School me. Lawn care, seeding, fertilizing

[RDLightning01]

Wanting a nicer lawn this summer around. Did a DIY soil test. zero nitrogen, good phosphorus, zero to low potassium. Ph is 7.0
Have zero weeds, but its patchy and clumpy. So i raked it good today with steel rake. Took out a lot of dead grass and leaves. Was thinking pulling the tractor out and scraping/drag the bucket to level it out. Wanting to go with a Kentucky Blue Grass.
Im unsure of what grass type i currently have. Can i overseed and will KBG take over if i seed before the old starts turning green?
Use a starter fertilizer that has good levels of Nitro and Potassium?
Does water quality matter? Literally live on the mississippi. Throw a pump in and water with that.
School Me please
Thanks

 

[MovingZen]

Post a picture of your grass, close up of a clump and it'll get identified. I'm not up on cool season grass but if the grade is good and filling in the bare spots will smooth it out I'd just top dress and work with what you already have. Water quality does matter, I'd test the ph of that also but shitty water is better than no water.

 

[RDLightning01]

Will get a better picture tomorrow. Its all dead still from winter. Never really have taken a picture of just my grass. But this will show my clumpiness and unevenness.

 

[KLLR SNK]

Aerate your yard then over seed top that with starter fertilizer. In 6 weeks apply pre- emergent to control crab grass or get the Scott 4 step program. You can also get quality dry products from Tru Green Chem Lawn in Davenport. Hope for some thunderstorms with plenty of lightning to really green it up.

Seeing the picture I would power rake the yard before aeration.

 

[RDLightning01]

Can you change the type of grass by overseeding it? or do i have to identify the type i have and buy the appropriate seed?

 

[Drive XR7]

Aerate your yard then over seed top that with starter fertilizer. In 6 weeks apply pre- emergent to control crab grass or get the Scott 4 step program. You can also get quality dry products from Tru Green Chem Lawn in Davenport. Hope for some thunderstorms with plenty of lightning to really green it up.

Seeing the picture I would power rake the yard before aeration.

This is good advice. The lawn services around me just put their first treatment down. That's my cue to put down a pre-emergent. My backyard was redone last year so there are no weeds yet but the ground is soft and the grass is sparse... I need to overseed the shit out of it.

 

[Camaro_94]

Step 1: go to a farm
Step 2: find cows
Step 3: puck up cow shit
Step 4: bring said cow shit home
Step 5: make it rain cow shit all over ur yard...


I use Scott's stuff. They have like a 3 step process or something that I use. Works great!

 

[MovingZen]

Can you change the type of grass by overseeding it? or do i have to identify the type i have and buy the appropriate seed?

Not really, the old grass will still be there unless you wipe it out. What you do to germinate and bring in the seed will make the old grass strong. Two different grasses isn't necessarily a bad thing, that's up to you, but it would be easier to identify what you have and fill it in. Looks like a lot of shade in your yard?

 

[KLLR SNK]

You can change your seed type but don't expect it to take over the first year, build the turf first then for the next couple of years repeat the process. Another thing you can do is go to the Davenport city compost facility, get a load or two of compost, and rent their spreader to top dress over the aeration and seed. Apply 1/2" of water to the lawn every morning about 5am and watch it grow. If you water too early it can cause a fungus. Be ready to mow a lot of grass but it will amaze you what a little bit of work can do for your lawn.

Your picture shows a large tree, that is why your yard has bare spots. That is the wrong type of grass for that area. Go to Tru Green or Green Thumber's and get a good quality shade or shade and sun seed.

 

[dirtyd88]

Call this guy.

 

[RDLightning01]

The front lawn faces the east. so gets full am sun to mid day afternoon. backyard gets all day sun. I will look into your guys suggestions further. Thanks

 

[RDLightning01]

 

[wht93gted]

If you want the best looking lawn, slit seed it. The different types of grass won't really matter too much. If you over seed heavily enough with the KBG, it will be predominate and look fine. It will eventually take over if you keep it up for a few years.

I have over 10yrs landscaping experience, doing just this type of stuff.

Generally, I would recommend against seeding in the spring. Your best results will come in the fall. The new grass won't have a great root system by the time the summer heat arrives and it will burn up much more easily.

IMO, save the money, do it in the fall. For now, just hit it with a good pre-emergent (when the soil gets to germination temp, you can find it for your area online). Then wait 4-6 weeks and re-apply pre-emergent. When the fall hits, seed then with starter fertilizer. As I said before, see if you can rent a slit seeder and go that route. You'll have a beautiful lawn in a few short weeks.

Stay away from Scotts, it's WAYYY overpriced. See if you can find a landscaping supply and buy straight from there. Although I don't know pesticide laws in your area so I don't know what they can or can't sell to you. Generally, starter fert won't be an issue. Pre-emergent "can" be but shouldn't.


Left side was my own house 2008, all crab grass and weeds. They parked 1 of their cars on the lawn too on the left side.
Right side was my house this past september 2013, when we sold it.
I slit seeded 3 falls in a row.

 

[Posi]

^What he said.

If it's good soil then the best way to green it up is to add lime. It'll green up in a couple of weeks.

 

[Drive XR7]

I tried finding a slit seeder a few years ago to rent... but most places just had overseeders. The real nice slit seeders are hard to find to rent.

 

[wht93gted]

I tried finding a slit seeder a few years ago to rent... but most places just had overseeders. The real nice slit seeders are hard to find to rent.

If you can't find a slit seeder, then go with a combination of thatching and aerating with a plug aerator.

First thatch the entire lawn, rake, blow, or suck up the de-thatch with your mower. Whatever you can to clean it off. Then go through and aerate the lawn. After that you can heavily overseed it; the bag will tell you lb's per sq ft for existing or new turf. I usually always seed at the new rate.

Starter fert at the same time as well, and another round of starter maybe 4-6 weeks later; the bag will tell you lbs per 1000 sqft if you plan on a single application or double application.

 

[RDLightning01]

^What he said.

If it's good soil then the best way to green it up is to add lime. It'll green up in a couple of weeks.

Doesnt lime just lower your ph level of your dirt? My ph is between 6.5 and 7. which is good isnt it?

 

[RDLightning01]

Plan of action im thinking of going right now is to de thatch, rake the sh*t out of it. overseed and fertilize. Find a slit seeder and do the proper steps in this coming fall.

 

[wht93gted]

Doesnt lime just lower your ph level of your dirt? My ph is between 6.5 and 7. which is good isnt it?

Nitrogen is what makes it green. Just get a high nitrogen fert and apply it.
When you see the numbers, nitrogen is first (26-0-0). Get something with only N and nothing else ( or extremely low). It will green it up in no time; few days. Does it means the lawn is healthy and will stay like that, no. But it will look nice in the short term!

Iron will help too but only in the spring when temps are below 70\75 or so.

 

[EATONURLS1]

Use revive. All natural. I worked for TruGreen for 3 years and revive is what they use to quick fix yellow and brown spots. With that said I would aerate seed it(make sure to use top soil so the birds don't hang around) and use revive on it also. Warning: use the dry stuff 20 bucks for a bag at Walmart and it does stink until watered in. It's chicken poop for the most part.