Overseeding Question

[GreenGro]

I've wanted to nuke my grass and renovate with KBG for years but my wife is not on board with using that much roundup with our well. has anyone ever overseeding using KBG and had any luck with incorporating KBG into the existing grass? I was hoping I could do this for a few years and end up with more KBG than my NoMix I have today.

[andy10917]

Read the dozens of threads that have gone before you. It doesn't work.

[GreenGro]

I searched for some time before posting but wasn't able to pick the correct combination of words to pull back anything meaningful. what a shame.

[ken-n-nancy]

[Overseeding KBG into a Northern Mix] doesn't work.

+1.

Regarding whether or not it's okay to use glyphosate for a renovation with a well is up to you and your wife -- it's your property. Personally, I feel that glyphosate is a lot more benign than all realistic alternatives and that the "negatives" tend to be overhyped by media and the potential of lawsuits via the "deep pockets" of large corporations.

We are also in NH with a domestic well and did a front lawn renovation last year. We used glyphosate to kill off the prior lawn.

Ways to mitigate the use of glyphosate (or other herbicides) in doing a renovation include

• doing a "by sections" renovation -- maybe 1/3 of your property each year, starting with a "less visible" area to not show all your neighbors you're killing off your lawn

• removing the sod / soil from the surface (say about the top 2 inches)

• finding a source for grubs and stocking your lawn with grubs to kill off all the grass (just thought of this one off the top of my head -- never heard of it being done -- maybe we should patent the approach?)

Personally, I'd suggest going with a "by sections" renovation -- develop consensus with your wife to do a portion this fall that doesn't use as much glyphosate as killing off everything. You'll gain valuable experience in the partial renovation; you can see if the results are what you seek and if you have the perseverance to grow a KBG lawn in New Hampshire; and you could always use the newly-renovated KBG area for "plugs" to fill in bare spots in other lawn areas if you really want to try "incorporating KBG" in other areas.

[northeastlawn]

I tired over-seeding a mystery lawn, with a Northern Mix (PR, KBG, and FF). I was hoping enough KBG would germinate and that the KBG would slowly fill in. All I did was waste time, I ended up doing full KBG reno a year later.

Watching the KBG fill in byself is amazing. I had to deal with POA (still dealing with it), but is much easier dealing with it now with KBG.No more constant over-seeds or blowing off pre-ms because I need to fill in bare spots.

I now realize that you may go without a lawn from aug-oct if you do a full reno, but to truly see why KBG works so well takes a few seasons. So you might as well do it right once, than do constant over-seeds that will never work as well as a 100% KBG on its own.