I clicked the link but didn't want to read the whole page in order to find the article. What you refer to is called pre-germinating the seeds. You can also prime them by storing them in the fridge well sealed so they don't get moisture.

That site has a great organic nutrient chart that breaks everything down by crude protein and other nutrients. I have no idea how to tell you to find it though. I had it bookmarked a few years ago but lost it. Try searching if you're interested.

I've seen some articles on the web which says to soak seeds to aid in germination. Is there a truth about this?

Well, as a gardener I soak seeds before sowing to increase germination (generally for around 24 hours for the thick-walled ones). I can imagine (but sure can't assure you) that it would work the same for grass seed.

However...I am having a waking nightmare imagining damp seed trying to go through a drop spreader. Excuse me, I need a Xanax.

...OK, better now. I think it would get cloggy and your drop would be uneven at best. Spreading the seed out to dry beforehand would help that, but it's not going to be perfect and I never let a seed go dry before it finds planting mix. Tiny seeds also get clumpy when they dry together.

I wouldn't try it; I think that when you balance a slightly increased germination against poor drop, the drop wins and you do a worse job.

Ditto what Morpheus said. Excellent point about spreading wet seeds.
And, once moistened, your seeds shouldn't get dry again. Too risky.

Yeah. I can't imagine how wet/sprouted
grass seed would spread. Anything else
you want to grow that doesn't need to
be stratified can be easily sprouted
before planting but I don't think
grass seed is very amenable to that.

I tried it a couple of years ago. As others pointed out, the sticking point is spreading wet seeds. I dried them on some spread out newspaper, but was worried about them drying out too much. The seed did germinate fine, but I'm not sure it was any better than usual. For most people, it probably isn't worth the bother. The only time I would consider doing it again is if I was trying to seed when we had watering restrictions.

Yes, that's another problem that I will encounter. We are only allowed to water between 7am-9am and 6pm-8pm only during dates ending with an odd number. Sigh! :(

Yes, that's another problem that I will encounter. We are only allowed to water between 7am-9am and 6pm-8pm only during dates ending with an odd number. Sigh! :(

That's often not true for a new or newly-reseeded lawn, but you'll have to contact the right people to find out. I have no idea who the right people are. :-)

Try calling City Hall first. You might be able to find the drought restriction text online at your local city's site if they have one. That may define the issue right there.

There is a new house in front of our house which is still owned by the builder. It got a new sod. They were watering the other day past 9am and a police came in. From what I saw, looks like the builder got contacted by the police because he came over. They got ticketed. They turned it off right on the spot.

But yeah, it's a very good idea. I will contact our City Hall and ask them about my plan. If assuming my watering request got approve by the City Hall, what times of day should I do the 15-20 minutes watering twice or thrice a day for the first week? 7am/1pm/5pm?

By the way, the 15-20 minutes watering was recommended to me by bestlawn for the first week during overseeding.

By the way, the 15-20 minutes watering was recommended to me by bestlawn for the first week during overseeding.

Sounds good to me. It's not enough to get runoff, it's more than enough to keep the seed bed damp.

As long as the bed stays damp, it doesn't matter. I tentatively chose 10 AM, 2 PM, and 6 PM. 10 AM as it starts to dry out mid-morning, 2 PM to redamp just after the most direct sun of the day, and 6 PM to redamp after temperatures start to drop for evening (but early enough that the seed bed spends the night damp and not wet).

7 AM, 1 PM, 5 PM will also do for a start. I doubt it's any different than my schedule, all things considered.

I figure we're both going to have to re-calculate when we see what stays damp and what doesn't. :-)

I noticed the article in the link was about corn, but I'd think it would hold true for other seeds, too.

