Turn The Page (or maybe "Welcome to 2021")

Kentucky bluegrass, Fescue, Rye and Bent, etc
Post Reply
User avatar
andy10917
Posts: 29739
Joined: February 23rd, 2009, 10:48 pm
Location: NY (Lower Hudson Valley)
Grass Type: Emblem KBG (Front); Blueberry KBG Monostand (Back)
Lawn Size: 1 acre-2 acre
Level: Advanced

Turn The Page (or maybe "Welcome to 2021")

Post by andy10917 » September 1st, 2020, 7:04 pm

In my lawn/garden diary, September 1st is the start of the next year's Lawn Year. What you do in the next 3 months directly affects the first half of 2021 lawn/work, and indirectly affects the whole 2021 season (getting ahead means never looking back).

- substantially lower "winter weed" and Poa Annua populations in the Spring, if Fall Pre-M used
- lower perennial weed population if you apply post-M herbicides in the early Fall (best time of the year)
- no real need for fertilizers until at least mid-May if you load up Nitrogen as carbohydrates
- best shot in the year to get free OM


Suggestion: don't waste this opporttunity, or face the possibility of chasing problem after problem (behind the curve) in 2021. You're exact timing may change by your location, but here in the Hudson Valley, it's all lined up for this Labor Day weekend

bpgreen
Posts: 3871
Joined: January 3rd, 2009, 2:28 am
Location: Utah (Wasatch Front)
Grass Type: Western, Streambank, Crested wheatgrass in front (with blue grama added in the heckstrips), sheep fescue in back; strawberry clovetr in both
Lawn Size: 3000-5000
Level: Experienced

Re: Turn The Page (or maybe "Welcome to 2021")

Post by bpgreen » September 2nd, 2020, 1:14 am

I've stopped grabbing OPL after getting too many bags with other than leaves, even from people telling me that was all that was in the bag.

My sprinkler system broke this year, and I got .25 inch of rain during July and August combined. I hand watered some spots, but I'm guessing I've got big areas where dormant turned to dead. But I've got a bunch of blue grama seed in the freezer, so I'll dormant seed the bare spots. Dormant seeding is basically my only option.

Blue grama (and my other native and naturalized grasses) is basically ignored by lawn care companies, so I have no idea what's safe to use. I also have clover (Dutch white and strawberry)
on purpose. So I use nothing. I pull weeds by hand.

August was record breaking hot. It cooled off for a couple of days, but it's supposed to heat up again.

And first frost is usually early October.

User avatar
MorpheusPA
Posts: 18129
Joined: March 5th, 2009, 7:32 pm
Location: Zone 6 (Eastern PA)
Grass Type: Elite KBG
Lawn Size: 10000-20000
Level: Advanced

Re: Turn The Page (or maybe "Welcome to 2021")

Post by MorpheusPA » September 2nd, 2020, 1:35 am

BP's year sounds fun. :-)

Mine was odd due to COVID, involving a limited budget and limited travel. I substituted synthetics and Milo for the usual soybean meal, although I had some leftover from last year.

Prodiamine went down at the 9 month level last week. I did the Labor Day feeding on Sunday, about half synthetic and half Milo, for a grand total of 1.5 pounds of nitrogen (I tend to hit August modestly and organically, September really hard, October pretty hard). Normally it would all be organic, but this year...not so much.

I don't take OPL even if it were pure leaves (I've had the same experience as BP, although from my mother's place, I know it's leaves or leaves and grass, which I'm fine with). Most around here are infested with P. annua. Better safe than sorry.

My current weed pressure is nil except for some amusing ones in the dormant sections that remain--mostly stuff seeding out from the garden. I'm ignoring it, it won't survive two mowings or first frost (two mowings comes first), much less the grass returning. The couple that were a bit more threatening got a shot of Tenacity and are currently dying.

So I'm good to go.

My only miss this year? I haven't blogged. I've been immersed in painting, dealing with stuff and life and disaster after disaster, and just haven't done it.

