# Seeding with Peat



## Slingblade_847 (Apr 13, 2020)

Hey Fellas-

How significant is burying the seed 1/8 - 1/4 inch deep if top dressing with peat moss? Could one theoretically punch a seed into dirt, top dress, and expect good germination?

Edit: seed of topic is elite KBG.


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## ABC123 (Jul 14, 2017)

I seeded on bare dirt without anything else. Just rolled it over with the greensmower.


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## BrainBailey (Nov 20, 2019)

It's best to very lightly rake it in, and then cover with the peat. I just went through this with KBG and the areas I raked versus didn't definitely took better. Regardless, with the peat, you'll still get good germination and yields.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

Seed to soil contact is the best. Peat is not soil and you only be there to help you with moisture retention.


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## bernstem (Jan 16, 2018)

Spread on soil and lightly rake (I use a leaf rake to avoid tearing up the seedbed too much if the soil is recently spread or loose). Roll to get good contact with the soil, then top dress with Peat Moss for moisture retention. I would avoid burying the seed more than 1/8 inch. Peat Moss will repel water when dry so may take more water than you expect to get fully wet. Check the soil under the Peat in a few places to make sure the water is getting through the Peat to the soil. Once wet, it will no longer repel water unless it dries out again.


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## Slingblade_847 (Apr 13, 2020)

@BrainBailey 
@g-man 
@bernstem

Thanks, and great tips.

1.) roll again after peat?

2.) any difference in peat moss brands (i.e. Menards, Home Depot, or nursery) or is sphagnum peat moss just sphagnum peat moss, and there shouldn't be differences between one brand over another?


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## bernstem (Jan 16, 2018)

You can roll again after peat if you want, but it is less important than rolling after seed. I don't think there is much difference in brands of peat.


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## 2L8 (Mar 18, 2019)

I can't recommend rolling after covering the seeds with Peat. It's likely that it will stick to the roller. It can also stick to your shoes when walking across it.

I used a round sieve with mash size of 1/4" to evenly apply the Peat.


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## bernstem (Jan 16, 2018)

Dry peat has never stuck to my lawn roller. Wet peat sticks to everything so, if you roll the peat, do it before watering. If you really want to get crazy about an even layer of peat, I recommend a  peat roller . Despite being called a compost and peat spreader they don't work well for compost, but are great for peat.


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## BrainBailey (Nov 20, 2019)

I did not roll my peat after applying, and my germination rates were good. Unless you have applied something that prevents you from doing so, give it a healthy watering in. That will help everything stick together and settle. You'll see the peat really settle once it takes on the water, so that should help push the seed down a little as well. Just don't go crazy and drown the seed bed.

I don't think you'll see a huge difference in peat moss brands - buy where it's convenient or where it's cheap. I used the Premier brand which seemed to be at every store in my area.


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## Babaganoosh (Apr 21, 2019)

If I'm overseeding into existing grass I don't add peat. If it's bare dirt I'll use peat. Bare dirt has nothing to keep it from drying out very quickly.


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## ahur (Oct 4, 2019)

g-man said:


> Seed to soil contact is the best. Peat is not soil and you only be there to help you with moisture retention.


@g-man Would you recommend bringing in top-soil for seed coverage instead? I would be concerned about introducing unwanted seeds that way, but I defer to your expertise.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

Rake your soil to get 1/8in or so loose. Add seed, rake a bit again and then roll. That should get some of the seed inside the soil. Lastly add the peat moss on top.


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## bernstem (Jan 16, 2018)

g-man said:


> Rake your soil to get 1/8in or so loose. Add seed, rake a bit again and then roll. That should get some of the seed inside the soil. Lastly add the peat moss on top.


^^^ this is what I do.


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## mobiledynamics (Aug 9, 2020)

Is it safe to run a Rave over Dormant Grass, About 50% has started waking up, some areas are either dead or maybe still formant with no dry blades, and potential for roots still it dirt ? I did a full rake before I put down seed this weekend, and was 50/50 on what damages happen to the crown if the grass is dormant.


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## Scagfreedom48z+ (Oct 6, 2018)

Babaganoosh said:


> If I'm overseeding into existing grass I don't add peat. If it's bare dirt I'll use peat. Bare dirt has nothing to keep it from drying out very quickly.


