October 17th 2011 Turf E-mail Questions and Answers

To: 'Glennon Kraemer'
Subject: When is too late to put down seed?

or Sod?

......Worried I am running out of time! 

If the sod farm will cut sod, it’s OK to lay it. You just have to have water for it to be successful. Once you have sod laid and watered, you can spray it with “Anti-Desiccants” like “Wilt-Pruf®”. This is basically a diluted wax that slows down water lose. After about November 1^st, sod is very risky without regular watering and that is when most people have their irrigation and hose bibs winterized.

Seed is totally different. You can seed anytime. It’s the results and action in the spring that will change. Seed needs two things to germinate..soil temperature and moisture. The seed will ly in the ground and do nothing all winter until next spring. Some will die, but usually 80-90% makes it until next spring. You can’t put out preemergent until that new seed has been mowed 2-3 times, so that forces you to use “Dimension” preemergent around April 25-30^th. Spring seeding (March 1-15^th) will be treated the same way. If leaves are big concern, I suggest waiting until you can do a good spring clean up before seeding.

You never flood a basement or buy a new back flow preventer for you irrigation system because you turned the system or your water off too early. Life is a gamble, it’s up to you to decide how late the water stays on. I never let my water stay on past November 1^st or turn it on earlier then May 1^st.

Any evergreen planted this fall should be sprayed with Anti-Desiccants in late October/early November and again in February. Read the label (as with any applications in our yards) because the temperatures play a big roll in the timing of the applications!

*Keep removing the leaves from the yards that got seed this fall.

*Fertilize with high nitrogen fertilizers

*Spot spray chick weed, clover and dandelions as long the air temperature is above 45 degrees!

*Mow until growth stops. We should get in at least 3-4 more mowings in this fall yet!

Thanks,

Glenn