[Mightyquinn]

Love it! Did you install the pavers?

Yes I did, I just used a string line off my neighbors fence. I haven’t used a string trimmer or landscape blade at all this year. I just edge everything every 2 weeks and swap out the edger blade every 2-3 session. I bought a 50 pack off Amazon.

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.

Just using regular old prill sized fertilizer. I too get that in spots occasionally but it usually goes away after a mow or two. I’m still working out the kinks

 

[kmbell3837]

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.

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.

I pre-package as well. I used to use the bags, but it became a pain to keep the bags open. Now I use the meal prep containers, 1-gallon buckets (like ice cream pales), and 8 oz screw cap bottles and syringes with Leur Locks for herbicides and PGRs. It's more expensive, but there are fewer spills or chances of bags busting.

 

[Amoo316]

MQ, I've always been granular because of the size of my yard. I'm curious how the trial/use of it went this season for you and if you are still trying to work out any kinks or if you have it dialed in.

I know this is a subjective question open to biases and/or placebos, but have you noticed any differences in turf quality yourself? I feel you know your yard well enough that I'd be interested in your opinion on what you have personally observed.

 

[Mightyquinn]

MQ, I've always been granular because of the size of my yard. I'm curious how the trial/use of it went this season for you and if you are still trying to work out any kinks or if you have it dialed in.

I know this is a subjective question open to biases and/or placebos, but have you noticed any differences in turf quality yourself? I feel you know your yard well enough that I'd be interested in your opinion on what you have personally observed.

It didn't go as well as I had hoped. The Spyker spreader that I bought didn't work as well as I thought it would and it was still hard to get an even spread with it so I have given up with that plan and went back to spraying all my applications. I know I haven't updated this thread in awhile or have been too active here on TLF recently but I have just been busy with life and other things have taken priority at the moment. Still caring for the lawn though. I will probably update this later during the "off season". I still try to respond to quotes and PM's though.

I think that if you have the equipment, spraying is the way to go but I also understand the ease of going granular but it's just way more expensive, also if you have a small lawn it's also more difficult to apply small amounts of products too.

 

[Amoo316]

It didn't go as well as I had hoped. The Spyker spreader that I bought didn't work as well as I thought it would and it was still hard to get an even spread with it so I have given up with that plan and went back to spraying all my applications. I know I haven't updated this thread in awhile or have been too active here on TLF recently but I have just been busy with life and other things have taken priority at the moment. Still caring for the lawn though. I will probably update this later during the "off season". I still try to respond to quotes and PM's though.

I think that if you have the equipment, spraying is the way to go but I also understand the ease of going granular but it's just way more expensive, also if you have a small lawn it's also more difficult to apply small amounts of products too.

Hey no worries about the IRL stuff bud, I didn't think twice about it.

Interesting observation and makes sense, thanks for your thoughts. Even with a large yard it's still difficult to get even distribution in all areas. I have a lot of tools in my arsenal, Lesco 80#, Chapin Chest, Drop spreader (I forget the brand) and a shaker spreader.

Overlap really is the key to uniform coverage and in smaller areas picking the right spread for that area.

All of that said, I'm one of those people who has been willing to walk my 2 acres 3/4 times if I have to because I enjoy spreading that way. It's definitely not as efficient as a 1 spray pass and done setup, but I've been able to work out most of my distribution kinks via trial and error.

I use AMS and Urea sometimes so sometimes I'm using a similar product.

 

[Mightyquinn]

I thought I would give an update here for anyone who cares I haven't updated this in awhile and Spring is right around the corner as well as scalping should be starting here in a few weeks. I haven't been too active here on TLF over the Winter as I had just gotten busy with life and was trying to wrap my head around the whole lawn situation and how to tackle that.

