Thankfully other than me occasionally breaking risers/heads every now and then I haven't really had any issues with the system. I recently added on a rain sensor to the controller so hopefully that helps me save a bit on watering when I forget to turn it off before/after a good rain.

Front has recovered nicely since leveling. Seedheads are in full swing now but trying to hold off on PGR until the end of the month to let it recover a bit more (mowing every 2-3 days at .6"). Hedges need trimming bad but I hate doing it.
https://i.imgur.com/VFDU7BO.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/puVJNO1.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/QQ8wRYM.jpg

I'm actually happy with how the back is looking this season considering outside of the basics, I really don't keep up with it like the front since it's my pup's space. It gets maintained with the rotary at 1.25".
https://i.imgur.com/xlFrIAg.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/0Lsl714.jpg

Finally got the back respectable enough to post a pic. Between the gophers and  dallsgrass this year it has been hell, and being in CA I can't get any of the good broad leaf herbicides here unless you want to drop $300 on revolver. I did trap 15 gophers last week, looks like I still have 2 more down below, still have a fair amount up top but that isn't groomed yet. Attached File

We have dried out some, not nearly as wet as we were. Been getting some light showers every other week, maybe a 1/10 to 1/4, nothing crazy.

For the dallsgrass I finally wound up spot treating the best I could with glycosphate while the grass was coming out of dormancy. I have a few spots of grass that weren't happy about it, but it's bermuda, you can't kill it, it will come back and the more abuse you give it seems to make it come back stronger

Yard update!

Two fledgling American Robins are learning to fly in the back yard so to avoid them turning into chicken nugget snacks for the dingus, access to the back has been limited and extra daily walks implemented. It has been fun to see them making progress daily and hoping by the beginning of next week they will be gone. Have had to be extra cautious when mowing and at one point moved a little one that wouldn't budge over to a spot I had already mowed. Thankfully mom/dad didn't protest and the fledgling didn't mind when I picked him up to relocate and then finish mowing.

Unfortunately between the combination of high humidity, evening showers, high N fert rates, low cutting height and potentially dulling reel blades, I believe Rhizoctonia has set up camp in my front yard grass. I put down some Headway G the other day and hoping that it clears up otherwise I'll need to swap to a different fungicide to avoid making it resistant. Also took the opportunity this morning with the cooler weather to backlap and re-adjust the reel to bedknife on the Cali Trimmer. I've also found myself keeping an eye out for a good deal on a used greensmower, specifically a Toro Flex 2100.

I did a thing

What other mower?

It just left on the back of someone's truck. I posted it up for sale last night on a couple lawncare FB groups.

I mowed with it for the first time this morning. I love it! Need to get an impact wrench to remove the transport axles to get closer to the beds and other obstacles but this machine is so far quite amazing. I also splurged a bit and got some power rotary scissors (idech) which I have to say, while pricey, are also an excellent tool to have in the arsenal.

Well with the help from an out of state friend, I think I finally have my weeds at bay. I still have a few small spots of crabgrass and clumping fescue that should be gone in the next few weeks. Finally starting to look like a park. My bare spots are filling in nicely and the Bermuda is spreading into the yard area behind where I'm standing even though I haven't fully prepped and leveled that area. Attached File

That's looking great! For the bare spots, if you want to speed things up a bit, you could take some plugs from your healthy turf and transplant them over. Look up the "proplugger" on Amazon.

I have been taking some stolon runners and popping them in and it seems to be working well. I had some long runners heading under the fence you see in the back. Followed them back to the root and took the whole stolon. Bermuda is actually pretty amazing once you learn how it works and learn to love it.

Good call - I've been doing the same with runners growing over the edges onto concrete and re-homing them to the spots where I recently sand leveled that are recovering slowly.

Yup, totally agree. Definitely one of the easier to care for grasses in my opinion and very forgiving of mistakes or neglect.

Recovering from a sand level and scalp stress so not the prettiest but it is coming along at .4". Hit it with PGR at the full rate on Friday so also have a little bit of bronzing but that should be gone in a week hopefully. 114 degree heat index today!

You have and coincidentally I put it down Sunday

I actually wanted to do a test to see how it performs compared to using baby shampoo in the back to see if there were any appreciable differences.

@Kitties-with-Sigs
I've used it before and yes, it was watered in immediately. I used the hose-end sprayer style bottle. Thank you though!

In slightly unrelated but related lawn news, I'm beginning a new landscaping project this weekend. First thing I need to do is trim the crepe myrtle and magnolia trees in the back since they needed it bad. Knocked most of the myrtle trimming out today and will tackle the magnolia tomorrow. Just mostly clearing dead limbs, raising the canopy a little and thinning it out a bit. The Pin Oak tree will have to wait until winter for a trim but I might knock down some dead limbs if I happen to come across them.

