Seeding - should I water?

9 years ago

In anticipation of our massive storm this past week in San Jose CA, and because I had just the right amount left in a bag, I seeded in some bare spots in my rental house on Friday 1/6. Scotts Tall Fescue Watersmart (blue coating).

We got rain, and rain and more rain from Saturday through Thursday morning (my own house's rain gauge about 5 miles away measured 5 inches in about 6 days 1/7-1/12). Temperatures were mostly in the low 60's/upper 50's, even low 50's at night (it was the "Pineapple express" bringing warmer temps from Hawaii). The next 4 days are supposed to be sunny and in the mid-50's, though the nights are dipping to low 40's. After that, we are forecasted to be cloudy and get another series of rain for maybe 5-6 more days, and again starting in the low 60's but coming down to mid/then low 50's, with averaging mid 40's overnight.

My question is - should I run the sprinklers anytime in the next 4 days? And the reason that is even a question (I think this storm finally pushed us out of the drought, so I think I can spare a few minutes or even seconds of time on the sprinklers) is that these spots are a little vulnerable to getting washed out/flooded when the sprinklers run because they are near the sprinkler heads, which is why I wanted to take advantage of the sky-delivered rain rather than the jetting spray from the sprinkler heads. Any chance there's even the slightest of roots to hold the seeds in place? And if so, I'm sure there's plenty of moisture in the ground to feed the root, so don't chance it? If it's so close to germinating, I also don't want to lose them since days of natural moisture is so rare around here!

(Now, I know I cant even say whether this storm caused any washout of these seeds already since this is a rental and I don't want to disturb the tenant, because we certainly got saturated after the 3rd day before a day break then more rain. Assuming that didn't happen, and these have a chance to rooting even at half the rate, it would go a long way to filling in and giving something for the next overseeding to hold.)

I have remote control of the sprinklers with a Rainmachine, so can run it at will, 30 seconds at a time if that would reduce the risk.

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Comments (3)

dchall_san_antonio
9 years ago
Ideally you would irrigate briefly at breakfast, lunch, and dinner for 3 full weeks to get the best germination with fescue. The idea is to keep the seed on the surface moist, not soggy. Five to 10 minutes each time should be good with the low temps. After you get 80% germination, which will be difficult to determine with the possibility of washout, then you would back off on the frequency and go up on the watering duration. This watering will develop deeper roots. Here's more on watering once you have an established turf...

Watering: Deep and infrequent is the mantra for watering. This is for all turf grass all over the place. Deep means 1 inch all at one time. Put some cat food or tuna cans around the yard, and time how long it takes your sprinkler(s) to fill all the cans. Memorize that time. That will be the time you water from now on. My hose, sprinkler and water pressure takes 8 full hours to fill the cans. Your time will likely be less. I like gentle watering. As for watering frequency, that depends on the daytime air temperature. With temps in the 90s, deep water once per week. With temps in the 80s, deep water once every 2 weeks. With temps in the 70s, deep water once every 3 weeks. With temps below 70, deep water once a month. Note that you have to keep up with quickly changing temps in the spring and fall. This deep and infrequent schedule works in Phoenix and in Vermont, so it should work for you. The reason for deep and infrequent is to grow deeper, more drought resistant roots and to allow the soil to dry completely at the surface for several days before watering again. If it rains, reset your calendar to account for the rainfall.
User
9 years ago
If I'm not mistaking, you were going to overseed this fall. How did that turn out?

My experience with seeding fescue in the kind of temperatures you describe is that it takes about 3 weeks to see germination. The seed should be kept moist in the meanwhile - the coating should help with that. If keeping the seed in place is a concern, then you can cover it with some peat moss or straw or grass clippings and kind of stomp it down into the ground.
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lilylchen
Original Author
9 years ago
Yes, I did reseed in fall, and it worked out great, but for a few spots - a strip along the border that gets sun and then a couple of shady spots. And I think I have bits of poa annua in there that I'll treat with preemergent next fall, so trying to get a jump on the bare spots until then. The shady spots are a problem because the gardeners go over them and create ruts with the lawn mower, so I am trying to let those two spots dry out before they come this Tuesday and every two weeks (which would give it 4 days, and then its supposed to be cloudy again Tuesday then rain Wed+). I spike aerated this before putting down seed on Friday, but I think there was so much rain that this area is saturated.

I'll try and spritz the sunny spots over the next three days. The daytime humidity should range in the lower 50% for a couple of hours before climbing up to the 70%-80% at night (not sure if that helps at all).