Guidelines for Re-seeding

[Husky05]

Does anyone else experience the same headaches and whinning that I get from doing seeding work. I don't care if I hydro-seed it or dry seed it with mushroom manure, I constantly get these nutty people calling me and whining to me and asking me very stupid questions.

Examples:
Why isn't my grass growing yet?
Its raining outside right now, should I water my grass now?
What direction should I cut my grass?
Are you going to fix my back yard too? Just for free though I am on a fixed income

Does anyone have any type of guidelines they can pass onto me with watering, fertilizer, and guarantee of work? Any help would be great

[herler]

Tell me you're not seeding this time of year.

[Husky05]

No im not seeding this time of the year its alitte hot for seeding right now

[phasthound]

"I guarantee your lawn will not grow if you don't irrigate it properly."
Seriously, here's an example of a fact sheet I found on line.
http://www.isbirconstruction.com/doc...-rev121410.pdf
If you can find something similar from Penn State it might carry more weight.
But you will never avoid all silly questions. Part of our job is to educate.

[GrassStitcher]

The best solution is seed only in the fall, seeding in the spring just turns into angry customers.

[Smallaxe]

Originally Posted by GrassStitcher

The best solution is seed only in the fall, seeding in the spring just turns into angry customers.

The only time to seed is when the client is going to take responsibility for the watering... early Spring seeding is perfectly fine if the client waters correctly... I have mostly shade lawns and I can successfully seed any time of the year, except when CG control has been applied...

[GrassStitcher]

Every time I seeded in the spring and told the customer to be aware of weeds especially crabgrass later in the summer, they said sure no problem. Then the crabgrass took over and they forgot the conversation?? I got so tired of that, I just seeded what absolutely needed to be done in the spring (small spots) and explained that we will all be better off doing any major seeding and renovations in the fall. I greatly reduce the crazy frantic phone calls in the summer about the spring seeding. At least that's what happens here in CT.

[GrassStitcher]

Originally Posted by Husky05

Does anyone else experience the same headaches and whinning that I get from doing seeding work. I don't care if I hydro-seed it or dry seed it with mushroom manure, I constantly get these nutty people calling me and whining to me and asking me very stupid questions.

Examples:
Why isn't my grass growing yet?
Its raining outside right now, should I water my grass now?
What direction should I cut my grass?
Are you going to fix my back yard too? Just for free though I am on a fixed income

Does anyone have any type of guidelines they can pass onto me with watering, fertilizer, and guarantee of work? Any help would be great

You might want to give your customer a fact sheet when you seed, such as watering, cutting, what to expect when seeding in the spring and fall etc. - try to answers the questions to reduce the calls.

[Smallaxe]

Originally Posted by GrassStitcher

Every time I seeded in the spring and told the customer to be aware of weeds especially crabgrass later in the summer, they said sure no problem. Then the crabgrass took over and they forgot the conversation?? I got so tired of that, I just seeded what absolutely needed to be done in the spring (small spots) and explained that we will all be better off doing any major seeding and renovations in the fall. I greatly reduce the crazy frantic phone calls in the summer about the spring seeding. At least that's what happens here in CT.

The only problem there is... timing...

The belief that CG preventer needs to go down in April, even early May is the problem for lawns in the Midwest... It is frustrating when clients do not water enough to keep the rapid growth of seedlings going OR they water too much and create an "anaerobic block" for seed to be comfortable in...
But I never use the word, "Can't"...

Either way I NEVER guarantee the health of a seeding episode, any more than an M.D. will guarantee "No Heart Attacks for you young man..."