[Katodude]

By accident this year, I ended up with my Urea having Micro Prills. It’s almost like a powder. The side effect is it goes great in a hand held spreader. Going to give that another try tomorrow.

 

[Mightyquinn]

I've been meaning to update this sooner but just never got around to it plus I was dealing with a ton of seedhead's that are now just starting to go away finally. Shortly after my last post I decided to pressure wash the driveway and sidewalk since it had been a few years and I put down a pretreatment of a SH(Sodium Hypochlorite) with some water and soap, well I thought I sprayed down the grass pretty well before spraying it and it was overcast but of course like Mother Nature has her own plans and the sun came out and a breeze picked up which caused some over spray so those areas are now just getting back to greening up, not 100% yet but getting there. I also plan on spraying some Oxalic Acid solution to brighten up the concrete but that might have to wait until late Summer/Fall as I want to seal the driveway/sidewalk but may wait for cooler weather.

I'm still mowing at .300" and now have the Groomer set to .020" and still not getting any damage from it. I've made 4 mows now with it at that height so I might be going lower still. My actually HOC and bench HOC are still basically the same as I check it from time to time with my HOC Prism Gauge. I applied my 3rd app of T-Nex last week at around 200 GDD which is what I'm shooting for currently to try and keep the seedhead's at bay. I'm still only getting 1.5-2 baskets of clipping with each mow every 3-4 days. I've been mowing on Wednesdays and Sundays here recently but I might change that up. Haven't done anything crazy just applying my Bifen, Medalist, T-nex, Main Event and Nitrogen when it's due. I've applied around 3lbs/M so far this year of Nitrogen as I'm seeing how much I can push this grass before it tells me to slow down The color is starting to get there but still plenty of room for improvement but it's hard to tell completely with all the seedhead's.

I'm starting to develop a theory about the whole growth spurt from applying a large amount of Nitrogen as I have a few pee spots from my dog(s) that have either almost recovered or have recovered completely and they are the greenest parts of the lawn and those spots don't really grow any faster than the rest of the lawn but are dark green and have the least amount of seedhead's compared to the rest of the lawn. It was just something I was noticing when I was having to look at a sea of seedhead's and the spots where the pee were at had very few if any of them. My theory also goes with the fact that I think you get a flush of growth when adding a good amount of Nitrogen because your grass needs it but once that is over and it's still getting the same amount of nitrogen the growth kind of levels off and as we can tell from the dog pee spots, the Nitrogen will hang around much longer than originally thought. I could be 100% wrong about this and I'm sure there are some downsides to this approach but I guess we will see.

 

[Katodude]

So I love the theory about the heavy nitrogen. Here is something I am toying with. I put around an ounce of urea in a 5 gallon bucket that I fill to about 2/3. Mix it all up. I then dump that on some weak spots in the yard. Figure about a 3’x3’ area. Those areas tend to get super dark green, and super dense. They also stay that way for a long period of time.

I plan on experimenting on this more once my grass recovers from the scalp.

 

[Mightyquinn]

So I love the theory about the heavy nitrogen. Here is something I am toying with. I put around an ounce of urea in a 5 gallon bucket that I fill to about 2/3. Mix it all up. I then dump that on some weak spots in the yard. Figure about a 3’x3’ area. Those areas tend to get super dark green, and super dense. They also stay that way for a long period of time.

I plan on experimenting on this more once my grass recovers from the scalp.

You say you have done this? Or plan on doing it?

I’ve taken a pinch of Urea and put it in one spot and watered it in and that spot stayed green for quite awhile.

 

[Katodude]

I have done it, but plan on doing it more. The effects were inconsistent.

I put it on a few spots that had grass beside some bare spots. The plan was make the good grass strong, and pound the weak spots with N and I thought they would fill in better.

What happened was the grass that was good, got GREAT. Thick lush and dark green. That grass stayed that way for a long time (weeks at least and its still strong). But I did not notice any additional spreading. But now that I have a new mower I think I can push the spreading.

Anyway when I get back in town I will experiment in a few more spots.

 

[Mightyquinn]

@Katodude will look forward to see what happens when you get back from vacation.

I'm thinking of starting to apply my Nitrogen granularly to see how that works out. I'm thinking of pulling the trigger on a Spyker BCS25 Bag Spreader to help spread the AMS and Urea as I think something like this would be more conducive to small applications. I know there are some studies that Dr. Shaddox has gone over that showed there was a small advantage of applying Nitrogen granularly over spraying it. The advantage of spreading it would be more with AMS as the more you apply the higher the chance of leaf tip burn when spraying. I tried spreading some AMS about a month ago with a Scott's handheld spreader and that thing was complete JUNK and tossed it in the bin when I was done.

 

[Dono1183]

I’m also very curious about your observations. I have spots where deer have peed on my lawn and they are very thick and very dark. But it’s been that way for months. If they could bottle that… man. If you end up trying anything out I too would be interested in the results.

 

[Katodude]

I have a Ryobi hand held spreader and it is mediocre. I have some 40-0-0 that has a normal prill size and will try that out too.

I also have Urea that comes in Micro Prills. Those seem to spread more uniformly. As long as they are not clumped together. Otherwise a clump jams the hole.

Nice thing about granular in the handheld is it’s super fast. I have solo cups where I have a line marked so I know the weight by the volume. Take as many scoops as I need throw them in the spreader and Go. Done in 10 minutes with virtually no clean up.

