What is Elite Grass Seed?

If you're searching the web for the best grass seed to plant in your lawn you undoubtedly came across references to elite grass in lawn and gardening forums, marketing and even university turf trial documents.

 It seems like people are giving a lot of weight to this term and it almost seems as if you don't use elite seed while renovating your lawn your lawn won't be as nice, it will have tons of problems, your neighbors will hate you and your kids won't get into a good school. Might as well save money and just plant hay if you're not using elite grass seed. So let's go out and buy a bag of elite grass seed so we don't ruin little Johnny's future! But what makes one grass seed elite and another not elite?

Mowing My Black Beauty Desk Lawn

As you can see the Jonathan Green Black Beauty Grass I'm growing indoors in a container had gotten over 3" tall and was starting to look a bit ragged so I thought today would be a good time to trim my indoor lawn.

Obviously I can't use my lawn mower so I needed to come up with another way to get a nice, even, level cut for my indoor lawn.

I created a cutting guide and I'm using a pair of scissors to mow my indoor grass. I'll describe how I made the mowing guide and how I used it below.

Grass Indoors: Black Beauty Vs Dense Shade

It's been 25 days since I planted the Jonathan Green Dense Shade and 9 days since I planted the Jonathan Green Black Beauty grass seeds in containers indoors. The Black Beauty is doing much better than the Dense Shade as can be seen from the photo on the left. Black Beauty is on top.

The Black Beauty stand almost reminds me of the decorative wheatgrass that is more commonly grown indoors.

The Dense Shade had a lot going against it. First I used seed that was a few years old but I did manage to get pretty good germination by putting a lot more seed down than recommended. There were some thin spots and I added more seed as well as more potting mix to raise the level of the soil because it had compressed a bit after watering. Over the past few days the new seeds have begun sprouting.

Next, I noticed an infestation of bugs in the Dense Shade container. After doing some research I determined they were likely fungus gnats. You can see a cool video of neem oil killing the fungus gnats and their larvae. The bugs appear to have stunted the growth of the grass. The new seeds are doing well but if the old grass doesn't recover it's just not going to look good.

The Black Beauty grass has been doing much better although when the Dense Shade was 10 days old it was looking pretty good too. I used fresh seed for the Black Beauty and it germinated a lot better and I have good coverage with no bare spots unlike Dense Shade. There are still Black Beauty seeds germinating.

The grass is also standing upright while the Dense Shade has slumped over. The Black Beauty is about 3" tall. In a couple of days I'm going to have to give it it's first mowing.

Both containers are getting some indirect light from north facing windows plus some additional light from the room lights. That seems to be enough. So far Black Beauty appears to be more shade tolerant than I thought.

Jonathan Green Claims Black Beauty contains endophytes which help make it more insect resistant. When I noticed the fungus gnats infesting the Dense Shade container I didn't see any in the Black Beauty container but I don't know for sure if the endophytes were the reason why.

The main reason I started the Black Beauty was to see how thick the blades get. Right now the blades still have a very fine texture but I can see they're begging to get a little wider. So far it's looking like it might be a good choice for my lawn renovation.

Here's a top view of both grass containers. Black Beauty is on the right, Dense Shade is on the left.

Growing Grass Indoors: Bugs/Neem

A quick update on the two grasses I'm growing indoors in containers. One's doing well, ran into a problem with bugs in the other used neem oil to kill them. Happened to catch it all on video which is included further down.

The picture on the left is the Jonathan Green Black Beauty at Day 6. It has germinated very well and some shoots are still popping up. Average blade length seems to be about an inch with some about 1/4" and half a dozen or so that have grown about 2" long.

Black Beauty displays significantly more phototropism compared to the Jonathan Green Dense Shade I have growing next to it. During the day the Black Beauty blades are pointing towards the window. After the sun starts to go down I turn on the room light so it can get a little more light and the blades start to stand upright fairly quickly. I'll be able to demonstrate this a little better in a few days.

So far it's looking pretty healthy. Germination was a lot better and more even than the Dense Shade and that's most likely due to the age of the Dense Shade. It was an old bag that was 3 years old. I should have taken the time to buy a new bag.

These are pretty ideal conditions for the lawn other than sunlight. Temperature controlled environment, good pH, growing medium rich in organic material, ability to keep the seeds moist throughout the day.  The grass is getting some indirect sun from a couple of North facing windows and I supplement that with some artificial light from time to time.

From the top it doesn't look as impressive yet but you can see how even the germination was.

In a week or so I think it will fill in much better. From the side it's already looking pretty good.

