This really isn't the ideal time of year to seed. Being a cool season grass, you should seed in the autumn or in the northern part of the country, which you are in you can get away with a spring seeding but smack dab in the middle of summer and you're only going to get spotty germination, mostly in shaded areas where the seeds have been able to stay moist.

Now I have soem questions for you. What species of bent are you using? Creeping bent? Colonial? Velvet? Something else? What are you overseeding into and why? Where did you get the seed?

and you really don't want to "dump" more bentgrass seed anywhere. Bent seed is practically microscopic. An eency-weency bit of seed goes a really long way. With such an extremely shallow rooted grass such as bent, you don't want to plant more than the suggested new lawn rate. Doing so will make the individual grass plants more vulnerable to stresses such as drought and disease.

I'm dying to grow some T-1 Bentgrass, but I don't want the grass to invade my bluegrass and ryegrass.

I'd really like to build a putting green in the middle of my bluegrass lawn with a little flag. I'm willing to buy a reel mower, and willing to mow every other day. I'm willing to water and spray fungicide during the summer months in order to keep it alive.

Fall seeding is only 6 weeks away!

Quirky, what do you suggest?

This has got to be the best looking turfgrass on the planet!

{{gwi:107063}}

If you want to mow down to .1875" then figure on daily mowing and probably a lot more maintenance than with keeping it in the .5-.75" range. I don't know what to tell you about not having it invade your other grass other than maybe don't use creeping bent and use a straw blanket to keep the seed from washing out of the intended area. And isn't mid august too early to seed? I thought mid september is when people start their seeding. IMO bent kept high is ug....lay and defeats the purpose of using it.

Here is some more info for you guys... I am converting my lawn over to Penncross creeping bent which I purchased from outsidepride.com. I plan on doing the entire front and back yards before winter this year.

The reason for this, is I suspect my current lawn is the original lawn from when the house was built in 1971. Having lived here for three years the grass goes through the same cycles every spring. Lush green grass in April and May, only to have 50% green, 50% brown by summer. And then it never greens back up to its springlike green in the fall. Also it looks like there are multiple kinds of grass mixed in. I've identified Poa annua, quackgrass, tall fescue, and KBG. Not much of the good stuff though. Also it is considerably thinner than I want my lawn to be. I'm going for a really thick, short, green lawn. Which is why I picked Penncross creeping bentgrass.

Twelve days ago I heavily dethatched a portion of the front lawn and overseeded the creeping bent into it. I watered it 45 minutes a day all at one sitting in the evening. The seeds grew the best under the shade of the maple tree in that area. I suspect the seeds in the full sun areas dried out and didnt germinate. Also after the fact I noticed the soil quality was pretty poor in that area.

Today in the next section of front yard, I heavily dethatched the existing yard, spread topsoil this time over that section to a depth of 1/4" to 1/2", and then raked in the grass seed to that soil. I will be watering this section two to three times a day for a shorter period of time to see if I get better germination results. If that is the case, I will redo the areas that didn't germinate in section #1 with topsoil and water at the more frequent rate.

You all might be wondering why I'm doing this now instead of fall. Well, I'm suspecting with the next two weeks in the mid 70s to low 80s during the day and mid 50s to low 60s at night (it was 48 last night here), the temperatures are similar to what you guys down south experience in early fall when you seed. I should have no problem keeping the soil moist as some of the area isn't in full sun all day long (its shaded by the house in the morning and then the tree shade works its way around in the afternoon). Each area gets at least four hours of sunlight a day though. Last year I germinated creeping bent in a garden bed right along my house in full sunlight all day... planted it in mid July and this year its as thick as a carpet (the main reason I'm switching the entire yard to this grass). The reason I'm doing sections is to see what works best to get this seed growing, because the backyard is the biggest project, and I plan on doing that mid-late August, and I want to copy what works best in the smaller sections on a larger scale and make it work the first time.

I know this grass is high maintenance and I will give it all the TLC it needs to grow.

