Seeding Tips & Care Tips for a Successful Lawn

Seeding Tips & Care Tips for a Successful Lawn

TIPS FOR SUCCESS

 

Seed Germination Basics

  • Bare dirt is ideal (or at least no thatch)
  • Adhere to proper seed rate.
  • Rake seed in w/ a Groundskeeper II rake (or slit seed on low setting)
  • Keep soil moist (never dry or soaked) until germination... if the soil is damp at all to the touch, water is not needed yet
  • Water for enough days to germinate your slowest germinating seed.  Fall seeding tends to germinate faster than a spring seeding.
  • Contact your local turf extension office for logical seeding windows specific to your climate... avoid downpour risk or high disease pressure (night temps over 60º) as the main considerations.


Early Care Tips

  • For fast establishment and less issues apply approximately 1 pound of nitrogen around seeding.  Apply nitrogen loosely in line with growth potential or as is needed to meet your quality and color standards.  No major nitrogen deficiency is especially important when the lawn is young.  
  • Avoid heavy nitrogen applications whenever night temps are approaching 60º+ or whenever drought or temperature causes dormancy.
  • After germination the grass only needs to be watered to the point of survival but establishment may occur faster if there is enough water in the ground.  If you see the grass start to wilt more water is needed... if it is raining, it's best not to water at all.  Touch the dirt... a bit dry is ok after germination (but not bone dry).

Phosphorus and Other Nutrients?

  • If grass is not capable of dark green after about 45 days, you may have a sulfur deficiency.  Apply 1 pound of gypsum per 1,000' if a sulfur deficiency is confirmed (Test: Mehlich-3 sulfur below 10PPM).
  • With rare exception, avoid potassium, micronutrients, and phosphorus and apply only nitrogen (and sulfur in some areas).  Phosphorus can encourage poa and potassium can encourage disease.  Potassium usually does not benefit a lawn in any way.  One exception can be notably cold areas where soil K of at least 120-140PPM Mehlich-3 may reduce winter kill on perennial ryegrass or above 60-70PPM Mehlich-3 for KBG (as implied by winter kill on poa annua paper).
  • There is little evidence that phosphorus will do much good at all during establishment.  If you see a purple/maroon coloration after about day 20 phosphorus might do some good but chances are good that the root will go down and find plenty of phosphorus even in low P soils.  Phosphorus deficiency is very rare and because of poa annua considerations we recommend avoiding phosphorus unless the lawn turns purple/maroon... a soil test saying that you're low on phosphorus doesn't count as a phosphorus deficiency, especially if the "soil test" was mailed to the "laboratory" in water.  
  • Before you purchase any product to improve your soil, we recommend taking a cold shower and then binge Turfgrass Epistimology study reviews on YouTube (the live tab is best) until the urge to purchase a given product subsides.

Renovation or Overseed?

  • Full renovations are recommended rather than overseeding when a major upgrade is desired.  Overseeding yields comparatively poor germination rates and can cause crowding issues which can encourage disease.  With overseeding, the original (generally less desirable) grasses will tend to survive and that will water down your results... overseeding is easy, but don't expect major results.

Mowing Recommendations

  • Observe the 1/3 rule with sharp blades.  An All American Sharpener style grinding jig is great if rotary mowing, and a flat file can be used to push the burr off for that last bit of sharpness.  The 1/3 rule is per day or two... not per pass.  If you can't mow frequently enough to observe the 1/3 rule, bringing the height of cut up allows more time between mows.  1/3 of 4" allows more growing time than 1/3 of 2".
  • If the ground is mushy to the touch, try to wait for a dryer day to mow if possible.  Most compaction happens when ground is too wet.  The easiest way to cure compaction is often to prevent it, but of course, sometimes compromises have to be made to keep grass height under control.

Shade & Traffic Considerations

  • Where there's lots of shade, consider TTTF but only plant fine fescue if absolutely necessary.  Not all fine fescue does well in shade.
  • Where there's traffic, more nitrogen is needed.
  • KBG can self-repair minor traffic damage, but keep in mind that the rhizomes responsible for that self-repair are the same rhizomes that make KBG far more prone to thatch vs. PRG or TTTF or KBG.  Dethatch regularly or run nitrogen below about 2.5 pounds annually for KBG lawns.

Disease Considerations

Most diseases have the commonality of excessive water... after that they can loosely be classified as low growth diseases (usually lacking nitrogen) and nitrogen loving diseases (excessive nitrogen especially during high night temperatures).

      Low growth diseases

  • Dollar spot can be reduced by clearing dew in the morning and is associated with low nitrogen.
  • Red thread can indicate the presence of debris beneath the canopy (rake with a Groundskeeper II rake or gently dethatch) and is commonly associated with low nitrogen.
  • Rust is associated with low nitrogen but the biggest risk factor tends to be infrequent mowing.
  • Pink snow mold can be reduced by mowing as deep into the fall as possible.  Pink snow mold does not require snow cover, but thrives in cool wet conditions, and is more common with snow cover.  A late fall application of azoxystrobin or propiconazole can help prevent the pathogen if pink snow mold has been an issue in the past.
  • Gray snow mold may occur in climates where persistent snow cover beyond 30-45 days occurs.  Azoxystrobin or propiconazole in the late fall before persistent snow cover may reduce gray snow mold.  Mowing as deep into the fall as possible can greatly reduct the severity of gray snow mold.

