# Carigs Overseed Journal



## chriscarigs (Jul 10, 2018)

I'm a bit late getting this posted but I wanted to document here how my overseed is going. I may have taken a few small short cuts (hopefully nothing fatal) but I'll lay out what I did here with some pictures and try and keep it updated through the rest of the fall. I'm hoping for some good results. Really, I need some good results. I undersold the amount of work that this was going to take and left my wife with my two kids (3 & 1) for 3 straight days while I worked in the yard. Needless to say she wasn't totally thrilled. Hopefully the results will get me out of the dog house.


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## chriscarigs (Jul 10, 2018)

*July 31, 2018*

These are all before shots of the yard before I really started doing anything substantial with the grass. I've applied some Milo this year and started cutting at 4". But that's about it. This is my second summer in the house and last year was a bit crazy since we had a newborn. So I've decided to kick it into gear here this summer.

This area here next to the driveway has a TON of crabgrass



Also you can see along the sides of the driveway lots of crabgrass, some nutsedge, and the ground is a good inch or two below the driveway grade (drives me nuts)



Front Yard



Side Yard



Back Yard



Close up of the crabgrass infestation


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## chriscarigs (Jul 10, 2018)

*August 7th*

I have a 1 gallon hand held sprayer. Given the conditions in my yard I underappreciated the time saver a larger sprayer would have been. After work on 8/7 I mixed up 4 tanks of Quinclorac and doused a lot of the crabgrass along the driveway. However, because I kept running out of product and having to remix I ran out of time and did not get it all. However, thanks to some smart people on here I found out you can use Quinclorac right up to the day you seed. We'll have more battles crabgrass. Also, I used 1 oz of Johnsons baby shampoo instead of a proper surfactant. Short cut #1 oh well.


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## chriscarigs (Jul 10, 2018)

*August 14th*

One week later photos of the crabgrass treated with Quinclorac & baby shampoo. Looks pretty good in my book...but more work to be done.

You can clearly see some guys I missed here





You can really see that nutsedge in this photo


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## chriscarigs (Jul 10, 2018)

*August 18th*

I rented an aerator. I don't have a truck, but my wife drives an SUV without a tow hitch. So I ordered a tow hitch and a wiring kit and installed it on my wife's SUV (added cost $$$). It was an interesting little project and now the SUV has a tow hitch. I borrowed a trailer and brought that aerator home. Running an aerator over my yard 3 times in the humidity and heat of August was not fun. I also mixed up some more Quinclorac and sprayed the rest of the crabgrass that I missed the last time. I got some sedghammer and blasted the sedge too. Pictures of the yard below after aeration (and more crabgrass death)

Not sure if I should have cut the grass before I did the aerating....or maybe I just wanted to see the results better? I dunno I got good cores but the pictures don't really look like much happened.

Front yard - gotta get that crabgrass!



Side yard



Driveway area - crabgrass death



Back yard



Back yard


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## chriscarigs (Jul 10, 2018)

*August 22nd*

Started prepping up for all the work to be done over the next 3 days.

Got my Hogan's TTTF blend in the mail in preparation for seed down. I got 75lbs of seed so I applied approximately 6-7 lbs per 1ksft of lawn.



Since my mower doesn't have a bagging unit and I wanted something a little smaller and lighter for other jobs around the yard in the future....I "borrowed" my dads Toro Recycler. He has a lawn service cut his yard now and this was just rotting away in his shed. I wish I took a picture of the condition of the blade that was on it. It looked like a thick butter knife and the face of the moon melded together. I cleaned up the mower and replaced the blade and she's ready to go to work.



5 yards of top soil delivered - this was a last minute impulse decision. I hated the 1 to 2 inch dip from the driveway to the grass and decided I would try and grade around the driveway a bit. Not only did this prove to be way more work than I expected, I did it on the fly without much research. More on this later.