I think it would work best for small scale things. There have been a few threads on the Rocky Mountain forum where people have made a gel out of corn starch and water and put seeds in the gel for planting. They have reported good success with this tactic, but it's been a very manual process.

v1rtu0s1ty, soaking seeds is recommended for those which are exceptionally hard (dry) or else have a 'thick' seed coat. Blackeye peas is the typical example.
The thoughts which drive this concept are:-
1. It jump starts the germinating process.
2. Water is in short supply.
3. Watering is labor intensive.
4. The process eliminates poor seed. Those that float are discarded.
5. In some cases (e.g. tomatoes) the seeds have a built in germination inhibitor which is removed by soaking.
Scarifying abrades the seed coat and allows water to penetrate the seed more quickly and gets around the spreader problem. This is done for some brands of bahia seed. With present day ability to irrigate precisely, pre- soaking is seldom necessary. And if the water police will not permit a watering regime on a newly seeded lawn, then the HR Dept. at the Municipal Authority needs to be coerced into employing a Horticulturist. Hey, I might apply!

I didn't know that when seeds float on water, they're bad. This is priceless info. ;)

Anyways, assuming I soaked it for 16 hours to a day, then I let it dry for 3 days, does it jeopardize the life of the seed?

And yes, we have water restriction here. We can only water every other day and from 6am-9am and 6pm-9pm. I'm really worried about the seed in the afternoon when it dries out. How critical is it when the seed dries out?

"Anyways, assuming I soaked it for 16 hours to a day, then I let it dry for 3 days, does it jeopardize the life of the seed?"

If I understand the way the soaking works, then soaking and then letting it dry would be a very bad thing. The purpose of the soaking is to get sort of a head start on the germination. As I understand it, once you start, you need to keep the seed most from then on. Otherwise, they start to germinate, then die.

Thanks bpgreen. That helps a lot. :)

Here is a link to a thread on fluid seeding in the Rocky Mountain forum.

Follow the links in that thread and the linked threads to get more detail on the technique.

The purpose there is to get a jumpstart on a short growing season, but I think it also had the advantage of keeping the seeds moist longer.

It's probably not practical for a lawn, although there's a commercial alternative, if you want to spend the money, called hydroseeding.

I said store them in the fridge before but meant to say freezer. The freeze/thaw process will break the inhibitor layer so you get germination faster. Frankly, there are several things you can do to prime/pre-germinate the seeds from freezing them, soaking, solarizing, or whatever, but you still have the water restriction problem because the seedlings also need steady moisture. Not to burst your bubble, but I don't see any way around that.

I think the best thing to do is likely more an experiment than a proven method because I never tried it and never heard testimony either. But, it's your best bet for planting against water restrictions. If you decide not to try this, then don't sow seeds. They simply cannot survive under the watering limitations you stated above because they'll surely dry out, and your seeding effort, cost, and everything will be lost. The survival rate would be too dismal to support the endeavor.

Soooo, I'm suggesting solarizing the seeds. Put them in the freezer for a week or two and after planting, irrigate heavily and cover all over with clear plastic until they germinate. You won't have to worry about any more water for the time being. Germination should be much faster than the common 2-3 weeks that kbg takes. Probably just a week or so but keep an eye on them. As soon - AS SOON - as they begin to germinate, remove the plastic or you'll fry the seedlings. Still, you'll need to begin watering the seedlings once a day for 20-30 minutes or so. Again, I don't see any way around that. Also, you incur the added cost for the plastic and depending on how much area you have to cover, it can be expensive.

Anyways, assuming I soaked it for 16 hours to a day, then I let it dry for 3 days, does it jeopardize the life of the seed?

Yes. Seeds, if soaked, should be planted before they even think about drying out totally. Three days of no water will reduce germination by quite a lot--the same as if you watered and let the seed bed dry out.

Fortunately that's happening in the pre-germination phase when they're a little more tolerant of that sort of thing--but not much. Then you're going to sow them and force 'em to deal with much less water than necessary. They're not going to be happy at all.

Bestlawn's freeze/wet/solarize idea is a very good one. I know I wouldn't be able to time it very well and would probably fry the seedlings, and I wouldn't dream of trying it when temperatures were much above seventy.

The timing is absolutely critical. I fried a whole set of poppy seedlings in about four hours by accident, and that was under a raised dome with some airspace under and around it.

Wondering if the restrictions are only during summer and will be lifted come fall. Do you know?

