It’s EASIER than you think! NTEP + Water + Nitrogen. No annual soil test. No humic acid. No PGR’s.
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- Опубликовано: 6 ноя 2024
- 10 things I do in the lawn:
1) Premium Genetics (time on NTEP)
2) Urea
3) Regular Mowing (1/3 rule)
4) Sharp Blades (a video on how I sharpen rotary blades can be found here: • 🏆 BETTER THAN FACTORY ...
5) Water per evapotranspiration (links below)
6) Spot weed with a pocket knife when mowing or post emergent spray as needed
7) Grub control (follow label): I do high rate acelepryn at 11.83 grams per 1000 square feet or GrubEX at 6 pounds per 1,000 square feet is equivalent to high rate acelepryn (AI = chlorantraniliprole)
8) PH adjustment (doesn’t need to be perfect)
9) Small prills if spreading granular
Low or neutral PH: Scott’s
High PH: ProPEAT.
If you don’t need P or K, Scott’s Lawn Food
(or 17-0-4 ProPEAT for high PH)
10) Rotary scissors for edging (and trimming if possible)
10 things I don’t do in the lawn:
1) X No Humic Acid (summary video link below)
2) X No phos or potassium… most areas have little chance of benefiting from P or K… 14PPM or higher phos is the number I like on a quality soil test like local turf extension office or Midwest Laboratories or Waypoint Analytical and potassium slightly above 40-50PPM Mehlich-3 is recommended for mild areas and potassium slightly above 60-70PPM Mehlich-3 recommended in areas that get below 8°F in the winter… adding potassium generally becomes a liability rather than an asset much above these safe numbers.
3) X No low cut. I like reel mowing, but I’m seeing how high I can go without it looking hairy rather than mowing every day with T-Nex needed on top of that.
4) X No low quality soil tests. AKA, anything nailed in water. Local extension is best and one soil test per property per lifetime is enough in my opinion (unless an issue surfaces that looks like deficiency).
5) X No pre-emergent. I prefer post emergents that don’t tend to harm roots.
6) X No spoon feeding micro apps or slow release heavy apps… 1 application per month is a good balance of very healthy grass without wasting time applying all the time or mowing all the time.
7) X No PGR’s. I’m not saying there’s no benefit… I just find them unnecessary and not worth it when a reasonable cutting height is chosen
8) X No micro nutrients… I don’t need them a most people don’t need them. Get PH in the ballpark and generally micros supply will far exceed demand. I don’t even apply foliar iron (it does zero to my color).
9) X No cheap pasture grade prilled fertilizers like Sta-Green or Lilly Miller… cheap fertilizers are also often angular rather than round. NO THANKS!
10) X No blade edging… it’s simply obsolete.
DO LESS. GET MORE. Max results-Minimal effort.
No more #humicacid #soiltesting
Focus on: #urea #mowing
Weekly evapotranspiration can be found here:
(Watering every 3 days is roughly ET X 3 / 7 x .75)
digital.weathe...
Daily evapotranspiration can be found here:
(Days between waterings should add up to at least 1/2” per watering… watering too often is more disease, more thatch, and less soil air. Water early AM only if possible, and the dryer the lawn less disease pressure.)
digital.weathe...
Turfgrass Epistemology Podcast: pca.st/podcast...
Turfgrass Epistemology RUclips: / @turfgrassepistemology
Summary humic video (@TheGrassFactor ): • Is HUMIC ACID A Scam? ...
NTEP Website: www.ntep.org
To source urea check local farm supplies or possibly co-ops.
For soil maps of a specific nutrient Google “Soil Map USGS Potassium” as an example… in general only the very most depleted areas MIGHT need that nutrient.
T-Nex was the main PGR I was referencing, but for some reason I never said trinexapac ethyl.
If USGS soil maps show your area (or nearby areas) in dark blue consider getting a quality soil test here (or at your local extension office, but take their recommendations with a grain of salt): midwestlabs.com
Recommended granular spreader: Solo chest mount
Recommended backpack sprayer: FoowZone Cyclone
Recommended spray tip for fertilizer: TeeJet TTI11004
Spray tips for herbicides (foliar appropriate):
TeeJet AI11003 for light wind.
TeeJet DG11003 for zero wind.
XR series or finer droplets not recommended.
Related: best fertilizer?, My soil test, potassium, StaGreen 16-0-10, Lilly Miller, Scott’s = greens grade 24-25-4 32-0-10, starter, seeding, 32-0-4, Perfect Blend, ProPEAT greens grade 17-0-4 10-10-10 10-0-10 30-0-10 1-1-1, 1-0-1, 24-8-16 Peter’s, pre-emergent, low cut, high cut, reel mowed lawn, perennial ryegrass bluegrass
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A few clarifications:
For high pH I no longer prefer ProPEAT… I now recommend 20-0-0 StaGreen from Lowe’s to get Ammonium Sulfate down. Ideally, dissolve that in water and spray during rain or right before light irrigation (to avoid tip burn).
I think potassium and phosphorus are over applied, but that doesn’t mean they should never be applied in any lawn ever.
A few states with generally crappy soil nutrients include: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, & Virginia.
This video was my first and only take so my wording wasn’t perfect and I should have mentioned more than Florida and sourounding states. In this video it dodn’t sound like I valued a soil test, but I actually do recommend that a one time RELIABLE soil test be done upfront.
To find a quality laboratory simply Google “turf extension office near me” and avoid any test mailed in water.
If your PH is overly low or high, that’s a slow play so I do recommend learning to accurately test your own pH because pH correction can take years (video below):
ruclips.net/video/jmWhEb-sP5Q/видео.html
I want a soil test to verify:
Phos >20PPM (Mehlich-3 or H3A)
Potassium over 40PPM Mehlich-3 (or closer to 60PPM for areas that get near 0°)
Sulfur >10PPM
Magnesium >60PPM
PH in the 6.0-7.0 ballpark
A stick edger is a lot more comfortable than rotary scissors so for longer driveways I’m very much on board for using an edger, but if you’re going for quality rotary scissors give a much more perfect edge.
Matt Martin didn’t analyze “all” humic studies… I think it was just all the studies he could find as a non soil scientist with less access to academic papers than someone like Dr. Travis Shaddox. So far the only obvious benefit I’ve heard of is during drought stress when brown water is applied with kelp (humic+kelp+drought stress equals benefit, but my lawn rarely sees drought stress) so that benefit is not applicable to me.
Pre-emergents probably are a good idea in the transition zone and South… the only heavy hitters in my lawn are poa and clover… although poa is on the pridiamine label I observed no difference in poa at 9 grams of 65% when the label specified 6 grams or above is supposed to be adequate for poa… poa is almost always germinating and almost always at seed head where I live. Clover isn’t on the label for prodiamine or dithiopyr so post emergent is what I do in my back lawn, pocket knife is what I do in my front… no dandelions in my lawn, no crabgrass (except on sidewalks), so there’s mulch of the context for the pre-emergent mention. For warm season weeds I’d time warm season germination with 24% Dithiopy (the best value for dithiopyr by a long shot).
And root pruning is more with improperly applied pre-emergent… I had a neighbor decide more was better and he did double max label rate application of Prodiamine… not pretty.
Me again…I know you’ve listed everything you normally do here but what do you use for fungicides? Do you ever apply a preventative? Thanks!
Maybe I should when it won’t stop raining… the two diseases I have seen are pink patch and red thread in the same spots. I have some theories, but for now I want to try to figure things out without fungicides. My organic matter is too high and the few spots tend to be in saturated soil… poor soil air may be stunting growth some in a few areas.
Sorry, can’t help you there. Disease pressure isn’t too bad in my area because my Summers are very dry.
@@LawnCareMinimalist gotcha. I think the hardest part of fungus for me is identifying it.
@@yard.monsterjoin the FB group “Lawn Care Fanatics” and post a picture. Fungus ID usually isn’t difficult and lots of people will be able to chime in and fairly accurately tell you what fungus you have… there are about 111K members and about 55 “experts” that are just people the knowledgable main moderator felt most consistently give the right advice based on the right questions and an understanding of the primary risk factors. So you’ll get pretty good advice from people on there in general (but also some Milo/brown water/Kelp fanboys), but, I think it would be unlikely that the group couldn’t accurately identify your fungus.
You can email a picture to “ask me anything lawn care at gmail” if you want. I’m Trevor Gemmer in the FB group… you can also PM me on FB if you want. I don’t currently use fungicides (spending money on aeration and sand might be a better long term strategy), but I am fairly competent at correctly IDing disease.
A few rules of thumb… some diseases are nitrogen loving (exe: pythium, brown patch, leaf spot) and some diseases prefer slow growing grass or low nitrogen (exe: red thread and pink patch and dollar spot) and excess water seems to be a commonality to almost any disease. The N loving diseases tend to be higher temp diseases (days over 85°, nights over 60° 3-5 consecutive nights) where slow growth preferring diseases tend to hit at lower day temps around 60-75° + extra water, so, just looking at the color of the grass and knowing the night temps can be a helpful starting point when discerning between dollar spot and the beginnings of brown patch as an example… with just a little context about 1/2 of the diseases become less likely and 1/2 become more likely.
Great video and tips. Love the Dr. Shaddox shout out. His unbiased allegiance to fact and evidence is changing the game. And I’m glad you have the same goal. I’ll be spending the least amount on my lawn this year and I’m confident I’ll still have above average results, all thanks to his channel.
Absolutely. I’m doing the same. So much wasted time/money.
RUclipsrs make it harder than it is because sponsorships and well , the obvious, more content = more $$ for them
@@mrRoverkane Exactly. I far prefer channels that give evidence-based recommendations. At the end of the day though, to each their own. It’s actually my guilty pleasure to watch their content as “entertainment,” or as a mindless thing to put on as background noise while I get things done around the house lol. But snake oil is snake oil, I don’t let the sales pitches influence my decisions. No hate on these RUclipsrs’ hustle of trying to get monetized/ get free products. The issue is, there are a lot of silly consumers that can’t see past it. But shoot if I can win a free $260 backpack sprayer, I’ll happily play along in the comments to increase my odds🤷🏽♂️
🤝 great video. Also, I like the new channel name
Yeah, the first name was me trying to get a bump in the algorithm, but apparently comments don’t make any difference. My wife does about $10K a month on YT, so, I learned some stuff recently. I don’t care if I get monetized. If it happens, great. Money in lawn care is made pushing products.
@@LawnCareMinimalistyea one big sales pitch. gotta get Senix to send you free stuff 😂😂
Damn you saying the opposite of what everybody else be saying I like it. I’m subscribing now.
Because he’s full of crap. Do a soil test with a reputable lab. Your local extension office can help. Bottom line, don’t ever take turf maintenance recommendations from ANYBODY unless they tell you to do a soil test first.
You don't need a soil test. Your lawn isn't like your body where a blood test can reveal problems. Just put N down.
@@3rdyellow I really hope you are being sarcastic.
Just put N down. One pound per month during the growing season. Maybe less applications can be made if using foliar. I am testing foliar out this season, but not like the guy in the video who waits for rain to water it down. That to me is no different than granular application.
Good to see you back.
My soil is a little high pH so I'm going with ammonium sulfate this season, that's it. How are you testing your pH?
No more Humic for me. Put down my first foliar feeding at .2lbs N of AMS, looking to see how that works every other week or so.
Can you show us your backyard lawn and also your front yard sprinkler system? What heads and controller used?
Thanks for the ET and soil links. Listening to Dr. Shaddox and Grass Factor has helped educate me.
This is the pH tester I own, and I store the calibration solutions in Starbucks, Frappuccino glass jars:
a.co/d/iUkguBR
2 parts distilled water by weight, 1 part dry soil by weight, stir or shake, wait exactly 30 minutes and test.
AMS will perform better as a soil application (sprayed as a large droplet rather than a fine droplet). For fertilizer the only tip I reach for is a TeeJet TTI11004. Plants are designed to uptake nutrients via roots… Foliar uptake is a thing, but I always prefer huge droplets with fertilizer (and also acelepryn).
My front lawn is hand watered… listen to podcasts, hose and an adjustable spray tip. I hate moving sprinklers around and my water pressure is pretty crazy in the front. I aim the hose all by hand, but watering season is maybe 2 months where I am and on average I probably water every 4 days for 45 minutes, so it’s a lot… similar time investment to mowing. I’m the wrong person to ask about sprinklers. Maybe email Ryan DeMay (Ryan at fieldsourceohio dot com or Rey Ito (rey712007 at gmail dot com) for advice about sprinklers… Trey is picky about irrigation and Ryan has sports field experience that should translate.
