No turning back now

Kentucky bluegrass, Fescue, Rye and Bent, etc
Dave
Posts: 259
Joined: May 29th, 2009, 2:51 pm
Location: Long Island NY
Grass Type: Front: Blue Velvet, Blueberry and Boutique. Rear lawn: NOT elite so who cares.
Lawn Size: Not Specified
Level: Not Specified

Re: No turning back now

Post by Dave » September 29th, 2009, 10:17 am

I applied more starter fertilizer yesterday. Is there anything more I should be adding to the soil right now?

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Drinyth
Posts: 586
Joined: July 31st, 2009, 12:12 pm
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Grass Type: KBG - Award, Bewitched, Kingfisher
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Re: No turning back now

Post by Drinyth » September 29th, 2009, 11:23 am

Looking good there, Dave! Did you ever reseed that back area that was looking a little thinner? I didn't see any pictures of that in the latest shots.

I can't think of anything more that you'd want to add in addition to the fertilizer. I mean, there are always things that you *could* add, but nothing that I can think of as being essential at this point.

Bestlawn
Posts: 819
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Re: No turning back now

Post by Bestlawn » September 29th, 2009, 12:18 pm

Yep, you can mow it. I can't exactly tell how long your new blades are, but they do appear to be at least 2 inches and slightly taller. That's not too soon. The first mowing is essential to promote tillering but also promotes root growth. You'll have to test for mowing height to be sure you don't remove more than 1/3, so set the mower high initially to see if you need a lower setting. All you really want is to remove a little something.

After this first mowing, allow the grass to regular mowing height.

Dave
Posts: 259
Joined: May 29th, 2009, 2:51 pm
Location: Long Island NY
Grass Type: Front: Blue Velvet, Blueberry and Boutique. Rear lawn: NOT elite so who cares.
Lawn Size: Not Specified
Level: Not Specified

Re: No turning back now

Post by Dave » September 29th, 2009, 1:45 pm

I never did reseed the back area since I moved on with the watering schedule and would have a hard time keeping the seeds moist. I may dormant seed.

Mallory,

The pictures may be deceiving but I would say that 90% of the blades are less than 2 inches tall. They just don't seem to be growing any taller.

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turf_toes
Posts: 6042
Joined: December 17th, 2008, 8:46 pm
Location: Central NJ
Grass Type: 77% Blueberry/23% Midnight Star KBG in front. Bewitched KBG monostand in back.
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Level: Not Specified

Re: No turning back now

Post by turf_toes » September 29th, 2009, 7:24 pm

Dave,

In my experience, the grass didn't really see a lot of top growth until the summer following my renovation. It actually kind of looked lumpy. But once summer came it really picked up.


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Drinyth
Posts: 586
Joined: July 31st, 2009, 12:12 pm
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Grass Type: KBG - Award, Bewitched, Kingfisher
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Re: No turning back now

Post by Drinyth » September 29th, 2009, 7:43 pm

Thanks for the feedback, TT. My lawn seems to be doing the KBG pout too. And with temperatures heading down, I don't expect much more top growth this year (hopefully I get a few more weeks of root growth, though).

I like knowing what to expect from all you other renovators.

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IwantItgreen
Posts: 149
Joined: June 5th, 2009, 9:45 am
Location: SE South Dakota
Grass Type: Midnight, MoonShadow, Bedazzled KBG
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Re: No turning back now

Post by IwantItgreen » September 29th, 2009, 9:53 pm

Yep, mine's at a stand-still also. We're expecting rain tomorrow night & Thursday, so maybe that will give the stragglers a boost. Nights are cool - 38 last night.

Dave
Posts: 259
Joined: May 29th, 2009, 2:51 pm
Location: Long Island NY
Grass Type: Front: Blue Velvet, Blueberry and Boutique. Rear lawn: NOT elite so who cares.
Lawn Size: Not Specified
Level: Not Specified

Re: No turning back now

Post by Dave » October 11th, 2009, 5:49 pm

Sunday Oct 11. 47 days after seeding

Today the new lawn got its first cut. I also put down calcitic lime.




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jglongisland
Posts: 7395
Joined: May 30th, 2009, 2:56 pm
Location: Long Island
Grass Type: KBG
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Re: No turning back now

Post by jglongisland » October 11th, 2009, 6:53 pm

That's about the best looking reno we've seen on the boards; I don't see any Poa A or T, let alone weeds (ok, maybe half a dozen broadleafs in one shot).

We have another 3 weeks or so of growth on LI; that's going to kick but next April/May. You are so ahead of where most of us were at this point its unbelievable.

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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: No turning back now

Post by andy10917 » October 11th, 2009, 11:06 pm

That was my first reaction, too - "where are the weeds?". Nice!

Dave
Posts: 259
Joined: May 29th, 2009, 2:51 pm
Location: Long Island NY
Grass Type: Front: Blue Velvet, Blueberry and Boutique. Rear lawn: NOT elite so who cares.
Lawn Size: Not Specified
Level: Not Specified

Re: No turning back now

Post by Dave » October 11th, 2009, 11:36 pm

Oh I got weeds in there. I did go around last week with a paintbrush and RU and touched all the broadleaf weeds. There is also a lot of clover and chickweed. I will use Ortho on that in May or June. Crabgrass will get the halts treatment in March so that should take care of that. I guess next spring the KBG should do its thing and fill in all the holes.

Ohio2112
Posts: 1188
Joined: August 28th, 2009, 1:00 am
Location: Northeast Ohio
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Re: No turning back now

Post by Ohio2112 » October 12th, 2009, 12:53 am

The lawn looks absolutely fantastic!!

