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Work in Progress - AZ PRG

17K views 80 replies 23 participants last post by  AZChemist 
#1 ·
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.


















 
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#27 ·
Weather this winter has been terrible! Last week I saw 3" of rain over 3 days. This week though has been 75 and amazing. With the warmer weather I dropped the mower down to 0.6" and absolutely love it.

Saturday I'll step it again to 0.5" and apply Prodiamine, Bifen, and PGR. Now that we've had our baby shower last weekend I could care less if I stress the grass. Realistically I'll see 90-100 degree temps in the next 30 days and the PRG will fade very fast. I bought some baskets for the 2653 and need to get them installed as well. Also need to pull the reels and adjust them lower

By the time I finished doing a rough cut it was too late to blow or take decent lighted photos. Cut quality vastly improved with the lower HOV.







 
#29 ·
Thank you! Yes we normally have cooler temps, but plenty of sunshine. Lots of cloud cover this year. And lots and lots of frost. I had probably 2 dozen hard freezes too. In previous years it would be 3-5 a winter. The rye held up nice though! Early morning water would help thaw it out.

I'll pull it out this weekend but I finally got a set of wheels machined out to fit my MiniCab.
 
#32 ·
AZChemist said:
The Sprayer Mate received a quick and cheap upgrade today. Leads for the float charger and a waterproof volt meter.

Now I know once it dips to < 12.4V it would be wise to throw it on the charger.
You say you have to put on the charger when it gets to 12.4v

Should consider purchasing an adjustable voltage disconnect.

So that you don't have to be constantly looking for the volt meter and can concentrate on keeping the spray lines.
 
#34 ·
Today's plan was to install some catches I purchased from the Cubs spring training field. They had an old 2653 that was on its way to the scrap yard and was lucky enough to pick up the reel assembles with the buckets.

John Deere did a terrible job with the bolt placement. Most of the bolts needed for any adjustment requires a box wrench, but you can't fit in the 12 point side. No chance for sockets to fit either. Well some of the bolts are stuck so I decided to just adjust the HOC instead. Also a huge Pain.
I found 0.65" on the JD is about the same as 0.55 on my flex due to the corkscrew front rollers. There is very little surface area so they find their way keeper into the turf vs. the grooved roller.
All in all, cuts very well. The yard looks much flatter and is much easier to hold my beer while mowing. Now I just have to deal with all the clippings.





 
#36 ·
With a 0.55" cut on the 2653 I've found the striping effect to not be as predominant as using the walk behind. I also believe it is the front rollers as they leave more or a tenderized meat finish than a pushed over blade.
My biggest complaint. No cup holder. At least my ExMark had one ;-)

Still kicking myself for not putting down Prodiamine yet and hope to knock it out first thing in the morning. Last year I had a ton for crab crass and not looking to go down that road again. I've picked up some Quinclorac as well to have on hand. Also added a product called Cyzmic CS for the scorpions. I'll be adding this in my normal spraying program for around the house and walls. Not the grass. That will continue to get Bifen.

With a little guy due any day now, I'm
Sad to let go of my Minitruck I had imported from Japan. Have to make room for the new!

It hasn't seen much use, but I believe my Gator will better serve me for my size of property.







 
#39 ·
AZChemist said:
Cyzmic CS for the scorpions. I'll be adding this in my normal spraying program for around the house and walls.
If you like Cyzmic for scorpions, you should try Fendona - game changer.
 
#40 ·
Cyzmic is new to me. It was recommended to me by a pest professional.
I alternate between CY kick and Demon WP and delta dust in the block wall. During summer months I spray the house every 2 weeks and block walls monthly which I read is redundant due to absorption rate of unpainted block.
About 1.5 gal for exterior house. And 3 gallons for perimeter. They are so hard to completely get rid of.
I have zero insects other than ants but we can still find scorps at night. I hate it.
Night time direct spraying is something I'll do before I go to bed in the summer a few nights a week. Most nights it's nothing. Others I'll find 3. For those of you not in the area. They literally glow under UV light. So armed with a black light you can easily spot them from afar.

I'd like to think my treatment is 100x more than what anyone else does.
I've never heard of Fendona till now but looking at the price I can see why it is not highly reviewed.
 
#41 ·
AZChemist said:
Cyzmic is new to me. It was recommended to me by a pest professional.
I alternate between CY kick and Demon WP and delta dust in the block wall. During summer months I spray the house every 2 weeks and block walls monthly which I read is redundant due to absorption rate of unpainted block.
About 1.5 gal for exterior house. And 3 gallons for perimeter. They are so hard to completely get rid of.
I have zero insects other than ants but we can still find scorps at night. I hate it.
Night time direct spraying is something I'll do before I go to bed in the summer a few nights a week. Most nights it's nothing. Others I'll find 3. For those of you not in the area. They literally glow under UV light. So armed with a black light you can easily spot them from afar.

