I've ordered 30 pounds from Rose Agri-seed to finish up the back yard (and have a bit left over just in case).

I did, of course, and the precise mix you suggested at the proportion you suggested (Midnight II, Moonlight, Bedazzled).

LOL, dlenart, by the time your test pot germinates will be too late to seed. Well, maybe not it may only take 10 days or less. Tell your neighbor to get on it or he'll have to wait till next year. Can't seed in October hahaha.

Thanx guys

30lbs...You must have a pretty niced sized back yard...10,000 sq feet or so. Bet you've got those automatic sprinklers for that? Couldn't imagine having a 10,000 sq ft Backyard here in Plymouth MI..$$$$

I ordered my 12 lbs of Bedazzled, Moonlight and Blue Velvet from Williams Lawn Seed late last week. I don't have it yet, but I expect it to arrive some time this week. Plan to plant the last weekend of August.

dlenart,

Yup. It's a decent-size yard. I ordered a bit more than I need though to hit it again if I find any bare spots (almost assuredly will happen with a total renovation) a month or so into the project.

Ha...Maybe I will give test pots of KBG for christmas this year :) People can mancure their KBG with scissors and a pinch of Nitrogen. That would be cool, having Sod quality cultivars in little pots :) I can give my neighbor one to look and and study this winter to.

BTW..I'm planning on planting the last week of August.

Turf Toes,
That brings up a good point. If you do have bare spots after germination do you need to wait until next fall to reseed, or would there be enough time left this year to reseed a little?

I did the first half of the backyard late last year (end of September). I may have gotten lucky with the weather, but I had time to put more seed down in the bare spots and get it to germinate and survive the winter.

This year I plan on overseeding the last week of August or so. I figure that still gives me a good month or so to see where the bare spots are and put down more seed by the end of September.

Fifty Pounds of clean certified Midnight from the local Lesco.

Hi Bestlawn, I just received my soil test results and have not ordered the seed your recommended (yet). Since I posted, found out the KBG I currently have in my lawn is Liberataor, Award and NuGlade (along with some PR). Saw that dlenert ordered Bedazzled, Moonlight and Blue Velvet and Plymouth, MI is not too far from me. Knowing I will not do a total kill, not sure if I should overseed with Award and Boutique and Moonlight or stay with the type of KBG I have in my lawn now. Too much second quessing on my part. I am all sun and have a inground sprinkler system on 1.5 acres.

KatDog,
Liberataor, Award and NuGlade are all Midnight types. I do urge that you overseed with different varieties to obtain diversity, and there are many reasons for that. Dlenert's blend may be different from yours, but there's no rule that says there can't be more than one blend of varieties that perform well in a given area. If you feel better about his, then go with that one. I suggested the varieties for you that I planted into my own lawn (plus added Moonlight) here in Michigan and loved it. Our growing conditions were much the same. The one I suggested for Dlenert was to satisfy his criteria and adapt to his growing conditions. He will love his, too. The two blends are different in that the varieties are different, but each of the three is similarly classified, meaning they belong to the same genetic families i.e.........

Bedazzled/Boutique = America Types
Blue Velvet/Award = Midnight Types
Moonlight = Compact Type

There are 14 different genetic families and there are many different varieties/cultivars in each family. While they share very similar genetic and morphological similarities, they are different in several ways. If they weren't, each one would have the same name and there wouldn't be so many of them. Get me? All three of your kbg types are of the same genetic family, thereby the lawn lacks the diversity required for blending. Of course, there's the ryegrass and you can't get more diverse than that LOL. But you did state the rye isn't doing very well. Both of the kbg blends will give you better heat tolerance. Whether you go with the suggestion for you or the one for Dlenert, please do overseed. It's time to do so anyway, whether you have reason or not. It just so happens you have reason.

Thank you so much Bestlawn! I am so glad to have your input on the overseeding. Yeah, I have to work so hard to keep my grass green this summer but suspect others have as well due to the drought conditions. I had saved off your explantions of the genetic families and saw my grass in the midnight type. That is part of why I was struggling with what to overseed with (putting in Award, when I had some already on my lawn).

Thanks again.

Ordered and done with the RU. Now just waiting for the weather to break! Blue Velvet, North Star, and Kingfisher, all waiting for some soil and water...

KatDog, sorry I wasn't thinking about it. You can just add Moonlight & Bedazzled or Moonlight & Boutique.

Thanx again, guys

In my first post a little earlier today, I talked about my front lawn and I htink I've been convinced by the fine folks here that I should try tackling the dead bits myself (my wife may disagree, but what's new?). I'm going to try with my front lawn, which is about 1400 square feet (counting the 450 in my hell strip). Of that 1400, about 150 of the perimeter of the main lawn and 300 of the hell strip is pure crabgrass which I am killing right now and will be replacing.

I thought I might ask here when I should reseed that section and how much seed I will need. Should I order the nice seed you folks are talking about here, or am I getting ahead of myself and should just stick with some Scott's Turf Builder from the local garden supply house to start my rebuilding process?

Joe

Bestlawn, after going back-n-forth with you quite a bit, I ordered 25 lbs of seed.

