Overseeding

[jaygreg]

I'm considering thatching and resseding my lawn. A local equipment rental showed me a machine by Classen

called a turf seeder (he called it an overseeder) that he thinks I should use. When I saw the arrangement of the blades - considering the machine drops seed first then lets the 24 or so blades roll over them, my eyebrows rose; it seems to me a lot of seed will simply fall on top of the grass and those blades will miss them. It doesn't look like there's enough vibration to shake the seeds down through the existing lawn and onto the furrows the blades create.

Is this a recommended way to get seed into a mature lawn that needs to thicken to prevent unwanted weeds? Or should I rent a thatcher then this machine to plant the seed when all the thatch is gone. The guy at the rental agency says the machine will thach as well but not as much as a stand-alone type.

[Stubby]

[jaygreg]

??? There is no such thing as a perfectly flat lawn in my neighborhodd (or anyboby else's I've ever seen).

[Stubby]

Right. You're going to have trouble. The tines will not touch at some points and it will have problems getting over the rises. That was my experience.

jaygreg wrote:

[Steveo]

Lesco sells a machine that operates on the same principal as the one you're looking at, and I've heard they work OK as long as you stay within the limitations of a slice seeder. We have a couple of the Ryan mataway's that drop the seed behind the slice and they work very well on level soil away from tree roots. Be sure to criss cross your job and go heavy with the seed. I run 10 lbs/1000sg ft here in Ohio. (perfect time of the year to do that here right now)

[jaygreg]

Steveo... I live in NEO also. What mix lawn seed do you use for an average residential preestablished lawn and how much do you pay? I've been buying a mix from a local grain elivator in Seville that I thought was fair. I'd have to look up my records for the exact price but I remember at the time doing a comparison and they won the race.

I'm taking a drive into Holms county today and will probably come across a few places to buy seed and fertilizer. I'd like to have a benchmark. What ferilizer composition do you use on lawns now and what's a fair price to pay?

[Eggs Zachtly]

Purchasing your grass seed by price usually involves receiving seeds from several species you'd most likely rather not have. Check for "other" on the label. It may only say "2% other", but that can equal a couple dozen plants per square foot of a, perhaps unwanted, species in the mix. Just food for thought. =)

[Steveo]

This is probably late for your shopping trip but at any rate, Jay. I use Lesco 50/50 for most general sunlight applications. I pay less than $2 a pound for it and it produces a steady product. (how much less than $2 depends on how many pounds I buy)

I'm surprised you're > Steveo... I live in NEO also. What mix lawn seed do you use for an

[jaygreg]

[jaygreg]

I left before your message arrived but as it turned out, I only got to Home Depot. I though I'd run into a few grain elivators on the trip but I didn't. Anyway, I did jot down the contents of several different bags I thought might be appropriate. One is from Lesco; Premium Sun and Shade. The other was Vigaro Sun-Shade Lawn Grass Seed Mix. Fifty pounds would put me around $50. My experience with grass seed hasn't been something I crow about. I love movin' earth with machines but I had plantin' and growin' stuff. I'm sure I end up using a lot more seed than I have to. I've got about 2000 sg ft. to reseed and I'm now thinking my best bet for success would be to thatch it first (with a regular thatch machine, not that "thaching" reseeder) to make sure I clear a good area under the top carpet of grass so the seeds will take hold then either use that reseeder to plant (would seem like that night be overkill though) or just a spreader (probably would suffice) then cross my fingers. Comment? When would I furtilize and with what combinbation?

[Steveo]

[jaygreg]

Whoops! That's more like $50 for 25 lbs., not 50lbs.

Here's the mix... though you're probably not interested with this new valuation:

Lesco Premium Sun and Shade. 25lbs for $53.47 $2.14/lb). 99.9% weed free. We'll call this "Seed A."

