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9th annual Lawn Thread 2018


Damage In Tolland
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On 8/21/2018 at 5:29 PM, dendrite said:

Zoysia update. It needs to be cut, but it is thick, lush, and growing like crazy. That corner of the house faces SW and bakes. Some before and current pics. BTW, I watered the plugs that first year, but that’s it. No fertilizer, lime, or anything.

6/19/16 - Plugs planted

A9D4D610-75F5-4698-8F23-DC3734B4AE5A.jpeg

10/22/16...after a partial warm season. Still green while approaching Halloween.

6F5D99B1-6F30-446E-B025-DB77B0B39A78.jpeg

10 minutes ago...thick and lush

30B3055F-E4B6-409D-916B-C2D022DA0544.jpeg

9D03949F-035E-4066-8E0D-1A3F1CD1183C.jpeg

 

 

What time of year did you plant the plugs?  Where did you buy them from?

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1 hour ago, tunafish said:

 

 

What time of year did you plant the plugs?  Where did you buy them from?

I planed them around the time of that first pic so June 2016. I got mine from here...

http://www1.zoysiafarms.com/ordernow.jsp

I did the freestyle plugs and cut them myself. I put some in the front yard too (not pictured) with all of the thriving weeds. It is finally taking off this year and spreading. That backyard patch I posted above had a nice clean start (albeit hard packed soil) so it got established faster. It was sort of an experiment for the parts of the yard that get torched every warm season. My well sometimes gives me fits so I can't put the sprinkler out there everyday.

We have a long enough snow cover season that I don't care about the dormancy. It may actually work well for someone like lavarock...a frost free hill and frequent snow cover. Just don't let it invade into tamarack's yard. ;)

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43 minutes ago, dendrite said:

I planed them around the time of that first pic so June 2016. I got mine from here...

http://www1.zoysiafarms.com/ordernow.jsp

I did the freestyle plugs and cut them myself. I put some in the front yard too (not pictured) with all of the thriving weeds. It is finally taking off this year and spreading. That backyard patch I posted above had a nice clean start (albeit hard packed soil) so it got established faster. It was sort of an experiment for the parts of the yard that get torched every warm season. My well sometimes gives me fits so I can't put the sprinkler out there everyday.

We have a long enough snow cover season that I don't care about the dormancy. It may actually work well for someone like lavarock...a frost free hill and frequent snow cover. Just don't let it invade into tamarack's yard. ;)

This is great info, thank you.  Sounds like exactly what I'm looking for, although being on the coastal plain I do have less snow cover than lava, and with that do get some early and late season frosts.  Did you use that step-on planter thing?  Thanks again!

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38 minutes ago, tunafish said:

This is great info, thank you.  Sounds like exactly what I'm looking for, although being on the coastal plain I do have less snow cover than lava, and with that do get some early and late season frosts.  Did you use that step-on planter thing?  Thanks again!

Nah. I had a small auger bit and just made some holes with my cordless drill. That may be better if you were doing a large area though. How large of an area do you want to do? It can get pretty invasive so you need to be wary of gardens, your neighbors' lawns, and areas you just plain don't want it to get to. Once it's there it's tough to get rid of too. I wouldn't necessarily be expecting miracles if doing an entire lawn like this. It'll take a little time to establish and fill in. Now that I have the back patch flourishing I can steal plugs from that (probably next spring) and put them elsewhere to speed up the process.

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3 hours ago, dendrite said:

Nah. I had a small auger bit and just made some holes with my cordless drill. That may be better if you were doing a large area though. How large of an area do you want to do? It can get pretty invasive so you need to be wary of gardens, your neighbors' lawns, and areas you just plain don't want it to get to. Once it's there it's tough to get rid of too. I wouldn't necessarily be expecting miracles if doing an entire lawn like this. It'll take a little time to establish and fill in. Now that I have the back patch flourishing I can steal plugs from that (probably next spring) and put them elsewhere to speed up the process.

Gotcha.  Not a huge area, my south-facing back yard has a few spots where seed never took when the original owners planted their lawn.  The overall area (of concern) is about 200-300 square feet, with 4-6 inch bare spots interspersed between.  No concerns about it over-taking other grass. 

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22 hours ago, dendrite said:

I planed them around the time of that first pic so June 2016. I got mine from here...

http://www1.zoysiafarms.com/ordernow.jsp

I did the freestyle plugs and cut them myself. I put some in the front yard too (not pictured) with all of the thriving weeds. It is finally taking off this year and spreading. That backyard patch I posted above had a nice clean start (albeit hard packed soil) so it got established faster. It was sort of an experiment for the parts of the yard that get torched every warm season. My well sometimes gives me fits so I can't put the sprinkler out there everyday.

