How to overseed on existing lawn?


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Old 08-21-18, 07:18 AM
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How to overseed on existing lawn?

I'm thinking about putting sod over my new lawn. The question is, how soon after I put down the sod do I overseed with sunny/shade mix seeds? Do I need to aerate or anything else before overseeding?
 
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Old 08-21-18, 08:35 AM
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Wait, Sod (turf) is already grass in bedded in a layer of soil. You shouldn't need to reseed sod. The sod or turf should be bought for the type of sun/shade conditions you have at the location.

edit...Typically you would not put turf or sod directly over existing grass.
 
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Old 08-21-18, 08:46 AM
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Right now it's bare dirt. I am thinking of putting sods on my new lawn. Then later on over seed it with sunny/shade seeds. From what I gather from some Youtube videos, those sods are grown under sunny condition and if my lawn are under some shade, I need to over seed with a mix of shade so that it will not die off. However, I'm not sure when to over seed.
 
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Old 08-21-18, 08:57 AM
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Spring and early summer and late fall are the most advantages growing times for most any vegetation. The middle of summer with high heat, most lawns go dormant and turn brown.

It amazes me to see these lawn nuts watering their lawn like crazy during drought season while most of the neighborhood lets the lawn turn brown. And yet come fall everybody's lawn looks green.

I just had my front sidewalk redone by the town and was warned that the dug up lawn and stone will remain until at least fall when the wet season will return. Then they will clean up and reseed.
 
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Old 08-21-18, 09:06 AM
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I agree with Norm. Unless there is something I am missing, you shouldnt have to re-seed over sod/grass.

In my experience, its:
A) you buy the correct grass for the application in your sod. If its mix of sun & shade, you need to buy the grass for a mix of sun & shade.

B) If you buy a grass that is for sun only, its going to die in the shade (or at least not going to perform well). Then buy grass to replace it with. Your buying grass to die, then plant (sow) more grass.

Again, maybe I am not understanding your situation, but only buy grass once. Get the two types of sod/grass you need initially. One kind for your sun only & one for your sun/shade applications. Either way, whether you buy once or twice, your going to end up with two kinds of grass, if I understand your needs correctly.
 
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Old 08-21-18, 11:39 AM
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Guess that I never thought about it before but I do sort of see your point; sod farms, at least ones I am familiar with, are wide open expanses of treeless land, so what grasses do they use and what happens when that sod is placed in shady areas. On the other hand, there are a lot of varieties of grass, and I do know that the shady mix I typically use does equally well in sun or shade, so I would ask the places where you are considering buying the sod about this. But I definitely would not go into it with a plan of laying sod and then overseeding all or part of it. That just doesn't make sense to me. Why pay twice for the same lawn? Take some pictures with you, and, again, ask the supplier(s). If they don't feel that your property is suited to accept the sod as is, I would go to plan b or c, either sow it yourself or have it hydroseeded.
 
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Old 08-21-18, 12:28 PM
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sod farms, at least ones I am familiar with, are wide open expanses of treeless land,
So using that as an example, how do they farm dense shade grass seed? I've seen farms that use a very large canopy over crops. May that is in fact shade grass?

See what you did? Now my whole day is wrought with questions and our place in the universe! I'll never see grass the same again.LOL
 
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Old 08-21-18, 12:41 PM
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All the sod varieties sold by my local sod farm are blends. Each blend has three or four different types of grass. Nobody's lawn is 100% sun. Everyone has some shade and partial shade so the blend of grasses used in sod has it covered. The grass that does better in shade will come to dominate in your shady areas while the sun loving grass will take over in the sunny areas.
 
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Old 08-24-18, 07:42 AM
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Awesome! Thank you for all the suggestions.
 
 

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