1/2 - 1 acre is what I would do.

Considerations in addition to time would be irrigation install cost, seed cost, fertilizer cost.

If it is just a regular well to supply the household needs, I think you would have to run it an excessive number of hours day/night to put down proper water on anything more than an acre.

 

Would recommend the same as above. Start small from 0.5-1 acre and then go bigger.

Costs add up exponentially for everything as you go up. Managing this much takes some getting use to as well.

Find a commercial zeroturn mower that you like. Since you will be mowing a lot find a 60" deck atleast. They are expensive so see where you want to funnel your finances if you have a budget.

You can sequentially keep adding an acre every year if you want to utilize all the available space.

 

How do you plan to maintain the lawn? Are you planning to reel mow? For a high input, showcase lawn, equipment costs are going to start adding up above 10-15k square feet. For example, 10k square feet is easily manageable with a push mower, but if you want to keep 40k square feet low cut, you are going to be looking at a triplex or similar. 10k square feet is easy with a 4gallon backpack sprayer. 40k square feet and you are going to want a tractor pulled sprayer with a boom.

Time also becomes an issue. I have 10k square feet and I am spraying every 1-2 weeks, often several different things that can't be mixed. That is manageable on 10k in a couple hours, but it would take at least 2-3 times longer for 40k. If it helps, I spend about 2-4 hours per week on average on the lawn.

I would take a look at some of the lawn journals with large lawns. Right now it looks like you have a KBG monostand and are thinking of reel mowing. That to me is a high input, high maintenance lawn. @Pete1313 has 38k square feet of killer grass and can probably give you some solid feedback on what it takes. Peruse his lawn journal as well.

Another option is to maintain a smaller area right around the house more intensely, and keep the surrounding area a bit rougher. That will also give you a buffer between bad stuff in the neighbors/nearby woods/ag fields.

Irrigation may also be an issue. If you don't have it yet, you will want a well and well pump report. If your well only produces at 10 gmp, you will have a challenge irrigating 40k square feet. If it produces at 80 gpm, you have plenty of water to irrigate. Make sure you have an irrigation installer who knows how to design well supplied systems when you get to that point.

 

How do you plan to maintain the lawn? Are you planning to reel mow? For a high input, showcase lawn, equipment costs are going to start adding up above 10-15k square feet. For example, 10k square feet is easily manageable with a push mower, but if you want to keep 40k square feet low cut, you are going to be looking at a triplex or similar. 10k square feet is easy with a 4gallon backpack sprayer. 40k square feet and you are going to want a tractor pulled sprayer with a boom.

Time also becomes an issue. I have 10k square feet and I am spraying every 1-2 weeks, often several different things that can't be mixed. That is manageable on 10k in a couple hours, but it would take at least 2-3 times longer for 40k. If it helps, I spend about 2-4 hours per week on average on the lawn.

I would take a look at some of the lawn journals with large lawns. Right now it looks like you have a KBG monostand and are thinking of reel mowing. That to me is a high input, high maintenance lawn. @Pete1313 has 38k square feet of killer grass and can probably give you some solid feedback on what it takes. Peruse his lawn journal as well.

Another option is to maintain a smaller area right around the house more intensely, and keep the surrounding area a bit rougher. That will also give you a buffer between bad stuff in the neighbors/nearby woods/ag fields.

Irrigation may also be an issue. If you don't have it yet, you will want a well and well pump report. If your well only produces at 10 gmp, you will have a challenge irrigating 40k square feet. If it produces at 80 gpm, you have plenty of water to irrigate. Make sure you have an irrigation installer who knows how to design well supplied systems when you get to that point.

