'New' House, New Lawn Renovation Continued 2021

Discuss how to and whether you should renovate your lawn
Masbustelo
Posts: 488
Joined: September 14th, 2018, 10:56 pm
Location: Western Illinois, parallel to tip o Lake Michigan.
Grass Type: Mazama KBG
Lawn Size: 20000-1 acre
Level: Some Experience

Re: 'New' House, New Lawn Renovation Continued 2021

Post by Masbustelo » March 21st, 2021, 4:08 am

I decided to go ahead and buy the proplugger. It seemed to have good reviews, both on Aroundtheyard.com and at Amazon. It seems like a useful tool, I have a fair amount of smaller sized open areas. A year ago I posted this picture of two pear trees. They were planted close together. Somehow they ended up on the neighbors fence.
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I topped one at six feet an then decided to see if I could salvage and renovate the tree.
Image Yesterday I grafted 15 different varieties on this old tree which is being re-trained as an espalier. Somewhat like the cordons on a grape trellis.

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Masbustelo
Posts: 488
Joined: September 14th, 2018, 10:56 pm
Location: Western Illinois, parallel to tip o Lake Michigan.
Grass Type: Mazama KBG
Lawn Size: 20000-1 acre
Level: Some Experience

Re: 'New' House, New Lawn Renovation Continued 2021

Post by Masbustelo » March 21st, 2021, 4:18 am

Please note Mazama bluegrass in background greening up nicely. Even though the grass isn't making top growth, it is obvious that it is making chlorophyl, and must be storing sugars in the roots. I would guess there is some root growth taking place. We are having some nice sunny days with no breeze, right at 60 by day but still 20's and 30's at night.

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MorpheusPA
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Location: Zone 6 (Eastern PA)
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Re: 'New' House, New Lawn Renovation Continued 2021

Post by MorpheusPA » March 21st, 2021, 11:45 am

I'm glad somebody's grass is greening up...

Masbustelo
Posts: 488
Joined: September 14th, 2018, 10:56 pm
Location: Western Illinois, parallel to tip o Lake Michigan.
Grass Type: Mazama KBG
Lawn Size: 20000-1 acre
Level: Some Experience

Re: 'New' House, New Lawn Renovation Continued 2021

Post by Masbustelo » March 22nd, 2021, 7:26 pm

Today I picked up sticks and branches off the rear yard. I also applied Prodiamine at a twice yearly amount. We are in a drought, usually we get 8 inches of rain in March. This year so far we are at 1.5 inches with some rain tomorrow and this week and then nothing on the horizon, so I thought better a little early and let it get washed in. I also mixed up some Tenacity and Triclopyr and sprayed any Poa Annua and Trivialis I could find.

Masbustelo
Posts: 488
Joined: September 14th, 2018, 10:56 pm
Location: Western Illinois, parallel to tip o Lake Michigan.
Grass Type: Mazama KBG
Lawn Size: 20000-1 acre
Level: Some Experience

Re: 'New' House, New Lawn Renovation Continued 2021

Post by Masbustelo » March 24th, 2021, 1:15 pm

I spotted the first sprouts from my December 1st dormant seeding coming up today. 114 days to germination.
Image I tried out my proplugger today. After 1/2 inch of rain yesterday, it works great. I would say a nice tool to have in the arsenal.

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Masbustelo
Posts: 488
Joined: September 14th, 2018, 10:56 pm
Location: Western Illinois, parallel to tip o Lake Michigan.
Grass Type: Mazama KBG
Lawn Size: 20000-1 acre
Level: Some Experience

Re: 'New' House, New Lawn Renovation Continued 2021

Post by Masbustelo » March 25th, 2021, 7:49 pm

Last year I applied fast acting gypsum, four times (kind of pricey with this many square meters), I believe the reason was to deal with excess magnesium and calcium which caused an impenetrable root soil profile. I also added S.O.P four times for potassium deficiency, and Boron three times. Here is last years soil test and this years, with Morpheus' comments.
Image MorpheusPA » 13 minutes ago

This is an easy read. It's perfect. Flawless. OK, the pH overshot a bit, but that's not a big deal. Give it some time. I'll come down, and it's not a big problem anyway. Phosphorus came up. Ca, Mg, K are all perfect. The micros are perfect. OM is in the Good to Excellent range, but of course, you can always add more if you want.

