I forgot to mention, I plan on starting the renovation in mid August and putting the seed down Laborday weekend. I apologize this is so long. I had one more question but it exceeded the character limit.

1. Last and probably most important. I do not have a neighbor on either side of me and a local landscaper mows those yards about every three weeks. The land behind me is never mowed, and a plot across the street is rarely mowed as well. I am willing to over-seed every year (alternating between the back yard and the front yard) and put down fertilizer. However, I do NOT want to fertilize four times a year or put in an irrigation system. Am I wasting my time? Will the grass from the neighboring yards eventually overtake my yard even with over-seeding? This is what those areas look like: https://www.flickr.com/photos/156440078@N08/albums/72157682909850783

I suggest you do the renovation on a smaller area, like one part of your yard, where you want to have the "nicer" grass. You must be able and willing to water it. It can be done with hoses and sprinklers. You should check out how much area you can water with the spigots you have. Set up sprinklers, and see how the coverage is with the water pressure you have. There are timers with split zones so the hose to one zone will run for x amount of minutes and then switch over to the other hose. TTTF takes 1-2 weeks to germinate and should be watered lightly 3-4 times a day. KBG takes 2-3 weeks to germinate and needs the same light watering several times a day. After it comes up, you decrease the frequency and increase the amount, but it still needs to be watered often. To mow you'll need to take up the hoses and then put them back out when it's time to water. It can be done. But not on 3/4 acre with just a couple of.outside faucets.

For the area that doesn't get renovated, I suggest selective weed killing and then overseeding and fertilizer. If it doesn't get watered, there will be losses but the fall rains will enable the seeds to sprout and grow. If the weather is co-operative, you should have success. If it isn't, then you won't. Or instead of overseeding you can leave it as is and just mow whatever is there. Some fertilizer in the fall will help the grass, even if you don't overseed.

Since you have picked out your seeds, find out the seeding rate for your particular seeds. Let's say you decide to do 5000 square feet. If you want 50-50, calculate the seed to cover 2500 square feet for KBG and the seed to cover 2500 square feet for TTTF. At seeding time weigh them and mix them together. More is not better. Use the rates. You can add more seed later if you have bare spots.

The grass from your neighbors' yards is unlikely to invade yours. However weeds are a different story. There will always be weeds. Their weeds will come your way. You no doubt have plenty of weed seeds yourself. Doing the killing before seeding helps but there will be weeds after seeding. Using Tenacity at seeding will help your grass seed get a head start against weeds. Later on there are selective weedkillers. In the early spring you can use pre-emergent to prevent crabgrass and summer weeds. As for the Roundup you posted, I suggest a smaller bottle of generic glyphosate.

KBG likes 3-5 lb/k of nitrogen a year, TTTF likes 2-3 lb/k. Most of it should be applied in the fall. If you don't want to fertilize 4 times a year, maybe rethink the KBG. You can get by with two fertiizer applications a year for TTTF, one early fall and the other late fall.

Some reading material for you.

Don't waste the extra money on the quickpro. Yes, it works faster because of the diquat but IMO the money doesn't justify it. It should only take 1 correct application to wipe out everything. There's a reason all the blends with KBG don't have that much, it'll crap out once summer time cranks up. Go with a TTTF. Honestly, you really don't get to choose what or when you do stuff assuming you want a nice lawn. You do a soil test, see what YOUR lawn needs and you give it to it, when it needs it. It doesn't take a fortune to have a really nice lawn but until you get it established it takes some work. Once you get it there maintenance isn't too bad and you can typically spend LESS on yours than the people who try to ignore it then scramble when it starts dying on them. Correct soil nutrient and pH levels help the lawn work correctly, making sure your organic matter is correct helps your lawn self maintain. I'm also in the transition zone (Central VA) and don't spend that much keeping my TTTF looking good. This pic is a couple months old but nothings changed. I'll have to baby it a little bit probably starting next month and up it's iron a little but thats about it.

Mishmosh, should he mix TTTF and KBG together or apply separately? The blends come premixed but he is planning to mix them himself. I don't know which is better. Might depend on how well they get mixed.

Jerry, the starter Mishmosh mentions has the same chemical as Tenacity. The starter is a much easier way to apply it.

FWIW i much prefer to spray Tenacity but took such a severe lashing the last time for merely suggesting it, that I thought Id better just stick to the spreadable form since you had mentioned starter fertilizer already. LOL.

