DMarino,

While straw can be beneficial in holding down seed, it can end up blocking sunlight. With straw there is also a danger of ripping up your new grass when it comes to clean up - not to mention straw can be quite messy. Our Lawn Starter Mulch is easy to use (apply with any spreader) and will hold seed in contact with the soil for quick germination, without blocking sunlight, because it is enhanced with our Advanced Soil Technology. It is also enhanced with Seed Watering Technology, to help you know when enough moisture has been applied. Let us know if you have any other questions!

-Carrie at Encap

Peat works fine and is cheap....

I don't like straw - because you end up growing an Oats or Wheat field instead of a nice grassy turf.... not to mention it's usually filled with weeds...

My best of all luck was just leaving the leftover grass clippings from scalping the dead, brown grass.. and seeding straight into that....

Last.. if you do go down the Straw path against our advice - make darn sure you don't get Hay instead of Straw... It's slam full of pasture grass/weeds seed.. and you will get an indestructible field full of grassy and weedy stuff that grows 2' tall.... Perfect if you plan to run sheep and a horse.. Not so good if you don't....

Thanks

Before you do anything, tell us where you are. You indicated zone 10. If that is the case then you are likely seeding bermuda seed. And if that is the case, STOP RIGHT NOW! Instead, you have a full month before you are going to get good germination on bermuda seed. Your soil is not hot enough yet. Even Phoenix is just now getting into the 100s during the day. Soil temps lag behind air temps so even Phoenix won't be ready to seed bermuda for another couple of weeks.

Take the next few weeks to try and undo the damage you did by rototilling the soil. I'm talking about getting your fluffy soil settled back down, killing new weeds, and releveling the surface. Do that by watering deeply and letting the soil settle. Then use sand to top off the low spots and drag a piece of chain link fence on top of it to take the tops off the piles of sand. Then continue to water to settle the sand and soil. Do that at least every other day until you are happy that the soil is no longer settling. In fact your soil will continue to settle for 2-3 more years, but you did not know that before you rototilled...unless you had been reading here.

Bermuda on a rototilled lawn is possibly the most unsatisfactory turf you can create. Bermuda needs to be mowed at your mower's lowest setting, but the bumpy surface will cause your mower to scalp it here and there. Those homeowners write in here ALL THE TIME. Rototilling is the cause, not the solution. The solution is to settle the soil completely, level it at the surface, and then seed your bermuda.

When you seed the bermuda, you do not need anything to cover it up. You need to use a water fillable roller to roll the seed down to make good seed-to-soil contact. Rolling it takes the place of covering it with mulch. You will have the right weight on the roller when you can walk with shoes on behind the roller and not leave any foot prints. If there are foot prints after the roller, add more water to it.

I walked over someone's brand new sod a few weeks ago and sunk in about an inch with every step. He's going to have a serious mess this summer.

Tell us where you live and what grass you are seeding.