RyanBum's NC Reno 2016

Discuss how to and whether you should renovate your lawn
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ryanbum
Posts: 280
Joined: May 31st, 2016, 12:09 pm
Location: Western North Carolina
Grass Type: Tall Fescue
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RyanBum's NC Reno 2016

Post by ryanbum » July 7th, 2016, 12:44 pm

Hello all, first post after lurking for a couple of months. I have started prepping for my fall 2016 renovation and need some input/advice. I'll apologize in advance for the lengthy post. First off I'll start with a little bit of history on my lawn.

I'm located in Western NC, 60 miles west of Charlotte and 15 miles north of the SC state line. The lot size is ~0.4 acre. My property was wooded until 4 years ago, when it was cleared for construction. The house was completed in the summer of 2013. We bought the house as a new build, so the contractor had already taken care of the yard. He had contractor grade seed put out with a straw barrier on top. The yard was green when we went under contract, and dead when we closed. I reseeded in the spring of 2014 with Rebel Southern Blend seed from Lowe's, and it did okay. Germination was decent, but extremely thin. I did not aerate the lawn, and the ground is very hard/compacted. Fast forward to 2016, and the yard is a blend of different types of fescue/weeds. There are multiple bare spots with plenty of weeds filling in the gaps. Before gaining an interest in lawn care, I was a weed and feed guy. I have found K31 (from the contractor seed), some type of wide blade fescue that is bright green, and a narrow blade fescue that's presumably from the Rebel mix. There's a patch of Bermuda ~150 sq. ft. lining the edge of the yard. There's a multitude of weeds scattered throughout (nutsedge, clover, dandelions, crabgrass, etc.). In short, I'm in desperate need of a reno. I do not have an in-ground irrigation system so the watering will be completed with hoses, sprinklers and timers.

I'm wanting to do a complete renovation on the front and side yards initially (~5k sq. ft.), and focus on the back yard (another ~5k sq. ft.) next year. I'm thinking that for my location, a pure blend of TTTF or TTTF/KBG would be the best options available. I am planning to aerate and reseed around September 15th. The prepping has now started for this project. I have started applying 41% glyphosate to the area that is covered in Bermuda, and will continue killing that off for the next few weeks. The front yard is the worst area, due to multiple types of grasses and the abundance of weeds. My goal is to have the best lawn on the block, so I'm willing to do whatever it takes to get there. I'm looking for your opinion on my next steps. ANY help you can provide would be appreciated. The first two pictures are from the beginning of June before the summer set, and the last two pictures are from this week. You can see the differences in color and types of grasses in the first picture, but the weeds aren't apparent from that image. The picture by the sidewalk is the Bermuda area that I have already started to nuke. I'm planning to rent a walk-behind core aerator to go over the entire yard multiple times in early September. I'll post my specific questions below. I'm new to this, so take it easy on me :wave:

Anything I should be doing in prep for this reno that hasn't been mentioned?
Should I try a blend of TTTF/KBG or stick with TTTF?
What cultivars should I be looking at? Will more than likely order seed from The Hogan Company or The Seed Superstore

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Last edited by ryanbum on October 15th, 2016, 9:45 am, edited 23 times in total.

ryanbum
Posts: 280
Joined: May 31st, 2016, 12:09 pm
Location: Western North Carolina
Grass Type: Tall Fescue
Lawn Size: Not Specified
Level: Not Specified

Re: RyanBum's NC Reno 2016

Post by ryanbum » July 7th, 2016, 12:58 pm

Using findlotsize.com, I was able to get a visual of what I'm meaning by front and side yards.


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edenl01
Posts: 591
Joined: July 16th, 2015, 9:12 pm
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Re: RyanBum's NC Reno 2016

Post by edenl01 » July 7th, 2016, 1:03 pm

Look into nclawnguys Reno thread or ecupirate93. They are in NC. Both choose to use Kbg. Both chose to include Nuglade in their blends. Don't think it was coincidence. According to 2009 NTEP scores it was tops in North Carolina.