I time a 5 gallon bucket being filled.
An inch of water on 1000 square feet is 144,000 cubic inches. There are 231 cubic inches in a gallon. I expected to not be here long to the point that spending $6K on irrigation made sense and people often have a lot of hassles with irrigation it seems and 1/4 of the time something is broken or leaking, so there’s some time upkeeping that. Didn’t make sense.
I’ll probably show my back lawn at some point here. The color is very nice, but last year I didn’t even treat for weeds, so there’s clover, and I don’t enjoy mowing back there much so most of the time I don’t and it’s watered for survival rather than thriving, so it’s a more typical lawn back there (rotary cut around 3”).
I’ll be spraying clover in a bit back there. Some poa back there, but better than the 40% or so that was back there about a year ago… probably 1% poa but it’s risking going nuts here because I haven’t gotten to it.
Honestly I’m not real into lawn stuff anymore so the back lawn gets a don’t care downgrade so I don’t know how entertaining it would be… it’s probably 6” tall right now… meant to mow today… didn’t get to it… meant to mow yesterday… didn’t get to it.
Tall grass. Nice color. Lots of clover.
@@LawnCareMinimalist Yeah my front yard is the favorite child, it gets more attention and I mow it a bit lower. Backyard gets mowed 3-4" but our summers aren't crazy warm, usually high 70s low 80s. But I upgraded the existing irrigation and am happy. You should do some videos spraying clover, testing soil pH, I for one would find it interesting. We had lots of rain in So Cal this season so I'm dealing with a lot of weed pressure all over my landscape. Some will just die off but I'm thinking of a strategy to treat it. Spot treating with weed/grass spectracide spray for now.
You might have already noticed this vid, but here’s how I do calibration and home pH testing that’s a step or two above what would be typical for a home pH test.
ruclips.net/video/jmWhEb-sP5Q/видео.html
Good for you bud! You've about got it right vs the tons of people on here that don't have a clue. Good job!
Great video, thank you. Couple of questions regarding foliar urea application…what is your target lbs/k of N with urea for spoonfeeding. How often do you spoon food? Do you reduce/hold off in the summer? After foliar application, when do you water everything in. Thanks!!
There’s a difference between a foliar feeding and a soil applied sprayed application. Foliar basically means intentionally applying fertilizer to a leaf and I intentionally don’t do that (I’m applying liquids to the soil).
A TeeJet TTI 11004 spray tip has huge droplets that help the fertilizer get to the dirt but I apply in light rain or I wait until I’d be watering anyway because proper carrier volume can be burdensome… if it just wasn’t going to ever rain I’d ignore proper carrier volume and just rinse the grass immediately after application but normally I just move my application date based on when it rains (typically I aim to apply on the 1st of non-Winter months).
Every area is different, and every grass type is different… what area and do you happen to know you’re grass type?
I think of spoon feeding as every 7, 10, or 14 days… I feed about every 30 days, but some would still call that spoon feeding since it’s fertilizing more often than normal. I’m just trying to fertilize often enough that color stays nice and the lawn doesn’t grow like crazy (I don’t want to mow more than I have to) but I also don’t want to get my sprayer out 3-4x per week.
When I use to spoon feed it was about .15#N every 10 days in Spring & Fall and about .08# of N every 10 days in Summer… now I do about 3x those rates about 3x as often.
Math on a urea application is the exact same as any other fertilizer - including liquids. Fertilizer is always by weight per 1,000’… all analysis is by weight and never by volume.
Urea is 46% nitrogen… for very small lawns it can be helpful to know that Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) is 15.5% nitrogen by weight.
So, if I were aiming at a .25# N application, my math always starts with that number and divided by the nitrogen concentration.
.25 / .46 = .54# of urea needed per 1,000’
If I were applying when the grass looked hungry in Spring or Fall, and I was going to use DEF (15.5%N), my math would look like:
.5 (target rate) / .155 (fert concentration) = 3.22# of DEF needed per 1,000’.
You’d want enough carrier volume that you could get an even application… you can walk the area with water first and see how much water gets sprayed and then simply add maybe 1/4 gallon to that which would be enough to keep the sprayer spraying until the end for most sprayers. And then either rinse after application or apply in rain.
You don’t want concentrated salt on the leaf and I don’t recommend foliar applications for nitrogen because it is more work and more money for less reward… keep nitrogen in the dirt where roots are. Leaves can absorb little so foliar applications don’t make sense in my book.
Rather than associating foliar applications with a sprayer, it might be more helpful to begin to associate foliar applications with droplet size.
Spray tips appropriate for foliar application would be (these are the ones I use for herbicides in my back lawn):
AI11003 (minimal wind)
DG11003 (no wind)
Both are TeeJet brand, or any time I reference a spray tip it is a TeeJet… they are cheap and high quality and I generally avoid the all plastic versions.
And for a soil application I’m intentionally selecting the largest droplet size that is at an angle comfortable for spraying which is a TTI11004 tip… the last number can change to meet the performance of the sprayer and user preference, but the main tip I use is a TTI11004 (fertilizer and grub control) and my second most used tip is rarely used because I only spray a foliar application if I’m doing weed control in the back lawn (rare).
Droplet size is the difference between a foliar application and a soil application. I rinse blades as soon as possible but usually I let nature rinse the blades of grass for me or in the Summer I spray right before I water since I need to water about every 3-4 days in the Summer anyway (we have unusually dry Summers where I am with nearly zero rainfall). I’m not intentionally doing 6 hours or even 1 hour on the leaf… the root will absorb the nutrient… there’s no reason to get cute about it. Consider how nitrogen is received in nature. That’s what roots do. Leaves specialize in something else and urea can evaporate some if allowed to.
With an average growing season (not too crazy hot during Summer) for KBG I recommend about 2.5# of nitrogen annually, for fine fescue about 1.5#, for perennial rye and for TTTF about 3# of N would make sense or grass can be fed if it looks hungry - more when it’s growing, less when it’s not - but especially with bluegrass excess nitrogen can turn into excess thatch.
My exact fertilizer schedule is specific to my grass type and my climate. I have PRG which isn’t appropriate for most climates and my Summers are mild, so grass is happier for more months where I am. The hotter it is, the lower rates should be in Summer… sometimes survival takes priority over thriving.
If you’re warm season I’d refer you to your local extension office for rate and timing. If you don’t know your grass type let me know and I can send a few sentences for each cool season type that should help you know exactly what you have. If I knew your area and grass type I could tell you how much N I’d apply and when by eyeballing the temps and you’d need to skip fertilizer if the grass was unwatered and dormant during Summer.
@@LawnCareMinimalist Thank you for the very detailed and prompt response. I didn’t realize that the plant didnt absorb most of it via foliar absorption. I have read and heard from other sources that 3-4hrs dwell time on the leaves and then watering is ideal, but applying water immediately after seems much easier. I am 6a with predominately rye and kbg. I am currently using field king pro battery sprayer (red tip which is high volume high width, seems to be around 1 gallon sprayed per 1000 ft) and have andersons HCU for my urea source (only thing i could get shipped in my area unfortunately). Planning on testing out around 0.15 #N and seeing how it responds and working my way up to .25 once my confidence builds, LOL. I will also try and pick up the recommended Teejet nozzle. And did you mean 3x larger concentration and 3 times LESS often? Thanks again, man.
-Nick
3x larger application 3x less often. I have very mild summers and do .35# June & .25# July/Aug/Sept but I’d recommend about .10# less for most areas because if grass is just trying to survive fertilizer isn’t going to help a lot. Early Fall I do one large application of .8#, but in general my Spring and Fall applications average about 1/2# of N monthly. No reason to be cute with anything foliar. If there’s an iron deficiency foliar can help but it’s so temporary that I’d skip that and instead focus on PH (especially around concrete and FeSO4 is quite toxic). No foliar anything for me except weed control in the back lawn. A soil application has evidence of being more efficient for urea and it’s also easier for most lawn sizes and can accommodate higher rates where foliar would almost need to be done weekly because not much quantity of N can get into a plant through the leaves.
Could give beneficial nematodes a try for grubs. I’ve used them for 3 years now with huge success. The only wrinkle is that you have to ensure that your nematodes (which are microscopic) are actually alive, but they are a chemical free way to kill grubs. I typically apply twice in April, two weeks apart. So far so good and no grubs.
Chorantraniliprole is very low toxicity (lower than table salt), but not quite as low as glyphosate :P… it doesn’t kill bees, and it stays where you put it and for good measure it doesn’t touch me, but I
There are biological things that can cause much more damage than chemicals (benefitial nematodes probably aren’t one of them).
I could most likely do nothing for grubs and see no damage… I just think of it as insurance.
I could drink at least 80 times as much as my front lawn sees (they stopped the testing at 5,000mg per KG) and die 50% of the time at the most… I don’t think it’s realistic that it will do me or anyone else any harm when I’m in shoes, long sleeves, long pants and gloves… shower after… clothes go in their own load.
At my body weight, I could drink the 1/2 gallon size of acelepryn (enough to treat 4-8 acres) and still not hit the LD50 (so it would kill me less than 50% of the time). That amount could treat my front lawn for 174 years at the high rate or 348 years at the low rate and I certainly won’t live that long or drink every drop applied so acelepryn is one of the chemicals I’ll pretend is toxic while handling even though in reality it’s really not. Nematodes could very well be even less toxic and more safe, but I’m not sure what the argument is for putting in more effort when acelepryn checks all the boxes for safe and responsible. That extra work wouldn’t be something I’d be into. Any pesticide that tests negative for mutigenicity and has an LD50 over 2,000mg/Kg I can’t reasonable justify being nervous about, but I still treat everything like it’s diquat.
Ferrous sulfate is very toxic… I don’t use it, but that’s one people handle willy nilly.
I like your results with what you are doing. I’m trying to get a fairway type lawn and have been struggling. I live in central Alberta and have been thinking about a heavy overseed with better genetics. But I’m not sure if I should kill my lawn first or just overseed.
I’d probably kill my lawn and plant when soil temps dip to 70° around the end of next Summer & plant KBG (which tolerates cold well). If your area never gets to that soil temp I’d germinate KBG about 1 month before soil temps are expected to peak (most likely about 2 weeks after the longest day).
I plan to research KBG at some point, but, haven’t thus far. Rye doesn’t do cold and even KBG might struggle at your temps.
I’d check Winter kill on NTEP.org > previous data > KBG Low Intput (or KBG High Input) > 2018-2022 Data Final Report
You could also take note of NTEP drought testing on the 35 varieties of KBG’s and fescue’s currently being tested. Drought testing has some relevance to Winter kill.
@@LawnCareMinimalist thank you so much!
Two clarifications (one related to my bad wording on the prior message)… I’d probably plant KBG at that soil temp schedule but start torching the lawn over and over for months leading up to seeding (because I’m guessing glyphosate is banned there). Seeding day around a 70° soil temp would be ideal for KBG.
And it’s worth mentioning that watching KBG establish I’ve heard is like watching a sloth… it won’t be in a hurry to fill in… 10% rye could help the lawn look established and reduce erosion and drainage issues in those first months… most of the rye would probably croak in Winter anyway and even if it didn’t the KBG should choke out and outcompete all the rye within a few years. I’d actually look for an inferior PRG for the rye portion that had a high poa % and poor dye off, so, Hattrick would probably be ideal for the 10% if you want more dye off… or Fireball if you want allelopathy to a minimum. You could also go a different route and do a quality rye for the 10% portion and it might actually survive (which might actually be a pro rather than a con for color and striping ability).
After chewing on it while I type I guess it wouldn’t hurt if the rye did manage to survive, but, I don’t know that it would be worth spending the extra $30 or whatever on quality rye because the KBG will probably dominate anyway.
I do plan to become an expert on KBG also in these upcoming months and essentially start reviewing various grass seed via sat analysis, so, stay tuned if you want a KBG recommendation, but, currently I don’t know KBG cultivars at all, but expect to know them well around December/January as a guesstimate.
Super helpful video. And +1 vote for an NTEP video. Would love to watch that one.
Subscribed! Absolutely loved your perspective. I am a cool season lawn enthusiast from southern Argentina. Although in the opposite hemisphere and about to end the mowing season, I’ll follow your advice next spring.
