Problems after overseeding

Problem with thinning out after overseeding lawn. I tried the regular rake and seed method and seed didn't germinate. Just lay dead on top, so tried another method which I told had better success by mixing a handfull of seed mixed in a bucket per 2 handfuls of topsoil. I spread some of the bare seed down on the earth for good measure and the soil/seed mix I threw on top and back raked it into the lawn like you do when you top dress. Bingo! After a week it was growing like crazy and after 10 days it was ready for it's first cut. It was growing great all thick and lush but after about 6 weeks and due to the extreme hot conditions I was cutting twice a week as it was growing so fast. Then we had some heavy rain/storms and the grass grew a bit long and I wasn't able to mow it in wet conditions. A few days later I mowed it and was left with bare patches of clumpy soil where the seed once was and upon closer inspection most of the fine fescue had turned to brown thatch making it look bare between the ryegrass. What have I done wrong? I'm guessing that the seed didn't root into the ground and only took root in the topsoil and maybe the storms and heavy rain washed it all out leaving the lumps of soil behind after mowing. It's quite bare now and very cloddy between the grass. I've tried picking and raking the soil but it's very thick and clayish like it's stuck in clumps. Since giving it another rake over and another seed, this time just scattering it over the top but the seed has turned brown and looks dead. Hoping to revive it I stupidly threw on some Evergreen Cut & Feed but I now have fertilizer burn all over where I raked out the dead fescue. I used it just before I reseeded in June and it was fine but now it's.left my lawn looking a real mess. Not only is it patchy but I now have brown/almost white patches of grass. I feel like I've gone from a perfect lush carpet of green to a patchy mess in a matter of weeks.

To add insult to injury I have something digging holes in my lawn which I will post in a separate thread. Hope someone can help.

 

Really gutted as 3 weeks after reseeding it looked like this...

 

Patience, things will just not grow that fast, on your calculations you cut it after about 8 weeks, then cut it twice a week after that, I think the roots had a very tenuous hold on the soil , As JWK suggests seed again in October and try to leave it be until spring.

 

Thanks but I've been at this garden now for the last 2 years and it's taken me this long to get it right and now it's a mess again. Having spent so long getting it right and now the thought that it's not gonna be right for yet another year, I don't have much patience left I'm afraid.

See attached photos. You can clearly see how it's thinned out and also the fertilizer burn. Can't believe I was so stupid to apply it thinking it would help revive and thicken up the grass when it was obviously under stress. It's no wonder it burnt it. Oh well, too late worrying about it now so where do I go from here?

Will October be early enough to reseed? I don't want it lying dormant over winter for moss and weeds to take over. Also does anyone know whether my grass will recover from the fertilizer burn or will it have to be raked out and reseeded?

 

Looks like reseeding may be an annual thing like regular maintenance. It's naturally quite a shady mossy lawn. Or at least it was until I scarrified and reseeded. The fertilizer burn only seems to be affecting the areas where the the dead has been raked out.

 

How hard was the soil before you did your first re-seeding?
I think the new seed couldn't root into it because it was too hard, so it was pulled up easily, causing a mess.
Compaction is the most common, and most overlooked problem in lawns.
Aerate it really well and re-seed the bare areas in the autumn, and is should do much better next year.

 

It was only aerated a couple of weeks prior to reseeding using solid tine aerator.

 

Aerating using solid-tines doesn't actually relieve bad compaction, as the holes will just close up again.
Try to push a cane into the ground. It should go in easily. If it doesn't it needs to be hollow-tined properly.

