Yard will be graded near first frost. Seed now or what?

[Marinegrunt]

I just ran one 3/4" pex line near my meter because our hose bib only had 1/2" going to it. I also used a full port ball valve instead of a spigot. If I remember correctly I gained 5 gpm. I then used a bunch of hoses after that so I could water all 9.5K without moving sprinklers or hoses.

I ordered a bunch of Hunter pgp rotors and rigged them up to a spike like you see on an impact sprinkler. Others on here did the same before me. You get so much more control since you can change nozzles. They're only $8 a piece. Add a couple more for the spike and fittings and it's not much more than a decent impact. I probably spent around $200 but it's worth not having to drag sprinklers and hoses around. It's not worth the hassle. Plus, I now have my rotors if I ever decide to install irrigation. If I run one at a time I could probably get by sticking one in each corner of the yard. It would take awhile to get 1" down though.

Even if you drag hoses and sprinklers around I would still recommend getting a few Hunter pgp heads. When I tried running just one it sprayed over 60 feet. That's with 65 psi and about 12 gpm.

Syntaxx, in the reno section, used 1" pvc and rotors above ground for temporary irrigation. Check out his thread for pictures.

[agn015]

Thanks! I checked out yours and syntaxxs renos. You guys both are doing an awesome job! I hope if i decide to Reno next year it comes out half as good!

After checking out what you guys hooked up I think I'll go a similar route. If it only costs $200 for a decent above ground setup that can migrate to a permanent system it will be money well spent.

They're coming on Monday and Tuesday to grade the property. I'll post some before and after pictures when they're done.

I have one trouble area by the front steps that is a pita to mow. The dirt on the sides of the steps is raised so I constantly scalp this area. I asked the contractor if he could flatten the dirt on each side so the soil level is lower than the steps. Is this the right solution? Or is there a better way to solve?

[agn015]

I'm thinking if I expose more of the steps and FL atten the soil on the sides to look like this it will be easier to mow.

[Marinegrunt]

I've had a rough time with my reno. The Pythium Blight did some damage but the spot seeding is coming around. My grass looked better 3 weeks after seed down than it does now.

I don't see any reason why you shouldn't shape the area by your steps. The only thing to watch out for is making sure it slopes away from the house near the top.

[Pway]

Just my opinion would never use cheap/seed. It's not worth possibly introducing poa trivialis or some other weed. You could spend far more time and money trying to eradicate unwanted weeds than would cost for seed with zero crop and zero weed.

[agn015]

Here's a couple before/after shots. We're supposed to get 2" or more of rain tomorrow so I'm not going to risk seeding and having it wash away so I will seed on Wednesday. I plan on putting down a lesco mix of perennial rye, KBG, chewing fescue and creeping red fescue and rolling it into the soil once the rain stops/slows down.

My budget is pretty busted right now so I think I'm going to pass on peat moss and hope the leaves that fall will act as decent top dressing. We get a lot leaves, I just hope they don't smother the new seedlings. I don't think mulching leaves would be a good idea with the freshly planted seed on this bare soil... If the grass turns out weak I'll save some seed for spring touch ups otherwise I will start saving up for a true renovation next fall.

[agn015]

[agn015]

[agn015]

Here's a better before shot with the tree

[agn015]

So the contractor was supposed to leave sod quality grass seed but it has 0.01% weed and 0.27% other crop seed. I'm not going to take any chances and just ordered 75lbs of the blend Stephen at hogan recommended. It'll be here Thursday. I'm still concerned with how the falling leaves will impact the grass though...

Here's the label of the seed the contractor gave me.

[Marinegrunt]

You're smart for not taking any chances. I'm sure you've seen some threads of others who have battled poa. I'm sure you'll be happy with the Hogan seed. They only use tttf cultivars that rank very high in ntep trials.

The prep work looks great.

