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In areas with cool weather grasses, i.e. northern areas, crabgrass dies out in the winter. In early spring, you use a pre-emergent to prevent its seed from germinating. Pre-emergent would also prevent grass from germinating, so you'd seed and get the new grass established well before using pre-emergent.
In your case, if you're northern, I'd let the crabgrass die naturally, seed now and use pre-emergent in the spring.
I live in North Illinois. Sorry, I should give this info in my post.
I do not know the exact name of grass. It looks typical for this area. How do I find it, please?
Unwanted growth is best addressed in the fall (most of them draw in poisons and kill themselves over the winter), with new growth in the spring. But whatever chemicals you're planning on using will tell you how long new growth must be established before using, or how long to wait for overseeding after application.
Personally, I kill first and then overseed (4~6 weeks later at the earliest).
This late in the season there's no need to kill the crabgrass. It will die a natural death soon. Better, IMHO, to overseed now - don't wait a month with fall growing season being short. But do use pre-emergent in the spring, and perhaps again in mid-summer next year.
I concur with bigbear. With what grass seed are you going to overseed (you must know, since you're 'overseeding'). If you're just loose with your terms and don't know what type of grass seed you'll be sowing (possibly the same type you have?), you may consider taking a sample of your objective grass to your local extension, botanical garden, or master gardener club for their help. They should be able to provide specific tips for your area.
Most grasses in Northern Illinois are mixtures of bluegrass, fescues and perennial rye. They're almost always mixes. Personally, I like mixes high in quality perennial rye because it's less demanding in terms of fertilizer and mowing and germinates much faster than bluegrass. The tradeoff is that rye isn't quite as fine bladed as bluegrass. Both like full sun which is why many mixes include shade tolerant fescue strains.
If you want the best results, I would not rely on the advice of employees at a local garden center and especially not at a big box retailer. Instead, I'd see what your state agricultural department recommends, or even better a county ag extension agent.
Some universities with decent ag programs also put out decent information.
I’m in northern Illinois too. I spot sprayed my crabgrass yesterday with quinclorec 75. I’ll wait a month or so to reseed those areas. I also reseeded other areas that didn’t get sprayed.
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