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Green's Lawn Journal

372K views 2K replies 63 participants last post by  Green 
#1 ·
I guess it's finally time to start one of these, and keep everything in one place...
 
#1,677 ·
Today, mulched leaves in the main front after blowing off the driveway, part of side front, and road. Utilized side discharge in the process.
 
#1,678 ·
Green said:
Checked soil temps in the main lawn, finally. Back is around 50F give or take mid day (4 in), and front is 50F and higher. I guess these are highs for the day.

Just had a strong thunderstorm come through around 4PM. Had a nearby lightening strike, hail, wind, etc. Thankfully no tornado here, but some power outages. My neighbor finished mowing right before it began. NWS never issued an actual warning, just a watch. The storm dumped more rain, so more flooding now. It might rain more over the next couple of hours.

Got another 0.3 inch of rain from the storm.
Crazy right, only woke up to the news without any expectations!
 
#1,679 ·
Today, finished mulching leaves in main front, then bag mowed the front at 3 in setting. Collected the rest of the leaves and grass clippings with disease lesions. Got about 1/3-1/2 inch of growth since last mow a week ago.
 
#1,680 ·
Warm days: today was 66F, and nights have only gone into the upper 40s the last few nights, but colder air is coming in as I type.

Bag mowed back and most of sides at 3 in setting. Mulch mowed lower/middle side after removing leaves at max HOC (and relocating to low input area for future mulch mowing), as there was substantially less disease there. Got clippings similar to the front from the lower back and side. Took upper back down to the 3 in setting for the first time (final HOC on the area, so got a lot of clippings (with rust disease on some). Removed a good amount of rust diseased blades. Grass is probably still growing even here for now.

Blew leaves off various areas, including flood prone area, then picked up using mower. Relocated some for mulching. Bag mowed adjacent far end at 3 in HOC (higher than previous mow) this week, and still got some clippings (ground was also quite soggy still).

Started mulch mowing low input area near far end (max HOC with old mower).

Mixed up AIR-8 at 5oz per thousand rate plus 4oz of standard Miracle Gro (one yogurt cup full - around 0.07-0.125 lb of N per M), but sprayer is losing seal...need to regrease. So calibration was off, and it mostly got applied to the reno area and buffer zone (therefore, near full rate). Started to rain.
 
#1,682 ·
Jeff_MI84 said:
@Green are you taking the HOC down lower or leaving it as is?
Probably going to do my final mow at 2.75 in at least some areas, and leave it where it is in others (the back TTTF tends to scalp easily, as do very uneven areas). I think that's what I did last year. I'll have to look back to see what I did where.
 
#1,684 ·
Got at least 0.1 inch of rain last night, and a bunch more leaves came down. Tonight: going into the upper 20s. Shut off the front water just in case.
 
#1,685 ·
Wow, still on the front page after 3 days as the season slows...

Yesterday: Mowed the majority of the low input area and mulched a large amount of leaves in. Down to 3.6 inches now. Definitely took something off, but didn't measure as I didn't bag. Raked a few remaining leaves.

Today: Got at least 0.1 inch of rain last night. I like the light rains. A little flooding...and of course some areas are very soggy.
 
#1,686 ·
Mulched leaves in main front real quick.
 
#1,687 ·
Got a trim and mow in on the lower back. Bag mowed at ~3in, including the upper back up to the steps, and the border where the natural area meets grass. Once again, I got clippings (0.25-0.5 inch). One week since the prior mow.

At family member coastal CT lawn: checked soil temps. Roughly 40F, maybe 42. Neighboring lawn has a lot of Zoysia. Still a hint of green left in the Zoysia blades.
 
#1,688 ·
Got around 0.1 inch of rain today plus some snow flurries at one point. First of the season.

Picked up a bag of Scotts GreenMax fertilizer (my favorite formula to use as a final Winterizer fert).
 
#1,689 ·
Cold like Winter today...high was around 40, but in the very late afternoon, it was 34-35F.

Neighbor in back mowed and mulched leaves today. Very surprised. Usually quits before October. Had not done anything in weeks.

Overall, lawns are not holding color well this Fall. At the moment, mine is one of the best. Last year, it was pretty bad. Only thing that changed was more Potassium (even into the Fall) this year.

