# g-man 2019 Lawn Journey



## g-man

Lets continue the journal in to my 6k lawn. This is a lawn in one of the Indianapolis suburbs that I'm reel mowing at 24mm (~1in).

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

*Goals for 2019:*
- Grade and reno the backyard with bewitched kbg
- Reduce my inputs (aka move more into maintenance)
- Add shrubs and improve landscape
- Finish the front yard irrigation zone and add the rachio flow meter

*Winter*
It was challenge this year. Polar vortex and windy days sucked the moisture out of the lawn (dessication). My lawn normally stays green in the winter, but not this year. It did recover the color and it is looking pretty good right now.

11Mar2019
Dormant lawn


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## g-man

A warm day in Feb
Pruned the trees and rose bushes.

17Mar2019
Took soil samples and dropped SOP (1lb/M). I knew I needed the potassium, so I dropped some without getting the soil results back. I also did a clean up mow with rotary to pickup any branches.

23Mar2019
First reel mow!!! Tuned up the 220E and replaced chains/sprockets. Found a tunnel mole in the backyard on the initial perimeter pass. Used the 220E to get it flat. Mowed the front yard and when I returned there was a new tunnel. He/she was on the move. It was moving around 1in every 20s. I used the 220E to get the tunnel flat, permanently flat.









27Mar2019
I took this mid second reel mowing. On the right side you can see the Reno from last year. The Reno looks better than my nomix. The TTTF at 1in took a beating and it has white leaves. I think it will recover.


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## g-man

29Mar2019
A perfect drizzle rain for prem. I missed the opportunity.


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## ronjon84790

Looking forward to following this year.


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## Alex1389

@g-man any theories on why your NoMix greened up and your neighbors' have not yet?


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## g-man

@Alex1389 yes. Fall Nitrogen.


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## g-man

Not only Purdue is out of the final four, but also this.










This morning with better lighting. The weather folks never talked about snow. The roads weren't prep or treated. Good Indiana weather, if you don't like it, wait an hour it will change.


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## Pete1313

:shocked:


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## g-man

It been a busy last couple of days. The kids has spring break this week. We went to Cincinnati to see 100% Perennial Ryegrass. The boy watched a game eating peanuts and cracker jack. :-D



The snow stayed until late Monday on the yard. We returned Wednesday and the lawn needed a mow. It is starting to take off.
03Apr2019 Before mowing









03Apr2019 after mowing




Thursday morning I spent it here.


Thursday/Friday I spent the afternoon doing the retention wall on the left side of the house. The ground was moist on Thursday and I was able to do a lot. It rained on Thrusday night and Friday was slow with all the mud. Getting it leveled in all directions is hard.

I got 15 bags of mulch from the Lowes special. My son took all the old mulch out and we then placed the new one. I redefined most of the beds. Two of them have plenty of bewitched KBG that I want to transplant.

Yesterday I did another mow. I'm at 24mm (1in) and I dont like it this high. I want to leave the reno areas at 1in thru the summer. I edged, trimmed and striped the lawn for spraying. I then finally sprayed prodiamine at 5grams/ksqft (0.32lb ai/acre rate). I sprayed the whole yard at this rate. I plan to do a second (split) app in 8 weeks but only to the areas not getting a reno.










Reel low Northern mix (look at the TTTF at 1in):


Last night pictures. (the pixel night images look great)




After all this work, today(07Apr2019) it is supposed to rain and I'm going to rest.


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## Pete1313

g-man said:


>


I really like this pic. You can see the stripes, but what stands out to me is the crisp, clean edging. I see the sign in the next door neighbors lawn. Did they get tired of competing with your yard?. :lol:


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## social port

Pete1313 said:


> g-man said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I really like this pic. You can see the stripes, but what stands out to me is the crisp, clean edging. I see the sign in the next door neighbors lawn. Did they get tired of competing with your yard?. :lol:
Click to expand...

Agree. It is looking great already, g-man.


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## g-man

@Pete1313 and @social port , you guys like the picture I did not plan or even stopped to take. I went get my son from the neighbors house and took that image while walking.

She got relocated to California from work in October. It is finally pending. It needs prem.


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## KHARPS

Looking good! I think you accidentally captioned a couple of those pictures as "May" instead of "April"


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## g-man

Spring flush is here. My last mow was on Saturday. After looking at it today, I could mow again today.

Growth Potential is high. Water usage is about 0.1in per day. We had nice rains that are maintain the field capacity all good. Dollar spot probability is increasing, so I need to get the hose ready for dragging.


I want to highlight two things with this image. I have not applied any nitrogen to my lawn since 15oct2018. I also did not apply the late winterizer application either (after top grow stops).


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## OnyxsLawn

@g-man Are you planning on applying any N to your reno area in the back this spring?


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## g-man

Yes. This week. I dropped alfalfa pellets but those take a while to feed.


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## g-man

13APR - Built some more trenches to channel water out of the backyard and prep for leveling. Took bewtiched from the mulch bed and plugged into the side yard.

16APR - 1lb of K and P/ksqft. Reno area got 0.25lb of N/ksqft. It is spreading.

Mowed with single doubles on Tuesday night. Clippings were at 1in in length and hoc at 1in. No nitrogen.




17 Apr - 7am images (still dark) - using Pixel Night mode





Next steps:

- The Reno might need iron. Let's see how it responds to AS. 
- There are a couple of grassy weeds that will get round up. 
- Monitor the neighbor yard that looks to have leaf spot.
- Grow is crazy, but will wait for seedheads to pop up before PGR.


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## Pete1313

@g-man, looking good! :thumbsup: question, what are your thoughts on waiting until seed heads before primo compared to starting on it after the 2nd true full mow? Is the wait due to the part you renovated?


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## g-man

My thoughts are that I don't like the seedhead phase. It is about to start soon. I think if I start pgr, I'm just going to extend it because the grass is growing slower.

By the way, I'm in my 4th true mow this weekend. I'm at a rate of 1in of grow in 5days.


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## Pete1313

Makes sense. I'll do my second true mow on Saturday. Alittle behind you as I'm further north, but looking forward to get back on the primo as the growth is ramping up in spots.


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## iowa jim

Your sidewalk looks like it as some striping on the sides and really makes your lawn pop. Do you bleach your sidewalk and driveway or is it just newer paving because it looks nice?


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## ctrav

Talking the talk and walking the walk...good looking lawn sir...


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## g-man

@iowa jim the concrete is new and fairly white. I applied a chemical to prevent salt damage, not the best application.

@ctrav I think it is important to show that what we recommend works. Also to show that things not always go according to plan.


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## g-man

Reno update.

Last year I did a Reno of two challenging areas. One is was the no mans land area between my yard and the neighbors. It was not smooth and the water flow was not right. The other area is a 45 degree slope near the patio plus I wanted a sod farm for plugs. I wanted to tackle these areas ahead of the backyard Reno to be sure I could focus on them.

I had struggles with downpours, washouts and melting out.l fungus. Things did not look too good at the end of the season (see my 2018 journal).

But here is the current status. The back looks great. The section behind the tree still needs to fill in. I need to apply more iron to it. I think by summer it should be all good.







This is the side with the 45 degree slope. It is almost all filled. I still need to clean up the bed around the tree to grab the kbg that is growing in there.



This area is still filling in. I used plugs from the other mulch beds to help it fill in faster. This was going to be the plug farm. I might make the mulch areas bigger and plant boxwoods and hostas. It is in the side of the house with a/c, gas meter, etc.


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## g-man

It been raining a lot in Indy. Rain + spring flush means a lot of grow. Even yards that are not normally treated look awesome.

26Apr2019 - On Friday I managed to mow. The color is crazy dark. I had 1.5in clippings in a 1in hoc (1/3 rule?)









28Apr2019 - It was a rush mow on Friday because it was long overdue. We had rain again on Saturday and Sunday am, but in the afternoon the sun came out. So I told my dear wife I was going to mow. After 10min of explaining why I needed to mow, I failed to convince her. I mowed and sprayed FAS at 0.32lb of Fe/ksqft to the Reno area. I also planted flowers and started the garden.







30Apr2019- Play soccer with the kids. Talked to the new neighbors. Dropped 1lb of AS to the Reno area. The rest of the lawn looks that it will need nitrogen this weekend. My son helped me to prime the irrigation lines.

Things to do next:

-I want to spread the Grubex, but I'm looking for a good rain timing to avoid downpours.

-I need to gly this:


-Install these:


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## g-man

So much rain plus timing did not work for being able to mow for a week.

02May - kill POA t day. Spot treated all I could find. I first used my hand to pull up as much as possible and expose as much of the leaves. I went with a low concentration. I want a slow kill so the gly gets to the roots.

- also applied azoxy to the Reno border area. It looked like leaf spot was showing up.

04May - first N of the season. 0.45lb of N/M via AS for the entire yard. The lawn was too wet to mow, kinda like the Kentucky Derby mud fields.

05May - finally mowed!!! It took 3 directions to go from 3.25in to 1in. Clippings everywhere! My plan was to do tenacity + triclopyr yesterday, but it got too dark. Tonight I will switch to PGR and FAS. More rain in the forecast and I can't keep up.























I need to inspect this area better. I see some yellow there.



This is the side reno area. The mid section is before mowing. It is filling up!


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## ksturfguy

Looking good G-Man!


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## g-man

06may

10mL/ksqft of t-nex + 1oz of Feature/ksqft + AMS. Hopefully I can keep up with mowing.


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## Green

@g-man, front looks good.

What glyphosate concentration did you use, and what else did you add? I'm new to glyphosate and am in the middle of this. For the first spray round, I did 1 gal of filtered water, 2.5 oz of ammonium sulfate (weight), 3.6 fl oz of 41% gly (vol), and 0.5-1 oz NIS (vol).


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## SNOWBOB11

Hey g-man. How much AMS did you add to your t-nex, feature mixture? Also is 1oz per K as high as you'll go with feature?


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## g-man

@Green I just used the label recommendation. I always add a bit of ams to lower the pH in my water. I only mixed 1/4 gallon.

@SNOWBOB11 I apply a close fist of ams per gallon. I took a weight to it last week and forgot to record it. I think it was 30grams.

For FEature you can go high, 8-12oz, but not in repeated applications. When added to t-nex, I normally do 3-4oz since I know I will reapply in 2-3 weeks. I applied Feature to the Reno areas last week, so was avoiding too dark color with just 1oz.


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## SNOWBOB11

g-man said:


> @SNOWBOB11 I apply a close fist of ams per gallon. I took a weight to it last week and forgot to record it. I think it was 30grams.
> 
> For FEature you can go high, 8-12oz, but not in repeated applications. When added to t-nex, I normally do 3-4oz since I know I will reapply in 2-3 weeks. I applied Feature to the Reno areas last week, so was avoiding too dark color with just 1oz.


Thanks g-man.


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## HoosierDaddy

Looking good!


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## g-man

06May19- Tnex at 10mL/M and 1oz of FEature/M + GrubEx (late!)
08May19 - A clean up mow.

I spotted this in the front lawn. :-( I think it is yellow patch. The plan is to do nothing and monitor


09May19 - Played catch with the boy and took some pictures of the lawn. I can tell that T-nex kick in. I need to do more iron.

Bewitched mono on the right. Northern Mix on the left. Round up Poa t in the upper left.


Side hill area filling in


Front. The fungus is almost gone.


To do list
- last irrigation zone. Call 811 and hope for a nice day.
- plant annual flowers.
- Spray more iron.


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## g-man

@HoosierDaddy it doing better than what I anticipated with all the downpours last year. Thanks.


