spots starting to show up at this point. Maybe switching up the irrigation strategy at some point during the mid summer might help. The weather here is not as extreme as areas further south, so I would think in most years summer patch would not be as much of a concern for me. Nevertheless, a few spots are showing up. There is some correlation with soil PH, iron, and manganese levels and summer patch. My soil PH is alittle on the high side(7.1 last test) and have been working with elemental sulfur as well as some ammonium sulfate. My soil iron levels are high(239ppm) and although my soil manganese levels are good(83ppm) I wonder with my soil PH and iron levels it could be causing some manganese deficiency and if adding some manganese to the foliar sprays might be a worthwhile addition. A tissue test would be the best way to see if I should add some manganese, but might play around adding alittle to the tank.


----------



## social port

Do we have to call it "SP"? :lol:


----------



## Pete1313

I dont know if I would be so into lawn care and do what i do if my kids didn't enjoy playing on it so much. I got home, mowed the lawn, we ate dinner, and afterwards without me knowing they were all outside. Enjoying the fresh cut and playing the sports they love, barefoot. It's why I do what I do. It was satisfying to see and makes the efforts I put in worth it. Figured I would take a break from how I maintain the lawn and show the why. Grabbed a couple quick pics of them playing and thought I would share.


----------



## ronjon84790

That's awesome Pete! Makes all the hard work worth it. Keep it up :thumbup: The turf looks sweet!


----------



## pennstater2005

Awesome @Pete1313!!! I want to come play in your yard


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## KoopHawk

Look at all those footprints in your stripes. Get off the lawn kids you're messing it up!!!


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## iowa jim

Nice to see kids playing on the lawn, seems a lot of kids nowadays all they want to do is play video games and the only thing that gets exercised are there thumbs.


----------



## Pete1313

@ronjon84790 Thanks!

@pennstater2005 Come on over, but make sure you take your shoes off first! 

@KoopHawk :lol: :lol:

@iowa jim it is nice to see, and it is sad that more kids would rather play with their electronics. All the neighborhood kids get out and play alot. My yard seems to usually be the gathering point and I love it!


----------



## mribbens

Pete1313 said:


> I dont know if I would be so into lawn care and do what i do if my kids didn't enjoy playing on it so much. I got home, mowed the lawn, we ate dinner, and afterwards without me knowing they were all outside. Enjoying the fresh cut and playing the sports they love, barefoot. It's why I do what I do. It was satisfying to see and makes the efforts I put in worth it. Figured I would take a break from how I maintain the lawn and show the why. Grabbed a couple quick pics of them playing and thought I would share.


This, this is why we work so hard, kudos!!! Your lawn is so nice everyone in the neighborhood should enjoy it


----------



## Pete1313

mribbens said:


> This, this is why we work so hard, kudos!!! Your lawn is so nice everyone in the neighborhood should enjoy it


Thanks for the kind words!


----------



## forumaccount

Alex1389 said:


> If you're super bored, I'd love to see a side by side of Mazama vs Bewitched in your yard also.
> 
> Hey TLF guys, check out this guy over here bored with his absolutely perfect lawn. :lol:
> 
> Jk, Pete, looks amazing as usual.


+1 on that Mazama experiment. Wonderful work, Pete1313.


----------



## forumaccount

Pete1313 said:


> @g-man I do agree that summer patch is the most likely cause. It is something to monitor in the upcoming years. It is no where near the point to where I want to break my goal of being fungicide free, but like to look back at the logs and figure out what could of made it noticeable and try and make some adjustments for next year. Maybe pushing the soil to stay on the dry end helped earlier in the year, but contributed to the spots starting to show up at this point. Maybe switching up the irrigation strategy at some point during the mid summer might help. The weather here is not as extreme as areas further south, so I would think in most years summer patch would not be as much of a concern for me. Nevertheless, a few spots are showing up. There is some correlation with soil PH, iron, and manganese levels and summer patch. My soil PH is alittle on the high side(7.1 last test) and have been working with *elemental sulfur* as well as some ammonium sulfate. My soil iron levels are high(239ppm) and although my soil manganese levels are good(83ppm) I wonder with my soil PH and iron levels it could be causing some manganese deficiency and if adding some manganese to the foliar sprays might be a worthwhile addition. A tissue test would be the best way to see if I should add some manganese, but might play around adding alittle to the tank.


I've been having a hard time finding Elemental Sulfur. Maybe I don't know exactly what I'm looking for. My PH is on the high side. I've used a couple different products so far. Can anyone here explain "Elemental Sulfur." I need to bring my PH down from ~7.3. I've tried to find the most "pure" Sulfur products.

This is what I've found and used:

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Sta-Green-30-lb-Soil-Conditioner-Aerate-Soil/50189501
-Doesn't seem to have done much (it's been 3+ months.) I've been researching and Gypsum seems to be more of a temporary solution.

https://www.kelp4less.com/shop/sulfur/
-Almost 2 months later and I still have undissolved granules. PH hasn't moved much, if at all.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/20-lb-Fast-Acting-Sulfur-100510896/203342315
-Just applied a couple days ago, too soon to comment. First impression is they idssolve easier than the tablets above.

Not intending to hijack, but Elemental Sulfur has been mentioned and I'd be crazy not to ask the pro's.

Ammonium Sulfate sounds intriguing, but as an amateur, I'm hesitant adding nitrogen in this hot weather. I haven't fertilized since June 13th with a 12-12-12 blend (roughly 3.24LB per 1ksqft on the year so far.)

Here I am, ranting again. :lol:


----------



## Pete1313

@forumaccount welcome to TLF! Check for elemental sulfur at places where golf courses and landscapers get their supplies. Updating your location to a more specific area might be helpful in having others help you source it as well as checking in the hometown threads. Also, depending on your soil, elemental sulfur may not be as effective in lowering ph. Gypsum will not lower ph. Those other two products should, depending on your soil. I am far from a pro, and especially when it comes to soil chemistry. I'm learning every day, just like everyone! Ammonium sulfate will have an acidifying effect. 2.8 lbs of ammonium sulfate has a similar acidifying potential to 1 lb of elemental sulfur.


----------



## Pete1313

Update. I dropped some ammonium sulfate on 8/10 as well as increased to watering a bit. Mother nature has been helping out with some good rains as well. On 8/17 i did another T-nex, urea, iron app. I upped the T-nex rate to .316 oz/M and this time I added in some Mn Sulfate. These spray apps are slowly getting more stuff added to them. If you look on the right you can see the cost of each product in the spray app. It sums up to $0.55 per 1000 sq ft. Being as cost effective as possible while trying to achieve my goals is something I am constantly keeping an eye on with a larger yard.


Later in the day I put down my last app of the year of gypsum at around 21 lbs/M. I have been staying on schedule with applying the T-Nex based on GDD and the growth has been very consistant this year. Sometimes during the hottest times it can be every 10-12 days.


The lawn responded well to the ammonium sulfate on 8/10. There was a point last week where i was considering sending a turf sample to UW to confirm that the spots I have are indeed summer patch, but watching them this weekend and doing my morning dew walks I am more convinced that is what I have today. They are slowly closing up and are not getting worse which is good to see as cooler nights are coming and should get even better recovery soon. I do have some things to think about this winter though and how I will deal with summer patch next year. I don't think it was a tough summer in my area and worry how bad it could be if it was an even tougher year. Summer patch is best dealt with starting in late spring with preventative apps that are timed correctly. I'm confident that I will be fungicide free this year, but not sure that even if I improve on cultural practices if i can keep it at bay during a tougher year.

