Lawn renovation: Too late in the fall?

[bperl]

I've seeded Tall fescue. As of now, no sprouts of whatsoever.

[bperl]

I see small sprouts in about 1/4 of my lawn today morning
However I got a notice from my irrigation company that my sprinkler system will be winterized around 10/12/11 and it'll be shut off.
I'm worried that it might be too soon and the new sprouts cannot depend completely on rainfall. Would one of you know, how long can I wait in Northern VA for my system to be winterized?

[dboyd351]

I don't know for sure, but I'd think you'd be safe until the end of October.
I'm seeing germination form the seeds I planted in the later round, too

[SLC & IS]

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[SLC & IS]

You have plenty of time,second week of November before you need it blown out, I'm finishing up blowout that week every year
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[bperl]

I went on vacation for few days and when I was back, my lawn is full of sprouts about 2 inches tall. My lawn looks greener and better than all of my neighbors :-) !!
I want to thank everyone in this forum for guiding me.

[nightshutter]

Originally Posted by Smallaxe

I would first install irrigation, aerate with several to many passes, bring in the compost and settle it in around the irrigation heads, broadcast the seed , lightly rake it in while making as few footprints as possible and soak it down, until you're sure that the top 4" inches is saturated...
I never roll seed , but because you have so much compost, once the seed has germinated and grows large enough to dry out some, you might want to fix your footprints and other depressions with a roller then... never roll 'wet' soil/compost...

didnt you say a while ago that aerating and overseeding are no good? Are you saying that aerating is ok if your doing a total kill? Im just trying to understand things more.

[Smallaxe]

Originally Posted by nightshutter

didnt you say a while ago that aerating and overseeding are no good? Are you saying that aerating is ok if your doing a total kill? Im just trying to understand things more.

Visualize for a moment, of the holes in the lawn 4-5" apart and some plugs lying about.
Notice that the space between the holes are untouched and are no more prepared for seed than they were before you started. The only place that is different is the hole itself and it is debatable the the seed that germinates in the hole will survive for a full growing season as the hole fully closes shut...

In bare/thin areas, multiple passes with an aerator is similar to tilling, with the surface busted up and loose soil all around... with a garden weasel or even a drag to level the loose soil and seed makes an adequate seed bed, when aeration is needed...

And that's the key... Is aeration needed? If not, then there are better ways of preparing the lawn for seed...

[RigglePLC]

I wanted to answer this question, (does aeration prepare a seed bed?) so I tried some preliminary tests on Oct 11th. I don't own an aerator so I used a 1" soil probe. "Aerated" a one-foot square area with the holes 3 inches apart on center. I added seed before and on a second sqft spot, after the "aeration". The cores were rather deep--around 4 to 5 inches and the soil was sandy and slightly dry. It brought up a lot of soil. Perhaps this is like a double or triple aeration. I also did a simulated slit seeding--I cut slits in sod at 1.5 inch intervals with a foot-operated edger, adding a half ounce of seed on top of that, (not visible in the photo.) Plus a sqft with no soil prep.
I did a similar test on a neighbor's vacant lot. Both areas thin and had dead crabgrass. Rain and cool temperatures expected. Stay tuned.

[MikeInMKE]

Riggle,

If you could, please add one more test. No prep of the existing lawn, just spread seed, then spread a thin layer of topsoil over the top of the grass and seed using the back of a metal rake.

The existing grass might benefit from the top-dress of topsoil and it'll put the new seed at the proper depth in soil.

Thanks!