7/26/24 - Tuna Can results for my largest zone were not good and may explain why the front lawn is looking so stressed. Had irrigation controller set to .4"/hr at 70% efficiency. 6 can test averaged .27"/hr with a low of .18"/hr and a high of .32"/hr. It's been running 93 minutes to put down what it thought was ~.5" of water. With setting lowered to .27"/hr it is now set to run for 138 minutes on that zone alone. The learning continues.

- Mowed the 500sq.ft test strip for the first time since 1.75" HOC reset 2.5 days ago. Raked up the perimeter tire track as well before mowing and was surprised at how many clippings were bagged. Placed down 5 cans and let the irrigation cycle run it's schedule which is 23 minutes of water split in two with a 30 min soak in between. This was with the controller set to 1.5"/hr rate on the fixed Rainbird nozzles. Did I even test this zone last fall? That's what I get for poor note taking. Results were again not good. Average of .82"/hr, a low of .41"/hr, and a high of 1.13"/hr. I need more tuna cans and data points. Set the zone for the new average which puts it at 42 minutes of irrigation split with a 30 min soak. I will schedule out a full irrigation audit this upcoming week. It's going to be in the mid to upper 80's, sunny and humid again.

- While the tuna can test was running on the test strip I headed out front to mechanically pull some weeds. My father must have saw me on the cameras and came out with his gallon jug of Roundup and started spraying it on the weeds. I had to ask him to please stop, I will do it mechanically before he kills the weeds and what little grass we have. What would be of more help would be to convince my mother to cancel the TruGreen contract and not finish out the year.
- I spent 2.5 hours, with a break to measure my cans, manually removing crabgrass, violet, plantain, clover, and some others that I could not identify. My mother came out as I was about to clean up and I told her I would buy her out of the TruGreen contract for whatever was left on it, or in full. I'm tired of this. Would rather have no one to blame but myself for the poor appearance at this point. She agreed and told me to take some photos of all the weeds I pulled.

 

Dont stress out. It's just grass.

It is clearly bothering you big time with the bent grass. Do the full reno kill. Follow the renovation guide. You will probably need 3 or more apps to get a clean complete kill with so much dormant bentgrass and with some laying over like that. Watering like mad might get them to come out of dormancy for a better kill.

 

Dont stress out. It's just grass.

Thanks this is going on the whiteboard in my office. Will take a look at the renovation guide this weekend. Not sure how the family is going to take it, but will find out. Took them a lot of convincing that the grass would come back after scalp/dethatch/overseed last fall, but it did. Definitely stressing me out too much for grass.

 

7/30/24: Backyard Main section of lawn has two rotary heads that just about reach each other. Farthest cans away from the heads only received ~.18"/hr, closest can near one of the heads received .58"/hr. Irrigation was set to .7"/hr lowered to .4"/hr based on this morning's results. Have a dry section in my front lawn that needs to be tested the most, but unfortunately it is covered by 3 separate irrigation zones that all need to be ran together to get an accurate reading.

Mowed yesterday evening did a double cut 3.5" HOC on the first pass, down to 3.25" on the second pass. Less grass laying down, but still browned out patches of creeping bentgrass stalks everywhere.

8/1/24: Last night I applied another .25lb/1k of Urea to the test strip, a week since last. It was right before sundown and instead of using the sprayer like the first application I tried to use the small handheld sprayer I bought on the lowest setting. Definitely not even coverage compared to the sprayer since it was such a small amount of product. Will switch back to sprayer on that strip going forward. I've now been putting my research time into looking at what pre-emergent rates and fertilizer rates I will need to apply. With ~8k sq.ft of lawn it looks like a 4 gallon sprayer, and a push spreader will be in my future. Seems like no matter what you spend on a spreader/sprayer there's always going to be something breaking or modifications needed.

I'm looking at prodiamine granular vs liquid and it looks like the liquid is cheaper, but that means I definitely have to get a different sprayer with a proper broadcast tip. I currently only have an old 2 gallon hand pump with a spot spraying tip that I have set to fan out as much as it can. It drips from the tip as well. If not a 4 gallon backpack sprayer a riding mower mounted one would be next preferred with a tow behind being least preferred due to the irregular shape of my lawn.

Continuing to dial in my irrigation zones. It's been disappointing seeing how poor uniformity we have and how low the In/Hr rate is on the zones, but better finding out sooner than later.

It has been an abnormally hot summer here with daily forecasts of only mid 80's exceeding that shortly after sunrise, high humidity, and heat indexes 100-110+ by 4-5pm. Forecasted rain and thunderstorms seem to dissipate on the radar before they come close to reaching us. We only received ~1.9" of rainfall the entire month of July.

 

8/11/24: The humidity and heat has finally broken here in NJ. 10 day forecast is highs in low 80s and 60s at night. Much welcomed weather.

