After the scarifier

Today I spent the day dealing with part of the garden which was damaged by last summer's heat wave. A couple of days ago I sprayed weed killer and iron sulphate to deal with the undesirables and the moss; today my local farm service shop/garden centre delivered the scarifier I rented last Thursday, so I ran it through the affected areas. Now, in theory, the areas are ready to be resown and covered with top dressing. However before I go ahead I have a question...some of the areas I ran the scarifier have a very hard and compact soil, so much so that at times the scarifier had a bit of a tough time digging in (until I backed the blades up a bit it actually stalled in a few places). So, before I drop seed and soil, should I do something else to the soil (such as opening up a bit with a fork) or can I proceed directly to sowing?

Cheers Nicholas

 

Hiya Nicholas
I would loosen those hard areas....a rake should do it or, yes, use a fork if not the seed will struggle. I use a sort of home made cultivator ....an old fork with tines bent at 90 degrees and I find this ideal for loosening soil without going too deep)
Here I scarified and raked .....the machine usually loosens the soil enough for me. I sowed seed 2 weeks or so ago and it has germinated but this is a very mild area.....best generally to wait another 3 or 4 weeks. I also top dressed the lawn ( and seed ) to cover the seed

 

Theres a couple of basic mistakes here, First off, if you have used weed killer "a couple of days ago" as you state, then theres a good chance that new grass seed will not germinate. So there is no point in re-seeding as yet.

Secondly, give the iron sulphate time to work. I personally dont use it any more. There are better, more eco friendly ways to eradicate moss!

Thirdly, the normal way to reseed is to put the seed over the ground, then tramp it in with your feet. All it needs is to make ground contact, nothing more. It does not need to be covered with soil! Having said that, the way I do it nowadays is to mix it with the dressing and spread it that way.

One little tip: Choose a grass seed mix that is most suitable for the use your lawn is being put to.

 

I find seed that is lightly covered with soil germinates far better....it also helps against the birds. Each to his own but works well for me
Do as I once did, experiment. An area of back lawn was simply seeded and not covered....mainly because I was trying to avoid extra work....and birds simply ate most of it. Try different ways and then adopt what works best

 

I normally bury the seed too. The rule of thumb is the larger the seed the deeper it can be covered.
Seed needs good contact with the soil. In the wild grass seeds are thousands as only a percentage will survive but we have the step ahead to achieve better results through preparation.
You can seed on top, pressed down, raked in or covered.

 

The purpose of scarifying a grass area is to scratch out the dead vegitation usually called thatch, the now waste should be disposed of. Forget fertilizers etc. Ferrous sulphate is used mostly to get rid of moss in lawns, also it will help to deter worm casts, perhaps not a good idea on this area as mention has been made of 'hard' soil. This suggests soil compaction, hence encouraging worm activity will assist in the loosening up of the soil. It will do no harm whetherornot the ground is hard to give it a good spiking, solid or hollow tine is a matter of choice. Following hollow-tine treatment sharp sand can be raked in. Using an ordinary garden rake, the area can be loosed a bit by back and forth movements. This will form a fine tilth that in turn will accomadate the seed. No need for top-dressing, the weather will do that.

Sow the seed at about 3-4 ozs. per sq.yd. Choose the seed according to what the grass are is to be used for. As a matter of fact. The info I have given will probably provide you with fresh germinated seed in a week and mowable within two weeks. Always refrain from treating and feeding etc until growth is really strong.

 

Hi Nicholas , I agree with all of the above .Especially the weed killer and iron sulphate treatment , this needs to be left a good fortnight before raking out the moss . For reseeding again I would leave this until mid April , when the night temps are up a bit . I would scarify , then reseed and top dress to cover.

 

Top dressing is essentially to help smooth out lawn surfaces and to help nourish and encourage grass roots however it does protect grass seed sown at the same time and enables almost 100% germination. For me, top dressing is part and parcel of lawn treatment after scarifying and not necessarily part of usual seed sowing regime. Besides, it’s good exercise

A week to germinate is ambitious thinking esp right now but seed sown here has germinated and grown away well in 2 to 3 weeks. My vigorously scarified lawn has recovered from a bomb site to a now reasonable state

 

It depends on the type of grass and the environment. Normally you would see growth at around 10 to 14 days as a basic rule but germination can be quicker but not seen if covered.
There’s no real set rule as various grass types have slight time differences but when you add in the temp, soil, dampness, shade and so on germination can not be set in stone.

 

Thank you Liz the pot. As you will observe, I withdrew my comment from the forum. In brief. When on a instruction course, Groundsman class 1. I spent something like four weeks at the university's sports ground learning all about the science and practice of turf culture. I also gained my certs etc in The practice and management of sportsground and atheltic stadium management. I needed these qualifications to advance my career.

The info that I posted was based upon my knowledge both practical and theoretical.

 

Mike, no need to remove comments.
Your comment was correct, grass can germinate in 7 days so you were correct and it can also take longer.
Non of the replies here are incorrect, just different ways to do a task with the same end result.

 

Sorry, I used the term "a couple of weeks" incorrectly, in a generic way. In fact it was over a week ago and only in a few limited places.

I used to seed exactly as you said, until last spring when I tried burying the seed. The results were superior.

Seed mix...I wish I had some choice. Alas I'm forced to get what's available at our local shops, usually a mix of festuca and poaceae. However they seem to work ok.

Cheers Nicholas

 

I tried leaving seeds both exposed and buried and burying them gives the best results. Birds are not an issue here, courtesy of the three furry fiends who live next door... however a neighbour further down the road had problems with ants picking up the seeds and carrying them to their anthill...

Cheers Nicholas

 

Alas the worms haven't found their way intro this part of the garden yet...so no great loss.

Cheers Nicholas

 

Nicholas, I think you are over thinking this.
A general purpose grass seed mix, these days, is hard wearing, dwarf and attractive.
Unless you want a quality, fine turf ....which is not suitable for hard wear and needs a lot more attention to maintain it......a general purpose mixture is absolutely fine
Regular mowing, once a week if possible, (twice a week here) on a medium setting will do more for the quality of your lawn than most everything else.
Ants?? Don’t imagine possible problems. However, if ants do become a problem in summer you can apply a biological control for them