2/27/25

I mowed the back at 2.5" today. (all overseed sections) I definitely need to go back to the zero turn. So much walking! I think my husband is planning a spring "tune up" before I use it so I'll have to let him know it's time.

Some is growing some hasn't started yet. I think probably 70% of it got a trim. There are just some slow areas and it's early plus it was a kind of harsh winter so it's more "dormant" than it was last year. It grew all winter 23/24.

I also put down 0.25lbs N (AMS) in the renovation section. I used my new Ryobi hand spreader. I bought it to replace the scotts whiz I've been using. It was driving me crazy constantly jamming. It would be fine with smaller fertilizer but my AMS is kinda big and I'm not sure it could even handle the 46-0-0 I have.

It was a bit of a quick learning curve with the new one. I set it on 3 and it was way too fast. I think I ended up around the 2 setting. I really prefer drop spreaders. They seem so much more accurate than just chucking this stuff all over creation and hoping it's even.

That's all for today. It's supposed to rain any time after 6 and overnight. I've got my rain gauge out. The forecast says 0.25" expected. I'd be happy for more for the Prodiamine I sprayed yesterday!

Backyard pictures :

Driveway side almost all growing

Main back yard - some green - some not so much

 

I noticed you prefer drop spreaders because they make a more uniform application. When you use your broadcast spreader do you halve the amount and make two orthogonal passes over the same area?

 

I do 2 passes even with the drop spreader.

With the broadcast spreaders I usually end up with at least 2 passes. I am paranoid about getting things even so every thing I spread gets divided in half and I do 2 passes. With the new handheld the other day I had to walk around a bunch of times but with the previous one I had it mostly figured out to 2 passes.

I have so many spreaders right now. I am trying to make myself "like" the big ones because my yard is big and it would be faster to use them but I still break everything down into smaller sections and am almost always spreading something that has large prills at a low rate which is just not easy to do.

As a side note I need to sell some spreaders lol

 

3/1/25

We had beautiful weather today. It was sunny and in the mid 70s. Tonight we have a gross cold front coming through which is going to drop the overnight low down to the upper 20s!

The warm weather helped motivate me to get up and get going a little earlier today.

I fixed two windows before going out to start some yard stuff. We have casement windows and a lot of them have issues with the hinge mechanisms. Apparently over time the part that connects the crank to the window gets loose and eventually the screws just work their way out. They are pretty small screws and screw into the bottom of the frame of the window. They are almost impossible to access. If we were to remove the windows, it'd be really easy to reattach the crank arm but taking the windows out is a pain in the neck and definitely not something I can do myself. My husband has one tiny low profile ratcheting wrench thingy that is the only thing that can fit between the window/frame/hinge area and even that has to be slid in before attaching the socket and screwdriver bit. Then I have to sit there trying to get a tiny screw up into the window and get the screwdriver bit under it before it tries to fall out. First I have to just hold the short screwdriver bit in my fingers and try to turn the screw enough to keep it from falling back out. Then I have to put the bit into the socket and attempt to turn the screw without any place to grab anything. I used a wooden paint stir stick to wedge in under the tool between the tool and the window casing to try to hold some pressure on it and managed to reattach the arm pieces on 3 different windows. I am very proud of myself! What a tedious and frustrating job!

Side note - in the fall we were working on a different window and finally figured out what was happening. It's been something we've been fighting with since we moved in and while trying to attach the piece on that window, we finally figured out that those stupid little screws are supposed to go into a retaining piece inside the (removeable) trim on the inside frame of the window. We had so much trouble trying to get screws in, thinking the holes were stripped, trying larger screws etc., then a light went on. I remembered that while cleaning the window upstairs, I had discovered the trim pieces could be removed. We started pulling the inside trim to get access to see where the screws were coming in from outside, and DUH there was the little retaining piece just floating around. No wonder the screws wouldn't catch! The hole in the aluminum (or whatever it is) is just a hole and the screws have to catch that little bracket in order to tighten. Everything made sense after that! It gave me hope that I could actually fix the rest myself. I fixed 3 in total today. Now I can close the stupid things with the crank instead of removing the screens and pulling them back in!

That's today's home improvement story.

I spent the rest of the daylight hours pulling the mystery grass and anything else that isn't newly planted TTTF along the border of the Renovation Section. My 2.5 Gallon Roundup Pro was delivered today. I will probably wait to spray until I'm finished with the "edging" weeding. I want to spray that whole 4ft wide area but I don't want to have to kill any of the new grass so my plan is to hand pull everything that sits right next to the new grass so I have a separation between the bad stuff and the good stuff.