Thank you all for the well thought out answers. I plan on doing Mazama again, I love the look. I won't be going reel low on that much lawn, at least at first. A zero turn or a rider will be in the cards. I think I can get away with a little less inputs on this lawn as I have been doing with my front yard this year, I spend way to much time out in the yard hand pulling weeds and applying amendments. The well is from the 70s and is still running on the original pump, so that will be replaced and moved from the house out into the well, so we can up the gallons per minute to what is needed. Another option is to drop a sand point well strictly for watering outside stuff. Water table is very low, around 20 feet. I have a buddy who designs and installs sprinkler systems for commercial applications who will be designing and installing my system.
The area we are moving may have some of the best soil in our state, most of the land around is agriculture, blueberries raspberries and strawberries.

 

I'd do nice lawn at least 200 feet out from all sides. Try that for a year or two and then adjust up or down from there.

I suggest not doing too much for at least a year. Get yourself acquainted to the property and where water sits, where animals hang out, where the sun blazes all the time. Then make some decisions then.

 

I'd do nice lawn at least 200 feet out from all sides. Try that for a year or two and then adjust up or down from there.

I suggest not doing too much for at least a year. Get yourself acquainted to the property and where water sits, where animals hang out, where the sun blazes all the time. Then make some decisions then.

Soil is very sandy, there are two ponds on either end of the property. But they are dug down into the water table. The sun is the big issue. But most of the trees are coming down, possibly leaving one purple looking maple in the front yard area. That tree may be too cool to kill.
I will definitely be holding off until next fall for any seed down. Going to spend the spring and summer killing off everything I can.

 

I started at 25k and am just now going to seed another 10k but I have a 5 reel fairway mower so with that the 25k seemed too small. I can double cut trim and edge all within an hour and a half. If I were doing it with a zero turn though I feel like it would be a lot to handle. I love it though and wouldn't change anything at this point! Although I may add one more side addition next year that would be another 15k lol. The costs do add up though for sure! I'm also on a well and don't have any issues so far but I do have to water around 7.5 hours to get a half inch down. Not sure if that helps but I say go for it!

 

We bought a house on a 1.6 acre lot. I remember someone saying wait a year before you make big changes (Babaganoosh said it above too). We did that and it was good to be patient. We saw some things the sellers didn't disclose (or just didn't notice or care about).

The one thing we did do was get the irrigation system going. But we didn't remove trees or change the grade. We will be regrading soon though.

 

I would keep it small and manageable until the kids are older you won't have to much free time with activities. Keep it so you can squeeze a cut on a week night after dinner size. The odds of spending 6 hours on a Saturday to deal with the lawn only adds to drama and that's never good. Once the kids are older more doing there own thing you can expand. I would not go big time spent with young kids goes fast and you can't get it back

 

We bought a house on a 1.6 acre lot. I remember someone saying wait a year before you make big changes (Babaganoosh said it above too). We did that and it was good to be patient. We saw some things the sellers didn't disclose (or just didn't notice or care about).

The one thing we did do was get the irrigation system going. But we didn't remove trees or change the grade. We will be regrading soon though.

We had to remove trees, they were messing up the house. There were 5-6 that were touching the house and another 10-15 that were so close they were a problem. We have pulled close to 50 ish, depending on ur definition of a tree vs a shrub. I am looking at summer 2023 for a full install of a sprinkler system. I think it's going to take at least that long to work out the land to the point where it would be beneficial

 

I would keep it small and manageable until the kids are older you won't have to much free time with activities. Keep it so you can squeeze a cut on a week night after dinner size. The odds of spending 6 hours on a Saturday to deal with the lawn only adds to drama and that's never good. Once the kids are older more doing there own thing you can expand. I would not go big time spent with young kids goes fast and you can't get it back

I have pretty much figured out the size of the yard now. Going to be approximately 2 acres minus footprint of house. Not sure how long it will take me to cut it, but my kids both really like riding around on the mower. My dad has 5 acres that he mowed with I tiny John Deere rider, my son spent the first two years of his life taking most of his weekend naps on that mower. Either way I generally get my mowing before wife and kids are even awake.