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## llO0DQLE

g-man said:


> This morning with better lighting. The weather folks never talked about snow. The roads weren't prep or treated. Good Indiana weather, if you don't like it, wait an hour it will change.


LOL sounds like Alberta!


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## llO0DQLE

g-man said:


> I want to highlight two things with this image. I have not applied any nitrogen to my lawn since 15oct2018. I also did not apply the late winterizer application either (after top grow stops).


Thanks for sharing, that's very informative. How much N did you apply in the fall, and what was your yearly total N? And from what sources?


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## g-man

3N/M for the year (non Reno areas) with 1.5 of those in the fall. I used on bag of Menards Milo. No other organics. The Reno/downpour took most of my time last year.

There is a chance I forgot to record 0.25N into the log. I tried to do small feedings more frequently based on Grow Potential.


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## llO0DQLE

Very interesting. What's Grow Potential?


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## g-man

11May2019-
Planted the garden peppers with the "help" of the 3yr old. Planted some of the annuals into pots. Dropped 200lb of Mason sand in some spots for leveling.

I took a section with betwitched that grew into the mulch bed and moved it to plug the side yard. Alfalfa pellets to the Reno areas. Then it rained and rained and rained.

The longer looking leaf blades are the plugs.


13May - 12lb of MAP (11-58-0). AS to the Reno area. FAS at 3oz/M to the Reno plus a section at 6oz/M rate. I did this to show how too much iron looks like.

14May - mowed, edge and trimmed. It was a great 
evening for mowing and enjoyed the mow.







Survey the damaged from the iron. I was trying to test for Novak the FEature rates. 6oz/M was too much for my lawn.


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## MMoore

don't worry about the iron damaging... that's what they are allowed to spray in Ontario for weed control and that's how my whole lawn looked for a week...

it basically makes the seed heads drop on the dandilions so it makes people happy up here being that there is a general herbicide ban.


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## g-man

I'm not worried. I've done it before. This is not bad and it is in the backyard that will get a Reno in the fall.


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## llO0DQLE

MMoore said:


> don't worry about the iron damaging... that's what they are allowed to spray in Ontario for weed control and that's how my whole lawn looked for a week...
> 
> it basically makes the seed heads drop on the dandilions so it makes people happy up here being that there is a general herbicide ban.


lol I feel bad for Bantario


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## g-man

I setup 811 on Monday for tomorrow digging. I was starting to get worried but they started today to place flags.


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## Jconnelly6b

What cameras do you use G-man? Do you love them? Probably will do a camera system this year.


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## g-man

These are just wifi Wyze cameras ($20) mounted on the windows. Mainly just for lawn pictures.


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## ricwilli

Hey g-man.
Your lawn is looking really good. Looks like we almost have the exact lawn layout. I have a couple questions.

- Did you do your own irrigation?
- What sprinkler heads did you use?
- How are you watering the grass near the street?
- Do you have any issues with all the water coming down from the gutters?


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## g-man

17 May. Irrigation install. Day 1
I picked the worst day to do this 85F and 74rh and sunny. I had to stop a few times to get in the shade. I ended up drinking more than 128oz of water (4 32oz plus some hose drinking.

I started the at the hardest spot. A 12in head to try to clear the telephone box thing (who uses land lines?). There was a ton of pea gravel. I ended up scooping most of it and replacing with bag top soil. I had some issues with the funny pipe (cut too short) and ended up taking longer to fix.



















Thru digging, I placed the large rocks in this bin. I manage to get it full twice in this 40 ft. section.


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## g-man

@ricwilli I did my own irrigation, well almost. I'm doing the last zone today/tomorrow.

I used hunter MP system with Hunter valves. I used poly pipe.

For the section with near the street (aka hell strip), I'm using hunter strips heads. I set them up to 4ft x 13ft pattern with opposing heads. Before irrigation, I used an oscillating sprinkler head and tuna cans.


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## social port

You should make a video of your install. It's a very daunting process and seems to come packaged with the promise of Murphy's Law.

I can't believe that you had all of those rocks under the surface and still, your grass was doing so well.


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## ricwilli

I know you are a busy man, but if you get a chance, can you tell us more about your irrigation system? Type of MP's. Did you have to use the 30's or 40's? How many heads? Placement of heads and did you use all the same MP rotors. How's the water pressure?


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## g-man

I used mp2000 for the most part. They are on hunter 40psi regulated heads with check valves. I don't have a layout of the system. I did it on paper.

The backyard is a pattern of 4 x 3 heads at ~18feet distances. The side by the 3rd car garage was the hardest to design. That's on mp1000 on 30psi heads with a corner nozzle. They are setup at 8ft (lowest the mp1000 will do), but right at the property line.


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## g-man

@social port it would be a very boring video. I found a ton of more rocks and pea gravel. It is normal for the areas around the sidewalk to prep for concrete.


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## g-man

Yesterday I managed to do a lot more than I anticipated before having to stop for soccer games. After the game I gave the lawn a quick mow in anticipation of rain today.

I did baked in the sun and got sunburn in the head. I don't like wearing hats due to headaches.

I almost cut the cable TV. It was marked 3ft off. I'm glad I was not rushing. 


As you can see in the images, I take a 3-4in cut of the grass as deep as possible. I then cut the sections in 12in length to be able to handle them. This way I can place it back and level it. I was able to reel mow the area yesterday. Since I took rocks out, I had to add topsoil to the bottom to bring it back to level. I tend to leave it higher by 1-2in and then step on it to get it to settle even. If it doesn't stay even, then I remove the sod and add more topsoil or take out as needed. This is more time consuming process, but it works great.

This is how it looks this morning.


The weather folks were right. It is raining and I was not able to finish. Amazing the difference in a day. Yesterday it was so hot and sunny that my ET was 0.23in. That means that the lawn used almost 1/4in of water plus evaporation in a single day. Days like this throw the 1in of water a week guideline out the window.


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## Pete1313

Looking good @g-man, and good job getting work done on the irrigation. I'll take some of those .23" ET days! Was that before or after figuring in a crop coefficient?


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## g-man

ET0, before crop factor. Since it is growing like crazy, I'm assuming 100% crop instead of 80%.


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## ricwilli

Hey g-man
Do you have a website from where you purchase all your Hunter irrigation stuff?


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## g-man

Sprinkler warehouse is the one I used. There are others, so you can shop around for the lower price.


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## g-man

Last night I finished the sections I wanted to finish last weekend. It looks pretty good for working in the dark for portions of this.





I now need to get the pipe thru the back of the mulch bed and connect to the valve. I forgot to take pictures of all the new rocks I found in there.

I will recheck the sod in a week after the rains to add more top soil if it settles too much.


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## slash8118

g-man said:


> For FEature you can go high, 8-12oz, but not in repeated applications. When added to t-nex, I normally do 3-4oz since I know I will reapply in 2-3 weeks. I applied Feature to the Reno areas last week, so was avoiding too dark color with just 1oz.





g-man said:


> 13May - 12lb of MAP (11-58-0). AS to the Reno area. FAS at 3oz/M to the Reno plus a section at 6oz/M rate. I did this to show how too much iron looks like.


Sorry, just confused about this and trying to understand. We're you saying that FEature is ok at 8-12oz/M, but with FAS 6oz/M was too much?


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## g-man

@slash8118 it is possible to go to those levels if the lawn is in chlorosis. Mine was not and I pushed it too much. I think I could have done 4oz (0.4oz of Fe)/ksqft rate without a problem.


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## rob13psu

:thumbup: Nice work @g-man! I've been considering tackling an irrigation system, but I have a 2" gas main that bisects the front yard and I'm scared to death of hitting it.


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## g-man

22May2019
I applied tnex at 10mL/ksqft. I was ahead by a few days from GDD. The forecast had rain and I had a busy work week, so I had to do it early. We had a family vacation planned for the next week(now).

In the rush to get the lawn mowed and tnex, the first tank (3gallons), had 2.2oz of Feature/ksqft. I was not able to locate the box with the new bags of FEature I ordered, so a portion of the yard only got tnex.

Here are the results, but the image doesn't compare with what I see:

Left side and back has FEature, right side inside the blue box is without.


This has the window reflection in it. I'm not home, so I can't take more pictures.


25May2019
I had a break in the weather and was able to get most of the pipe work done minus a T connection that mis counted at Menards. A $0.60 piece that I needed to finish. The rest of the pipes are to the new valve box. Valves bank is ready, so hopefully it will all be done when I return. I dropped a bag of Scott diseasex as a preventive. Neighbors all look to have red thread and leaf spot.

A few of the rocks I found


Pipe is underneath here.


Now the problem. Dollar spot is here. This was at 30% per the model.


It hit 52% yesterday and it is staying there. I wanted to apply a preventive application but time was not in my favor. Let see how it looks when I return.

Reno updates:
It is filling in.





Next steps:
It needs nitrogen. I was avoiding it because of the vacation. 
Order seeds for reno.


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## Pete1313

@g-man, where did you spot the dollar spot? Reno section, nomix with the FEature, or nomix without the FEature?


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## g-man

Nomix with and without feature. It did not cause damage. It was all over yard friday am with the dew and rain the previous day.


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## Pete1313

Good to hear that it is not on the reno sections. No DS on mine this year so far, but the model only has me in the 35-40% range and then dropping back down to low 20's by Sunday.


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## slash8118

g-man said:


> Nomix with and without feature. It did not cause damage. It was all over yard friday am with the dew and rain the previous day.


Doesn't bode well for iron working as a dollar spot preventative :|


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## Green

g-man said:


> I almost cut the cable TV. It was marked 3ft off. I'm glad I was not rushing.
> 
> 
> As you can see in the images, I take a 3-4in cut of the grass as deep as possible. I then cut the sections in 12in length to be able to handle them. This way I can place it back and level it. I was able to reel mow the area yesterday. Since I took rocks out, I had to add topsoil to the bottom to bring it back to level. I tend to leave it higher by 1-2in and then step on it to get it to settle even. If it doesn't stay even, then I remove the sod and add more topsoil or take out as needed. This is more time consuming process, but it works great.


My cable was accudentally cut during install. It was only 3.5 inches deep.

I read your method of digging up the sod. I'm going to post a question asking about best ways to do it and what shovel to use, because I need to level a small area.


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## g-man

25May

Mowed before going on vacation. I wanted to apply a something for dollar spot, but not enough time.

I watched the lawn from the camera. One day the DS forecast hit 55%. I knew it was going to be a problem. So here it is:



But that was in the no mix without iron area. The area with iron had some DS but not as bad. I'm not sure this image shows it. The left side has iron. So @slash8118 , the iron research is accurate in reducing dollar spot.



This is the iron area:


02Jun
PGR helped, but the lawn was long. I mowed on Sunday and another mow yesterday to catch all the stranglers. Trimmed, edge and pulled some weeds. I realized that I havent applied any herbicides this year.

I starved the lawn prior to going on vacation. On Sunday (02Jun), I dropped 0.5lb of N /M via AMS and I did 2oz of FEature to the backyard to help with the DS.





I let the iron sit all day yesterday and this am did my first irrigation of the year. ET Is around 0.16in daily.

This is the view this morning. The right area still needs to recover more. Yellow frisbee the kids left yesterday.


I also used a 20-20-20 product at 1.5 tablespoons + 0.5oz of Feature into a gallon to spray all the shrubs, roses and trees. I want to spray my neighbor birch tree. Chlorosis is bad on it. I need to talk to him.

Up next:
- PGR goes down this weekend + 2oz of Feature
- mow.
- one month before I gly the backyard.


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## iowa jim

Is it safe to do two apps of feature in a weeks time? I just started using feature and I'm applying it every 3 weeks. 2ozs/k


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## g-man

@iowa jim it all depends on your current level of darkness.


