Seed down prep for renovations

[HoosierLawnGnome]

Ok. You've done the deed. Glyphosate has been applied to the entire area. The turf is starting to die. You are now counting down the days to seed down. 10...9....8...7...

Seed down day is launch date. You have timed it as best you can for your climate: Mid August for most cool season climates. BUT, you might be dropping seed earlier if you live in the upper northeast, upper midwest, or Canada. The main thing is that you've waited for the summer weather to break and you have 2 or 3 months of growing days ahead of you before winter hits and shuts down your hobby for the season.

Irrigation has been tweaked.

Soil has been tested. Amendments are under way and it will sustain your turf species.

Major drainage problems like pooling water in low spots are resolved.

There's no turning back now. Your lawn and marriage are on the line. Soon, you will be the subject of snickering neighbors and rubberneckers cruising down the street wondering what that idiot did to kill their entire lawn.

But you have a plan.....

A plan to wow them with the most epic stand of turf that's ever been seen in your zip code.... if all goes well they'll be amazed and asking you for advice by November.... and your spouse will sing your praises for all to hear (well, maybe...)

Now what?

Time to get that seed bed ready!

The first blanket spray of glyphosate is down. You've blanket sprayed a second time a few days later. It is yellowing, or the yard is starting to smell like hay, and it's about 5 or 7 days after that initial spray. Dont wait for it to be completely brown or yellow. Time to scalp.

In my experience, scalping happens 5 to 7 days after that first blanket spray. Dry days are best for scalping. Before scalping, stand up matted areas with a high powered blower or rake. Then cut it as low as you can.

One strategy is to use a mower with side discharge to mow in a circle and discharge it into a centralized pile, raking it up and removing it as it becomes to thick to mow through.

Another strategy is to use a high powered blower or rake to move it into a pile, then remove it. The less soil disturbance the better, so I like blowers, but the primary goal is clearing the path to the dirt. Dont get too hung up on disturbing soil to do so.

You may need to scalp another time after that first scalp and cleanup to mulch anything left and get missed areas. Use your ocular senses and common sense.

The goal is to get seed pressed into dirt, thus planting it. Do not assume seed will fall through and make it to the soil or germinate in a dead canopy of plant material. Seed that just sits on dirt isn't planted. It needs pressed into the dirt so it wont move as easily during rain events and will take root on germination.

When you are done scalping you want stubble and dirt without much dead plant material left to interfere with the seed finding its way to the dirt.

Now is a great time to fill in last minute low spots or do leveling. Get on your hands and knees and look over the soil horizontally, identifying minor soil dips. It's a lot easier to see when the turf is short and your eyes are level with the surface. If you are going the extra mile and leveling with a drag, now's the time to get it perfect.

Ok, the final grade is set.

If you have a day or two before you will drop seed, consider another blanket spray of glyohosate.

Make any soil amendments that are safe this close to seed down.

The hours before seed down, run irrigation as needed to get an inch down for the last week. The soil should be moist but not muddy.

It's time for seed down now. Apply bag rate of milorganite.

Mix in your soil moist seed coating with your sod quality seed. Apply this mix at the rate you've determined is best, applying it in at least two different directions. Touch up the edges using hand applied seed. Look and verify that seed is laying on the soil.

Now you need to press it into the soil. Dont skip this. A water filled lawn roller is great. Go over it a few directions. More is better.

On smaller areas just use the tires on a rider if you dont have a roller, but get every square foot.

You can walk all over it on very small areas of a hundred square feet or less. Eat extra donuts the week before. It's ok. it's for the lawn.

Push that seed into the soil. Gotta do this.

Its almost impossible to overdo this in realistic scenarios. I've had construction equipment put treadmarks on renovated areas and the treadmarks germinate better than other areas.

I like to put out peat moss next, because you already recently applied glyohosate one final time so tenacity is primarily for pre emergent now and I like to put it out the day after seed down to stretch coverage a smidge.

Using dry peat moss, toss it out on the seeds bed or apply with a peat roller. A light dusting is all you need, 1/8 in covering. More is fine, even better. I find I use about 1 of the bigger 2.2 CF compressed bales per 2K.

Once all the peat moss is out, put out any other OM you have . Pine pellets , humic acid granuals, etc. Kelp help and BLSC. I dont apply anything that might have weed seeds in it, like compost. But that is me. If it's good compost, great. If your soil is especially sandy or OM starved, its probably better than peat moss.

Ok top dressing is down, mist it all in with a hose and fine spray pattern until its wet to the soil.

Or use short bursts on the sprinkler system. We are talking something like 3 or 4 5 minute cycles on each zone spread out.

You get the idea. Slow, controlled watering in small droplets that won't shift the top dressing. Check some thicker areas where you applied top dressing that its wet all the way through to the seed.

A dry layer between two heavy wet ones will increase chances of sliding around.

Again dont get too hung up on the perfect way to mist in top dressing.

BOOM. Seed down.

Well except one thing.... tenacity aka mesotrione

Up to 24 hrs after seed down put that tenacity out. Best is a blanket spray two different directions at the 4 oz per acre rate. Triple check. It's a tiny amount. 4 oz per ACRE. Not per thousand s.f.

If you use the scotts starter fertilizer with mesotrione, water it in afterwards.

Now go crack open a cold one and take a deep breathe. Inhale that wonderful smell combining milorganite, dirt, and sweat.

[ken-n-nancy]

Nice posting. I wonder if this should get turned into an article?

What you've described here is basically what we've done in our renovations (how many is it now? 4?) with some minor adjustments.

Thanks for writing it down and posting it!

[HoosierLawnGnome]

Thanks, we have had a lot of specific questions on this process and i thought id expand on it with my approach.

My main priorities are:
Seed to soil contact
Top dressing with peat moss
Tenacity

Soil moist seed coating is nice, extra goodies like milo and humid acid are nice to haves, but that seed to soil contact really needs "pressed in" to the newbie renovators mind so it can take root and grow. (See what I did there? )

[spectrum1c]

Thanks for the fantastic summary.

This is the first time I've seen "soil moist seed coating " mentioned in a post. I'm sure I've read it before, but didn't realize it was a product to use. Will have to give it a shot with my next reno. Where do you typically buy it?

[andy10917]

Typically online - even on Amazon. It does make a difference. 8 oz of the stuff can treat 50 lbs of seed, but I tend to use it at about twice the rate, so I use a lb on 50 lbs of seed. Don't go too much past that, as if severely overdosed it can make the lawn/soil slippery.

[HoosierLawnGnome]

I've used soil moist seed coating for larger renovations.

Dont mix it in until right before applying seed. The granules expand as they collect water, forming gelatinous blobs, which will gum up your spreader. So, make sure that equipment is dry. Rain may be problematic too