New Lawn from Seed

[gooner]

Hi

10 days ago i seeded a lawn (measuring 14m x 2m).

I've been keeping it moist throughout this period.

I am now getting a little worried that the new lawn is looking rathe "thin". Lots of blades have germinated, which have now reached a heigh of 1-2 inches, but there are a vast amount of areas where there' nothing.

Some blades appear to be 2 inches apart from their neighbours. Is thi right?

Do I need to reseed, or am I being impatient?

(I followed the recommended application rate for the seed - and eve went a bit over)

Many Thanks for your help

-- gooner

[Jim]

[....]

the process of seed germination in and of itself produces heat. when two or more seeds are touching one another during the germination the heat is usually sufficient to kill both seeds and therefore produce nothing.

recommended application rates are the result of years of testing done by people who are knowledgeable, skilled, willing to follow instruction and patient enough not to skew the results by interfering with the process.

[trader4]

This is the first time I've ever heard this heat thing and I'd like to see a reference. I would think that natural heat from the sun would be orders of magnitude more heat than what two tiny seeds could generate. Plus, if the surface is constantly wet, figure out how much heat it takes to warm water and tell me how seeds are going to do that.

But as far as heat problems, the heat from the sun could be exactly the problem the OP has, if he's seeded cool season grass in mid- summer. Early Fall is by far the optimum time, followed by Spring.

[z]

Indeed yes; summer is the highest stress time for grass, worse than winter. If you live in the North, you want to give your lawn the maximum time to get rooted before summer, by seeding it in fall when things are relatively moist again; if you live in the south, you can get away with seeding in early spring.

Me, I'm stocking up on closeout bags of grassseed and use their germination to heat the house this winter.

[trader4]

Cool, let us know how many BTU's per pound you get! :)

[jeffc]

This is nonsense. Seeding in the fall almost always results in lots of dead grass. It doesn't have time to develop a deep root system before the stress of summer heat and drought. Seeding for permanent grass in the South is almost always done in the fall, usually no earlier than September.

[jeffc]

Sounds like BS to me as well.

[z]

OK, thanks for the correction. Never been down south to see grass seeding, myself. (^_^)

[Steveo]

September 15 is the best time of year for seeding turfgrass here in N Ohio.

[moparhoLICK and chukkeesukkee]

And anytime is the right time to meet Steveo in a Petro toilet...he works fast and cheap.

[Jim]

[....]

jeffc, there is a word in your second sentence causing you 'fall' and fail at making a coherent point.

[Jim]

[....]

jeffc, there is a word in your second sentence causing you to 'fall' and fail at making a coherent point.

[trader4]

And your reference against Fall seeding of cool season grasses would be? Last time I checked, Fall is followed by Winter, then Spring. So how is it that the grass that is seeded in Fall doesn't have time to develop a root system. If you do even a quick google, any lame brain can quickly find ovewhelming recomendations from agricultural services to seed cool season grasses in Fall.

[jeffc]

Obviously I meant to say "seeding in the spring", since he was talking about seeding in spring in the South, and I called that nonsense.