The only thing you might notice, due to the higher pH, is slightly sub-optimal color due to iron binding up just a bit. Feed with Milorganite this year if you want to enhance color, or simply ignore it. It's not a big deal.

While your iron levels are (by my standards) just a wee bit low, it's not low in any real sense. I gave you the optional instruction to Milorganite-feed, but that's your choice if you want to.

Recommendations:

None needed. Optionally, you can feed with Milorganite to raise a slightly low iron level, but... (So apparently all I have to do is mow this year, and nitrogen. This is good news.) I bought a lot of S.O.P. last year as well.

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Today I emptied a bucket that had potting soil in it. Last fall some Mazama seed sprouted in it, the roots went about six inches deep and had some interesting mycelium attached. This is a rare photo of some of what is happening below ground.
Image To the best of my knowledge the general soil temperature of my lawn hasn't hit 50 degrees yet, but I saw a significant number of weed seeds sprouting, and lots of KBG sprouts. I'm thinking maybe it isn't always such a good idea to wait on forsythia. I'm glad I put mine down last Monday.

Masbustelo
Posts: 488
Joined: September 14th, 2018, 10:56 pm
Location: Western Illinois, parallel to tip o Lake Michigan.
Grass Type: Mazama KBG
Lawn Size: 20000-1 acre
Level: Some Experience

Re: 'New' House, New Lawn Renovation Continued 2021

Post by Masbustelo » March 31st, 2021, 6:38 pm

I am now a mole hunter. Last fall after I leveled and renovated my front and rear yard the moles tore it to pieces. Last night I set two of my Victor Model # 0631 Out O'Sight mole traps.
Image The moles are showing signs of going on the offense again in some perimeter areas. They think that I have forgiven them, but i have not. One was sprung this morning, but no varmint. They initially looked a little scary, but they are pretty easy to set. I was perusing the mole hunter forums and found that the U.K mole hunters like this model, so I ordered two. I figure I'm in for the long haul. My theory is that in part it must be a numbers game. Mole hunting seems to be a regular industry in the U.K. https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00 ... UTF8&psc=1

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Masbustelo
Posts: 488
Joined: September 14th, 2018, 10:56 pm
Location: Western Illinois, parallel to tip o Lake Michigan.
Grass Type: Mazama KBG
Lawn Size: 20000-1 acre
Level: Some Experience

Re: 'New' House, New Lawn Renovation Continued 2021

Post by Masbustelo » April 3rd, 2021, 4:26 am

I mixed up a combination triclopyr, 2,4-D and tenacity and spot sprayed 16 gallons on my rear 19K. Lots of baby creeping charly and poa annua. Also lots of poa trivialis.

This is round two of spraying the two poas, the first spray was ten days ago, I'm experimenting with the Morpheus poa annua protocol. Hopefully from here on out I'll have very little broadleaves and use straight tenacity on the poas.

The first spray seems to have knocked back what I spotted first time through. The poa trivialis was very lush and tender which makes me think it will absorb the spray nicely. Last year I had lots more weeds, basically there was no turf grass, it had all been killed off over the years. This year I know what I'm battling and should be in good shape come next spring.

So far no moles in the mole traps. The ground temps have been cold last few days which makes them dig much deeper. That is good, they arent tearing up the yard. It has also been very dry which makes them go deeper. Now it is warming up, but I am going to set the traps every time I see new activity.

