grass - Page 2

Posted by LouB on October 15, 2009, 2:33 pm

trader4@optonline.net wrote:

>> badgolferman wrote:

>>> Can I spread grass seed now in the Mid-Atlantic area? It's going to
>>> rain for the next few days but the temperature will be in the 50s. Is
>>> it too late and too cold?

>> Yes.
>> Good time.

>
> You should still be OK. The window of opportunity in that area is
> from early Sept until about now. It would have been better to have
> done it in Sept, but I've done it in coastal NJ this time of year with
> good results. Doing it earlier would give it more chance to get
> established before the hard cold of winter. It also depends on what
> you're doing and where exactly you are. Even here, NW NJ is a lot
> different than coastal NJ, etc. And depends on the grass, tall
> fescue will germinate in 6 days, while blue grass can take more than
> twice as long and is slower to establish.
>
> If you;re just hitting some problem spots, I'd definitely do it. If
> it's trying to establish a whole new lawn, I might still do it, but it
> is more risk. Make sure to put down starter fertilizer to help it
> along.

Whereabouts in NW NJ?

Lou

Posted by robb on October 15, 2009, 2:13 pm

> Can I spread grass seed now in the Mid-Atlantic area? It's

going to

> rain for the next few days but the temperature will be in the

50s. Is

> it too late and too cold?

If you are just loking for some greenery or errosion control you
can put some rye grass seed out (annual) until you get your next
optimal chance to seed in the spring. Rye grows fast and i have
had luck germinating in those temp ranges when other seed would
not.

hth
robb

Posted by dpb on October 15, 2009, 2:15 pm

robb wrote:

>> Can I spread grass seed now in the Mid-Atlantic area? It's

> going to

>> rain for the next few days but the temperature will be in the

> 50s. Is

>> it too late and too cold?

>
>
> If you are just loking for some greenery or errosion control you
> can put some rye grass seed out (annual) until you get your next
> optimal chance to seed in the spring. Rye grows fast and i have
> had luck germinating in those temp ranges when other seed would
> not.

Fall _is_ the optimum seeding time for the cool-weather grasses and it
is highly unlikely to be too late in "Mid-Atlantic" area although that
is quite a bit of latitude of where could fall into that description.

I'd suggest OP simply pick up the phone and talk to local County Agent
and see what their recommendations are.

It's possible to throw seed out midwinter on the snow and have it melt
into the ground and get covered by the freeze/thaw cycle to germinate in
spring quite successfully in many areas.

Spring is when folks think of seeding but in many places it either turns
hot and/or dry early that is quite stressful for establishing lawns that
will do far better in fall.

--

Posted by on October 15, 2009, 4:30 pm

>It's possible to throw seed out midwinter on the snow and have it melt
>into the ground and get covered by the freeze/thaw cycle to germinate in
>spring quite successfully in many areas.

That is what I always heard, you want to get it in the last snow storm
of the season. In the DC area that would be any storm right before
Easter. The rule of thumb is it never snowed after Easter. I am not
sure I ever saw that rule broken in the 38 years I lived there.

Posted by Phisherman on October 15, 2009, 3:19 pm

On Thu, 15 Oct 2009 12:00:19 +0000 (UTC), "badgolferman"

>Can I spread grass seed now in the Mid-Atlantic area? It's going to
>rain for the next few days but the temperature will be in the 50s. Is
>it too late and too cold?

I overseed with fescue in late September in east Tennessee, although
it can still be done now since it is still warm. Your region may be
too cold for good germination.

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