But the main show will be removing all the stone edging along my front bed and creating a natural edge. Will also be extending the bed along the side of the house to the fence approximately 15 feet which will cover an area grass is super thin from shade and algae/moss that thrive there due to poor drainage. The edging stones will then be repurposed for new edging along the entire side of the house in the backyard and along the back of the house. I'll likely add some sort of rock in these beds and eventually plant something there but for now I just want to get this part done. The grass along the sides and back of the house is super thin and the dog has worn a running trail from the back porch so hoping this will make it look a lot nicer.

In one of your early posts you mention not fertilizing too late in the fall. When is too late? SE Michigan if that makes a difference.

Decided to get the season started by scalping the front. My first mow at the new house and on a newly sodded yard! And then this happened...





Thankfully a local greenskeeper that's done work for me on my mower before got me back up and running within a day. Then spent an hour scouring the yard for more builder treasure and finally finished the scalp at .25".

Thankfully, no. He was able to bend back the one damaged blade but unfortunately I did have to replace the bedknife. Got a fresh relief grind done and it's cutting paper again without any issue.

Blade sharpening on these can really only be done on a big honkin machine specifically made for grinding them. You can sharpen somewhat at home by backlapping which lightly restores/hones the edges on the reel and bedknife using a lapping compound (80-160 grit) and is super easy to do. Though if you let the blades get too dull or if they are damaged then it must be ground. You can also face the bedknife but I haven't tried doing that yet.

The cool thing is that just the cutting unit on the machine can come off and away easily from the rest of the mower (traction unit - engine/drivetrain/etc) and I can take that in to be serviced separately.

Getting ready in Ohio

I posted some stuff last March as I was gearing up.
https://www.ar15.com/forums/outdoors/OFFICIAL-HOMESTEAD-LAWN-CARE-Thread-Ask-Your-Lawn-Care-Questions-HERE-Shade-Tolerant-Grass-pg-9-/19-701519/&page=9#i12095501
2022 pic, just had an EF1 tornado pass about 800 feet away , leaves and crap scattered in yard.


This next pic from this past year, July 2023.  We were a bit on the dry side of average for rainfall and I don't irrigate so was dealing with some brown spots and slow growth most of the season.  Davis VantagePro weather station/rain gage out there in the left on the pole so have a good indication of rainfall on the property.  Didn't put down Pre. like I should have due to overseeding some areas and other priorities other than the lawn.  Tried to combat the crab with quinclorac but only spot spraying the crab with a backpack and it was late enough stage that it quit growing and killed but yellowed it and was still noticeable. You don't normally notice it in a thicker lawn around here until late July+.  In any event no Pre., and slow turf growth and some stressed brown areas the crab had little competition but whatever.....




In any event this years plan is to try something different.

Getting ready to pick up some LESCO Stonewall 0.37% 13-0-0 25% Stabilized Nitrogen Pre-Emergent Plus Fertilizer this week and put it down at the max rate of 270 lb/acre or 6.2lb/per 1000/sq.ft which is the max rate.
Label PDF:
https://www.siteone.com/medias/sys_master/PimProductImages/assets/ProductAssets/US/LESCO/labelAsset/rb-ue-labels-23155_443960_label_702274-720451/rb-ue-labels-23155-443960-label-702274-720451.pdf

Since the N was low plan to pick up some LESCO Fertilizer 46-0-0 Spreadable 250 SGN and put down soon after.
Label PDF:
https://www.siteone.com/medias/sys_master/PimProductImages/assets/ProductAssets/US/LESCO/labelAsset/rb-ue-labels-17540_329563_label_098525pp-254359/rb-ue-labels-17540-329563-label-098525pp-254359.pdf

Last year I only put down the product below because I got it for a great deal and didn't put down any pre-m because I seeded some areas. Got it for (1/2 price) but I think the rate I applied was a bit low  and didn't get the green up I expected since I was unfamiliar with the product and didn't want to burn the lawn.. I still have 3 bags left though and plan to apply it at a higher rate than previously in late June early July to use it up.

Beautiful property and lawn! I see you are a man of culture



I should probably purchase stock in Lesco at this point. Glad to hear the tornado missed you - never been that close and never want to be!

Honestly I just pick up Lesco cuz it's what they carry at the local SiteOne but if I come across some Earthworks I'll give it a shot.

Not really lawn related but this weekend I replaced the ugly mulch in my flower bed. Looks way better I think. Also took out the 6' tall Holly bush that was in the front corner of the bed to make room for a dwarf Japanese Maple (Mikawa Yatsubusa) I ordered which I'm really excited about to take it's place. I then blanket sprayed the yard and beds with some Suspend Polyzone (Deltamethrin) insecticide to hopefully keep the mosquito, ant, and other annoying critters at bay for the next few months. Sidenote: spraying 2 yards (about 8k sqft) with a backpack sprayer in 80 degrees sucks and I think I'll swap to a granular for the maintenance app (Deltagard G).