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## g-man

Heavy rains late yesterday, heavy fog this am with a temp of 68F = a lot of dollar spot. Even the Bewitched got some damaged. :x


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## Pete1313

What % is the DS model at today?


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## g-man

25%. The model can't account for the perfect storm scenario.


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## g-man

06Jun

The damage was there, but mostly in the tips. I could not stand it, so I took the mower out and mowed. Then I sprayed tnex (10mL/M) and 1.5oz of FEature. I tried using citric acid(2oz/gallon) instead of ams. I had a white precipitate at the end of the first tank mix. For the second one I used a handful of citric acid (aka a lot) and it looked better. My water is hard (24 grains). I sprayed it all and the grass is still green. :lol:

07Jun
I tried to finish the last trench for the last two heads in this zone. I could not get the shovel past 2in. It's been very dry lately. So, I hand water the area.

08Jun
With the moist soil, the trench digging was doable. There was a schedule storm approaching.

During the trench I took pictures of roots going below 8in deep. My hoc is 1in and all I apply in this area is NPK and pgr/iron.

I measured 8in deep with a tape measure after taking the pictures but forgot to take one with the tape measure in there.




At end I hooked up a hose to the poly pipe to test the zone. None of the heads came up. At first, I panicked thinking I had a leak somewhere. But then I swapped hoses for a 10ft instead of 50ft one. They all worked! Too much friction loss with that long hose. The pressure is still low because I was not getting head to head (80%). Rain was starting to fall, so I stopped for lunch. Next up connect to the new manifold and the rachio flow meter.


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## social port

g-man said:


> roots going below 8in deep


Whoa! You and @JDgreen18. I'd be happy if I found that in my lawn.



g-man said:


> But then I swapped hoses for a 10ft instead of 50ft one. They all worked! Too much friction loss with that long hose. The pressure is still low because I was not getting head to head (80%).


I'm surprised that the length of the hose had that much impact. What is best to do when you do need that long of a run from the source (e.g., when you do need to feed a line of sprinklers with a 50+ft hose)?


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## g-man

@social port friction losses in a pipe are a function of length of pipe, flow rate and diameter. If you cant reduce the length or the gpm, then you need to increase the diameter. Use a 1 1/2in pvc pipe or poly pipe.


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## g-man

Played catch with the kids. We enjoyed the lawn, but 1in feels long. The mosquitos enjoyed me. After the kids went inside, I did a 0.5oz of cyzmic in a gallon. I sprayed all around the house and patio and trees. It was gratifying to see the mosquitos fall off the tree leaves as I sprayed.


----------



## MNLawnGuy1980

Thanks for all of the assistance @g-man and your lawn looks great. I really like this school of thought and going to put it in my tracker for next year to remember this. My grass is pretty short right now and I am left with seedheads that I am unable to get rid of. Good thing to remember for next year.



g-man said:


> My thoughts are that I don't like the seedhead phase. It is about to start soon. I think if I start pgr, I'm just going to extend it because the grass is growing slower.


----------



## g-man

They forecasted rain for today around 5pm. So yesterday I did a clean up mow with barely any clippings. The pgr is controlling the growth.

The area that got hit by dollar spot is slowly recovering. I dropped urea in this zone. It still looks ugly.





Around 8 week until seed down.


----------



## social port

hey @g-man, you haven't given your lawn much N this spring, correct? Do you think there is any connection between your DS outbreak and lower N total this spring?

Also, I notice that you are already thinking about seeding! You and Pennstater are already ready for summer to be over :lol:


----------



## g-man

I've done 1.42lb of N/ksqft so far this year. Dollar spot shows up due to a fungus. Nitrogen does not prevent it (iron does). Nitrogen is used in the recovery by pushing new growth. I have fungicides to prevent it, but I'm doing a reno.

50% of a successful renovation is planning and the rest is luck with the weather. 8 weeks go really fast and having a plan reduces scrambling at the last minute.


----------



## g-man

Last night before the "rains" (it turned to be very light), I dropped some sand. I'm going to throw some Bewitched seeds into the sand and see if I can make it grow on sand as an experiment.


----------



## g-man

We had ~3.5in of rain from Friday night to Sunday am. South of Indy they had 9 confirmed tornadoes. It is very wet.

Sunday pm things dried up enough to do a mow. I'm still at 1in bench, but I'm thinking on dropping to 0.75in. The dollar spot forecast goes to 62-67% in the next few days. I checked the radar and I was clear to apply a fungicide, so I did. I used a 0.5g/ksqft carrier rate to help it dry up.

One hour and 15min after application a line of storm formed and I got 0.5in of rain at once plus more rain overnight. Foggy and hot conditions today, plus more rain. This is the pattern until Friday. The fungicide is likely wasted.

This afternoon is did 0.33lb of N/ksqft via AMS. I noticed some new dollar spot damage plus something that looks like leaf spot. Therefore I'm not going to take chances. Tomorrow I will do an application of granular azoxy. I think spraying is a waste of time until the weather improves.

Overall it looks good.


----------



## g-man

73%. The front lawn look good at 6:30am.


----------



## Pete1313

That's a yucky number!


----------



## SNOWBOB11

Warm humid and moist where I am today and I noticed a couple areas of dollar spot in my yard . I think it's the first time I've seen it in the bewitched. Thinking about a fungicide spray today but I also need to spray iron so I might do that instead and leave out the fungicide.


----------



## ericgautier

@SNOWBOB11 FWIW, I tank mixed pgr/fe/azoxy last week and sprayed. So far so good.


----------



## g-man

There is a round yellow thing up in the sky. I'm not sure if I should step outside. Finally some sun and 57F for the first day of summer.

18Jun - granular azoxy preventive to avoid leaf spot.

20Jun - The amount of rain is a battle between dollar spot and leaf spot. One likes nitrogen and the other doesnt. In order to get more air flow I chose to drop the hoc to 7/8in. While adjusting, I greased the reel and filed the front of the bedknife.

I mowed with the basket on to collect the clippings. I want to limit the OM in the soil to decrease leaf spot pressure and make it easier for the reno. I like this 7/8in hoc. The lawn looks thick. I can tell that the PRG likes this weather since it is growing more than the KBG. The lawn was still wet in some areas.

Clippings were long. More than 1 inch. I ended up doing two passes. One with basket and one without. 2 bags of clippings in a 5k lawn in 4 days with PGR.


I also dropped some sand on the side yard at the property line. Water is collecting here, so this should help. The rains will help push it down.


This is a spot I treated with round up in April twice 10 days apart to get rid of poa t. I think it survived.


I also sprayed PGR (10mL/M) a day ahead of GDD due to rain forecast the rest of the weekend.

Bewitched is here!!!


It is looking good to do the round up.



Dollar spot damage in here:


----------



## Budstl

When are starting the kill and when is your plan to drop the seed? I was hoping to see you go with mazama, but can't go wrong with bewitched. Everyone's bewitched monos look great. You going to topdress? Hopefully this spring weather don't appear in the fall.


----------



## KoopHawk

@g-man Can you go into a little more detail on iron and nitrogen acting as fungicides or helping to prevent disease? I've seen you hint at it in a few posts. Just curious on the rationale there. Is it just that a healthy lawn is naturally more resistant or is there more to it?


----------



## g-man

@Budstl Kill will likely be 4th of July weekend (based on rain). I really considered mazama, but it just needs more time to see how it performs for others. I normally dont topdress. I can irrigate every hour with the rachio, so it is not a huge need. I am concern with downpours/rains and the PreM I did. PreM breaks down with heat, which we did not have too much this year.


----------



## ericgautier

Looking good! You sure you want to kill that lawn?


----------



## g-man

@KoopHawk Check this  post. The is a lot of research around this. If I recall correctly, the iron changes how the fungus interacts with the plant. I think foliar AMS also changes the surface pH and it helps a little.

@ericgautier I definitely want to kill the back. I want to change to an elite cultivar that is more disease resistant (less dollar spot) and less grow (the PGR grows too fast).


----------



## g-man

27Jun

I prioritized finishing the irrigation over the lawn. The heat is here and I had the system down for upgrades. I finished last night and mowed a tall lawn.

Things are looking good for the kill. I irrigated this am since the heat is here.







This is a closer view of the dollar spot damage.



This is the spot I try to kill POA t. It came back after two round up application. Other spots are dead and filling in, but this is POA t.



Reno update:
It is mostly filled in. There is a wavy pattern to the side that I will fix with sand.


----------



## g-man

We took a family vacation last week to Quebec and Montreal. Awesome weather up there. My wife actually had to buy a jacket for her and the 3yr old since a high of 68F was too cold for them.

I debated with keeping the new zone on or off during the vacation since I barely tested it and I knew it had a small leak. The weather forecast called for rain, so I turned it off. Well the forecast was wrong. It rain 3hr prior to landing back in indy.

I kept watching the cameras while on vacation. I irrigated before leaving for 1.2hr (~0.5in). HOC was 7/8in. root depth is more than 7 inches. It survived 7 hot days without irrigation and stayed green for the most part. The areas near the tree suffered the most and the strips I pulled up for the irrigation line install. It will recover, I'm not worried.










06Jul
Mowed with baskets and then mow in a different direction without them. It was hot and humid. I did not enjoy the mow. The lawn is doing great. It is ready for the kill.










This area behind the tree got dry because of my fault. The irrigation heads were not setup correctly since the reno last year. It is fixed now. 


I applied a lot of sand in this area. I over did it, so I was worried, but it is looking fine. It still has a wavy pattern.


My son school has a grow a cabbage competition during the summer. I'm helping him with what products to use. Organic balanced fertilizer via foliar and soil. He is enjoying it. By the way we wont eat it.


The hydrangea has two color tones. I think I need to add some more AMS to even the color out.


One of the birch trees was struggling due to clorosis. I sprayed it with FAS yesterday. The birch in back neighbor's lawn is almost bare of leaves.




One of my apple trees has the warp engine at maximum. It produced way too many apples. I trimmed them down today with the help from the kids (baby apple collectors) and the kitchen step ladder. I could not reach all of the top ones, so I need to get a real ladder.


----------



## g-man

I've been mowing at 7/8 and collecting clippings in prep for the Reno. Last Sunday I dropped the hoc to around 0.55 and then adjusted the foc on the 220E to go more revolutions. This takes advantage of the groomer to take more it the grass out. The trash can is half full of clippings for a 3k area.

Sunday night:





The plan was to apply gly Monday night, but rain came into the forecast. I decided to apply some urea and get the lawn growing for better gly control. It rain around 2in.

Yesterday was D day. After my son soccer practice I rushed home to apply the first round. I want it down before it gets too hot and the grass grow slows. It was 80F and 80% RH. I used my old hand pump backpack sprayer. Uff, What a pain. I used water after the water softener and ams.

The urea and rain maybe the lawn look really nice at this hoc. Amazing how a contractor no mix can look this good.

This morning view:






Next phase, add a draining sand trench, level a low area and collects water and do a better grade around the patio.


----------



## g-man

It took 4 very sunny days and the lawn is crispy. Today I mowed the rest of the lawn at 1in hoc and then lowered the hoc to mow the Reno area using the groomer. The 220E drum was spinning in the dry lawn. It was hard to control it, but the area is ready for leveling. I filled that bag to the top.







I noticed I missed a line and a couple of spots around the trees. It was windy when I did the gly, so I was being careful around the trees.

The low hoc (I just held the drill for a while), did cause some damage. Amazing it still works. I have spares. I trigger the irrigation to find them all and dig the grass out. I will place flags to avoid them.



