Grass seed wow..

Have no idea why I am posting this other than I am in shock, had no idea this much seed is needed for a little old flying circle.

Have a tractor guy coming in next week to till and level my future flying field, was suppose to do it this week but he got hung up on another job. In the mean time I went to Sutherlands and bought 10 pounds of Bermuda grass seed thinking that should be plenty. After thinking about it decided to do a little research..

Figure a 170 foot circle, (85 feet radius) is 22,689 sq feet. According to Bermudagrass.com I need 2 to 3 pounds of grass seed per 1000 sq foot. I would like a fairly thick field so figuring at the high end that is 67 pounds of grass seed, Holly cow! that is allot of seed.. One book the wife has says 1 pound for every 250 sq feet, I didn't even do the math on this one but it is close to 90 pounds..

Guess I need to get more seed

Well Bob,
The great thing about common bermuda is that it will cover your entire field in a few years if you mow and fertilize it correctly! It will even spread to the neighbors' yards/fields. hahaha
We only use bermuda on our athletic fields around here, and we have to aerify twice a year to keep it from choking itself out! I won't even discuss the hybrid bermudas, but they sure make a beautiful turf.
We usually sprig, or roll out sod. Bermuda loves lots of nitrogen when it gets established.
Good luck!
Bill <><

Here at Rio the big problem isn't the grass, but the weeds.

They grow a LOT faster than grass, and at some point they become dangerous, your lines might get caught by the weed andnext thing you see the ship is facing YOU!

I was practicing alone some years ago and it happened. The plane was small, powered by an OS.25FP, and it just crossed the circle.

I didn't know what the heck to do, so I just watched and waited.

When it got to the other side of the circle it yanked the handle outta my hand. For a 36" span model it was am helluva pull!

I was using a safety wristband, but the handle (luckily) was old and kinda rotten, so it broke where the wristband was.

Heck, go "astroturf" and be done with it

Being completely serious, what would be the cost for a blacktop dounut?

Can you hold off? The better bet would be to mow down your surface and wait till the weather achieves 80 degrees regular temperatures. Then spray the area with Roundup and wait 2 weeks and check to see if anything is alive, if so treat again. Then do the tilling, raking, seeding and fertilizing. Best to do in the fall. Let it go over winter and in the spring you should have a pretty good crop of grass going, make sure and fertilize regularly. The next spring you can hit it with Pre-emerge for the new crop of weeds and at the end of summer you should be in real pretty shape. You can't really do this in the spring, when the temps are up to snuff you have to cover the seed and water twice daily to keep it moist for tender little grass plants. No trouble if you are plumbed for water, but more of a pain if you are not. The best thing about fall seeding is you can let the grass grow in slow over winter, which it will, then slap the weeds down in the spring. At this time you can't treat the weeds while you have the new grass for at last 2 mowings of the new grass, and this is the prime weed growing weather. It'll work, but its easier and cheaper in the fall.

Here's a picture of the seeding effort at our circle last fall. We put several 50 pound bags of seed in the spreader, and we were just doing the areas inside and outside a 28 foot paved donut.

>Here's a picture of the seeding effort at our circle last
>fall. We put several 50 pound bags of seed in the spreader,
>and we were just doing the areas inside and outside a 28
>foot paved donut.

Most of what is planted is WEEDS.....We live in a grass seed area and What you guy's planted must have come from CANADA

scott(ready to take a hit)Riese

>Most of what is planted is WEEDS.....We live in a grass seed
>area and What you guy's planted must have come from CANADA
>
>scott(ready to take a hit)Riese

This is an offensive comment on several levels. First, we did not plant weeds. Second, I see no reason to insult Canada or Canadians. Thirdly, a bunch of modeling enthusiasts have freely given many hours of hard labor spread over numerous weekends to build this field -- digging post holes and installing 800 feet of fencing, planting 130 shrubs, hauling and spreading barkdust, building pit tables and frequency boards, establishing the club and bylaws, and working hard to promote model aviation. You have helped with none of these things. What you have done, now that the field is ready for use, is come here to fly as a visitor and then spread denigrating comments about the facility via the internet. There's your hit...

