[MasterMech]

So the Jake lives and is cutting like a champ with the heavy section knife and 7 blade reel. I knocked the annual ryegrass down to 1.75" with my lawn tractor and then set the Jake loose at .500". It had no trouble eating at that height, I really was surprised at how great it did with just one pass. So, I can setup a mower, but can I grow grass? :roll:

I figured I'd start this thread now as we are FINALLY seeing our highs at 75+ on a consistent basis. I've been just spinning my wheels mowing the ARG all winter and dealing with the thatch issues this spring. So now it's go time and I'd appreciate the support of the hive mind here for my first full season of playing with warm-season grass.

Now that the Tif419 has woken up, and I've got the lawn peeled back to .500", I can better see what's happening here. I'm a little concerned that if I chemically "assist" the ARG into retirement, what's left is going to be painfully thin and patchy. What say you fellas? Will I be amazed at how fast this stuff can fill in laterally, or will I be the weird guy that mows 3x a week and still has a brown lawn?

 

[Mightyquinn]

I would chemically assist the PRG and any other weeds you have and start pounding it with Nitrogen and Water as it looks like it could use both, especially the hill by the driveway. I would shoot for 1-1.5 lbs of Nitrogen a month until it has filled in to your liking. Once it fully wakes up and you are having to mow more than once a week you can hit with some PGR.

 

[MasterMech]

I would chemically assist the PRG and any other weeds you have and start pounding it with Nitrogen and Water as it looks like it could use both, especially the hill by the driveway. I would shoot for 1-1.5 lbs of Nitrogen a month until it has filled in to your liking. Once it fully wakes up and you are having to mow more than once a week you can hit with some PGR.

Thanks MQ, 100lbs of Lesco 24-0-11 waiting in the garage. I'll be throwin' 'er down within a couple days. That area by the driveway and the front yard were both thin and slow growing last fall. I'm not sure why. (I moved in in August) But I suspect they both need more water input than the rest of my lawn.

I already mow 2x a week just to keep the Annual Rye from shading the Bermuda. Was considering the PGR at this point to encourage horizontal growth, but was afraid the Bermuda was not active enough yet and I wanted the ARG dead before the first PGR app.

 

[Mightyquinn]

I agree that you want to kill or wound the PRG first and get the bermuda going in the right direction before applying the PGR. Do you have irrigation? If so, how fast does water start running down that hill?

 

[MasterMech]

I agree that you want to kill or wound the PRG first and get the bermuda going in the right direction before applying the PGR. Do you have irrigation? If so, how fast does water start running down that hill?

I do, covers about 80% of the yard, including that area. I haven't witnessed any run-off but I should test it this week to see as that was my concern as well. (Hydrophobic soil) it's been pretty dry here the last couple weeks, I have been holding back the irrigation as the soil is moist and temps have been cool.

 

[MasterMech]

There is some pretty heavy mechanical aeration in this lawns future as well as it's not been done since it was installed 3 years ago and I'd like to use the plugs to fill in some nasty settling in the back yard.

 

[Mightyquinn]

If you keep having trouble with that hill drying out you might want to look into using some type of wetting agent to help in penetrate the soil better. The aeration should help some but don't expect all those plugs to fill in too much of an area, I tried that a few years ago with little to no success. Most of the cores were OM I think and they just broke down to nothing.

 

[MasterMech]

Lots of work done today. Got MSM down @.75oz to the acre. Let's see what the annual rye thinks of that. My neighbors commented on the pretty blue/green hue the yard is now. Maybe all this work is the wrong approach and I should just spray dye every once in awhile. :lol:

Got some bug stuff down to get a handle on all the creepy crawlies. (Spectracide Triazicide) Also threw down 100lbs of Lesco 24-0-11 slow release to put this beast in 1st gear.

This week is forecast as sunny, no rain, and highs around 80. We shall see what it does with that. I also have set my irrigation controller to "run" (MSM has had all day to absorb) and so the watering begins.

I'll probably mow again tomorrow as I can almost watch it grow during the day.

 

[MasterMech]

So after doing a quick walk-around this morning, I noticed a bunch of tiny holes in the side yard near my driveway with these guys all over as well.



I wonder if the thin turf was a grub problem more so than a fertility issue?

 

[MasterMech]

Semi-quick update - i'm Amazed at what's happening in the lawn!

Backyard is waking up strong everywhere my irrigation covers.





The side yard is even filling in quite well.



These two spots in the backyard are still thin, but you can see the weeds and annual rye grass have checked out thanks to the MSM.





And unfortunately this area has a rather large dry spot being so high, and the builder's irrigation system has a huge gap in coverage here. Not that it has true h2h coverage anyways.



The neighbors are starting to see that this lawn has something very different going on than the rest of the neighborhood. The front is getting "presentable" despite me needing to get after the trimming around the trees. Speaking of those trees, I haven't decided yet if we can be friends or not. I don't particularly love maples and the shade is likely to be counter-productive to my lawn efforts.

 

[Colonel K0rn]

Damn, I'd be afraid to tackle a Ware-like Christmas Light project on your house! Turf is looking nice!

 

[MasterMech]

Damn, I'd be afraid to tackle a Ware-like Christmas Light project on your house! Turf is looking nice!

And in reality, this house looks smaller than many of the homes in this neighborhood! Especially from the back/sides. The hip roof has something to do with that. Yeah, it's up there, I've been up there on a ladder. I'm not comfortable walking many areas of the roof, the pitch is just too steep.

 

[atc4usmc]

Nice progress! The back yard is awesome....you always gonna have such a view?

 

[MasterMech]

Nice progress! The back yard is awesome....you always gonna have such a view?

Not likely unfortunately. That view might last another year or two. Hence I'm taking a bunch of pictures now. :lol:

 

[MasterMech]

Today was aeration day. I really wish I could I could have done some sand to go with it this weekend but I just am not ready for that yet. 20k of fairly rough terrain is no half-day project.



Yes, that's a pair of old brake rotors from my pickup that I have strapped to the sides of the machine. :lol:

I rented a Lawnaire IV from HD, a fairly nice unit but this one was a bit of a bear. I didn't notice the uneven tine wear before I got it home and paid the price for sure. The left side tines were slightly shorter (by maybe 3/8") than the right. This made the unit want to pull left every time I started a pass and God help you if the long tines were on the uphill side of the unit during a pass. Switching the "auxiliary weights" to both on the right side helped tremendously in correcting the handling issues except for the slope thing. Not sure there's much that can be done for that with this type of machine. Perhaps when I have to do both mine and my in-laws lawns next season, I'll try out a stand-on aerator.