Prostrate knotweed?

I haven't actually gone out to take a closer look to confirm, but it's very possible that the weed that has infested the front lawn this year and last is prostrate knotweed. Purdue Turf Tips had a post about the weed last month and it looks and sounds like what I see in our lawn:

Prostrate knotweed in grass?

I'm trying to figure out what to do about it (assuming this is what it is). The blog post suggests some chemical treatments:

2,4-D by itself will provide only fair control of prostrate knotweed, but when combined with triclopyr (Turflon Ester Ultra or Triclopyr 4) or dicamba (Banvel, Vanquish), it should provide excellent control in cool-season turf. There are many combination products that contain 2,4-D and dicamba, including Trimec 992 and SpeedZone. Combination products that contain 2,4-D and triclopyr include 4-Speed XT, Chaser, Chaser 2 Amine, Momentum FX2, Turflon II amine, and TZONE.

Most of these are professional products that aren't typically sold in stores and are often sold in bulk.

The Ortho Weed B Gon Max label lists the weed and (I think) shows 2,4-D and dicamba as active ingredients, so I may give this a try since it should be easier to get a hold of and not in mass quantity. It appears that Bayer Advanced All-In-One Lawn Weed & Crabgrass Killer and Spectracide Weed Stop for Lawns plus Crabgrass Killer also have similar labels.

Last year I sprayed it with Ortho Weed B Gon and they eventually yellowed (making them stand out even more) and died off. It took some time, though.

First step will be to confirm that this is in fact the weed in our lawn. Will report back.

Spring on my mind

Whoops! It's been a while. I got a little lazy toward the end of last year - actually more like busy. I don't quite have the time that I used to, but I'll try to make time this year.

I was going to title this post "Spring is in the air", but that'd just be a flat out lie because it's not. It is, however, just around the corner and I know it'll be here before I know it. I'm excited! All recharged from the always much needed winter season break.

Things I'm looking forward to this year:

1. Seeing how the Kentucky bluegrass that I planted last fall does this spring
2. Seeing how vigorously the Supina bluegrass grows in the backyard. Will it recover from the near devastation last year or will I need to replant this fall?
3. Seeing if some weeds in the front lawn that I sprayed way late in the season last year (unblogged until now) will die despite not having much time for the herbicide to set in before the colder weather set in, or will I need to respray them?
4. Seeing if the lawn will remain tall fescue and orchardgrass-free (I'm hopeful which is why it's in this list and not the list below)
5. Perhaps finally finishing the landscaping project

What I'm not looking forward to:

1. Replanting a blue holly bush that died during the drought last year (oops, the other two next to it survived just fine, however).
2. Fighting the moles. They invaded the front lawn toward the end of last year (also unblogged). They frustrate me so much.
3. Fighting bristly rose slugs and black spot disease (inevitably)
4. Figuring out how to fight the new turf invader that seems to be happily spreading.

Certainty no longer for use on cool season grasses

The Purdue Turf Tips blog had a post this week on Certainty herbicide. Monsanto, the company that makes it, recently changed the label removing uses on cool season grasses. This went into effect in May.

I purchased my bottle in April so it is the "old" version, but I noticed on my last application that the online label had changed. I had printed it out, but couldn't find the directions for Kentucky bluegrass or any cool season grass - the entire section was gone. So, I had to use the instructions that came with the box instead. I thought it strange.

Now, apparently, it's official. The questions and answers on the Purdue blog didn't answer my biggest question: why? And I wonder if it can still "unofficially" be used on cool season grasses? I did a little searching on their website, but couldn't find any additional information.

Since that is no longer an option, I guess that leaves Chlorsulfuron-based products such as Nufarm Corsair (previously owned by Riverdale?) as alternatives.

The Grass Project III: The rest

I have been known to do some [unscientific] gardening experiments in my day. My approach to the experiments are simple: try it and see what happens. And also: if it fails, try something else. Well, here I am for some more fun. You just can't predict what I'm going to do next.

