Grass Seed Questions
Annual Ryegrass – 1 Week Germination but only lasts one year. Used to hold soils while longer germinating types come up. Quickly filling in for gatherings.
Generally, grass seed will not go bad as long as it is kept in a dry location. Year over year, you may lose a few percentage points in germination, but it is relatively low. Sooner is always better, but the leftovers will be good for some time.
It is safe for animals and children, however, you want to keep them off it otherwise if the seedlings do come up and they are trampled, they may not survive. Roping or fencing off the area is beneficial until the seed is established.
When determining how much grass seed you will need, you must determine your square footage by measuring length multiplied by width.
Ideal time to plant grass seed is late August, early September. During these times you avoid the heat of the summer, and the seed has time to germinate and establish before the winter months. Grass seed can be planted in spring, you will just need more water throughout the summer to make sure the heat and dry conditions don’t harm the new seedlings.
Roughing up the soil surface and adding a seeding soil can help establish the grass seed. Overtime, applications of gypsum to help break up the soil and aerating the yard are the two most beneficial ways to break up the hard dirt.
A fertilizer lawn spreader is the easiest and most efficient to broadcast grass seed. Throwing by hand is not accurate for larger areas. Set the spreader to a very light setting as grass seed will flow faster than fertilizer. Go over the area multiple times in order to ensure proper coverage.
Yes, you can water grass seed too much to where it will not germinate. You can also wash the seed away if water starts running through the yard. Also, overwatering can create mold/fungus if seed sits overnight wet.
Store grass seed in the cotton or poly woven bags they are sold in. These bags allow the seeds to breathe and not overheat. However, these are not waterproof, so they need to be kept in a dry spot. Cooler spot is always better as well, keeping in a hot shed will reduce germination further.
The main difference between grass seed types are the abilities to grow in full sun of full shade, dry or wet conditions, how much fertilizer each type needs, and how fast they germinate.
Watering requirements for new grass seed truly depend on weather conditions. More water is required during hot and dry times, less water when cool. During hot times, 2-3x per day at only about 10-minute watering intervals. You want the soil to be moist, not wet and water running which will wash the seeds.
Full sun is six or more hours of direct sunlight, part sun is four to six hours of sunlight including some afternoon sun, part shade is four to six hours of sun before midday, full shade is less than four hours of sun.