Planting Grass Seed in the Fall

Planting grass seed while in the fall is the ideal time for you to plant cool-season grasses or over-seed warm-season grass with perennial rye grass. If north of the transitional zone of the U.S., the best time to plant grass seed will be between August 25th and October 5th. If located in the warmer south and over-seeding, grass seed is best established when planted between September 20th and October 25th.

Soil quality and preparation are necessary stages in planting a completely new lawn. Begin by taking off the existing vegetation. If planting a fresh lawn and if there’s a lot of weeds, make use of a non-selective herbicide like Round-Up. If over-seeding, you obviously won’t wish to destroy your base grass using a herbicide application but what to do is mow down your warm-season grass as low as it is possible to. This along with verti-cutting and power raking, will reduce thatch and increase good seed contact to your soil.

For any new lawn, you then need to level the soil as best as possible. The new soil needs to settle naturally, otherwise you can speed up the task with more water. Then rake the soil so it has small groves within it.

For both a new lawn and over-seeding, apply 1/2 of grass seed one way over the soil using a spreader. Then put the other 1/2 of your seed in the other direction. Lightly rake the seed in and next roll the soil lightly using a roller. To obtain good seed to soil contact and good soil moisture, top dress the grass seed with a thin layer of mulch or compost. This may not be necessary but will improve grass seed germination, especially when under pressure from warm weather or drying winds blowing across the soil surface. Water grass seed thoroughly for those initial couple of weeks but simply enough to help keep soil moist but not soaking wet all the time. Short water intervals of 3 to 5 minutes 3 times per day generally seems to work pretty well.

If sod is installed, repeat exactly the same steps from above and assure the soil is firm enough that the grass sod won’t sink in after it’s walked on. After sod is installed, roll it by using a roller in 2 directions and water it twice daily until it roots. When grass sod cannot be grabbed by grasping it in your hand, it’s rooted.

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