Mishmosh, Hey, sorry about that. I don't think it's a good idea to put it on new seedlings until the label says so, that's all. Didn't mean for it to be a severe lashing. It's also easy for people to mess up if they're not using to spraying herbicides. I had a sticky mess with paper towels the first time I used it, cleaning it off my gloves (it was stuck to the outside of the syringe, had to use my fingers to wipe off the syringe). The mesotrione in the starter fertiizer is a great idea and I'm glad you mentioned it. I wasn't thinking about it earlier.

That reminds me. There were questions about the procedure I didn't answer. I don't think two scalpings are necessary, one will do. The light watering to encourage weeds to grow should be done every day. Aeration isn't necessary but it's fine if you want to do it. It will bring up weed seeds, so do the aeration, if you're doing it, before you start the weed killing. That will also allow the holes to fill in before you seed. The seeds should be on top of the ground, not down in holes. Always water in fertilizer. It might help if the ground is somewhat moist when you seed. So maybe do the starter fertilizer, water it in, then spread the seeds, water them lightly. Use the bag rate of starter at seeding and don't put it on seedlings (if you use the kind with mesotrione) later until the bag instructions say it's okay (you might want to use regular fertiizer anyway for the follow-up fertilization). As for whether scalping will allow enough soil contact, it just depends on what kind of dead weeds are there. If there is a mat of dead crabgrass sprawling over the ground that mowing left behind, you will want to rake it up. If it has been dead for a few weeks it should come up fairly easily. If the dead weeds are mostly upright, the seed should fall between them and there is no need to try to get them up. Even for the matted dead vegetation, watering will wash the seeds off the leaves. But I like to get up the dead matted stuff that hugs the ground. All the watering you have been doing to encourage weeds should leave the ground fairly soft.

First, thank you all for the great replies. I didn't see any comments about my soil test. I think I am in good shape, but am I reading it correctly?

The 10% KBG by weight or volume really ends up being like 30% of the lawn is KBG because the seeds are so small correct?

I don't mind paying $20 more on round-up than for an unknown off brand. I should be able to use one jug of the blue or white round-up concentrate for the whole yard I believe. I will stay away from the quick pro.

I thought crabgrass preventer was really more for a spring seeding. Is it still worth the extra money for a fall seeding?

Steve, the reason I don't want to fertilize 3-4 times a year is because it seems to be about $150 each time for a 3/4 acre yard. Is there a cheaper way I don't know about?

Becky, in step 7 I mentioned detaching. I hope that combined with scalping will be enough for good soil contact. I thought that getting the seed into the aerated holes was actually a good thing, but if I read your post correctly you are saying that is not true?

I believe I need to take Becky's suggestion about not doing it all at once. Although, it would drive me crazy to only do less than 10% of the yard. I am going to plan on only doing the front yard this year.

I measured the output of my two sprinklers going at the same time. Together they put out 7.6 gallons per minute at 40 psi. Using 20,000 sq ft and 1 inch of water a week as an example, the yard needs 12,400 gallons a week. 12,400 gallons divided by 7.6 is 1631 minutes a week. If I water twice a day every day, that is 1631 divided by 14 equals 116.5 minutes each time I water. So I should be able to water for about 2 hours at 6am and 6pm (moving the sprinklers around every 20-30 minutes to each zone).

Yes, your soil test is good. Your pH is in the sweet spot. Nothing is deficient. Phosphorus is listed as medium. I don't know which extractant was used so I can't interpret the ppm number. But medium would indicate that it won't hurt to have more but it's not necessary. High would mean don't add any more. Very high would mean definitely don't add any more.

The 10% KBG, 90% TTTF (by weight) would give you about 50% of each. It's because the KBG seeds are so small. Since you have picked out your cultivars, you can find out how many seeds they have per pound. Look them up online or call the producer.

Gylphosate is gylphosate and the brand is unimportant. Some products have some additives. Plain gylphosate is fine.

The mesotrione in the Scott's starter will prevent germination of many kinds of weeds. Crabgrass isn't an issue in the fall. But there are other weeds that will want to grow along your new grass. The mesotrione gives your grass about a month's head start. The weed prevention is short lived but if the grass gets established, it can then shade out weed seeds. You would think with the weed killing beforehand and encouraging weed seeds to sprout and then killing them that weed seeds would be taken care of. It definitely helps. But weeds will come up after seeding. In an even race between weeds and grass, weeds win. They're just stronger. But give grass a head start by suppressing weeds, and grass can win.

