Rate Your 2013 Season

[andy10917]

As the 2013 Season winds down, it's time to look back and evaluate how you did and what were the high/low points of the season.

This shouldn't be a litany of every nutrient application you did, and it shouldn't be a photo album of the progress. The number of photos that can be posted is ONE (1, Uno, Ein). If you did something completely new, though, highlight that in your discussion (maybe first BL/ATY year, first organics, first renovation, etc).

No peanut-gallery comments, no "how did you do it?" questions.

Somewhere in your posting, give the season an overall score -- "0" is the lawn completely died, and "100" is that the season exceeded your wildest hopes and expectations.

Posts that violate the rules will be removed, without discussion.

[Hammbone]

Overall score - 45
Spring was very good
Summer was horrible! Got rust for the first time, followed by 3.5 month drought!
Bounced back toward end of October.
Next year I'll focus on preventative fungicides and phosphite.

[ Post made via Android ]

[andy10917]

Mine was a season of contradictions, and big highs and lows. The season started with trucks and cranes all over the lawn for tree removal, which caused much more damage than expected. Then just as I got most of that repaired and started to relax, a hail storm with quarter-sized hail tore up 80% of the lawn's border hosta, which looked ragged for the rest of the season.

The highlight of the season was the backyard "Blueberry" monostand renovation, which exceeded my expectations.

The proactive biofungicide program was enormously successful, and in its fifth season I was even able to cut back a bit on the number of ingredients I used to implement it.

Overall, the year got an 80 -- far below 2012's "97", but with some really good high notes for building to the next level.

I'm choosing a front-yard picture, as I'm tired of looking at just the Renovation pictures...

[pwking]

I'm giving mine a 60.

This was the first full year on almost all my yard and we had a drought that hammbone already mentioned. I kept the lawn just out of dormancy for almost 3 months. This fall it was absolutely beautiful in contrast to the browning of the fields.

Here's my latest picture.

[mattya]

I'd give the lawn an 80. The Spring was about as good as I could have hoped for, other than some leaf spot which was pretty much expected on a new lawn. Actinovate and Serenade took care of it though, although it kept creeping back in spots.

The summer was also quite successful and the lawn seemed to LOVE the heat. The hotter it got, the thicker the lawn got. I didn't ever have to water more than once a week, even with my TEC being ~5, which was great to see. Towards the end of the summer though, as the sun began to lower, the shady spots began losing density and that's continued throughout the fall. I now have some very thin areas where light is sparse.

The (near) full sun spots would rate mid-high 90's alone. Great color and density - Only downfall is some CB/POA mixed in, which I've been using a mixture of hand pulling and Tenacity.

The shady spots are well below expectations.

Next year will be an earlier start to proactive biofungicides and I'll be adding Sumagrow to the arsenal to hopefully help the shady spots. Hoping to reach a score in the high 80's next year.

[ez2luvlawn]

Nature was on my side this year which helped tremendously. Rains came timely and in adequate amounts most months with the
exception of mid July through mid August but that time period was nothing my irrigation system couldn't handle. The heat and high humidity
was not as bad in 2012 and I feel that also helped reduce many of the fungal issues that I had the year before.

I also introduced a new bio fungicide program to my lawn this year which included Serenade/Phosphites/Companion and concentrated on timely applications to also help avoid fungal issues. I had zero fungal issues this year and after a bad summer patch battle in 2012 that was a relief to not have to deal with anything like that again this year. I plan to continue my same bio fungicides regiment in 2014 after my success this year.

I will give this year a score of 80. I still have room for more improvement.

[Smolenski7]

2013 started off great, but then declined a bit as the season progressed.

I prevented any kind of fungus this spring, mainly Red Thread, for the very first time thanks to the biofungicide program I put myself on for the past 2 years. Red Thread certainly isn't a big deal, however, it is unsightly and just the fact that it wasn't present this year was a big deal to me. Also, I did not apply any pre-m this spring. I took the chance and it paid off, literally, saving me about $45.00. In fact, the only weed control I did was to walk around the yard on 1 occasion with my handheld sprayer filled with WBG-CGC that I bought several years ago.

