I have addressed the problem with the reflection, so this is not going to be a recurring problem.

A couple of suggestions. 1. 12-24hours before you slit seed, water lightly, but just lightly as it will help keep some of the dust down when you slit seed. You don't want mud and if you can't do it far enough in advance of seeding so that it disperses so that the soil is still loose in your hand, don't bother. 2. I strongly suggest that you not use the Billy Goat hopper to spread the seed. They just don't work as intended. Inaccurate metering, leak seed and or don't start and shut off quickly. It's best to spread the seed with a hand held broadcast spreader or a walk behind. I prefer the hand held as it is easier to use for even coverage. Once seed is spread, then pass over with the slit seeder.

As far as the starter, it doesn't really mater, I have always applied it after planting and prior to topdressing with peat moss (peat moss is belt and suspenders when slit seeding--totally optional but does have its benefits).

You're going to want to keep the seed/soil moist, so watering 2x/day might be a bit skimpy if temps break 70.

Thanks for the reply - The seed I bought does not tell me what I need to set my Scotts Edgeguard Mini to - and the company only has settings for things like Lesco drop spreaders. Nothing with scotts.

The problem with Scotts plastic walk behinds is getting a small enough opening for KBG (Fescue and Rye seem to spread fine). I'd suggest that you set it at the lowest setting and make multiple passes until the seed is gone. 3# of KBG seed per 1000sq feet, about 18 seeds per sq inch. Measure out approximately 1000 sq feet, set it to the smallest opening, put in 3# of seed and see how it goes and adjust. If it runs out before you finish the 1000 sq feet on the smallest setting, you can use Duct tape and a piece of heavy paper to make the opening smaller (takes a bit of creative engineering from the inside).

What about the existing dead grass the rake isn't getting? Can I leave it alone as it will be overtaken by the 'new' grass?

Yes. I always have left it. Dead grass isn't going to cause any problems, especially when scalped low (1 to 1 1/4"). It even helps keep the seed in place and reduce erosion.

Ok so to clarify, (Light watering beforehand) I should try and set my scotts spreader to the minimum - then broadcast the seed. Then I'll use the billygoat with NO seed in the hopper and go over the area I just put seed on with the scotts to give it soil contact. Fert + water afterwards for x weeks until established, or moderate rain returns to my area.

I'm having second thoughts on the watering (misting at least 12 hours before) the benefit (dust reduction) just doesn't outweigh the possible problems (seed sticking to the wheels, undercarriage, blades, or not falling into the furrow) if the soil is too wet just isn't worth it. Skip the watering. You must keep the planted seed/soil continually moist until established. This can mean short waterings 3-4 times a day. Two passes with the slit seeder at 90 degrees is also recommended. Otherwise, yes, that is the method I use and recommend. You can roll or topdress if you wish before you start watering.

One other thing, set the depth of the cut on the slitseeder so that it makes a cut into the soil when going over low spots but try not to set so low that it cuts deeper than 1/2" on the high spots. A 1/4" deep furrow is the ideal but seldom attainable consistently.

What about simply not using the seed slicer at all and just using a broadcast spreader? It's $100USD to rent the slicer for a day.

You can skip using a seed slicer if you want and just broadcast. I did, and I didn't even roll the seed afterward. Everything went off without a hitch, and in your case you have a better-prepped seed bed than I did.

Seed establishment will occur if the seed stays moist, has contact with soil and exposure to the sun. Anything done additionally is done to improve the chances of successful establishment.

Thanks. I'm going to finish my yard raking in the next 24 to 48 hours and broadcast spread with this scotts spreader.

Thumbs up. Don't forget a starter fertilize after seeding. I suggest saturating the soil - a good number of waterings the first day until you see the soil well soaked (don't allow any one watering to puddle)- I.e. stop when anymore water will cause puddling or run off. After that, keep the soil just moist (maybe very short watering 3x a day)--but no puddling. Good luck.

So far, so good. But the issue I am having is because it's so warm and dry - I did not place any straw on the lawn. Should I do so? I'm watering 2x a day right now for about 5 minutes. When I water, the ground just seems to not absorb the water because it hasn't rained in a long time, many weeks.

