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New Lawn

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#1 ·
I have a new lawn which I put in early July. The day after I put in the lawn, it down poured washing out a lot of areas and making ruts. I live on a hilly area which it been a constant battle to keep things from shifting. I decided to redo the lawn after Labor Day. After a week and a half it rain hard again. This time it was not bad. The landscaper who put the seed down used staw (Fresh cut wheat) to mulch the seeding. The grass had started to come up so it did not wash away like last time. Here is the real question. I have a lot of wheat coming up on the newly plant lawn. I can cut it but it grows faster than the regular grass. Will this eventually die out or will this be an ever lasting problem? Also, I have a lot of bare spots which I am not sure how to approach in spring. Hand working would be to much. Could I use something to fluff up the soil in those areas and re-seed? What could I use? I did use a power dethacher in the areas I kept from July and it worked okay. Any other suggestions?

Barry Simon
 
#2 ·
Wen I seed large areas I try to use straw not hay. Hay has weed seeds in it. You can do away with that problem with a good dose of Pre-emergent. Followed by Trimec (postemergent) if that fails. Remember to use a pre that has Siduron in it so as to not kill the new seedlings. For best results rent a power seeder for the bare spots. The tines will slice the soil and drop seed into the grooves for better contact. Good luck
 
#3 ·
Wheat is a winter annual grass. It will die in the heat of next summer. (Until the early 1900's wheat was always sown in with new turf seed, because the wheat sprouts and roots so readily, thus stabilizing the planting area. It was discontinued to reduce the cost of seeding.) Just mow as normal, and since the wheat will not be able to go to seed, it will dissapear after next summer. Only way to remove it sooner is to hold off mowing for a couple of weeks, let the wheat grow up to 8"-10", and use a wick application of Roundup, wiping the wheat only.

Concerning the bare spots, what types of grass were sown, and how large are the bare spots?
 
#4 ·
My bare spot in my lawn is sporatic. Some are large and some are small. The land scaper used a Harley rake and a brillion seeder. He needed to match up to the already estb. areas in the ditch and on top of the hill. It's the rest I believe that will need extra TLC and some over seeding. These power seeders, do they come in a walk behind version. Also I want to add that it has been cold here in Wisconsin with two days of frost in early October. I don't believe the grass had a good chance to grow. Maybe it went dorment or slowed down? Thanks for the reply on the wheat. I was hoping it was an anual and that it would die off. I was thinking in spring time just aerating the sections realy good and dropping the seed in. Any comments on this?

Thanks
 
#5 ·
Simon- The power seeders I use are walkbehind. 21-26" width. The cold will affect the germination of seed especially bluegrass. I have had frost here in Jersey yet the days are warm enough for germination of perennial ryegrass. Bluegrass may not come up till next season. Aeration is a good practice. I do mine every yr. Only problem is that seed will get washed into the holes and give a plugged appearance. It'll fill out though. For even distribution use the seeder.
 
#6 ·
For best effectiveness in spot seeding, rough up area with a rake or cultivator, level, seed, and mulch large areas with straw to prevent erosion (85-95% germination rate). Second most useful option would be your power-seeding, or slit seeding, with a walk behind machine (65% germ rate). Just aeration and seeding would give a lower success rate. If larger bare spots have eroded into depressions, you may have to add soil before seeding.

Do not be concerned about the growth rate above ground this time of year. Now is the natural time for underground growth and activity to give a better plant next spring.
 
#7 ·
Simon,

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I don't have all the answers to your questions, but I can tell you what I did to my lawn.
After using the search about overseeding and aeration, and seeking advise about this on this site I did the following.
I rented a Bluebird power seeder that is a slit type cutter that dispenses the seed as it goes.
this was done around the 20 th. of Sept.
I started seeing new grass about 1 & 1/2 wks. later. There were many bare spots that did not germinate. It seems that the places that had old grass did better. I thought that these bare spots washed because of a heavy rain.
About 1 & 1/2 wks. ago I worked many of the bare spots with a small hand cultivator, then reseeded by hand until I ran out of seed.
Now I see new grass not only in the reseeded areas but in the bare spots that I DID NOT RESEED!
So I have concluded that the seed didn't wash away after all. For some reason the seed didn't germinate as fast as the places that had old grass (some green some killed by freeze).
The pros. recommend lightly watering 2 to 3 times a day. That is hard to do. I did water almost every day, and sometimes twice a day. The soil didn't dry out though.
I think I will have very thick grass in the reseeded spots and that I will still have some bare spots after all.
I would recommend the slit seeder, but I would go over the bare areas at least THREE times. ( go over area, then again perpendicular, then again at a 45 deg.)
I went over my lawn once then again at a 45.
You can check out this thread for more info. http://lawnsite.com/showthread.php?threadid=4548

Ricky

In His (lawn) Service
 
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