Author Topic: overseeding our lawn - How to?  (Read 26898 times)

MrSal

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Re: overseeding our lawn - How to?
« Reply #50 on: September 01, 2016, 02:34:06 PM »
If you really want to budget you can get organic fertilizer for free. Starbucks coffee grounds, sawdust, free compost on Craigslist, leaving your grass clippings etc. Heck I can get hundreds of pounds of used coffee grounds every week from Starbucks.

awesomw ... what would the ratio of coffee grounds be? any idea?

MasterStache

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Re: overseeding our lawn - How to?
« Reply #51 on: September 02, 2016, 04:54:38 AM »
If you really want to budget you can get organic fertilizer for free. Starbucks coffee grounds, sawdust, free compost on Craigslist, leaving your grass clippings etc. Heck I can get hundreds of pounds of used coffee grounds every week from Starbucks.

awesomw ... what would the ratio of coffee grounds be? any idea?

I can't remember off the top of my head. I know it's relatively small though. The other probably most important thing is mulch mowing leaves. I snagged about 20 bags of my neighbors leaves last year and spread them out over the lawn and mowed them in.

MrSal

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Re: overseeding our lawn - How to?
« Reply #52 on: September 09, 2016, 06:41:07 PM »
After 12 grueling hours... Seed is in.... What took most time was putting down the compost. Geez... Hopefully it will work something and all this won't be in vain....

MrSal

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Re: overseeding our lawn - How to?
« Reply #53 on: September 09, 2016, 06:44:21 PM »
Also bought a bunch of cheap hoses...  4/ sprinklers and an auto timer.

Set up watering 3 times a day for 20 min each... At 6am... 11am and 4pm.... Are these enough? Should I space then apart more?

boarder42

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Re: overseeding our lawn - How to?
« Reply #54 on: September 09, 2016, 09:03:42 PM »
12 hours how much lawn do you have

MrSal

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Re: overseeding our lawn - How to?
« Reply #55 on: September 10, 2016, 07:18:39 AM »
About 5000... This includes mowing... De thatching.... Setting up auto sprinklers.... Spreading compost.... Fertilizing... Seeding... More compost... And ranking seed in....

boarder42

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Re: overseeding our lawn - How to?
« Reply #56 on: September 11, 2016, 05:33:55 AM »
So for watering my sprinkler has 3 setups to schedule. How long should I water at each 5 7 10 15 minutes?  I live in the kc area.

boarder42

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Re: overseeding our lawn - How to?
« Reply #57 on: September 11, 2016, 05:49:12 AM »
Also turns out it was grub worms that destroyed my lawn

MasterStache

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Re: overseeding our lawn - How to?
« Reply #58 on: September 12, 2016, 06:21:05 AM »
Also bought a bunch of cheap hoses...  4/ sprinklers and an auto timer.

Set up watering 3 times a day for 20 min each... At 6am... 11am and 4pm.... Are these enough? Should I space then apart more?

That sounds about right. Once your seed sprouts you can scale back on the watering. Less frequent but longer watering periods to get the roots growing. 

MasterStache

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Re: overseeding our lawn - How to?
« Reply #59 on: September 12, 2016, 06:23:38 AM »
So for watering my sprinkler has 3 setups to schedule. How long should I water at each 5 7 10 15 minutes?  I live in the kc area.

Depends on the sprinklers you are using and really the weather/temps. If it is hot, you'll want to water a bit longer. On cooler days you don't have to keep the sprinklers on as long.

Also try some grub killer next year. It might be on sale now so you could stock up. Grubs will eventually bring the moles in and you'll have an even bigger disaster.

boarder42

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Re: overseeding our lawn - How to?
« Reply #60 on: September 12, 2016, 06:27:53 AM »
So for watering my sprinkler has 3 setups to schedule. How long should I water at each 5 7 10 15 minutes?  I live in the kc area.

Depends on the sprinklers you are using and really the weather/temps. If it is hot, you'll want to water a bit longer. On cooler days you don't have to keep the sprinklers on as long.

