Ok I’ve planted a lot of lawns, if your using a seeder that’s fine as long as it’s burying the seed a little bit into the soil otherwise take a rake flip it over and work it in. Next use a starter fertilizer on it. Third cover with straw or a hay. Then water you need to keep the seed moist for it to grow, the hay will help with that.
Here in the Netherlands we used to drive tractor several times around after seeding, pulling a steel concrete mesh behind with a rope. It made the surface flat as flat can be and thats easy for mowing and everything, No bumps, no holes, but completely flat and the tires of the tractor compacted the toplayer. For the steel concrete mesh we welded all connections stronger and then bend the front a bit like a ski. We also used that mesh after seeding springwheat. Try it out, it works great.
I've been hearing more and more people recommending clover lawns, they say the seed is cheep the water requirements are much lower, no fertilizer or herbicides needed, less mowing (about 4 times a year). The only down fall is it doesn't hold up to heavy traffic as well a ls turf could. Good for the pollinators also
The continuing saga of high price seed and poor growing conditions. I try to maintain what I have and spot seed. The best we can do under the circumstances. Thank you.
Question, do you still have your manure spreader? You can get compost and use your manure spreader and apply it over the surface, giving it some organic matter to help hold in moisture.
I had great luck with covering grass seed with lawn clippings from the mower's bagger. Turkey's were eating my grass seed, and adding lawn clippings disguised the smell of the seeds! Now I have grass! I was watering it every other day with the little tractor sprinkler you attached to the hose. That way it moves along the grass by itself.
Four years ago I tore up my side and back yards digging out five huge oak trees ( I wreaked the digging bucket on my JD 510 backhoe doing it). It took a year to get the holes firmed up and the root masses and trunks moved away. I took a box blade on my 1971 JD 3020 and smoothed the dirt. I hand spread Bermuda seed on the side yard and went with weeds in the back. I am surrounded by woods so no neighbors or passers by to impress. The grass filled in nicely in the back and now I have filled it with fruit and citrus tress ( I am in northeast Florida.)
Tim, now I'm no expert about growing grass but what I did to save quite a bit of money on seed was to mix 2/3 winter wheat seed (which is quite cheap in our area) and 1/3 grass seed. I bought the contractor mix at Tractor Supply. It was about $80 for a 50# bag when I bought it. I did use the compressed bales of straw to hold in any moisture from rain or even the dew. The winter wheat sprouts in 2 or 3 days and puts down a root system to hold the grass seed in place until it sprouts in about 2 weeks. The winter wheat will eventually die out but by that time the grass can get a good foothold and spread. Just an idea. The winter wheat should save some money towards the straw. God bless. 👍
I would recommend doing an native prairie restoration is you have a large yard and no HOA. Native species are very drought resistant and you will attract local wildlife. The flowers are pretty.
I thought this would be a great video, and as usual it is, because I too have an area I need to seed. But WOW! After reading all the comments and seeing so many different ways or attempts to get grass to grow I've come to one conclusion. I'm screwed! LOL! Getting grass to grow is way to hard. Good luck Tim!
Remember that much of that soil was originally excavated at depth from where the pond now is. When you were doing this last year, I wondered if there was sufficient organic matter and suspected that you might run into problems starting seed.
Know the pain of your drought situation. I know we've had minimal rain also to this point here in western PA. As far as what to put on top of the seed, we've put straw down in the places where we were planting new seed.
Dad always broadcasted or used the old steel.wheel horse drill behind a tractor to sow hay seed,he would mix in oat seed so it would come up serevral inches and then die in the winter time providing cover for the alfalfa,clover or other hay seed.on food plots i have done sorghum or milo and radishes or turnips by discing the ground,broadcasting the seed then running the disk blades about 1/2" into the dirt to cover the seeed.the have always growed a good stand.hopefully some of this info can help.
I have seeded yards for years and thing that seems to help for is fertilized, jimpson and lime before seeding.. till in before seeding.. only straw in fall and try to go w/o in spring.. oh, I use wheat as a erosion control...
Part of your problem with germinating grass on the dirt from that hill is, the dirt that was lower in the pile is sour. The microorganisms and beneficial environment of that soil mound was in the top so many inches of soil. All that was below that top portion is ground that had no aeration, no environmental cycle, or nutrient placement for as long as the mound was there. There was a significant volume of soil that far outweighed what had the benefit of environmental exchange that enveloped the outside of that mound.
So i have sandy soil like u, i use my 7 ' offset disc and just lightly cut it about 2" deep. Then i spread the seed out with a pull behind spreader. I mix 50/50 seed with sifted peatmoss. Then i pull a metal drag behind the side-by-side to cover. So u need to seed deeper so u can hold more moisture. My ry grass i seeded in Jan 2023 is now 4' tall and looks like i drilled it in rows. Keep us posted on this as i am in the market for a drill/seeder for the pasture.