Straightforward...nothing wrong with that. Keep the videos coming
Thanks. Got some of my first few haters today. I get their point but I don’t feel like my wording was too far off. I pinned a comment in honor of their perspective which was valid enough. The beginning of the self pH testing video I did recently has my lawn checkered (I usually switch to checks about now, but I do like to hold stripes a while to show off the genetics/color more clearly but checks probably do look better. Welcome. My wife’s YT channel gets priority (she’s killing it) but I am trying to turn the camera on some which is an easier way to communicate with lots of people. This vid was my one and only take, and that’s kinda how I’m planning to do it this year.
Just ran into this video and was blown away by how you go about things. I loved it! Talk about keeping it simple. Could you recommend for me a power scissors and a reel mower for a small yard that would be inexpensive or something to start off with please. I’ve ever used either before. Thank you.
My power scissors are the iDECH (ASK-MW23). All I can say is I can’t believe they are still sharp, but I don’t know if they are the best value or not. I think I would buy them again if I had to replace them.
If you don’t care about stripes a manual Fiscars would be good… as long as you keep your height around 1.5” I think the clip rate could handle that OK, but I’d probably rotary mow before going that route.
For a powered budget option I’ve heard good things about Rolux and the Reel Rollers Revolution might be a good option but be aware that most of the people recommending the Revolution are most likely being paid to review it.
Many reel mowers will max out at 1/2” or even 3/4” and I didn’t check either brand I just mentioned. A removable reel to wash after use would be a plus and an easily adjustable blade to bedknife is another thing to consider when choosing a mower.
I would verify that the cutting height goes to 1-1/4” minimum (1-1/2 preferred) and you’ll want a grooved front roller or it simply won’t be cutting at those higher cuts. Some brands might ship with a grooved front roller for you free of charge with a phone call (there’s no reason to own a smooth roller in my opinion).
A really sharp blade on a rotary mower with a striping kit could also give an OK result. One advantage of a rotary is it lifts the blades up to cut so you can even do 3” stripes with a rotary. I did a quick sharpening video for a rotary blade that would be worth watching… razor sharp better than factory sharp blade in minutes.
I am curious, have you ever had a tip burn from using TTI nozzle if you didn't wash down the grass blades? Has there been an instance where you didn't wash it down but waited for a rain that never showed up? I am thinking of switching from foliar N application via an XR teejet to soil applied N via something like TTI, and was wondering about the risks.
It has to be a lot lower risk of tip burn with the TTI tip. Huge droplets maximize the chances of drops rolling off the leaves, so TeeJet recommends the TTI (among others) for soil application. There’s one tip with larger droplets but it sprays at the wrong angle for hand application.
I don’t see the point in getting too cute with a foliar N application (wouldn’t you need to do really low rates like .1#N?)… think about the design of a plant. Roots are designed to take up nutrients.
I don’t think I’ve experienced tip burn and my back lawn I do at lower carrier volume than would normally be recommended for N concentration with no issues and I don’t necessary always apply before rain in the back. In the front I at least want the ground damp or have it be actively raining even if a light sprinkle. I did water fertilizer in once this year because I wasn’t paying attention and my application was getting late, but my go to is just pay a little attention to the weather and simply apply in the rain.
If you’re going to not water in an application the TTI would be the tip… also less drift. It’s designed for soil application. The XR tips is one of the last tips I’d use because it nearly maximizes drift and maximizes foliar contact… the larger the droplet the better, and the XR is almost as fine as TeeJets get.
The finest tip I personally use (including weed control in the back) is the DG, but I only consider that tip suitable in zero wind, and I don’t think I’ve done an intentional foliar application in over a year with the exception of an iron test I did on half of my front lawn.
Thanks for the reply. The reason I asked was because I am not getting results as expected from foliar spraying, and would like to switch to soil amendment spraying. When I sprayed, I spoonfed at 0.10lb N/K on two Saturdays back to back, and then 0.20lb N/K the Saturday after. So, in total, 0.40lb N/K over three weeks. There is a section in back which hasn't woken up from April 9th Scotts Halts Lawn Food fertilizer. So I decided to do an experiment by spreading 10-10-10 over one sqft area. That one sqft area green up and thickened up within a week, but the area around it, even after spraying 0.40lb N/K, had little change. Which to me indicates that foliar is only good for growing existing, green grass, and the primary feeding is done through roots. When do you usually spray the back if you aren't watering it in right away? How far ahead do you look for rain, within a couple of hours, or that night, or the next day?
I prefer that it’s raining when I’m spraying… that way there’s no guessing at the weather. I plan to spray when rain is very likely (AccuWeather app) but I typically don’t spray until the grass is damp or it’s already raining… that way I don’t need to consider carrier volume at all. I’m often applying about 1/2#N, so to do .2#N/gallon on 6K’ would be 15 gallons of water to get 1/2# of N down… even .01” of rain over 6K’ is the equivalent of 37 gallons + 4 gallons in the backpack, so that’s more than double what would be required for carrier volume to prevent tip burn even if I were using a foliar tip rather than the TTI11004.
So, applying in mild rain is my go to now a days… I think I have applied in the back regardless of rain before, but I think I’d just be patient as the current way I’m doing things… it isn’t going to get into the soil without a little water anyway and I’m generally not going to bother watering my back lawn other than to prevent death from drought stress in Sumer.
As for the 10-10-10 experiment… are you a warm season lawn near Florida and do you know your soil Sulfur?
Also, let me check your math real quick on how much nitrogen might have been applied to that 1 square foot… to apply a full 1/2 pound of nitrogen to that 1 sq ft would be only 2.27 grams of 10-10-10 and most people don’t own a microgram scale and 1/2# of N is more than you were applying anywhere else… if you only applied about .1#N from the 10-10-10 (.45 grams or 1/1000th of a pound of product) than you could make some judgements.
Near Florida phosphorus deficiency occasionally happens, and if the potassium in the 10-10-10 would also have sulfur in it… if your sulfur is below about 10PPM nitrogen won’t do anything.
One soil test per address (Google “turf extension office near me”) I often recommend just to verify that no deficiency exists.
You can pretty much ignore potassium on your soil test unless you’re in a very cold area that gets near 0° in Winter. For cold areas you want potassium around 70PPM Mehlich-3. Potassium can rarely benefit a lawn by being attached to Sulfur, but only if sulfur is unusually low, and phosphorus can be needed for growth as well but I normally only see phosphorus deficiency on Saint Augustine grass in Florida… lots of rain, lots of sand (depleted soil), and a demanding grass seem to all be necessary to have a chance at phosphorus deficiency… I don’t really know any of that context for you.
So, with the 10-10-10, you might have applied more N than you thought you did. Foliar and root are both fine at the rates you’ve been applying, but root has a lot less volatility (loss to the air) and root can gone applied in larger amounts which means less time in the lawn. For max performance I used to spoon feed every 10 days with a soil application for my front lawn, and with that I didn’t need to worry about rain because a heavy application would only be about .2#N on 2.4K’ so only 2.4 gallons of water would be needed to have no risk of tip burn (for urea .2#N per gallon, for AMS closer to .1#N per gallon, for a 1-1-1 + micros, even more water would be needed).
What city? And how much fertilizer did you apply to 1 square foot? Any idea because you might have applied more N than you were aiming to apply.
If you have a soil test that you didn’t mail in water (AKA a real soil test) you can email that to me at ‘ask me anything lawn care at gmail’. One soil test per lawn per address sent to local extension office (“turf extension office near me” per Google) is what I generally recommend… doing soil tests all the time or doing mail in water tests that try to sell fertilizer rather than try to be accurate (YM/Mysoil/SoilSavy, etc) I don’t believe in. But, low phos (rare) or low Sulfur or Low Magnesium as well as pH… I care some about those 3 nutrients on a soil test. A 10-10-10 would have phosphorus and it would have sulfur (potassium sulfate… AKA sulfate of potash) unless it was a cheaper product like Lilly Miller (which is potassium chloride).
@@LawnCareMinimalist Thanks for the reply, and sorry for getting back to you later as I was a bit busy. Never had a soil test done, as I think the soil conditions and materials change with rain and season so it will be fruitless unless multiple tests are done on an yearly basis per season. Probably better for farmers.
For now, I am going to switch away from spraying, even though I have only sprayed urea three times, twice at 0.10lb N/K and once at 0.20lb N/K. What I will doing instead will be spoonfeeding AMS at 1lb per 1K every two weeks using a handheld spreader (I might get a Wizz). Obviously, this will be only done if the grass is green and growing. I can spoonfeed easily after a mow and should finish in less than 10 minutes. Spraying would take me at least an hour in setting up, spraying, and cleaning, etc. Not to mention I am limited by how much nitrogen I can spray at one go due to risk of tip burn, and have to worry about weather, rain, etc.
Lowe's had 40lb AMS on sale for $15 so I picked up two bags and hope that will be enough for this year.
I didn’t see anything to combat fungal disease. Do you do anything preventative for these diseases?
Not currently… just good watering and I have way too much organic so I do see some pink patch or red thread when I really shouldn’t (both are low nitrogen preferring diseases) or it’s possible my cultivars are just susceptible to it but those diseases can happen when it just won’t stop raining - especially in uneven spots lacking soil. Pink patch is a mild temp disease and that’s when it rains here.
Summer disease pressure is low in my area as long as people don’t water at night or something (my neighbor keeps killing his yard) so I really haven’t spent any money on fungicide other than a stupid Ron Henry purchase a few years back, but pink patch can be a little annoying. I’m trying to figure out that issue without products because those aren’t diseases likely to take out the whole lawn over night and usually I have some control over the water. Deep waterings seem to be the thing that really stirs the pot there, and the disease prefers spots without slope that are lacking soil, and with high organic matter everything aligns with poor drainage as a main player.
My current fungus program is try to slowly undo the compost mistake I made with my soil tied to my organic matter issue (bagging should help over time), and if I pay attention to my water I think I can solve it without products.
I’d like to core aerate and fill w/ sand, but I don’t like renting so I’d want to own an aerator and I want the reciprocating PLUGR style so I’m waiting for a deal on a used one. I owned one a few years back but sold it. Didn’t really see any disease while I owned that.
My organic matter isn’t too crazy in my back lawn despite being high, so I think one of my cultivars is susceptible to pink patch. The disease profiles don’t fully fit my lawn as a typical risk for those diseases except temp and heavy rain for my area align with pink patch disease pressure and my lawn does have way too much organic, so it’s either the carbon holding too much water or the cultivars or a little of both.
My back lawn is managed totally different but also is high in organic so seeing pink patch back there last year was a pretty helpful data point… both lawns got overwatered once (pre vacation in front lawn, accidentally left sprinkler on overnight in back lawn… so… 8” of water probably) and after that was the first time I saw it and both lawns saw Prodiamine for the first time around then (which isn’t likely to be related) and both lawns share a cultivar (I believe I’ve only seen pink patch attack my Hattrick plants)… too much organic in both lawns… uneven unsloped areas preferred by pink patch and red thread hits the exact same little spots in my front sometimes but basically the issue isn’t bad enough to care much about but every once in a while it bugs me (even if no one else seems to notice it).
My back lawn gets lower nitrogen, is mowed higher, has totally different dirt, is barely watered in drought, etc. The commonalities are few, but organic matter and Hattrick are a few things that are shared in both lawns to some extent… pink patch isn’t a common disease where I am, but neither is rye grass… most likely organic matter, but could be grass type or low spots lacking soil near roots (which could cause stunted growth) still figuring it out. I even noticed a few purple blades of grass with phosphorus deficiency in the main area where I see pink patch, so leveling could be all it takes to get rid of it and maybe rather than the disease preferring low nitrogen the disease might just prefer low growth, so leveling should fix the likelihood of low localized phos (I have plenty of phos and I’ve never seen phos deficiency except those 4 or 5 blades of grass, so it was either no roots or not enough dirt around those roots because it was clear that the problem wasn’t the dirt.
I’d get familiar with fungicides if I had a more aggressive fungus to contend with but rain and heat don’t happen at the same time where I am aside from user error (such as watering at night).
Some areas need some fungicide, but I also think a lot of lawns simply need more attention to detailing in the water or drainage. I’m in a Facebook group and almost every time when someone had a disease issue they were watering totally wrong, but sometimes 4” of water just fell, but I’d say roughly 3 out of 4 times I saw major fungus issues the person was watering completely wrong.
If I knew what I was doing when I planted my lawn or if my back lawn wasn’t so thoroughly neglected in the past my organic matter would be lower and I don’t think I’d have any disease, but I’m glad the diseases I see are relatively minor.
