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We've been in our home 6 years now and did an elite KBG seed (hyrdroseed actually) from scratch, it's been great but the yard is now 6 years old and I'd like to overseed and treat with some tenacity to hit the poa while I'm at it. What are the current seed recommendations? Mixes? Suppliers?

Front is just about full 100% sun, the back is only part sun and strugges with a little bit of shade. I'd be open to splitting the seeds between the front and back. My preference is something that's as genetically dark as possible.

I've added a front yard and a back yard photo for reference.

Thanks for the help!
Brian

Take a look at Mazama. It scored very high on a NTEP test for a KBG variety that handles shade well. It is very genetically dark. It also seems highly resistant to Tenacity. I have some that I seeded last year and yesterday someone asked me if it was sod. Makes a nice turf. $4.00 pound at Ford and Sons, Geneseo, Illinois. They ship.

Thanks for the reply, I appreciate it. Given disease potential I typically have stayed away from a monostand but since this is just an overseed, it's ntep 2014 ratings make it look ideal for my use case.

I appreciate it!
Bb

I have been using the Sunny mix from Seed Super Store. It has a nice mix of midnight, Mazama KBG among other cultivators. It establishes well and has a great color especially in the spring and fall.

BTW, your property looks amazing! Best of luck

Thanks guys, I bought 50 lbs of mazama per recommendation above.

Next question, I've got a bunch of poa annua, a little bit of creeping bent etc that I'd like to kill/stress by the time I seed. Tenacity seems to take months, if I plan to seed in August should I start my tenacity now?

bombri wrote: ↑

June 17th, 2021, 10:38 pm

Thanks guys, I bought 50 lbs of mazama per recommendation above.

Sorry I don't know the answer to your poa question. But where in MN are you located? Did you happen to stumble upon Twin Cities Seed?

Next question, I've got a bunch of poa annua, a little bit of creeping bent etc that I'd like to kill/stress by the time I seed. Tenacity seems to take months, if I plan to seed in August should I start my tenacity now?

It's really more question about how you want to use the Tenacity - you have an annual limit of 16 oz/acre. That can be eight 2 oz/acre treatments or four 4 oz/acre treatments. Are you going to use the Tenacity also as a Pre-M at seeding? All of these questions need to be answered (by you) before you can plan out the best path that works for you...

Good questions Andy. I think I'd like the poa/bent to be properly stressed at time of seeding. This may actually require me to manually rip some of the bent up to get the seed down to the soil. It then would be nice to apply a couple more times post seed to address any weeds attempting to compete with new grass.

My yard is about 12k square feet.

OK, so the next step is to figure out when you want to make applications (and at what rate), and using how much Tenacity. Don't spend a ton of time worrying about getting the seed to the soil - how do you figure that happens when the seed is on seedheads 6" above the soil? It will get there. Go ahead a make a plan and post it for review...

Thanks Andy, probably roughly something like this.

July 10 - Tenacity, Milorganite
July 25 - Tenacity, Milorganite
August 5 - seed (starter, milorganite, pest moss)
August 10 - Tenacity, Milorganite
August 25 - Tenacity, Some nitrogen, Milorganite

You don't think the seed to soil matters at all? No need to use a split seeder?

In my opinion, none at all. Put the seed down and 1/8" to 1/4" of peat moss, Done!

Lbs per thousand for an already established lawn? 2 per 1000? 3 per 1000?

Thanks,
Bb

Your lawn looks great from the photos, so it's hard to tell. If your existing lawn is "struggling," (as you said above) then the new stuff will take well in those areas. In areas where the existing lawn is well-established, it won't. There are no homes available for the new grass to move into the neighborhood.

In well-established areas, I might drop back to 1, anticipating very little will establish anyway (so why waste it?) In spottier areas, 2. If you have areas that are blank or mostly-blank, then go to the full 3.

I've found that, over the years, cultivars have gone to war. What started as a mutli-cultivar lawn is now mostly Midnight family stuff. I can't find any Bedazzled any longer, and precious little Moonlight. But others have reported differing results.

Thanks Morph, that's very helpful. I guess it wouldn't be fair to say that the yard is struggling, I've put off doing the overseed the last couple years because it looks so nice this time of year. However, poa annua has found its way in especially along the edges and I have a fair amount of creeping bent especially near the neighbors property. Much of that is already turning pretty white after applying Tenacity 9 days ago. My second treatment will be here again in five days.

I'm three weeks in to my Tenacity treatment and about a week to ten days out from overseed. I am not experiencing as much yellowing as I anticipated and the grass is pretty thick. Any ideas for how I should go about the overseed.

Andy, I know you suggested not to split seed and I know the recommendations are against aeration for weed germination reasons, but I'm curious what kind of luck I'll have with germination while the current yard is as thick as it is.

OK, I'm totally lost. What does "split seed" mean?

And why are you overseeding if the lawn is if it's that thick?

Sorry Andy, typo - slit seed.

Because during the spring and summer there is a bunch of poa annua which I presumed would turn white and thin out allowing an overseed in its place. I'm just not seeing much yellowing or thinning, at least in the front.

Sorry Andy, typo - slit seed.

Ah! Yes, I'm not a fan of slit-seeding - it really does spread Poa Triv, and my experience is that it doesn't increase germination at all,

Because during the spring and summer there is a bunch of poa annua which I presumed would turn white and thin out allowing an overseed in its place. I'm just not seeing much yellowing or thinning, at least in the front.

It sounds like you're fighting a battle with a nonexistent enemy.

Come on Andy, I was counting on you to tell me it was beyond repair and required a nuking....

Nope - I'm a recovered serial renovator. My advice is to do the aggressive Fall Nitrogen Regimen and watch it grow/thicken until it stalls your mower.