Scott’s Fall 2020 Renovation

Discuss how to and whether you should renovate your lawn
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scottf4
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Scott’s Fall 2020 Renovation

Post by scottf4 » September 3rd, 2020, 10:46 am

I moved into a new house about a year ago. I had my struggles at the last place, but I was eventually able to turn that lawn into a really solid one. The new house’s lawn was a disaster, however. The front had barely any grass left, a combination of just dirt and every weed imaginable. The back had a mix of weeds and grass. Through some proper cultural practices, I turned the back around. Mowing high, timely nitrogen, and some spot spraying made it better than my neighbors’ professionally managed yards. It’s far from perfect, but with some additional work this fall and next (Reno of ~1/4 of it), I think it’ll be very good for a dog yard.

Now, I’m onto a complete renovation in the front, totaling 2.5K sqft. I sprayed glyphosate starting 8/1, scalped a week later, and applied more glyphosate one week after that. Since then, only a couple weeds have popped up. I’m bringing in some dirt Tomorrow for leveling certain areas and building a flower bed. What should I do about a ~10sqft patch of clover that has come through sporadically? The other weeds I will hand pull, just not sure about that area. Otherwise, I hope to have dirt spread, seed down, raked and rolled in, and topped with 5 bags of peat moss this weekend. My seed is a tall fescue blend from Stock Seed Farms called Defiance XRE. The varieties performed well in the NTEP trials near me, and the dark green color with fine blades appealed to me. Not convinced on the impact of the rhizomes, we will see. I know most love KGB on here, but it is tough to maintain with our summers here these days. If anyone has any feedback on my plan, please let me know! Love reading the forum and all of your great information. Say a prayer to the “light drizzling rain gods” for me.

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stack316
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Re: Scott’s Fall 2020 Renovation

Post by stack316 » September 3rd, 2020, 12:03 pm

Personally I would put the dirt down, Roll it, if possible, and water it in. (Continue sporadic watering for at least a week)See what kind of weed seeds are in that dirt....initial putting dirt down will look level but things will change after a little time...see how level those areas are after the dirt settles for a week (preferably longer) before seeding etc.and then do a blanket glyphosate the day before seed down to kill the clover and any other seeds that show up Check out my TTTF renovation and how quickly it is going. Think a week more would really help with weed suppression and leveling. But this is my opinion....good luck have fun

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MorpheusPA
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Re: Scott’s Fall 2020 Renovation

Post by MorpheusPA » September 3rd, 2020, 12:59 pm

Spray the clover with glyphosate and don't worry about it. You can drop soil atop it about 2 seconds later if you have to, much less the following day. Some may still come back (there's probably some seed in the soil), but you sure won't see that clover again.

Source: Been there, done that.

scottf4
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Re: Scott’s Fall 2020 Renovation

Post by scottf4 » September 3rd, 2020, 7:38 pm

I think you guys both make good points. Ideally, I would’ve had the soil in here a week ago, but it just didn’t work out. I should mention it’s not much leveling, just a few areas around the driveway. I sprayed glypho tonight on anything not worth pulling. I’m going to hope the mesotrione I apply keeps down the weed pressure. I’m sure I’ll have some, especially come spring, but hopefully I can beat them back with time (and spring prodiamine) and it’ll still look good overall. We shall see.

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MorpheusPA
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Re: Scott’s Fall 2020 Renovation

Post by MorpheusPA » September 3rd, 2020, 9:06 pm

Clover isn't very sturdy, so anything you end up with in the long run is easy to kick back. A good, thick lawn will choke it out.


scottf4
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Re: Scott’s Fall 2020 Renovation

Post by scottf4 » September 7th, 2020, 10:51 am

Seed went down on Saturday, September 5th. Sprinkler setup is working great. Unfortunately the forecast is upper 80s for the next 4 days and almost no rain for 2 weeks. That’s how it seems to go. But I’ve got 4 zones each going 4 times per day for 10 minutes to keep it wet throughout and will adjust as necessary. I also used soil moist. Will update when I see some progress.

scottf4
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Re: Scott’s Fall 2020 Renovation

Post by scottf4 » September 10th, 2020, 8:45 am

Great germination at 4.5 days. I saw a couple after 2.5, then they started poking through yesterday before exploding over night. Some areas better than others unsurprisingly, but off to a good start.