Also try some grub killer next year. It might be on sale now so you could stock up. Grubs will eventually bring the moles in and you'll have an even bigger disaster.

we put grub killer down now.  is that a bad thing?

MasterStache

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Re: overseeding our lawn - How to?
« Reply #61 on: September 12, 2016, 08:14:42 AM »
So for watering my sprinkler has 3 setups to schedule. How long should I water at each 5 7 10 15 minutes?  I live in the kc area.

Depends on the sprinklers you are using and really the weather/temps. If it is hot, you'll want to water a bit longer. On cooler days you don't have to keep the sprinklers on as long.

Also try some grub killer next year. It might be on sale now so you could stock up. Grubs will eventually bring the moles in and you'll have an even bigger disaster.

we put grub killer down now.  is that a bad thing?

If you still have Grubs it's not a bad thing. And it won't harm the grass. Moles annihilated my landscape this year.

boarder42

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Re: overseeding our lawn - How to?
« Reply #62 on: September 12, 2016, 08:45:19 AM »
yeah the grubs destoryed 33% of our lawn and left it dead.  really excited it is affordable to do lawn care. and that watering once a week once grass is established is all that is needed.  Also you can use lowes price match to sometimes get them to give you the price seen on brickseek with an added 10% discount if you get the right person to check you out.

MasterStache

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Re: overseeding our lawn - How to?
« Reply #63 on: September 12, 2016, 08:48:46 AM »
yeah the grubs destoryed 33% of our lawn and left it dead.  really excited it is affordable to do lawn care. and that watering once a week once grass is established is all that is needed.  Also you can use lowes price match to sometimes get them to give you the price seen on brickseek with an added 10% discount if you get the right person to check you out.

That sucks about the grubs. I saw yesterday the Lowes coupon generator website isn't offering Lowes coupon codes anymore. Bummer!

boarder42

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Re: overseeding our lawn - How to?
« Reply #64 on: September 12, 2016, 08:50:27 AM »
so on the water irrigation front.  i've seen places online talk about adding a second meter on the sprinkler line. so that your water you use for irrigation isnt subject to the sewer charges.  which run 5 bucks per 1000 gallons in my area.  anyone done anything like this.

ShoulderThingThatGoesUp

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Re: overseeding our lawn - How to?
« Reply #65 on: September 12, 2016, 10:04:54 AM »
What about...not watering your lawn? We are having a very dry summer here in Pennsylvania and it's just meant I haven't had to mow my lawn as much. If you need to water your lawn once a week I would look into xeriscaping if possible.

MrSal

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Re: overseeding our lawn - How to?
« Reply #66 on: September 28, 2016, 04:30:50 PM »
Its been 18 days since I overseeded and I thought I would give an update...

Images are always best!

19 days ago:



Today:




CowboyAndIndian

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Re: overseeding our lawn - How to?
« Reply #67 on: September 29, 2016, 09:25:59 AM »
Its been 18 days since I overseeded and I thought I would give an update...
...

Nice.

What steps did you finally take?

MrSal

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Re: overseeding our lawn - How to?
« Reply #68 on: September 29, 2016, 06:04:32 PM »
Its been 18 days since I overseeded and I thought I would give an update...
...

Nice.

What steps did you finally take?

Sprayed with 2,4D first... waited 10 days... mowed it very short... detatch it... add compost.... add lime ... add seeds... mix seeds into compost... fertilize with scoots starter + weed preventer... water lots! :D

doug111

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Re: overseeding our lawn - How to?
« Reply #69 on: September 29, 2016, 11:11:23 PM »
I know there is probably a gazillion threads like this around the internet but somehow I just got even more confused.

Our backyard is currently in so so condition and I thought of doing a proper overseeding during the next month.

I live in central PA so northeast for the most part.

I have been reading and my plan is this:

- Spray the lawn with some weed killer - should this step be made? I have a bunch of weeds around and lots of clover areas ... I was thinking of spraying so itd kill the most possible so Id have more area to overseed or completely seed. Should this step be made or should I disregard it? If I apply it, do I need to wait a certain amount of time before overseeding?

- Aerate and dethatch the lawn.

