Warm season grasses like bermuda, zoysia, and St. Augustine go dormant and turn brown all through the colder winter months. Overseeding using a cool-season grass can be a solution to keep a green lawn during the colder months.
When overseeding, you're actually seeding into your existing warm-season lawn and perennial ryegrasses are very well suited to this purpose. Overseeding in advance of the warm-season grass dormancy guarantees continuous green grass throughout the winter. Preparation of seed bed should be enough for good fall establishment but minimal enough to allow for good recovery of your grass for the following spring.
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St. Augustine and zoysia grass aren't suitable for overseeding. Having said that, bermuda grass lawns can be overseeded to make a year-long green landscape.
Preparation and Planting
Overseeding your cool-season grass too soon while in the fall can bring about thin, spotty establishment. Actively growing bermuda grass will out-compete the ryegrass, however if planted too late, growth is delayed by colder temperatures producing poor establishment. The best time to overseed your lawn will be between October 1st and November 15. During this time bermuda grass growth shall be slowed down by cooler temperatures but adequately warm to encourage good grass seed germination of your ryegrass.
Ryegrass seed germination will drop after soil temperatures begin to move below 63 F. You can determine soil temperature by sticking a cooking thermometer right into a hole made by a screwdriver. Examine many different sections of your lawn.
You want to verti-cut, power rake, and mow your bermuda grass down as low as possible to assist in removing or reducing thatch. This will guarantee good seed contact with the soil. Planting your rye seed is accomplished exactly like planting grass for any new lawn. Apply grass seed with a spreader or seeder and apply only 1/2 of your seed in one direction and stop. Then apply the other 1/2 of the seed in the other direction. This technique insures a well applied and evenly covered seed bed.
If overseeding with annual ryegrass, make sure you plant from 10 to 20 lbs per 1,000 square feet. If using perennial ryegrass (recommended), you are going to plant at 10 to 15 lbs per 1,000 sq ft. Overseeding at rates beyond these recommended levels could potentially cause excessive seedling competition and crowded seedlings are definitely more vunerable to diseases.
After seeds are planted, they need to stay moist to germinate properly. Top dressing seeds with finely ground bark mulch, manure compost, or sand should help hold the moisture in. Do not use peat moss as it's difficult to keep wet and might blow away.
Watering
After planting grass seed, light and frequent watering (up to 3 times daily) is important while in the first seven to ten days, till the seedlings have established their roots down inside the moist soil. Germinating seeds need lots of oxygen so maintain your grass moist but don't overwater which will cause flooding. Watering intervals should then be gradually moved to about once a week. During the coldest times of the season it's possible you'll just need to water once every 2 weeks.
Monitor the soil moisture by sticking a screwdriver in the soil. If the screw driver goes in easily and comes out moist, you don't need to add water. You basically would like to maintain the top six inches of soil moist and when your grass needs water it's going to show you. Symptoms of moisture stress are wilting, a grey-green color and after walking over your grass, your footprint indents remain visible longer.
Two weeks after seedling emergence, it's a good idea to put on a grass fertilizer loaded with phosphorous, which will promote good root development. There are many starter fertilizers to choose from but an example can be ammonium phosphate (16-20-0), which you would apply at about 5 pounds per 1,000 square feet.
Mowing
Annual and perennial ryegrass ought to be first mowed once they reach heights between 2.75 and 3 inches. If utilizing a rotary mower, set the blade height between 2.25 and 2.75 inches. If seeking to achieve a prime quality turf appearance and using a reel-type mower, mow your lawn between 1 and 1.5 inches when grass is one-third taller than the regular mowing height.
Spring Transition
Bermuda and most warm-season grasses will grow back when night temperatures get to the upper 60s. To encourage the bermuda grass's come-back, lower the mowing height to an inch or less after nights start warming up. This will affectively scalp the cool-season grass, reducing shading and warms up the bermuda grass beneath. Continue low mowing, stop fertilizing, but maintain good soil moisture. This will decrease the competition between bermuda and ryegrass, enabling your bermuda grass to come back strong.
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