I’ve only been carefully observing and being intentional about managing that issue for the last 18 months or so, so I’m still gathering data. I think leveling more than anything would do a lot of good for me.
Proper watering is the biggest thing most people can do… after that, soil air, reduced OM, and fungicide if rain doesn’t cooperate. Some diseases like low nitrogen, and some like high nitrogen. Ironically I mostly see low nitrogen diseases in my higher nitrogen front lawn. High organic matter is the biggest mistake I think I made in my front lawn and I wish NTEP would test for pink patch resistance, but they can’t test every disease.
Oh yeah… genetics. You could overseed a grass that is bred for resistance to whatever disease hits hardest there and just let the less competitive grass die. Or to take it a step further either stress the existing grass as much as possible prior to overseed or even do a full renovation and upgrade genetics if the lawn isn’t too large.
My rotoscissors vs. edger video actually does go into proper watering a little, or proper watering is covered in the description of this video a little, but if excess rain is happening during heat a product can become more necessary.
Rey Ito of The Grass Factor manages turf in Hawaii so he knows his way around fungicides (and chemicals in general)… 3336F is his preferred when it hits the fan application to have on hand if things really go sideways.
I’m the wrong guy to ask about fungicides. There is actually quite a bit of disease in many lawns in my area, but lack of mowing and lack of fertilizer is also common.
@@LawnCareMinimalist I appreciate the long, detailed response. It’s good to think through all this stuff. I have propiconazole and azoxystrobin that I use only if we are getting inundated with rain in the north east. We have been getting a lot of rain lately, so I will likely need to use these products in the near future.
@@flipster1449you can also check the 2 most common diseases that are common for your grass type and check the triggers for those diseases. Brown patch for example is obviously common on tall fescue and generally that is days above 85°, nights above 65° for 5 consecutive days with high humidity or rainfall, and things like thatch and a lower cut and proper watering frequency and watering time of day can help a lot, but disease is certainly a thing. My disease pressure is lowest when it’s hot or cold… for some people they need to be mindful of snow mold while others see pythium and brown patch, so there seem to be diseases for every climate. Addressing the heavy hitters would make sense and try to understand those diseases well so you can time things right and application pH would be worth looking into. Fungicides are often sensitive to carrier pH.
First time watching you. Liked what I heard. You're in the same space as Travis from Budget Lawns and I like that. I just sub'd. I don't need RUclipsrs pushing unnecessary expensive lawn products on me cause they get a kick back from the companies.
Thanks!
What brand prilled urea do you use?
And and how many lbs per 1000 sqft for spraying?
Brand doesn’t matter but some brands fully dissolve and others don’t. For cool season, during peek growing (like spring and early fall for cool season) about 1.09# of urea per month and about 1/2 a pound urea per month in Summer per month as long as there’s no drought stress.
Dissolve in a square bucket and a 1 gallon plastic paint mixer drill attachment works well (the square bucket is easier to pour and doesn’t spill over the side at higher mixing speed like a round bucket).
The grass blades should be rinsed off after or spray during or just before light rain or have about 2.5 gallons water per 1.09# of urea (which would be heavy and time consuming in larger lawns).
Also, a low setting could be used in a Solo chest month spreader but color wouldn’t be as even as a liquid application.
The whole point of lots of carrier volume or rinsing right after is to avoid tip burn which will happen if too much salt is concentrated on the leaf and left there. Using a TeeJet TTI11004 spray tip is also a good idea when spraying any fertilizer. Larger droplets aren’t as likely to stay on the leaf in the first place.
Urea is 46% nitrogen, so math with any fertilizer starts with desired rate and divides by fertilizer analysis and then you multiply that by square footage (x5 for 5,000’ as an example).
So for a 1/2 pound application of nitrogen…
.50 / .46 = 1.09# urea needed per 1,0000’.
For a 1/4 pound application of N…
.25 / .46 = .54# urea needed per 1,000’
During Summer, dissolving in water becomes more necessary because it’s difficult to spread a 1/4# application evenly with a fertilizer as concentrated as urea.
A FlowZone Cylclone and a TeeJet TTI11004 spray tip is what I use for spraying fertilizer and also annual grub control.
For an annual post emergent weed control app in the back lawn I use a DG11003 tip if there’s zero wind, but usually I use the AI11003 tip because typically there’s at least a breeze.
Thanks for the help!
I think your camera is as sharp as your blades are. Which camera (model) did you use…?
iPhone 13… default settings.
Awesome channel!!! Been waiting for new content!!!
Appreciate the tips! Could you please tell me the name of the urea at Tractor Supply? Tried searching with no luck. Thanks!
I just did the same also with no luck. I’ve seen it at Coastal for $20. I recently got some at a “Farm Store” that I think was an Ace for $27. I would think most Co-op type places would have a good chance at stocking it but I might have to edit out the Tractor Supply mention… I figured at least some of them should carry it since it’s the most common fertilizer used in farming and tractors on farms are kind of a thing. I’ll try to edit that mention out because it looks like that’s an error on my part.
It’s possible there wasn’t enough profit in it vs. other fertilizers. Who knows. The word “farm supply” or possibly landscaping would be promising if you’re looking for a supplier near by. Sometimes my Costal has it and some times they don’t but one bag lasts a year, so it’s nothing I need to source very often. It’s very expensive online. If you can find Yara locally it is more pure than most, but sometimes finding it at all isn’t easy in my area. If there’s a corn farm nearby they might be able to point you to someone that has it even if their supplier is probably a wholesaler… sometimes it’s simply called 46-0-0 fertilizer, but I also don’t see that online for TSC.
@@LawnCareMinimalist Thank you for the detailed response! I will check around locally at some of the places you've mentioned.
Sir, you are the definition of cool (lawn care wise) "I don't care if you subscribe." I love that. People follow value. You have value. Using the medium to share a very meaningful message. I need more of this. i know you don't care but I am subscribing because of that. Please don't stop sharing your message.
Well thanks. Glad you got something out of it. A few statements were overstated (pre-emergent root pruning as an example which I just meant when improperly applied as inspired by something a neighbor did and basically half nuked his lawn with ‘if some is good, more is better’ but there is one undesirable side effect I think could be related to properly applied prodiamine but my confidence is too low in the theory to draw any attention to it).
Or, a few mentions were understated (like the fact that it actually can be very valuable to do a quality soil test once on each lawn, just not a crappy one), but overall I was happy enough with that first and only take with about a minute of ums (and similar) edited out.
I got a few haters, but not bad at all… they keep things interesting and I generally try to match their tone and feed it right back to them by hopefully arguing the possibility that they could be wrong or their expectations for my channel are unrealistic, but that might not be the most productive thing…
My plan is to knock out some low effort videos because I just had an idea that turned out actually taking effort and those videos might teach me something but they’re also much more involved and I could probably do 10 easy videos for every difficult to execute idea.
My next longer video about self pH testing told people if they want less of me in their feed to do a thumbs down, and I told a lady in the comments doing a thumbs down would help RUclips direct others that think like her away from my channel (which would be a service to them), so I told her she should, haha.
Yeah, I trust the algorithm as odd as that sentence might sound. RUclips is trying to find an audience for anyone (if there’s an audience out there YT gets more add revenue finding it), but, I agree… if there isn’t value there are a lot of options out there and people are on RUclips for value and basically value alone… education, entertainment, etc. They are choosing to watch any given thing for that reason almost exclusively… some sort of value.
Im new to your channel. Love the video. What state do you live in? Just for reference. Im in southern pa , just started really focusing on lawn health. Alot to learn.
Stay on the right channels and you’ll save a lot of time and a lot of money.
Gold standard for quality information is Turfgrass Epistimology… anyone with a video published in the last 12 months that pushes humic acid, “liquid aeration”, kelp, organic fertilizers, granular fungicides… I’d steer clear of those.
The Grass Factor is a little off on some stuff, but they’re better than 95% of RUclips.
Ryan Knorr is fairly reliable info (especially newer Knorr), but everyone is going to disagree with someone about something.
Me and Travis Shaddox are some of the few minimalists in the space, but he has typical homeowner standards and I see how little I can do while maintaining atypical standards, but we agree on almost everything and if we disagree, he’s probably right. He recently got straight as it relates to potassium… I don’t intend to apply it ever again on my current property even though grass needs it approximately 2:1 N to P. It’s already there. Go straight to Travis’ channel if you can tolerate how boring it is (sorry Travis).
My plan for this year is do an info dump and simply talk on random topics and do as little editing as possible (this video was one take and I edited out about 1 minute mostly of ums and breaths).
Doing these lower key videos is the only way I’ll be able to justify the time to do RUclips and even then I’m just trying to be on the right side of sound agronomy.
What state do you live in and what Rye cultivars are in your lawn?
I’m in Washington State. I should have said this in this video, but rye wouldn’t be a good idea hardly anywhere in the USA other than the Pacific NW. In most areas I’d recommend anything else because disease, heat stress, and cold stress will all kill rye more than other grasses.
My cultivars are about 50-60% Hattrick, and 40-50% Pangea (not as dark but good disease resistance)… if I were to seed tomorrow I’d try to source Mystique and ASP0116. ASP0116 is darker in my area, 94% as good of turf quality, and just a little less poa after 4 years and Mystique was 0% poa after 4 years, 95% of the color of Hattrick for my area (very good) with much better turf quality and much better traffic tolerance.
Ranking of grass families (rather than cultivars is below):
Drought tolerance: TTTF, FF, PRG, KBG
Heat tolerance: TTTF, FF, KGB, PRG
Cold Tolerance: KBG, TTTF/FF, PRG
Shade tolerance: FF, TTTF, PRG, (RPR*), KBG
Traffic tolerance: (RPR*), TTTF, KBG, PRG, FF
Self repairing: KBG, (RPR)… minimal for TTTF, or FF… no stollens for PRG
Ease of establishment (germination thru maturity): PRG, TTTF, FF, KBG
Looks: PRG, KBG, (RPR*), TTTF, FF (my opinion)
Feel: KBG, FF, PRG, TTTF
Seed Heads: TTTF, FF, KBG, PRG = awful!
Visual texture (novice or experienced caretaker): PRG, KBG, TTTF, FF
Visual texture (expert caretaker): KBG, PRG, TTTF, FF
Stripe definition: PRG, KBG, TTTF, FF
Color Potential (depends heavily on cultivar, but in general): PRG, KBG, (RPR*), TTTF, FF
RPR = Regenerative Perennial Ryegrass
A few important notes when selecting a grass family (if you’re in the mood to read):
KBG is about 20 days to germination and a full year to establish (this could mean shallow roots in Winter and/or Summer), so seeding KBG is not a task that should be taken lightly… even if it germinates that doesn’t mean it will necessarily survive shallow roots in Winter/Summer.
Rye doesn’t do well with hot Summers or cold Winters so PRG is not a great idea in the transition zone and KBG is questionable in much of the transition zone (especially if unirrigated).
The most expensive thing in lawn care is cheap grass seed. If you don’t want to do research on specific cultivars on NTEP for rated traits of each of the hundreds of cultivar options at least look for 0% weed seed… typically the decent cultivars will have 0% weed seed in the bag since that demonstrates that the brand actually cares what they are selling you. You can expect to pay noticeably more for 0% weed seed bags but that higher cost long term is nothing compared to what poor genetics and extra weeds will cost you long term.
Kentucky 31 is a weed and should not be considered for a lawn (it was popular 50 years ago)… be careful when buying turf type tall fescue not to accidentally buy tall fescue. Turf type designates a thinner blade.
Fine Fescue prefers about half as much nitrogen vs. other cool season grasses and it is extremely low maintenance and the king in dense shade. For any “dense shade” mix, be careful that the seed list doesn’t intentionally have poa trivialis in the bag because some dense shade mixes do!
Fine fescue looks sloppy at times. Tall fescue requires a higher cut to look nice. KBG can be reel cut low and rye can be reel cut low but color is much better above 1” and traffic is also greatly reduced when reel cut at 1”+ for KBG & Rye (1/3 rule happens quick at 1/2” so lots of traffic).
* RPR is a Barrenbrug owned genetically altered stoloniferous cultivar of PRG that has crappy color but is bagged with 2 other cultivars with decent color. It is amazing in traffic applications and not just because of the spreading nature. With enough traffic like dogs it’s quick establishment trait can be worth considering in mild climates, but be warned that the cultivar in the bag that is most competitive also has Lowes grade color, so the color will fade over time. Incredible traffic tollerance and pretty low maintenance but cost about double what elite varieties cost and is inferior in many ways. In a 25# bag, 1/2 of the weight is seed coating that you’re paying for, 1/6 of the bag is the RPR cultivar, and 1/3 of the bag is traffic selected cultivars with better color presumably designed to hide the crappy color of the RPR cultivar so the lawn at least looks nice at first.