We have a long enough snow cover season that I don't care about the dormancy. It may actually work well for someone like lavarock...a frost free hill and frequent snow cover. Just don't let it invade into tamarack's yard. ;)

They'd have a hard time competing with the crabgrass.  :P
That Oak on Lava Rock is a good looking specimen tree.  I'd try some hostas  - many different species/colors/patterns available - in the spots that get the most shade, and blueberries probably would do okay in 6-8" soil if fertilized (Miracid or another formula for acid-loving plants), as they're somewhat drought resistant, though a dry season would limit fruit production.

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3 hours ago, tamarack said:

They'd have a hard time competing with the crabgrass.  :P
That Oak on Lava Rock is a good looking specimen tree.  I'd try some hostas  - many different species/colors/patterns available - in the spots that get the most shade, and blueberries probably would do okay in 6-8" soil if fertilized (Miracid or another formula for acid-loving plants), as they're somewhat drought resistant, though a dry season would limit fruit production.

I think we've finally made a decision as to what we'll do with the lawn. Going to add 8-10" topsoil/fill in area depicted and add some erosion type matting. Use small (1-2' high) boulders to outline, then plant some blueberries, perennials, creeping juniper. Top it off with mulch. We'll be careful not to backfill around the trunk of the oak. Total cost $3,000.

 

The only downside to the above is we don't have the money to fix and re-seed all the other bare and thin patches in the lawn. Will have to wait till Spring. The other option would be to skip the above and fix all of the lawn now including the area around oak, hydroseed and see how well it all takes, especially around the oak. While I understand the oak is partly responsible for the bare area around the tree, I think part of the lower bare area is due more to poor soil, insufficient depth. It's possible if we went ahead with this 2nd option, the area for which we'd have to put mulch and plants maybe much smaller if the new grass were able to "grow in" and establish on the slope.

mulch area.jpg

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On 9/2/2018 at 9:00 AM, TwoDogNight said:

looking for fertilizer spreader options that are reasonably priced.  had cheapo scotts and recent earthway 2030pplus that separated axle from gearbox.  30,000 sq ft approx lawn area.  

recommend going to retail landscape store like these guys if you are looking for something more beefy than lowes/HD

https://www.siteone.com/

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On ‎9‎/‎2‎/‎2018 at 9:00 AM, TwoDogNight said:

looking for fertilizer spreader options that are reasonably priced.  had cheapo scotts and recent earthway 2030pplus that separated axle from gearbox.  30,000 sq ft approx lawn area.  

Take a look on Craigslist. Another option is yard/estate sales. I have good luck in finding yard tools at yard/estate sales. 

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On 9/2/2018 at 9:00 AM, TwoDogNight said:

looking for fertilizer spreader options that are reasonably priced.  had cheapo scotts and recent earthway 2030pplus that separated axle from gearbox.  30,000 sq ft approx lawn area.  

I use a scotts speedy green 3000, it's about 15 years old.  The key to longevity for these cheap residential spreaders is to rinse the product out of the spreader when done so that it is clean, then spray all the moving part contact points with WD40 before putting it back in storage. 

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4 hours ago, Brewbeer said:

 

I use a scotts speedy green 3000, it's about 15 years old.  The key to longevity for these cheap residential spreaders is to rinse the product out of the spreader when done so that it is clean, then spray all the moving part contact points with WD40 before putting it back in storage. 

I did that religiously after every use, my Scott’s spreader failed after about 15 years. The loose plastic wheel eventually rubbed through the leg and it broke last week

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2 hours ago, RUNNAWAYICEBERG said:

Anybody have electric/battery outdoor power equipment like backpack blowers, weed wackers, etc? I’m trying to move away from gas and all the maintenance and mess. I read Greenworks has solid equipment, some say even comparable to gas. 

I have a battery weed whacker. It runs fine. I need a tractor for the lawn so an electric mower is out of the question.

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3 hours ago, RUNNAWAYICEBERG said:

Anybody have electric/battery outdoor power equipment like backpack blowers, weed wackers, etc? I’m trying to move away from gas and all the maintenance and mess. I read Greenworks has solid equipment, some say even comparable to gas. 

I have a Ryobi weed whacker/edger. The battery system is compatible with a wide range of other tools that I have. It works well but I don’t have a ton of trimming to do. 

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28 minutes ago, RUNNAWAYICEBERG said:

Yea I need/have a ride own but they do have electric ones now too. But I wasn’t thinking mowers....more like edges, weed wackers, and even power washers. 