Here is one of the worst summer patch spots that I will track thru fall and watch the recovery of.
8/10

8/18


Overall the lawn is still looking good for mid August. I picked up 3 more bags of ammonium sulfate from Conserv FS and in total now I have 7 bags of ammonium sulfate and 1.5 bags of urea to get me thru fall. Here are some current pics of the yard.








Lastly, here are some updated pics of the tree ring spots that I have been tracking this year. They are closing up which is good to see.
4/21

5/5

5/27

6/26

8/18


4/21

5/5

5/27

6/26

8/18


----------



## ericgautier

Beautiful @Pete1313 !


----------



## Pete1313

ericgautier said:


> Beautiful Pete1313 !


Thanks @ericgautier! Your lawn is looking great as well!


----------



## pennstater2005

Wow.... that that really has filled in nicely! Well done.


----------



## Pete1313

pennstater2005 said:


> Wow.... that that really has filled in nicely! Well done.


They have. When they no longer become an eyesore, you tend to forget about them. That's why it is cool to take pictures and look back. Filling in and recovery, it's the beauty of KBG.

I've been quietly following your reno as well as many others. It has been a rough start with all the rain and no doubt the reno booze budget may need to be increased. In the end it always turns out and look forward to the day 30, 45, 60 pictures!


----------



## pennstater2005

Pete1313 said:


> pennstater2005 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Wow.... that that really has filled in nicely! Well done.
> 
> 
> 
> They have. When they no longer become an eyesore, you tend to forget about them. That's why it is cool to take pictures and look back. Filling in and recovery, it's the beauty of KBG.
> 
> I've been quietly following your reno as well as many others. It has been a rough start with all the rain and no doubt the reno booze budget may need to be increased. In the end it always turns out and look forward to the day 30, 45, 60 pictures!
Click to expand...

Thanks Pete. And you're right it ends up looking good in the end. Did the straw you saw on my seed freak you out a bit :lol:


----------



## samjonester

Looks amazing! I love the color changes as well in the progress pics. It seems to highlight your ability to control your turf like very few people are able to! Thanks for sharing!


----------



## forumaccount

Pete1313 said:


> @forumaccount welcome to TLF! Check for elemental sulfur at places where golf courses and landscapers get their supplies. Updating your location to a more specific area might be helpful in having others help you source it as well as checking in the hometown threads. Also, depending on your soil, elemental sulfur may not be as effective in lowering ph. Gypsum will not lower ph. Those other two products should, depending on your soil. I am far from a pro, and especially when it comes to soil chemistry. I'm learning every day, just like everyone! Ammonium sulfate will have an acidifying effect. 2.8 lbs of ammonium sulfate has a similar acidifying potential to 1 lb of elemental sulfur.


I appreciate the info.


----------



## Sinclair

The rings around the trees sure are moving now. They'll be gone this fall by the looks of it!


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## SNOWBOB11

Looking great as usual pete. What HOC are you currently at? Any plans to change the HOC into the fall?


----------



## Pete1313

pennstater2005 said:


> Thanks Pete. And you're right it ends up looking good in the end. Did the straw you saw on my seed freak you out a bit :lol:


Not really. I think it was a good idea. Obviously you would want to use weed free but I think the tenacity should help with some weeds. If not, you can get after them when the grass starts establishing.



samjonester said:


> Looks amazing! I love the color changes as well in the progress pics. It seems to highlight your ability to control your turf like very few people are able to! Thanks for sharing!


Thanks! Lighting and camera angle can play a part in how the color shows up in pics. For example, the 4/21 pics are really light in color and most likely due to how the sun was shining and in front of me. If you look at the 5/27 pic compared to the 6/26 and 8/18 pics and look at the mulch ring color, you can see that in comparison the grass has darkened up a bit. On 6/16 I started changing up how much iron I was putting down. Before 6/16 I was putting down .017 lb/M of Fe every time I sprayed. On 6/16 I put down .035 lb/M of Fe. And in my apps after that I ended up increasing my iron apps to .05 lb/M of Fe.



forumaccount said:


> I appreciate the info.


 :thumbsup:



Sinclair said:


> The rings around the trees sure are moving now. They'll be gone this fall by the looks of it!


Let's hope so! Most of the damage to them was done late last fall, the new mower setup is helping, but the true test will be how they look come November.



SNOWBOB11 said:


> Looking great as usual pete. What HOC are you currently at? Any plans to change the HOC into the fall?


Thanks! Still at 1.0" bench HOC. With the smooth rollers the actual HOC will be slightly higher, maybe 1.125". I'm not sure yet about a change. I want to aerate, and if I do I will drop it down some but am not sure if I will go right back up to 1.0" or keep it alittle lower.


----------



## Pete1313

On 8/23 I dropped 1.9 lbs/M of granular ammonium sulfate(.4 lbs/M of N). Weather is looking good in NW IL, so let's get the fall N season started!


After that, here is where I am at so far on the season. 2.87 lbs/M of N so far this year.


Today, 8/25, double cut and dropped the HOC to 7/8". I dropped it down, and might go alittle lower still in preparation for an aerate and drag that am planning to do next weekend sometime. Here are some pics from today.








Here is an update on a summer patch spot that I will keep tracking until it is no longer visible.
8/10

8/18

8/25


Want to share an informative webinar I recently listened to on Turfnet about soil-borne diseases by Lee Miller of the University of Missouri.
https://www.turfnet.com/webinar_archives.html/soil-borne-diseases-a-dirty-problem-r183/
Some good info about summer patch, and I will share a couple slides that I took screenshots of from the webinar.


----------



## Pete1313

Tore it up yesterday, and had a blast using all the equipment! We had a good saturating rain on Monday, and then on Wednesday night I ran an irrigation cycle to put down .35" of water to keep it wet. Thursdays ET was .18" and left what I felt was great soil moisture on Friday morning to accomplish an aeration. Started out in the morning by mowing and dropping the HOC to 11/16".



It looked good that low. I then flagged all the irrigation heads. Baseball in pic to show the density and HOC.



Here is the a pic of my aerator. It has 168lbs of suitcase weights already on it,



But added another 270 lbs of dumbells. Total weight combined with the weight of the aerator is around 540 lbs.



Here is a pic of the tines that I had made a couple years ago. Still holding up well. They pull a 3/4" plug. The original tines would only pull a 1/2" plug.





Ended up doing a single pass over most of the area, with a double pass in some of the more trafficked spots. Was able to pull a 2.5" deep core in most spots, but some of the tougher areas would only go down maybe 2" in my tight, heavy soil. Affected surface area disruption is around 1.38% with a single pass of a 3/4" tine with 4"x8" spacing, but I learned the hard way last year that multiple passes really tear up the turf. The design of the tines really create alot of heave as well and think that the aeration affect is more than 1.38%. Here are some pics when I was done aerating. Look close, you can see how it heaves the soil.









I then let the cores bake in the sun for a few hours until I felt they were at a consistency that would easily break apart with a drag mat. I ended up just using a simple 4.5'x5' drag mat. The previous year I used a different drag design that i made https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=276. It worked ok, but didn't like how it gouged some areas due to all my hills and slopes. Here is a pic of the mat I used this year.





