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This is my second and third attempt on these sections.
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The little hell strip got wiped out by August 2 years in a row due to Summer Patch and heat stress. Grubs may have also contributed to it. I found about 2 per sqft when inspecting it.



And the other strip was loaded with poa



This one looked ok for a while after Tenacity treatments wiped out some of the poa. But Summer was very harsh on it.

The back reno got covered with a pool again but was looking pretty good going into July.

I'm trying PRG in these sections this year. I'm going with seedsuperstore's SS9000 blend (same one Fusebox is using)


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hell strip section seeded 8/27 late afternoon



Germination started on day 4. Pic is day 6 (really 5.5).

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East side strip seeded 8/28, back part/exposed soil seeded 9/1

Day 5 I'm not seeing much germination yet. Although it's harder to see in the dead grass.

3 weeks later....





Both sections got their first real cut. Also dropped a 10-10-10/milo mix yesterday. They're starting to tiller & darken. You can't even tell it's new turf unless you're 5 feet away or on top of it.

on a side note; I found an old bag of Diazinon while I was cleaning out my shed yesterday. It's going down tonight before the rain tomorrow on my sunniest areas. I'm seeing too many little white moths when I'm in the yards, and I know there were grubs in this little section.

Where are we at now?

I like having PRG in my hell strips. The KBG never made it from my no mix seeding last year and the FF either died off or never made it. I've been having good success with overseeding PRG in these areas. I think mainly because I have popup sprays and get very good moisture retention in my hell strips. They're about 5 feet wide and 40 feet long each and it looks nice and full after the latest overseed (after this brutal summer heat). Hoping you enjoy having it in your strips as well since it's so easy to repair if need be.

I haven't been in the yard much but this PRG blend is gorgeous so far. So dark already. It looks darker than 2+ yr old Bewitched from certain angles/certain times of day (although density will take a while to catch BW, if it ever does). Grows almost 2x faster and vertical, so it probably wouldn't mix well with any KBG; although it's calming down now and blades are widening a bit. I'll get more recent pics up this week.

Fusebox, if it performs well in both strips next summer, I'm considering leveling out the entire hell strip in front of my house (it's crowned) and planting this same blend there. Luckily my main front hell strip doesn't get much summer patch damage being somewhat under my oak tree's canopy.

5.5 weeks, around day 40. It lightened up some from the Tenacity apps. Both strips look about the same except the old poa strip has more poa.

Very nice!

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Yep that looks great. Mine loves to be mowed at 2 inches. That's why I love fall here in MI. Once it got out of the 80s I dropped the deck and I'm finally at 2 inches and it's so dense and shiny.

Do you still have the prg blend growing? I'm curious how it has done and how the color is.

Thanks
Nick

The color is good (probably the darkest turf on my block at the moment) and it looks tight. It's really nice in my strips. It's not as "chalky blue" as I expected but from certain angles/light it has a blue-green hue. The blades are on the fine side (compared to my KBG at medium size) - slight edge to KBG as it looks a little more "luxurious" standing above it. Overall I have no regrets. I also planted it in my backyard in some spots as part of a small spring seeding repair job. EASY stuff! I still would like to wait til summer to make a final determination though.

ETA: I haven't done anything yet to either lawn except a small amount of N. I'll take some pics of both after milo or FAS. It should darken considerably more.

Thanks for the input.
I'm seriously considering using that blend in my front yard. The kbg in the back is way too slow to compete with the quack. Maybe it's just that it's a first year Reno and needs time to mature. I'm not sure.

In the areas that I have that are mostly rye there is very little quack.

A lot of the technical info on rye says that it doesn't handle winter very well but mine seems like it does just fine in NE Iowa.

Is it still darker than the Bewitched?

Thanks

Those allelopathic qualities of PRG are a big advantage. That's probably why you see such little quack in your PRG. I am seeing first-hand how the poa (and other little weeds) are struggling where it ran rampant in my KBG/poa strip last year.
Regarding color, it's tough to say because the BW is not fully awake, but from oblique angles the PRG is darker most days (or just as dark). But standing above my healthiest sections of BW I think (to my eye) BW is a little darker and denser.

Let's put it this way: The last thing I think when I look at this PRG blend is "wow that's some light green grass"

I'll take some pics when everything's flushing and fully awake to compare. Maybe 1-2 more weeks. Bewitched is slooow to wake up.

edenl01 wrote: ↑

April 25th, 2017, 11:54 am

Thanks for the input.
I'm seriously considering using that blend in my front yard. The kbg in the back is way too slow to compete with the quack. Maybe it's just that it's a first year Reno and needs time to mature. I'm not sure.

In the areas that I have that are mostly rye there is very little quack.

A lot of the technical info on rye says that it doesn't handle winter very well but mine seems like it does just fine in NE Iowa.

Is it still darker than the Bewitched?

Thanks

To edenl01 & anyone else interested. The PRG has looked amazing for the last 2 months. Early greenup, grows pretty calm*, looking uniform and tight (while my Bewitched slowly woke up). The PRG was awake 6+ weeks before BW.
The temps got up into the 90s yesterday and it's been hot here this week. It's lightened up a little bit. I would say the KBG is darker than 1 section now for sure. The other section is about the same as BW. The sun/shade areas I planted it in the back,,BW is darker.

*I noticed also the PRG grows much faster in shady areas. It's calmer with a similar growth rate to BW in full sun.

Thanks for the update. Maybe snap a couple pics if you get time.

From my experience, it's great when it's healthy (new). As it thins out due to heat/cold, that's when problems creep in (weeds). I tend to believe that it's PRG's growth habit (clump) not the allelopathy that prevents weeds from developing. If you have a single plant that can grow close to a foot in diameter, nothing can really grow through that (vs. a KBG plant that will start out much slower and grow individual shoots up through the rhizomes). In the long term, KBG will win as it knits together. The PRG "overseed game" gets old since you can't use Pre-M and have to water (which encourages the undesirables).

Definitely keep us posted with how it endures the summer. Mine always turned into brown stalks when the heat was extreme - especially near sidewalks and the road. It certainly is a fast starter and beautiful grass, it's just a shame that it isn't more durable.

I've noticed a good bit of thinning in my majority PRG no mix areas. First couple of years it was nice now it's thin and ratty. Fertility and cultural practices are as good as they've been across the entire lawn.

After having all kbg right next to a nomix I've decided that the nomix is obnoxious after any nitrogen. It grows so damn fast that it's not fun and that makes the color look less than ideal.