I would straw the area. It will keep the seed in place if it gets windy or really wet. Keeps birds from picking at it (if you have a bird problem). I always hay or straw it over. You can hand cover it. I know its a large area, but it would probably take you a day to cover it all by hand. But you will need a bunch of straw. If I was closer, I'd give you hand. I love spreading hay/straw for grass seeding. I guess do you want to gamble with doing it all over yet again (time to seed, cost of seed, tractor use, etc...) or spend the time and money on the straw to ensure it takes this time.
From my experience you're always better off using straw to hold the moisture in and reduce washing. A bale of straw will go a long way using a blower. Roll it with a lawn roller when finished.
First with valid input :) - You should get a top dresser and put some Peat over the top of the seed to help keep seeds moist. Unfortunately that has almost doubled in price it seems like since 2021 spring when I bought 100+ bales to put on 2acres when reseeding and overseeding my lawn renovation. Not sure what you have for irrigation but if your pond has enough water I'd almost look at a gas powered trash water pump hooking up to some of those long range water sprinklers or some variation to use the water in there. Or run a portable genny on an electric water pump to keep it running on a timer. Straw will add some weeds and also blow away on you when windy. You'd also want to check out Ryan Knorr or some Pete vid's on using mesotrione to keep weeds at bay for spring seeding.
I redid my lawn, used straw to keep the birds at bay, got a fair amount of wheat later that summer along the walls and anywhere else i did not mow. It was pretty cool.
Just an after thought. Tim, you have demonstrated digging, using a trencher, Etc. After you get your pond figured out, you could definitely do a a series on installing a sprinkler system for that yard using pond water.
Yep. Check out some of the TH-cam videos on the Harbor Freight two inch semi-trash pumps where the guys set it beside their pond and set up huge irrigation areas for their plots using manifolds, hoses and sprinklers. And it can be used over and over again every year. Costs less than a one time straw spread.
Put some seed in a paper towel. Keep wet and warm to check the germination of the seed. Must be warm and wet for grass seed. I suggest the pond water after the first rain it is going to have to stay that wet till it germinates. That's what the straw does.
You definitely want straw to help retain moisture, otherwise you're wasting a lot of seed. My thought on why the grass did better in the swale is because it had more moisture there.
I've been in the landscaping and excavating business for over 20 years. The nicest lawns we have done have been done with lime, fertilizer, an above average amount of seed used, fluffing the seed with hand rakes (on smaller projects), rolling it, and chopping straw. As long as the customer waters as needed, the lawns always came out nice. For large areas we did most of the same steps, but not the hand raking and the customer did not water- it was up to mother nature. I would rent the bale chopper and get straw if I were you. It's the best shot you have to establish a good stand. Good luck!!
You should have planted oats with your grass. Then at first mowing it will kill off the oats and leave you with grass coming up. As well as the oats will provide mulch cover while grass is astablishing.
You might try try those packaged compressed bales of straw. They cover an incredible amount of area and are easier to spread because they are pre choped up! Might be worth a try on those areas where you had a wash out issue and see if it would be worth doing more with them! Luv ya's from Kentucky!!!
Tim, very last step after your done seeding is to roll the entire job with a lawn roller. Fill it half full of water, and roll away. You will have the very best seed to soil you can get. Good luck!! This is the toughest crop to get up and going in all of farming!!!!
In my area straw is 7 dollars a bale. Straw cost more than seed. And always get some weed content with straw Cheaper to overseed if results are not as desired
I think one or two soil test on that area will give you results of what you need in that soil. Odds are your organic matter which help hold moisture is nonexistent. Also, if some of the dirt out of that pile came out of the bottom of the pond The pH could be way off. Enjoy your videos. Hope you can have good luck with getting some grass growing.
I would put straw on it. It will cost you to rent the straw machine and getting the straw to the field but I think it will help the grass to get started and will hold the moisture longer.
Blow straw and crimp in to keep from straw loss. I would put straw mat down if you ever plan to over seed in the future. The plastic that holds the mat together is the first thing I find when over seeding with my seed a vator
I would have planted oats with your grass seed. Get some soil samples tested then apply lime and a starter fertilizer. I would suggest renting a straw bale shredder and covering with straw. That has provided the best results for me. You would be surprised how far 200 - 300 bales of straw will go from a shredder.
I live on the east coast of Canada on an island with very fertile sandy soil and don't have the challenges you have growing grass. basically we just prep the soil and seed/fertilize it and the grass grows. Our challenge is our short growing season for gardens and crops.
What about pulling a heavy roller behind you? I seeded two acres, used a harrow to scratch up the surface, used a broadcast to spread the seed, and then went slowly behind it all with a roller. I had great results.
I would only straw if you cant water. The only purpose is to hold water. Better off investing in a way to water that from the pond if you want good grass. Hopefully the weather helps out!
