When are you guys planning on scalping?

You want to wait until you see some green up. Rule of thumb is 50% green up. That's not set in stone by any means, but I would at least wait until you have some. Long term forecast is above average temps. So you might start to see some green up soon, but I wouldn't get in a big rush. Just looking at dates and if temps trend up and green up, I would probably bank on scalping March 11thish. I'll be out of town that weekend so most likely will do the18th. I could bump it up to the 4th. Just have to see how it goes the next couple weeks. You're a little north so the 11th would probably be a good target date. Talking bermuda. When you scalp it you take it as low as your mower will go. Might take you multiple passes dropping a notch each time if it's high but get it down to that bottom notch. It's a PITA and you'll have lots of bag of grass but it's worth it. First fert app is planned for April 1st.

Awesome Derek, thanks! I got my stonewall down last weekend and sending off a soil sample this week (meant to already have this done but work is killing me lately). Hoping to make some progress this year.

Better late than never. Finally put down my Prodiamine today. I live in the country and the wind blows15-25 almost every day this time of year till mid May . Between the wind, a few rainy days and my wife's knee surgery last week, I haven`t been able to get it down. I Spot sprayed a few weeds and hit some lingering Dallis grass with roundup this a.m. to. Still have more Poa Annua than I thought I would have, but oh well. Thinking about spraying it with some Certainty in the next few weeks when I spray the 2,4 D on my entire lawn. Scalped and bagged down to .75". I just feel like you get better coverage with the Prodiamine with less turf height. Shouldn`t have to deal with much KRB this year since I sprayed with roundup last spring and pulled up all that tried coming back. Plan on staying on the same schedule as last year(see below) that I got from Derek . Lawn did pretty good last year despite the drought and extreme heat. I got some fungus at the end of September and threw in the towel and waited for a freeze. Hopefully it won`t rear its head when the Bermuda greens up in a few weeks. Going to skip the soil sample this year and wait till next year to see how the Sulphur and AS changes the PH.

And.......We`re off.

April 1st Ammonium Sulfate(AMS) 2.5lbs per 1000 – 5lbs of Elemental Sulphur per 1000
May 1st MAP or DAP 2lbs per 1000
June 1st AMS 2.5lbs per 1000
July 1st MAP or DAP 2lbs per 1000 – 5lbs of Elemental per 1000
Aug 1st, September 1st, October 1st – AMS 2.5 lbs per 1000 and on September 1st do 5lbs of Elemental per 1000

Tpack did you put out the Simazine too? With prodiamine I would get a couple places that would get poa. Like 2 areas 1x1and in the exact same place every year. A couple rescue grass here and there and maybe a couple broads. No biggie at all, overall everything looked really clean. It was about 98% effective in fall. This year I scored some Spectacle Flo to try out for fall. It's supposed to be the best for Poa and Its really low app rates. 2 split fall apps 45-60 days apart. I had zero weeds break trough it. It's legit. I'd have to do the math but probably not justifiable for me to spend $350 on a bottle on my 5K. Maybe at 10k+ it would, and that's a big maybe. If I can buy a couple ounces here and there off people that will be the way to go.

I did sprayed the Sizamine at the end of November. I don`t have as much Poa as last year either. Mostly in areas where the Tif hadn`t filled back in from where I sprayed the KRB last spring and spotty in other areas. On a positive note, I got 1/2 inch of rain on my lawn during the night after spraying the Prodiamine yesterday.

Did you source Map or Dap? If not your local nursery probably buys from BWI in Dallas and they have it. Just ask your local store to bring in a bag on their next shipment. On a side note. Have you seen the price of Elemental? It was $50 bucks a bag at TSC the other day. Lowes hasn't had the Martin brand in stock for months.

No. I'll come out and say it. In Texas, scalping is over rated. Dethatching>>>>>>scalping.

I'm doing both. It's the worst couple days of the year.

I did not find any MAP or DAP last year. I used 18-24-12 from TSC as a substitution for the P&K. Already picked one up this year and it`s 8 bucks more than last year. Got 150 lbs. of ES from Lowes last year, but apparently the quit handling it. Think I paid about 35 bucks per 50 lbs. TSC in Granbury has Martins for 50 bucks when they have it in stock. Site One is probably more than that. Derek, what do you think about the 20.5-0-0 fertilizer below for my source of N (AS). I can only get 33-0-0 (50 lb.) locally for 41 bucks or 21-0-0 (50 lb.) @ Site One for 45 1/2 bucks.




https://www.lowes.com/pd/Sta-Green/5013291221

Won't let me zoom on that label for some reason. Wonder why it's labeled 20.5 and not 21. It has the 24% sulfur, so it looks to be your standard 21-0-0-24 AMS to me. At $25 that is a buy.

Edit: Sent it to a guy much smarter than me. They baked it down and got an exact analysis for labeling and it's straight AMS. Great find TPack. I had no idea Lowes had that.

Picked up 6 bags today @ Granbury Lowes. That should last me into next year or more. My TSC had the Tiger/ Elemental Sulphur for 49.99 each. 5% off at Lowes and Ag exempt @ TSC save me a little $$. As much as this stuff has gone up just in the past year every little bit helps.

It's insane. Tiger was $25 2yrs ago. $37ish last year and $50 this year.

Derek, the people at Waypoint are awesome! They received my sample yesterday and sent me the results today. How bad off am I?

That's pretty much I what was expecting to see. Except your Mg is lower than I would have thought. High calcium/High Ph, your P level is in the dump. Pretty much expected that. You're going to be on a 1-1-1 and epsom salt program for a while/years. Spend the next few weeks sourcing some products. 1-1-1 is your basic balanced fert like 13-13-13 or 18-18-18. Talk to your local Lesco and Ewing dealers. See what they have readily available. Tell them you want a 1-1-1 with the nitrogen source of ammonium sulfate or ammonium nitrate. See if they will let you take a pic of the ingredient list that you want to research it. Shouldn't be an issue and see what the price is per 50lbs. Do the same at local farm/feed stores on their ferts. Lets look at a few different products and prices and see what is easily available in your area and not have to try and order/ship a product in. Try to keep it wallet friendly. On the Mg that's where Epsom comes in. This you'll probably have to order or maybe check Sams/Costco if you're a member. Check amazon too. You're going to need to apply 1lb of Epsom per 1000 every month April-September.to bring that number up. Retest next year to check Mg #'s. Maybe/Probably be good for a while. Elemental Sulphur like the tiger 90 TPack and I have been mentioning is something you'll need to do 2-3 times a year. That's to help lower you high Ph. Once you source XYZ product I can breakdown app rate.

I know that's a lot to unwrap lol. Don't freak out. We will keep it simple. Remind me again what you did last year?