Lawn surgery

Hot off the heels of the last application of Tenacity, since most of the creeping bentgrass is now dead (or at least appears to be dead) I didn't want to waste any time since this is the ideal time (for central Indiana) to plant grass seed. But before I did, I wanted to make sure that it's ok to plant so soon after spraying. I found an FAQ page with these questions and answers:

On which grasses has Tenacity been tested for use at or prior to seeding?
Tenacity is safe for use at or prior to seeding on Kentucky bluegrass, tall fescue, perennial ryegrass, and centipedegrass. Application at seeding can be made to fine fescue only if it is less than 20% of a seed mixture.

What are some of the unique benefits of Tenacity herbicide?
Tenacity has pre- and post-emergence activity on 46 dicot and monocot weed species. It can selectively control perennial monocots such as bentgrass and nimblewill and annuals such as crabgrass and goosegrass in many turfgrass species. Tenacity can be applied at the seeding to prevent weed germination and allow the turfgrass species to establish without weed competition.

I remember reading that, but I had to double check because it just seemed so counter-intuitive seeing as it turns mature Kentucky bluegrass tip white, so you'd think that young grass would be even weaker and more susceptible. Apparently not, which is fine by me!

I went ahead with planting some seed on Monday (9/2).

For this project I ended up using up a bunch of remaining stuff I had on the garage from previous years: some Scott's starter fertilizer, a bit of GreenView Grass Seed Accelerator (left over from this project), and hesitantly/fearfully the seed I used for last years reseeding. The other stuff should be fine, but the seed had a sell by date of 4/13 and of course is over a year old. I did a search online regarding the use of expired seed and the (completely unofficial) general consensus I gathered is that most of the seed should be fine as long as it was stored properly (e.g. not exposed to moisture), but to expect germination rates to be be lower (more so the older it is). As I often tend to do, I decided to take the risk, but put down more seed than I normally would to hopefully compensate. If 25% of the seed germinates, I'll be happy. We shall see.

Also "reused" in this project was the dead carcasses of the dead creeping bentgrass in lieu of straw or some other mulch, because I 1) didn't have enough of the Greenview Grass Seed Accelerator left, 2) didn't have any other mulch, and 3) was lazy and didn't feel like going to the store and buying any (I firmly believe that laziness is a prime fuel for creativity). In most places the bentgrass was pretty thick, so it just makes sense to me to use it, plus it made the project easier and cheaper - win, win... maybe?

So I used my manual tiller to loosen up the soil underneath the dead bentgrass and the pulled it back to reveal the soil below as seen in the following photos:

After this, I generously dispensed some seed into the soil using a handheld spreader, and then added some starter fertilizer also using the handheld spreader. Then I mixed it all up a bit into the top layer of the soil, covered it back up with the dead bentgrass clumps, and finally matted it down a bit by walking on a board I laid over top of each area. After which, the finished product looked like this (not much different than before!):

In some areas where there was more soil exposed, I put down
some of the GreenView Grass Seed Accelerator

In addition to the bentgrass areas, I also seeded some other areas that seemed to have died this summer (apparently I didn't irrigate enough!).

North side of the driveway (after tilling)

By the road (after tilling).

By the road (after seeding).

Closer shot of the previous.

As usual, I now anxiously await germination - which I hope does in fact happen! In the meantime I'll be irrigating to keep the soil moist.

I just can't seem to go a year without reseeding - maybe next year!

I'll report back upon germination, or lack thereof.

Planting time!

Wow, it has been a while - a whole season in fact!

But you didn't miss much. Here's the summary: drought.

From May 2nd through August 3rd we received a total of 2.06" of rain. Also during this period we had extreme heat with 9 days over 100 degrees and 42 days in the 90s. To make matters worse, on July 13th a watering ban went into effect, prohibiting watering of lawns and limiting watering of plants. Up until that point I was irrigating about 2-3 times per week, but even that wasn't enough to keep the whole lawn green, particularly the areas that got the most sun. This was particularly devastating for the backyard since supia bluegrass doesn't like it dry, and I had just planted the fine fescue earlier in the year (this is why fall is the preferred time to plant).

Since then, however, we have received 13.64" of rain, enough to prompt the lifting of the water ban on September 5th!

But the damage is done. The backyard lawn now looks like it looked back in March, worse actually. Here's a look as of today:

It's not a pretty sight, but I'm hoping for a big comeback like what happened this spring as some of the bluegrass survived. I'm not planning on do any renovations in the backyard for this reason, so we'll see! I must admit that this damage probably wasn't entirely due to the drought - I fertilized it earlier in the season (before the watering ban), which it did not like (whoops)... but I'll save that story for another post.