Vigaro Sun-Shade Lawn Grass Seed Mix. $25.29 for 10lbs ($2.53/lb) . This is "Seed B"

Seed A Seed B

Standard Kentucky Blue 31.74 24.83 Greenville Premum Rye 30.74 Brittany Chewing Fescue 17.79 Shademark Red Fescue 17.54 ? Creeping Red Fescue 19.44 Barlennium Perenial Rye 18.79 Ambrose Chewing Fescue 17.43 Premier II Perenial Rye 9.89 Barclay Perenial Rye 7.69 Other crop seed 0.20

[Steveo]

Gotcha now Jay. You did say "Fifty pounds would put me around $50" in your your first equation but that new math can be cornfusing at times. :)

Your fertilizer should last you to the end of the growing season or six to eight weeks. Be careful not to load it with food after that, in prevention of spring disease. Good luck with it.

ps. sorry for the snippage but I'd rather not top post if it's all the same.

[jaygreg]

[Jim Ledford]

[....]

question first, answer second. the accepted usenet etiquette is to bottom post. which means your reply goes after that which you are replying to.

check your news reader settings [configuration] and you should be able to select whether your reply begins at the top or the bottom.

as for myself, I don't really care but some get so very very upset when their rules are not followed and therefore you hear the words TOP POST...

Jim - real Country Boy, living it!

[Steveo]

Hi Jay. Yeah Outlook Express defaults at the top just like it was an email. I like bottom posting for Usenet though, it seems to flow better top to bottom in sequence. No problem tho.

Country boy here too so rock on with with your bad self. How did you make out with your seed job, get er' done?

[Eggs Zachtly]

That's kind of close. Both "all" top-posting, and "all" bottom-posting are frowned upon, with the later being the lesser of two evils. By far, the best format would be inline-posting. Addressing each point, in turn. This makes for the easiest reading, especially for someone just joining a thread that hasn't quite degenerated into something totally off-topic, heh. Snipping text that's not relevant to your reply is also considered "proper", when posting to The USENET. And, unless it's a group specifically about HTML, then posting in HTML instead of plain text will usually bring about a good scolding.

I don't believe that OE has the option. It's top-post or bust, for M$. Although, I seem to remember hearing about OE Quotefix correcting this issue. I don't go anywhere near OE unless I absolutely have to. It may be something to look into. I know it fixes the way that OE borks quotes.

HTH

[Jim Ledford]

in line posting is more like carrying on a conversation. however one needs to know how to protect the attribute markers or the who said they said will become inaccurate.

much the same as following along in a conversation between two others.

yep, like sometimes when late to arrive I do wonder where the thread got it's current subject header. OT.

it's a nice thing for slow dial up users with very little band width.

if your reader allows for the configuration option then set it to HTML/plain text. doing so causes the HTML poster's post to appear as an attached file. most always I never open them since the attributes will be skewed with any attempt to reply.

cruel to send a new poster scurrying around seeking the meaning of -HTH- [hope that helps]

you are a likable sort and every now and then you say something which cracks me up. glad I'm not an egg.

[Eggs Zachtly]

I changed this one, since it had strayed completely OT. =)

Yup, or those that pay a certain amount per byte downloaded. Some servers still operate that way.

Actually, quite a few newsreaders will still show the code by default. It's best to use only plain text, IMO. HTML/plain text still bloats the message, unnecessarily. Again, going back to your point about dial-uppers. =)

I disagree. It teaches them how to find out about acronyms, which run rampant in chat as well as newsgroup postings. They usually find a good acronym-definition site fairly quickly, and hopefully bookmark it. Or, they find a newsreader that will give the definition onHover. =)

There are quite a few out there that would vehemently disagree with you, on that point, LOL. I could care less. I've been doing the BBS/Newsgroup thing for a long, long time, and will continue to do so, despite those that are too thin-skinned to be here. =)

If I had a nickel for every egg joke I've seen.... =P

[jaygreg]

Well.... let's see if I get this right; bottom post. Not yet, Steve. I just got in from a wallk around the lawn. Too damp to mow. Aerator and thatcher arrive tomorrow around noon. I should have time to do it all if it doesn't rain. Am splitting the cost with my next door neighbor so we've got all weekend to complete the task. But.... 30 - 40 % chance of precip. Here in Medina county, Ohio, that means it probably won't rain. I'm lookin' forward to the exercise.