@LawnCareMinimalist thanks for info. Not many people will go into detail like you did. I really appreciate it. Right now I'm struggling with the decision on what I want to seed with in the fall. I live in Virginia in the transition zone and I like a shorter HOC of like 2" but my TTTF is struggling. I don't have a reel mower so going with Rye at an inch isn't in the cards for me. I love the dark color of the Hat Trick + Fireball. Does anything come close to that color that would work in the transition zone?
The person to ask is probably Ryan DeMay. Bluegrass is super thirsty and I don’t know if it would survive your temps and disease pressure or not, but if it’s an option there are some varieties that get a lot closer to competing with rye for color, especially if you like that lower height of cut. I’ve also seen some fescue cultivars that look nice color wise reel cut at 1.5” so either a different cultivar or a razor sharp blade might do a lot, and the 1/3 rule means cutting when grass gets no taller than 3” ideally. Cutting below the crown is not something any grass is fond of, but many grass types can be trained.
See if DeMay will answer your email, or, Ryan Knorr’s grass seed may be expensive, but he’s in the transition zone and he’s crazy enough to do rye. I’d imagine he’s in a more suitable area than you and he’s kinda crazy to do that… but… his bluegrass might be worth testing in a test plot because chances are pretty good he specifically selected very intentional cultivars that are more likely to do well for you… more of a late Summer (like August) seeding comes with a little risk, but I think it would probably be worth it if seeding bluegrass.
Groundskeeper 2 rake. 1/3 of seed, drag rake hard, 1/3 of seed, drag rake with medium pressure, 1/3 of seed, drag rake lightly. This is good washout insurance and ideally try not to seed when there’s a chance of 2”+ days on bare dirt and a soil surfactant (wetting agent) can also be good insurance for wash out during seeding by helping the water get into the ground quickly.
It’s easier to nuke 500’ or test in 100’ sections than it is to test if something will work on your whole lawn, so time may be better spent with one year of experimentation at your best guesses at what would do well and a year of patience watching.
Ryan at field source Ohio dot com… pretty sure he’d have good advice for you especially if you give him some a few concise details (watering practices, specific city, etc. because he’d want to eyeball the exact climate).
I plan to one day maybe have time to answer questions similar to what I would do in your shoes, but I’m not confident it will be any time soon if at all, but DeMay is a field advisor by profession in the transition zone, so he would be more likely to be able to help… also, consider calling your local turf extension office… Google “turf extension office near me” and they might know what grasses sports fields are using. Water would be very notable with Bluegrass, so keep that in mind if you’re thinking of going that route.
Did you start from bare dirt? Or did you overseed until u had mostly rye grass?
Bare dirt in the front… overseed after overseed in my back lawn. I wanted to see how they differed and I also didn’t want to put in the work on the back, but ultimately I think the back has been more work for an inferior result.
Back lawn has similar color (about 1/2 the nitrogen but double the height of cut) but many more weeds and just a few original grasses here and there. Probably 3-4 well prepped overseeds in the back, but no burn down.
I was watching yardbrah and he came to your house. I knew I saw this house before lmao
What video?
What do you do for unwanted grasses though. Crabgrasses. Quack grasses.
I’m cool season and get zero of either grass in my lawn despite the fact that it does go kinda crazy on the sidewalks in my neighborhood… I don’t think it’s real competitive in my climate because I rarely even see it in poorly kept lawns and even less goose grass.
I would probably own 24% dithiopyr if I were warm season or transition zone over prodiamine during warm season weed germination because there are some heavy hitters like Lespedeza and Southern crab and Dallis grass seeds and Carolina geranium that aren’t on the prodiamine label.
I get so little crab anything that it’s possible that my rye poisons it but it’s more likely that it simply isn’t competitive here except on the sidewalks because crappy lawns and nice lawns alike get nearly zero crab. Mild Summers here. I’m the wrong guy for that question (or most transition zone or warm season questions).
I intend to do a dithiopyr vs. prodiamine video at some point but it will mostly just be expanding out how they are different because I likely would be on team pre emergent in many areas and I should have mentioned that in this video.
Clover and poa annua are the heavy hitters I see in my lawn. Clover isn’t on the prodiamine label and it’s not on the dithiopyr label. Poa is on the prodiamine label but I timed it right above 6 grams 65% and saw no discernible difference (9 gram rate) so post emergents in my back and pocket knife in my front make sense for the weeds I get.
I get almost no moss… no dandelions… pretty much just annua and clover and a little hairy bittercress and yellow wood sorrel. None of the warm season weeds… poa annua is brutal hear… it’s a perennial in my climate so it survives and produces a crap ton of seeds all year.
Zero poa policy in the front. In the back, sometimes I take it out and sometimes I don’t.
@@LawnCareMinimalist Interesting. I live in MN which is cool season and it grows like a weed up here. We are on the border of ND and MN.
Yeah, your Summers aren’t bad at all assuming your climate is similar to Minneapolis… that is interesting. Hmmm…
My best guess is that your temps give a lot of winter kill and therefore more open dirt than my area because your Summers look a lot like mine for temps.
With this small amount of info I’d consider Spring overseeding as a possible strategy to try if you haven’t already, or consider bluegrass possibly since it does pretty well in cold and also self thickens.
Do you know if fescues are dominant there or if it’s dominantly KBG? Sliding a blade through the fingers in the tip to stalk direction will be just a little grippy with tall fescue and it generally has distinct parallel veining… fine fescue has a notably fine blades that look similar to baby grass… bluegrass is buttery smooth when slid through the fingers in the tip to stalk direction.
Perhaps try tow walk some neighborhoods and see if there is any crabgrass in KBG lawns or see if you can find lawns that don’t have it and see if there’s something different about those lawns. I know your winters are cold, but if KBG would survive and there’s local evidence that KBG might mostly solve the issue, an August overseed might survive and be much better established vs. a Spring overseed… soil temps would give a seeding window delay in your area and KBG doesn’t establish overnight.
Just a few ideas to check to see if there’s anything to the idea. Your Summers are almost identical to mine, but your Winters are where a huge distinction can be made. Our Summers are extremely dry here, so for a second I thought that might explain why there’s little crab in the most neglected lawns here, but it happily grows on our sidewalks where there’s presumably even less favorable conditions in terms of water, so Winter kill is the only distinction I can make between your climate and mine. I’m not sure if there’s anything there, but, if there is, I’d be keeping my potassium just above 70PPM and also consider overseeding with Winter hardy grasses… cold tolerance I believe is measured on NTEP, but if it is I’ve never looked at it, but I bet it’s there for seed selection.
Hi everyone. It might be worth checking the quality setting… I think it’s defaulting to 360P for some reason.
1 take here. Edited out the ums and some breaths real quick and such. Hopefully this format works for everyone.
Great tips. Glad I stumbled on this channel. And I subscribed 😁
@@jimweatherred9377thanks! Welcome.
Lawn looks amazing! I wish I could have cool season, much prettier and much easier too. I'm in South Florida and seeded prg twice. It was a tremendous success. Would have multiple people stop every time I would go out for a mow. Now struggling with all tree warm season types: bermuda (front ) , zoysia ( quit after a year, had success but was tired of watering like crazy), and seashore on the side. Almost bare sand, high 8.4 pH, nematodes, drought... But I will put a little more effort again this year. Last year I let things go to poop. But I hope I can make this look decent again.
Yes, it isn’t fair… warm season is way harder especially with weeds. Color isn’t possible and I bet it doesn’t feel great on the feet (yes, that’s how clueless I am when it comes to warm season).
Hopefully something will click for you… when in doubt, do what pro sports do.
@@LawnCareMinimalist yeah, cool season is better in almost all aspects. color, shade tolerance, barefoot prg is amazing(!!!). last but not least, the stripes ! The stripes on prg are spectacular.
that said, there are some few warm season grasses that can compete in a few aspects. Seashore stripes really good, and fine-bladed zoysia is decent too. Bermuda can get to a very nice color, and some zoysia (yeah, kind of surprise for some) can get a pretty decent color too (Stadium, Primo, and Lazer). Nothing at the same level as prg though. Lazer zoysia and seashore are very soft, would probably be amazing barefoot.
now, the weird thing is that in the cool part of the year If I seed prg or any other cool season here (only 3 months lol) none of them suffer with all the issues my warm season grasses have. I mean, there were issues with fungus when I seeded in October, but that was a bit ridiculous. The shocking part is to see Bermuda struggling with what looks like drought (might well be nematodes) and cool season looking great right next to it. go figure. Like right now Tahoma 31 is struggling bad. But I still have a few spots with prg and kbg that are looking great. cool season will definitely struggle with heat and drought, but there
s just something going on here that messes with warm season grasses but doesn't bother the cool stuff. Nematodes? high pH? I don't know.
I need a soil test now. Been lazy, but I just quit my job maybe I will have some more time going forward.
one aspect that warm season may be better is sod strength. Especially with zoysia. Shit is so thick and the rhizome density is also so high that it takes a lot to put some damage. It will take forever to recover lol, but even the leaves are tough.
In South Florida you pretty much have the worst soil in the country because it rains so much and there’s so much sand. Almost everything on the soil map shows depleted and your pH is low on top of that. If cool season grass is doing well and warm season isn’t I would suspect phosphorus is the main driver of that since war season does a lot more in the ground w/ rhizomes, but you should be seeing some purple color if there is an actual deficiency.
Throwing some pelletized lime certainly shouldn’t hurt anything at the pH levels that are normal there. Magnesium, Sulfur, Iron… it could be almost any nutrient that is the weakest link where you are. A quality soil test would be a really good idea for you due to location and the fact that you’re having some issues. Rye can also poison other plants nearby, so it might be a good idea to skip the seasonal seed and see if that helps and constant establishment could also be taxing your phosphorus. Any purple leaves in your warm season?
It would be great if you posted a copy of your list ! It would be a good reference for your viewers.
Good call. This crossed my mind to do a few times, but I didn’t actually do it. I’ll try to edit later today.
Do you dilute .5lbs of urea per 1k or do you dilute more in order to get your .25-.5lbs application? In other words, what’s your conversion rate. Is it 1 for 1? Thanks in advance.
I apply before rain or before watering… the .5# mention was a rate of nitrogen which would be 1.09# of urea per 1,000 during times of prime growing and I do one even heavier application early Fall.
A .25# N application would be about .54# of urea per 1000’.
If not watered in proper dilution to avoid tip burn can be burdensome unless the lawn is very small.
Urea based nitrogen should be diluted down to .2#N per gallon if not rinsed from the blade after application (so 2.5 gallons of water per 1.09# of urea min carrier volume).
Even a small amount of rain equates to very high carrier volume. Since I don’t spoon feed I find rinsing after application or applying in rain is more practical than tank carrier volume (which gets heavy and time consuming quick).
Also, be aware that lower quality urea doesn’t all dissolve due to the impurities so I mix in a square bucket and dump the water and leave anything that doesn’t dissolve in the bucket. Square buckets don’t allow spill over like a round bucket does… I like a clear bucket with quarts labeled on the side (can get at a restaurant supply) with a plastic 1 gallon paint mixer.
Urea is 46% nitrogen, so if you’re trying to apply .5#N the math is .5 / .46 = 1.09# of urea needed per 1/2#N. Always start with your desired rate in the calculator and divide by analysis (.46 for urea… .155 for DEF which is 32.5% urea).
For ammonium sulfate (high PH areas) it’s salty and requires a gallon per .1#N.
The whole point of rinsing or carrier volume is to avoid the possibility of tip burn. A TeeJet TTI11004 spray tip decreases tip burn even less because most large drops will make it to soil even without rinsing.
The higher the salt index of a fertilizer the more important it is to rinse it and the higher the carrier volume needed if it won’t be rinsed.
This is EXACTLY the explanation I needed. Thorough and detailed. This will help a lot. Thank you. Subbed.
Nice work! Subbed
What amount of fertilizer do you use per month?
This wouldn’t be applicable to you, but I apply roughly half a pound of nitrogen per month during peak growing and about a 1/4 pound of nitrogen per month in Summer… warms season is close to the opposite of that, so consult with your local turf extension office for proper nitrogen rate and timing… they would understand and have good reason for rate and timing that are specific to your area to achieve the healthiest lawn. You can divide their recommendation into smaller applications if desired. Usually they assume people won’t want to apply fertilizer more than 2-3 times annually but I like less mowing and more stable color so I apply a little more often (monthly).
