Slit Seeder rental

[Wally]

Any good tips using on of these? Worth the $, does it save time? I think the rental is a bluebird. I will be spreading around 9 lbs of KBG.

[eriocaulon]

I am a big fan of the slit seeder for soil prep. For the actual seeding part, I would still use a spreader. The soil exposure that results from using a slit seeder or power dethatcher is excellent. Core aeration is OK, but much harder to get enough cores.

[andy10917]

I'll be reseeding/overseeding on Aug 22 following a large-scale treatment with Certainty for Poa Triv. The lawn will have three types of areas: (1) areas up to 1000 sq ft where the PT had overwhelmed the KBG and they will be wastelands, with sparse KBG left, (2) smaller areas (patches) that were typical PT patches, (3) areas with minimal PT infestation.

I'll be using a Bluebird slit seeder to try to restore the entire thing. Any ideas about how to use the equipment to get the job done and minimize damage to the better areas?

[Wally]

My plan was to make a few passes with the bluebird, then pass again with seed, and finally a light pass with the spreader, topped with peat moss.

[eriocaulon]

Just watch out for the seeding calibration--my bluebird that I rented was totally unuseable, it was dropping way too much seed. I eventually gave up on it and just used it for soil prep.

As for overseeding into an existing live lawn, you will find that two passes isn't too damaging. KBG will bounce back quickly. PRG/fescue may get thinned some.

[Danbo]

My plan was to make a few passes with the bluebird, then pass again with seed, and finally a light pass with the spreader, topped with peat moss.

I rented a Lesco seeder last year for my overseeding project, and needed to make several passes in the lawn without seed first. The Lesco unit was essentially a power rake with a seed bin on the front, and it seems like the Bluebird unit is a similar confugration. It removed a TON of thatch (several barrels full). And left my lawn pretty thinned out. Even on the shallowest setting used for applying the seed, more grass was pulled from the lawn. It made for a lot of extra work, but the seed made great soil contact, no doubt. But for established areas of grass, it was pretty traumatic.

[Blackbird]

If you're going to slice seed your lawn, I'm going to HIGHLY recommend that you head down to your local Home Depot and rent a "Turf Revitalizer" slice-seeder from them. It's self-propelled which will not only make it a lot less taxing on you, but it will also ensure a more even application of seed to your lawn.

Remember when you're using the slice-seeder that the slicing blades are positioned so that if you look down at the outer edge of the seeder's body (not it's wheels... it's body) the last blade will slice the ground a couple of inches in from that point. Keep this in mind when you're lining the machine up for a pass, because you don't want to overlap your last pass too much. Ideally, you just want to barely overlap your last pass.

If you're using the machine to apply seed and not just dethatch, don't slice with the machine in any direction that you plan on seeding in. If you do that, you're only going to confuse yourself later on when you ARE applying seed. You'd wind up having a hard time telling where you've already been in other words.

When you are seeding with the machine, slice your lawn in one direction (such as east and west) and then slice it in another direction (such as SSE and NNW). I prefer to slice 2/3 of the seed in in the aforementioned two different directions and then apply the final 3rd bit of seed with a spreader. This is a guaranteed way to not have the dreaded "cornfield effect."

If for some reason, you can't track down a "Turf Revitalizer" slice-seeder to rent, I'd highly recommend you use a slice-seeder that has the seed box on the FRONT. I'm saying this, because by having the seed box mounted on the front of the machine, you will be dropping seed and them immediately be slicing the seed into the ground right away. If the seed box is on the back of the machine you'll just be dropping seed onto ground that has already been sliced. Not as much seed will be planted this way. Don't worry about the machine destroying the seed as it slices it into the ground. That's just an old wives tale.

Remember to take your time and LISTEN TO ME WHEN I TELL YOU. I WANT YOU TO REALLY POINT YOUR EARS AND LISTEN TO WHAT I'M ABOUT TO TELL YOU HERE. KEEP A CLOSE EYE ON HOW MUCH SEED IS IN THE SEED BOX WHEN YOU'RE USING THE MACHINE! I'M GOING TO SAY IT AGAIN. KEEP A CLOSE EYE ON HOW MUCH SEED IS IN THE SEED BOX WHEN YOU'RE USING THE MACHINE!!!! I'm stressing this point to you because running out of seed and not realizing it, is an EXTREMELY common rookie mistake. If you don't do much slice-seeding, it's a very easy, common and bad mistake to make. It's a bad mistake to make, because if you don't carefully monitor how much seed is still in the machine, by the time you realize the seed box is empty, you'll have a very hard time realizing where you were on the lawn when you ran out of seed. If you run out on your first pass across the lawn, it's a lot easier to tell than if you run out of seed when you're slicing it in the diagonal direction. WATCH THAT SEED BOX GUYS!!!!!!!

When done properly, the germination rates and results you get are very hard to beat by any other means of seed application. It's not hard to apply seed this way. Take your time, watch that seed box and reap the results. If anyone has any other questions I can help with let me know.

[GaryCinChicago]

I have no experience with this unit, but those that do will rave about a Ryan "Mataway" overseeder for over seeding or renovations.

I do believe a member here has experience.

[Blackbird]

You'll get no argument from me on that Gary. Mataway's are a top-notch machine. I have yet to ever find a single rental place that has them though unfortunately. If you can find one, that would definitely be the way to go.

[GaryCinChicago]

I have yet to ever find a single rental place that has them though unfortunately.

They're out there for rent, somewhere.

I'm old / weird and forgetful so I don't remember where the poster(s) rented theirs from because the name was not familiar to my locale. But they definitely were renting the Mataway, no doubt - just because of cost.

[Blackbird]

For anyone reading this who isn't used to running one of these machines, Mataways are top-notch machines, but be warned that they are really heavy. If you have a lot of turning to do, they can tire you out in short order if you're not used to handling them. Turf Revitalizers are much easier to handle and turn. Either machine will do an excellent job.

I have yet to ever find a single rental place that has them though unfortunately.

They're out there for rent, somewhere.

I'm old / weird and forgetful so I don't remember where the poster(s) rented theirs from because the name was not familiar to my locale. But they definitely were renting the Mataway, no doubt - just because of cost.