It is a very tedious job and that grass, whatever it is, is very hard to pull. It is also growing so deep and traveling underground to the point where I doubt I will be successful in removing all of it. I posted a separate thread about it to try to get an ID. I have a sneaking suspicion it is just some type of Bluegrass although definitely not Poa Annua or Poa Trivialis. Whatever it is, I hope it doesn't try to take over because that would be very depressing.

I spent hours digging and pulling and separating and picking through the edge of the renovation and I think I am about halfway done. Thankfully as I get closer to the other end, that grass is not as full and not as close to the edge of the renovation. There's a ton of other random stuff but nothing else out there is as bad as that stuff as far as getting it out of the ground. Once I've got a nice lane between keeping and killing, I'll spray everything else with Glyphosate. (when the weather allows)

I'm getting really nervous about Prodiamine for the rest of the Non-Renovation front yard. On one hand I don't care because it's not that pretty anyway but on the other hand I don't want a nasty crabgrass lawn again. It's late and I want the Prodiamine down already, but it's been stupidly windy and there's no rain in the forecast anyway so there's really no point. It's very frustrating. I wish I had just done it early but I didn't really have an opportunity so I can't really beat myself up about it. I want to do a nice SpeedZone blanket spray out there anyway, so I'll just do that at some point to deal with the broadleaf weeds and hope the Prodiamine gets down early enough to prevent crabgrass. I guess I could always buy more Quinclorac if I need it. I don't have enough left to do much sqft. wise.

Here are a couple of pictures to show the weed pulling project.

This is what I've done so far. The sprinklers and hose sit at the edge of the renovation. the dirt separates the mystery grass (KBG???) from the TTTF. Any grass clumps left to the right of the dirt are TTTF. I stopped just past the sprinkler at the bottom of the picture.

This shows the sad horrible large amount of area I still have to do. Between the furthest 2 sprinklers is where there isn't as much of the grass. At the bottom of the picture, the clumps of grass in the darker dirt on the left near the sprinkler are all TTTF. The clumps to the right of the dark dirt are the whatever evil Poa of some sort grass. I actually think there may be 2 types of it. One is actually not too bad although still a spreading pain in the neck, it grows a little more upright than the other ugly flat one. I can't tell if it's 2 types of grass or just the same type at 2 different growth stages. In any case, it is a dense mat growth spreading mess that I'm afraid would take over if given the chance. (As evidenced by how insanely full it has gotten over winter)

Oh well, that's what I did today. It's going to be freezing tomorrow. The high will be 43 or something stupid like that. It is supposed to be sunny so if we don't have some sort of ridiculous wind, I may still sit out there and continue cleaning up the edge of the renovation. The sun is nice and warm.

I'm going to go turn the heat back on now and relax for the rest of the night!

 

3-3-25

Sprayed a 3 month application of Prodiamine on the Non-Renovation front sections. There are a lot of weeds out there and I've been wanting to get something down so I ended up adding SpeedZone EW (1.5oz/1K) to the mix for the Ditch Section and the Sidewalk Strip. I did the Driveway Side first and didn't add it. Afterwards, I wished I had just done it. I know Prodiamine is a soil application and Post Emergent weed killers are meant to be foliar but I was waiting for rain for the Prodiamine anyway and had to spray a day early due to wind in the forecast. So, a combination spray went down on Monday which let the SpeedZone sit without rain for 2 days before the rain on Wednesday.

The sidewalk strip is a mess. I really wanted to add Triclopyr Ester to my mix but at the last minute I backed out because I couldn't figure out how much to add. I should have just done the same amount I add to the Pylex combination sprays for the Overseed section which is 0.75oz/1k. I may use Triclopyr as a follow up in a couple of weeks because there are some real trouble weeds out there.

Speaking of interesting thoughts, I had an interesting thought. (Wow. That's interesting.) What if I were to take some of the annoying spreading whatever kinda troublesome bluegrass that is growing in my supposed to be dead zone and "move" it into the sidewalk strip? If it grew in there and took over, it'd be better than the weed/Bermuda salad that is in there now. I might actually try it, but only if I get something like a Pro Plugger. I'm not about to try to dig it up and move it "the hard way" if there's a tool to make it easier. Especially since it's a random side project/curiosity.