Today was 5 days since last mow. Grass grew a lot with the ~4" of rain we got in last week. I spent some good time handpulling more crabgrass out of the front lawn before mowing. Lowered the HOC from 3.25" to 2.75" with side discharge. Left a sheet of clippings on the lawn. I put the bagger back on the mower for now and decided to take it down to 2.5" and it will most likely stay there until the end of season. It's a good looking height I just wish my lawn was a bit more level but that's far down the list. I did find my cast iron water meter service port out on the piss strip with the mower blade after taking it down from 2.75"-2.5" so it's good I know where it is now. I think that set of blades is toast now however. Maybe good for leaf pickup.

In between cuts I manually raked up some of the matted dead spots, all creeping bentgrass smothering itself. It really makes me want to use the sunjoe dethatcher on the whole lawn, but a 100ft 10gauge extension cord is $140 at HF right now and I don't think that will get me near my furthest point. I do have the tow behind one but it's not as thorough as the sunjoe.

Plans Going Forward:
- I've seen others in the cool season lawn section talking about starting their nitrogen blitz now. I would like to do the same. I ordered a Vevor 15 gallon spray cart after seeing PlanetBeen's thread that will be here tomorrow. Excited to unbox, and test out, and get some nitrogen down. I also have to look into ordering some Prodiamine and look at when to apply that.

 

8/14/24: The Vevor 15 Gallon Spray cart came in a few days ago and last night I was able to get it clean, filled, checked for leaks and sprayed my backyard with .25lbs/1k of Urea that dissolved nicely. I have no other sprayer experience except for an old 2 gallon pump sprayer with a spot spraying brass tip. It was a pleasure to use the "Tee-Jet" style fan tip that came with the sprayer and not have to worry about pumping at all.

My plan was to start pushing the lawn with .25lb/1k Nitrogen every 7-10 days, but am having a bit of a dilemma about what to do with all the weeds I have. The bulk of it is crabgrass, spurge, and violet.
- Should I let them go for the season and just worry about getting prodiamine down for Poa when the soil temps drop a bit and getting my Nitrogen down?
- Do I tackle them with a Post Emergent 3-4 Way now?

- If I tackle them now I was looking at post-emergents like T-Zone SE which I would need to add Quinclorac for all the crabgrass I have, or Q4 Plus which includes it in the mix. The problem I am seeing is that the label states do not apply to Bentgrass. Most of my lawn unfortunately is bentgrass and I was trying to avoid a Tenacity kill-off and overseed this year. I don't think I have time on my side for that. I'm not trying to keep the bentgrass, it's a nuisance to me, but it is everywhere. If I could get my lawn dark and green for this fall I would be able to focus on getting rid of it next season with the new sprayer.​

- I have some bare spots that I was going to "spot seed" from raking up the matted and dead creeping bentgrass. I don't think anything but more bentgrass or weeds will fill the areas in if I do nothing.​

Would appreciate any thoughts or opinions.

TruGreen has been put on notice about us wanting to cancel our service. They haven't answered the phone, or responded to our voicemails. I put a laminated sign out on the front door and back gate (which they didn't even open last time they were here) and told my mother to stay vigilant for the text message letting you know they will be there to treat in 24 hours.

 

8/15/24: Today was not a good lawn day. It's been 4 days since last mow after taking the entire property down to 2.5" HOC. What wasn't brown patches of dead stalks was nice greening grass. After I cut, it's now mostly all brown dead stalks that are exposed from the creeping bentgrass.

I sharpened both sets of gator blades today. The G3 blades that I had on when I "found" the cast iron water meter casing last mow are now delegated for leaf mulching. Big chunk out of one of them where it made contact. The riding mower didn't start today, it's about 6 years old on the factory battery and wouldn't turn over. It started right up with the jumper pack and I got to mowing. Have it on the trickle charger now, will see next mow if I need a new one. $30 at Walmart if so. While making a turn around a utility box on the hell strip the bald front tires decided to carve away the turf and leave a groove of dirt instead of the mower turning. They've been leaking for two years and I've had to put air in them before each mow, but that was the final straw. Ordered two new tires mounted on rims for $80 shipped.

While shaking my head doing passes watching the green grass go away and dead brown stalks expose themselves everywhere I decided I must dethatch the entire 8.5k Sq.Ft. I have the tow-behind dethatcher, but it isn't as thorough as the Sun Joe. I don't have a long enough cord to get the Sun Joe to the entire property so I bought a Groundskeeper 2 dethatching rake that will be in middle of next week. I think it's gonna be a full day maybe two of just dethatching and moving it to my clipping pile.

After I was done I couldn't help myself but go out while it was getting dark and start to dethatch a small area with the spring rake. The amount of clippings, bentgrass stalks, and thatch that came out of such a small area disgusts me. Last fall before my overseed I dethatched and it looks like it's all back again.

My lawn went from one of the best in the neighborhood last fall, to currently the worst in the neighborhood. I am tired and beat down. $150 day. Hope this cooler weather coming can help me out.

 

I know that feeling. I've had some rough days lately. And even when it's not a bad day I spend half the time worrying about a bad day that might be coming up!