Straw, no--even the cleaned stuff seems to have weed seeds in it, and the raw stuff is just awful.

If you want to use peat moss, great--but if it's been more than two days, it's too late to go traipsing around on the new seed bed.

One thing you can do is raise the amount of watering to 10 minutes per zone if the ground seems dry. Then fifteen if it still seems dry...

The heat here has been pretty hot low 90s - but next week it's going to drop about 15F to the upper 70s. I wish I would have did the peat moss stuff, though. Next 3 weeks the weather is going to get wet, but no rain for at least 10 days though.

I've been watering it for nearly a week - no germination as far as I can see. How long does midnight KBG take to sprout? Please note because of my work schedule I can only water it in the afternoons, but it's nearly impossible to keep the entire ground 'damp', my house faces east and temps have been in the upper 80s to mid 90s the last 2 weeks.

I already planted the seed a week ago, are you saying I should plant again in a few weeks and cease watering? That means I just wasted a lot of money on grass seed and water.

I'd keep going another week at minimum; seed germination may slow or stall in sub-optimal conditions, but once a day watering is enough to keep the seed living. It's just not going to be the fastest sprout.

Millions of lawns have come in with once a day watering. It's just better if you can hit it two or three times...

Thank you. I guess I should have asked this weeks before - is it NOT normal to have a pure-midnight lawn, and use a mixture of different cultivars?

The 3rd week of September may well be too late to be planting KBG, depending on where you live. In the Northeast middle to late August is a better time to plant. KBG can take 2-3 weeks or more to germinate, and that's with watering several times a day. Then it's slow to grow at first. Don't expect a full lawn this fall. It will fill in and spread later. So keep watering. If you're not home to water you can buy a water timer to automatically turn the water on and off. Some people want a monostand (just one variety) and others prefer a blend of cultivars for some diversity. In case a disease wipes out one variety, the others might not be affected. Another thing you could do is plant some pots of the seed. Later you can transplant them to areas that are bare if germination fails in particular spots.

>>Thank you. I guess I should have asked this weeks before - is it NOT normal to have a pure-midnight lawn, and use a mixture of different cultivars?

Not normal, but not that unheard-of, either. Like Becky noted, a disease will have an easier time taking out a monostand (all one cultivar) than a monoculture (all one species, but different cultivars). So keep a close eye out.

On the other hand, Midnight is certainly a gorgeous grass with fairly good resistance to most diseases, so it was a good choice for a monostand. Planting it that way, color will be extraordinary as it matures, and you'll have an incredibly consistent lawn.

My lawn has a high percentage of Midnight II, a closely related cultivar, and the worst I get is a tiny touch of brown patch if I don't use cracked corn yearly, plus some rust in September and October in slightly shadier areas. Rust, while unattractive, doesn't kill the lawn.

The first fall, rust is likely to be much more common. And certainly any disease that does get established is going to move faster through a monostand than anything else, so...

I planted my grass the last few days of August and was watering at least once a day, but average 2x to 3x a day with light watering. My clay soil is pretty difficult and water just 'sits' on it after a few minutes of watering so I spend at least 5 minutes spraying the lawn area, which is roughly ~2ksqft or so, all facing east. I used 2x bags of Midnight KGB (10lbs total (5lbs*2)) with low spreader settings and it looks like I have completely uniform seed layout from visual inspection as I made roughly 4 different passes, ie: N<->S E<->W then what was left was NE<->SW.. - the biggest problem is attempting to keep the soil moist. Todays temp was 91F, and I was hoping it would be raining sometime this week//cooler temps but that doesn't seem likely. Gonna keep watering.

Just an update, I've been watering it at the very least 1 time a day but the last few days I've been watering it 2 to 3 times - still no sprouts. On the bright side, cooler temps are coming with much needed rain.

I was kind of wondering if the grass seed can simply die off because of high temps and soil evap - it is impossible to keep the soil 'damp' for 24/7 ?

Sorry for the lack of updates. I started seeing this around 9/20 in the back part of the yard. I had to put down straw which seems to have helped it retain moisture.

