[Tim C.]

I was planning on dormant overseeding two yards beginning of dec. but it snowed. It has not snowed or rained for over a week and the next couple of days are suppose to be dry and in upper forties. So my question is would it be ok to seed now in central Illinois, even though ground is a little wet or wait until march to do it? I am trying to get seed in so it can germinate in spring so I can still get my pre emergent fertilizer down in time.

[Hamons]

I would dormant seed now. The earlier in the inter you get the seed down -- the soner it will germinate. Wet ground is perfect for letting the seed take advantahe of freeze-thaw cycles to be pushed into the gound.

Be careful with the pre-emergent. I only use postemergents for one year on lawns seeded ib the winter

[Rob Shauger]

Yes be careful of any pre emergents in the spring. Put a nice starter fert down or some organic fert and then treat with a post emergent as needed later in the season.

[NCSULandscaper]

Do not put out pre-emergent in the spring, because to get full control you will need to put it out on late feb or early march, and by that time the seed probably will not have germinated then, so you will just be killing it.........but if the ground is not froze right now, then i would seed because as Hamons said, and i believe we discussed this last winter, the freeze thaw action will drive the seed in the ground and protect it until spring.

[start2finish]

this sounds like a dumb question and I consider myself to have knowledge of my trade but I have had bad results in winter seeding. Customer wants grass now and light mix of annual rye with fescue. The rye chokes out the fescue and may gets wiped out by heat.

This is on new construction.

if the customer is willing to wait on spring for the germination (no kids playing and no dogs to get muddy). Erosion not a issue either.

Can I renovate lawns now in fair weather and get good establishment.
Piedmont NC zone 7

2lb N per 1000
12lb per 1000 fescue (turf type)

rye we have tried many options, usually 1-2lb per 1000

any suggestions we really need to perform some of these renovations so late feb mar and april aren't booked solid.

[NCSULandscaper]

yes you can put the materials down.......i would not go with that much nitrogen until you see a soil sample......with spring coming up soon, alot of nitrogen is not needed. Use a good starter fert, i use Lebenon 12-24-16. And i would only use 7-10lbs of seed/M. If it was me, i would not use rye grass, just cant stand the stuff and looks bad...if they can wait then just use fescue.