Overseeding Season Has Begun

[Smallaxe]

Originally Posted by suzook

Chain link behind my ride on works awesome!

I'll try that, perhaps even after some minor topdressing... as long as it doesn't set-up a 'wave pattern' over the surface...

[turfcobob]

Originally Posted by Smallaxe

The heat finally broke and now the irrigated lawns are all compacted from excessive water usage to combat the heat... There are these tiny little dirt dips in the turf that the client wants to have filled in with fresh dirt and reseeded... this would amount to a complete topdressing raked out by hand to accomplish what he's expecting...

Since the compaction issue is severe, I've decided that running an aerator at least twice over the turf, then dragging to level off the ground, with a little bit of topdressing for the worse areas, should be the most cost effective way of getting it done...

Does this sound good, or is there a better strategy to loosen and level the turf at the same time , while seeding???

Soil Texture = :The ground is a quality topsoil brought in from local yards, so is a mix of clay, sand, and silt in rather good proportions...
Thanks for any ideas...

That is a good way to level rough ground. You may want to put 4 x4 s on the drag and wire the drag to them in a position so they are lined up the same direction you drive. This will help level as it will keep the drag from following the contours thus dropping the dirt in the low spots and riding over the high spots.

[Smallaxe]

Originally Posted by turfcobob

That is a good way to level rough ground. You may want to put 4 x4 s on the drag and wire the drag to them in a position so they are lined up the same direction you drive. This will help level as it will keep the drag from following the contours thus dropping the dirt in the low spots and riding over the high spots.

I hope it doesn't come to that, but it's a good remedy... thanks...

[suzook]

All my seed jobs I started 2weeks ago are doing wonderful! Gotta love late summer seeding. Beats the pain in the butt early spring seed job I did this year.

[Ticolawnllc]

Since the compaction issue is severe, I've decided that running an aerator at least twice over the turf, then dragging to level off the ground, with a little bit of topdressing for the worse areas, should be the most cost effective way of getting it done...

QUOTE]

What do you mean by drag and what do you use? Like a chain link fence or am I way off.

[lawn2012start]

has anyone ever tried liquid aerator?

[maynardGkeynes]

Not sure what a "dirt dip" is? Do you mean small bare spots between bunched grass? Like erosion? If so, as the original thatch guy, wouldn't you think that the "dip" is just the absence of thatch where the turf used to be? In which case, what you want is not new dirt, but new turf to do the leveling. That would mean breaking up the bare spots, adding a just enough top soil/peat moss make a nice seed bed, and let the grass do the leveling as it fills in and forms the new thatch layer.

[Smallaxe]

Originally Posted by Ticolawnllc

Since the compaction issue is severe, I've decided that running an aerator at least twice over the turf, then dragging to level off the ground, with a little bit of topdressing for the worse areas, should be the most cost effective way of getting it done...

QUOTE]

What do you mean by drag and what do you use? Like a chain link fence or am I way off.

Chain link fence was going to be the likely choice, but there were so many trees that we opted to use the steel spring rakes and settle for partial break down...

[Smallaxe]

Originally Posted by maynardGkeynes

Not sure what a "dirt dip" is? Do you mean small bare spots between bunched grass? Like erosion? If so, as the original thatch guy, wouldn't you think that the "dip" is just the absence of thatch where the turf used to be? In which case, what you want is not new dirt, but new turf to do the leveling. That would mean breaking up the bare spots, adding a just enough top soil/peat moss make a nice seed bed, and let the grass do the leveling as it fills in and forms the new thatch layer.

Yes, that is what I'm trying to do... the client wanted to add new soil,,, but breaking up and using the existing soil is what we want to accomplish...
We did add new soil to larger eroded areas, but the compacted bare spots were plugged as part of the overall aeration process, raked out and seed applied...

The compaction was too extreme so many of those places will be lucky to have the dollhair effect... I may do a dormant seeding and hope for the best b4 pre-m kills of the Spring growth... the freeze/thaw cycle can break up the compaction during that time...