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Lawn Care: Winter Lawn seeding technique

  
  
  
  
  
  
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Lawn Care:  Winter Lawn seeding technique

Are you unhappy with the thickness of your lawn?  Did you miss the opportunity to over-seed this past winter? 

I am going to personally try this technique this year.  My dog has been very detrimental to the success of my back lawn.  She is an energetic black lab that becomes obsessed with retrieving her tennis ball.  How can I resist?  She is getting great exercise and I enjoy watching her instincts take over.  She will run full speed and then throw on the breaks ripping up turf the whole time as she reacts to the bouncing ball.2010 12 17 15 17 43 362 resized 600

Here’s the idea.  As winter sets in spread grass seed heavily (make sure you are matching the seed type to your site conditions Click here for seed types) over the existing turf you wish to thicken up.  As the ground freezes and thaws over the next few months the seed becomes embedded into the soil.  As temperatures rise in the spring the seed is already sown, right? 

Here are some potential benefits. 

  • Grass starts growing before the need to apply pre-emergent crabgrass control which would nullify any post seeding activities.

  • You do not need to worry about timing.  The seed will already be embedded as weather turns and soil temperatures rise.

  • Getting some early sowing will help the grass achieve some better root depth and density before the onset of summer.

Potential downfalls

  • Seed stays to wet over the long winter months and simply rots out.

  • Seed continually gets wet and dry killing the seed.

  • Soil does not thaw and soil never embeds itself.

My feeling is that seed is pretty inexpensive and it is worth the effort.  Any opportunity to thicken the turf will save you money in the long run on trying to eradicate un-desirables plants such as crabgrass…..

Please comment with your experience, questions or thoughts!

Jason

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Comments

We have tried dormant seeding of our cusotmers lawns in the Worcester, MA area and had some beneficial results. I find that shady areas work best, because the turf is often thin and you can get good seed soil contact by just throwing out the seed like chicken feed. Also, you will not need to apply crabgrass control to these areas, giving the new turf a better chance to get growing in the Spring. If you are going to put down a Crabgrass control, you could try waitng until late May and use a Dimension product, which will give you some post-emergent control and allow the enew seed longer to develop before the crabgrass application. Crabgrass control is going to reduce the amount of roots the turf grass has since it is essentially a root inhibitng hormone. As for timing of dormant seeding, just before a snowstorm, when the ground is bare, seems to be the best. The snow will bury the seed, so the birds can't get at it and the snow will help to keep the seed moist. Kentucky Bluegrass does well when dormant seeded, becasue of the long germination time. Use only a blendof KBG as mixing in Perennial Ryegrass can overwhelm the KBG since the ryegrass will germinate much quicker and establish before the Bluegrass, and crowding out the KBG. Dormant seeding gets about a 50% germinatinon rate, so you have ot use a little more, but there is little labor involved since you don't have to rake and prepare the soil. You should still be able to go for it this winter with no snow cover. Or wait until the end of March and work the seed into the soil. Good Luck with you lawn this year.
Posted @ Monday, February 06, 2012 7:50 PM by Stephen Crowe, MCLP
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