[NewTractorGuy]

Hi all. I just finished assembling the craftsman 40 core aerator, and I'm planning to use it in preparation for overseeding my front, back, and side lawn. Im on slightly more than an acre of property, and much of the lawn is very patchy and in need of work. 'm not too sure of the order I should proceed in in order to do this correctly. I would appreciate some advice.

I was planning to cut the grass low with the bagger attachment and get rid of the dibris. I already blew it out throughly. Then I planned to dethatch With my tow behind (even though I did it in the fall), core aerate, rake the plugs out, seed, scott's starter fertilizer, rerake, and water. what should I do differently?

Much of the lawn doesn't have much thatch but should i dethatch it anyway in order to have more dirt exposed in order to make better contact with the seed? Or will I do too much damage to what is already there?

Can I use the tow behind dethatcher with no weight on it to rake the plugs, seed, and fertilizer? Or do it by hand? I don't have a chain link fence or anything like that.

Thank you for your input.

 

[slkpk]

I would leave the plugs as they will disappear in a few days. slkpk

 

[ggsteve]

You might hit the local recyling center and see if they have any chain link fence kicking around. You really only need a piece about 4' x 4' or so. Attach a straight edge to the front and a chain to tow it behind the tractor (or you!) and just drag it over the lawn. It breaks up the plugs but more importantly it increases seed to soil contact.

I hope your experience this spring is better than mine. I aerated and overseeded about a month ago and the seed is still sitting there. We've had zero rain. Until it germinates I don't see any point in watering.

 

[RAND81]

People tend to over complicate this.

Normally on a lawn that hasnt been taken care of at all you just dethatch, plug aerate, over seed and fertilize. Thats it, nothing more. Since you just dethatched last fall skip that step, dont waiste your time.

When you aerate go in at least 3 different directions, literally turn your lawn into swiss cheese. Gives your new seed alot of places to go. Within a week you wont see any plugs anymore so dont worry about it.

One more tip. Dont waiste your money on scotts starter fertilizer. Get this instead http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-25e...roductDisplay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&keyword=scotts+fertilizer&storeId=10051. It will do the same thing as their starter fertilizer and its alot cheaper.

 

[dacuzzin]

When I was attending colorado state we did an experiment on reseeding an existing lawn and found that core aeration and broadcasting the seed with a light rolling afterwards and normal watering produced the best results. Fertilizers actually hindered the new seed, possibly due to renewed vigor from the existing turf. Good luck!

 

[mbrun]

Here is what I did last fall, with excellent results. I too have about one acre to mow.

1) Mowed the grass low.
2) Core aerate the yard, 4 times, each traveling in a different direction. My target was to get close to 24 cores per square foot, the number of cores recommended for a good beneficial aeration.
3) Dethatch the yard, 2 times, each traveling in a different direction. This was to break up some of the cores and loosen up some more soil for seed contact.
4) Seed and starter fertilize, 2 times, each at half rate, in different directions. This reduced the likelihood I missed any spots and had stripes when I was done.
5) Dragged the yard in different directions by pulling a chain link fence gate loaded with firewood. Intended to mix the seed and soil up a bit to improve germination.
6) Watered good the weeks immediately following (mother nature did it for me, perfectly).

The yard looked violated when I was done, but after 7 days I could see the new grass sprouting and after 30 days the yard showed incredible improvement and showed no signs of its prior abuse. Fresh growth everywhere and ready for mowing. I will do the exactly the same thing again this fall to fill it in even further.

If your yard is prone to crabgrass or other annual weeds spring may not be the best time for you to do this. But if you do, consider the starter fertilizer version that features a special pre emergent, one that retards weeds but has limited negative effect grass (not many out there)

Whatever you do keep your seed moist constantly until you see that they have sprouted. If you let them dry out your efforts will result in limited improvement. And plan to repeat late summer/early fall. That is really the best time to seed.

Edit: And do use a "starter" fertilizer. A starter fertilizer has the same or more Phosphorus than nitrogen. The phosphorus will increase your percent of seed germination and improve initial rooting of the grass, something that is critical if you want your new seed to weather the pending summer. Save your high nitrogen fertilizers until after you have mowed the new grass three times. Many non-starter fertilizers have zero phosphorus.

 

[NewTractorGuy]

This is great info guys. Thank you. We haven't had a good rain here in about 3 weeks, so should I water the lawn for an hour or two after mowing but before aerating?

 

[mbrun]

This is great info guys. Thank you. We haven't had a good rain here in about 3 weeks, so should I water the lawn for an hour or two after mowing but before aerating?

Typically you don't want to water until all steps have been completed. Now, if your ground is too hard to aerate, that is a different story. You can either soak the yard real good then wait a couple days, or wait until a couple days after a good natural rain. If you can push a medium size screw driver into the soil 2-3 inches with relative ease you're good to go. If it is hard to push in then you either need more soil moisture or more weight on your aerator.

You can also just hook up the aerator and load it with its maximum rated weight and see if it penetrates. If if does you are good to go too.

 

[NewTractorGuy]

Okay, I tried pulling plugs with 160lbs on top and it worked just fine, so there was no need to water. Overall i was pretty impressed with the Craftsman aerator. The dethatcher was pretty useful in tearing up some of the areas with moss cover, and definitely lessened (but didn't eliminate) the need for me to use a hand rake to loosen the soil on dead patches. I lightly raked everything over by hand once the seed and fertilizer was down. Now to water.