Don't listen to those people, they just want to keep selling you more junk. Spraying your yard with weed killer repeatedly is never going to bring the grass back either. Pics? Soil tests? Where do you live? What type of grass?

I get that. I am not saying weed killer will bring grass back, but there are spots of clover, creeping charlie and dandelions so I sprayed it. I was thinking killing weeds off hopefully than starting to get the grass back. I live in southern Ontario Windsor area(border city of Detroit Michigan). There are pics in the bare lawn with weeds thread. I have KBG. Mostly clay ground. It's hard when you get varying opinions on what to do. Just want to the right thing and then stay on top of it. If it's too late to do anything now and better to wait till fall then I will.

Thanks.

I know exactly what you mean about getting different advice. When I first came to this forum, I thought I knew all about lawn care. Turns out I had to forget almost all I thought I knew. That explains a lot about the lawns I had had up until 2002. Once I got over myself, I wrote some stuff and have I've been asked to be a moderator on three different organic lawn care forums. I'm still learning, though.

Lawn care is not rocket science, but there are some nuances that can be overlooked if we don't have all the information. For example we can explain all about how to care for your lawn, but we would almost always assume you have full sun. Later on the OP might post a picture showing a wall on one side with a huge tree overhanging low into his yard. Well, maybe shame on us for not asking, but we have to rely on the info we get. I usually ask a few questions trying to get the big picture before jumping into solutions.

Having said that...unless you have low spots that hold standing water, then you NEVER need to add topdressing. Ever. Once your drainage is set and the soil profiled to carry water away from the house, then don't mess with it. Golf courses and sports fields topdress for different reasons. They often are correcting poor drainage, but they also have problems with disease that prevents water penetration. Top dressing can help with that. So can spike aeration, but so does spraying with a surfactant like we talk about (shampoo).

You only need to water once a week when the temps are in the 90s. Do you have much of that in the Detroit area?

You are several months too late to overseed. Or you are several months too early. For you, late August or early September would be the best time to seed.

If you have trouble picking a fertilizer, then use any organic. My favorites are the ground up nuts, beans, and seeds you can find as animal feed at the local feed store. Soybean meal, alfalfa pellets (rabbit chow), corn meal, or corn gluten meal are going to be available almost anywhere - at least one of them will be available. The application rate is 15 pounds per 1,000 square feet. These will improve the health of your soil regardless of whether you have grass growing or not.

Before you go to the expense and trouble of core aerating, try this. Spray shampoo at the rate of 3 ounces per 1,000 square feet. First test the soil by sticking a screwdriver into it. Note how hard you have to push and how far it will go. Do this when it's dry and when moist. Then spray the shampoo, water it down with 1/2 to 1 inch of water, and wait 3 weeks for results. Then do the screwdriver test again. If you're not happy, spray with shampoo again. The shampoo allows the water to penetrate into the soil better which makes it softer when moist. Use any clear shampoo with no conditioners in it. I sprayed my yard in 2012 (after I found out about this) and it still gets soft when wet.

Thanks I always thought topdressing benefits new seeds and gets into aerate plugs if I aerate.

So as far as shampoo can you explain three Oz to 1000 sq feet. I have about 3000 sq feet grass. What do I use to mix the 3 Oz shampoo to how much water. What am I using for this. Sorry I am knew at this and never heard about shampoo. Also can I spray it now or when should I. In the summer July August we do hit the 90s safe to say 80s but also get 90s and can even hit in 100s at times. Also when can I fertilize since I did spray the weed killer couple days ago.

So you recommend keepfertilizing, shampoo, and then in fall overseed? With no topdress? Should aerate first? Or does shampoo help with that.

Thanks dchall_san_antonio