I seeded September 1st which was about 2 weeks later than recommended. I waited because of the hot weather and figured TTTF germinates faster than KBG. Anyways, I forgot about this old cottonwood that drops leaves early. What I did was use the leaf blower but barely squeezed the trigger. I also made sure the ground was a little damp so the seed wouldn't blow. It seemed to work well because that area germinated as well as the areas that didn't get leaves. Grass will grow under some of the leaves but I wouldn't leave them on too long. I would probably get them off about once every 5-7 days depending on how thick they are.

Don't stress not using peat moss. With all of the slopes I have most of mine washed away within a few days. The grass still germinated. A big reason for top dressing is to help retain moisture. It's late enough in the year you won't have the sun beating down drying it out real fast anyways. Just be sure to keep it moist.

[agn015]

Good tip on the leaf blower! Thanks! I'll give it a shot but I don't have many places to hide the leaves. Maybe I'll blow them over to one of the few grass areas I have left and try to mulch. Or just hide them in the corner of my property. Maybe I can hoard them there and mulch them in the spring.

I do plan to keep the seed bed moist. I just wish I had the time and money to design a more complete irrigation setup. I'll probably just move an oscillating sprinkler around since it is a little more gentle than the impact sprinklers I have.

Would it be a bad idea to throw any starter fertilizer at seed down? I'm basically in the pause now so my initial thinking is that I shouldn't push any nitrogen until the final urea app after top growth stops. I can only assume that I shouldn't deviate from the regiment whether I have mature grass or young seedlings. This is my second year following the regiment and it worked great last year.

[Green]

I don't think there's any point to starter fertilizer that the new grass won't make use of...unless maybe your soil is deficient in P. Good move waiting until after the rain to seed.

[agn015]

This wind/rain has caused a lot of leaves to fall. I’ll blow them off to the edge of the propoerty before my seed gets here on Thursday. I might skip the lawn roller and gently rake the seed in instead. The soil is so fresh and loose it should be easy enough to rake. If I have trouble I’ll go rent the roller.

Thanks, I’ll skip the starter. I’m already very high in P based on my last two soil tests. But I wonder how the top soil we brought is with P. Maybe I should test it? I’ll just let the seed do it’s thing until that final urea app. Skip tenacity and hope for the best. I’ll dormant seed any thin areas in February (I’ve had decent luck with that in the past).

Come spring I’ll need to get a good pre em down. It seems like most people go with either dithiopyr or prodiamine. Hogan recommended dithiopyr but it seems like I have more control over the prodiamine. I’ll dive into that over winter and make a decision before spring.

[andy10917]

You don't have time to stop for a good test for P. You are roughly 10 weeks late starting on a 10 week season. Don't figure "what does he know about LI?". I grew up there.

[agn015]

I hear you Andy, I've been lurking here long enough to trust what you say. I thought I heard you used to live on the south shore of LI. I started at Hofstra and have been moving further east every few years.

I really didn't want to start this 'reno' now, but I don't have much choice. The wife wanted the tree down immediately and then couldn't stand the way they left the yard so here we are. It's either I leave it as dirt until fall 2018 or give it a shot and see what can grow until then. Worst case, I can use this as a learning experience and it will help me make sure my real reno attempt is a success.

[andy10917]

If you spent time at Hofstra, then you know Uniondale. It was a different town when I was there, but I spent 20 years of my life there.

[Green]

One bridge at a time. Maybe a blessing that the leaves are falling now before you start. You have all Winter and then some to think about pre emergents.

We are in the middle of a thunderstorm right now, and i bet you are too. More than two inches of rain so far...

[HoosierLawnGnome]

Sod, bro - if she wants the instant look. Might not root in.

[agn015]

I can only imagine what Uniondale was like 20 years ago.

You're right Green, I think it was a blessing to have this many leaves fall before I drop the seed. The oak leaves are going to take the prize whenever they decide to fall. We probably got more than 2" of rain last night too, and if the seed was down it would have certainly washed away or at least pooled up in some spots.

Haha sod, where's the fun in that? The tree and grading took up all of our budget so there's no money left for 12k sqft of sod. I've always favored seeded lawns and thought I read or saw a video that claimed since sod is grown in different soil that it will show summer stress more often than a seeded lawn.