# Aerate / TopDress / Overseed - What's the best order & timing?



## RozWeston (May 20, 2018)

Hey, I've read a ton about aerating, topdressing and overseeding - but if I'm doing all three, does the seed go down before or after the topdressing.

The topdressing I'm going to use is an 80/20 sand mix. I have some levelling to do after the sprinkler system was installed.

I'm still on the fence about renting a machine or hiring a company locally to aerate. I have about 7000sf and a third is what I would call "hilly". It's a full job.

If I'm levelling, I think the general rule is to rake and scoop the plugs, correct?

So after that I have seed and topdressing.

Should I topdress THEN seed and roll it in? Or seed and topdress on top?

Thanks y'all.


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## troksd (Jul 27, 2018)

Last 3 times I core aerated, I put down 30 - 40% of my seed first, aerated, then the rest of the seeds. I used Vermamax (4-4-2 CA9%) as fertilizer and coverage for seed (2.6lbs of organic matter /1k).


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## Olkutty (Jul 12, 2019)

I'm less than 2 weeks away from doing this as well. I have clay soil, so no sand for me, but plan on using my sun joe "dethatch" to remove a ton of debris that has been in the lawn for a long time. I'm going to really beat it up.( using the scarifier) Then I'm in the same boat as you. If I aerate, I'm going to have a ton of plugs to deal with when I try to top dress. So, I'm debating on; sun joe, seed , top dress, then aerate the heck out of it. Then seed a little more and fertilize. ( jury is still out on fertilizer choice).

And I'm definitely subbing to this thread. Thank you for posting this.


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## RozWeston (May 20, 2018)

Olkutty said:


> I'm less than 2 weeks away from doing this as well. I have clay soil, so no sand for me, but plan on using my sun joe "dethatch" to remove a ton of debris that has been in the lawn for a long time. I'm going to really beat it up.( using the scarifier) Then I'm in the same boat as you. If I aerate, I'm going to have a ton of plugs to deal with when I try to top dress. So, I'm debating on; sun joe, seed , top dress, then aerate the heck out of it. Then seed a little more and fertilize. ( jury is still out on fertilizer choice).
> 
> And I'm definitely subbing to this thread. Thank you for posting this.


Yeah, it's a simple three step process but I'm just hoping for the best order to do them in. If it changes anything I'll be overseeing with Champion GQ PRG.

What's the best practice for these three steps? That's the question.


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## Olkutty (Jul 12, 2019)

RozWeston said:


> Olkutty said:
> 
> 
> > I'm less than 2 weeks away from doing this as well. I have clay soil, so no sand for me, but plan on using my sun joe "dethatch" to remove a ton of debris that has been in the lawn for a long time. I'm going to really beat it up.( using the scarifier) Then I'm in the same boat as you. If I aerate, I'm going to have a ton of plugs to deal with when I try to top dress. So, I'm debating on; sun joe, seed , top dress, then aerate the heck out of it. Then seed a little more and fertilize. ( jury is still out on fertilizer choice).
> ...


After 3,000 YouTube videos, countless hours scouring google, this forum, and many others, I don't think there is a right or wrong approach to any of it. Seed to soil contact, and keep moist until germination. Lol.... I think everything else is a "however you want to do it" method.

That's the conclusion I've come to..


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

Why aerate? What do you hope to achieve?


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## Shindoman (Apr 22, 2018)

I'm going to aerate a couple weeks before I overseed. That way it's over and done with. Snow shovel for the plugs works best. Wanting to add more sand to my soil is the reason for aeration. I'm also undecided about whether to overseed, topdress lightly, then roll or topdress, overseed, and roll. What's does everyone else say?


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## troksd (Jul 27, 2018)

Yeah I skipped it last year. Moving forward I'll only overseed if I am seeding into bare dirt or the soil a rock hard.



Shindoman said:


> I'm going to aerate a couple weeks before I overseed. That way it's over and done with. Snow shovel for the plugs works best. Wanting to add more sand to my soil is the reason for aeration. I'm also undecided about whether to overseed, topdress lightly, then roll or topdress, overseed, and roll. What's does everyone else say?


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