# KoopHawk 2021 and 2022 Lawn Journal



## KoopHawk (May 28, 2019)

Here's a link to my 2020 journal: KoopHawk 2020 Lawn Journey

We had some nice warmer weather to start off March here in Iowa. I fired up the mower and cleaned off the dust that had accumulated over the winter. All the snow had melted and revealed some snow mold in the areas where the snow drifts occurred. I was able to rake it up and I don't anticipate any major damage. The frost was out of the ground so I pulled some soil samples and got them sent in. I am fairly pleased at the progress that was made from last year.

2021 Soil Test









2020 Soil Test









I applied 7.15-2.74-2.46 (N-P-K) lbs per M last season. My P levels remained basically unchanged and my K levels increased significantly. I assume the young seedlings used up the P as I was putting it down. As I put my 2021 plan together, I'll probably put down a little more P than they recommend. Last year I did put down 5.45 lbs per M of elemental sulfur to try to get my pH levels down. It appears to have had an impact. I'm not sure if such high S levels will be a problem? All of my other micros seem to be good or improving and my OM increased as well.

Snow Mold Pics



























As I am creating this post, more snow is falling adding to the couple inches we received yesterday. Winter isn't over with us yet!


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## isuhunter (Sep 23, 2020)

Fellow Iowegian! We had about 6" of wet heavy snow in Grundy County. I was excited to get working on my lawn.


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## KoopHawk (May 28, 2019)

Snow mold update. All of the areas of my lawn that were impacted by snow mold have essentially fully recovered after a good raking. I can't say the same for my neighbor's lawn. He didn't touch it and it looks like his grass is suffering the consequences. I also got my first mow of the season in Monday night! :thumbup: Didn't cut much but it cleaned up the yard nice.

March 6 Snow Mold









April 6 Same Area









Property line. The property line is about a foot away from the shadow. I raked about a foot over the property line back in March. If you look real hard you can see faint circles in my lawn where the snow mold used to be. In the neighbors yard his grass is matted down and dead. 









Moral of the story, lightly rake any snow mold asap after the snow melts. I used a plastic leaf rake just to stand the grass up. I didn't pull out hardly any dead/dormant grass when I raked.


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## KoopHawk (May 28, 2019)

Added a striping kit to my Ariens. I cut a generic mudflap into 3.5" sections and bolted on to the back of the deck. The results have been awesome cutting at 2.5".



















I also decided to reno the hill that separates the field from the lawn. I rented a lawn tractor with a tiller attachment to level out the gopher mounds and ant hills then drug it somewhat smooth. I used a couple different seed mixes from the local hardware store that included TTTF, KBG, PRG, and Red Fescue. Planted seed 9 days ago and it is coming along nicely. I've had just about perfect weather for seed germination outside of today. Right now the wind is blowing 30+.


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## amartin003 (Apr 30, 2021)

Wow that striping kit did a nice job! :thumbup:


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## JerseyGreens (Aug 30, 2019)

That bluebank ages like a fine wine - looking great!


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## Grizzly Adam (May 5, 2017)

Hello fellow Iowan, what are the plans for 2022?


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## krusej23 (May 8, 2018)

You okay from the storms last night?


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## KoopHawk (May 28, 2019)

Hey Guys, just got my 2022 soil report so I figured I'd give an update. We've been able to dodge most of the severe weather this spring, except the unrelenting wind, but that also means we've missed out on a lot of the rain as well. The wind has claimed a lot of shingles on my street this spring. I had a few that I had to glue back down but nothing major. Our neighbor had his house re-shingled last week and lost some shingles this weekend. Winds were 40+ mph for 5-6 hours with 60 mph gusts. Brutal. There were several fires in the area Saturday.

As far as the yard is concerned, it is very slow to wake up this spring as the soil temps stay in the mid 40s. Last year I had mowed 3 times already. I think I am going to do a cleanup mow tomorrow as we look forward to some warmer more consistent temperatures next week. I put my first app of pre-em down last Thursday 4/21, 3 weeks behind last year. I didn't have to worry about snow mold this year because we probably didn't have more than 2 weeks of combined snow cover all winter. Cold and dry was hard on the turf. I've also got some dog urine issues that I'll likely transplant plugs to expedite the repair process.