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ryanbum
Posts: 280
Joined: May 31st, 2016, 12:09 pm
Location: Western North Carolina
Grass Type: Tall Fescue
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Re: RyanBum's NC Reno 2016

Post by ryanbum » July 8th, 2016, 9:25 am

Good info. I'll start digging into their reno's.

ryanbum
Posts: 280
Joined: May 31st, 2016, 12:09 pm
Location: Western North Carolina
Grass Type: Tall Fescue
Lawn Size: Not Specified
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Re: RyanBum's NC Reno 2016

Post by ryanbum » July 9th, 2016, 11:12 am

Well... After sleeping on it, I'm going to start the reno today. After the little bit of rain we had burns off this afternoon, I'm going to apply glypho at 4-5 oz per 1k. I found a little bit of Bermuda hiding out under the fescue sporadically everywhere. Guess if I'm going to do it right, I've gotta start from scratch :banghead:

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ryanbum
Posts: 280
Joined: May 31st, 2016, 12:09 pm
Location: Western North Carolina
Grass Type: Tall Fescue
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Re: RyanBum's NC Reno 2016

Post by ryanbum » July 12th, 2016, 6:20 pm

Soil test is going out tomorrow, 7/13/2016. Sending two samples out. One to Logan Labs, another (just because it's free) to NCSU through the local cooperative extension. Looking forward to the results!
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LoneRanger
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Re: RyanBum's NC Reno 2016

Post by LoneRanger » July 13th, 2016, 10:21 am

^ Me too. That soil just looks good. Let's see what the test say.

ryanbum
Posts: 280
Joined: May 31st, 2016, 12:09 pm
Location: Western North Carolina
Grass Type: Tall Fescue
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Re: RyanBum's NC Reno 2016

Post by ryanbum » July 13th, 2016, 7:50 pm

Day 4: Glypho is starting to kick in. Yard is starting to get a little crunchy...
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ryanbum
Posts: 280
Joined: May 31st, 2016, 12:09 pm
Location: Western North Carolina
Grass Type: Tall Fescue
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Re: RyanBum's NC Reno 2016

Post by ryanbum » July 20th, 2016, 5:47 pm

Soil test results came back! I started a separate thread in the soil forum. I don't think the soil looks too bad, but I'm not an expert by any definition.


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ryanbum
Posts: 280
Joined: May 31st, 2016, 12:09 pm
Location: Western North Carolina
Grass Type: Tall Fescue
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Re: RyanBum's NC Reno 2016

Post by ryanbum » July 21st, 2016, 2:53 pm

Ordered the Melnor Aquatimer 4 Zone watering system today from Northern Tool. They had it on sale for $47.99, and I had a coupon for $10 off $50 or more. Added another water hose to my cart, and they should be on their way :yahoo: Hopefully it will work as well as I'm expecting.
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Dr. Drill
Posts: 117
Joined: July 19th, 2016, 4:16 pm
Location: Wesley Chapel, NC
Grass Type: TTTF-Cochise IV, LS1200, Falcon V -65%, Midnight KBG-25%, Spitfire HBG- 10%
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Re: RyanBum's NC Reno 2016

Post by Dr. Drill » July 21st, 2016, 3:54 pm

Man, it's so interesting to me how different your soil is from mine and I'm south of Charlotte in Wesley Chapel. I sent my samples to NCSU (still waiting on the results) and all of my samples were the classic red clay, I doubt my results will be as good as yours. We bought our house new construction as well and I can relate to a builder putting in crappy grass to start. I've toyed with the idea of sending it to Logan labs as well.

Good luck with the reno, I'm planning to start mine over the weekend with spraying the %41 Glyphosate on sunday most likely. I'll defin be checking in on yours since we are relatively close in location.

I bought my seed from the Hogan Company. If you're interested, talk to Steven, he'll give you some great advice for cultivars. I'm sticking with my TTTF so if you have any questions about cultivars just let me know.

ryanbum
Posts: 280
Joined: May 31st, 2016, 12:09 pm
Location: Western North Carolina
Grass Type: Tall Fescue
Lawn Size: Not Specified
Level: Not Specified

Re: RyanBum's NC Reno 2016

Post by ryanbum » July 21st, 2016, 4:05 pm

Dr. Drill wrote:Man, it's so interesting to me how different your soil is from mine and I'm south of Charlotte in Wesley Chapel. I sent my samples to NCSU (still waiting on the results) and all of my samples were the classic red clay, I doubt my results will be as good as yours. We bought our house new construction as well and I can relate to a builder putting in crappy grass to start. I've toyed with the idea of sending it to Logan labs as well.

Good luck with the reno, I'm planning to start mine over the weekend with spraying the %41 Glyphosate on sunday most likely. I'll defin be checking in on yours since we are relatively close in location.

I bought my seed from the Hogan Company. If you're interested, talk to Steven, he'll give you some great advice for cultivars. I'm sticking with my TTTF so if you have any questions about cultivars just let me know.
Great to see locals on here! I have been talking to Stephen, and plan to order my seed from him in the next few weeks. He's recommending a blend of TTTF for my yard. Bullseye, Cochise IV, Turbo and LS1200. What are you going with?

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edenl01
Posts: 591
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Re: RyanBum's NC Reno 2016

Post by edenl01 » July 21st, 2016, 4:19 pm

I have that timer. It works ok. Know that if you program for ever 4 hours that it will do that around the clock. I manually turn all 4 zones to off before bed.

