jskierko's Fall 2020 Bewitched Front Renovation

Discuss how to and whether you should renovate your lawn
jskierko
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Re: jskierko's Fall 2020 Bewitched Front Renovation

Post by jskierko » August 14th, 2020, 10:47 pm

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8/13 was seed down day. Got everything done: seed, starter w/ meso, rolled, 14 bales of peat, watered. Per my step tracker, it was my 2nd highest total ever recorded in the 3 years I've been wearing it (highest was a half marathon day). I was absolutely gassed by the end of the day. I will say it is strangely satisfying seeing the dirt washing down the shower drain after a hard day's work.

Biggest setback on seed down day was attempting to roll where I had brought in soil to try to level some low spots. I had watered the evening before to soften the soil and those particular areas were absolute mud pits. Quite a bit stuck to roller, so it was hard to get a good gauge of how evenly seed was distributed. Worst case scenario I will reseed those in a few weeks and try to hand water, one of the perks of starting early I guess.

I had to adjust several irrigation heads and am still finalizing schedule based on observed time to attain full coverage. Let the waiting game begin.

schreibdave
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Re: jskierko's Fall 2020 Bewitched Front Renovation

Post by schreibdave » August 15th, 2020, 6:15 am

Looks great. I am basically at the same stage. Seed down, covered, rolled and now tweaking irrigation.

I agree that exhaustion from a lawn care project is a different kind of exhaustion.

What do your neighbor's think about your reno? Are they the type who will say "it looked fine to me, why'd you kill it?"

jskierko
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Re: jskierko's Fall 2020 Bewitched Front Renovation

Post by jskierko » August 15th, 2020, 9:32 pm

schreibdave wrote:
August 15th, 2020, 6:15 am
What do your neighbor's think about your reno? Are they the type who will say "it looked fine to me, why'd you kill it?"
I have had a little bit of everything in terms of responses. Very few understand as it did, in fact, look fine. I did have a guy who moved onto the street within the last month come down, ask me what I was planting and how I decided on type/cultivar, then proceed to tell me he was putting down "quinclorac and sedgehammer" today and will focus on the yard once he gets the inside of the house right. I was relieved to find out that other lawn crazed people do exist in real life and not just on the interwebs. I also had another lady stop by right as I was finishing up seed down activities and asked me "how much" to come do her backyard. I told her, "you picked the worst possible day and time to ask me that question".

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stack316
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Re: jskierko's Fall 2020 Bewitched Front Renovation

Post by stack316 » August 16th, 2020, 6:08 pm

Everything Looks great!!!....how much starter w/meso did you put down?

jskierko
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Re: jskierko's Fall 2020 Bewitched Front Renovation

Post by jskierko » August 17th, 2020, 1:56 pm

stack316 wrote:
August 16th, 2020, 6:08 pm
Everything Looks great!!!....how much starter w/meso did you put down?
I put down 2 full bags. Says it treats 5k sq ft per bag. I have about 8k. Have not put down any tenacity yet this year, so nowhere close to annual max. Did a quick look this morning (day 4 post seeding) and have seen some bleaching in the area between my property and my neighbor's where water tends to pool and lots of nutsedge thrives.

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jskierko
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Re: jskierko's Fall 2020 Bewitched Front Renovation

Post by jskierko » August 18th, 2020, 10:25 pm

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We have germination on the evening of Day 5 (8/18). It took some hunting, but there are a few early arrivals to the lawn party.

I unfortunately also got an inch of rain this morning with some heavy downpours mixed in. Areas where my buried downspouts drain out into the yard have clear lines of erosion and washout leading away from them. I will hope for the best in those areas.

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ken-n-nancy
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Re: jskierko's Fall 2020 Bewitched Front Renovation

Post by ken-n-nancy » August 19th, 2020, 7:59 am

jskierko wrote:
August 18th, 2020, 10:25 pm
We have germination on the evening of Day 5 (8/18). It took some hunting, but there are a few early arrivals to the lawn party.

I unfortunately also got an inch of rain this morning with some heavy downpours mixed in. Areas where my buried downspouts drain out into the yard have clear lines of erosion and washout leading away from them. I will hope for the best in those areas.
Congrats on initial germination of Bewitched at Day 5!

That's right on track -- Bewitched is a quick germinator for KBG, with what seems to usually be widespread germination on Day 7.

So sorry to hear about the washouts. Late summer thunderstorms and washouts are definitely the biggest threat to well-executed renovations! Been there. The good news is that with your early seed-down date, there's time to do supplemental seeding around Day 10 if there are bare patches.

On the other hand, if you're patient, it doesn't take a whole lot of germinated seed for KBG to fill in by the beginning of next summer. We had that experience in our 2018 renovation -- we decided to let extremely thin spots (most people would call them bare spots, but they weren't completely bare, there was typically about 1 tiny seedling in each section of about 3" x 3") fill in on their own. By the following June, they were decent (at least when viewed from a distance), and by a year later, you couldn't tell they had ever existed. It does require the "long view" but I was wary of extending the "germination watering" any longer than necessary to minimize the time when poa annua or poa trivialis could germinate from seeds already in the soil. For before and after pictures of some trouble spots from our renovation that year, see the below "before" and "after" pictures from our 2018 renovation thread:

Thin Spots at "Day 35" (2018-09-29):
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Thin Spots at "Day 277" (2019-05-28):
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Thin Spots at "Day 323" (2019-07-13):
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jskierko
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Re: jskierko's Fall 2020 Bewitched Front Renovation

Post by jskierko » August 19th, 2020, 10:52 am

Thanks K-N! I have read through your reno threads and even was showing my wife pictures of your 2015 reno just last night to show what progress is made filling in once you get to the peak of the first full growing season. And for the washouts, that was one of my thoughts for an early seed-down date, as we don't normally see frost until early to mid October. I knew that I'd have plenty of time to reseed bare areas.

