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slit seeding sucks!

9 years ago

I've been looking forward to this day all summer, but I didn't anticipate it being this hard. I rented a classen slit seeder from home depot and damn near broke my back doing my 11000 sqf lawn. I never want to see one of those p.o.s. again! Now on to being neurotic about keeping the seed wet.

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Comments (6)

User
9 years ago
Lol, But great results.
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danielj_2009
9 years ago
what was difficult about using it? Also did it do what it is supposed to do?
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Thanks tiemco & bpgreen for your constructive replies! As it seems to be consensus that my concern isn't warranted I'm very willing to broadcast seed followed by a few passes of slitting only. From all I've read your cautioning of slit-seeders hoppers being inaccurate is truly a universal concern. I also like the idea of non 90 degree passes. Have seen a few done at around 45 degrees and that does greatly reduced the "dead-space" between the thinner diamond pattern. Yesterday the guys at Lesco/JDL talked me out of doing a spring lawn renovation. I was prepared for at an uphill battle (and a summer brown-out) when going with an April sowing but conceded to tackling it in September. The remaining spring and coming summer will be used to complete soil amendments and landscaping. Come fall I'll be applying your suggestions towards a respectable lawn. Cheers!
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It looks like you have some snow damage. I am in CT too and I have some myself, and it is slowly filling in as the soil warms, but I am pretty sure an overseed will be in order this fall. It has been an unseasonably cool spring so far, and regrowth has been slower than usual here on the coast, and even more so up north. I suspect you will see some filling in as temps rise, but when all is said and done I think there will be bare areas that will need to be reseeded. Whether or not you should reseed now is up to you, but it is getting a bit late in the season. If you seed at the end of the month, TTTF might make it through the summer (as long as it's not like last year), but there are no guarantees. I say reevaluate in one week to see if those brown areas have any more green in them.
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Depending on the variety of grass you want to sew, you are right in the middle or getting late for planting. I think you get more for your work with core aeration than slit seeding, but to each his own. The best way to improve the turf is to add organic material to the soil.
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newowner21
Original Author
9 years ago
The machine was pretty heavy, like pushing 5 or more lawn mowers at once, and it doesn't want to turn which I had to do like 100 times because my yard is long and narrow. Also if you hit any spots that have a clump of mulch or thick dry soil, the machine just stops. It gets beached. It's like trying to push and maneuver a super heavy mower through sand.
I'd look around to see if anyone has a self propelled one. The 2 places by me didn't have one.
As far as if it did what it was supposed to, we'll have to wait a week and see. The setting for the drop spreader was too small. I did my whole front before accepting the fact that little to no seed was dropping. So you may have to open it up.
If I do it again I'll stick to a rake and broadcast spreader unless I can find a machine that is more manageable.
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danielj_2009
9 years ago
Thanks for the heads up! I was just looking at them at HD the other day. You may have saved me a lot of trouble. I didn't realize they were not self-powered.
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User
9 years ago
The attached drop spreaders seldom work properly so I don't use them. I broadcast the seed, then use the slit seeder. The depth of the slicing blades should be adjusted so that they will cut into the soil even in low spots. Ideal depth is 1/4" but 1/4" to almost 1/2" will work. If you have soil that is so uneven that you are cutting 1/2" or more into high spots and making no cut into low spots, you need to level the lawn or not use a slit seeder. Setting the depth too deep can impair seed germination and make operating the machine harder. At the proper depth, the blades will help pull the machine forward but not so much that you need to hold the machine back. Almost all are not self propelled and are a bear to push up hill, so operation at a diagonal or parallel on slopes is a must.
They make for very good results with KG, not so much with larger seed grasses.

This post was edited by yardtractor1 on Thu, Aug 21, 14 at 13:53
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newowner21
Original Author
9 years ago
I'm planting tttf and I'm pretty unhappy as I stare at piles of seed laying on top of the soil. The furrows I dug aren't even that noticeable in most places, but if I went any deeper would've been 1 inch deep and I'd be dead now. I hope this seed takes. I spent lots of time, effort, and cash on it.
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