ndlutz 2016 Front Yard Reno - First Spring Pics

[ndlutz]

I put down some of the 24 hour Bayer Grub Killer. Didn't like what I was seeing in the yard re: holes in thin spots and remembered strange congregations of birds on the lawn early on in the reno. Figured it would be better to be safe than sorry and apply the chemical.

I noticed there were sprouts in some of the reseeded areas so I'm pretty happy about that!

[ndlutz]

Things are looking good on the front yard reno. Unfortunately, my backyard PRG that I did last year took a real beating from the heat, no water, and now grubs. It's looking like a 50% loss. I think I am just going to toss seed out and pray in the spring. Between the leaves about to fall from the Norway Maple I have back there and all the energy I am sinking into the front yard, it's just not in the cards to work on it anymore this year.

I'm amazed at the difference a week made after a urea app and some rain. I really can't wait for 60 days to come!

[ndlutz]

Here are my 45 day pics. You can see some of the area I re-seeded. Overall, I feel pretty good about it at this stage.

[ndlutz]

Pots are looking pretty good, too. Seeded 24 days ago.

[ndlutz]

60 day update. I am trying to keep the shots standard, but I did take a few different shots this time too.


This is the area I had to reseed and have generally struggled the most with. It looks like it's filling in pretty well now.

[ndlutz]

This area is a struggle for me. I didn't re-seed it. I'm just hoping it fills in next spring.

[ndlutz]

I walked the reno today to get a handle on what kind of weed pressure I'm dealing with.

A majority of what I have to deal with is level 2. Clover type weeds, etc. I would have liked to spray Triclopyr today but it was too windy so I did nothing. I'm hoping to get some down before it's too late.

The amount of quackgrass I'm seeing is really disheartening. The yard is going to be infinitely better, I think, but it's going to be a life-long process to get rid of quackgrass at my place. The stuff just won't quit.

[ndlutz]

I sprayed Prodiamine at approximately the .75 lb/acre rate and dropped Milorganite at bag rate yesterday.

I'm going to try to get my pictures back up on here to keep this thread going. The threads that have shown progression through the winter and then into the first spring, summer, and second fall have been the most helpful for me on this board so I'd like to do that myself.

[ndlutz]

[ndlutz]

Here's a lone pic from November of my little girl with one of the trees I planted:

[LoneRanger]

No images from your last 2 posts.

[ndlutz]

That's odd. I can see the pics. Can anybody else see them? How about the other, older pics in the thread?

I'm having a ton of difficulty with the pics on this site for some reason. When the site changed I could no longer see my pics anymore from Broken image despite copying and pasting the forum code for them so I went with Google pics and re-did them. Now I can see them.

[g-man]

I cant see them either. It looks like the image source is lh3.googleusercontent.com . I think this is private link to your image in google photos. I think the best way to share google photos is to click share, then click get link and copy/paste that link.

[LoneRanger]

How about the other, older pics in the thread?

There all invalid.

[tlinden]

Google requires you to add people as friends to see the photos. Flickr works great in forums.

[ndlutz]

Photos should be back up now.

[ndlutz]

So as we enter spring, 2017, I'm thinking about the nitrogen needs of this new KBG lawn and naturally I have been reading the Philes lecture over and over again.

I'm struggling with it, though, and I get the sense others are as well.

I think the struggle comes from the following paragraph:

"At seeding time, they start with an 8-8-8 or a 10-10-10. Upon the grass reaching the 'first mow' stage, they add Milorganite, and then it's Milorganite every two weeks, as the weather gets warmer. Every two weeks would seem to you (and in the old days, to me) as 'excessive'. It's not."

The word "add" makes me wonder if what Philes is calling for is continual applications of the synthetic fertilizer as well as the Milorganite or a cessation of the synthetic when it's time to let the Milorganite do it's thing.

The next question is whether we're talking about light applications (1/2 perhaps) of Milorganite or a full application of Milorganite every two weeks.

When he specifically addressed spring nitrogen, he wrote this:

"Spring? A lot of people don't like to fertilize in the spring. A KBG lawn requires an application of big-first-number fertilizer, in May. A newly renovated KBG lawn requires yet another application in mid June. That lawn needs the nitrogen, for all the growing, both above, below, and across the ground, that it's wanting to do, and will do, if you feed it. Density? It requires nitrogen. Color? Requires more nitrogen. Aggressiveness? You already know what it requires."

So it's clear here that he recommends a big first number in mid-May and mid-June for a first spring KBG lawn. I think you may be able to read between the lines here and say that this means he calls for a cessation of the synthetic nitrogen in spring when you start bi-weekly Milorganite applications, but I do not know.

So far, I've done the following:

Dropped Milorganite at full bag rate.

I intend to do the following:

1/2 application of Milorganite every two weeks through June.

Full application of big number synthetic nitrogen in mid-May & mid-June.

Should I substitute urea, which I have on hand, for any of the bi-weekly applications? Does anybody have a different perspective on what Philes was saying?

[ndlutz]

I got a weed wick based on reading HLG's thread. I busted it out a bit today on some quack in my reno. I'm interested to see the results in a couple days.

[edenl01]

How'd the wick work out? I'm staring out the window at some pretty dense patches of quack. Trying to decide whether to try the be nice and careful approach or to go with a more broad treatment of glyphosate.

[ndlutz]

I'm still wondering that myself. I mixed up glyphosate at the usual mixing rate as opposed to a more concentrated rate, so I think that may be the issue. It may not be enough to get them.

Some of them are looking sick and turning a reddish color. Others look unphased. I guess it could also be that the wick isn't getting them as well as I'd like.