The groundskeeper rake is awesome. It works really well. I think you'll like it. I raked almost 12ksqft with it last fall! (after going over each section with the SunJoe first) I have no intention of doing that again! Of course this year I've got a 4k renovation that I'm seriously considering attempting to remove Bermuda runners from after a "light" tilling. I bought an electric tiller... Always more toys which create more work.

Every few days I say - maybe we should just move to a condo.

 

That is good to hear about groundskeeper 2 rake. I think that will be my plan. Do as much as I can with the sunjoe, use the tow behind to get what it can't reach, then manually rake the entire yard regardless.

I've been reading your Bermuda removal journey and don't wish that on anyone. My creeping bentgrass is similar, but I don't think it is anywhere near aggressive as the Bermuda. I wish you all the luck.

What electric tiller did you go with?

 

8/16/24: Better day today.

TruGreen sent us an email back that our service is cancelled and they refunded us the remainder of the year. I've seen stories about techs still showing up and putting down applications so I am going to keep the signs up on the front door and back gate through the fall.

Today I decided I needed to get rid of the lawn debris, clippings, and the browned out creeping bentgrass stolons. Home Depot gave me a delivery date of the Groundskeeper 2 rake of Wednesday...too far away. Good for my lawn right now? Probably not. Good for my mental health? Yes. I grabbed my $50 clearance Sun Joe and set it to the highest setting. Went against all recommendations and chained my 100ft thin extension cord into my 50ft thick extension cord. I was able to get to the furthest part of the property just fine. Took about 4 hours, but better than raking. Did a north/south pass of the front yard about 7k sq.ft, and bagged all the clippings with ride on mower. Tomorrow I will do a east/west pass and do both on the backyard, another ~1.5k sq.ft.

With the amount of debris and stolons that came out I was sure I would have an unplanned overseeding this upcoming week, but after bagging it wasn't so bad. A couple spots that I scalped and were bare I will spot seed, but am happy with the results for a first pass. I don't want to do an overseed this fall because I plan on either attempting to tackle the bentgrass next year with tenacity or do a full reno fall 2025 anyway.

I have to do something with my clippings pile.. It's now 6ft+ in length and chest high and can be seen from the street. The town won't allow clippings in the trash, or out on the street with leaves even though my new neighbor puts his out in a pile it's a $1500/day fine or 90 days community service and the way things have been going I just don't need that drama right now. I'm thinking once the leaves fall and I bag them I can mix and cover them out in the street when all the neighbors have their leaves out for collection.

I have some creeping bentgrass spots that are black. Fungus looking death black. I'm a bit afraid to look into what it is. "Ignorance is bliss" has been ringing in my head this season, but tomorrow I will take a picture in some good daylight and try to get an ID. I have done nothing with fungicides in my 30 years here at the house, and I doubt TruGreen has done any either.

 

I can't imagine not being able to put my lawn stuff out for the trash. What a pain in the neck! I have a huge yard so I suppose I could just have a massive pile somewhere but blech...

I bag everything. Sometimes I dump random dirt and yard stuff in the trash can. A lot of times when I'm weeding I throw all that in the trash. Everything else goes to the curb.

Someday maybe I'll have a problem free lawn that can be mulched but currently there's always something I don't want to dump back on the lawn whether it's Bermudagrass seeds or rust fungus or whatever.

 

I can't imagine not being able to put my lawn stuff out for the trash. What a pain in the neck! I have a huge yard so I suppose I could just have a massive pile somewhere but blech...

I bag everything. Sometimes I dump random dirt and yard stuff in the trash can. A lot of times when I'm weeding I throw all that in the trash. Everything else goes to the curb.

Someday maybe I'll have a problem free lawn that can be mulched but currently there's always something I don't want to dump back on the lawn whether it's Bermudagrass seeds or rust fungus or whatever.

Definitely a pain in the neck and something else too!

Our town has a FAQ and the first item addresses grass clippings. They give you the standard "clippings should be mulched and returned to the earth for their nutrients" spiel, then let you know you can haul them yourself to the towns recycling center and put them in the grass "dumpster" free from any other debris. Then they cite the $1500/day penalty. "They are banned at the county landfill, therefore we can't take them with the trash."

Further down the page there's a "what can I do with my weeds with garden debris?"
- Oh your weeds and other garbage debris can be put in the trash bin for weekly collection, but no leaves or clippings because those aren't accepted at the county landfill. Then they reiterate the fines for doing so.

The recycling center page reiterates that you can only put grass clippings in the towns grass dumpster free from leaves and brush?! Any violation of this is considered illegal dumping and you will be issued a summons!

I have a pickup truck with a covered bed. Maybe I'll do a test batch and put a load of loose grass clippings in there and shovel them out into the dumpster. Then explain I have a mountain of clippings at the house I'd like to get rid of. Some are fresh, some are over a year old, they may be brown, some may look closer to compost than grass, but rest assured it's all clippings!

