Steps to starting a new lawn. Steps to overseeding your lawn

[Bestlawn]

Steps to new lawn establishment

1. Get a soil test. Call your nearest county extension service.If you need to apply sulfur, lime, or any other amendment per test recommendation (that is not applied in Step 6), you can do it after seeding if you don't get results back in time.

2. Apply that "R" word stuff and again one week after the first application. You can seed the lawn one week after the second app.

3. Scalp it down

4. Rake it up

5. Core aerate

6. Fertilize

7. Sow seeds

8. Topdress 1/4 inch layer compost, peat moss, or clean straw (weed-free).

9.
water 15-20 minutes twice a day for two weeks
water 20-30 minutes once a day for one week
water 30-45 minutes once a day every other day for one week
water 30-45 minutes once a day twice a week for one week
move into deep irrigation, increasing the time to provide 1 inch of water all over and decreasing the frequency to just once a week.

Starting off, the schedule supplies roughly 1/4 inch of water, then increases that amount while decreasing frequency of application at the same time. Like practically everything that concerns lawn care, this schedule is a general guideline and should be modified to accommodate your specific conditions. The lengths of time should be modified if you have an automatic sprinkler system since that will not take as long to provide adequate moisture. So, decrease amount of water (time) but maintain frequency as is. The tuna cans test is recommended. If it is still especially warm, you may want to irrigate 3 times a day (10-15 minutes if necessary) for that first couple weeks. Your objective is to keep the upper 1 inch of soil moist and not let the seeds dry out. Baby the grass for the rest of year. Once the seeds begin to sprout, don't walk on it if at all possible.

First mowing is when the new grass reaches 2.5-3 inches. Cut it down to two inches. Early mowing is beneficial to help it establish more vigorously.

Steps to overseeding

To overseed with as little damage to the existing lawn as possible, then mow it down gradually, not removing more than 1/3 at a time. Then, lowering the height and raising it again should also be a gradual process.

1. Get a soil test. Call your nearest county extension service for a test kit and sampling instructions. It will likely take two weeks for results. If you need to apply sulfur, lime, or any other amendment per test recommendation (that is not applied in Step 5), you can do it after seeding if you don't get results back in time.

2. Mow to within one and half inches, but mow it down gradually. Cut off 1/3 the grass blade and another 1/3 three or four days later. Repeat if necessary.

3. Rake it up

4. Core aerate or cheat and apply Nitron A-35 to relieve soil compaction.

5. Fertilize

6. Sow seeds (slit seeding is best)

7. Topdress 1/4 inch layer compost, peat moss, or clean straw (weed-free). (One cu. yard/1000 sqft).

8.
water 15-20 minutes twice a day for two weeks
water 20-30 minutes once a day for one week
water 30-45 minutes once a day every other day for one week
water 30-45 minutes once a day twice a week for one week
move into deep irrigation, increasing the time to provide 1 inch of water all over and decreasing the frequency to just once a week.

Starting off, the schedule supplies roughly 1/4 inch of water, then increases that amount while decreasing frequency of application at the same time. Like practically everything that concerns lawn care, this schedule is a general guideline and should be modified to accommodate your specific conditions. The lengths of time should be modified if you have an automatic sprinkler system since that will not take as long to provide adequate moisture. So, decrease amount of water (time) but maintain frequency as is. The tuna cans test is recommended. If it is still especially warm, you may want to irrigate 3 times a day (10-15 minutes if necessary) for that first couple weeks. Your objective is to keep the upper 1 inch of soil moist and not let the seeds dry out.

9. First mowing is when the new grass reaches 2.5-3 inches. Cut it down to two inches. Early mowing is beneficial to help it establish more vigorously. However, the existing grass will be considerably taller, so you'll have to mow down gradually again to the point of mowing 1/3 off the new grass. You do want to get the new grass mowed early at this time in order to promote tillering. Then, you want to gradually raise the mowing height to desired length of 2.5 inches. Higher if you prefer.

[macarciero]

(First 2 weeks)
Schedule supplies 1/4 inch water with both waterings per day combined or 1/4 inch the first watering and a 1/4 inch the second?

[aug0211]

I know a lot has changed in this space over the last couple of years. Is there a more recent guide you recommend for everyone?

I noticed this does not include fallowing (which I understand is still a relatively recent learning). I'm wondering if there's a more up to date thread to use as a single source of info (I've basically put my plan together by reading various reno threads from recent years and general browsing).

[bpgreen]

I know a lot has changed in this space over the last couple of years. Is there a more recent guide you recommend for everyone?

I noticed this does not include fallowing (which I understand is still a relatively recent learning). I'm wondering if there's a more up to date thread to use as a single source of info (I've basically put my plan together by reading various reno threads from recent years and general browsing).

The step where she says to use Roundup and then again one week after that is just another way of saying to fallow the lawn.

And when she wrote that, ST6 wasn't doing the soil test analyses, so she recommended using your nearest county extension service. You can still use the county extension service, but you can get a more thorough analysis from ST6 if you use Logan Labs.