Yeah...I just wouldn't be ready to invest that much into an electric tractor yet. I'm still scared to get an electric push mower as it is.

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Yeah, I burn through quite a bit of gas on my lawn tractor for each mow.  It would take really expensive battery pack to provide that kind of power.

The other thing that would turn me off is storing the thing, I leave my tractor in an unheated/uncooled shed all year.  It's not good to subject batteries to those kinds of extremes.

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On 9/8/2018 at 10:44 AM, RUNNAWAYICEBERG said:

Anybody have electric/battery outdoor power equipment like backpack blowers, weed wackers, etc? I’m trying to move away from gas and all the maintenance and mess. I read Greenworks has solid equipment, some say even comparable to gas. 

I have a Black & Decker 40v trimmer, blower, and chain saw.  I have two batteries although one is usually enough to get me trough.  The trimmer is nice and light and has a good amount of power, you can control the amount of power to save the battery.  Most of my trimming is done at a level 2 but I can crank it if I get into tall weeds.  The chainsaw is handy for the branches that fall down in the yard.  You're not going to drop a large tree with it and cut it up but it does well on small trees and branches. The blower is ok for blowing off the sidewalk after trimming, or cleaning some leaves off of the deck.  Its not powerful enough to do much in the yard, I have a Toro plugin for the leaves in the yard.     

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On 9/2/2018 at 9:00 AM, TwoDogNight said:

looking for fertilizer spreader options that are reasonably priced.  had cheapo scotts and recent earthway 2030pplus that separated axle from gearbox.  30,000 sq ft approx lawn area.  

I had all summer to look for something since it broke on last application, but I forgot all about it.  I ended up ordering a Titan 50# (some assembly required).  It's okay.  Nothing spectacular.  It was on special for $84.95 with free shipping the day I bought it.  I have since seen an different colored model at the local Agway and on Home Depot website for $45 more.  Glad I didn't pay that much for it.  

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well, if you were watering it regularly, it wouldn't have burned out. i suppose you could have over-watered, but that sounds like a stretch. have you treated for grubs? any easy way to check for them is to stick a shovel in the ground in pull back some turf. if you see a couple, that's usually not a problem. but if you see a bunch, the damage is done.

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8 minutes ago, SJonesWX said:

well, if you were watering it regularly, it wouldn't have burned out. i suppose you could have over-watered, but that sounds like a stretch. have you treated for grubs? any easy way to check for them is to stick a shovel in the ground in pull back some turf. if you see a couple, that's usually not a problem. but if you see a bunch, the damage is done.

I pay for a service that treats for it. I'll go out and do some test holes. If there are grubs I'm going to be pissed.  The grass doesn't pull away like grub damage has occurred. 

There is irrigation there. As you can see from the line in the grass it's getting plenty of water. 

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ok that doesn't sound like grub damage. you are right, the turf pretty much disintegrates since the grubs chow the roots. how frequently and how much did you water that area? have you had a lot of rain? it sucks, i remember seeing pics of your lawn looking fantastic. 

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1 hour ago, amarshall said:

The lawn kid came and said he thought this was a fungus from over watering. I think it's just the area that got pummeled from the sun. Any ideas? a50820e83ead913a4bd5e3cfe6cf3061.jpg

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
 

It definitely could be a fungus. If you were watering alot(which im guessing you were with the lack of rain in SEMA this summer?), then the water and the insane dews this summer are a perfect recipe for disease/fungus-also any summer fert would also enhance fungus. 

Like SJones said, sun wouldn't do that damage if you were irrigating frequently. Does seem like some disease/fungus.

.

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2 minutes ago, backedgeapproaching said:

It definitely could be a fungus. If you were watering alot(which im guessing you were with the lack of rain in SEMA this summer?), then the water and the insane dews this summer are a perfect recipe for disease/fungus-also any summer fert would also enhance fungus. 

Like SJones said, sun wouldn't do that damage if you were irrigating frequently. Does seem like some disease/fungus.

.

Just based on the grading, it looks like there may be runoff from the uphill beds   The only other culprit I would entertain is solar reflection off the house/trim given how light they are but they do look to be pretty far away from the impacted area.

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1 hour ago, backedgeapproaching said:

It definitely could be a fungus. If you were watering alot(which im guessing you were with the lack of rain in SEMA this summer?), then the water and the insane dews this summer are a perfect recipe for disease/fungus-also any summer fert would also enhance fungus. 

Like SJones said, sun wouldn't do that damage if you were irrigating frequently. Does seem like some disease/fungus.

.

Lets just say that water bans are not enforced in my town and we had the mojave desert climate.  It got a ton of water.  

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