Summer went as expected, I guess. I was hoping for more of a uniform green this year, I have a true northern mix consisting of 20 year old cultivars. It's about as good as it's going to get, I think. The soil certainly isn't perfect, but I can't improve upon it to the point that it will make a huge difference in the deepness of the green and the uniformity of the different cultivars. I think I've reached the point of diminishing returns in terms of applying Bay State or altering the soil. Anything short of a total reno will just be a waste of money and time.

Fall was my biggest disappointment. The color was fine, but it was not any improvement over last year, and to my surprise, not all that different compared to my neighbor. His certainly was not as uniform as mine (not even close), but his "best" patches were only slightly lighter green than my entire lawn, which is why I think that I can't really improve upon the deepness of the color that I achieved all year. Then I got hit hard with Rust toward the end of September through mid-October in the more shady areas of the yard, basically under most of the canopies of every tree. I'm not sure how to tackle this problem next year, but my first instinct is to apply heavier amounts of Serenade to these locations beginning in September. I did not apply any Serenade or TKO Phosphite to the lawn after mid-August.

I'd give myself 3 separate grades:
1. Spring- 87
2. Summer- 75
3. Fall- 70

I guess that averages out to a 77 (C+).

[nclawnguy]

I will rate my season as a 95, really have nothing to complain about, pretty stress free year. Lawn held up great this summer, we had a wet beginning to the summer and a dry end to it. I was proactive with fungicides, many lawns around me had bad disease outbreaks.

The picture I chose, is not the best my grass has looked, that would be April/May...but this picture was taken July 26th in the heat of the summer. It shows my lawn being lush and healthy, when many cool season lawns down here are looking ugly.

[voljack]

--This is my first year of going fully organic until the Fall urea feedings.
I could see why that everyone raves about Milo!! While expensive with 12k square feet of lawn, it is a great product. I look forward to the next few years on the organics, because I definitely saw a leap forward with the lawn performance this year. In performance I'm not only talking about the curb appeal but more the lawns overall health. In the past I have always been scared to mow below 4-4.5 inches because of all the BBDL, this year I could maintain the lawn at 3.5 during most the year and on down to 3 in the Fall. I've also had to rake up an enormous amount of thatch every fall before over seed time. Which I believe now was a direct result of all the synthetic feedings I done before switching to organics. While TTTF isn't supposed to technically have thatch, I always had a solid .5 inch of old grass clipping right on top of the soil. This year, I did not have any! I'm chalking it up to the BL soil conditioner, molasses sprays, and organic feeding of SBM and Milo that have built up the micro herd.
No matter what I do, living in Middle TN where we see a very wide range of temps, I need some help from mother nature. She was very kind this year as the good Lord blessed us with mildest Summer in many years. After breaking 100 year highs in the scorcher that was the Summer of 2012, this Summer was like hitting the jackpot! We also got a lot of well timed .5 to 1.5 inch rains. (Except September which was extremely dry in my area). With all the mild temps we enjoyed my lawn actually thrived in August when a lot of days barely hit 80!! (The Picture I posted is from August 10th). I could live to be 100 and I don't think I will ever see another August like 2013. This Fall I concentrated on pounding the organic matter into the soil. I have mulched a ton of leaves that a buddy bags up for me. I also spread peat moss over the entire lawn after over seeding, with my new awesome peat moss spreader. The lawn has looked outstanding all Fall, save the urea burn in a prime spot… Yep, still learning!
--My biggest room for improvement next year, is to be proactive with Heritage G and other Brown Patch fungicide pre emergents. ( I will be copying NC Lawn Guy's calendar/plan.)

Score: 79

[GaryCinChicago]

Nature treated me well in 2013. The weather was perfect for growing turf. Moderate heat and humidity along with timely rains. I don't think I watered more than 6 times this season.

