September Landscapes – Installing Winter Rye!

[DMAC]

My neighbor has winter rye and their yard looks good in fall and winter.

We replaced our Bermuda with St Augustine a few years back.  Much better

 

[Baron]

My neighbor has winter rye and their yard looks good in fall and winter.

We replaced our Bermuda with St Augustine a few years back.  Much better

There's something about walking barefoot in a St Augustine yard. You take your chances in a Bermuda yard.

 

[Sirhornsalot]

My neighbor has winter rye and their yard looks good in fall and winter.

We replaced our Bermuda with St Augustine a few years back.  Much better

Don't overseed that St Augustine with winter rye. You may get away with it the first year, but the summer lawn gets worse each year you do it.

If your neighbor asks why you don't have winter rye, just use the St Augustine excuse.

 

[Sirhornsalot]

There's something about walking barefoot in a St Augustine yard. You take your chances in a Bermuda yard.

I will see your St Augustine with Palisades Zoysia. Walking barefoot in that is even nicer than St Augustine. I have one customer with that Palisades and its just like carpet, without the issues that St Augustine has (fungus, insects).

Most insects won't touch Zoysia. Something about it they don't like. Army worms won't touch it.

 

[Baron]

I will see your St Augustine with Palisades Zoysia. Walking barefoot in that is even nicer than St Augustine. I have one customer with that Palisades and its just like carpet, without the issues that St Augustine has (fungus, insects).

Most insects won't touch Zoysia. Something about it they don't like. Army worms won't touch it.

I fold. I always heard Zoysia is pricey. Is that the stuff that you can mow really low to the ground?

 

[Sirhornsalot]

I fold. I always heard Zoysia is pricey. Is that the stuff that you can mow really low to the ground?

Its a little more expensive on the front end, but its not nearly the water hog that St Augustine is. So you get that back pretty quickly.

No, you don't want to mow Zoysia too short. Its like St Augustine that way. Its better off at about 3 inches.

Hybrid Bermuda, Bermuda Tiff 419 you can cut short, low to the ground. This is the turf that was developed for golf course greens.

 

[Soldierhorn]

Plant a patch of clover and oats

Awesome. I can do that in one section as a test

 

[Sirhornsalot]

By the way, you can put out feeders for your deer, just like hunters do. But know that it may take a little while before they feed there regularly. Corn is not a natural food for them but once they have a little, they'll feed regularly.

Acorns from here to first of November will be one of their main food sources. I put a pile of them about 100 yards from my stand each season. They will not walk by it without stopping.

 

[Soldierhorn]

There's something about walking barefoot in a St Augustine yard. You take your chances in a Bermuda yard.

I walk out in my front yard barefooted almost every night to check things out and I love it.  But my bermuda is about 2" thick & tight with some buffalo mixed in. 

To each his own, I guess 

 

[Soldierhorn]

By the way, you can put out feeders for your deer, just like hunters do. But know that it may take a little while before they feed there regularly. Corn is not a natural food for them but once they have a little, they'll feed regularly.

Acorns from here to first of November will be one of their main food sources. I put a pile of them about 100 yards from my stand each season. They will not walk by it without stopping.

yeah, I might put out a feeder but I'd like to put off unnatural habits.  I could gather acorns from around Killeen. Every business center/box store have tons of acorns that fill up the medians.  

The property has pecan, black walnut, as well as huge oak trees. I can look it up but I'm wondering if deer eat pecans or walnuts. 

 

[Sirhornsalot]

Fellas, want to thank you for your participation thus far. Thanks to you, this thread is hotter than the Recruiting thread, the Longhorn discussion thread and the politics thread.

For a moment in time, we have achieved domination. lol

 

[Soldierhorn]

Hybrid Bermuda, Bermuda Tiff 419 you can cut short, low to the ground. This is the turf that was developed for golf course greens.

10-15 yrs ago, I got this hybrid bermuda supposedly developed by A&M and it is REAL nice.  it doesnt seem to grow higher than about 3" and was made specifically for golf courses; almost maintenance free.  I like it a lot. 

The only problem I'm having now is the growth aggressiveness .  For years, it seemed to go slow but, now, if I dont mow for a while, I can have 2-3 foot stringers over and all along the cement driveway, sidewalk and out into the street.  Over the years, instead of trimming the bermuda, I pulled the stringers out and put them in the back yard.  Now, most of the back yard has the same bermuda.  

 

[Sirhornsalot]

yeah, I might put out a feeder but I'd like to put off unnatural habits.  I could gather acorns from around Killeen. Every business center/box store have tons of acorns that fill up the medians.  

The property has pecan, black walnut, as well as huge oak trees. I can look it up but I'm wondering if deer eat pecans or walnuts. 

Yes, they do eat Pecans. Deer will eat whatever is available to them. They prefer the smaller pecans and will eat the new growth on Pecan trees.

The squirrels will steal a few and next thing you know you'll have a few Pecan trees on your land. And then you won't have to put out Pecans.

Walnuts, on the other hand, are planted on properties at certain locations to DETER deer. They generally don't eat the Walnuts because they're so tough to crack.