2022 Soil Report









2021 Soil Report









2020 Soil Report









I really like how the soil report is trending from 2020. This season I am planning on putting down 4.5 N - 1.2 P - 1.2 K over the course of the growing season. I am ready for some warmer, LESS WINDY, weather with a little more moisture.


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## KoopHawk (May 28, 2019)

I took some additional pictures at lunch. It is a gloomy, windy 40 degree day here. As you can see the lawn is largely still waking up. There are some green spots that were jump-started by the dog where others got a little too much dog juice. There is an area near the dog kennel where the runoff collects that will need some repair as well.


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## KoopHawk (May 28, 2019)

Just wait 2 weeks  The lawn has really greened up in the last 2 weeks. Hopefully another two weeks and the dog pee spots from this winter won't be exponentially outgrowing the rest of the yard.

2 weeks ago









Today









2 Weeks ago









Today









2 Weeks ago









Today









Speaking of dog pee spots, I ordered a ProPulgger and it works exactly how it is supposed to. A really well made tool. Would highly recommend. Anyway here are some pics of some of the spots I plugged to hurry up the recovery process.


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## KoopHawk (May 28, 2019)

It's been about 6 weeks since my last update so I took a few pics. I'm really getting my irrigation system dialed in. Which is good because we've only had 3.35 inches of rain since I started keeping track in mid-April. Only 2 rain events have netted more than .2". Last week we missed out on 2 different storms in one night. 10 miles north or south both had places get between 2" and 5". I've been playing around with putting .8" down at a time rather than .5". A little deeper and maybe a little less frequent. We'll see. The Daily ET Rates are going to be are going to be at or above .4 the next couple of days. Most of the winter kill has filled in fairly well. It looks a lot better from a distance anyway. The dog pee spots are filling in thanks to the proplugger. I also went a little heavy on my gly mix and killed some grass along my edging and had a couple of fertilizer kill spots. Oops!





































Pee Hole Almost Gone









Spot where the dog pee runs into the yard


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## KoopHawk (May 28, 2019)

End of July update time. We actually got a couple of nice rain events the last couple of weeks! From June 1 to July 3 I had .65" of rain total in 4 rain events. On July 3 I had .9" of rain, July 6 had .3, and July 9 had 1.5". The pics below are taken about a week after we had 1.5" of rain and a couple of days after I sprayed .3 N and 2 oz Iron. That is the only application I've done since .15 N and 2 oz Iron on June 9.


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## KoopHawk (May 28, 2019)

I mentioned earlier that I was really getting my irrigation system dialed in and I wanted to share something I did that really improved the consistency of my system. When my system got installed and I was tweaking the heads, I noticed that some of the heads sprayed into the neighbors yard. Thinking I didn't want to waste water watering their grass I set all of my heads to reach the head next to it as well as I could. This picture represents when each sprinkler touches the one next to it. It is colored coded to show which sections of the yard could get hit by 2 heads, 3 heads, and 4 heads.










As you can tell from the crude Microsoft paint drawing, there were several areas that would only get hit by 2 heads. These spots would also dry out fastest in between watering. This backed up the information I was getting from my irrigation audits. The '2' regions in between the heads would get .2'-.3' when other areas would get double that. Playing around with zone run times really didn't seem to fix the issue. When I was playing around with Microsoft Paint, it clicked in my head that to solve the issue, the '4' zone would increase dramatically if I expanded the range each head sprays.










As you can see, in theory, I could eliminate the areas of my lawn that were only getting hit by 2 heads and drastically increase the areas that got hit by 4 heads. I even created some 5 head contact areas that were only getting hit by 2 heads previously. My theory has seemed to work. I am getting much consistent coverage form my zones 7, 8, and 9 in my backyard when I do my irrigation audits. I have about 20 1" rain gauges that I try to put out each time I water and I have calm conditions so I can tweak as needed. Zone 7 is 7 heads (5 half-cricle, 2 quarter circle) all the way across the back yard near the house, Zone 8 is 7 heads (5 full circle, 2 half circle) across the middle of the yard, and Zone 9 is 7 heads mirroring Zone 7 across the back of the lot.