 

It really depends what you're calling "lawn". I have about 25 acres that I mow, but only about 15000 sq/ft (1/3rd of an acre or so) that's "nice grass". I mow the rest of it with a batwing bushhog, and it looks ok, but it's not what those here consider a "lawn". It's green and mowed, that's about all I can say for it.

I can't fathom doing "acres" of high input lawn. I mean, yes, I know how to do it, but the cost and time, at least for me, would spiral out of control. You're talking golf course type setups at some point; huge pumps with even bigger water lines to get out to the 100's of sprinkler heads (or dozens of spray cannons). If you want to see what it takes, visit a sod farm, that's basically what you're doing when you're thinking about acres of high input lawn.

I have about 15K "nice" now and am planning on getting out to maybe around 25K in the future as I keep adding more sprinklers and killing back the garbage to put in nice turf. But that's it; irrigating 1/2 an acre if it's dry would be 100's per month at my water rate, and probably at least 100/mo in electric if you have your own well or pond. And then the chemicals, phew, could be totally insane depending on what you need (especially if it's fungicide).

Clean slate like you have, I'd plan the area around the house as best as you can, figure out where the irrigation goes, where the planting will go, and then this fall, go at it and Roundup/reseed. The rest of it, I'd get a drill and seed it heavily in something tough (like K-31) and hope for the best. Don't spend a ton of money on it, get it green. Then, as you start to assess your time requirements, take some of that lawn "back" and improve it further.

 

It really depends what you're calling "lawn". I have about 25 acres that I mow, but only about 15000 sq/ft (1/3rd of an acre or so) that's "nice grass". I mow the rest of it with a batwing bushhog, and it looks ok, but it's not what those here consider a "lawn". It's green and mowed, that's about all I can say for it.

I can't fathom doing "acres" of high input lawn. I mean, yes, I know how to do it, but the cost and time, at least for me, would spiral out of control. You're talking golf course type setups at some point; huge pumps with even bigger water lines to get out to the 100's of sprinkler heads (or dozens of spray cannons). If you want to see what it takes, visit a sod farm, that's basically what you're doing when you're thinking about acres of high input lawn.

I have about 15K "nice" now and am planning on getting out to maybe around 25K in the future as I keep adding more sprinklers and killing back the garbage to put in nice turf. But that's it; irrigating 1/2 an acre if it's dry would be 100's per month at my water rate, and probably at least 100/mo in electric if you have your own well or pond. And then the chemicals, phew, could be totally insane depending on what you need (especially if it's fungicide).

Clean slate like you have, I'd plan the area around the house as best as you can, figure out where the irrigation goes, where the planting will go, and then this fall, go at it and Roundup/reseed. The rest of it, I'd get a drill and seed it heavily in something tough (like K-31) and hope for the best. Don't spend a ton of money on it, get it green. Then, as you start to assess your time requirements, take some of that lawn "back" and improve it further.

I am not going to have a "lawn" like most of the guys on here. I'm going to do just a No mix for now. No reel mowing, just want it green and big. My last house I had a Mazama mono and I spent a lot of time and money on that yard. Going to switch to urea for my nitrogen source and just let it rock. We are on a well so water isn't an issue right now. I am going to drop a sand point well in just for irrigation. Or maybe I will use one of the two ponds. It's really all up in the air at this point, I have been mowing the front yard, and planted another 7000 sq ft that I haven't mowed yet. Honestly most of my work is just killing what is already here, picking up garbage, and moving dirt around and getting ready for fall when I plan on planting the rest of the yard

 

I'd be Leary of using the well for the house to water a large lawn. When we moved to Manassas in the early 2000's the area was in the middle of a drought, some wells were only good for one dishwasher or laundry load per day. Showers and water for cooking had ro be managed as well. Tapping into the ponds for water might be a better solution.