I then made a few passes dragging until the soil disappeared back into the canopy and the only thing left is rolled up pieces of thatch/crowns.









I then put the baskets on the triplex,



Kept the HOC at 11/16", and made a pass to collect the debris. The smooth front rollers worked well to help settle down any heave that was caused by the aeration. Here are some pics after the clean up pass.







I'm really happy with how this turned out. The results are much better than last year. Less damage then last year, should recover quick and is looking really smooth at 11/16" HOC. I then put down a round of prodiamine and watered another .35" on Friday night to wash it all down. Here are some pics of how it looks today.









I'm going to give it another mow tomorrow and am due for another T-Nex app. Ofcourse I will add some N to the tank to help it recover as well. Based on how it looks now, I will keep it under PGR regulation. I will probably do the mow tomorrow with the baskets still on but will bump the HOC up to 3/4". I will then clean up the triplex and give it its monthly backlap and re-greasing. I might keep it at 3/4" for a while.


----------



## social port

@Pete1313, how is the summer patch looking?
Also, with the recommendation to move towards NH4, is that a recommendation to use N sources like ammonium sulfate? What is to be avoided, then? Urea? I don't have much knowledge of N sources.

Edit: I suppose that most of my question can be answered with the chart above...but doesn't that mean that the safest bet for avoiding summer patch is to use only ammonium sulfate as the N source?


----------



## Pete1313

@social port, you are referring to this chart I assume.



The big takeaway I got from the webinar is soil PH plays a big role in summer patch severity. I had a soil PH of 7.4 in 2018 and 7.1 this spring. Lowering soil PH can be a challenge for some soils, but doing what you can to try and lower the soil PH in the top 2" of soil is important. I believe it was mentioned that 6.0 PH was a good number to target to reduce summer patch severity. Although AS might not have a huge impact on PH change, especially on some soils, it can temporarily reduce PH in the top inches of soil where summer patch hangs out and why it is suggested when you start to see symptoms. The other thing that the reduced PH does is increase the availability of Manganese, with some correlation of Mn to reduced severity. Looking at the N source chart, you can see that the more acidifying fertilizers have a lower disease severity index.

With cooler soil temps, the summer patch threat is done for me this year and am in recovery mode. I would have updated my progress pics, but they were hard to see due to the aeration but are closing up. I will try and update them next weekend. Ammonium sulfate would be a good nitrogen source for someone with a PH similar to mine. If your PH is already in the low 6s or below, then I don't think it would be recommended to try and reduce the PH anymore, but maybe only put down a small dose of AS if you see symptoms to help speed recovery.


----------



## SNOWBOB11

Tell me the thought about doing a full sand level after aerating didn't cross your mind . Just kidding. Nice job. You should be a grounds keeper. The cubs would be smart to hire you to look after wrigley for them.


----------



## Pete1313

@SNOWBOB11, kidding? Ofcourse the thought of adding sand crossed my mind! It would have been a great opportunity to add some. Sand is cheap here too. Here is a clip from the receipt the last time I got sand.



14.11 tons(around 10 yards), top price of $9.75 is the cost of sand per ton and $4.40 per ton delivery. I would love to start adding some sand and is one thing I miss about a smaller property such as my last home. I've looked into topdressers, and believe I have found a few that would fit my needs, reasonably priced, and still be able to be pulled by the X590. What I am hesitant about is getting equipment to load the sand into the topdresser as I would not want to shovel that amount, places to store a topdresser and loader, and most importantly not having the wife kill me. As you can tell though, I have thought about it.


----------



## SNOWBOB11

$9.75 a ton? Whaaat. That's dirt cheap. No pun intended. I paid that for like 3 bags of sand lol. I got brick sand. I'm still not sure that's 100% the right sand but it was all sand and no concrete so I went with it. It worked for what I needed.


----------



## Chris LI

This is just insanely cool! Where do you find the time?


----------



## FuzzeWuzze

Yea thats crazy prices. Its $350 per ton(about 10 yards?) here and thats if you haul it yourself, which not many people have the truck hauling power to move themselves in 1 go probably.


----------



## social port

Thanks for taking the time to break down summer patch and N sources, Pete. That is an important consideration for my fall plans.
And 


SNOWBOB11 said:


> You should be a grounds keeper. The cubs would be smart to hire you to look after wrigley for them.


I agree with SnowBob.


----------



## Pete1313

SNOWBOB11 said:


> $9.75 a ton? Whaaat. That's dirt cheap. No pun intended. I paid that for like 3 bags of sand lol. I got brick sand. I'm still not sure that's 100% the right sand but it was all sand and no concrete so I went with it. It worked for what I needed.


Actually, cheaper than dirt! I paid $200 for 5 yards of dirt delivered compared to the 10 yards of sand at the same price. I have to admit though, I am about 1 mile away from the quarry. Getting it straight from the source helps. I actually bark at them about the $62 delivery fee to drive the truck 1 mile up the road!



Chris LI said:


> This is just insanely cool! Where do you find the time?


I took Friday off of work, but to be honest it was not too time consuming and just about all of it was spent just sitting down and driving around! 1.5hrs to mow, another 1.5hrs to aerate, took a 3hr break, 1.5hrs to drag it in, 1.5hrs clean up mow, 1hr to spray prodiamine. About 7hrs in total of work.



FuzzeWuzze said:


> Yea thats crazy prices. Its $350 per ton(about 10 yards?) here and thats if you haul it yourself, which not many people have the truck hauling power to move themselves in 1 go probably.


The receipt I had was for about 10 yards, which is around 14 tons. It is crazy cheap, but I do live close to the source.



social port said:


> Thanks for taking the time to break down summer patch and N sources, Pete. That is an important consideration for my fall plans.
> And
> 
> 
> SNOWBOB11 said:
> 
> 
> 
> You should be a grounds keeper. The cubs would be smart to hire you to look after wrigley for them.
> 
> 
> 
> I agree with SnowBob.
Click to expand...

No problem! And thanks!


----------



## FuzzeWuzze

> The receipt I had was for about 10 yards, which is around 14 tons. It is crazy cheap, but I do live close to the source.


I live an hour from the damn ocean, you'd think sand would be cheaper here than in the middle of the country lol.


----------



## Pete1313

FuzzeWuzze said:


> I live an hour from the damn ocean, you'd think sand would be cheaper here than in the middle of the country lol.


 :lol: :lol:


----------



## Pete1313

Lawn is recovering well from the aerate and drag that was done 9 days ago. Did a few mows during the week keeping the HOC at 3/4". Last mow was on Friday afternoon. Here are some pics of it today. Not the best pics during this raw, drizzly, low 60's day.









In the second pic you can see the leaves falling from the one tree. That is the first tree in my yard to start dropping its leaves every year. It is a reminder that the season will be ending soon and maybe keeping it at 3/4" might not be the best for me. My main issue is being able to mulch all those leaves into the canopy. The lowest I can set my riding rotory mower is ~2.25" without scalping due to the hills and slopes, and with a 3/4" HOC it just kind of blows the leaves around instead of mulching them well. So I will probably bump the HOC up a bit, but the 3/4" worked well and was needed for the aerate and drag.

Due to life I was alittle late getting my N and PGR app down after the aeration. I ended up spraying yesterday morning. Here is the app.