This was ideal for me because I was laying off the high maintenance schedule due to work. (Saturdays are my only day off, and if Saturday is not conducive to lawn maintenance then it can't get done) No spring preM or any fert of any kind .... till fall - maybe. Lil' man earned his allowance using the mower weekly.

When we had a warm spell it was accompanied with some rain. This prevented drought stress but too made for perfect fungal conditions as the evenings cooled. Rust was my problem but nothing that a little Dac and N couldn't fix.

75 overall in my opinion. I'm satisfied having only applied 1Lb of N during the growing season.

[zhotster]

I'm not that far from the FIB (Gary), so the weather was good to me also! I followed a regiment of Milo all season and had a good season.

I was excited coming in this year with my new lawn from my 2012 reno, it took a bit to green up, I had a little POA that I was able to rid myself of. In the summer, I had some light fungal attacks that I was able to treat. I had a very few broadleaf weeds, but nothing I couldn't take care of with about a 5 minute walk spot treating with Weed-b-Gone.

I hit my lawn with light weekly doses of Urea in the fall. The fall Urea period was the best my lawn has looked, it was a nice uniform dark green. It was thicker than I could ever imagine. The fall was really impressive, I couldn't have been happier.

Overall, I'd give my lawn a 75 for the year. Will be spending some time this winter thinking about goals for 2014.

[Jason1604]

I'd give mine a 70. And the 70 is based on what the turf looked like in October/Early Nov. I made myself be patient and let the regimen work. I switched over to Milo from Synthetics. Coming off of a drought in the summer of '12, I was happy for heavy spring rains this year. Then a drought came again this summer, but I didn't force the issue and let the turf be...knowing that it would recover. Overseeded TTTF into the KBG this fall and my turf has never looked better. It has finally stopped growing, but is still very very dark. At this point, I cant wait for Spring and the benefits of a new regimen for yet another season.

[j rockford]

66. i soil test three areas on my lawn. two are on schedule one is not. the back has made great strides. this area was a kgb overseed and plugging/pot experiment into a tri mix/poa annua lawn three years ago which is now almost all kgb thanks to certainty and tenacity treatments. FYI better to renovate than to try that route. the reno last year took some late season damage in august but you would not know it by looking at it and it is very strong. next years reno area is a country song. disease and grubs put a hurt on it. fall has seen good recovery but final decision on reno comes about mothers day. no dormant seeding here, tried that before with kgb. it was an old tri mix and kgb is the major player but last years reno convinced me that a reno is a lot of work in a short period and the other approach i used on the back is a lot of work over a long period. as far as soil adjustments i stuck to the game plan set out last winter, used a lot of blsckh and discovered dr iron which is a nice suppement which is now part of the arsenal. we will see what the test says but quality of turf and color have never been better.

this off season i will be researching these pages on suma green and preventative fungal treatments and will have many questions. grub killer is already in the shed, i won't mess that one up again. and as far as the quackgrass wars this year.... advantage me

[Green]

80.

First, this year I went from beginner level to more of an intermediate in terms of knowledge by reading this site a lot.

Everything looked better than last year and was the best on the block for sure, but that's not the main reason I'm rating it so high. I faced a lot of adversity this year, and put in a lot of work to counter the entropy. Between construction projects and town maintenance, I had areas that again got torn up and had to be dealt with. I had to do an October first backyard renovation, too, due to that crazy project schedule. Nature was kind this fall as far as temps. So far, so good...the new grass is going to survive the winter based on my 2011 experience. And I did everything I could to help the new grass take late in the season, such as starting reel mowing early. I'm also armed with Tenacity, and ready to do a late winter/early spring overseed on these areas to thicken them up. I have hoses and nozzles everywhere...all over the yard. I also finally got a Logan soil test, and had the official soil gurus interpret it. I started my first installment of treatments this fall, and will resume in Spring.

[ligrass]

Overall I would say a solid 70 here for 2013.
Spring - 60
Overseed from last fall came in nice. Not much effort applied except for bag of scotts TB.