Let me start off by saying that ever since I laid the TIfGrand it just never had seemed to get to it's best ever and I have been trying to figure it out for the last few years and it's been driving me nuts. I think I finally figured it out at the end of last year. I did a consultation with Dr. Shaddox online and he was just as perplexed as I was and recommended I get a nematode assay done just to rule it out. So I went ahead and did that and the results came back that I had Ring and Stubby Root nematodes at a level that said "Possible Damage, consider chemical treatment". That explained a lot as my lawn was never declining but also wasn't improving no matter how much Nitrogen I would apply. I was pounding my lawn with Nitrogen and it just never responded like it should have with the amounts I was applying, it was looking decent but never really took off. After doing some research, I plan on hitting the lawn with Luna Sensation and Abamectin starting in April to help get them under control and get the lawn back to looking like it should. I plan on applying the Luna Sensation in the Spring and Fall and the Abamectin monthly throughout the year between the Luna Sensation apps. I will do my best to try and keep this thread updated throughout the season so those who care can see the progress I am making and see if it is actually nematode damage or not, at this point it almost has to be as I have ruled everything else out.

A few more points of interest that I learned throughout last year. I had taken the Baroness to get sharpened last Spring and I didn't have to backlap the mower at all last year, just a few minor bedknife to reel adjustments and I was good, that really surprised me at what a good sharpening can do for a mower. I was also all Nitrogen( more than I wanted to be) last year and did a soil test before my consultation with Dr. Shaddox in the Fall, all he recommended was adding Potassium on the regular since my numbers were so low, so I just plan on adding .5lbs a month and give it a slow steady diet with the AMS and Urea. My plan going forward in to stay within the MLSN guidelines but as long as the grass is looking good, I'm not going to really worry about it, the less is more approach. Can't really think of anything else that really went on this year that I haven't mentioned but if I think of it I will come back here and post it.

 

[Mightyquinn]

Finally was able to start the Spring scalping today. It got up to 60°F today with light wind and full sun, so I decided to get started scalping the lawn. I verticut the backyard in 3 directions and the wife raked up the debris into piles while I put them in garbage bags. I also used the paddle broom on my Stihl Kombi to get all the fine dust that always seems to collect and put that into the garbage bags too. Ended up getting 12 42-Gallon bags and a 96 gallon Yard Waste Bin full of stuff just from the back yard. Hopefully I can knock out the Front lawn this week after work as the weather is suppose to be pretty nice all week. Then I can start knocking it down to .25" as I plan to begin the season at .400" or .375". Sorry I don't have any pictures but will try to get some later this week if I can get out in the lawn.

 

[Katodude]

So very interesting post. So why the Luna Sensation? It seems that is a fungicide what will it do to nematodes? Also please keep us up to date on how that goes. My superintendent also believes I have a nematode problem (he claims spurge is an indicator of nematode). If you get a significant improvement it might be worth trying.

It is also interesting that you are going back to putting down K. I did not for the most part last year. But I am also in the situation where my grass is good not great.

Also I would try my N superjuice bucket. 1/3 a solo cup of urea in a 5 gallon bucket. Dump it on a weak section. In most places where I did this after about 2 weeks I noticed a really good response. However, in some sections it did not work. No idea why.

 

[Mightyquinn]

So very interesting post. So why the Luna Sensation? It seems that is a fungicide what will it do to nematodes? Also please keep us up to date on how that goes. My superintendent also believes I have a nematode problem (he claims spurge is an indicator of nematode). If you get a significant improvement it might be worth trying.

It is also interesting that you are going back to putting down K. I did not for the most part last year. But I am also in the situation where my grass is good not great.

Also I would try my N superjuice bucket. 1/3 a solo cup of urea in a 5 gallon bucket. Dump it on a weak section. In most places where I did this after about 2 weeks I noticed a really good response. However, in some sections it did not work. No idea why.

Luna Sensation contains Fluopyram which is a fungicide and a nematicide so it will do double duty essentially but it's way cheaper than buying Fluopyram(Indemnify) all by itself which goes for around $2000 for 17oz. I too had a lot of spurge in my lawn the last few years and having the nematode assay done just confirmed everything. Why not get a nematode assay done so you know for sure what you are dealing with and can treat it now instead of letting the population get larger and stronger?

I did a soil test also around the same time as the nematode assay and my Potassium was below MLSN and Dr. Shaddox recommended to apply it and I already have it on hand so it shouldn't be an issue.

