If the starter fertilizer with crabgrass preventer contains Tupersan (siduron) as its preemergent then you can use that if you want, but it is only effective for 4-6 weeks. You will need to do repeat applications to keep the preemergent barrier intact, but that means you will be over-fertilizing. You can get straight Tupersan and use that to prevent over-fertilizing and or fertilizing at the wrong time. Since you have a mix of grasses I am not aware of any product you can use that will be safe for creeping bent and not harm your lawn, but I have heard Tenacity will be available for homeowners this year and that might be the perfect fix.

A golf green is not a lawn. Golf greens are small with a lot of foot traffic with heavy machinery on it every day compacting the soil. Greens need aerated and de-thatched two or three times a year because they have very high traffic and heavily fertilized Bermuda lawns rarely need aerated or de-thatched. How do I know you ask? Because I was a sod Farmer for over 35 years and now a golf course super in AZ with a USGA turf certification. Sorry to tel you but if you had Tifway-I (aka 419), you ruined it over seeding it, and now have common Bermuda grass. No Bermuda grass either hybrid sod or improved common should never need be over seeded. On golf greens made of Bermuda, when a section or patch dies off from disease, it is plugged or sodded by the Mother crop growing somewhere on the course. Usually another golf green that is never used.

tjski, I am going to do almost exactly the same thing to my lawn on Sept 9. I'm in the DC area so probably a little hotter here in terms of germination timing... Same situation, though. Complete reno last year... added about 3" of topsoil, reseeded the whole lawn... came in perfect! beautiful. lush, green, etc. Then the heat came and the fungus spread. Anyway, i lost about 1/4 to 1/3 of the fescue that had come in. I am going to do the following: 1. cut low. Really low. bag all that mess up. 2. rented seeder 3. run that in 2 passes 'dry' no seeds to churn up the dead crud and carve some good slits in the ground 4. run the mower w/ bagger over it all to pick up the stuff the slitseeder carved up. 5. either fill the seeder and go in two or three passes OR use my broadcast spreader and put seed down that way 6. roll w/ 1/2 full roller 7. water 3X per day 10AM 2PM and 4:30 PM until the fescue germinates So.... It looks like you have smililar plans. I'm no expert, but we seem to be thinking about the same. My only question, and one you might consider too, is whether or not to actually put the seed down with the slit seeder or just use it to carve the slits and then use the spreader to lay down the seeds. Then roll it in of course. Some experts might chime in on that one. Good luck!

JPEG is great, thanks! Since I just snap open the image on a new tab and work with it there, it's no big deal how you do it! I see why they recommended some of what they did, and I actually agree with them. Mostly. Except they missed a few things, and I'd rather be more gentle than they are. It takes longer, but doesn't challenge the soil biology quite so much. Let's go step by step. EC 7.0: Silty sand. We have to adjust slowly or run the risk of losing resources into the water table--which is both polluting and a waste of money. pH 7.1: High, but not unreasonably so. However, we don't want to make it worse, so we counterbalance everything we're doing with plenty of sulfur. This is good because... Sulfur 6: Quite low, but not a problem. This gives a vast amount of margin in how much I can add. OM 4%: Right on the border between Fair and Good. With a low EC soil, I'd rather see Excellent to Extraordinary. So I'd feed organically as much as possible, mow in all fall leaves, steal other people's leaves, that sort of thing. Phosphorus 34: Very low, and with a higher pH, probably deficient. You'll want to purchase the cheapest starter fertilizer (high second number like 18-24-6 or 20-27-5) you can find. Brand does not matter. Instructions below. Starter will also help pull down your pH a hair as it contains (acidic-processing) nitrogen and phosphoric acid. It's not extreme, but I'll take it. Calcium 62.5%: You aren't that short, and your sodium levels aren't that high. I'm not going to recommend a vast amount of gypsum this year, I'd actually like to see what the starter does. However, I don't want to dispel too much Ca so I would like you to add some. Magnesium 30.7%: Extremely high. Avoid any and all sources of magnesium, including Epsom salt and dolomitic limestone. Let's hope the starter abolishes some of this. Potassium 1.9%: Barely tolerable, and I'd like to increase this. A lot. Potassium sulfate can be ordered from many garden shops and landscape places. You can get it online, but shipping can be a killer. Sodium 0.5%: Quite normal. No adjustments required or desired. Most Minor Elements: Except for copper and boron, they're fine. I did mention iron below as well. Copper 0.84: A little low, but with everything else going this year, I'm disinclined to try to adjust this yet. We're going to ride it a year and then work with it. Iron 149: Fine, but at your pH it's heavily bound. Whenever you like, apply Milorganite at bag rate to slowly raise this. I'm not inclined to recommend ferrous sulfate here as your pH isn't that far out of line. Boron 0.39: This is a little too low to ignore. We use Milorganite as a carrier. In a wheelbarrow or the like, dump the Milo. Spraying very, very lightly with water (I use a spray bottle like the kind people use to damp their clothes when they iron) will help the boron stick. Add the recommended amount of boron and stir, spraying occasionally to get the stuff to stick to the Milo. Then apply over the recommended area. So if going for bag rate Milorganite (1 bag per 2,500 square feet), you'd add 10 tablespoons of 20 Mule Team Borax. Recommendations: Because of your climate, I'm sneaking in some extra stuff. I wouldn't be able to do this in more arid or hotter regions. May 1: Apply starter fertilizer at the bag rate. May 15: Apply 2 pounds of potassium sulfate per thousand square feet. Apply 4 tablespoons of 20 Mule Team Borax per thousand square feet. June 1: Apply starter fertilizer at the bag rate. June 15: Apply gypsum at 5 pounds per thousand square feet. July 1: Apply 2 pounds of potassium sulfate per thousand square feet. September 1: Apply starter fertilizer at the bag rate. September 15: Apply gypsum at 5 pounds per thousand square feet. Apply 1 pound of potassium sulfate per thousand square feet. October 1: Apply starter fertilizer at the bag rate. October 15: Apply gypsum at 5 pounds per thousand square feet. November 1: Apply starter fertilizer at the bag rate.