lawn reseeding

upyaboyanow

Hi,

Iv got half acre lawn to re-seed.

It was never seeded properly - just normal grass on it.

Just a few questions:

- Best time of year to do it?
- Best spray to use to kill all grass weeds etc, and most economical!
- Any fast way of spraying , other than the knapsack?
- Best grass seed to use - slowest growing grass, and most economical!

Any other tips?

note that I will not be rotavating it.

garv123

upyaboyanow wrote: »

Hi,

Iv got half acre lawn to re-seed.

It was never seeded properly - just normal grass on it.

Just a few questions:

- Best time of year to do it?
- Best spray to use to kill all grass weeds etc, and most economical!
- Any fast way of spraying , other than the knapsack?
- Best grass seed to use - slowest growing grass, and most economical!

Any other tips?

note that I will not be rotavating it.

What are you gonna do with all the dead grass/roots if you arent going to plough or rotavate it?
the seeds will just blow away if you just throw them down on top of hard soil without breaking up the top surface. Seeds also grow better in loose soil.

upyaboyanow

garv123 wrote: »

What are you gonna do with all the dead grass/roots if you arent going to plough or rotavate it?
the seeds will just blow away if you just throw them down on top of hard soil without breaking up the top surface. Seeds also grow better in loose soil.

Just cut it to the bone , and collect, after spray has killed all the grass

garv123

upyaboyanow wrote: »

Just cut it to the bone , and collect, after spray has killed all the grass

ya that wont work out too well. You'll be back to square 1 in no time.

monkeynuz

upyaboyanow wrote: »

Just cut it to the bone , and collect, after spray has killed all the grass

You will need to wait 6 weeks after roundup to reseed, you will need to scarify or rotavate to create a seedbed, good seed will cost about €140 for your area.

upyaboyanow

monkeynuz wrote: »

You will need to wait 6 weeks after roundup to reseed, you will need to scarify or rotavate to create a seedbed, good seed will cost about €140 for your area.

do you think? so wont get away without digging soil??

whats best time of year to do this so?

monkeynuz

upyaboyanow wrote: »

do you think? so wont get away without digging soil??

whats best time of year to do this so?

You can dig it obviously, but I wouldn’t be digging 1/4 of an acre by hand.

upyaboyanow

monkeynuz wrote: »

You can dig it obviously, but I wouldn’t be digging 1/4 of an acre by hand.

Yes I understand that I wont do it my hand!!:o

But do i need to dig it? or can i get away with just spraying, and cutting , then seeding?

monkeynuz

upyaboyanow wrote: »

Yes I understand that I wont do it my hand!!:o

But do i need to dig it? or can i get away with just spraying, and cutting , then seeding?

Scattering your seed on hard ground will do nothing as others have said!

Scarifying and then spreading seed and rolling will be ok, although a light extra scattering or compost or fine topsoil over the top would be beneficial.

Don’t forget fertiliser and or pre seed, also lime might be handy.

POBox19

What's so wrong with normal grass? Why not just start treating what you have with some grass fertilizer and regular mowing when it starts to regrow in March?

upyaboyanow

POBox19 wrote: »

What's so wrong with normal grass? Why not just start treating what you have with some grass fertilizer and regular mowing when it starts to regrow in March?

cant keep it cut in summer - growing like crazy. no sooner cut when its up again

garv123

upyaboyanow wrote: »

cant keep it cut in summer - growing like crazy. no sooner cut when its up again

Thats how grass works

upyaboyanow

garv123 wrote: »

Thats how grass works

but shur proper lawn seed would grow slower? current seed is just agri seed!

GreeBo

upyaboyanow wrote: »

but shur proper lawn seed would grow slower? current seed is just agri seed!

Nope, any lawn that you look after is going to "need" to be cut a couple of times a week during an Irish summer.

You can of course buy a growth inhibitor, but if your goal is reduced work then reseeding from scratch isnt going to achieve that.

Whats the area used for? does it need to be grass?
You could look at non grass alternatives like clover

https://learn.eartheasy.com/guides/lawn-alternatives/#groundcover

caddy16

garv123 wrote: »

Thats how grass works

Robot mower is whats needed here not reseeding.

upyaboyanow

GreeBo wrote: »

Nope, any lawn that you look after is going to "need" to be cut a couple of times a week during an Irish summer.

You can of course buy a growth inhibitor, but if your goal is reduced work then reseeding from scratch isnt going to achieve that.

Whats the area used for? does it need to be grass?
You could look at non grass alternatives like clover

https://learn.eartheasy.com/guides/lawn-alternatives/#groundcover

so your saying agri grass (or wild grass) doesn't grow faster than lawn grass seed??

upyaboyanow

GreeBo wrote: »

Nope, any lawn that you look after is going to "need" to be cut a couple of times a week during an Irish summer.

You can of course buy a growth inhibitor, but if your goal is reduced work then reseeding from scratch isnt going to achieve that.

Whats the area used for? does it need to be grass?
You could look at non grass alternatives like clover

https://learn.eartheasy.com/guides/lawn-alternatives/#groundcover

might be an idea - does it work?

sheesh

upyaboyanow wrote: »

Yes I understand that I wont do it my hand!!:o

But do i need to dig it? or can i get away with just spraying, and cutting , then seeding?

I have done patches on my lawn by mixing the seed with some soil and that worked for me, as in it germinated quickly on the undug soil. This would require you to mix soil and seed in batches and spread it out so that could work but it would be patchy it would require touch ups afterwards

GreeBo

upyaboyanow wrote: »

might be an idea - does it work?

Sure, but its not cheap.

https://www.pitchcare.ie/shop/primo-maxx-growth-regulator.html

GreeBo

upyaboyanow wrote: »

Yes I understand that I wont do it my hand!!:o

But do i need to dig it? or can i get away with just spraying, and cutting , then seeding?

You need to give the seeds something to sit on and grow into, they wont survive just on bare, hard earth. (they will blow and/or wash away or just dry out and die)

So your options are to rotovate or add soil (if you are going to kill the existing grass)

garv123

upyaboyanow wrote: »

but shur proper lawn seed would grow slower? current seed is just agri seed!

Nope, I set a new lawn last year and I had to cut it every 4-5 days to keep on top of it. If I left it a week it was a lot more work.

POBox19

upyaboyanow wrote: »

cant keep it cut in summer - growing like crazy. no sooner cut when its up again

A really good lawn needs two/three cuts a week from April to mid June. When the weather warms up the growth will slow down and you'll get away with one cut every week or more until September, even October if the weather is very dry.


If you don't need a billiard table lawn don't cut it tight, a bit of growth won't be noticeable.