9/15

Scalped the yard at the lowest setting and used my Sunjoe Dethatcher to go over the whole yard twice. Ended up bagging up 9 bags worth of dead grass.

After all the exhausting raking I rented a harley rake and did my best to level out the whole yard (harder than i thought). I had 9cy of screened topsoil delivered and used it to bring up some of my really low spots.

10lbs of CGI TTTF per 1000sf (6500 total)
3lbs per 1000sf 12-12-12 and another application 2 weeks later.
Top dressed with a light coat of topsoil/compost/peatmoss.

 

9/18 only real picture I have of what it looked like after seeding.

Irrigation - one 4 port Bhyve & one 2 port. Running 3-7 minutes per zone 3-4 times a day. Running 2-3 sprinkles per port. My coverage is not perfect and some of the corners struggled but it did the job.

 

9/23-25

First sprouts 5 days after seed down.

6-8 days after seeding saw major growth. some spots better than others but thats how it goes.

 

9/30 - First Cut 2" HOC

This was right after Helene came through. I was extremely worried but she hung on pretty good. Ended up with about 5" of rain over a few days. Luckily no major down pours. Didn't need to water for a while.

 

10/8 - Second Cut 2.5" HOC

Little to no watering except in a few hot spots that sit in the sun all day. Noticing chickweed coming in but i am just going to hand pick and hold out until spring for any treatment. I didn't use any MESO because I knew I would have to spot seed which I started doing about this time.

 

10/13 -

Bio Stimulants - RGS, Air8, Humic 12

Second application. I put down the first with seed

 

10/17

GreenCharge - Half rate of 10oz per 1000sf. Plan to apply every 2 weeks instead on monthly.

 

10/27 - 4th cut 2.5" HOC

I still have some discoloration but it is starting to fill in. Hoping it is just some slowly maturing spots due to poor soil.

 

10/31

Put down my second application of 26-0-0 GreenCharge. Got about .25 of rain so it should have watered in nicely.

I have noticed some poa coming in. I'm not sure how I'm going to handle it or just let it ride until next fall. Still have quite a few spots that are not greening up kind the rest of the yard. Not really sure why but it's irritating. Those spots are also not growing in thick and seem to have stunted growth wise.

The battle of the leaves has begun.

 

Looking good! Love the color. I have to ask, did you have experience using a Harley rake prior to this? I’ve got over 15,000 sqft and would need some good leveling work if I underwent a reno. Curious how your experience was operating it?

 

I did have some minimal experience. I worked in equipment rental for a while. There are super easy to use. Just take it super slow at first and once you get the hang of it you'll be off to the races.

Rent a bucket as well for cleanup
Watch some YouTube
Get the company you rent from to show you how to use it.

Mine definitely is not professionally level but way better than it was.

 

6th mow - 2.5" HOC. Put the striper back on. The chickweed is really getting on my nerves (hoping to get is resolved next fall) but over all I'm really proud. This was dirt on 9/17

 

11/11

8th Cut. Moved my HOC up to 3". Decided to try the double stripe with the push mower. It took me a minute to get the pattern down but I think it looks so much better than the single stripe. I pulled weeds in my back yard for about 3 hours mostly chickweed.

Bios and more N going down this week. The growing season seems to have about 3-4 more weeks. Soil temps still close to 70.

 

Last Fert of the season.

12oz per 1000sf - 26-0-2
4oz per 1000sf - RGS

I think I have some grub issues in the back yard but with the cold moving in I'm wondering if it's even worth it to put down BioAdvanced 24hr Grub Killer or try and get them come late March....

Going to drop the HOC back down to 2.5 this weekend and that may be a wrap.

 

Probably the last mow today. I couldn't bring myself to cut it at 2.5. Stuck with the trusty 3" HOC. Temps in the low 30s over night for the next week or so. Should be done for the season. What do I do now that i have all this free time....

 

I can't imagine you would be done mowing yet. I've still got one or two more. I always bring it down to 2.5" for the winter.

 

Whew. Winter has been tough. Not much to do out in the lawn. Cabin Lawn Fever.

We had about a week of warm weather where the soil temps got up there. I put down what I feel was a pretty early split app of promadine. (Not sure if it was wise or not) that warm streak caused some pretty good weed growth. Got some chickweed and both the PoAs coming in. Before my reno last fall i had really bad creeping charlie. The reno got rid of the surface charlie but it's starting to pop up. Pulling it as soon as I see it. It's the main weed I'd like to control this spring. I've kinda accepted that I'm going to have some Poa this spring/summer. I'm going to do what I can to keep it under control but I've read alot about the never ending battle with it. My lawn is small. I get out and hand pull often.

As the spring starts rolling in I'm trying to wrap my head around fert apps. I think (may be wrong) that I'd like to get a couple small apps of fast N to get it going. Ease off around May and switch to something like Milo (no experience with this product yet). I will be applying GrubEx and Fungicide. Southern TN summers are pretty long and hot.

I've got my Red neck irrigation system pretty dialed in using Bhyve timers and a spider web of hoses and heads.

I have two areas that rarely get sun which caused the TTTF not to take very well. I plan to put down some creeping red in those areas. I did not apply PreM here.

I'm sure I missed a few things but that's kind of my spring/summer plan.