20 bales of peat moss - short cut #2....I ran out in the back...probably could have used 35ish but I was being cheap and those things are heavy



Roller and overseeder rented and ready to go....also Scotts starter fertilizer with tenacity lurking in the back


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## chriscarigs (Jul 10, 2018)

*August 23*

Cut the grass from 4" down to 2" in 1 shot. Surprisingly the grass was not as brown as I expected. It generated a lot of grass clippings going from 4" to 2". I used my 48" walkbehind for this initial cut since it has a lot of power. I intended to use the Toro Recycler to back the clippings. After 1 pass I realized this was going to be a complete waste of time and decided to just rake the yard. While this was time consuming as well, it was much faster given how quickly the little bagger on the Toro filled up.

After disposing of all the clippings, I did another cut at 2" to get all the stragglers I missed. This time I used the Toro and bagging unit attached. It worked well once I removed all the clippings from the initial 4" to 2" knockdown.

Next I took the slit seeder and ran over the yard 3 or 4 times in different directions to pull up any dead thatch and clippings in the lawn to open up the canopy a bit more. Looking back on it I wish I just rented a dethatcher. (Short cut #3) I had read online (maybe in the Lawn forum?? who knows where now) that a slit seeder can be used as a dethatcher. Honestly, it sort of worked but not in the way I was expecting. After cleaning up the dead grass I pulled up. I was done for the day. I had been out in the yard for most of the day at this point and the kids were driving my wife nuts so I called it quits. This was the first time I was nervous that I had made a fatal error. The yard did not look as "prepped for seed" as I was expecting. Not only did the slit seeder not do exactly what I expected but the grass was also greener than I expected going from 4" to 2". Nervous sleeping that night.


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## chriscarigs (Jul 10, 2018)

*August 24*

My plan was to start the day by spreading the 5 yards of topsoil I had impulsively ordered. However, since the day before did not go as I planned, I gave the slit seeder another couple runs over the yard (wasted time). It pulled some more stuff up but I just confirmed my belief that this machine was really only made for slit seeding and not dethatching. (seems obvious by the name....I guess I like to learn the hard way) I ran over the yard again with the Recycler to pickup the junk the slit seeder picked up. Onto the pile of dirt in my driveway.

Since I impulsively ordered this dirt, I didn't have a proper plan on where I was putting it or a proper measurement of how much I needed. So I just started shoveling and dumping. 5 yards of topsoil is A LOT more dirt than I expected (I'm coming off very unprepared but I swear I did a lot of thinking and research before taking on this project). In fact, I ordered 5 yards thinking that most of the time people run out of dirt. I in fact did not run out. After putting dirt everywhere I possibly could, I still have approximately a half a yard left over. I put it in the corner of my driveway out of the way. But I'm not clear what I'm going to do with it yet. That's what I get for not measuring ahead of time. I used a hand rake and the lawn roller to smooth out the grade. Its not perfect but I was pretty happy with how this portion of the project came out. (other than having left over dirt)

Since I wasted time in the morning and had to quit early (4pm) seeding would have to wait until the next day.


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## chriscarigs (Jul 10, 2018)

*August 26*

The day has arrived for seed down!

Honestly, I didn't think it was going to take all day to lay the seed, spread peat moss over the whole yard, and setup my sprinklers. But it did. Whatever....my wife was already ready to kill me at this point.

Area along the driveway. I raised the ground to level with the driveway with topsoil, seeded, and peat mossed



Otherside of the driveway, pre peat moss. Again, i didn't intend to do a "reno" on this area it was a last minute impulse decision on the dirt. Hopefully, I got enough seed down on this area. I rolled the seed in with the lawn roller.



Close up of the seed



I used this compost spreader to spread the peat moss over the whole yard after slit seeding it. As you can see the 2" lawn still looks pretty thick and green in a lot of spots. I'm not optimistic the overseed is going to work in these areas. The compost spreader is awesome by the way. Huge time saver when putting down peat moss. The hardest part is getting the peat moss in it.





