I dig it.

The small patches I have to fill in I was considering the same because the highest its going to be in NNJ the next 10 days is around 82.....I was thinking I could get away with it.

Go for it. Seeding time for NJ is about mid-August, close enough.

A month early is just right where I come from

Did you put any starter fertilizer on the seed? Did you rake the seed into the soil before putting the thatch on top?

Did you put any starter fertilizer on the seed?

No. I applied a bunch of poly coated urea to the area a couple weeks ago and that should be sufficient as a N source for the time being. I will supplement with triple super phosphate this evening.

Did you rake the seed into the soil before putting the thatch on top?

No, that's not part of my typical seeding process. Once I run the verticutter and expose the bare soil there's full seed to soil contact, and the thatch on top takes care of retaining moisture.

Saving your scalped cuttings for mulch is pure genius!

And the best part is you always have exactly enough to cover the area :-)

Would covering with grass clippings be just as good?

(Obviously mowing first, then seeding....)

Be careful with disease. It will still be hot and the constant moisture will make the young plants vulnerable. This is my lesson learned from last August when I wanted to get a head start that ended up putting me three steps back.

@Joe

Grass clippings will work. But I would recommend running a dethatcher to expose the soil, otherwise the seed will sit on top of the thatch.

@owlnsr

I know it, mine had the same fate. It's a gamble for sure, but I'm well stocked on fungicide and if it doesn't work out I'll know by mid-September, just in time for normal seeding time.

jc-

I'm going to de-thatch today (my two hands and a rake)...

I think I'll seed my small patches on Friday. That'll give me 2 weeks before vacation to see if the grass took. If it doesn't, I'll just redo them 1st week of September.

owlnsr-

For the patches I'm filling in, which are small, I've already had 2 applications of Bayer fungus control, and will probably apply one more in 2 weeks. Hopefully that will prevent any onset of disease.

jc-

Sorry to highjack your thread!

j4c11, Truly wish you were my neighbor. I would gladly trade you many, many tomatoes for the use of your verticutter! You are an inspiration!

Haha, in that case I wish you were my neighbor too, the squirrels ate most of my tomatoes .

But wait, there's a manual option!

I used one of those first year I moved in. It was brutal.

Yes, but at least I am in good shape! Raking weeds is no day at the wimpy gym.

You guys are making me anxious to get back to Pittsburgh Lol it's been 7 days thus far since I've been there and put down Bayer granular fungicide before I left it's probably so long, If you don't hear from me Friday when I get back to the burgh, I had a heart attack from looking at my lawn if it's worse Lol right now only view is this

My seed (KBG) and penn mulch went down today in about a dozen 1 square foot patches on the front lawn.

I'll be misting them a few times daily for the next 2 weeks.

Temps are not supposed to get higher than mid 80's except next Wed. up to 85....

Let's see what happens!

That sounds like perfect timing Joe. Should turn out great. If you're keeping existing grass around the spots constantly wet some fungicide may be a good idea.

Thanks jc-

Should I keep the fungicide away from the grass seed?

Nope, apply to the seeded spots as well. It will help with damping off and other fungal diseases specific to newly seeded grass.

Most of the coated seed on the market contains fungicide in the coating.

I checked the seed underneath the thatch cover, I just couldn't stand it lol. It is in the radicle emergence stage. Should start seeing green shoots in a few days.

Bluegrass is starting to poke through here and there. Got a stretch of 90s coming up.

jc-

How's it coming along?

Painfully slow. Very little germination thus far. I am starting to wonder if maybe my pre-emergent has not yet worn off. I do see little baby grass sticking out here and there, but it's not really progressing. Then again, we've had a week in the low 90s, so that may have something to do with it. I'm going to keep watering up to the 3 week mark and see what happens.

So for me, it's been 2 weeks since I patched up some spots with strictly KBG.

It's small baby grass at this point, and I'll be away this week. Temps are only going to be in the 70's. I'll see how they are when I get back. Depending on how my Labor Day dethatching goes, I might just sacrifice those spots in order to overseed the whole lawn.

I am pretty sure I am going to dredge up a mountain of thatch....who knows how much actual grass will be left.....

Joe, I'm sure you already know this, but be sure to scalp before dethatching.

I'm going to call this a complete failure, no germination at 3 weeks in so I'm pretty sure the pre-emergent is still doing its job. Actually, there's some right at one end of the area where I remember my sprayer was running low so I sprayed more lightly. So at this point, I'm going to begin spraying glyphosate and going to core aerate heavily to break the pre-emergent barrier. Then I'm going to seed again in a couple weeks.

The Seedmanity, oh, the seedmanity.....(l o n g sigh)...

Lol

I came home from vacation today and promptly dethatched with the Greenworks.

I actually expected more thatch than I got, but maybe I'll do another pass tomorrow.

Next is overseeding. I may order it from the company you guys seem to like (Hogan?) because I'm starting to wonder if my local nursery has crap seed.

I'll use the Scotts fert. w/ weed prevention.....

I hope by 1st week of October I can look out the window and enjoy a nice lawn...

Then there's 4-5 months of nothing. And in April it all begins again.

Damn you lawn, damn you.

Update at 3 weeks

Overall it's looking good, had a a bit of washout after Harvey but I added more seed to the spots.

@mishmosh

There's quite a bit of nutsedge coming in, and also some broadleafs. A couple of random Bermuda plants as well. From your experience with KBG, is Tenacity safe to use for spot spraying at this stage or should I hold off for a while.

it is safe. i apply 4oz/A but did you use scotts starter with mesotrione? maybe be more cautious if you did and currently have some weed bleaching. i would definitely be aggressive with all the poa you ve had previously.

your kbg actually looks a little dense to me in some parts. you may want to thin out spots with a hand core aerator if that proves to be true.

No Scotts starter, so I'll hit it hard with Tenacity.

You are right, there's areas of high density. The seed washed out from the heavy rain and kind of clumped together in certain spots. Where's some fungus disease when you need it.

blanket spray Tenacity not spot spray.