The front yard fared much better than the back, but not without some damage. Here's a look:

Possible grub damage

Possible grub damage

This patch was killed by leaf rust

As a followup to the fungicide application back in May, it seemed to take care of the problem and I haven't noticed anymore since, which is great! However, it did do a number on the grass it infected and most of it died, so the patch noted above can't be blamed on the drought - it died well before.

The rest of the yard isn't looking too shabby:

As noted, some of the damage might actually have been from grubs. I'm not certain it was necessarily the drought since the majority of the rest of the grass went dormant and survived just fine.

Now what you don't see in these photos is the seed I put down on Thursday in those dead areas. I used the same approach for planting it that I used with the fine fescue in the spring:

1. With a hard-toothed rake, I removed as much of the dead grass as possible, working up the soil beneath as much as possible
2. Then I put down the seed, just eyeballing the amount. I'd say I probably put down about 3 lbs.
3. Next I used a hand-held tiller to work the seed into the top layer of the soil where it was feasible (basically just the most damaged areas where the soil was more exposed)
4. Finally I pat it down and walked over the areas to pack the loosened soil back down (and then 2.79" of heavy rain occurred last night to mat it down even more!)

The seed I used I found at a local nursery:

Endure Execu-Turf Premium Sod Blend

19.90% Midnight Kentucky Bluegrass
19.90% Nu Destiny Kentucky Bluegrass
19.86% Sudden Impact Kentucky Bluegrass
19.84% Beyond Kentucky Bluegrass
19.79% Ruby II Kentucky Bluegrass

I thought it was a good find with some good varieties! We'll see how it does. I noticed that it's the same brand as some good quality fertilizer I've used before.

I will probably put down some fertilizer at some point soon, too, but I haven't figured that out yet (as usual), so I'll save that for another post.

I'll be keeping my eye out for germination!

Planning

It's time to start planning - no, not for our landscaping project (although, those plans have also yet to be finalized), but for grass planting. The optimal seeding window for central Indiana of August 15 - September 15 is quickly approaching. According to the Establishing Lawn Areas From Seed publication by Purdue University and University of Illinois:

It is critical to seed as early as possible within these windows. Even when seeding within these windows, waiting one week to seed may mean the stand will take 2 to 4 additional weeks to mature.

I put that to the test last year, but not this year (I hope)!

The Lawn Improvement Programs publication (also by Purdue University and University of Illinois) states that August 15 - September 1 is the optimum time to plant cool-season grasses (hm... conflicting information?). In any case, I plan to hit the early side of the window. This publication is the one I will likely be following as the other one focuses more on new seedbeds (don't want to do that again), while this one focuses on existing lawns and includes directions for both overseeding and reseeding.

First off, I've got a little secret to tell. For the past few weeks I've been pulling up undesirable grass by hand... Yes, I'm going crazy again. Just every couple of days for an hour or two at a time - nothing too crazy... no, not crazy at all... nope. Yesterday, one our neighbors walked by as I was out pulling and started talking to me. I told them that I enjoyed working in the yard and that it's kind of a hobby, to which they replied (and I quote) "A hobby?? More like an obsession!" I guess people notice more than I think! They must think I'm crazy... Oh well, I think everyone's crazy, just in different ways. There, I feel better now.

Now, back to business. I think I've made some good progress. Here's a look:

This side is nearly 100% tall fescue free

My new yard work buddy!
I'm slowly making my way this way.

It's looking a lot more uniform as a whole now and aside from the patchiness, I'd say it looks much improved over earlier this year. The Certainty herbicide I applied seems to have greatly weakened the patches of tall fescue, making them much easier to pull (which is the main reason I've even tried), but what I have found is that if I don't get the whole plant root, it grows right back... I'm continually amazed at how resilient it is.

So, as far as seeding goes, I have two options: overseeding or reseeding. Overseeding means planting seeds over the existing grass, and reseeding (as I'll define it) is killing the grass and completely reseeding. I'm really torn between the two. On the one hand, reseeding would result in a nice fresh stand of pure tall fescue-free grass, similar to last years reseeding, with the downsides of 1) the lawn not looking good for the end of summer into early fall, 2) the risk of two different color tones of grass between the new and existing grass, and 3) the grass not growing well due to the soil being too compact because I absolutely will not till it like I did last year. On the other hand, overseeding won't make the lawn look bad and likely won't result in an obvious edge between different areas of the lawn, with the downsides of 1) it may not look great mixed with the existing grass (could look patchy if colors are different), 2) I'll have to continue fighting with the tall fescue, and 3) I haven't had much success overseeding.

My general thinking at this point is that I'll overseed the areas that are free of tall fescue and reseed the areas that are still in large part either mostly dead and patchy or still has high concentration of tall fescue.

For the areas that I'm going to kill first, I'll need to give an extra week or so for the grass to die. In addition, I need to make plans to 1) purchase seed, and 2) look into either renting a aerator or finding a company do it for me. All this to say, this project begins in less than a month!