Mistakes were made

Discuss how to and whether you should renovate your lawn
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SemiOrganicConvert
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Mistakes were made

Post by SemiOrganicConvert » September 16th, 2017, 9:16 am

Really REALLY wish I hadn't reached for the Roundup Extended Control to do the spot spraying after the total kill. The impact is temporary (4 months) and not extensive. Just one of a few gaffs on my first reno attempt.

I didn't overlap the slice seeder and therefore there is striping (not the good kind). The kbg will close that gap but I wonder if the prg and chewings fescue will remain stripy.

In spite of cutting the seed drop rate in half I still ran out of seed after completing the first direction. Part way through the first direction I cut the drop rate down to near zero but still ran out. Damn rental.

Not necessarily a mistake, but I intentionally went light on the seeding rate. Super Seed Store SS5000 is recommended 4#/k. I went with 3.3#/k in the ground and held back 2# for any areas that are still thin come February.

The germination seems that it was uneven across the width of the slice seeder. Perhaps the seed varieties settled during shipment. I didn't give any thought to mixing the seed before pouring it into the hopper. PRG biased towards one side?

Wish I'd fallowed longer and harder. Life interfered. Some grassy weed is making a comeback.

Glad I synchronized the seed with the solar eclipse and the 4 ounce rate of Tenacity.

SemiOrganicConvert
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Re: Mistakes were made

Post by SemiOrganicConvert » September 16th, 2017, 9:44 am

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Cheesto
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Re: Mistakes were made

Post by Cheesto » September 17th, 2017, 12:01 pm

I would throw down some more PRG seed in the bare areas ASAP. PRG doesn't spread - it grows in clumps, so if you don't add more PRG seed, the only thing filling in those areas will be weeds.

SemiOrganicConvert
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Re: Mistakes were made

Post by SemiOrganicConvert » September 18th, 2017, 6:45 pm

It may be too late--already seeing some chickweed, maybe spurge and a few pops of crab grass. I'd do another round of seed and tenacity if it weren't for the dire weather predictions this week.

greenrebellion
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Re: Mistakes were made

Post by greenrebellion » September 18th, 2017, 7:26 pm

All those weeds are easy to deal with next spring. Worry about getting some more seed down.


SemiOrganicConvert
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Re: Mistakes were made

Post by SemiOrganicConvert » September 25th, 2017, 9:13 am

Cheesto wrote:
September 17th, 2017, 12:01 pm
I would throw down some more PRG seed in the bare areas ASAP. PRG doesn't spread - it grows in clumps, so if you don't add more PRG seed, the only thing filling in those areas will be weeds.
greenrebellion wrote:
September 18th, 2017, 7:26 pm
All those weeds are easy to deal with next spring. Worry about getting some more seed down.
Tropical Storm Jose and it's days of wind and wet weather put me off balance last week. I also found that I was feeling like hoarding my holdback seed instead of actually using some of it.

Welp, In the end I decided to wait for the 30+ day mark. I did a 4 oz. blanket of Tenacity (dual purpose post and pre) and mowed, applied 1# of seed and peat moss over the worst areas the yesterday.

Back to keeping it constantly moist.

Marinegrunt
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Re: Mistakes were made

Post by Marinegrunt » September 25th, 2017, 12:56 pm

Be careful with the water if you're getting any hot and humid weather. I tossed some more seed after I had some thin spots. I kept it watered a little too good. We've had a stretch of 94° days and high humidity. It's all causing me to get decimated by Dollar Spot. It mainly started in areas that held water longer and only in the sun. The good news is the the heat streak is almost over. I had to order another bag of seed that will be going down later this week.

I think my over watering was a huge cause of the fungus so just be careful. I even started Serenade apps a few days before the fungus started but I'm sure one app didn't do much.

SemiOrganicConvert
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Re: Mistakes were made

Post by SemiOrganicConvert » September 25th, 2017, 2:18 pm

I think that's number 85 of the 30 Things That Must Be Kept Balanced during a well planned out reno! LoL

I do want to cut way back from what I watered today. One good day of soaking and then much reduced with a bit of rolling the dice after that.

Gotime88
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Re: Mistakes were made

Post by Gotime88 » September 28th, 2017, 4:09 pm

All the best with the lawn. I'm going through my own mini reno as a beginner, with the beginner headaches. I rented a Classen power seeder from Home Depot with high hopes. That was not the best decision. The area I seeded was sloped, so the seed easily shifted to one side of the hopper, affecting the consistency. Then, I noticed the rate control mechanism came loose shifting into "full rate" mode. Then, I noticed how much seed dropped as I turned the machine around at the end of each pass. I ended up spreading so much seed in one direction, I ended up not seeding at the perpendicular direction, as recommended. In short, I feel your pain with powered spreaders. In hindsight, I would have just rented a power rake, and spread the seed with my own spreader. Live and learn I suppose.

SemiOrganicConvert
Posts: 36
Joined: August 16th, 2012, 7:12 pm
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Re: Mistakes were made

Post by SemiOrganicConvert » September 30th, 2017, 9:07 am

Gotime88 wrote:
September 28th, 2017, 4:09 pm
All the best with the lawn. In short, I feel your pain with powered spreaders. In hindsight, I would have just rented a power rake, and spread the seed with my own spreader. Live and learn I suppose.
Thanks for your commiseration. My friend had recommended just that--use the spreader after power raking. I'll admit that I wanted to streamline--to make this happen in as few steps as possible (ok, lazy). Like you, I really wish the seed had been spread in at least two directions.

I post these mistakes to perhaps give others a heads up and to remind myself of some of the details of my first attempt.

SemiOrganicConvert
Posts: 36
Joined: August 16th, 2012, 7:12 pm
Location: Bristol RI
Grass Type: Majority Mongrel plus URI#2 First Reno--->Front Side 2500sqft SSS5000 Sunny Mixture
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Re: Mistakes were made

Post by SemiOrganicConvert » October 20th, 2017, 3:39 pm

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JohnP
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Re: Mistakes were made

Post by JohnP » October 20th, 2017, 9:15 pm

Lol that’s nice of them!

Marinegrunt
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Re: Mistakes were made

Post by Marinegrunt » October 20th, 2017, 9:46 pm

Funny.... Our water company came out and informed us of the same thing. They usually knock and talk in person but, if you aren't home, they leave a note. After that I'm not at all anxious to see the next bill. Mine only jumped about $100 for the month during the reno so it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. That was only water and not sewer since we're on a septic tank. It probably would've been another $100 they billed for sewer.

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