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gtanthony

over seeding

GTAnthony
9 years ago

I tried to do some overseeding on my own as instructions seemed pretty simple, though as ever, the devil is in the details. I have several issues:

1) I tossed on a layer of triple mix and smoothed it out with the back side of a rake, like I saw on youtube. What concerns me is that after doing this the mix combined with random dry stuff on the lawn and mostly turned into little hard rocks ranging from finger nail size down to dust. They will soften up when wet, but after an hour in the sun I see mostly a field of little rocks. If this is a problem did it happen because the triple mix is full of clay and this is not right?
2) I read to water lightly once a day. What is "lightly"? I have about 2000 sqft and water it with a hose for about half an hour. It has been hot (high 20s) and sunny and things look pretty damn dry after an hour or two. More watering or more often? Perhaps I should check a bit further down?
3) I read 6-8lb of seed for 2000 sqft. I used about 2-3 times that and, but for the spots where I hand tossed, it looked like a mild case of dandruff. If each seed will produce one blade then I don't see how this is enough to produce a lawn.
4) I tried to top dress the seeds as suggested but doing so enough so I did not see the seeds seems to bury the existing grass, which doesn't seem like a good idea.
5) After watering, the top dressing sank down and many if not most seeds end up on the surface anyway.

I have the sense I have only accomplished making a big mess of what little lawn I had. Advice is very welcome.

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