Fall Over Seed Prep...thoughts?

dpurvis1984

11 years ago

Planning a fall overseed on 10k square feet of my lawn in Leslie, MI. I have a limited budget and am trying to get this accomplished for about $300. Not looking for perfection. Also, I am not interested in applying RoundUp to the whole yard and starting over. Just wanting to get your thoughts on how sound the plan is before moving forward much farther. I do have a few questions at the end.

The idea:

-Level several bumpy areas of the lawn by filling in low spots.

-Correct soil pH.

-Add organic material to the lawn.

-Improve soil composition slightly. (Currently all brown sand, very little "top soil")

-Kill off a few patchy areas of weeds.

-Over seed with KBG/TTTF mixture found HERE

The plan:

1) Currently I am top dressing the low spots of the yard as often as possible to flatten out the grade a bit and reduce bumps. This is working great, but it is a slow process. A few key areas I plan on leveling out with topsoil just before I put down the seed.

2) Currently my soil has a pH of 5.5. I realize it is slow release, but I have a 50# bag of dolomitic lime that I am going to be spreading to help correct the pH. I am not shooting for perfect so it may not raise the pH level enough.

3) This week I am applying Milorganite to the entire lawn.

4) In late August about 2 weeks before the over seeding I plan to spot spray the patchy/weedy areas with Weed B Gone to reduce the competition and open up the area for grass seed.

5) Labor Day weekend the day before over seeding I plan on scalping the lawn in two directions. I do not have a bagger so I can not pick up the clippings. :( sadface.

6) On the day of over seeding I am going to apply another round of Milorganite, broadcast the seed (two different directions and with a high app rate in the bare areas), then top dress the yard with top soil and/or composted manure from the landscape supply place. Roll the yard if I can borrow a roller from a neighbor or just drive the lawn mower around the yard a bunch. Selectively spread straw over the bare areas and then any leftover straw to the thin areas.

7) Water, water, water.

The questions:

1) Is applying Milorganite during seeding a good idea? Should it be spread on the ground first before seeding and top dressing? (Hoping it will cut down on the smell a bit) Or should it be applied last after seeding and top dressing?

2) Will Weed B Gone work on the dormant weeds or do they need to be actively growing? This year has been dry so far, so even some of the weeds are suffering in my sandy soil.

3) How much dolomitic lime must I apply to 10k sq feet to raise the pH from 5.5 to say 6.5?

4) Is there an easy way to apply the powdered dolomitic lime to the soil?

5) Would it be best to top dress the seed with straight top soil or top soil/compost mix or straight compost? If a mixture, what is a good blend?

The budget plan:

50# of seed shipped to my house ($130)

5 cubic yards of top soil and/or compost delivered ($125)

Straw (guessing about $20)

Milorganite ($30)

Water (Free from well)

Beer (Wife is supplying this to get me to fix up the yard)

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Comments (2)

tiemco
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I see a few issues with your plan.

50 lbs of dolomitic lime is not going to do much for 10k square feet. For 10K square feet you would need about 400 lbs of dolomitic lime per application. The other thing is you might need calcitic lime, not dolomitic. Did you get calcium and magnesium levels from your soil test?

According to the label Weed B Gone shouldn't be applied less than 4 weeks before seeding. If you spot spray weeds, it's probably not a huge issue, but a blanket spray with a hose end sprayer might prevent some germination.

Questions:

1: You can put Milorganite down, I would apply it after putting the seed down.
2: Weeds need to be actively growing for it to work well.
3: Again, make sure you are using the right lime. Raising pH is a marathon, not a sprint. It takes a long time, and dolomitic is the slower of the two. It's hard to say how much, but I would venture a guess of 5-10 applications of 40 lbs. per 1000 square feet, so 3-6 years.
4. Powdered I think is better applied with a drop spreader, but make sure it is calibrated correctly. Pelletized is much easier to apply.
5. I've used top soil, top soil/peat moss mix, and peat moss. I preferred the top soil/peat mix, but it requires a lot more than you think it will take.

I think you are underestimating costs and amounts of materials. Do you have hoses for the whole yard and timers? The only straw I would use would be shredded straw, and that's like 10 bucks a bale and you would probably need around 10 bales. Also I don't like that blend of seed personally. Midnight is a great KBG cultivar, but I don't think it is the best to mix with TTTF. Also the only TTTF cultivar they listed that I have heard of is Essential, but there are many better ones out there.
grass1950
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
As usual, tiemco is "spot on" with his observations and suggestions. Especially on cost and materials.
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Comments (2)

tiemco

grass1950

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