The Dense Shade on the other hand hasn't been fairing so well on Day 22. On Day 17 it was looking decent except for some areas with poor germination which as I mentioned was likely due to the age of the seed. I had topdressed with some additional organic potting mix, added more seed and another small layer of potting mix. I also switched to filtered water at that time.

As you can see it's filling in a bit but the grass has gone a bit limp and lost some of it's color.

The growth seems to have stunted although some of the new seed is germinating and filling in the bare areas. Some of the older grass tips have browned. It looks like insect damage and I did see a couple of small critters on the grass which I squished. Not sure what they are or how they would have come inside. They were tiny flying bugs. I haven't seen any on the Black Beauty which claims to be naturally resistant to some insects.

Uhm... since I wrote that last paragraph I found out it's definitely bugs! I'm doing a time lapse recording of the growth and what I thought was some sort of video artifact is actually little tiny things crawling around. I sprayed some Organica K+Neem on them which seemed to work pretty well. K+Neem is no longer made but other products like Green Light Organic Neem Concentrate are still available.  Neem oil is a contact killer and doesn't have any residual effects. In a couple of days if I still see any I'll spray again.

Here's a portion of the video. You can clearly see the white bugs (larvae?) crawling around on the potting mix on the bottom right. In the middle of the video I sprayed the neem oil which put an end to them. The bugs are really tiny so you might need to watch the video in HD and fullscreen to notice them.

Black Beauty is supposed to be naturally insect resistant. I'm not sure if that's why nothing is crawling on that side or not?

After some research and having a closer look at one of the adult ones, it seems they were fungus gnats. Some more Googling and it seems other people have complained about gnats in Jungle Growth Organic potting mix. Don't know if they came in the mix, found they're way through a slightly damaged screen came in the door or hitched a ride on a pet. I'm going to keep a close eye on it. Have noticed a couple of gnats since I posted this but don't see the gnat larvae crawling around on the soil like before.

I'm hoping that the Dense Shade perks back up soon. The topdressing might have stressed it, the bugs surely did and while the neem oil shouldn't harm the grass too much could cause it problems.

Here's a top view.

It doesn't look as good compared to the Black Beauty on the bottom but when the Dense Shade was young it looked much better too. We'll see what happens in the next few days.

Two Great Garden Giveaways

Encap, the makers of the Fast Acting Lime which got a positive review from me a few years ago (because it helped green up my white grass!), is running 2 sweepstakes this year including 3 lawn makeovers and daily 3-in-1 Soil Meter giveaways. A couple other giveaways have already ended.

3-in-1 Soil Tester

Every day starting from June 1st through September this year one lucky winner will receive this 3-in-1 Soil Tester which measures soil moisture, soil pH and light. Entering is easy and there's no purchase necessary. Just find one of their products, scan the QR code with your phone, like them on Facebook and you're in! More details can be found here.

I have one of these and when I first got it I immediately opened it up stuck it in the soil (requires no batteries) switched it to pH and the needle didn't move. Turned it to moist and the needle moved a little but showed the moisture level was very low. The light seemed to work fine.

I was on my way to my uncle's place and took it with me. Checked his soil for moisture and the needle shot up to wet. Not a surprise he has an irrigation system and waters his lawn frequently. Clicked the switch to pH and saw the needle move as well. Aha! Soil must be moist to get a good pH reading!

When I got home I stuck the probes in my soil, watered the area and finally was able to get a pH reading but was it accurate? I have the Luster Leaf 1612 Rapitest pH Soil Tester that you pour soil into, pour the contents of a capsule, add water, shake and wait and tested the soil in a couple of spots using both the 3-in1 Soil Tester and the capsule tester. The readings were similar (these aren't exact digital readouts) but the 3-in-1 Soil Tester was much faster and easier to use. No digging up soil, fitting it in a little hole, messing with capsules, water and no wait! 

With one being given away each day there are plenty of chances to win.

Lawn Makeover Contest

Is your lawn so bad you think it needs a makeover? If so submit a photo of your troubled lawn to Encap's 2012 Lawn Makeover Contest, get your friends and family to vote for your lawn as the most troubled lawn and you might win one of 3 lawn makeover packages which include a variety of Encap lawn products as well as a $100 Home Depot gift certificate.

Black Beauty Day 4

I'm growing Jonathan Green Black Beauty grass seed in a container as a little experiment to get a better feel for it to see if it's a grass I'd like to plant when I do a lawn renovation.

It's been 4 days since I planted the Black Beauty grass seed in an organic potting mix.  I'm planting it in a container so I can better monitor and maintain it.

Yesterday I started to see signs that germination had started but today is the first I'm seeing little green shoots of grass emerging from the soil.

