Greenrebellion's Fall 2017 Renovation

Discuss how to and whether you should renovate your lawn
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fusebox7
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Location: Mid-Michigan - Zone 5b
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Re: Greenrebellion's Fall 2017 Renovation

Post by fusebox7 » October 3rd, 2017, 3:25 pm

Your persistence and determination is commendable, fellow Michigander. I am excited for you to bear the fruits of your labor (and temporary, albeit extended insanity). :aikido:

greenrebellion
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Re: Greenrebellion's Fall 2017 Renovation

Post by greenrebellion » October 4th, 2017, 9:49 am

Well, it was all going too well, I was due for a hiccup. Seeing a lot of strange stuff simultaneously.

Seemingly overnight, or at least within the last 2 days, the following happened.

Grass went from consistent dark green to a very blotchy mix of lime green and dark green. Rust is starting to break out, powdery mildew as well despite 3 Serenade apps over the past 21 days. Small areas of grass are matted down and seemed to thin out overnight but no signs of Pythium Blight, dollar spot or anything else. Growth rate of grass has declined sharply.

Its been four days since I watered until I watered this morning, no rain in that timeframe. Very low dew points with moderate temperatures. Doesn't not seem like ripe conditions for a fungal outbreak, soil was very dried out this morning until I watered. More likely to be underwatered than overwatered, though I doubt it is either as I watered in the Urea on Saturday very deeply.

jfoege
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Re: Greenrebellion's Fall 2017 Renovation

Post by jfoege » October 4th, 2017, 11:12 am

Did you snap some pics of the various sitings you've related above?

I'm curious, as I've had exactly those same issues in my lower yard reno this season. For me, it looks like an app of Headway G and the lower temps have solved a lot of my issues. After the second fertilizer app, seems like a lot of the yellowed out tips, rusted blades, etc. are growing out and greening back up.

SNOWBOB11
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Re: Greenrebellion's Fall 2017 Renovation

Post by SNOWBOB11 » October 4th, 2017, 8:43 pm

Geez, if you didn’t have bad luck you’d have no luck at all :( . What’s your plan to deal with the problems?

greenrebellion
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Re: Greenrebellion's Fall 2017 Renovation

Post by greenrebellion » October 5th, 2017, 9:27 am

Not gonna do much.

The issues don't seem to be spreading (except the rust). So I'm going to stay the course. Lime green either means a bunch of Poa annua germinated between my last Tenacity app and my pre-emergent or it means that my high PH is affecting iron and milorganite from a few weeks ago is wearing out.

In any case, I’m going to stay the course and see what I end up with in Spring. Spring will involve lots of Milorganite and Tenacity.

Yard still looks pretty good if you don’t have extreme standards, and I am getting plenty of compliments from the neighbors.


MfanIN
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Re: Greenrebellion's Fall 2017 Renovation

Post by MfanIN » October 5th, 2017, 4:28 pm

Any chance it is salt toxicity from the urea apps? Or perhaps excess ammonia (NH3)? I applied the first of 3 planned weekly urea apps at 1lb/k (0.5lb N/k) on my 15K renovation of Award/Prosperity/Bewitched. Recent reading has me worried that too much urea can cause young grass /seedling death. It's making me rethink adding the urea, given other fertilizer apps I applied.

https://www.grainews.ca/2014/06/25/fert ... ll-a-seed/
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00750524

Andy's fall nitrogen program states not to use the standard and aggressive program together. I believe you used both starter fertilizer and Milorganite (both slow release N's) in conjunction with Urea back in late september. I did something similar- reducing rate of starter (0.5lb N/k) and applying urea a few days later at 0.5lbN/k. Maybe it's the overall nitrogen release rate impacting your grass color/health? Combined with your low watering schedule (every 4 days)- the nitrogen may not be diluting.

Everything may be exacerbated since the grass is so young.

Let us know how it progresses!

greenrebellion
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Re: Greenrebellion's Fall 2017 Renovation

Post by greenrebellion » October 5th, 2017, 5:09 pm

Nope, its not overfertilizer, here's a pic of it. Something is eating the grass right to the ground. Look at those little stems. You can see it better in person, but something is literally eating the grass and leaving a nub of a stem. How do I stop it??? It is destroying my yard. I find new patches every day.

Voles is my guess since they are in my mulch beds, but I didn't realize they ate grass outside of winter. Going to try Castor oil on the lawn tomorrow.

Image

Marinegrunt
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Re: Greenrebellion's Fall 2017 Renovation

Post by Marinegrunt » October 5th, 2017, 6:10 pm

If they are voles there's a trap that works great. It's basically a stick that you place at the top of a 5 gallon bucket. It has internal bearings so it spins when the mouse tried to walk out on it to get the little smear of peanut butter you place on it. Most fill the bucket with water but you don't have too. There's a video of it on YouTube where someone catches like 10 or more in one evening. My father-in-law bought one for his horse barn. I'll ask him what it's called if you want the name of it.

greenrebellion
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Re: Greenrebellion's Fall 2017 Renovation

Post by greenrebellion » October 5th, 2017, 8:07 pm

Ya get the name of it if you can. I have been trying to get rid of these things for months.

