50% of new seed germinated. Now what?

9 years ago

I live in Durham, NC, and I replanted my lawn three weeks ago. Prior to planting, I killed everything with Roundup. I also aerated in two directions and spread pelletized. Then, I spread the seed with a spreader, but I only did it in one direction; I didn't make a second pass with the spreader perpendicular to the first pass.

I planted fescue. The seed is a mix of:
* 22% Falcom IV
* 22% Titan LTD.
* 23% Rendition
* 23% Piedmont
* 3% Thermal Blue Blaze Bluegrass
* 7% Harwick Hard Fescue.

After spreading seed, I applied some 30-4-10 fertilizer. It's supposed to have ammonical nitrogen, with 50% control released nitrogen for 4 months.

I also raked the seed in with a lawn rake. My yard is pretty compact, so this only did limited good in some areas. In a few areas, I used my thatch rake to work the seed into the soil. The grass is growing extremely well in most areas where I used a thatch rake. I was advised not to lay down straw because it would plant weeds, so I didn't use any straw.

Overall, the grass is spotty at best. Some areas are lush with dense new grass. Some spots are almost completely bare. Other areas are very thin. It looks like the seed only grew in the holes left by the aerator in some areas.

It looks like seeds are still germinating in the areas that get quite a bit of sun, but it's hard to tell. Most of my yard gets full sun, although a few parts get 50-90% shade. I have been misting the lawn 1-3 times every day, just to keep the top layer of soil moist.

So...what should I do? Wait longer? Reseed some areas?

If I should reseed, should I use my thatch rake to rake the new seed into the ground? I'm a little worried about pulling up the grass that is already there, even though it's thin in spots.

EDIT: I failed to say that there is a very thin layer of sandy soil in a few places, but there is hard-packed clay underneath. I think the sandy soil was from some sod that the builder installed a few years ago. Also, we rolled the aerator over the seed after we spread it. The raking was done in some places before the rolling, but after the rolling in most places.

This may be *way* too much detail, but I thought it better to add too much than not enough.

This post was edited by mtstalker on Sat, Oct 4, 14 at 15:31

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Comments (4)

dchall_san_antonio
9 years ago
That was plenty enough detail to let us know you're either a beginner or you're getting weird advice from somewhere. That's fine and makes good background.

Some of what you did was stuff that didn't need to be done. Once you have exposed soil, you don't need to loosen it; all you need to do is apply the seed and step on it to push it into the surface of the soil. Raking will bury some of the seed and that is not ideal. Grass seed should only be buried half the size of the seed, so simply walking on it is perfect. For large areas a roller is used.

Misting was good, but perhaps in the sunny areas it needs a little deeper misting. You could try hitting that area with a little more water to try and sprout the seed you already applied.

Fescue grows as a plant which does not spread quickly. The reason for criss-crossing the planting is so you don't get the corn row effect of little fescue plants all aligned in a row. That can leave room for weeds to penetrate between the rows of fescue plants. Weeds love the sunlight provided between the plants. If you fill the gaps with more fescue plants, then the weeds don't come. So for that reason alone, you might want to add more seed and continue watering.

You did not need straw although it seems to be a local custom in some parts of the country. Using it really seems to complicate the new seed process. The danger you were warned about comes from using hay instead of straw. Hay has seeds. Straw does not have seeds.
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Original Author
9 years ago
I'm definitely a beginner! I got advice from a local landscape supply shop and from the book "Toro's Expert Guide to Lawns."

It's been a few weeks since my post, so I'll follow up. I added more seed to the brown areas, and most of those areas have grass coming up now. There are still a few bare spots, but I may try to wait until the late winter or early spring to replant there. I'm getting a whole slew of dandelions and other small weeds growing in the areas where the grass isn't coming up, though.

The man at the landscape shop said I should water 1" every week, all at once. He said I didn't need to do any watering besides that. Should I at least keep misting on the seeds I just planted? I don't want to overwater, but I don't want to underwater, either.
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beckyinrichmond
9 years ago
Keep watering lightly and frequently. After the seed germinates, you can gradually decrease the frequency and increase the amount of water. Eventually the goal is one inch of water all at once when you have to water. But not now when you're trying to get seed to germinate.
dchall_san_antonio
9 years ago
Agree. 1 inch per week, all at once, is for mature turf. For seed you need to keep it moist continually for 3 weeks to be sure you germinate the Kentucky bluegrass in your mix. And misting is about all you need. Just apply enough water to keep the very surface of the soil moist. That might be 5 minutes per time, 3 times per day (breakfast lunch and dinner). That should sprout all the fescue in 2 weeks and all the bluegrass in 3 weeks.