Planted in Fall, now what

11 years ago

I live in Northeast OH and planted a new lawn from seed in the back yard last fall. It came up pretty nicely, but with a few weeds here and there, and some quite bare patches in the more shady areas near the house.

Now I am getting conflicting advice. Weeds were a problem for the yard in the past, which is why I replanted in the first place. With some weeds already evident from the first planting, I am not sure what to do now -- apply a pre-emergent herbicide to control any new weeds as you would normally (I believe it's getting to be close to time to doing that), or overseeding to thicken up the new lawn (because weeds will find it easy to sprout in a thin lawn).

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Comments (4)

grass1950
11 years ago
You already appreciate the "six of one" (pre-m for no weeds but can't plant grass) and the "half a dozen of the other" (no pre-m so you can plant grass but get weeds) sittuation. I aloso live in NEO and redid my lawn a couple of years ago. I chose to keep overseeding the thin and bare spots and not use a pre-m. Instead I used WBG per package directions and then spot applied it throughout the year taking care to avoid any newly seeded areas or turf that was less than a month old. It worked out very well. If you have more patience than I , you can go the pre-m and WBG route Spring and summer and reseed/overseed in the fall per common wisdom.
On the shady side of my lot, I ended up using a fescue and KBG mix and it has finally taken. The rest of the lawn is KBG which fills in thin spots quickly with proper fertilization and watering.
gsweater
11 years ago
You can use Tenacity as a pre-m and still plant your seed to fill in the bare spots. Lots of threads on the benefits of Tenacity on this forum. While it's expensive, it's perfect for this very scenario. Have your cake and eat it too!!!
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gsweater
11 years ago
Doh! Forgot to mention it will take care of your weeds too :)
dchall_san_antonio
11 years ago
The time to fix the bare spots was last fall. The common wisdom of times past was to seed in the fall. Well, the fall is a 3-month period that leads to very mixed results. Now we are trying to home in on late summer as the time to seed. Specifically, late August is the time to start. That gives the seed puh-lenty of time to get established so you can tell if you have thin spots, Then you still have time to add more if you need it.

What kind of grass did you put in? If it was Kentucky bluegrass, it will never fill in to the shady areas. If you put in fescue, it, too, will never fill in to the shady areas. However, while KBG never has a chance there, you can seed new fescue into the shade and it will take. It just will not spread there by itself.

Since it is shady, the other good news is that crabgrass will not like it there. If you do decide to seed this spring, you can expect crabgrass to come in where you are putting new seed...unless it is shady. Then it's a crapshoot. It might or it might not. Crabgrass is a warm season annual plant that spreads like crazy in the full sun.

If you planted Kentucky bluegrass, it will slowly spread this season to fill the thin areas in full sun. Next year it will spread a little faster. In the third year it practically leaps out of the ground to spread. But shade is off limits for KBG. Many people will plant a mix of KBG and fescue to get the benefits of both.