Went up some more on the T-Nex(.368 oz/M), the FerromecAC is in there to just acidify the spray tank, AMS, urea, FS, and Mn sulfate. A couple notes, this is my first time spraying AMS and urea in the same tank, it is also my first time spraying this high if a rate of N that was strictly a foliar app(.9 gal/M carrier and left on the leaves all day during a full sun 78°F day). Overall I do not see any difference adding in some AMS(about 2.5oz/M) compared to just urea. Due to cost and having one more thing to add to the tank, I will probably omit it in the next app. The spray put down .232 lbs/M of N. It handled it well sitting on the leaves, no burning, but most of the N was from urea which is safer to spray at higher rates compared to AMS.

Here is an update to the summer patch spots. I cant really see any of them anymore. I took this picture as it is approximately where the one spot I was tracking was, but am not sure. :search:



I brought in 5 yards of new soil last Sunday to level out some erosion spots mostly in the back yard. Ended up using about 3 yards and storing the remaining 2 yards under my back pine tree. The problem is I would fill these spots in the past and then plug them, but due to the water flow during heavy rains the soil would still erode away around the plugs and the plugs would struggle and die. I filled these spots on Sunday, and when I was done smoothing and rolling the soil I said "I'm not doing this again!" Especially since this time I had to buy soil as I ran out of my previous stockpile I had. I still had a few pounds of bewitched and decided to do a late in the season KBG seeding. Monday 9/2 was seed down for these spots and I decided to pick up some erosion/germination netting to prevent any washouts in these spots. I used the "wood wool", weed free stuff with the netting.





Used some stakes to keep it down and began watering on the evening of 9/2. On Tuesday 9/3 and absolute gully washer came thru and dumped 2.51" of rain. I was at work at the time and just figured all efforts were wasted. Came home and all the quick grass pro was still intact with soil and seeds still there. I did some other spot leveling with soil by the street as well with no erosion netting and that soil has to be in the next county over cause it is nowhere to be found. Anyway, I'm a believer in this stuff! :thumbsup: Here are some pics of the repair spots on 9/3







And here are some more pics today 9/8









Lastly, I removed some stakes to check for germination. I'm calling it day 5.5 and here you can see the first over achievers starting to crack and pop up.









A note on the germination blanket, you need to watch your watering as it is easy to overdo it. It helps keep the moisture in as well. Pics from today look really wet, but have recieved .34" so far today. These spots will get alittle starter fertilizer in a few days, and hoping to get them established enough before seasons end.

Some notes about weather, soil temps are looking nice,



Temps are up and down, with chances of rain every day next week,



And here is a snapshot of my watering log over the last month.



Lots of rain, some in excess and not too many irrigation cycles ran. The 8/10 and 8/23 cycles were to water in some granular AMS, the 8/28 and 8/30 were to get the soil ready for aeration and then to water in some prodiamine. The 9/2 - current, you can see zones 4 and 5 being irrigated due to the spot repairs. Note that my irrigation puts down about .10" of water in 30 minutes.


----------



## SNOWBOB11

Great recovery from the aeration. You'd hardly know from these pictures. Congrats on the new seedlings. Interested to see how the germination blankets work for you as things progress.


----------



## Pete1313

Thanks @SNOWBOB11! So far the germination blankets have been doing their job. I think at some point though I will take them up. Maybe by 21 days after seed down. They are designed to stay in place and be mown over, but there is no way to go over them with the reels without tearing them up and causing a mess. I could rotory those spots in the beginning, but the blankets come up fairly easy. My main goal is to try and get something in the ground to prevent erosion. There was a point when I was done rolling the new soil that I debated just buying the cheapest ryegrass I could find and then killing it off next year but decided to give this late season KBG a try. The main issues I have is keeping up on the regular maintenance of the rest of the yard with these spots in place. There will be more spots that I will have to hit with the rotory scissors near the blankets as you cant get too close to the spots with the reels. It also messes up the spraying a bit but still managed to get my last app done. The main issue though, is I dont have time to hand water or to set up temporary sprinklers for just these spots and have to run 2 of my zones multiple times per day. As a result almost a third of my yard is staying really soft which makes for delicate mowing. These spots will get alittle tough love though as I am trying to limit the amount of water as much as possible. In my last reno I started out irrigating almost a total of 150% of ET each day spread out thru the day. So far on these spots i have been keeping it around 100% of ET spread out thru the day and plan to cut back on the water even sooner then I normally would.


----------



## MikeS_inFL

Hi Pete,
A new member here with a question. I noticed you're using T-NEx. Have you had any trouble with water hardness? I ask because I'm switching from glyphosate as PGR to T-Nex because of the trouble glyph has with the dissolved salts & minerals. We've got VERY hard water here.
Thanks


----------



## Pete1313

I have no experience with glyphosate as a PGR, but T-Nex has no known issues with hard water antagonism. Glyphosate does however. These clips from A.J. Patton from Purdue show glyphosate in the red for hard water antagonism and trinexapac-ethyl in the green. :thumbsup: Welcome to TLF!


----------



## MikeS_inFL

Thanks! That's what I was looking for. Also, the word "antagonism" helps in my search abilities. Without it, just about everything that shows up is marketing material and no mention of application troubles. Now I know what the trouble is called: antagonism!


----------



## Pete1313

MikeS_inFL said:


> Thanks! That's what I was looking for. Also, the word "antagonism" helps in my search abilities. Without it, just about everything that shows up is marketing material and no mention of application troubles. Now I know what the trouble is called: antagonism!


No problem! You can also eliminate hard water antagonism by just adding 1.4-2.7 oz of ammonium sulfate per gallon(8.5-17lbs per 100 gallons) to the spray tank before adding the herbicide. Other herbicides besides glyphosate can be affected as well.


----------



## MikeS_inFL

Thanks again, those charts are going to be a BIG help.


----------



## Pete1313

@MikeS_inFL :thumbsup:


----------



## rob13psu

@Pete1313 this might be a silly question, but do you use a NIS when spraying urea?


----------



## Pete1313

rob13psu said:


> Pete1313 this might be a silly question, but do you use a NIS when spraying urea?


Not a silly question. I dont, but I only spray it with T-Nex which has some surfactant in it. If I only sprayed urea would I add some? I dont know if I would. Or at least I would try it first without and see how it goes. I imagine worst case some rolls of the leaves and into the soil for a soil app. That is for a foliar app. If I was spraying higher rates and irrigating right after to wash it into the soil, I definitely wouldn't add a surfactant.


----------



## rob13psu

Pete1313 said:


> rob13psu said:
> 
> 
> 
> Pete1313 this might be a silly question, but do you use a NIS when spraying urea?
> 
> 
> 
> Not a silly question. I dont, but I only spray it with T-Nex which has some surfactant in it. If I only sprayed urea would I add some? I dont know if I would. Or at least I would try it first without and see how it goes. I imagine worst case some rolls of the leaves and into the soil for a soil app. That is for a foliar app. If I was spraying higher rates and irrigating right after to wash it into the soil, I definitely wouldn't add a surfactant.
Click to expand...

Thanks! I was worried about droplet size since I'm using a manual backpack sprayer and a 21 psi CFV. I think I will try my next spray with an NIS and see if there's any noticeable difference.


----------



## g-man

@Pete1313 FYI Frankly speaking with Dr. David McCall had some good info on using FS against DS. One of the items they discussed was that using straight FS was better than chelated. Also to use an 8oz rate. I'm trying to find more recent data(this year).

Edit: there was a post about iron/DS that you mentioned me. I don't recall the location. I heard this podcast today, hence why I posted it here.


