Unlimited water supply i have but no thermostat to control the outside temperature!When the landscaper is done it will be ready for seed right away.I have invested money in seed and soil preperation so if it were to fail i would need to invest more.I am certain it will germinate,but probably be slow to grow when july/aug come around so keeping it alive will be my primary goal.Weeds will be abundant as will the crabgrass but who knows what seed will be in that topsoil thats hauled in.

Sounds like you know what you are doing. Make sure you have tenacity on hand. Another option is scotts step 1 for seeding with crabgrass control...has mesotrione (Tenacity). I would use both... Scotts early on, Tenacity spray after germination. Not familiar with the cultivars in World Cup but it sounds like their intentions are good, which is better than most blends.

I am cautious about putting tenacity down because i do not want to interfere with grass germination.

O.k,I just looked up the scotts starter+weed preventer and maybe I will use that instead of the standard starter fertilizer sounds like it will give me a slight advantage during germination.Pricey.

worth every penny. soils are likely full of poa trivialis and poa annual seeds. that is a much greater risk of long-term disaster than summer annuals. Tenacity makes a huge difference.

New grass is planted with the scotts starter plus weed preventer everything went well now will just keep wet until it's all up.One more question,can I put another application of this scotts product after 5 weeks to continue the barrier or will that be too much fertilizer on young grass plants?

Its not too much fertilizer. It may be too much mesotrione...i just don't know. Which is why i would spray tenacity after the initial scotts because then you control the application rate and frequency.

Sorry, it just occurred to me that i did use 3 consecutive applications about a month apart using Scotts starter with crabgrass control for an overseed project last spring. I did get bleaching of desirable grass but no apparent kill. I got zero poa annua, some poa trivialis -- which i spot killed with Roundup this spring. Haven't used it since because i just have a lot of Tenacity spray on hand. In any case, the spray can do double duty. If you spray it immediately before a rain, it'll act as pre-emergent. Otherwise itll be post emergent control. They are not the same. For seeding, i would think pre emergent is better unless you are diligent about doing multiple sprays over several weeks.

Do you just walk around with a pump sprayer?I don't see a dry granular product.It would be nice to get another month of weed control.

I would just use the step 1 / crabgrass control again. for a pre emergent type application, I'm guessing you'll need to spray a hefty 8oz/A Tenacity application that is timed perfectly just before rain. if you don't already have a good spray setup, you'll be prone to error. I will use a pump sprayer up to 3000 SQ ft. otherwise I'll move up to a backpack sprayer. my lawn is only 12k SQ ft though.

O.k a follow up on the progress.My new grass is about 75% up now but the crabgrass is coming on strong also.It seems at first the little cg shoots would come up and then turn brown like they were killed post emergent style,but now they are taller with two to three leaves and they are staying green.Does this mean the tupersan is wearing off and need to reapply it now?Scotts recommended waiting the full 6 weeks before re applying but i feel that might be too long.I don't want this weed to get a foothold now.It has been 4 full weeks since first application and seeding.We have had alot of rain lately also.I appreciate any advice and help ,thank you.

I hope what you are seeing isn't Quackgrass.

Quackgrass looks like crabgrass but pre-emergent and post emergent (weed b-gon) will not kill it.

I tried Scotts Halts last spring and Jonathan Greenes weed and crab grass preventer this spring thinking it was crab grass.

Good Luck and keep us posted.

Please don't tell me you went with Tupersan instead of mesotrione. Tupersan is not a very effective crabgrass pre-emergent not to mention it doesn't do anything for poa annua. safe for seeding? yes, but that's about it. Mesotrione is far superior and almost a must for seeding cool season grass.

How many weeks after seeding? I think you'd be ok to spray tenacity. Even another app of starter/mesotrione is unlikely to kill existing crabgrass. Really, i think its done a good job....not that much crabgrass. I might even pull them by hand. Wishing you best of luck during his weekend's heatwave.

Yeah,I was thinking of pulling them in my spare time.They pull very easy right now.I am pleased at how the weeds have been controlled so far.The majority of the cg has germinated only in the topsoil that was hauled in.The native soil has done better.I will get more pics tomorrow. Bare areas are still in the low spots where the rain puddled up.Will be keeping the water on it this weekend.

