I took off about 1/2 an inch on the south facing hill, nothing else discernible in the other areas. Finally going to below 30 tonight and the high looks to be about 48 for the coming week.

For the final day I blew in the last remaining leaves from my neighbors weeping willow into the lawn and mulched them in. The hydrangeas have about 30% of their leaves left and the shrub roses are still almost entirely leafed out.

I used 9 gallons of anti-dessicant on most of my evergreens as well, drained the hoses, turned off the spigot feeds from the inside, emptied the final pots and put down a final app of Ferrous Ammonium Sulfate (30 oz FeSu, 20 Oz AmSu and 4 oz of Miracle Gro + 2 oz of Soil Conditioner) over 5,500 sq. ft.

All the tools are away and I rotated the mower to the back of the garage with the snow blower in the front.

I'm splurging this year and having my perennial guy bring a 5 man crew over the next week or so to really tighten up the beds as I've got a big family function coming up in a few weeks and want everything looking great.

Thanks for all the help, March will be here before you know it (although I prune all the roses in late February if weather cooperates). Depending on how the weather goes I may do a second wilt-pruf in mid-February.

I'm done as of today also. Did the first and only Urea app today, and then put all the tools, lawnmowers and tractor into the Winter positions in the barn.

Been done for a bit, but I haven't yet cleaned the garage. That tends to be a Christmas Week sort of thing.

May clean out my corner of the garage tomorrow. This is also the first year I left the lawn at 2.5 inches, I didn't have the energy to lower the SUTech deck to 2 inches.

Andy, this seems a bit late for your urea, were you doing something different?

[ Post made via iPhone ]

Andy, this seems a bit late for your urea, were you doing something different?

Nope. I'm not a true believer in late-Fall Urea, but all the signs that I use waited until the past week to say "now".

andy10917 wrote:

Andy, this seems a bit late for your urea, were you doing something different?

Nope. I'm not a true believer in late-Fall Urea, but all the signs that I use waited until the past week to say "now".

What is your soil temp? Mine in the shadier areas was 45 degrees about an hour ago?

I really should mow again and drop my winterizer but I have used so much urea this fall I think I will be just fine. I hate cold weather.

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urea went down last week. leaves finshed up two weeks ago have all but disappeared. this time last year i was staring at a lawn crushed by drought and planning a dormant seeding. last week a neighbor says "man that looks good, what'd you put down." thanks to everyone who helps on the forum. next year is year three on this lawn and i can't wait for the soil test next spring to get started.

Top growth stopped last week of Nov. Applied Vigoro super green. Nov. 26. yesterday I have growth. I guess from the rain . I'll have to mow again. This is the first time for me, never mowed in Dec.

Bavaria wrote:Top growth stopped last week of Nov. Applied Vigoro super green. Nov. 26. yesterday I have growth. I guess from the rain . I'll have to mow again. This is the first time for me, never mowed in Dec.

I think the more you work on your soil and all the tricks you learned help keep the lawn going. For instance if you mow shorter the sun can keep the soil warmer. If you are adding iron to keep the grass darker its going to attract more sunlight. Your adding organic matter to the soil and mulching in leaves in return I would think its like insulation to keep the warmth in.

[ Post made via Android ]

Gave the lawn a once over with the yard vac, sucked all the remaining leaves and sticks, then transported them to a leave-less area in the back and mowed over them. I "winterized" before the heavy Thanksgiving rains, but I had about 25# of 25-0-3 so I dropped that hoping it would top off the tank. I probably could have mowed, but the lawn looks like a good length compared to what I've been mowing at this Fall.

It was a great decision doing a full reno on the front, thanks to all that convinced me. Here's to hoping the Spring soil test shows improvement, or at least shows I didn't screw up everybody's instructions.

simpson wrote:

Bavaria wrote:Top growth stopped last week of Nov. Applied Vigoro super green. Nov. 26. yesterday I have growth. I guess from the rain . I'll have to mow again. This is the first time for me, never mowed in Dec.

I think the more you work on your soil and all the tricks you learned help keep the lawn going. For instance if you mow shorter the sun can keep the soil warmer. If you are adding iron to keep the grass darker its going to attract more sunlight. Your adding organic matter to the soil and mulching in leaves in return I would think its like insulation to keep the warmth in.

[ Post made via Android ]

So next year should I hold off winterizer until??? what Top growth stops and starts.
Well in a way at least some is slow release N. Now I see why people use it. Learning curve.

For winterizer I wait until I have 5 days in a row with temps below 65-70. I add the night time low and the day time high. That normally gets me close.

[ Post made via Android ]

As I think its getting closer to that time for me (still having highs in the 60s, but top growth has really crept to a minimum), what do you guys do with the left over gas and gas you drain from your tools? I have about a gallon or two left in the can (which I may end up using), but assume that any leftover gas needs to be disposed of.

crewdawg wrote:As I think its getting closer to that time for me (still having highs in the 60s, but top growth has really crept to a minimum), what do you guys do with the left over gas and gas you drain from your tools? I have about a gallon or two left in the can (which I may end up using), but assume that any leftover gas needs to be disposed of.

I put it in my car gas tank.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

Fuel Stabilizer if you have a lot left over. I use it for snow Equip. I buy 10 gal (2-5 gal. containers) at a time. My mower has 2 tanks 5 gal. each.

crewdawg..I take any regular gas and put it in the truck. The oil/gas mix gets fuel stabilizer. Of course the blower uses the oil/gas mix, which will still be used for a while. I have two neighbors down wind from me that either pile their leaves in an island or just blow them into the street. Guess where they end up.

Bavaria...The only snow removal equipment I have is manually powered.....by 2 teenage boys.

GeorgiaDad wrote:crewdawg..I take any regular gas and put it in the truck. The oil/gas mix gets fuel stabilizer. Of course the blower uses the oil/gas mix, which will still be used for a while. I have two neighbors down wind from me that either pile their leaves in an island or just blow them into the street. Guess where they end up.

Bavaria...The only snow removal equipment I have is manually powered.....by 2 teenage boys.

Don't get me started on this topic.

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I'm done. Probably.
I just put the last app of urea down and gave it one more shot of iron. I've never ironed this late in the year before. The last time was a few weeks ago and it hasn't started to fade yet. The other lawns around me have been getting lighter for a while. It'll be interesting to see how long the dark color can hold out.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

I just took out the garbage and did my lawn temp geek thing with my iPhone as a flashlight. My front hill close to the house that gets the most sun now is still 51 degrees; the backyard is down to 40.5. Remarkable how much the sun can affect things. I'm debating another urea app for the front hill after it goes solidly into the 40's.