So far it looks like I'm getting pretty even coverage. 4 days is pretty quick for this type of grass to germinate but since it's sitting on my desk I'm able to closely monitor the soil moisture and add water when necessary.

One major difference I see compared to the germination of Dense Shade mix is that the blades of Black Beauty that are emerging are already leaning towards the sunlight coming through the windows. The Dense Shade on the other hand came straight up.

Black Beauty (left) Dense Shade (right)

One small section of the container is shaded by an obstruction and in that area the grass is coming straight up. I'm not sure if there's any significance to this observation but I wonder if the leaning grass shoots means Black Beauty wants more sunlight than Dense Shade?

Growing Grass Indoors: Day 17

It's day 17 of my project to grow grass indoors and it's been coming along nicely but not great. There were two main issues that were bugging me.

First, the level of the potting mix had fallen quite a bit after watering it a few days and I had wished that I added more potting mix to start out with. When I started my Jonathan Green Black Beauty experiment I made sure I had enough potting mix.

Second, while about 70% of the area had filled in nicely the other sections were very thin. This is most likely due my use of grass seed that about 3 years old. I tried using more grass seed to compensate but still got spotty results. Grass was still germinating, not all the varieties germinate at the same time, and those areas did have some new grass sprouting but I decided to ramp things up.

First I started by topdressing with about 1/4" of additional organic potting mix. I used my fingers to rake the potting mix down.

Then I added some more grass seed, concentrating mostly on the thin areas and topped it with about another 1/4" of organic potting mix.

Finally I watered it in but I've made some changes to my watering.

Instead of using water straight out of the tap and letting it warm up to room temperature I filled my spray bottle with filtered water from a Brita pitcher to cut down on the chlorine. Instead of using plain water I mixed in some Organica Plant Growth Activator Plus which contains a number of different beneficial soil bacteria and fungi as well as humic acid, seaweed extract, and some hydrolized soy meal.

The application of PGA+ was the reason I chose filtered water since the chlorine in my tap water kills the bacteria and fungi but I'm going to continue to use filtered water from now. Can't imagine the chlorine is good for the plants either.

The grass doesn't look as full as it did this morning because as careful as I tried to be, the top dressing did bury some of the blades of grass.

It's hard to tell in the photo because the color doesn't come through great in the photo but the color of the grass is starting to darken as well.

Jonathan Green Black Beauty Experiment

All the lawn geeks seem to use a blend of Kentucky Bluegrass to get a great looking, dark green lawn. At least that's what it seems like when reading different lawn sites and forums. I decided to check out Jonathan Green's Black Beauty Turf-Type Tall Fescue grass seed mix because I've heard some good things about it.

There are some people out there posting great lawn photos using other grass varieties besides KBG such as turf-type tall fescue (TTTF) and perennial ryegrass. I'm a bit weary of TTTF because there is some mixed into my lawn and it's thick bladed compared to my other grasses, grows faster and generally looks like a weed compared to my other grass.

From what I'm hearing though the new varieties of TTTF aren't as coarse and wide bladed as the old varieties of tall fescue and they're hard to distinguish from KBG. The tall fescue I have in my lawn is an older variety and possibly the K-31 I see so many complaining about.

Update: I was happy with how it looked so I wound up redoing my lawn and you can see pictures and info on my Black Beauty lawn.

How To Treat Lawn Disease Organically

Is Using Cornmeal to Treat Lawn Disease a Myth?

Not only does Dr. Linda Chalker-Scott consider the use of cornmeal as a fungicide a myth, an article from 2010 claims the myth is busted. Dr. Linda Chalker-Scott is the author of The Informed Gardener and numerous articles on horticultural myths

When I discovered Dr. Chalker-Scott's myth articles online a few years ago I read threw them all and found myself mostly agreeing with a lot of the content and was able to find corroborating work in other studies from what I remember. I even referenced her when I was asking myself... does SuperThrive work?

In this case however I find I can't agree with everything she says. Sadly, from the time I first started writing this piece, some of the links I originally quoted are now broken but I've tried to find similar research. The original article wasn't meant to be a rebuttal to Dr. Chalker-Scott but I tried to incorporate her opinions in the new version.

Note I actually started writing this article one or two springs ago which is why I have reference to all the rain. Right now it's the middle of summer and there hasn't been much if any rain but I'm leaving that verbage intact to illustrate what I was seeing at the time. I decided to finish it after seeing Dr. Chalker-Scott's article recently.