Masbustelo
Posts: 488
Joined: September 14th, 2018, 10:56 pm
Location: Western Illinois, parallel to tip o Lake Michigan.
Grass Type: Mazama KBG
Lawn Size: 20000-1 acre
Level: Some Experience

Re: 'New' House, New Lawn Renovation Continued 2021

Post by Masbustelo » April 7th, 2021, 8:50 pm

Last August I reseeded my entire lawn. 8k in front and 19k in the rear. To date I have yet to mow it. The rear took pretty well last fall. As it continues to warm up and the lawn begins to row I am finding out that there is lost of Poa Trivialis trying to restablish itself, and then I have some fairly large areas with lots of Poa Annua. I hit both the front and rear to day with a half dose of Tenacity. (1 teaspoon per gallon). This was the 3rd spray this spring. All in all it all looks like hell right now. It's been real dry and some areas are hardly growing. The bluegrass is between 1/2 an inch and 31/2 inches in places, so it looks rough , uneven and clumpy. Then the poas that I'm spraying are turning yellow and bleaching. The poa annua that has been sprayed has stopped growing, so all in all it looks horrible for the time being. I think I'll have to mow in spots later this week. It looks like finally some rain is going to show up. I shot a little urea on what seemed to be doing the poorest. So far zero moles in my mole traps. The good news is they are feeding deep, so temporarily they aren't tearing up the yard. My new traps from Australia haven't shown up yet.

Masbustelo
Posts: 488
Joined: September 14th, 2018, 10:56 pm
Location: Western Illinois, parallel to tip o Lake Michigan.
Grass Type: Mazama KBG
Lawn Size: 20000-1 acre
Level: Some Experience

Re: 'New' House, New Lawn Renovation Continued 2021

Post by Masbustelo » April 9th, 2021, 8:46 pm

Here are two sample photos of what my hellscape looks like currently. Lime green spots all over the place, but turning yellow from the 3 Tenacity treatments they have received this spring. Everyday they are more obvious, which I guess is a good thing.

I have generous helpings of Both Poa A and Poa T. Last year before I nuked the entire 27k of 'lawn'. To the best of my knowledge there was no turf grass anywhere. Mostly the Poa T had taken over and enormous areas of broadleaf weeds. This year the broadleaves are mostly gone.

I'm not too concerned about the Poa A, it's the other that I don't know who will win the battle. If the Poa T wins this year I think next April I would nuke everything all over again and start over. My wife says it all looks fine as is.
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Masbustelo
Posts: 488
Joined: September 14th, 2018, 10:56 pm
Location: Western Illinois, parallel to tip o Lake Michigan.
Grass Type: Mazama KBG
Lawn Size: 20000-1 acre
Level: Some Experience

Re: 'New' House, New Lawn Renovation Continued 2021

Post by Masbustelo » April 10th, 2021, 5:39 pm

This morning I put a few handfulls of Urea down in straggling areas because it was going to rain. So far almost 5 inches. It started at 8am, a steady light to medium rain and never let up all day. They say maybe 1-2 inches more tonight. Now I don't have to run the sprinkler for a while.
I was concerned that maybe we were heading into a drought. I noticed that Forsythia is blooming here. I already put my Prodiamine down 20 days ago, so better early than later?

Masbustelo
Posts: 488
Joined: September 14th, 2018, 10:56 pm
Location: Western Illinois, parallel to tip o Lake Michigan.
Grass Type: Mazama KBG
Lawn Size: 20000-1 acre
Level: Some Experience

Re: 'New' House, New Lawn Renovation Continued 2021

Post by Masbustelo » April 13th, 2021, 3:11 am

Yesterday I mowed for the 1st time, what was seeded last August. The Mazama is greening up nicely and starting to grow now. Parts were real bumpy where there are still bare areas. particularily where moles killed the seeedlings with their tunneling last fall. The front lawn that I dormant seeded in December looks like that may have been a successful experiment, we'll see in a month. I have lots and lots of Trivialis. I am going to ignore the poa annua for now and focus on twice weekly Trivialis sprayng. Hopefully the twice yearly prodiamine apps will deal with the annua. Hopefully I don't have the variety reptans, the perennial. It appears that so far simply by placing mole traps they have magically disappeared.

