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Best time to kill and reseed?

Posted: April 14th, 2020, 3:29 pm
by Brandon011582
Hi. I live in Connecticut. I recently purchased my home after a few years of renting it. While renting, I didn't put to much time and energy into the lawn besides mowing, watering and basic fertilizing. During late Spring/Summer, the grass is always green with a few areas of minor weeds. But overall satisfied. However, once the temps drop in the fall large areas of the front and back yards turn brownish, yellow. I always thought it was something I was doing wrong or not doing when it comes to maintenance of the lawn. Now that I own the house, I want to get to the root of this issue.

I posted this same issue in another forum and was told that I have Zoysia growing and this is what is turning brown in the colder months since its a warm season grass. I was advised that I can use RoundUp in July to wipe it out and reseed with a Northern mix in August.

Just looking on a second opinion on the timing of doing this (July/August). I always assumed that Fall or early spring were the best times to grown new grass in New England.

Thanks in advance!


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Re: Best time to kill and reseed?

Posted: April 14th, 2020, 4:13 pm
by andy10917
That's a good description of growing Zoysia in the North. It is straw-colored from late September to early May.

The best time to seed a Northern lawn is around August 15th - just as the evenings cool off just a few degrees.

Warning: Zoysia doesn't die that easily, and it may take a few RoundUp (Glyphosate) applications to kill it. Start killing it 4 weeks before you wants to reseed.

Re: Best time to kill and reseed?

Posted: April 15th, 2020, 8:39 am
by flyin-lowe
I live in Indiana and over the past 6 or so years I have been killing off and re-seeding sections of my 5 acre yard. I do an acre at a time and due to the distance from my house I have to rely on mother nature for irrigation. The last acre sections that I did I would spray them with round up in early July so I would be ready any time after August. I would just have to watch the weather and when there was a rainy spell in the forecast I would put the seed down. One year it wasn't until October but it stayed wet for almost two weeks. That section came in quick and great. The last acre I did the forecast was wrong and it has take 2 years to get it looking good. If the area you are doing can be watered you have a little more wiggle room.

Re: Best time to kill and reseed?

Posted: July 7th, 2020, 2:04 pm
by Brandon011582
Thank you for all the responses and recommendations. I will be using Glyphosate in a few weeks to kill the Zoysia. Just one more question...will the Glyphosate harm the Forsynthia and Hosta plants that I have in my front yard? Should I keep a safe distance from them with the Glyphosate?

Thanks in advance!

Re: Best time to kill and reseed?

Posted: July 8th, 2020, 12:34 am
by bpgreen
Glyphosate will kill anything* that is actively growing if it's sprayed on the leaves. And it kills the roots, so the plant won't grow back**.

*There are crops that are sold as "roundup ready" that won't die.
**Except, apparently, trumpet vine, which is harder to eradicate than bindweed.

Re: Best time to kill and reseed?

Posted: July 8th, 2020, 8:43 am
by turf_toes
Make sure you do NOT use the long-lasting stuff.

Re: Best time to kill and reseed?

Posted: July 9th, 2020, 1:14 pm
by __JT__
You can add a tracker dye to the glyphosate, and keep an eye on how windy it is. If you need to get close to desirable plants, you can use something to block the spray like cardboard. I use a piece of plexi.

I renovated by killing a zoysia lawn. I remember starting to fallow around the 4th of July. With multiple rounds to make certain all the zoysia is killed. Its invasive. I recall a few chunks were a slow kill. Its a good time to do it, because as you mentioned , now its awake...

Re: Best time to kill and reseed?

Posted: August 11th, 2020, 9:26 pm
by Brandon011582
Hi again. Today, I mowed the dead grass down to the ground. Tomorrow, I will be dethatching the lawn before putting down new seed.

This might be a silly question but do I just simply seed over whats remaining of the old/dead grass? Do I need to add soil to the lawn before seeding??

Re: Best time to kill and reseed?

Posted: August 13th, 2020, 6:15 pm
by __JT__
You can seed directly onto the ground, and rolling it in is optional. If you have been fallowing, the ground will get pliable. After I nuked my lawn, I cut the grass down close to ground, and it was the few times that I use a bagger. It’s a good idea to cover the seed bed afterwards with peat moss. I did my renovations a few years back, and did a section per year, but you can fine tune this advice by searching/asking in the renovation forum, for folks doing it now, or start a thread. The biggest hurdle that I remember was weather, having the rain washing out your seeding...

Re: Best time to kill and reseed?

Posted: August 25th, 2020, 9:19 am
by mdxers
i did add a light application of some top soil as i didn't get all the dead blades down to the dirt. After killing and scalping, I then raked a bit, and spread some top soil to even out the area and give the seed a even bed. Not much, perhaps a 1/4".

Re: Best time to kill and reseed?

Posted: October 4th, 2020, 9:59 pm
by Brandon011582
Just wanted to update who replied and gave advise. New grass grew perfectly. Couldn’t be happier!!

Thanks everyone!


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Re: Best time to kill and reseed?

Posted: October 5th, 2020, 4:03 pm
by BIGDADDY13
Looks good. I had two patches in my yard that got accidentally nuked this summer by roundup that are in the stage of a re-seed and comeback. One area looks awesome (like better than before the messup. LOL). the other, not as great, but still coming along.. Used some compost from last years leaf pile and sifted it and re-seeded. So far, both look good...

Re: Best time to kill and reseed?

Posted: October 6th, 2020, 8:55 am
by Pway
Great job! Keep an eye out for any zoysia blades that might have survived. It’ll start to spread again if just a bit wasn’t killed. Looks super