As it gets dark, I finally start my watering (is this a no no because of disease? Who knows the seed needed to get wet)


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## chriscarigs (Jul 10, 2018)

*August 29 - Day 3*

We had some very very very high heat days. Luckily my wife works from home and has been basically watering the yard non stop since seed down by rotating zones. I have 5 sprinklers setup in the front and 5 in the back. Each on a 5 way hose splitter. She opens 1 valve in the front and the back at a time and cycles through all 10 sprinklers. Nothing to show for my hard work yet. Pictures of Day 3 below.


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## chriscarigs (Jul 10, 2018)

*August 31 - Day 5*

Big sigh of relief. We have some germination. While we still have a long way to go, signs of life make me feel a bit better. I am now watering all 10 sprinklers 20 minutes in the morning, 20 minutes around noon, and 20 minutes around 3ish. This is getting down about 0.2 to 0.3 inches of water to the whole yard per day.


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## Green (Dec 24, 2017)

Great job in Hartford county! Definitely a lot of work. And I see your neighborhood has some North Carolina style houses (angular Colonials? Not sure the real name of that style). Hope you're keeping it watered well with the temps in the 90s. Finally, please tell me that mean green thing actually opens up, and the peat moss doesn't have to be shoved in through the holes!


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

chriscarigs said:


> I undersold the amount of work that this was going to take and left my wife with my two kids (3 & 1) for 3 straight days while I worked in the yard. Needless to say she wasn't totally thrilled. Hopefully the results will get me out of the dog house.


From experience, the reno results don't help much, but a pair of Jimmy Choo will.


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## jessehurlburt (Oct 18, 2017)

Great work! Looks like you've disproven the "a MSO is absolutely required for crabgrass" theory. Can't wait to see the final results!


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## chriscarigs (Jul 10, 2018)

@Green I'm no architect but I believe you are correct that they are angular colonials (at least that's what the real estate agent told us). The temps have been a challenge but luckily my wife is willing to turn on and off sprinklers so everything has stayed watered. The compost spreader is awesome! It does open up. There is a small door about a quarter of the total cylinder that opens. It would be useful if it had a door that opened 50% of the cylinder. Getting the peat into it is the hardest part.


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## chriscarigs (Jul 10, 2018)

@g-man


g-man said:


> From experience, the reno results don't help much, but a pair of Jimmy Choo will.


probably 2!


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## chriscarigs (Jul 10, 2018)

@jessehurlburt Thanks! I'm hoping it comes out well. I'll keep posting pics through the fall. I'm sure having an MSO is best practice but the baby shampoo plus Quinclorac worked just fine for me.


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## chriscarigs (Jul 10, 2018)

*September 3rd - Day 8*

Update shots from Sept 3rd. Things are still coming along nicely. I have this weird "bald spot" that hasn't really sprouted anything in the 2nd picture, below the hose. Not sure what the deal is there. As for the actual overseed in the rest of the yard it's hard to tell if I've gotten any germination. I guess its still somewhat early at day 8.

I was thinking of apply the Scotts starter fertilizer with tenacity (since I didn't spray it beforehand) but not sure if I want to feed the regular grass yet. Is it to early to put down any fertilizer on the regular grass? I don't want to make the overseed areas worse by shading out the seed that hasn't germinated yet. I may just go for it. I already feel like I wasted the seed that I used on the rest of the yard. I'm probably just being impatient.


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## chriscarigs (Jul 10, 2018)

*September 8th/9th - Day 13 & 14*

I mowed the whole lawn for the first time since doing the overseed. (With the exception of the 3 areas around the driveway that I did a complete reseed of bare dirt) I decided to cut at 3" and bag since I was nervous that I was going to harm any new grass that was starting to grow in the lawn. I was probably over cautious. I got on and got off and tried to avoid turning as much as possible. I did half on the 8th and half on the 9th.