Midnight II - 40%
Bedazzled - 30%
Moonlight - 30%

Mixed and delivered last week! Did first Roundup last weekend, second round to come this weekend. Seeding the weekend of the 18th.

As always, appreciate your help Bestlawn!!!

I've ordered mine and it has already arrived (I wanted to make sure I got it before the demand shot through the roof with the wildfires).

I doubt if I bought anything that you recommended. But I'm going for something that will stay alive with a lot less water rather than something that will be a really bright green (some of these are closer to blue than green, but stay green without water even in Utah).

• Arriba Western Wheatgrass (hoping I have better luck than I've had with the Rosana)

• Alma Blue Grama (I think I read that it starts to green up a little earlier than Hachita)

• Covar Sheep Fescue

• Streambank Wheatgrass (not sure, but I think it's Sodar)

I ordered in the spring but also ordered the last of what I need today. I think your specialty is KBG but the only kbg I have coming is some midnight. I'm more excited about my whopping 2 lbs of a4 bent that will be arriving soon. And the florentine-rock-my-world CRF.

I think you'll like the A4, Quirky--darker and denser than the old Penncross.

First round of glyphosate down last Saturday, to be followed by the follow-up this weekend. By the way, it wasn't Round-Up, it was Bonide's glyphosate concentrate. It's much less expensive per active ingredient than Round-Up, plus I'm finding it hard to find plain old Round-Up--they seem to dope it with other herbicides to get a faster burn-down.

For my fall seeding, I'll be blending Moonlight with Midnight II, going for ultimate dark green. I have a fair amount of Moonlight on hand from 2002, and I just did a test pot. It started to germ in 5 days, and I would guess I had about 50 percent germination, so I'll adjust the seeding rate accordingly.

We've finally gotten some real rain!

Good luck to all renovators,

A.J.

I received my seed from Rose Agriseed. Bestlawn, you suggested Midnight II, Prosperity, Brilliant. I spoke with John and he said he didn't carry Brilliant and added Moonlight instead. Hopefully that's a cultivar that works well with the other two. John said it would be. I'm on day 4 of the roundup phase and plan on laying seed the third or last week of August.

"florentine-rock-my-world CRF" hahahaha
You know we want to see it, Quirky. Wanna see the bentgrass too very badly.

BP, I can't say I've seen any pics of your native varieties. Probably missed them. Are there any on the board? Really wanna see the Blue Grama and Streambank Wheatgrass when you're ready. Are you growing them all together or in separate plots?

". . . all waiting for some soil and water..."
hahahahaha!

Zhotster, John's out of Brilliant??? Gonna have to have a talk with that man. LOL

Yeah, A.J., for three days. I really screwed up Sunday though. My cousin was flying in from Dayton and called to ask about the weather. Told him the rain subsided and was hazy but visibility was good because I could still see antennas and towers. He was less than hour out but by the time he got here, there was zero visibility and raining again. OOOPS!

I've never posted any pictures. Partly because I've been so disappointed in my results so far. I tried to take some pictures a few years ago, but they were pretty washed out and the resolution wasn't very good.

I was planning on waiting to seed, but one of the suppliers told me that I could "summer seed" the cool season natives so I'll start this weekend (small patch of grama and western wheatgrass already done). I'm hoping to be able to spend the time needed to get better germination this time. I've lost a lot of water pressure, so I have gaps in the watering and those gaps are right where I want the germination the most.

I originally seeded some mono stands so I'd be able to tell which I liked better, but have since been seeding all together. Once they're established, I can't always differentiate the streambank from the crested (non native), largely because they both have very similar blades and deal with a lack of water by going dormant. I can always pick out the western wheatgrass, since it's bluer in color.

This year is the first year I've tried grama or sheep fescue. I've seen grama as an ornamental, and I like the way it looks, but I think it's dormant too long for use in the whole lawn, so I'm limiting it to the driest areas of my lawn, in a mixture with western wheatgrass, since that's the only one I've used so far that stays green (ok blue) in those areas. I'll probably add some sheep fescue to those areas, since it's supposed to be do well on as little as 5 inches of precipitation a year.

Well, since I have a hard time keeping KBG growing here and refuse to pay those kinds of prices all you rich folks are paying, I have already got 50# of Lesco's Transistion TTTF. :)

My local handy hardware also has an interesting TTTF blend this year I may try also: 3 highly touted TTTF's, Midnight KBG, and smaller percents of perennial rye, creeping fescue, and something else (can't remember). Looks to be a good blend for my area so I may try that also for $80 a 50#. I may only apply that in a specific area so I can see what it does next year.

Ordered and received 24lbs of Moonlight, Award and Kinfisher from Pawnee Buttes. RU should start next week and then we go from there...

-Rob

I'm in MA, looking to overseed my KBG/Rye/Fescue mix with just KBG. Where are you guys ordering from?

Whats the right time to overseed? Also; my situtation is a newly hydroseeded lawn in May, so I wasnt planning on overstressing my lawn with aerating.