----------



## Pete1313

@rob13psu, droplet size would be a factor for foliar. I run XR11003 nozzles set at 40 psi. They produce a fine droplet.


----------



## Pete1313

@g-man, it was Here that I tagged you in response to this question. I listened to that one last week where they talked about it at the end for a bit and might be worth listening to again. It is some interesting current research as FS is significantly cheaper then a fungicide, with the added benefit of the darker green color. It is exciting to see lower rates being suggested then the crazy rates (1-2lbs/M?) that they initially saw control with. Alot of buzz on Twitter from the supers I follow reporting some positive results as well. I switched back over to FS with my July 1st app. Since then I've gone thru 54 lbs of FS.

As you know, I enjoy listening to the turfnet podcasts. They give a nice change of pace to the music on the commute to/from work. I was excited to listen to some of the new ones that came out since friday. I had to drive a customer's car home tonight for an intermittant driveability complaint and was bummed when I saw no bluetooth phone capability. I mean c'mon! What newer car doesnt have the capability of pairing your phone... oh yeah, forgot the car I had to drive was a base model Accent!  Car didn't even have cruise control. SMH.


----------



## social port

Pete, the other day I was reading your old thread to get a better sense of your irrigation layout.
I'm just wondering how you are liking the Hunters?
Would you add more sprinklers if you were redesigning your system, or are you happy with the layout / number of heads etc?


----------



## Pete1313

@social port, sorry for the late reply. I like the hunter PGPs. They are a decent sprinkler for the price. I have 56 of them out there. I would have liked to have the I20s but cost pushed me to the PGPs. 2 features that I wish I had from the I20s are the check valve to prevent some hissing when the zone is initially started and as I just did a few patch seed repairs it would be nice to have the flow stop so I could shut off individual sprinklers in a zone so the whole zone doesnt get over watered.

I put alot of thought into the sprinkler layout and thru tweaking and adjusting them I have gotten them to the point where coverage and uniformity are really good. I also like how I have them only putting down .2" of water in an hour. It makes for longer run times but works well with my soil. I dont think i would add more sprinklers to the lawn. Maybe someday I would want to add a couple zones for a few mulch beds.


----------



## social port

Thanks, @Pete1313; that's really good feedback. I have three PGPs that I use above-ground. I've come to like them better than the MP3000s. They are just easier to use and offer greater flexibility in their patterns. I'll check into the I20s. The flow stop option sounds like it could be a game-changer. I think I could develop a more efficient design, which means less piping and trenching, if I have the ability to manually shut off certain sprinklers in a zone.


----------



## g-man

Pete, what is the od of your grooved rollers? I noticed there are two different styles. A 2in with the pressed bearings and a 2.5in with a center shaft. I want to have a grooved roller without the end caps. I'm wondering what the impact of the bigger od could have.


----------



## Pete1313

@g-man, they are the 2" OD ones. I also wonder how a larger OD roller would handle especially with longer cool season grass. I would want to try a 3" roller, but would have to remove(sell) the groomer assemblies to fit the 3" ones. The 2.5" one would fit with the groomers still installed.


----------



## Sinclair

What a great chart!

I have very hard water, so I'll just add a little AS to everything I spray. :thumbup:


----------



## Pete1313

Sinclair said:


> What a great chart!
> 
> I have very hard water, so I'll just add a little AS to everything I spray. :thumbup:


Especially the herbicides. Here is a link to the whole pdf for anyone interested
Patton PH Water Hardness Handout


----------



## Pete1313

It's been a minute since I updated my journal. Since the 9/9 update I dropped some granular ammonium sulfate on 9/17 at a rate of 1.75 lbs/M (.37 lb/M of N) and on 9/25 I did another spray. Here is a snapshot of the spray. Increased the rates on T-Nex (.421 oz/M), Urea (total spray N was .247 lb/M) and ferrous sulfate.



The story for September has been all the rain here. Just over 9.5" this month so far and a significant amount more expected in the coming days. In my water log you can see all the rain. You can also see the irrigation amounts ran. Zone 4 and 5 are where I did some spot seeding, other than that a small irrigation cycle on 9/17 to water in the ammonium sulfate.



All the rain has made it tough to accomplish my lawn tasks. Some long hours at work combined with other events have kept me away from the yard a bit as well. That being said, I still try and find time to get the mows in, even if it is in the dark!







Despite all the rain, and 2 crazy downpours this month (one on 9/3 and another on 9/12) the spot repairs that were covered with the germination blankets are growing. Not sure how much to expect from them considering how late they were seeded, but we will see. I gave them a dose of a biosolid type product a day or two after seed down, and just recently sprinkled a starter fertilizer on them. These pics were taken on 9/21 (21 days after seed down) and a few spots are almost 2" tall. I have removed the blankets and am only watering once a day now in the morning.







Lastly a few pics of the rest of the lawn. Here are a couple pics on 9/17 of the property line showing the color difference between the bewitched currently mowed at 1" and the neighbors NoMix at 2.5". Just about all the lawns in the area have a similar color to his. He takes good care of it, but you can't compete with genetics.







And here are a couple pics from 9/21. I will try and take a few pics as well during tonight's mow and update.


----------



## fusebox7

"...you can't compete with genetics."

Or someone with your talent!  Looks great as always. Looking forward to what it looks like with higher HOC as you move into leaf-dropping season.


----------



## Rswarren14

So green!


----------



## Pete1313

Thanks @fusebox7, I look forward to seeing some Mazama on your yard next year!

Thanks @Rswarren14! It is really showing it's true color now that it is 2 years old.

Here are some pics during tonight's mow. Not the best quality as they were taken close to sunset. I will try and update with some better pics soon. Once again, I had to finish the mow with the triplex lights on. One of the few things I dislike about fall.


----------



## KoopHawk

I love the lot line pictures. Really highlights the color contrast!


----------



## fusebox7

Dreamy.


----------



## mowww

I can't wait to stare at these all winter once cabin fever sets in.


----------



## Rswarren14

Pete1313 said:


> Thanks @fusebox7, I look forward to seeing some Mazama on your yard next year!
> 
> Thanks @Rswarren14! It is really showing it's true color now that it is 2 years old.
> 
> Here are some pics during tonight's mow. Not the best quality as they were taken close to sunset. I will try and update with some better pics soon. Once again, I had to finish the mow with the triplex lights on. One of the few things I dislike about fall.


I'm working on my first Reno of *** and PRG. All elite cultivars and liking the progress thus far. Could use some tips on how to get the most out of this. I'm seeing some super green spots not so green and bare spots. I just posted an update from my week night mow tonight if you wanted to take a look. What kind of camera are you using to take these great pictures? I'm using my iPhone... ha


----------



## mribbens

Pete1313 said:


> Here are some pics during tonight's mow. Not the best quality as they were taken close to sunset. I will try and update with some better pics soon. Once again, I had to finish the mow with the triplex lights on. One of the few things I dislike about fall.


Amazing lawn, amazing color, fine work


----------



## Pete1313

KoopHawk said:


> I love the lot line pictures. Really highlights the color contrast!


I like to include them cause it shows a better picture of just how dark it is. Depending in lighting when taking a picture the grass can appear lighter or darker, but comparing it to the other lawns shows how different the color really is.



fusebox7 said:


> Dreamy.


Thanks! 



mowww said:


> I can't wait to stare at these all winter once cabin fever sets in.