The K.I.S.S. theory of lawn care. I like it. What reel mower are you using in the front?
I don’t fully recommend it, but the Allett Stirling. I’ll be replacing my rear roller any week now (it’s been bad for a long time). The mechanism is too flimsy for the dethatch cartridge, but rye doesn’t really get thatch anyway (but that would be a bigger con for many grasses). My lawn would look nicer right now if the rear roller wasn’t so mangled… mine is a push mower right now and it’s been that way a while… the rear roller is so far from round that it won’t go.
When I install the new roller I also plan to modify mine to have a cable to clear stuck on dirt… the existing design creates a wedge that pushes clay into the roller (and any rocks that are stuck to it) and that’s my best guess on how my rear roller got so mangled so quickly.
I now have a policy to only mow when the ground is dry (compaction mostly happens when soil is wet) and I’m more disciplined to clear any hitch hiking dirt on the roller and I’ll probably modify a tensioned cable to clear the rear roller… you can tell Allett tried to have a scraper of sorts in their sheet metal placement, but the overall design doesn’t clear anything before it creates a wedge shape internally so the sheet metal should have been about 1/2” longer… still, had they done that it would have been even more difficult to clear internal stuck on dirt and one time it took my over an hour it felt like to clear all the clay, so worse access might be even worse than no scraper.
The mower is expensive enough that it really should have a cable drag and that internal wedge shape was an oversight I think as well, but the mower certainly has some pros as well. Love the battery aspect. The go could be a little more responsive like it would be if it were gas, but that’s possibly related to the anti-skid in the engineering.
I didn’t baby my roller at all, and apparently I should have. Now, I only transport it on it’s front roller on concrete and I intend to baby the new roller once installed, and I expect the new roller to fix the self propelled issue because the roller will spin with the roller listed off the ground, so that’s a good sign that it would go if it were round.
@@LawnCareMinimalist For a real "Cadillac" push reel mower, check out Hudson Star.
it looks nice, but the max cutting height is 3/4” so that’s a hard pass for me. I care about color, so I’d probably rather use the Fiskars even without stripes but that would depend if the clip rate were sufficient at the higher cut… I only ever used the Fiscars at 1” and the clip rate was rough, but I think closer to 2” the Fiscars would probably do fine given it’s open design and it might even do well at 2.5”. It would be a totally different look, but 3/4” is not a height I’m interested in in terms of mowing obligation or color potential.
Great awesome man !
Are you applying urea fert with 46% nitrogen?
Yes. Target rate divided by analysis (always by weight).
If I’m doing a half pound application of N:
.5 / .46 = 1.09# needed per 1,000 and I apply in rain (or before watering in Summer) to ensure that no fertilizer gets left on the leaf and I also use a soil specific spray tip (TeeJet TTI11004) with huge droplet size to minimize and chance of fertilizer left on the grass blade. All the urea I’ve seen has been 46-0-0. DEF is 15.5% N (32.5% urea, 67.5% water) and sometimes I mention that for a very small lawn if someone is having trouble sourcing urea in their area.
@@LawnCareMinimalist okay, thank you for the explanation. Any recommendations on brand/source for granular urea? You mentioned Scott’s but I have yet to find a Scott’s with just urea or as high as 46% N
For spreading broadcast anything that isn’t my straight urea is foliar. Any urea is prilled (spreadable in a broadcast spreader), but if you aren’t planning on spraying the cheapest option is 46-0-0 (roughly 4x cheaper), but Scott’s 32-0-4 lawn food is prilled a lot finer so it will produce more even color and also could be spread at lower rates if desired.
I spray my urea during rain (or right before watering during drought… my front lawn stays watered so I just mean no rain when I say drought).
Do you mean trying to get urea for a broadcast spreader?
If so, Scott’s Lawn Food will be the best performer for a spreader assuming low or neutral PH for a urea focused fertilizer, but if you have much land I’d just broadcast the 46-0-0. When you buy urea it comes as little balls. Some brands are more pure with finer prilling but availability kind of means you’ll get what you get for the most part for urea.
Scott’s Lawn Food is about the highest quality granular for a urea based fertilizer but you might be better served broadcasting 46-0-0 depending on budget.
I’m not sure if prill and granular are synonyms or not, but the prilling for straight urea is typically similar to Lesco for granule size (roughly medium) where Scott’s is more of a greens grade prill… if you want the option of Summer appropriate rates that kinda needs to be achieved via liquids or sacrifice some color evenness because it’s hard to spread an even application at a low rate with a granular, where liquids can be applied at any rate perfectly evenly without issue. The differences just evenness of greening.
@@LawnCareMinimalist thank you for the detailed response!
Yes, I meant getting urea for a broadcast spreader. I will stick with Scott’s then since it’s easy for me to get and am covering just under 10,000 sqft. I wouldn’t consider that a lot of land.
I might get into spray fertilizer here soon for the benefits you mentioned about evenness.
@@LawnCareMinimalist for grub application with a broadcast spreader, would you recommend Scott’s grub ex and lawn food separately or just do their summer guard blend?
Does this apply to Bermuda grass in South Carolina too?
No, you’d want to translate fertilizer timing and rate by googling what your local turf extension office for Bermuda. Turf extension offices are great for reliable area specific advice.
Could you link me to your seed?
No website yet. Pricing through email currently.
I need to discern demand before I go get another batch of it this year. The ideal seeding window has passed for most people. Lawncareminimalist@gmail.com
Website should be up mid to late this week.
@@LawnCareMinimalist awesome thank you
What state are you in?
Pacific NW. Washington state. Easy place to grow grass compared to most but very few people try.
@@LawnCareMinimalist how does one get a reel mower?
Rolux and Reel Rollers Revololution seem to be the better budget options and I’d steer clear of Cal-Trimmer, McClane, and Tru-Cut. I like wide stripes (I mow doubles) so for Rolux I’d want the 25”… 6-blade, Honda engine, grooved front roller accessory wouldn’t be considered optional. The Rolux height of cut goes to 1-3/8” max.
The Revolution looks nicer to me in terms of features and quality, but here’s a link for both brands, but the front roller on the Revolution would need to be upgraded… no way that will do a higher cut well where the Rolux would.
myrolux.com/products/rolux-x25-25-reel-mower-briggs-and-stratton-xr550
reelrollers.com/product/revolution-26/
If you feel like lighting some money on fire, I have the Allett Stirling… the build quality isn’t terrible but it also isn’t great, but if you have the money it has some features I probably wouldn’t want to give up (removable reel washes easy, tine scarifier cartridge, verticut cartridge, battery, easy height of cut mechanism). The cartridges aren’t really necessary, but they do achieve better stripes and improve texture some and remove a little debris here and there so easily but I certainly wouldn’t say they are necessary… they are icing on the cake. Skip the dethatch cartridge… the Stirling is too flimsy to handle it. The brush is a waste of money and there’s no way the aeration cartridge does much of anything.
My Stirling was #4 on the list so I was on the list long before they announced it. There are a few engineering oversights for it, but overall there isn’t currently another option like it. I would recommend transporting the Sterling on the front roller and trying to keep the rear roller off concrete, so, I’d baby the rear roller and keep it free of clay because it will wedge up underneath and ruin the rear roller which isn’t a cheap part (don’t ask me how I know)… it shouldn’t need to be babied at the Sterling price point, but what can you do.
There’s nothing wrong with a really sharp blade on a rotary mower in terms of grass health (All American style blade sharpener + grinder + 80G flap disc sharpens a blade in about 5 minutes), but even with a striping kit the looks of a rotary mower just aren’t the same. I think most people would probably see the Rolux as the best value.
For the Sterling the mower cartridge needs to be installed during backlapping and for the cut test but not very many people will want to spend on any reel mower, much less a Stirling… grass was a hobby a few years back, and I generally go all out with whatever I’m into at the time.
If you want a high cut like cool season pro baseball, all of these mowers go up to at least 1-3/8” which isn’t true with a lot of brands… lower cuts need to be mowed every other day min. Most of the other brands have other pretty serious issues for user friendliness and many of them don’t go up very high for cut height. For any brand you’d probably want a low blade count blade (like a 6-blade) which is more suitable for a higher cut.
Cutting low means 3x more mowing, potential traffic stress & potential compaction from needing to mow all the time, and crappy color in comparison to a higher cut, so any model that won’t go high for cut is a deal breaker for me. If you get something used it will probably be cheap but it is also likely to be a huge headache and potential waste of time vs. some of the less lemony brands. I bought a $300 old Tru-Cut to dip my toe in the water of reel mowing and the thing was just a disaster every time I used it and I was lucky if I didn’t go a mow without a new issue and I rarely went a mow without the thing randomly dying, but I think generally Tru-Cut is better than Cal Trimmer and I’ve pretty much only heard bad about McClane.
I’m not sure if I’d recommend the Rolux or the Revolution in the budget slot (although neither is necessarily cheap)… the Revolution front roller just isn’t going to cut it (litterally) for higher cuts, so you’d need to see if a front roller with more hollowing were available or that one would be a no go for me.
Revolution is probably made in Asia somewhere…
Rolux is at least assembled in the USA…
Allett is made in the UK but EGO does the battery and handle assembly so much of the Sterling is probably manufactured in China.
I’m not sure if that is helpful or not but these are the 3 mowers I’d consider… the more spent, the more enjoyable it might be to use, but the wide cut on the cheaper brands would be nice, but easily pulling and washing the Sterling blade and the battery and cartridge system of the Sterling does add a lot of value, but the price point is totally different for the Allett.
Hopefully that is helpful… these might all be too expensive because they cost a good amount more than a rotary mower but those are my thoughts for now.
@@LawnCareMinimalist this is fantastic information, thank you!
Love this new trend of less of is more. Could you link to where Humic acid is less than ideal?
Here are several studies Matt Martin pulled and Turfgrass Epistimology on RUclips is/will be doing biostimulants all month.
The first half of Matt’s video is heavy on the cons and the last 1/3 or so are some watered down potential pros, so keep in mind he has the video organized per se.
ruclips.net/video/X7Gp64gkudI/видео.htmlsi=2Wj242t0wpJj-tih
And Travis has a podcast or his YT is Turfgrass Epistimology. He might cover studies on biostimulants more than a month, but he should have more on humic still to come. Thanks.
I went through the whole video and while I understand his point on all the issues he does and don't. I respectfully disagree on most of his points. I will make my own decisions concerning my lawn. I will take the mistakes and learn with them. I agree with him in the sense that I don't like to use too much chemicals on my lawn though
I spray weeds in my back lawn… spray is not a great strategy for poa when starting from zero poa on a small lawn and the clover I just deal with that for a week or two.
P & K are generally pretty low toxicity, so I don’t mind those in terms of toxicity… I simply have a zero weeds policy in my front, so spot spraying one weed at a time doesn’t make sense and poa has about a 10 day seed cycle, so it needs to be removed asap
As far as disagreeing, you won’t find an area of less agreement than the lawncare space. More agreement does come with increased knowledge in general but some people never take the time to isolate what works for them and what doesn’t and there is more than one way to do anything.
Humic + Kelp (both, not one of the other) actually can benefit a lawn if it is unirrigated or under intense heat stress but I don’t think that’s the most logical way to address drought especially in more mild environments. Humic+Kelp would be like applying sunscreen but drinking no water… I prefer a drink water and get out of the sun approach. My grass absolutely loves hot weeks, but a hot week for me is pretty mild compared to some just as one example of a difference in strategy.
The video is what I do… most points I do think are sound rules of thumb, but not universally applicable practices.
What kind of grass is that?
This would be a really bad grass choice for most areas, but this lawn is about 50% Hattrick / 50% Pangea (both are perennial ryegrass cultivars). In most cool season areas Kentucky Bluegrass would be a better choice.
If I were to seed today, my top 4 choices for current rye - assuming I could source them - would be:
(My percentages reference poa ratio after 4-year trial, C=comparative color in my climate, Q=turf quality, T=traffic tolerance)
Mystique: 0.0% poa, 88%C, 93%Q, 100%T
ASP0116: 13.3% poa, 100%C, 68%Q, 50%T
Hattrick: 16.6% poa, 92%C, 72%Q, 50%T
Furlong (only available in a branded mix): 0.0% poa, 85%C, 100%Q, 89%T
If I were to plant tomorrow in my area I’d probably do 50% Mystique and 50% ASP0116 and I might even go crazy and do 100% mystique (although that would be risky).
