Seeding in Direct Sunlight

16 years ago

I had to have new drain tile installed around a section of my house. The contactor dug a ditch and made the drain tile drain out to a ditch in my backyard. About 4 weeks ago I had another contactor come out and level the ground, lay top soil and then spread seed.

Well, the grass is not growing like he said it would. I have watered the lawn almost daily at dusk. The areas that are not in direct sunlight are beginning to grow. However, the areas that are in direct sunlight are only producing weeds! I have called the contractor and he said that it's because I have not watered like he instructed me too. I must admit there have been a few times that I did not water because I was out of town. But, I didn't think that would be a big deal.

How can I correct this issue? Is there a seed that will grow in direct sunlight? How can I get rid of the weeds while still grow grass? I should also add that the contractor did not put anything down after planting the seed. I have a neighbor that just planted some seed and I noticed he put hay over his seed.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance - Ray

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Comments (7)

rutgers1
16 years ago
You should water new seeds twice a day. The ground that they are on/in should never get dry. It is almost as much work as taking care of a newborn baby......well, not as much, but you get the point.

What type of grass was there originally? Whatever that is, you need to plant the same type or else you will have one of those funny looking lawns that change colors. You would think that grass is grass, but it isn't. Just drive around an look at people's yards, and you will see what I mean.

Regarding the hay, stuff like that is helpful but not necessary. There are many different things you can do that have the same effect. It really only has an effect if the seeds were in danger of either washing or blowing away...or perhaps being eaten by birds.

Lastly, "about 4 weeks ago" was July 1. That would just about be the worst time of the year to seed. Keeping it moist is very difficult at that time, and the summer heat requires you to baby even the baby seedlings.

So, in sum, here is why I think our lawn didn't take:
1) not enough water
2) didn't plant at the right time of year

If I were you, I would relax a couple weeks, perhaps pick some weeds if they annoy you, and then overseed on September 1. If you really want to make sure the seed takes, do the following:
- rent a slit seeder so you can make sure there is seed to soil contact
- topdress with compost

Even if you don't rent the slit seeder (which most people don't want to do, topdressing with something would be very helpful.
subywu
16 years ago
If the contractor is responsible for seeding, I do not think anyone would consider what he did as adequate. Seeding in middle of summer with straw/mulch? Unacceptable if you ask me. I would get on their case about that.
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Hi everyone. Littlemidgetmc – I have no experience of growing bromeliad seeds in the manner you describe, but I can share with you an easy and inexpensive method I use successfully for all bromeliad seed I grow except Tillandsias. I plant my seed on a bed of “Coco-Peat” (Seed raising quality) which is added to normal rectangular plastic take-away containers. These are filled to about one third of their depth, and as there are no drainage holes in the bottom, once the lid is replaced, the whole growing area within is like a miniature glass house with a re-cycled watering system. The Coco-Peat is initially soaked in water and the excess is squeezed out before it is placed in the container. Once the container is about one third full, it is lightly firmed down with a flat object such as a small wooden block. It is then microwaved on high for 5 minutes to kill any harmful fungus or weed seeds. Once cooled, the seed can be sown on top of the coco-peat. (DO NOT COVER THE SEED). The seeds are then given a light spray with water from a hand held sprayer to settle them onto the Coco-Peat before the lid is replaced and the container moved to its growing location. Probably the most important part of the whole process is to write the name of the seed and the sowing date on the container. This is a good routine to get into with all seed; that way if you are growing more than one different batch you won’t get them mixed up. These seeds need no further attention as there is sufficient moisture in the container so that watering isn’t required. Water will gather as condensation on the underside of the lid during the cooler night and run down the sides of the container and into the Coco Peat during the warmth of the day providing a continuing re-cycling of the water. The idea is to keep the moisture, temperature and light as near to constant as possible so I locate these containers on a wire mesh shelf in a back (closed in) porch of our house facing the north which is the direction where the best light comes from, (It would be a different aspect in your country). They get no full sun but the light is diffused sufficiently to provide a similar degree of light to a shade house with a 75% beige coloured shade cloth covering. Once you get the moisture content of the Coco-Peat correct they can go without watering for up to 12 months as in the case of the seedlings below. If however you don’t see any condensation on the underside of the lid you can give them a light spray with water until the water balance is correct. Once seedlings reach the underside of the lid, I like to remove the lid, cut some drainage holes in the containers and then acclimatise them in part of my shade house. They seem to get a “growth spurt” when this is done and start to grow much faster Because they are still small and with limited roots, rather than the garden hose I water them gently over-head with a home-made watering bottle. This is made from a plastic milk bottle with small holes drilled in the top and is ideal for applying water gently so as not to dislodge the small seedlings. Once they outgrow the plastic container, they are moved into their own small pots. As they continue to grow larger they are progressively moved into larger pots until they are finally mature. I hope this has been of some help to you. All the best, Nev.
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Maybe you wet them too much? I don't water them until mother leaf is drying up, or plantlets are quite big. Many don't get water for a long time. Some don't even get any substrate, like these here: Those are leaves I was about to toss, but ended up left on that lid and soon started to grow. They are on a table about 2ft away from the window (and that has lots of plants on the shelves), so not getting much light. They were never watered or misted. As you can see, few leaves are completely dry, 1 already detached. They were left on a lid in September, photo above just taken. I am not saying you should do same, just showing how resilient and easy to grow many leaves/plants could be. I find that less fussing about the leaves gets better results :) - more like neglecting them, not killing with too much attention. I am sure some leaves are less eager to grow, and some won't at all, but most are quite easy. I can see that there is quite a bit of 'shade' created by placing leaves too low inside of cells - next time, use more soil or shallower tray (less soil is better IMO). I grow many plants and vegetable seedling to be planted in the garden, from seeds. As soon as seedlings grow, I put them under lights, gradually stronger and stronger until they are in full light for at least 12hrs. Otherwise, I end up with very etiolated and weak seedlings. Similar with the plantlets growing from leaves - IMO, they are better if properly acclimatized to best light possible.
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subywu
16 years ago
Well... I meant seeding WITHOUT straw/mulch is unacceptable for a contractor right now.
quirkyquercus
16 years ago
The seeds are not staying moist. Figure on watering several times per day in a full sun location. Seeding in summer probably isn't going to give you the best results due to the conditions.
quirkyquercus
16 years ago
To be more specific, when I say watering several times a day, I mean very brief sprinkles to keep the seed and surrounding soil moist.
Billl
16 years ago
To sum up, you need to keep the soil moist to get grass seed to grow. In the shade, the soil dries out much less quickly, so the process is more forgiving. In full sun, you have 2 basic ways to help keep the soil moist. The first is sprinkling the area several times a day. In your case, that should be fairly easy because you could just hand water the strip. The second trick is providing some sort of artificial shade for the seeds to help conserve water. Straw will do this as would a thin layer of compost.

As to where to go from here, I would yank up all the weeds, sprinkle some more seed, cover with straw and commit to watering twice a day until the seed is up.
rcnaylor
16 years ago
Inconsistent watering when the seed is germinating can let it dry out and die.

Also, cool season grasses just do not want to germinate when the temp gets hot. The way mother nature designed them. Those in the sun could well have gotten hotter and therefore not been as inclined to sprout in the higher temps.

Either way, put out some more seed when it starts cooling a bit in your area and follow the advice above on keeping it moist but not saturated 24/7 until it has been up a couple of weeks. Usually about six weeks. The first 3 to 4 weeks, as you may have demonstrated, can be critical.

Seeding in Direct Sunlight

Comments (7)

rutgers1

subywu

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