Urea (46-0-0) is an inexpensive fertilizer. It is very fast acting and you must water it in. Applying 2 lb/k will give you just under 1 lb/k of nitrogen. There is no phosphorus or potassium. It would be a good choice for the late fall application after the grass has stopped growing but before the ground freezes. You would find it at a farm supply or feed store. It can be used earlier in the fall if you spoonfeed it (like 0.5 lb/k every week or 1 lb/k every two weeks). I doubt you want to be spreading anything that often. Or watering it in. But price wise, it is the least expensive way to fertilize. For the part of the yard you're not renovating, a normal sized early fall application and a late fall application will give you 2 lb/k of nitrogen a year, which would be enough for fescue. Leaving the clippings on the lawn when you mow will help fertilize. I would suggest a more complete fertiizer, like your soil test recommends, that is slow release for the early fall and urea for late fall (applied right before rain).

For the area you're renovating, use more fertilizer. KBG likes a lot of nitrogen. Aim for 4 lb/k of nitrogen a year, but 3 lb/k may suffice. If you do 4, do 3 lb/k in the fall (August or early September, early October, late fall) and 1 lb/k in late spring. If you do 3, do 2 1/2 lb/k in the fall and 1/2 lb/k in the spring. You can see how much nitrogen you're getting by dividing the N number on the fertilizer bag into 100. That gives you the lb/k rate to get one lb/k of nitrogen. Those NPK numbers are percentages. The Scott's starter with mesotrione (they also have a kind without) is 21-22-4. That means 21% is nitrogen, 22% is phosphate, 4% is potash.

Another fertilizer option is organic fertilizer. It would probably be more expensive than synthetic fertilizer and you have to use more product. But it may be something to consider. There is Milorganite that you can buy in a bag most anywhere. But grains can be used for fertilizer: soybean meal, alfalfa pellets, cracked corn or cornmeal, cottonseed meal. I used 25 lb/k of cracked corn this spring and I got 150 lb for about $25 which took care of my 6k yard.

Dethatching and scalping will suffice.

The light frequent watering to keep the soil moist during weed killing and seeding is just a few minutes, like 5 minutes or so. The goal is to keep the surface moist without puddling or runoff. One inch of water a week is meant to supply water 6 inches down into the soil. You don't need it 6 inches down at seeding. That's for later on, like next summer when you want to keep the grass alive.

Thank you again for the great information. I would like to aerate and then seed. I had thought this was a better way to go. Is it more beneficial to skip the aeration? The reason I am asking is because Becky mentioned it is not a good thing for the seed to fall into the aerated holes.

One more question. I had thought grass needed about 1 inch of water per week even when growing. My understanding was that for young grass I should water frequently but for shorter durations. This would keep the upper part of the soil moist. I also thought it was better to water infrequently but longer durations to encourage established grass to grow deeper roots. If the new grass doesn't need 1 inch of water each week, I may be able to start over on the entire yard. Could the new grass get by on 1/2 inch of water a week for the first month (September)?

Please understand I am not arguing, challenging, or trying to be difficult. I am only letting you know what my understanding is, and it could very well be incorrect. ☺

New grass is going to need daily watering for the first couple of week. It will only have shallow roots for a while, and so if the top 1/4" dries out it does't matter how much water is below the root zone, it's going to die. The you can move to a little more water every 2-3 days for another couple of weeks. You should be able to get by on 1/2" of water a week total. Once you get past September, in my experience you don't really need to water at all, the weather cools off reducing evaporation and Mother Nature is more generous with the rain, so there's plenty of water in the soil. Watering deep and infrequent begins about mid-April when we get the first stretches of 90s.

I'd back spraying tenacity vs getting a fert with less than 1% mesotrione in it. Tenancity has in the 40% range IIRC, for a little crabgrass sure but in a rehab? I work for a supplier and still in many cases will buy retail at lesser concentrations because I really don't need the extra strength, price discount or not. New seed job? I go legit.

You do realize when you add it to a gallon of water it dilutes to a lower concentration, right? It ends up being the same amount of active ingredient as the starter with 1%.