- Add some compost soil - what should I buy? everytime i go to a store the more confused i get.

- Overseed - I have some doubts here... everytime i read and go to a store the more confused i get... Even online it seems all reviews just vamp about Scotts and Penningtons. I have the feeling its all marketing or something I dunno. I am not originally from the US so I am not very familiar with brands. I would like just a good plain seed bag with no fillers and good seed. The type of grass I dont know but I prefer fine grass than the thicker blades.

- Add some fertilizer - I bought some Milorganite organic fertilizer according to some reviews and videos they say its pretty good. Hopefully did the right decision buying it.

- Add some more top soil on top just very thin layer

- Water and water and water and then mow. - Since we are close to winter season should I fertilize again later before winter? Are those winterizer feed for grass any true or just marketing and a normal fertilizer is enough before grass goes dormant? What are the steps here. Im pretty much a noob.


- Then come spring I will do the pre-emergent for the weeds and crabgrass and hopefully what I have now wont come that time around.
This is what I overseed my lawn with !!!! DANDELION SEEDS FOR FREE DANDELION SALADS !!!!!

Thegoblinchief

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Re: overseeding our lawn - How to?
« Reply #70 on: September 30, 2016, 06:40:27 AM »
How about not spraying poisons? How about not even having the lawn and growing either edibles or xeriscape native pollinator gardens?

If you need a lawn for play space or entertaining, leave the weeds. Clover is a support species that pulls free nitrogen out of the air and makes it available to the grass. Many other lawn "weeds" are very useful for lawn health, pollinators, or medicinal use. If the lawn area is thin, rake it hard with a metal rake to disturb soil, sprinkle appropriate seed for light and climate, then cover with a very thin layer of compost. Bagged compost is just fine unless your lawn area is huge, in which case see above ;)

If it feels very hard/compacted, hire a company to aerate before seeding.

I can't believe anyone in this community is recommending spraying poisons.

HipGnosis

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Re: overseeding our lawn - How to?
« Reply #71 on: September 30, 2016, 12:15:43 PM »
How about not spraying poisons? How about not even having the lawn and growing either edibles or xeriscape native pollinator gardens?

If you need a lawn for play space or entertaining, leave the weeds. Clover is a support species that pulls free nitrogen out of the air and makes it available to the grass. Many other lawn "weeds" are very useful for lawn health, pollinators, or medicinal use. If the lawn area is thin, rake it hard with a metal rake to disturb soil, sprinkle appropriate seed for light and climate, then cover with a very thin layer of compost. Bagged compost is just fine unless your lawn area is huge, in which case see above ;)

If it feels very hard/compacted, hire a company to aerate before seeding.

I can't believe anyone in this community is recommending spraying poisons.

NOW you tell him?!?!?  That water is wayy under the bridge.

You recommend paying for aeration but bemoan spraying?   You're hard to follow...

Thegoblinchief

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Re: overseeding our lawn - How to?
« Reply #72 on: September 30, 2016, 02:19:40 PM »
How about not spraying poisons? How about not even having the lawn and growing either edibles or xeriscape native pollinator gardens?

If you need a lawn for play space or entertaining, leave the weeds. Clover is a support species that pulls free nitrogen out of the air and makes it available to the grass. Many other lawn "weeds" are very useful for lawn health, pollinators, or medicinal use. If the lawn area is thin, rake it hard with a metal rake to disturb soil, sprinkle appropriate seed for light and climate, then cover with a very thin layer of compost. Bagged compost is just fine unless your lawn area is huge, in which case see above ;)

If it feels very hard/compacted, hire a company to aerate before seeding.

I can't believe anyone in this community is recommending spraying poisons.

NOW you tell him?!?!?  That water is wayy under the bridge.

You recommend paying for aeration but bemoan spraying?   You're hard to follow...

Didn't read the whole thread.

As for paying to aerate, if aeration is needed, pro equipment does a much better job than anything accessible to homeowners. I was a pro for a while and have family still in the business.

