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Lanx

Oye Ve
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Still trying to not fuck up my first lawn/landscaping. There’s a shitton of this birds nest fungus growing in my mulch. Is this standard bullshit or should I be trying to get rid of it? All I found were some super hippie/crunchy bloggers saying it’s beneficial, but I’m not sure how trustworthy they are.

View attachment 427744

Also, is this some kind of shit weed I need to pull, or will it grow into something cool?

View attachment 427745
did you get a lawn mower yet? the best thing you can do to keep your grass healthy is to raise the deck height all the way up, your lawn might be a little floppy, but it'll still be alive especially in this heatwave.
 

Koushirou

Log Wizard
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My plant ID app called it Periscaria maculosa. Common names include lady's thumb, spotted lady's thumb, Jesusplant, and redshank.


If the app is right it sounds like it's generally considered a weed.

Yep, it’s gettin’ yanked. Got the app McCheese suggested and had a blast IDing all my bushes. Got some Japanese holly and privet, some azaleas, lilyturf, and a crepe myrtle tree.
 
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Koushirou

Log Wizard
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did you get a lawn mower yet? the best thing you can do to keep your grass healthy is to raise the deck height all the way up, your lawn might be a little floppy, but it'll still be alive especially in this heatwave.

Yeah, husband got the cross cut Ryobi mower which has been nice. We’re dumb though, and cut a bit to low to start; had it at a medium height, so now we’ve got some dead patches around I’m trying to fix. I dunno what the fuck I’m doing, though, I’m throwing some fescue seed in the spreader and going to town on it about half a day before it rains, but not really seeing results yet. The majority of the lawn is still good though.
 

Lanx

Oye Ve
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Yeah, husband got the cross cut Ryobi mower which has been nice. We’re dumb though, and cut a bit to low to start; had it at a medium height, so now we’ve got some dead patches around I’m trying to fix. I dunno what the fuck I’m doing, though, I’m throwing some fescue seed in the spreader and going to town on it about half a day before it rains, but not really seeing results yet. The majority of the lawn is still good though.
fescue will grow faster but if youre throwing new seed on you have to water it everyday, like soak that bitch until it sprouts.

since you got new sod, you really don't have to worry about thatch, so all you have to do is throw some seed on
i personally use scotts cuz i had goodluck w/ it in ks and i got the "southern gold" mix for tn and it works well, also it's blue so i can see it when i throw it
fdf231a4-a00d-4325-85c6-d9be3dfa6748._SL300__.png


so just throw some seed on the dead area, (like make it all blue, just b/c you have a little bit of seed there, doesn't mean it'll grow) maybe clear away some dead grass first, then throw a sprinkling of top soil/compost (i prefer compost) until you don't see the blue anymore (this covers the seed and prevents birds from eating your seed).
i top it off with a sprinkling of milorganite, i recommend you use this as your first form of fertilizer b/c it's organic. (not for fu fu save the earth reasons, but b/c it's organic you really can't put too much or too little and end up killing the area as opposed to syntehtic ferts)

if you forget where your dead grass is, get some flags and just pop em in to remind yourself
flags-marking-underground-utilities-picture-id185272925


you'll have other uses for them i'm sure, it's easy to get lost in the lawn after a while.
 
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Koushirou

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fescue will grow faster but if youre throwing new seed on you have to water it everyday, like soak that bitch until it sprouts.

since you got new sod, you really don't have to worry about thatch, so all you have to do is throw some seed on
i personally use scotts cuz i had goodluck w/ it in ks and i got the "southern gold" mix for tn and it works well, also it's blue so i can see it when i throw it
fdf231a4-a00d-4325-85c6-d9be3dfa6748._SL300__.png


so just throw some seed on the dead area, (like make it all blue, just b/c you have a little bit of seed there, doesn't mean it'll grow) maybe clear away some dead grass first, then throw a sprinkling of top soil/compost (i prefer compost) until you don't see the blue anymore (this covers the seed and prevents birds from eating your seed).
i top it off with a sprinkling of milorganite, i recommend you use this as your first form of fertilizer b/c it's organic. (not for fu fu save the earth reasons, but b/c it's organic you really can't put too much or too little and end up killing the area as opposed to syntehtic ferts)

if you forget where your dead grass is, get some flags and just pop em in to remind yourself
flags-marking-underground-utilities-picture-id185272925


you'll have other uses for them i'm sure, it's easy to get lost in the lawn after a while.

