Hello, We have recently hydroseeded our new lawn. It is the middle of October and we live in Massachusetts. For the past week the high temperatures have been around 55 to 60 degrees with low temps getting down to the low 40's. It has rained recently, but I am afraid that it may be too cool for the seeds to germinate. What do you think? Thanks.
Truly Concerned
Did you do the actual seeding or did you contract it?
Yard And Garden Handyman Services
I agree. Early sept would have been optimal. The seed needs soil temps above 50, which usually means daytime temps in the 60s to germinate. It also needs some time to grow and harden to survive the winter. Doing it in mid Oct decreases the chances of success substantially. It's really a probability issue with the weather.
Some of the other factors are:
How much sun it gets this time of year. If there are no trees blocking the southern sky, that helps a lot. Even on cool days, the sun will warm the earth.
What kind of seed? It's likely it was a mix. Rye grass germinates fast, 4 days, fescue about 7, blue grass can take several weeks. If it was a mix containing blue grass, which many mixes contain because it aids in regrowing/repair, then the blue grass portion is least likely to get established this late in the season.
If you have leaves, which should be coming down in your area now, they can be a problem. Difficult to remove on a newly seeded lawn without damaging the grass and if left block the sun. A blower is probably the best option.
Though I've never tried reseeding over hydroseed, how tough can it be? Won't the discs of a slice seeder easily cut through it to overseed? I would think whatever hydraulic mulch is left would be an ideal environment when combined with overseeding in the spring.
Who said he was going to slice seed soft soil, ever do that? Slice seeding and overseeding are two different things.
Without that mulch one could simply spread seed like fertilizer right over the top (overseed). As it stands now the mulch would prevent the seed from contacting the soil. Figure the seed will germinate on top of that mulch, or would it be better off contacting the soil?
Who said the soil is going to be soft 5 months from now, when it would be time to do this? Why would you expect it to be? Slice seeding is one method of overseeding and IMO, the best. It's true you don't want to slice seed soil that is wet or muddy, but there's no reason that having hydroseeded it in the fall would leave it in a condition that would prevent slice seeding in the spring.
Simply spreading seed over a lawn and expecting to get good results is a foolish practice, even if it hasn't been hydroseeded. Good grass seed is expensive and without doing it properly, the germination rate will be low. That's why I said slice seeding is the best way to overseed. Aerating then applying the seed is another method, though less desirable. Just throwing out seed is the least effective. Comparing the cost of seed vs the cost of renting a slice seeder or paying someone to do it, it's not cost effective either.
The idea of slice seeding bare soil is new to me, have you had much sucsess with that method of seeding?
We do it all the time on new installs, and it works fine for filling in thin spots. Good seed is cheap, relatively speaking.
It's the least expensive part of the install.
Slice seeding bare soil works very well. The only issue is you don't want to seed if it's muddy or freshly tilled soil, as then the slice seeder is going to bog down.
I guess that depends on the labor rate or who's doing the work. You can rent a small slice seeder for $50 for a half day, $80 for a big one. By comparison, grass seed to do say 10,000 sq feet can easily cost more than that and if you're using a real good blue grass, it could top $100. Plus, with a slice seeder, you do it once and have a high probablity of success, vs doing it a few times over several years. IMO, it's way more cost effective. Just tossing seed out to overseed is good if there are just some small areas which you can then work with a rake, topdress, etc.
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