Yeah, what's going on? :) My backyard lawn is still all dirt. Today is day 3.

I'll betcha that he's busy with his job. He is an IT guy on call, as I remember. I'm hoping for an update also, I am very interested in his progress. I'm hopeful that his seed is filling in!

I'm also curious as I'm on day 3 of my roundup lawn. Most of it has turned brown except for a couple spots of green. Morpheus, post some pics when you can.

3rd day of rain in mid-Michgan. This weather system is headed toward PA. - Bill Hill

Sorry, folks! Yes, I'm on call and it's been an extremely busy period. Two more project dropped into my lap, one of which must be complete by the seventeenth. I shouldn't have a problem doing that. The other can go hang for a bit.

I called it after we hit 97 degrees on Thursday. Failure, nobody's fault but the weather's, really. The soaking-wet area where the township had the TreeGator(s) sprouted, as did the areas immediately around the spray heads. Not much else.

I spent my copious spare time this weekend dethatching and mowing up the trash.

I'll reseed, but not until after the latest heat wave breaks. As of Thursday we drop back into the eighties, and the longest-range has it seasonable for the next fifteen days at least.

Here's the image of the dethatch. The back's not as thoroughly done because of the slope. The edges are undone because the robot's wire is there and I didn't need to be patching that yet. :-)

{{gwi:114873}}

Morph, thanks for keeping us up to date. Just think of all the grass seed you will save next year from an early death. ;)

Seriously though, the prime time for fall seeding in your area has to still lie ahead of you. You should have an opportunity to have a great re-seed when the cooler weather and optimum conditions for seeding arrive. I'm betting with your enthusiasm for the project and knowledge of the details, once you get that little problem of too high heat behind you, you'll have great results.

One thought about an issue you may face comes to mind. Before re-seeding, you might want to check carefully to see how many weeds came up while you were keeping it wet in the heat. If there aren't many, your seed bed is otherwise in good shape for the next go-round.

If there are many weeds that came up, you might want to round-up the weeds and start fresh. Obviously the question is the amount of weeds versus the amount of original grass that is worth saving.

Like the old saying goes: the best is yet to come!

Here's another old saying for ya.

If at first you don't succeed, try try again.

PA is not the boreal forest man, you gott wait until optimal conditions so you don't throw more $ down the drain

PA is not the boreal forest man

Lately, it seems to be tropical rainforest. :-)

Yeah, I'm waiting. Optimal season here is August 15 to September 15, so I'll wait until closer to mid-August. It looks like the 11th at the earliest at this point. At that point, our temperatures are dropping and ninety becomes rare. 80 is more like it, with occasional seventies. And far more rain.

you might want to check carefully to see how many weeds came up while you were keeping it wet in the heat

Practically nothing. Even the weeds didn't manage it. The few that did I hand-removed.

Nope, nobody's fault. I was afraid you would have to keep watering through your vacation period. I don't know when you plan to leave.

Would it be possible that the dethatch/mow would settle some of the seed, at least? All of a sudden, there's tiny sprouts all over the place and it's definitely grass, not weed. Even some of the very lightly raked stuff where the dogs have to go is now growing madly.

Like I said in another thread, I could just be having a bit of a stroke. I'm not sure.

I'm irrigating as usual (some did come up), but the weather is brutally hot at over 95. Fortunately, that breaks Friday.

Is it possible I got some of it into soil contact? I'd thought that it failed immediately if germination happened when not in proper contact, but perhaps I'm getting the post-day 13 stuff (which should still be the majority of it). I might have gotten there in the nick of time...

If this continues, I'll only need a light overseeding to keep it going!

Morph,

I think you're only in like your 4th week since seeding right? I think the higher temps we've been having lately just slowed the process down a bit.

Anyway, I'm glad to hear that everything seems to be coming up grasses.

Morpheus, I'm glad to hear things are turning around for you.

I have a few questions regarding the roundup phase. I have applied roundup and am currently on day 5. So far, I'd say 90 percent of the grass has turned brown. The issue I'm experiencing is that some parts of the lawn refuse to turn brown. I re-applied roundup to those areas with minimal results. Any tricks that you know of to take care of the reamaining stubborn grass?

Earlier tonight, I mowed an area of the yard on the lowest setting on my Toro mower. I saw some areas of green mixed in with the dead stuff. Would it be wise to reapply roundup after mowing that area? I plan on dethatching soon when the cleanup is complete (big job by the way, mower height has to be let down in stages). I'm Just wondering if I need to wait until every last bit of grass turns brown prior to mowing it to be effective. I know I have many questions but you do have the recent experience. Thanks.

Morpheus,
I have a question about your dethatching. I plan on dethatching with a blade that gets attached to my mower after the complete kill is complete. Do you have any advice about this step in the process? I plan on running the dethatching blade with the mower bag on and disposing of the waste that way.

Caesar--give it a little time, but you could step over with some MiracleGro and water it for several days. That'll get it growing so you can kill it!

PSU--I used a dethatching machine in an extra step, not one on a mower. Still, after doing this, I'd say to keep going over it until the grass is really gone. Get up as much as you can, and set the dethatcher to very slightly dig soil if you can do that. A quarter inch or so would disturb your soil enough to loosen it for seeding.

Morph,

Considering how long it took you to get good germination going and that it took me nearly as long last year when seeding in late September...

I hope folks thinking about overseeding an existing lawn with thsee cultivars consider how difficult a task they are up against.

It may take weeks to get most of the seed to germinate. During that time you'll need to water several times a day. But all that water is going to make your existing lawn grow like crazy.

It will probably just outcompete your elite KBG seedlings.

I just think this makes an even stronger case for a total renovation, versus an overseed project of an existing lawn.

Yup Turf Toes. If your existing lawn is anywhere near healthy, it is a difficult task to overseed elite cultivars into it. I have tried it twice and was convinced both times that almost none of the new stuff made it. Just renovating once is easier and less expensive than overseeding properly twice with WAY better results. Still, as you know, it is a hard thing to commit to (renovation) and I can understand why people say it's not an option.

I think it's an emotional thing because I was hesitant myself. Still, I know I can't fight established grass with new stuff. It's just not going to work. There's no place for the roots to go.

Temperatures are falling! Although probably not the end of 90 degrees, it's going to be several days that are temperate and even (gasp) wet.

Sprout's continuing, to the point that parts of the northern face actually look kind of like lawn at a distance if you squint a bit and don't look too close (and forget your glasses). The eastern and western faces are underway, but very small, and the southern is barely started. It's hot down south.

The weeds are also starting. Why do they always grow better and faster than the new grass?!?

Here is my experience fwiw with overseeding a KBG lawn that is doing pretty well before seeding. Hurt it. I know, its hard. But, if you want to give the slow sprouting KGB a chance cut it really short, aerate the heck out of it, hit it from every angle you can think of and really tear it up, and then be sure the new seed stays uniformly moist so it gets up ASAP.

Timing, of course, for KGB germination is helpful.

The last few times I've overseeded my KGB/p rye yard it has looked like a war zone the day after. It then looks like a scrap yard for about two and half weeks. Then it starts to look a little green all over. Then, at about six weeks, it starts to look nice and lush as the old grass finally recovers and the new stuff starts covering.