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marymisk

Fertilize after Overseed - Starter or Ironite

marymisk
15 years ago

Hello,

I just over seeded my lawn on Sept 18. (Best of the blues from seedland). I had my lawn care company put down a starter fertilizer instead of my normally scheduled fertilizer on Sept. 22. 18-24-12.

So what is my next step with fertilizing? Another round of starter fertilizer? If so, when?

Also, what are your thoughts on using Ironite? One of my neighbors uses it all summer long and I have to say their grass is super green. Even though it has cooled down, I still have some yellowing in some areas. I had a soil test done late last year and it showed lower phosphorous and not iron so I'm a bit perplexed to why I still have a yellowing issue. My lawn care company did a higher phosphorous feed in May of this year to take care of that. Otherwise, all the other levels were fine.

Background - Lawn was laid in May 2007 with a contractor mix I assume. I keep the grass higher when it is really hot. Watered at least once a week deeply. Never take more than an inch off and keep my blades sharp. Yet my grass scalping neighbor with no watering looks greener than mine does now (although it didn't before). Yes, I probably am pouting lol. :)

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Mary

Comments (7)

  • eriocaulon
    15 years ago

    With Best of the Blues, your lawn should be much darker next year... it's too bad you didn't kill off the contractor's mix though--you could have had "showcase". In any case, at this point, you are probably good for one last "late fall" application sometime late october when the topgrowth has ceased (ie. done mowing) because of the cold. If it were me, I think you have put down enough phosphorus so would do straight Lesco 24-0-11 you get at Home Depot--it is much cheaper than Vigoro/Scotts. Don't pay attention to "good for 15,000 sq.ft" because Vigoro/Scotts likes to scam people--in small print, they write "when applying 0.6lb/1000sq.ft of nitrogen". What a crock! Lesco's "12,000 sq.ft" 50lb bag is way cheaper and has more product than the other's "15k sq.ft" 42lb bag. Just put down the appropriate amount for your lawn size--about 1 lb /1000 sq.ft.

    BTW, did you slit seed when your overseeded or some other method?

  • jeannie7
    15 years ago

    September 18....in Ohio, zone 5...or 6..its probably too late to think overseeding will do anything. At this date the soil is losing its temperature fast and its the temperature of the soil that has a great deal to do with seed germinating. The reason why we don't fertilize after mid August is we wish our plants to go dormant and harden off in case of early frosts.
    Much like seeding a plant indoors next spring...the temperature decides what sort of germination takes place.

    Now there is always a possibility that autumn in any one year might ...might be a warm one with temperatures constantly in the 60's & 70's.
    Such would have to be that the soil doesn't lose its heat from what summer has given it...but even the Farmers' Almanac would agree, our autumns are not like that and you can expect very cool temperatures in early October.
    The reason why we are enjoying the color of our trees is because temperatures are stopping water from staying in the
    tree and sunlight which is fast declining in intensity and will until after the winter solstace, prevents chloraphyll from keeping the leaves green.

    Generally, September 1st is the deadline for seeding/overseeding if one should expect something to happen.

    What will happen though, is the seed will sit there...until the right temperature of the soil does come....next spring...and begin germination then.
    It would not do the overseeding justice to prompt it to do something it cant....so fertilizing is best waited until next spring.

  • golfnbrian
    15 years ago

    I had sod laid for me at a new house I built 8 years ago...one thing I finally diagnosed after having multiple problems was that the new sod had thatch, and it took two aggressive aerifications to get that lawn to act like it should...you might check for thatch in your lawn.

  • golfnbrian
    15 years ago

    your observation is on track skizot, you wouldn't think that sod from a sod farm would have thatch....i wonder how long it takes for thatch to form in mostly kbg sod if it's aggressively fertilized and watered(sod farm)....and maybe business was slow for this sod farmer and this batch of sod had been there for a couple years or more?? not really sure.

    the most frustrating part of it was in the heat of summer here in MN, even if i watered deeply it wouldn't go deep, it would run off into the street...that first fall I aerated aggressively and that improved the condition dramatically....I still remember getting out my garden rake because I was going to get all that thatch out myself, as you can imagine, I lasted about 20 minutes before giving up....wonder how many of us have done that.

  • beame2_live_com
    12 years ago

    I had sod put down in September of 2010. What do I need to do now to keep the sod healthy. I notice around the edges, it's kind of brown. Should I fertilize it, seed it, cut it. Hasn't been cut yet. Any info. will be greatly appreciated. Thanks...

  • chawicky09_yahoo_com
    12 years ago

    I just used a starter fertalizer after having my yard hydro seeded. Applied fertalizer 2 weeks after hydro was put down. How long does the fertilizer last, and what do I do next.