3 1/2 weeks along.I applied another round of starter with mesotrione yesterday.Still putting down water 3 times a day with hose end (seems faster,less evaporation )but desperately want to start using sprinkler.Hoping the meso will kill the crabgrass but still need this tall vertical growing grass identified, does anyone have a clue?It only grows in the topsoil I had brought in.Thank you.

looks like crabgrass to me. looking good overall.

Well,so far the lawn is doing about as good as can be expected after this heatwave we had.The parts with shade are coming in thin yet tall and the full sun areas are more dense but with a shorter stand. (About 1")As expected the weeds particularly crabgrass and purslane are at full force.I ordered some tenacity to apply bit according to what i have read the seedlings need to have been mowed twice before using it.It has been about a month since it first came up but obviously not tall enough to be mowed yet.Will the kbg be damaged if If i apply tenacity now?Has anyone sprayed post germination and had success without killing the new grass?If i wait any longer I may not be able to get a handle on it.

I am very liberal with Tenacity and seeding. Mainly for poa annua and poa triv...not necessarily for crabgrass. Just be aware, you have mesotrione in the soil now in addition to what will be sprayed. I'd spray 4 oz per acre rate and waiting a full week to see what the effects are before another application. If some kbg gets bleached, that does not mean it's dead. Itll recover. Just means you have to adjust down the rate or up the interval between apps.

hope it's just the lighting but the shady area is pic looks like some poa triv may have sprouted. I'd be wary of any area that is light green. after the first few weeks, roughstalk bluegrass seedlings also look subtlely different from kbg. But since you have elite cultivars, I'd look closely at color. I'd do this before spraying tenacity so areas you think might have possible triv will start to bleach and you won't think you are harming your kbg. tenacity will also lighten the green of the lawn so you can't always use color to differentiate kbg from other weedy grass.

Mishmosh,

The developer of the over 55 community recently moved into hydro-seeded my yard with a blend of rye, fescue and KBG three weeks ago and it is an absolute mess.

It is loaded with weeds and an abundance of crabgrass.

What are Mesotrione and Tenacity?

Are they names of specific concentrated herbicides or the ingredients in a Weed-B-Gon type product?

Thanks

Tenacity (mesotrione) is a specialty herbicide. It uniquely targets a whole host of broadleaf AND grassy weeds AND is safe at seeding for most cool season grasses with the exception of creeping bentgrass and fine fescue. Really should be considered mandatory for any seeding project, but especially in spring/summer when weed pressure are at it's highest.

There is mesotrione in Scott's Step 1 starter fertilizer for seeding with crabgrass preventer. This granular form is a pre-emergent.

Tenacity is a spray that is available at many specialty landscape suppliers or online. The spray is not to be used without attention to detail and technique. The spray is for post-emergent application or if you apply it just as it starts to rain, a pre-emergent application.

Feel free to google mesotrione or Tenacity for more info.

Mishmosh,

"The spray is not to be used without attention to detail and technique"

Could you please give a brief description on how to apply the Tenacity?

Do you know if Round-up for lawns works on crabgrass?

Thanks

All I meant by that is, the stuff is concentrated. Care must be taken to ensure you are using the proper concentration. Tenacity can be spot sprayed...recommended spot spray concentration is listed in the label. For your purposes (seeding/lawn establishment), I think you'd be wise to blanket spray which requires much more care about technique. A good target would be 1 gal per 1000 sq ft, although I like to fill my 4 gal backpack and use all 4 gal on about 5000 sq.ft. It takes some experience to spray evenly with minimal gaps and overspray, and at your target rate (what some like to call "calibrating your sprayer"). Variables in setup include output pressure, spray head pattern and sprayhead volume--all vary so it takes experience to know the pace to walk at to put down that 1 gal per 1000 sq ft. That said, once you have a good spray system in place, you can spray anything: iron, pre-emergents, post-emergents, soil conditioners, fungicides, etc etc. Almost a must for any lawn enthusiast or DIYer.