Hi all, I am new to the forum so I'll introduce myself - I'm Scott.

For the past couple of years I have been having problems with my grass as it is bare and patchy in certain sections.

I have read loads about what to do and even been in touch with a groundsman at a professional football club who has gave me advice on what seed to buy and what to mix it with and I am still having no success.

I was told to mix my grass seed with fine clean sand as he reckoned my garden did not hold the water all that well.
This Spring, I raked the whole garden (only a small garden) I then put loads of seed and sand down and raked over so most of the seeds were mixed with the sand and soil.

That has been 2 weeks went by with me watering every day and still I can still see no sign of any grass growing.

I have read it can take from 14 to 20 days before it may start to grow but it is getting really frustrating.

I noticed the birds were eating some of the seeds so I have bought a net to put down for when I put more down so they can't eat the seeds.

Some of the seeds you can still see sitting on top of the soil.

Can any of you experts tell me what I am doing wrong as I am spending a lot of money on trying to get a decent lawn and getting absolute nowhere.

I never used any new soil or anything this time, could this be the problem ?
And when I say I water it once a day, should I do it in the morning before I go to work and then when I get back as I have only been doing it once a day.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Scott

On 4/26/2012 4:38 PM, Oozmiester wrote:
Hi all, I am new to the forum so I'll introduce myself - I'm Scott.

For the past couple of years I have been having problems with my grass
as it is bare and patchy in certain sections.

I have read loads about what to do and even been in touch with a
groundsman at a professional football club who has gave me advice on
what seed to buy and what to mix it with and I am still having no
success.

I was told to mix my grass seed with fine clean sand as he reckoned my
garden did not hold the water all that well.
This Spring, I raked the whole garden (only a small garden) I then put
loads of seed and sand down and raked over so most of the seeds were
mixed with the sand and soil.

That has been 2 weeks went by with me watering every day and still I can
still see no sign of any grass growing.

I have read it can take from 14 to 20 days before it may start to grow
but it is getting really frustrating.

I noticed the birds were eating some of the seeds so I have bought a net
to put down for when I put more down so they can't eat the seeds.

Some of the seeds you can still see sitting on top of the soil.

Can any of you experts tell me what I am doing wrong as I am spending a
lot of money on trying to get a decent lawn and getting absolute
nowhere.

I never used any new soil or anything this time, could this be the
problem ?
And when I say I water it once a day, should I do it in the morning
before I go to work and then when I get back as I have only been doing
it once a day.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Scott




I know little about grass seed but do know that different seeds are
recommended for different locations and the more desirable seeds take
longer to germinate. Seed distributors often sell blends with some
annual rye which germinates rapidly to help hold soil and satisfy
customers with quick results, but the more desirable seeds just sit
there to germinate. With good seed, you just have to be patient.

Oozmiester wrote:
Hi all, I am new to the forum so I'll introduce myself - I'm Scott.

For the past couple of years I have been having problems with my grass
as it is bare and patchy in certain sections.

I have read loads about what to do and even been in touch with a
groundsman at a professional football club who has gave me advice on
what seed to buy and what to mix it with and I am still having no
success.

I was told to mix my grass seed with fine clean sand as he reckoned my
garden did not hold the water all that well.
This Spring, I raked the whole garden (only a small garden) I then put
loads of seed and sand down and raked over so most of the seeds were
mixed with the sand and soil.

That has been 2 weeks went by with me watering every day and still I
can still see no sign of any grass growing.

I have read it can take from 14 to 20 days before it may start to grow
but it is getting really frustrating.

I noticed the birds were eating some of the seeds so I have bought a
net to put down for when I put more down so they can't eat the seeds.

Some of the seeds you can still see sitting on top of the soil.

Can any of you experts tell me what I am doing wrong as I am spending
a lot of money on trying to get a decent lawn and getting absolute
nowhere.

I never used any new soil or anything this time, could this be the
problem ?
And when I say I water it once a day, should I do it in the morning
before I go to work and then when I get back as I have only been doing
it once a day.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.


I've had best luck watering new seed a few times a day very lightly. You just
want it moist, never letting it dry out completely, which can kill freshly
sprouted seed. I use a timer set to run a sprinkler for 5 minutes in the
morning, early/mid afternoon, and late afternoon.

You may just need to wait a few more days.