SNOWBOB11
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Re: Greenrebellion's Fall 2017 Renovation

Post by SNOWBOB11 » October 5th, 2017, 9:00 pm

Go the no water route. No reason to off them if you are able to relocate them without any harm. Remember they don’t know there doing anything wrong, there just doing what they do in there natural habitat.

jfoege
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Re: Greenrebellion's Fall 2017 Renovation

Post by jfoege » October 5th, 2017, 9:03 pm

Hey greenreb, can you go out at night and look at those patches to verify there are no turf caterpillars munching away?

I just had a recent outbreak here in CT.

jfoege
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Re: Greenrebellion's Fall 2017 Renovation

Post by jfoege » October 5th, 2017, 9:08 pm

And if it's turf caterpillars, or any other munching insect, bifenthrin will knock them out cold...Sadly, will knock out everything else as well. If you'd like to go with a more IPM approach, you could use BT. Look for Safer Brand Caterpillar killer or something of the sort. You might be able to get a BT caterpillar killer @ an Agway or local co-op or something from Bonide? It has to be BT strain Kurtaski if you can confirm you are dealing with turf caterpillars.

Me? I'd just hit the lawn with Bifenthrin granular (Orth Bug B Gon Max Lawn) @ 2-3#/1000. Oh hey, I already did that! Today! :smile:

Just my 2 cents. Obviously, everyone has their own methods. Just sharing what I've done and what has worked for me. The neighbors might think you're a bit nutty out there crawling around with a flashlight at midnight...but, I'm sure most of our neighbors already think/know for sure that we are, indeed, crazy!

Marinegrunt
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Re: Greenrebellion's Fall 2017 Renovation

Post by Marinegrunt » October 5th, 2017, 9:13 pm

It's called The Rolling Log Mouse Trap. It's about $20 on Amazon but they have spinoffs on eBay for like $7.

Here's a video of it in action.

https://youtu.be/6SIlYiiCGLI

I can see it working better in a barn than in a yard but who knows. I'm sure if the bait is right it would work.

There's also that mole trap that Ken-n-Nancy always link when people mention having issues. I guess it not only works on moles but also shrews and voles. The trap goes inside the mole tunnel and will nail anything that runs through it. The description even says it works on voles or field mice. Just search "mole trapline" on eBay. I don't have moles right now but I'm going to pick a few of those up. They seem like they would work great.

greenrebellion
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Re: Greenrebellion's Fall 2017 Renovation

Post by greenrebellion » October 5th, 2017, 9:29 pm

I just went out and checked with a flashlight, don't see any caterpillars. The spots don't get bigger, I just have new ones every day (mostly near vole activity in the mulch). Now my yard is littered with a bunch of areas where the grass is torched.

I honestly don't know how you folks who can grow beautiful lawns do it. If it isn't one thing, its another.

jfoege
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Re: Greenrebellion's Fall 2017 Renovation

Post by jfoege » October 5th, 2017, 9:50 pm

I haven't grown a beautiful lawn! So...count me out! :lol:

MfanIN
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Re: Greenrebellion's Fall 2017 Renovation

Post by MfanIN » October 6th, 2017, 9:53 am

I've got Skunks or some other critter coming out at night and digging holes in my 'beautiful' growing turf. I have this arriving to try and take care of the issue (at least until frost): https://www.amazon.com/Orbit-62100-Acti ... B009F1R0GC

I wonder if a motion activated sprinkler would deter voles as well?

Good luck!

greenrebellion
Posts: 580
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Re: Greenrebellion's Fall 2017 Renovation

Post by greenrebellion » October 6th, 2017, 10:05 am

Thanks for the tip Mfan....I'll try Castor oil first, maybe that will keep them off the grass.

SNOWBOB11
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Re: Greenrebellion's Fall 2017 Renovation

Post by SNOWBOB11 » October 6th, 2017, 10:23 am

That’s awesome. Never seen that before. I might have to get one of those to deter the squirrels from relentlessly digging small holes in my lawn. I’d love to know what you think of it after you use it a couple times.

MfanIN
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Re: Greenrebellion's Fall 2017 Renovation

Post by MfanIN » October 6th, 2017, 1:15 pm

I'll let you know how it works out. I also have a huge deer problem- they love eating my arbor vitae. I prefer a nice conical shape tree as opposed to a lollipop look. Maybe some spray to the face will send them running!

greenrebellion
Posts: 580
Joined: July 25th, 2016, 4:51 pm
Location: Grand Rapids, MI
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Re: Greenrebellion's Fall 2017 Renovation

Post by greenrebellion » October 6th, 2017, 5:34 pm

I'm not certain it is vole damage guys. I'm finding rabbit poo next to a lot of the eaten spots. And I though Voles liked to remain in cover, not run all over the yard.

But my yard is getting devastated rather quickly and its getting worse by the day. I put castor oil down this afternoon, but if its not Voles, it won't help!!!!!!!

Here's another pic, please if anyone has any ideas, I'm all ears. Something is eating the blades right to the ground.

Image

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