We had a nice week long of showers every day, but it sounds like I might not be putting enough seed down. I’ve got the Scott’s stuff, too, but I’ll try getting some extra down there next set of rainstorms. Neighbor’s plot just got their sod down, too, so I’m benefitting from some free automatic sprinkling that’s coming into my lawn (and it’s perfectly hitting below my tree, too, it’s great).

Thanks for all the tips, folks. I never had to touch our lawn as a kid since my parents just hired landscapers, so I’m starting from scratch.
 
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Lanx

Oye Ve
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We had a nice week long of showers every day, but it sounds like I might not be putting enough seed down. I’ve got the Scott’s stuff, too, but I’ll try getting some extra down there next set of rainstorms. Neighbor’s plot just got their sod down, too, so I’m benefitting from some free automatic sprinkling that’s coming into my lawn (and it’s perfectly hitting below my tree, too, it’s great).

Thanks for all the tips, folks. I never had to touch our lawn as a kid since my parents just hired landscapers, so I’m starting from scratch.
yea, relatively speaking seed is cheap, but always try to get it cheaper, it's like 5bucks a /lb at HD
7904130b68b6748ae7615a0e296ba379.png


but if you buy in bulk on amazon it's 2bucks a /lb
236286ee23ee5213ccc0efd3e6598351.png
 
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Hateyou

Not Great, Not Terrible
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Still trying to not fuck up my first lawn/landscaping. There’s a shitton of this birds nest fungus growing in my mulch. Is this standard bullshit or should I be trying to get rid of it? All I found were some super hippie/crunchy bloggers saying it’s beneficial, but I’m not sure how trustworthy they are.

View attachment 427744

Also, is this some kind of shit weed I need to pull, or will it grow into something cool?

View attachment 427745
I have yet to see anything that I didn’t plant grow into something cool. I destroy it all on sight now.
 

Hateyou

Not Great, Not Terrible
<Bronze Donator>
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Yeah, husband got the cross cut Ryobi mower which has been nice. We’re dumb though, and cut a bit to low to start; had it at a medium height, so now we’ve got some dead patches around I’m trying to fix. I dunno what the fuck I’m doing, though, I’m throwing some fescue seed in the spreader and going to town on it about half a day before it rains, but not really seeing results yet. The majority of the lawn is still good though.
Have someone come out and aerate and overseed this fall, I’d just stop trying to manually mess with it, cause the aerate and sees will fix it. Just throwing seeds in an area doesn’t really work well. You need to churn the dirt, throw seeds in, then cover it with straw so birds don’t eat it. Mow high, usually the highest or second highest the mower will go.
 
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Erronius

Macho Ma'am
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hey Erronius Erronius if buying this
8ea772dc6fd45b17fc59d4d58f8e7798.png


and then just following this

i should have a 240v outlet w/o burning down the garage right?, i've done basic electrical and replaced all the old challenger breakers to eaton, so there really isnt much i can fuck up right? my panel is located in the garage and if you parked the car, the panel would be a nice place to put an ev charger. (note so far i have no plans on an ev yet, and i have no tools that use a 240v, i just wanna do it)

Sorry, I forgot to respond.

I'm kind of weirded out that you want to add a 50A outlet 'just because'

That video is pretty decent though, but I'd read some of the comments on it. The change/update to GFCI requirements in garages seems like a huge PITA. But I also don't have a current code book to doublecheck the current code requirements for GFCI protected circuits in garages, and I don't know what code version your AHJ is on. It's one of those things where you can just 'add whatever the fuck you want' because you're the homeowner, and unless you need an inspection for something like a permit, code really won't apply. Unless/until you want to sell and move away, maybe. And a 50A GFCI is probably much pricier than a vanilla double pole 50A

My biggest practical question is if you have the free breaker spaces in your panel to afford just tossing 2 spaces away on a 240v outlet you'll never use.

I also don't know about EV charging. I stopped doing Residential long before EV charging was ever a thing, LOL

People were making a point about not being able to use this 50A circuit to power anything in the 41-50A range, if the charger ever needs to run more than 3hrs. Because then it needs to be considered a continuous load and you have to [consider a bunch of fucking bullshit that no one in this thread will probably care about, besides an electrician]. The TL;DR is that in those cases you'd have to upsize the circuit to compensate for the 80% for continuous circuits, but then you'd need to hardwire a charger instead of plugging it in, but you don't even HAVE anything TO plug in yet so I'm just going to STFU on this topic.

