[Mightyquinn]

I am going to start this thread to chronicle all my doings in the lawn this year and my goal to get the lawn back to where it once was and beyond.

My goals so far this year will be to keep the HOC at or below .500" and to make the lawn FLAT. It's already relatively smooth but I have a lot of undulations that need to be fixed and some high spots, especially around the driveway and sidewalks. I plan on taking down all the high spots with my verticutter and letting the rhizomes regrow the area. I may have to take it down steps instead of all at once but we will see when I get there.

Feel free to ask questions or comment in this thread as I will be more than happy to answer or discuss anything.

 

[Mightyquinn]

* I copied and pasted this from the other thread just to keep all this together*

Well it's the morning and I'm drinking my coffee so here it goes!!

Started my Spring scalp yesterday, since I took last year off due to my job, the lawn had gotten to around 2-3" long since I and my wife (touchofgrass) were cutting the lawn with the rotary about once a week. I think I ended on the #4 slot on the JD JS45 that I have. So I started on the #3 notch and it was just barely taking off anything but it was enough to start filling the bag every so often. After that was done, I dropped it down to the #2 setting and that's when it started to really get to work. I was filling the bag on the mower with every 2-4 passes of the yard. It took me about 3 hours to get the whole yard (8K sq/ft) done with minimal breaks. I will say that the work wasn't too bad since what you are mowing off is dry and dead so it wasn't heavy at all just very tedious since you have to stop and take the bag off the mower and empty it so often. I was only able to mow down to the #2 notch but it did thin out the canopy considerably and hopefully the Baroness will be able to take out the rest of it. After I made the cut at #2, I was able to see a lot green grass underneath that wasn't visible before.

I think this is the earliest I have ever scalped before as I usually wait until March 1st at least but I think there is very little to worry about even if we due have a cold spell or something. It would take a very long cold spell to effect the soil temperature that much.

BEFORE

Difference between #3 and #2 notch

After

 

[Mightyquinn]

I was able to get the Baroness out and finally put her back to work. I adjusted the HOC to .900" and backed the reel off the bedknife A LOT, I could probably fit a dime between the space. I also set the groomer at .750 since that was about as low as it would go. I ended up doing 2 passes over the lawn at .900" just due to the fact that I was cutting of a lot of material in this pass. I also didn't use the grass catcher as it was just too difficult to use with all material I had to pick up. I'm either going to go lower tomorrow or suck up what I cut today with the rotary. The lawn is considerably thinner than yesterday and I can finally feel like I am making progress. Just can't wait to get to the point that I can get the dethatcher out!!!

 

[Ware]

Awesome. This thread reads better with this playing in the background.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIPS4LyveJs

 

[touchofgrass]

MQ, did you tell 'em about the poop flinging all over?

 

[Mightyquinn]

MQ, did you tell 'em about the poop flinging all over?

No I did not. I forgot to mention that while I was mowing the backyard with the Baroness, all the matted down and petrified poop from our 100 lb German Shepard from over the Winter was getting flung up in the air from the groomer on the front of the mower. I was just laughing while mowing as it was a sight to see. Wish I could have recorded it!!!!

 

[touchofgrass]

MQ, did you tell 'em about the poop flinging all over?

No I did not. I forgot to mention that while I was mowing the backyard with the Baroness, all the matted down and petrified poop from our 100 lb German Shepard from over the Winter was getting flung up in the air from the groomer on the front of the mower. I was just laughing while mowing as it was a sight to see. Wish I could have recorded it!!!!

Well, if the boy would pooper scoop, you would not have had to dodge the doggie poo while mowing. Better you than me. At least it was flinging it outward forwardly instead of back at you. It must have been a lot as that yard was like a land mine.

 

[Redtenchu]

Hahaha, that's hilarious!

Can't wait to see your yard this year!

 

[Ware]

...Wish I could have recorded it!!!!

Maybe the next trend should be greens mower mounted GoPro's? :lol:

 

[touchofgrass]

...Wish I could have recorded it!!!!

Maybe the next trend should be greens mower mounted GoPro's? :lol:

ah jeez... don't give him ideas... I can tell you he's already thought of buying a GoPro and mounting it on the mower

 

[Wes]

MQ, did you tell 'em about the poop flinging all over?

No I did not. I forgot to mention that while I was mowing the backyard with the Baroness, all the matted down and petrified poop from our 100 lb German Shepard from over the Winter was getting flung up in the air from the groomer on the front of the mower. I was just laughing while mowing as it was a sight to see. Wish I could have recorded it!!!!

Well, if the boy would pooper scoop, you would not have had to dodge the doggie poo while mowing. Better you than me. At least it was flinging it outward forwardly instead of back at you. It must have been a lot as that yard was like a land mine.

This is my exact method of "cleaning up" after the dog in my own backyard. I just use a TruCut. I consider it a mechanical method of speeding up the decomposition process.

 

[Mightyquinn]

No I did not. I forgot to mention that while I was mowing the backyard with the Baroness, all the matted down and petrified poop from our 100 lb German Shepard from over the Winter was getting flung up in the air from the groomer on the front of the mower. I was just laughing while mowing as it was a sight to see. Wish I could have recorded it!!!!

Well, if the boy would pooper scoop, you would not have had to dodge the doggie poo while mowing. Better you than me. At least it was flinging it outward forwardly instead of back at you. It must have been a lot as that yard was like a land mine.

This is my exact method of "cleaning up" after the dog in my own backyard. I just use a TruCut. I consider it a mechanical method of speeding up the decomposition process.

I usually let the poop build up over the dormant season and then collect most of it during the scalp after that I make my 10 year old boy go out and pick it up every couple of days before I mow.

 

[Redtenchu]

I make my 10 year old boy go out and pick it up every couple of days before I mow.

Basically the reason we all have children, right?

 

[dfw_pilot]

I was born as a TV remote control.

 

[Wes]

Along with being the remote control, I was also a cigarette pack retriever. "Wesley, can you go get my cigarettes from in the living room?"

That said, I feel bad. We've totally hijacked MQ's lawn journal.

 

[Mightyquinn]

Along with being the remote control, I was also a cigarette pack retriever. "Wesley, can you go get my cigarettes from in the living room?"

That said, I feel bad. We've totally hijacked MQ's lawn journal.

It's all good Wes!!! I don't mind the friendly banter!!!

 

[touchofgrass]

I was born as a TV remote control.

lol

 

[Mightyquinn]

Well I did some more scalping today after church. I knocked the Baroness down to .600" and the groomer was about .475". I just went over the lawn once with the Baroness and then back over it again with the JD rotary to suck all the clippings up. It's definitely getting a lot thinner and I can see that progress is being made. After I was done with collecting all the clippings, I got the string trimmer out and went around the perimeter to knock down all the grass I couldn't get at with the mower. I ended up with 17 55 gallon bags of clippings that are sitting by the curb waiting for the city to come by and pick them up tomorrow.

 

[Mightyquinn]

One more thing I forgot to add was that my lawn is REALLY soft right now. I don't know if it is because of the temperatures, which are not allowing the moisture to evaporate or something else but it hasn't rained here in several days. So hopefully by opening the canopy up, it will let more sun get down to the soil and dry and firm things up. One of my goals this year is to add more sand to the soil profile to help firm things up and allow water and nutrients to get down to the roots. I have 2-3" of organic matter built up at the top of the soil and I believe it is causing more harm than good at this point. So 1 or 2 aerations will be in my future for sure.

 

[Redtenchu]

I love the picture of your trash bags all lined up! Lol, you're going to ruin some guys day tomorrow!!!