over the top?

[kwerk]

I take a fair bit of pride in my lawn and lately I came up with the idea of buying some agricultural crop dye from a farm supply company and using it on my lawn. It's a bright blue dye you add to herbicide/pesticide/fertilizer to visually mark where you've sprayed. It breaks down after a few days on sunshine or rain. I've been spraying this herbicide that costs $800 a gallon so I don't want to waste it with overspray, and technically it's only supposed to be applied on golf courses so you have to be quite careful.

So basically I have a bright blue lawn for a few days after spraying. Would having to look at that bother you much if you were my neighbour? Is it excessive? I will be doing this 6 to 12 times a year depending on my current turf protocols.

 

[kwerk]

Pics or it didn't happen. OP has not proven to be easily believable in the past.

 

[kwerk]

$800 a gallon my *** hole.

Sure, some sprays are expensive, but I'm calling bs on that price. This is from someone with a farming background

It's called mesotrione look up the price. It's highly concentrated though.

 

[kwerk]

I dunno the fact he's mental and carries a hand gun to children's play grounds might be a bit on the O.O side of things.

I carry a handgun EVERYWHERE that isn't legally posted against it.

 

[kwerk]

OK.. i had to sign in especially for this.

You spent roughly $200 or £122 on a bottle of blue concentrated non toxic paint?

You is mad.

*

http://www.sancoind.com/store/p-39-lazer-blue-qt.aspx

tut tut.. lol, take some pictures , or better yet, write obscenities on neighbours lawns and post pictures!

And I have a £4000 lawn mower, so what? It's my hobby.

I'm sure a few people here have 4,000+ in to their PC hobby. And that doesn't even add any value to your property.

 

[kwerk]

I am honestly interested in what mower you have. Its really hard not to sound sarcastic in a thread like this but I am being serious, I want to know

Husqvarna rider. 16hp version.

 

[kwerk]

pfffft, your $800 grass crap turns out to cost less than $40,
now you have a £4000 lawn mower?

The dye is only $20.

The herbicide is $800 a gallon however the maximum apply rate is 16oz per year per acre so it lasts a couple years at least.

And yes it is a 4000 mower I can post a pic of it if you want.

http://www.husqvarna.com/uk/homeowner/products/riders/husqvarna-riders-for-homeowners/

 

[kwerk]

Something like this should keep your grass tidy OP

Admittedly the link is four years out of date (they're all purple now) but I drive past them everyday

Actually I'm going to try to recreate this Japanese azalea garden on small scale next year. All different colours. The sheep would fit in well but my homeowners association doesn't allow me to keep farm animals.

 

[kwerk]

http://www.husqvarna.com/uk/homeowner/products/riders/rider-16c-awd/

That mower sure looks like fun, how is it to ride and, you know, cut grass with?

I love it except for the fact the mower deck cant handle inclines steeper than about 15 degrees and I have a drainage area steeper than that which i have to mow with a push mower. The other downside is there is no bagging system, you have to use a tow behind lawn sweeper to collect the clippings. Although I don't ever bag clippings except sometimes for the first cut of the season or before over-seeding. The mulching deck works great though it has a really nice quality of cut and the blades stay sharp for ages. Haven't had any thatch problems since I've been mowing with it.

 

[kwerk]

Haters gonna hate.

BTW the other bottle is non ionic surfactant which makes the chemical absorb better in to the weed leaves.

 

[kwerk]

epic camera work there kwerk, late nineties camera phone?

It's a fuji s9000. Photography is a bit gay IMO so I don't know how to use it to be honest.

 

[kwerk]

What make do you use and how much was it?
I priced up wetting agents before and they cost a fortune.

Bonide brand and it cost $7 for the bottle. It works really well. Dont know if they distribute it in the UK.

You can sometimes use dish soap or dishwasher rinse agent if it's non ionic.

You could try this:

http://www.bonnymans.co.uk/products/product.php?categoryID=1417&productID=6409

£7.50 for a litre

 

[kwerk]

Hard to say because I work in imperial units. I use 3 to 4 teaspoons per 2 gallons, measured with a large syringe.

0.25% by volume is a pretty standard number for it which is about 1/2 a teaspoon (2.5ml) per litre.

 

[kwerk]

Thanks, how much area would your 2 gallons treat?

I use a min of 1 gallon of water per 1000 square feet and add the herbicide or whatever at the rate I want, then 0.25% wetting agent by volume to volume of water. The label on whatever you're applying should say how much water to mix with and the coverage.

 

[kwerk]

No point taking pics because I'm currently renovating it to a more elite cultivar blend that just got developed so it looks like ****. If I do a blanket spray though I'll take a pic.

 

[kwerk]

i'm a bit obsessed with nice lawns but I just added some grass seed to my lawn and fed it some lawn food, cost £10 max.

This is an approx typical renovation for me. Kill all the old grass, possibly fallow it for a while, then reseed from scratch.

$30 on glyphosate (generic roundup)
$400 on seed
$140 fertilizer
$100 soil ammendments
$100 on top dressing for trouble spots
$150 for seed blankets for rain washout spots
slice seeder rental for the day $80
Extra water bill $500

 

[kwerk]

$560 per gallon under Syngenta's 'Callisto' brand. But you won't need to buy gallons if your lawn is so small you can spray the edges with a handheld squirter.



At least that stuff's only only $41.99 a gallon.

I love your little squirty backpack. Must have a damn tiny lawn.

It takes about 4 hours to blanket mix/spray with the backpack. I do the front one day and the back the next. You only need to do it really lightly. I usually do one blanket spray then 2 or 3 spot sprays which are much quicker. I don't want to deal with the hassle of a trailer sprayer and a hose-end sprayer is far too inaccurate.

 

[kwerk]

Actually I've seen neighbourhood kids walk by, look at it and just lie down and sort of therapeutically roll around in it. No joke. Then I yell at them to **** off

My goal is to make a sort of lush outdoor carpet. Man's ultimate domination of nature.

 

[kwerk]

You can buy a nice home, but maintaining a nice lawn takes a lot of commitment.

You can buy a good lawn too, just call a local sod farm. Then pay someone to install an automatic sprinkler system and pay someone else to mow it and fertilize it.

The whole point is doing it yourself for fun. It's a hobby. It's like woodworking or anything else.

 

[kwerk]

I also spend about $200 on "organic biosolids"... HUMAN POO.

http://www.milorganite.com/en/Header-Items/About-Us/What-is-It.aspx

How Do We Make It?

Wastewater enters the Jones Island water reclamation facility, where all solid materials such as sand, boards, shop rags, etc. are removed. Microbes are added to the leftover water during the activation process, which serves the same purpose as adding yeast to bread. Oxygen is pumped in to create an ideal environment and the microbes digest the nutrients in the water.

When all the nutrients have been consumed, the microbes die. Agents are then added to begin clumping the microbes together. This process of settling and coagulating takes place in quiet sedimentation tanks.

After settling, the clumped microbes are removed and sent to the Dewatering and Drying building where moisture is removed using belt presses. This produces a semi-solid form similar to wet cardboard that is subsequently dried in twelve rotary driers at temperatures ranging from 900⁰ - 1200⁰F. Any surviving pathogens are killed from the extreme hot temperatures.