I did like the video, though. I didn't see anything that would make me go full Uncle Roger on the guy.
 

Fogel

Mr. Poopybutthole
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Sorry, I forgot to respond.

I'm kind of weirded out that you want to add a 50A outlet 'just because'

That video is pretty decent though, but I'd read some of the comments on it. The change/update to GFCI requirements in garages seems like a huge PITA. But I also don't have a current code book to doublecheck the current code requirements for GFCI protected circuits in garages, and I don't know what code version your AHJ is on. It's one of those things where you can just 'add whatever the fuck you want' because you're the homeowner, and unless you need an inspection for something like a permit, code really won't apply. Unless/until you want to sell and move away, maybe. And a 50A GFCI is probably much pricier than a vanilla double pole 50A

My biggest practical question is if you have the free breaker spaces in your panel to afford just tossing 2 spaces away on a 240v outlet you'll never use.

I also don't know about EV charging. I stopped doing Residential long before EV charging was ever a thing, LOL

People were making a point about not being able to use this 50A circuit to power anything in the 41-50A range, if the charger ever needs to run more than 3hrs. Because then it needs to be considered a continuous load and you have to [consider a bunch of fucking bullshit that no one in this thread will probably care about, besides an electrician]. The TL;DR is that in those cases you'd have to upsize the circuit to compensate for the 80% for continuous circuits, but then you'd need to hardwire a charger instead of plugging it in, but you don't even HAVE anything TO plug in yet so I'm just going to STFU on this topic.

I did like the video, though. I didn't see anything that would make me go full Uncle Roger on the guy.

Now you need to uncle Roger a bad electrician video

"What he doing! He connect the ground to hot! He think the ground to cold!? Hiiiiyaaaaaaa"
 
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Lanx

Oye Ve
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I'm kind of weirded out that you want to add a 50A outlet 'just because'


My biggest practical question is if you have the free breaker spaces in your panel to afford just tossing 2 spaces away on a 240v outlet you'll never use.
well i'm just thinking ahead in a few years if/when i sell the house or i actually do get an ev, it's nice to have it as selling point and other than becoming fried rice i don't see why not.

oh yea i have like 4 spaces actually, thats also why i'm thinking, why not and like i said too, the panel is positioned in a way in that garage that if i parked the car the outlet would be perfectly positioned to fuel up an ev.

cool thx, ordered the parts, the wire will take weeks to come cuz it's special order, ha, i mean i guess that thick ass wire by the foot is expensive for a reason.
 

ToeMissile

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well i'm just thinking ahead in a few years if/when i sell the house or i actually do get an ev, it's nice to have it as selling point and other than becoming fried rice i don't see why not.

oh yea i have like 4 spaces actually, thats also why i'm thinking, why not and like i said too, the panel is positioned in a way in that garage that if i parked the car the outlet would be perfectly positioned to fuel up an ev.

cool thx, ordered the parts, the wire will take weeks to come cuz it's special order, ha, i mean i guess that thick ass wire by the foot is expensive for a reason.
I wonder if there’s some weird provision in the new bill that covers your expenses here. Maybe something local w/ your utility company too.
 

Intrinsic

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I told the wife it was going to have to be big enough for me to fit.

Pretty happy with how these turned out. Ended up using a wire wheel on my cordless drill to knock off the rust and grungy spots. Then used a series of sanding sponges from 80, 140, 220. Lastly sprayed with matte clear coat. Went through 1.5 batteries on the drill so couldn't finish the rest. Have 8 more to do tomorrow. Took probably an hour I think to do these?

The dark spots are whatever due to the wire wheel and not buffing out that completely, I'm guessing. Because the light hits it correctly they're solid silver but then you get small reflections and shadows of dark. I think they look better in person, honestly.

May hit them with some 400 or 600 grit tomorrow. Nothing to break through the clear coat but maybe smooth it out. I'll see depending on how it dries.

View attachment 427591

Work proceeds slowly. Did one coat of my frame and wanted to test fit the bars. The one right in the middle is bent slightly and was a bitch to get past that point when inserting. May try and pull it out and replace it with one of the spares.

