OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums General Discussion Forum Lawn Care & Maintenance Bentgrass Experiment

So for a long time I've been interested in different types of lawns and in particular fine blade lawns that can be mowed low. When researching lawn varieties to plant in my backyard I looked into bentgrass but as I has a need to put something down that could be used by the kids relatively quickly I went with Santa Ana Couch (here's my post). I then decided to do my front lawn and after annoying the guys at advanced seed in Melbourne with repeated emails and phone calls I settled on Penncross Creeping Bentgrass seed. Being a cool season grass the research tell me to do an initial planting in Autumn to establish a strong base and oversow the following Spring to fill in the gaps, that way the lawn will be as strong and healthy for the Summer period when Bentgrass can struggle (very shallow root structure).

I've always wanted Bentgrass as I believe it is the most beautiful lawn available and unmatched when looked after correctly so this was the perfect opportunity.

I killed off the old mixture of fescue, rye, kikuyu and who knows what else was mixed into that conglomeration of lawn mess.



I then rotary hoed the ground and let it sit for a good 2 weeks before planting seed.


Next was to level and install the irrigation before seeding the lawn. I went with Hunter MP Rotators as they're the only sprinklers that will allow me to run all 10 at the same time on mains pressure ( I was considering running PVC and a small pump with a mixing tank so I could fertigate my fertiliser rather than spreading/broadcasting it, but I think the wife might have had a heart attack). I put 4 tonnes of sandy loam, leveled it, lightly rolled the soil spread the seeds, a little more sandy loam, light roll again to ensure seed to soil contact and raked the edges where I seeded by hand rather than us the spreader.


I started seeing growth at around 10 days



3 weeks


31 Days - First mow




Today is actually 8 weeks since planting. I don't have a photo on me at work but i'll post it when I get the chance


I believe that I didn't compact the soil properly before I added the sandy loam as even thought it was leveled with a straight edge prior to seeding there are quite a few low spots in the lawn. But with topdressing and over sowing in Spring I plan to get most of those out without too much effort. Also SimRice's post has some really useful information for leveling uneven lawn too, so I may borrow some of those ideas too.



I really don't know how Bentgrass will go as it's almost universally not recommended for home use due to its high maintenance requirements, low heat tolerance and high nitrogen requirements. But I reckon I can make a go of it. And if I get it right, the results will be fantastic!

So this photo was taken about half an hour ago. As I mentioned in my last post, today is 8 weeks from planting

G,day Cirillo, I am at the same point as you, sowed penncross about 8 weeks ago, at just a touch over the recommended rate, looks very similar to the photos you posted, I have one section that's a bit shady and quite patchy, and the odd weed coming up, but looking forward to spring. Mine is in the back yard and the dog has browned a spot which is a bummer. I just hope it starts to creep soon, but it's so cold in Melbourne at the moment, I'll post a picture when I get a chance, so we can compare. Good luck with it, I hope we get what we paid for!

I'm pretty sure it won't creep until spring. Being a cool season grass I'm pretty sure it will need another over sow with seed to get established properly before it starts to creep.

But thanks very much for the well wishes. I look forward to seeing your lawn also!

looks like its off to a good start. how much easier do you find it for watering with proper irrigation system vs. hose and sprinkler, assuming both systems running on timer.

Hi Gents
It's been awhile since I've owned a dog, but I believe if you go to a pet supply store, you can get a type of "rock" which you place in the dogs water bowl and it neutralizes the urine so you don't get the browning off of the grass due to fido needing somewhere to go.
Do your own research, but hope this helps
Joe

Bent certainly produces the best low cut surface for golf and bowls and it is a beautiful grass. Management of this grass in humid and/or hot conditions can be very tricky. That being said there are plenty of courses here in Adelaide that have bent greens so it is do-able. I have spoken to a couple of superintendents at courses about various turf related topics and they have been pretty happy to share some knowledge. Might be worth a call to get a baseline for the best steps to get it established through winter and ready for summer.

