Not sure what "sod quality seed is". If you are thinking that because you are just "overseeding" you can throw some dollar a pound hardware store Poa Annua infected junk down, you will ultimately be disappointed. Then again, we don't know the condition of your current turf. I mentioned in your other thread that aerating AND power raking is a waste of time. Also, unless you are preparing a brand new seed bed, or seeding into totally bare soil, there is no need to roll.

Sod quality standards vary from state to state, but it is accurate to say that all seed carrying the distinctive gold tag is tested to a much higher standard than the minimum requirement for seed labeling.

For example, in Washington, Oregon and Idaho, where much of the turfgrass seed is produced, sod quality bluegrass requires examination of every seed in a 25 gram sample and sod quality tall fescue requires a 50 gram examination. In contrast, a standard seed purity test requires examination of a minimum of just 2,500 seeds, which is approximately 1 gram of bluegrass seed.

In statistical terms, the confidence level that a sample accurately reflects the composition of the entire seed lot increases as the sample size increases. In laymanÂs terms, if there are a few weed seeds in the lot, a seed analyst is more likely to find one in a large sample than in a small sample.

Additionally, Sod Quality standards prohibit certain problematic weed and other crop contaminants that are otherwise allowable in seed labeled using a standard test.

The purpose of Sod Quality standards is to provide assurance to sod growers that the seed they plant will not contaminate their fields with difficult weeds and unwanted other crop species. The primary cool-season turfgrass species used by sod growers are Kentucky bluegrass and tall fescue, so they are the most commonly available Sod Quality seeds.

from seedsuperstore.com

Hello,

Thank you for the responses.

Reelfanatic Â

I have no intention of throwing bad quality seed down. That's what got me in this mess in the first place when the lawn company used cheap seed.

Last year I used Best of the Blues and Elite Mix to overseed and it was ok but it didn't work as well as I had hoped. Part of it has to do with the fact that I did it mid-Sept and I donÂt think there was enough time for the KBG to really germinate and settle well.

I also seem to have a lot of thatch, dead grass and straw left over from when it was seeded 2.5 years ago. Hence, the reason I am dethatching and aerating and throwing down some peat and rolling. It may be overkill but IÂm not really ready to kill the grass and start over and IÂm hoping that the extra effort will be worth it in the long run. Maybe IÂm wrongÂÂ

I read in another thread that it was important to use a roller to make sure there is good seed contact to the soil. Is that not really necessary?

And, back to the sod quality seed. Is it a better seed or does it just have less weeds?

Thanks again for the replies.

Mary

I've attached a link to a bunch of pictures. I've tried to keep the ones that show problem areas first. As you can, the front yard is ok but not great. The backyard actually isn't that bad. My lawn care company said that some of the browning was red patch and it did seem to get better after the fertilizer application but not completely. Anyway, this is what I'm trying to improve. Thanks again for your help.

Mary

Here is a link that might be useful: House and Lawn pics Aug2009

Here's what sod quality will NOT contain in the bag. You decide.

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