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andy10917
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Re: jskierko's Fall 2020 Bewitched Front Renovation

Post by andy10917 » August 19th, 2020, 11:54 am

Except for very, very young seedlings (talking a couple of weeks max), frost does NOT harm new grass. We use first-frost dates to calculate things, only because they tend to indicate the approximate end-of-growing-season date (typically 3-4 weeks after first-frost.

schreibdave
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Re: jskierko's Fall 2020 Bewitched Front Renovation

Post by schreibdave » August 19th, 2020, 7:32 pm

jskierko wrote:
August 18th, 2020, 10:25 pm
Image

We have germination on the evening of Day 5 (8/18). It took some hunting, but there are a few early arrivals to the lawn party.

I unfortunately also got an inch of rain this morning with some heavy downpours mixed in. Areas where my buried downspouts drain out into the yard have clear lines of erosion and washout leading away from them. I will hope for the best in those areas.
Congrats. I also found 1 seedling on day 5 (yesterday) and a few more today. No downpours here yet but I am still dialing in my irrigation - I'm putting too much down.

jskierko
Posts: 72
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Location: Central Indiana
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Re: jskierko's Fall 2020 Bewitched Front Renovation

Post by jskierko » August 23rd, 2020, 7:54 am

DAY 10:
Getting pretty good germination throughout. I am finally able to see patches of green grass from a distance. I have highlighted some of the "problem areas" below.

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The area on the property line holds the sprinkler heads for this side of the yard. It sits at the lowest elevation, so water tends to pool right by the sprinkler heads. I have tried tweaking the irrigation (watering more frequently for 3-4 minutes per cycle), but this area doesn't seem to want to cooperate. This will be an area I will likely have to reseed and tend to by hand.

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Visible washout from the one storm we had on day 5. Tried leveling some low spots in this area before seeding so I didn't have anything other than peat to hold seed in place. I will tend to this area once surrounding areas get established.

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Good, even germination. I seeded at 2.7 lbs/k and, with a lot of sticking to the roller and redistributing in the bare/leveled areas, I may have some areas that are more dense than desirable. Overall though I am pleased with how things are progressing at this stage.

schreibdave
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Re: jskierko's Fall 2020 Bewitched Front Renovation

Post by schreibdave » August 23rd, 2020, 9:09 am

Looks great. I think you are a day or so ahead of me.

jskierko
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Re: jskierko's Fall 2020 Bewitched Front Renovation

Post by jskierko » August 29th, 2020, 9:25 pm

Day 15 Update Pics:
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ken-n-nancy
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Re: jskierko's Fall 2020 Bewitched Front Renovation

Post by ken-n-nancy » August 30th, 2020, 2:07 am

Looking awesome for day 15 on a Bewitched renovation! Boy, does an early seed-down date really make a big difference!

jskierko
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Re: jskierko's Fall 2020 Bewitched Front Renovation

Post by jskierko » September 4th, 2020, 12:09 pm

Day 15 (28-Aug) Top vs
Day 22 (4-Sep) Bottom
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ken-n-nancy
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Re: jskierko's Fall 2020 Bewitched Front Renovation

Post by ken-n-nancy » September 4th, 2020, 1:58 pm

jskierko wrote:
September 4th, 2020, 12:09 pm
Day 15 (28-Aug) Top vs Day 22 (4-Sep) Bottom
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Nice! Patience is rewarded!

jskierko
Posts: 72
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Location: Central Indiana
Grass Type: Northern Mix
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Re: jskierko's Fall 2020 Bewitched Front Renovation

Post by jskierko » September 4th, 2020, 5:26 pm

Day 15 (28-Aug) Top vs
Day 22 (4-Sep) Bottom
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Image

jskierko
Posts: 72
Joined: May 10th, 2019, 9:27 pm
Location: Central Indiana
Grass Type: Northern Mix
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Re: jskierko's Fall 2020 Bewitched Front Renovation

Post by jskierko » September 12th, 2020, 1:08 pm

Day 30 (top)
Day 22 (middle)
Day 15 (bottom)

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jskierko
Posts: 72
Joined: May 10th, 2019, 9:27 pm
Location: Central Indiana
Grass Type: Northern Mix
Lawn Size: 10000-20000
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Re: jskierko's Fall 2020 Bewitched Front Renovation

Post by jskierko » September 12th, 2020, 1:10 pm

Day 30 (top)
Day 22 (middle)
Day 15 (bottom)

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jskierko
Posts: 72
Joined: May 10th, 2019, 9:27 pm
Location: Central Indiana
Grass Type: Northern Mix
Lawn Size: 10000-20000
Level: Some Experience

Re: jskierko's Fall 2020 Bewitched Front Renovation

Post by jskierko » September 12th, 2020, 1:12 pm

Day 30 (top)
Day 22 (middle)
Day 15 (bottom)

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