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oberci

Questions about overseeding

oberci
9 years ago

(I also posted this in the organic lawn care forum but traffic seems low and I want to begin soon!)

Sacramento, CA
Hi all, soon I will be overseeding my Tall Fescue with the Bolero 90/10 mix recommended by my local garden center.
Before I begin, a few questions for the pros:

1. I usually mow at about 4 inches. The seed tub recommends I mow it down between 1/2 and 1 inch before spreading seed. Sounds so short...Is that correct? How low should I mow?

2. After I spread the seed, should I cover it with a thin layer of peat moss or something else?

3. Several people recommended adding a slow release fertilizer after seeding. How long after seeding do I do this? Can I use an organic fertilizer? What rate do I apply it at?

THANKS to all in advance!!

Comments (2)

  • yardtractor1
    9 years ago

    No pro, but cutting the grass shorter will help get the seed down to the soil and allow light to get to the seed and subsequent young grass. I would not advise dropping to even one inch, especially in one cut from 4". You could incrimentally cut down to 2", maybe 1 1./2" at most ove a 10 - 14 day period before overseeding. A thin dusting of peat moss in larger bare spots can help hold moisture and keep the seed moist between waterings, but it is not necessay and pretty much useless when overseeding an existing lawn that just needs some thickening. A starter fertilizer can supply young seedlings that haven't got much roots the nutrients they need. It can be applied at the time of seeding which is the most convenient. Organic fertilizers take time to produce nutrients so their use in as a starter fertilizer is hard to calculate and time.

    This post was edited by yardtractor1 on Thu, Oct 23, 14 at 17:00

  • forsheems
    9 years ago

    I agree with Yardtractor. I would make the first cut at about 3", give it a few days and then cut to about 2" before reseeding. I think 1/2" is way too low for tall fescue plus most rotary mowers won't go that low anyway. Cutting at 2" will be fine and give the new seeds plenty of time to catch up.

    Covering the new seed with a thin layer of peat moss is fine, especially if you have a small lawn. It's not absolutely necessary but if it makes you feel better go for it. Won't hurt anything.

    I don't like applying any type of synthetic fertilizer at the same time as seeding. The way I see it, all you're doing is giving the established grass a jump on the new seedlings as it will kick in before the seeds have a chance to germinate. IMO it kind of defeats the purpose of mowing low before seeding. Instead, you could go ahead and put down an organic fertilizer like alfalfa (rabbit pellets) which will take about 3 weeks to kick in. By this time the seeds should have germinated anyway.

    One important thing that wasn't on your list is watering. You should lightly water 3 times per day until most of the seed has germinated. This would be anywhere from about 2 to 3 weeks. If this is done correctly you should have germination in about a week. From there, an application of milorganite would be perfect after the first mowing of the new grass.