Summer - 25
Brutal June wiped out much of the KBG from last fall. Crabgrass and clover issues. Lawn was neglected.

Fall - 85
Overseeded with a sod quality KBG mix. Partial reno on weed plagued area. Had good germination results. Lawn stayed greener and fuller longer than ever. It's a more uniform dark green KBG lawn. First time ever using Vitamin M + urea. Vitamin M is hands down the best thing I have ever used on my lawn. I have only used urea once but I like what I saw.


Backyard- 45.
It was a 20 all season - the weeds were nice and healthy though. It made a nice comeback late fall after implementing triangle approach (multiple blanket apps) plus urea late season. It will most likely be reno'ed next season if I can figure out a way to get around the intex pool we put up every year, along with kids playing in the pool every other day.

[bernstem]

This year was much better than last year when it was hot and dry and the lawn was a young first year. Color is much improved, but several problem areas remain. The north front lawn was hit by stress and fungus again this year and underwent an overseed (Solar Eclipse). That area remains the spot that I would most like to see improve. The back lawn under the mature Oak continues to struggle, though increased water helped that area enormously. The back shade area also underwent an overseed this fall (Bewitched). In general, disease pressure was down this year over last year without huge changes in prevention. I remain organic except herbicides and winterizer in the front lawn. I also mowed lower than in the past which I like and will continue going forward.

As for scores:
Spring: 80
Summer: 50
Fall: 80
Overall: 75

[Orangehills]

2013 was the first full year for my 2012 renovation in which time I changed practically all of my cultural practices, from watering to organic fertilizer to mulching in leaves. 2013 was also the first year for an irrigation system which really helped control the watering in my extremely sandy soil. I have always liked the fall look so that gets the highest score of 70, the spring and summer were around 50. I attribute the spring problems to mold issues. The summer issues were battling weeds and tuning in the watering. I could see these scores improving with the age of the lawn, just my humble opinion.

Spring: 50
Summer: 50
Fall: 70

[HoosierLawnGnome]

"From Good to Great"

This is how I sum up this year.



After a 5+ year hiatus on doing the majority of my lawn care and having it mowed for me, while I did light maintenance pruning, I elected to jump back in with both feet this year.

In all, I accomplished 100% of my goals this year.

Did the exercise exceed my expectations? I think so. It was't perfect, but it was really solid. I love my "new" lawn, and love this hobby.

I had some scope creep, and I can't say I scored perfectly in everything I set out to attain, but I definitely feel I accomplished my original intentions, and was able to add some and push myself.

Things I did new this year:
- Milorganite - heavy and often
- renovation with elite seed
- reel mower
- mowing with a high-quality rotary mower
- urea feedings in the fall
- use of a pre-emergent
- chemical treatment of problematic fugus
- soil test
- soil adjustments - micronutrients, P, & K.
- use of a REAL striper on my mower for striping

Things I wish would have gone better, but didn't stop goals realized:
- Renovation initial coverage and watering configuration
- More proactive fungus-prevention measures at beginning of renovation

[ericgautier]

I give myself a C-. I definitely have a lot to learn. This fall (thanks to help from this site) I started working on the soil and added amendments per the soil test. I now have a better understanding going forward and will put those practices into next season.

[Tsmith]

After a few years of outside work just getting to the point where I could think about having a nice lawn I was finally able to make my first attempt at seeding a couple of areas that were in pretty bad shape. Both spots came in so well that I decided to try dormant seed on the entire lawn just to introduce new seed so I was really looking forward to this spring.

It started out great with my lawn looking better then it ever has but unfortunately didnt hold up well with the incredibly wet July we had here in the Northeast.

I decided to reno my front and two sides (again) this year with better seed (Prime Time vs Rebels) along with KBG and cant wait to do my entire backyard next year. It was a lot of work but well worth it as I did it all myself manually but I'll need some mechanical help next year as the back is just too big.

Overall it was a good year but im hoping my reno holds up better next year then it did this year because I really like the look of it