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How Do You Rate The 2019 Season For Your Lawn?

Posted: November 23rd, 2019, 8:43 am
by andy10917
Things are rapidly winding down in the Cool-Season areas, and it's time to look back at how the season went for you.

Please rate how the OVERALL results were for you, compared to other seasons and your expectations. Feel free to also make a Post in this Thread telling us how and why you came to the rating you made.

Re: How Do You Rate The 2019 Season For Your Lawn?

Posted: November 23rd, 2019, 9:17 am
by deboy922
This year was about learning and acquiring a lot of great knowledge from this website...thank you everyone!

But a record wet spring; followed by a 6 week summer drought; and then a record dry fall; made this year have a lot of frustrations. Hoping for better conditions in 2020!

Re: How Do You Rate The 2019 Season For Your Lawn?

Posted: November 23rd, 2019, 9:53 am
by PSU4ME
I feel like I had a pretty good season. Didn’t chase many things (some though) and I was able to keep up with my biological program so that was nice. Areas that were always good were perfect and I was able to make progress on some trouble areas so I was happy. Starting to establish some norms for my lawn which is helpful.

Thanks to all you guys and girls for the help!

Re: How Do You Rate The 2019 Season For Your Lawn?

Posted: November 23rd, 2019, 3:48 pm
by Maizan24
My lawn gets better and better every year and I have this incredible community to thank. Less weed pressure this year. Great green up in spring (thanks fall N). No major fungal outbreaks. Biggest issue I had was with my renovation being in a pretty heavy shade area. Some spots didnt germinate well. Also poa is an issue in a few spots. Lawn is far from perfect but I'm in it for the long game. Here's to a better still 2020.

Re: How Do You Rate The 2019 Season For Your Lawn?

Posted: November 23rd, 2019, 10:02 pm
by Green
Andy: How do I vote? I don't see a way to cast a vote. There is no button to click.

Re: How Do You Rate The 2019 Season For Your Lawn?

Posted: November 23rd, 2019, 11:22 pm
by Runnin Tony
I second by deboy. Good bit of learning with a new (to me) lawn this year. Gained knowledge around preemergents, managing irrigation and timing of fertilizing. Lots of focus on managing weeds next year and targeting healthy growth.

Re: How Do You Rate The 2019 Season For Your Lawn?

Posted: November 24th, 2019, 4:38 am
by Masbustelo
Things were great until the summer drought. By the end of July and until September 1st my yard was so brown and dry, I think literally it could have caught on fire. It has recovered and looks good right now heading into spring.

Re: How Do You Rate The 2019 Season For Your Lawn?

Posted: November 24th, 2019, 9:20 am
by andy10917
Andy: How do I vote? I don't see a way to cast a vote. There is no button to click.
Green: You were in a very strange status on the website, used only for Members that were between their first registration to the site and the first posting. You may notice that the site looks somewhat different than you're used to. Sorry that it took until now for things to be noticed. Please let us know if you can see polls now, and participate in them.

Re: How Do You Rate The 2019 Season For Your Lawn?

Posted: November 24th, 2019, 10:27 am
by Pway
Due to July heat and wind I missed my second Dithiopyr app. Also I let some creeping charlie goat the same time due to heat. I think I also under watered in the drought. The lawn did rally nicely in September and October. Couple lessons learned and my summer mistakes will not be repeated.

Re: How Do You Rate The 2019 Season For Your Lawn?

Posted: November 24th, 2019, 2:17 pm
by Green
Andy: thank you.

I voted for best season ever because I reduced the amount of Triv considerably, mostly via Spring Roundup and reseed in some areas (not easy, but doable), got at least half of the low input area growing well (after overseeding last Fall and Winter), got the irrigation system improved in the front (rearranging some things and learned to do some of it myself), and got my fertilizer program more fine-tuned. Also, no Brown Patch, Dollar Spot, or Red Thread outbreaks while on the Serenade. But it wasn't 100% a perfect year either...I still battled Rust between August and now.

Re: How Do You Rate The 2019 Season For Your Lawn?

Posted: November 24th, 2019, 5:48 pm
by Ruxie88
Learned a ton this year. Chose "B". Successes- less weed pressure, fall overseed, soil improvements & getting on a routine of good cultural practices. Focus in 2020 will be better controlling fungal diseases and thatch.

Re: How Do You Rate The 2019 Season For Your Lawn?

