I bought the Lesco Transition at HD that has a great 3 blend to it. I'm also gonna buy a pretty good blend that Hudson's Hardware is selling as their store label brand that Pennington has formulated for them. Nice blend of varieties, including creeping red, TTTF, KBG, etc. Might want to look into it.

If you can only water one day a week, it's unlikely that you'll get good germination. For good germination, you need to water 2 or 3 times a day.

You might have better results if you wait until there is frequent rain in the forecast.

Another option is to wait until it is too cold for the seed to germinate and spread it. The seed will sit there waiting for conditions to be good for germination and start to sprout as soon as conditions are right. You'll lose more grass in the heat of the summer with this approach than with a successful fall seeding, but less than a regular spring seeding. If you can't water a few times a day for the fall seeding, dormant seeding will probably give you better results.

haliwa01 - It's really too hot right now to seed anyway. The better time will be closer to the end of Sept...the 3rd or 4th week. By then we may have some looser restrictions in place or a hurricane remnant or two. If not, we should have a better frequency of rain and you can still water on Tues/Wed and weekends at the same time with a handheld.

That might be enough with some rain. I've seen seeds germinate in the spring that I seeded the previous fall due to the weather. You can believe I'm not waiting. I've been here before. Throw the seeds out and they will find a way...most of them anyway.

Jimtnc, I will look into both of those blends. Can I ask you why you are getting 2 different blends? How well do you think those 2 blends are going to do with this heat and drought if we have it again next year? How are you going to keep yours moist with the water restrictions?

BPGreen, thank you for your response. I may have to consider doing a dormant seeding this winter or delay my reseeding plans if this heat,drought and water restrictions continue here in Central NC.

What are all of you other good folks who live in NC are doing about your reseeding plans if you are on a water restriction?

I'm hoping for a tropical storm or two before I get into the renovation work. I wait until the first week in October to do my work anyhow so maybe there will be some relief by then. If not, then I'll make that decision when October comes. One thought, depending on how big your yard is to use hand held hoses to keep the seeds wet. Under Stage 1 restrictions, hand held hoses can be used ODD = Tue./Sat EVEN = Wed./Sun.; 6 a.m.-10 a.m. and 6 p.m.-10 p.m. That compared to traditional irrigation gives you one more day plus two more periods to use the water.

The other tactic, which might be hard to work if you're only overseeding is apply for a 45 day New Landscape Establishment Permit from the Public Utilities Department for the purpose of establishing new plantings. New plantings, for the purpose of this permit, are defined as the installation of new sod to the entire yard, whole yard first seeding, or large commercial plantings. The permit will be applicable during the installation and for 45 days from substantial completion of the installation. Irrigation will be permitted during the hours 5:00 AM to 10:00 AM.

FYI above was taken from the Stage 1 policy on the City of Raleigh's website. Keep in mind this for City of Raleigh water customers only.

I wonder if I can apply for the 45 day New Landscape Establishment Permit from the Public Utilities Department if I am going to be having some landscaping(trees and shrubs planted) done at my house this fall?

I need to check on the restrictions for my area and see if I fall under the City of Raleigh water restrictions since I live in Garner but I am in Johnston County.

Anyone who gets water from raleigh is under the restriction - even if you don't live in wake county.

As for overseeding plans, you are jumping the gun a bit anyway. It might get to 100 this weekend. You really don't want to reseed until temps drop to 80 or so. In this area, you can seed fescue well into fall, so there is no need to rush. Hopefully, once the heat breaks, we'll fall into the usual pattern of evening scattered storms. As is, with these temps, no rain, and watering once a week, you would just be feeding the birds if you put seed out now.

We're fortunate to not be under restrictions in Iredell county and I was hoping to seed labor day weekend. But I fear this heat may not break in time...

Haliwal01
The above advice is pretty accurate about overseeding, usually. About a month ago I power raked, aerated, fertilized and overseeded. I live in Pittsburgh Pa. I heard the same thing about it being too early, too hot and all the things you hear here on this thread, and our temperatures are in the 90's. Well BTW, I do this every year. I was sure to lose everything I was told. Well folks, I got the nicest stand of grass that you would ever want to see. Seedlings are about 11/2's high and looking good. Now it is still too early up here to overseed, but if something went wrong and my seeding wasn't successful I still have time to do the seeding all over and all I lose was a little seed.My point in saying this isn't to disagree with these fine people, but to say sometimes trying to think of too many reasons why something won't work, why not try and see what happens. Nature doesn't work on rules set in stone. We are somewhat restricted as far as watering but I got to water lightly at least once a day.One time during the fall I will overseed again lightly and then dormant seed in January. It is my opinion that if you buy good seed and have decently prepared soil and you fertilize and give moisture and seed at a reasonably good time, there isn't much you can do to keep that seed from sprouting and growing. I don't care how early it is, or how hot it is or if I am feeding the birds. I guess that is all I got to say about that. lawndivot12

haliwa01 - I like to mix a good blend of seed, but making sure it's as close to the same TTTF grass I already have, meaning same approximate dark green color, same blade width and growth, strongth drought and heat tolerance, etc. I'll also check the NTEP for ratings of the varieties to be sure I'm getting a well-rated seed blend. I don't mind if one of the varieties is not rated super high...most companies usually do stick a lower rated "filler" variety in the mix, but it won't be junk seed.

I've found that in blending good varieties the chances of a complete lawn wipeout due to some fungus, insect, heat, drought, etc is almost nil, not to mention the overall strength of the grass stand is much enhanced. So far it's worked for me.

I checked on the water restrictions for my area and my area is not as bad as Raleigh's water restrictions. In Johnston Co we can water Tue/Thurs/Sat if you have an even address and Wed/Fri/Sun if you have an odd address. If I am only able to water 3 days a week will I still get good germination???????

jimtnc, I was looking at the Hudson blend and I contacted Fred Wood and he stated that the Hudson blend from Pennington contains the following:
⪠Penn 1901 Tall Fescue
⪠Greystone Tall Fescue
⪠Rebel Exeda
⪠Kentucky Blue Tall Fescue
⪠ShadowII Chewing Fescue
⪠Creeping Red Fescue
⪠VNS Perenial Ryegrass Fescue

If I am only able to water 3 days a week will I still get good germination?

For seed to germinate, it has to stay moist. That means you need to be able to water it 3 times a DAY at first, not 3 times a week.

haliwa01 - yeah, Fred is the manager there. I read the tag on the bag also, and it would appear that the blended varieties are fairly up there on the NTEP chart (at least the fescue), so a pretty nice blend in my estimation.

I'm not real up on the rye part, but I kinda like the idea of including creeping red and KBG, although it's not a huge percentage. Seems to be a good mix that would look nice in anyone's lawn, and it's dark green and very resistant to all the bad stuff.

bump

'Kentucky Blue' Tall fescue!?

Man is that a play on name awareness or what!

I am really getting worried about being able to reseed. What I was thinking was hooking some hoses together, along with a couple of timers and trying to cover just the front yards to be able to get some water 3X a day to keep the grass seed moist, does anyone know how I would dasiy chain hoses together to so that I could cover my front yard to keep the grass seed moist? I am trying to get this all together so I can reseed the end of September or the 1st week of October. Will the 1st week of October be too late to reseed in NC?

October works in NC.

As for daisy chaining the sprinklers, it probably won't work well for you unless you have incredible water pressure. The more sprinklers you put in a row, the less water comes out of each.

If I am going to reseed beginning of October would it be better to put out alfalfa pellets or Soybean Meal now to help the seeds/seedlings?