 

8/17/24: The backyard is toast. Today I ran the dethatcher over the backyard area and the 500sq.ft "test strip". I don't have it in me right now to do another perpendicular pass on the entire front lawn and we have .75"-1" rain on the way today and tomorrow. Plenty still matted down that the SunJoe missed on highest setting. Will get with the GroundsKeeper 2 rake next week.

The test strip test is concluded as I have lent out my Honda rotary to a friend who is a first time home buyer and my riding mower can't get to the 1.75" of the strip without adjusting the scalping wheels keeping the rest of the lawn at 2.5". There wasn't much grass left in the test strip. Lots of dead bentgrass stolons that are hugging the dirt. Actually most of the backyard is now dead bentgrass stolons hugging the dirt.

My BIL who lives next door with another ~8ksq.ft has been bouncing back between ripping up what he has, laying sod or an overseed. His entire backyard was overgrown thicket and trees he ripped out 7-8 years ago, leveled with a skid steer, but then threw down contractor grade seed so now he has a mix of dark green lawn, creeping bentgrass, weeds because we both used the same TruGreen technician, and some large lighter green patches of thin bladed grass. He is also going to cancel his TruGreen contract and we will be doing our yards ourselves going forward.

This brings me back to the dilemma about order of operations for the fall. I needed to buy seed to spot seed some bare areas, but after running the dethatcher it looks like it will be closer to an overseed over most of the lawn except the thickest parts.

If I overseed the lawn, I still want to kill off the creeping bentgrass next year with tenacity which is looking more and more to be the option versus a full renovation. However, I haven't had much luck identifying what grass I do have. I can identify the weeds, some TTTF, the creeping bentgrass of course, but having a hard time identifying the grasses with dominant mid vein. I see KBG can spread and fill in areas, but I don't think it will outcompete the creeping bentgrass if I have any.

I'm going to start looking at seed. I can get Jonathan Green Black Beauty Ultra again locally from Ace Hardware 25lbs for $130 or I was looking at the Snapback RR from United Seeds which is $185 for 50lbs so I would have some left over. My lawn looked great after overseeding with the BB last fall, but 4" HOC, mulching the clippings, TruGreen missing the pre-emergent timing, and all the matting from the existing creeping bentgrass did me in this season.

With all the debris raked out today I was able to see dollar spot on some blades of grass, others seemed unaffected. The black patches of grass I wrote about yesterday seemed to be dirt contact from matting. Will keep an eye on them.

Also another thing that's been going through my head is I've never had a soil test done on the property. I see spring is a good time of year to do one before any treatments get put down. It's been a few months since TruGreen last came and I'm not sure what they even put down. I don't think it would be a bad idea to do one now and another in the spring. Going to have to take a look at where to send the soil off to this evening.

Backyard main section after running dethatcher on 10mm setting:

Test Strip Toast:

 

This is how my poor lawn looked last year after Pylex x 3. It's shocking to see all the brown. It better not be that way this year!

Hopefully we both get things figured out so there is improvement every season.

 

8/17/24: I've got a soil sample probe coming in tomorrow and have reached out to Waypoint Analytical for pricing on the basic S3M package out of their Memphis, Tennessee lab. I have Rutger's Lab here in the state, but apparently they don't take in person sample drop-offs anymore and the turnaround time is a week plus.

I would like to get my soil tested before I go spending more money on anything else let alone seed.

We got a small rain today, the forecast for tomorrow lowered to .3" down from .75-1". We'll get a small break in the heat and humidity around Tuesday, and then both creep back up by the weekend into the low to mid 80's with high humidity. It's been a brutal summer for heat and humidity. That brings me to my next area of concern.

After clearing away all those debris I crouched around and tried to identify what kind of grass I have. I just ended up taking pictures of what I think are diseased/infected grasses instead. I have zero experience with disease/fungus in the lawn so I will have to do some research. Whatever I have photos of below looks far from healthy. There are a lot of good threads/tools cited here for extension service identification guides that seem to not exist as they did years ago.

Here is a patch of the brown/black grass that I thought was creeping bentgrass, but now I think it is something else. It doesn't have the same stolons or look as bentgrass.

 

I am way way way far from being an expert so take my comments as more of a possible start for Google. lol

That second picture almost looks like it could be rust. Have you noticed any orange tinge on the mower deck or bag? When I've had rust it's pretty obvious. Last year I kept noticing everything was orange and I was wondering what the heck was going on and I was afraid to Google it. It was rust. Not the worst. It apparently likes to come back every year.

As far as grass ID I have a few out front that are similar looking to each other and similar looking to the Bermudagrass. I am 100% capable of Bermuda identification but the other stuff I'm not so sure of. In the process of trying to figure it out I've learned that Bentgrass and Nimblewill are often confused for each other and Bermudagrass since they are all kind of similar looking.

I still haven't figured out of my look alike is Nimblewill or Bentgrass - or something completely different. I did learn one is a cool season grass and one is warm season.

In any case I'm nuking everything out there so I don't really need to ID it but I'm still curious.