Wondering if the restrictions are only during summer and will be lifted come fall. Do you know?
I just found out yesterday that we have watering rules posted on our village website. So I went to our village website and found out there are times that watering is allowed daily. They have a color coding. If color is green, we can water daily at 6am-9am, then 6pm-9pm. However, if color is yellow, we can only water during odd-even days from 6am-9am, then 6pm-9pm. Here is our village website. Scroll down and you can see the current color in effect.

http://www.huntley.il.us/

Did you see the brochure that explains the rules?

They mention a restriction on sod installation between Jun 15 and Sep 15. I suspect that is due to the extra watering required during establishment of sod. I wonder if they also allow seeding after Sep 15. They had a number you can call for a copy of the ordinance. It may be spelled out more completely there.

I wonder if they also allow seeding after Sep 15. They had a number you can call for a copy of the ordinance. It may be spelled out more completely there.

They gotta allow it sometime, I would think.

For Ron's lawn, using KBG, September 15 is just barely, barely enough time before winter, maybe. As long as the weather doesn't turn early. It'd probably be fine, but I don't think it'll achieve the density it would if he could put it in on August 15, the first possible realistic day.

At least he's overseeding into good KBG to begin with, so even a failure there is only going to limit the amount of new seedlings.

At least if I'm right in reading the climate for northern IL.

I live very near Ron. IMO, September 15 is too late for seeding KBG. I had some seed washout a couple seasons ago and replanted in early September. Very little of the KBG germinated before the soil became too cool for germination.

I have tried dormant seeding twice and in both cases had good results. I cut back the woods a bit and seeded bare soil in early December. No prep other than removing forest floor debris from the top of the soil. I let mother nature provide the water until I could see green fuzz the next Spring. I took over then. In both cases, I had a high rate of germination.

-Deerslayer

So looks like the ideal time for overseeding in our area is sometime between August 23 and September 7?

For overseeding KBG in the fall, I suggest August 15. The problem with seeding in August is that August is usually very hot and dry here. You'll probably need to apply a great deal of water which significantly increases the cost of your project. However, you'll get a better germination rate than dormant seeding which offsets the water cost a bit.

All things considered, I think that dormant seeding is the best approach for overseeding KBG in our area. Simply broadcast your seeds in early December and let nature take over.

-Deerslayer

There is no magic date for seeding. If you go earlier, it is warmer and the seeds should germinate faster. The problem is keeping it moist since water evaporates quicker in warmer weather. If you have an easy way to water (and no water restrictions) seeding as early as possible usually gets the best results. On the other hand, if you aren't able to water well or face water restrictions, you will likely have an easier time keeping the area moist if you start later. If you really can't/won't water, you would be better served dormant seeding and letting nature do the watering for you. That method does not work as well as a controlled seeding environment, but it does a whole lot better than dropping seed on hot, dry ground and just hoping for the best.

All things considered, I think that dormant seeding is the best approach for overseeding KBG in our area. Simply broadcast your seeds in early December and let nature take over.

I'm not an expert in seeds but I would like to make sure dormant seeding really works. It's because, it's so easy, I don't have to worry about watering too. But like billl said, some seeds might not make it.

Also folks, this doesn't mean that I'm shying away from slit seeding. I'm just open to different options. :)

Thanks again!

So looks like the ideal time for overseeding in our area is sometime between August 23 and September 7?

I still think the September 7 date would be on the outside, but certainly better than a week later. Personally, I'd throw the absolute outside limit at September 1. Figure your KBG takes 30 days to germinate (October 1). It then only has a very few weeks to store energy for the winter.

That's one of the reasons why I'm jumping the gun a bit (reseeding July 30) instead of waiting for the next window of time I could get (early September).

Seeding August first with an irrigation system (and no water restrictions) means sprout starting probably by August 20 (because of the warm weather). At least 6 weeks remain before our first frost in early October (and that would be unusually early).

Since you are interested in dormant overseeding, here are a few more reasons to dormant overseed in our location.

1. When overseeding, mowing your grass low increases sunlight to the seed which increases the seed's germination rate. Mowing grass low in August or early September in Northern Illinois will greatly stress your lawn. Whereas, mowing your lawn low on its last mowing will not create near as much stress. Mowing low before winter also helps to prevent snow mold.