Ok then you need to do it right and kill off what you've got there and prep your seedbed. You may have cool air temps but it's soil temps that can contribute to root loss. Bentgrass makes a very dense sod and mine is very weed free with no herbicides whatsoever. Some people use organics on their bent. I use synthetic. You can find out more about mine by clicking on my page or doing a search in the forum for some updated photos. Good luck and keep us updated. I still think you should wait to seed but I don't know what your climate is like I'll admit it.
My bent germinated in 5 days and at 10 days it looked like a lawn that had been there for a long time. Very contrary to other more common types of grass. I haven't done anything extraordinary to mine though and plan to do the rest of the front yard with penncross in the fall. It has exceeded my expectations, granted they were pretty low to begin with. I would suggest you use this time level your yard and aerate. Not in that order. That way you can roll a bowling ball down your front lawn and it will go in a straight line. And you can mow it at the recommended height of 0.5-.75" without scalping due to uneven ground.

Good point, Quirky. Also, the Sun ray's are much more intense this time of year than in the Fall thus quicker drying or the soil.

I commend you for wanting to grow Bentgrass as home lawn.

Are you planning on purchasing a gas-powered reel mower?

Quirky,

Accorking to NC State (turffiles) KBG can/should be seeded from Mid to late August because the seed takes SO LONG to germinate I suppose. PR and Fescue can be seeded the first weekend in September, Labor Day weekend to be exact.

Up here, people start overseeding their lawn on Labor Day weekend. I suppose starting earlier gives the lawn a longer growing Fall season, therefore better winter survival and faster coverage.

I know in the northern states they seed labor day but never heard of doing it audust before. Makes sense to start kbg as early as possibly but I always thought august was the hottest month of the year.

Up here, people start overseeding their lawn on Labor Day weekend. I suppose starting earlier gives the lawn a longer growing Fall season, therefore better winter survival and faster coverage.

Or earlier, yeah. August 15 usually starts my seeding season because I won't see the KBG until September 1 at the very minimum. First frost is October 20 and it's all downhill from there.

By average, in Central NC, the hottest month during the summer is July. Although, August can some times be just as hot - specially the first 2 weeks.

My observation is that the soil is very warm from the summer heat, the night time temperatures beging to fall very quickly, making an almost ideal eviroment for grass seeds to germinate.

This Fall (late summer really) will be the first year that I'm going to seed in mid August. I'll keep you posted.

I'm going to wait on the Rye until Labor Day weekend because it germinates very fast.

Theres a guy down the street with a great looking fescue lawn and he seeded really late. First he seeded in oct then a rain storm washed it away and never came in. then he seeded in december or jan and I thought there's no way that's going to come in. But it did. Eventually.

Interesting...

One of my neighbors did that a couple of years ago, but with anual rye. I said the same thing, but it came in anyway. I later found out it was "dormant seeding". It's basiclly too cold for seed to germinate, so the seeds sit there dormant until the arrival of warmer temperatures.

You really have to time it because if you dont and you apply crabgrass pre-emergent in late winter or earlier spring, then the seeds will not germinate.

I guess that could be another opportunity to seed whaever areas you missed during fall seeding.

I can't resist the temptation of growing T-1 Bentgrass... I think I'm just going to order some seed next week and plant it in Labor Day.

The website shows "very dark green" color...

Help! I need antivenom - fast!

Today is day 5 and I have lots of germination in my newly seeded bentgrass lawn. Yesterday I overseeded the other half of the front lawn, so I should have germination in 5 days there. The key to seeding in the heat is water water water! Keep the soil moist and it will germinate.

Up here in zone 5, mid-August is definitely not too early. Sure, you might get a hot spell, but the warm soil combined with attentive watering will get things germinating quite quickly.

Auteck:

I've been really tempted to try some T-1 just for fun. It is really dark green for a creeping bent. At my local NTEP plots I can pick it out at 100 yards. Still, Dr. Trey Rogers keeps telling us if we get the urge to plant a bentgrass lawn, to just lie down until the feeling passes.

A.J.

Today's high was 92 with full sun and had no problem keeping the seeds moist. Ran sprinkler 3 times for 15 minutes each which kept them moist through the heat of the afternoon.

Germination continues and am starting to see clusters 1/8" high. The other half should start germinating in about 3 days.

