SyNTaxx 2017 renovation 17k sqft....

Discuss how to and whether you should renovate your lawn
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SyNtAxx
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SyNTaxx 2017 renovation 17k sqft....

Post by SyNtAxx » July 9th, 2017, 9:00 pm

and so it begins. Another year and another large area of renovation. Ive expanded this years area in hopes that fall of 2018 is my last year of renovating my yard. Ive been renovating about 1acre of yard space to 100% KBG over the course of a few growing seasons focusing on the quality of ofbthe outcome verses trying to get it all done in one or two years as i dont have irrigation permanently installed i site engineer a solution for tbe years crop. This is year three of the process.

Today I sprayed roundup on 16.5 k sqft according to GPS. I will occasionaly post pictures of progress and how i tend to do things. My techniques are nothing special and what most people on here follow...they are just done over large areas. I have 110 cuft compressed of peat moss left from last year with plans on purchasing another 160ish cubic ft compressed yet to ensure enough resources on hand and will hold over any extra for next years reno. Intial site pictures to come shortly.

Nick

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ken-n-nancy
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Re: SyNTaxx 2017 renovation 17k sqft....

Post by ken-n-nancy » July 9th, 2017, 9:35 pm

SyNTaxx, just wanted to say THANKS for your posting of your annual renovation threads!

I'm curious as to how your prior year renovations are doing in following years without the irrigation that you used in order to get them started. Does the lawn stay out of dormancy with only natural rainfall for you in Pennsylvania? How is it holding up from summer heat, disease pressure, etc.

Your June photos looked incredible, but I'm curious how it ends up faring at the end of the toughest 6 weeks from about July 1st through August 15th. Seeing the requests of a relatively new member wondering what to do about his 1 acre of lawn that goes dormant every summer makes me wonder if there are some tips there to be learned from you?

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SyNtAxx
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Re: SyNTaxx 2017 renovation 17k sqft....

Post by SyNtAxx » July 9th, 2017, 10:32 pm

ken-n-nancy wrote:
July 9th, 2017, 9:35 pm
SyNTaxx, just wanted to say THANKS for your posting of your annual renovation threads!

I'm curious as to how your prior year renovations are doing in following years without the irrigation that you used in order to get them started. Does the lawn stay out of dormancy with only natural rainfall for you in Pennsylvania? How is it holding up from summer heat, disease pressure, etc.

Your June photos looked incredible, but I'm curious how it ends up faring at the end of the toughest 6 weeks from about July 1st through August 15th. Seeing the requests of a relatively new member wondering what to do about his 1 acre of lawn that goes dormant every summer makes me wonder if there are some tips there to be learned from you?
well so far the lawn seems to be doing ok...these are pics from the last week..


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The above photos are from july 3rd..4th..and yesterday respectively. So far this year we have had decent amount of rain i would say...at least once a week..enough that i havnt had to worry. Now last year I dont recall the rain cycles so much..but what I do recall is cutting the 1st year reno to short by accident and the heat coming and it never quite recovered until the weather broke in september sometime. That was my mistake....so im not sure how it would have fared with out the short clip. I did have some spots that outright died....and those have filled themselves in...pretty quickly.

This year i have been cutting at 4 inches tall since beginning or mid May in preparation for the coming heat. When hot spells are called for...i routinely forgoe mowing until rain is forcast with certainty or the heat breaks. That being said....I do expect dormancy if the rains dont continue as frequently as needed especially out front as its full scortching and unforgiving sun. My very first kbg patch I did in 2014 as a test...does good mostly as its light profile is different and gets some shade. When and if dormancy comes I do try to stay off the grass as much as possible. Time will tell.....but Im hoping for best and thinking no cuts in heat and longer length should help provided no fungal outbreaks. So far ive been lucky there. Thanks for your interest.

Nick

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SyNtAxx
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Re: SyNTaxx 2017 renovation 17k sqft....

Post by SyNtAxx » July 9th, 2017, 10:45 pm

Here is this years canvas....pics are not the greatest...but its all i have for now.