      High Nitrogen Diseases

  • Melting out can occur on KBG and thrives when nitrogen and moisture are high and temps are moderate to warm.
  • Brown Patch can hit hard on TTTF and is most common when nitrogen is high and night temps exceed 65º.  Brown patch pressure is lowest on TTTF when the cutting height is quite hight... one study had the lowest incidence of brown patch at a cutting height of 6"!
  • Gray Leaf Spot is common on perennial ryegrass but has largely been rendered insignificant through breeding efforts... higher quality perennial ryegrass will generally have adequate gray leaf spot resistance for most areas, but deeper in the transition zone breeding may not be enough.  This disease prefers high summer nitrogen and is most prevalent when night temps exceed 65º.  Chlorothalinyl is one effective chemistry.
  • Pythium blight is one reason perennial ryegrass is not recommended deeper into the transition zone.  Like most nitrogen loving diseases, higher temperatures and too much water are the main triggers.  Not common until night temps exceed 70º.  Breeding has not successfully reduced pythium performance in PRG.  All cool-season grass families can be targeted by pythium under the right conditions but PRG is the most susceptible.  A good 'if it hits the fan' fungicide to keep on hand for pythium (especially in the transition zone) is Thiophanate Methyl.

General Cultural Practices for Less Disease

  • For lowest disease pressure and best turf quality, irrigate at a 2-3 day watering interval.  "Deep and infrequent" watering (such as once a week) DOES NOT align with watering interval research.  Shallow and frequent watering (every 2 days is generally best) consistently outperforms watering less often in larger amounts (such as 1" once a week).  Deep and infrequent watering is not ideal and has been thoroughly debunked by approximately 10 studies.
  • If resorting to fungicides - which are more necessary in the east and in transition zone - it is important to select an active ingredient known to be effective against your target disease.  To diagnose the disease, start by Googling what diseases are common for your grass family and researching the  temperature triggers of those diseases.
  • Too much water will do more damage than not enough water in most cases.  Avoid overwatering (see below).

Accurate Watering

  • Water accurately at Evapotranspiration x Crop Co-efficient, or 1/2" of water every 3 days during drought works well for most areas (more water may be needed in the Southwest and certain other areas).  Cake pans work well to get the irrigation rate per minute in each zone and an more automated irrigation calculator can be found here: Sprinkler Runtime Calculator: https://bmonticello.github.io/sprinkler-calculator/
  • For best turf quality, irrigate at current reference evapotranspiration multiplied by an ideal crop co-efficient to match your cutting height and grass family.  You can request a refreshable evapotranspiration map specific to your city at support@seed-boss.com (city name and grass family needed).  This constantly changing reference for water loss must be multiplied by the crop co-efficient to get the water need closer to the actual requirements of your specific grass.  Approximate crop co-efficients for ideal turf are as follows (please be advised that these are loose numbers off the top of my head and are based on modern genetics... starting point numbers):
  • Perennial Ryegrass
    • 3/4" Height of Cut - x 0.80
    • 1-3/8" Height of Cut - x 0.75
    • 2" Height of Cut - x 0.70
    • 3"+ Height of Cut - x 0.65
  • Kentucky Bluegrass
    • 3/4" Height of Cut - x 1.00
    • 1-3/8" Height of Cut - x 0.90
    • 2" Height of Cut - x 0.80
    • 3"+ Height of Cut - x 0.75
  • Turf Type Tall Fescue
    • 1.5" Height of Cut - x .80
    • 2" Height of Cut - x 0.70
    • 3" Height of Cut - x 0.65
    • 4"+ Height of Cut - x 0.60
  • Fine Fescue
    • All cutting Heights - Approximately x 1.0

 

Seedhead Reset Procedure (recommended annually for perennial ryegrass):

Perennial rye has unusually nasty woody seed head stocks that can leave a yellow hue to your lawn for months and months if not addressed.  An annual "seedhead reset" can greatly reduce the effects of this undesirable trait of ryegrass (see below).  A seedhead reset is moderately stressful to the lawn and ideally should not be attempted under times of high disease pressure or other major stresses.  In areas with higher disease pressure (east especially) a less intense scalping height would probably be prudent.

  1. Once the seedhead stage starts each year, mow at the usual mowing height for about a month
  2. Then, mow often (with very sharp blades) and gradually reduce the mowing height over the next few weeks down to approximately half the preferred cutting height.
  3. About 1 week before the lowest mow, apply approximately  .5# of nitrogen and make sure the lawn is receiving around 1" of water per week via rainfall and irrigation (early AM water is efficient and may minimizes disease pressure... around 1/2" of water every 3-4 days is an approximation for most areas during drought.)
  4. Return to your original cutting height.  The seed head stocks should be hidden below soft new blades of grass and the straw colored  seedhead stocks should be hidden from view.
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