 

I'd be Leary of using the well for the house to water a large lawn. When we moved to Manassas in the early 2000's the area was in the middle of a drought, some wells were only good for one dishwasher or laundry load per day. Showers and water for cooking had ro be managed as well. Tapping into the ponds for water might be a better solution.

I agree. When you're talking "acres", you really need to look at farmers, how do they do it. Because, at that scale, you're no longer a homeowner with a nice lawn, it's much more like you're farming sod. Water, in particular, is almost always comes out of irrigation ponds, very rarely wells. So, in the OP's case, I would look at getting a big pump down by the pond to bring the water up as the most reasonable way to irrigate this much land.

I am actually thinking of doing the same on my property, but the scale problems make my head hurt a bit. The "cheap" way for me to do it is to dig a pond and next to the pond, drop a PTO water pump. Then go out there when I need to water and hook up my tractor to pump the water. I'd pump the water up to long range cannons. Something like this:

Cannon (covers ~1/4 of an acre at a time, up to 63GPM):
https://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200660241_200660241

With a pump like this powering it:
https://www.waterpumpsdirect.com/TrunkPump-TP-2PTR-Water-Pump/p4448.html

Something like this:

That pump could do 4-5 of the cannons at once, getting you an acre or so at a time watered. Zone it out as necessary and then start laying a lot of 2in pipe in the ground.

It's doable, but it would quickly spiral into 1000's or 10,000's of dollars to be able to irrigate "acres" for a reasonable price per application of water. 10,000's for me because I don't have a pond at the ready, however, the OP does, so for him, probably a full setup would be <10K.

Dropping 1in of water on an acre is almost 30,000 gallons of water, would take about 2 hours of run time on the pump I linked above to get that much water out, which is pretty reasonable, just hook up the tractor and let it run for a few hours.

 

I'd be Leary of using the well for the house to water a large lawn. When we moved to Manassas in the early 2000's the area was in the middle of a drought, some wells were only good for one dishwasher or laundry load per day. Showers and water for cooking had ro be managed as well. Tapping into the ponds for water might be a better solution.

I agree. When you're talking "acres", you really need to look at farmers, how do they do it. Because, at that scale, you're no longer a homeowner with a nice lawn, it's much more like you're farming sod. Water, in particular, is almost always comes out of irrigation ponds, very rarely wells. So, in the OP's case, I would look at getting a big pump down by the pond to bring the water up as the most reasonable way to irrigate this much land.

I am actually thinking of doing the same on my property, but the scale problems make my head hurt a bit. The "cheap" way for me to do it is to dig a pond and next to the pond, drop a PTO water pump. Then go out there when I need to water and hook up my tractor to pump the water. I'd pump the water up to long range cannons. Something like this:

Cannon (covers ~1/4 of an acre at a time, up to 63GPM):
https://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200660241_200660241

With a pump like this powering it:
https://www.waterpumpsdirect.com/TrunkPump-TP-2PTR-Water-Pump/p4448.html

Something like this:

That pump could do 4-5 of the cannons at once, getting you an acre or so at a time watered. Zone it out as necessary and then start laying a lot of 2in pipe in the ground.

It's doable, but it would quickly spiral into 1000's or 10,000's of dollars to be able to irrigate "acres" for a reasonable price per application of water. 10,000's for me because I don't have a pond at the ready, however, the OP does, so for him, probably a full setup would be <10K.

Dropping 1in of water on an acre is almost 30,000 gallons of water, would take about 2 hours of run time on the pump I linked above to get that much water out, which is pretty reasonable, just hook up the tractor and let it run for a few hours.

Our water table is super high here. Well sits at 20 ft. But when we were digging with the excavator we hit the water table at around three feet. My pond is the water table, which is nice and I will probably end up using it for irrigation purposes so I don't fry my well pump. That being said, I have downgraded my expectations for this yard for a little while. I will only water for seeding, and then on really hot streaks during summer to keep it alive.

