What seed for new fall lawn?

Anonymous-0 · Oct 12, 2009

We need to seed a new lawn from scratch in central PA. Have already had a light frost. What type of seed would do best this time of year to avoid 6 months of mud. Thanks

OliverGuy · Oct 12, 2009

Is this lawn going to be neatly groomed and watered or have just regular maintenance and not watered? How big of an area? I don"t know if you"re in zone 5 or not. Here in north-central IN the last date they usually say is Oct. 15th. Of course it"s far from normal here this year. I"ve seeded lawns to Thanksgiving, but it doesn"t always work out.

Anonymous-0 · Oct 12, 2009

Not watered. Smoothed with rock/York rake. Will have to rely on rainfall. Area is probably around 2/3 acre. Someone local recommended all perennial ryegrass at this point. Would non-germinating seeds in mixed grass remain viable until spring?

OliverGuy · Oct 12, 2009

I'm starting to lean towards putting in turf type tall fescue on non-irrigated lawns. It used to be the grass had very coarse blades, but there are much thinner ones now. This grass will withstand stress and no water much better than any blue or ryegrass. We typically put in a 50/50 mix of bluegrass/perennial ryegrass for a lawn, but it only works well if it gets watered and taken care of quite well. There are seed mixes that are 70%/30% tall fescue/per. rye, this would help you in getting something established while getting the fescue in. At this time of year it may or may not work. I doubt if there's a great chance you'll have a full lawn by winter.

Pat-CT · Oct 12, 2009

RYE grass of any type, will grow in about 2 weeks tops if the soil is still warm enough, will winter kill and will have to replant in the spring though

Germ · Oct 12, 2009

You're really up against the end of the season for seeding. I'm like OliverGuy, we use a 50% perennial rye/ bluegrass mix. Use the same seed now that you would use any other time of the year. Your rye should germinate this fall, but it will be thin. Bluegrass takes 28-35 days to germinate under good conditions and the seed should germniate come spring. You will no doubt lose some, but you will still end up with a nice stand of grass. It's too late to use turf type tall fescue. The cut off date for it is late Sept. in northern Ohio and should be the same for your area. You can always fertilize overseed next spring to thicken up the lawn.

Anonymous-0 · Oct 12, 2009

ACtually the bluegrass will start now too, just won't show much and it will do ten times better planted now than planted in the spring. Been there, tried both.

Gerald J.

Brian Love · Oct 12, 2009

winter wheat then seed with grass of choice mid march

What seed for new fall lawn?

Anonymous-0

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OliverGuy

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Anonymous-0

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OliverGuy

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Pat-CT

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Brian Love

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