LAST EDITED ON Apr-12-04 AT 01:57 AM (CDT)
 
>>Most of what is planted is WEEDS.....We live in a grass seed
>>area and What you guy's planted must have come from CANADA
>>
>>scott(ready to take a hit)Riese
>
> This is an offensive comment on several levels. First,
>we did not plant weeds. Second, I see no reason to insult
>Canada or Canadians. Thirdly, a bunch of modeling
>enthusiasts have freely given many hours of hard labor
>spread over numerous weekends to build this field -- digging
>post holes and installing 800 feet of fencing, planting 130
>shrubs, hauling and spreading barkdust, building pit tables
>and frequency boards, establishing the club and bylaws, and
>working hard to promote model aviation. You have helped
>with none of these things. What you have done, now that the
>field is ready for use, is come here to fly as a visitor and
>then spread denigrating comments about the facility via the
>internet. There's your hit...
>
>
I"M NOT GOING TO TAKE THAT JERRY. OUT OF LINE. You say I've NOT helped in Promote Model aviation...$#(*&^!. I've done MORE TO PROMOTE flying control line then YOU HAVE. I got YOU BACK INTO THIS HOBBY REMEMBER. DO NOT make a statement like that and BLAST it all over the WEB. AS for YOUR field IT'S FULL OF WEEDS. We spent an HOUR DE- WEEDING it to FLY there four weeks ago. This is the FIRST week it's been mowed. AND SOMEONE WEEDED, WHERE WERE YOU! It's a great field and I WILL BE THERE PUTTING ON A DEMO FLIGHT opening day. WHAT OTHER COMMENTS HAVE I MADE!!! NONE! I WILL NOT REMOVE ANY STATEMENT......If you want BAN ME FROM FLYING THERE. GO AHEAD ...TRY

Scott(BACK OFF)Riesex(

Im PISSED.....sorry for the CANADA statment about the weeds. There's alot of good things that come from the NORTH. Mike, Chris, Bruce, Kieth and others they know I'm KIDDING. NOT YOU JERRY!!!
That's all for right now......Guess I'll take my flying and go somewhere else. LOOKS like I'm not welcome.

scott(hit me again)Riese

Scott --

Thanks for writing. I wasn't terribly upset at your comment, but I thought it was a bit of a poke at an effort that many people have contributed to. As a club officer I felt obligated to defend the negative outlook on the field, but perhaps I focused too much on you as an individual. It would have been better for me to explain that ongoing field maintenance is an issue the club leadership is aware of, and is taking steps to rectify. There is an agreed upon process in place for dealing with the museum. While certain things might not happen as quickly as some of us would like, we are confident the right steps are being taken to create a good working relationship with the landlord.

Regarding promotion of the hobby, you are 100% correct that you have done a lot to foster control-line in this part of the state --probably more than anyone else in recent years. I had no intention of implying otherwise. While writing my ssw response I was in the mind-set of things that TEAM had done on the field. I apologize for unintentionally creating the impression that you had not benefitted modelling in a larger sense. You were a part of the demo group that flew behind the building some time back. And I am aware that our conversation years ago let me know what was happening with cl around here and helped me re-discover the hobby.

As always, you and every other person interested in aviation is welcome here, and all AMA members are invited to fly at the cl or rc field.

I'm sorry for my stern response. All is well...

-Jerry Eichten

http://hometown.aol.com/jeichten/TEAM.html

>Scott --
>
> Thanks for writing. I wasn't terribly upset at your
>comment, but I thought it was a bit of a poke at an effort
>that many people have contributed to. As a club officer I
>felt obligated to defend the negative outlook on the field,
>but perhaps I focused too much on you as an individual. It
>would have been better for me to explain that ongoing field
>maintenance is an issue the club leadership is aware of, and
>is taking steps to rectify. There is an agreed upon process
>in place for dealing with the museum. While certain things
>might not happen as quickly as some of us would like, we are
>confident the right steps are being taken to create a good
>working relationship with the landlord.
>
> Regarding promotion of the hobby, you are 100%
>correct that you have done a lot to foster control-line in
>this part of the state --probably more than anyone else in
>recent years. I had no intention of implying otherwise.
>While writing my ssw response I was in the mind-set of
>things that TEAM had done on the field. I apologize for
>unintentionally creating the impression that you had not
>benefitted modelling in a larger sense. You were a part of
>the demo group that flew behind the building some time back.
>And I am aware that our conversation years ago let me know
>what was happening with cl around here and helped me
>re-discover the hobby.
>
> As always, you and every other person interested in
>aviation is welcome here, and all AMA members are invited to
>fly at the cl or rc field.
>
> I'm sorry for my stern response. All is well...
>
>
>-Jerry Eichten
>
>http://hometown.aol.com/jeichten/TEAM.html

WHAT IT'S OVER....I didn't get a chance to power up the nukes. Dang Guess I'll make fun of Dan and his Chickens or cats....

Scott(defcon3)Riese

Yes Jerry and I huged....

But Clean, you don't understand.. I want to fly off of it this year

I did find out there is a buried water line that was capped right at the edge of where I am going to put the circle. The problem is the previous owner can't remember exactly where it is located or how far down it is. Maybe we will find it with the trencher when I start laying electric and phone lines to the out-building I am putting next to the circle. In the mean time it is spring and we normally get quite a bit of rain.

Don't know what a blacktop donut would cost but I am sure it is more than I have in the budget. Would be nice if I was rich and could just call someone and say Do It....

