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Discussion Starter · #1 ·
First off, hello everyone and thank you @Ware for creating this fantastic resource! I have been reading this forum daily for about 3 months and joined a month ago to procure some advice from @wardconnor .. He asked that I keep him in the loop with my progress so here goes, and for anyone else that would like to follow along.

I will begin with a little about me and the as of today lawn situation. My wife and I bought our first house in late February after looking for two years. The house we bought is great but while looking we got pregnant with our first child. So the mad dash was on to close on the house, move and get settled in before the baby came a month after our move in date. So you could say we had a lot going on on top of transferring jobs out to our new location. Oh and don't let me leave out we got a Newfoundland puppy in November. So yeah, my plate was and still is full. We moved in on March 7th. The previous owners payed a service similar to TruGreen to manage the lawn. In March it was rough looking, lots of bare spots of just dirt but no weeds. The puppy took to the yard and killed most of what was green with her urea potent wee. That's a work in progress. You can seen in some of the backyard pics where I just seeded dog pee spots, they are sprouting currently. When spring came I got it to fill in a lot with the usual pre-m, Milorganite, fert, Humic, ect.

The previous owners tore down about 6 huge pine trees on the property and reseeded after they were out. The part of the property that had no trees they did not reseed so now the front half of the lot has a different grass type than the back. Honestly I don't know what is out front, it looks like Bermuda with stolens galore but based on where I am I know its probably not Bermuda. The back I think is Fescue but again, who knows. None of that really matters

So here's the plan, everyone heres favorite..............LAWN RENO! Out in the shed is a Toro Greensmaster 1000. My goal is a .75 HOC for the lawn. I have posted some pictures below of what I have as of today. My kill date is 7/1....... as in tomorrow. Here is the plan

July 1st
Glypho
Pull up Bluestone (you can see them in between the curb and the sidewalk on both sides of the property)
Water during the week

July 7th
Glypho
Water

July 14th
Glypho
Water

Week of July 21st
Scalp with rotary mower
Power Rake
Put down topdress
Dragmat Level
Level
Water
Level
Level some more and level again

July 28th
Tenacity
Humic acid
starter fert
seed moist
seed KBG

I have all of the things listed above on hand already. If I have any questions for the forum it would be am I missing anything? I do not currently have irrigation. I tried to get it put in but everyone in my area is too busy to even give me a quote. I sent measurements off to the Rain Bird design service. If they get back to me soon enough I might put it in myself but if that doesn't happen I will do a @ryanknorr style stake sprinkler system on a timer for germination.

Oh, before i forget to mention it. I am only killing off the front and side yard which is 1100sq/ft. The back 2100sq/ft will happen in the spring once the dog is a little older and not as hard on the lawn. She is growing like a weed, just turned 10 months and shes about 92lbs, half of that might be fur. I included a cool pic of a treat jar I put out for the neighborhood kids. The benefit is two fold, all the kids in town walk to school so they get a kick out of giving her treats and the pup gets socialized with strangers. Win win, I recommend it!

Thanks for reading :D

Shout out to @Pete1313 , loved all 29 pages of your journal!










 

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5.6ksqft Bewitched KBG in Fishers, IN
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Welcome to TLF. Your house looks great and the treat idea sounds great. Our school don't let kids walk to school. Even when the school is in the house backyard.

Your plan looks really good. Get a good timer that allows you to keep the seed moist. What kbg seeds are you planning to use ?
 

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Discussion Starter · #3 ·
Thanks! We are about three blocks from the high school/middle school and three blocks from the elementary school.

Not sure on seed cultivar yet, having trouble making up my mind. The front gets full sun all day and the side yard get about 1/4 a day of shade. I am open to suggestions
 

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Discussion Starter · #5 ·
Pennsylvaniablue said:
Looking forward to see how things progress. Hoping you're surviving this heatwave were going though right now!
Been up on the roof most of the day and man it's brutal out. The bank down the streets sign said 99 when I went to HD earlier.

Glyphosate going down around 5pm!
 

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Discussion Starter · #6 ·
Update: Gylpho down and I put .4 oz of Dominion per gallon in the mix. When I pulled up the bluestone in the pics just as I suspected there were ants galore.

The three bluestone pieces were WAY bigger than I had anticipated. I should have known because when we moved in and I used the edger for the first time the grass was grown over the sidewalk about 6 inches. About one sq/ft was visible of the bluestone. When I got them up each piece was 4' x 2' 1/2 and 3" thick. I gave them to my neighbor across the street as I had no use for them.

I am including some post Glypho pics so I can reference them for the kill. In two of the pics you can see where the bluestone came out. Those spots I will fill in when I level as I have a lot of high spots I will need to scrape down. I will put that soil in the holes.

And now the wait for die off begins!