Hi Tim. I planted my front yard this past fall with exactly the same seed you put down. Id guess that my area is about half the area you just seeded. Id encourage you to water what you can, especially when trying to seed in spring. It doesnt have to be expensive, even for a large area. I went to rural king and bought a bunch of cheap 50ft hoses and ordered several 4 way hose timers. I coordinated the switching to get 12 zones out of it and set up to run periodically. It was a little work and trial and error, but it cost less than $200 to set up. Nothing you do (straw or even how you sow it) matters as much as watering. There is always a risk of bad weather no matter what you do, but at least this will get your seed to germinate and hopefully stay alive long enough to make it to cool weather in the fall. Otherwise you are most likely throwing good money away. Id try and rig up something with a pump from the pond and maybe some of those long reach irrigation heads. At any rate, i hope your seed germinates and somehow survives the summer. If you cant do such a large area at once, just focus on doing part of it each year. The second most important thing you can do is put down some starter fertilizer, even cheap 10-10-10 will work fine. Grass has enough nutrients in the seed to frow for about 2 weeks, but then its really important to have adequate nutrients right by the little roots so they can develop after that.
I somewhat agree. Be patient. Get a temporary fix ( too late now though) to hold you over the summer, then slit seed and fertilize in the fall after checking your ph levels. If you have bad soil with little nutrients, use Kentucky 31 tall fescue. That stuff will grow on anything. I've planted it over the nastiest orange and yellow clay soil you can imagine, and its thriving .
Wildflower seed is 45$ per pound and you need about 20-30lbs per acre…same with native wildgrasses… I ranninto this problem wanting to re wild my 20 acres…local government offers no assistance, not soil and water, not the forestry people, not the conservation people…private landowners are on their own…so very very very few people have the budget to plant wildflowers or native wildgrasses on large acreage… Would love to do it, but i am not going to spend $1200 per acre to do it, unless the local government wants to fund it because of all the benefits it provides…i would be doing the county a favor, and my neighbors…so i feel there should be more programs for private landowners to be subsidized without giving your property to conservation easement…
I can see that tractor ( the newer hst version) being good for a school/university, or even a business, needing something to maintain it's grass with minimal noise.
When I did the back half of my back yard, I used a pitchfork and spread about a half a round bale of hay,off of my pickup, to cover the grass seed I put down. Not practical for you, but I'd probably cover it with something...
Your weekend rain forecast shows some promise, after that not so much for the 10 day. My opinion would be to let it be and let nature take it's course. Like you say, the hay mulch would be substantial. You have done well, very flat, looks good. It will happen.
When I installed my yard, I didn't put any straw down. Just the grass seed and starter fertilizer and it turned out beautifully, good luck on your install. I also pm'd about an event we have coming up, hopefully you can make it
You should’ve talk to the local farmer and have him do a cover crop over your seed. My mom used to have horses and we had the local farmer do winner, wheat, and then plant orchard grass for her horses. We lost the pasture for the summer, but we had grass by the end of summer, good solid grass
Plant pollinators, wild game bird and feeder plot seeds. Check with your local co-op or local county soil management office...some of them will give seed for free. Throw in some extra wildflower seeds, it will look great. Low to no maintenance!
More on the sparky please real world usage. How long it last slashing heavy grass ect. I know the PTO is not the best setup for it but would like to see it in action.
It looks like the woods seeder has an adjustable spring on that rear cultipacker. Could you adjust that spring a little to add more down pressure to the rollers to make up for it being too light?
My lawn building skills are lacking so no advice from here. Wouldn't mind a canvas building update sometime. Always interesting to see what is new with blue, green and orange!
I have an acre and half "lawn" (minus all the raised beds and the poultry pen). Grass was mostly voluntary growth common to central Florida. Last year I simply broadcast spread pasture mix. Now looks dramatically nicer, don't need to water constantly and the chickens and turkeys just love free ranging it. Plus the ever increasing number of garden Beds is continually reducing the open area needing to be mowed. The more confined areas I bag and use in the garden Beds or simple put in the compost heep.
Straw is good, but it too is expensive. Not sure how you would keep it in place though given the expanse. Nothing to break the wind from blowing it away.
I would really consider that electric tractor but not in its current offering. Maybe Solectrac 3.0. Too many drawbacks right now but thanks for showcasing it and letting us know there may be a market for one.
In bare soil, I like to plant rye grass for the summer season. It's quick to germinate, fast to grow, and will sustain heat and draught relatively well. It will cover the ground to help erosion from spring/summer rains, and regular mowing at 3-4" will create a generous mulch on the soil. Don't forget fertilizer! (2-3.5 lbs of Nitrogen per 1000 sqft per year) Without proper moisture, TTTF may not germinate and sprout in time to be established for the harsh summer. In Early September then follow up with an overseeding of TTTF along with additional starter fertilizer. The rye is an annual which will die off, leaving a beautiful stand of Tall Fescue for the following spring. I would discourage clients from overseeding in the spring. Unless they they can water it with 1" of water per week, the Tall Fescue doesn't stand a chance. The fall time is the best time for TTTF. Reach out to Allyn @Thelawncarenut for more great DIY lawn care advice.
done a fair amount of lawn seeding over the years both with and without straw. Never saw much of an advantage of using straw with the possible exception of less frequent watering needed. Added problem is straw often blew off with the first gust of wind... especially if the straw didnt get rained on first...