 

@Deke

Really interested to see how you do with it. I'm considering doing something for about 5 acres in my front yard, trying to figure out how to get it "pretty good" without going nuts. I have the equipment to spray 5 acres easily, and can get a drill to put in seed, but water has always been my problem. I don't know how good I can expect, even with spraying, to get a lawn with no water. My situation is a bit harder than yours; I can run temp sprinklers, it's like 1/4 mile from my closest hose bib to the grass. So I need to go -0- irrigation. I'm thinking about tackling it in the fall, burning it all down with Roundup and then drilling seed across it and holding my breath for rain.

 

My big piece of advice is...get it level. However large you want your nice bit of lawn, get it level.

 

I'd be Leary of using the well for the house to water a large lawn. When we moved to Manassas in the early 2000's the area was in the middle of a drought, some wells were only good for one dishwasher or laundry load per day. Showers and water for cooking had ro be managed as well. Tapping into the ponds for water might be a better solution.

We have great well water here, but you can't run an irrigation system unless you have a constant pressure pump and not residential a pressure tank. GPM too high.

For me, my lawn is as much as I'd want to water.

Keep in mind that you need to limit water over the septic field, too.

 

@Deke

Really interested to see how you do with it. I'm considering doing something for about 5 acres in my front yard, trying to figure out how to get it "pretty good" without going nuts. I have the equipment to spray 5 acres easily, and can get a drill to put in seed, but water has always been my problem. I don't know how good I can expect, even with spraying, to get a lawn with no water. My situation is a bit harder than yours; I can run temp sprinklers, it's like 1/4 mile from my closest hose bib to the grass. So I need to go -0- irrigation. I'm thinking about tackling it in the fall, burning it all down with Roundup and then drilling seed across it and holding my breath for rain.

I am keeping a lawn journal, It has some pictures of the starting point. Hopefully I can test some stuff out so others don't need to make my mistake.

 

I'd be Leary of using the well for the house to water a large lawn. When we moved to Manassas in the early 2000's the area was in the middle of a drought, some wells were only good for one dishwasher or laundry load per day. Showers and water for cooking had ro be managed as well. Tapping into the ponds for water might be a better solution.

We have great well water here, but you can't run an irrigation system unless you have a constant pressure pump and not residential a pressure tank. GPM too high.

For me, my lawn is as much as I'd want to water.

Keep in mind that you need to limit water over the septic field, too.

 

I'd be Leary of using the well for the house to water a large lawn. When we moved to Manassas in the early 2000's the area was in the middle of a drought, some wells were only good for one dishwasher or laundry load per day. Showers and water for cooking had ro be managed as well. Tapping into the ponds for water might be a better solution.

We have great well water here, but you can't run an irrigation system unless you have a constant pressure pump and not residential a pressure tank. GPM too high.

For me, my lawn is as much as I'd want to water.

Keep in mind that you need to limit water over the septic field, too.

I have a couple options as far as watering goes. I can either drop in a sand point, which is very popular around me because the water table is so high. Or I can use my ponds as an irrigation source. It rains here constantly over the fall, spring, winter. I think if I was going to flood out my drain field it would happen then

 

I'd be Leary of using the well for the house to water a large lawn. When we moved to Manassas in the early 2000's the area was in the middle of a drought, some wells were only good for one dishwasher or laundry load per day. Showers and water for cooking had ro be managed as well. Tapping into the ponds for water might be a better solution.

We have great well water here, but you can't run an irrigation system unless you have a constant pressure pump and not residential a pressure tank. GPM too high.

For me, my lawn is as much as I'd want to water.

Keep in mind that you need to limit water over the septic field, too.

I have a couple options as far as watering goes. I can either drop in a sand point, which is very popular around me because the water table is so high. Or I can use my ponds as an irrigation source. It rains here constantly over the fall, spring, winter. I think if I was going to flood out my drain field it would happen then

It pays to watch the weather when you have a septic. If 3" of rain are predicted in 4 days, skipping some watering can be the smart move.