3-4-25

I mowed the Renovation section again. It's definitely growing. I mowed it 5 days ago. It'll probably have to be done every 4 days once it get's going. We'll see.

I also spread 0.5lbs/N 46-0-0 on the Overseed Section(s). I used the Ryobi hand spreader even though that's a lot of square feet to cover. I really like the hand spreader because it's easier than pushing something around and it's not controlled by how fast I walk. I can just aim it where I need to when I need to. After all that spreader shopping (and buying) it would be funny if I just end up doing everything with the hand spreader. I have 2 - 50lb Lesco spreaders, 1 - 80lb Lesco spreader, 1 50lb Anderson's spreader and my Scott's drop spreader and I'm using a hand spreader. lol Oh well, whatever works!

Speaking of whatever works, (I seem to be doing a lot of 'speaking of' today) I really need to just give in and spray the Sidewalk Flowerbed Strip when it needs fertilizer. Putting granular fertilizer on a 30 inch x 130(ish)foot strip of grass is practically impossible. The only other option would be to get some more expensive, smaller prill fertilizer that would be compatible with the drop spreader. I can't get a small amount of large prill nitrogen down with the drop spreader. It fits the sidewalk flowerbed strip perfectly but is not really compatible with low amounts of 46-0-0. I might be able to get an 0.5lb N/1k application of AMS since that'd be more than twice the weight being spread. Once my sprinklers are open, maybe I'll just do that. Otherwise I'll need to melt something down and spray it which also means it has to be a lower amount so I don't burn anything. (Or I have to drag a hose out to get it off the leaves)


3-5-25

Today I went outside early (for me) and sat in the back near the house to pull Poa Annua. We had severe storms forecast for the afternoon so I decided I would just do something that I enjoyed for the few hours I had rather than dealing with that difficult to pull stuff along the Renovation Section. There is a ton of Poa Annua along the back of the house all mixed in to the Fescue. It's kind of ridiculous to try to pull it all since it is just so intertwined and such a big area but doing it makes me feel good and when I do a section it looks so much nicer to me. I can tell the difference and that's all that matters. It's just a bit depressing to sit there for a couple of hours and only do a relatively small area. When I get up and walk away I see my nice little uniform section and then I see the rest of the area and it's gross. lol

The wind was ridiculous today so sitting out there was kind of annoying. I was ready to go in when it finally started raining on me. When the line of storms finally got here it was torrential rain! It ended up at 1.5" in less than an hour. The side yard drains were full, the "hedge" was under water and the left side of the back corner flowerbed was under water. Thankfully the pump did its thing and cleared the water from the side yard. The stuff along the hedge and flowerbed has probably drained away by now. I'm not sure where it drains to. I haven't figured that out yet.

I guess that fertilizer in back is more than watered in. Everything is mostly flat, so I don't think the rain will have washed it away. I suppose my front Prodiamine is definitely watered in too. It is what it is. I wanted rain, I got rain.

I'm tentatively planning to mow the back yard (Overseed Sections) tomorrow. That'll be a week between mowings for those areas. What is growing has grown and the rest will no doubt be catching up soon.

Enough typing for today.

Here's a pic of the Renovation Section from yesterday.

Here are a couple of wet pictures from today. Flooded "hedge" and also the corner of the shop. This water gets in the shop. Too bad I forgot to reconnect my gutter downspout extension before the rain.

Here's the wet flowerbed. This water maybe drains under the fence into the neighbor's yard. I think most of it just soaks in. It only happens when we get those big rainstorms. Even the dip in the middle of the yard filled up. It was so much rain in a short period of time. Someday I'll have to fix that hole. lol

I'll post again tomorrow if I end up mowing. I just reminded my husband about needing the zero turn. Hopefully we can get that ready to go on Friday. I just don't think there's any way for me to maintain it at this height with that mower. I may be able to do 3" without unwanted scalping. With the zero turn being so wide, it is not very friendly to any uneven spots in the lawn, and I can't stand accidently scalping my beautiful grass!

I really want a 30" push mower!! When I really want something, I eventually find a way to get it!

 

Renovation looks good!

I've been thinking about spreading Urea at .5lb/1k this year, but don't think I'd be able to dial the coverage in enough with the broadcast spreader or my manual hand spreader compared to the .25lb/1k out of the spray cart.