I whined about the whine, glad to find out it is not a significant issue in actual use. Greatly encouraged by what you've shown so far for the electric and anxious to see how it performs in ground engaging and loader work. Will be very interesting to see where its performance places it against other tractors. And of course how long a charge really lasts for various jobs as that is really the factor that separates promises from practicality.
One thing I have seen done is plant wheat or rye with the grass seed. They will come up quicker and give the grass a chance to get started. At least that's what I am told
Don't forget that hard freeze we had just before Christmas. That would have been enough to pop those tiny roots right out of the ground. I too suffered sticker shock when I bought some of the RTF pourable gold a couple of weeks ago. What do they think their charging us for, groceries.
Great Video Tim, I think we are both fighting similar issues, or at least I think that might be the case. I have learned that dirt excavated for or from a pond, tends to be just that just dirt. I have been fighting trying to get grass to grow in it as well. Spent thousands on grass seed and used a actual grass seeded each time. Only grass I was able to get to take off at all was a cheap cover grass mix, and that is still really spotty. The research I have been doing to figure this out, has taught me that there is a major difference in Dirt and Soil. Soil having bio matter and nutriments for plants to grow in and feed on, dirt doesn't. So I too am thinking about straw, mulched up dead leaves just adding bio matter and fertilizer, and looking for more info in general on how to make dirt into soil. I am very interested in your thoughts and finding with your project. I have the feeling your prior planning video at your fiends place and why it is yielding good results already, may be more evidence the difference in planting in good top soil vs Dirt.
Plant wheat in the fall and interseed in the spring with the grass. As long as you keep mowing the wheat off it will grow for some time. A good dose of triple 12 would help being the soil you moved around doesn't have any nutrients.
I am impressed this time with the electric tractor..the price of that seed I would find a company that wants you to demonstrate there straw machine for free or get the seed company to rent the machine and advertise their seed...
Could you run a pump to draw water from the pond and use a sprinkler to water the grass? I also wonder if the subsoils that were distributed by flattening the hump were clay and lacked organics. Wonder if top dressing with compost would aid in germination. Either way I enjoy watching your work and wish you luck with your lawn.
straw is good as long as u have a straw crimper otherwise one good breeze and your neighbors house looks like a hay pile also u can always rent a hydroseeder u can do everything at once with them
How is your ph levels ? I would definitely recommend a land roller after seeding push that seed down just a little bit. Love your content all the way from Ireland
If you still have the ABI spreader, could you break the bales into the flakes? Maybe even break the flakes in half? Also, I thought you had big tank to put on the back of your tractor? May be it would help if it needs some watering?
The electric tractor ought to have an awning with a solar panel on it. If you aren't paying attention and run out of power, you could just let it sit awhile to recharge.Grass is too much trouble. Pave it and paint it green! 🤣
Hi Tim.... I seed all year long, about 150 new lawns a year for a large builder. The main thing that you aren't doing that NEEDS to be done is to apply a good starter fertilizer to the freshly planted seed. It's rare that the seed doesn't pop when doing this. Hope this helps!
Well, I see we’re not alone. We are struggling to everything being so expensive. The working class is losing out for sure this year.
Ok I’ve planted a lot of lawns, if your using a seeder that’s fine as long as it’s burying the seed a little bit into the soil otherwise take a rake flip it over and work it in. Next use a starter fertilizer on it. Third cover with straw or a hay. Then water you need to keep the seed moist for it to grow, the hay will help with that.
Here in the Netherlands we used to drive tractor several times around after seeding,
pulling a steel concrete mesh behind with a rope.
It made the surface flat as flat can be and thats easy for mowing and everything,
No bumps, no holes, but completely flat and the tires of the tractor compacted the toplayer.
For the steel concrete mesh we welded all connections stronger and then bend the front a bit like a ski.
We also used that mesh after seeding springwheat.
Try it out, it works great.
I've been hearing more and more people recommending clover lawns, they say the seed is cheep the water requirements are much lower, no fertilizer or herbicides needed, less mowing (about 4 times a year). The only down fall is it doesn't hold up to heavy traffic as well a ls turf could. Good for the pollinators also
Any problem controlling weeds in newly seeded clover?
I'm going to overseed in white clover. Part of my yard already is and it mows beautifully
@@npalen Idk. personally, never tried it, from what I've read its fairly resilient and will crowd out weed growth.
The continuing saga of high price seed and poor growing conditions. I try to maintain what I have and spot seed. The best we can do under the circumstances. Thank you.
prep, hand rake soil, spread starter fertilizer, seed, leaf rake in seed, hand shake out the straw and water so it remains moist.
Boy Tim, it looks like you got a lot of ideas. Good luck! Blessings.
Question, do you still have your manure spreader? You can get compost and use your manure spreader and apply it over the surface, giving it some organic matter to help hold in moisture.
