[bgillroy]

Hey All, I'm outside of St. Louis, MO. We bought our house three growing seasons ago, and I've been making progress on the 10,000 sqft weed patch the PO left for us! It was a lot of the nastiest contractor-grade fescue and crab/quack/Johnson/orchardgrass, yada yada.

To kick it off, I'll share some old pics of the lawn and improvements. I found Allyn Hane's YT channel while we were in escrow for this house... what a lifesaver!







Got a lot of these stalky bastards:

 

[bgillroy]

After a half-friendly territory disagreement, my neighbor stopped scalping my section of the Hell strip, and I renovated it. KBG/PRG, plus a dose of Scott's starter fert & the pressed paper pellets from Lowe's. I got real-quick germination!

 

[bgillroy]

Total domination!!! Plus a new raised vegetable garden.

 

[bgillroy]

Spring green up app:


Current state:





Just applied 4 bags of Milo, and GrubEx. I have an order for Propiconazole en route now, Lord knows I need it after the warm/wet weather we've had.

I'm planning to apply some Over-The-Top to hopefully kill the orchard/quack/Johnson/Dallis/crabgrass that's holding on. If that doesn't get it, I suppose I'll get surgical with the Glypho? Then overseed with KBG/PRG with my fall aeration. I'm having a hard time finding good references for KBG variety characteristics. I have two kids and two Australian Shepherds, so I want good traffic tolerance and filling characteristics. I haven't found a thread on TLF for sourcing seed yet, despite multiple searches, am I missing it?

Thanks for looking!

 

[zeus201]

Nice turnaroud!

I like this page which describes the various types / cultivators of KBG.

https://ag.umass.edu/turf/fact-sheets/characteristics-of-kentucky-bluegrass-cultivars

 

[bgillroy]

Nice turnaroud!

I like this page which describes the various types / cultivators of KBG.

https://ag.umass.edu/turf/fact-sheets/characteristics-of-kentucky-bluegrass-cultivars

Thanks Zeus! That's what I've been looking for!

 

[gregonfire]

Looks great! Nice domination :twisted:

 

[zeus201]

Nice turnaroud!

I like this page which describes the various types / cultivators of KBG.

https://ag.umass.edu/turf/fact-sheets/characteristics-of-kentucky-bluegrass-cultivars

Thanks Zeus! That's what I've been looking for!

:thumbup:

 

[pennstater2005]

Looks amazing! I gotta ask what did you think of the pressed paper pellets from Lowe's? I'm considering those instead of peat moss.

 

[bgillroy]

Looks amazing! I gotta ask what did you think of the pressed paper pellets from Lowe's? I'm considering those instead of peat moss.

Thanks! The pellets are great, for my lawn. I think they really shine in patch repair. They're relatively heavy and so they stay put. They swell with water and hold the water which seems to cut down on water demands.

 

[pennstater2005]

Looks amazing! I gotta ask what did you think of the pressed paper pellets from Lowe's? I'm considering those instead of peat moss.

Thanks! The pellets are great, for my lawn. I think they really shine in patch repair. They're relatively heavy and so they stay put. They swell with water and hold the water which seems to cut down on water demands.

Thanks. Do you think they would work for a larger area? My renovation in the fall will be about 2k sq ft. They look heavy in your picture and that obviously didn't affect germination?

 

[bgillroy]

Thanks. Do you think they would work for a larger area? My renovation in the fall will be about 2k sq ft. They look heavy in your picture and that obviously didn't affect germination?

I'm sure they would function well, even at that scale. I'm not sure how much you would need for that area (4 bags?), they're about $13/bag here. I put them down pretty thick, by hand, but I'm sure you could broadcast.

 

[bgillroy]

Two days ago, I spot applied SedgeHammer, Sedge Ender, 2-4d, Quinclorac, and Over The Top. This was targeting sedge remnants (from the last application about a month ago), misc broadleaf weeds, crabgrass, oxalis, and some winter wheat/grassy weeds.

Today, I applied Propicanazole (2oz/1k), and Talstar (1oz/1k) from the hose-end sprayer. This is targeting the brown/dollar spot, and the gnats/flies/mosquitoes/etc.

I'm planning a light dose of fert this to try and grow out the fungal disease and see if some extra nitrogen will help choke the clover and quack.

 

[bgillroy]

I really enjoyed the quick enhancement of the PRG when we moved in a few years ago, but today I find this stalky bastard. This is another vote cast in favor of the plan for a KBG donor plot this fall.

 

[bgillroy]

Between the heat stress, two dogs, fungus, and a weed-annihilating Cocktail O' Doom, the yard is looking pretty shabby. I'm already planning another dose of death for the weedy intruders, maybe next week? Then I'll be raking the dead stuff out and keeping weeds dead until overseed time. It's just an unfortunate ugly phase for the lawn.

 

[bgillroy]

We've gotten about an inch of rain per week lately, which is unusual for St. Louis summers. The lawn has been green and growing! July 2nd, I gathered a soil sample and glypho'd some sidewalk weeds. July 5th, I applied a blanket app of Propicanazole, Quinclorac 75, 2-4d, Over The Top, and Sedge Ender.

I guess I'll be getting ready to kill the spot where the KBG Donor Patch will grow soon!

 

[bgillroy]

We're committed now. Yesterday I glypho'd the clumping fescue in the lawn, and the spot where the KBG Donor Plot will be sown.

My lawn is looking pretty good for July, except for the dead spots where I've killed less than desirable grasses. Looking forward to the fall growing season already.

 

[bgillroy]

Die die die my darling... The side yard is on its way out, and I've glypho'd spots of KY31 and nasty clumping fescue. Some of the spots seem to be impervious to glyphosate, so I started pulling them out.

My KBG blend from seedsuperstore.com came today, it's their 3 way blend. I'll pot that up to test germination this weekend. The rest of the yard is staying green, despite the dry heat.

 

[bgillroy]

I potted up the seed to test germination this morning!

 

[Budstl]

Nice! You should have some germination by day 6 or so. When you planning on seeding?