On to it Hatemondays, "Dog Rocks" is what they call them, We had them a year or so back. They seemed to work with the couch grass I used to have, but we only needed them for summer as the cooler and wetter months diluted it a bit I think. Didn't think I would need them for the winter but the bent didn't love it. The pack said it lasts for a few months, but found would last a whole summer +. About 14 bucks for three rocks and ya have to make sure that it is the only water she drinks. Someone told me once that it's only female dogs that do it? Nothing to compare to but. Cheers.

mikeo, personally having the irrigation system is much easier for me. I had an old irrigation system at this house when we purchased but it wasn't working so I used a soaker hose for a couple of years. Even though I purchased a longer one than I needed and trimmed it to my exact lawn size it still will never be able to provide the even coverage as sprinklers do.


When I laid my back lawn I had a look at the system and fixed it up a little and now I'm laughing. I set my sprinklers to come on at about 4:30am to get the most benefit from watering and I can set my intervals also. Having said this, even if I didn't have an irrigation system and just had the pop-up's attached to the garden tap I'd still prefer it simply due to the better watering the sprinklers do.

My 60m2 lawn with 10 Hunter MP rotators cost me $230 all up including poly pipe and all fittings. Also my system runs in a loop rather than having 2 ends of the poly capped off. MP Rotators are a little more expensive than other types but they're the only sprinklers I could find that would allow me to run all 10 sprinklers at the same time (I could have run up to 16 with my mains pressure).

Hope this helps!

SimRice, I had a chat with a couple of guys at Royal Adelaide who did bent trials a few years back and also someone who used to work at Grange (both use predominantly couch. However both were encouraging and seemed to think that in a run of hot weather it might need 5 - 10 minutes each morning in addition to a weekly soaking. The main issue is the shallow root system but they all seem to think that because Adelaide doesn't get the regular humidity of some of the northern states that a creeping bent will work just fine. I also spoke to a guy in New Zealand who is in charge of all bentgrass for Advanced Seed who was nice enough to call me after a number of emails I sent and his only concern was that I wouldn't mow it regularly enough. He said that so keep it at it's best it'll need to be mowed up to twice a week. When I told him I mow the crappy kikuyu council strip at the front of my house twice a week he said that he couldn't see a problem then

thanks very much for that.

So here is the bent 16 weeks after sowing. I got my Webb mower back from the blade sharpener this week so I finally got the chance to use it on the lawn. Being newly sown, quite a few low spots have come appeared so when I put the SB 45 on there I scalp a number of areas. The Webb however has a lot of height control and also the bottom blade is actually bent upwards at the tip, so it suits this young and uneven lawn perfectly! (I'll use the SB once it's levelled properly).




I'm looking forward to spring when I can topdress and level it out a little so I can get it nice and low.

Being a cool season grass and Adelaide winters are quite mild in comparison to the US where Bent is more commonly used, I've been hitting the lawn with a kelp and seaweed mixture once a week that I had made up plus alternating between a liquid Potassium and Urea + Potash soluble granulated mixture (to get the required nitrogen levels up that bent needs) fortnightly.

So far the grass is looking relatively healthy and is taking a lot of traffic quite well for lawn that young. I must say though, the amount of rain we've had here in Adelaide the last 2 weeks isn't ideal which is causing the yellowing at the bottom of the picture.

Hi Guys

Just a quick update on how the bentgrass is going.

So far it's looking good. There are a couple of patches that still need to fill in but I am going to throw a little seed down there to ensure a good coverage for summer then do a decent overseed in autum after the summer stress.




I'm pretty happy at the moment. I'm cutting at about 10-12mm with my Webb but would like to go a little lower long term. I'm mulching 3 out of 4 times and the 4th time I catch more to collect the leaves than anything else. I am thinking of using a growth regulator like "Primp Maxx" over summer to help nurse it through the heat. Does anyone here use a regulator by any chance? If so any recomendations would be greatly appreciated. There is 2 large trees on the foot path that cast shade in the middle of the day so that should help in the middle of summer.

Looking great Crillo. I love how cool season grass stripes.

I am on the Primo Maxx train, it is awesome stuff. Globe Australia at Welland sell it in a 1L containers which was around the $90. In the 2 years I have had it I would have only used about a half of the container.

You need a good quality back pack sprayer with a proper fan nozzle (Teejet or Lechler) for application.

G'day Cirillo

That is so pretty!
It reminds me of that famous 1980's Qualcast slogan:-

Thanks for that Simon! I'm still hoping to get it down to a bit lower but my Webb will only go down to about 8mm.