MrSal

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Re: overseeding our lawn - How to?
« Reply #73 on: September 30, 2016, 08:14:16 PM »
i decided not to aerate due to the fact it would disturb a lot of weed seeds up to the surface... i used liquid aerating instead.

MasterStache

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Re: overseeding our lawn - How to?
« Reply #74 on: October 12, 2016, 06:36:52 AM »
How about not spraying poisons? How about not even having the lawn and growing either edibles or xeriscape native pollinator gardens?

If you need a lawn for play space or entertaining, leave the weeds. Clover is a support species that pulls free nitrogen out of the air and makes it available to the grass. Many other lawn "weeds" are very useful for lawn health, pollinators, or medicinal use. If the lawn area is thin, rake it hard with a metal rake to disturb soil, sprinkle appropriate seed for light and climate, then cover with a very thin layer of compost. Bagged compost is just fine unless your lawn area is huge, in which case see above ;)

If it feels very hard/compacted, hire a company to aerate before seeding.

I can't believe anyone in this community is recommending spraying poisons.

I agree that letting the weeds grow would be the easy way out. But not all of us enjoy staring at a lawn full of weeds. Many weeds themselves are actually annuals and will die out in late fall leaving dirt patches.  A healthy lawn also provides many great environmental benefits.

Manual aeration is ridiculous. It's expensive if you hire a company. And sort of contradicts your statement about poisons. They will drive out in their gas guzzling truck and fire up a machine that guzzles more gas to pull plugs full of weeds seeds out of the lawn. And then you hand them a large sum of money. Chemical aeration is both environmentally friendly, better, cheaper and less disastrous.

It's not real difficult nor expensive to maintain a healthy, organic, "mostly" weed free lawn. If you like weeds, have at it. I enjoy green grass. Not a lot of it though. I have been covering more parts of my lawn with landscape and trees.

CowboyAndIndian

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Re: overseeding our lawn - How to?
« Reply #75 on: October 12, 2016, 07:08:03 AM »
  A healthy lawn also provides many great environmental benefits.

So wrong!

Lawns are used in places which are not grasslands. Ever go to Las Vegas and when you fly in and see the patches of green? The North East is woodlands and lawns are a man made green desert imposed on it.

More fertilizer is used for lawns in the US than the rest of the world uses for their crops.

This fertilizer run off causes algae blooms in the oceans. http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/why_habs.html

Immense waste of water. See what is happening to the aquifers in the center of the country.

http://scienceline.org/2011/07/lawns-vs-crops-in-the-continental-u-s/
« Last Edit: October 12, 2016, 07:10:09 AM by CowboyAndIndian »

boarder42

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Re: overseeding our lawn - How to?
« Reply #76 on: October 12, 2016, 07:39:54 AM »
that article uses "if" and "could" in an assumption on the total water needed to keep lawns green.  so its making a massive assumption that everyone is watering.  and if you review beginnerstache's message he is not really advocating for the use of fertilizers very often ... mainly just weed killer and organic soil enrichers.  which leads to stronger grass with deeper roots and needs less water to stay green.

MasterStache

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Re: overseeding our lawn - How to?
« Reply #77 on: October 12, 2016, 08:19:50 AM »
that article uses "if" and "could" in an assumption on the total water needed to keep lawns green.  so its making a massive assumption that everyone is watering.  and if you review beginnerstache's message he is not really advocating for the use of fertilizers very often ... mainly just weed killer and organic soil enrichers.  which leads to stronger grass with deeper roots and needs less water to stay green.

+1 Exactly.

Growing grass where it isn't meant to grow and/or requires loads of chemicals/water to maintain is obviously not a good thing. But that isn't necessary in our own residential backyards. And that isn't what we are discussing.  Folks were advocating letting weeds grow so they don't have to worry about "typical" lawn maintenance and watering. But it's entirely possible to get a great looking lawn without all the nasty chemicals and heavy watering.



MasterStache

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Re: overseeding our lawn - How to?
« Reply #78 on: October 12, 2016, 08:30:07 AM »
Its been 18 days since I overseeded and I thought I would give an update...

Images are always best!

