rtomek's 2016 reno

[rtomek]

Doing a full KBG reno this year! I've already started the reno, but I'll log my progress to date here.

About 8k sqft of grass, I started letting it go this year. By letting it go, I mean that I only had on application of FAS and a few applications of Milorganite.

I'm prepping a stand of two KBG cultivars, Blue Velvet and Arcadia. I was leaning toward a monostand of Blue Velvet, but it also looks like Arcadia might do slightly better in the high-salt area by the street and shady areas. At the last minute on the phone when making the order I pulled the trigger and bought both. Other than that, the two are very similar genetically so it still should be close to a monostand. I also have tenacity and soil moist seed coat on hand. I'm looking for a seed down date of August 6, but if the 10-day outlook shows high temps I'll push it back to August 13.

July 3: Last standard mowing of the old grass.
July 16: Bought 100 little flags and marked the borders of the yard. Sprayed glyphosate - my first herbicide application of the year! Little to no evidence of weeds outside of the mulch beds, but still not good enough.
July 19: Start worrying because the grass still looks better than the neighbors'.
July 20: Now the grass looks more like the neighbors', but is dry and crispy to the touch.
July 22: There's some patches of light brown, and the spot where the contractors patched with 'Quality Grass Seed' last year is dark brown and dead already.
July 23: Scalp! Oh man the grass was long. I did my first pass at the 2nd to last notch (2 inches) set to rear discharge and the mower stalled a few times where the grass was so thick the entire underside of the deck was grass clippings and I couldn't pull the rope until I knocked some of it out. For the second pass, I tried the last notch (1.25 inches) but the mower wouldn't do it, so I stuck with the 2nd notch and set it to mulch mow. I tried a third pass at the last notch, but there was just way too much grass and clippings, so I did a quick pass on the second notch where there was still piles of clippings. Two and a half mowings done.
July 24: Alright, I woke up with brown grass! There's still some green peeking through in the shady areas.
July 26: 2nd glyphosate application anywhere I see green and make sure my lines are on the borders.

[LoneRanger]

.. the two are very similar genetically ..

Where did you get that information from?

[rtomek]

Yes, I should clarify that both of the KBG cultivars I chose are classified as Midnight type, which is why I consider them genetically similar. Also, the NTEP results in the regions I looked at seem very similar in performance, and any differences are small enough that it shouldn't be noticeable.

I was very interested in the Blue Velvet, but the salt tolerance of Arcadia intrigued me for the hell strip. The Arcadia is an SRO offering and the Blue Velvet is a Pickseed offering. The two companies have the same owners, but operate independently. From what I can tell, it might just be slightly different marketing language as the cultivars seem very similar on paper. I may have to grow some in pots to see if I can tell any difference between the two.

[rtomek]

Well, had a change of schedule due to unforseen events, but things are moving along.

August 6: Another application of glyphosate, and finally got the new topsoil down for leveling. Much later than I wanted, but with heavy rains between July 29 and seed down date this may end up with less erosion. My hope was to fallow new topsoil for a full month, but 1 week will have to do. It was also strange that I went to home depot about once an hour to pick up more soil, and a different cashier checked us out every time.
August 13: Glyphosate application today. I want to wash in the chemicals I use tomorrow, so I'll let this sit for about 24 hours on the green tissue. Went to rent the lawn roller again this week but was told it was broken... not sure how that happens. My new plan is to just walk around the yard a bunch of times tomorrow to ensure seed to soil contact.
August 14: Coated seed with Soil Moist seed coat at 2x rate. Put down seed using 4 passes with the spreader, ended up using about 2.75 lb/k. Put down my starter ferts next: Urea then MKP. Topped everything off with Tenacity, then lightly watered it in.
August 16: The ants really collected quite a bit of seed. I grabbed what I could from their piles of seed and threw it back where it came from.
August 20: Spent some time hand-pulling weeds that germinated in the new topsoil. There's a lot of something germinating but only in one area, so it must have only been from a few of the bags. Grumbled about how I wanted to fallow for a full month.
August 21: Spent more time hand-pulling weeds that germinated in the new topsoil. During the process I saw GRASS SEED GERMINATION!!! It was tiny and only visible from a foot or two away on the topsoil, but it was there. Also spotted some germination throughout the dead grass where there were worm castings, which are located every few inches except in the drainage swale, though I did find some dead worms in the swale.
August 22: I can see the grass seedlings from the window today

[rtomek]

Tried to do an ID on the weed seedlings in the topsoil. It resembles corn or johnsongrass, but I don't see any seeds when I pull it up. Maybe it's a reed?

Edit: Pulled up some weed seedlings from the topsoil last night and saw the reddish-black seed attached, must have just thought it was clumps of soil before. Looks like I have a positive ID on johnsongrass At least it stands out pretty easily compared to the bluegrass seedlings. Is it worth trampling on my bluegrass seedlings to keep pulling up the johnsongrass seedlings?

[rtomek]

ImageUploadedByYard Help1472054238.489646.jpg

Day 9: I can see some germination somewhere besides the new topsoil. I'm still only seeing germination on the North side of the yard and hope it starts spreading everywhere else.


