By halloween you will love what you have there.

[ Post made via Android ]

I am pretty happy at this point. I was looking at the pictures from weeks four to now and the difference is huge. The back is, I think, out of the pouting stage, and the front looks about ready, or has already left, the pouting stage.

Week 7 on the back. Week 6 on the front. Everything is progressing well. The lightly overseeded areas in the back are filling in well. The Tenacity effects are only visible in the areas spot sprayed. You can see that in the third photo of the back. The front continues to thicken and the back is progressing. Each lawn had their second mow yesterday. This weekend I dropped Milorganite at 20 lb/k. That was followed by 2.5 gallons of compost tea in the front and 2.5 in the back. The tea was followed by Soil conditioner and Hummates at 4Oz/k.

In the front, the seeding blanket is not really visible anymore, even in the open areas and looks to be decomposing quite well at this point. I expect that by the time frost hits (sometime in November), there won't be anything left of it.

Color at this point gets a slight nod to the front mix over the back Monostand. Uniformity is pretty close between the two with a slight nod to the back. It is, of course, too early to really tell anything though.

Front (color in the second photo is closer to what I see):





Back (exposure was weird in the first 2 photos, so they were adjusted in post-processing to get them closer to what it looks like - this is the first time I have adjusted color levels on any photos. The third photo is unadjusted):

OK, so I was mowing 12 days ago before I left town and saw some Poa Annua in the front. It prompted a blanket spray of the front and back at 3Oz/1k. I saw some whitening of the desirables, but not much clear Poa Annua in either lawn and pretty much nothing in the back. So far, I have sprayed:

9/17 (5 wks ago) - 3Oz/Acre
9/24 (4 wks ago) - spot sprayed a few small areas - mostly crabgrass and nutsedge
10/11 (11 days ago) - 3Oz/Acre

I had a small amount of Poa after the last renovation that was treated in the spring with Glyphosphate, but nothing bad. Maybe 1% of the front lawn. I majorly disturbed the soil in the front again for this reno as you all know.

St. Louis is looking at lower temps going forward with lows of mid 30s and highs of 50s. It is unlikely to hit the 70s after this weekend. Current soil temp is ~55 degrees and dropping about 5-7 degrees per week. Average first freeze is early/mid Nov (about 2-3 weeks away). I'm debating another blanket spray of Tenacity, but leaning towards holding off with the cooler weather coming since I'm afraid of stressing the new KBG this late in the season and close to dormancy (I still see some bleaching of the KBG from the last Tenacity spray).

Any thoughts? Tenacity or no? Maybe Barricade at the 6 month rate? I'm thinking nothing more this fall, early pre-em in the spring and Tenacity in the spring if needed.

Photos of the front from last weekend (8 weeks post seeding). I should have new photos tomorrow.

The walkway finally got finished. Still waiting on the front porch, the patio and the seat wall.

I think you could sit tight if the weather is really turning like that. I'm surprised it's so cool there.

Our average for this time of year is 45/60. Right now we are warm, but a cold front is coming through later this week. It could break after the front and be back to 55/70, but you never know. First frost last year was Nov 10. It doesn't stay cold, though, and I was still mowing until Thanksgiving last year, but we had occasional frosts through November.

I decided to spot spray anything that looks Poa like with emphasis on areas where I had some before the renovation. I didn't spray anything in the back. I guess decades of Zoysia probably tends to reduce the seed bank. I also sprayed Iron and have another fertilizer app at ~0.4 lbs immediate available Nitrogen planned for today.

While I saw very little bleaching from the Tenacity blanket spray 10 days ago, it really hurt the color across the entire lawn. Not a surprise, but still impressive. Overall, much less bleaching when compared to the effect at four weeks post seeding. While some of the differential bleaching is uneven application, some of the lighter areas are spots that were overseeded 42 days ago. You can really see the difference in effect on younger grass.

The other observation from today is that Elite KBG REALLY likes spray iron. These cultivars responded faster and with more darkening than the common KBG I had before. It also seems that the Iron spray really highlighted the areas that had a slightly higher dose of Tenacity as they darkened less than the lower dosed areas. I definitely need to work on my spray technique.

So far, it seems that the front is darker. Prosperity is REALLY nice. It is very compact, thin and dark. Award is coming in second right now. The Moonlight SLT's only drawback is the wider blade and more upright growth, but color is on par with the other two.

The back wins for uniformity (which I think is the most important factor in appearance). You just can't beat a monostand. While the color is lighter, I don't know how much of that is genetics and how much is differences in the soil (I'm leaning to soil). The front and back soils are pretty different (especially with all the soil disturbance in the front). The spring soil test will give a bit more insight. There is also a thin area on the north side of the back yard. I'm not really sure why it is there. There isn't anything lurking there that I can see. Might just be some slight difference in the soil. I'll see how it looks in the spring and transfer some plugs from the rest of the lawn if needed and maybe pull a soil test from just that area.

Photos from today.
Front (Day 62):




Back (Day 71):

It has been a while since the last update. Just a quick overview of my maintenance since the renovation. The renos are now at 3 months give or take a few days.

