# Dormant Seeding



## MNguy (Mar 5, 2019)

I thought I would share my positive experience with dormant seeding in Minnesota.

After reading some research from the University of Minnesota, I learned TTTF was a solid grass type in spite of our harsh winters. Being we were just finishing our house build late 2017, I learned too late in the game that sod farms in MN don't have RTTTF or TTTF in MN (only KBG). This left me with only a few options, one being dormant seeding on ground just about to freeze. In November 2017 I threw down a bit over 100lbs of seed for 20k sq ft of yard. Simply put, I was flat out shocked by the germination rate early 2018. As funny as it sounds, I bet I was mowing it almost about the same time my neighbors started.

Before I tell everyone I know about my experience, my question is if I was lucky to get that result? Additionally, it seems almost no one talks about dormant seeding, so I'm curious if anyone knows why they don't?


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## Buffalolawny (Nov 24, 2018)

Im certainly no expert but i think 
Fungus, rot and disease might creep into the seed.
Plus ants, birds other critters steal for food


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## Chris LI (Oct 26, 2018)

@Buffalolawny

Why wouldn't it work? It occurs somewhat naturally when seeds from previous times make their way into the soil profile. Fall seeding is optimal, but dormant seeding can be successful in lesser degrees.

I have dormant seeded on several occasions, with decent results. The frost heave cycle of the winter helps to incorporate the seed into the soil. Then the seed germinates when conditions are suitable and then seed will have a jump start rooting before a typical spring season and is more able to compete against weeds. As long as you don't have an extended deep freeze after a bulk of the germination, you should be ok. Since kbg is difficult to overseed, dormant seeding can be helpful to get it started before spring growth of competing turfgrass/weeds overtakes it.

@MNguy

In your case with TTTF, it germinates and establishes more quickly than kbg (not quite as quickly as PRG). It sounds like you had a good success rate. Please post some photos.


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## krusej23 (May 8, 2018)

Post a picture so we can see how it did.


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## MNguy (Mar 5, 2019)

Sadly I'll have to wait until the snow melts for pics. Additionally, I had to bring in some machinery late last summer to complete a retaining wall and patio so I actually did the same thing but to a lesser degree. This year might be interesting to see what the germination rate will be since we were really light on snow cover until February. I'll post the pictures of the progess of the reseeded spots as well as the lawn as a whole.


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## Delmarva Keith (May 12, 2018)

I think it comes down to how well established the new seedlings are when Summer heat increases photorespiration and decreases carb production. Around me, any form of Spring seeding or dormant seeding is toast by around mid-July. In your climate, my guess is you got the new turf off to a strong enough start that it was able to ride through your Summer weather without getting killed. There's a research paper out there somewhere that found February was a good month for Spring seeding.

Anyway, hats off to you for getting it to work well. What were your management practices over that first Summer? Did you find anything in particular you did that helped it to survive?


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## Powhatan (Dec 15, 2017)

Delmarva Keith said:


> There's a research paper out there somewhere that found February was a good month for Spring seeding.


Maybe this one K-State Dormant Lawn Seeding


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## Delmarva Keith (May 12, 2018)

Powhatan said:


> Delmarva Keith said:
> 
> 
> > There's a research paper out there somewhere that found February was a good month for Spring seeding.
> ...


Looks like it - your google foo is strong :mrgreen:


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## Powhatan (Dec 15, 2017)

Delmarva Keith said:


> Powhatan said:
> 
> 
> > Delmarva Keith said:
> ...


Full disclosure, I Bing'd it. Bada bing, bada boom :rofl:


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## MNguy (Mar 5, 2019)

I'll have to clarify. February was the 4th snowiest month in Minnesota history (yeah us!). I think I watch YouTube to see some green grass

I did find one pic that was real early in my grow. And I thought I would post some pictures of our snow cover to highlight my envy of you guys mowing already.


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## craigdt (Apr 21, 2018)

This is really good info.

I just laid some down last week, right before several inches of snow.

I intend to sprinkle some more down in a week or to, following the "honeycomb" approach.

Edit-
Looks like over the "long term", planting in Feb and March didnt make much of a difference:
_"Ratings on May 18 showed no difference between the February and March planting with 80 percent of the soil covered by turf. These seedling stands were thick enough to prevent most crabgrass, and mature enough to withstand the summer conditions without supplemental watering."_


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## Jconnelly6b (Mar 4, 2018)

I dormant seeded multiple areas last year when we had a warmup in Feb. We had 2' of snow after that point.

