# Last minute overseed. Rent core aerator or slit seeder



## Lust4Lawn (Aug 4, 2020)

Now that my front yard renovation is moving at a predictable pace, I'm looking to do an overseed of my backyard.

The soil is not particularly compacted but it's been a few years since I have core aerated. The current lawn condition has decent sections but quite a few thin areas.

Overall it's about 4,000 ft². Would you rent a core aerator or a slit seeder?


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## Thejarrod (Aug 5, 2018)

i would choose slit seeder over aeration. i believe it gives more consistent seed to soil contact. 
in fact, i picked one up for a rental a couple hours ago.


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## AndyS (Jun 13, 2020)

@Lust4Lawn I rented a core aerator for my spring overseed. It worked well, but germination was... meh. It still leaves most of the seed lying on top of the soil, which means peat moss... which doesn't stop the seed from being washed out at the first storm.

I rented a slit seed seeder for my recent reseeding. It really did bury the seeds. Hundreds saved on peat moss application (never mind the incredible mess avoided) and the recent storm failed to wash out the seed. Germination is decent so far.

Just don't trust the calibration of the hoppers. I lost about $40 of KBG in about 4 minutes... and that's even after shutting the hopper off (it was still too open for KBG seed).

Good luck!


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## Thick n Dense (May 7, 2019)

slit seeder sucks if your ground isn't level...

This year I aerated and lowered the deck to bust up the cores... increased soil ratio on top of the grass....

That being said it was a reno, not a overseed.


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## Lust4Lawn (Aug 4, 2020)

@Thejarrod My local rental place has particularly nice equipment so I'm going to go this route.

@AndyS This has always been my biggest fear with renting a slit seeder. I'll be sure to put some extra effort into this.

I've already cut the lawn to 1.25" so I will give it a go tomorrow. A very small portion of me wants to spray glyphosate on it but I'm holding myself back....for now.


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## CDarb (Jan 28, 2020)

How flat is your yard? How much "good" grass do you have?


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## Marzbar (Aug 2, 2020)

@Lust4Lawn is right. The overseeder is very hard to manoeuvre especially if you have an irregular yard with obstacles like trees and landscape beds. It is also hard to gauge how much seed is dropping. It was my first time using the machine. Next time I think I would use my regular spreader then go over it with the overseeder.


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## Lust4Lawn (Aug 4, 2020)

The lawn is relatively level. There are minor areas that are a little low here and there but it's not hilly. Inches of deviation, not feet.

It's a fairly rectangular area with easy to navigate layout.


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## Lust4Lawn (Aug 4, 2020)

Is there any need to roll the lawn after using the slit seeder?


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## AndyS (Jun 13, 2020)

I personally didn't roll. Even though I spread the majority of the seed with my broadcast spreader prior (due to the hopper issues) most of it was driven down. That took out roller rental and peat moss spreader rental vs. my last attempt. Everything was simplified. I'm sure a roller would only help the results.

To show how little movement there has been of the seed I included a pic highlighting the runs I made trialing the hopper where too much seed went down for those first few passes... Becuase of the lack of movement of the seeds you can see the exact path I took with the matchine two weeks ago. It's like an x-ray. It's just about testing first and getting the blade depth right.

I have a flattish lawn, but it's certainly not level. I'll agree with others that overseeders are a pain to turn (they have really poor weight distribution), but... They are absolutely nowhere near as much of a beat down as using a core aerator over the same ground... That was not fun.


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## whitetrash paradise (Mar 25, 2020)

Pete did a video on slit seeding. 
He dropped seed with a broadcast spreader first. Then cut it in with the machine.

Wish I saw this video before doing my yard last week. I'd have done it this way. But I think using the hopper will turn out just fine too.


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## Carlson (Apr 16, 2020)

Lust4Lawn said:


> Is there any need to roll the lawn after using the slit seeder?


Nope! The seed-to-soil contact will already be excellent.

I did my front reno and back overseed with a slice seeder a couple weeks back. I did all my seed from the hopper, but as others said, broadcasting first might be easier. Took 5 complete passes to get my front yard done - I was sore for a couple days after that. VERY consistent and even seeding, though.


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## Marzbar (Aug 2, 2020)

Marzbar said:


> @Lust4Lawn is right. The overseeder is very hard to manoeuvre especially if you have an irregular yard with obstacles like trees and landscape beds. It is also hard to gauge how much seed is dropping. It was my first time using the machine. Next time I think I would use my regular spreader then go over it with the overseeder.


I'm sorry. My bad. I meant @AndyS is right. Here is a pic from my first attempt at an overseeder. This at 14 days.


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## Lust4Lawn (Aug 4, 2020)

Okay I pulled the trigger this morning and rented the slit seeder. Overall I'm happy with the result, but the unit that I had rented had an issue where the drop guard that covers the drop holes did not actuate linearly and I ended up with a pretty significant drop rate bias to the right hand side. Enough that the hopper will be empty on the right half and still have seed in the left half a couple inches deep.



To compensate for this I overlapped by about 6 inches on each pass. Not the scientific method that one would like out of a piece of machinery but I'm sure I'm overthinking for my current application. I would be completely dissatisfied if this were for my renovation where I wanted to get a very precise distribution of KBG. For this backyard overseed with a primarily fescue mixture it'll work. I'll set up a brief journal for this.

Since I had to overlap my drop rate was too high to allow me to continue dropping seed when I made the second pass at a 45 degree angle. But I ran the machine around empty in hopes that it would further distribute the seed and maybe even out some of the heavier areas. Wishful thinking I know.


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## AndyS (Jun 13, 2020)

@Lust4Lawn you got 'er done! That's the most important thing!

Yeah, the calibration of both the hoppers and the blade depth makes no sense to me. On the Classen I rented the first blade depth barely scratched the surface. The second was a good 1/4 inch, and the third practically dug to the center of the earth. And there were three more settings after that!!


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## Lust4Lawn (Aug 4, 2020)

This may not be the result I was hoping for. Clearly the drop rate was way off even with me trying to overlap to compensate.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

Fert stripes. 

Just drop more fert. It looks like you need it.


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