1. I started fertilizing at 4 weeks post seeding. I was fertilizing at 0.5 lbs fast release Nitrogen per week until the beginning of Nov. At that point, I dropped down to 0.5 lbs fast release Nitrogen every 2 weeks.
2. I have been spot spraying Tenacity somewhat irregularly every week in the front. There is a moderate Poa Infestation in the sidewalk strip. There is mild P. Annua in the main front lawn in areas where I had some prior to the renovation. The back doesn't have much P. Annua at all and I haven't sprayed in over a month in the back. Some spots of P. Annua didn't get sprayed initially, but as the KBG has darkened, the Poa has become more noticable and more spots have been sprayed. Sprayed mature Poa also produces seedheads. Also, mature KBG bleaches much less than young KBG.
Anyways, here is my spraying schedule:
10/10 - Blanket in front (3.6 Oz/Acre)
10/23 - Spot Spray
10/30 - Spot Spray
11/6 - Spot Spray
11/13 - Spot Spray
3. As for miscellaneous sprays, I have been spraying soil conditioner every other week. I have also sprayed Serenade and Phosphite as preventives. Whether it helped or not, I haven't had any fungal issues. I also sprayed Iron yesterday. Elite KBG responds much better than non-elite.

OK, Pictures. Sorry about the leaves, but as soon as I get it clean they blow back in. The pictures were taken this morning just after dawn before direct sunlight hit the lawn. A couple aren't in perfect focus, but it is too late today to fix that until tomorrow morning.
Front:




Back:




Some Rose pictures.
Love and Peace. I put my hand in this one so you can tell how big the bloom really is.


Dark Night. This is new for me this year. I'm not sure I'll keep it at this point, but the second season might be better.


Lastly, a picture of some P. Annua.

That looks great! One of the things I like about the St. Louis area (my mom is from the area) is all the nice older homes. Your lawn and the neighborhood look really nice!

simpson wrote:By halloween you will love what you have there.

[ Post made via Android ]

Was i right or wrong?

simpson wrote:

simpson wrote:By halloween you will love what you have there.

[ Post made via Android ]

Was i right or wrong?

You were absolutely correct. The lawn is looking good and I am quite happy with where it is.

You just had to throw in that Poa A with the beautiful lawn & rose pics.
Looks great. And yes, love you neighborhood

Looks great. Reminds me of the block from Home Alone. Nice old homes (we have an area here called Garden City that looks like that).

NJDave wrote:You just had to throw in that Poa A with the beautiful lawn & rose pics.
Looks great. And yes, love you neighborhood

It made a nice contrast???

jglongisland wrote:Looks great. Reminds me of the block from Home Alone. Nice old homes (we have an area here called Garden City that looks like that).

The neighborhood is great. Most of the homes are ~90 years old with the occasional new house built after they tore down the old house. Mine was built in 1928 and is like a bomb shelter. Sadly, it comes with a ton of maintenance issues and there aren't as many guys around who can do high quality plaster and slate work as there were 50 years ago.

bernstem wrote:

NJDave wrote:You just had to throw in that Poa A with the beautiful lawn & rose pics.
Looks great. And yes, love you neighborhood

It made a nice contrast???

Gives it character

NJDave wrote:

bernstem wrote:

NJDave wrote:You just had to throw in that Poa A with the beautiful lawn & rose pics.
Looks great. And yes, love you neighborhood

It made a nice contrast???

Gives it character

Battle Scars.

There isn't really that much, so I pulled most of the visible Poa A. yesterday everywhere except the sidewalk strip (which has a moderate infestation ).

bernstem wrote:

jglongisland wrote:Looks great. Reminds me of the block from Home Alone. Nice old homes (we have an area here called Garden City that looks like that).

The neighborhood is great. Most of the homes are ~90 years old with the occasional new house built after they tore down the old house. Mine was built in 1928 and is like a bomb shelter. Sadly, it comes with a ton of maintenance issues and there aren't as many guys around who can do high quality plaster and slate work as there were 50 years ago.

I would take all the plaster out. Do spray foam insulation in the walls. Cover it up with new drywall. The problem is the molding detail back then was outstanding. You can get most of the molding in mdf or stacked trim but getting a good guy to do it is impossible.

[ Post made via Android ]

simpson wrote:

bernstem wrote:

jglongisland wrote:Looks great. Reminds me of the block from Home Alone. Nice old homes (we have an area here called Garden City that looks like that).

The neighborhood is great. Most of the homes are ~90 years old with the occasional new house built after they tore down the old house. Mine was built in 1928 and is like a bomb shelter. Sadly, it comes with a ton of maintenance issues and there aren't as many guys around who can do high quality plaster and slate work as there were 50 years ago.

I would take all the plaster out. Do spray foam insulation in the walls. Cover it up with new drywall. The problem is the molding detail back then was outstanding. You can get most of the molding in mdf or stacked trim but getting a good guy to do it is impossible.

[ Post made via Android ]

The house is solid masonry construction with textured plaster on the inside brick. The only wood framed construction is in the non-load bearing walls. The crown molding is also the original hand molded plaster and the floor molding is the original stained oak (which probably cannot be removed without destroying it and can't be easily replicated). Add in the fact that insulating solid masonry construction on the inside walls can lead to failure of the exterior tuck-pointing and brick and you can see that pulling out the plaster isn't really a simple option. That is all without getting into the aesthetic and historical value of the plaster. Bottom line is that I have no plans of removing the plaster.

The attic, on the other hand, is getting spray foam this winter. Great stuff, that spray foam.

Fully understand your point there. Got any pictures?

[ Post made via Android ]