"Mama Bear" wrote in message
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"George.com" wrote :


"Mama Bear" wrote in message
...
"Warren" wrote :

Mama Bear wrote:
Someone was telling me that they can use a shredder-blower
to shred peat moss and spray a think layer of it all over
your lawn after putting down grass seed, then you water
and it helps keep the moisture in and start the seed so it
doesn't dry out.

What do they call the blower that can do that and what do
they usually cost?

Wouldn't you rather know if it works before you start
spending money?

I've been told it can work. But go ahead. What is it, and can
it work?

peat moss can be expensive, it certainly is for the stuff you
buy for hanging baskets anyway, and may not be environmentally
sustainable if large amounts are harvested.

I'm thinking of the big bales of it that they sell for planting.
It's about $4 something for a big square of it.

As an alternative, I used frost cloth. I prepared the soil,
rakes it, threw on the seed, raked it in to the top soil,
watered and staked down some frost cloth across the top. The
cloth kept the direct sun off and moisture in and reduced the
amount of watering I needed to do.

I don't know what frost cloth is, but suspect it would be too
expensive to cover an 8000 sq ft lot with it.

go and check out a waste exchange programme is one exists in your area. Here
is a local example of polypropylene to cover 900 square metres.
http://www.rmf.org.nz/terranova/weedmats/

I checked it a few times a
day and put the sprinkler on when the soil was starting to dry
out. After a few days the grass started to come through and I
pulled the cloth back to let the sun in. If not frost cloth
maybe light sail cloth or old hessian sacking. It should not
be too heavy and cumbersome but not too porous either.

Can someone please answer my original question, without going off
on tangents like this? Thanks.

the answers you have got thus far is that it is a daft idea and will not
work. More than that using enough peat moss to cover an 8000ft lot is a shit
load of peat moss and will cost a shit load of money for the moss itself.
Even more than that, peat moss takes time to develop and using it as a grass
starter is a waste of a resource in my opinion. The only possible way you
could use peat moss I can see is to lay long rolls, like laying carpet, of
it across the earth. It will be a hassle to continually lift to check the
growth of your grass however and roll off when the grass starts to come up.
You will not be able to leave the peat moss down as it will simply starve
your grass of light. Result, dead grass. No, forget the peat moss, its a bad
idea because it most likely won't work as you envisage it, will be a hassle
spread any other effective way, will cost too much money that way and is a
waste of a natural resource. Find a free, or cheap, source of material that
you can stake down over your new seedlings. Leave it down until germination
and then lift up to allow the sun in. Its around if you look for it.

rob