Neighbor 11 lawn was fertilized on 11/22. We'll see how it looks in March versus other timings. Experiments continue...
 
#1,690 ·
Warm enough to get out and work on leaves. Used the mower to bag up leaves from the side front and upper back, and relocated them to the side where I mulched them in, and the low input area. Got a few clippings despite not lowering the deck to the previous mow height for a true mow.

Grass especially in back where it's more shaded is losing color and stiffness. Also has a good amount of brown from disease damage. (Amount of active disease may be decreasing as it gets colder.)

Trying to figure out if there's enough rain coming late week for a final winterizing N app.
 
#1,691 ·
Mulched leaves in lower back. Not many, so they often flew everywhere out from the mower. Then dropped deck and bag mowed grass and remaining leaves. Did the same with upper back, except bagged most of the leaves (except near shed and house where I mulched) and ended up triple mowing the area due to deck height error.

Mower engine started to smoke. Checked and cleaned air filter, checked oil level, and added a bit of seafoam to the gas tank. It turned out that mulched leaves had gotten into the engine area and were burning up; blew it out well and problem was solved.

Started the side. Did other (garage) side with bag mowing at top height. Bag mowed side front. Started to mulch leaves in main front. Plan to finish mowing tomorrow; hoping for dry ground.

HOC: ~3 in setting. Grass clippings were cut off in all areas. Nothing crazy long, but had slight growth even in back. Clippings mostly 1/8 to 1 inch, but a few longer and shorter ones.

Dandelions are damaged but still green.

Got a small bag of Anuvia fertilizer (from domyown since no one local seems to sell it) to finally try out for next year. Very interested to see how it works.
 
#1,692 ·
Trace amount of rain overnight. And again this afternoon, but I got to mow as it was just a bit damp. Wind increased toward the end of mowing...

Finished mowing and leaf cleanup for the week. Front and rest of the side. Mowed at ~3in setting again, and bagged the grass and leaves as I've been doing the last few weeks. Got clippings, but not a ton (just like the other areas yesterday). I think this may have been the last true mow for the year. (Will likely do one more over the next week or so to get the grass just under 3 inches in some areas.)

Also mowed most of the near part of the low input area, mulching leaves in the process (3.6 in). In addition, mowed the uneven area behind the shed for the first time in a long time (at 4 in with the Toro because the ground is so uneven). Mulched the leaves there as well.

Hand trimmed near hellstrip areas and utilities in the front.

Tonight, got some wind gusts (with some rain) which brought down more leaves and some sticks (mostly in the back), so it's no longer clean like it was earlier today.
 
#1,693 ·
Yesterday: checked soil temps. 40F on average. Not lower, but some places higher.

Today: blew leaves off back lawn and adjacent hardscape and bed areas into natural area and also low input area and then mulched them in. Picked up sticks.
 
#1,694 ·
Sprayed final app of biofungicide (Sonata - 4oz rate) w/ Nu-Film (0.5 tsp rate) on upper and lower back at 3PM, so it had a chance to dry properly. Gave the P95 mask a try. Seemed to work pretty well despite the valve. Didn't really smell a lot of the spray.

Then later, blew leaves from the side front plus bed edges, to the main front.

Then mulched leaves on the main front and the adjacent side.

Brought in one of the front hoses. Only one each left in both front and back now.
 
#1,695 ·
Got 0.2 inch of rain last night. Surprised it was at the higher end of the predicted range. If I had had time to do the fertilizer, it might have worked out. Then again, there is a lot of wind today, so whatever didn't get watered in would volatilize with the damp ground. More rain is predicated tonight, but only 0.01-0.1 inch is likely. We'll see. In any case, there will likely be another rain chance later in the week, and the soil is still above 40F, so there is still time.
 
#1,696 ·
Snow melted. It was still a little damp, but managed to mow the lower back and the side in order to get the leaves picked up. Got a little bit of clippings from the lower back, but even less from the side. Growth is pretty much over, so that was my sign to put down my final N fertilizer.

Put down final winterizer fertilizer app on the lower back, side, front, (and low input from back neighbor ornamental grass opening to shed to lower back border to near end, which I know is around 3K).

I actually wanted to do this app a little earlier in the year, 1-2 weeks ago, because I have anecdotal evidence that slightly earlier might actually be more effective (plus all the research from turf programs). But I didn't think there was going to be enough rain last week. Didn't want a lot of the N volatilizing away...it's pretty damp and will be windy the next couple of days.