I can see how unleveled the lawn is. That's the next weekend work plus releveling all the irrigation heads.

The front lawn survived the heat.


----------



## Alex1389

Good luck @g-man. Looking forward to seeing the results.

Also happy that I'm doing a Reno this year and can see your best practices as I move forward 😃


----------



## pennstater2005

Nice kill! Are your neighbors use to it yet? Mine don't bat an eye.


----------



## Vtx531

Even though it is brown, the uniformity still makes it look good haha


----------



## Green

@g-man, Good luck with it!


----------



## g-man

During dinner my wife looks outside and says: "you really killed the lawn". It's been brown and dead since Sunday. :lol:

I'm getting a yard of pulverized topsoil and a yard of sand tomorrow. There are some areas I want to regrade.

I still want to get some irrigation heads straight and do the 3rd round of gly.

The front recovered nicely.


----------



## social port

g-man said:


> I'm getting a yard of pulverized topsoil and a yard of sand tomorrow. There are some areas I want to regrade.


Is there a guidebook or other information source that you are using to guide you with the regrading process?


----------



## g-man

@social port I've read a ton of stuff for the last 2 years in regards to athletic fields and talking to guys that do this. The trenches, the sand, etc. This is actually my plan B. Plan A was to purchase Root Zone Sand (a mix of sand and compost) made for athletic fields. The price was good per yard, but the delivery was way too high because of the distance.

This is one of the best reference I read. http://blogs.oregonstate.edu/schoolipm/files/2017/09/Construction-Sand-Based-Fields.pdf I grabbed concepts from this and tweaked to a home lawn. I don't have 20 high school kids wearing cleats playing football in my backyard after a rain.


----------



## fusebox7

@g-man pulling for you during the reno! Hopefully heading into fall things stabilize - here north of you it's either been absolute downpours or complete drought/hot heat. Really odd extremes either way. Sounds like you have a good plan all around.


----------



## g-man

Some day last week, I started a trench. This is to help dry out a low spot. The trench idea comes from the Michigan Spartan field. The trench gets backfilled with sand and a top 4 inches with soil. I did it in the swale last year and keeps the area dry after a rain.

26-27Jul - Regrade and level some areas is close to done.
I ordered 2 yards, one of sand and one of pulverized topsoil. I'm not sure how was measuring, but I think I got way more.


The approach: I mixed sand with topsoil and compost in the gorilla cart (a most have tool). I tried to keep a ratio of 80-15-5. i want that low spot to drain and be dry instead of pooling water. I then spread it by shovel. Lastly I used the 220E riding only in the rear drum to press it. 


I repeated these steps multiple times to slowly bring the low area higher. I also did other areas and fixed some of the irrigation trench lines. In the last areas I also mixed in some carbonX to get it into the root zone. I also added some of the tackifier I used last year. 


I was able to finish the pile and mow the lawn. I mowed it yesterday to avoid the matted down look from the cart and mow it again today. In less than 24hr I had this clipping length. I blame the carbonX. Temps are pretty good, but it is dry.



Here is the final results. I started at 2pm yesterday until 9:30pm. I restarted at 10am and finished all around 2pm. Thanks to @Tellycoleman for the tip to take tylenol before pain kicks in. Now to rest the rest of the day.


















I still have to lower one area (I call it the hump) near the patio. I started watering to see how long it takes to dry up and check coverage. I also want the soil to settle for a more final leveling. I saved some sand mix.

Lastly a neighbor came by. He noticed the dead lawn from 3 houses away. He asked what happen and I said: "The heat wave killed it". He stared at it and then ask how it was possible to have straight lines of dead and alive. He totally believe the heat wave killed it. At the end I fessed up and told him it I did with with round up.

edit: Disclaimer
I'm experimenting with all this approach. It is a calculated risk that could fail. I also dont know the long term effect of multiple soil layers. Therefore, dont just copy what I am doing.


----------



## TreyDoc

That's hilarious and impressive. I envy your skills.


----------



## wardconnor

TreyDoc said:


> That's hilarious and impressive. I envy your skills.


@g-man definitely has good skills. Unprecedented.

I love what you've done can't wait to see the grass babies.

Love the clean cut line from dead vs alive.


----------



## Green

When I killed spots this Spring, my neighbor came over and asked if there was some sort of lawn blight.

@g-man, did you leave a bit unkilled as a border? Looks like it.


----------



## Chris LI

wardconnor said:


> TreyDoc said:
> 
> 
> 
> That's hilarious and impressive. I envy your skills.
> 
> 
> 
> @g-man definitely has good skills. Unprecedented.
> 
> I love what you've done can't wait to see the grass babies.
> 
> Love the clean cut line from dead vs alive.
Click to expand...

No DMZ there! Alive and completely nuked. Even in death, g-man's 'ghost lawn' has nice stripes.


----------



## g-man

@Green the border is exactly were the irrigation coverage stops.

Today I tested how long it takes to dry up. At 3am I ran the irrigation for 20min (0.4in/hr rate). At 11:30an it was still moist. It is sunny and windy, so it is good.


----------



## g-man

The backyard will get a test from mother nature.

"Severe weather is not expected but be prepared for heavy downpours, lightning, and gusty winds for any outdoor activities scheduled for Monday evening." - WTHR


----------



## g-man

Before the storm:


The storm:


After the storm:


Weather is looking good. I might go a week early with seed down this weekend.


----------



## Green

g-man said:


> @Green the border is exactly were the irrigation coverage stops.


Is it going to remain the old grass? Buffer strip is not a bad idea if so.


----------



## g-man

@Green I don't want to kill my neighbors yard like @Sinclair did. :lol: I'm inches over the property line already.


----------



## Sinclair

g-man said:


> @Green I don't want to kill my neighbors yard like @Sinclair did. :lol: I'm inches over the property line already.


 :lol: :lol: :lol:

I nuked another neighbours lawn. They're all coming to me to help do renos now.


----------



## Green

g-man said:


> @Green I don't want to kill my neighbors yard like @Sinclair did. :lol: I'm inches over the property line already.


Oh. Thought that was still your yard.


----------



## g-man

Leveling and more leveling. Used the landscape blade to remove some of the thicker areas with dead grass. It was super effective. Maybe too effective since it took some soil out. I will add some sand there.

I leveled some sprinkler heads and tested them last night with a full irrigation cycle. I must have turned this one too much.



I plan to gly tonight and seed tomorrow with tenacity. The borders will get some peat moss since I'm outside the coverage of the irrigation.


----------



## Pete1313

Exciting times! Cant wait to see the results! On the green grass to the right(neighbors?) is that all dollar spot, or something else?


----------



## pennstater2005

Whoa that was sudden! Now I feel behind :lol:


----------



## g-man

@Pete1313 that's the neighbors yard. We got hit with DS pretty hard two nights ago. Betwitched got hit too.

@pennstater2005 I want to beat the rain.

I forgot to mention that I rolled the sand/compost areas again. I've been watering and letting dry a bit for it to settle. It is staying pretty moist, so I'm less worried.


----------



## Pete1313

g-man said:


> Pete1313 that's the neighbors yard. We got hit with DS pretty hard two nights ago. Betwitched got hit too.


Yeah, his yard looks like it got it pretty good. How severe was it on the bewitched? Any other details to share, DS model%, soil/air temps, weather?


----------



## g-man

The smith model was at 40%. This is lower than the 70% i had early in the year. In the past I had more damage from DS in the fall than spring. I'm also under no protection.

We had a lows in the 60F and a morning RH of 50%, so no real reason for the damage. I walk to the neighborhood pool and a lot of the houses had the DS damage.


----------



## fusebox7

Speaking of DS... Ugh


----------



## social port

Happy seed down day, @g-man!


----------



## g-man

social port said:


> Happy seed down day, g-man!


Well, it actually yesterday. I did some more final leveling and finished the trench. I raked some areas and decided on an impulse to drop 2lb of seeds and raked again. I then used the 220E to roll them.

Lastly I sprayed round up one last time. I shut off all the irrigation schedules so the round up could sit on any weed leaves.

My wife has a spa/facial appointment this am, so I will bake in the sun finishing the rest. Seed, roll tenacity, water and then peat moss.


----------



## Alex1389

@g-man did you use peat moss on your reno last year? I can't remember if you did or not.

I might be the only one not using peat this year... :shock:


----------



## g-man

@Alex1389 I did not. I bought it concerned with the sand drying out too fast. I was going to mix in with the sand. I mixed the sand with pulverized top soil and compost. The sand mix is holding on to moisture just fine, but I already bought the peat, so I will use. I only got one of the peat bags and will use it in the sand areas only.

I just pulled this weed from the sand mix area. This is why we should fallow.


----------



## SNOWBOB11

Hopefully everything works out for you g-man with no washouts this time. I'm sure this is going to turn out great.


----------



## Alex1389

@g-man gotcha... makes sense. Best of luck to you!


----------



## rob13psu

Weather is looking good. Good luck @g-man !


----------



## g-man

Seed day!

Started the afternoon by setting the 220E groomer to the dirt. I remove all the hardware and set the nut with 2 revolutions. I also adjust the reel speed to be fast. This puts a lot of stress on the GTC gears, but it is only for reno.

I ran the 220E and took a lot of the dead material out. I then lightly raked the sand mix areas.

I fired up the old Toro Recycler to vacuum the stuff up. After going over the lawn, I still had the bag empty. I then realized I forgot the lever to switch to bagging, oops. This time it filled the bag 4 times.

I measured 7lb of betwitched for 3.5ksqft (2lb/M). I used the Scott wizz to avoid getting too much seed in the mulch beds and a spreader for the rest.

I hand raked some areas and used the 220E again to get the groomer raking the seeds in. Lastly I used the 220E drum only to roll the seeds. I did it in two directions. The sand mix was dry and I had to go slow in those areas.

Triggered the irrigation and discovered a few problems. 1) one of the 360 head got hit (likely manual raking) and it is spinning funny. I could not find the spare. It is working, but not ideal. 2) one of the heads I adjusted moved up I need to fix it again. No show stoppers, but not ideal.

I sprayed 9.4mL of Tenacity and watered it in with another cycle.

Done! It was a sunny day dry day.

Other problems/ future work:

- I was too round up happy and I sprayed an area that doesn't have coverage. I will setup a hose and timer tomorrow. It is only 12in wide.
- I noticed a small area that could use more leveling. It is the path for the sump pump pipe. I will just use sand next year. 
- I noticed 3 areas with green grass leaves. I know I blanket sprayed gly, but I will hit those again tomorrow.
- I still have a bag of peat moss. I hate spreading it. I might use it in the areas with low coverage.

We get two more warm days at the upper 80s, then nice good temps. Now the works is just to keep the soil moist.


----------



## iowa jim

Here is to gentle rains and don't forget to do the flash light test at day 4 or 5. I woke up on day 6 and looked out on my lawn and could see a little green fuzz, so i got cheated out of doing the flash light test that i was so looking forward to.


----------



## Mark B

You been working hard mate, thoroughness will pay off, hoping all goes well for you.


----------



## JDgreen18

@g-man Time to update your grass type on your profile...or do you still have NOMIX in other areas...anyway I'm following along, looking forward to seeing you progress. Nothing like little grass babies popping up say hi.


----------



## Sfurunner13

@g-man so if I'm following correctly you rolled seed into soil and didn't spread any peat moss? Interesting, I hate spreading it as well, I may have to try this method.


----------



## g-man

@Sfurunner13 Correct I dont use peat moss. I scuff the soil to get 1/8in loose, spread seed, scuff again and then roll, roll and more rolling. The key is to get that seed into the soil.

