So I have been researching seed and the wife has informed that I have become obsessed. Not the first time so I guess she will get over it. Unless something changes I believe I am going to use the New Milenia blend from Stover. 4th Mil, Titanium 2 ls, Traverse 2 LS. I am also looking to mix in 10% Mazama. Going to try and keep it at 2.5-3 HOC.

Could you guys let me know if I am calculating this correctly. For simplicity sake the large portion of the front yard is 1600sq'. Seed rate for the TTTF is 10lb/k so 16 lbs. To make this mix I am planning to

1)remove 1.6 lbs from the 16lbs TTTF and add 1.6 of Mazama.
OR
2) Just lay down the 16lbs and just go over it with the minimum spread rate for Mazama of 2 lbs/k which would be roughly 3 lbs for the footage?

I'm thinking option 1 but could be wrong. Seems like option 2 would be over seeded.

Been on the hunt for a used sr2000 or stainless lesco locally with no luck so far.

 

Lots of TTTF/KBG blends are 7-8% KBG by weight, premixed. I have been using SuperTurf II from United Seeds. If I had the seeds separate, I would pre-germinate the KBG, so that it sprouts earlier than normal. You are doing a complete renovation in the fall on the front 1600sqft? You want a clean slate for this. I pre-germinate the blend for 5-6 days, then spread at the rate listed on the bag. Either option will work, but you don't need so much KBG, as the seeds are much smaller than TTTF seeds. I'd do option 3, stick to the lower ratio, 14.4# TTTF, and pre-germinate the 1.6# KBG seed. Yes, obsessing over things is great. Right now, its fireplaces in my house. We made it past the lawn a couple of years ago.

 

The plan for this year is to get a soil test and start amending per the recommendations and getting used to my equipment. Going forward, fall reno of the front 2600sq’ in 2026 then the back 2100sq’ in the fall of 27. While I have read quite a bit already here about what you guys like to use for apps being in NY brings another set of rules as to what I can buy and apply here. I’m finding that some of what is popular with some of the guys on here is a no go or are not recommended for the bentgrass portion of the lawn. ( herbicides mainly)The lawn is different than the food plots I do with heavy equipment for hunting.

I mis spoke earlier on the lawn. I did the pavers in the back about a dozen years ago and remember what we did now. When that took place access to the yard was on the right side of the house. Looking at the picture above, you can make out a fine line in the in the larger front yard lawn that goes from the right corner of the house to the curb. Everything to the right of that line front and back was destroyed by equipment. I had soil brought in and leveled all of that and seeded Pennington NE mix which is KBG and PRG. To the left of that line, the other side of the drive way, and the 500’ in the back is the original what I believe to be Bentgrass lawn.

End goal- A uniform stand, rotary cut to maintain HOC, apps when needed. I’m not looking to be a level 3 as I have other sticks in the fire and only so much time, but when I make up my mind to do something I’ll go to great lengths that’s it is done the right way.

Pictures from today one little spot of snow left but should be gone soon. Back to the deep freeze later today. It usually wakes up good around mid May

I am hoping this journal becomes more of a place for good discussion. Going through this process my biggest challenge will be weeding through what chemicals get the job done at a reasonable cost.

 

Looks like you've got a good plan for this season. It's a great learning experience doing it yourself versus paying someone for mediocre results. Looking forward to your progress.

The highland bentgrass looks quite a bit different than the creeping bentgrass I have south of you. I didn't do any post-emergents last year because the good ones that kill the majority of my weeds will also kill the bentgrass. Was hoping to just be able to broadcast a post-emergent, but to be on the safer/cheaper side will have to spot spray this year.

I found putting a table together of post-emergents and what they can/can't kill off as well as if they are bentgrass safe was a helpful visualization. Make sure you double check the data sheets if you do decide to use any of these on bentgrass.

 

I've found SO FAR that bensumec 4LF is a good preM and Trimec bentgrass formula is good for postM. Both are a little pricy though and in liquid form. Both Bentgrass safe.

Tried to kill some clover last year with Tenacity and it wasn't pretty. I’ll just leave it at that. LOL

 

I've found SO FAR that bensumec 4LF is a good preM and Trimec bentgrass formula is good for postM. Both are a little pricy though and in liquid form.

Tried to kill some clover last year with Tenacity and it wasn't pretty. I’ll just leave it at that. LOL

Thanks I will take a look at those.