We've gotten 1.4in of rain in the past 6 hours or so and still coming down, not the .75"-1" forecast. Sprayed my prodiamine down 24hr ago hoping it held up. 😢

 

3-7-25

I was going to mow on the 6th but it was yucky outside. (in my opinion) 50s, cloudy and windy. Nope. I just stayed inside instead.

It was nicer on Friday so I was able to motivate myself outside to mow. First I sat down for some mostly pointless Poa Annua pulling. This time I focused on the area next to the shop. I also had to work in the evening so I stopped the weed pulling just after 3 so I'd still have time to get the mowing done.

The side yard is in full swing. The area next to the master bedroom is also fully awake as well as the little nook section. Everything else is about halfway awake. It's growing but hasn't really kicked off yet. It's greener than it was and it's continuing to green up.

3-8-25

Today I spent the day sitting on the ground weeding. First, I focused on the area along the back side yard fence where the weeds from the neighbor's yard really like to take over. It's also weedy over there because of the moles (who love to tunnel along the fence line) and also because of the fact that I had removed everything along the fence for the front half of the side yard and left it as dirt. I had originally hoped that would help me to keep the neighbor's weeds under control but I've since learned that just letting the grass grow to the fence and keeping it nice and thick does a really good job of keeping the weeds at bay. I pulled the weeds growing in what is left that narrow strip. I probably did a little more than half of it. Then I moved to pulling some random weeds that are here and there in the side yard. There aren't many and they're easy to pull.

After "lunch" I went back to the area next to the shop to continue with my attack on the micro Poa Annua growing there. It's one of the areas in the lawn where the grass grows sort of stunted. Everything is very tight and compact including the Poa Annua. It loves to grow in a clump right in the middle of a Fescue clump which makes pulling it very tedious. Also, the bunnies like that area so some of the grass is also chewed down to a nub which just adds to the tight compact mini grass situation.

I'm hoping the upcoming spring weather and the fertilizer from a few days ago will help everything to get going and maybe that grass can outgrow the bunnies.

That's about it. Tomorrow I'll do more of the same, after taking Tylenol all night. I probably won't be able to get out of bed in the morning. I'm not in good shape and apparently I've gotten very old too.

My husband ordered a tune up kit for the zero turn and that arrived today. He'll probably get that done tomorrow and maybe I'll cut the front Non-Renovation areas tomorrow too. I am thinking of cutting it shorter to start. It'll probably look a little scalped but it might look nicer afterwards since it will help to cut some of the dead stuff away. So maybe I'll set the mower to 3" and just try not to look. Then I'll raise it back up to 3.5".

That's my thought anyway.

I would like to put more fertilizer on the renovation section. I had planned to do 0.25 per week but there's no rain in the forecast so I haven't put the second application down yet.

I have a lot of planning to do out front as far as sprinklers and hoses go. I need to figure out how to extend my mega frankensprinkler setup to include the new renovation.

So far, I'm thinking I'll be adding 8 more I-20's and I'll need approximately 300' of hoses and or poly to get everything connected.

I am just about fully set on burying the 4 along the front of the renovation. I am trying to decide if I want to go all out and dig a trench and switch that row to poly and bury it or if I just want to make more "quick snap style" sprinklers where I create the adapters needed to bury the sprinkler heads and connect them above ground to the garden hoses.

In order to have the correct coverage I'll need to move the second row of sprinklers about 10 feet in towards the house. They are currently at the far side of the renovation. I set it up with a row of sprinklers on each long side but technically that spacing is too far for head to head coverage. It puts those sprinklers 40 feet away from the first row which means the middle of the renovation (stripe left to right long ways) doesn't get full coverage. I didn't want to deal with above ground sprinklers in the middle of the renovation and I didn't want to deal with burying stuff last year so I left it as "good enough" and it obviously was since the renovation seems to be doing fine.

This year I am thinking that maybe I'll bury row 1 and 2 (either sprinklers only, or sprinklers + change to poly) and make the new rows 3 and 4 on either side of the new renovation section.

I'm honestly not sure how to handle it because in order for the spacing to be correct I would have to space the rows evenly which would put row 3 running down the middle of the new renovation section.

That creates a problem when it comes time to water the new seed. If I have head to head coverage meaning there are 2 "middle rows" (2 and 3) running at 360 degrees, the current renovation section will be getting watered a million times a day while I am fallowing the renovation and also once the seed is down. That's a lot of water where it technically isn't needed.

Well, this got very long and this is why I go crazy when I think about the sprinklers. Maybe I'll just have to say to heck with it and the Renovation '24 will get extra water while Renovation '25 is underway.