I had great luck with covering grass seed with lawn clippings from the mower's bagger. Turkey's were eating my grass seed, and adding lawn clippings disguised the smell of the seeds! Now I have grass! I was watering it every other day with the little tractor sprinkler you attached to the hose. That way it moves along the grass by itself.
Four years ago I tore up my side and back yards digging out five huge oak trees ( I wreaked the digging bucket on my JD 510 backhoe doing it). It took a year to get the holes firmed up and the root masses and trunks moved away. I took a box blade on my 1971 JD 3020 and smoothed the dirt. I hand spread Bermuda seed on the side yard and went with weeds in the back. I am surrounded by woods so no neighbors or passers by to impress. The grass filled in nicely in the back and now I have filled it with fruit and citrus tress ( I am in northeast Florida.)
I have never found a way to go grass in a drought. You are braver than I to try with seed at that price. Praying blessings
If the grass is watered during dry times it will stay green and grow. However I don’t really understand the point besides it looking nice.
Tim, now I'm no expert about growing grass but what I did to save quite a bit of money on seed was to mix 2/3 winter wheat seed (which is quite cheap in our area) and 1/3 grass seed. I bought the contractor mix at Tractor Supply. It was about $80 for a 50# bag when I bought it. I did use the compressed bales of straw to hold in any moisture from rain or even the dew. The winter wheat sprouts in 2 or 3 days and puts down a root system to hold the grass seed in place until it sprouts in about 2 weeks. The winter wheat will eventually die out but by that time the grass can get a good foothold and spread. Just an idea. The winter wheat should save some money towards the straw. God bless. 👍
I would recommend doing an native prairie restoration is you have a large yard and no HOA. Native species are very drought resistant and you will attract local wildlife. The flowers are pretty.
use to landscape professionally. we areated, seed, light fertilizer and strawed worked every time
I thought this would be a great video, and as usual it is, because I too have an area I need to seed. But WOW! After reading all the comments and seeing so many different ways or attempts to get grass to grow I've come to one conclusion. I'm screwed! LOL! Getting grass to grow is way to hard. Good luck Tim!
Simple if you can water it.
Remember that much of that soil was originally excavated at depth from where the pond now is. When you were doing this last year, I wondered if there was sufficient organic matter and suspected that you might run into problems starting seed.
Know the pain of your drought situation. I know we've had minimal rain also to this point here in western PA. As far as what to put on top of the seed, we've put straw down in the places where we were planting new seed.
Dad always broadcasted or used the old steel.wheel horse drill behind a tractor to sow hay seed,he would mix in oat seed so it would come up serevral inches and then die in the winter time providing cover for the alfalfa,clover or other hay seed.on food plots i have done sorghum or milo and radishes or turnips by discing the ground,broadcasting the seed then running the disk blades about 1/2" into the dirt to cover the seeed.the have always growed a good stand.hopefully some of this info can help.
I have seeded yards for years and thing that seems to help for is fertilized, jimpson and lime before seeding.. till in before seeding.. only straw in fall and try to go w/o in spring.. oh, I use wheat as a erosion control...
Part of your problem with germinating grass on the dirt from that hill is, the dirt that was lower in the pile is sour. The microorganisms and beneficial environment of that soil mound was in the top so many inches of soil. All that was below that top portion is ground that had no aeration, no environmental cycle, or nutrient placement for as long as the mound was there. There was a significant volume of soil that far outweighed what had the benefit of environmental exchange that enveloped the outside of that mound.
So i have sandy soil like u, i use my 7 ' offset disc and just lightly cut it about 2" deep. Then i spread the seed out with a pull behind spreader. I mix 50/50 seed with sifted peatmoss. Then i pull a metal drag behind the side-by-side to cover. So u need to seed deeper so u can hold more moisture. My ry grass i seeded in Jan 2023 is now 4' tall and looks like i drilled it in rows. Keep us posted on this as i am in the market for a drill/seeder for the pasture.
I would straw the area. It will keep the seed in place if it gets windy or really wet. Keeps birds from picking at it (if you have a bird problem). I always hay or straw it over. You can hand cover it. I know its a large area, but it would probably take you a day to cover it all by hand. But you will need a bunch of straw. If I was closer, I'd give you hand. I love spreading hay/straw for grass seeding. I guess do you want to gamble with doing it all over yet again (time to seed, cost of seed, tractor use, etc...) or spend the time and money on the straw to ensure it takes this time.
From my experience you're always better off using straw to hold the moisture in and reduce washing. A bale of straw will go a long way using a blower. Roll it with a lawn roller when finished.
LETS GET STARTED
First with valid input :) - You should get a top dresser and put some Peat over the top of the seed to help keep seeds moist. Unfortunately that has almost doubled in price it seems like since 2021 spring when I bought 100+ bales to put on 2acres when reseeding and overseeding my lawn renovation. Not sure what you have for irrigation but if your pond has enough water I'd almost look at a gas powered trash water pump hooking up to some of those long range water sprinklers or some variation to use the water in there. Or run a portable genny on an electric water pump to keep it running on a timer. Straw will add some weeds and also blow away on you when windy. You'd also want to check out Ryan Knorr or some Pete vid's on using mesotrione to keep weeds at bay for spring seeding.