One question about the paintbrush and ru bit. If you are taking the time to paint the weeds, why not just pull them?

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Drinyth
Posts: 586
Joined: July 31st, 2009, 12:12 pm
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Grass Type: KBG - Award, Bewitched, Kingfisher
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Re: No turning back now

Post by Drinyth » October 12th, 2009, 8:07 am

Very, very nice Dave! Your coverage is putting my lawn renovation to shame. Great work!

Dave
Posts: 259
Joined: May 29th, 2009, 2:51 pm
Location: Long Island NY
Grass Type: Front: Blue Velvet, Blueberry and Boutique. Rear lawn: NOT elite so who cares.
Lawn Size: Not Specified
Level: Not Specified

Re: No turning back now

Post by Dave » October 12th, 2009, 9:43 am

Ohio2112 wrote:The lawn looks absolutely fantastic!!

One question about the paintbrush and ru bit. If you are taking the time to paint the weeds, why not just pull them?

2 reasons.

First, If I don't get the root, it will just come back. I'm 99.9% sure if I paint a broadleaf weed with RU. It is history. The chickweed and clover are too close to the grass blades so I don't touch those.

Second, It is almost impossible to grab just the weed and not grab a few new blades of grass.

tiemco
Posts: 1134
Joined: June 24th, 2009, 10:37 pm
Location: Southwest CT (coastal)
Grass Type: TTTF (Firecracker LS, Faith, Cochise IV, 3rd Millenium SRP) front. Leaves covering whatever was left of supina and triv in back (fallowing).
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Level: Not Specified

Re: No turning back now

Post by tiemco » October 12th, 2009, 10:06 pm

That looks great now, going to be awesome next year. It already looks better than the neighbor's (picture 4).

Dave
Posts: 259
Joined: May 29th, 2009, 2:51 pm
Location: Long Island NY
Grass Type: Front: Blue Velvet, Blueberry and Boutique. Rear lawn: NOT elite so who cares.
Lawn Size: Not Specified
Level: Not Specified

Re: No turning back now

Post by Dave » October 13th, 2009, 9:50 am

tiemco wrote:That looks great now, going to be awesome next year. It already looks better than the neighbor's (picture 4).

And hes NOT too happy about it. "Nothing will look as good as my KBG sod lawn" he told me.

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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: No turning back now

Post by andy10917 » October 13th, 2009, 10:00 am

He meant "other than a hand-nursed elite KBG lawn". Most people have never seen one.

Hey, Dave - it may be time to change your Profile and take down the "Grass Type: Mix". The only "mix" you've got is the "mixed nuts" you deal with on this site.

tiemco
Posts: 1134
Joined: June 24th, 2009, 10:37 pm
Location: Southwest CT (coastal)
Grass Type: TTTF (Firecracker LS, Faith, Cochise IV, 3rd Millenium SRP) front. Leaves covering whatever was left of supina and triv in back (fallowing).
Lawn Size: Not Specified
Level: Not Specified

Re: No turning back now

Post by tiemco » October 13th, 2009, 7:12 pm

Dave wrote: And hes NOT too happy about it. "Nothing will look as good as my KBG sod lawn" he told me.
Sod layers think they are so cool, but they are just lazy. I am kidding of course, but the guy across the street layed KBG sod this year. His soil prep was a joke, and it was layed poorly, but it still grew nicely. He neglected to cut it regularly, and some of it was killed by fungus this summer. When he did cut it, it was so long that he was cutting a lot more than 1/3 of the blades, maybe even more than 1/2. He also mulch mowed, so by the next day it was covered with dried up clippings which looked terrible and was not good for the grass. I have never seen him fertilize. Now his once dark green lawn looks like a below average, run of the mill pasture.

Dave
Posts: 259
Joined: May 29th, 2009, 2:51 pm
Location: Long Island NY
Grass Type: Front: Blue Velvet, Blueberry and Boutique. Rear lawn: NOT elite so who cares.
Lawn Size: Not Specified
Level: Not Specified

Re: No turning back now

Post by Dave » May 11th, 2010, 8:51 pm

Well it has been a tough spring. I put down Halts on March 11th and then left the country for almost a month. I came back to some POA, clover, chickweed and broadleaf weeds. I was NOT happy with the weeds and the thinness of the lawn. I didn't take any pictures simply because I wanted to throw up when I looked at the lawn. I immediately sprayed the lawn with weed b gone and also applied RU to some of the weeds. I waited about 10 days and then hit the lawn with weed b gone clover/chickweed killer. On the POA I used RU and also pulled a lot by hand. It was only in a few areas so I can hopefully contain it with pre emergent.

After 3 weeks of attacking the weeds the lawn looked better. I finally put down the urea on April 20th. I applied more than the formula calls for since I have low Ph(around 5.5). I actually burned 2 spots but no big deal since it will fill in. I can see the lawn starting to get thicker now. The urea really helped. I am thinking about another application of urea maybe in early june, what do you guys think about that?

Here are some pics I took this evening around 6pm. You can see some areas are darker than others. If I can get the lawn to thicken up and become 1 dark color I will feel better. Not sure how long that will take.


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jglongisland
Posts: 7395
Joined: May 30th, 2009, 2:56 pm
Location: Long Island
Grass Type: KBG
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Re: No turning back now

Post by jglongisland » May 11th, 2010, 9:02 pm

That looks great for the first spring. I'd be careful with Urea from here on out; Milorganite every 2-3 weeks will give you plenty of N and help the soil (and give you iron).

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