[gregonfire]

Hi all,

Been lurking on aroundtheyard.com and /r/lawncare for a few months, gaining knowledge and ideas about fixing my crappy lawn. I bought the house a couple years ago, and the lawn was just ok. Recently though, it's been getting a little too weed infested for my liking. Also we got a new pup and he and the other one started tearing up the back yard from playing.

After reading through many posts on the forums, I decided I wanted to put in a new stand of grass, since I'm sure the existing grass was extremely old.

I'm starting this post late, as I just found out about this forum. I have been trying to join aroundtheyard.com for a couple months, but I guess the site isn't very active anymore as far as mods go. I couldn't get my account activated.

Anyway, here is a timeline of what I've done so far, which I'll keep updating:

Doing a 80% TTTF / 20% KBG mix. Using Seed Superstores SS1000 mix, Bewitched KBG and Blueberry KBG

8/10/17: First round of Glyphosate
8/14/17: Second round of Glyphosate
8/20/17: Scalped to 1.5", raked, and spot sprayed Glypho
8/20/17 - 9/2/17: Fallow
9/3/17: Spread top soil / compost mix ~1/4 - 1/2"
9/4/17: SEED DOWN!!
- did final spreading of soil / compost
- dropped starter fertilizer
- dropped milorganite
- mixed seed with soil most seed coat
- did multiple passes with TTTF then both KBG blended together
- sprayed tenacity
- spread m-binder tackifier on steep sections of lawn
- rolled lawn
- beer break
- spread peat moss
- set sprinklers
- more beer
9/9/17: green babies
9/24/17: milorganite at 1/2 bag rate
9/25/17: bayer 24 hour grub killer
9/26/17: first mow at 3.5", adjusted watering to 1x per day
9/28/17: second mow at 2.5"
9/30/17: third mow at 2", watering 1x every other day, urea 1/2lb /k
10/4/17: fourth mow at 2"
10/7/17: fifth mow at 2.5", heritage G, urea 1/2lb / k
10/10/17: mow at 2.5"
10/16/17: urea 1/2lb / k
10/17/17: mow at 2.5"
10/18/17: Tenacity 4oz / acre rate

 

[gregonfire]

Here are some pictures of my lawn from July. This is the worst it has been in the 2 years we've been living there.

 

[gregonfire]

Glypho starting to kick in:

Glypho in full effect and playing with the sprinkler setup:

 

[gregonfire]

KBG came in from Preferred Seed:

Post-scalping / raking. What a dirty job. Filled about 6 trash cans and 12 home depot lawn waste bags:

As you can see in the last pic, we had some moss hiding under the grass. I scraped it out with a metal rake before seeding.

 

[gregonfire]

Spreading dirt / compost. Luckily had my wife, father in law, and brother in law to help. Got it done in a few hours.

Seed down the next day! Rolling it all in. You can see the steep hill very good from this picture. Was very worried about this spot close to the property line, but the tackifier seemed to help, also we didn't have any heavy rains before the grass germinated.

Needed that beer break during the peat moss spreading.

 

[gregonfire]

Noticed some very small sprouts on day 5, but day 6 was picture worthy.

GREEN BABIES!!

 

[gregonfire]

Day 7:

 

[gregonfire]

Day 8:

Up close shots:

Pretty even germination so far!

 

[gregonfire]

Day 9:

 

[gregonfire]

Day 10:

Sunset pic makes the lawn look so full

 

[gregonfire]

2 weeks from seed down. Lawn is looking a good bit darker. I reseeded a couple bare spots about 3 days ago. The grass is starting to be around 3" everywhere, close to 3.5" in some spots. Will probably mow this weekend.

 

[Sinclair]

My goodness! That sure got dark and thick quickly.

Are you pranking us poor KBG germinators? :lol:

 

[g-man]

This looks awesome. What was your rate of tttf and kbg lb/k?

 

[ericgautier]

Welcome from a fellow Jerseyan! That is looking great.

 

[gregonfire]

My goodness! That sure got dark and thick quickly.

Are you pranking us poor KBG germinators? :lol:

Thanks, yeah it surprised me how quickly it filled in! Wasn't expecting it to be so full in such a short amount of time. Unfortunately not pranking! The TTTF is definitely helping it look more full.

This looks awesome. What was your rate of tttf and kbg lb/k?

Thank you! I used about 29lbs of TTTF and 3 lbs each of Bewitched and Blueberry KBG, so about 6.5 lb/k TTTF and about 1.25 lb/k KBG.

Welcome from a fellow Jerseyan! That is looking great.

Eric, thank you! I have been using your two renos from ATY as a guide for mine! Your backyard reno was the reason I decided to add KBG to mine instead of only using TTTF. Thank you!

 

[ericgautier]

Eric, thank you! I have been using your two renos from ATY as a guide for mine! Your backyard reno was the reason I decided to add KBG to mine instead of only using TTTF. Thank you!

Awesome! Glad it helped you out. :thumbup:

 

[gregonfire]

Question for those experienced with reel mowers. I picked up a reel mower from Craigslist for $20 the other day. I tested it out on a small section of the yard yesterday and it didn't seem to cut very well and also looked like it distressed the grass. Should I attempt to cut the lawn with it this weekend or should I just use my HRX217?

The reel mower is very old and I doubt I'll be able to adjust the HOC. Most of the bolts are rusted / seized. Here's a pic:

Also here are some pics from today, looking down at the grass. Doesn't look nearly as thick from this angle. Is this about normal for 15 days?:

 

[ericgautier]

Try doing the paper cut test on the reel. Video is for a different brand reel, but should give you an idea. If you really can't adjust the reel.. then I would probably wait until day 25 or so to cut w/ the HRX. Looking back at my notes for the backyard, day 25 was when I did my first cut using my Toro 22".

 

[gregonfire]

Try doing the paper cut test on the reel. Video is for a different brand reel, but should give you an idea. If you really can't adjust the reel.. then I would probably wait until day 25 or so to cut w/ the HRX. Looking back at my notes for the backyard, day 25 was when I did my first cut using my Toro 22".

Thanks for the info, Eric. I'll try to paper cut test tonight.

If I do wait to use the HRX, you think it will be ok to wait another 10 days or so? Some of the taller grass is getting close to 3.5-4" and looks like it may start falling over soon. Maybe I should back off the watering? I'm still watering 3x per day.

 

[Sinclair]

You need to keep watering for the KBG, as it will be just starting to poke through, and will stay low around 1" for a couple weeks to come. All these tall seedlings are likely 100% TTTF.

You might see these seedlings stall now on their vertical growth. Eric will be able to tell you better though.