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jonmhenderson

Lawn update and thanks!

jonmhenderson
14 years ago

I just thought I'd take a moment to show everyone how nicely my yard has come along thanks to some great advice from TexasWeed and everyone here at the forum. I've learned so much!

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Here's the Tifway 419 sod on the cold day in Mid April here in Middle Tennessee when it was layed. We actually had some ice later that week!

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Here it is now in mid August, freshly mowed at approximately 2 inches with a Troy-Bilt rotary mower. My yard is just too bumpy to take it down lower.

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Another shot from the street.

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Man, is this stuff thick!!! The canopy is so dense, it's hard for a weed to get a word in edgewise! I'm really starting to understand the principle that the best weed defense is a healthy yard. I'm having to mow it every other day, even at 2 inches, to keep it from bogging down my mower to a grinding halt, and my mower has a 5.5 Honda motor on it! That's my wife's foot, BTW. :-) Anyway, thanks for looking and sharing your expertise, everyone!

Jon

Comments (22)

  • texas_weed
    14 years ago

    Jon look great. 2 inches for Tifway is a little on the high side. What kind of mower do you have?

  • jonmhenderson
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    I have a Troy-Bilt mulcher.

  • auteck
    14 years ago

    Looking good for a 2" cut with a rotary mower... I hope you installed an inground border between your property and your next door neighbors...? Not the best adapted grass for Central Tennessee, but if it makes you and wife happy; that's all it matters.

    I think your every other day mowing seems excessive for a homeowner. At the golf course, we mow the T Boxes every other day at half inch with a reel mower - they look good this time of year. In two weeks we overseed with PRG.

    Where exactly are you located? Zip will work.

  • jonmhenderson
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    Thanks, Auteck! Zip is 37174. Trust me, the mowing every other day is not excessive. If I didn't, the thick turf would bog down my mower to no end! My neighbor on the right has a K-31 yard. He said he's giving it one more year to compare his to mine then may switch to Tifway, so he didn't care that I switched. My neighbor on the left is solid crabgrass with a few lingering tufts of the original K-31 sod that he knocks the tops off of with a weedeater once a week or so. The company that installed my yard did the Titans field. The grass? Tifway 419. After living in Mid Tenn for the last 10 years, I can honestly say there are no easy 'one size fits all' answers here in the transition zone. It has been my experience that all maintenence being equal, in a typical year, you can get about one to two more months of quality green from bermuda than fescue. Bermuda is green mid March to end October, or about 7.5 months. Fescue here looks good March through May, goes dormant/dies June through mid September. You renovate mid September, about mid October, your yard starts filling in and looking okay again. Around mid November, we start getting frost, and the fescue turns yellow till March.

  • texas_weed
    14 years ago

    John next spring you might consider lowering your height to 1 inch or however low your mower can go. Tifway is best maintained from 1/2 to 1 inch. I wouldn't do anything right now and let it stay where it is at since there is not a lot of growing season left other than mow, fertilize, and water.

    Over the winter you might consider a reel mower?

  • jonmhenderson
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    I have a McLane 7 blade reel mower with a reel roller attachment. The problem with it is the constant tinkering/adjusting required to get a good cut with it. I just don't have the time for that. When I have a window of time to mow, I need to mow! :-) Anyway, I sure like the way the grass looks at this height; I especially like the moisture retention under the canopy. Also, I'm not getting any of the dreaded rotary mower 'swirls' either.
    Jon

  • formicburn
    14 years ago

    be wary of a closed canopy.

  • texas_weed
    14 years ago

    If it starts thinning is a good clue it is being maintained too high.

  • reelfanatic
    14 years ago

    Looks great John.... As TW stated, I think it may start getting stemmy at that height with a rotary. Try to get your McLane up to snuff.

    @Auteck.... That's either a nine hole course you work at or there is a huge grounds crew. Explain how the every other day schedule works. Usually the same equipment and operators who mow tees also mow collars. How does every other day work? Are you using walk behinds or Triplex? Are your tee clean ups square or rounded? I know you said you assist the Super, but what exactly do you do there in a day? Just curious what is going on over there. Every other day seems like it wouldn't work unless again, you have lots of operators. What is the Fairway schedule?

  • northtexas
    14 years ago

    I think it looks absolutely beautiful. If I could get my lawn looking like that I would be very happy.

  • jonmhenderson
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    It's certainly not stemmy now, way more leaf than stem. You can see that in the foot picture. I may try one inch next year, but it looks like carpet now. Also, 2 inches goes a long way to hide the bumpy yard surface.
    Jon

  • dchall_san_antonio
    14 years ago

    I was going to say, "DUDE! You don't need to show us your pedicure," but if you say that's your wife's leg, then okay.

    Now that you have the great grass down, you can work on making it perfectly level. It is relatively easy to do (in theory) and can be done in a weekend with a couple friends/sixpacks/pizzas. Just don't try to do it this year. Wait until late June next year after it is all greened up. You can find the basic process here on this forum. Search for "sand leveling bermuda" and you can toss my name in there if you can't find it. The one I'm thinking of is a long thread with photos about leveling a bermuda lawn. The photos do not show up anymore in the thread but you can copy the URL for the pictures and paste them into your browser to see what he did.

    If you have problems with a reel mower, you're doing something wrong. If golf courses had to tweak them every week, they'd come up with something else.

    I agree your grass is too long. Notice how the grass comes up between "her" toes and over the side of her shapely foot (ahem). When you get it mowed down you'll be able to drop a dime on it and the dime will cast a shadow over the grass.