Hey Bob,
Since that bermuda seed looks like ground pepper, are you gonna mix it with sand to spread it?
I would say that if you want a covered field this year, you might need to seed it with rye mixed with the bermuda. My past 30 years of experience working with bermuda grasses has been that it is two years to get good coverage unless you sod it. Then it's the rest of your life trying to control it! LOL!!
Bill <><

Bill,

The area has a pretty good coverage of Bermuda right now, the problem is it was an old plowed field and is a bit rough. We are going to till it down only 3 or 4 inches which will take out all the old plow rows and with the help of a roller should give me a good smooth surface. I am hoping the established grass will come back plus the over seeding should give me some grass in a few months. What do you think?

Here is a picture of my front yard, the brush pile is about 300 feet from where the picture was taken and it is 600 feet to the road. The circle is going between the drive and the brush pile.

blue grass, or rye grass, Will be ready in ONE month:+

Hey Bob,
The "sprigs" that will be created when you till it will help re-establish the turf, especially if you roll them good so that they are in solid contact with the soil. Partially buried is good. But, oyu will really have to keep it wet for the "sprigs" to develope roots.
I have done what you're planning to do a couple times, and we ran the sprinklers 24/7 for two weeks, but it was getting hot, about 90 plus degrees.
Should work out fine! Common bermuda does take a while for the plants to develope into healthy, spreading growth. But it is VERY HARDY when established!
Bill <><

Hey Bob, Iffin ya have a couple of brazing rods bout 18 to 24 inches long, I can prolly witch the water line for you. Makes no difference if it is metal or plastic. I should be able to find it.
Lee

Hey Lee,
We found that copper grounding wire (*borrowed* from the electrical co.) worked exceptionally well!
Bill <><

LAST EDITED ON Apr-11-04 AT 02:44 PM (CDT)
 
Well heck come on over, I think I have a couple of brazing rods in the old shop. Haven't moved that yet but I can get em here pretty quick

Edit: Does it matter if they are flux coated? Other options? Copper tubing, copper electrical wire as Bill described...

Hey Bob, I am free in the morning till about 11.00. Email me your address or where you moved and I get with you on the witching. Lee

[email protected]

Sent you an email, this is exciting

Borrow a metal detector to find the water pipe.

Thanks for the tip, I have a metal detector but didn't think it would work. I am sure the pipe is plastic and with the spring rains the ground is pretty wet. Will a metal detector be able to tell the diference between wet ground and water in a plastic pipe?

Depends on how sensitive and how fine you tune it. Ive had some that could detect foot prints in the dew on grass. the change in density may be detectable. I have a stud detector that can find a two by four in the wall and it dosn't depend on finding a nail.

hey bob after you plow it you might drag it with a piece of old feence. or something like it weighted down behind your tractor, like they do ball fields if you have ball fields around you, they might have something you can borrow that will knock the high spots down first then roll it.

Might see if anyone has a Harrow you can borrow, it's kinda like the fence, but with points.

As far as flying this year, you can fly on weeds, of course if the ground is to humpyi, you can't.
You can get all this growing done this year, though it will take a couple for the Bermuda, it's just more cost effective in the fall.

Ron B.
F4Fguy

Bob:

I don't know about the cost/sq.ft. for asphalt in your area,buthere (CA,central coast) it's about 50-60 cents if you catch the tail end of a large paving job.I priced out a 180ft. donut with a 6ft. center pad at $6000-$7000.We could have taken that hit,but the cheapest land we could find around here was $10,000/acre.On top of that,CA law mandates that ag land cannot be broken into parcels less than 50 acres.BUMMER!!!,half a mil to fly toy airplanes?I don't think so!

LAST EDITED ON Apr-11-04 AT 06:53 PM (CDT)
 
Yep, that is why I no longer live in California, I lived in Southern Cal for 20+ years 1/2 in LA and 1/2 in San Diego, always wanted my own flying field but never would have been able if I had stayed on the West Coast. Now I have 7.5 acres than will be paid for in 5 years. Oklahoma isn't a bad place to live

Bob,

I think you finally solved a great mystery for us Southern Californians. We understand earthquakes, but we never really understood tornados. Why they start. Sure, we've made a lot of Hollywood movies here about this kind of thundercloud and that kind of wind. But the experts say they don't really know how they start. Now that I look at the control line circles you have in Oklahoma, and you say everyone's got one because the land is affordable, my question is this: are you guys all flying speed planes down there?

>my question is this: are
>you guys all flying speed planes down there?
>
>Dave
>LA_Flyer

No. But we do know how to fly in the wind.

One of our new members(Joe Gilbert) flew a Fox .35 powered ARF Nobler at the VSC in Tucson on that windy sunday. He survived and placed 19th. Not bad for an Intermediate flyer.