Tips on overseeding lawn

Posts

• Obelixx Posts: 30,090

  July 2020

  By mid September, unless there's a heatwave, there should be enough rain to have moistened the soil and to wet the seed once sown.   Don't sow if it's very dry.  Better to wait a few days for rain.
  
  Seed does not need fertiliser to germinate and, if you've done your soil prep well, it shouldn't need feeding till spring.   It's best t use enough seed to allow for some being eaten by birds.  They won't get it all but you can also add a top dressing to hide the seed.
  
  have a read of this info and follow the various links - https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=438 
  
  This is a basic video to help explain - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tt-X9OupsOo   

  Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
  

  "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."

  Plato
  

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• NeoNewLawn Posts: 82

  July 2020

  mawallace44 said:

  Looking to overseed lawn in September.
  
  Will aerate and scarify  the lawn before hand.
  
  Questions - watering
  
  i. How often should you water the new seed (assuming no rain) - I was thinking of setting up timer to come on 4 times a day (including once at night) for 10 mins a time for the first week
  
  ii. Fertilizer - should I leave this until after the seed has started growing - or put this down at the same time as the seed - if I leave it how long
  
  iii.  Is it better to put the seed down, then add topsoil - to protect against birds or vice versa? or put top soil on top - or mixture of both?
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Hi!
  I'm a bit of a noob to lawn, other than to say I completely replanted my entire lawn this year and while doing so, as I am a bit of a geek, I tested various methods of planting the grass seeds to get exactly this answer. How do I best prep and plant to get the best result.
  
  Take a look (if you have nothing better to do, and I mean this includes plucking an eyebrow) at my thread here and you'll  get an idea of how forensic I was. I included growing trays in a few settings under camera to see what works best.
  
  I accept this was for new lawn with zero existing cover but I would imagine there is a fair bit of parallel. 
  You sound like you have done great prep work, this is 90% of the result. I then found putting down a layer of seed as per the grower recommendation and the covering it with a little quality topsoil, had BY FAR the best result. 
  It would seem that seeds at or near the surface are in fact the very last to germinate, if at all, while those with good soil contact (moisture) did by far the best. Those just under the surface and I mean 2-5mm under germinated with about a 95% success rate. I did use a premium seed and believe this had an influence on the result. It's crazy to spend 5 days working on the ground and then saving £10 to get a cheaper seed. Get the very best you can. 
  I just popped out to show you the difference, I used a 'budget' creeping red fescue and dwarf amenity on the back path and the difference in performance of the seeds is incredible. 
  The fescue is patchy, a different colour and not as full or lush. 
  
  
  Here is close up of the fescue as it is seeding where it's clear any seed that isn't at least partly buried simply dies. 
  
  
  I found mixing in a quality 6-9-6 with the soil gave better root performance and a fuller growth pattern. Although I don't believe this is essential. 
  
  So in summary. Prep. Spread. Press (VERY IMPORTANT!). And cover with a light coating of topsoil. I found mixing a few fistfuls of seed with the topsoil gave a green cover sooner as the seeds at different levels come through at different speeds.
  
  I am from a different hemisphere and am used to watering my lawn every day, twice a day. The British have an appropriate faith in the rain coming at some point so I accept leaving it to nature will get a result. 
  But, as with anything I found a little human intervention made a big difference. I watered twice a day, always making sure the ground was damp. In all cases I have had germination and grass showing within 9 days at the latest. Often sooner. 5 is my personal best.
  There is good evidence that watering too much can encourage a shallow root growth, so I worked around this by selecting a good quality tetraploid seed, where root systems are as much as 100% deeper in the ground than regular grass. And strong! So I would agree with watering at least once or twice a day when its not been raining. 
  
  Good luck and send photos!
  Neo.
  
  

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