Thoughts on blanket Tzone & Tenacity vs. Spot spray? Frequency?

It's a long post but it's been a long winter. I've lost one reno through the summer and if I can get this one through the summer heat I'll be in a really good spot this fall.

Any input, advice, concerns are welcome.

Thanks for the read,
Bharp

 

Whew. Winter has been tough. Not much to do out in the lawn. Cabin Lawn Fever.

We had about a week of warm weather where the soil temps got up there. I put down what I feel was a pretty early split app of promadine. (Not sure if it was wise or not) that warm streak caused some pretty good weed growth. Got some chickweed and both the PoAs coming in. Before my reno last fall i had really bad creeping charlie. The reno got rid of the surface charlie but it's starting to pop up. Pulling it as soon as I see it. It's the main weed I'd like to control this spring. I've kinda accepted that I'm going to have some Poa this spring/summer. I'm going to do what I can to keep it under control but I've read alot about the never ending battle with it. My lawn is small. I get out and hand pull often.

As the spring starts rolling in I'm trying to wrap my head around fert apps. I think (may be wrong) that I'd like to get a couple small apps of fast N to get it going. Ease off around May and switch to something like Milo (no experience with this product yet). I will be applying GrubEx and Fungicide. Southern TN summers are pretty long and hot.

I've got my Red neck irrigation system pretty dialed in using Bhyve timers and a spider web of hoses and heads.

I have two areas that rarely get sun which caused the TTTF not to take very well. I plan to put down some creeping red in those areas. I did not apply PreM here.

I'm sure I missed a few things but that's kind of my spring/summer plan.

Thoughts on blanket Tzone & Tenacity vs. Spot spray? Frequency?

It's a long post but it's been a long winter. I've lost one reno through the summer and if I can get this one through the summer heat I'll be in a really good spot this fall.

Any input, advice, concerns are welcome.

Thanks for the read,
Bharp

Depending on the how much early creeping Charlie there is, I like the blanket idea of tzone but I would try to do it "right" by watering after a cut, waiting several days, then adding a little AS/Urea to the mix with Tzone at the low rate (and then go a little heavy on any big patches). Not sure you need the tenacity.

 

First cut off the season!

Looks really good in some spots and little rough in others. Hoping a little N bump will perk it up.

I've got some leveling to do and some dense shade seed to plant in 2 spots

 

Baby needs some K!!

 

3/9/2025

1 of 4 applications before May.

26-0-0 ----> .25lbs N per 1000ft
0-0-25-----> .12lbs K per 1000ft

The lawn really perked up in about 48hrs.

Mowing today. Still can't bring myself to cut lower than 3"....

 

Green up is in full effect here in middle TN. Really happy with the progress since last fall. Still pulling winter weeds daily. Hoping i can keep going through the summer heat.

3.5" HOC. 2nd Pre Emergent going down in about 2 weeks. Got some Poa problems but I've got something special (iykyk) coming in the mail for that.

 

It's been a minute since I last posted.

The reno is really doing well right now minus a few issues. We have had a very wet spring so trying to keep the TTTF dry has been tough (lots of blow drying the lawn). The true test will come when the full heat of summer sets in (DIY sprinkler system out and audited within the next few weeks)

Spring Regiment Thus Far:

Mowing

First few cuts 2" HOC (2), early spring 2.5" (3), now mowing at 3" HOC (grass is growing like crazy) going to give PGR a try. Bagging everything due to annua.

Pre Emergent

Split app of Prodiamine 65WG. 1st Feb 18 / 2nd Apr 9 (5 grams)
- The soil warmed up early this year for about 5 days. I may have put 1st app down early and I think next year I may hold off and do a full app instead of split. I see pretty good control but its hard to tell (lots of rain/rate?). I do have quite a bit of winter/fall weeds that hung around and have been treating accordingly.

Fertilization

Soil test showed K deficiency

1lb on N per 1000sf split into 4 applications (2 weeks apart) 26-0-0
- as recommended for TTTF by University of TN Turf Management.
0-0-25 with each app of N to try and increase K levels

I have seen alot of top growth which has me worried going into summer but we will see.

Bio - Stimulants

7-0-0 Iron & 0-0-2 Micro Green - 30day apps. Switching to split apps as of last week.
Humic & RGS - every 30 days
Liquid Aeration - 3 months

Herbicides

Triv, Annua, Clover, Oxalis, Chickweed, Purple Violet, weed with the little white flowers, small amount of creeping charlie (hand pulled asap. big problem last year), crab grass, ornamental grass, and a few broad leaf weeds.

Tenacity/Tzone have been effective minus the clover, purple violet, crab grass.
Tenacity/Tzone/Velocity/Sticker - most effective. Knocked back Triv & Annua as well

Have not tried my Drive XLR on Crab Grass yet.
Purple Violet - taking a brush and painting the leaves with gylco.

Fungicide
First app of Disease Ex this week. Nervous about this one. Southern TN is hot, humid, and has been very damp. Going to try and stay on top of this until September. Brown Patch is very common.

Anyways sorry for the long post. Had to catch up. If you read this far I appreciate it and hope you get something out of it. Disclaimer I am by no means an expert. Just a dad with a lawn addiction learning by trail and error.