Hi Frank, firstly thanks for taking the time out to reply.
I do know for a fact, that it is good seed so I suppose I'll just need to be patient and keep watering twice a day.
Do you think it would help if I bought fresh soil and covered the seeds, would this help them germinate ?

Is it also wise to put down some more seeds during may time as long as I keep watering ?

Hi Bob, thanks for replying.
I'll up the watering daily then and hopefully this will help.
Only problem being I work 9-5pm so I think I'll need to look at a timer sprinkler as I can only water in the morning and then at about 7pm.
Can you send me a link to the timer sprinkler you have or something similar ?

On 4/27/2012 3:41 PM, Oozmiester wrote:


Hi Frank, firstly thanks for taking the time out to reply.
I do know for a fact, that it is good seed so I suppose I'll just need
to be patient and keep watering twice a day.
Do you think it would help if I bought fresh soil and covered the seeds,
would this help them germinate ?

Is it also wise to put down some more seeds during may time as long as I
keep watering ?





Like I said, I'm no expert but you only need to water to keep moist and
seed will obviously grow better if in loose soil. I put got some of my
own put down a couple of weeks ago and yet to sprout. I don't buy the
quick cover stuff with rye as it may be satisfying to see grass by now
but half your money is wasted on the cheap seed.

On Apr 27, 1:38*pm, "Bob F" wrote:
Oozmiester wrote:
Hi all, I am new to the forum so I'll introduce myself - I'm Scott.

For the past couple of years I have been having problems with my grass
as it is bare and patchy in certain sections.

I have read loads about what to do and even been in touch with a
groundsman at a professional football club who has gave me advice on
what seed to buy and what to mix it with and I am still having no
success.

I was told to mix my grass seed with fine clean sand as he reckoned my
garden did not hold the water all that well.
This Spring, I raked the whole garden (only a small garden) I then put
loads of seed and sand down and raked over so most of the seeds were
mixed with the sand and soil.

That has been 2 weeks went by with me watering every day and still I
can still see no sign of any grass growing.

I have read it can take from 14 to 20 days before it may start to grow
but it is getting really frustrating.

I noticed the birds were eating some of the seeds so I have bought a
net to put down for when I put more down so they can't eat the seeds.

Some of the seeds you can still see sitting on top of the soil.

Can any of you experts tell me what I am doing wrong as I am spending
a lot of money on trying to get a decent lawn and getting absolute
nowhere.

I never used any new soil or anything this time, could this be the
problem ?
And when I say I water it once a day, should I do it in the morning
before I go to work and then when I get back as I have only been doing
it once a day.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

I've had best luck watering new seed a few times a day very lightly. You just
want it moist, never letting it dry out completely, which can kill freshly
sprouted seed. I use a timer set to run a sprinkler for 5 minutes in the
morning, early/mid afternoon, and late afternoon.

You may just need to wait a few more days.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

It would help if you provided information as to the location and
the type of grass. You don't think the best practices for growing
tall fescue in Canada are the same as growing Bermuda grass
in the Carribean, do you?

First thing I'd do is stop listening to the turf expert. If your soil
doesn't hold water well, the last thing you want to add is sand
And adding sand by mixing it with seed? How long do you think
that's going to take to make any significant difference in the soil?
Assuming you're trying to establish a cool season grass,
you're also seeding at the wrong time for best success. Early Fall is
by far the best time. You have less competition from weeds,
declining temps so it's easy to keep it moist, and the grass has
many months to get established before enduring the stress of
summer.

If you have an area of a couple thousand feet and up, the
easiest and best practice is to use an over-seeder which
can be rented. It's a piece of power eqpt that cuts grooves
about 3/8" deep and drops the seed in them. That gives you
good seed/soil contact and a high germination rate. An
alternative is to use a core aerator if the ground is compacted,
then apply the seed. Or you could do both. If the soil needs
ammendments, you can apply those after the core aeration
where some of it will at least drop in the holes and go down
a couple inches. And if the soil isn't holding water well, then
the ammendment should be humus of some sort, not sand.

Did you apply starter fertilizer? Check the PH?

And again, how long grass seed takes to germinate depends
on what kind it is, which we don't know....

Oozmiester wrote:
Bob F;957219 Wrote:
Oozmiester wrote:-
Hi all, I am new to the forum so I'll introduce myself - I'm Scott.

For the past couple of years I have been having problems with my
grass as it is bare and patchy in certain sections.

I have read loads about what to do and even been in touch with a
groundsman at a professional football club who has gave me advice on
what seed to buy and what to mix it with and I am still having no
success.

