# Aerate vs Verticut vs Slitseeder



## Ohio Lawn (Mar 20, 2019)

I'm sure there's no 'best' way to overseed a TTTF lawn. But what are your thoughts on overseeding using an aerator, verticutter,or slit seeder?


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## Babameca (Jul 29, 2019)

Now? Or in general?
I think over seeding a lawn is more general matter. Even if KBG is a challenge by default. Slid seeder also verticut, so I guess you refer to what is the best over seeding process. You may have 10 different answers and they will all work. As far as TTTF goes over seeding is a permanent process, so I guess you will perfect for you needs and effort/effect.


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## Ohio Lawn (Mar 20, 2019)

Ohio Lawn said:


> I'm sure there's no 'best' way to overseed a TTTF lawn. But what are your thoughts on overseeding using an aerator, verticutter,or slit seeder?


Thanks for the thoughts. Yeah, I'm trying to see what machine would be my best option for overseeding a TTTF yard. When you say it's a "permanent process", what do you mean?
Thanks.


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## Stuofsci02 (Sep 9, 2018)

TTTF does not spread or "self heal" so it is necessary to overseed from time to time to fill in the grass that dies off...


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## social port (Jun 19, 2017)

@Ohio Lawn, I agree with Babameca that there are several strategies for successful overseeding. The key is getting the seed into the soil and then keeping that seed moist. 
The challenge lies in how to scratch up the top layer of soil when it is covered by a stand of grass. Personally, I use a tow-behind dethatcher. It cuts little grooves into the soil, and this creates a nice seedbed. A slit seeder (with no seed) could be used to accomplish the same purpose. And if you wanted, you could put seed in the hopper as well (though many of us prefer to use a broadcast spreader to seed after scratching up the soil surface). You can certainly aerate before you seed. This seems to be a very popular practice. However, many of us at TLF have come to see aeration as primarily an intervention to address problems with the soil (e.g., compaction). Unless you need to make your soil less compact, using a slit seeder or a dethatcher would be a preferred method for overseeding. I don't know what a verticutter does exactly, so I can't say anything about that intervention.
If your stand is 100% TTTF, then you should at least expect to need to overseed every year. Each season, you will lose some grass to disease, heat, lack of water, other sources of stress etc, so overseeding helps to maintain the fullness of the stand. However, while you should expect to need to overseed, there may be some seasons when overseeding isn't required. If your stand is full and healthy, then you can elect to not put down more seed.

You might like to read the overseed guide. I will link it in a moment.


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## social port (Jun 19, 2017)

cool season overseed guide


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## Ohio Lawn (Mar 20, 2019)

social port said:


> @Ohio Lawn, I agree with Babameca that there are several strategies for successful overseeding. The key is getting the seed into the soil and then keeping that seed moist.
> The challenge lies in how to scratch up the top layer of soil when it is covered by a stand of grass. Personally, I use a tow-behind dethatcher. It cuts little grooves into the soil, and this creates a nice seedbed. A slit seeder (with no seed) could be used to accomplish the same purpose. And if you wanted, you could put seed in the hopper as well (though many of us prefer to use a broadcast spreader to seed after scratching up the soil surface). You can certainly aerate before you seed. This seems to be a very popular practice. However, many of us at TLF have come to see aeration as primarily an intervention to address problems with the soil (e.g., compaction). Unless you need to make your soil less compact, using a slit seeder or a dethatcher would be a preferred method for overseeding. I don't know what a verticutter does exactly, so I can't say anything about that intervention.
> If your stand is 100% TTTF, then you should at least expect to need to overseed every year. Each season, you will lose some grass to disease, heat, lack of water, other sources of stress etc, so overseeding helps to maintain the fullness of the stand. However, while you should expect to need to overseed, there may be some seasons when overseeding isn't required. If your stand is full and healthy, then you can elect to not put down more seed.
> 
> You might like to read the overseed guide. I will link it in a moment.


Thanks @socialport. I'll definitely read the overseed guide now. I'm willing to invest in a piece of equipment that will best handle overseeding my TTTF, since I know it will need to be done annually. Just trying to decide which piece of equipment that's going to be.


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## Babameca (Jul 29, 2019)

@Ohio Lawn 12k is a nice piece of land. If you are on a budget, an electric scarifier will do the job. It will be a lot of cable tossing, but better than hand raking. Otherwise, on the professional side, I don't know the advantage of owning vs renting for a home owner. A nice broadcast spreader is a must in any case.
I have an electric scarifier and does a decent job. Always renting aerator, when needed. I do split the cost among 2 other neighbors for a day rental.
Even (worst case) an annual over seeding, It may be better IMO to invest first in a good 'every day' maintenance equipment: mower, spreader, backpack sprayer, edger, irrigation etc.