19 days ago:



Today:





BTW, yard looks fantastic. Good work! How is that liquid aeration working for you? Are you just doing shampoo? I always added kelp to my mixture.

MrSal

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Re: overseeding our lawn - How to?
« Reply #79 on: October 12, 2016, 08:14:54 PM »
Its been 18 days since I overseeded and I thought I would give an update...

Images are always best!

19 days ago:



Today:





BTW, yard looks fantastic. Good work! How is that liquid aeration working for you? Are you just doing shampoo? I always added kelp to my mixture.

Not doing aeration anyumore... its been raining lately and also the watering enabled the ground to soften up ... I may start doing the Nitro or something.

Yard is looking goood. The front yard was not as successful ... I blame it on watering. Those 90+F days even thoguh i was watering 3-4 times a day, but manually, i think it has to do with that.

There are some bareish/thinner spots but overall i am happy with the results. During springs i will overseed again the thinner spots.

I dont like weeds as others suggested. I am more mustachian than 98% of people... however, grass its one of those things. I like it to be 100% grass and not weeds as well... its stupid but even when barefoot i dont like it.

I dont care for a big area of grass... as yourself i am actually gonna cover next year like half of my yard with a deck... concrete pavers etc that will take like 500-800 sq feet from the grass.

Metric Mouse

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Re: overseeding our lawn - How to?
« Reply #80 on: October 13, 2016, 02:32:50 AM »
Its been 18 days since I overseeded and I thought I would give an update...

Images are always best!

19 days ago:



Today:





BTW, yard looks fantastic. Good work! How is that liquid aeration working for you? Are you just doing shampoo? I always added kelp to my mixture.

Not doing aeration anyumore... its been raining lately and also the watering enabled the ground to soften up ... I may start doing the Nitro or something.

Yard is looking goood. The front yard was not as successful ... I blame it on watering. Those 90+F days even thoguh i was watering 3-4 times a day, but manually, i think it has to do with that.

There are some bareish/thinner spots but overall i am happy with the results. During springs i will overseed again the thinner spots.

I dont like weeds as others suggested. I am more mustachian than 98% of people... however, grass its one of those things. I like it to be 100% grass and not weeds as well... its stupid but even when barefoot i dont like it.

I dont care for a big area of grass... as yourself i am actually gonna cover next year like half of my yard with a deck... concrete pavers etc that will take like 500-800 sq feet from the grass.

This looks so good MrSal! Great job! One of the house projects I'm most proud of is my lawn/patio in my back yard. It's truly a labor of love - it took me about two seasons to get rolling, but now it's lovely.

MasterStache

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Re: overseeding our lawn - How to?
« Reply #81 on: October 13, 2016, 05:10:38 AM »
Not doing aeration anyumore... its been raining lately and also the watering enabled the ground to soften up ... I may start doing the Nitro or something.

Yard is looking goood. The front yard was not as successful ... I blame it on watering. Those 90+F days even thoguh i was watering 3-4 times a day, but manually, i think it has to do with that.

There are some bareish/thinner spots but overall i am happy with the results. During springs i will overseed again the thinner spots.

I dont like weeds as others suggested. I am more mustachian than 98% of people... however, grass its one of those things. I like it to be 100% grass and not weeds as well... its stupid but even when barefoot i dont like it.

I dont care for a big area of grass... as yourself i am actually gonna cover next year like half of my yard with a deck... concrete pavers etc that will take like 500-800 sq feet from the grass.

You can always shoot for dormant (winter) seeding. That's the 2nd best time to seed. I hate doing spring because it requires loads of water usually for months. The roots are typically not established well enough to ride out the hot summer months without continuing to water.

With winter seeding, the seeds will make their way down to the soil while the grass is dormant and start to sprout as soon as the grass starts to grow. Gives you a bit of a head start.

boarder42

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Re: overseeding our lawn - How to?
« Reply #82 on: October 13, 2016, 06:01:34 AM »
Not doing aeration anyumore... its been raining lately and also the watering enabled the ground to soften up ... I may start doing the Nitro or something.