I was told to mix my grass seed with fine clean sand as he reckoned
my garden did not hold the water all that well.
This Spring, I raked the whole garden (only a small garden) I then
put loads of seed and sand down and raked over so most of the seeds
were mixed with the sand and soil.

That has been 2 weeks went by with me watering every day and still I
can still see no sign of any grass growing.

I have read it can take from 14 to 20 days before it may start to
grow but it is getting really frustrating.

I noticed the birds were eating some of the seeds so I have bought a
net to put down for when I put more down so they can't eat the seeds.

Some of the seeds you can still see sitting on top of the soil.

Can any of you experts tell me what I am doing wrong as I am spending
a lot of money on trying to get a decent lawn and getting absolute
nowhere.

I never used any new soil or anything this time, could this be the
problem ?
And when I say I water it once a day, should I do it in the morning
before I go to work and then when I get back as I have only been
doing it once a day.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.
-

I've had best luck watering new seed a few times a day very lightly.
You just
want it moist, never letting it dry out completely, which can kill
freshly
sprouted seed. I use a timer set to run a sprinkler for 5 minutes in
the

morning, early/mid afternoon, and late afternoon.

You may just need to wait a few more days.

Hi Bob, thanks for replying.
I'll up the watering daily then and hopefully this will help.
Only problem being I work 9-5pm so I think I'll need to look at a
timer sprinkler as I can only water in the morning and then at about
7pm. Can you send me a link to the timer sprinkler you have or
something similar ?

Mine is older, and I can't quickly find it online. Look for one with a digital
readout that allows incrementing the minutes one-by-one, and that allows turning
on/off a few times a day. I'd recommend doing the last watering as early as
possible. You want things to not be truely wet during the night.

I managed to find some decent digital sprinklers online.
Baffled to actually know how this will work though.
Can this be worked by a normal tap from the house ?

I'm in the United Kingdon, Scotland.
We don't usually get great summers and usually we have plenty of rain.
The type of grass is Mascot grass seed R13.
I only have a small garden, which is 8 x 6 meters.

I think I'll try the Aerating method and create wholes and then apply the seeds down the wholes.

I did not use any starter fertilizer, should I apply this after creating the wholes and planting the seeds in the wholes and rake over ?

I really do appreciate what you are telling me so thanks.

Oozmiester wrote:
Bob F;957289 Wrote:


Mine is older, and I can't quickly find it online. Look for one with
a digital
readout that allows incrementing the minutes one-by-one, and that
allows turning
on/off a few times a day. I'd recommend doing the last watering as
early as
possible. You want things to not be truely wet during the night.

I managed to find some decent digital sprinklers online.
Baffled to actually know how this will work though.
Can this be worked by a normal tap from the house ?

If you get the right one. It needs standard hose fittings.

On May 1, 12:37*am, "Bob F" wrote:
Oozmiester wrote:
Bob F;957289 Wrote:

Mine is older, and I can't quickly find it online. Look for one with
a digital
readout that allows incrementing the minutes one-by-one, and that
allows turning
on/off a few times a day. I'd recommend doing the last watering as
early as
possible. You want things to not be truely wet during the night.

I managed to find some decent digital sprinklers online.
Baffled to actually know how this will work though.
Can this be worked by a normal tap from the house ?

If you get the right one. It needs standard hose fittings.

I would think all the ones Bob is talking about have
standard hose fittings. It would be pretty hard to
sell them if they did not. I have one and I see them
in the home centers, hardware stores, etc all the time.

The only concern I have with them is the reliability.
It's a battery operated device and if it fails to close
you could wind up with water running for a very long
time. I would hope they have enough smarts to
know when the battery is declining and stop opening
long before the battery is near dead. But with all
the cheap stuff typically made in China these days,
I wouldn't count on it. It's certainly good for use
when you're going to be around and can catch it in
a reasonable time if it goes wrong. If you're going on
a 2 week trip you probably should have someone keep
an eye on it.

So where are you guys from then ? Bob and Trader4 ?

Here is my plan, thanks to the input from you guys:

I am going to aerate the whole garden.
Seed it so they go into the small holes.
Put some starter fertilizer down.
Put a net over the garden to stop the birds eating the seeds.
Then water, water, water.

I'll also do it at the fall as I have plenty of seed.

