Seed or fertilize?

[CrappieBart]

It seems there are a couple experts on here so I have a couple question please.

I had voles in my yard and they ruined a little area. I raked the dead grass up. Should I seed now by putting some black dirt down and then the seed or shhould I wait, can I just put the seed down in existing soil?

I would also like to put some weed and feed down but I don't want to put that down around the new seed, correct? My grass is still pretty brown, should I wait awhile to do all of this?

Thanks for any advice,

Bart

[Tom7227]

Perhaps one of the professionals could give a bit of info about what a weed and feed does to kill weeds and how it works, and explain how that differs from a pre-emergent crab grass preventative product, plus the obligatory 'when do you use each' piece of info.

[IFallsRon]

Use starter fertlizer where you put down new seed. Most weed/feed instruct not to seed for up to six weeds after applications.

[Powerstroke]

If your soil is perfectly fine, then I would say to seed heavily over the area and turn it in with the back of a rake.

For such a small area, I wouldn't use starter fert. Avoid the area with any kind of weed control and keep it moist.

Most seed mixes have annual ryegrass in them for a fast green up. They usually start popping in 7days, but the Kentucky bluegrass takes 21 days to germinate. Continue to care for the spot for at least the first 4-6 weeks. Then it should take hold.

[LwnmwnMan2]

It seems there are a couple experts on here so I have a couple question please.

I had voles in my yard and they ruined a little area. I raked the dead grass up. Should I seed now by putting some black dirt down and then the seed or shhould I wait, can I just put the seed down in existing soil?

I would also like to put some weed and feed down but I don't want to put that down around the new seed, correct? My grass is still pretty brown, should I wait awhile to do all of this?

Thanks for any advice,

Bart

Others covered the seeding, I'll cover the "weed-n-feed"ing.

How weed-n-feed works is the particle needs to land on plant itself. If you don't see dandelions, the dandelions cannot be killed.

Weed-n-feed only works on broadleaf weeds, dandelions, clover, a bit on creeping charlie, other less common weeds as well. It will not work on crabgrass, quackgrass or any other rogue "grassy" weeds.

Weed-n-feed will have virtually zero effect on anything right now, you should apply it when the weed is actively growing, mid-late spring, or early-mid fall. Early to mid fall is the ideal application time, because the weed is absorbing all energy into its root system to last over winter, therefore having the best chance at getting the chemical to the root system.

Obviously you want to kill the weeds now that you didn't kill last fall, so do an application in the spring, but wait for at least a month, as long as you live here in MN, and you could even wait for another 6 weeks and still be in the target time frame.

On a side note, I lost an account today because I wouldn't fertilize the yard today. I told the customer the ground temp was still only 45 degrees and they would be virtually no effect from the fertilizing. They decided to hire someone else.

You can't educate everyone.

[FishNovice101]

On a side note, I lost an account today because I wouldn't fertilize the yard today. I told the customer the ground temp was still only 45 degrees and they would be virtually no effect from the fertilizing. They decided to hire someone else.

You can't educate everyone.

LwnmwnMan2 - when is a good time to put down fertilizer? I have a dog, should I do anything special? Lime maybe?

Thanks,

Char

[hotrod1]

Unless you are applying a preemergent fertilizer soon for crabgrass, I would wait to fertilize until later in May or early June. I try to get my first application down around Memorial Day and I go light on Nitrogen to limit the flush of growth you get in the spring. I use a 10-0-20 with 10% iron applied at .5 lbs Nitrogen/1000ft2. (a little over 4 50 lb bags/Acre). I go heavier with Nitrogen in Sept and Oct.

As far as your dog goes, Do you have problems with dog urine spots? If so, maybe try training your dog to go in a designated area each time. Otherwise, you can apply lime to the areas your dog goes.

[LwnmwnMan2]

I do what hotrod does with the fertilizer.

As for the lime, you could try gypsum as well, although the application rates for gypsum are quite high, and you'll think you're going to kill the grass.

Normally you'd apply 50 lbs of fertilizer over 10-15k square feet, depending on the product and target.

Gypsum you're supposed to apply 50 lbs over 1,000 square feet, so for the same area of fertilizer (10,000 square feet) you're going to use approximately 10 bags.

One thing though, is you don't necessarily have to use the gypsum over the whole yard. Most times people are using it to correct salt damage, whether from road salt, or salts from urine from animals, which are more than likely concentrated to 1 area, albeit could still be 5,000 square feet.

[FishNovice101]

The dog is a Bichon, and I really haven't noticed any spots in particular. But in gerenal I want to try to keep the lawn looking nice.

Thanks for the advice