I redid my lawn, used straw to keep the birds at bay, got a fair amount of wheat later that summer along the walls and anywhere else i did not mow. It was pretty cool.
Tim, you can get the large straw mat rolls and just run down each side of the waterway for erosion control. The rest should be fine
I think your boss has a good idea about using the pond water and get some of it. You could use some lawn sprinklers. Thanks for taking me along
Just an after thought. Tim, you have demonstrated digging, using a trencher, Etc. After you get your pond figured out, you could definitely do a a series on installing a sprinkler system for that yard using pond water.
Yep. Check out some of the TH-cam videos on the Harbor Freight two inch semi-trash pumps where the guys set it beside their pond and set up huge irrigation areas for their plots using manifolds, hoses and sprinklers. And it can be used over and over again every year. Costs less than a one time straw spread.
you need hay or strow to hold in mosture get a 300 gal tote put in a pice of pipe with holes in it with water from pond then water the seed
Put some seed in a paper towel. Keep wet and warm to check the germination of the seed. Must be warm and wet for grass seed. I suggest the pond water after the first rain it is going to have to stay that wet till it germinates. That's what the straw does.
Put straw down it holds the moisture longer, reduces your seed from washing away, and keeps the sun from cooking the seed.
You definitely want straw to help retain moisture, otherwise you're wasting a lot of seed. My thought on why the grass did better in the swale is because it had more moisture there.
I've been in the landscaping and excavating business for over 20 years. The nicest lawns we have done have been done with lime, fertilizer, an above average amount of seed used, fluffing the seed with hand rakes (on smaller projects), rolling it, and chopping straw. As long as the customer waters as needed, the lawns always came out nice. For large areas we did most of the same steps, but not the hand raking and the customer did not water- it was up to mother nature. I would rent the bale chopper and get straw if I were you. It's the best shot you have to establish a good stand. Good luck!!
You should have planted oats with your grass. Then at first mowing it will kill off the oats and leave you with grass coming up. As well as the oats will provide mulch cover while grass is astablishing.
You might try try those packaged compressed bales of straw. They cover an incredible amount of area and are easier to spread because they are pre choped up! Might be worth a try on those areas where you had a wash out issue and see if it would be worth doing more with them! Luv ya's from Kentucky!!!
Tim, very last step after your done seeding is to roll the entire job with a lawn roller. Fill it half full of water, and roll away. You will have the very best seed to soil you can get. Good luck!! This is the toughest crop to get up and going in all of farming!!!!
In my area straw is 7 dollars a bale. Straw cost more than seed. And always get some weed content with straw Cheaper to overseed if results are not as desired
I think one or two soil test on that area will give you results of what you need in that soil. Odds are your organic matter which help hold moisture is nonexistent. Also, if some of the dirt out of that pile came out of the bottom of the pond The pH could be way off. Enjoy your videos. Hope you can have good luck with getting some grass growing.
Wish you had access to round roller to use behind planter.
I would put straw on it. It will cost you to rent the straw machine and getting the straw to the field but I think it will help the grass to get started and will hold the moisture longer.
Blow straw and crimp in to keep from straw loss. I would put straw mat down if you ever plan to over seed in the future. The plastic that holds the mat together is the first thing I find when over seeding with my seed a vator
I would have planted oats with your grass seed. Get some soil samples tested then apply lime and a starter fertilizer. I would suggest renting a straw bale shredder and covering with straw. That has provided the best results for me. You would be surprised how far 200 - 300 bales of straw will go from a shredder.
I've gotten by using grass clippings instead of straw. They're free!
Yes add straw because what will prevent rain to just wash some of the seed away.
If have city nearby or company that makes compost from grass n leafs. Try a thin layer.
Hydro seeding works great
Never have I heard you mention a soil test! What is the PH level?
But did you hear he's not a grass grower! He needs the input like yours.
I live on the east coast of Canada on an island with very fertile sandy soil and don't have the challenges you have growing grass. basically we just prep the soil and seed/fertilize it and the grass grows. Our challenge is our short growing season for gardens and crops.
Call up dirt perfect to help with the straw
Lightly sow some oats to act as a cover crop for the grass
What about pulling a heavy roller behind you? I seeded two acres, used a harrow to scratch up the surface, used a broadcast to spread the seed, and then went slowly behind it all with a roller. I had great results.
I would only straw if you cant water. The only purpose is to hold water. Better off investing in a way to water that from the pond if you want good grass. Hopefully the weather helps out!