Walnut trees' leaflets, buds and roots secrete a chemical known as jug lone. Jug lone is a chemical that effectively prevents other plants in the area from having the capacity to exchange oxygen for carbon dioxide in the air, which inhibits their growth. Jug lone is also found in the husks and walnuts themselves. Walnut trees do not play well with others.

 

[Sirhornsalot]

10-15 yrs ago, I got a hybrid bermuda supposedly developed by A&M and it is REAL niche.  it doesnt seem to grow higher than about 3" and was made specifically for golf courses; almost maintance free.  I like it a lot. 

The only problem I'm having now is the growth aggressiveness .  For years, it seemed to go slow but, now, if I dont mow for a while, I can have 2-3 foot stringers over and all along the driveway, sidewalk and out into the street.  Over the years, instead of trimming the bermuda, I pulled the stringers out and put them in the back yard.  Now, most of the back yard has the same bermuda.  

Thats probably the 419 I mentioned. Its been around awhile. However, it does not produce runners. Its a straight-blade Bermuda. What does happen though is you get your place a sodded with the 419 and you begin caring for it faithfully. As time goes by, an increasing amount of native Bermuda creeps in. It does this because its a native grass and will naturally appear in places where growth is favorable, such as a lawn that is maintained well.

So it is likely that you have had some native Bermuda makes its way into your lawn since you put the sod down. They would have the runners.

 

[Soldierhorn]

yeah, the squirrels have discovered my yard in Killeen.  They are some fat squirrels going after my multiple pecan & bur oak trees  

for years, I've been growing pecan, peach, Olive, crape myrtle, plum, mountain laurel different types of oak including bur oak in pots (probably three dozen) from seed. I'll be taking them out to my hill country property... so that's on my list this fall

 

[Sirhornsalot]

yeah, the squirrels have discovered my yard in Killeen.  They are some fat squirrels going after my multiple pecan & bur oak trees  

for years, I've been growing pecan, peach, Olive, crape myrtle, plum, mountain laurel different types of oak including bur oak in pots (probably three dozen) from seed. I'll be taking them out to my hill country property... so that's on my list this fall

I used to live in Killeen. Worked there for the Daily Herald. Was hired to redesign the look back in '94. I was there about a year and a half. Met my wife there.

 

[Baron]

By the way, you can put out feeders for your deer, just like hunters do. But know that it may take a little while before they feed there regularly. Corn is not a natural food for them but once they have a little, they'll feed regularly.

Acorns from here to first of November will be one of their main food sources. I put a pile of them about 100 yards from my stand each season. They will not walk by it without stopping.

This year the deer are quick to find anything succulent. Before this weekend's rain I had visitors every day, my septic sprays in my backyard and the grass is several inches tall. There is a set of 2-1/2 year old twin 8 pointers that dine regularly in my backyard. They don't even flinch when I come out and talk to them. 

The acorns are good until the first hard freeze. Then they sour and the deer go back to corn. This year the liveoaks are already dropping acorns while they're still green.

 

[Baron]

Fellas, want to thank you for your participation thus far. Thanks to you, this thread is hotter than the Recruiting thread, the Longhorn discussion thread and the politics thread.

For a moment in time, we have achieved domination. lol

It's a nice distraction.

 

[Soldierhorn]

Walnuts, on the other hand, are planted on properties at certain locations to DETER deer. They generally don't eat the Walnuts because they're so tough to crack.

Walnut trees' leaflets, buds and roots secrete a chemical known as jug lone. Jug lone is a chemical that effectively prevents other plants in the area from having the capacity to exchange oxygen for carbon dioxide in the air, which inhibits their growth. Jug lone is also found in the husks and walnuts themselves.

good stuff.  I did not know about the jug lone. I'm going to have to read up on that.  I have a huge walnut tree near the same creek as the pic of the deer.  It's so big that I cant put my arms around it. The jug lone probably explains why there is hardly anything but grasses and weeds growing around it.  

On a side note about texas black walnut, I was at a guy's property near Gatesville and I asked him what type of oil or tar did he put on his long driveway. it looked a strange darkish color.  He said it's an oil but from black walnuts. Apparently, his family has own the property for about a 100 yrs and they habitually tilled in the black walnut shells into the road base.  I found it interesting

 

[Sirhornsalot]

This year the deer are quick to find anything succulent. Before this weekend's rain I had visitors every day, my septic sprays in my backyard and the grass is several inches tall. There is a set of 2-1/2 year old twin 8 pointers that dine regularly in my backyard. They don't even flinch when I come out and talk to them. 

The acorns are good until the first hard freeze. Then they sour and the deer go back to corn. This year the liveoaks are already dropping acorns while they're still green.

Thats VERY interesting on the green acorns falling.

I planted a 200 gallon sized Autumn Blaze Maple about a month ago in a landscape in Highland Village, just north of me. I was hired to come by each week and monitor the new landscape investment. During my week 3 visit, I had to stop and call an arborist friend of mine because I wasn't believing what I was seeing.

The Maple's top end was changing colors. I saw yellows, oranges and reds. 

He confirmed to me that he was seeing the same thing on his daily routine. He told me this may well be a sign that we're about to have a significant winter.