Nick's rookie Reno Soggy slow spring green up

[LeftField11]

Congrats on see down, I can't wait to get mine on the ground.

How did you spread your peat moss? By hand or with a spreader? The closest peat moss spreader rental is 1.5 hours away from me, but I'm thinking it might be worth it. I'm still undecided on how much peat moss I'm going to use. I'm definitely putting it on the bare ground areas, but spreading it over the entire 9600 sq ft by hand seems like a daunting task - unless I get the roller. And it's a large expense. But I don't want to jeopardize my reno success by skimping on top dressing.

[edenl01]

Since I only had 4.5k to do I did it by hand. I had a wheel barrow and used a scoop shovel cinched between my arm and kinda flung it off like a human manure spreader.

For 9k I'd make a day trip and go rent the roller. You'll be there for at least 3-4 hours just doing peat by hand.

With the roller I'd plan on 2 bales (3 cu.ft.) per K. I was less than 2 bales per k and I wasn't exactly thrilled with the coverage. Some people use less than 2 bales per k but I remember reading that the roller goes through a little more.

By the time you seed down at 2-4 passes, drop some starter if you chose, roll, spray tenacity over 9 k you'll be beat. The last thing I'd want to do is another few hours of flinging peat around.

I don't know if you have friends or family close but with 2 or 3 guys, a couple wheel barrows and an iced down 30 pack it would go pretty quick also.
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[edenl01]

Day 4

Observations so far:

Keeping it moist at 4 hour intervals is really difficult especially in the full sun areas. By the next 4 hour interval it is damn near dry on the surface. Hopefully within the dead turf and peat there is moisture yet. I'm getting quite a bit of puddling around the impact sprinklers and I'm not sure what if anything you do about that. If I shorten the cycle time, the majority of that zone would dry out long before the next interval. So far getting watering down has been tough and is kind of like juggling between too wet and too dry. 4 hour intervals are the shortest my timer can go. If I'd known that I would not have bought it. 2-3 hour intervals at a shorter run time would sure be the way to go. A lot of the peat I put down has been moved around by the water so I have some places that need touched up. I'm going to wait to do that because they are forecasting 1-2 inches tomorrow into Friday. I figure I'd see what gets washed out and patch it all up at the same time.

My pots have partial germination at day 6. I found one sprout in a shaded area in the reno. I'm guessing days 6-7 should show some more progress.

[tlinden]

When it looks dry try poking around and see if its still moist or not under the peat.

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[seiyafan]

Get a Melnor wifi timer, there is no interval limit.

[edenl01]

Get a Melnor wifi timer, there is no interval limit.

What model number are you using? I tried a basic search and found this
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Melnor-Wi-Fi ... lsrc=aw.ds

Not sure if that's what you're using or not. The product description on the HD website said that it has 6 cycles. Which would mean every 4 hours.

[seiyafan]

That's the one. Six cycles means it can be programmed to go on up to six times a day, but there is no limit to how you set it, for example you can set it to go on at 9, 10, 11, 12, 1, and 2 for anywhere from 1 minute to 59 minutes. You can even set it to go on at 9, 9:01, 9:02, etc.

[edenl01]

Awesome thanks for the info. I think I'll try and limp my current timer through for this season and maybe upgrade next year. Lesson learned for this year is that 4 hour intervals ain't ideal. Renovations are not cheap, but still cheaper than buying sod.

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[edenl01]

This ought to be interesting. How long do you wait to reseed? When the forecast coast is clear or after decent amount of germination so you can see what needs more seed?




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[andy10917]

It has already happened to my son this year. There is plenty of (early) germination where the peat moss held well. More germination also in the bare areas, but without optimal conditions, it is slower.

I generally advise to let the lawn "talk to you". Stick with the existing seeding as long as there is noticeable change each day. When 2 or 3 days go by without noticeable change, it's time to think about reseeding the bare areas.

[edenl01]

Day 6

Widespread germination in partial shade areas, spotty in the rest.

Quack grass shoots are about 3" tall. It sucks but it will make them easy to find and paint.

Next reno I will fertilize at the beginning of the fallow and use ammonium sulfate with the glyphosate. I think my turf was in kind of a "duh" state. It hadn't seen fertilizer since the end of May.

There are spots that appear bare where the peat washed off. One thing I learned this week is just because you can't see the seed doesn't mean it ain't there. All the seeds that germinated are burrowed down into the soil. I will prolly wait closer to the 2 week mark before I put more seed down. It should give me a better picture of what is really bare or not. However, the urge to run out there and cover all the bare spots with seed is unbearable. Best to wait.

I won't be watering today as we got an inch and a half last night.

The ten day looks awesome high of 80 and no rain almost everyday.


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[probasesteal]

Awesome, love the green babies

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[edenl01]

Thanks!

That same spot looks amazing today. Nice even germination and full. It's going to be great once it grows up. That spot is flat and was bare to start with so the results there aren't typical.

I did the night time flashlight trick and there's more sprouts than you think when looking during the day. Also, it's early yet just day 7.

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[andy10917]

Aw, cmon, dude!! Not the flashlight crap. Really? It's sooo first renovation.

Except when you do it on the second one.

And nobody caught me on the fifth one, so I can deny it.

[edenl01]

It's really fun, makes ya hopeful. After looking at others' pictures of doing it for about a year I finally got to try it myself!

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[bernstem]

Looking great! Shady areas always germinate first for me. That is normal. Now you just need patience as it is still early.

[HoosierLawnGnome]

I had some spots with peat that got hammered with >1" in ~45 minutes on day 6 post seed down. The peat all washed to the edges, but most have even germination throughout now. Even one on a 15 degree-ish slope.

I'm more concerned about the standing water / damping off if it doesn't dry out.

[edenl01]

I got lucky with 15 mph wind all day after the heavy rain. Somebody did me a solid in the weather department. It's still matted, a blower didn't lift it and a rake will rip the sprouts out so I'm letting it ride for now.

I would be going gray and need medication managing over an acre!

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[edenl01]

How long are people planning to water for "germination phase". I was thinking probably 3 weeks to give any of the slow guys a chance to pop. After that I was in planning to go to 3 times a day for about another week.

Just curious what you all think.

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[edenl01]

Day 10

Still trying to master watering
The shady areas have sprouts with white tips which makes me think fungus.









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