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## KoopHawk (May 28, 2019)

BEAUTIFUL WEATHER this week! Highs in the low 80s and Lows in the 50s, including 49 degrees last night. A great chance for the lawn to breathe and recover during what are typically the dog days of summer. We even got a couple of rain events this week even though they totaled less than half an inch.

Next week it looks like things will heat up again with highs near 100 and lows in the 70s...


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## Chris LI (Oct 26, 2018)

:thumbup: 
I've it when I see the low hit 59*. That means relief is coming.


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## KoopHawk (May 28, 2019)

Another forecast of great weather ahead!










Pretty much optimal grass growing conditions. We are actually getting a nice rain today as well. What a bonus! Over the last nearly 5 weeks, we've received .9" of rain and never more than .2" at a time.

With the great weather outlook, I decided to kick off my N blitz this weekend. I put down .58-.39-0 of Milorganite and .5-0-.08 of Maxlawn Lawn Food. Planning on weekly N spoon feedings over the next 10 weeks or so with another Milo/Maxlawn app in 3 weeks.


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## JerseyGreens (Aug 30, 2019)

I love the look of your hard with a higher HOC. Turf is maturing nicely!


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## KoopHawk (May 28, 2019)

The HOC is a little higher than I like at the moment. I was at 2.75 all summer due to the high temps, infrequent rains, and kid's activities. Even got up to 3.25 after a couple of vacations before I was able to get it back down to 2.75. Trying to get it down to 1.75 for the fall. Its been challenging to start dropping the height due to the rains and N blitz. The grass has been growing like wildfire the last couple of weeks. Today I was able to get it down to 2.25 today and hoping to be down at 1.75 by the end of the week. No rain in the forecast so I should be able to get a couple of more mows in this week. Over the weekend I was able to spray .2 N and 2 oz Feature. Pics from today:


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## KoopHawk (May 28, 2019)

I was able to get the grass down to 1.75" last week. It did not like being taken down the last .25" to .5" from 2.75". I don't have a bagger for my mower and I had a lot of clippings to deal with. It also lost a little color when it got taken down but I suspect the color will come back quickly. I think it already is. I love the way it looks and feels with a lower HOC.


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## KoopHawk (May 28, 2019)

It is officially fall and it feels like it. Highs in the 60s and lows in the 40s this weekend even though it was 100 degrees 3 days ago. The lawn has transitioned nicely since cutting it down to 2 inches a few weeks ago. It looks really good and I feel like it is really dialed in. I've been spraying spoon feedings on N after putting down some Milo and granular N to kick off the blitz. I also sprayed 2 oz of Iron/FEature 2 weeks ago. The color is fantastic right now. The difference between my Bluebank and the neighbors northern mix is very noticeable.


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## KoopHawk (May 28, 2019)

It is all about the angle of the sun... Just gave it another fresh cut at 2". Mowing every 3 days. Here are a couple of pictures that highlight how the angle of the sun can drastically change the look of the lawn. The first picture is looking South pretty much directly into the sun. The second picture is looking North directly away from the sun on the same lawn stripe.


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## KoopHawk (May 28, 2019)

Happy Halloween! This week is forecasted to be 20-25 degrees above normal. Perfect for one last push before we put the lawn to bed for the year. I sprayed .3 N late last week and got a good soak on the lawn afterwards. Fall is the best time for color IMO. I've been really happy where the lawn has been since the heat of summer has passed. I've been keeping HOC at 1.75". The rest of the neighborhood got their irrigation systems blown out 3-4 weeks ago when we got a cold spell at the beginning of October. It has been very dry here (big surprise!) and the rest of the lawns show it. Most of Iowa has been experiencing drought conditions this fall and the NW part of the state is seeing the worst of it. Personally, I've seen 5.5" less rain this year than last year from April to October and I think we're something like 6-7" below normal on the year. 










Don't mind the 2 year old and the dog in the pics


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## KoopHawk (May 28, 2019)

Well, it appears that my lawn care season has officially come to a close. The next week or so is calling for highs in the 20s and single digit lows. Totals for the year were 6.0 N - 1.5 P - 1.44 K. 168 oz of iron via dry iron/FEature. 19.25" of irrigation versus 11" of rain.


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