I'd like to think my treatment is 100x more than what anyone else does.
I've never heard of Fendona till now but looking at the price I can see why it is not highly reviewed.
Understandable, I got a deal on a case when I lived in TX for scorpions if you want to try some vs. the others. I would get 2-3x the life vs. Cyzmic for scorpions and now I get about 1.5-2x days of control for mosquitos vs Suspend Polyzone and Cyzmic (I can't decide which I dislike more, mosquitos or scorpions). PM me if you want me to send you some - the 480oz. case might last me the rest of my life.
 
#43 ·
Temps are kissing 90 and the lawn is moving along. I have not fed it in weeks to slow down the growth. 2 weeks ago I got down some Prodiamine and will most likely put a 2nd dose this weekend. Fearful of crabgrass ruining my life again.
Even though this grass is at the end of its life cycle it got ~30lbs if 21-7-14 today. It was what ever was left in the bag and it at least cleared up some garage real estate.

@rickta24 As to the bermuda transformation. I plan on killing the PRG. Leveling with a Harley Rake. Drive around with my gator a few hundred times with a drag mat, trench and add another zone for the center of the yard (only 2 heads now) and lay down some TifGrand.

I plan on fixing the curbing that's been lifted from roots along with a laundry list of other items, but my time has been better spent indoors the last few months. Good news is, I replaced my 1150 trencher with a larger RTX100. Every time I fix a section of drip line it busts somewhere else. Decided replacing everything will be my best option to keep my sanity.





 
#44 ·
Was too late on the Prodiamine this year so I have goose everywhere. There was a ton of it last year when the yard was dirt but undestimated how many seeds it produced. Power raking and drag mat certainly didn't help me out containing it to a section either.

Tenacity shows up today and will get put down with a 2nd dose of pre-em.

Fine tuning the rotarys to get the water where it needs it the most this morning.

 
#45 ·
I sprayed the perimeter and spot treated areas with 3-Way and Quinclorac. The knock down has been great In comparison to my normal glyphosate. Don't see myself ever going back.

Another hard knock learned this year is my PRG hates PGR. If applied to any area even remotely stressed the impact is detrimental. Applied at 0.25oz/K it is hit or miss with some areas. Another lesson learned is pre-em early In the year. I have some grassy weed now. My late season application of Prodiamine seemed to do nothing. Also, I'm going to apply at the higher end of the rate spectrum for longer coverage.

My procrastination cost me $60 for some tenacity and what will probably be 2-3 applications to get what ever weed it is out of the yard.

And lastly. Clippings. Wish I had put my buckets on the 2653. The clippings completely hide the stripping and make the real roller appear it's HOC is higher than the front. I have the reels positioned to throw the clippings forward on the front, and backwards on the rear. They also have an affinity for the dogs paws as well and gets tracked inside the house.



 
#46 ·
Yesterday 95. Today 75 and windy.
It's starting to get stressed in areas despite longer waterings.
Next week I'll begin verticutting and send her on her way to succumb to the inferno known as an AZ summer.
My now lack of care of survival has given me the opportunity to come out with the fam during the evening and practice my short game using a solar light as a makeshift golf pin ⛳ . Just need to find a hole cutter now.
It's been fun rye. Till next time.
 
#47 ·
AZChemist said:
Another hard knock learned this year is my PRG hates PGR. If applied to any area even remotely stressed the impact is detrimental. Applied at 0.25oz/K it is hit or miss with some areas. Another lesson learned is pre-em early In the year. I have some grassy weed now. My late season application of Prodiamine seemed to do nothing. Also, I'm going to apply at the higher end of the rate spectrum for longer coverage.
That's interesting. This was my first year doing PGR on PRG and it did awesome. I maintained 0.45" HOC all winter only mowing once a week. I quit applying PGR in early April and started transition to Bermuda in mid April though. I wonder if your PGR stress just came from the 90 degree heat rather than the PGR.

Regardless, yours is looking awesome. Looking forward to seeing how this summer goes.
 
#48 ·
PRG is back, but this time overseeded in Tifgrand. There is still a few thousand more square feet of bermuda to lay and have tentatively set a install date for the 2nd week of November. The bermuda will be overseeded as well and the yard will probably look weird all winter long, but o well.
Aeration will happen this weekend and 6 tons of sand will be leveled out for a sod bed.
With a tile saw blade on the edger I'll cut the existing grass edge as straight as possible so the sod will mate Cleaner.



 
#51 ·
Temps have been holding at high 80's and only dipping into the 60's at night allowing the rye to really take off. A week ago we were getting into the high 30s at night and it came to a quick halt.

Here is yesterday's cut at 0.48". The diagonals would have looked better as doubles but it was getting dark. The on/off switch to my flex is intermittently grounding out so it made it made it difficult to get going yesterday.



 
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