Will it work as a temp set up for a Reno? Yep. But if I knew it programmed that way I would've bout something different.

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Dr. Drill
Posts: 117
Joined: July 19th, 2016, 4:16 pm
Location: Wesley Chapel, NC
Grass Type: TTTF-Cochise IV, LS1200, Falcon V -65%, Midnight KBG-25%, Spitfire HBG- 10%
Lawn Size: Not Specified
Level: Not Specified

Re: RyanBum's NC Reno 2016

Post by Dr. Drill » July 21st, 2016, 4:21 pm

I ended up selecting Cochise IV, LS 1200, and Falcon V. All of them were top 5 for NTEP from 2007-11 (which most people recommended using as a guide). Which type of glyphosate are you using?

ryanbum
Posts: 280
Joined: May 31st, 2016, 12:09 pm
Location: Western North Carolina
Grass Type: Tall Fescue
Lawn Size: Not Specified
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Re: RyanBum's NC Reno 2016

Post by ryanbum » July 21st, 2016, 4:24 pm

Dr. Drill wrote:I ended up selecting Cochise IV, LS 1200, and Falcon V. All of them were top 5 for NTEP from 2007-11 (which most people recommended using as a guide). Which type of glyphosate are you using?
I'm using Killz-All concentrate. $15 for 32 oz. and has a surfactant in the solution. It makes around 14 gallons at bottle rate

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ryanbum
Posts: 280
Joined: May 31st, 2016, 12:09 pm
Location: Western North Carolina
Grass Type: Tall Fescue
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Re: RyanBum's NC Reno 2016

Post by ryanbum » July 21st, 2016, 4:24 pm

edenl01 wrote:I have that timer. It works ok. Know that if you program for ever 4 hours that it will do that around the clock. I manually turn all 4 zones to off before bed.

Will it work as a temp set up for a Reno? Yep. But if I knew it programmed that way I would've bout something different.

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Good to know! Thanks for the info

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ryanbum
Posts: 280
Joined: May 31st, 2016, 12:09 pm
Location: Western North Carolina
Grass Type: Tall Fescue
Lawn Size: Not Specified
Level: Not Specified

Re: RyanBum's NC Reno 2016

Post by ryanbum » July 23rd, 2016, 9:24 pm

Had a chance to drop by and talk to Ric Clint today, and looks like I'll be modeling most of my Reno off of what he's already completed in the last year. His lawn is beautiful, so I've got a little bit of local advice. Benefits of meeting forum members 1/2 mile from your house! Also had a heavy rain (2" in 45 minutes) that came through and really set me back with my scalping plan. It seems to have matted down most of the 2.5" dead fescue. Hoping my mower will bag most of it, but I have a feeling that I'll be doing quite a bit of raking. Guess I'll start that tomorrow afternoon.

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ryanbum
Posts: 280
Joined: May 31st, 2016, 12:09 pm
Location: Western North Carolina
Grass Type: Tall Fescue
Lawn Size: Not Specified
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Re: RyanBum's NC Reno 2016

Post by ryanbum » July 24th, 2016, 12:06 pm

Relocated a Leyland Cypress to the back yard this morning. Another year or two and it would have started growing into the utility lines overhead. Figured now was as good of a time as any to move it while I'm leveling and prepping the yard. Also scalped it as low as my push mower would take it. Talk about a dusty mess. Nobody warned me about how it turns the neighborhood into a dust bowl!
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ryanbum
Posts: 280
Joined: May 31st, 2016, 12:09 pm
Location: Western North Carolina
Grass Type: Tall Fescue
Lawn Size: Not Specified
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Re: RyanBum's NC Reno 2016

Post by ryanbum » July 25th, 2016, 8:29 pm

I only thought I knew what blend of TTTF cultivars I wanted... Now I can't seem to get the thought of elite KBG out of my mind. Any input as to how much harder it is to grow compared to TTTF in the transition zone?

maynardGkeynes
Posts: 679
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Re: RyanBum's NC Reno 2016

Post by maynardGkeynes » July 26th, 2016, 3:31 pm

ryanbum wrote:I only thought I knew what blend of TTTF cultivars I wanted... Now I can't seem to get the thought of elite KBG out of my mind. Any input as to how much harder it is to grow compared to TTTF in the transition zone?
Once it's established, not that different, if you can keep it properly irrigated (hope u have an automatic sprinkler system). The tricky part is getting it established. You have to keep the seedbed moist, but not soggy wet for up to four weeks. Then you have to keep the delicate seedlings gently irrigated for another long stretch of time.TTTF is easier because it establishes in half that time, perhaps less. Less time means less chances to screw it up.

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