I am trying to fix patches of my lawn. I raked it the ground until it was rough then laid down seed. Then watered and used fertilizer. When I did it ,it was supposed to rain 3 out of 4 days. It rained once . So I take watering can and daily water it.
Not one blade has poked out in a little over a week. Am I in too much of a hurry?
How wet should I keep it…(muddy)?. How long do I wait before starting over?
The weather here was cool (50’s-low 60’s) for a week after I seeded. Nothing came up. Then it hit 78 for a couple of days, and there was new grass everywhere.
The grass will take about 7-8 days to really get going.
The ground should be damp, once it puddles, turn off the water.
You did everything else right so far from what you posted.
Jim (I just got done mowing 2 acres, tomorrow I need to fix about 3 patches.)
I generally takes longer than 7 days. I seeded a very large area of about 20,000 square feet and it hasn’t germinated in the past 7 days either. I have seeded other large areas and it takes about 14 days to see results around here in Massachusetts and it will still be sparse for a while but it will fill in by the fall. I am not an expert but I always liked the ground to be a little muddy at first but then you need to lighten up. As long as the ground is a little moist and not drought dry, the grass will grow. Give it another week to 10 days.
I’ve been working on seeding bare dirt patches in my lawn this month too. Places I read said “7 to 10 days.” I had nothing after 7, but a good bit after 10. Give it some time.
When I patch my lawn (which I’m in the process of right now), I usually see the first tiny thin blades of grass about a day after I say to myself “I give up, these seeds must be broken or something.” Usually takes about 2 weeks before I notice anything.
I like to mulch the area with a layer of straw. Grass comes up in a week or two or three depending on conditions. The mulch decreases the need to water and eventually rots away.
I thought I was watering sufficiently, but nothing came up until we had about a week of heavy rains, then it all came up at once. All in all it took closer to three weeks than one week.
It will also stop any erosion if the bare spots are on a grade. If you don’t use straw mulch the seeds tend to get washed down to the bottom of the grade and you get a really beautiful patch of grass there, but nothing on the bare spots.