OK...I got the stripes...But they’re already gone!!

Rob89

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  • / OK...I got the stripes...But they’re already gone!!
Ok I will leave it alone for a week. I don’t want to do anything counterproductive.
 

Rob89

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  • / OK...I got the stripes...But they’re already gone!!
Here is a couple pictures of how it looked on Sunday. This is the easier, flat side. I didn't get a picture of the other side. It turned out not quite as good as you see here and I took the stripes directly perpendicular to the street so that way I take the swale and slope head on for maximum traction.

2 days later the stripes are still there but are faint. They're prominent enough that I could still find them to go over them again but I'm going to let it grow for another week or so and then cut at 3.75". What you see here is 3.5".

IMG_2550.jpg

IMG_2551.jpg
 

Darryl G

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  • / OK...I got the stripes...But they’re already gone!!
Not bad. You know the stripes are supposed to be straight, not shaped like a banana, right? :laughing:

Those rock piles look dangerous for mowing!

It helps to go straight if you're looking up rather than down at your mower deck like most people do - not around those rocks though. After a while you get a feel for where your mower deck is and can look straight ahead and only look down when necessary to avoid obstacles.
 

Rob89

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  • / OK...I got the stripes...But they’re already gone!!
LOL. Hey now- I'm still a rookie!!

And yes- those rock piles are lawnmower blade killers! I'm going to start lifting the deck when I go around the rocks and trees so that way the stripe looks like it runs right through them.

This fall I am going to aerate and overseed with a tall fescue seed so hopefully next year the grass will be in good condition. In the meantime I have already started fertilizing with Milorganite.
 

Darryl G

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  • / OK...I got the stripes...But they’re already gone!!
I plant a lot of turf-type tall fescue. My go-to grass for areas in full sun that burn out. Nice deep dark green that once established is drought resistant. The Lesco Teammates plus (has some perennial ryegrass and bluegrass in it) available from SiteOne is what I use. Likely a store near you. They mostly sell to golf courses, municipalities and landscapers but will do retail sales too.
 

bertsmobile1

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  • / OK...I got the stripes...But they’re already gone!!
A stripe is nothing more than the difference in light being reflected from the blades of grass that are bent over.
The blades get bent forward as you mow and even more if you roll.
But grass like most plants grows strait up so the second you have finished mutilating it the grass tries to grow back the way nature intended it to.
How soon this happens will depend upon how hard you smashed the stem in the blade of grass and how vigeriously the grass grows,
And of course the type of grass itself.
Some will spring back to vertical in a few hours where as grass with a more brittle stem might stay broken over for a full week or more.
 

Rob89

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  • / OK...I got the stripes...But they’re already gone!!
I plant a lot of turf-type tall fescue. My go-to grass for areas in full sun that burn out. Nice deep dark green that once established is drought resistant. The Lesco Teammates plus (has some perennial ryegrass and bluegrass in it) available from SiteOne is what I use. Likely a store near you. They mostly sell to golf courses, municipalities and landscapers but will do retail sales too.

There is a SiteOne in Newton about 20 minutes away. I will call them tomorrow to see pricing. I’ve got 3 or 4 types of grass going on in my yard plus weeds. My plan is to keep on as is until September. Once the temperatures are between 70 and 80 degrees around mid to late September I will aerate and overseed. I will throw down a starter fertilizer and Milorganite at the same time and let it grow in for 3 weeks to a month before cutting with daily watering. I will let winter kill the weeds and then use a pre emergent early in the spring to keep them from coming back. That should set me up nicely for next year. Hopefully a couple years of overseeing with Fescue will crowd out the other types of grass. There are spots on centipede grass and what looks almost like Dichondra. There are also spots of fescue and what looks like Zoysia.
 

Darryl G

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  • / OK...I got the stripes...But they’re already gone!!
SiteOne has different pricing tiers for their customers and you'll likely get the highest. But no harm asking if they can mark down for you, which managers are given the discretion to do. They also have the straight Teammates tall fescue and might have other tall fescue mixes or varieties as well. Bags are all 50 pounds as far as I know.

Edit- we have some Zoysia in my area. Good luck crowding it out. Probably not worth the effort.
 

Rob89

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  • / OK...I got the stripes...But they’re already gone!!
SiteOne has different pricing tiers for their customers and you'll likely get the highest. But no harm asking if they can mark down for you, which managers are given the discretion to do. They also have the straight Teammates tall fescue and might have other tall fescue mixes or varieties as well. Bags are all 50 pounds as far as I know.

Edit- we have some Zoysia in my area. Good luck crowding it out. Probably not worth the effort.

I'm figuring on overseeding with turf-type tall fescue the next couple years and hopefully that will take over and fill in the voids and crowd the other grass species out.

I'm going to get my soil tested by the county extension office next week and will start there. From what I understand, the Piedmont region of NC typically has a PH lower than the magic 6-7 mark so I imagine I will be putting down an application of lime when I get the results back. This way I will have my PH adjusted and the soil fertilized sufficiently in time for September aeration and overseeding.
 
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