Posted: November 25th, 2019, 4:24 pm
by jimmo
Moving towards a lower input / more organic lawn and testing what can and can't be dropped without noticeable impact. It's been interesting. Mostly we get indoctrinated by the lawn industry or by our peers on what we "should" do. Didn't do a pre-emergent application in the spring and had only very minimal crabgrass show up - same as years when I used a pre-emergent. Still a couple small areas right along curb and driveway that's hot dry and miserable and get a bit of crab grass late in season, but easily pulled. If you have thick grass that you mow high, there's no place for crabgrass to get hold. For the third straight year, didn't do a grub-ex application, and didn't miss it. Any place I dig in the yard, I find grubs but apparently I have a healthy population that may even have a symbiotic relationship with my grass roots...a little root pruning can actually reinvigorate root growth. Finally, no spring fertilizer application and coincidence or not, no fungal diseases this year. The multiple fall nitrogen applications got me to Memorial Day.

I'm no expert, but finding I can reduce a lot of the chemicals put on a normal lawn without adverse results. Granted, I'm not going for a mono-culture masterpiece, but a healthy no-mix for kids and pets to use. And still looking better than most of my neighbor's lawns. I think the key lawn tenets still apply...mow high (4" for me in summer) to suppress weed pressure and hold moisture longer, mulch mow leaves and grass clippings for improved soil makeup, and add a couple key fall nitrogen applications. The rest is just tweaking around the edges.

Re: How Do You Rate The 2019 Season For Your Lawn?

Posted: November 27th, 2019, 1:40 pm
by KnickLeDime
Honestly, I'm not sure how it could have gone better considering what I started with a year ago this time.

Went from this...

Image

to this...


Image

Re: How Do You Rate The 2019 Season For Your Lawn?

Posted: November 27th, 2019, 2:09 pm
by andy10917
Very, very nice!

Re: How Do You Rate The 2019 Season For Your Lawn?

Posted: November 27th, 2019, 2:24 pm
by KnickLeDime
andy10917 wrote:
November 27th, 2019, 2:09 pm
Very, very nice!
I forgot to include that there are still area's to work on, the overseed with an elite cultivar went great. I could NOT have done it without the knowledge, encouragement and support of a number of folks here. Not gonna lie, was a lot of work especially prepping for overseed, raking, covering the seed up on that large a lawn but very satisfying to see results.

From here on out, I plan to maintain and enhance with a strong fertilization plan. There's still a few thin area's if you look close that will close up with time. But that was quite a transformation in one growing season.

Thank you again to all.

Re: How Do You Rate The 2019 Season For Your Lawn?

Posted: November 28th, 2019, 6:21 am
by fun4me2
I chose D
Unlike KnickLeDime BTW yours looks terrific!
my lawn went the reverse...

from this in may
Image

to this in august (see upper part of picture)
Image

to this in October (after reseeded august)
Image

Re: How Do You Rate The 2019 Season For Your Lawn?

Posted: November 29th, 2019, 5:25 pm
by agn015
I voted B: It was very good, and met most of my expectations. I had some summer damage in full sun areas but that thickened up tremendously under the aggressive N regimen this fall. I was hoping my shady areas would thicken up under the regimen too but summer/fall rust has caused some thinning with aggressive N. I know what to pay attention to now for next season. I’m also really excited to see the results of my 5th year soil test.

Re: How Do You Rate The 2019 Season For Your Lawn?

Posted: November 30th, 2019, 10:29 am
by HoosierLawnGnome
C+

My turf species just doesn't do well over the summer as short as it gets cut. I'm doing some things to mod my reels to get them up a bit higher.

Re: How Do You Rate The 2019 Season For Your Lawn?

Posted: November 30th, 2019, 10:30 pm
by starpartyguy
This year 1/3 to 1/2 of my lawn was dead by end of Summer. Thanks to all the people that helped me get the ground back in shape for seeding and a bit of help from above my lawn now is 90+% green.

Looking forward to seeing my lawn emerge out of the Winter freeze that should be here soon.

What I learned:

Get a soil test.
The advantages of using organic fertilizers and treatments like Milorganite and humic acid.
Learning that throwing grass is not the same as mulching grass.
Found that the dead grass between the blades of grass is not thatch.

Things for next year:

Soil test
Pre-emergent in the Spring (Prodiamine probably) rather than the Scotts Halts.
A healthy application of Milorganite once a month.
Iron Sulfate
Liquid aeration (can't do mechanical aeration. Shallow wires in back)
And a bunch of other stuff...

Again, thanks to everyone who offered advice. And Merry Christmas!

Re: How Do You Rate The 2019 Season For Your Lawn?

Posted: December 4th, 2019, 12:26 pm
by Tarank
This was my first year getting a soil test and making amendments. Despite having a very low TEC and acidic soil I was able to get the lawn looking great. It sticks out in the neighborhood and exceeds my expectations. I don't need to have a 'perfect' monoculture, I'm happy with mostly weed–free thick green grass.