 

Note to self.

Soil test went out the door today.

 

First off , I want to thank everyone on this site. I have learned a lot in a short period of time because of your efforts to offer advise and share knowledge that probably didn’t come as easy and was acquired over time. I have been reading everyday on a wide array of topics. Thank you.

Got out some yesterday and today. Cut new edges on the beds and did some more clean up. I took a long hard look at the front lawn while doing some raking. With all this new found knowledge I’ve come to the conclusion that the front lawn is a hot mess. Raked out and pulled some triv, dug out some clover bunches and realized I’ve got poa A everywhere.

On a positive note my spreader arrived today just as I was finishing up so I got it put together.

 

Soil test came back

Modified Morgan test method
Loam with good drainage
Organic Matter 4.11
Buffer ph: .oo
Ph = 7.3
AL 21.5 ppm
Ca 5935.1 ppm
Fe 3.8 ppm
K 61 ppm 122 lbs per acre
Mg 159.4 ppm
Mn 10.1 ppm
P 8.3 ppm 17 lbs per acre
Zn 3.9
Sol Salts mmhos/cm 1

Didn’t realize N was an add on test. I’ll take the spoon feed approach here and see how it goes With an x-0-0

Recomendations
N no recomendation
PH no lime needed
P levels are are high and won’t need it for a while
K 1.25lb/1000sqft

Wondering at this point if it would be better to use Stonewall 0-0-7 as the pre M now and prodiamine in the fall. I could use the K bump and the post emergent properties from the 0-0-7 to help with some clover, a small patch of ground ivy , and poa A now. Then hit the poa A in the fall with the prodiamine.

 

Took delivery of one of the WEN dethatcher earlier this week and did 2 passes over the lawn today in different directions with the dethatching blade. I have to say for as little as it cost it did a pretty good job. It sure beats doing it old school. First pass no bag, blew the lawn with the blower to get it in a pile. Second pass ran the bag with a pail on either end to dump.

5 day average ground temp is 50.8* according to greencast. Pre M in the next week or so. Temps are still all over the place.

Between the poa A and the high P from the soil test thinking I should bag rather that mulch mow.

Wondering now with all the poa A if it would be better to get a sod cutter for the reno rather than burning it down with gly.

 

Ground temp 5 day average from greencast is still 47* but forsythias are starting to bloom around the neighborhood. Dropping PreM this week.

Stoped by my local site one yesterday and picked up granular prodiamine .58 by Lebanon and some SOP . 10k sq’ Warehouse supplying golf courses. I believe the good supplies issue has been resolved.

Wondering if you guys could confirm the below for me

Dead PoaA correct?

Remnants of PoaT correct?

Need find something for the clover it is all over the place thinking Meso with NIS.

 

Looks like triv to me I would dig out the soil 12 inches wider from this spot and discard it's filled with stolens and triv has spread more than you see

 

I’d do triclopyr for the clover. Meso works OK, triclopyr works great. Ortho sells it as weed-b-gon for chickweed, clover, and oxalis.

 

If you can’t laugh at yourself you can’t laugh at anyone….

Laid some stripes on the salad today LOL😂

BIRD STRIKE !!!!!

 

Plan for the weekend

1-Rake out brown area in top left corner of photo #1 above better I think it's either nimblewill or bent grass
2- Drop 1.3 lb Prodiamine a third of the annual rate
3- Drop .6 lb SOP half rate per soil test second half in the fall
4- Drop .21 n/m of AMS
5- order seed for the reno of the back yard 1600 sq' section
6- Pick up glyphosate

 

Did a little more raking on Thursday night and put a 2nd mow on the lawn. HOC is 2” at the moment And mowing every 4 days. Picked up a Scotts whirl last night for these smaller applications and it worked a lot better as far as spread pattern control. Dropped .42lb/M of AMS before the rain on setting 2 on the whirl. Lawn is slow to green up because the landscaper I had last year didn’t do the fall feedings and the lawn is hungry for N.

Considering a chapin 430-2 pump sprayer that accepts T Jett heads. The lawn could be broken down into 3 1600sq’ sections. A 4 gallon BP sprayer will not cover it all on one tank so I would have to mix more than once anyway. I’ll save the 350 bucks and go the pump route and trade off a little consistency in pressure.

