Rejuvinating a lawn in SC

[unccalumnus]

I'm in the process of trying to figure out the best way to get my lawn to where it needs to be without having to kill it off and sod it. It's a new construction house and the grass just doesn't seem to respond to anything I do. No matter how much I water it, it stays brownish green and lifeless. I thought it might just be the soil, but I am beginning to think it was the seed used initially.

The reason I think that is we had irrigation put in early spring. I have patched the trenches in my front yard using some of the Scott's sun/shade patch mix. That's as green as can be and responds accordingly to the water levels I apply. However, the rest of the yard doesn't. I have a couple questions:

1. Should I just wait until fall and seed really heavily with a quality grass seed and then seed again in the spring?

2. What type of grass seed should I use?

3. What is an estimated cost range for qualty grass seed?

Any advice is appreciated.

[RigglePLC]

If the original seed was poor--or just cheap--kill the old and reseed. Don't seed in spring--fall is best. Start about 10 weeks before frost--you do have frost don't you? Take a careful look at neighbor's yards--talk with them and get an idea what kind of grass does well in your area. You need irrigation for top quality grass. Scotts seed is probably the best you can get at retail. Or try to find a Lesco/JDL outlet. Depends on local conditions--their Athletic Blend is excellent. But be sure the seed is fresh. It will say something like germination 85 percent. That is when it was tested. Germination falls off a few percent a month from the date it was tested. It should be less than 6 months old.

[unccalumnus]

Thanks for the info. I'm pretty confident they used a generic "contractor's mix" of seed. The problem with asking my neighbors is they are in the same boat as I am, unless they have sodded their yards. At this point, I want to work on trying to get it nice without having to sod.

We will have a frost, but it's anybody's guess when it will come. There have been times where the first frost doesn't come until Janusary-February. It does start cooling off in Oct-Nov though...just doesn't get cold enough to actually frost.

[Carolina Cuts]

I may be wrong.... but I believe the best time to seed with warm weather seed is in May/June....
might wanna do an internet search on that.

In the north the best time is in the fall for sure.... but that's cold weather seed.

[unccalumnus]

I may be wrong.... but I believe the best time to seed with warm weather seed is in May/June....
might wanna do an internet search on that.

In the north the best time is in the fall for sure.... but that's cold weather seed.

Apparently, there is a lesco dealer just down from me, so I plan on going down there to talk to them and will make sure to ask about this.

Thanks,