Bucky's 2017 Spring Front/Side Reno

[Bucky]

We bought the house in October 2015. Upon purchase I realized that there was a good deal of work that needed to be done if I wanted to have an acceptable lawn. I'm assuming the original yard was never maintained, and there was considerable amounts of red clover, moss, and crabgrass present. Decided to Reno the front and side yards, since the back yard was overgrown with weeds and poorly filled in remnants of an inground pool from the previous owner. In June 2016 we removed remaining cement slabs from the pool, filled in with topsoil and put in a new cement patio in the back yard. I plan to reno the back in August. The plan to reno the front and side around Labor Day, but was unable to do so due to work constraints. I decided to 'fallow' the front and side yards until this August. Those plans got derailed when I was told we needed grass in the front 'NOW!'. I ordered the SS1100 blend with Bewitched and Jumpstart this past March from Seedsuperstore. The front and side yards are approximately 2500 square feet. I plan to water both the front and side yards by hand and with my newly purchased gilmour adjustable rotary sprinkler.

7/16 - Scalped twice, applied glyphosate, and raked.

8/16 - Applied glyphosate to remaining stubborn weeds. I also collected soil sample for Penn State Univeristy's soil test.

9/16 - Added lime and phosphate per results of soil test.

2/17 - glyphosated chickweed the sprouted in the winter during the weeklong warm spell at the end of the month, which surprisingly did the trick.

3/27-4/1 - raked up remaining moss, applied Milorganite, and applied BL soil conditioner.

4/2 - applied seed at 2.5 lbs per 1,000 square feet, rolled in seed w/ soil moist, applied Encap starter mulch since there is a slight slope, and watered in.

4/3 - 4/5 - received a good ammount of rain, and was concerned with seed washout. Watered 2 x daily, in the AM before work and in the PM after work. I attempted to eyeball the watering as needed since the ground easily puddled up in the low portions of my front yard during rain. I have noticed a ton of earthworms in my yard this spring - which is a good sign, right?

4/6 - Very odd. Star Jelly appeared all over my yard - small clear pieces of jelly (pictured). Does anyone know the cause of this? It appears to have turned green and is breaking down. This made me very nervous, and I assumed I screwed something up.

April 7-15 - Continued watering 3x daily since the ground was much drier.

4/16 - Germination - I was honestly expecting the whole thing to be a total loss, but maybe the Jumpstart is popping up? I was so happy to wake up on Easter Sunday to see germination.

I will post images in next post.

[Bucky]

Here are images just before seed down. Any ideas for replacing the bushes near the street?

[Bucky]

Here are images just after seed down on 4/3. The green granules are the encap starter mulch.

[g-man]

^good news on germination.

Did you apply any weed prevention at seed down (tenacity)? Also, did you apply a starter fertilizer?

During the germination period it is best to keep the soil moist. The best way to do this is to use a hose timer to water for around 5min, 5 times a day, depending on the timer you get. You will need the timer or method to keep the grass watered and alive thru the summer heat.

[Bucky]

G-Man: Yes I applied Scott's starter fert w/ tenacity - sorry, forgot to add that in my original post.

[Bucky]

Here are images of the watering issues I was having last week - it was just too damp to water with a sprinkler with any consistency.

[Bucky]

Here is also an image of the star jelly that showed up in my yard on 4/6. It was clear, but after watering, it has turned green and 'melted' away. Does anyone know what this is or means?

[andy10917]

rolled in seed w/ soil moist

Mystery solved. There is the source of your "Star Jelly".

[Bucky]

rolled in seed w/ soil moist

Mystery solved. There is the source of your "Star Jelly".

Thanks. I tried to look up what the causes were and none of them seemed to make any sense. Why does the soil moist cause this, and is it a bad thing?

[andy10917]

Polyacrylamide absorbs something like 200X its own weight in water and is what SoilMoist is. The water is later released in drier conditions. It is used as a water-retention aid in microscopic sizes and larger sizes are used underground to hold some water for my hosta. It is also what makes baby diapers absorb all those fluids.

[Bucky]

Here are is a germination pic on 4/16. With all of the water we had last week, I was excited to see germination.

[Bucky]

Polyacrylamide absorbs something like 200X its own weight in water and is what SoilMoist is. The water is later released in drier conditions. It is used as a water-retention aid in microscopic sizes and larger sizes are used underground to hold some water for my hosta. It is also what makes baby diapers absorb all those fluids.

I just figured that since I used such a small ammount of soil moist that those globs of jelly wouldn't appear all over the yard. So I guess its an indicator of even seed coverage?

[andy10917]

Did you use SoilMoist or SoilMoist Seed Coating?

[Bucky]

Did you use SoilMoist or SoilMoist Seed Coating?

Soil Moist Seed Coating.

[andy10917]

Hmmm - those look unusually large for the seed coating stuff, but whatever...

[Bucky]

Day 16 update:

Watered twice for a half hour each time today. As others suggested, I'm likely to invest in a timer just to ensure I give my front yard a consistent watering during the day to keep things moist. I'm not entirely worried about the side as it usually stays pretty moist due to getting more shade since it's the north side of the house. I was walking around with a flashlight to check for germination (the neighbors have to think I'm a die hard bait fisherman - which couldn't be further from the truth, a complete wack job, or both) and noticed good germination in about 85% of the lawn, which I'm assuming is the jumpstart. The areas where I did not rake as well and left material behind or dead grass have germinated the best. Overall, I'm pleased thus far - especially since I was already getting grief for not having a full lawn after 7 days. I know what I'm getting into, and there are some weeds popping up, but hopefully Vitamin T will take care of that in a few weeks.

[Bucky]

Day 21: Dropped 5-10-10 fert. Continuing with water schedule as stated above.

Here are day 22 pics. The areas that see more shade like the side and near my sidewalk are slower to germinate. I might give it a few more weeks to see what happens.

[Bucky]

More day 22 pics:

[g-man]

Why the 5-10-10? And how much? You already had starter fert applied.

As it starts to grow start to back off the watering to avoid fungus. Just keep it moist but not wet.

[Bucky]

Why the 5-10-10? And how much? You already had starter fert applied.

As it starts to grow start to back off the watering to avoid fungus. Just keep it moist but not wet.

Per my soil test it was very deficient in phosphate. I put down 10 lbs of it over 2,500 square feet - so we're talking a half pound of N and 1 lb of P and K.

I have already begun to back off the watering.