I have to ask where you can possibly live where you are not within a few miles of a feed store? Most cities grew up around the feed stores that used to be way out of town. Now would be a good time to supplement your Gardenweb profile with information about your location so we don't have to ask in the future. If you look at the ingredients in organic fertilizer, you will find those same ingredients in Ol' Roy dog food at Wal-Mart. Dog food works but you can do what you want. Scott's organic should be as good as the next organic. Here is the basic, 123 of lawn care. 1. Water deeply and infrequently. This is your biggest tool against weeds. Weed seeds need nearly continual moisture, just like grass seed. If you water a little bit every day, the result is a moist surface - perfect for starting seeds (weeds). If you water once a week (during the hottest part of summer) and let the surface dry out, the weed seed cannot sprout. 2. Mow at your mower's highest setting. This is the second most important thing you can do to prevent weeds. Tall grass puts too much shade on the surface so that any seed that does sprout will not get enough sunlight to take root. If you mulch mow you will return all the nitrogen in the grass back to the soil to be recycled. Tall grass does not grow any faster than short grass. Tall grass provides cooler soil underneath which leads to reduced evaporation. 3. Regularly fertilize with whatever fertilizer you like. Organic is easier because it is so hard to make a mistake. The type of fertilizer you use has less than 10% effect on weeds. It is good for color and organic will really help the soil microbes. You can fertilize with organics anytime the soil temp is above 50 degrees F. If you live south of Dallas, any day is good. For weeds I suggest a Weed Hound if they have a tap root. If you have grassy weeds, they might disappear when you start letting the grass get taller. If you have broadleafed weeds, St Aug cannot compete with them. You will have to pluck them out. If you have to spray with something organic, start with household vinegar as a foliar spray, not a soil drench. Try to keep it off the leaves of the St Aug. Most St Aug weeds pull out very easily. If you decide to use a chemical weed killer, the best way to coexist with an organic program is to use something like a Weed-b-Gone spray on each weed rather than applying granules to the entire lawn. I could tell you that corn gluten meal works as a preemergent but I don't believe it. In fact I don't believe any preemergent works. Even if you wanted to use CGM, I think it is too late in your area (wherever your area is).

honestly it is too hot to put in seeds successfully right now. cool season grasses should be done later into the fall, warm season grasses early spring. but i will try to answer what i can(not an expert either!) Before 1. spin spreaders work great for covering larger areas in fewer passes. drop spreaders work great for more precise deployment. 2. your seed bag should give you an idea of general settings for common spreaders. small seeds such as bermuda it is best to mix with regualr play sand for even distribution. 3. not necessarily. i have NEVER used starter on the lawn. btu what works here does not work elsewhere. maybe a good soil test will tell you what you need. any type of fertilizer is usually BAD for new growth at first, they burn too easily in my experience. usually best to let it get established before fertilizing. 4.roll it AFTER to help get good seed contact. alternatively you can use a stiff garden rake turned with the tines UP to work it in. 5. no, jsut give it a good wetting when done. you will need to water it 2-3x a day for a few days, then once the sprouts come up start cutting back. again this should be onteh seed bag. 6. if using a spin type spreader the ONLY real way is to stay well away from them and then seed the areas close to them by hand. tree canopies won't matter, they are up off the ground! AFTER: most answered above. as far as keeping birds off the seed, the BEST method is to cover the entire area with straw(make SURE it has no seeds in it!). this will serve to keep birds off as well as to hold in moisture. if you are going to seed during the hottest part of the year you are goign to need straw mulch to keep it from drying out. you also want to be careful not to water too much and end up with fungus!

From what I have read on this site (I have no personal experience with Kentucky Bluegrass) KBG is one of the slower grasses to germinate. 3 to 4 weeks usually. If you try to overseed it the existing lawn will grow back before it germinates and your KBG will not get enough sun to grow. You will end up with patches of KGB where the grass was already thin. The best results come from killing everything and planting all new grass. I am currently in the process of a complete renovation with Tall Fescue.

Thanks for your response. Could you also give me advice in regards to the amount of seed to re-apply? I didn't know that overseeding requires 2 to 4 times higher application rates so I applied what my spreader suggested for a regular rye application. I applied 8 lb per 1000 sq. feet, so I should have applied at least 16 lb per 1000 sq. feet??? So, do I need to apply only the remaining 8 lb per 1000 sq. feet now? Or do I need to apply as if I am overseeding for the first time and apply 16 lb (or more?) per 1000 sq. instead? In regards to rye weakening the bermuda... Well, I truly HATE my lawn almost half of the year when bermuda is dormant & brown. If it will look weak only in spring but recover in June / July, it is still preferable for me. I will observe how the bermuda looks like next summer and maybe decide on another solution to get rid of bermuda (such as replacing it with St. Augustine maybe?). I am just hoping that maybe the rye will die off quicker in early summer due to our climate here. We have a mediterranean climate, but quite a hot version of it for summer times. I believe our weather is hotter than Southern CA. So, looking at the current state of my lawn, how much should be the new rye seeds that I will apply (hopefully tomorrow) ??? 8 lb / 1000 sq. feet is enough, or should I apply more - 15- 20 lb??? Thanks in advance.