Hi Tim. I planted my front yard this past fall with exactly the same seed you put down. Id guess that my area is about half the area you just seeded. Id encourage you to water what you can, especially when trying to seed in spring. It doesnt have to be expensive, even for a large area. I went to rural king and bought a bunch of cheap 50ft hoses and ordered several 4 way hose timers. I coordinated the switching to get 12 zones out of it and set up to run periodically. It was a little work and trial and error, but it cost less than $200 to set up. Nothing you do (straw or even how you sow it) matters as much as watering. There is always a risk of bad weather no matter what you do, but at least this will get your seed to germinate and hopefully stay alive long enough to make it to cool weather in the fall. Otherwise you are most likely throwing good money away. Id try and rig up something with a pump from the pond and maybe some of those long reach irrigation heads. At any rate, i hope your seed germinates and somehow survives the summer.
If you cant do such a large area at once, just focus on doing part of it each year. The second most important thing you can do is put down some starter fertilizer, even cheap 10-10-10 will work fine. Grass has enough nutrients in the seed to frow for about 2 weeks, but then its really important to have adequate nutrients right by the little roots so they can develop after that.
I was looking at a pre-emergent I bought years ago. It was $54 then, $145 now for the same thing.
Great video!
Maybe harvest seed off the existing grass and spread it over the new area.
You could put it to wheat or oats and after it is harvested get a no till drill in and put down grass seed. And then bush hog the straw.
May have to do that this fall!
I somewhat agree. Be patient. Get a temporary fix ( too late now though) to hold you over the summer, then slit seed and fertilize in the fall after checking your ph levels. If you have bad soil with little nutrients, use Kentucky 31 tall fescue. That stuff will grow on anything. I've planted it over the nastiest orange and yellow clay soil you can imagine, and its thriving .
wildflower seeds is a great alternative to a traditional lawn.
Wildflower seed is 45$ per pound and you need about 20-30lbs per acre…same with native wildgrasses…
I ranninto this problem wanting to re wild my 20 acres…local government offers no assistance, not soil and water, not the forestry people, not the conservation people…private landowners are on their own…so very very very few people have the budget to plant wildflowers or native wildgrasses on large acreage…
Would love to do it, but i am not going to spend $1200 per acre to do it, unless the local government wants to fund it because of all the benefits it provides…i would be doing the county a favor, and my neighbors…so i feel there should be more programs for private landowners to be subsidized without giving your property to conservation easement…
I can see that tractor ( the newer hst version) being good for a school/university, or even a business, needing something to maintain it's grass with minimal noise.
When I did the back half of my back yard, I used a pitchfork and spread about a half a round bale of hay,off of my pickup, to cover the grass seed I put down. Not practical for you, but I'd probably cover it with something...
you could always harvest seed from your existing lawn.
Sandy soils you can put a light cover of a manure or seed cover. It’s not holding the moisture in the top of soil??
Your weekend rain forecast shows some promise, after that not so much for the 10 day. My opinion would be to let it be and let nature take it's course. Like you say, the hay mulch would be substantial. You have done well, very flat, looks good. It will happen.
When I installed my yard, I didn't put any straw down. Just the grass seed and starter fertilizer and it turned out beautifully, good luck on your install. I also pm'd about an event we have coming up, hopefully you can make it
You should’ve talk to the local farmer and have him do a cover crop over your seed. My mom used to have horses and we had the local farmer do winner, wheat, and then plant orchard grass for her horses. We lost the pasture for the summer, but we had grass by the end of summer, good solid grass
the cost of hyd seeding is the same as straw fert,seed, sept is the best time to seed
Plant pollinators, wild game bird and feeder plot seeds. Check with your local co-op or local county soil management office...some of them will give seed for free. Throw in some extra wildflower seeds, it will look great. Low to no maintenance!
More on the sparky please real world usage. How long it last slashing heavy grass ect. I know the PTO is not the best setup for it but would like to see it in action.
It looks like the woods seeder has an adjustable spring on that rear cultipacker. Could you adjust that spring a little to add more down pressure to the rollers to make up for it being too light?
Maybe so!
Not sure whether there would be enough water in the pond for irrigation. It takes over 27,000 gallons per acre to put down just 1" of moisture.
Tough call. I've been in your boat, and I chose to cut whatever came up during the summer, and reseed in the fall. Just me.
My lawn building skills are lacking so no advice from here. Wouldn't mind a canvas building update sometime. Always interesting to see what is new with blue, green and orange!
I have an acre and half "lawn" (minus all the raised beds and the poultry pen). Grass was mostly voluntary growth common to central Florida. Last year I simply broadcast spread pasture mix. Now looks dramatically nicer, don't need to water constantly and the chickens and turkeys just love free ranging it. Plus the ever increasing number of garden Beds is continually reducing the open area needing to be mowed. The more confined areas I bag and use in the garden Beds or simple put in the compost heep.
The straw will keep the seed from washing away and keep the moisture in longer if it gets dry.
I would run a lawn roller over it after seeding but a cultipacker is best but hard to find reasonably priced.
Good luck 👍👍👍
Straw is good, but it too is expensive. Not sure how you would keep it in place though given the expanse. Nothing to break the wind from blowing it away.
I would really consider that electric tractor but not in its current offering. Maybe Solectrac 3.0. Too many drawbacks right now but thanks for showcasing it and letting us know there may be a market for one.
