Fall hydroseeded lawn is thin/bare in spring

12 years ago

Hello-

I live in NE Wisconsin (Zone 4). My yard was hydroseeded during the first week of November 2011. I watered 2x/day, religiously, for the first month. After a couple of weeks, some grass was visible before winter finally started. It has been a mild winter, not a lot of snow/ice/cold. However, it is now mid-April, and I still have not noticed a lot of change in my lawn, especially in the back of the house. I read that a hydroseeded lawn is usually thick enough to be cut 3-4 weeks after hydroseeding, however, I don't see how that will be possible with my lawn, because it is so thin and bare. Is this normal for lawns that were hydroseeded in late fall? Could the majority of the seed still be dormant? I should mention that we have already had a warm start to spring, with one week of temps in the 70's and 80's (that was about 3 weeks ago). Since then, the temps have been 30's (lows) - 60's (highs).

Any advice or comments would be greatly appreciated!

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Comments (6)

tiemco
12 years ago
The person that hydroseeded your lawn in November in Wisconsin should refund your money. Any seed that germinated and is green now should be OK this year. Seeds that germinated but didn't develop fully probably won't be OK. I would guess that most of the grass that germinated and was green was perennial rye. Any seed that didn't germinate should theoretically be viable this year. Your new grass should wake up once soil temperatures start moving up. Dormant seeds will germinate when soil temps are around 55 degrees and there is adequate soil moisture.
ibanez540r
12 years ago
^ Yup. Your going to get a lot of similar answers. There was an immediate red flag when you said November and zone 4. Big no no.

I'm in zone 5 (Zone 6 this year) and I overseeded in late sept. early oct. and was worried on being too late. Again like said above, also without knowing what seed was used, but likely a mix - the perennial rye sprung up quick and some may have made it, but if any KBB managed to come up it would have been too young and probably killed off by frost/freeze.

You can just hope that it DID get cold real fast and a lot of the seed DIDN'T sprout and just went dormant which means it will sprout now.
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dchall_san_antonio
12 years ago
I agree. Both y'all should have seeded in August.
NY152
Original Author
12 years ago
Thank you so much for the replies! I'm praying that most of the seed is dormant and we don't have to start this process all over again :) I was a bit worried about being too late in the year - should have trusted my gut rather than the landscaper. Oh well, live and learn.
garycinchicago
12 years ago
>"Oh well, live and learn"

Wow. Send me some money then. (you know - live and learn)
ibanez540r
12 years ago
************************************************************

^ Yup. Your going to get a lot of similar answers. There was an immediate red flag when you said November and zone 4. Big no no.

I'm in zone 5 (Zone 6 this year) and I overseeded in late sept. early oct. and was worried on being too late. Again like said above, also without knowing what seed was used, but likely a mix - the perennial rye sprung up quick and some may have made it, but if any KBB managed to come up it would have been too young and probably killed off by frost/freeze.

You can just hope that it DID get cold real fast and a lot of the seed DIDN'T sprout and just went dormant which means it will sprout now.

************************************************************

I just re-read my post and should have worded it differently. The first sentence of the second paragraph was about me, and they rest was meant towards his lawn.

My lawn came out absolutely amazing after taking months and selecting certain cultivars. I'm very happy this spring. (I think I actually seeded more like mid sept.)