It’s the season for constant “is it too late” questions on this sub and I feel the need to make a separate post to share my experiences with “too late” seeding.
Background:
I built a new house three years ago and just a few weeks before taking possession, I was informed by my builder that the city would apply a lien on the home until we had 70% grass coverage in what would be designated as lawn. This is to help mitigate rain runoff and a big mess. The problem – it’s November. Not wanting to use a lien against my brand new house, I decided to go for it.
Now, before I get 1000 “why didn’t your builder tell you sooner” or “why didn’t your builder put down sod”… we hired a custom builder and agreed up front (2 years prior when the project started) that id handle landscaping. I just lost sight of it amongst the 100 other decisions and items needing our attention.
New lawn establishment:
Zone 6a – Ohio. 10,000sqft lawn
The general consensus is seeding is best in late summer to early fall, let’s call it around Sept 1, to allow your grass to germinate and establish before first frost. I’m sure that’s based on lots of data and testing from University Extension offices teeming with agro scientists. However, that is a guideline. It is not a law.
Not wanting a lien on my brand new house, I did a lot of research and got after growing some grass….the second week of November.
Knowing it was really late in the year and my time was limited before snowfall, I decided to go with PRG so I had quick germination. Waiting 20+ days for KBG wasn’t an option. Even TTTF at around 8-10 days felt risky at the time.
Basic process (nothing special):
I started by smoothing my soil out with a harrow attached to my lawn tractor. I then spent a day picking up and removing any rocks larger than a quarter.
Next, I spread my PRG seed from Twin City. Feeling like I was pressing my luck with the weather (we had several frost and freezes in the forecast), I went a little heavy on my seed, about 10% over weight, figuring my germination rate would be reduced a bit and could mitigate that with more seed working for me. I also spread a 10-10-10 fertilizer at a light rate for some boost.
**I didn’t go with mesotrione (tenacity) because it is a growth inhibitor and would slow down the PRG growth rate. I didn’t have the time.
Then, I ran the harrow over everything again, to rake the seed into the soil and ensure my dispersion was nice and even.
Lastly, I covered everything with a thin layer of peat moss using a Landzie peat moss roller/spreader.
I watered enough to keep everything damp. The frequency and volume varied daily due to fluctuations in weather.
While the seed was in its germination phase, I experienced 3 overnight frosts and 1 overnight freeze. To combat this issue, I watered heavily those evenings to make sure the soil was saturated down a good half to full inch. I did this to insulate the seed as the water from the house is warmer than the ambient temperature and prevented the seed from freezing off.
After just 8 days I had really consistent germination. A little slow for PRG but it was cold. I was nearing thanksgiving by then.
I was able to get one mow in at 1.75” before snow fell and then it was up to nature to do its thing.
The first picture was my lawn the following spring. No additional seed was applied.
I have since over seeded each fall to add in some tall fescue for diversity for health and longevity. Each time I’ve started mid October and have had great success.
The second picture is from this week, about 10 days post over seeding Twin City Resilience 2.
OKAY, SO WHATS YOUR POINT?:
My point of this post is that it may not be optimal conditions to seed your lawn late into fall but it’s not impossible. In fact, it’s very doable. Your blue tag seed might have a 90% germination rate stamped on the bag, so late fall seeding could result in maybe 75 or 80% germination. Just lay down a little more seed than normal and water evenings before frost.
Your results may vary. Use common sense, and let’s stop the “ITS TOO LATE!” any time after Labor Day. This is a perfect example of Reddit Mantra – repeated advice or factoids repeated over and over again to the point where it becomes gospel or law.
by brandons2185
12 Comments
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Agreed 100%. It’s a general rule of thumb not to plant this late, but it’s not against the law. In VA we’re expecting frost in the first week or two of November, that would mean seed could still be established even if planted halfway through October. The important part is using your warm irrigation water if it gets too late in the season “can” help.
That is beautiful. Great work. I live in the woods too and appreciate it even more knowing how difficult weed control can be with that many trees around. A+ my friend. Just wanted to say that.
I’m in your same zone and state and we have had a great fall so far. Could use more rain, but overall great weather. Hopefully it stays like this.
To your point my neighbor just seeded his lawn about a week or so ago. Not late at all.
How exactly did you insulate the seed during freeze?
Being from the northeast, I’m always blown away when I see a plot of land like this that didn’t already have multiple houses built on it.
Great post. Very encouraging; there are a lot of naysayers who are very vocal just because they would not dare start after Labor Day, but success like yours proves them wrong!
Would love to see some before and during pics too! Last year in October/November, I had a patio, gazebo, and fire pit made in my back yard. It was already really cold here in Mass but I seeded with some KBG from Lowe’s, not knowing much about grass and zero effort into research. Don’t be shocked, it didn’t grow all winter, even after hand watering every night for a week, again, don’t be shocked. But! Come spring, it started to grow. I raked up some of the dirt, again, not knowing much and zero research, grass grew faster in the lines I scraped up in the dirt. I guess it’s a thing to seed and have it dormant in the dirt over winter so it germinates in the spring. To add to your post, with some research and knowledge, you could overcome some obstacles that can occur such as you did.
Great work and lawn looks awesome.
One of the reasons extensions and turfgrass scientists pick these dates is due to mortality rates over a longer period, not just initial establishment. The grass needs time to tiller and root out to be able to handle the summer heat and compete against weeds and fungals pressures when the grass is less competitive. The only two windows of the year for the grass to do this are during the fall and spring (the former being much more favorable). A lot of people get frustrated with putting in a bunch of work into a lawn only for half of it to die in a year and have to start all over, so there is validity to some rigidity as people don’t follow up a year later on Reddit posts.
The best thing to do is follow location-specific advice and adjust agronomic program based on location and conditions to maximize long term survival rates.
Very nice
All I needed to see was the corner – beautiful house (and yard).
This is a fantastic chronicle of your journey. Thank you for sharing! The results are beautiful despite “sub-optimal” conditions.