After cutting I applied 2.5 bags of the 21-22-4 Scotts Starter Fert with Tenacity to the whole lawn. The lawn is approx 12k square feet so I put down a bit less than 1#N down. This was the first fert the lawn has received since May 27th so I felt OK about putting it down. I was starting to see a few small weeds pop through the area that was being seeded from dirt so I felt like now was a good time to get the Starter fert with Tenacity down to prevent any further germination of the weeds. (Ideally I would have sprayed with actual Tenacity before seed down - but this was my attempt at short cutting it)

After hearing from @jessehurlburt & @g-man I've gotten some courage to try and mow the new stuff next weekend. Assuming the rain holds off and everything isn't a wet mess I'll try cutting the new stuff at around 2.5" to promote some thickening. I'll get some pictures up later today.


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## jessehurlburt (Oct 18, 2017)

One thing to check for also is the thickness of the peat moss. If you went heavy in some spots you may find baby grass under the peat moss if you carefully sweep away some. I ran into this a few times last year.


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## social port (Jun 19, 2017)

@chriscarigs I must have missed your thread earlier. Very nice work here. I really like that fescue blend!



chriscarigs said:


> I already feel like I wasted the seed that I used on the rest of the yard. I'm probably just being impatient.


Do you have a verdict yet on the seeding outcome for the 'rest of the yard'?


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## chriscarigs (Jul 10, 2018)

social port said:


> Do you have a verdict yet on the seeding outcome for the 'rest of the yard'?


@social port I'm not willing to call it either way yet. I've seen some more signs of life the last few days in the "rest of the yard". But the best growth by far is in the bare spots and the spots that I seeded from dirt. I just think I didn't get enough seed to soil contact or enough sun light to make the true overseed work. Next time I will not be using a slit seeder for the dethatching and dropping of seed. I'll just cut lower, core aerate, broadcast, & roll. Live and learn I guess. Still hoping for the best.


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## chriscarigs (Jul 10, 2018)

*September 10th - Day 15*

Update with pictures. September 10th was a full day rainy mess. It didn't really pour at any point but there was a steady soaking rain from the time I got up to the time I went to bed. Almost 2 inches of rain.



Assuming these areas dry out a bit by the weekend I'm going to give them their first mow.



I'm unsure what's happening around the hose in this one area. It is starting to sprout a bit but it almost looks like I put no seed there.


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## chriscarigs (Jul 10, 2018)

*September 23rd - Day 28*

I'm really happy with how the grass is looking. I made my 3rd cut today. The first was on the 9th and second on the 15th. Everything is thickening up and tillering. There are parts that are a bit sparce as you'll see but I'll try to fix those up next year. You'll see one spot in particular where nothing really came in. I'm not sure why. My dad also put a nice tire track in it when he came over one day. I'm sure that didn't help.

The rest of the yard is looking pretty good too. I think the overseed into the existing lawn is starting to show some results. I was initially thinking it was a fail but the lawn is definitely thicker all over. I'm still watering relatively frequently but have started to cut back with the cooler weather. I'll plan to put some more fert down in a few weeks to push some more growth and green up.









Tire mark....


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## chriscarigs (Jul 10, 2018)

*September 29th - Day 34*

The overseed is looking good and the areas that I reseeded are filling in more and more. Today I mowed, edged, and put down 4 bags of milo on 12k sq feet. which if my math is right is .72# of N per K. Approximately 5" of rain this week so everything was fairly wet but it looks pretty good.


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## chriscarigs (Jul 10, 2018)

*October 14th - Day 49*

Day 49 Pics. I'm really happy with how everything has filled in. Still a few thin spots here and there but nothing too noticeable. I'll be able to fix those up next year. Maybe I won't have to depending how it looks in the spring time. In my book this was a success. I may start pushing the limits and taking on more projects next year.


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## chriscarigs (Jul 10, 2018)

Morning of October 19th. First real frost my new grass has seen.


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## chriscarigs (Jul 10, 2018)

*November 11th - Day 77
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Everything still looking good heading into winter. I probably have 1 more mow to go for the season to get the last of the leaves and to bring the HOC down to 2". Color is still holding pretty well all around CT as far as I can tell.

Comparison shots for the reseed + the money shot!


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## Powhatan (Dec 15, 2017)

Looking good before the winter slumber :thumbup:


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## kds (Apr 28, 2017)

That looks great! Curious as to how it's holding up now?


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