I figured I'd mention the Nimblewill since it is supposedly similar to Bentgrass. I think it was Nimblewill that is a warm season grass so if it dies/browns in the winter that's one of the ways to ID it?

I gave up for now but every time I mow the front it bugs me that I don't know what it is.

 

I'm gonna have go take a closer look at that area again for the rust. I thought that's what it was when I took the photo, but I rubbed my fingers on it and it didn't leave any staining. No orange on my shoes or mower like some of the photos I have seen online while researching. It had also just lightly rained so I will try to check when dry.

I do have this weird situation where we live at a bottom of a hill and for the 30+ years we've been here have had iron ochre algae in our basement sump pumps. It's like the bermuda of my basement and outside of mechanically removing with a pressure washer there isn't a great way to chemically treat it. Our groundwater has high iron content in it apparently and the algae feed off the iron and deposit it everywhere in the pit, drain tile, and discharge lines. It takes the 1.5" sump pump discharge pipe and cakes itself down to a pencil width before your $250 pump burns itself out. I clean every 3-6 months and should be more often. After seeing what I thought was that rust on the grass blade I connected the two and thought it might be worth a soil test going forward. I did clean out the pumps at the bottom of the driveway a few weeks ago, but didn't walk on the lawn or anything after.

As far as the bentgrass or nimblewill I just assumed it was bentgrass since it checked out during the heatwaves we got in June and July. I will keep an extra eye on it as the temps start to drop. I'm in the same boat now. Bermuda, bentgrass or nimblewill I just want it gone at this point.

 

8/20/24 - We are losing daylight quick here, I had a lot of things on my to-do list for today, but only got around to a perimeter raking with the groundskeeper 2 that came in and a mow.

Very surprised at how much more debris came up with the rake. Makes me wish I did another pass with the Sun Joe a notch lower, but don't think I'll have the time this year before having to get pre-emergent down. Temps for today were beautiful, mid 70's and mid 50's at night, but it's going to be back into the low-mid 80's and high 60's at night on the 10 day forecast after these next few days.

Mowed at 2.5", 4 days since last mow and we got an inch of rain two nights ago, and irrigated right before that. Grass was very happy with these cooler temps. I've shut off my Rachio 3 irrigation controller's Flex Daily schedule for the lawn zones for now. After reading Mightyquinn's posts and reaching out to them, I think it's worth learning when my lawn needs the water instead of relying on the "smart" controller even after spending the last 2 seasons dialing in all the parameters.

Tomorrow's goals are to take some soil samples from the property in the morning and send off to Waypoint in the afternoon. Then use the cart sprayer to try to get .25lbs/1k sq.ft of Nitrogen down before the wind picks up. Still have no idea on calibration, but I'm hoping to apply more carrier than I need for each zone just to be safe and do the entire 8.5k/sq.ft in 2 or 3 batches until I get an idea of how much carrier it will go through.

"Good side" photo with the sun setting towards my back. If I take the photos from the mailbox into the sun, all you can see are the browned out patches of bentgrass and little to no green.

 

8/21/24: This morning I pulled 20 soil samples from the lawn split up by how much each zone represented in percentages and sent out to Waypoint for an S3M test. Should be there Friday and hoping to have some results in next Monday-Wednesday. This will be the first test for the property and I thought it would be better to get one in now then wait until before spring. I noticed while I was pulling samples that they were still moist and multiple neighbors had their irrigation running with the inch of rain we received two nights ago. I irrigated .5" a day before that. The probe is a nice tool to have to check for moisture compared to what my Rachio is thinking. I still have the irrigation schedules disabled for now.

Mower tires came in... I had to double check when I pulled them out of the box and make sure I ordered the right ones. I did. Guess my HOC has been a little lower than the 2.5" I have it set at? Will have to check the scalp wheels, blade height, and the level when I put them on?

That's where the good news ends! I decided I would get down a little .25lb/1k of Urea with the sprayer this evening to give what is left of the lawn a little help after dethatching and while we have a couple cool nights and days left ahead before next week's warm up.
- I dosed out urea for my 1.5k backyard, put water in the sprayer cart up to the 3 gallon line (I thought), 2 gallons per 1.k should be on the safe side? Well I started spraying near the deep end of the pool ~300sq.ft, little grass there let alone nice. Avoided the nest of ground hornets that haven't died yet from the Sevin Dust I've been applying. And then the cart stopped building pressure. Checked the cart thinking I lost pump prime and I did. I was totally out of water already. So about .85lbs of N on the shaded little strip of grass at the end of the pool...great.
- Brought the cart back around to the garage, made sure it was on a more level surface then previously, and .25lbs/1k N filled with 6 gallons of water for the ~1k area I had left in the backyard. It took 4 passes to empty the tank this time.
- Said okay it seems like it's dialed in now. I have ~7k of lawn in the front to do. The sprayer holds 15 gallons+ let me just fill the whole thing up .25lbs/1k N up to the 15 gallon mark.
- Front Yard Zone 1 - 1 Full Pass
- Front Yard Zone 2 - 2 Full Pass
- Front Yard Zone 3 - 1.5 Full Pass (ran out)

So that went farthest from planned. Had a leak near the bottom of the handle, may even be where the hose is crimped on the metal fitting. It ran down my hand, down the wand and dripped the entire time. I noticed at one point the spray pattern was restricted in a single spot. I looked there was a grain of sand lodged in the tip I dislodged with my knife.