In the front part of the yard with no germination that I can see, I see this. I did not rake the front of the yard because of morpheus stating [he] did not do that and just used a broadcast spreader.. should I worry about the thatch preventing germination?

EDIT: I had to put straw on the lawn. The heat from mid-september was just drying it up too fast.

For 8 days in and 1 watering a day, that seems pretty normal. Stepping to 2 is a good idea.

The seed didn't die (once per day is sufficient to keep it alive), but it's hesitant to sprout in drier and warmer conditions.

That amount of thatch is probably not going to be any issue. Notice you don't see any seed up on top of it? The stuff works down very easily.

Thank you. :)

It's been nearly 3 weeks since I've planted (Planted Aug 31st) before I seen grass, it's probably closer to 2 weeks though, but I didn't see the tiny blades of grass until last week when I took a close look.

I've been used to PRG/TTTF grasses which germinate fast, and generally look unpleasant (Fiesta 4 looks great though!) so having this much time pass before i see grass made me a little uneasy due to the germination rate. I was hoping for a full lawn by Oct 18th, which is my bday.

We're still quite a ways off October 18th, so you have time. :-)

I bought a water timer + sprinkler system and i'm doing different zones at different times, 5 minutes a piece a few times a day. But, it's supposed to rain tomorrow so we'll see how it goes.

Looks like we're going to get a ton of rain for the next week or so - hopefully this will help with everything.

I'm seeing more and more seeds sprouting - I'm a little concerned that the growth rate is low and the first frost is approaching, should I add more N? (Organic, Ringer + Milorganite)

it's been nearly 50 days - I still haven't had to mow the front lawn at all.. growth seems very slow, almost stalling. There are some areas that look very thin and other areas with way more seedlings. I reduced watering to 1 time a day for 10 minutes weeks ago after I started seeing germination.

Not mowing at day 50 with Kentucky bluegrass is not abnormal. The stuff goes into Sprout and Pout after it sprouts up and works on its root mass. I wasn't mowing all that much by the end of the first season myself, and I planted early.

If you haven't fed since sprout (or not at all), a half-rate feeding wouldn't be a bad idea. Then feed at full rate when the growth on surrounding lawns stop, but yours is still green (a normal winterization, in other words, just timed on other people's lawns).

Last week I put down some organic fertilizer (Ringer Lawn Fertilizer - 25 Pounds), I used an entire 25lb bag for the front lawn. I try to avoid the synthetic fertilizers due to the high sodium and synthetic nature of them (burning et al)

I'll try and get a picture of the lawn tomorrow.

Organics are great! (Just FYI, although salts, synthetic fertilizers don't contain sodium. But ammonia salts and whatnot can burn just as badly). Sometimes a synthetic pick-me-up can be handy, but I tend to prefer organics on a newer lawn.

In that case, it's only sprout and pout. Definitely photograph it, but I could show you pictures of mine pouting. :-)

Last picture - the patch above has no straw on it and there's little to no KGB seedlings in that area and I did plant there.

^^^ It's growing, but near the middle right, there's no germination either.

^^^ Transition line between my front to back yard area. The line indicates the lower end of sunlight required for optimal KGB - 4 hours. (North of my home.

Upper/Mid to upper left faces north. The depression indicates where my property line stops.

Front yard.

That's not a great sprout percentage (although there could be a lot hiding in the straw that my bad eyes can't see). Still, if you feed the heck out of that (organically), it'll spread very quickly through mid to late spring of next year.

This would be one case where I'm inclined to ignore the May 1st feeding rule and start feeding it (organically only!) on April 1st.

Here's an area that looks thin from afar - but there are /some/ seedlings

Some of the bare areas - I have a portable PH meter (probably not really accurate) and at 3 inches deep, the PH is near 8, but so is most of the yard where the grass is growing.

I have another bag of so called Organic Fertilizer called 'Espoma ELF20 20-Pound Organic All Season Lawn Food' which is 18-0-3 - I could put that down but it's supposed to rain the next couple of days. Maybe the previous application of Organic fert will help it grow more.