The 2020 Lesco & Lawn Thread

[Lava Rock]

haven't cut the lawn yet. Letting it grow to get through the heat of this week. She's pretty tall (10") in the areas where there is growth. I'm putting minimal effort into this this summer.

[PowderBeard]

Sprayed triclopyr with a surfactant yesterday, now have to wait ~3 to mow. Didn't realize when clover and chickweed germinate They are taking over right now. 

[TauntonBlizzard2013]

Scott’s weed and feed I put down over the weekend doing it’s thing, clover is already wilting.

[backedgeapproaching]

Weather has been great, but 10 straight days of sun and no rain means my lawn is starting brown a bit in spots. 86-87F today and another wall to wall sunny day and a few more torch days to come still.  I would guess by Friday lawn will be worse its looked since I moved to VT.  Dont recall an almost 2 straight weeks with no rain here.

[Lava Rock]

Work has begun to transform this failed lawn area with more natural landscaping with shrubs and such.

Before and during. Will post when she's done.

 

[Baroclinic Zone]

6-10” of catkins there.

[RUNNAWAYICEBERG]

So @PowderBeard...what’s the ideal mixture to use for top dressing the lawn come fall for my purposes?

I have an uneven lawn but it’s quite acidic. Lime applications hasn’t done much the past two years. So I’d like to core aerate and top dress. Thanks.

[Supernovice]

hey guys, did my lawn over- fresh sod.  My neighbor who's lawn looks like the 18th at Augusta told me I should put DiseaseX down. So i did on Saturday and already I've noticed a difference.

What else should I be doing for regular maintenance/ feeding?  I don't wanna keep going back to my neighbor though I guess I could.  Any other tips/fertilizer schedules I should use? I do have a sprinkler system now, and it runs twice a day at 530am and 930pm for a half hour.  Anything would be greatly appreciated.

[Great Snow 1717]

1 hour ago, Supernovice said:

hey guys, did my lawn over- fresh sod.  My neighbor who's lawn looks like the 18th at Augusta told me I should put DiseaseX down. So i did on Saturday and already I've noticed a difference.

What else should I be doing for regular maintenance/ feeding?  I don't wanna keep going back to my neighbor though I guess I could.  Any other tips/fertilizer schedules I should use? I do have a sprinkler system now, and it runs twice a day at 530am and 930pm for a half hour.  Anything would be greatly appreciated.

Depends on how much money you want to spend for a nice looking lawn.  Personally I'd rather invest the money in something that I need or want to do. My lawn is decent. A neighbor down the street has a great looking lawn but his water bill is huge. Plus he uses a lot of different chemicals on his lawn which is another major expense. The fascination with lawns is an obsession with some people. A former neighbor would spend hours working on his lawn. His lawn looked better than augusta! He moved out about 15 years ago. A couple of years later he came back to visit. He was appalled at the condition of the lawn at his former home. 

[Supernovice]

47 minutes ago, Great Snow 1717 said:

Depends on how much money you want to spend for a nice looking lawn.  Personally I'd rather invest the money in something that I need or want to do. My lawn is decent. A neighbor down the street has a great looking lawn but his water bill is huge. Plus he uses a lot of different chemicals on his lawn which is another major expense. The fascination with lawns is an obsession with some people. A former neighbor would spend hours working on his lawn. His lawn looked better than augusta! He moved out about 15 years ago. A couple of years later he came back to visit. He was appalled at the condition of the lawn at his former home. 

I mean not crazy but i spent money on the sod so...

[PowderBeard]

21 hours ago, RUNNAWAYICEBERG said:

So @PowderBeard...what’s the ideal mixture to use for top dressing the lawn come fall for my purposes?

I have an uneven lawn but it’s quite acidic. Lime applications hasn’t done much the past two years. So I’d like to core aerate and top dress. Thanks.

What have you done for lime apps in the past? I started throwing lime in June because my soil was acidic  as well (think it was around 5.4) and it takes a while for lime to help (did 50lbs of pellets over my 2000 sq feet) in early June then again mid July. This formula and website was helpful although I did not follow it 100% in retrospect.

https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/soil-acidity-and-liming-basic-information-for-farmers-and-gardeners#section_heading_7192

 

Then I aerated the soil (not lawn because there wasn't one and the soil was so compacted) and put a 4:1 mixture of the most screened loam I could find to sand in the areas that needed to come up. Was a lot of hauling 5 gallon buckets but worth it. I wish I had done the entire lawn this way because in the areas I did not I can notice a difference in color and density, I'll be digging out and doing those small spots this fall and re-doing them.

