Mixing starter fertilizer with Princess 77 seeds
Cooper
6 years ago
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PLF (Middle TN, Zone 7a)
6 years agodchall_san_antonio
6 years agoRelated Discussions
Is Princess 77 right for me?
Comments (13)Thanks for answering the questions. That helps. I just want to reemphasize a couple points already made. Midland is right on the hairy edge of the deep desert. When you go north of I-20 and west of Odessa rainfall gets much more spotty. With your answers to the questions, bermuda is a good choice. DO NOT TILL. Tilling is recommended by every book and magazine article on the subject of installing a new lawn, but the long term result is a very uneven lawn. If tilling was such a great thing, landscapers would do it. They don't. They use the tractor and box blade that texas-weed mentioned. It takes a fraction of the time and the results are much much better after three years. Wait until the soil gets a little warmer (as determined either by soil temp or night time low temps in the 70s). Bermuda likes warm soil to germinate seed in. If you are going to buy sod, you can do that any day of the year. Whether you seed or sod, be sure to roll the seed/sod down with a water fillable roller. Seed needs to be in good contact with the soil. The bottom of sod needs to be in good contact with the soil. The roller makes this easy. Water lightly (10 minutes) several times a day for the first couple weeks after you seed or sod. When the grass is tall enough to mow, mow. When you have mowed two times, then you can fertilize. If you fertilize before the roots are mature enough to absorb fertilizer, then you have wasted the fertilizer. After the grass is established, start backing off on the watering. Eventually the target watering program is to apply all the water your lawn needs at one time. During the hottest part of summer, that means once a week. You may have to water for 1-2 hours to do that. As the weather cools you can back off of that some. The idea is to let the soil surface dry out completely so weed seeds do not sprout. After that you are depending on grass density to keep weeds out. You might look for a Weed Hound tool at any box store. The GardenWeb folks that have them love them. Remember, don't till it....See MorePrincess 77
Comments (3)Well not to discourage you, but you planted too early. Soil temps need to be 70 and above for Bermuda to obtain maximum germination rates. With your current temps of 80 in the day and 50 at night tells me your soil temps are high 50Âs low 60Âs. I think you will still get germination, just a low rate. DonÂt worry about the starter fertilizer now, just use a 3-1-2 ratio for the first application after it has been mowed a couple of times, then switch to straight nitrogen for the rest of the year....See MoreLetting princess 77 take over current lawn?
Comments (4)So the Pennington website actually says to till the soil????? I have wondered where that advice was coming from. The last thing you ever want to do in preparation for bermuda is to till the soil. Tilling is a serious no-no. If you till, then within 3 years you have a very bumpy surface. The following applies if you have a full sun yard. All you have to do to kill the centipede is to take normal care of the bermuda. Normal care means the following: Monthly: Fertilize with a high N fertilizer. The monthly fertilizer alone will kill out the centipede. Weekly: Water (unless you get one full inch of rain) 2x Weekly: Mulch mow at your mower's lowest setting or one notch higher. Find the Bermuda Bible online to learn more about caring for bermuda. It is the highest maintenance lawn there is if you're doing it right. I suspect, since you live in HI and have no grass at all, that you have too much shade for either bermuda or centipede. If you have shady lawn, you will be much better off with St Augustine. You can get bermuda seed to germinate in the shade but it will go downhill from there. St Aug is among the lowest maintenance lawns. If you do have full sun, the Princess 77 should mix with the common and you'll not notice that much. If you do find the textures don't match, then you can kill the entire lawn with RoundUp when you want to make it all one grass....See MoreSeed Starter Potting Mix
Comments (9)Roots are the heart of the plant, and should always be your first consideration, especially when it comes to healthy seedlings. Seedlings want and need a LOT of air in the root zone. If they don't get the air they need, anaerobic fungi multiply quickly, dashing hopes and spoiling all the fun. Any combination of topsoil and compost is a poor choice - even if you go to the effort of sterilizing both components. Compost on its own is extremely water-retentive, so would require very judicious watering habits to avoid compaction and saturation. The problem would be substantially compounded by adding topsoil to compost. If you're going to make your own seed starting mix, I would suggest a large fraction of pine bark fines, and smaller fractions of peat and perlite. The pine bark fines + perlite are larger particles and ensure a degree of aeration that any combination of smaller particles like compost/ peat/ coir/ topsoil/ sand cannot. You can then add enough peat (less than 15% of the total mix) to adjust your water retention so the medium doesn't dry too quickly. Pine bark is less likely to be infected with the volume of soil-born fungal pathogens that cause damping off than compost, perlite is sterile, and peat, because of its very low pH, can almost be considered sterile. Seeds don't need nutrients to germinate, so focus on the seed starting medium's STRUCTURE, because that is what will hold greatest sway over the health of the seedlings (unless light & temperature is particularly unfavorable). You can always fertilize about the time the first true leaves appear. Al...See MoreCooper
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6 years agoPLF (Middle TN, Zone 7a)
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6 years agoChamp TX-
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