Enjoy? 



Rswarren14 said:


> I'm working on my first Reno of *** and PRG. All elite cultivars and liking the progress thus far. Could use some tips on how to get the most out of this. I'm seeing some super green spots not so green and bare spots. I just posted an update from my week night mow tonight if you wanted to take a look. What kind of camera are you using to take these great pictures? I'm using my iPhone... ha


I have checked out your reno thread, and it looks like it is doing great! G-man gave some good advice and that it will take a while to get a more uniform color and develop into a lawn. My advice would be to keep up on the mowing, slowly cut back on the frequency of watering and move towards longer waterings that are less frequent, give it small doses of nitrogen, and try not to do too much to it right away.

As far as the camera I use to take all my pictures.. it's the one on the back of my Samsung Galaxy S7. :shock:



mribbens said:


> Amazing lawn, amazing color, fine work


Thanks!


----------



## Harts

I love how much time you spend on your lawn. The fact you have a triplex and a riding mower. The time you spend spraying PGR and FAS............

................And your neighbour uses his lawn has a parking lot.


----------



## Pete1313

Harts said:


> I love how much time you spend on your lawn. The fact you have a triplex and a riding mower. The time you spend spraying PGR and FAS............
> 
> ................And your neighbour uses his lawn has a parking lot.


 :lol: :lol: 
He's a good guy. He has a few work vehicles that he parks in the driveway so he has to park that one off on the grass alittle. He keeps up on his mowing and his yard looks decent. He cuts it alittle too short... but who am I to judge.


----------



## Pete1313

Dear Mother Nature,
Could you please stop with all the rain? It would be nice to actually mow when the ground is not soft or apply fertilizer to saturated soil.
Thanks in advance,
Pete

This rain is getting old. My rain gauge recorded 10.61" for September and October is starting out the same way with .84" and counting. Getting stuff done on the lawn has been a challenge. I did manage a delicate mow last night before we received more rain. Turnarounds and just turning in general are the biggest challenges with the triplex on soft ground, even with the smooth tires. I find myself making wider/slower 5-point(or more) turnarounds to minimize wear compared to the usual quick spin around and go. I have been doing a good job to try and minimize damage. I wish I had a nice big open square like a football field to mow, it would make it alot easier!

I took this pic during last nights mow and thought I would share.


----------



## Rswarren14

The part of MD that I live in has not had good rain for over 6 weeks, probably longer. It was nice for my Reno and not having any wash outs. But now I would like some natural irrigation and give my system a break! Going to be 94 today?!

Push that rain my way!


----------



## SNOWBOB11

As always that looks amazing pete. I wish I could get my bewitched to look half as good as yours. I think it has to do partly with how much shade my lawn gets. I've contacted the city and they are supposed to be coming to trim the canopy of my tree. It's got way to low and it's basically shading my entire lawn for most of the day. I think that's why my lawn partly thins at this time of year. In the spring it looks so much better when there are no leaves on the tree. I've considered a PRG overseed to try and help but I'd much rather have 100% KBG. Hopefully the city actually comes and letting more light in helps my lawn look at least closer to the quality of yours next season.


----------



## ronjon84790

That's a ton of rain Pete! We had a record 6.46 inches of rain this spring and it hasn't rained much since. I could use some of that rain now. Send it my way.


----------



## fusebox7

SNOWBOB11 said:


> I've considered a PRG overseed to try and help but I'd much rather have 100% KBG.


My first "reno" was a PRG monoculture in my shaded backyard (old house). It will look good for 1 season and then thin out drastically. Better luck going with TTTF, especially in cold climates such as ours. I'd still give the Bewitched KBG time to adapt! When I did the KBG 3-way blend it took 3 years to thicken up and look good in my wet, shaded backyard. It just spreads/thickens much less aggressively but it will get there. Remember that the NTEP trials where Bewitched came out on top was in "Dense Shade". You'll get there in time but you're doing the right thing raising the canopy of the trees. It will help!


----------



## SNOWBOB11

fusebox7 said:


> SNOWBOB11 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I've considered a PRG overseed to try and help but I'd much rather have 100% KBG.
> 
> 
> 
> My first "reno" was a PRG monoculture in my shaded backyard (old house). It will look good for 1 season and then thin out drastically. Better luck going with TTTF, especially in cold climates such as ours. I'd still give the Bewitched KBG time to adapt! When I did the KBG 3-way blend it took 3 years to thicken up and look good in my wet, shaded backyard. It just spreads/thickens much less aggressively but it will get there. Remember that the NTEP trials where Bewitched came out on top was in "Dense Shade". You'll get there in time but you're doing the right thing raising the canopy of the trees. It will help!
Click to expand...

Thanks fusebox. I will definitely give the bewitched more time before any thought of overseeding. The lawn is thicker than it was last year at this time so it is spreading but as you say much slower in the shade. I want them to prune the tree as high as it reasonably can be to let in the most light as possible. If the city doesn't come to prune the tree by next spring I will do it myself.


----------



## fusebox7

Pete1313 said:


> Dear Mother Nature,
> Could you please stop with all the rain? It would be nice to actually mow when the ground is not soft or apply fertilizer to saturated soil.
> Thanks in advance,
> Pete


Amen to that! We had a few periods of 0.5"/hr rates (and actually got that much in an hour). Now it's a constant drizzle... for-seemingly-ever.


----------



## mribbens

Pete1313 said:


> Dear Mother Nature,
> Could you please stop with all the rain? It would be nice to actually mow when the ground is not soft or apply fertilizer to saturated soil.
> Thanks in advance,
> Pete
> 
> This rain is getting old. My rain gauge recorded 10.61" for September and October is starting out the same way with .84" and counting. Getting stuff done on the lawn has been a challenge. I did manage a delicate mow last night before we received more rain. Turnarounds and just turning in general are the biggest challenges with the triplex on soft ground, even with the smooth tires. I find myself making wider/slower 5-point(or more) turnarounds to minimize wear compared to the usual quick spin around and go. I have been doing a good job to try and minimize damage. I wish I had a nice big open square like a football field to mow, it would make it alot easier!
> 
> I took this pic during last nights mow and thought I would share.


Great picture!!! My rain gauge registered just about 12 inches for September, awful! The rust is everywhere in my neighborhood, I have a little bit, but sprayed RTS Propiconazole over the entire yard Monday after mowing.


----------



## Pete1313

@Rswarren14, @ronjon84790, I'll gladly send it to both of you, just get it out of the midwest!



SNOWBOB11 said:


> As always that looks amazing pete. I wish I could get my bewitched to look half as good as yours. I think it has to do partly with how much shade my lawn gets. I've contacted the city and they are supposed to be coming to trim the canopy of my tree. It's got way to low and it's basically shading my entire lawn for most of the day. I think that's why my lawn partly thins at this time of year. In the spring it looks so much better when there are no leaves on the tree. I've considered a PRG overseed to try and help but I'd much rather have 100% KBG. Hopefully the city actually comes and letting more light in helps my lawn look at least closer to the quality of yours next season.


@SNOWBOB11 I'm not going to lie, I have debated adding some PRG. Especially last year. Those pesky few spots that are slow to establish can drive you crazy. Seeding the few bare spots I had this year I can tell will not be as successful as I hoped. There are some seedlings, but not enough and it is getting late in the season. Should I have thrown down some PRG instead, probably. I will add some plugs in those spots this fall if it ever dries out and if I am still unhappy next year I think I will use a spot in the backyard, take a sod cutter and cut out what i need and then do a more controlled seeding in the spot I cut out.