I'm not 100% sure about how the sprinkler timer works.
Can one of you guys explain, I'm being thick here.
I'd only be having it on possibly twice in one day while I am at work.
With a normal garden sprinkler you attach the hose to the tap, turn on the tap and you have your sprinkler until you turn the tap off.

How does this timer work with the tap if you are out ?

On May 1, 5:03*pm, Oozmiester
wrote:
So where are you guys from then ? *Bob and Trader4 ?

Here is my plan, thanks to the input from you guys:

I am going to aerate the whole garden.
Seed it so they go into the small holes.
Put some starter fertilizer down.
Put a net over the garden to stop the birds eating the seeds.
Then water, water, water.

I'll also do it at the fall as I have plenty of seed.

I'm not 100% sure about how the sprinkler timer works.
Can one of you guys explain, I'm being thick here.
I'd only be having it on possibly twice in one day while I am at work.
With a normal garden sprinkler you attach the hose to the tap, turn on
the tap and you have your sprinkler until you turn the tap off.

How does this timer work with the tap if you are out ?

--
Oozmiester

Everyone is guessing, including you, based upon no meaningful input
from you.
Answer these questions:

Where do you live? (USA north or south, Europe, etc)
What type seed are you planting? (warm or cold weather types)
Is your soil loose or hard packed? (sandy loam or clay)
Have you ever had a soil sample analyzed? (pH & fertilizer levels)

For example if your phosphate level is high, applying a starter
fertilizer is the worse thing you can do to your soil. If your pH is
low you need to add lime but if your pH is high lime is very bad. A
$10 test can get you a detailed report & answer these questions. Then
you can get meaningful advice.

Red

On May 1, 6:03*pm, Oozmiester
wrote:
So where are you guys from then ? *Bob and Trader4 ?

Here is my plan, thanks to the input from you guys:

I am going to aerate the whole garden.
Seed it so they go into the small holes.

While it's OK to seed after aerating, the objective
is not to have seed go in the holes. The holes
from a core aerator will be about 3/4" around and
a couple inches deep. Some of the seed will
wind up in those holes, but how much of that will
germinate is questionable because seed needs
to be planted 1/4 to 1/2" deep, not 2".

And forget about using one of the fake aerators
that doesn't remove plugs of earth. Removing
the earth is what decompacts it. And that removed
earth gets spread around as a nice place for all
the grass seed that doesn't wind up in the holes
to grow in.

As I said before, if the soil is not compacted, no
thatch problem, etc, I would use an overseeder to
apply the seed instead of aerating. Or ideally, you
could do both.




Put some starter fertilizer down.
Put a net over the garden to stop the birds eating the seeds.

I don't know what kind of birds you have or what
kind of seed, but birds eating the seed have never
been a problem in the many times I've done it. Nor
have I seen pros doing anything to deal with birds.
If you want to cover it, weedfree straw can be used.
You cover it lightly and it helps retain the moisture
during germination. Problem is, don't know where
you'd get it. And straw that has weed seed will bring
more trouble than it's worth.

The ideal thing is hydraulic mulch, which is kind of
like ground up paper mache. But given the cost,
at least here, it's only practical for smaller area.



Then water, water, water.

I'll also do it at the fall as I have plenty of seed.

I'm not 100% sure about how the sprinkler timer works.
Can one of you guys explain, I'm being thick here.
I'd only be having it on possibly twice in one day while I am at work.
With a normal garden sprinkler you attach the hose to the tap, turn on
the tap and you have your sprinkler until you turn the tap off.

How does this timer work with the tap if you are out ?

--
Oozmiester

http://www.homedepot.com/Outdoors-Ga...searchNav=true

That's the link to one at Home Depot. If the link
doesn't work you can find it under lawn and garden
dept.

It goes between the tap and the hose. You leave the
tap on and the timer controlled valve opens and closes
at the set times.

How much you need to water depends on the climate.
In general, I'd do it 3 times, 11 am, 3pm, 8pm. If it's
cold and cloudy, you could probably just do it twice.
If it's 80, windy and sunny, it could take more. You just
need to keep it constantly damp on the surface. No
need to flood it. Depending on the sprinkler head
and area that could be as short as 5 mins.

As the grass starts to grow, reduce
the watering times, but make them longer. At about
a month, you should be watering once a day. At
6 weeks, maybe every other day, etc. Long term
giving it an inch of water a week should be ideal,
probably in two waterings, unless nature provides
it. To measure how much
water you're putting down use some used tuna
cans.