The Front Yard

My first foray into "lawn improvement" was definitely unconventional and experimental, littered with mistakes and shortcuts, but if you take a look at the lawn today, it's much improved and I'm fairly satisfied. I would call that a success in my book. However, the road to get there was rather long and difficult and I wouldn't prefer to do that over again. The problem I have to deal with now is that that project only replaced a portion of our front lawn leaving the rest in stark contrast. I tried to address the primary problem with the remaining grass (tall fescue) this spring and early summer with Certainty herbicide, but this didn't completely remedy the problem (although it was still a big improvement). And as mentioned, I have pulled quite a bit of the remaining tall fescue by hand. I'd say now that perhaps 1/5 of the lawn remains with a high population of tall fescue. Here is how the front lawn is looking as of yesterday (after a fresh mowing followed by bit of rain):

Other side of the driveway

The kentucky bluegrass is starting to green back up after going dormant during the heat wave (including 23 days in a row of 90+ degrees) since we've finally had some rain and the temps have cooled down.

Here's an image showing the three different "zones":

Green = new grass planted last fall
Orange = old grass w/remaining tall fescue pulled by hand
Red = old grass with remaining tall fescue

Other side of the driveway

And now my plan for each area...

The Green Zone...
This is the area I tore up last year and reseeded. This grass is doing fairly well and should hopefully recover from the heat and drought conditions we've had since the end of June. This area I merely plan to aerate and overseed.

The Orange Zone...
This is the original grass now mostly tall fescue free. There is some remaining undesirable grass, but I should be able to manage it by pulling or perhaps another round of Certainty if it comes to that. This grass is much more thinned out than the green zone and even has some completely grass-less patches. I plan on aerating this zone as well and perhaps tilling the soil a bit of more bare areas.

The Red Zone...
This is the bad zone - the areas that still have a fairly high population of undesirable grass, as well as being thin and patchy. There isn't much kentucky bluegrass to be found here. I plan to essentially reseed these areas with the first step being killing the existing grass, which I started this afternoon by spraying with Roundup. The next step is either aerate the living crap out of those areas or... till it all up. I don't know what's wrong with me, but I'm starting to think that this is the way to go for these areas. The main reasons are:

1. Since this area will be mostly dead, I don't know if aerating will be enough. The Purdue guide says that aerating is only really an option when the soil isn't compacted and although I don't exactly know how to tell that, I would be surprised if it wasn't.
2. Last year I didn't do the first step of killing the grass, so I had to sift through it all and pull it out which is what took FOREVER; this time I'd just leave the dead grass in.
3. Last year I started out manually tilling by hand before finally renting a power tiller; this time I'd start out with the power tiller.

However, one con with this that after tilling the soil is supposed to be allowed to settle for a week or two with rain or irrigation - this adds time and I'm already getting behind...

So, what to do? I don't know. As usual, I'll play it by ear and keep you guessing. Of course, if you have any suggestions, I'm all ears. For now, I'll see how long it takes for the Roundup to kick in.

The Backyard

First of all, why is "front yard" two words, but "backyard" one?? That bugs me a bit. But what also bugs me is our backyard, literally. Earlier this spring, I tried planting some shade tolerant seed, and well, it flopped. It was "experimental" in that I didn't follow the suggested seeding guide very well. I didn't do much soil preparation other than some raking of the very top surface and I think this was the primary culprit. What happened is that early on before germination some very heavy rain occurred and since the soil under the thin layer of raking was more compacted, this allowed the seeds to be washed away or moved due to puddling. In addition, this compaction may have made it difficult for the seeds to grow deeper into the soil (of course, please keep in mind that I just said above that I don't know how to tell if it's compacted, so take all of this with a grain of salt). Furthermore, there are other struggles back there such as competition with the trees, both for light and water. And, the hot and dry weather that we've had likely only exacerbated the other problems.

Here's how it's looking as of yesterday:

Unfortunately, it really doesn't look much different from before I planted the new seed. So... naturally I'll be trying again. I think this time I'll try aerating with perhaps some additional soil preparation in the more bare areas. Also, I'll be trimming back the tress to let as much light in as possible.

