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Who Is Making Big Changes in 2020?

Posted: December 15th, 2019, 9:14 am
by andy10917
Now that the 2019 season is in the rearview mirror, it's time to start looking forward to 2020.

Who is considering making big changes to their lawn/landscaping in 2020, and why do you plan to make the effort/investment next season?

Re: Who Is Making Big Changes in 2020?

Posted: December 17th, 2019, 4:22 pm
by Green
One thing I'll be doing in the Spring, is fixing up an area that is low-lying and has poor soil structure, and then doing a Spring KBG renovation on that area using a monostand of a low-growing cultivar. As soon as it's warm enough, I'll be examining the soil structure and posting in my 2019 thread. After that, I need to add some rudimentary drainage aids to combat the pooling that occurs. This will likely include digging a drainage trench or two. And then when I kill and before I seed, I'll topdress with a firmer, more sandy soil, possibly making some micro-drainage channels with a drill as well. Right now, it's basically Poa Trivialis, northern mix, and dirt. This will be a big project for me.

I'll also be reevaluating my fertilizer plan to see if I can tweak/improve even more on it. This may result in a higher annual amount of N applied, and a slight rearrangement of the timings. I'm also researching more about methylene ureas, and will try to source fertilizer with a higher percentage of them for the slow release benefits since I don't have time to be doing tons of N apps anymore. Organics and conventional coated slow release technology has its limits, but methylene urea may be the solution. I've had good results with it so far, but have only used fertilizers with at most 25% of it.

Re: Who Is Making Big Changes in 2020?

Posted: January 17th, 2020, 11:20 am
by Mistergreen
This guy right here. I just signed up to the forum to educate myself on ways to improve my lawn. I've been living in my current home for 2 and a half years now. I've got about 20K sq. ft. of lawn space and it's about half crabgrass right now. Our first year I decided to hire TruGreen to help eradicate the crabgrass. After a year with them it seemed like they were planting crabgrass seeds because it just got worse (my guess is they applied the PE too late). So I ended that. Now it's mid January here in Southeast Pennsylvania and I'm looking out at all the brown crabgrass in my lawn and decided to tackle this myself.

My first step is to take some soil samples and drop them off at my local Penn State extension for analysis to see where things are at. I'm also looking into a tow behind sprayer. Any other advice would be greatly appreciated.

Re: Who Is Making Big Changes in 2020?

Posted: January 17th, 2020, 1:21 pm
by andy10917
Welcome!

If you want to have your soil test interpreted by the folks here, and a go-forward plan created for you (for free!) then you need to have the soil test performed at Logan Labs, as we can't as volunteers know the testing suite of every lab in North America. You can find how to best do the testing by reading the "sticky thread" at the top of the Soils and Compost Forum - it has all the details you'll need.

Also, please update your Profile to specify that Harleysville is Harleysville, PA -- someone in Kansas would have no idea where you are and you could get advice that is wrong for your area.

Re: Who Is Making Big Changes in 2020?

Posted: January 17th, 2020, 3:30 pm
by Mistergreen
Thanks so much, Andy. I'll check out that sticky now. Just changed my profile info as well.

Re: Who Is Making Big Changes in 2020?

Posted: January 24th, 2020, 2:31 pm
by KnickLeDime
Mistergreen wrote:
January 17th, 2020, 11:20 am
This guy right here. I just signed up to the forum to educate myself on ways to improve my lawn. I've been living in my current home for 2 and a half years now. I've got about 20K sq. ft. of lawn space and it's about half crabgrass right now. Our first year I decided to hire TruGreen to help eradicate the crabgrass. After a year with them it seemed like they were planting crabgrass seeds because it just got worse (my guess is they applied the PE too late). So I ended that. Now it's mid January here in Southeast Pennsylvania and I'm looking out at all the brown crabgrass in my lawn and decided to tackle this myself.

My first step is to take some soil samples and drop them off at my local Penn State extension for analysis to see where things are at. I'm also looking into a tow behind sprayer. Any other advice would be greatly appreciated.
Joining this forum is the best thin you've ever done for your lawn if you aren't lazy. I joined about a year and a half ago...here is a link to my journey if curious. Can't wait to get going this year...

viewtopic.php?f=13&t=24624

Re: Who Is Making Big Changes in 2020?

Posted: January 27th, 2020, 5:16 pm
by northeastlawn
I had a disappointing year last year with the KBG I put in 3 years ago. I am having second thoughts how much of the grass that came in was KBG and how much was POA Annual that has always plagued the lawn. The early April seed-heads showed me how much POA Annua seeds are in my lawn and getting through the Fall pre-M I put down. The Tenacity apps have never killed it 100%.

Last summer was the first year I legitimately tried stretching the watering, and I got a lot of POA Annua to die off, but much of it came back in the fall with seed heads and all. I pulled a lot of it, but I just have doubts on how much KBG I am really working with.

This year I will either try and find some decent KBG SOD and do some edges and bare patches with the plugger, or overseed with PR.

I am close to giving up on counting on Tenacity to take care of mature POA Annua, I may just wait until Memorial Day then RU the lime green parts and overseed with PR.

Re: Who Is Making Big Changes in 2020?

Posted: March 3rd, 2020, 11:50 am
by Mistergreen
KnickLeDime wrote:
January 24th, 2020, 2:31 pm
Mistergreen wrote:
January 17th, 2020, 11:20 am
This guy right here. I just signed up to the forum to educate myself on ways to improve my lawn. I've been living in my current home for 2 and a half years now. I've got about 20K sq. ft. of lawn space and it's about half crabgrass right now. Our first year I decided to hire TruGreen to help eradicate the crabgrass. After a year with them it seemed like they were planting crabgrass seeds because it just got worse (my guess is they applied the PE too late). So I ended that. Now it's mid January here in Southeast Pennsylvania and I'm looking out at all the brown crabgrass in my lawn and decided to tackle this myself.

My first step is to take some soil samples and drop them off at my local Penn State extension for analysis to see where things are at. I'm also looking into a tow behind sprayer. Any other advice would be greatly appreciated.
Joining this forum is the best thin you've ever done for your lawn if you aren't lazy. I joined about a year and a half ago...here is a link to my journey if curious. Can't wait to get going this year...

viewtopic.php?f=13&t=24624
Thanks!!