# Drying pre-soaked seed with peat moss before spreading?



## Green (Dec 24, 2017)

Not with fully pre-germinated seed...

But isn't there someone here who tried this with seed that was soaked for a few days?

How did it work?


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## KoopHawk (May 28, 2019)

I pre-soaked some KBG. In my test pots in the garage it cut germination from 9 days to 5 days at a constant 50 degrees.

When I seeded I soaked roughly 1/5 of the seed I put down. The soil temps were much warmer and I'm not sure it had much of an impact.

I let the seed drip dry in their cheesecloths overnight and mixed with milorganite. It spread very well.


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## Green (Dec 24, 2017)

KoopHawk said:


> I pre-soaked some KBG. In my test pots in the garage it cut germination from 9 days to 5 days at a constant 50 degrees.
> 
> When I seeded I soaked roughly 1/5 of the seed I put down. The soil temps were much warmer and I'm not sure it had much of an impact.
> 
> I let the seed drip dry in their cheesecloths overnight and mixed with milorganite. It spread very well.


Might try that method.

Is there a certain cheese cloth you used? And did the seed stay in it?


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## mobiledynamics (Aug 9, 2020)

Interesting on the drip dry......when I think or pre-germ, all I imagine is a handful of wet rice kris-pies


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## BCliff (Aug 11, 2020)

I currently have some *** that I soaked for 2 days and its STILL WET after 2 days of drying. I have about 25 lbs on a 4x8 sheet, been mixing it around with a rake and my hands...still too wet to spread nicely as it clumps and wont fall through the holes in the spreader. I will be adding some dry sand or some fine peat moss later today when I put it down if its not ready by then.... I don't think I would ever soak seed again unless I were to have access to a hydro seeder.


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## Thick n Dense (May 7, 2019)

BCliff said:


> I currently have some *** that I soaked for 2 days and its STILL WET after 2 days of drying. I have about 25 lbs on a 4x8 sheet, been mixing it around with a rake and my hands...still too wet to spread nicely as it clumps and wont fall through the holes in the spreader. I will be adding some dry sand or some fine peat moss later today when I put it down if its not ready by then.... I don't think I would ever soak seed again unless I were to have access to a hydro seeder.


Why are you drying it out completely ? Just add the material to it for spreading and mix up good. I like milorganite because perfect for a standard spreader.


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## BCliff (Aug 11, 2020)

Thick n Dense said:


> BCliff said:
> 
> 
> > I currently have some *** that I soaked for 2 days and its STILL WET after 2 days of drying. I have about 25 lbs on a 4x8 sheet, been mixing it around with a rake and my hands...still too wet to spread nicely as it clumps and wont fall through the holes in the spreader. I will be adding some dry sand or some fine peat moss later today when I put it down if its not ready by then.... I don't think I would ever soak seed again unless I were to have access to a hydro seeder.
> ...


I can't really get Milo for cheap where I am (canada) at least as for as I am aware... I am trying to dry it out just enough to spread. I tried going straight damp seed and it wouldn't even drop a single seed. My seed is not pre germinated (its KBG) so my understanding of primed seed is that it can dry out with out much of a consequence and still retain a faster germ time. I will try to add some peat / or sand, i have to see how fine the peat is as if it has many branches / clumps it also won't fall out of the spreader.


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## KoopHawk (May 28, 2019)

@Green I just ordered cheese cloths from amazon. You'll likely need bigger bags than you think. If you don't close the top well seeds can find their way out otherwise they worked just like they were supposed to. The seed was quite wet yet after drip drying overnight

@BCliff Let it be wet for at least 5 days. Then mix it with any organic fertilizer to spread. 25 lbs you may want a few bags of organic fertilizer to make sure you get even coverage. IMO it would be well worth buying 3 bags of Milo even if it costs $15 a bag. It works very well. IIRC I mixed 7 lbs of wet seed per bag of Milo.

https://www.milorganite.com/professionals/golf-athletic-fields/turf-establishment/pre-germinating-seed

*Edit to add: You're not putting the Milo down at bag rate. I think bag rate calls for the 11 setting on my Scott's rotary spreader and I think I used the 4 setting and made multiple passes to evenly spread the seed.


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## Thick n Dense (May 7, 2019)

@BCliff

+ is good to put down a phosphorous source during seeding, which Milo satisfies.


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## zeus201 (Aug 30, 2017)

KoopHawk said:


> I pre-soaked some KBG. In my test pots in the garage it cut germination from 9 days to 5 days at a constant 50 degrees.
> 
> When I seeded I soaked roughly 1/5 of the seed I put down. The soil temps were much warmer and I'm not sure it had much of an impact.
> 
> I let the seed drip dry in their cheesecloths overnight and mixed with milorganite. It spread very well.


Same method, but only drip dried for a couple hours. Then mixed with Menard's brand milo, top dressing sand and went to work seeding.


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## Harts (May 14, 2018)

@BCliff Milo is not available in Canada. I'm sure you can find an alternative close to you.


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## BCliff (Aug 11, 2020)

I ended up spreading it by mixing in a lot peat moss but even that was a pain. I think next time I will go for a low strength fertilizer or/ and dry sand, on the bright side i have green fuzz everywhere so priming it allowed me "start the germination process earlier then I was able to put it down"

Those who spread with fert / sand, does it fall through your spreader nicely? I found my peat moss too light it actually didn't want to fall.


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## KoopHawk (May 28, 2019)

Spreading seed works great mixed with an organic fertilizer


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## Thick n Dense (May 7, 2019)

so... at the point where I need to reseed about a 1,500 sq foot section.

I have some baby grass and want minimal impact...

What do you'll think about this method but mixing with milorganite then spreading with spreader?

I just think that getting the seed down with a spreader and the weight of milo will be pretty low impact in terms of the baby grass and help draw the seeds downward to the soil because I don't plan on rolling.

Idk what it is but a few portions of my yard have a 50/50 soil compost mix and those spots are by far doing the best in germination.... so having the seed stuck to a piece of milo sounds good.

Also this stuff is intriguing to me: https://www.homedepot.com/p/GreenView-38-lbs-Fairway-Formula-Seeding-Success-Biodegradable-Mulch-with-Fertilizer-2329832/310370118

Could this work in place of milorganite?

Also, this reminds me of wood pellets... what's the real difference besides the cost?


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## Green (Dec 24, 2017)

@Thick n Dense, SiteOne sells a really good granular mulch, called Hydrocover Triple Start. I haven't tried the Lebanon Greenview version or the Pennmulch brand, because I heard Hydrocover was the best. And I don't think any of these will go through a spreader well, but I could be wrong.

Patchmaster/hydromulch are better but not worth the hazard of airborne particles, unless you have one of those full face masks in my opinion (been there, used it without one...never again). So dusty.

Not sure any of these would be useful for applying seed.


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## Utk03analyst (Jun 8, 2019)

I tried it with TTTF, I want to do it with KBG, but spreading it was a pain. It germinated super quick like next day quick. But I spread it by hand. I'm trying to dream up a way to make a DIY hydro seeder. The challenge would be getting enough agitation to keep the seed from clumping and finding a nozzle that will allow the seed to pass through then there is the hurdle of trying to get decent seed distribution. I have an ideal just need a little spare time to test it out.


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