The guys at Virginia CRT are really helpful with getting me stuff in for the lawn but if they can't get it I don't live too far from Welland so I'll go there. Cheers! The rates for Primo for bent are a fair bit more than for couch, but I'm planning to use it on the couch in the back too.

I might need it soon after all this rain!

Thanks Jack, I love that sign! The kids love playing on it. My son (4 years old) says it's "so soft"

Lawn looks very nice. Super deep green. The primo maxx in my use of it does exactly what its supposed to do. You may need to experiment with application rates and time between applications at first. Varies with time of year as well.

A good sprayer is a definite must. In one of my first uses i missed a strip around 3cm wide between spray passes and for 6 weeks it was always around 10-20mm higher before mowing

I got mine last year from here http://ozbreed.com.au/product/primo-maxx-turf-growth-regulator/ and as Simrice said you use very small quantities of it in domestic lawn use.

off topic but can someone explain to me again why home owners in Adelaide mostly neglect there footpath grass? seems like such a distraction from manicured adjoining lawns.

i dont know aabout others here . but i get jacked off with the postie practising his off road skills on mine

haha I wouldn't normally but I didn't take that area into consideration when I measured for seed and also I don't have irrigation out there so the idea of putting a hose out there annoys me. If I didn't have a fence I would have put irrigation out there and done the lot

Couldn't agree with you more, but you haven't been down my street where we have monitors patrolling to ensure that visitors don't park their cars with two wheels up on the footpath which upsets the lawn and it's owners.

Cheers,
BB.

In addition to my experiences with using Primo Max I'd like to also add that in my situation I found the grass colour for the active period to be a dull murky green compared to the deep rich green that the fine leaf couch are known for when Primo is not applied. Same sort of appearance that can happen a day or 2 after applying an iron spray.

Also, if the lawn still needs to repair in some places its best not to apply to those spots.

Hi guys

I haven't been able to get on here much over the Christmas break, but it's nice to be back.

So, I've used this forum to ask a lot of questions and show some work I've been fairly proud of, but now it's time to do the opposite. I've gone from compliments to questions about my front lawn from the neighbours. The heat (a few days of 40+ and plenty more over 35) has really taken its toll here in Adelaide. And even with up to 4 watering sessions a day and doing everything I could to strengthen the root system and also get water down to where it's needed most my beautiful bent has succumbed. The final straw was when the neighbour removed 4 trees in his front yard taking away the very valuable shade and heat protection from the harsh afternoon sun.



I knew keeping it alive and healthy in an Adelaide summer was going to be tough but I thought I'd still win. The picture itself is actually a couple of weeks old now, and there's actually com recovery starting to happen but not enough to "save" the lawn. I have decided that I'm not done with Bentgrass just yet. After going some research and speaking to some people at the Glenelg Golf club I have purchased some Penn G2 Bentgrass seed that I'll sow in autum. Apparently it has a much better heat resistance.

The couch at the back is looking great at least!

Hi Cirillo,


Just my 2 cents worth, but.......

Looking at the pattern you have there I'm just wondering if the cement and brick wall heat reflection has something to do with it. I'm not sure what way your sun orientation is, but that's how it appears to me.

As far as the heat goes here in Adelaide we've really gotten off lightly this year as last year it was far hotter and for longer periods of time, also remembering we already had 40 degree days in early October last year.

Santa Ana just loves the heat and to me it's a no brainer for the Adelaide climate.

Cheers,
BB.

Hey BB,

I also think the wall and concrete path have had a big part to play in the lawn loss.

My front yard is predominantly North facing. I did expect a lot more hot weather than we've had also.

I had a couple of reasons for going with the bent at the front. Firstly I wasn't able to do any landscaping until April so I wasn't going to put SA down then. Also I really like the look of Bentgrass and fancied the challenge of getting it going and maintaining it. And as I has just gotten my Webb up and running, I wanted to be able to mow a lawn low in winter when my SA was going into dormancy. Also the fact that it only cost $90 for the seed meant I wasn't too worried if it failed (which it clearly has).

As I said in my earlier post I will try again with the Penn G2 in March and if by December it begins to die out then I'll go with SA at the front