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I'm outside of Pittsburgh. I planted grass around the same time or maybe a week earlier. I finished laying seed and starter fertilizer in the dark and didn't get a chance to water it. The house is 50 miles from where I live and I didn't get back for 2 weeks. We had no rain for that two weeks. When I came back there was no grass at all. I put down more seed, covered it with straw, and watered it. I made arrangements for someone to water it almost every day. My instruction were to just wet the straw.
I mowed it this past Saturday. The grass was about 3-4 inches high. We have had one mild frost in that time, but it may not have affected the area where this house is.
I wouldn't waste money replanting grass at this point in the season.
DC Metro Area: How long will it take tall fescue grass seed to germinate? It is done by landscaping company, and I was told no worry about watering (since it rains often during this season), but I do water once when it does not rain.
Attached: It has been four and half weeks. Only a small portion of lawn has grass, and I have use trimmer to cut it down a little bit last Friday. BUT there are quite many grass seeds sitting on the soil, not covered by the soil, I guess that could be the reason not germinate.
Should I wait longer? Or should I do something?
Thanks.
did they provide any top soil at all, or just throw seed down? Did they provide any starter fertilizer? that particular location will be difficult to keep wet and not wash all of your seed down to the bottom of the hill. I would have expected your landscaper to apply at least an inch or two of top soil, spread the seed (and fertilizer) and then roll it in to get good soil contact. Should take no more than 2 or 3 weeks to get germination going. If you don't want to pay for sod, I would check into hydroseeding. As others have said, you must keep the area moist until germination is well underway.
I don't mind if it germinates at a later time, but my concern is if it will germinates. Landscape company told me not to worry about watering. There is no high temps.
It is not I don't want to water the lawn, I am quite busy and leave home early in the morning and get home late.
Then you get a programmable sprinkler and you set it up to water the lawn area several times a day so that it will have a measurable amount of water in order to germinate. We've had a period of warm, dry days for the past several weeks, and if you haven't been watering the grass seed, you're not going to get any germination. Personally I'd scratch the whole area up, apply more seed, and start watering like heck. I did that 2 years ago for an area in my yard that was completely bare (it had previously been mulched) at about the same time of year, and now it's lush and green.
After 3-4 times watering per day (for the past few days), it turns somewhat better, I think at least 80% of lawn should survive. Now I realize frequent watering is so important, you can see the difference every day.
More spots are covered with grass, in the first photo, you cannot really see grass in some spot, but those spots are a little green, when I zoom in, there is little grass.
Now leaves starts to fall (I can see quite a lot of leaves on some spots, especially along the fence), that is my concerns. I am kinda of racing with time, try to get grass (most spots) to 3 inches before there are more leaves on the surface. When the grass is tall enough, then I can walk over to somewhat clean the leaves.
After 3-4 times watering per day (for the past few days), it turns somewhat better, I think at least 80% of lawn should survive. Now I realize frequent watering is so important, you can see the difference every day.
More spots are covered with grass, in the first photo, you cannot really see grass in some spot, but those spots are a little green, when I zoom in, there is little grass.
Now leaves starts to fall (I can see quite a lot of leaves on some spots, especially along the fence), that is my concerns. I am kinda of racing with time, try to get grass (most spots) to 3 inches before there are more leaves on the surface. When the grass is tall enough, then I can walk over to somewhat clean the leaves.
Don't forget when the grass gets around 2-3" tall to remove the straw as well.
After 3-4 times watering per day (for the past few days), it turns somewhat better, I think at least 80% of lawn should survive. Now I realize frequent watering is so important, you can see the difference every day.
Did the contractor really not tell you to do the watering?
Quote:
Now leaves starts to fall ...especially along the fence)
Rake them up.
Quote:
When the grass is tall enough...
Plan to cut it. If your mower doesn't have a grass catcher then borrow one that does.
It'll vacuum the leaves up with it
Did the contractor really not tell you to do the watering?
Basic conversation: His comment is based on my area and current season, Basically he said I can leave grass seed alone, it will grow by itself, since it rains often in fall. People watering because they want to see the result soon. He was not suggesting me not to water, he was merely suggesting that no watering is absolutely fine if I am busy.
But basically he is kinda right, grass seeds in a few spots grew by itself. He was kinda wrong since there is enough time left for the slow process. I started watering often very late(a few days ago), now it speeds up a lot, so it means many grass seeds are not dead. A few days ago I started to worry about slow progress (if not watering), since falling leaves are bothering and temperature comes down soon in November, there is not much time left. So I need to speed up the process and make sure I can mow 2-3 times this year, just wanna make sure the root is kinda strong enough for winter.
Last edited by Baike; 10-27-2017 at 12:30 PM..
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