Same i Mow the oaks and after maybe 2 mowings they dont come back. On a humorous note, i pulled 3 of the little sprouts of oak trees so my wife could take them to her grandma to plant... she didnt know that oak trees came from the acorns.. she thought they were just squirrel food dropped by the tree! LMAO The little sprouts had the acorns still attached to the root. I laughed for literally 30 mins at her :(. I was in trouble of coarse ><.>

Why did you put the lime down? Per soil test and what was your Ph? The way I read your starter fertilizer is that it was intended for new seeding so I'll rule out the herbicide. But, if I read the label correct on the website it was only 10-15-10. What was the fertilizer rate? Can you inject fertilizer through your irrigation system? I suspect there may be some N starvation with the light green color. Can you still see seeds in the lawn? Spring seedings can be difficult. I think you are at the plateau where you aren't seeing a lot of top growth, but there is lots happening below the surface. I'm a little concerned that at a seeding rate of 6.5#'s/1000 you are saying it is thin. If you can still see seeds, then continue to keep the soil moist - not soaking, but moist for another week or 10 days. If you get another 1" of growth in that time I'd recommend a 1/2# of nitrogen and then start to reduce your watering to only a couple times a week for longer periods. After your first couple of mowings I'd add another 1/2# of nitrogen. Cut high and water as needed. I would not reseed again now - save it for the fall.

That's what I was thinking of doing this time around, because the dead plant material seemed to have caused some problems the first time around. I'm taking pictures of the growth weekly, so hopefully this winter I will be able to put together a post on my lawn's progress and document how this re-seed panned out. Wish me luck.

Yes, when I mentioned topsoil I wasn't meaning that you should replace the dirt with store-bought stuff! You really need to acclimate your seedlings to the local soil by only adding a small amount to the area right around the tree's planting site, just to give them a kick-start. Soils that drain too well (being sandy and rocky) just cant hold enough water to make plants happy, which is why I mentioned the clay and the artificial snow (bio-degradable stuff, it's a man-made non-reactive acrylic that simply absorbs water). The pearlite is again non-reactive expanded volcanic glass to help the roots take in nitrogen by aerating the soil, just to help kickstart the growth of your trees. I suppose if the trees have grown in a little too much already, you could just dig around them 2 - 3 feet and replace the top 3 inches or so with the mix I recommended or something similar, but the best results would be to get that clay and pearlite in and around the roots. As I mentioned in my first post, my area has the opposite problem, being primarily rock and red clay ... it holds too much water and my trees keep dying. :( Solution for me is ... build up berms made of store-bought topsoil mixed with the local dirt (60% topsoil, 30% local clay) and mix pearlite and fertilizers in as the last 10%. This will let the soil mix retain the proper moisture for the trees so that they can get established without drowning, and the excess water will run off the berms and down the hill. The problem with it is, it's going to be expensive and I dont have the money yet ... The even more expensive option for me would be to build up my yard to be 2 - 3 feet higher than all my neighbors with my chosen topsoil mix... If I dig DOWN .... all the water will run off their yards into my back-yard MUDHOLE and everything will die. I want oak trees (to transplant to my uncle's land out of town), apple trees (some to keep, some to transplant), and cherry trees (those I'm keeping! :P )