2. When overseeding, it's good to dethatch or use a slit seeder to increase soil to seed contact. Dethatching in August in Northern Illinois overly stresses your lawn. Since seeds sown dormantly will work their way into the soil by the freeze/thaw cycles, dethatching (if not too much thatch) and slit seeding are not required.

3. Nature provides plenty of moisture in early spring which will get your grass off to a good start. Germination will occur when when Mother Nature decides that conditions are perfect.

-Deerslayer

4. A huge rain storm could wash your seeds all over. In areas that get snow in winter, that probably isn't a concern.

5. You have 4 months where "nature" - birds, insects, mold, disease etc - can have some fun with your seeds. If you have a consistent blanket of snow, this is less of a problem since the seed would be mostly covered. If you have sloped property though, runoff from melting snow could cause problem.

6. Sometimes, you have an abnormally dry spring. Not much you can do about that.

Let's say, I really want to go with dormant seeding(maybe late November), I feel worried when I use my Scott's broadcast spreader. I feel that some areas may not get seed. Is it just similar to when we spread fertilizer?

When you said low mowing, are you saying, lowest setting? Normally guys, in our area, when is the last mowing that you do? I remember, I mowed around September and grass still grew a little. What date does grass doesn't grow anymore? And of course, I should bag the grass clippings right?

Oh, one more, do you guys recall the setting on your Scott's broadcast spreader when you overseed?

Good points billl!

Like what I said before, I'm still deciding which route. Since we can only properly water after September 15, what would really happen to the seeds if we slit seeded them after the 15th?

Here is what I am thinking for August slit seeding. SNEAK! Since I'm building an automated controller for the sprinkler valve, I'm thinking of setting the watering to run for 2-3 mins every hour from 10am-6pm or even 1 min every 30 mins interval? This way, watering is much shorter which has a smaller risk of being seen by police.

I'm really not trying to persuade you one direction of the other. If you can't water, dormant seeding may be your best option. If you have the choice between seeding in a controlled environment where you can water daily and get seeds up and going quickly v.s. dormant seeding and letting nature take its course, you will get much higher germination rates and better establishment with the controlled method. There is a reason farmers spend lots of money irrigating - it works!

If you have to break the law to water, I wouldn't do that. I don't know about your town, but around here the fines for breaking the watering rules are pretty steep and compound with each instance. You definitely wouldn't want to come home and find a cop in your driveway with 10 tickets for each time your water went on that day.

Here is the scoop. I just contacted my village. They told me that I can water anytime, everyday as long as I am using a garden hose. However, I don't want to spend my vacation hours just for this task. I told them that I have a timer on my sprinkler and they still refused to allow me to water everyday. I don't see any difference. LOL.

Here is what I am thinking for August slit seeding. SNEAK! Since I'm building an automated controller for the sprinkler valve, I'm thinking of setting the watering to run for 2-3 mins every hour from 10am-6pm or even 1 min every 30 mins interval? This way, watering is much shorter which has a smaller risk of being seen by police.

While it would work, it would depend on the size of the ticket.

I told them that I have a timer on my sprinkler and they still refused to allow me to water everyday. I don't see any difference. LOL.

Quite the opposite. Timered drip watering in the gardens, anyway, equals a much more efficient use of water. Five minutes of watering daily is enough unless the temperature is over ninety.

I used to set the sprinkler on it for 30 minutes at a shot every three to four days (moving it six times). Overall, I use less than a quarter the water and do a better job.

On the grass, one hour of 5 GPM watering per zone (five hours) equals half an inch of water (a touch more), or 1,500 gallons. Two sprinklers used to take me two evenings, seven hours total, higher flow (about 7 GPM or so) for 2,800 gallons and poorer coverage.

While automatic sprinklers are theoretically more efficient than other watering methods, there is a reason cities frown on them. By far, the biggest water users are people with automatic sprinklers. On average, they water way more than other citizens and use considerably more water than they need. Of course, there are some responsible homeowners who properly use their systems, but most just set it and forget it. If everyone behaved responsibly, we wouldn't need any watering rules, but we know that isn't the case.

but most just set it and forget it.

True. Me, I'd rather be shot. I pay for that water. ;-)

Besides, watering something when it doesn't need to be watered is asking for trouble.