  • jonmhenderson
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    From what I understand, McLanes are notorious for needing constant reel/bedknife adjustment. I did some minor sanding when the sod started knitting together just to get some of the bigger dips under control.

  • texas_weed
    14 years ago

    Jon just a few comments for you to consider.

    For Tifway or any Bermuda for that matter the cutting height depends on the variety. For the hybrids like Tifway the recommended height is from 3/8 to 1-inch. The reason is the growth habit and characteristics. When mowed high the stolons and leaf blades will start to grow vertical rather than horizontal. When that happens eventually the stolons grow up to the cutting height putting the crowns right at the cut level. So that when you mow you eventually end up with little leaf material and from there it thins out. But when you mow low the stolons and grass blades will grow horizontal forming a very tight dense matt of carpet.

    It is OK to let the height get up in the hot dry weather to add a layer of shade so to speak to retain moisture, but that means raising from ¾ inch to 1-/12 at most. The height can also be raised in the fall in the transition zones to add a layer of insulation to add a degree freeze protection.

    As for leveling out the yard is easy. It is just a matter of adding sand and skreeting it out.

    Wish I could help on the reel mower issue for you, but I cannot because I donÂt have enough experience with McClain products. We use professional/commercial grade equipment and there is no adjustment issue. All we have to do backlap the blades with a honing compound applied to the knife blade once a week or so.

  • jonmhenderson
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    Not to be argumentative, but my mother in law in Huntsville, Alabama has had a Tifway yard for going on 20 years. It has always been maintained at 2 inches, and it looks just like mine, very leafy and not stemmy at all. That's where I got the idea to do it, and I'm just trying to understand what the harm is. If her lawn hasn't turned to stems at the high maintenence height, why would mine?
    Jon

  • reelfanatic
    14 years ago

    Just keep cutting it at 2 inches then. When the stolons start growing upright and you can peer right through the canopy to the soil below, you will believe.

  • texas_weed
    14 years ago

    Not to be argumentative

    Was not taken that way, and a good question. You can get away with it, but your turf will never be as dense and thick if mowed short.

    Perhaps a better explanation of Bermuda growth habit will help. Hybrid Bermuda reproduces itself by two methods of vegetative propagation of Stolons and Rhizomes. Rhizomes are the underground runners like roots but I will not discuss because it is not important for this discussion.

    Stolons are the above ground runners or what you might want to call the stems. When the grass is maintained too high for the particular variety, the stolons will grow straight up vertically, rather than running along the ground. So normally when the stolon grows along the ground, it will form nodes. At these nodes it will form crowns (where the leaves grow from), and send down roots if in contact with soil. It will continue to grow along the ground forming new nodes and crowns. This is what forms the very tight dense turf.

    Now when allowed to grow vertically, every time you mow, you whack off the end of the stolon and stop its growth. The crown below the cut stays and will give you some leaf material, but is very shallow. Eventually the stolon after repeated cutting and natural grass cycle will give up and die causing a thinning in the turf.

    I bet if you take your fingers and dig down and open up the grass you will see earth, and notice the leaf canopy is shallow like maybe ¼ to ½ inch. Below that will be a stem down to the dirt of about an 1 to 1/1/2 inches.

    If you play golf and your course has Bermuda fairways and or green, try to find dirt blow the grass. Bet you cannot do it because the grass forms a tight dense carpet of intertwined leafs and stolons.

    Below is a pix of a sprig being planted. You can clearly see the stolon or runner, and the nodes. If mowed short, the stolon grows horizontally along the ground. If mowed to high it turns up skyward.

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  • jonmhenderson
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    Great explanation, TW! I've never really thought about bermuda stolons being the stems and the node topsides being the crowns. I just wish my yard wasn't so bumpy so I could mow it at around an inch. Maybe I need to give the McLane another try. It does have the ReelRoller on it, which makes the reel ride to the highest contour of the yard. I would think with that attachment I could get closer to an inch without scalping it. You know, I never realized just how tight 1 inch turf was until I saw it. But, I guess it's too late in the season now. We've only got about 2 months of growing season left and I know the initial 'take down' to an inch would leave stubble, no question.

  • gamountains
    14 years ago

    Wow. Very nice! My Fescue did pretty well in the winter by staying green. It's been a lawn learning experience for me. Tried reseeding the first week of July. It did very well in shady areas, but others were a waste of time.

    Stay tuned for reports on my manual aeration work in 2-3 weeks. Should be some good exercise...hehe

    Here is a link that might be useful: Turf Hound Aerator

  • dchall_san_antonio
    14 years ago

    Isn't there another brand besides McLane?

    Did you find the thread on leveling?

  • auteck
    14 years ago

    Reel, we don't have collars, we keep the putting greens at 3/16 with Jacobsen Triplex mowers. The tee's clean ups are mostly regtangular, the rest are round.

    We don't have a set schedule, it is all based on the weather. The putting greens get cut and watered every day, and during heat waves, we water them during the day to cool them off.

    We have a part 3 golf course, the putting greens are Bentgrass (L-93, A-1, and some other ones I can't remember) The Tee boxes are Tifsport during the summer, then PRG the rest of the year. The fairways and roughs are Bermuda 419 cut at 1/2" and 1" every other day for fairways and about 5 days for the rough during the growing season when rainfall is present. During droughts, 419 stops growing so mowing comes to a stop. We do water and fertilize our Tees, they take a beating from players.

    What I do at the golf course? Well, a little bit of everything. But I mostly take care of the greens, which is what I like the most. I cut the Tees and fairways some times whenever I can.

    That's all.

  • auteck
    14 years ago

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