I don't really have any "thin" areas per se so your super juice bucket trick really wouldn't work for me. I think once I get the nematode issue under control, I should be in the clear to have a nice dark green and thick lawn once again.

I should have posted this earlier. I made this little spreadsheet to see how my soil performed over the years. These were all done by Waypoint Analytical.

 

[Mightyquinn]

Well, I got the lawn down to .25" about a week ago and still wanted to go over the lawn one more time to get most of the finer stuff up just to make sure the lawn was as clean as can be before the start of the season. Last Sunday we got over 2" of rain and some of it came down pretty hard which caused the ripples you get from running water with all the remaining grass clippings. So on Monday I went out with the Baroness with the groomer and went over the lawn to remove the majority of the clippings. Some of them were still damp and matted but it got most of them. Tonight I applied my Prodiamine and some fertilizer as the grass is starting to get a nice green haze to it so I thought I would give it some food to help wake it up and get going. I had just the right amount of Prodiamine left which was nice. Need to pick some more up here soon as I don't like to wait until the last minute on stuff and like to be prepared. Just waiting for this warm weather to stick around and the lawn to keep waking up so we can get this season started.

 

[Humbert810]

Could always resort to insane methods like I did 😆

 

[Humbert810]

On another note, I'm glad to see I am not the only one that deals with the excessive thatch of Bermuda.

 

[Mightyquinn]

On another note, I'm glad to see I am not the only one that deals with the excessive thatch of Bermuda.

Yeah, it's been the bane of my existence since having a nice lawn, I hope one day to figure it out That's why I try to start the season with zero thatch!

 

[DFWdude]

On another note, I'm glad to see I am not the only one that deals with the excessive thatch of Bermuda.

scalp & burn, and its still there!
We need tactical nukes.

 

[Mightyquinn]

scalp & burn, and its still there!
We need tactical nukes.

I've tried to burn the lawn but it does not really work, especially when the grass is tight and compact.

 

[JRS 9572]

I've tried to burn the lawn but it does not really work, especially when the grass is tight and compact.

I tried just the strips in between the road and sidewalks to see what it would do. Tifgrand and I like the results so far. Filled in faster, and dark green. I will admit I had to go over it a second time with the propane torch. I'll come back and insert what it looks like now. Have mercy on me when you see the POA problems I've got to take care of.

 

[Mightyquinn]

I tried just the strips in between the road and sidewalks to see what it would do. Tifgrand and I like the results so far. Filled in faster, and dark green. I will admit I had to go over it a second time with the propane torch. I'll come back and insert what it looks like now. Have mercy on me when you see the POA problems I've got to take care of.
View attachment 63142

I thought about doing the whole propane torch route also but who knows how much propane I would burn through trying to burn the whole lawn? I just wonder if the juice is worth the squeeze or not? Sorry to hear about your Poa issues. I usually just get a little if any around the edges where my neighbors weed farms are at

 

[Dono1183]

I thought about doing the whole propane torch route also but who knows how much propane I would burn through trying to burn the whole lawn? I just wonder if the juice is worth the squeeze or not? Sorry to hear about your Poa issues. I usually just get a little if any around the edges where my neighbors weed farms are at

Even after running the sunjoe twice over my lawn, the propane torch didn’t cut it. I used a whole propane tank. If you have tall Bermuda, it works a charm. If it’s low and tight, you may as well use it as fireproof insulation 😂.

 

[Mightyquinn]

Even after running the sunjoe twice over my lawn, the propane torch didn’t cut it. I used a whole propane tank. If you have tall Bermuda, it works a charm. If it’s low and tight, you may as well use it as fireproof insulation 😂.

I was going to reach out to you about that when I was thinking about doing it. Still good information to know how much propane it would take. How long did it take to burn the whole lawn with a torch?

 

[Dono1183]

I was going to reach out to you about that when I was thinking about doing it. Still good information to know how much propane it would take. How long did it take to burn the whole lawn with a torch?

TBH I didn't even finish the yard. I did a lot of it and it took a couple of hours. Especially if you add in the verticutting. They do sell torches on amazon that have a higher btu rating and those may work better. I have a bit of a more "old school" one that I used for torching weeds at our last property. All that being said, it's kinda fun lol.