Since the work project will severely hinder my ability to execute the plan above and deciding to revert to the original plan of a Bluemuda lawn I wanted to take some starting pictures. I have found that for the heat we get in the summer, and with no irrigation, that 3" HOC was the sweet spot for my common Bermuda. There have been stretches of 2-3 weeks of no rain, and any lower and my Bermuda will start to brown out. Albeit would perk right up during the next storm. Anyway, here is the first lowering cut down to 2.75." I'll be lowering the HOC gradually to scalp level over the next 2.5 weeks.

 

Sounds like the stage is set... are you getting excited?

 

Excited, and nervous! I was going back and forth between monostand of SPF-30 and the Bluemuda lawn, so I’m kind of relieved there was outside influence in one direction.

However, I am worried about the Dallisgrass. I may just have to be a psycho with a gly sponge every day if it starts to hit hard again. That was the benefit of a full Reno.

 

Starlink? How do you like it?

 

Haha good eye! I have a large family, and my cell is apparently oversold, so it’s not what it once was.

However, I don’t think I get speeds under 30 ever, and typically peak times I’m at 50+, and non peak around 100-150.

Still a great deal better than a dual dsl that promises 25, but never saw above 15!

 

I've been ogling the bluemuda / spf30 threads, wondering if it wouldn't be a perfect solution for me as well in a similar 7b/8a zone (NE Atlanta). Every time I think i'm ready to pull the trigger I see my TifTuf looking so nice & plush that I don't have the heart to 'ruin' it. But the reality is that my shade is intruding more & more into my turf and I do like the full-year green both would offer. I'm going to follow this thread to see how things turn out for you. You have a much bigger & more open lawn that I do!

 

yeah the more you try to ticky tack things the more you wish you hadn't in my experience. i think you will really like your results

I’m a chronic over analyzer, it’s great in some aspects, debilitating in others LOL

I've been ogling the bluemuda / spf30 threads, wondering if it wouldn't be a perfect solution for me as well in a similar 7b/8a zone (NE Atlanta). Every time I think i'm ready to pull the trigger I see my TifTuf looking so nice & plush that I don't have the heart to 'ruin' it. But the reality is that my shade is intruding more & more into my turf and I do like the full-year green both would offer. I'm going to follow this thread to see how things turn out for you. You have a much bigger & more open lawn that I do!

It will be an interesting journey! Tiftuf is better than my Common as well, for sure. I think there’a pros and cons of trying this with a common Bermuda. Time will only tell!

 

Well it’s happening again… I picked up some Q4 plus to spray on Monday so it would be 2 weeks before seed down.

But project shifted at work and now I’m still able to take that week off, and I’m back to debating spraying Gly the next two weeks. And doing a full Reno.

The benefits would be I could Harley the entire yard and take out the dips and have a nice even plot.

The risk…. An upset wife that says “why do you want to tear up the entire yard again, it looks fine!”

The weather for the next few weeks is about perfect. 80s during the day 55 at night, but I think it will start to cool off quickly. So I’m also toying with the idea of pregerming the SPF30 and spreading with milorganite instead of slit seeding.

Decisions, decisions…

*Edit spelling

 

Well, the first decision has been made, going with full reno.

Applied the first round of Gly today. Mixed 41% concentrate at a rate of 2.5 ounces per gallon. My yard is roughly 55k and I ended up using 3.5 gallons of concentrate.

I also added in roughly 1.5 ounces of 80/20 surfactant. Not completely sure this was the right ratio of surfactant but found a slew of resources all giving different amounts, so I went with an average of the most common ratios I found.

I also added in some Greenpop starter fertilizer. Hopefully the recipe does quick work.

As far as next steps... I talked with a buddy who owns a successful Landscape business in the area. He sort of talked me out of the harley rake idea. There was a couple reasons unique to my situation. What he recommended was to gly for the next two weeks, cut and mulch short and to leave the thatch as a sort of cover for the seed (peat mossing or composting 1.4 acres is expensive) throw half rate of seed down, aerate, throw second half rate seed down.

Unsure if I will follow exactly this recipe, but I trust his judgement. Also, unsure if I will end up pre-germinating the seed if I go this route or not.

 

Welp… this last month has been one series of setbacks and disappointments after another.
Long story short, seed is still not down, and looking like mid next weekend before it’s even possible.