This thing is a life saver for leveling.

[PowderBeard]

21 hours ago, Supernovice said:

hey guys, did my lawn over- fresh sod.  My neighbor who's lawn looks like the 18th at Augusta told me I should put DiseaseX down. So i did on Saturday and already I've noticed a difference.

What else should I be doing for regular maintenance/ feeding?  I don't wanna keep going back to my neighbor though I guess I could.  Any other tips/fertilizer schedules I should use? I do have a sprinkler system now, and it runs twice a day at 530am and 930pm for a half hour.  Anything would be greatly appreciated.

How long ago did you put the sod down and what height are you mowing it at? I ask because that night time watering with the warmer temps and high dews this week can lead to fungus issues.

 

[Supernovice]

15 minutes ago, PowderBeard said:

How long ago did you put the sod down and what height are you mowing it at? I ask because that night time watering with the warmer temps and high dews this week can lead to fungus issues.

 

So max height, cut Saturday and had to cut again yesterday. Put it down April 25th.. I mean it looks fairly good...some parts are a little more meh than others but i have 2 kids under 3 running around on it. 

I put the disease X down to combat potential fungus i thought. but i don't know anything so...I do notice some yellowing of the blades in spots.

[PowderBeard]

14 minutes ago, Supernovice said:

So max height, cut Saturday and had to cut again yesterday. Put it down April 25th.. I mean it looks fairly good...some parts are a little more meh than others but i have 2 kids under 3 running around on it. 

I put the disease X down to combat potential fungus i thought. but i don't know anything so...I do notice some yellowing of the blades in spots.

 

Makes sense. Max height (I'm assuming 3.5 - 4") + a lot of water (30 minutes of night water that's likely just sitting on it) + warm wet temps = fungus. It's never drying out. 

Do you know what type of grass it is and how much sun it gets a day? I'd also put out some plastic containers before running then see how much water you're putting down. My guess is way too much, like exponentially too much. Once you figure out how much water you're putting down you can adjust.

I was watering ~4 times a week for 15-25 minutes around noon time since I overseeded and noticed some yellowing a couple weeks ago in my older sections. Started cutting at 2.5", watering twice a week for 30 minutes, and no more yellowing.

[PowderBeard]

Threw this down last week instead of milo. It's a 5-5-0, has the slow release nitrogen and iron like milorganite plus phosphorus for the younger roots.  The iron really evened out the color and it won't stop growing. Only watered three times in the last two weeks for about 30 minutes. The couple lighter spots are the chickweed/clover spots dying from the tricylopyr and all the damn things falling from the trees. Really need to mow and make a striping kit next, figure some pvc filled with sand or a heavy metal bar.  Only 9 months from seed so still not quite where I want it. 

https://www.farmandfleet.com/products/1217185-estate-2500-sq-ft-36-lb-all-natural-5-5-0-fertilizer.html#

 

 

 

My goal is to get it all as dark as this "test" patch of tall fescue I planted about 2 years ago. Hoping it is more to do with the age of the grass and not the difference in shade.

 

Cut...damn rookie foot marks lol

[Supernovice]

 

46 minutes ago, PowderBeard said:

 

Makes sense. Max height (I'm assuming 3.5 - 4") + a lot of water (30 minutes of night water that's likely just sitting on it) + warm wet temps = fungus. It's never drying out. 

Do you know what type of grass it is and how much sun it gets a day? I'd also put out some plastic containers before running then see how much water you're putting down. My guess is way too much, like exponentially too much. Once you figure out how much water you're putting down you can adjust.

I was watering ~4 times a week for 15-25 minutes around noon time since I overseeded and noticed some yellowing a couple weeks ago in my older sections. Started cutting at 2.5", watering twice a week for 30 minutes, and no more yellowing.

Thanks- i honestly don't know what type of grass, the guy that did the redesign put it down....i'll take some pics at lunch. Lawn faces East so good sun until 1-2ish in the afternoon. 

How much water is the correct amount? 

Thank you again for this.

Yours looks great btw

[PowderBeard]

14 minutes ago, Supernovice said:

 

Thanks- i honestly don't know what type of grass, the guy that did the redesign put it down....i'll take some pics at lunch. Lawn faces East so good sun until 1-2ish in the afternoon. 