Also let me just say how much I hate painting. This is why I do work with wood that uses various types of wipe on finishes and sealers. Painting sucks. I didn't want to roll on the frame color so decided to get a "decent" brush and it is still a streaky messy piece of crap. I'm going to do a light sanding between before the second coat and maybe try to get rid of some of the brush marks. Granted it was the cheapest quart of paint I could get that was originally intended for another purpose, but thought I'd use it.

Was going to do the same grey on the inside but may just leave it primer... Just need to do the door and the top.

1660681861768.png
 
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Loser Araysar

Chief Russia Correspondent / Stock Pals CEO
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Anyone have any experience with mosquito killing methods?

I live in an area that gets pretty humid during the summer and I got a small meandering creek right behind my house which has a decent amount of standing water. We got lots of mosquitos in the summer. Anyone have experience with effective service or device to keep at them at bay? Someone recommended propane mosquito traps, claiming they covered an area of quarter of an acre, but I am highly skeptical.


Things I have tried:

Those candle things - basically dont work
Bug zappers: kills a decent amount of them by the looks of how many bug corpses are stuck to zapper filaments, but you still get bit regularly
Deet and deet type skin spray - i dont get bit that much when i have it on, but my kid gets eaten up even with kid-friendly mosquito repellent
Thermacell - works good but the coverage area is limited (15 foot diameter) Plus they created a bullshit system with the proprietary little fuel canisters to heat up a metal plate (that heats up the chemical pad) instead of something like AA batteries and those fuel canisters of course cost decent money
Professional service - I paid my local extermination company a one time fee of $125 and then $50 a month for past 4 months to come and spray all around the house every month and drop some chemical discs in the creek that they claim kills the eggs. Doesnt seem to work.

Anyways this propane mosquito trap thing seems too good to be true if it works as well as Thermacell but I have no idea if its bogus or legit. Any ideas?
 

Goatface

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never dealt with them in a creek, is there enough water to support gambusia (mosquito fish)? for our rain barrels use a larvacide in a shaker jug, but don't would work in a creek for very long.

really don't anything works that great. cut grass a little shorter, remove everything with any water and hope they hunt in your neighbors yard.
 

Intrinsic

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I've had the same problem with flies on one particular side of our house that is close to the garage door for my woodshop. I've cleaned, pressure washed, sprayed, had the bug guy soak it in chemicals, put out fly bags, have a bug zapper. Doesn't matter. They swarm that one spot. Only thing we haven't done is dig up the dirt to discover a dead dog or child.
 

Loser Araysar

Chief Russia Correspondent / Stock Pals CEO
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never dealt with them in a creek, is there enough water to support gambusia (mosquito fish)? for our rain barrels use a larvacide in a shaker jug, but don't would work in a creek for very long.

really don't anything works that great. cut grass a little shorter, remove everything with any water and hope they hunt in your neighbors yard.

probably not enough water to support a handful of 2-inch long fish, plus they would probably just swim down the creek for miles and never come back. Maybe if it was a pond Id consider it
 

Captain Suave

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Anyone have any experience with mosquito killing methods?
If you can run power out there supposedly this works and is dead simple.

tldw; Put a screen on the inlet side of a high-throughput fan like those 4-foot diameter industrial jobs from the box store. CO2 source as attractant. Bugs get sucked in and pinned against the screen and die. You can kill assloads of them.

 
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Daidraco

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You're all just throwing money out of the window. Plant bushes and flowers that support dragonflies around the water sources. A creek can support hundreds to thousands of dragonflies that will basically neuter any larval population on site and hunt them in a 7-8 mile radius. Then install a larger bat house a bit away from your own house and promote bats living in the area. Then put up some bird houses throughout the woods/area for the final drop.

If mosquitoes are as bad as you guys are making it out to be, then the environment in the area has been changed in some type of capacity. Either a new water source was introduced/built and nothing was planted on it to help with mosquitos.. Or, forests etc. were cut for new construction, eliminating the homes of the other predators.

Once you actively set up the homes for these predators, you can basically stop thinking about that shit altogether and go back to having just a simple candle again. Wont happen in a years time, but towards the end of probably next year if you did all that stuff now - youll be sitting pretty.
 
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Nija

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I use dynatraps extensively around my property. Including the enormous XL, which probably has about a pound of moths/mosquitos/wasps in it right now.