0.2-0.35 inch of rain is expected on the weekend, perfect for watering in.

I used 0.67 lb of N from my standard formula I've been using for years now: Scotts 27-0-2 GreenMax. 0.2 lb of the N will be immediately available from AMS. The rest is urea and methylene urea, and provides a graduated slower release N between now and when the ground freezes in Jan, with a little residual left for Spring greenup. The fast release urea needs to be converted to ammonium via hydrolysis, which takes 1-2 weeks in this weather. The shorter chain, high-activity methylene urea fractions work over the following few weeks. And the longer medium-term and long-term (moderate activity) fractions break down over the next few months, into March, whenever temps rise high enough for bursts of microbial activity during Winter thaws. It's the most effective Winterizer formula I've ever used for my area, which is why I stick with it now (including subjectively better results those with 46-0-0 fast release, time after time). The graduated, temperature dependent release and conservative application rate also ensure that I don't overload my soil with N, or have a lot that gets wasted and runs off, so it's also better environmentally than throwing a full lb of fast release out in cold temps.

Went slightly heavier on the damaged lower side. I removed 8 lbs of fert from my new bag. Had trouble with the Scotts spreader, as usual. Can't wait until I have a better one!

I will likely post last year's experimental data sometime this Winter. It takes a while to sort through.
 
#1,697 ·
Got a tenth of inch of rain so far as of early afternoon. After a lull, we are supposed to get another batch. High is near 60 today...unseasonably warm.

Total rainfall as of tonight: 0.2 in. Just barely enough to properly water in the low SGN Scotts fert. Still 56F at 12AM. Rain is done; very windy now.
 
#1,698 ·
Mowed and bagged leaves in the front. Very few clippings; grass is done growing. Same setting; ~3in. I'd still like to shorten it down one more notch for Winter.

Decided to rake some of it after mowing to try to unmat it. I also changed the blade in the old mower today before mowing, to a sharp blade. Hoping these things as well as the final mow help retain some color. For some reason, there are a bunch of brown or partly brown blades. I have only mowed on warm days with high nighttime temps following, for the last month. I also applied at least 3 lb/M of actual Potassium this year, and more than that in Nitrogen, so I'm not sure why it's struggling again this year to retain color as it gets cold. It's better than last year, but still not great.

There are a couple of other lawns nearby holding color better, that I believe used less fertilizer (or certainly not more). And the area on the upper front hill that I did an extra app on this year (and sprayed a lot last Fall with N) is holding better than the rest of the front. Still not sure why this is...I thought I had adequate fertility this year generally. Maybe not. Maybe another half pound of N would have improved it.

Or maybe my grass cultivars just aren't great at keeping color in the cold. I don't have a lot of Ryegrass anymore; that seems to hold color well in Winter. I still have the opportunity hit it with Ferrous ammonium sulfate after the final mow. Maybe that will help with color retention.

It could also be because I mow high most of the year. Not sure.
 
#1,699 ·
Got a trace amount of rain last night. 60F today. Almost 20 degrees higher than average.

Mowed again. Shortened the front hill, flat part of side front up to marker, and main front down to 2.7 in HOC, and re-mowed the edges, hellstrip areas (3.7), and side (3 in). Perpenducular to driveway this time. Got virtually no clippings from the side. Grass does look slightly greener after cutting off some brown. Will see if it holds, given the sharp blade this time (and warm temps tonight).

Just have the low input area left to shorten.

Hand trimmed the border behind deck, near grill, and near stone wall for the final time this year as well.

Took in the other back hose.
 
#1,700 ·
Got about 0.25 inch of rain yesterday. Currently this weekend, highs are in the 30s (with wind chill today).

Two days ago, met another TLF local member and obtained a very useful piece of equipment for next year and beyond. Realized I was experiencing some symptoms at the same time, and was able to seek prompt treatment that evening, thankfully.
 
#1,701 ·
Blew leaves off of upper back (enough to be annoying), and lower back and side (just a few). Upper back ground felt frozen underfoot. Temp dropped to 36F toward the end and lawn just started getting slightly stiff as I was finishing up, so I got the heck off it.
 
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