2017 HoosierDaddy Front Reno

[HoosierDaddy]

Next 2 pics are zone 5. Very little germination in this area



This area adjacent to the first pic has fair germination (next post will address what is actually germinating however)

[HoosierDaddy]

Close ups of the germination. As mentioned in my first post today my concern stems from the fact that when these came out of the ground they shot up to this height very quickly with no pout and the immediate generation of a secondary and subsequent tillers.

[HoosierDaddy]

Okay, now for next steps. I have a concern about the germination of the Bewitched seed I have. I am trying a controlled test compared to the seed I have from last year's reno (Prosperity, Blueberry, Midnight.)

1) I am considering cutting back watering to twice a day and dealing with what I have germinated so far and nursing it through next spring. It will be ugly for a long time, but I am confident based on last years reno that I can nurture a nice spread.
Concerns- Not enough areas with germination to spread to all of them.
- That what is germinated is PoaA or something worse and not much Bewitched

2) Keep watering and encourage as much germination as possible, cut back once there is more coverage.
Concerns- Too much water on the already germinated areas.

3) Toss more Bewitched on and keep watering
Concerns- Bewitched germination is poor and I might be throwing more bad seed on

4) Toss out some of the blend from last year
Concerns- Vastly different seed down times, which would mean continued watering of already germinated areas.

5) ??? Is there an option or anything I'm missing.

Thanks in advance everyone!

[HoosierLawnGnome]

I'd toss out more seed, keep moving forward.

Did you use the same watering program for germination as the back? Could it have been too wet?

[llO0DQLE]

Have you done a catch can audit to check sprinkler uniformity? You mentioned "5 hours from the last cycle". Why so long? What's your watering regimen?

[HoosierDaddy]

HLG- I am leaning towards using the seed from last year's reno when tossing out more. I did use the same watering program as last year. I am watering at 4:30a, 9:30a, 2:30p and 7:30p at a rate that should be putting down around 1/3 to 1/2 inch per day over those 4 runs.

[STL]

I'm going to Echo HLG. Toss more seed and keep trucking. Also, from the pics, it looks a bit wet. Maybe cut down the amount and increase frequency?

[HoosierDaddy]

Ok on it today. Will throw out more seed. I'm going with more of last year's blend. Will cut back watering and increase frequency to see if that helps the wet areas. Wish me luck!

Oh, of course the neighbor's across the street just put their house on the market. Whoops!

[HoosierLawnGnome]

Did you use the same watering program as last year? Did it stay too wet?

[HoosierDaddy]

Yes, although I have a big difference. In the front I have 1 zone with Rotators but they don't have to throw very far. The 2 zones on the side of the house are spray nozzles, so they don't take very long to put down some water. The 2 zones in the back for last year's reno each have 5 rotators and are covering 3500 sq ft total. I ran 4 times a day to put down a total of about 1/2 inch for the day. I tried the same thing up front, adjusting times to get that time total. I even cut back a little from that, so it's probably closer to 1/3 of an inch for the day. And I still have wet areas.

[HoosierLawnGnome]

I have a few pounds of bewitched from my 2015 renovation you can have if you want to keep going towards the monostand dream. It germinated well then.

[HoosierDaddy]

Thanks HLG, I dropped the seed yesterday from last year's reno. A monostand would have been nice, but I'm happy with that blend from last year.

[HoosierDaddy]

Started a germination test 11 days ago to see if the Bewitched I had was bad. Doesn't look good

Last year's Reno blend Blueberry Prosperity Midnight 50% germination at day 11




Bewitched 0 germination at day 11

[turf_toes]

Blueberry is especially fast. I had germination at day five with it.

Bewitched seems slower. My buddy across town did a bewitched Reno and it was closer to two weeks before he had germination.

That said, I saw initial germination at about day five when I did my own bewitched Reno a few years ago.

I don't necessarily attribute that difference to the seed. There are many variables when it comes to this stuff. (Temperatures, when you last applied pre-emergent, sun exposure)

[HoosierDaddy]

Well, the Bewitched went down August 12th. So today is day 31 and the only germination I see from it is as posted above, which I believe may be Poa A and not Bewitched.

My second round of seeding was Sep 2 and today is day 10. I have seen very little germination so far from it, but will not begin to worry until this weekend if I don't see fair germination at that point.

[STL]

Did you pull back on the watering a bit or is it still wet?

[HoosierDaddy]

I cut back the amount of water but increased the frequency. I do have a couple small areas that stay wet, but 90+% just stays moist between waterings.

[STL]

Cool, hopefully that helps. In my last reno, one area stay wet and germination didn't occur until it dried out to a range that it liked.

[HoosierDaddy]

Yes, I have confidence in my ability to get things filled in based on last year's reno, so a small area that maybe doesn't germinate as well doesn't scare me. Now just need the 90% to germinate!

[Cheesto]

Frustrating... where did you get the Bewitched from?