Results were fantastic, and I plan to repeat on a common area at the end of my cul-de-sac in a week or so with some KY31. It's mostly used by mine and neighbors dogs, so want it to be robust but a no maintenance area.


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## HoosierLawnGnome (Sep 28, 2017)

Spring seeding in darned near Canada is different than say southern Indiana.

You get a longer, cooler spring and milder summer than your neighbors to the south.

I wouldn't say its lucky in that sense. I'd say it seems logical.

The "dont seed until fall" mantra isn't based on a date, it's based on future weather conditions that are conducive to growing turf from seed.

MN <> southern midwest


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## ABC123 (Jul 14, 2017)

I would do two tenacity apps after the second mow though and try to get the prem down for the summer after it's established.


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## Ecubed (Apr 26, 2018)

I had a few bare patches after heavy rains washed away some of my fall seeding... Unlucky.. but I read a bit about dormant seeding and figured I'd give it a shot this year.

I put down seed in mid-February in bare spots, tilled it in with my garden weasel tool and put a little compost on top of that. We got 3 to 4 solid 3-4" snows after and rain recently.

Here in Missouri the soil temps are really starting to creep up (48° on greencast today) and I am about to do my prodiamine app any day. I was thinking of blanket spraying tenacity over the whole bare spot area before the seeds sprout because I figured the prodiamine would prevent those seeds from germination. Is this a decent idea? I just purchased it but have never used it.


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## Jconnelly6b (Mar 4, 2018)

How big is the area? Would you be comfortable not spraying anything and hand pulling weeds that pop up in those spots?

You could also just wait a bit longer to spray Tenacity.

At this stage if the seeds have germinated and any tenacity gets on the blades they will endure a lot of stress early on and most likely not be too strong come summer heat.


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## Ecubed (Apr 26, 2018)

Jconnelly6b said:


> How big is the area? Would you be comfortable not spraying anything and hand pulling weeds that pop up in those spots?
> 
> You could also just wait a bit longer to spray Tenacity.
> 
> At this stage if the seeds have germinated and any tenacity gets on the blades they will endure a lot of stress early on and most likely not be too strong come summer heat.


The area is only like 100 SQ feet and the ground is only 25% bare. I am just anal and hate having the small bare patches. I guess I could just do the hand pull method. To avoid any risk of damage.

What about full application of prodiamine as usual, and then roughing up the bare spots to break up the vapor barrier? Had any success with anything like that?


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## iowa jim (Jan 22, 2018)

You could put tarps or garbage bags over the areas that you don't want any prodiamine.


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## Ecubed (Apr 26, 2018)

iowa jim said:


> You could put tarps or garbage bags over the areas that you don't want any prodiamine.


Great idea, I'll give that a shot. Sorry to hijack the thread just didn't want to start another dormant seeding thread. Interested to see your results of dormant seeding!


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

Prodiamine will inhibit the roots from developing on the young grass. Make sure your prodiamine application doesn't get to those areas. I would not do tenacity on that area. I would just hand pulling any weed that makes it thru once the new grass is growing.


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## MassHole (Jun 27, 2018)

g-man said:


> Prodiamine will inhibit the roots from developing on the young grass. Make sure your prodiamine application doesn't get to those areas. I would not do tenacity on that area. I would just hand pulling any weed that makes it thru once the new grass is growing.


What about using Dimension for a pre-emergent after seeding? I was targetting 30 days after germination for KBG and TTTF.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

Check the product label for the products. Most call for 60 days or two mowing.

Tenacity is one of the few ones that might be used. Since you said it was a very small area, I think hand pulling will be a good approach.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

Reviving an old thread. In Feb2019 we had a couple of nice days. I played catch with my son and attempted some dormant seeding as an experiment. I used 100% kbg blend in one spot and 100% bewitched kbg in a spot on the reno area. I just wanted to see the outcome.

Well, this image is from last week. Yes it germinated. Indy had a ton of rain and great weather, but these babies are barely 1.5in long. Maybe PRG or TTTF might do better with a dormant seeding, but I will call this a failure with KBG. Could I keep them alive thru the summer? maybe, but plugging will be easier and spreads.


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