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I plan on taking it down to 1.5 or 2 inches by end of this week. It looks like the forcast has turned to rain for a few days...but thursday looks good. I will be ordering in a truckload of topsoil to fill i. some really low and bumpy spots......may as well....wont have another chance to do it. Once all thatis done its time to build the irrigation system. All that should get me to August some time when seed goes down. I never really plan dates...I just wake up and if it feels good I drop seed and work to completion over the course of days..usually in 2k to 3k sections. That makes mixing and seeding easier as they are known quantities and I can just repeat. All seed is mixed and blended in equal proportions that day and dropped covered and watering begins.

Nick

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SyNtAxx
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Re: SyNTaxx 2017 renovation 17k sqft....

Post by SyNtAxx » July 14th, 2017, 10:57 pm

Ok..well ive made some progress on this years reno area. I scalped down to 1.5 inches 4 days post roundup. Im hoping to not need another application...but its still to early to tell.


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bauer time
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Re: SyNTaxx 2017 renovation 17k sqft....

Post by bauer time » July 20th, 2017, 2:44 pm

I'll be following along, I like watching your renovations over such a big area. Good luck!

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SyNtAxx
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Re: SyNTaxx 2017 renovation 17k sqft....

Post by SyNtAxx » July 20th, 2017, 10:49 pm

Thanks for the support :-)

I spent an hour or so on the kill zone today...actually first time since scalping last week and onlt second time since kill. I inspected the grounds and confirmed what I had suspected to be true..that the grounds were rutted and bumpy because of previous septic work on soggy grounds. I could clearly see truck tracks and various pot holes here and there.

I mixed up a small batch of round up and applied to the areas to be filled in and the soil worked. I then began to fill the first large rut and large impressions in the ground. There is more work to be done but this is a start.



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Nick

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Re: SyNTaxx 2017 renovation 17k sqft....

Post by Jackson » July 21st, 2017, 1:22 pm

Watching closely. Planning my Reno to start at the end of this month for an August 15ish seed date.

What seeds are you using?

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SyNtAxx
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Re: SyNTaxx 2017 renovation 17k sqft....

Post by SyNtAxx » July 21st, 2017, 4:00 pm

I'm continuing to use the same blend as previous years. 100% KBG @ Bewitched/Prosperity/Blueberry at equal proportions. I buy enough for the year and then some and then order in early spring to ensure I have what i need to complete the project with same blend. All seed when available is SOD Quality.

Thanks,

Nick

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Re: SyNTaxx 2017 renovation 17k sqft....

Post by Jackson » July 21st, 2017, 4:09 pm

From?

Im asking because I really like the way your lawn looks.

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SyNtAxx
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Re: SyNTaxx 2017 renovation 17k sqft....

Post by SyNtAxx » July 22nd, 2017, 4:31 pm

Jackson wrote:
July 21st, 2017, 4:09 pm
From?

Im asking because I really like the way your lawn looks.
This year and last year I bought the majority of my supply from a seed superstore. This year S.S.S had all three varieties so I just ordered everything from them. I used 3# per 1k sqft.

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SyNtAxx
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Re: SyNTaxx 2017 renovation 17k sqft....

Post by SyNtAxx » July 22nd, 2017, 4:41 pm

I spent about 4 hours outside today in the reno zone identifying and filling in more ruts. I orded in 4cuyd of topsoil and had about 2cuyd left from last years supply. I used 90% of what i had on hand today and truth be told I could probably use 4cuyd more to refill after it settles a bit.

Im planning a second appliction of round up across the entire area again...but beflre that I will run over the area with my dethatcher and mow/bag that up. Then it should be ready for the spray.

Some pics of my yard spackle job...


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Maizan24
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Re: SyNTaxx 2017 renovation 17k sqft....

Post by Maizan24 » July 22nd, 2017, 6:56 pm

Maybe I'm just used to working on small sections of lawn until I get more comfortable with the process (only been serious about my lawn for the last year or so been in the house about 3) but that seems like a very ambitious reno. I wish you the best of luck.