But this year i'm experimenting with the sand/compost mix. So I bought a bag of peat a few weeks ago and I just tossed it in the sand areas. Now my allergies are going nuts.


----------



## g-man

All moist and ready for another sunny day.


----------



## TreyDoc

Looks great man. It's so clean and neat.


----------



## OnyxsLawn

looks good! I love the stripes on the dead grass. worried about the layering of sand over hard clay?


----------



## g-man

@OnyxsLawn I'm not. There are trenches to channel water towards the swale. I'm concern with different nutrient availability that could lead to different color or watering requirements. Time will tell.


----------



## g-man

I got lucky twice. Forecast called for sun but we got clouds and two heavy rains. Both missed me!!





It is supposed to be more downpours tomorrow and Thursday.


----------



## JDgreen18

g-man said:


> I got lucky twice. Forecast called for sun but we got clouds and two heavy rains. Both missed me!!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> It is supposed to be more downpours tomorrow and Thursday.


Fingers crossed for ya buddy...nothing worse than heavy downpours to wreck havoc on all your hard work.


----------



## MMoore

kind of surprised with the lack of fences in your neighborhood. work looks great.


----------



## g-man

Day 4 since seed down.

No babies.



I think I saw some red leaves, but not yet.

I mowed yesterday and did an awful job with the overlap. So I mowed again today.




Lastly this is DS on the bewitched. Not bad for no preventive.


----------



## iowa jim

Get that flashlight out tonight.


----------



## g-man

I was out there last night and this morning. Nothing. I'm just being impatient.

This cell did not miss me. It was a downpour but very short, so no damage. But there are more waves.


----------



## g-man

Wave 2 was stronger





Wave 3 was even stronger and longer


But it missed me. It sprinkled a bit and moved south of me. 

The peat moss washed away, but it looks like everything else stayed in placed. We will see how germination turns out.


----------



## Green

Hopefully no more strong rain.


----------



## OnyxsLawn

That standing water looks brutal. I'm surprised it didn't wash out!


----------



## g-man

@OnyxsLawn that wasn't standing. That was flowing water. The soil looks like it stayed in place, so I'm hoping the seeds are still there. If not I will seed again on Sunday.


----------



## GoPre

g-man said:


> @OnyxsLawn that wasn't standing. That was flowing water. The soil looks like it stayed in place, so I'm hoping the seeds are still there. If not I will seed again on Sunday.


 :shock: 
I'm considering a reno next year on 2K sqft. This variable is going to keep me up at night.


----------



## fusebox7

g-man said:


> @OnyxsLawn that wasn't standing. That was flowing water. The soil looks like it stayed in place, so I'm hoping the seeds are still there. If not I will seed again on Sunday.


Hang in there - if I can do a couple renos on the slopes at my old house ( you might remember the backyard PRG soil erosion )... you can do it  Everything will work out just fine!!! :thumbup:


----------



## g-man

Day 6

Babies


@wardconnor @ryanknorr I'm first.


----------



## social port

Congrats, @g-man!


----------



## JDgreen18

Nothing like new grass popping up....congrats


----------



## Pete1313

Right on time! Congrats @g-man!


----------



## TreyDoc

Congrats m8!


----------



## ericgautier

g-man said:


> Day 6
> 
> Babies


Congrats! :thumbup:


----------



## SNOWBOB11

:yahoo: :banana: :dancenana:


----------



## iowa jim

Congratulations on the babies.


----------



## TreyDoc

About time!!


----------



## g-man

There is more widespread germination today. There is an area that is staying too wet, so I need to monitor that section more.


----------



## rob13psu

Yesss! :thumbup:


----------



## social port

g-man said:


> There is more widespread germination today. There is an area that is staying too wet, so I need to monitor that section more.


Then more baby photos, please


----------



## g-man

The images are fuzzy since im trying to zoom in with the cellphone. I should get a real camera out with a long lens.

I can see the green hue thru the lawn in most places. It is there and it is growing.







There is one area that is getting too much water. It gets runoff from the top. Part of me wants to get some sand in there. I don't see any germination in here and see some moss. I'm think on swapping nozzles in that area to get less water there. I adjusted some of the irrigations to deliver less water. I still have time.



Monday is supposed to hit 91F and then a strong storm. Let's see what happens.


----------



## pennstater2005

Nice to see germination. Hoping the storms miss you :thumbup:


----------



## social port

I really like pic # 2. I like it when so many come up together like that.
I do see two bermuda seedlings in one of the pics, but I'm sure it will be fine.


----------



## g-man

@social port the secret is out. Tahoma 31 in the backyard.

Edit: I'm kidding. I can't plant a weed in my backyard.


----------



## pennstater2005

social port said:


> I do see two bermuda seedlings in one of the pics, but I'm sure it will be fine.


 :lol:


----------



## TrialAndError




----------



## g-man

The front lawn needed some attention. I've focus on the reno for the last week's that I neglected the front.

Of course my luck:



As I was mowing the 5pm 2min zone 1 turned on in the reno area. The timing was perfect for the head to be after the front roller before the groomer the mower. The groomer slashed the head. I took the insides out and swap it with a spare. I'm running out of spares.



I had to take the kids to the pool, so I did not do the edges with the landscape blade. I will do it tomorrow. After the pool I sprayed pgr, a fungicide for DS and feature.



Day 8 from seed down - Day 2 from germination

More green areas. I think that top corner got too many seeds. Oops.



Storms tomorrow night.


----------



## wardconnor

Love it. Always a good day to see grass babies


----------



## g-man

I'm going to switch to counting from germination (DAG) and I will use Saturday 10Aug as the germination day instead of seed down (DSD)

Day 4 (DAG) - 10 DSD

We had a strong storm last night. but the seeds seems to be ok for it. It is a cloudy day today and we could see more storms. Yesterday I inspected some areas and double check them today. There are 3 areas that I'm sure had some washout from the previous storm. I could see path the water in the lack of germination. I'm going to reseed them today/tomorrow. I will need to practice my levitation skills.


----------



## g-man

Day 7 DAG

Coverage looks pretty good. There are areas that are thin. I think the combination of the sand + washout caused it. I dropped seed there on Thursday night and I will cover them with clippings from the front lawn.







Here are other images from earlier in the week. I had some DS damage and it looked like the reno had some of it too, but no damage. It could also be spiderwebs.









Now is waiting part. The grass will look not growing. It is developing deeper roots to then start tillers. In about a week to 10 days it will start growing again and then spreading. This is normal for kbg and why it is hard to overseed with it. This is day 14 since seed and this is how it looks. Even with pgr you would need to be mowing by now in an overseed


----------



## Wolverine

Looking good!


----------



## pennstater2005

Coverage does look pretty good. Pardon my ignorance here but what type of seed did you use?


----------



## g-man

@pennstater2005 this is a monostand of Bewitched kbg.


----------



## SNOWBOB11

pennstater2005 said:


> Coverage does look pretty good. Pardon my ignorance here but what type of seed did you use?


G-mans a cool kid. He's growing a bewitched monostand. Pay attention pennstater2005. :lol:


----------



## pennstater2005

SNOWBOB11 said:


> pennstater2005 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Coverage does look pretty good. Pardon my ignorance here but what type of seed did you use?
> 
> 
> 
> G-mans a cool kid. He's growing a bewitched monostand. Pay attention pennstater2005. :lol:
Click to expand...

Oh yeah. I thought about looking but my laziness got the better of me :lol:


----------



## g-man

I took an image of the front lawn. There are some areas with more DS than other. I can't understand why since the front lawn area gets the same sun/ treatments. I dropped some AS only in those areas.










Another unexplained issue. I had this in the past too. Tenacity bleaching on some areas. I used a 4oz/acre rate ans sprayed it evenly. Why it seems to concentrate and cause bleaching? I don't know.


----------



## aaronchristopherbake

g-man said:


> Another unexplained issue. I had this in the past too. Tenacity bleaching on some areas. I used a 4oz/acre rate ans sprayed it evenly. Why it seems to concentrate and cause bleaching? I don't know.


I laid down seed (Bewitched KBG) and tenacity a week after you (8/9) and have seen some seedling bleaching as well. In your past experience, are those areas goners or will they green up?


----------



## g-man

@aaronchristopherbake it died on me, but others say it survived on them. Just keep monitoring.


----------



## g-man

The weather folks were beating the storm drums early today. This time they were accurate.



It was a strong storm.







I was able to check the damage. The seeds I dropped on Thursday are gone. Some areas look to had some soil erosion, but most the seeds are still there. 




I will wait until Wednesday to drop more seeds. It keeps raining on and off. My next concern is leaf spot/melting out.

After the storm there was a double rainbow.


----------



## pennstater2005

What is up with these downpours?! That looks to be headed my direction.


----------



## Green

g-man said:


> I took an image of the front lawn. There are some areas with more DS than other. I can't understand why since the front lawn area gets the same sun/ treatments. I dropped some AS only in those areas.
> 
> Another unexplained issue. I had this in the past too. Tenacity bleaching on some areas. I used a 4oz/acre rate ans sprayed it evenly. Why it seems to concentrate and cause bleaching? I don't know.


Maybe water flow from rain and/or soil differences could play a role in explaining one or both...?


----------



## social port

Green said:


> g-man said:
> 
> 
> 
> I took an image of the front lawn. There are some areas with more DS than other. I can't understand why since the front lawn area gets the same sun/ treatments. I dropped some AS only in those areas.
> 
> Another unexplained issue. I had this in the past too. Tenacity bleaching on some areas. I used a 4oz/acre rate ans sprayed it evenly. Why it seems to concentrate and cause bleaching? I don't know.
> 
> 
> 
> Maybe water flow from rain and/or soil differences could play a role in explaining one or both...?
Click to expand...

I was thinking about excess moisture in the front lawn. Possibly from compaction...or, I seem to recall g-man having to dig out a bunch of rocks. Maybe there are more of them?


----------



## SNOWBOB11

g-man said:


> @aaronchristopherbake it died on me, but others say it survived on them. Just keep monitoring.


The grass seedlings that got bleached from the tenacity died? I had a lot of bleaching when I did my front reno but none of the grass died because of it. The back reno too has some areas of bleaching but the grass is doing fine. That's unfortunate and kind of surprising.

Maybe water pooling from your washouts super concentrated the tenacity in certain areas?


----------



## Green

SNOWBOB11 said:


> Maybe water pooling from your washouts super concentrated the tenacity in certain areas?


I think it's an emulsion, so it could separate from the water in theory and be carried if rain came soon after application.

@social port has some interesting ideas with the rocks, too.


----------



## g-man

Top view today vs last Saturday

19Aug2019


17Aug2019


----------



## g-man

Day 9 (DAG)

This morning the front lawn was full of Dollar Spot. After a saturated soil and a 7am temperature of 70F, it was the normal thing to see. I tried to use the broom but the damage was there.

After getting home from work I gave the front lawn a mow avoiding going to the backyard. I applied AS to the front to help the recovery from DS.

There are areas of the backyard that are looking really good. I could almost mow them.









Overall it looks pretty good.









But the rain did cause some washout.




















On closer inspection there are still some grass even in the worst parts. The plan is to continue to wait for better weather, but I might not need to add more seeds. Some of the soil washed away and some small rocks are on top. I might need to cover this with peat moss or something.


Next steps. I'm thinking on using azoxy to prevent leaf spot/melting out.


----------



## KoopHawk

Broom?


----------



## pennstater2005

How long will you wait to drop more seed if needed?


----------



## g-man

@KoopHawk a broom is a technique to remove dew and reduce DS damage.

@pennstater2005 the forecast calls for 1in on rain this pm from a downpour storm. So, maybe Thursday.


