"slit seeder" for grass?

It's no too late for grass seeding but I am planning ahead for September.

I have read about "slit seeders", which are upposed to dig lightly into the soil and insert seed into the slits. Our local rental place says there is no such thing; what they want to rent to me is a power rake with a seed hopper behind it, so you are raking the soil and then dropping seed immediately behind the rake (but not particularly targeting the seed at any cuts in the soil). I can do that myself by raking and then scattering seed separately later; this process does not seem to help much in getting the seed to make good contact with the soil.

Is the rental machine I described the same thing as a slit seeder, or do I need to look harder for a real slit seeder?

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OF SLIT SEEDERS Manufacturers such as BlueBird, Husqvarna, Jacobsen, Turfco and Toro produce slit seeders that can certainly fill your needs. BlueBird manufactures the model S22 slit seeder for the rental market and commercial users. It has a ground-driven agitator that distributes seed with a 22-inch swath. It has seven preset height adjustments in ¼-inch increments. The seed hopper fits on the rear of the unit and has a 30-pound capacity. The handle is padded and adjusts to three positions for use and a fourth position (folded) for transport. It is powered by a 5.5-hp Briggs & Stratton or Honda engine. An

8-hp Briggs operates the 22-inch power rake with their Delta reel and seeder box. The Delta blades are made of 12-gauge steel that is angled with a beveled edge to cut slits into the ground 1.25 inches apart. The seed hole size is adjustable to accommodate a broad range of grass seed varieties.

Another seeder in the market is the Husqvarna DT22BF/SB22. Electrolux owns and manufactures the sister brands of BlueBird and Husqvarna products. The Husqvarna slit seeder has many of the same features as the BlueBird, with only a couple of differences. The Husqvarna has a more ergonomic handle assembly in that it curves in at the corners and uses the bail to engage the belt system; however, this unit does not use a preset height adjustment like the Bluebird.

Turfco Direct offers the LS-20 unit that is popular with both landscape contractors and the rental market. It can seed more than 30,000 square feet per hour with a seeding swath of 20 inches. The cutting blades are 1.5 inches apart for close seeding and can be replaced without removing the cutting head, by just removing two bolts. The LS-20 uses a micro-screw depth adjuster that is adjustable to 1.5 inches above the ground to 1.5 inches below the ground. The seed box capacity is 30 pounds and uses a mechanical, cam-action adjustment to handle different sizes of seeds. The unit's standard engine is a 5.5-hp Honda. It is designed with a spring-loaded belt for the drive system and a fold-down handle for storage and transport.

Jacobsen manufactures an overseeder called the Ryan Mataway. An 11-hp Kohler engine powers the Mataway. The depth adjustment can reach any desired depth up to 1.5 inches with a seeding width of 19 inches. The hopper capacity is

0.83 cubic feet and features a rotor bar, which is made of neoprene rubber. The metering system uses stainless-steel plates with triangular holes to create a variable opening for all seed sizes. The rotor bar operation engages in the lowered position only and the seed gate automatically shuts off when the unit is raised. You can remove the rotor bar and metering device for easy servicing. The lower seed delivery system has 10 seed outlets with 2-inch spacings. The seeder drops the seed through these outlets alongside the discs, which are heat-treated with scrapers for keeping the mud off. You can remove these discs to use the unit as a dethatcher only. The reel features a fixed-blade arrangement with 10 eight-point heat-treated blades spaced on 2-inch centers.

If you are going to be doing very large areas of turf for your overseeding project, two larger slit seeders are available. One is manufactured by Jacobsen and is the Ryan 548 Aero-Blade and seeder. This unit is a standard three-point-hitch unit that you can use as a vertical mower or an overseeder. The 548 uses a PTO drive to turn a heavy-duty gearbox that has a

45-hp rating. The blades are 10 point, 12 inches in diameter and have a standard 3-inch spacing. The depth adjustment is from 0 to 3 inches. The 548 seeder offers a seeding width of 48 inches and a hopper that can hold up to 100 pounds of seed. The seed spacing gives you 3-inch seed rows. The discs are 12 inches in diameter, made of steel and use spring-loaded scrapers to keep the discs clean. The seed flow-rate gauge is adjustable with an optional speed-up kit to increase the seed-flow rate by up to 25 percent.

The Toro Co. also offers a tractor-mounted unit that is mounted with a three-point hitch. The unit is the Aerothatch 83 with 93 seeder. The 83 Aerothatch is 48 inches wide with variable depth settings. It uses a

65-hp-rated gearbox and 10-point blades on a high-carbon steel blade shaft. The seeder attachment is ground-driven with a seed capacity of 100 pounds. This unit will plant seeds in 16 parallel groves on 3-inch centers and allows you to calculate seed-flow rates for any seed and turf area.