jfd.lew forced Reno :-(

[jfd.lew]

Looks like I'm joining the 2018 Fall Reno crew..

Got hit with a massive case of Ascochyta which absolutely destroyed my front lawn. We've had a bad year of it here in central Iowa.

At first I called the landscaping company that puts down my herbicides and asked if they accidentally did round up instead. maybe 25% of the grass came back. The rest is thatch/dirt right now.

[TimmyG]

Dang!

[jfd.lew]

Yeah...

Soooo, I'm researching some seed, and have my eye on 30% Bewitched, 30% Blueberry, 40% Midnight. Any objections to that? The area I would be seeding is roughly 3000sqft, full sun with the exception of the sides of the house.

[greenrebellion]

Are you sure it wont' come back? I googled around and some sources say Ascochyta doesn't affect root/crowns so the grass recovers in a few weeks.

[ken-n-nancy]

My only comment about the proposed seed blend you mention is that Bewitched is a slow grower and Blueberry is a fast one. If you’re looking for some of the benefit of the slower growing KBG, you could mix in Prosperity instead. A lot of folks have done a Bewitched, Prosperity, Award blend with excellent results.

[jfd.lew]

Are you sure it wont' come back? I googled around and some sources say Ascochyta doesn't affect root/crowns so the grass recovers in a few weeks.

Typically with Ascochyta that's the case. I've waited several weeks and a very small amount has come back.
With the grass blade dieoff and the added stress of the heat followed by excessive rain, the plants started to die off. They first went dormant, but when they started coming back they didn't make it.

I raked the thatch up yesterday to get some airflow in/around the ground and it all pretty much just came up with the rake. I checked for grubs, etc, but no signs of them.

[jfd.lew]

My only comment about the proposed seed blend you mention is that Bewitched is a slow grower and Blueberry is a fast one. If you’re looking for some of the benefit of the slower growing KBG, you could mix in Prosperity instead. A lot of folks have done a Bewitched, Prosperity, Award blend with excellent results.

That's good to know, thanks. I like Bewitched because the east side of my house is shaded for most of the day. Not heavy shade, but definitely not full sun.

But, you bring a good point. I really don't want to have 'patchy' parts in my yard where all the cultivars are growing at different speeds. I don't care about slow vs fast, I just want it relatively uniform. That's what I hate about my northern blend lawn right now. The Rye and fescue grow so much quicker than the kbg that it looks ridiculous by day 3.

I'm pretty open to seed suggestions, however. I mainly am looking for the following:

• KBG

• Full sun for 90% of the front yard

• Dark in color

• Good heat tolerance (i have irrigation, so its not too much of an issue)

• Not worried about foot traffic since the front yard only gets walked on when I mow

I've looked at NTEP and the 3 I chose all fit the bill for the most part, but now that you mention the growth rates, I would prefer to keep all 3 as similar as possible.

[KBGkicksazz]

Not much to add except to say that’s crazy to see a lawn wiped out like that. How’d you know what caused it?

[Green]

Wow...this is the first time I've seen someone post where disease has killed almost everything. Looks 80% dead.

[JHazzardB]

Are you going to glyphosate the rest? Following with what greenrebellion said about the crowns not dying and recovery, do you foresee any...complications?...if your old yard recovers after you put seed down? I know you raked most out and it seems toast but I was just wondering.

[jfd.lew]

Sorry guys, was on vacation the past 2 weeks. I'm still planning on nuking it. With this type of disease, the turf typically recovers in a few weeks. It's been close to two months since the initial discoloring, probably 6 weeks since that picture and it has only slightly recovered. Anything that was hit in the backyard has fully recovered so I don't think that the 'dead' parts are coming back. I'll probably start spraying soon and hope for the best. Between now and seed down time, my hope is that anything that may come back, will have done so by then and give me the opportunity to nuke it.

With that said, I want to get going sooner rather than later because I want to try to get some leveling done as well while I have the opportunity.

Here is a photo from this week. Sorry about the lighting.

[jfd.lew]

Seed ordered.

I went with 30 Bewitched, 30 Blueberry, 40 Midnight. I know bewitched is a slow grower, but I wanted that for the shadier side yards. The rest is full sun.

Plan on starting RU next week depending on weather. I am going to Colorado the last weekend in July, so it's kind of now or never.

1. Plan is to roundup the week prior to leaving, scalp and fallow. While I am gone the irrigation will be set to water on schedule and I will RU anything left when I return.
2. If necessary after scalping, my buddy and I are borrowing a dethatcher from a friend. Then rake, rake and more raking.
3. If I can find it soon enough, I will spread sand + top soil, drag and level. If not, that can wait until springtime.
4. Fallow/RU/repeat until August 18th.
5. Drop seed
6. Drop starter
7. Spread Peat
8. Tenacity
9. Regular water schedule (10-15 mins every few hours, adjusting accordingly).

Let's just hope we don't get another 10" rain in 3 hours like a few weeks ago.

The only part that worries me is my side yards. They slope down to my backyard and I am concerned about washout.

[jfd.lew]

Christmas came early!

[greenrebellion]

Yes, side yards can be rough if you get a lot of rain post seeding. Two things helped me on my steep side yard.

First, I used a lawn roller to roll the seed into moist soil. Second, there seemed to be one primary area in each side yard where water congregated and made those areas most prone to washout. I used one of those green single net germination blankets in those areas with biodegradable stakes to hold it in place. Worked beautifully.

But even if all you can do is the lawn roller part, it helps quite a bit unless you get an extremely heavy downpour in that critical pre-germination window.

[jfd.lew]

First round of RU took place a few days ago. I let it simmer then scalped it to 1.5” today. I will try to go to 1”, the lowest my mower goes, but it’s bumpy enough that I will probably be dragging some spots.

I’m heading to Colorado this week, so will hit it with another round of RU if needed before I leave then water/fallow/RU for the next few weeks.

Will be getting 5 tons of sand to do some leveling before my seed date of August 18.

I also ordered a brinly-hardy 24” roller which will be here this week!

[jfd.lew]

oooh, so decisions decisions. My brother stopped by today and brought up an interesting proposal. His buddy has a roll-off trailer, and he said he would probably be able to get it if I wanted it.

The reason being, knowing I need to level badly, he offered to help use a sod cutter on the lawn to simply get rid of everything then use the trailer to take it to the dump. While at the dump, they sell their Metro Gold compost for $10/yard. So we could pick up a bunch of compost, then go get some soil/sand, level it, top dress with as much compost as I can handle and the seed bed would be rocking...

hmmmmm.. nothing like bringing this up LAST MINUTE lol.

[TimmyG]

Your dump will take sod? No wonder some people complain that their municipal compost is full of weed seeds.

[jfd.lew]

Dethatched today in prep for leveling next week.
Raked out 300 gallons worth of dead stuff. Leveling with a sand/soil/peat mix and if time permits will top with 1/4” compost next week prior seeding on the 18th.

Installed a new rachio3 and I am getting the zones set up for a seed misting schedule. Found one or two sprinkler heads that need replaced when setting it up.

[jfd.lew]

R&R Product 48" Lute arriving this week! Can't wait to test it out.

[jfd.lew]

12,000 pounds of sand and top soil delivered today. Pictures forthcoming. Let the leveling commence!