About a year after purchasing a once abandoned short sale the yard was finally ready to be addressed. I was left with someone else's neglect which ultimately ended up destroying my plants and irrigation system.
The water to the house was turned off for the better part of the year (lawn was closer to 3) and absolutely reeked havoc on the plumbing and valves for the irrigation. Every time I Fixed something, something else would break. Everything from the controller, cracked valve bodies, ripped diaphragms, to roots smashing the unground SCH40. Repairs took close to 3 months. Constant digging and diagnosing. There are a total of 14 1" valves on my property and still do not know where the majority of them go. This made diagnosing things very difficult. This was hands down the most frustrating part of the work. I hate digging.
The grass area itself was battered with knee high weeds and goatheads. Not to mention the 80ft long sissoo roots that were on top of the surface. This is indicative of the tree looking for water. I absolutely hate these trees and will one day Rip it down.
At the time not owning anything than a hand downed rotary motor I applied glyphospahte/Sulfran the entire yard which cleared it up to at least unsightly dirt.
Making a makeshift harrow I dragged around a weighted pallet that I had 100 screws poking through the Bottom to break up the top soil. It kinda helped level things but not even close to being perfect. Any remnants of the 3 year old dead grass was gray and resembled a brush fire.
Some more time passed and picked up a few more pieces of equipment. A ryan verticutter from a closing course and a Power Rake dethatcher from auction. These guys did the bulk of the Reno work and 100% prefer the verticutter over a flail blade power rake for pretty much any situation.
Last season I planted PRG as well but turned out meh. Great for the first 2 months then my efforts started to diminish. It still looked great in comparison to others when mowed with a Exmark 52" zero Turn I picked up from a fleet sale. My plans were to over seed with Yukon, but the time when my schedule opened up in May the time had passed. With temps well into the 100s it proved to be incredible difficult for germination and keep anything wet. Lesson learned. Only about 10% established. So in short. The summer was a bust and The grass was back to hideous.
After some time it was October 2018. Enter PRG. For 8,200 sqft of area I applied ~250lbs of seed with a 36" Gandy drop spreader. Absolutely game changer. No soil test and just spreading starter Fertz praying it worked out.
Fast forward to now things came in well. Really starting to thicken out, but the color is no where near where I'd like it. Blotchy green after first feeding of N. Earlier this week I applied 144lbs of milorganite which is also a first for me. Never heard of it before this thread. I always over looked it while at the big box store.
This is the driving force to acquiring a sprayer mate. It will be used primarily for foliar applications of PGR and nitrogen. Optimistic this combat The uneven color out and allow me to waste more time and money.
Come March I'll start the whole cycle over again. Kill it all, rent a bobcat equipped with a Harley rake and level the lawn prior to laying 419 or tifgrand.
Anyone with a large lawn like Connor. How do you NOT have a remote for your zones!? Just irresponsible not to ;-) Best $90 you will spend!
I'm cutting Wednesdays with my 2653, and then again saturdays with a GM1000 at ~3/4. Catching clippings on saturdays. Hope to have some boom parts next week so I can start spraying and burning up the lawn!
So far this board and its members have been open arms with addressing my questions regarding feeding applications and look forward to learning more! I'll do my best to document along the way so others can learn what not to do.
The water to the house was turned off for the better part of the year (lawn was closer to 3) and absolutely reeked havoc on the plumbing and valves for the irrigation. Every time I Fixed something, something else would break. Everything from the controller, cracked valve bodies, ripped diaphragms, to roots smashing the unground SCH40. Repairs took close to 3 months. Constant digging and diagnosing. There are a total of 14 1" valves on my property and still do not know where the majority of them go. This made diagnosing things very difficult. This was hands down the most frustrating part of the work. I hate digging.
The grass area itself was battered with knee high weeds and goatheads. Not to mention the 80ft long sissoo roots that were on top of the surface. This is indicative of the tree looking for water. I absolutely hate these trees and will one day Rip it down.
At the time not owning anything than a hand downed rotary motor I applied glyphospahte/Sulfran the entire yard which cleared it up to at least unsightly dirt.
Making a makeshift harrow I dragged around a weighted pallet that I had 100 screws poking through the Bottom to break up the top soil. It kinda helped level things but not even close to being perfect. Any remnants of the 3 year old dead grass was gray and resembled a brush fire.
Some more time passed and picked up a few more pieces of equipment. A ryan verticutter from a closing course and a Power Rake dethatcher from auction. These guys did the bulk of the Reno work and 100% prefer the verticutter over a flail blade power rake for pretty much any situation.
Last season I planted PRG as well but turned out meh. Great for the first 2 months then my efforts started to diminish. It still looked great in comparison to others when mowed with a Exmark 52" zero Turn I picked up from a fleet sale. My plans were to over seed with Yukon, but the time when my schedule opened up in May the time had passed. With temps well into the 100s it proved to be incredible difficult for germination and keep anything wet. Lesson learned. Only about 10% established. So in short. The summer was a bust and The grass was back to hideous.
After some time it was October 2018. Enter PRG. For 8,200 sqft of area I applied ~250lbs of seed with a 36" Gandy drop spreader. Absolutely game changer. No soil test and just spreading starter Fertz praying it worked out.
Fast forward to now things came in well. Really starting to thicken out, but the color is no where near where I'd like it. Blotchy green after first feeding of N. Earlier this week I applied 144lbs of milorganite which is also a first for me. Never heard of it before this thread. I always over looked it while at the big box store.
This is the driving force to acquiring a sprayer mate. It will be used primarily for foliar applications of PGR and nitrogen. Optimistic this combat The uneven color out and allow me to waste more time and money.
Come March I'll start the whole cycle over again. Kill it all, rent a bobcat equipped with a Harley rake and level the lawn prior to laying 419 or tifgrand.
Anyone with a large lawn like Connor. How do you NOT have a remote for your zones!? Just irresponsible not to ;-) Best $90 you will spend!
I'm cutting Wednesdays with my 2653, and then again saturdays with a GM1000 at ~3/4. Catching clippings on saturdays. Hope to have some boom parts next week so I can start spraying and burning up the lawn!
So far this board and its members have been open arms with addressing my questions regarding feeding applications and look forward to learning more! I'll do my best to document along the way so others can learn what not to do.