In most cool season areas I’d do bluegrass.
I know rye and fine fescue pretty well as far as NTEP recommendations go but I haven’t yet analyzed bluegrass per my preferences. Looking at specific diseases would be primary in a lot of areas… color is way up there for me since disease pressure is pretty low in my area with proper watering (dry Summers).
Rye can make sense in some of Canada or in the Pacific NW, but it wouldn’t be a logical choice in most other areas or anywhere with hot Summers or cold Winters. Dark varieties should perform better in extreme heat or shade.
Looks like you live in my neck of the woods based on your landscaping. Western Washington? Could be way off 😂
Correct.
@@LawnCareMinimalist Sorry if I woke you! I’m trying to do a minimalist style Renovation on my front lawn. What weed killer did you say you used? Swore I heard “pocket knife” Google turned up nothing for me.
No, you didn’t wake me (late nighter).
Lower end Benchmade (literally a pocket knife to cut poa out as I see it). For burn down before renovation 3-3-3 glyphosate (3 ounces, 3 times, 3 weeks apart (about a 2 month process).
The best time to seed in our area is very late Summer before much risk of 2”+ precipitation days.
Groundskeeper 2 rake. 1/3 of seed, rake hard, 1/3 of seed, rake with moderate pressure, 1/3 of seed rake lightly. A wetting agent is also added wash out insurance (and core aeration can help also) if you’re thinking about doing an all out bare dirt renovation.
My weeding is done with a pocket knife in my front lawn and my back lawn gets sprayed about once a year with a 2-way or a 3-way (something containing 2,4-D) mainly to tackle clover. I’ve also used stacked tenacity applications in the back lawn to gradually reduce poa in the back.
Since seeding there hasn’t been any post emergent out there in the front… pocket knife only.
Results of an overseed aren’t terrible but it’s probably more work ultimately than a full burn down for an inferior result.
@@LawnCareMinimalist I’m burning my entire back yard.. it’s ALL weeds. I have some tenacity I thought about applying in the front. There’s more grass than weeds for sure. Some clover, crab grass, and poa. Thanks for the tips man!
Filing this one under the category of “dont try this at home”. I like the style of delivery though and will continue to check in.
Don’t dis it ‘till you tried it. Pre-emergent probably bad advice for many areas and most lawn sizes… I pretty much just get clover and poa (pre not real effective on either given that poa germinates constantly in the Pacific NW and clover isn’t listed on Prodiamine or Dithiopyr label and meso doesn’t last long.
As pathetic as the herbicide is, my favorite pre might be Mesotrione simply due to clover being on the label and it also kills about 25% of poa per stacked app which is also a huge plus. My lawn doesn’t get dandelion or any other weed worthy of mention… just clover and poa. It’s likely the rye poisons the dandilion because I used to get them prior to having rye, but I did a lot of things differently (total neglect) when I used to get dandelions. One year I think my back lawn got mowed twice, so it was basically a field not too many years ago. Roughly 40% poa when I started doing a little here and there in the back.
Great video , I always say grass isn’t that hard to maintain.
@Stace : Stop being arrogant. We may be struggling bc we're learning.
Do you apply any fungicides?
I would if I lived in an area where disease pressure was out of my control. I’ve seen red thread and pink patch before which began after intentionally overwatering prior to a long vacation (lesson learned). My area has unusually dry Summers so I control the water, and my area has pretty mild Summers on top of that and every watering is basically a ratio of actual water loss so most disease is within my control.
With pink patch I actually suspect that could either be a disease one cultivars use to (Hattrick) or it is a disease possibly associated with prodiamine use because I also saw pink patch in my back lawn at one point and the two lawns are night and day for cultural practices.
Both pink patch and red thread are typically low nitrogen diseases… I will not be doing any pre-emergant in the front and I might just do it in a few small randomized areas in the back to test for association with pink patch mainly because I hadn’t seen that in prior years.
No, I don’t use fungicides but you probably wouldn’t either if you were in my area… proper watering is generally all that is needed. With improper watering I do see neighbors with noticeable disease including bushes dying and large dead areas but they are the problem rather than disease pressure and such is probably the case with my pink patch/red thread I have seen off and on in a lawn that has enough nitrogen and pretty on point watering.
My soil organics are too high, so rather than apply fungicides, I’m bagging. I am also asking one or two questions when I see red thread or pink patch on rye where an isn’t lacking… did said person apply Prodiamine (or secondly dithiopyr) in the last 6 months… and do they have any Hattrick cultivar in their lawn as a less likely possibility. Prodiamine may have a link… for my back lawn and my front lawn to have both seen it there are only a few cultural practices that were similar this year.
I’ve heard 3336F is a great when it hits the fan option. I’ve also heard to stay away from granular options with fungicides (likely due to poor value and lesser performance), but I couldn’t be much further from an expert on fungicides. I think carefully managed water dies a lot, but you can still get pretty screwed in some areas if it dumps rain when it’s hot. My area gets barely an 1” of water in July or August. My average Summer highs are 76°F so it’s a very easy area to grow grass especially in terms of disease. That doesn’t mean I haven’t made a mistake or two and seen disease… it does mean I shouldn’t see much disease if I pay attention. I also notice disease likes the least level areas so root exposure could be a factor, but my current best guess for pink patch and red (these diseases commonly run together) is prodiamine use because I don’t meet the disease profiles for what typically is linked to either disease.
Sorry, not much help w/ fungicides… I want to figure out the issues without them and I consider the issues my own fault… I haven’t pinpointed the main driver of the two diseases but neither disease being an issue aligns with what is published about the diseases in terms of risk factors so I think info is lacking some. Hattrick tested fine for red thread… my lawn doesn’t lack nitrogen, and pink patch isn’t a disease that cultivars are currently tested for (sticky pink fungus).
If I find a link to pre-emergent I’ll try to get that hypothesis into a researcher’s ear but for starters I’m hoping not to see my lawns struggle with that via subtraction of prodiamine with a control in the back with prodiamine down possibly.
Why you say 10th dont use blade edger? What you dont like about it?
It’s just really sloppy looking and the edging doesn’t last as long as rotary scissors. For a longer driveway I’d blade edge because rotary scissors require an uncomfortable posture for edging. A normal edger looks fine, but an edge that lasts longer and an edge that looks much better from the rotary scissors makes the blade edger obsolete in my book. Blade edger isn’t going to make the grass less healthy… just a looks thing.
You’re probably ok with it but Urea has been known to give more of a yellow tone to grass than other types of nitrogen
No, Rey Ito claims that… I (and many others) haven’t found that to be true at all. I only recommend AMS when PH is high because AMS is very effective at bringing PH down.
AMS will outperform urea by greening maybe 3 days quicker, it will outcompete urea at low temps (especially when soil temps go below 40°) but if AMS is outcompeting urea due to temps that mostly means the applicator missed proper N timing.
Sulfur under 10PPM (rare) or cold temps (incorrect timing) or high PH (not common at all compared to low PH) are the only times AMS will outcompete urea as best as I can tell. I used to use AMS due to that advice but I’ve found urea to be superior… there are a few things Rey Ito recommends that are just straight non-sense… Rey also jumps to 1-1-1 or 1-0-1 as a nutrient ratio.
I think that claim is folk agronomy… possibly true with low sulfur or low temps or especially low PH or obviously there’s faster greenup but I’ve found my grass to generally stay darker with urea (especially in the Summer) and I feel like urea lasts longer possibly at a fraction of the cost.
I think properly timed urea gives superior health, slightly superior color in my area.
More sulfur would not be desirable in my lawn (salts should be allocated to nutrients that are needed) and ammonium is way more acidifying than urea (8 hydrogens contributed per ammonium).
I don’t understand all these RUclipsrs making blanket recommendations like you against phosphorus and potassium. You absolutely need those macro nutrients. It entirely depends on what your soil test shows. Nobody has the same soil.
Agreed (kind of). I recommend one real soil test per address per lawn but there are people a lot smarter than me (or you) that at times will recommend no soil test at all.
The video I released yesterday (accurate PH testing at home) goes into detail about that. Still, phos and potassium are usually there and many people don’t realize:
1) the amount needed before any disadvantage occurs is much lower than previously assumed (many labs recommend per totally outdated info… even reputable labs)
2) most “soil tests” people get are totally worthless and you might as well have a fortune teller tell you you need P or K
3) potassium especially (but also anything the grass doesn’t need) often does actual harm
Top growth by weight is about an 8:1:4 ratio.
From a real lab, phos PPM should be above 15PPM Mehlich-3 or H3A and over application of P generally isn’t going to hurt the turf much. Potassium on the other hand should be above about 40PPM in areas with mild winters and above 60-70PPM in areas with harsh Winters that go sub 8°F at least a few times a year.
You won’t find too many areas with numbers below that per a quality soil test (more common the closer to Florida you are in general and increasingly uncommon the further from Florida in general although my area gets rain with acidic soil so K is pretty “low” here).
If people aren’t going to get a quality soil test (the most common test I see by far is fortune teller grade) I personally think they’d be better served starting urea only because it’s a pretty safe gamble. In certain areas a soil test becomes more likely to show something worth seeing. If the turf looks good, what is the point of a soil test when deficiency symptoms often never surface? And does a soil test do actual good when most of the recommendations on the most common tests purchased are totally bogus and even many of the recommendations from reputable labs are more likely to do harm than good.
As an example, my soil test showed more than double what was needed for P and about double what is needed for K in my back lawn… in my front lawn P was about 5x what is needed… Midwest Laboratories did my tests (likely the most thurough and reliable lab in the country in terms of results).
They don’t sell fertilizer… they are a far more reliable soil test than average… but… even they recommended almost 1/2 a pound of phos and almost 2 pounds of potassium in my back lawn and they even recommended 3/4 of a pound of potassium in my front lawn (WITH POTASSIUM BEYOND 200PPM!). I am confident their potassium recommendation would have done more harm than good in both lawns. Most people probably would have trusted their advice, right?! How many more people get a “soil test” from a company like Yard Mastery and believe they are looking at real numbers? How many people know what numbers to look at and how many people with deficiency numbers show actual deficiency symptoms? Much of the best turf in the world has nutrients below MLSN.
I agree that one quality soil test per address would be beneficial IF the consumer knows what the lab doesn’t (unlikely) and IF the consumer uses a quality lab in the first place and IF turf is showing no deficiency symptom I’m confident throwing potassium at the lawn is likely to cause more harm than good… the only lawns that research has shown benefit from adding K were consistently very low on potassium and some research even attempted to deplete the soil by boiling it and still struggled to produce deficiency… harm from potassium is just as common as benefit. Since it’s probably 80%+ that people don’t need it, when in doubt, don’t apply it.
I kind of agree with you (which is why I just did a video partially on that topic to clarify), but if I were gambling, it wouldn’t be very risky to take my generality at face value when the advice of many of the best labs doesn’t align with research and most users will trust the lab before they will trust some nobody like myself.
Therefore, a soil test (even the highest quality soil test) is not without known risk. Even the best labs are often prescribing per very outdated info… the worst labs are prescribing per profit and those are the same labs with a marketing budget that top Google. The highest market share for soil testing is claimed by the very worst labs in the country. And the advice of the best labs isn’t necessarily sound.
As he said, There may be 2% of people that need any P or K. It is very rare that it's needed and costs a lot of money, not to speak of the environmental problems over application of P will cause. Do a search on the Internet and you will find Many, many scientific papers that show P & K is rarely needed in most lawns...
@@grayfox9911 Lol, another know-it-all. It’s incredibly common to have deficiencies of any macro. Just stop. Bottom line get a soil test to anyone reading this. Dont listen to these geniuses. I’ve been treating soil for almost 50 years and Phosphorus isn’t any more expensive per seasonal treatment than other fertilizers. You can buy DAP from Home Depot for $60 so what the hell are you even talking about? Lmao.
@@LawnCareMinimalist Then amend your wording and do your audience a favor. I received my degree in turf management before you were even born. You “kind of” agree with me about doing a soil test? Your argument is that some can’t be trusted? Wow you’re something. I’m supposed to trust your site more than any extension office? Maybe you’re the one who’s trying to protect your profit. Quack. Stop putting doubts in people’s mind about soil testing facilities to boost your credibility. It’s not rocket science dude. Get a soil test and follow the proper guidelines for doing so and THAT will tell you what you amend your soil with. Period.