 

Sounds like your making good spring progress. Keep up the good fight

 

Busy day today. Mowed again after yesterday’s rain and changed the break in oil in the mower. First mow where the bag actually had a little green in it but not much. I guess the .42 AMS pushed some top growth, going back down to .21 next week. Washed the truck and decided to run to Lowe’s. Spent the afternoon redirecting a downspout that was soging out an area on the west side of the house. Put a catch basin in , 25’ of wrapped perf pipe and dug a 4x8x8” deep rain garden. Need to build a stacked bluestone border around the berm of it and get the wifey to pick some plants. Need one more bag of drainage gravel. After she gets her plants in I’ll mulch it.

Picked up some triclopyr and spectracide at Lowe’s to try and attack some of this dam clover, wild violet and bitter cress.

Lawn is still slow in waking up and nothing like what you guys have but I’m trying. Should have taken a before the mow picture It looked greener LOL but at least I don’t have dandelions like the neighbor.

 

Triclopyr went down today . We shall see what it does.

 

Nothing going on with the triclopyr treatment yet. Put another mow on it and dropped .21 AMS. Raised up one notch on the mower but I think I have to drop it back down. Mowed the whole 4800 and barely had an anything in the bag and it was all brown.

Funy thing- Neighbors wife comes home from work and says “ you know your making him jealous with those stripes don’t you” I laughed and said “All I have is weeds , he‘s got KBG sod!”

 

Always nice to get some compliments from the neighbors.

Is that .21lb N/1k using AMS or .21lb of AMS?

 

.21 lb N/1k of AMS or 1.5 lbs by weight per 1600 sq ft of 21-0-0 so just under .

 

Got it, just wanted to make sure. Wasn't familiar with the % of N in AMS had to google it and thought you may have been microdosing the lawn.

 

Going turkey hunting this weekend and think I’m gonna run into a challenge after I return. 3” of rain comming starting Saturday night with intermittent breaks stopping on Wednesday. Pretty sure the lawn is gonna get pretty tall. How long do you guys wait between cuts when stepping down the height multiple notches ? My mower drops a half inch per and I wont break the 1/3rd rule.

 

If I’m trying to aggressively drop the height, I might mow every other day or even every day. I will say, though, that breaking the 1/3 rule once in a while isn’t the worst thing you can do - particularly during the growth flushes the spring and fall bring.

I’ve jokingly said in the past, “the 1/3 rule means leave no more than 1/3 of the blades left, right?” Sometimes it’s all the schedule can allow.

 

Made it home between rain fronts and got a mow in. Pulled up and said oh good getting some color finally. Made a pass at 2 1/2 and didn’t like the cut quality. Made a second pass at 2 and got a nice crisp looking cut. Traded some color for it though. First time trying the diamond cut but color is light so you can barely see it. LOL 😂 Clover looks great if your into that

 

Did you get a turkey?

 

Yes Saturday morning, not much talking though very quiet. A two year old 8” beard and 1” spurs at 10am. Rain had them quiet at day break had to cover a lot of ground to find one willing to talk. Yesterday was a wash out. Trying to go back for a long weekend on Thursday if the weather stays like they say it will be.

 

Finally getting some green!!! Mowing tomorrow and putting down .21 lb N/M of AMS, getting more rain Friday. Grubex going down as well.

 

Big improvement in color in 10 days.

 

Mowed again Thursday, Grubex and .21Lb N/M AMS went down before the rain. @isugoose21 saved me 150 bucks on my mower by recognizing a price drop at HD so I ordered a checkmate and installed it last night. Anxiously awaiting to test it out on the next go around. Seeing some browning from the Triclopyr app from April 28th, not much but some. Planning on hitting it again on Sunday with the concentrate this time. Took delivery of a solo 430-2 pump sprayer that takes tee jet heads so I’ll try it out .

Planning ahead- wondering when you guys start to raise your HOC for summer heat? Loving the 2” HOC at the moment but I don’t think it will do well over the summer at that height? I‘m still mowing every 4 days and dumping 25% of a bag of clippings for the front and then the same for the back. I’m bagging to help with weed control at the moment.

 

Based on this upcoming forcast seems like the weather turned here. I am going up from my 2 inches on the front this week, bagging with all the Poa. It has been nice to spot level with the lower cut 50 50 compost sand mix.