I think you touched on an important point in your post. Although bewitched is a more shade tolerant cultivar then other KBG cultivars, it is still KBG and does it's best in full sun.



SNOWBOB11 said:


> fusebox7 said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> SNOWBOB11 said:
> 
> 
> 
> I've considered a PRG overseed to try and help but I'd much rather have 100% KBG.
> 
> 
> 
> My first "reno" was a PRG monoculture in my shaded backyard (old house). It will look good for 1 season and then thin out drastically. Better luck going with TTTF, especially in cold climates such as ours. I'd still give the Bewitched KBG time to adapt! When I did the KBG 3-way blend it took 3 years to thicken up and look good in my wet, shaded backyard. It just spreads/thickens much less aggressively but it will get there. Remember that the NTEP trials where Bewitched came out on top was in "Dense Shade". You'll get there in time but you're doing the right thing raising the canopy of the trees. It will help!
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Thanks fusebox. I will definitely give the bewitched more time before any thought of overseeding. The lawn is thicker than it was last year at this time so it is spreading but as you say much slower in the shade. I want them to prune the tree as high as it reasonably can be to let in the most light as possible. If the city doesn't come to prune the tree by next spring I will do it myself.
Click to expand...

@fusebox7 gave some good advice from first hand experience! Give it some more time and get the tree canopies raised!



fusebox7 said:


> Amen to that! We had a few periods of 0.5"/hr rates (and actually got that much in an hour). Now it's a constant drizzle... for-seemingly-ever.


It really is getting old. I would be happy if it didn't rain the rest of the year!



mribbens said:


> Great picture!!! My rain gauge registered just about 12 inches for September, awful! The rust is everywhere in my neighborhood, I have a little bit, but sprayed RTS Propiconazole over the entire yard Monday after mowing.


12"! You got it even worse then we did! No fungus here thankfully. Looking at the extended forecast here it looks like the only rain is on Saturday(ofcourse on the weekend) but if the 10 day holds true we should be drying out next week. I am not welcoming the cooler temps and all day drizzle that I am experiencing in Schaumburg today.


----------



## Pete1313

October has been a challenging month for lawncare for me. Between getting home from work right at sunset and having other weekend commitments, the biggest challenge is just finding daylight to get stuff done. I have learned to accurately spray the yard in the dark by driving along the stripes and having some type of light around my neck so I can see the speedo. Also every mow seems to end up in the dark as well.





I've still managed to get things done though. On 9/30 I put down some granular ammonium sulfate at a rate of .5 lbs/M of N. That will be my last granular app on the season. On 10/8 I sprayed a mixture of 3-way and ammonium sulfate. I was just going to put the minimum amount of AMS in to prevent hard water antagonism (which is .085-.017 lbs of AMS/gallon), but had the the bright idea to take advantage of the spray and add some more for a foliar spray. Ended up adding about .5 lbs/M of AMS(about .110 lbs/M of N from the AMS). It was alittle too much and caused some tip burn that lasted a few days. On 10/20 I sprayed my last app of the year of T-Nex. I reduced the rate back down to .211 oz/M since growth is slowing but want to end the year with it still in suppression and avoid rebound. I will try and do one more urea/iron only foliar spray in a couple weeks at a reduced rate(weather permitting) and then put the spray tank away for the year.

Here is a snapshot of my last few apps. At the very bottom you can see the totals on the year for everything. 4.5 lbs/M of N, but the big total is $1165.92 for all things I have done this year. That number comes out to about $30/M and I will work on getting that lower in a few years. Half of that cost is my gypsum amendments which I plan on doing for a couple more years but think I can maintain my yard after I am done with the gypsum at this level for around $15 per 1000 sq ft yearly. A big cost savings was that no fungicides were used this year. 


Here is a snapshot of my ET watering log. Not nearly the excess amount of rain we had last month (thankfully). ET numbers are down, and very little time spent with the sprinklers on.



Lastly, here are some pics of the yard from 10/22. Not the best quality as they were taken at sunset. 2 days after a mow with a HOC at 7/8" and some very windy days blowing around the leaves and pine needles since then.

Left front Yard











Back yard















Right Front Yard


----------



## Alex1389

Absolutely amazing!


----------



## KoopHawk

Phenomenal color. Really incredible contrast with your neighbors' No Mix lawns.


----------



## JDgreen18

I joined this forum last spring and have to say you were one of the members that inspired me the most to step up my lawn care game. Your lawn is amazing as always. Another point to mention you have a good size lot to maintain 38k, to keep that much lawn looking this good is just awesome.


----------



## Pete1313

@Alex1389, @KoopHawk, @JDgreen18, thanks for the replies!

38k sq ft can be a challenge at times, but some things I find easier. Spraying Is one example that I find more enjoyable on my current yard compared to my previous 4.3k sq ft yard. No more adding small syringe filled amounts to the tank, or having to walk around and spray.


----------



## samjonester

Looks great! I can't believe how much you're doing in the dark. How do you manage leaves, needles, and twigs at that scale in the fall?


----------



## Pete1313

samjonester said:


> Looks great! I can't believe how much you're doing in the dark. How do you manage leaves, needles, and twigs at that scale in the fall?


Thanks! I pick up large twigs and place them in the closest mulch bed when I pick up the dog poop before mowing. I'll move them to the burn pile when enough of them pile up. So far I have just been mowing over the leaves. The groomer does an ok job on the leaves. It pushes them to the side and chews them up alittle and allows the grass to be cleanly cut. The end result is still some leaf litter on the lawn though. I will try and get the rotory out to mulch up some leaves soon. I'll probably end up raking up the worst of the pine needles. I'm currently out of town or I would be out there right now getting work done.


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## Pete1313

Yuck! After spending a few days just north of Dallas this is what Northern IL had waiting for me when I returned. With a low temp of 19°F forecasted for Thursday night I had a couple things i wanted to accomplish today.



First off, I blew out the sprinkler system. Here are pics of the 3 compressors I run together to get the CFM high enough to get the job done. A pressure regulator is set to around 65 psi after the last compressor.







The snow melted during the day and here are some pics taken during the sprinkler blowout.

Maple in play area dropping a good amount of leaves.




Birch losing quite a bit as well.


Another maple dropping leaves.


Good pic of stripes from a mow done 9 days ago still showing strong. Probably 3/8" of growth since then.


Dog vs. Sprinkler Battle.








I also winterized the pool today.

Pics of river formed when lowering pool water level.


Pool and equipment all closed up and winterized.


Then finished up mulching in some of the leaves. Even did half of the neighbors yard to give the rarely used deck on the X590 alittle workout. The X590 is closing in on 200Hrs and maybe about 10hrs have been spent with the mower blades spinning.





Turf is looking really healthy in the end October. With the hard freezes coming up, mulch bed cleanup could start this coming weekend.


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## fusebox7

Whoa. That's early! Our forecasted highs are in the 30s and low 40s from now through next week so I wouldn't be surprised if we saw some white stuff soon too. We've had the 2nd wettest October on record here... it might break the record with a couple days left in the month.