Gone!


There we go

No, I wish. It's Tifway 419 bermuda which is just your typical builder-grade hybrid but I do prefer it over common bermuda. If I could have chosen my own I would have probably gone with Tahoma 31.

The tornado from 2022 I spoke of above snapped a good number of tree branches up to about 4-5 inches in diameter.   Stripped large sections of shingles and portions of vinyl siding.  Broken windows here and there from debris.  Luckily my property was just outside of the damage by a couple hundred feet.

There were 7 tornadoes last week back on the 28th.  An EF2 passed 7 miles to the south  2019 an EF0 passed about a mile away.

I did not put pre down last year due to seeding I had done.  Wasn't worth it.  By July the crab came up and was annoying me so I guess that is my main reason for max rate on the prodiamine this year.  Also a lot of weed seeds blow into my property.  Anyway just applied the Prodiamine 0.37% with 13% non slow release N this past Sunday, temps have been above average and grass is just starting to green up.  Going with some stuff I read, early application of a lot of nitrogen will encourage fast top growth rather than strong root development.  Considering "equal chances" of normal rainfall the soil will have plenty of moisture to green up.


By the end of March will apply the N I have left over from last year which is this.



Due to the slow release I don't think I achieved the greening I expected but during application I was careful to not apply over rate because I didn't have experience with the product and didn't want to burn with too much N.  But now I know the chance of burning with the product is low and can apply at a higher rate and have plenty to apply to the whole lawn at a higher rate.

NWS long term.



Considering the forecast I guess another application of 46-0-0 labeled as non slow release in May is the next step at this point just to see the results.

I still have some Dimension15% N with 4.5% slow release that I can put down in April or May for the crab that comes up later in the season.

2-4D and Quinclorac for the backpack sprayer to take care of the rest if need be.

Earthworks as mentioned is over 5 hours drive to get for me.  Not going to happen unfortunately .

Received this text from my old neighbor today. For context, we moved out of that house first week of December and nothing has been done to the yard outside of the automated sprinkler schedule since before going dormant at the start of winter

Yeah, that's his. Even my new yard is still probably 50% dormant. I think having such a low height of cut going into dormancy then allows the sun to heat up the ground quicker as temps start rising so it wakes up sooner. At least the new owners will have a good start but I feel guilty I didn't put down pre-emergent at the old place before closing

Looked back at some stuff and this is the earliest I have needed to cut my lawn in 5 years. Mild winter this year in west central OH.

Start cutting at pretty much the same stage of growth each year.
First cut....
April 14th 2019
April 4 2020
April 5 2021
April 10 2022
March 30 2023
And just cut this past week on March 25 and soil is much drier than any of the years noted above.  This year I chose to go over the back yard twice at opposite directions to disperse some high growth that clumped up a bit that wasn't necessary in years past but waited a week longer for better temps and some sun to dry the soil before getting out the mower out.

Back on the 3rd of March I applied Prodiamine 0.37% with 13% non slow release N

I am going to mix up some 2-4D this week to spray some dandelions and such that made it through the winter and apply some leftover 30-0-10 slow release I had leftover from last year.



And then apply the fert. I just purchased this year maybe late April that is Lesco 46-0-0 non slow release since I can cut every few days if necessary to keep any fast growth under control if conditions are favorable and get greening to where I think I would like.

A few days ago on the first cut of the season....

Yeah, spring frost is still a possibility until mid May here historically.  Not in the city which as you state seems to hold a little more heat and protection. I cover a few bushes on the property in the rural area I live when damage is likely when they are budding out but the lawn seems to not care luckily, and the 20ish various trees budding out on the property either make it through or show minimal slowing of growth in the spring after a cold event stuns them later in their growth.  As you say it is just a lottery and hope for he best for an early start that is not stunted by the weather.

I'm not planning to make my lawn look as amazing as you all have, however I would prefer it not all be weeds and clovers.  I know this might make some of you really cringe, but can I get some help working with what I've got.

Here is where I'm at, I had a septic drain pit put in late last week and now have straight up clay on my surface.  I was going to buy Palisades Zoysia sod to cover it and work that in, but I'm not willing to pay $12 per roll (9 sqft).  I did get some though.  So here is what I have right now as of Saturday night:


I didn't have the budget set aside for top soil and even full coverage for the sod.  So I have these laid out knowing zoysia will spread.  I went with the Palisades Zoysia because it seems best suited for my climate and my "lazy" lawn care approach.

