Paul's 2016 Bewitched Monostand Renovation - Day 96 pictures

[Paul]

Doing a 13,000 sqft Bewitched monostand renovation on the entire yard. I did some test plots last year, and I'm happy enough to pull the trigger on the entire lawn. None of the 5 test plots get full sun, 3 get about 5 to 6 hours per day, and 2 get about 2 hours per day. Only the 2 test plots that receive only 2 hours of sunlight a day look a little thin, and the 3 test plots that receive between 5 and 6 hours look excellent.

Been prepping this summer and have completed the following:
10 sprinkler heads relocated for better coverage and to get some out of the mulch beds
Two applications of Aerify plus
40 pounds of Sod quality Bewitched in hand
Ordered and received a Peat Moss spreader to save time on top dressing (works great)
Scotts Starter with Mesotrione in hand
Two trees removed and stumps ground down
Ten - 3 cubic feet bales of peat moss in hand
First application of Round up went down 7/30, second scheduled for 8/8, and a third spot spray 8/12
Soil test complete, just waiting on results. Last one was 2 years ago and it looked very good.
Before the Roundup application, I cut @ 2 inches and plan on scalping this Saturday, August 6th.

Five yards of Loam coming Saturday to fill in the ground down stumps and fill low areas in the lawn

Plan on seed down date the weekend of August 13/14 weather depending and how good of a kill I got from the Round up. Could be moved out to the week of August 15th. I should be able to seed, roll, and top dress in one day. As with the 5 test plots, I will not disturb the soil. Will also apply Milo on seed down date along with the Scotts Starter with Mesotrione. I'm basically copying what I did last year with the 5 test plots.

Here are some pictures of what it looked like the day of the first Roundup application.


Back


Front


Front


Front


Side

[ken-n-nancy]

Sounds like a lot of fun for a renovation -- doing it all!

I think that the sections with only 2 hours of sunlight per day will continue to look thin. However, my experience in similar sections of my lawn is that they can still look good, provided they are kept free of disease. I've found that it's easy to overwater in really shady areas and unintentionally encourage disease pressure.

Your preparations so far sound great!

If you end up not using all your Bewitched seed, let me know. Looks like we'll be doing a unplanned mini-reno on about 500-1000 square feet to seed areas affected by septic tank replacement and a transformer oil spill. I have 1.5 pounds of Bewitched left over from last year's side lawn renovation and am worried that won't be enough if the septic tank renovation ends up digging up more turf than anticipated...

Your plan appears excellent -- can't wait to see how it turns out!

[Paul]

Thanks Ken-n-nancy, I will let you know if I have seed leftover. I do have seed from last year left over as my "safety" stock in case I need more. I plan on setting the spreader to its lowest setting and going over the yard several times in different directions to get uniform coverage and to ensure I don't run short on seed.

[LeftField11]

Paul, do you plan on spreading peat moss over the entire 13,000 sq ft? If so, how did you calculate how much peat moss to get? I'm trying to figure out how much I would need for my 9,600 sq ft renovation. The calculator I was using was telling me 20+ bales of 3 CU peat moss. That was cost prohibitive.

Thanks.

[Paul]

Hi LetfField11,

Yes, I will apply over the entire lawn.

I checked some old renovation threads to see what other people used for their renovations and it appears that the average was 1 - 3 Cubic feet bale of Peat Moss covered approximately 1000 sqft. I captured three renovations and they were as follows:

I used 3 bags for 2000 sq ft.
I used 6 bales on ~7,000 SF.
4 bags for ~3000 sqft

[LeftField11]

Hi LetfField11,

Yes, I will apply over the entire lawn.

I checked some old renovation threads to see what other people used for their renovations and it appears that the average was 1 - 3 Cubic feet bale of Peat Moss covered approximately 1000 sqft. I captured three renovations and they were as follows:

I used 3 bags for 2000 sq ft.
I used 6 bales on ~7,000 SF.
4 bags for ~3000 sqft

Thanks Paul, it sounds like I might be able to get away with 8 bails. That's doable.

[LoneRanger]

$8/bag @ Lowes, with coupon code.

[hmc610]

What is the coupon code?

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[Paul]

Lawn looking good after the first application of Round up, I would estimate a 90% kill rate. I applied the second application yesterday.

Spent almost the entire day scalping the lawn down to 0.75 inches (lowest Honda would go) which was tough in a few areas. Needed to go over the lawn twice, 90 degrees to the first mow to clean up all the dead grass. I would estimate at least 50 wheelbarrows full of dead grass. Overall, it looks very good. I can see most of the bare dirt below which will be good for seeding.

Also had 5 yards of Loam/compost mixture delivered to level out some low spots, and to fill in the two tree stumps I had ground down. Need to finish leveling this week.

The green areas in the pictures are actually moss in the shadier areas. Not too bad, I will just leave it be and take care of it later with Moss control.

Got my soil test back, which almost looks identical to 2 years ago in which everything looked really good. PH is at 6.4.

Watering everyday for 20 minutes a zone to encourage weeds and to continue to soften the soil since it's been so dry here in the Northeast. I plan on a spot spray with Round up one last time on Friday (I think the Roundup is the most expensive part of this renovation).

Weather permitting, I will seed on Sunday.

[ericgautier]

Nice job on the kill and scalp!

[ken-n-nancy]

Awesome looking landscaping beds! Love the graceful curves.

[tlinden]

Looking good!!

[Paul]

Thanks everyone, just a quick question. I used the Super concentrate Roundup, is the wait time for seeding the same as the regular concentrate Roundup? I was planning on spot spraying Friday, and seeding on Sunday.

[HoosierLawnGnome]

Purple cap? Red cap?

[ Post made via Android ]

[Paul]

Purple cap. The label says wait 3 days, but I'm assuming that's conservative.

[ken-n-nancy]

Purple cap. The label says wait 3 days, but I'm assuming that's conservative.

Yes, very conservative.

The purple cap Roundup has only glyphosate as the active ingredient.

It should be safe to sow seed immediately after the glyphosate is dry. I usually wait just a couple hours.

[Paul]

Thanks ken-n-nancy, that's what I thought.

[mgarnto1]

Beautiful yard layout and curves Paul! Looking forward to seeing how all of us bewitched mono guys fair out by the winter.

[Paul]

Thanks mgarnto1, I'm looking forward to see how we all do with Bewitched monostands as well.

[Paul]

Glad I scalped last weekend, got an inch of rain this week. Been raking up some moss and doing more leveling.

Going to seed next Tuesday, thundershowers forecasted up until Monday.

I will spot spray Roundup on Sunday just to kill anything that might of popped up.