 

Some more insight. Decided rather last minute to irrigate my front and side yard. Everything was “supposed” to be finished and seeded within the timeline I laid out.

However, had some issues with dot and line placement in the right of way of the road, and here we are Oct. 16th and it’s just being finished.

Temps are falling quick here. Mid 70s during the day, but projected to get as low as 39 during the night over the next 2 weeks.

I may just put down annual rye for this winter, and seed the SPF early spring.

 

Well it’s all hopes and wishes at this point!

10 zones of irrigation through out the front and side yard finally completed on Oct 16.

In the back yard I put in 12 Rain Bird LG3HE In-Ground Impact Sprinkler with Click-N-Go connect. While I don’t have perfect coverage (probably 90%) I am EXTREMELY impressed with these sprinklers so far.

Yard was then seeded at half rate, core aerated, and then seeded at half rate. Total was 3lbs/1k done on Oct 16.

Threw down Solucal, and Lesco 18-24-12 on Oct 16.

Unfortunately, my sprayer pump decided to fail me so the one step I was unable to do was get Tenacity down. At this point I will likely try to wait until after germination and hope for the best. Hoping this doesn’t fubar everything.

 

Here are some photos from a day after seed down. Just a reference point.

Watering schedule is not quite what I want it to be. Currently have the front and side yard (irrigation system) running twice a day for 20 minutes each. This takes 3hrs 20mins each cycle and kills water pressure in the house so I have to plan around a family of 7 getting ready in the mornings, and night. The back diy zones run 15mins where they are set at 180 degree, and 30 where they’re set for 360 degrees. This takes 4.5 hours each cycle. Total is just under 8 hours, twice a day. Pray for my well pump.

 

Took a day off from even looking at the lawn yesterday, and was busy all morning/afternoon.
Looked this evening and seeing a bunch of fuzz!

Will take pictures tomorrow but officially considering 10/28 as germination! 12 days post seeding.

 

My SPF-30 came in fairly quickly but after that not a whole lot of vertical growth. I went from green haze to green fuzz and stopped right about there. Only reason I mention this is I had planned a preemergent app on the SPF-30 section after germination but all labels said to wait for two mowings- my SPF-30 has been out for a month with zero mowings. Just have to skip it this year. With your recent glyphosate app you won't have much to worry about though

 

I appreciate you saying this! I had some wild garlic pop up in a bunch of places, and there is some spots of other weeds coming through, but haven’t gone out to check what it is specifically.

I’m in a weird timing now, don’t even know if I’ll get to spoon feed N much if at all. Time will tell. For now I’m at least happy to see a bunch of germination.

I

 

Some areas have come in faster than others. I haven’t walked all the way around the road to take other pictures and don’t want to crush the baby grasslings.

Here are a couple photos of 2 days after germination (14 days from seeding)

 

Well we are 9 DAG (21 from seed down) and have hit full worry stage.

There are some areas where I’m not even seeing germination, and the germination I have had has pretty much stayed the same.

I’ve also got hit hard with Wild garlic, henbit, and an unknown one where I thought was patches of germination. Pictures of current state and last two of unknown weed.

 

17 DAG threw down 100 lbs of 14-20-4 which is .23 lbs N/1000 sq ft. A tad heavier than I should have gone but it will be okay.

The spread from my last post has definitely increased. But so has the weed pressure. Primarily Henbit and Onion grass. The neighbors tree has also dumped so need to clear.

Going to try a cut with a manual reel mower tomorrow to help cut down the henbit and hopefully mulch the leaves a bit. Should be quite the workout.

Soil is staying too moist with the drop in temperatures. Going to reduce to 1 time in the morning after the feet is watered in and see how it fairs by EOD/next morning.

Will update pictures later in the week.

 

Any update on the grass?

 

Whew! It’s been a busy month. Haven’t updated in awhile.

Since last update all I have done is cut once on Nov 16. This was to mulch leaves.

We have finally started getting rain so I stopped irrigating as well as with cooler temperatures and semi frequent rain the soil is staying damp.

Weed pressure is increasing and was nervous to use Tenacity as there was some new seedlings that likely would have been damaged. Will hit the yard with a mow here this week, and then one more light fert, and use the tenacity then.

