CaffeinatedLawnCare Lawn Renovation (Midnight, Mazama, Bewitched)

Put down a preventative app of azoxy yesterday and got my application of PGR down today, went with 0.33oz/M this time just to get a bit more regulation as I felt like it was still growing a bit more than I’d like, may have hit some rebound as well at the end so I think I’m going to go down to 280 GDD this time also. Bit higher rate and a shorter interval should be the ticket, I’ll keep playing with both until I get the apps just right.

Looking pretty good so far. Going to put down my Gypsum application soon-ish (next 2-3 weeks) by the road as well so it can soak into the soil before the weather gets too cold, probably aim for the end of October. Appreciate the help on that, hopefully no damage next spring.

Will be putting down my weekly nitrogen application tomorrow as well, didn’t put it down today because the ammonium sulfate doesn’t seem to mix nice with the Tnex …

Thanks again to everyone who voted for my lawn for LOTM! Makes all the hard work worth it !

Put down another 0.21lbs N/M on Monday, decided that my last PGR app on Oct 3. would be the final one of the year, it should be coming out of regulation right around the second to last week of the month and it should be naturally shutting down around then anyway. Weather has started cooling off over the last week and a few of the forecasts for next week are in the 40s 🥶. Safe to say that I will be mostly just doing cleanup of leaves from here on out. I plan to keep putting down weekly nitrogen applications until the last week of October. I also decided to put down my gypsum application by the road today since I want to make sure it is watered in decently before I put the sprinkler away for the year.

Unfortunately I am having the house re-shingled so I haven't been able to mow for the last 3 days due to the possibility of nails in the lawn (I've been making sure they don't set their tools/materials on the lawn or intentionally drop any scraps on it lol). Has been a stressful few days for sure, but our shingles were 15+ years old and were at the end of their life unfortunately (the garage had a leak and it was probably only a matter of time before the house started leaking too). That's also why I decided to wait on my lawn leveling project for this year and put it off until next spring. I plan to bring in a couple yards of sand next year and get this thing flattened out some, though I may need to do some topsoil in some areas that are a little bit more uneven than I think sand would fix without multiple applications. So I might end up doing a light topsoil leveling in spring for those areas, let it recover, and then bring in the sand in the fall.

Overall I'm super happy with the way it turned out, the blend of KBG has really darkened up quite a bit this year (probably the Bewitched starting to get darker plus the other two types being a bit more mature, along with the iron I've been giving it). Can't wait to see where we can take it next year. I'll post a few more pictures after the new roof is on and I clean everything up, also I'll get a side by side picture of the curb damage to show just how far the KBG spread from Spring to Fall in a single year.

Thanks everyone I appreciate it! It’s been quite a bit of work, so it’s nice to have it pay off! So on that note let’s talk about the bad area of the yard 😅.

Here is the side by side of the salt damage area by the curb from the spring to now. I’ve put down the gypsum and watered it a few times now. The temps are starting to get down to the 30s (F) at night pretty consistently and the grass is slowing down. I have been giving it the same feedings as the main lawn, nothing different (aside from adding the gypsum) and just letting it fill in on its own. Overall I’m pretty happy with it. Even though seeding may have been a bit more quick to see results, I didn’t have to waste any additional water on seeding. Hopefully this winter there isn’t much damage and it will finish filling in the few bigger spots.

@Victor Von Lawn Along with @Chris LI's comment about the cultivars, I would imagine part of the issue is that I live pretty much on the corner near an intersection where the plow likes to turn around/back up and get a running head start splashing more salt onto my yard than the rest of the street since he is moving fast when he impacts the initial pile (causing the splashing) and then just pushes it along the rest of the way (less/no splashing into neighbors yards). Just one thought I had after watching it happen and seeing a 2-3 foot wide trail of salty slush debris fly from the street through my lawn, also if you look at the damage it kind of matches up ... it is worse near the mailbox (close to where the plow makes impact) and is scattered/tapers off a bit as he moves along the road heading away (since he is just pushing it along at that point and making less of a splashing effect). They also normally keep a foot or two away from the curb when plowing and there was one time the plow went right up to the curb by my house when he started his pass (pushing everything up into the yard again) but then they adjusted going forward since he realized he was too close. Just my theory anyway (but I'm sure the cultivars make a difference as well).