----------



## pennstater2005

Well I sure hope that misses you!


----------



## Alex1389

Looking pretty good considering the downpours. I think the weather should begin to stabilize after this Thursday - good opportunity for all of us to throw more seed.


----------



## g-man

We had a few storms this week and it looks that there are a few days rain free until Monday/Tuesday. Most areas can handle rain, but the soil is staying very wet.



The areas that are staying wet are slow. The areas that had washout are thin. It is not zero coverage, but still too thin.





Other areas are good with nice coverage.




Other areas are too thick. With the wet weather, leaf spot can develop in these areas.


@wardconnor started asking for my fertilizer plans. Out the conversation, I impulsed spread 1lb/M of MAP(11-52-0). I also applied seeds to the thin areas and stepped over the them. I will add some more N this weekend and will likely reel mow the thick areas.

Now, the front right side is getting destroyed by DS. I think some of the water from the reno runs there. I need to apply something, but the weather is not helping.


----------



## SNOWBOB11

@g-man I saw in the discord you said when you reel mow you'd make your turns past the reno area, but no worries that the heavy 220E will damage any seedlings?


----------



## g-man

@SNOWBOB11 no worries. I reel mow last year and so did @Pete1313. The turns can tear, buy straight lines will be fine.


----------



## Pete1313

g-man said:


> SNOWBOB11 no worries. I reel mow last year and so did Pete1313. The turns can tear, buy straight lines will be fine.


Agreed, if you look back to my reno, it did fine. Even with the weight of the 2500B. It's the tight turns that get you. I saw the effects of the tight turns causing problems around the tree rings/mulched areas.


----------



## wardconnor

that really looks so good. pretty good coverage despite the thin areas.

Good job


----------



## aaronchristopherbake

g-man said:


> @aaronchristopherbake it died on me, but others say it survived on them. Just keep monitoring.


My bleached seedlings appear to have greened up. Did you have the same luck this time around?


----------



## g-man

@aaronchristopherbake yes, they are back to green.


----------



## g-man

I neglected to update thru the week so I will try to remember.

At some point last week I started to tackle a problem area from the summer. Behind the middle tree in the back I had some dead grass in the peak of summer. I took a screwdriver and tested. Yup rocks. I left it like that until now. I was thinking a few rocks. I was so wrong.






The developer added a storm drain system that also connects the sump pump discharge. I was not expecting this much rock back fill. I took 8in deep off and back filled with soil. But I only did a small section. This will need more time and more soil.

At some point last week I did not like seeing all the small rocks on top of the areas I added soil/sand mixture. When I had the downpour it washed away soil, leaving small rocks on top. I did not like the rocks because they get hot and don't hold water. I used the house soft bristle broom and pushed them away. It exposed the soil and a lot of germination that was there. I'm hoping these start to close the coverage soon.

Day 15 from germination

The 220E was dirty and needed some love. I cleaned it all up, greased and ***********. 
A conversation with @Pete1313 convinced me to try lowering the front roller to 5 while keeping the hoc the same (1in). This moves the point of cut further back in the circle of the reel. As the reel travels, it should be able to grab the grass that is below 1in and bring it up to the bedknife. It is called an aggressive angle. I also adjusted the drive lever. It was spinning the reel too soon, before the drum moved, so it was hitting the grass blades without cutting. I still need to fine tune the adjustment.



The cut looks good with less stragglers.


The XGRN is working really good in the front. The chelated iron source is nice. No new DS damage.

The reno had some long leaf and thick areas that had me worried about fungus. So I beat @wardconnor and mow my reni first. I only mowed a small area and the turn was hard. I took a picture of the stripes and then use the blower to lift the blades (remove the stripes)



I had to go on a quick unplanned work trip on Monday with rain in the forecast. I was concern with leaving the reno alone for one night, so I dropped Scott diseasex that I got in spring when Amazon had the low price. I used the preventive rate. I also dropped urea at 0.15lb of N/M.

General reno day 15 DAG


Day 16 DAG
Remotely monitoring


Day 17 DAG
Pictures from today.





I want to mow the entire lawn. The front needs PGR. The weather is turning nice and sunny, perfect for growing some grass.

PS a year ago I was dealing with a mess from a downpour. I'm glad it is looking good and I'm not doing seeding this late.


----------



## Pete1313

The reno is coming along. Glad to hear that the more aggressive knife angle helped with the stragglers! :thumbsup:


----------



## SNOWBOB11

Good stuff. It's looking really nice. So you are going to setting 5 on the front roller? I was cutting at 1" on setting 7 and Pete recommend moving to 6. I did along with flipping the roller around like you already have it and I noticed a much cleaner cut. Maybe I should try a even more aggressive angle and go to 5 like you?

Quick question on the drive lever. I'm able to engage the reel without the self propelled roller moving. Is that not how it's supposed to be? It's right before the roller engages the reel turns. Is that what you were dealing with?


----------



## g-man

@SNOWBOB11 Yes. I had the front at 6 and I moved it to 5. Then I raised the back to maintain the same HOC 1in. The groomer hoc/angle also changed so it became more aggressive. I need back it off.

There is a switch that turns on the reel relative to the drive lever. The switch is held by two 8mm screws on slots.I back it off, but I want to do more. I also dont want to do too much that the drum starts moving and the reel is not on.


----------



## SNOWBOB11

g-man said:


> @SNOWBOB11 Yes. I had the front at 6 and I moved it to 5. Then I raised the back to maintain the same HOC 1in. The groomer hoc/angle also changed so it became more aggressive. I need back it off.
> 
> There is a switch that turns on the reel relative to the drive lever. The switch is held by two 8mm screws on slots.I back it off, but I want to do more. I also dont want to do too much that the drum starts moving and the reel is not on.


Thanks for the info.


----------



## Sinclair

@g-man any theory as to why the sand areas are lagging in comparison to the soil areas?


----------



## g-man

@Sinclair Other areas of sand/topsoil mix did really good. This area gets a lot of water flow during a downpour. The seed washed away because the soil was loose after raking in the seed. I reseeded, but it is lagging.


----------



## g-man

Day 19
Reno
-Reel mowed at 1in

Front yard
- SOP 2LB/M
- tnex 10mL/M
- FEature 2oz/M
- XGRN (818) 3lb/M

Maybe I'm a little heavy on the iron with 818 and feature. I still need to apply something for the DS.


----------



## Babameca

@g-man Looks very good! I am curious about the Tnex app at this stage. What's the purpose and isn't going to slow down the bare spots fill-up ?


----------



## g-man

I'm only doing a reno in the backyard. The front is my nomix.


----------



## Babameca

@g-man :shock: my bad...


----------



## Alias-Doe

aaronchristopherbake said:


> g-man said:
> 
> 
> 
> @aaronchristopherbake it died on me, but others say it survived on them. Just keep monitoring.
> 
> 
> 
> My bleached seedlings appear to have greened up. Did you have the same luck this time around?
Click to expand...

I got some bleached grass babies too . I had an emergency and couldn't spray it until 3-4 days after seeding . I got some tenacity white germination at day 6 . I'm probably gonna skip the second application . Don't want to stress it too much .


----------



## g-man

Reno Day 21 DAG (28 since seed down)

It took off. I need to mow it again, but it is raining. Prior to the rain I was able:

1lb AMS/M
0.3lb MAP/M
A handful of seeds in the area that is still thin.

Whenever the rain stops I will mow it at 1in and spray 0.5oz of Feature/M.





The left area got 1lb/M of 818 carbonx XGRN last Sunday. The green dots is the 4% chelated iron being available to the soil (~8 pH).


----------



## g-man

Labor day weekend was rainy until Monday. On Monday I was able to drop 8 bags of sand in the front lawn for some leveling. The kids "helped" with the broom. The XGRN is working really nice.


I also worked on removing two more buckets of rocks from the backyard spot.

In the reno I was finally able to mow it. It was mowing off a lot.
Day 23 since germination.
The shadow was too strong.


This afternoon (Day 24)


But I found a big problem this am before going to work. Dollar Spot in the reno! The plan this am was to spray a white creamy fungicide, but 25mph winds and a storm approaching, I cancel the plans. The DS did cause some damage. The weather was perfect for it, warm and foggy.












Plans:
Fungicide, more N and more iron. The large spot that looks bare has a lot of new germination and it is starting to fill. Today I tweaked the irrigation to longer durations and less frequent. I might start hand watering the large area to be able to cut on watering even more.


----------



## g-man

We never got the rain and tornadoes they forecasted. I walked the lawn twice this am ready to use the hose to knock the dew off, but it was dry. No DS!!!


----------



## g-man

Well, DS most had a late start today, because I had some new damage. I just applied the fungicide, let see what happens now.


----------



## pennstater2005

How much of the new area has dollar spot? Overall it looks like it is filling in pretty steadily.


----------



## g-man

It is just some areas. I don't like it. With this young grass, I think it will kill it. It looks good from a distance and it is filling in.










This am we had a RH of 91%. There was fog and dew everywhere with a temp of 57F. I checked the lawn at 6am and 7am. Nothing new and I'm glad I sprayed the fungicide last night.


----------



## Jtgorman75

g-man said:


> Well, DS most had a late start today, because I had some new damage. I just applied the fungicide, let see what happens now.


That sucks.. I've worried about this too. The dew here has been crazy heavy the last week.. Temperatures are looking pretty cool the next week, low 50s night low 70s day. Anyway good luck to ya..


----------



## pennstater2005

I love the soft look of new grass coming in.


----------



## g-man

I lost track of my days. I think we are at 27 day since germination.

I dropped 0.25lb/M of AMS and gave the whole yard a mow. I cut back on watering today, but I need to pick it up tomorrow. I noticed 2 small areas that look like melting out. I dropped more azoxy.



The front got a cut too and I screwed up with the landscape blade and scalped in front of the tree. Color is great.


----------



## Green

Very nice. Back reno coming along, and front is recovering from dollar spot.


----------



## Biggylawns

Do anything over the weekend? How's it looking?


----------



## g-man

@Biggylawns I gave it a mow this am. My wife was out of the house and I tried to mow it before she return. I was too slow. She complained why I was mowing in less than 48hrs. My lame excuse of possible rain did not work.

After the mowing I walked back and forth removing weeds.

I inspected the back area (last year reno). It had a yellow haze to it. I'm not sure what it is. The soil had proper moisture. It is under pgr but I don't think it is photo, since I used the same tank mix in the rest of the lawn. Some of the leaves have lesions that look like leaf spot. This area is in a zone that get water from the reno, so it is a possibility, therefore it got azoxy.

Lastly I shape the edge around the side of the house from last year reno. I added some fresh mulch and forgot to take a picture.



It was dark when I took this image. The color balance is off.


----------



## Pete1313

g-man said:


> I gave it a mow this am. My wife was out of the house and I tried to mow it before she return. I was too slow. She complained why I was mowing in less than 48hrs. My lame excuse of possible rain did not work.


This is me and my wife and I'm sure a similar situation most of us on here have been in! :lol: :lol:


----------



## Mark B

g-man said:


> I gave it a mow this am. My wife was out of the house and I tried to mow it before she return. I was too slow. She complained why I was mowing in less than 48hrs. My lame excuse of possible rain did not work.


Just tell her the truth! "This grass needs to spread I'm sure you would agree babe/honey/sexy(insert your own positive word for the missus here). Plus Connors latest video told me to  "
Any more complaints, try "So we both look out best, I'll cut the lawn as often as you apply makeup, deal?"
In all seriousness, my wife's tired of hearing lawn stuff. I just keep smiling sweetly


----------



## g-man

Today is day 35 since germination.