 

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Discussion Starter · #7 ·
Not much browning yet, maybe by the end of the week? I didn't expect much after only a day but considering it was 102 today and yesterday I thought that might speed up the process. We will see what happens
 

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Discussion Starter · #9 ·
Today's completed tasks:

1. Scalped down the dying grass, bagged and got rid of clippings
2. Sprayed second round of glypho with liquid humic acid
3. Waited 7 hours then watered
4. Dog got groomed and cut back also

Progress pics below







 

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This is fantastic. I love a good reno. I'm happy to see what your working on. Beautiful place there. I think your timing is right and your going to be happy with the results.

Termidor is the absolute best stuff I've ever seen for ants.

Keep this thread updated.
 

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dacoyne said:
Pennsylvaniablue said:
ChadStokes said:
What part of southern PA? I'm in Lebanon just outside the city.
Hey neighbor, not op but South Lebanon Township here.
We are in Lititz just north of Lancaster City. We love it here so far. If you're ever in the area check out Main Street.
I am very familiar with the area, was downtown lititz about 3 weeks ago, I do a lot of Security work in the Penn Manor SD
 

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Discussion Starter · #16 ·
wardconnor said:
This is fantastic. I love a good reno. I'm happy to see what your working on. Beautiful place there. I think your timing is right and your going to be happy with the results.

Termidor is the absolute best stuff I've ever seen for ants.

Keep this thread updated.
Thanks for the tip on Thermidor. I will be keeping the journal updated, I am committed now!
 

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Discussion Starter · #17 ·
Update: 7/16 Sprayed third round of glypho with liquid humic acid. Didnt take any pics tonight but the lawn is DEAD. A little green here and there but after today's spray that should be gone in a few days.

Also today, I ordered everything else I need that I do not already have. Got some good prices on Amazon and Target for the hoses. I signed up for the Amazon Prime card which got me an additional 70$ off the cart total.

I decided against a KBG monostand and went with the blend Superseedstore.com sells. The thinking was I was torn between Midnight and Bewitched and the blend had both. Since the front is full sun and the side yard has partial shade I think this is the best of both worlds and the grass should adapt to its location.

















Going on vacation on Thrusday, I have a harley rake rental scheduled for when I get back to start the leveling process and get the soil loosened up.
 

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Discussion Starter · #19 ·
Pennsylvaniablue said:
Did you end up seeding yet or are you going to wait for things to cool off a bit?
Not yet and I am glad I waited. All those downpours we had the last two weeks would have washed everything away. I have 2 more yards of top soil coming today that I will put down tonight for the final leveling. As long as the forecast doesn't change my mind I will be putting seed, starter fert and Tenacity down Wednesday night after work.

My process was held up after power raking. Once all the grass was up I found a lot of roots running along the surface of the soil from the two trees I have. I had to get those out of there to get the soil down and level. I will post progress pics once the seed is down.
 

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Discussion Starter · #20 ·
Major Update:

I leveled for 3 days after work last week. It was pretty successful but I just wasn't happy with the grade level vs the curb and sidewalk height. I sucked it up and ordered a yard and a half of screened topsoil for delivery while I was at work, came home last Wednesday and went to work. I got half down that night and the second half Thursday night. Landscape rake is a life saver doing this job. Before I started with the top soil I had a lot of spots that were level but below the curb and sidewalk height. That won't work when cutting with the greens mower, had to get them up higher. There is a slight slope up around both trees. I am going to mulch around them. Here are some pics from when the leveling was completed.













In the second and last pictures you can see the irrigation I put in. Two zones on a timer they each kick on for a half hour each at 6am, 10am, 1pm and 3pm. There are 6 heads down the side of the property and 5 in the front. Coverage is about 97%, the wife works from home and will hit the 3% that's missed at lunch time. :lol:

Friday night was a mad dash after work to get everything down. I was leaving in the morning to head to my parents in Jersey until Sunday. Got home at 6pm and got the following done: 12-24-10 starter fert. down, KBG seed down with a drop spreader 2lb's per K, got the Greensmaster 1000 out and rolled it all in for seed to soil contact, Tenacity sprayed @ 1 tsp per gallon, 8 cu yards of peat moss down. Finished all this at 930pm by headlights from my car and house floods.

7am Saturday morning I came out and hit spots missed the previous night in the darkness with more peat moss. Turned on the irrigation and left town. Here is what it looks like tonight (forgot to take pics before I left) as you can see the stupid Linden Tree is still dropping seeds and leaves everywhere its a losing battle until I take it down.













Based on my testing of the seed blend I put down I should have sprouts by this Weds or Thurs.

While in Jersey I picked up some Milorganite from a Mom and Pop garden center I stopped in to see if they had any OceanGro. There hasnt been any Milorganite in my area of PA since late June, huge score I think! They had 4 bags left but I only had room in the car on the trip back home for 2 bags which should be just fine.

Anyways, that's the update, crossing my fingers for good germination!
 
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