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Overseeding In Massachusetts

Posted by stevin Ma (My Page) on
Mon, Sep 12, 11 at 14:29

Planning on overseeding in a week if it's not too late.
average temps right now are 74(days) & 60(night.

heres a quick breakdown of the history of my yard:
spring of 2010: landscapers cleared, leveled my property.

Late Late spring of 2010: landscapers finally came back to bring loam and seed. 2 days later temps reached 85 degrees and i had no irrigation system. i couldn't keep up with the watering. weeds took over......

Spring 2011: Dethatched, core aerated & overseeded with Lesco Seed; 75% Perrenial Rye, 25% KBG. No pre-emergent.

Summer 2011: Lawn looked fantastic till it hit 90-95 degrees for 2 weeks straight. Crabgrass explosion!!!!!!

Fall 2011: Irrigation system installed.
Spring 2012: apply pre-emergent?

what i've done thus far is using a tow behind dethatcher on my lawn tractor which pulled up an insane amount of dieing crabgrass & thatch. i'm still waiting on the results from the soil test which i should hear back in another day or 2.
i'm also planning on using a tow behind slice seeder to make the job go by quicker. i have roughly 30,000sqft of lawn to overseed. i will most likely go with Lesco brand seed, just not sure about the which seed mix to go with.
if there are any other steps that i'm missing or should skip please let me know. any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.


Follow-Up Postings:

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RE: Overseeding In Massachusetts

Stevin, you, like sometimes the majority of lawn growers, forget that its not the air temperature you should worry about...its the ground temperature the seed is trying to grow in.
So the odd days of extreme heat will not measurably increase the ground temperature. Sure the sun beating down on a patch of grass can dry it out some....that is why we water in the cool a.m., and cooling off late afternoon, to give the ground moisture it can use to fend off the heat of summer.
Put seed down when rain is expected or on a cloudy, overcast day so the heat of the sun doesn't affect it badly.
Some put a thin layer of soil over the seed as well as in it. Generally, giving the lawn 1/2" of compost every spring...and sometimes, every fall as well, can add lots of organic material to the lawn to make it grow well.


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