It's been a hot week in the 90F and zero rain. Today it cooled down but we are going into the 90F again next week with zero rain. Trees are in stress and dropping leaves. Very atypical for this time of year. Ive been doing two waterings in the day and one via hose in the more bare area in the evening. My main concern now is fungus. I do have some melting out and rust is everywhere in the neighborhood. The hot weather is forcing me to water more than I want.

I mowed yesterday (1in) with diagonal stripes. I dropped 1lb if urea to the 3ksqft (0.16lbN/M).







The front lawn is just getting cut. Pgr regulation is strong right now. No fert since the XGRN (3lb/M). Color is looking great and no new DS.












I started a experiment with XGRN in zone 4 a few weeks. I wanted to see what it could do in a reno. Im normally risk adverse so I did not want to risk the entire backyard. Not knowing how the controlled released will work and the iron, I only tested an area. I tried to control as many variables as possible. Half the zone got the standard weekly N like the rest of the lawn. The zone sees the same sun, same watering, same mowing. I dropped 1lb (3lb/M rate) of XGRN (8-1-8) on 25 Aug. I shared a post about it on 01sep. I only applied it to the left of the side of the image.

After 2 weeks, the left area(XGRN) had a marked difference than the right (0.25lbN/M weekly). The left filled more. Therefore I chose to stop the experiment and just apply XGRN to the whole reno. If it can help the lawn fill in faster, let's do it. With the hot weather, a controlled released should also help. I dropped XGRN on Wednesday (11Sep) at 3lb/M rate. Yesterday I did 0.16lbN/M urea until the XGRN kicks in. Matt (@thegrassfactor) thanks for taking a risk and bringing a new product to the market.



0.25lb/M N weekly


XGRN once at 3lb/M rate.


----------



## JDgreen18

@g-man that's some good results with the XGRN, you just made my mind up to switch from my .25 urea apps on my reno to XGRN. The small prill size makes a nice even application which I'm sure helps. I just put down 6 lbs per M on my backyard.


----------



## Guest

I'm in the same boat in Missouri, hot weather making me water more than I want. Some parts of the yard hold water better, both sides of my house have sump pump drains, one is mine and one is my neighbors.

So do I want to water all parts that need it and risk making other parts of the you soggy, or not water and dune of it will dry out on a 92 degree mid September day?

I've been erring on the side of over watering.

I know you'll keep that lawn well fed/mowed and it will fill in well. Looks great.


----------



## g-man

38 DAG

Mowed last night. It is spreading and looking good. There is rust in the neighbors yard and it is starting to spread to my front lawn. Propi is going down tonight (1oz/M 14.3) to the whole yard and double apply on the areas I saw rust. I also had some DS in the reno, si propi should help with it too.

The front feels over regulated from pgr. I've also not done nitrogen since using XGRN. It looks great, but I'm wondering if I mis counted the 10mL into the tank.


----------



## Alex1389

@g-man looking so good! How many DAG are you at?


----------



## g-man

38 DAG


----------



## Pete1313

The thinner spots are closing up! :thumbsup:


----------



## Babameca

Looks very very good... It is amazing how it is already conquering the weak spots. I see you also have some darker/lighter hues even with a mono. What do you think the reason is in your case? Maturity level or N app consistency. I can't think of anything else...


----------



## g-man

@Babameca in image 2? The bottom of image 2 is betwitched from 2018 reno vs the 2019 reno. The 2018 has pgr, FAS plus some drought stress.


----------



## Babameca

g-man said:


> @Babameca in image 2? The bottom of image 2 is betwitched from 2018 reno vs the 2019 reno. The 2018 has pgr, FAS plus some drought stress.


Further up on your previous post with pictures, on all of them, there are shades of green.


----------



## iowa jim

By June of next year this should look great: nice job


----------



## g-man

45 Days since germination

We finally got a break from the heat. It is 55F this morning. We had a nice rain Sunday night into Monday. The grass is loving this cooler weather.

In anticipation of the rain and cooler weather, I did 2lb/M of MAP for the whole lawn to keep treating my low P. The reno got 1lb/M of XGRN and 0.5lb/M of AMS.

Prior to the cool down, I noticed some yellowing of some areas. The areas followed the mower path and being forced to irrigate more due to the heat and drought, I think it is LS. Last night I gave it 13mL/M azoxy 22.9. I also had some dollar spot damage last week, so I also did another treatment for it.

I'm still mow at 1in and will keep it there for a while. No Connor, I will not go to 0.25in hoc. Last night I did use the groomer on the reno.












I will take better picture this evening. I want to do tenacity during the weekend and after seeing how the LS is doing. No point in stressing the lawn.


----------



## NoslracNevok

Coming along great, any other areas you need to spot seed?



> will take better picture this evening. I want to do tenacity during the weekend and after seeing how the LS is doing. No point in stressing the lawn.


Bad pictures stress my wife out too.


----------



## deboy922

@g-man could you give a quick summary of your MAP applications this year, plan for next year, and how long to address the low P...please and thank you.

I had 96 #'s/acre of P (Logan soil test this year). I put down 2#/M of MAP on 8/21 & 9/21. Should I be done with MAP this year? When and how much MAP should I apply next year?

I am near Lafayette, IN with an average first frost ~10/10.

Thank you.


----------



## g-man

I've done 3.86lb of P2O5/ksqft. I apply it when the grass is actively growing. I might do one more this year and continue next year base on 2020 soil test.

Converting Logan to P ppm depends on you sampling depth and reported depth. Assuming 6in, then the P is 20ppm ((96/2)/2.3). If the assumption is correct, then you are low (50ppm target) and will continue to need it for at least another year. Keep testing to see how it improves.


----------



## deboy922

g-man said:


> I've done 3.86lb of P2O5/ksqft. I apply it when the grass is actively growing. I might do one more this year and continue next year base on 2020 soil test.
> 
> Converting Logan to P ppm depends on you sampling depth and reported depth. Assuming 6in, then the P is 20ppm ((96/2)/2.3). If the assumption is correct, then you are low (50ppm target) and will continue to need it for at least another year. Keep testing to see how it improves.


Thanks a bunch for replying.

I took my soil samples at 4 inches, and the soil report said 4 inches for "Sample Depth in inches".


----------



## g-man

@deboy922 then 96/1.5 /2.3 = 28ppm. Low but above MLSN 21ppm threshold. Keep applying and yearly testing.


----------



## g-man

More pictures as I promised












These two are the areas that look to have Leaf Spot /Melting out.


----------



## deboy922

g-man said:


> @deboy922 then 96/1.5 /2.3 = 28ppm. Low but above MLSN 21ppm threshold. Keep applying and yearly testing.


Thanks and will do.

Looks like some more 90-degree temps next week.


----------



## pennstater2005

Any rust @g-man? My shoes get orange when I walk through my 2017 reno area.


----------



## g-man

Not in the reno. The front lawn had some, but I did propi last week over the whole lawn.


----------



## pennstater2005

g-man said:


> Not in the reno. The front lawn had some, but I did propi last week over the whole lawn.


I had Tebuconazole on hand to treat. It's working slowly. Can't remember if it's in the same MOA/class of fungicides as propri or not.


----------



## g-man

Tebuconazole has a low effectiviness with rust.

http://www2.ca.uky.edu/agcomm/pubs/ppa/ppa1/ppa1.pdf


----------



## Alex1389

Did you end up doing Tenacity? I'm considering a second round as well. Will you go with 4oz/acre rate?


----------



## g-man

I haven't. I just assessed the leaf spot areas and they look to be improving, so I will spray at 4oz/acre rate with nis. I will likely wait until next week due busy life.


----------



## g-man

Day 48 since germiantion. (Almost 7 weeks).

It finally feels like a lawn again. Most areas are growing really good with the nice weather we had. The azoxy stopped leaf spot. Liquid azoxy always seems to work better than granular. We have a few days back into the 90F without rain again. The grass is growing so it is better than 40F days. Half full glass.

I had to mow late last night with the mower lights. I need to clean the front plastic piece to get more lumens.

Night mode pixel pictures:





This morning I could see the very straight lines. Hahah!


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## social port

I'm loving those night shots, g-man.


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## Alex1389

This turned out great. Can't wait to watch it darken up.


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## zeus201

Man that is filling in quite nicely. Feel like my Mazama is growing at a snails pace when compared to yours!


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## g-man

@social port I don't love the night mowing, but the photos look cool.

@zeus201 I did start on 03Aug. The early start really helped.

Close up pictures. This is how thick it is in the best areas.


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## Babameca

Carpet... Thanks to your advise I seeded just a week after you.


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## TreyDoc

Wow, that looks fantastic! Good job m8!


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## Biggylawns

Lawn looks great. The latest pics don't look like a reno at all.


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## g-man

Mowed and dropped 5lb total of XGRN over the whole yard.














The plan was to spray tenacity + nis, but this unexpected line of storm is approaching.










The wife is leaving for a business trip, so I won't be able to mow/spray until Friday/saturday. 90F days are here and then a drop to the 60s.


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## g-man

Mowed.

55F this am. Finally! I havent drop significant N in the last two weeks in the reno. The front yard only got XGRN and MAP a few weeks ago. It is in rebound from pgr and with nice color. I will feed it this weekend and hopefully get the tenacity down.


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## Alex1389

Are you putting a pre-m down soon? @g-man


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## g-man

Yes, if time allows me. I do have some poa a that I noticed in a few spots in the corners. I hand pulled some but I need to do more and stay on top of it.


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## Alex1389

Everything is looking great out there! I'd be interested in seeing your Pre-M timing. I'm seeing Poa A now as well and might try to drop a Pre-M next week. Would put me about 45 DAG.


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## g-man

Per the label, it should be at 60days after seeding. I'm there this weekend.


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## SNOWBOB11

Looking great g-man. So front lawn next year?


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## ThickAndGreen

@g-man What is your HOC in the back?


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## Alex1389

g-man said:


> Per the label, it should be at 60days after seeding. I'm there this weekend.


I was thinking Dimension over Prodiamine just so I can get it down sooner.


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## g-man

I used the Hari Hari knife to pull weeds and POA a. I had a friend come over. She could not believed that it was a lawn again. She took her shoes off to walk on it. 

POA a bag.



Reno



Front


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## Babameca

Looks awesome man! Do you plan anything for the few remaining bare spots, or you thing this to fill in next spring. Do you also reverse stripes once in a while. I found that if I do them 2 times in the same direction, grass starts to mat down. They look great, but grass does not like it.


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## g-man

The bare stop should fill in this year at this rate. There is one spot I will plug. My grass normally grows until the first week of December, so I have 2 more months. I'm taking that image from the same spot to show how it fills.

My last mow was north to south. The last images has the stripes from East to West (still visible). I alternate a diagonal too. I also switch the light to dark stripes (direction) in every mow.


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## Babameca

Thanks! I have no option to pull 90 degrees switch due to many reasons. Going the opposite way is the only solution. It scrambles the stripes first time, but I switch every other mow (1 a week). With your duration of growing season, I will follow the see the effect. We, here, are almost done. But, looking at the bright side, spring seeding is really not bad. Heat is never an issue for more than 2 weeks in total for the season.


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## g-man

The final kids soccer tournament was on Saturday. I was only able to drop 3lb of urea for the whole yard on Saturday. Forecast called for less than a 0.1in in the morning and then sunny. At 7am I trigger the irrigation because the radar was clear. At 9am pouring rain. It kept raining and cloudy for the whole day with a total of 0.25in. We need the rain, but it did screwed my mowing plans.