I'm glad you brought this up. I am going dethatch the heck out of my current lawn to expose as much dirty as possible. I was strongly considering renting a compose spreader and Spread a thin layer of loam over the existing grass and the overseeded seed. Is it worth it?


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## double_e5 (May 3, 2020)

Loam, like compost, might be to fine for the spreader. Could be worth a shot to try. They're only like $10 a day to rent. If it doesn't work, you can always resort to the shovel fling.


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## Avid123 (Jul 31, 2019)

I am planning to do a complete reno and read the reno guide and watched a bunch of LCN, etc vids. Current lawn is about 70-80% weed, in horrible condition and quite bumpy, so once I've killed it with glyph I will need to add some good topsoil.

Adding new soil will mean that the top 1/2 to 1 inch of soil might be loose. Does that pose a risk that the seed gets buried too deep when raking in and rolling ?

Thanks



bernstem said:


> Spread on soil and lightly rake (I use a leaf rake to avoid tearing up the seedbed too much if the soil is recently spread or loose). Roll to get good contact with the soil, then top dress with Peat Moss for moisture retention. I would avoid burying the seed more than 1/8 inch. Peat Moss will repel water when dry so may take more water than you expect to get fully wet. Check the soil under the Peat in a few places to make sure the water is getting through the Peat to the soil. Once wet, it will no longer repel water unless it dries out again.


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## bernstem (Jan 16, 2018)

Avid123 said:


> I am planning to do a complete reno and read the reno guide and watched a bunch of LCN, etc vids. Current lawn is about 70-80% weed, in horrible condition and quite bumpy, so once I've killed it with glyph I will need to add some good topsoil.
> 
> Adding new soil will mean that the top 1/2 to 1 inch of soil might be loose. Does that pose a risk that the seed gets buried too deep when raking in and rolling ?
> 
> Thanks


I wouldn't add too much top soil unless you need to bring the grade up. It is highly unlikely that you current soil will be unable to raise a killer lawn. Even if you have a soil problem that cannot be fixed, 1/2-1 inch of new topsoil isn't going to fix it. I wouldn't worry too much about burying the seeds too deeply, just don't rake heavily in areas with deeper loose soil.


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## Babaganoosh (Apr 21, 2019)

Scagfreedom48z+ said:


> Babaganoosh said:
> 
> 
> > If I'm overseeding into existing grass I don't add peat. If it's bare dirt I'll use peat. Bare dirt has nothing to keep it from drying out very quickly.
> ...


I guess it depends on how much area you have to deal with. I'd rather put my money into a slit seeder (but I have one) instead of peat.

I did spread some carbon pro g the other day and it's similar to compost. If you spread it heavy it might help keep things wet. I'm not sure how quickly it breaks down. There's some wood fiber based products that you can put in your spreader to help retain moisture too.


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## Slingblade_847 (Apr 13, 2020)

@bernstem 
@g-man 
@BrainBailey

Ok. Monday seed got dropped, and peat placed on top of that. Few questions and would appreciate your thoughts if you have any....

I used premier brand peat (Menards brand in my area). I couldn't find anywhere to rent a compost spreader, so was all manual. I didn't go the Ryan Knorr route of literally taking handfuls and sifting it to put it down. With 4K sqft, I'd still be putting it down!

After I got it spread out some, I raked it over the soil, and was quite surprised with how much debris I raked out. I VERY lightly raked. To where the rake was barely if even touching the soil. However, I could see seeds getting turned up in the moss. Even after I rolled the seeds in. So here I am...

#1.) how concerned should I be seeing seed in the peat? Sure hope I didn't pull out everything I rolled in.

#2.) should it come that I need to apply more seed to low/no germination areas in the future, how does one go about that with peat? Rake the peat out, drop seed, and rake the peat back over?

Thanks fellas, just trying to plan ahead and have contingency plans.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

Did you roll?


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## Schiavo (Aug 18, 2020)

How many sq ft will a cu ft of compressed peat moss cover when applied with a peat roller to cover seed?


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## davegravy (Jul 25, 2019)

Babaganoosh said:


> Scagfreedom48z+ said:
> 
> 
> > Babaganoosh said:
> ...


Slit seeder can be had pretty inexpensively. I bought the Sun Joe for cheap and used the scarifier attachment as a slit seeder.

Spread seed, scarify, spread seed, scarify 90 degrees, spread seed, scarify 45 degrees, roll, spread peat, water.

Germination is going really well.