@@LawnCareMinimalist Maybe if you knew how to amend your wording you’d be doing your audience a favor. I received my degree in turf management before you were even born. You’re trying to market yourself as a “minimalist” and that’s your schtick and it’s sad because a soil test is cheap and easy to do. You’re being disingenuous by putting doubts in people minds about the integrity of extension office recommendations, soil testing facilities and their Agronomists? You have a lot of nerve dude. Good luck with your RUclips profits.
Looks pretty low to me. Also, your description lists recommended fertilizers with P and K
It’s certainly lower than a rotary cut lawn (my back lawn is double the height, around 3”), but 1-1/2” is quite high for a reel mowed lawn. Reel mowers have almost zero suction compared to a rotary mower so cutting above where I’m cutting can get very sloppy looking and the front roller can push blades down and go right under the blade. Blades of grass start getting laid over rather than being cut.
Random stuff at the end of my description (fertilizers) weren’t a recommendation. I added the word “related” to hopefully make that more clear. As a blanket recommendation my favorite fertilizer is 46-0-0 and after that Scott’s Lawn Food (32-0-4) and in high PH areas ProPEAT 17-0-4, but I personally just buy urea because it’s 4x cheaper than Scott’s and about 8x cheaper than ProPEAT.
Some areas will need to apply some phosphorus and/or potassium, just not most areas. I spray urea in rain or before watering so I don’t need to adhere to proper carrier volume (which avoids any possibility of tip burn from my more efficient improper concentration). So the rain or watering is where my carrier volume comes from after getting away from spoon feeding where proper carrier volume isn’t very difficult.
I disagree with some things. Whats your take on crabgrass prevention? I get you may not get it in a small lawn like that or u can pull it by hand. But bigger yards you cant just pull all the weeds. Looks like you dpnt even have neighboring yards close to yours. Situational difference is key in lawn care its great you made this list but its just not practical for most people. Another note is perrenial rye cant take extreme temps. Too cold die off too hot die off. Blade edgers are completely fine to use.
Your lost might work for that postage stamp yard (not being rude its really the term we use for small yards) but to say this is good advice is bs. Sure if you had time to hand pull all weeds itd be better but is it practical?
Rotary scissors obviously cut better than edger blade but it isnt like i would tell people use rotary scissors only. Pre-emergent also doesnt destroy the roots of already establishes turn grass idk where you got that from.
I have a windy street with plenty of weed seeds that blow from dozens of lawns into mine… near the ocean so the wind is always blowing crabgrass seeds around… my city is one giant housing development, but I don’t get any crabgrass (at all) for some reason but I used to back when I didn’t care at all… I also don’t get dandelions and, again, I’m not sure why because they used to be everywhere.
Despite the fact that it’s on the sidewalks, no crab in my lawn... could be that the rye poisons it, and possibly the same for the dandelions. I agree pre-emergents are more important warm season or in poorly maintained lawns with lots of bare dirt… that’s why I said “they haven’t worked for me”. I think they may contribute to red thread or pink patch on my grass type. The reasons for that hypothesis are too complicated and irrelevant to your grass type I’m sure, but I personally prefer post emergent because poa germinates roughly 9 months of the year and clover is the main weed I see (clover isn’t on the Prodiamine label or on the dithiopyr label… also I saw no reduction in poa despite applying per the poa rate of 6g/1000’ min for the 65WDG (I applied 9g and still saw no difference in poa pressure or clover obviously and those are the only 2 weeds of any significance. I see just a little hairy bitter rest and just a little yellow wood sorrel, but the 2 weeds I care about Prodiamine did virtually nothing despite correct rate and timing.
This list is what I do and what I don’t do. It is not necessarily what you should or shouldn’t do… rye wouldn’t work in most areas and pre-emergent would likely do more good than harm in most lawns, just not in mine which is why I said “it just hasn’t worked for me”.
I said spend time on NTEP for grass seed that’s appropriate for your area… I never said that rye was appropriate for your area and I agree rye is a terrible choice in most areas.
My lawn is 8400’. That front lawn is 2400’. I said the same things you are saying in my video… if this area were larger a pocket knife wouldn’t be practical. I spray my back lawn post emergent about once a year and I never did a full reno on my back lawn or I think I probably could keep up with the weeds pretty well with a pocket knife, but it was essentially a field maybe 3 years ago… mowed twice all year, so there’s a seed bank… clover & poa.
A normal edger looks terrible. I don’t think my channel is for you if you just want me to say all the things you agree with that are right for your exact area that align with your exact opinions.
I think you’re mostly right about the root pruning thing. It looks like reduced root weights are more common on the second year of prodiamine use and the susceptible cultivars seem to be uncommon (although I think they only tested one rye cultivar several decades ago). There may be better studies than this… this seems to be the study referenced by the top several Google results.
www.jstor.org/stable/3988352
FKA AMA Lawn Care? I recognize them stripes!
Correct. When I named my channel I thought comments were part of the algorithm… they aren’t. I was trying to short cut growth in my name before learning that. I like comments but if my channel grows I do want to have better footing for not needing to answer them all down the road and I think this name is more in line with everything I try to do which is not waste time doing things that do little in the lawn.
Now that Travis Shaddox’s channel exists mine is no longer is as necessary but minimalists in the lawn are rare on RUclips but I’d imagine a lot of people wouldn’t mind a nice lawn with less work.
Both videos this year have been 1 take and very minimal time editing so I’m not going to put much effort in but I still thought I might be able to make some helpful content.
great video. i believe in simplifying as well although I do test here and there. Greens grade AMS, Scotts Green Max work very well for me. Cool season turf, higher PH
Any reason you do the green max over urea or Lawn Food? Last I checked green max was $6 a pound for N, Lawn Food was about $4, and urea is about $1 per # of N. Are you using the iron to bring PH down because insoluble iron can’t be used by a plant, so I’m curious why Green Max is in the rotation?
@@LawnCareMinimalist turf response is good (Midnight & Bluenote), PRG (Pangea and Barenbrug blend. At Lowes , 50% off ripped bags so use is limited . As you noted , prill size is greens grade
Stripes look the best when sun is at your back. Which is why your street view angle looks nice and the view from the home looks sloppy. Maybe instead of trying to bash others, share what works for you and acknowledge your conditions may be different that others. Imagine telling people all over the world soil test don't matter and pre emergents aren't required.
Who am I bashing here? The only reference I made to anyone else was a reference to height of cut and a distinction between a crappy soil test and a good one… height of cut is a difference of preference and it’s also a huge difference in mowing requirement.
And the video doesn’t say 10 things you should do (although it might be implied)… it says copy me if you want, and I didn’t even say 100% of lawns don’t need P or K, but yes, please watch someone else.
I said pre emergents haven’t worked for me… I didn’t say that I don’t recommend them for warm season and I also said plainly that I’m a cool season guy that knows very little about warm season and I wouldn’t consider my opinions of pre emergents settled… that’s just what I do and people can “copy me if they want” and if any of my methods don’t work in their area, they can uncopy me. CRAPY soil tests don’t matter… I like GOOD SOIL TESTS… maybe you didn’t notice the qualifier in that sentence of “LOW QUALITY soil tests” and I immediately gave an example of a low quality soil test. Maybe you should turn up the volume because you’re overlooking the details.
I could absolutely be wrong about pre-emergents but I think they do more harm than good in my particular lawn in my particular climate, and I gave people an option that might work if they have a small lawn… in my larger back lawn I prefer post emergent applications (not a pocket knife).
This was my first and only take. If you think you can do better you are welcome to start your own channel. This was a briefing in what I do… I intend to get a lot more nuanced and detailed topic by topic on future videos… for example, about a week later my very next video gave recommendations for how to find a quality soil lab and it showed people how to accurately test their own soil pH, so I wouldn’t call that anti soil test.
On my soil test from an extremely reputable lab they recommended both phos and potassium when I when I wasn’t even close to needing any and potassium especially isn’t free of consequence to add when it isn’t needed, and this was a very detailed lab that I would expect to be more sound than most in terms of recommendation… how many labs are owned by companies that sell fertilizer with brand specific recommendations that come with the soil test. Very scientific.
Yes, some areas need different nutrients than others. But, I think most people would be surprised how few lawns would look worse on pure nitrogen but I agree that it isn’t every lawn which is why I didn’t say every lawn.
In my video I said “spend some time on NTEP and select grasses THAT ARE APPROPRIATE FOR YOUR AREA”… did I say “plant rye in Texas”? You’re right that I’m lucky to have rye… RUclips doesn’t allow edits but I’ll certainly point that out in future videos that rye doesn’t make sense in most areas, but if someone asks anything related to grass seed in the comments I make sure to say it there… this was one 15 minute take edited down to 14 minutes (uns and breaths removed). People can watch me if they want. They can test something I do in their lawn if they want. They can observe if anything bad happens and adapt as they see fit if my advice betrays them… you’re acting like the world is going to end. It’s grass. Thanks for pointing out that the sun has everything to do with stripes… I knew that… I just didn’t want people to think my lawn has that color from every angle all the time, but my wording and tone was aimed at showing people a less perfect view as well to be more realistic about what they were looking at… I pointed out the uneven spots… I tell people my back lawn is held to a lower standard.
Bashing others? MySoil deserves it… other than that I don’t know what you’re talking about with that mention. Height of cut is preference. If someone loves mowing then a 1/2” cut might make sense for that person but cool season baseball is cut around 1-3/8” average, and that’s what I copy for my mowing practices because I like low work and good color… I mentioned spoon feeding not being for me, but it actually is a superior practice, but my aim is to do as little as possible and still have a very high quality lawn. How is it bashing anyone to say that I don’t spoon feed? I said exactly why I don’t spoon feed… I never said it was inferior to do it (it’s superior in terms of performance).
I do think many practices that are pushed on RUclips don’t look as good while costing more money, & taking more time… if that offends people to hear those opinions they can find someone that perfectly aligns with their cozy biases to their liking. Enjoy the bias. We all have them.
You can start a RUclips channel and provide better quality content than me if you choose or you can do a thumbs down and that will put less of me in your feed and that will also be a service to people that think similarly to yourself. How dare I say something you disagree with or not say everything perfectly… the nerve. I’m not an articulate person and RUclips doesn’t allow edits. There are lots of opinions in lawn care and lots of people acting like so much is at stake to get every detail right.
“Trying to bash others”. I didn’t name any channels… I said the word trendy, and I acknowledged that my practices are different… people can do whatever they want with that. Spoon feeding is better than what I do (if people don’t place any value on their time) and there’s nothing wrong with low cut turf (if people like mowing or really really really don’t value their time and don’t mind traffic wear and bad color). Do whatever you want.
Bashing others. Yeah, I’m sure they’d be crying to hear that someone else doesn’t do exactly what they do. The only people that think alike in lawn care are the people that sell the same products and soil scientists align on the other end of the spectrum. I don’t mind copying the best looking turf and I don’t mind offending people that are too easily offended. I place little value on manufactured victimhood. People can do what they want.
Don't get caught up in negativity. Thank you for the video. Obviously, it is working for you as one can see from the results. Maybe we can all learn something from this.
Yeah, I’m happy enough with how my wording allowed for exceptions in the video (some people do need P or K or pre
-emergents). I recommend P or K for specific individuals when I see deficiency, but deficiency is so uncommon that most people don’t even know what phosphorus deficiency looks like in turf (lots of eyes in a huge Facebook group) which can be a very obvious thing.
I agree with some critics that my wording could have been better on certain topics but obviously I didn’t agree with this critic at all. My nature is to punch back and I think I just didn’t appreciate the bashing others comment and if not for that I probably would have had more grace in my response.
I also didn’t appreciate her calling Matt Martin a liar. Matt Martin’s bend is toward integrity. He is wrong some in my opinion, but a liar knows they are being untruthful and that isn’t him.
Give a little powerpoint view, your just talking on and some one that will like to follow you will get a better understanding, also it depend on your location and environment when treating your lawn simple water and a good quality fertilizer and weed and feed will help but the normal DIYer thats starting off will need a lot more understanding.
I can’t justify putting much time in. But I do plan to do little short topics… this video is more of a 10,0000 foot view. One take. If it isn’t helpful to someone, the RUclips algorithm will find them someone else.
Imagine taking advice from Matt Martin 🤥🥴
I just recommended a humic and kelp product to someone a few days ago for a specific situation (if you’re referring to my mention of humic acid).
And Matt Martin is smarter than you.
@TheGrassFactor
I disagree with Matt Martin occasionally but one thing he is not is a liar so you can keep your Pinocchio nose.