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Wile's 2023 Lawn Journal (Starts on page 13)

43K views 341 replies 23 participants last post by  Vtx531 
#1 ·
Been getting absolutely wrecked by the humidity and warm summer temps. Luckily, as of this week temps started cooling off enough for some recovery to take effect. Just over-seeded with 2lbs/M of Midnight, Mazama and Bluebank KBG. Did about 1.1lbs/M last year of midnight.

I went very heavy on aeration and then cleaned up cores with the power rake. The power rake took a good amount of material out. Unfortunately, a ton of rocks and pebbles were brought up during the aeration. The reel mower hated me last night as I mowed for the last time while the seed germinates over the next 2-3 weeks. Sprayed pgr as well to keep from having to mow much while the other seed takes hold. Had good germination from the spring in a couple tests spots and saw germ in 8 days.

Temps were so hot last week that I got a little bit of heat exhaustion and got a little squirrelly with my elemental sulfur and dumped a good 5-10lbs of it in one area. Vacuumed it up really well, but we'll see what happens to that spot over time.








 
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#3 ·
Thank you! It's a lot to take care of some days, but maybe the wife will let me getting bigger equipment? It should start looking better in a few weeks. My father-in-law was out when we could see the mycelium all over the yard. It was fun to show him disease in action, but just wished it was not my yard...
 
#7 ·
I am lucky that it is pretty flat. Some areas really need some heavy leveling. I did minor amounts this year with some play sand and garden soil I had sitting around. I do plan to get a 1/8" of sand in the spring down to help with the areas that are really bad, but overall it's in good shape. I ran out of time this year to make the level rake and do all the other fall maintenance.
 
#8 ·
Extremely windy today and the sprinklers are not covering the edges well at at all. I may need to make some temporary adjustments if the wind continues. I took a watering can and doused them to try to saturate them a little longer. Also, zone 5 is still causing problems. Heads popped up and then went back down. Likely a bad solenoid is the issue, but will have to see if I can figure out that replacement part to test it. Hopefully its the one my father-in-law provided.
 
#9 ·
No germination yet after just a few days. Wind died down the last couple days. The zones are going off 5 times a day for just a few minutes each. The north side of the house is not overly saturated thankfully at just 3 minutes. Edges are still not getting enough water. Will need to move closer to the driveway for better coverage and fix how far they have sunk. Zones 5/6 are still going off about 80% of the time, but the valve or solenoid needs to be replaced. Damage from fungus seems to have slowed after the 2oz/M of ppz I sprayed. I'm planning to spray some Clearys 3336 on the holiday to help battle the extra moisture and counter any potential damping off. Hoping to avoid spraying pgr or ppz on emerging seedlings for at least a couple more weeks.
 
#10 ·
No germination yet. The lawn looked like doo doo the last few days. But finally recovering from the disease damage. Got some light misting tonight which is perfect for seeding. I expect to see some seeds popping the next few days. Will snap some new pics tomorrow.
 
#11 ·
No germination yet. Tomorrow evening looks like heavy rain and then clear again. Even though I didn't roll the seed in it seems to have worked it's way into the soil. Pretty hard to find other than a couple locations. Lawn definitely needs to be mowed, and resisting the urge is hard. Especially with the mesotrione bleached grass. The dollar spot damage is still really bad. Maybe I will let it rebound after germination and fill in before putting it back under pgr.


 
#14 ·
@Robs92k Ha, you're right she couldn't care less. Thank you btw.

Hopefully The newer cultivars can come in and offer some disease help in the future. Each year I've been having worse outbreaks. I still have not sprayed the Cleary's 3336, but need to. Also, need to get some extra potassium down still per my soil test.
 
#15 ·
Looks like germination is happening everywhere. Oddly. Bare and diseased areas are slowly recovering and germination is slower there. Set the manual reel to its lowest setting (1") and still can't cut much off. Planning to keep on the 5x a day water schedule through next week and maybe into the following week. The storm helped get some deeper water down for the current grass. Temps continue to be mild and that may change next week slightly.
 
#16 ·
Looks like we have liftoff in most of the bare areas now too. Diseased spots are looking better with last nights temps dipping below 50 degrees. Seeing very little dollar spot pressure, but some still exists and will need to get some preventatives down so that we can coast into the fall looking tip top. Heard Rey Ito talk about PGR causing disease and would love to learn more about that. It would make sense that as you limit the vertical growth you make the plant more susceptible to certain types of fungus, but it also seems like it should help with others. Maybe I'll do my first actual post on that if I don't find other information already out there.






 
#17 ·
Finally, I got the Cleary's 3336 down last night. I was debating whether it mattered at this point, but seeing the day and night time temps creep back up made me pull the trigger. Also, another light round of NPK went down too. I read an MSU/Scott's article last night that for every 8-11 parts of N the plant will use 1 part P. So, that's a good reference for me if my soil levels show more optimal ranges in the spring.

Also, need to reach out to Scott's to see if I can get replacement screws for the manual reel mower. Lost one and cutting needs to get dialed in better or it might rip the baby grass out. Everything is still growing slow and not much was taken off with the last couple attempts.
 
#18 ·
Damage from disease is mostly gone now. There's still a few spots up front that are recovering, but it's finally looking better. I think I understand better why people may not put the lawn under regulation now in the summer while disease pressure is high. Most of still bare areas are starting to see some germination finally. I think I may seed those areas a bit more since they are in the shadier parts of the yard. I only saved about 1-2lbs for later, but that should be good enough for a long time unless I have some major damage one year.

Temps have crept back up to 80's in the day and 60's at night. The grass is about 2" or taller in many spots. The color looks absolutely amazing right now. Very dark green and not too steely blue. I am in need of getting a cut on it soon and I do not think the reel will tear out the new baby grass, but I will cut at 7/8" for a bit until everything is more established and then drop it down for the rest of fall. I'm debating going in with a light round of Tnex to keep everything in check and some PPZ. Will grab some pictures before I mow tonight or tomorrow.
 
#20 ·
Was nice to get out mow today. Backlapped the reel and was cutting paper cleanly and spinning freely for the first time since getting this McLane from my neighbor last year. The grass was so tall it will need to be double cut. Color and density looked good and still some dollar spot damage slowly coming back, but tolerable. The northwest side of the house may need to be total reno as it looks like a lot poa annua and maybe some other undesirable grasses. A lot of the seed didn't germinate or is still coming up after 20+ days. I'm going to put more seed down to make sure it can compete and try ethofumesate and some a pre-m in the spring. Will be the first time I've really done am true pre-m on the yard.


 
#26 ·




Well, there is no comparison to the McLane. It's not cutting cleanly because of how long it was, but I think I will cut down to .5" and bring it back to .75". I still need to fertilize again and I keep running out of time. The disease areas have a thick mat that needs to be massaged by hand to get the seed germinating there. I may dormant seed a little heavy to see what happens.
 
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