User avatar
ken-n-nancy
Posts: 2571
Joined: July 17th, 2014, 3:58 pm
Location: Bedford, NH
Grass Type: Front: KBG (Bewitched+Prosperity); Side: Bewitched KBG; Back: Fine Fescue Blend + Prosperity
Lawn Size: 10000-20000
Level: Experienced

Re: Turn The Page (or maybe "Welcome to 2021")

Post by ken-n-nancy » September 2nd, 2020, 3:19 am

I've found the biggest systemic change in our lawn care in the last 7 years has been switching from being in the "reactionary" mode of responding to the latest problem, whether it be improper mowing or lack of fertilization or lack of water or weeds or disease, and instead being in an "anticipatory" mode of preventing problems before they happen, through proper mowing frequency at the right height, proper fertilization by the season for the lawn needs, recognizing the need for water (drought stress) before it's too late, having most weed battles be through pre-emergents, and preventatively applying biofungicides or fungicides before disease strikes.

Being anticipatory - preventing problems before they happen - is a real key to successful lawn care. The whole strategy of getting ahead of problems is readily apparent in Andy's description above, realizing that now (the fall of 2020) is the time to set the stage for a great spring in 2021.

User avatar
andy10917
Posts: 29739
Joined: February 23rd, 2009, 10:48 pm
Location: NY (Lower Hudson Valley)
Grass Type: Emblem KBG (Front); Blueberry KBG Monostand (Back)
Lawn Size: 1 acre-2 acre
Level: Advanced

Re: Turn The Page (or maybe "Welcome to 2021")

Post by andy10917 » September 2nd, 2020, 7:01 am

Being anticipatory - preventing problems before they happen - is a real key to successful lawn care. The whole strategy of getting ahead of problems is readily apparent in Andy's description above, realizing that now (the fall of 2020) is the time to set the stage for a great spring in 2021.
Amen. Due to commitments doing construction on one son's home this year, and helping getting another son's home ready for sale, I wasn't quite as far ahead of managing staying ahead of the the curve during the 2020 season as I'd like, and I paid dearly in $$$$$ costs and time - I got a bad infestation of Japanese Stiltgrass in the Back Yard. That could have been avoided with an hour's effort with a Pre-M if it had been done on-time, but I didn't do it. Instead, I wound up with $100 in herbicide costs and tons of effort to keep it in check. Ugh!!

For less-experienced members that want to move to the next level, learning to anticipate is the single biggest change you can make. An hour spent applying a Pre-M when the Forsythia bloom avoids weeks of fighting a lost-war against crabgrass in August, and getting the grass seed you want in April saves tons of effort scrambling to find a few lbs of it in July or August. Sometimes the paybacks are as high as 10:1.


mvftw
Posts: 34
Joined: May 15th, 2020, 12:00 pm
Location: Long Island
Grass Type: Northern Mix
Lawn Size: 1000-3000
Level: Some Experience

Re: Turn The Page (or maybe "Welcome to 2021")

Post by mvftw » September 2nd, 2020, 1:42 pm

Keep us posted on when to put down Fall Pre-M. Do you wait till the soil temp. is close to 55*?
Also when to put down Fall Post-M?

User avatar
andy10917
Posts: 29739
Joined: February 23rd, 2009, 10:48 pm
Location: NY (Lower Hudson Valley)
Grass Type: Emblem KBG (Front); Blueberry KBG Monostand (Back)
Lawn Size: 1 acre-2 acre
Level: Advanced

Re: Turn The Page (or maybe "Welcome to 2021")

Post by andy10917 » September 2nd, 2020, 7:46 pm

I cannot offer more specific advice for your area then "when the soil temperatures begin dropping".

For Fall Post-M, the answer is when the lawn (and the weeds) perk up - that means the metabolism is gearing up.

edslawn
Posts: 475
Joined: July 2nd, 2019, 9:22 pm
Location: South Central PA
Grass Type: Northern Mix
Lawn Size: 20000-1 acre
Level: Some Experience

Re: Turn The Page (or maybe "Welcome to 2021")

Post by edslawn » September 3rd, 2020, 8:06 am

Thanks for the reminder Andy! I second KnN's comments. My mind in the Fall is now conditioned to Andy's checklist... Prodiamine down, wake-up milo going down on Saturday and already starting to get some leaves to mulch for OM. I have some woody weeds starting to get a little active, so I'll be hitting these.

My big issues now are getting the new sod to root and drain properly and some dog urine damage due to confusion caused by the back yard reno. I created a "sod nursery" and I'll patch this up as they learn the new routines (no, go to the chips, go to the chips, dammit, go to the f*&^*^ chips!! :) ).

My poor wife gets confused and gives me strange looks when I tell her that we can't travel certain weekends during the year due to lawn duties :). COVID has helped with that, but it can be hard to stay on schedule, but it is soooo worth the effort. Thanks to everyone here for helping me to learn and build good habits.

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 20 guests