Nick's rookie Reno Soggy slow spring green up

[edenl01]

Andy,

I checked 4 or 5 places and it appears as if it's just dead clippings. It's a thick layer so it may not all break down. The picture shows a previous bare spot in the center. Once the clippings were removed it was bare soil. I started actively fallowing this week. I have about 24 days to target seed down. I'll reevaluate probably the week before seed down to see if I need to rake.


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[LoneRanger]

Someone needs 'Thatch-B-Gone'.

[edenl01]

I wanted to be able to avoid raking to eliminate spreading and undesirable stolons and root fragments but based on how thick the layer of dead grass is I think I'll end up raking.
I did bag mow but it obviously didn't pick it all up.
Hopefully the heat and water can break some of it down at least.

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[edenl01]

I was wondering if any of you have used a dethaching blade on a push mower. I wanted to try one to get some of the matter off the top. I thought this might do some of the work for me and then follow it up with a raking. The blade I'm looking at has nylon tines about an inch and a quarter long. I know you dont want to completely remove all stubble but I thought this might save me a few hours. Maybe not, who knows. I just wanted to run this through you all before I go and do anything really dumb.

https://www.amazon.com/Arnold-Deluxe-Un ... hing+blade

Also, fallowing is such a great thing. Do not skip it or be lazy with it you'll regret it. I was doing my daily after work survey or the yard and noticed and bunch of bright green new sprouts. Turns out they are a bunch of rye seeds that didn't germinate in early spring when I seeded them for erosion control.

[edenl01]

Raking, raking, and more raking. We've gotten over 4 inches of rain since Monday and the field flooding washed a bunch of junk into the area I already raked. Also that humidity doesn't help any.
Set to apply 2nd blanket spray of glyphosate tomorrow. Noticed salad green weeds, nutsedge and new quack shoots. 1st app was 3 weeks ago. It's weird to be happy to see the weeds to purge them out of the seed bank.

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[edenl01]

Finished up 2nd blanket spray of glyphosate. It needed to be a blanket spray because there were a lot of new weeds and missed turf from the first round. I'm thinking Santa will be bringing me a backpack sprayer for Christmas. Spent more time filling than spraying.

Overall the yard looks good. Soil is showing through in a lot of places. We had heavy rains last week that matted all the dead turf down so I'll be doing some raking probably a little bit every day until seed down.

Hopefully the seed makes its way to the soil through the dead turf. I didn't end up getting very short with the scalp cut.

Maybe the experienced guys can chime in on this, is it typical to have a fair amount of dead turf remaining?

Planning on Aug. 6 for seed down.

[HoosierLawnGnome]

I think raking was a good time investment. YOu want solid seed to soil contact, and raking it up is the safest bet to ensure that.

My last renovation in 2014, I could only scalp down to 1 1/2 inches - but I was able to rake it up.

http://aroundtheyard.com/renovations/ho ... 14#p199701

It came in just fine.

[edenl01]

Quick question here, what is the logic behind dropping milo and starter at seed down. I've read it done several times I was just curious why. My guess is that it will provide some slower release feeding for 2-4 weeks?

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[edenl01]

Here she is 9 days before seed down. So far my most valuable tool in the arsenal has been a $15 hand rake. I was fretting how much matter was still covering the soil. As the days go by and after every rake pass it looks better and better. I'm very confident those tiny seeds will find their way to the soil.



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[edenl01]

Have burn up a tenacity app to kill nutsedge this afternoon. All along I was under the impression that glyphosate would take care of it. False. Thanks TimmyG for that information on treating nutsedge.

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[edenl01]

Rake and sweat and rake and sweat for today. I also spot sprayed the reno for nutsedge with 4 oz/acre rate of tenacity. Im guessing about 50-60 plants. More than I originally thought was there. Also noticed that as the lawn becomes " deader" the easier the raking and the more material removed. Feeling good about dropping next Saturday.

[edenl01]

Just finished 3rd and final glyphosate app at a time of 1 hrs 18 mins. Man oh man I need to buy a backpack. Lots of little dicots and some poa germinated. I found 2 quackgrass plants that got extra attention. For now that's all she wrote for killing.

I think I will give it a decent watering Friday night before Saturday seed down. Its raked out pretty nice but it will need a fluffing before seeding to just stand it up.

I'm pretty excited for Saturday seed down. Almost a years worth of research and prep work have paid off so far.

[tlinden]

Have burn up a tenacity app to kill nutsedge this afternoon. All along I was under the impression that glyphosate would take care of it. False. Thanks TimmyG for that information on treating nutsedge.

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Oh snap I didn't know that. My lawn is gonna look ridiculous if everything dies but he nuts edge lol oh well..

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[edenl01]

Hit the nutsedge with glyphosate about a day or two before seed down and the spray from your tenacity pre-m dose should wipe it out.

I sprayed the yellow nutsedge with round up before I knew it didn't do much. A day or two later I spot sprayed with tenacity and it was bleached and bent over dying in less than 24 hours.

It's nice to see that tiny $60 Tenacity bottle do something for me finally.

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[edenl01]

Today I ran a caution tape barrier between the reno and the rest of the yard. I wanted to put it up early to kind of condition the 2 animals that they can't go there anymore before the real deal. One is 160 lbs and I'm sure he'd be a sprout killer.

I also started my pots today. I did 9 4" pots and 2 bigger ones. I used 8oz baby formula cans for those with some holes in the side bottom so once they are going I can bottom water them. Based on how little seed it actually takes to do pots I may do some more of them.

I also staked off 1000 sq. ft sections so I know how much goes where with the Tenacity.

[edenl01]

Seed down!


Had to do a quick rake of the whole area due to heavy rains matting it down on Thursday.

Blend of Bewitched, Blue Velvet and Award seeded at 2 lbs. 5 oz. per/k.
Used Soilmoist Seedcoat from Amazon at about3-4 times bag rate.
Tenacity applied at 4 oz. per acre.
Dropped milo at half bag rate ~7 lbs./k
Dropped starter fertilizer 10-18-6 at 3.2 lbs/k (bag rate)
Used 6 3 cu. ft. Bales on about 4.5k. If I had 7 I would've used it and been more comfortable with coverage.

Watered in 2 times a few hours apart, each time half of the total watering time it will normally receive.


I used a broadcast spreader instead of a drop spreader. I bought a drop spreader in the spring to practice with and I hated it. I took it back to the store and started playing with the broadcast spreader in the garage. I bought cheap seed so I could try the different settings and analyze the spread patterns. I decided that I liked what I saw so that was my tool of choice.

If you haven't seeded only KBG before, go buy a pound or two of cheap stuff and practice. Trust me you'll feel very confident once the day comes.

I made 4 passed with the seed. North-South, East-West and perpendicular cross hatches.

If you're new to doing renovations it will take way longer than you think to get er' done so keep that in mind.

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[LoneRanger]

^ I am all giddy to see that blend in 2 years.

I'm just the opposite on spreaders. Once I used a professional drop-spreader, I never looked back. I still have a 2170, but it doesn't come out much. The amount of storm I can drop with a 36" is amazing. I can put five 36# bags of milorganite down in 100ft wide open.

[edenl01]

LR,
I'm slowly upgrading my equipment from my current Fischer price tool set. The drop spreader I bought was very low end so I'm sure that had a lot to do with it.

I'm pretty excited to finally see all these cultivars for myself!

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[andy10917]

Best of luck, Nick!

[edenl01]

Forecast looks good to me! It changed quite a bit since Friday before seed down.
I have been watering 4 times a day. Zone times range from 12-16 minutes.



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