First lawn reno!

[nhyrum]

So this is my first renovation.

I had what im assuming was a TTTF blend in the front, which is where im doing my reno.

Sunday I did two passes glyophosphate, i dont have the dye, so i did each pass rotating 90 degrees.

today was a scalp, cut to about an inch, then when i was putting the mower away i discovered the previous tenants, who left the mower, had purchased one of those thatching blades for the mower. I dont care too much about the thatching aspect, but i figured it would be a good aid in knocking down some of those worm tunnel things. that tore up the lawn nice and good(my intent) and i also used it to lower the lip along the sidewalk, where when i mowed if i let the wheel of the mower run on the sidewalk id hit dirt in places. success, dirt is now only about 1/8 inch above the concrete.

I then applied two more applications of the glyophosphate(used about 4 galons total, for 1000 sq ft.) im starting to get a pretty good kill!I should be able to seed this weekend!

[andy10917]

What is the lowest temperature during the Winter in your part of Wyoming?

[nhyrum]

What is the lowest temperature during the Winter in your part of Wyoming?

Usually about 30 below

[andy10917]

I don't think there are any TTTF cultivars that are reliably tolerant of anything close to those temperatures.

[nhyrum]

Oh OK. It was just a shot in the dark. I had no idea what it was.

[nhyrum]

Should I put any sort of soil over the existing sod? Or just seed right into it

[andy10917]

You wouldn't ask that question if you had read a fair number of renovation threads. Sorry to say, but if you don't read some threads about how renovations proceed, you will stumble from what you will think are problems after problems. With some reading, you'll see how the progression happens.

[nhyrum]

I dug around earlier in the year, and I just hadn't done my refreshers. I apologize.

After reading through aug2011's bewitched reno, I'm convinced I don't need to bring in extra soil. But I have the same concern about soil contact as he did. But I'll take your word for it, and seed right into the old sod.

I remember the reason I was told to seed the first of August was for the warmest soil temps. The past two days have been low 70's(10-15 degrees, maybe more, below normal) and this is supposed to continue through Thursday. Should I keep my original plan to seed this weekend? Or maybe plant a little later?

[andy10917]

You don't need to apologize to anyone. It's YOU that will be pulling your hair out.

I'm not getting your point on the temperature question -- what do you think will go wrong if the temps are in the 70's?

[nhyrum]

I'm not getting your point on the temperature question -- what do you think will go wrong if the temps are in the 70's?

That's my question. I know soil temps and ambient temps are different.

Would it hurt anything to seed when it's a bit cooler? Maybe even beneficial?

[andy10917]

You need more water at 85 than you do at 70-75. Beyond that, don't overcomplicate things.

[nhyrum]

don't overcomplicate things.

im sure, as youve noticed, thats my specialty...

[nhyrum]

The weekend got away from me. Then I realized my Pennington 3lb bag, was coated seed, so actually 1.5 lbs seed.

Then I had bought all the Pete moss available locally so I had to use an alternative. My 1 bale was about 2.2 cubic feet (compressed) and did the side with the walk way behind and the bay window. Then I had to use 10 cubic feet of "soil pep" per the recommendation of my local garden supply place. How does the coverage look(this is after a 10 minute watering)? Should I get a few more bags of the soil pep?

[nhyrum]

The second picture DOES have coverage where it doesn't appear to have any. Not sure if it's the lighting, angle or what

[nhyrum]

I have the irrigation set to run 5 minutes per zone, once at 8am the other at 7pm. The 10 minutes I ran earlier was enough to get 2.5 inches of soil wet. 5 minutes does about an inch. Am I watering too much?

[STL]

You want to keep it moist. Nobody can tell you how much water that'll be for your lawn over the internet. Give it a shot and adjust if needed. You'll get a feel for it.

[nhyrum]

You want to keep it moist. Nobody can tell you how much water that'll be for your lawn over the internet. Give it a shot and adjust if needed. You'll get a feel for it.

That is a fair point.

Iirc from my previous research, I wanted an inch of water a week. Which seems like very little to me, so I was trying to apply that same application rate to the seedlings.

How does my coverage look? Like I said, in the one picture it looks like about 2/3 is bare, but it has the same coverage as the rest. Should I buy more cover material?

[bpgreen]

My guess is that you'll need to water more frequently. You might be able to water for a shorter period of time, but the air in the intermountain west is pretty arid, so the surface can dry quickly.

[nhyrum]

My guess is that you'll need to water more frequently. You might be able to water for a shorter period of time, but the air in the intermountain west is pretty arid, so the surface can dry quickly.

Yeah, I did change to three times daily two minutes a zone.

I can do up to 6 times a day, but any more than 3, I either have to water my whole lawn the other times, or not at all

[STL]

I think adding another cycle is a good idea. May want to do one in the am, one around noon, early afternoon and feel it out when you get home from work if it needs more or less. If I recall, I don't think I really needed an evening watering since it was cooler, less sun, and stayed damp until morning. Plus, it gave the new seedlings a chance to dry a bit, but the ground was still wet, going into the night.

Coverage looks good from the pics. As long as you have roughly 1/8-1/4 inch, it should be fine. It doesn't matter too much as long as its covered but not buried deep from my experience.