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## bernstem (Jan 16, 2018)

Seeds will germinate just fine in Peat, and once you start watering the Peat will pack down. The only wat I see a problem would be if the Peat stayed fluffy with a lot of air pockets in it, but irrigation should fix that. A lot of potting soils are very high in Peat to retain moisture.


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## Schreibdave (Aug 15, 2020)

I've only done 3 renovations but I have not had great luck with peat. It's always windy here and it's hard to put peat down where you want it in the wind. It will also get dislodged easily by irrigation. especially on a slope.

What has worked well for me is compost from my municipal compost facility. $15 for a full pick up bed full. It's heavier than peat and therefore stays put. You do find the occasional tooth brush or chunk of concrete and there is a chance of adding weed seeds but it has worked really well for me.


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## BrainBailey (Nov 20, 2019)

@bernstem is right. Seeds will still take in the peat. Especially if you're following a good watering schedule, the peat will condense and then begin to break down, which will help bring the seed closer to the soil. At this point, give it about 3 weeks and see how much yield you achieve. One you have a good idea of areas that didn't take (it doesn't matter how awesome you are or how many times you've done this, there will always be bare patches), go back and do touch-ups. Following the same procedure, rough up the soil with a rake, drop the seed (go heavy), lightly rake, and cover with peat. I had a ton of seed left over on my last go, so I ended up broadcast/overseeding again at the 3 week mark, which also helped. I was mostly trying to get rid of this seed, so I did not care about a very small yield percentage.

The slit seeding suggestion is also good, but I think you might be a bit late to achieve that this year yet. I did my first phase a month ago, and will be doing a second phase with a slit seeder in 10 days where I'm going to use much higher grade seed. That operation is pretty abusive on the turf, so your seedlings very likely will not survive, and by the time they're mature enough, you might be too close to your frost date (I'm making an assumption here). Pending your outcomes this year, I think that's a good potential consideration for next year if your yields come up short.


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## Slingblade_847 (Apr 13, 2020)

@g-man i rolled the soil prior to applying peat. I did not roll the peat.

@bernstem @BrainBailey 
Thank you! This helps tremendously. Yeah, I am doing what I think is an excellent job on my irrigation, and you are right. The peat condenses. Quite impressively really, to where one might think it was soil. As soon as I see it lighten up, the sprinkler goes on a few minutes. Constantly moist, and appears well packed.

Appreciate it, fellas!!


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## Slingblade_847 (Apr 13, 2020)

@Schreibdave your 2/3 photos above threw me off a minute. I thought that was a huge pile with a huge rake...appeared somewhat an optical illusion. Anyhow, I'm glad that works well for you and you got access to such product.


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## Slingblade_847 (Apr 13, 2020)

mikec710 said:


> How many sq ft will a cu ft of compressed peat moss cover when applied with a peat roller to cover seed?


I can tell you I used sixteen (16) 2.2 cubic feet for 3.5k sqft. I raked out a bunch of unwanted debris. If you used a roller, I'd imagine you be using right around the same ratio:

~10 cubic ft/1,000 sqft of lawn.


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## Babaganoosh (Apr 21, 2019)

davegravy said:


> Babaganoosh said:
> 
> 
> > Scagfreedom48z+ said:
> ...


I've got 20k sf of turf. I'm not using a sunjoe on that. I'm not into torture.

I really think the slit seeders do a good job of getting seed to soil contact. I think you'll really like the results when it comes in more.


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## davegravy (Jul 25, 2019)

Babaganoosh said:


> davegravy said:
> 
> 
> > Babaganoosh said:
> ...


Ok yeah the Sun Joe is definitely not up to the job for a 20k lawn


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## Schiavo (Aug 18, 2020)

Slingblade_847 said:


> mikec710 said:
> 
> 
> > How many sq ft will a cu ft of compressed peat moss cover when applied with a peat roller to cover seed?
> ...


16x45lb/3.5ksf. That's just over 205lb/1000 sf. Est ~$64/1000 sf. 1lb lime /cuft peat needed to neutralize that?


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## Slingblade_847 (Apr 13, 2020)

Hey fellas - I'm back again with some follow up questions. I have these "lumps" of peat across the yard where some areas have settled. And I have some areas that the peat just won't stick, and it carries the seed out with it.

1.) will these "lumps" cause an issue with reel mowing?

2.) how/would you go about introducing more seed to the wash out areas?

Here is a photo that essentially captures both issues:


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