Does anyone know if the bentgrass will eventually choke out the existing lawn if I keep it mowed at 1/2" to 3/4". I'm assuming so. I didn't want to roundup the existing lawn first because it looked like a bigger hassle than what its worth. So I just power dethatched until there was nothing but dead stems and roots left, spread a layer of top soil and seeded the bentgrass. Now after five days, the existing grass is already 1 inch tall. (Really thin, but its growing). I'm thinking when the bent gets 21 days old, I will start the close mowing regime and hopefully snuff out the existing grass.

"Up here in zone 5, mid-August is definitely not too early."

Zone 5 covers a lot of ground and, although people tend to use it to decribe a lot more than what it really does describe, it's a winter hardiness zone and has to do with how cold it gets in the winter. It doesn't necessarily translate into anything meaningful about what happens in the summer. I'm also in zone 5, but triple digit temperatures aren't uncommon in mid August. Rain is pretty uncommon, but not 100 degree weather.

The OP is in WI, so the conditions are probably more similar to MI than UT. My point is just that we should be careful using zones as if they mean anything about summer.

I may just be mixing up the dates. I know that around Sept 15 is when the local Ace Hardware puts a message up on their changeable copy sign out front that "now is the time to seed" and remember thinking that was a littler earlier than the extension service recommends but is usually the time where the seeding subjects on this forum start to get into high gear.

And the problem with T-1, like any variety other than penncross is buying it in quantities less than a large bucket. A large bucket that may equate to $30 worth of tall fescue is in fact $250 in bent seed. That's why homeownser get stuck with penncross. Ordinarily I'd be willing to split an order however I already ordered my penncross for the fall.

That's a good point BPgreen. We should also pay attention to the USDA Heat Zones, combined with the Hardiness zones. Here in the Great Lakes we usually get some cooler, wetter periods in the second half of August--perfect for sowing. And if you get into northern MI, WI, and MN, it can be advantageous to sow in late Spring rather than late Summer. Winter can come early up there. More than once I've fished in a snowstorm in October in northern MI.

Quirky, you're right about hot-shot bentgrass varieties like T-1 being really expensive in small quantities. Seed Superstore is the only place I know of to get it. I may try and ask a favor of a turfgrass professional to see if they can get me some at a reasonable price if I can muster the nerve to attempt bentgrass.

A.J.

If you want a bentgrass lawn or putting green, you need to get woodycrest involved in the discussion. He's spent the past several years reviving a couple golf courses in Canada, and they look incredible.

I didn't mean to give the impression that bent is expensive in smaller qty's. I meant to convey that it is impossible to get in smaller qty's.

quirky,

You can buy it in quantities as low as 1 lb from outsidepride.com.

How is your bentgrass doing? Holding up to the summer heat? Also, no one answered my question before.... do you think bentgrass will eventually out compete the existing grass in my yard?

Now that my bentgrass lawn has germinated. Seeds in first half of front lawn were planted on 7/2, seeds on second half of front lawn on 7/6 (germination is apparent in both sections), I was wondering if I should put down a starter fertilizer to stimulate faster and thicker growth?

I'm still watering 3x a day 10 minutes each time to keep soil wet.

Thanks.

I am reluctant to buy from outside pride due to some scandalous email that the owner of that co sent out to all the customers which I admit, I don't know if its true or not but it was just enough bad publicity to send me looking for another source.

About half of my bent that was closest to the street had turned brown. Either from a fungus which I did not identify, heat from the pavement, water not reaching from the sprinklers, over fertilizing or sabotage. I don't know which. Whatever it is doesn't look like it's spreading and
the bent that remains looks ok and is thick and weed free. I haven't watered it recently so it's surviving on it's own.
From a distance it looks ok. It actually looks like my neighbors bermuda with a bunch of brown spots in it.
Luckily I only have to look at this for another month and a half. I just took some photos yesterday and I have to upload them. Only problem is yahoo photos is where I was keeping my turf trials pics and they are no longer open for business.

In Sept, I will be doing my entire front yard with creeping bent this time and will try to mix in a different variety for disease resistance. I am also going to invest in Lesco putting green fertilizer.

As for the fertilize in summer, I had the same question. I haven't fertilized in a couple of months and the color is holding well enough for me. I don't see any reason to apply any more but if your color is starting to wane I'd spoon feed it something like that lesco stuff which is ...(off the top of my head) something like 18-?-18 and smaller granules than regular fertilizer.