I really have to dial this thing in. The whole time walking around I was thinking about pressure gauges, those fancy custom diy dfw wands, those nice teejet nozzles, some sort of way to spray a larger area at once, etc. I said I would try to keep things stock on the sprayer, but I now understand why modifications are necessary. My neighbors must think I"m a complete nut now after seeing me spraying out there.

Wasn't planning on watering in the urea, but going to run the zones for a light watering since I have no idea how much each zone actually got.

 

8/29/24:

- 9 Days since last mow and 8 days since putting .25lbs**/1k N down (see above post) and the lawn really perked up. I was out of the area and was shocked at how tall and green the grass was when I returned. The bare spots are still there, it still looks like a thinning crown of hair from the cameras or second story window, the weeds are still there, but what grass is there did look good.

- Soil sample was shipped out last Wednesday to Waypoint Analytical in Virginia, delivered on Friday at noon via USPS. Received a credit card charge from them at 4:30pm Tuesday, and nothing since (Thursday at 8PM). Hoping to receive results tomorrow before we start a 3 day holiday weekend. Lawn clearly responded well to a little Nitrogen, but would love to see what else it is lacking or what the PH is.

- Ordered parts to put together a DFW wand for the Vevor Cart sprayer. The sprayer was working well, but the plastic on plastic connections on the wand that came with it leaked urea onto my hand the whole time. Will tear it apart and check the o-rings if any since I got an email from Sprayer Depot saying one part (the swivel that I need to connect the handle to the hose) is out of stock and they can have one from the manufacturer in 7-10 business days 🙃. They were nice enough to let me know they could ship out all the other parts first, but I told them to hold off since I can't use anything without that swivel.

- New front tires are on the mower. In the previous post there is a large diameter difference between what I was using and what I received. I double checked the markings on original and new tires, they all matched up. It wasn't until the new ones were mounted I went to check the pressure. Stock is 14 in front, 10 in the rear. The ones they shipped me were 36psi and only rated for 30psi! That's what I keep our car tires at no wonder they looked bigger! Bringing them down to 14psi they are now normal size. Hoping I get another 140 hours out of them. The original rims had a bushing that went the full length, end to end. These new ones seem to have two bushings on each end and a dead space in the middle where I guess it doesn't make contact with the axle. Don't think that will be good for the axles or tires long term.

- Pre Mow Photo after light raking some brown spots in the front yard with the groundskeeper 2.

- Casual trash can of bentgrass debris from previous photo next to the ever growing pile. Since the town won't accept clippings with yard waste I had an idea while mowing today. I have two 55 gallon drums in storage that I planned to follow a build guide to make a "smokeless" burn barrel with to get nice and hot to dispose of tree trimmings at my house in the mountains. Never got around to it. Wondering if I can burn all these clippings up without catching the house or neighborhood on fire? Another thing to research.

- Post mow photo. More of the brown and bare patches exposed after taking from 3.75" to 2.5". Noticed the same on the neighbor across the street's lawn. They usually let go ~8"+ before mowing and it stays nice and green. Yesterday they took it down a bit lower and it looks similar to mine with the yellow and brown spots. I should probably start taking photos from the other direction so the bare spots aren't in the foreground.

- When I was raking before mowing I found a different looking grass in the lawn. While I was sitting on the mower I started seeing it everywhere. Hoping it's a good one. Doesn't look good. Even after mowing at 2.5" there was still quite a bit with the seed heads on them lower than HOC. Will try to identify it later tonight.

 

It's a sedge. :-(

Check Kyllinga. I think that's the one with those little ballies.

Also check Yellow Nutsedge but I think it's Kyllinga.

I think same method to kill. They're a freaking pain in the neck. You'll see a lot of posts about people trying to get rid of sedge.

I'm currently ignoring mine because it's in a part of the yard that has other issues.

 

Definitely looks like it. What a name. Sigh.

Guess I'll put together a spreadsheet this weekend on what undesirables I have in the lawn, the chemicals that kill them and associated costs. The more I learn, the more I am teetering to a full reno next fall.

 

9/2/24:

- Mowed today again at 2.5". 4 Days since last mow and the grass needed it. If the grass isn't a foot high like the neighbors, the family goes "Mowing again? Didn't you mow the other day?" Hand pulled some more crabgrass, spurge, and identified a new weed: Thyme Speedwell.

