llO0DQLE's 2018 Front Lawn Reno (Bewitched Monostand)

llO0DQLE said:

Well I've been walking on it already so I guess I should just throw it down. Your Day 14 pic has longer/thicker areas than mine currently but looks similar in the thinner areas. So you don't think it matters how long/mature the grass is before yiu start throwing down urea? Did you do 0.25 or 0.5lbs?

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Forgot exactly who I read it from on the other forum, maybe TT... but he always spoon fed a small amount of N early during his renos and I just went with it. I did somewhere in between, lol.. I was at .33lbs for 2 weeks.. then moved to .5lbs for a week, then 1 for the rest of the season.

Yeah TT I think was the one who really started voicing out the early spoon feeding which was contrary to the advice of Morph and Andy. So you went all the way up to 1lb/K by the 3rd app weekly? That seems to be a lot of N no?

llO0DQLE said:

So you went all the way up to 1lb/K by the 3rd app weekly? That seems to be a lot of N no?

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Week 1: .33
Week 2: .33
Week 3: .5
Week 4+: 1

The grass was happy so I kept at it. :twisted:

Ok thanks! I threw down 0.25lb about an hour ago. I haven't tried early fertilization before so I'm being a little chicken.. lol

Note to self: Today is Day 17.

And I threw a little bit more seed in other sparse areas as well. It was too windy yesterday and I felt that some of the seed I dropped didn't go down that well and felt that some areas that I didn't put seed on yesterday could use some.

Some areas that were bare or thin and that I thought needed reseeding are starting to show some sprouts. I knew that reseeding may not have been needed in some of those areas and I knew I was being a bit panicky but also knew that it shouldn't be too bad as I seeded at 2.5lbs / K and went pretty light with the reseeding. I am guessing I put it down at a rate of 1lb/K which I did on purpose in case sprouts do come up in those areas. As always, we'll see how it goes and deal with what happens next.

It's difficult to just wait and do nothing when your waiting for seeds to germinate isn't it? At least you have a lot of time to reseed any areas that don't come in good. I guess that is an advantage with you doing a late spring reno. Did you start any pots? Or are you just relying of spreading and plugs for bare areas?

It wasn't so much the waiting, it was the fear that for whatever reason I wasn't going to get any/good germination in those areas as other areas were already showing decent germination. It's that tough call of whether reseeding is really needed or not. If I wait too long and reseeding was really needed then the grass in those areas are way behind the first sprout then it messes up your timeline for future applications of fert and herbicides. I didn't do pots. In my last reno the bare areas were so small that I just let it fill in. With what I've seen with how KBG can spread and fill in, I didn't feel pots were necessary and honestly, I feel like they're a chore to keep healthy and plant into the ground. I'd rather toss more seed if the bare areas are that big, otherwise just let KBG spread.

Yeah I agree with you on the pots they are a hassle. And like you said bluegrass will fill in any bare areas on its own especially with apps of N. From what I've seen bewitched really likes extra N. This spring I was applying urea weekly and you could see the grass look better with each app.

How's the color looking on your Bewitched? Is it darker than last year? I know you've posted pics but it's hard to say how accurate it is with what I see on my screen.

Colour definitely has got darker than last year. It still isn't as dark as I'd like though. I have a high ph soil of 7.9 so I need to rely on foliar apps of iron to get the colour better. I applied FAS a couple weeks ago and I think I put down too much and got some ugly black areas on the grass so it's been growing those out. Next time I do FAS I'll do so at a lower rate and see how that goes. Even though I haven't got the colour exactly where I want it I'm loving the even colour and growing hight of all bewitched. I know there is more risk to a monostand but once you've done it there is no going back.

Glad to hear color is getting darker for you. Yeah 7.9 is pretty high. But HLG's previous lawn was 7.8 so we know you can make that lawn awesome regardless.

Be patient with Bewitched. Turf Toes from ATY said that his Bewitched got noticeably darker after year 2 and is now darker than his Blueberry. And it continues to get darker through year 5.

I'm throwing down lots of milorganite on my high PH front yard Bewitched reno. Hopefully that will build up some available iron.

Yeah TT's comments were what made me decide to go Bewitched mono aside from the shade tolerance. Seems like the best cultivar atm if you need the shade tolerance. Top performer in shade, tough, darker green than the other popular cultivars and slower vertical growth. What's not to like? Only question is the blue tones.

Looks like it's coming along well. Must be good to see some green back in the lawn.

Yeah it's nice to be able to see some green without squinting anymore, or going down on my hands and knees with an LED flashlight at night (I still do that tho lol). I can't wait for it to reach 1.5 - 2" and start mowing with my reel mower and I'm looking forward to see what it will look like 2 weeks from now. I am loving the Tenacity at seed down. Almost zero weeds. My 2015 reno was FULL of weeds as I didn't get Tenacity until around Day 60. I hardly fallowed with this reno. I've read posts on ATY saying that with Tenacity, fallowing may not really be necessary or beneficial. In my case, with low weed pressure in my lawn and surrounding lawns, I'd tend to agree.

Fallowing may still be helpful for those with a lot of Poa Annua or other grassy weed infestation. I fallowed last year for 4 weeks and kept it super moist and was able to get substantial amounts of grassy weeds, primarily Poa Annua to germinate even though it was late July.

In any event, I agree with you that Tenacity is a game changer for renovations.

Oh, @Greenrebellion . Man good to see you here. You had your hands full with all that poa. 2 years in a row! So, how did your Tenacity bomb experiment turn out? I actually used your plan and your research to come up with a plan for myself this spring and it worked wonderfully.

Man, I can't believe how well things turned out. Two renovations in a row I had the thickest stand of Poa annua germinate each time, but the second year my Tenacity timing and application rates completely destroyed the stuff. I am being super diligent around pre-em timing and may do the Tenacity regimen again this fall in the front yard if enough Poa annua escapes the pre-em barrier.

Glad to hear my results helped guide you in your efforts!