Before laying the sod I ran a tiller over the whole area to soften the top as much as possible from the excavator running over it packing it down.  It being all clay, that was no easy task.  I've been watering these every morning since laying them down so I'm not really able to move them now, but kinda wished I didn't lay them next to each other so they would spread to cover more ground quicker.  At the time, I thought it would create a stronger "core" of the grass to allow it to spread from there.

Most of what looks like rocks in the picture are actually clay clumps.  There was easily a 6' layer of clay the excavator had to claw through to get to the sandy perk for the drain pit.  I have been having my kids go out and pick up the actual rocks and get them thrown in the ditch near the house so they won't be in the grass.  A picture being worth 1000 words and all that, here is the pit open before the gravel got poured in:


The areas where I'm planning to have this zoysia are all mostly shady areas.  Some direct sun during the day, but only hours at most and that is either early morning or late evening.  The areas are all near my house on the north and eastern sides.  So my question is, given what I have to work with, what is my best approach to cultivating what I have and making it spread and last?  

I might be able to work out some more rolls of the sod in my budget, but I wasn't planning to have the septic pit done yet either and that was $3500 I wasn't planning right now either.  I've been trying to find the Palisades in plugs but that isn't an option I've found yet, just sod.  I know I'll never get it going from seed so I won't even both trying that.

I don't think I'd change anything with your recommendations if it were bermudagrass but just a disclaimer: my limited knowledge begins and ends with taking care of bermuda which is a complete alpha of a grass that spreads like crazy, unlike Zoysia from what I understand. One thing I'll add is core aeration helps a lot with the compaction, especially in heavy clay-based soils but I would probably wait until the grass has rooted before doing that.

Thank you for the replies.  I read it last night, a few times, thinking through how I can make this happen.  Everything from trying to find other sources for this type of zoysia at different supplies for less and maybe be able to buy enough rolls of sod.  I've not been able to find ANY plugs for this strain either, sod only.  The only place I can find it locally is the one distributor I bought these from.  Apparently I chose a strain that golf courses love.  Now I know why they charge such a premium for it. I can't say I never had taste.  While I don't have champagne taste on a beer budget, but my yard is on a beer budget.

To answer my water source, regional water district.  I'm willing to pay for the water consumption to get this established though.  The logistics of getting a sprinkler set up on that patch is something I'll have to work through but will figure out how to make happen.  Would the recommendation be an oscillating wand or impact style?  The area is about 460 sqft total (almost perfect square) that is all clay.  I'll set up the hose on a timer so I don't have to think about it, it will happen rain or shine on whatever interval is needed.

I'm going to see about buying more rolls from the local supplier.  There was only about 10 rolls left on the pallet when I picked these up so I will see what is left when I head out there later.  From there I'm open to breaking out the machete and chopping up my current patch and spreading it out.  

When breaking them up and "planting" them, do you mean to mostly cover with the clay too?  I'm good with that but I know clay isn't forgiving. I'm envisioning using a dirt knife/trowel to dig a shallow square and then set the sod chunk in it and gently cover with finer clay so blades are exposed but the core mat is mostly covered.  Is that about right?

What kind of other supplies should I look at getting?  I have Tractor Supply, Home Depot and Lowe's all in town I can go to.  Of course, anything that is available for delivery will get there too. I'm assuming fertilizer but no idea what is the best for what I'm going to be doing here.

For the weeds... the thought had crossed my mind that they would naturally come back.  I have a backpack sprayer that is just herbicide, but I'm good with getting another sprayer to spray down weed killer.  Ideally, for my lazy style, it would be great if I were applying whatever product with a garden hose and sprayer.  If better for the lawn, I'll go out there with a pressure sprayer type and manually walk around instead.

Unfortunately, sod is really the best way to go to establish a lawn and it isn't the cheapest option and spring time is when it is likely to be the most expensive and hardest to get.

For a budget friendly sprinkler solution you could DIY something like this -
https://www.lawnsite.com/attachments/c63906c7-0d1c-48d3-8b97-c3dc48f26d22-jpeg.388907/
Or get one of these -
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07S6Y2PX8/?coliid=I2RKNU6ER9AW0E&colid=1H9FT2B36SSK2&psc=1&ref_=list_c_wl_lv_ov_lig_dp_it

Don't cover the sod with anything, you don't want to smother it. I'd also rent a sod roller if possible. It should take about 10 days or so to root. Before laying the sod, put down a balanced fertilizer like a 14-14-14 at a rate of about 1/2 lb N per 1k sqft. Avoid using pre-emergents for the first year/full growing season to ensure strong and deep roots (pre-emergents are a root pruner). For watering, you want to keep the sod moist but you don't want the water to pool or overwater it either - when you lift up the sod it should be moist but not muddy. Actually The LCN did a video recently where he laid down some new sod and does a decent job explaining what to do (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hGGV6Myanw).

For herbicides, I'd try to avoid using any until the grass is rooted and established. Hope this helps!