Couple quick pics. Grass filled in rather well. However, there is some spots in the full irrigation zones (front & side) where a head stopped working and I didn’t catch it in time, and some overlap issues. Overall I’m not too worried it will start filling in great come March.

 

Well it’s about that time of year! We had an unseasonably cold, wet and early winter (at least for my area) but spring came early as well.

We had a spike of warmer weather and average soil temps were mid 50-60 last month and saw a huge pop of weed pressure since then and possibly fungus? Soil temps went back down to 40s for the last month but back to 50s and doesn’t look like it will go down again.

That being said I went crazy. Laid down 150 lbs of 14-20-4 (25% slow release) fert, propiconazole (if it’s not fungus should help further root development), and Tenacity.

Plan is to mow and bag weeds next week, spoon feed 25lb of N/ksqft for the next month, and then spray another round of tenacity mid March.

Pictures look horrendous, but under all these weeds is actually a pretty great coverage of kbg. Guess we’ll see in a few weeks.

 

Well, if I can pull off this Reno it will be a testament to how much can go wrong and still be successful. Here’s to hoping it will pull through.

Went to mow and bag the weeds yesterday with an older husq 42 with bagger, as my big boy Ferris doesn’t have a bagger. I got halfway through the second outside ring and my blades stopped engaging. Should just simply be tightening the belt, but I didn’t have time to fix as storms were coming in and I needed to get the fert down. Ended up just mulch mowing to 2.5” instead.

Laid down 100 lbs of 28-2-3 (30% slow release) which ended up being .5lbs n/sqft so I will wait closer to two weeks before laying down again.

Here’s what it looks like with the weeds knocked down. Hoping to really push lateral growth over the next month.

 

Well it’s been 3 weeks since I last threw down anything. All I have done is mow once a week. Raising HOC by 1/4” each week. Currently at 3.75” and will probably keep it here to help it spread but also hopefully choke out weeds.

Plan is to apply a 3 way this week, preemergent, and fertilizer. Hopefully that will give it another big push.

Definitely some problem areas, but overall it’s starting to spread and fill in pretty well.

 

Well I got called out of town for last week and called to have someone spray pre em, fert, and a 3 way. Lo and behold they never showed. So another week behind on fert, and weed pressure is increasing a bit.

However, this grass is fighting really well. Choking out weeds as it’s growing and is spreading in the problem areas I have each week.

Mowed at 3.75” again this week. We didn’t have as much rain but it’s been pretty steady 1.5-2.5” per week since my first mow, so still haven’t started the irrigation system yet.

Here’s some more progress pics. I’m gaining confidence each passing week. Starting to really look good. Even starting to get some decent strips in the thickest parts.

 

It’s been a busy month! Traveling a lot for work so having to stick to the bare minimum right now.

Had Pendimethalin sprayed at half rate 2 weeks ago, 24D, and .5lbs N sprayed. Will have it sprayed again in a couple weeks. Have been trying to get at least .3lbs N down per week.

HoC is at 4” as we’re already mid to high 80s during the day. Will be bringing it up to 5” by mid May depending on weather.

May old nemesis is back, seems I was late even with the Tenacity. I’m in a Dallisgrass fight once again.

Some quick update pics only front and back. I’m pretty convinced that the problem areas I have in the back are mostly from a poor seeding job.

Everywhere grass didn’t grow and weeds took over were rectangular and square. Like the guys just weren’t paying as much attn to pattern in the back. Could be wrong.

 

Been far too long. Work killed me these last few months.

Grass was doing fantastic until about mid May when temperatures have been staying above 95 almost every single day.

Was maintaining HOC @ 4.5”, watering 2.5” per week but heat, and disease pressure has really taken a toll on the yard. Applied Azoxy beginning of June 15th which I think was just too late.

This grass might just be too high maintenance for me in 8A. And it’s definitely significantly more expensive than Bermuda.

First picture April 25th. Second picture today 😢

 

Well! After almost two months of no rain, the rain has returned, and with it my SPF30! I also have not touched anything. No mows, no additional fertilizer, no fungicide since last application mid June.

Grass is sitting around 6” in most spots with some shorter, some longer. Couple weeds have popped up, but nothing drastic.

Back yard with the diy hose sprinklers still struggling more, but making a come back as well.

Will get a mow in but for now just letting it recover.