 

Just wanted to revisit this thread to say that my problems seem to be getting worse so need some more help. I have no idea what's wrong but every time I cut my grass it's getting thinner and I have clods of thick clayish lumps all over it. Cut it again today after leaving it a while as I didn't want to mow too often to give the roots time to establish. I noticed large areas of just bare soil and indents. The soil is in clumps which strangely don't actually seem to be in contact with the earth underneath as when I tug on them they seem to be loose. These clumps are very clay like and sticky and when I try to pull them out it's like they are stuck to the grass blades rather than the earth. Imagine if you threw a ball of wet sticky clay on a lawn then stood on it and squashed it into the grass. That's kinda what it's like. Also the grass itself feels overly fluffy and thin and not very dense and where it makes contact with the soil the blades are white almost like the root is above the surface and in some places it's brown at the base even though the tips are lush and green. Also noticed that after cutting there looks like indentations in the lawn. The indentations coincide with patches of thin grass.

Oh yeah and besides the grass being thin and fluffy, it flattens down really easy. It didn't used to be like this but when I walk on it now it leaves footprints in it and it's very shiny like it's got some kind of plastic coating on it and appears 'too green'. I presume this is due to over fertilising but could that be the cause of the thinning out or some other problem? Just been out to take some photos as it's easier to see at night when my security light is on. You can clearly see what looks like little holes all across the lawn but they aren't holes. They are bare patches.

 

The grass feels very spongy but I've checked for thatch and can't see much of a thatch problem. It's like the grass has become too soft and has no substance to it. Rather than being tough, it has a soft velvety feel to it and just feels very delicate and it pulls up very easily when I rake it over. I've tried reseeding the bare patches and it grows just fine but after letting it grow and mowing a couple of times it's gone bare again in a matter of weeks. But this isn't just in the places where I reseeded. It's all over so I presume the problem isn't related to the overseeding but possibly a much deeper issue. It's been just over 3 weeks since I applied too much fertilizer and despite soaking the lawn and a week of rainfall I can still see little white beads of the stuff in there. Could this be what's killing my lawn? Oh yeah and one last thing. Noticed a massive amount of crane flies this year which means I've probably had leatherjackets. Already spotted the odd chafer grub. After doing some reading I've heard that these can often be attributed to too much fertiliser. I applied fertiliser around April, again in June and again in August thinking it would help my grass to grow stronger but it seems to have had the opposite effect. My lawn is weak now and don't know how to get it to recover as every mow I do seems to be worse. I'm at my wits end with it.

 

I'm no lawn expert (I actually rather dislike them), but I'm wondering how you got rid of the moss? It also suggests that the lawn area may need better drainage.

No useful answers I know, just a couple of thoughts that sprang to mind.

Hope you get there in the end.

 

As I said above, grass not rooting all points to a soil issue.
If it's compacted clay, you're going to have trouble with it.
Just describing the grass isn't helping ... what is the soil like?
Can you push a cane into it?
Does it drain poorly or hold a lot of water?
You also say it is shady ... how bad?

Love you too!

 

Soil seems very rich. Not compacted just very soft but very firm. Yes I can push a cane in it with some force but not amazingly easy but we have had a lot of rain recently. It seems to hold water but its been aerated this year. The reason I had so much moss was because its naturally a moist lawn. Its shady just because we have some trees at the back and on one side of the fence on the side where the sun doesn't shine. Its only in certain places. The rest of the garden gets plenty of light.

It seems to have gone worse since I've been attending to it fertilising/top dressing etc. Before last year the soil was quite crumbly even when wet but now its sticky like dough or clay but to just clarify its NOT clay soil. It just has that kind of feel to it. Sometimes when there's clods of earth they are so thick I can't rake it out as it's so sticky. When I walk on it I can feel soft squidgey bumps under my feet like raised uneven lumps of soil under the grass almost as if it needs rolling. The lawn used to be very hard to walk on flat and compact but now it feels lumpy and putting a spade in it is like cutting through clay.

The grass has gone from being dry, tightly packed and hard to fluffy and soft like a carpet and has a velvety sheen to it and although it looks very green, it seems to lack substance and feels weak and thin and constantly feels damp and has a very plasticy feel when I touch it. The base of the leaves look white and in some places brown even though the tips are green and because of the thinning out it's easy to see.

I'll do a video tomorrow and post the link on here which might make it easier to see.