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andy10917
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Re: SyNTaxx 2017 renovation 17k sqft....

Post by andy10917 » July 22nd, 2017, 9:33 pm

I've done more reno's than I care to think about. The surprising lesson is that 16K (my biggest at one time) is NOT 3.5X bigger than a 5K reno. The setup time is actually similar, and things move along after you catch a rhythm.

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SyNtAxx
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Re: SyNTaxx 2017 renovation 17k sqft....

Post by SyNtAxx » July 30th, 2017, 8:23 pm

So today was an awsome day to be out in the field....decently warm...and no choking humidity. So Friday my tractor.....which is my work horse died suddenly stalled and i got her running barely and li.ped back to garage where she died. Since its a diesel its fairly easy to trouble shoot....fuel or air or both missing. So I spent Saturday under the beast changing the fuel filters that had about 70 hours on them. Swapped them...and knew immediately that was going to fix issue as the fuel pump failed to prike the system. They electrical lift pump was not mainting pressure. So I got on tbe horn and convinced the dealer to replace the pump under warranty and let me do tbe work in the field...I had no time to them to pick up rediagnose and deliver back to me....prolly would have been a week easy. long story new pump and sbe fired right up.

So today with my trusty steed i mounted up my dethatcher and bagger and set out to prep the field...the field is basically ready for seed..infact i feel like inshould have started. I wont miss this dusty ritual after next years last act. I just need to fix a few areas with top soil again and do a second scratching right before seed down. The scratching creates slots seeds can fall into should there be a bit of a rain. so thats all i have for now. Here are a few pics of my equipment and completed work. I could not get all this done with out the machinery.


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Re: SyNTaxx 2017 renovation 17k sqft....

Post by ezael » July 30th, 2017, 9:03 pm

Looking clean, cant wait to see the results.

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SyNtAxx
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Re: SyNTaxx 2017 renovation 17k sqft....

Post by SyNtAxx » August 5th, 2017, 10:51 pm

I spent a good 6 hours today getting dead zone ready for seed. I spot sprayed the area as best i can. Tenacity will have to do the rest. I completed the topsoil and rut leveling and scratched and bagged one last time. I also reloacted one 55cuft bale of peat moss to an area not being seeded and picked up 2 more 55cuft bales. I have on hane 4 55cuft bales of peat for topdressing. I expect 3 to cover and one for rest of project next year....but always good to have a bit extra if needed. If it wasnt for heavy rains expected on monday.....i would have started seeding today.


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SyNtAxx
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Re: SyNTaxx 2017 renovation 17k sqft....

Post by SyNtAxx » August 12th, 2017, 7:37 pm

Today was start of seeding for me. I managed to get about a third of the way through the project today. I completed 5k sqft of the area today. I had to do some quick spot sprays with roundup before seeding.


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Locked and loaded for seeding. I measure the area to be seeded using gps and then weight out the needed seeds. I then set my spreader opening to smallest reasonable opening and walk in opposite directions until seed is gone. This year I chose 5k sqft increments because my starter fertilizer bags covered that much per bag. No measuring needed there.

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Time to apply the peat moss. I have a roller dispenser for this part and is worth every penny in my opinion. I used to spread by shovel and rake. This is much faster.



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SyNtAxx
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Re: SyNTaxx 2017 renovation 17k sqft....

Post by SyNtAxx » August 12th, 2017, 7:46 pm

.......and finally its time to water. This year I decided to use 1in poly from hose bib to sprinkler rotor. In years past i used 5/8th varden hose to my 1in pvc sprinkler runs. I think this years setup will be much more efficient and leakfree. The new rotors are night and day over previous two years. I am using Rainbird 5000 series. I got them along with the poly pipe at Site One supply stores along with all my other supplies. Pressure at the bib....

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In action..


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I will post a pic of my timer setup tomorrow. I was to exhausted to set it up tonight.

Nick

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probasesteal
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Re: SyNTaxx 2017 renovation 17k sqft....

Post by probasesteal » August 12th, 2017, 10:10 pm

Looks good. Can't wait to see green babies

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