Fall overseeding - Page 8

j4c11 · #71 08-06-2015, 02:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by red211

Cheater!!!

Thanks for the info on heat tolerant fescues. I am getting ready for dirt disturbance in the yard myself. The brown patch up the hill sure took a toll on the MILs yard. Bermuda is winning the battle in my West facing front yard but I will give it the fescue treatment for the next six months. Core plugger is ready for action, pallet drag is ready, cub is ready, only 30 more days!

Do you core aerate before or after putting down the seed? Some people recommend doing it one way, some the other way. I didn't aerate at all last fall, I used the verticutter only, but I really would like to aerate this fall, in addition to using the verticutter. Have you ever had issues with seed flushing into the aerator holes and creating clumps?

I know the feeling, I'm ready to go as well haha.

Quote:

Originally Posted by titleist1

I have a very good patch of zoysia in one section that I hope to spread to the rest of the lawn by taking plugs from there. It is about the only area that is crabgrass free. Gonna take a few years for that to take hold though. patch in the foreground of pic is the zoysia. In the background you can see where the crabgrass invaded the fescue but can't make its way into the zoysia because its too thick.

I really think a warm season grass would do really well here given the conditions, but I haven't had much experience with them. Bermuda is considered an invasive weed so I can't really use that I'll get driven out of the neighborhood with pitchforks. Around what times of the year does your zoysia patch green up and go dormant for the winter? What do you plan on doing after it goes brown, just leave it be or do you plan on on overseeding with perennial rye?

red211 · #72 08-06-2015, 11:10 PM

I do both. I put half my seed on before I core, then plug the pooty out of it and spread the rest. Then I chain a pallet to the rear and drag it real good. Some say not to core and seed cause the seed will not live if it falls in the holes. I have seen it come out of the holes and I figure it has a good start on a deep root that way. My holes can't average much more than 2" deep, heck it's pretty tough to disc it in less than that and billions of acres of pasture have been disced in and came up great. I think even moisture is the most important thing to do in getting good germ.

titleist1 · #73 10-14-2015, 02:50 PM

Finally had some rain last week to soften up the yard. So over the weekend I got out the de-thatcher and scratched into the dirt to pull up the crabgrass so I could cut it nice and low. I had a couple 4" block on the dethatcher so it got into the dirt an inch or so. Spread some seed over that part of the lawn been watering it and now I'm standing by for some growth to fill in the sparse areas.

j4c11 · #74 10-14-2015, 05:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by titleist1

Finally had some rain last week to soften up the yard. So over the weekend I got out the de-thatcher and scratched into the dirt to pull up the crabgrass so I could cut it nice and low. I had a couple 4" block on the dethatcher so it got into the dirt an inch or so. Spread some seed over that part of the lawn been watering it and now I'm standing by for some growth to fill in the sparse areas.

Looks good. What are the temps like in MD right now? Next year just nuke the crabgrass , quinclorac is what you're looking for

titleist1 · #75 10-15-2015, 03:28 AM

We have been about 70* daytime high and 50* night time low the last week or so. Looks like we are getting a little cooler for a couple days then bouncing back up a bit over the next 10 days or so.

Thanks for the tip on quinclorac, I'll read up on it. I'd like to try to keep the crabgrass away from that area of the yard if I can. I will probably wait until spring to put down anything unless the product recommends otherwise.

j4c11 · #76 10-15-2015, 08:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by titleist1

We have been about 70* daytime high and 50* night time low the last week or so. Looks like we are getting a little cooler for a couple days then bouncing back up a bit over the next 10 days or so.

Thanks for the tip on quinclorac, I'll read up on it. I'd like to try to keep the crabgrass away from that area of the yard if I can. I will probably wait until spring to put down anything unless the product recommends otherwise.

Yes it's not worth spraying now, the first frost is soon coming and the crabgrass will die. I have a massive crabgrass infestation which wiped out my entire lawn this year, so I've been doing a lot of reading on ways to control it. Quinclorac is a post-emergent, so it will have to wait until next year's crabgrass germinates to be effective. Ideally you want to stop it from germinating to start with, and for that you will need a pre-emergent - this is a chemical that kills the seed immediately as it germinates. You have to put it down before the seed germinates, otherwise it's useless, it does nothing to established plants,so timing is crucial. The Bayer hose-end ready to spray product found at Lowe's and every other big box store has quinclorac in it, but at 1/3rd the recommended rate. Think maybe they want you to buy some more bottles and spray it again instead of giving you the required dose to wipe it out first try?

There are many pre-emergents out there which are very effective, not just against crabgrass but most other annuals. I just purchased a jug of Prodiamine , bit expensive at $65 but it should last me about 10 years, so much cheaper and much more effective than buying stuff at big box stores. I plan on hitting it with pre-emergent early spring, and anything that gets through I will hit with quinclorac and 2,4-D. This should in essence break the annual cycle since there will be no more plants to produce seed for the following year, but there's always dormant seed in the soil so I expect to be doing this for a while.

Shotgun Wedding · #77 10-15-2015, 10:08 AM

Just remember that crabgrass is a biennial, so you have to apply for two years straight. If you don't, you are back to square one.

j4c11 · #78 10-15-2015, 11:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shotgun Wedding

Just remember that crabgrass is a biennial, so you have to apply for two years straight. If you don't, you are back to square one.

Didn't know that, thank you for the info, will probably save me a lot of grief

titleist1 · #79 10-24-2015, 07:33 AM

Finally got some noticeable sprouts from the new seed, I was getting a little anxious that I hadn't seen anything in 10 days.

Wondering if I should hit it with fertilizer meant for new lawns to help the overseed or meant to help with the fall root growth... decisions, decisions!!

j4c11 · #80 10-24-2015, 09:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by titleist1

Finally got some noticeable sprouts from the new seed, I was getting a little anxious that I hadn't seen anything in 10 days.

Wondering if I should hit it with fertilizer meant for new lawns to help the overseed or meant to help with the fall root growth... decisions, decisions!!

You should. There's plenty of phosphorus in the soil but little roots can't extract it very well, so the time to give it phosphorus is now. The Lesco starter found at Home Depot is very good. Hit it again after 4 weeks with Lesco's 18-0-18.