I mowed today right before sunset. After sunset, I finally sprayer prodiamine at 5grams/ksqft. Tomorrow I will trigger the irrigation to water it in. Like everyone else, bypassed fall and headed from summer to winter. High of 90s last week, low of 42F tonight.

Right side mowed, left has the stripes from two mows ago.


XGRN


Amazing how a tiny bit of prodiamine (15grams in this cup), can have such a good effect on weed prevention.






This morning before mowing.


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## Stuofsci02

Looks great.. looked like it filled in quite a bit this week....


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## Chris LI

You definitely have some domination lines going there! The uniformity is really becoming apparent.


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## g-man

@Stuofsci02 yes it is still filling in. The weather helped.

@Chris LI I wish all the lawns around the neighbors were green and growing. Weather was tough on lawns without in ground irrigation.


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## g-man

Last Friday (11oct) was 59 days since germination. The lawn is growing really good and filling in more.

I took half a day off to work on the yard prior to fall break vacations. But it was a rainy day. I mowed it but noticed some of the yellow leaf spot areas. I checked the radar and it looked I was clear for 3hrs from more rain. I did 1oz propiconazole and 15mL azoxystrobin per ksqft to the reno. Around 30min later it started mist rain. An hour later it was rain. Not great, but no other option.







I have a couple of spots of POA a that need some round up or to pull them.


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## g-man

Remote watching the grass. I turned off the irrigation since temps dropped near freezing. Now I want it on to water the right side. It looks dry from here. A little bit of stress won't hurt.



Front looks good.



But this looks better


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## pennstater2005

It is looking good but you're right the other looks better!


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## Babameca

Hi @g-man when does the leaf spot gives up on weather. I may have some as well on my reno and was wondering if its worth it to treat. We will drop below 50, 10 days from now...


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## SNOWBOB11

@Babameca I'd be incline to leave your fungal issues be for now if it's not too bad. The temps are cooler now and growth is slowing. I think you'll be ok to not spray any fungicide but continue to monitor it.


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## Babameca

@SNOWBOB11 Thanks. Yeah, I'll watch it...


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## JERSEY

g-man said:


> Last Friday (11oct) was 59 days since germination. The lawn is growing really good and filling in more.
> 
> I took half a day off to work on the yard prior to fall break vacations. But it was a rainy day. I mowed it but noticed some of the yellow leaf spot areas. I checked the radar and it looked I was clear for 3hrs from more rain. I did 1oz propiconazole and 15mL azoxystrobin per ksqft to the reno. Around 30min later it started mist rain. An hour later it was rain. Not great, but no other option.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I have a couple of spots of POA a that need some round up or to pull them.


that white stuff next to the water.....looks like my soil..LOL

your lawn is looking great, front is just awesome.

Great work. your on your game....


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## g-man

9 days without mowing. It was tall, but not too bad. A combo.of the weather, backing off the nitrogen and water really slow it down. Last night I made sure all the irrigation was on and triggered the rachio to do a full cycle. It was dry.

Today I mowed in two directions (north south and east west). I wanted to make sure to get all the stragglers. I took the time to do single doubles in the front lawn facing the street(shorter distance).

I did a 0.5lb N/M using a 50/50 urea/ams combo. I watered it in with rain expected tomorrow am. We need the rain. Most of the non irrigated lawns and trees in the neighborhood are struggling.























The season is almost over. I have one more application this weekend using MAP. I need to get the rotatory mower out for leaf mulching.


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## Chris LI

The color looks like it darkened up since your last photos. Mine tends to darken around mid-October, as well. I attribute it to successive urea apps, cooler temps(more suitable for cool season grasses), and the return of adequate moisture/rain. What are your thoughts/experience/research?


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## g-man

@Chris LI I think moisture and soil temps and nitrogen all help the roots get more nutrients out of the soil. This helps the grass grow and get better color. Of all of these, soil temps are in my opinion the most important one.


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## g-man

Right before sunset 2oz/M of FEature.


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## Chris LI

Thank you.


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## g-man

25Oct - 11 weeks from germination.
A quick mow at 1in between work and kids activities.

26Oct- Cold and raining all day. 1.36in of rain

27Oct- Sunny and 65F. Last night I:

- Spread 2lb/M of MAP (11-52-0)
- Spread 0.5lb/M of urea

A total of 0.5lb of N/M. I watered in this morning. This is likely my last fertilizer application of the year. I might experiment with a foliar feeding, but no real plans yet.

25Oct


26Oct - regrade of the backyard seems to work with the rain.









28Oct






A high of 70F today, but then we are suppose to drop to 32F Thursday night and 30F on Friday night. I might need to blow the irrigation soon (at least empty the backflow). I also need to get the rotary out and make sure it starts.


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## SNOWBOB11

Looks beautiful g-man. That last picture shows some great density for a first year lawn.


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## Pete1313

SNOWBOB11 said:


> Looks beautiful g-man. That last picture shows some great density for a first year lawn.


Agreed. It is impressive!


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## g-man

@Pete1313 and @SNOWBOB11 I think I got lucky this year with the warmer weather. Yes I watered like crazy and had to use more fungicides, but the lawn is looking very mature for 11 weeks. There are areas that still need to improve mainly in the corners of the irrigation, but that's 2020.


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## g-man

The last nice weather day in the forecast, so I had to get lawn stuff done. I checked the reel and dropped the hoc from 1in (25.4mm) to just below 15/16 (23mm).



I got the toro recycler out and filled with gas. It started.  It is old. I then blew the leaves off the beds into the lawn. My 10yr old son wanted to use the mower, so he mulch mow the leaves. 

His stripes:


I then edged and trimmed before reel mowing at 23mm.



I managed to setup the compressor and did a single pass thru all the zones to clear most of the water out. It was dark and cold. This will get me thru the next few cold days without any concern. I will redo it on a weekend with more time.

Still to do: clear the garden. It is so warm that I'm still getting tomatoes. I pulled all the peppers yesterday.


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## Babameca

@g-man As all said, the reno looks awesome!
Why the 1lb/M of P? Do you have deficiency.


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## g-man

@Babameca yes fairly low in the back. 14ppm on m3 test. My soil test are posted in the first post on this thread.


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## g-man

The lawn is starting to slow down. It is still growing, but the 27F nights are having an impact. Color wise it looks great and I can tell apart the 2018 reno from this year.

My son used the rotary to mulch mow the leaf. I then dropped the hoc to just above 7/8in and reel mowed the lawn.

We then blew the irrigation lines again, but not rushing thru it. One zone still had water.

Cleaned up a lot of the mulch beds and started to organize for winter. I also cleared all the garden and got it all flat again.

Daylight saving time makes weekday work almost impossible with being dark at 6pm. It was good to have a sunny weekend.


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## Alex1389

Looks awesome


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## g-man

Last Friday I blew the leaves into the lawn and mulch mow them.

Yesterday was a lawn working day from 11:30-5:15. My son mulch mowed any new leaves. I then reel mow in two directions. I did a single/doubles in the front and diagonals on the back. The color is looking great still. I then edged and reformed the mulch bed in the backyard. I moved plugs to some areas to help get better coverage in the reno. I planted 2 boxwood in the side of the house. I moved all the patio furniture and garden hoses to be ready for snow today.

I upgraded my mower to this:




























List of things to do:
- change oil in two cars plus mowers.
- catch up on youtube videos.


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## Biggylawns

@g-man what do you mean by moved plugs? You cut up a good section and moved it to a bad section? If so, when is the optimal time to do this, temp wise?


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## g-man

@Biggylawns

It works the other way around. You use a ProPlugger or a bulb planter. You go to the area that needs a plug (bare soil) and use the tool to create a hole taking the soil out. It keeps in the soil in a tube/plug. I then go to the donor section (area with good lawn) and use the same tool to get a plug of grass/soil. I then measure the donor to be the same depth (5-6in) as the bare area and make the donor match the depth. Lastly, just swap plugs. KBG will then spread in both places.

It works really good since you are taking a lot of the roots with it. The plugs from the 2018 reno area had ~5in long roots. Like using sod, you can plug at anytime the ground is not frozen and avoid going into summer. The plugs will not spread now, but in spring they are ready to go.


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## g-man

The white stuff is falling. A difference of around two hours:


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## social port

g-man said:


> The white stuff is falling. A difference of around two hours:


You have my condolences, g-man.
One neat thing captured by the monitor is that nicer lawns tend to make snow-covered ground look better


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## Biggylawns

:thumbup: thanks!


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## Chris LI

g-man said:


> The white stuff is falling. A difference of around two hours:


Sorry about the snow. It sucks when the season is ending and we're hoping for just one more week (or day) of green.

...just geeking out here...

Since the low cut turf is covered with a uniform coating of snow, it looks really cool, compared to the neighbor's lawns. With snow being an insulator, if the snow cover is relatively short term and you get a warm up (and corresponding melt) before winter sets in, do you think that would extend fall green color or affect it in any way? What comes to mind is the sports field covers and stray garbage can lids which find their way onto the lawn.


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## g-man

@Chris LI I was talking to Ryan Knorr about this a few hours ago. This snow will melt this weekend. It does act as an insulator that helps keep the lawn greener. I bet I will mow again this season.

I used to have a Labrador dog. I trained him to use a mulch area. During the winter I clear his area so I could find and pick up. I normally cleared a section of grass so he could see the edge of the mulch. This section grass always turned brown and looking dead in spring compared to the snow covered areas. This was regardless of hoc. I do think the lower hoc and density keeps it slightly more insulated. The tip of the longer leaves will be more exposed to winds and browns faster. But this is a visual thing. Once spring gets going, you mow that tip off and the lawn will look green again.


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## Green

@g-man, last year, lawns went very brown around here. Not just the tips, but about half or more of the blade length. I had never seen anything quite like that. It took a very long time to green up...about a month.


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## g-man

I finally mowed the lawn yesterday. It was a warmer day. I started with cleaning up all the mulch beds and pruned some trees. I was surprised by the clipping length. The front had around 1/2-3/4in, but the sunny backyard was 3/4-1in in clipping length. It is interesting since it is a reno, my last N was in 28Oct and we had a very cold November (record lows). I'm going to keep the reel mower in the front of the garage for maybe one last mowing next week.

Color is still holding. 





















Two plugs in the reno area.


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## g-man

I did spot some POA a that will need to deal with in the spring. :-(


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## Green

g-man said:


> I did spot some POA a that will need to deal with in the spring. :-(


Better a than t...


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## g-man

I noticed the lawn looked longer and without stripes. I did a quick test strip with the reel and I had a ton of clippings of around 1/3in in the front lawn (north no sun) since a week ago. I guess it is still alive which is super strange. Normally I would be done by now and we had a cooler fall. Soil temp is at 36F with the 5 day average at 37F.

Now I need to plan when to mow it before it rains/snows again.


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## Green

g-man said:


> I noticed the lawn looked longer and without stripes. I did a quick test strip with the reel and I had a ton of clippings of around 1/3in in the front lawn (north no sun) since a week ago. I guess it is still alive which is super strange. Normally I would be done by now and we had a cooler fall. Soil temp is at 36F with the 5 day average at 37F.
> 
> Now I need to plan when to mow it before it rains/snows again.


Wow, still growing at 36/37 degrees...interesting. Was this also the case in the back? I've noticed new grass often seems more Winter active than mature grass...or at least more green in Winter.


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## g-man

The potential rain never really happen, so I was able to mow with a heavy winter coat (38F 12mph wind). In the backyard I did a horizontal and then a diagonal. Both directions had clippings. The front was only one direction. I'm amazed that it is still going. But I placed the reel in the back of the garage until March. The snowblower is now at the front.

Last mow stripes


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