My plan was to cut a little lower when it cools down a bit towards the end of the month, spread a fresh topdressing down, broadcast spread the seed and fertilizer, roll over lightly with empty roller, and then adjust irrigation system to water 2x daily for 5-10min per zone.

My lawn is roughly 15000 sq feet.

Received my seeds week before (Award, Moonlight and Bedazzled)from PawnneB. Mag 3's cousin...hoping to be better than Mag 3!

- Also have submitted soil samples for test. Will be getting report any time now.
- I used Total Kill (Ortho product) for killing the existing lawn. It was much cheaper and worked out pretty good. Within a week everything turned brown.
- Also got Nitrol delivered. Will be cutting, raking up the dead grass next weekend. Then planning to apply Nitrol and then go with slit seeding.

Thanks everyone for all the help and guidance so far.

parafly9, are you still with us?

vkolte01, I thought the "total kill" was a bug killer - was that the name of the grass killer also? I thought I read somewhere that you have to wait longer after using the ortho product than you do with roundup, and was curious to read the label.

Still here!

Ordered based on your 2005 suggestion of Award, Blackstone, and Bedazzled.

However I can't get Blackstone anywhere so P-105 is the top NTEP for compact type in mass. I substituted that for Blackstone.

Should be delivered today for my 9k sq/ft driveway and front yard renovation.

Sounds good, Egghead. Just saw the pic of your lawn. Looks great!

Bestlawn,
I'm interested in what you recommend to parafly9 as well. I'm in So. NH with a similar lawn that is slightly older, Fall 2005, with many bare spots. I plan to mow low, topdress and overseed in a similar fashion. I do not have a sprinkler system and have close to an acre of lawn. (I am working on adding garden beds and trees to fix this but it takes money to do it so it's slow going.)
There is a Lesco close by or I could order.
Thanks!

Ordered 60# of "Best of Blues" from Seedland.com for overseeding a mostly KBG lawn...

can someone give me some characteristics of Kingfisher KBG?
ie growth habit, color, etc.....
Thanks

Lawndoc-

http://www.sroseed.com/find/showproduct.php?id=41

Thanks for the info!

Just ordered 24lbs of the Mag 3 (Blue Velvet/Moonlight/Bedazzled) from Williams Seed. Amazing prices compared to the online places! Big thumbs up for WLS!

rlembke,
Same thing i got. I recieved it in less than a week packaged nicely. Comes boxed up in a nice bag with the seed mixtures and everything. You could have just asked for the "dlenart Mix" I am with you on the prices. Can't beat $4-$5 a lb.

My box is sitting up in the closet, waiting to be planted.

Rob, Midnight/II, Moonlight, Bedazzled is the Magnificent 3.

Okay, we'll call Blue Velvet, Moonlight, Bedazzled the dlenart mix. Sounds good to me.

oops
That would have to be the dlenart blend, not mix.

Good catch BL..We don't want a KBG mix, we want a Blend.

Good catch BL..We don't want a KBG mix, we want a Blend. So when you call WSL be sure to see what kind of specials they are running on the "Dlenart blend"

Hi,
I purchased my seed last fall and have 4 lbs left over. can i still use this? it's stored inside my garage in a closed bag (original)with not sunlight.

thanks,

~jv

Yep, you can still use it.

Sorry Mallory! :-) Didn't mean to lump that in on you. I guess it has become Dlenart's namesake....

And dlenart - good to hear about the fast shipment and quality service. I was concerned about ordering from them after first looking at their website that said they are a wholesale distributor and do not sell to the public. After I saw others had called and ordered, I went ahead and called. She sounded a little stunned when she asked what my company name was and I said just a homeowner. Very thorough in taking the order though.

Have you killed your yard yet? I'm going to take one more set of pictures this evening and start a 'show your dead lawn thread'. Walking through the yard smells like a decomposing clippings pile now.....eh.

I should have 50lb of KBG today from Pawnee Buttes. Glenn was VERY helpful.

Got 50% bedazzled, 25% moonlight and 25% midnight.

Hi Bestlawn, Order my 50 lbs of seed today and decided on Moonlight, Boutique and Award. Had thought of only going with the 1st two since I had Award, but thought it made since to go with the three you recommended at 1/3 each.

Michigan is getting much rain this week. Some areas of Detroit area have flood warnings.

rlembke,
Yep lawn is killed. Tooks two weeks,I just have a couple of clover sprouts shooting up here and there. I've read that it is actually good to let any weed seeds, left in the soil germinate before areating or slitseeding becuase it will kill em..I agree that a dying lawn gives off a rather interesting odor. I'm thinking the longer u leave it laying there the more beneficial microbes you get and you get some free aeration.

Anyway I was supposed to start my raking of the grass last weekend but I stood up in my brother in laws wedding and the whole weekend was booked. Today we are getting about a foot of rain here in Michigan so I'm thinking tomorrow I will cut it short and start raking. I would like to rent a power rake but money's tight and I still need to rent Areator and get a yard of compost :( So I'm thinking my planting will take place this coming weekend. Can't wait!

I too have pictures of before and after that I plan on posting one day. Good Luck!

BTW..If anyone calls Williams Lawn Seed ask for Dennis!