Powhatan's 2018 Lawn Journal

Located in the transition zone. New home construction completed in Oct 2016 on a several acre wooded lot that includes a small private fresh water lake. It's my understanding that the local woods have never been harvested. We're sharing the woods with several wildlife animals that sometimes wonder onto the lawn.

Edit: Added application quantities, some additional comments, and pictures.

My ground soil is a mix of Remlik and Nevarc soil series. The 0" to 3" level is loamy sand, 4" and lower is loam/clay/silt/sand mix layers.

Virginia Tech Soil Testing Lab results collected Apr 2017



Oct - House completed. Home builder put down fast growing annual ryegrass, looked pretty but by the following Jun it had all died off.

2017 - First year establishing new lawn

• Hand-pulled weeds during the spring and summer: foxtail, crabgrass, sericea lespedeza, clover, dogfennel, spurge, and nutsedge.

• In Feb plug aerated and dormant overseed turf-type tall fescue coated (Scotts Southern Gold Mix) - rainfall irrigated. I knew the contractor's annual ryegrass would die during the summer, so wanted to put something down that would hopefully establish.

• In spring amended with dolomitic lime 40#/M and Black Kow compost, in fall amended with Pennington Fast Acting lime 6#/M

• In spring and fall growing season put down mostly Milorganite 5-4-0 with some Scotts Turf Builder for Southern Lawns fertilizer 32-0-10 approximate 80/20 mix. My soil is loamy sand which doesn't hold nutrients well, so I felt using mostly slow release fertilizer would be better. Yearly estimate nitrogen applied: 4.21#N + 25% (recycled grass clippings) = 5.26#N/Yr

• In Jul lawn went dormant, early Aug grass greened up with rainfall. I estimate about 60% of the Feb dormant overseed survived the summer.

• Early fall plug aerated, amended with Black Kow compost, and overseed turf-type tall fescue & hybrid bluegrass (Southern Belle) and perennial ryegrass coated (Scotts) - hose sprinkler and rainfall irrigated. I put down the grass mix for a better chance of establishment.

• Late fall after first frost date put down Scotts Turf Builder WinterGuard 32-0-10

Sep - Overseeded for the second time of the year. Back yard coming along well considering, but the front seem to lag behind.

2018 - Second year establishing new lawn

• Hand-pulled weeds during winter and spring: mouse-ear chickweed, spurge, marestail, bulbous buttercup, hairy bittercress, poa annua, dandelion, virginia pepperweed, dogfennel, sericea lespedeza, and deer-tongue grass

• Early Feb amended with Pennington Fast Acting lime 7#/M

• Mid-Feb dormant overseed KY-31 tall fescue coated (DLF Pickseed) - snow melt and rainfall irrigated. I decided to go with KY-31 because I noticed it growing well in the gravel road ditch in front of the house where the acidic soil has never been conditioned, and since it was doing that well there, I felt it surely must do very well in conditioned fertilized soil. Plus, I've read that the KY-31 is very heat & drought tolerant.

• Late Feb put down Scotts Turf Builder Starter Food for new grass with Weed Preventer (mesotrione) 21-22-4 & Milorganite 5-4-0 approximate 80/20 mix, then month and half later put down another round of the same 80/20 mix.

• Early May put down GrubEx and Bayer Advanced Complete Insect (ticks) Killer

• Mid May rained for a week and seasonal heat & humidity levels rising, suspected fungal presence so put down Scotts DiseaseEx at the preventative+ rate 2.3#/M.