Bringing Life Back To The Devastated Turf

Face it, there is dead turf everywhere out there.  Lawn Care professionals need to be gearing up for a huge over seed and repair program this fall for their customers.  Prime seeding time is August 20 through September 15, God willing that it starts raining.

First order of business is to make sure your aerators are in good repair and ready to go. You will want to pull 2 inch deep cores every 4 inches, which will require running your aerator in multiple directions.  Spread your seed at the higher end of the rate recommendations to get as good of a stand as possible.  Examples would be 8 lbs. / 1000 square feet for tall fescues, and 3 lbs. / 1000 square feet for Kentucky bluegrass blends.  Drag those cores back into the turf with a piece of chain link fence or a drag mat to create better soil to seed contact.

You could apply some new Easy-Flo Pelletized Compost at 1-2 bags / 1,100 square feet to improve your seed germination and add organic matter to the soil.  We have seen some great results with this product.  One person can spread a bag in about 10 minutes, and that equals 1/8 inch of loose compost. 

The following pictures are of a lawn that was devastated in November and overseeded with Easy-Flo Compost and completely revived the following May.

The picture below compares Easy-Flo Compost (applied on the lawn in the back of the photograph) to Seed Aid (which was used on the lawn at the bottom) two weeks after overseeding.  As you can see, the Easy-Flo Compost stimulated seed germination better than Seed Aid.

Mark Sybouts
Turf & Ornamental Sales Manager