Same I am keen to see it do some real work for viability of future models
Could your seed not germinated? You do a great job in each project I have watched. I enjoy them greatly. Keep them coming.
Thanks for continuing to watch.
Get a seeding/mulching kit.
In bare soil, I like to plant rye grass for the summer season. It's quick to germinate, fast to grow, and will sustain heat and draught relatively well. It will cover the ground to help erosion from spring/summer rains, and regular mowing at 3-4" will create a generous mulch on the soil. Don't forget fertilizer! (2-3.5 lbs of Nitrogen per 1000 sqft per year) Without proper moisture, TTTF may not germinate and sprout in time to be established for the harsh summer. In Early September then follow up with an overseeding of TTTF along with additional starter fertilizer. The rye is an annual which will die off, leaving a beautiful stand of Tall Fescue for the following spring.
I would discourage clients from overseeding in the spring. Unless they they can water it with 1" of water per week, the Tall Fescue doesn't stand a chance. The fall time is the best time for TTTF.
Reach out to Allyn @Thelawncarenut for more great DIY lawn care advice.
If your existing lawn is pretty much weed-free, you could use the clippings for cover on the new seed instead of straw
done a fair amount of lawn seeding over the years both with and without straw. Never saw much of an advantage of using straw with the possible exception of less frequent watering needed. Added problem is straw often blew off with the first gust of wind... especially if the straw didnt get rained on first...
i would do straw it really helps
I whined about the whine, glad to find out it is not a significant issue in actual use. Greatly encouraged by what you've shown so far for the electric and anxious to see how it performs in ground engaging and loader work. Will be very interesting to see where its performance places it against other tractors. And of course how long a charge really lasts for various jobs as that is really the factor that separates promises from practicality.
CLOVER
One thing I have seen done is plant wheat or rye with the grass seed. They will come up quicker and give the grass a chance to get started. At least that's what I am told
Don't forget that hard freeze we had just before Christmas. That would have been enough to pop those tiny roots right out of the ground. I too suffered sticker shock when I bought some of the RTF pourable gold a couple of weeks ago. What do they think their charging us for, groceries.
Great Video Tim, I think we are both fighting similar issues, or at least I think that might be the case. I have learned that dirt excavated for or from a pond, tends to be just that just dirt. I have been fighting trying to get grass to grow in it as well. Spent thousands on grass seed and used a actual grass seeded each time. Only grass I was able to get to take off at all was a cheap cover grass mix, and that is still really spotty.
The research I have been doing to figure this out, has taught me that there is a major difference in Dirt and Soil. Soil having bio matter and nutriments for plants to grow in and feed on, dirt doesn't. So I too am thinking about straw, mulched up dead leaves just adding bio matter and fertilizer, and looking for more info in general on how to make dirt into soil. I am very interested in your thoughts and finding with your project.
I have the feeling your prior planning video at your fiends place and why it is yielding good results already, may be more evidence the difference in planting in good top soil vs Dirt.
Plant wheat in the fall and interseed in the spring with the grass. As long as you keep mowing the wheat off it will grow for some time. A good dose of triple 12 would help being the soil you moved around doesn't have any nutrients.
Fertilized heavily last fall.
I am impressed this time with the electric tractor..the price of that seed I would find a company that wants you to demonstrate there straw machine for free or get the seed company to rent the machine and advertise their seed...
Definitely use straw. Or even hay. It really does work
Also if you had a culipacker. Couldn’t you run it around after you seed?
Watch again. What do you think he was doing when he ran the Wood's seeder with the cultipacker on the back?
Could you run a pump to draw water from the pond and use a sprinkler to water the grass? I also wonder if the subsoils that were distributed by flattening the hump were clay and lacked organics. Wonder if top dressing with compost would aid in germination. Either way I enjoy watching your work and wish you luck with your lawn.
straw is good as long as u have a straw crimper otherwise one good breeze and your neighbors house looks like a hay pile also u can always rent a hydroseeder u can do everything at once with them
How is your ph levels ? I would definitely recommend a land roller after seeding push that seed down just a little bit. Love your content all the way from Ireland
If you still have the ABI spreader, could you break the bales into the flakes? Maybe even break the flakes in half? Also, I thought you had big tank to put on the back of your tractor? May be it would help if it needs some watering?
The electric tractor ought to have an awning with a solar panel on it. If you aren't paying attention and run out of power, you could just let it sit awhile to recharge.Grass is too much trouble. Pave it and paint it green! 🤣
I would put compost or mushroom soil with a good spreader.
Hi Tim.... I seed all year long, about 150 new lawns a year for a large builder. The main thing that you aren't doing that NEEDS to be done is to apply a good starter fertilizer to the freshly planted seed. It's rare that the seed doesn't pop when doing this. Hope this helps!
We applied starter fertilizer VERY heavily last fall. Should still be there…and right near the surface.
I tried frost seeding some this year. Seems like its working well thus far. Obviously there are concerns doing it this way, but I wanted to try!