Yard is looking goood. The front yard was not as successful ... I blame it on watering. Those 90+F days even thoguh i was watering 3-4 times a day, but manually, i think it has to do with that.

There are some bareish/thinner spots but overall i am happy with the results. During springs i will overseed again the thinner spots.

I dont like weeds as others suggested. I am more mustachian than 98% of people... however, grass its one of those things. I like it to be 100% grass and not weeds as well... its stupid but even when barefoot i dont like it.

I dont care for a big area of grass... as yourself i am actually gonna cover next year like half of my yard with a deck... concrete pavers etc that will take like 500-800 sq feet from the grass.

You can always shoot for dormant (winter) seeding. That's the 2nd best time to seed. I hate doing spring because it requires loads of water usually for months. The roots are typically not established well enough to ride out the hot summer months without continuing to water.

With winter seeding, the seeds will make their way down to the soil while the grass is dormant and start to sprout as soon as the grass starts to grow. Gives you a bit of a head start.

would you recommend doing this for a couple of our bare spots we have?  we over seeded already and some of them didnt sprout.  we were planning to ride it out and fix anything that hadnt filled in next fall.

MasterStache

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Re: overseeding our lawn - How to?
« Reply #83 on: October 13, 2016, 07:21:44 AM »
Not doing aeration anyumore... its been raining lately and also the watering enabled the ground to soften up ... I may start doing the Nitro or something.

Yard is looking goood. The front yard was not as successful ... I blame it on watering. Those 90+F days even thoguh i was watering 3-4 times a day, but manually, i think it has to do with that.

There are some bareish/thinner spots but overall i am happy with the results. During springs i will overseed again the thinner spots.

I dont like weeds as others suggested. I am more mustachian than 98% of people... however, grass its one of those things. I like it to be 100% grass and not weeds as well... its stupid but even when barefoot i dont like it.

I dont care for a big area of grass... as yourself i am actually gonna cover next year like half of my yard with a deck... concrete pavers etc that will take like 500-800 sq feet from the grass.

You can always shoot for dormant (winter) seeding. That's the 2nd best time to seed. I hate doing spring because it requires loads of water usually for months. The roots are typically not established well enough to ride out the hot summer months without continuing to water.

With winter seeding, the seeds will make their way down to the soil while the grass is dormant and start to sprout as soon as the grass starts to grow. Gives you a bit of a head start.

would you recommend doing this for a couple of our bare spots we have?  we over seeded already and some of them didnt sprout.  we were planning to ride it out and fix anything that hadnt filled in next fall.

Absolutely. It's exactly what I'll be doing. I had some seed wash out during some torrential downpours and have a few bare spots. I would recommend waiting until late winter though. If we have an unusually warm winter it could cause premature sprout. Dormant seeding does have it's disadvantages. You also won't be able to put down most* weed preventers in the spring since they won't allow grass seed to sprout.

*Weed preventers with Mesotrione WILL allow grass seed to sprout while preventing weeds from sprouting.

KCalla

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Re: overseeding our lawn - How to?
« Reply #84 on: October 13, 2016, 08:19:39 PM »
This has been a wonderful thread, thank you all.  It is giving us some confidence.  Going to tackle our own lawn treatments for 2017.  It will be a big savings, we think.  Have a question about winter seeding.  Here in southcentral Kansas our winter temperature fluctuates wildly.  It can go below zero at night for a week, then two weeks later we'll have a week or two of 50's (with sometimes a few days of 70's).  January and February are our most consistenly cold months.  Sould we wait until February to winter seed and hope that we get some snow cover (erratic) to help the seed work into the ground? 

MasterStache

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Re: overseeding our lawn - How to?
« Reply #85 on: October 14, 2016, 05:27:16 AM »
This has been a wonderful thread, thank you all.  It is giving us some confidence.  Going to tackle our own lawn treatments for 2017.  It will be a big savings, we think.  Have a question about winter seeding.  Here in southcentral Kansas our winter temperature fluctuates wildly.  It can go below zero at night for a week, then two weeks later we'll have a week or two of 50's (with sometimes a few days of 70's).  January and February are our most consistenly cold months.  Sould we wait until February to winter seed and hope that we get some snow cover (erratic) to help the seed work into the ground?