I don't feel like typing anymore and this is my journal so I'm just gonna stop here and continue on another day.

Pics from mowing yesterday:

Side yard doing it's side yard thing. That's the part of the fence line that I focused on with the weed pulling today. This is before weeds were pulled but you can't see them in the picture anyway...

The small side yard (master bedroom section) is looking nice. That lighter green patch on the middle left is no doubt Poa Annua.

The view from the flowerbed. This is one of the bunny zones. They love to sit in this corner and trim the grass down to astroturf level. Thankfully there isn't a Poa Annua explosion in this area. It's still winter in the flowerbed. The only thing waking up so far is the knockout roses. That's fine cause it gives me some time to relax before I have to think about the root drench for the Crape Myrtles. I'm not doing Japanese Beetles this year! (that's me trying to think positively)

The nook section has been growing for weeks. It's warmer here because of all the brick and cement and full sun for most of the day.

It doesn't show up too well but this is some of the lovely Poa Annua that is so densely filled in along the back of the house. There's plenty of Fescue so hopefully when the Poa dies from the heat it'll still be early enough for the Fescue to fill out and there won't be holes. I can dream.

Maybe I'll take some micro grass pictures tomorrow to show my itty bitty Fescue and PA by the shop.

 

OK I'm not keeping up with my journal. I am keeping track of everything in my phone calendar but I'm putting off posting because I always spend so much time composing. Instead of a bunch of words, here's a basic list of everything since my last post: (Nope. Ended up with words and I wanted to attach pictures and ran out of "space" so I'm splitting this post.)

3-10-25
Mow Renovation, Mow Front Non-Renovation (zero turn @ 2.5" - a shave!)

3-11-25
Spray SpeedZone 1.5oz/1k Front Driveway Section

3-12-25
Mow Overseed

3-15-25
Mow Renovation

 

Continued...

3-16-25
Mow Overseed

3-19-25
Mow Renovation

 

Continued...

3-20-25

Mow Overseed - Zero Turn 3" 1st time since overseeding - Meh - Didn't like the results.
First edging along the driveway and sidewalks since overseeding.

Overseed 46-0-0 0.5lbs N/1k

Renovation AMS 0.25lbs N/1k

Rain 0.25in

Driveway side from the opposite end. Poa Trivialis Festival

Nook section sidewalk and driveway edged.

Mid Mow

Driveway edged

Light green towards the bottom of the picture poa annua. Other light green further back is just other grasses.

Stepping Stone Section (and Renovation)

Stepping Stone Section and Sidewalk Flowerbed Section edged.

3-22-25
Mow Renovation

 

Looks good. Getting a lot of mows in already.

 

Continued...

3-23-25
Mow Overseed Push Mower 2.5"

3-21-25
Project out of order. Almost forgot...

I cleaned up the hedge bushes. Removed all the dead leaves and whatever was growing around them. Mostly Poa Annua and a very few other weeds. Trimmed a few dead branches and any that were on the ground and the little leftover berry pieces from the tips of some branches.

Here's one half done... Note the right side completely full of PA

Here's one that's finished

All done. Yeah they're funky. I'm just letting them grow for now.

I've also been hand pulling weeds almost daily. Mostly an obsession with poa annua. I've also pulled most of the weeds from the back side yard. It's not that many and they're easy to pull. Today I mostly finished with the weeds along the fence.

Yesterday, in the Renovation, I pulled some clover and some other little weeds. There's more clover here and there and I'll probably spend some time on that another day.

Eventually I will probably be spraying a mix with Triclopyr to head off any Bermudagrass that will probably be sneaking back in. That'll take care of any weeds I've missed. It's 98% weed free. There is some Poa Annua out there too which I didn't realize until a few days ago. It was hiding well, unlike the PA in the back yard which sticks out like a sore thumb. Gross.

I am still slowly working my way along the edge pulling the evil mystery grass and any other weeds that are growing directly along the edge of the Renovation. I am pretty disappointed that I didn't really get much input on my thread trying to ID the grass. With all the people on this forum that have bluegrass I would have thought someone would help.

I'll spray roundup out there if we ever get a calm day. Pulling the grass is extremely difficult and I know I'm not getting all the rhizomes. I just hope to God that it is not going to take over the renovation.