- Started putting together a table for Post Emergent Herbicides.
- While doing so it quickly changed my original idea of broadcast application to a spot application since the herbicides that would cover the most undesirables are the ones that are not recommended for Bentgrass, creeping or otherwise.
- It's not that I want to keep the bentgrass, it's on the list of next year's plan to try to kill off with tenacity, or full reno if that doesn't work. I just don't want to be going into the best time of year for the grass and have an entire dead lawn so spot spraying may be better.
- Then I started looking at the prices and even though I'd be spot spraying it's still going to cost a lot and that's without any research on the kyllinga. Leaning to keep hand pulling the easy weeds and see what pops up after getting ahead next spring with pre-emergent (have prodiamine purchased have to make a pre-emergent table tonight).

- Speaking of prodiamine, I have read you want to get it down in the fall before soil temps reach 70*F for poa annua.
- Last year that was 9/15/23; the 5-10 year averages being around ~9/22. I am guessing that I should do it sooner than later to be safe. Either the end of this week, or early next week as temps are cooler.

- The ants I've been seeing on my driveway and pavers are now appearing in more places in the lawn and excavating along the walkways in the past few mows. To the point I was scalping their hills while cutting at 2.5". I have some granular ant bait (Advance 375A) that a pesticide tech gave me near the end of the jug. Sprinkled around the visible mounds after mowing today. I will keep an eye on them and have to look into a replacement jug or better treatment since there is not much left.

 

9/3/24:

- Gave Waypoint Analytical a call to see what was going on with my soil sample since I got a credit card charge a week ago and still no results. The woman on the phone was very nice. They had sent out the results (8/26), 1 business day after USPS dropped off the sample, but had a typo in the email!

- Results:

Think I will start a new thread in the soil fertility sub-forum since this is all new to me and it looks like I need:
1. PH Up
2. Phosphorous Up
3. Potassium Up
4. Iron Down? - Maybe this is why my sump pits have had Iron Ochre for the 30 years we've been here?!

Plans for tonight were to get another .25lb/N of Urea down and the prodiamine split fall application while wind is down. Now I'm not sure what to prioritize. Oh and the Urea is out of stock at all nearby SIteOne for some reason. Would have to drive an hour north when this bag runs out. Yikes.

 

9/4/24:
- Nice and cool here, was in the low 50's last night and low 70's past few days with low humidity. I'll take this weather any day. 5 Day soil avg 75*F.

- Yesterday put down another .25lbs/1k of Urea along with fall prodiamine app. I mixed the prodiamine with a paddle directly in the cart sprayer tank and there was a bit of residue left in the bottom when I was done. Not sure if normal, don't think so, but will use a separate 5 gallon bucket to do the mixing and transfer next time. I put it all down at once with the stock Vevor 110 degree flat tip.

- Before spraying I took three measurements at highest pressure setting on the cart with just water and got a half gallon per minute. Took a 100ft walk with my measuring wheel and found out how many steps I got. Plugged that into ChatGPT explaining that I wanted to cover all 8.5k sq.ft (I should just start rounding up to 9k) with the roughly 15 gallons the cart sprayer holds suggesting if I could use a metronome app on my phone. I figured this would be better than me just walking normally 2-3x over the entire property and guessing. It worked out well! It told me to set the metronome to 35bpm which is super slow. I looked like I was walking in slow motion or a minefield. I thought about doubling to 70bpm and then doing a cross hatch pattern but really didn't' want to walk the property twice. Hard on an irregular lot without dye or those marking sticks but I was able to get the whole thing done in one pass except for a small 500-1k section where a tree was (didn't make it) with a mulch ring. Mixed up another batch of prodiamine and urea for that 1k and sprayed again. Took more care this time to hold the tip ~20 inches off the ground (knee height). Felt like I did much better than the first full lawn application.

- Watered in the morning each zone for ~10 minutes. Turned the 3 rachio zone schedules back on for the zones that get the most sun, but I guess after midnight when I was sleeping it decided to push the irrigation back a day. All zones could use an irrigation run except the lowest on the property that gets the most shade. Was still a bit spongy walking on it today. It's always a bit spongy.

- Got a reply in the thread I made in the Soil Fertility sub-forum suggesting I put down lime asap. Went to both Lowes and Home Depot at daybreak. Lowes had only dolomitic lime, the guy working there suggested I put down the fast acting which I didn't like the sound of and g-man warned against in the thread. Home Depot was even sadder, same thing only dolomitic lime and only about 10 ripped bags on the pallet at floor level. Went to my local SiteOne and got 9x50lb bags of Calcitic Pelletized Lime and put it all down this evening. Calendar reminder set for 3/1/25 to buy and apply another 30lbs/1k.

- While at SiteOne I was asking the guy what he suggested to bring up my K levels and showed him the list of recommendations from the Soil Remediation Guide. He said I could drive about 2hr round trip for the 0-0-60 MOP I think, at another branch. The only thing they had in stock there was a 5-0-20 (with Fe that he didn't mention) and I am happy I held off getting any after learning about the Fe at home. Will continue my search for some local SOP or MOP. Oh and the most unfortunate part. I asked when they were expecting to get more Urea in and he mentioned that when I bought it last it was because they accidently got a pallet of it, but usually don't stock it. 😳 I think I have enough for this fall, but what a bummer.