DevilDawg81
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Re: Scott’s Fall 2020 Renovation

Post by DevilDawg81 » September 10th, 2020, 12:34 pm

Good luck! Post some pics when you can, it’s always fun to see the progressions!

scottf4
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Re: Scott’s Fall 2020 Renovation

Post by scottf4 » September 11th, 2020, 1:38 pm

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Day 5 and 6 pictures. Seeing great germination through most of the yard. A couple areas I was worried got too much water from the sprinklers are seeing the least germination, which has my worried if there was run off. What is the typical advice as to when to address areas with bad germination? I was planning on day 14ish and I have to keep telling myself not to pull the trigger so quickly when things are generally going so well. Temperatures are cooling off other than tomorrow, which is good to see. Might tweak the watering schedule in a few days.

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stack316
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Re: Scott’s Fall 2020 Renovation

Post by stack316 » September 11th, 2020, 9:04 pm

I would agree to wait until after day 14 closer to 21...but if there was obvious seed run off, I would drop some seed but other than that definitely give it another week and then re-evaluate.

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MorpheusPA
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Re: Scott’s Fall 2020 Renovation

Post by MorpheusPA » September 12th, 2020, 8:38 pm

Yeah, barring actual erosion, you probably didn't lose seed. At day 5 and 6 and 7, it's too hard to tell--seeds dislike too wet as much as too dry and need oxygen to sprout as well.

scottf4
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Re: Scott’s Fall 2020 Renovation

Post by scottf4 » September 15th, 2020, 8:48 am

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Day 10 pics! Starting to work on the previously pitiful landscaping, but we will ignore that for now. It’s coming in great in general. If you squint, it almost looks like a yard. The scotts starter with tenacity has been working great. I’ve seen a few random weeds sprout up before turning white and dying. Looking forward to that first mow later this month.

DevilDawg81
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Re: Scott’s Fall 2020 Renovation

Post by DevilDawg81 » September 15th, 2020, 8:51 pm

That’s really good coverage at day 10!

Did you end up putting more seed down or are you waiting?

scottf4
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Re: Scott’s Fall 2020 Renovation

Post by scottf4 » September 15th, 2020, 9:17 pm

Thanks! Seems like you’re moving along, too. It’ll be interesting to compare notes. I threw down some extra on the areas I was confident had an issue. Hard to tell from pictures but on the right side, the slope is significant and that’s also where I had issues with my sprinklers. That was Saturday so we will see.

scottf4
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Level: Some Experience

Re: Scott’s Fall 2020 Renovation

Post by scottf4 » September 17th, 2020, 9:09 am

Day 12. Color is starting to darken. The pictures don’t do a great job of depicting the color, but it is very nice. I’m officially at that stage of a renovation where you’re happy but begin to worry if it’ll all come together. The pictures include a few less than stellar areas. Longest patches are 2.5-3”, so I probably will need to mow it soon. Continuing to stay patient. I killed a mole that was having a field day, using those poison gummy worms.
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DevilDawg81
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Re: Scott’s Fall 2020 Renovation

Post by DevilDawg81 » September 17th, 2020, 10:09 pm

It looks to have flourished quite a bit in just two days. Each day I open the blinds and check out the changes on my reno! I threw down more seed too, but declared it as my ‘point of no return.’

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ken-n-nancy
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Re: Scott’s Fall 2020 Renovation

Post by ken-n-nancy » September 17th, 2020, 10:19 pm

scottf4 wrote:
September 17th, 2020, 9:09 am
Day 12. Color is starting to darken. ... I killed a mole that was having a field day, using those poison gummy worms.

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That's looking nice! Well done!

Yeah, moles on a renovation are just so evident. I have noticed some mole tunnels in our renovation at the edge of the woods, but no significant enough tunnels yet to set a trap. I've got ready, though, for when it does make a main tunnel into the lawn!

scottf4
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Re: Scott’s Fall 2020 Renovation

Post by scottf4 » September 21st, 2020, 2:10 pm

The moment I’ve been waiting for...baby’s first haircut. Day 16, brought it from 3 inches at the longest spots down to 2 inches to promote filling in. I’ve stopped any night watering to prevent fungus, but I still have to keep frequency up since I added seed in a couple of areas that didn’t germinate properly.
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scottf4
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Joined: October 3rd, 2018, 6:52 pm
Location: Northern Kentucky
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Re: Scott’s Fall 2020 Renovation

Post by scottf4 » October 14th, 2020, 1:17 pm

Update at about 40 days post seed down, 35 post germination. Everything is moving along great. I’m at 2.5” height of cut. A few weeds (broadleaf and wild onion) I’ll deal with in the spring. Perhaps touch up an area or two in spring or fall, we will see how it does. Next fertilizer application will be a winterizer when the time comes.
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