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[rtomek]

Threw down some seed yesterday where there was topsoil but almost no germination 14 days after seeding and I was worried about washout. Came home today and that entire area was covered with newly germinated seedlings :/


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[LeftField11]

Threw down some seed yesterday where there was topsoil but almost no germination 14 days after seeding and I was worried about washout. Came home today and that entire area was covered with newly germinated seedlings :/

This is what I'm worried about. I have areas that look bare and washed out, but the seed could be just under the surface. It's taking every bit of will power to not throw more seed down on those areas at day 14. Waiting at least till day 21, or until we have a full week of temps less than 90.

[probasesteal]

Patience is very difficult with seeding...

[ Post made via Android ]

[rtomek]

Yeah I just made 8/28 my cutoff for seeding because first frost here is usually first week of October, so I kind of freaked out because it was a now or never decision. I did another assessment today and it's still thinner than where it looks like the seed and topsoil washed out to (which has a lot of grass) so I've reassured myself that it won't be too much seed, but probably wasn't necessary either. From here on out it's going to be pots only, and it will take some will power to hold out on planting those.

[rtomek]

Day 24 Photos:







I'd say overall the reno is doing better than these photos show, I'm just picking out the areas where germination is still coming in to show what's going on.

The first photo clearly shows how my grass is coming in around the edges and working its way toward the center. This seems to be a pattern across the yard. See how all four corners of this area have grass, and lines are being joined between them. The line of grass near the street just connected in the last two days and its continuing to spread. I know what Andy thinks about seed only needing water, but there doesn't seem to be any noticeable pattern here except outside to in. That tree is young and provides minimal shade, and all of the sprinklers are in the same zone and seem to be getting even coverage. My neighbors love the reno though, because their grass looks amazing next to mine.

The second photo shows the West side of the house where the outside-to-in filling is mostly complete. It started out as a thin strip and spread out all the way to the utility boxes in the back corner. The part near the deck closer to the deck is about a week old, and the green patches near where I'm standing have been there 3 days but many of the seedlings already have multiple leaves.

The last photo shows the east side of the yard. The two corners by the street were the first places to show up and it's hard to see but there is a strip of green almost connecting the two near the street. The green area near the sidewalk is also only a few days old, but once again, I have the dark green near the border of topsoil & dead grass, gradually getting thinner as you get toward the center of the yard. But every day, the emerging grass becomes visible and the green is filling in closer to the center. The areas that get more sun are just not germinating as well, maybe they're drying out more, but it doesn't quite explain why things are starting at the borders and filling in.

[rtomek]

Picked up a reel mower off craigslist last week, sharpened the blades today and cut about half the yard at 1.5". Threw down some last effort seeds in the bare patches noted above, but it's looking like that's where my pots will be going.


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[rtomek]

What a difference a week makes! Day 25 is on the left, day 32 is on the right:



One sprinkler head isn't putting out enough water:



Looks like the kids spilling their play sand in the yard is a great amendment for my soil. This area is the furthest along:

[GeorgiaDad]

Patience pays doesn't it? Looks good.

[HoosierDaddy]

Those differences give me hope for my sparse areas! Thanks for sharing!

[LoneRanger]

Looks like the kids spilling their play sand in the yard is a great amendment for my soil. This area is the furthest along:

Most likely it's the specific sun/shade location in your yard.

[rtomek]

No way, that's too rational. All of that dumping sand in the grass no matter how much I yell at her could only mean one thing: she's a soil prodigy


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[rtomek]

Time for my weekly update.

The West side of the front yard keeps making progress. The only area here that I remember reseeding was on the topsoil near the downspout emitter at the center of the image due to obvious washout. The rest of this area just keeps filling in on its own. The order from top to bottom is: Day 25, Day 32, Day 39.



My parkway is in rough shape. Compared to my day 24 photo, the main area of the front yard is 90% filled in, but the parkway filled in an additional 5%. The seed from day 0 came up in patches on the perimeter. The reseeding from day 14 barely helped. The reseeding on day 28 is now showing widespread germination on day 39. Finally!

Here's a shot of the parkway zoomed out and a closeup of germination.

[rtomek]

5th mowing today at 1 5/8" but it felt like my first real mow since I was actually cutting a lot of grass, the pots got a haircut as well. Put some urea (about 0.25 lb/k of N) on the lawn, liquid miracle gro on the pots, same fertilization as last week. I initially planned on using Tenacity for the first time since seed down this weekend, but I'm not getting many weeds. Most of it is a dandelion here or there and some clover along the mulch that I always have to deal with. I hand pulled the larger ones and let the rest of them live for one more week.

A tru green employee stopped by today and was staring at the grass. He thought he could fix my problem but was shocked when my wife told him I did it intentionally and it would be the best lawn in the neighborhood in two weeks. He then stared at the grass for another few minutes before leaving.


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[rtomek]

Here's an update of the West front filling in. A little slower filling in this week, but a huge change in the look and feel. It's more like a mature grass that has bare spots rather than seedlings still coming up.



In the back and side yard, a few bare spots had grass spreading like wildfire during the last week I'm confident that everything should fill in on its own except for the parkway. That area still requires a lot of alcohol before I can stop worrying about it.