Personally I would wait until February. 3-4 weeks maybe before you think the grass is going to start growing. Typically in that amount of time you'll get some rain or snow to help work the seed down.

boarder42

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Re: overseeding our lawn - How to?
« Reply #86 on: October 14, 2016, 05:35:06 AM »
This has been a wonderful thread, thank you all.  It is giving us some confidence.  Going to tackle our own lawn treatments for 2017.  It will be a big savings, we think.  Have a question about winter seeding.  Here in southcentral Kansas our winter temperature fluctuates wildly.  It can go below zero at night for a week, then two weeks later we'll have a week or two of 50's (with sometimes a few days of 70's).  January and February are our most consistenly cold months.  Sould we wait until February to winter seed and hope that we get some snow cover (erratic) to help the seed work into the ground?

Personally I would wait until February. 3-4 weeks maybe before you think the grass is going to start growing. Typically in that amount of time you'll get some rain or snow to help work the seed down.

do you rake it in and put fertilizer on it still in Feb?

MasterStache

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Re: overseeding our lawn - How to?
« Reply #87 on: October 14, 2016, 07:17:27 AM »
This has been a wonderful thread, thank you all.  It is giving us some confidence.  Going to tackle our own lawn treatments for 2017.  It will be a big savings, we think.  Have a question about winter seeding.  Here in southcentral Kansas our winter temperature fluctuates wildly.  It can go below zero at night for a week, then two weeks later we'll have a week or two of 50's (with sometimes a few days of 70's).  January and February are our most consistenly cold months.  Sould we wait until February to winter seed and hope that we get some snow cover (erratic) to help the seed work into the ground?

Personally I would wait until February. 3-4 weeks maybe before you think the grass is going to start growing. Typically in that amount of time you'll get some rain or snow to help work the seed down.

do you rake it in and put fertilizer on it still in Feb?

Sure you could rake it in. I wouldn't fertilize though. The grass isn't in growth mode and so whatever fertilizer you put down will likely just wash away. Once it's obvious the grass is growing you could throw some starter down in the spot treated areas only. I have some starter leftover and plan on doing just that when it's time.

Bourbon

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Re: overseeding our lawn - How to?
« Reply #88 on: October 14, 2016, 07:52:16 AM »
Posting to follow and read later.  I just got out of grad school and waited a few weeks too long to tackle my big project.  As of now I have taken out a broken sidewalk and privacy fence, built a 2ish foot retaining wall, killed all grass, tilled and brought in 15 yards of dirt by wheelbarrow.  Posts are set for the new fence and am screwing in panels now.  Have planted some of the new plants according to the landscape drawing, but still need to pour the new sidewalk and get grass started. 


Getting a bit late, so starting to get tempted to do sod,  it's a small yard so maybe 1200sq feet of grass. 

Not a big grass guy, but want to get it set up as good as I can and hopefully coast on maintenance once it is all done.

Edit - Found my marching orders.  "Won" the service at a silent auction.   
« Last Edit: October 14, 2016, 07:54:53 AM by Bourbon »

MrSal

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Re: overseeding our lawn - How to?
« Reply #89 on: August 16, 2017, 07:22:28 AM »
A year later I thought to update a little bit...

Though I have no golf course I am happy with results. Barelyt have had any weeds ... no crabgrass whatsoever, only a handful of wild violets and that was it which i took care with my own hands.

Although the grass is a mix of grasses that probably aren't the best together, I think it looks pretty good overall:







not much maintenace was done... only started using some good practices and the rest just happened.

Mowing tall during the summer seems to have made a big difference!

boarder42

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Re: overseeding our lawn - How to?
« Reply #90 on: August 16, 2017, 05:13:25 PM »
Mowing tall helped us alot this year. We have almost completely returned a lawn that was 100% destroyed by grubs. We do have some weeds bc of the early spring we didn't get our preemergent down in time but milorganite and a little water and our lawn looks great.  Now just need to hit the patches that didn't fill in from a 100% dead lawn a year ago.