The drought last year did a number on my lawn and now I have bare spots. Should I seed the entire lawn or just the bare spots? Do I have to water a lot? What is the best seed?
Grass Seed for bare patches in lawn
- Thread starter JosephLanza
- Start date
Overseed everything, heavier on the bare spots. Loosen soil, apply with a water retaining material like straw or peat moss, maybe some new seeding fertilizer and water every day for 2 weeks.
Lime the entirety or your lawn as well.
Edit: type of seed, you'll find that seed companies sell different mixes for different situation, full sun, dense shade, heavy traffic, drought resistant, or a general premium level seed. They will predominantly be various types fescues, with a little rye grass, and maybe some blue grass or something. The general premium is good in most cases, but if you want to get one that is more specific to your need, like a full sun or drought resistant, then go for it.
Lime the entirety or your lawn as well.
Edit: type of seed, you'll find that seed companies sell different mixes for different situation, full sun, dense shade, heavy traffic, drought resistant, or a general premium level seed. They will predominantly be various types fescues, with a little rye grass, and maybe some blue grass or something. The general premium is good in most cases, but if you want to get one that is more specific to your need, like a full sun or drought resistant, then go for it.
Unless you used a crabgrass preventer that you can seed with.:stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:
Best time to seed is in the fall (late September)....If you have recently applied a non-selective pre-emergent then your new seed will not grow so I would not waste my time seeding the lawn.....You can spot seed if you loosen up the soil first. This will break the barrier that the pre-emergent created. As far as seed goes Falcon IV turf grass is a great product and does very well in our region. Hands down beats the Scotts and the rest of the consumer big box brands.
Similar problem for my lawn, but over a larger area. Going to lay down new sod to fix it. I'm not sure if this is viable for bare spots, but I've been told that sod isn't terribly expensive.
FYI if you put Crabgrass Pre Emergent within the past month or two you may need to take alternate steps here. Some pre emergent are OK for grass seed but many are not. Second, if you did put pre emergent down you want to put a clump of dirt on top of the spot because there is a barrier.
DO NOT use straw as a water retention material because it is also called and contains weed seed. You will grow just as much weed as grass. Use salt hay or peat to cover the spots, but definitely not straw.
I'm not familiar with this concern. why would there be a concernable level of weed seed in straw? And why is there not in salt hay?
But I've used straw and have not had issues. Seen it used numerous times, though I can't say I've followed up to see results.
Without a soil test he has no idea whether lime is needed or not. Go to the Rutgers turf page and get a soil test, then make appropriate soil amendments.
No offense, but so many posters are looking for a quick, easy answer and it's really not that simple if you really want a great lawn.
The whole question on how to improve a lawn depends on your soil, perspective, budget, and goals. Some will only want to use sod-certified zero percent weed and zero percent other seed. A complete renovation is a good choice in this case. Others just want something green. No right or wrong, depends on your priorities.
I suggest if you want a higher quality lawn you contact RU extension and make an effort to learn about lawn care.
I'm dealing with this because of my dogs digging. I rake, add soil, seed, cover with green crap they sell at home depot then put a 6x3 rebar grid down and stake it down. Water daily. I don't use fescue because it turns brown in winter and my other grass does not.
Does anyone know how to get rid of grubs without using grubEx? Grubs can be the reason why the grass is dead in big areas. For those who don't know, grubs are the larval stage of June bugs and Japanese beetles and they eat the grass roots.
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