If it wants to just peacefully coexist with the Fescue I'll let it. I don't really have any choice. That's why it would be really nice to know if it was Bluegrass. Plenty of people mix that with Fescue so I assume that means it doesn't take over and choke it out.

I want to spray Triclopyr in the sidewalk strip as a follow up to the SpeedZone application 3 weeks ago. I know there are some stubborn weeds out there so I figure that would be a good followup. I'm going to see if I can keep it weed free this year even though it's a mess of mixed grass it'll look better without a bunch of nasty weeds.

I did the first cut on the former neighbor's yard this last Wednesday (3/19) no more extra time on Wednesdays for me. I'll be doing hers weekly now as well as my mom's.

Tomorrow will be the first cut and cleanup for mom's. Wednesday will be a spring cleanup for former neighbor.

That took forever. That's why I put it off. Loading pictures onto this site is a pain in the neck. Especially when I do it on my phone. So annoying.

 

And another thing...

Yeah! I'm mowing Renovation and Overseed every 3 days! I was going to do 4 but if I want to keep it at 2.5" for now, I feel better just doing it every 3 so I'm not cutting too much off.

It's almost all awake now!

Notes -
WANT 30" PUSH MOWER
Can't use zero turn under 3.5" setting. It scalps and shreds anything not perfectly level and my lawn will never be perfectly level.

Need to start stocking up on used hoses for the new renovation.

I'm sick of typing.

 

Since you are the only one that ever replies to my messages…. What’s your plan for herbicides and fungicides this year? Will you wait and treat or be proactive? Trying to formulate my plan for the year

 

I know the feeling! So far I'm not planning anything for fungicides. I have a bunch on hand if needed but I'm hoping they're not needed.

Herbicides - well, I'm planning something for Bermudagrass suppression. I haven't settled on it yet but I need to decide. Something along the lines of triclopyr + mso and possibly Mesotrione in there at some point. Might be monthly. I have a private message that I need to read over again regarding a schedule. I get overwhelmed then stressed out when I try to think about it so I've put it off.

I'm doing another renovation this year so that's also trying to stress me out! And the mystery grass that no one can (or will?) identify is an unbelievably aggressive spreader. I won't be able to stop it so at this point I'm just praying it blends in because I've spent and am planning to spend a ton of time and money renovating. Ohh, let me just not think about it!

Last year was the first time I did anything with fungicides and I was mostly trying to protect and baby my overseed areas because of the Pylex applications in late summer. I was afraid it'd be more susceptible because of heat + harsh herbicides so I got into fungicides. I'm not sure if I'll do it again this year. I will have something planned for my new renovation although it may involve yet another purchase since I don't have the "special" new seed fungicide. I'm too lazy to Google the name right now. It's slipped my mind.

I have so much to do!

Edit -- I don't have many weeds so I have been hand pulling them. I have preemergent down and I'll be reapplying sometime in May. I might spray something for clover since it's a huge pain in the neck to pull. Or I might just keep pulling it because hand pulling weeds is kind of therapeutic for me. Until it isn't. LOL Whatever I do for bermuda suppression will probably keep me weed free anyway. I'm not sure if I'll be doing that in the (2024) renovation section or not. Haven't decided... I'll probably wait until I see Bermudagrass start to pop up in there. Then I'll freak out and spray something.

Second edit - - You've really got me thinking. There's also insecticides. I need to finish figuring out my Imidicloprid for my bushes and trees so the freaking Japanese Beetles and aphids DIE. I also need to spray around the outside house (did a little today) and probably the whole lawn because - fire ants.

This is why I get overwhelmed. lol forget this, I'm going to play my stupid puzzle game now. I'll be mowing the renovation tomorrow and putting down another 0.25lb N.

 

You might be too lawn obsessed

 

You didn’t give up did you?

on your pre emergent. Did you use granules? Or did you spray it on?

 

I'm still going. I'm very lazy with posting. I take a million pictures then it takes forever to make a post!

I've used both methods. I have the prodiamine 65 wdg ( https://a.co/d/dtlmSAB ) because it's more cost effective since my yard is so huge.

I've also used the Lesco Stonewall 0-0-7 stuff from Lowe's. I've gotten it on clearance a couple of times.

This year so far I just sprayed everything. I did a 3 month spray and will do it again sometime in May.

Here's today's mow. I raised the mower one half notch. I think that's 2 7/8"

I'm very nervous about the mystery mega rhyzome grass growing next to the renovation. I've pretty much had to reserve myself to the fact that I can't do anything about it. I'll kill it with the rest of the new renovation area but it's obvious that it'll just come back.