Fixing Break On Gilmour Spike Hose Connector

One common complaint I've seen regarding the Gilmour Sprinkler on Metal Spike is that the hose connector breaks. Once it breaks you can no longer attach a hose which means you can't use the sprinkler.

I haven't had mine fail but I've come up with a solution that will reduce strain on this connection which will make it last longer. It will also make it easier to use the sprinkler.

Tools For Lawn Renovation

I've been wanting to completely renovate and reseed my lawn for a long time and I think either this year or next year I finally will. While coming up with my lawn renovation plan I tried to come up with a list of tools that would be required to make the lawn renovation easier.

Lawn renovation doesn't require a lot of tools and I have most of them but there are a few that I will need to purchase.

Garden Sprayer

The first step in renovating a lawn is killing the existing grass and weeds. The easiest way to accomplish this is to use a glyphosate based herbicide like Roundup or one of the organic weed and grass killers. A pump sprayer is the best way to apply this herbicide because it gives control over the application rate and helps you prevent overspray. I had a nice Craftsman metal pump sprayer but I can't seem to find it anymore. I'm considering getting the Smith 2-Gallon Max Contractor Sprayer because it has very good reviews, is heavy duty and comes with a shoulder strap which will make it easy to use.

It's great that it comes with the shoulder strap because that allows you to have one hand free to carry a large piece of cardboard to shield other plants from overspray when you're killing the lawn around the edges.

If you have a larger area to cover you might want to consider a 4 Gallon Backpack Sprayer. You wear it on your back and there's a lever on one side that is used to add pressure to the system. Or you can use a small pump sprayer for the edges and an Ortho  Dial 'N Spray Hose-End Sprayer to cover the center area away from plants, trees and shrubs you don't want to harm.

These sprayers are useful to have to apply different amendments to your lawn throughout the year. Some of the organic amendments I use contain live bacteria and fungi and using a pump sprayer allows me to dechlorinate the water before spraying. Using the Dial 'N Spray chlorinated city water would mix with the amendment and greatly reduce the effects.

Leveling Rake

Have high and low spots in my lawn which causes me to have a bumpy lawn. This makes it a pain to mow. When I do my renovation I plan on evening out those areas. There are special rakes used to do this.

Professional landscape contractors use something like this Truper Tru Pro 36-Inch Aluminum Landscape Rake. It has a wide 36" rake head which makes it easy to level a large area.

Not as wide but I believe sturdier is this Ames True Temper Kodiak Forged Level Head Rake. The rake head is 14" wide which is nice for smaller areas. The head of the rake is one solid piece of forged steel which makes it more durable than some other rakes that are welded or riveted together.

If you're spreading compost a leveling rake will be more useful than a flexible leaf rake.

To use a leveling rake to level soil, use the tine side to loosen and distribute soil and then flip it over to the flat side to smooth out and properly grade the soil

Shovel, Spade, Mattock

A round point shovel is useful if you have to do any digging and to help move material such as topsoil, compost and mulch. I'm becoming more partial to Fiskars tools, their Long Handle Digging Shovel looks nice. I have an old wood handled shovel that works fine. If that ever goes I'll likely get the Fiskars.

A garden spade is a square tipped shovel that is also good for moving material and great for creating edges around beds and transplanting. It's also nice to have a long handled shovel as well as a D-handeled shovel. If you don't mind spending a little more the Ames True Temper Pony Garden Spade is one of the best garden spades I've seen. A good garden spade is something you'll wind up using often but if you want to save a little money Fiskars 9667 Garden Spade is a good second choice.

I used to use a garden spade along with a mattock/cultivator on a long handle to create the edges between lawn and garden beds but I'm considering getting a heavier mattock/pick combination like the Ames True Temper Pick Mattock with 36-Inch FiberPro Handle if I need to do any bigger digging.

Wheelbarrow

When I do my renovation I'm going to need a bit of topsoil to level out some areas and if I topdress with compost I'll need away to move that around too. I didn't realize wheelbarrows were so expensive. The cheapest one I found online was Ames True Temper 4 Cubic Foot Steel Homeowner Wheelbarrow. I saw some cheaper ones locally but I have concerns about the durability. This is a bulky tool that takes up a lot of space and I'll probably never need again I might rent one so I get something durable. Unfortunately I don't know anyone that I can borrow one from.

Spreader

Finally a spreader will be needed to spread the grass seed. I have an older Scotts Accugreen drop spreader because I don't have a huge lawn and have to deal with some odd angles. The new Scotts Drop Spreader doesn't seem to have many great reviews. If you have a larger area to cover the Scotts 76121 Turf Builder EdgeGuard Mini Broadcast Spreader was my second choice. A broadcast spreader spreads seed or fertilizer over a larger area than a drop spreader which makes things go quicker. The edge guard blocks the spray on one side so you don't get grass seeds in your garden beds or walkways.