Masbustelo
Posts: 488
Joined: September 14th, 2018, 10:56 pm
Location: Western Illinois, parallel to tip o Lake Michigan.
Grass Type: Mazama KBG
Lawn Size: 20000-1 acre
Level: Some Experience

Re: 'New' House, New Lawn Renovation Continued 2021

Post by Masbustelo » April 18th, 2021, 8:17 pm

I applied my 5th dose of Tenacity today, with a twist. I used two tablespoons of DMSO per gallon. I also used NIS surfactant which I don't know is necessary to accompany DMSO? To give an idea of how much Trivialis and poa annua there is I used 20 gallons of spray. Tenacity at 1/4 teaspoon per gallon. Some of the trivialis is really turning white, for what it might be worth. I am learning to spot it better as well, it really intermingles and trys to hide with the bluegrass.
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I also built a combination rose garden/ mini apple orchard this week. It's main purpose is to keep the deer out.
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Masbustelo
Posts: 488
Joined: September 14th, 2018, 10:56 pm
Location: Western Illinois, parallel to tip o Lake Michigan.
Grass Type: Mazama KBG
Lawn Size: 20000-1 acre
Level: Some Experience

Re: 'New' House, New Lawn Renovation Continued 2021

Post by Masbustelo » April 19th, 2021, 10:06 pm

My new mole traps showed up from the United Kingdom today. They have very strong springs. Hopefully the mole days are numbered. My sister says she spears hers with a pitchfork. Necessity is the mother of invention.
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In the last few days I got down four cubic yards of municipal compost before it snows and rains tomorrow. I put it in the rear lawn where the grass is doing the most poorly. I had a septic system put in two years ago, and I think some of the soil is subsoil brought up from deep down, with no organic matter.

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MorpheusPA
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Re: 'New' House, New Lawn Renovation Continued 2021

Post by MorpheusPA » April 19th, 2021, 11:08 pm

Have you tried talking to the moles?

Masbustelo
Posts: 488
Joined: September 14th, 2018, 10:56 pm
Location: Western Illinois, parallel to tip o Lake Michigan.
Grass Type: Mazama KBG
Lawn Size: 20000-1 acre
Level: Some Experience

Re: 'New' House, New Lawn Renovation Continued 2021

Post by Masbustelo » April 19th, 2021, 11:50 pm

In a certain way I am talking to the moles. Simply by publishing the fact that I have develloped an arsenal to defend myself from them has caused them to disappear from the moment I set the first trap. They may have well placed spies that can read. In a similar note, why do flies leave you alone if you merely have a swatter in your hand? Walk softly but carry a big stick.

Masbustelo
Posts: 488
Joined: September 14th, 2018, 10:56 pm
Location: Western Illinois, parallel to tip o Lake Michigan.
Grass Type: Mazama KBG
Lawn Size: 20000-1 acre
Level: Some Experience

Re: 'New' House, New Lawn Renovation Continued 2021

Post by Masbustelo » April 21st, 2021, 8:30 pm

I dug a trench and planted some asparagus. In the process I removed a cubic yard of dirt to my compost area. Now I won't have to purchase soil when the time comes to fill holes and depressions.
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andy10917
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Re: 'New' House, New Lawn Renovation Continued 2021

Post by andy10917 » April 21st, 2021, 9:07 pm

I'm glad you said "soil" and not topsoil. I would not use that where topsoil is called for.

Masbustelo
Posts: 488
Joined: September 14th, 2018, 10:56 pm
Location: Western Illinois, parallel to tip o Lake Michigan.
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Lawn Size: 20000-1 acre
Level: Some Experience

Re: 'New' House, New Lawn Renovation Continued 2021

Post by Masbustelo » April 21st, 2021, 10:46 pm

The trench I dug was a foot deep, so lots is bottom soil. I'll work organic matter and run it through a sieve before I reuse it. At least it is native to my soil type.

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MorpheusPA
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Re: 'New' House, New Lawn Renovation Continued 2021

Post by MorpheusPA » April 22nd, 2021, 11:18 am

That's cool. And it's also what I got as "top" soil on my property. Over time, it'll adjust.

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