 

[Mightyquinn]

I’m also very curious about your observations. I have spots where deer have peed on my lawn and they are very thick and very dark. But it’s been that way for months. If they could bottle that… man. If you end up trying anything out I too would be interested in the results.

I've thought the same thing with my dog's pee, if I could bottle that stuff, I could be rich But in all reality it's just Nitrogen so it's a matter of finding the correct rate without causing harm to the lawn. That's what got me thinking that Nitrogen isn't as mobile in the soil as we think it is. Those dog pee spots have to be going on 3 months now and they are still dark green and we have had plenty of rain plus I have sandy soil.

Nice thing about granular in the handheld is it’s super fast. I have solo cups where I have a line marked so I know the weight by the volume. Take as many scoops as I need throw them in the spreader and Go. Done in 10 minutes with virtually no clean up.

I have all my fertilizers pre packaged and pre measured in Ziploc(Walmart) bags. Quart bags will hold roughly 2lbs and the Gallon bags will hold 4lbs easily. I also bought some smaller bags that hold 1lb perfectly. This way I just need to grab and go what I need, I don't have to measure anything. I will usually refill the bags when I have some down time or a rainy day. All my open bags of fertilizer are stored in 5 Gallon buckets with a Gamma Seal lid.

 

[Katodude]

OMG. I just learned soooooo much right now. Ordering a bunch of Gamma seal lids.

 

[Mightyquinn]

OMG. I just learned soooooo much right now. Ordering a bunch of Gamma seal lids.

They sell them at Lowe's. Gamma Seal Lids

 

[Katodude]

Ordered

 

[Mightyquinn]

Is it too obvious where I sprayed my neighbors lawn with a combination of AMS, Prodiamine, Celsius and Certainty about a month ago? I was outside yesterday and saw this and it just blew me away what a little effort can do for a lawn.

 

[Katodude]

So, that Yara stuff has super clean prills and they go out great in the Ryobi handheld spreader. Did the whole 7K of yard in about 10 minutes. Will report back next week when I apply a second round of .5lbs of N.

 

[Mightyquinn]

So, that Yara stuff has super clean prills and they go out great in the Ryobi handheld spreader. Did the whole 7K of yard in about 10 minutes. Will report back next week when I apply a second round of .5lbs of N.

That’s good to know.

 

[adamac21]

Is it too obvious where I sprayed my neighbors lawn with a combination of AMS, Prodiamine, Celsius and Certainty about a month ago? I was outside yesterday and saw this and it just blew me away what a little effort can do for a lawn.

I've been helping my cousin turn his yard around and literally all i've applied to his yard this year is the same thing, ams, prodiamine, one blanket app of celsius and certainty and it looks awesome. I think the only weed i can spot in his yard is dallisgrass which we're going to try painting with glypho. There's too much to mechanically remove.

 

[ImJacobJames]

@Katodude will look forward to see what happens when you get back from vacation.

I'm thinking of starting to apply my Nitrogen granularly to see how that works out. I'm thinking of pulling the trigger on a Spyker BCS25 Bag Spreader to help spread the AMS and Urea as I think something like this would be more conducive to small applications. I know there are some studies that Dr. Shaddox has gone over that showed there was a small advantage of applying Nitrogen granularly over spraying it. The advantage of spreading it would be more with AMS as the more you apply the higher the chance of leaf tip burn when spraying. I tried spreading some AMS about a month ago with a Scott's handheld spreader and that thing was complete JUNK and tossed it in the bin when I was done.

View attachment 46970

Do you remember what video Dr. Shaddox mentioned granular nitrogen was superior? I am considering going back to granular because spoon feeding 15k with a 4 gallon backpack sprayer is getting pretty annoying to me and do not want to spend the money on a DIY spreadermate build this year. Im interested to hear what your plan would be for a granular schedule, if you spoon feed it still and with what analysis.

 

[Mightyquinn]

Do you remember what video Dr. Shaddox mentioned granular nitrogen was superior? I am considering going back to granular because spoon feeding 15k with a 4 gallon backpack sprayer is getting pretty annoying to me and do not want to spend the money on a DIY spreadermate build this year. Im interested to hear what your plan would be for a granular schedule, if you spoon feed it still and with what analysis.

I don't remember exactly which one but in one of the studies it showed that the granular had a slightly better response than spraying. With 15K of lawn I wouldn't be trying to spray that at all with a backpack sprayer and completely understand where you are coming from. I'm currently experimenting with using a granular again and seeing what works for me. I've gotten away from spoon feeding the lawn as I was never really happy with the results. I'm pretty much staying with just AMS and Urea and not adding anything else to the lawn other than bug stuff and PGR.

 

[Chadwicktr]

Love it! Did you install the pavers?

Is it too obvious where I sprayed my neighbors lawn with a combination of AMS, Prodiamine, Celsius and Certainty about a month ago? I was outside yesterday and saw this and it just blew me away what a little effort can do for a lawn.

View attachment 47186

 

[Herring]

I don't remember exactly which one but in one of the studies it showed that the granular had a slightly better response than spraying. With 15K of lawn I wouldn't be trying to spray that at all with a backpack sprayer and completely understand where you are coming from. I'm currently experimenting with using a granular again and seeing what works for me. I've gotten away from spoon feeding the lawn as I was never really happy with the results. I'm pretty much staying with just AMS and Urea and not adding anything else to the lawn other than bug stuff and PGR.

Are you using a greens grade SGN at the lower height of cut? I too have switched to granular but seems to result in a Dalmatian effect of green dots with the fertilizer sitting on top of the grass.