Most homeowners will have all or at least most of the above products if they do any gardening themselves. If you don't, the cost of a lawn renovation can be quite high but all these tools are going to be useful in maintaining your landscape and a lot cheaper than hiring someone to do the work and maintaining your home's lawn and garden.

Growing Grass Indoors: Day 10

After 10 days from planting my indoor grass experiment is coming along nicely. Grass seeds are continuing to germinate and some blades of grass have reached 3 inches. On average it looks like the stand of grass is about 2" tall.

Just to recap on Day 1 I planted Jonathan Green Dense Shade Grass Seed Mix in a container filled with organic potting mix and I've been keeping the mix moist by spraying it lightly 3 times a day with water I keep in a spray bottle. I think the room temperature water helps.

On Day 3 I started to see some germination. On Day 4 there was even more germination and some blades of grass were up to 3/4" tall. I continued to spray the container multiple times a day to keep the soil moist. Every 2 to 3 days I dump the water from the bottom tray.

The container gets some indirect sun from a couple of North facing windows but every few days when I remember I move the container to a South facing window so it can get a few hours of more direct sunlight. My experience with this grass is that it does very well in shade with minimal light. I use Jonathan Green Dense Shade Grass Seed in a spot in my yard that is shady most of the day due to trees and it grows very well there.

As you can see from the top view, the grass still looks a bit thin but that should fill in shortly as there are still grass seeds germinating. A section on the lower right hand corner is especially thin which I believe was due to not enough seeds in that area or because the seed mixture I used was so old. There is some new growth there so hopefully it will continue to fill in.

In about another week or two I think I'll have a nice looking patch of turf on my desk. At some point I want to top dress with additional potting mix because as I've been watering the soil has been settling and it's now about 1.5" bellow the top of the container.

Reducing Sprinkler Overspray and Mist

Even on days with very little wind, water from an in-ground sprinkler system can blow where you don't want it because the fine spray nozzles on traditional popup sprinklers create a lot of mist that is easily displaced by the slightest breeze. There's a quick and easy way to fix this!

When a large amount of water goes on your concrete instead of your grass you'll need to run your sprinklers longer to make sure your lawn gets the water it needs. Not only is this bad for the environment, especially if you live in an area prone to drought, but it increase your water bill as well.

There is an affordable solution that will reduce misting and overspray of your existing system and it's very simple to install. It only involves replacing your sprinkler nozzles. The new nozzles will give you a more even watering pattern, reduce your water usage and minimize overspray and misting.

How To Mount Rotor Sprinkler On Spike

I have a couple of Gilmour Metal Impulse Sprinklers on Zinc Spike Bases. They work very well but they can be loud, even after using my technique to make them quieter so I decided to attach a Hunter PGP Adjustable Rotor Head to the spike base.

The gear driven rotor sprinklers are a lot quieter than the impact sprinklers. If you don't already have the impact sprinklers you can just buy the Gilmour Turbine Rotor Sprinkler With Polymer Spike Base and not have to add the rotor head on it. I already had these impulse sprinklers so I decided to convert my impact sprinkler to a rotor sprinkler.

Growing Grass Indors: Day 4

It's day 4 of my indoor grass experiment and things are coming along nicely. More seeds have germinated and the blades of grass are anywhere from 1/4" to 3/4" long at this point.

I've removed the coffee filters that I was using to help retain moisture since the weight of the wet paper was causing the longer shoots to bend.

The potting mix is retaining moisture well but I will continue to mist the top of the soil a couple of times a day to make sure the roots have plenty of water to continue to grow and so seeds keep germinating. Jonathan Green Dense Shade comes with a few different varieties of grass seed. Not all of them germinate at the same time.

Every other day I've dumped out the water that collects in the bottom tray of the planter. The potting mix absorbs most of it but now that it's thoroughly soaked a little drips out when I moisten the top.

I wish I would have filled the planter up to the top. The level has dropped about 1/4" from where it was initially due to settling and compaction as I've watered. This shade type grass is fine bladed and I don't think it will be able to stand up much more than 3". That means only about 2" of grass will be poking out the top of my planter. In a few days I might topdress with some more potting mix to bring the level up further.

The germination rate I'm seeing is better than I usually get in my lawn. Probably because I don't have a sprinkler system and my watering isn't as consistent. The wind and sun cause the top of the soil to dry out quickly. I also added significantly more grass seed than the recommended application rate because the seed was old and I expected a lower germination rate than usual.