Hmmmm, burning . . . ever thought of a prairie?

Seriously now, I don't know where you got positive feedback on zoysia, but it couldn't of been from a Minnesotan. Zoysia is a definitely a warm season lawn grass. It turns green, grows and likes it when it is hot. From what people up here that have tried it say, that is about 2-2.5 months per year. The rest of the year it is quite lifeless. On the up side, it does survive our winters.

Now for the oh so important question: when did you plant grass seed? We grow cool season grasses here, that like it best in the spring and fall. So the best time of year for seeding is mid Aug to mid Sept. Seed will sprout, grow through the fall, and the following spring. That's two seasons of growth before the hot time in the summer that is hard on seedlings. If you can get your new grass to survive that first summer, you've got it made. In addition, few weed seeds will germinate in late summer/early fall, so there is no weed competition if you seed at that time.

From mid Sept to Halloween, do not plant grass seed. Seed will sprout, but it may not have enough time to establish itself for winter.

The second best time of year is after Halloween to freeze up. Seed will remain dormant over winter, but will sprout in the spring, earlier than you'd be able to get out and plant. The more time new grass has to establish itself before the hot summertime, the better success.

So, the third best time is in the spring, as earlier as you can get out there without destroying soil structure. (If the soil clumps when you work it, wait for it to dry more.) If a March day meets this parameter, go for it. Grass seed can germinate even at a few degrees above freezing if conditions are right, so it can get a big jump on weed seeds that germinate later. Don't worry about seedlings freezing. I rarely describe plants as being intelligent, but grass knows when it is the right time to sprout.

From then on, your success with seeding grass is incremental with how long you wait. The later into the spring that you seed, the less time grass will have to establish itself before the heat of the summer. Consequently, success will become increasingly poor.

A few words about watering. It is much better to replenish ground moisture before planting seed, than trying to keep soil moist when the relatively dry soil beneath keeps sucking that just sprinkled surface moisture out. This will mean watering well days before you seed, so the top can dry out enough to work. Surface watering afterward will be at a minimum because the ground moisture will keep it from drying so quickly. For most people that don't realize this, this is how I tell them to water: set up a lawn chair and sit down . . . and water, a LOT.

There are two methods of watering:
1. Once you plant your grass seed, if you water more than enough to settle things, you have committed yourself to keeping the soil moist until sprouting.

2. If you just water enough to settle the seed, you can pretty much let mother nature take over, but germination and growth will be slower.

Well I didn't mean for this to become a dissertation. My apologies to anyone with heavy eyelids, or jerking head syndrome.

Rick

Thanks, Rick! Thatis/was some serious information to digest. I think I probably planted my seed too late in the spring as you described. I suppose it is too late already this year for spring seeding, huh?

Any additional information would be great!

It occurs to me that you might have started with a hungry and/or compacted base. Did you loosen, improve, or amend the soil before you planted? Follow the link below to the U of M extension service web pages loaded with information about planting and caring for the lawn. I'm sure you will find lots of useful information here. --MH

Just heard that now is the "second-best" time to reseed a lawn. Should be ok until start of next month :)

-Marie

As spring is opposed to fall, now is the second best, but in my opinion, it ranks fourth. Still, it is well worth planting grass seed all this month and into June for the following reason:

If you have an area with few plant(whether they be grass or weeds), it's an invitation for something else to germinate. Unused water in the soil=seed germination. In every square foot of surface, there are literally thousands of seeds just waiting for the right conditions to germinate. Grass seed germinates very quickly compared to most weed counterparts. That, couple with the fact that grass seed is right at the soil surface where it is warmer, makes grass plantlets grow faster and use up excess soil-born water before weed seeds can use it to germinate. So planting grass seed will help prevent other weed seeds from germinating.

DO plant grass seed now. You will be successful, although some may die in the summer heat. And if that happens, replant in mid Aug to mid Sept.

Rick

You may also want to consider having a soil test done. Our lawn is pathetic as well, we just had a soil test done (about $16) and found that our soil is desperately in need of nitrogen, potassium and sulfur. The gentleman at the mill assured us that adding those nutrients to our soil should result in an improvement in our lawn. For our 1/4 acre of lawn, I figure it will only be about $60 or so to amend the soil with what it needs plus the cost of renting an aerator. However this is something we will need to do annually for best results.

Linda