Seed for both the front and backyard is in route. I'll have a post on that soon.

Countdown to tall fescue freedom

Today I applied the second application of Certainty herbicide - a very exciting day indeed. Three to four weeks from now I am hoping the tall fescue will all be gone. That is June 9 - June 16.

I'm sure I'll have some status updates along the way...

Tall fescue 3 weeks after Certainty applictaion

It's nearly time for the second application of the Certainty herbicide that I applied a little over 3 weeks ago on the front lawn in hopes of killing the tall fescue "infestation" and it's really starting to show! Over the past few weeks I have noticed that the lawn in general where I applied the herbicide didn't grow much and seemed stressed, Kentucky bluegrass included (the new Kentucky bluegrass that I didn't spray continued growing). The instructions warned that this may happen, but that the Kentucky bluegrass should survive, and the tall fescue - not so much. This week I noticed a definite improvement in overall appearance as the Kentucky bluegrass appeared to start growing again, while the tall fescue continued stunted and generally more thinned out. This is great as it shows that it appears to be working as expected. Here's a photo I took two days ago after a mow:

3 weeks after Certainty herbicide application.

The tall fescue plants are still present and there are even a few that are still growing (perhaps I missed them when spraying), but overall, it's looking very promising. The general color of the yard as a whole is starting to look more uniform:

I have a feeling that large area of tall fescue is going to need a reseeding.

Here's a comparison of the grass color between the old and new Kentucky bluegrass from the above photo:

Fairly similar in color.

Blurred to remove texture and show the colors better.

I'm thinking I'll apply the second application sometime this week, and hopefully after another 3-4 weeks the tall fescue will be history!

Tall fescue, rose bush, & daisy kit updates

Quite a few updates today:

First of all, thanks to my wife for the guest post. I look forward to following her vegetable project! Also, just to make it very clear: I'm no plant whisperer! I have quite the knack for killing plants, which is why I think this tall fescue extermination project has a very high probability of success!

That said, I think the tall fescue is starting to succumb to the herbicide. My observations are that the grass has gotten even lighter in color (almost yellow), is not growing nearly as quickly as it used to, and when I look closely there are even some completely brown/dead blades. This about right on schedule according to the instructions. Here's a few shots:

Dying Tall fescue about 2 weeks after Certainty herbicide application.

Note the many dead blades.

Needless to say I'm very excited.

In other exciting news, our new rose bush is beginning to grow leaves! Here's a few shots of that:

I haven't had to water it yet since we have had a steady amount of rain lately.

And finally, an update on the daisy grow kit planted back on March 22nd: they're still growing! I gave it some fertilizer a few days ago according to the instructions (once they reach 2-3 inches). I'd guess they're up to 3-4 inches now:

Daisies after 6 weeks.

And finally (for real), so far it appears that no other plants have been infected by the fungus (or whatever it is) and the phlox doesn't appear to have any new spots on its remaining leaves, thankfully.

That's all for now.

Certainty

Well, I've been known to go a little overboard when it comes to the lawn, and when I discovered that there is a selective herbicide for controlling tall fescue in Kentucky bluegrass, it was essentially love at first sight. This was after four hours of trying to pull it up by hand with a weeder (some might also call this going a little overboard) and my desperate resolve to try to pull it all up gradually over the course of the growing season. I couldn't believe my eyes to find that there are actually products that can be used for this very purpose! After doing some online searching, I found that Certainty Turf Herbicide seemed to be the most accessible to purchase and found some on ebay for cheaper than most online retail stores. It's not cheap at $100 for 1.25 oz bottle, however, in comparison to the hours of manual pulling that was my alternative, I consider it a steal and didn't think twice about it.

So here it is:

Certainty Turf Herbicide - 1.25 oz

The incredible (and embarrassing) thing is that this tiny bottle that is about the size of a prescription bottle has enough in it to treat our whole front and back yard about 25 times, and I will likely only be applying it twice to just part of the front yard (for now).