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## Ohio Lawn (Mar 20, 2019)

Babameca said:


> @Ohio Lawn 12k is a nice piece of land. If you are on a budget, an electric scarifier will do the job. It will be a lot of cable tossing, but better than hand raking. Otherwise, on the professional side, I don't know the advantage of owning vs renting for a home owner. A nice broadcast spreader is a must in any case.
> I have an electric scarifier and does a decent job. Always renting aerator, when needed. I do split the cost among 2 other neighbors for a day rental.
> Even (worst case) an annual over seeding, It may be better IMO to invest first in a good 'every day' maintenance equipment: mower, spreader, backpack sprayer, edger, irrigation etc.


Thanks for the advice!! I really appreciate it. I'm fortunate to already have d a quality mower, spreader, backpack sprayer, and edger. I put in irrigation this summer.

I'm open to renting equipment also. But not sure what to rent? I have a brand new lawn and most of it looks good. But I have this areas that will definitely need overseeding. I'm not sure if i would be better off with an aerator or slice seeder.

I don't have a thatch issue and the slice seeder worries me that it will tear out a lot of the good grass.


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## TroyScherer (Jul 17, 2018)

I kind of went through the same thought process earlier this year. I have in ground irrigation that was installed before I bought the house. So I know where the heads are but I don't really know how all the pipes are run and how deep they really are.

Early on I thought an aerator would be the way to go. And most rental places around me either have or can get one. But the more I looked at my lawn and what it would take I didn't see the point. I don't really have any compaction issues and I didn't want to deal with all the little plugs all over the place.

I stopped in at 2 rental places and both could get me a slit seeder if I wanted. Based on what I would want I really thought that this would be my better option. I could control the depth of the slit to help create the space for the seed. I figured on using some seed in the slit seeder and then going over everything with a broadcast spreader. To me this seems like the best option.

The electric "sun joe" deals seem like they work. But in my opinion they are for smaller lawns and areas. I don't see running something like that on my 12k any time soon. To much time and hassle.

I did some over seeding this year but just used my hand held garden weasel in spots. I also did a general broadcast and it worked fine.


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## cpVA (Jun 20, 2019)

I spread half of my seed, double aerate by overlapping passes, spread other half of the seed, then spread starter fertilizer. The benifit of this is that the plugs get smashed and the seed sticks to the dirt getting good soil contact and does not seem to get washed out with heavy rain. I use a tttf mix that also contains 10 percent bluegrass. The bluegrass gives the lawn a chance to recover if it is damaged but is slow to spread. Downside is that the lawn takes longer to look good after seeding because the bluegrass is slow to germinate. But after about 3 to 4 weeks it looks great. I sold my slice seeder because I get the same results with aerating and it's much easier because I have a ride on with the spreader attachment. Aerating imo is not just to fix compaction but to allow gas exchange to the root zone along with water. Helps to promote deep roots to help the grass survive during stress periods.


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## Babaganoosh (Apr 21, 2019)

I have a bluebird slit seeder and it works very well for overseeding. I've also used it for complete renovations. I use it for my tttf lawn but a buddy and I did a total renovation on his lawn with a kbg and it came out awesome. Granted I did 4 passes for his kbg but I wanted to ensure good coverage. I could live with mine not coming out well but I didn't want to let him down. I usually do 2 passes for my tttf but I'll do 3 in really bad spots. Occasionally I'll do an aeration but I don't think it improves the overseed much. I split the rental with a neighbor so why not right? I mostly use it to hit my high spots and then rake the cores to the low spots.

For what it's worth I think the slit seeder is what you want to go with. It's the machine that's designed for the job. Even though you don't see it advertised much you can swap out the slice seeding blades for dethatching tines on the bluebird machines.

I'm sold on slit seeding because I've had some heavy rains and minor wash outs occasionally. But the areas where it was sliced into the ground will come in. You will see the corn row effect in those areas. The seed that wasn't sliced into the soil washed somewhere else.


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## Thick n Dense (May 7, 2019)

Having used both, Slit seeders dont work when on uneven surfaces as rhe blades wont ouch evenly. You can counter act this by digging deeper but it the rule if thumb is that the seed shouldn't be deeper than the length of the seed. For kbg, this isn't much this slit seeder will miss spots.

I think a slit seeder would be more effective on a killed lawn as the seeds that might be a little deeper than optimal wont get entirely crowded out by existing grass.

If you want a long term over-seeding option, aerator is the way to go as its a dual purpose machine.


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