How much water is the correct amount? 

 

The baseline is 1" per week. I don't think there is much science behind it though because it depends on temps, soil type, time in the sun, etc. Most sprinkler systems and straight garden hoses (if the lawn is not massive) put that down in 1-2 hours (unless it was modified when the sod was put down), thus why I would check how much one watering cycle of yours puts down. 

[backedgeapproaching]

1 hour ago, PowderBeard said:

Threw this down last week instead of milo. It's a 5-5-0, has the slow release nitrogen and iron like milorganite plus phosphorus for the younger roots.  The iron really evened out the color and it won't stop growing. Only watered three times in the last two weeks for about 30 minutes. The couple lighter spots are the chickweed/clover spots dying from the tricylopyr and all the damn things falling from the trees. Really need to mow and make a striping kit next, figure some pvc filled with sand or a heavy metal bar.  Only 9 months from seed so still not quite where I want it. 

https://www.farmandfleet.com/products/1217185-estate-2500-sq-ft-36-lb-all-natural-5-5-0-fertilizer.html#

 

 

 

My goal is to get it all as dark as this "test" patch of tall fescue I planted about 2 years ago. Hoping it is more to do with the age of the grass and not the difference in shade.

 

Cut...damn rookie foot marks lol

Looks good. Surprised that fescue patch has survived and looks that good in what looks like deep deep shade.

[PowderBeard]

17 minutes ago, backedgeapproaching said:

Looks good. Surprised that fescue patch has survived and looks that good in what looks like deep deep shade.

Right? That side of the drain side gets about 4 hours max, left gets about 3. I also do all organics on that side vs synthetics on the left. Neither get any additional water than what falls from the sky. Left side is just as dark but shorter and less dense. Both sides have only been mowed twice this year.

[Supernovice]

2 hours ago, PowderBeard said:

The baseline is 1" per week. I don't think there is much science behind it though because it depends on temps, soil type, time in the sun, etc. Most sprinkler systems and straight garden hoses (if the lawn is not massive) put that down in 1-2 hours (unless it was modified when the sod was put down), thus why I would check how much one watering cycle of yours puts down. 

Thanks- I'll do that tonight.

[Baroclinic Zone]

Lawn mowed.  Dripping in sweat after, even though temps are in the 60s. Drizzly, So that could have added to it.

[backedgeapproaching]

Dropped some fert over my acre+ of lawn this evening. Solid drink as a cell just moved through to water in. We take.

[Damage In Tolland]

I declare today best lawn day of the year. It’s all downhill from here . It’s typically May 20, but 10 days late this year due to the cold Napril before summer took over this month.

[PowderBeard]

When do you all throw down grub controls? I know June is the time but I have not seen any beetles yet but it is June so they should be coming. Been monitoring the rose bushes for damage. Had a serious issue with them and just put down Bayer to kill them last fall and earlier this spring. 

[TauntonBlizzard2013]

Weed and feed doing it’s thing for all the haters that said I put fertilizer down to late .

Clover is dying and better grass is filling in 

[Damage In Tolland]

46 minutes ago, TauntonBlizzard2013 said:

Weed and feed doing it’s thing for all the haters that said I put fertilizer down to late .

Clover is dying and better grass is filling in 

Pics?

[PowderBeard]

1 hour ago, TauntonBlizzard2013 said:

Weed and feed doing it’s thing for all the haters that said I put fertilizer down to late .

Clover is dying and better grass is filling in 

lol, only because June typically brings some heat. Hell you could spoon feed urea the next few weeks if you wanted to. 

[TauntonBlizzard2013]

So this is when we bought the house last March... just the house... the entire yard was sand rocks and overgrown weeds. Processed asphalt temporary walkway.

 

 

This is a picture today. Done this basically by myself in the last year and 3 months. Lawn still isn’t there, (area by the road is a mess from salt and what not) but I’m happy with what I’ve done on a limited budged and time.

[mreaves]

1 hour ago, TauntonBlizzard2013 said:

So this is when we bought the house last March... just the house... the entire yard was sand rocks and overgrown weeds. Processed asphalt temporary walkway.

 

 

This is a picture today. Done this basically by myself in the last year and 3 months. Lawn still isn’t there, (area by the road is a mess from salt and what not) but I’m happy with what I’ve done on a limited budged and time.

Nice. 

[SJonesWX]

nice job tblizz