Next project is getting the current sprinklers buried and work on setting up sprinklers for the new renovation. Then I'm gonna nuke it and look at dirt for months.

 

Lawn is looking good!

gow hard is it for the link you posted to dissolve? What rate are you using?

 

The wdg stuff is practically powder. It's made to be dissolved and it dissolves easily. The lesco Stonewall is only for spreading - not like AMS or urea where you can melt it down. (at least not that I am aware of)

I use the calculator here Prodiamine Calculator - GrassDaddy.net
It's faster than doing the math myself. 😂

I put in 1000 sq ft, tall fescue and the amount of months to get my 1k rate then I do the multiplication from there for my different sections.

I have a dedicated tablespoon and random old Chinese food container for measuring / weighing. (Prodiamine is very yellow!) I do it by weight but I think some do it by just measuring. I have a digital scale I use for weighing stuff.

I use my red aixr nozzle (the one that makes larger droplets) and these days I'm around 1.25-1.5 gallon per 1k. I have my water amounts that I've been using written down from previous applications and I just keep copying that in my notebook for each new application.

Prodiamine needs 0.5" water within 2 weeks of putting it down. For my first application I just prayed for rain and kept track with my rain gauge. For my next application I'll be able to water it in for renovation and overseed areas. The rest of the yard will still be praying for rain!

I just stir my chemicals with a wooden spoon. I start everything with a couple of gallons of water in a bucket and mix it there. I dump that into my sprayer then add the rest of the water. The prodiamine has settled just a bit towards the end a couple of times. I'm probably being lazy with my mixing - It doesn't do it all the time and it's not a huge issue. It's noticeable because it's sooooo yellow.

Note - the wdg 65 stuff I linked to is a very long lasting supply but very cost effective especially if you have a large lawn. I think people usually have it for splits on the marketplace here.

 

Update - - -

I got a new toy!

(you can see my some of my husband's toys in the first picture)

The guy was asking $300. We got it for $250. He said it ran last year and wouldn't run this year and he's sick of spending money on it. A neighbor gave it to him at some point so I figured he'd take less since he didn't pay for it in the first place.

Stopped for some starter fluid (or did he get carb cleaner? Whatever...) on the way home and it started right up with that. Hopefully it just needs to have the carburetor cleaned.

Ordered a few parts already - the rear wheel adjustment lever thing seems to be snapped off so I ordered a new one. (and the sleeve that goes over it) the kill switch seems janky so I ordered one of those and I ordered new blades.

Tomorrow I'm going to see if I can get it cleaned up. I won't be able to do much with it until my husband gets it running. I believe in him. 😂

Here. Yard pics.

Renovation on deck! (purple flags to the far left mark the far boundary. I'm Not bothering to edge the sidewalk. I'm killing it all soon anyway. Cutting it at 2.5" with the zero turn. The dirt between the sections is where I'm working on removing the mystery grass along the renovation where it's trying to infiltrate (and succeeding) Fun fact - it's apparently very susceptible to rust fungus. Saw that the other day and started attacking it with a shovel. No more hand tools. I'm aggressively digging it out along the edge and hitting the rest with glyphosate as soon as the freaking wind stops.

 

I smiled when I saw the Timemaster. You're going to really enjoy it!

 

Lawns looking good

 

I got the new mower cleaned up today. It was surprisingly clean. Some dry grass and dusty. Even under the belt cover is mostly clean.

It looks to me like it has a new carburetor and the bolts near that are also all new looking.

The underside of the deck is rusty / paint missing but all seems to be structurally sound. No areas that are rusted through or anything like that.

Those blades! Yikes!

It probably will be at least Monday before my husband will start working on it.

I can't believe the rubber flap is not broken off. I didn't even bother replacing the one on my Super Recycler.

Oh, didn't take a picture but I also hosed off the bag. It has a couple of holes in the top corners. Looks like it was rubbed through from sitting upside down on the metal frame. I may try duct tape or just replace the bag.

I wish I knew what year it was made.

 

Haha those blades look my old recycler's before I got more into lawn care. You are always finding the best used things.

 

Are toro that much better of a mower? I have a crappy craftsman that I got a few years ago.

 

I don't know really. I know I like my Super Recycler. Some people like them some hate them. Probably like cars. lol There aren't a lot of 30" mowers out there though so this one doesn't have a lot of competition. Most are commercial I think. I like the personal pace self propelled "thing". Hopefully that helps make up for the additional weight of the bigger mower.