PS Don't have to say anything about your yard... turf looks awesome even with all the shredded leaves


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## Pete1313

@fusebox7, Yeah it sucks to see the snow. Another 2-4" is forecast for tonight. The snow doesnt bother me too much this time of year as long as we dont get dumped on. With soil temps still in the upper 40's, it is usually short lived. It is a reminder that the end of the season is close though. What had me concerned alittle was a low temp in the teens tomorrow night. The main concern was the pool plumbing, but also decided to do the irrigation as well. Hoping whatever snow we get tonight is short lived as well, as my schedule has freed up some and would love to get out in the yard this weekend and get some work done.. Even if Saturday and Sunday's highs will struggle to hit 40°F.


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## Pete1313

More of this nonsense. Probably 3-4" of it. Hoping it melts and dries up enough by the weekend to get alittle yardwork done.


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## Rswarren14

Good riddance!


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## Pete1313

The year is pretty much done here in northern IL. With a layer of snow and ice and some record breaking cold temps, the season has closed down early.

On Sunday 11/3 I was able to blow some leaves out of the mulch beds and chop them up with the rotory.









I then took out the triplex and gave the lawn what was most likely its final cut with it. HOC 13/16"











On Sunday 11/10 I took advantage of a dry but cold day and knocked out the whole burn pile that I had piled up. I forgot to take a before pic of the pile, but here is one from earlier in the year.



Pics of the burning. Even caught the grass on fire.



Some light raking made it look better. That area will be alittle thin and possibly alittle more brown come early spring, but will be a distant memory in June.





Pic of the burn pile now. The remaining wood on the left will be used in the fireplace over the winter. The ash tree is just about gone.



Virtually no growth during that week, but here are some pics of the rest of the yard.











If I can get one more day in late November to clean up the rest of the mulch beds I would be happy, but otherwise I am satisfied where I am at going into winter.

Here are my total Nutrient inputs on the year. 4.5 lbs/M of N, virtually no P, 1.25 lbs/M of K2O, lots of Ca, S, and a good amount of Fe.



The turf has also been under primo regulation all year and will be going into winter.



Overall this was a really fun growing year. Some years I welcome the break in lawncare, but this year I am left wanting more. I will most likely add a few things to my program next year, but alot of what I did this year will probably stay the same. I will try and reduce the total N some next year but will stick with foliar urea as well as blending my own AMS/SOP and also straight AMS for granular. I also want to try and keep the lawn shorter, possibly in the 3/4" HOC range. I might re-introduce elicitors/biostimulants to the lawn, fungicides might also be back on the table due to what I saw with summer patch, and might even try and suppress seedheads next spring.


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## SNOWBOB11

Looks good as always pete. I really enjoyed your updates this year and have learned quite a bit from the process you go through with your turf. I hope to try some more things on my lawn next season that are similar to what you've been doing. I hope to apply my N at a higher percentage by foliar like you have been doing. I tried it this past year and really liked the results.

It will be interesting to see how your bewitched looks next season in year 3 as it continues to mature.

Like you I'm already looking forward to next growing season. It seems winter is here early this year. It's good to have your journal and have pics of your lawn so you can look back at the season and your green grass.


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## Vtx531

Interesting idea with the three air compressors! I use a 1990's 30gal Craftsman that seems to do the trick but I have to let it recharge for each zone and then repeat a second time. Do you have to plug them into different circuits?

Lawn looks great. Do you do the two cleanup perimeter passes before and after or just after?


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## Pete1313

Thanks @SNOWBOB11! 47% of my N this year was from foliar. The results were so positive this year that as long as I continue to spray T-Nex I will be spraying my N. That percentage will likely go up as I try and decrease the total yearly N amounts. 2.1 lbs/M of N was from foliar urea and 2.3 lbs/M was from granular ammonium sulfate.

I do look forward to year 3 of my bewitched and cant wait. Caught myself scribbling down turf related things on a piece of scrap paper during a free moment at work today. Man is it going to be a long winter if I'm already catching myself doing that in November! Winter did indeed come early.

@Vtx531, I do need to plug them into separate circuits. The one bigger compressor was on one 20amp circuit and the 2 smaller ones were on another. The only issue I have come across using multiple compressors together is if they have different rated pressure relief valves. In that case one could pop before the other compressor has reached its pressure. If that happens you will need to work around it by plugging the relief port or commanding the irrigation valve to open before the relief valve pops. By connecting the compressors together you will increase your CFM. Also make sure you have a separate pressure regulator after all the compressors.

I do the cleanup perimeter passes after I am done mowing the rest of the area.


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## Pete1313

What is there to do when it is 36°F outside and rainy? Get some equipment maintenance done. Spent some time pressure washing a season's worth of dirt off of the mowers and giving them a wash.


I spent a good amount of time on the cutting units. Started off backlapping them and then giving them a good cleaning. Dried them off and then went thru them inspecting for anything that might need attention during the off season. Looks like all is good except for a rear yoke block that is showing some wear. I'll pick up another one and replace it in spring.

Decided to get the cutting units all set up so they are ready to go come spring. Cleaned up the front face of the bedknife with a DIY bedknife buddy I made in the past.








Bedknife and reel all sharp and cleaned up



Greased all points on the units and set the reel to bedknife clearance. In this clip you can see me going back and forth on both sides with a .0015" feeler gauge until it get the clearance even and then one more click on the QA5 units will put the clearance at .001" as each click moves the knife .0005". When the .0015" feeler gauge just begins to not fit thru is where I want the clearance to be set at.






These reels were brand new to start the 2017 season. I believe in backlapping as preventative maintenance. I have stayed on top of backlapping and get it done monthly(after about 15hrs of use). Doing it before the reels stop cutting paper. The reels have about 300 hours on them and are still cutting paper cleanly without having to run any contact.






A downside to all the backlapping is the bedknives are starting to thin alittle. You can see at the bottom of this pic the original thickness of the bedknife front face compared to where the rest of the front face is at.



I will get at least another season out of them maybe more. As long as it keeps cutting paper. The plan is when the time eventually comes to grind the reels, I will just go ahead and replace the knives at that point as well.

Double checked the front rollers to make sure they were still parallel to the bedknife and then set the bench HOC to 3/4" and set the FTC groomer to 9/16". This is where I will start cutting next season.

Cutting units are on the bench and ready to go for next season.


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## Stuofsci02

Looks great! I like the photos of your cutting units. They look clean! November is such a depressing month.


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## Pete1313

@Stuofsci02 Thanks! November is depressing. The December thru February will be tough too.

BTW, I look forward to seeing that Flex and what it can do on your yard next year!


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## Stuofsci02

@Pete1313 Yeah I am really looking forward to putting the Flex to work. Just need to wait 150 days... that sucks...


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## Biggylawns

@Pete1313 thanks for the info on the backlapping and bedknife hours, replacement, etc. I just got a 1600 and I've been looking for some more info and your journal definitely provides that.


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## Pete1313

@Biggylawns, no problem! Amount of time between grinds will vary depending on your setup as well as how often you backlap to keep a sharp edge. How long a bedknife lasts will also vary depending on the type of bedknife installed. My units have the John Deere high cut fairway knives which are really thick and will last longer than a thinner greens type knife.

Here is some really general info on reel grinding intervals that I pulled off of a manufacturer website (nearytec.com) that makes reel grinders and what they say about how often you should grind. Approximately 375-425 hours for a 5-7" diameter reel in a fairway application.


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## Pete1313

Continuing the lawn journal for 2020 here.

Pete1313's 2020 Lawn Journal


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