Blueberry kbb

[4cast]

So it’s not fall but I just started a total lawn renovation on 4K sq ft lawn. Everyone says it’s hard to seed in spring due to weed pressure and summer temps but I am going all in anyway. I’m expecting some issues and was hoping I could get some advice as problems occurr trying to get this grass established thru the summer. So I am in Long Island, NY. I am using a self mixed all KBG blend of 40% Blueberry, 20% everglade, 20% bewitched,& 20% bedazzled. Lawn has full sun all day. I rented a bobcat to strip off the old lawn/weeds, and had new topsoil, and compost delivered. After raking it flat and tilling it into what was left of the soil I seeded at 5lbs per K. I also applied a half rate of tenacity, and used Scott’s starter with weed control at the full rate. Obviously I’m worried about weeds witch is why I seeded so heavy and gave it extra tenacity. So I did what I could combat what should be a tough weed fight, I will post again when i see some signs of life. Seed day was today 5/6/18. I have Sprinklers set for 10am and 2pm for 15 minutes each, and plan to manually turn on more often as needed. Just added a bit of peat to finish it off ...




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[PSU4ME]

5lb per k is a lot of seed for KBG. I think the seeding rate is usually around 2lb per K.

The biggest issue with spring seeding is the summer heat. My neighbor did his in the spring and it came in a little thin with weeds but it was correctable. KBG should fill itself in next year if you can get it through the summer.

[4cast]

I’ve seeded in the past during optimal conditions at the recommended rate and it came in thin, Considering the subpar conditions (spring vs fall), i can’t afford to have a thin germination with all the expected weed pressure. I made sure there were no seeds too close together, the spacing looked pretty good to me.

[andy10917]

You may be sorry - overapplied seed often leads to disease.

[4cast]

Ok maybe this turns out to be about what not to do. Seed just went down today, is it that big a deal to warrant some kind of corrective action to maybe rake down/ bury some of the seed ? Has anyone ever seeded kbg at 5lbs per k in the spring?

[andy10917]

If the seed is down, it's too late.

[Green]

Just a thought...I don't know if this would actually work or not...if you give it the absolute minimum amount of water it needs, some of the seed may die off and not germinate. What I mean by this, is not watering at all if it has rained that day or the previous day (assuming it's not super hot and sunny), or not watering multiple times per day every single day. I've read (I believe from Morpheus on here) that seed generally can go 24 hours from the time it's watered as it absorbs some water before it needs more, even if the soil surface moisture dries up before that. So, maybe stretch out those intervals for the first week...just an idea that might or might not work...since you've seeded at 1.5-2x the max recommended rates.

[4cast]

Thanks for the tip. Just to play devils advocate here, how would I let only some of the seeds dry out? Seems like i could risk killing them all, no?

[andy10917]

Wishful thinking.

[PSU4ME]

You’re going to have to roll the dice and play it by ear. See what sprouts and makes it through the summer and treat any disease that pops up.

[4cast]

What if I ran a core aerator over it, wouldn’t that create some space before it germinates?

[Ben]

Wait and see what happens. If you get overcrowding which leads to disease...less learned. Otherwise, just let it take its course and report back on progress.

[Smolenski7]

Don't over think this. You put down a lot of seed, you're not the only one on this forum to do that. In fact, I bet you are in the majority.

I don't understand over seeding anyway. I'm not saying it isn't possible, but if the seed is all KBG, isn't it going to fill in to a point where there are the optimal number of blades occupying a certain area are reached? At that point, doesn't it just stop because of competition for resources?

[PSU4ME]

Fungus, competition for light/water/nutrients all could lead to unhealthy and diseased grass. Not saying it will happen to him but those are the main concerns when things are “packed too closely”.

[4cast]

Okay this might be a stupid question but here goes... when I was mixing the seed I had to estimate the amounts since I bought more seeds than I needed. So i needed 4 lbs each of everglade, bewitched, and bedazzled for a total of 12 lbs. plus 8 lbs of blueberry. But I had a 25 lbs bag of blueberry, a 3lbs bag of bewitched, a 7lbs bag of more bewitched, a 5 lbs bag of bedazzled, and 5 lbs of everglade. So basically I had to guess. So I combined the 3lbs bag of bewitched with the 5 lbs bag of everglade was into a bucket to make 8 lbs. I then took another bucket and poured the blueberry in up to tha same height as the other 8 lbs bucket, leaves me with what I thought was 8lbs. I then used a third bucket to estimate what 4 lbs would be of bedazzled by doing half the amount compared to to the other buckets. I then mixed them by pouring them together many times. So I guess the question is, since I really measured by volume, did I totally mess up and not put down what I thought I did? I guess my error could mean I seeded higher or lower than i thought, I’m hoping for the lower obviously. Any takers ?

[HoosierLawnGnome]

This is an interesting situation. 5 lbs / K KBG seed is too much. I can say from direct experience that too much blueberry seed will germinate nicely, then die out when it's a month old before sprout n pout is over. seen it happen on areas I accidentally dumped blueberry seed out and tried to rake up.

You need to thin densely geminated areas out if you can. I'd consider core aerating them to thin them out. When it's orange it's too late.

And yes, I'd absolutely have a preventative fungus program in mind. Start as soon as you can safely apply it to newly germinated turf.

[HoosierLawnGnome]

Okay this might be a stupid question but here goes... when I was mixing the seed I had to estimate the amounts since I bought more seeds than I needed. So i needed 4 lbs each of everglade, bewitched, and bedazzled for a total of 12 lbs. plus 8 lbs of blueberry. But I had a 25 lbs bag of blueberry, a 3lbs bag of bewitched, a 7lbs bag of more bewitched, a 5 lbs bag of bedazzled, and 5 lbs of everglade. So basically I had to guess. So I combined the 3lbs bag of bewitched with the 5 lbs bag of everglade was into a bucket to make 8 lbs. I then took another bucket and poured the blueberry in up to tha same height as the other 8 lbs bucket, leaves me with what I thought was 8lbs. I then used a third bucket to estimate what 4 lbs would be of bedazzled by doing half the amount compared to to the other buckets. I then mixed them by pouring them together many times. So I guess the question is, since I really measured by volume, did I totally mess up and not put down what I thought I did? I guess my error could mean I seeded higher or lower than i thought, I’m hoping for the lower obviously. Any takers ?

Nobody knows and it's too late to matter what we THINK happened. You need to watch it and see what actually happens. If you see areas that have too much germination - that look like spots where seed washed into a low spot and all germinated - then be prepared with some strategies to thin those spots out and minimize fungal damage.

[rucraz2]

It sounds like you need to invest in a scale? Comes in handy for lots of dry material. I dont know about you, but some water soluble chemicals I would prefer not to "guess" with myself.

[4cast]

Germination this morning after only 7 days... pretty quick for kbg

[turf_toes]

It’s been my personal experience that you’ll start to see germination as early as day five.

The 21 days you frequently hear about refers to full germination (meaning any seed that will germinate has germinated).

There’s nothing unusual about what you are seeing.