My zero turn is also a toro but I didn't choose it, it came with the house. I like it a lot except I can't mow as low with it without having scalping issues anywhere that isn't perfectly level.

I will say the Super Recycler is a heck of a lot nicer to maneuver than my old yard man mower.

 

You're gonna love that thing once you get the new blades on it! It IS heavy, but the on-the-fly pace adjustment makes you think it's a light mower. I've never put the bag on mine, mulch everything. The way we (lawn people) use these, you shouldn't ever have issues with bogging or the clutch slipping in tall grass. I bought an extra set of gator blades (which seem identical) so I have a sharp set ready all the time. The rubber flapper thingy makes pretty decent stripes also, or if you decide to later on, spend the same you bought mower for and get the Toro striping system. I'm kinda jealous you found that for such a good deal, I was on marketplace for weeks before I just went to tractor supply in Moyock and bought mine!

 

There's someone in Elizabeth City selling one for $500. I had seen them for lower a few times and I have been checking every day - several times a day. Used stuff shopping obsession! Usually the lowest is $700 unless they're really beat up. I was getting close to just buying one at Tractor Supply so I wouldn't have to worry about fixing things. Hopefully my husband will be willing/available to clean the carburetor soon and that's all it'll take.

When searching for cheap stuff I tend to find stuff with creative searching. I always search what I'm looking for specifically but then get more general.

I found the one I bought by searching "mower" on offer up and looking through a ton of listings. He didn't have toro or timemaster in the heading. For brand he had misspelled "torro" and description said "I think it's 30". The one in Elizabeth city is on Facebook marketplace as "the ultimate push mower" 😂 I probably came across that one thanks to the algorithm. I think it suggests stuff if it's a similar picture to things you've already searched a lot.

I'm hunting for a used shed now. Not sure how that's going to go. We're about to go pick up a bunch of stuff from my father who is moving and giving us a bunch of tools and other random things. We are out of space for anything big and my husband doesn't want to share his shop with the zero turn. 😂

I'll probably be bringing home a mower or 2 to sell. We already have a lawn tractor for sale (came with the house!) I need to get some stuff out of here. My garage looks like a spreader dealer. I keep saying "I'll buy it and sell it!" then I don't get to the selling part because I can't decide on the description and the price. Duh. I'll figure it out eventually I hope.

 

4/17/25

Mowed the renovation today. It sure is pretty.

I also sprayed Triclopyr + SpeedZone in the overseed areas as a "spring Bermudagrass suppression" application. Will it do anything? Well, it'll at least take care of the few weeds that are hanging out.

After mowing the Renovation I finally mixed up some roundup and sprayed the strip along the edge where the invasive mystery grass took over. We'll see how that progresses. I'll be happy to see it dead. Hopefully I didn't hit any of the good stuff.

Now I have to get ready for work. Yuck.

 

Looks great!

 

Apparently what I sprayed today may have been a bad combination. I thought I knew what I was doing. Oh well.

I guess for the next few weeks I'll just be watching and praying I didn't just nuke the whole back yard.

Time to start pricing out cement. Or astroturf.

 

I sprayed exactly what you did last weekend. Did you notice a reddish color almost a brown like it burnt the grass?

 

As I was reading through this I was saying to myself “she needs a bigger mower” LOL 😃

Congrats on the good snag! When the hubby has time have him get under there with a wire wheel and some heritage red Rustoleum to keep it in good shape. 👍

 

I avoid those chemicals for these reasons. Sulfentrazone and/or carfentrazone always burn the lawn if not real careful. Used for nutsedge, its why I use Sedgehammer now for that. No issues.

I used the SpeedZone on my front side yard and my sidewalk strip about a month ago with no bad side effects for the Fescue so hopefully it'll be ok. 2 weeks after SpeedZone on sidewalk strip I hit it with Triclopyr + MSO because I don't care what happens to it and I am sick of all the weeds. What little Fescue is around out there is still ok and it doesn't get any special attention.

I'm hoping the back yard will be OK since it's happy and healthy and being babied.

 

How long until the burned areas grow out?

 

That's funny. I was just going to ask you that. 😂

Mine isn't showing any problems so far. I just sprayed yesterday. How is yours?

Last spring I feel like it took a month to get over my Fusilade test. (won't ever spray that one again - except with the death mix for this year's renovation.)