 

9/11/24: Mowed with the mulch plug and put down another .25lb/1k of Urea with the vevor cart sprayer. Filled it up a little higher that time and still had some carrier left over was able to do about 1/2 of the hell strip.

9/17/24: Mowed again, much needed. Had to fan out the clippings on about 3-4 lines with the blower. Have a tropical disturbance coming up the coast that will be here tomorrow. Last week estimate was 3.5" of rain, not down to 1" across 4 days or so. A lot of the bare spots have filled in. What they are filling in with I'm still not sure. Other bare spots still very dry and compacted with little growing there. One is right near the shed, another on a drainage easement. I suspect poor soil in both areas, but too many utilities in the area and other things to worry about right now to nitpick.

The lawn looks good from far away. Up close it is packed with weeds, and I'm starting to see the Kyllinga everywhere. As I ride around on the mower I think about treating all the undesirables individually and then always conclude a full reno would be worth it in cost of herbicides alone. Then I think about how I'd have to do it right and level the lawn first and fix grading in spots.

Most of my neighbor's lawns look like they are still struggling right now. I suspect if I hadn't been doing the weekly spoon feedings mine would look similar. Can really see who had fertilizer put down and who hasn't. Parts for my new DFW wand came in finally will assemble tomorrow and maybe spray another .25lb/1k of Urea with it, have to check if it's okay to do so with the incoming rain.

 

9/18/24: Put down another .25lb/1k of Urea with the sprayer cart tonight. The tropical disturbance forecasted has completely broken down went from 3.5" of rain to 1" of rain to no rain and it's going to be 80*F and sunny tomorrow. Will have to start scheduling the irrigation zones again. Local PWS is saying .27" of rain since the start of September and I believe it. The areas with poor irrigation coverage are certainly showing it.

 

9/21/24: Mowed again; 4 days since last and it was ready. Forecasted .5-1" of rain since last update doesn't exist anymore. Looks like we might close out September with .27" of rain at this rate. Neighbor's non-irrigated lawns are showing it. Amazing how some water all through the summer heat waves, but not now.

Was told that the irrigation company we have open/close the system called looking to schedule to turn ours off. I figured it would be easy enough to do as we already have a 30 gallon air compressor that does 8.6scfm @ 40psi. Would like to have more control over when it gets winterized then setting a date a month in advance and paying the $100-150 they charge.

I just started looking at where the blowout port is and surprise, they've been doing it for 15+ years without one. I guess they've just been using the test ports on the backflow preventer this whole time? Would explain why they had to replace it a few years ago. Current plan is to shut the irrigation supply off, open the faucet valve in basement upstream of BFP and let that section drain out, then do what the irrigation company would do and blow out the system through the upper test valve on the BFP?

I know the right thing to do would be to install a blowout port downstream of the BFP, but not confident in my plumbing ability and would be introducing more failure points. Doubt there's a blowout port buried in the mulch, but I'll take a look before I go doing anything. I'm seeing most people say never blowout through the BFP test ports, and others say they've been doing it for years without issue. Why pay the irrigation company to do the wrong thing when I can do the wrong thing myself?

 

9/25/24: Mowed again, 4 days since last mow and needed it. Neighbor's trees have started to drop some leaves. Okay with the mulching plug on for now although it is still leaving a line of clippings along the right side of the deck where it would normally discharge. Had to use leaf blower to fan out the lines of clippings on the thicker areas. Maybe need to drop down to a mow every 3 days and see if it helps.

Raised the scalp wheels on the deck up a notch. Even though they were within spec of what the manual wants when on concrete I was getting chunks taken out of the lawn when doing turns. Have some bare spots now. Really highlighting how uneven the lawn is. Too much work to keep raising and lowering the deck every turn I make. Will keep an eye on it next mow see how it does.

Plan to try the new DFW wand and teejet nozzles and put down another .25lb/1k of Urea tomorrow when wind will be at lowest of the week.

About 1.25" of rain forecasted through next Tuesday. Will see if anything comes of it. Would like to finish out September with over .27" of rain.

 

9/29/24: Put down another .25lb/1k of N on Friday about 5-6 hours before the rain came with the new Teejet nozzle and DFW wand that worked great. ~60" spray pattern compared to the ~42" spray pattern with the Vevor spray cart's included 110* fan nozzle. No drips from this handle!

Weather forecast of 1.25" of rain through next Tuesday was wrong again. We've got 2.7" in the last 48 hours and it looks like it should be wrapping up shortly (Sunday afternoon) bringing our month of September to 3" of rain.

Lawn is enjoying the rain, even the no man's land over the french drain outflow pipe has some color coming back to it, but I'm sure it's just more weeds. Have to keep reminding myself we have 30 days until first frost and wait until next year to tackle them.

Going to probably do a double cut without the mulch plug 2-3 days after rain is stopped to get back down to 2.5" HOC. Will have some more photos then. Lot of fallen leaves and mushrooms.