I am planning to make the first application tomorrow. I'll only be applying it to just the old grass as the grass I planted last year is still young and may not be able to withstand it and plus it doesn't have much tall fescue mixed in it.

I thought that I might be able to use this on the backyard eventually, however, it says in the instructions: "Avoid application of this product on stands with a high percentage of perennial ryegrass or fine fescue." Since I just seeded at about 80% fine fescue, this may not be an option for back there.

I was perplexed when the instructions said to add a "nonionic surfactant" to the mix of water and herbicide. I had no clue what this meant, so I asked a very qualified family member who explained that the surfactant helps the herbicide spread out on the plant instead of beading up. He said that dish soap can be used for this purpose; and also, that dish soap is a base so it will keep the pH up, which is another thing the instructions warned about. Good to know.

So, tomorrow I'll have to figure out how to evenly spray exactly 2 gallons of the mixture over about 1000 sq ft using a hand-held pump sprayer - should be interesting. And in about 2-3 weeks, results should be visible with yellowing/browning of the leaves. The Kentucky bluegrass may be stunted and show some yellowing as well, but it should recover in a few weeks. After 3-4 weeks (May 12 - May 19), it'll be time for the second application, assuming that the existing Kentucky bluegrass isn't too stressed by it.

I hate tall fescue

Nah, I don't really hate it. I just don't want it in our yard at all. I'm not even sure if it is tall fescue, but it appears to be. It has course, thick bladed leaves that aren't soft and smooth like Kentucky bluegrass and it just doesn't look very good, at least not in a mix with Kentucky bluegrass. To me it  looks very similar to crabgrass.

Here's the deal. The new grass in the front is starting to grow quite well in some places and is looking much better. However, there is a contrast in colors between the old and new parts of the lawn and it's really bugging me and making me wonder what to do about it. Here's a shot that shows it:

Contrasting colors. Note the darker green of the new grass
toward  the front vs. the brighter green old grass behind it.

 I was afraid of this happening. However, I think I might know the main cause of this: tall fescue. The old grass is "infested" with tall fescue. This grass has always bugged me. It's a lighter color than the other grass and grows must faster. This is part of the reason I went so crazy last year tearing up the lawn - about all that was left in some of the areas was tall fescue and I wanted it gone. Here's a closer shot of the edge of the new and old grass showing the tall fescue:

Note the thicker blades are brighter green color of the tall fescue.

If it weren't there, I don't think the color contrast would be nearly as evident, if evident at all.

Something must be done about this, of course. I can't stand by and let the tall fescue ruin my dream. So today, I decided to pull some of the more obvious ones, like this patch:

An ugly tall fescue orchardgrass patch.

One thing led to another and soon enough I was at it for about 4 hours pulling as much up as I could. It looks so much better once removed, even with a vacant spot in its wake. I much prefer those spots to the tall fescue.

The problem is that in those 4 hours, I barely made a dent and there are some areas that have so much that I might as well just kill it all with roundup and reseed. I definitely don't want to be doing that, at least not a large area like last year, so I'm thinking that if I keep with it all throughout the season, little by little I might be able to pull it all up by hand. And perhaps the thicker areas I can just kill and reseed this fall, if the areas is not too big. I'm certainly not lacking in motivation to go this route.

However, I was doing some searching on the problem and it appears that there might be a product that selectively kills tall fescue without harming Kentucky bluegrass! This got me very excited. The product is called Certainty Turf Herbicide or Riverdale Corsair and there are probably others. The active ingredient appears to be Sulfosulfuron and I found a publication of a study using a it on tall fescue and some other grasses. This sounds very promising and sounds much better to me than countless hours of manual pulling. Now I just need to find where I can purchase it.

Oh, and one more little side note. There's also tall fescue throughout the backyard as well. That's another reason I believe it's in fact tall fescue because it is also a shade tolerant grass and would need to be to thrive back there.

This is how much I pulled in the end:

To the "compost" pile!

A good 50-75 lbs worth, I'd say.