Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 15, 1992 TAG: 9203160203
SECTION: HOMES PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: John Arbogast
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
These basic requirements should be met to ensure success of the lawn seeding or overseeding:
Identify and correct the problem that has caused the lawn to get weak or allowed the bare spots to occur, if applicable.
Do basic soil preparation, sometimes called seedbed preparation. For seeding bare spots or areas where there is no grass now, use a tiller, shovel, hoe or rake. For overseeding turf areas, prepare each area by going over it two or three times with a dethatcher, core aerifier (which can be rented) or a steel rake. Then remove the debris pulled out of the turf, which will be dried dead grass, old weeds, thatch, etc.
Apply a starter fertilizer made for lawn seedings. Follow the package directions. If surface-applied, use a 5-10-10 garden fertiliz JOHN ARBOGAST er at 1 1/2 pounds per 100 square feet. If tilled or mixed into the top 5 inches of soil, use 4 pounds per 100 square feet.
Make sure that there is good seed and soil contact. For bare spots this can be accomplished by gently raking the seed and fertilizer into the soil.
Provide proper moisture. Until the grass seed germinates, the top one-half inch of soil must be kept damp. This may require daily light waterings if the weather is warm and dry. After full germination, water the new grass deeply two or three times a week during dry times for the first year. Don't go to all this seeding work and then neglect the follow-up.
\ Q: Can you enlighten us about the use of pet box litter as a soil conditioner? The brand I use says on the container that it is good in potting soil. But, it also says "not recommended for garden use." The material is ground clay, and I know that clay is not something we want much of in garden soil. But, this litter is in the form of tiny, rock-hard nuggets that seem indestructible. It appears that it would be a suitable soil conditioner in pots or the garden. C.S., Salem
A: A good rule to go by is to follow the manufacturer's directions. Even though products like pet box litter are not as tightly regulated as pesticides, each manufacturer of consumer products should conduct some tests or research before they make claims for their product.
For use in container soil mixes, the clay particles that make up pet box litter would work like vermiculite, a potting soil amendment that holds moisture but can keep soil too wet if too much is used. On the other hand, the tiny clay nuggets added to garden soil would tend to keep the soil from being loose.
Eventually, those clay nuggets should break apart in the soil, even though they seem indestructible in the bag. We can't compare the tiny, hard-clay nuggets of pet litter with perlite, a soil amendment made of tiny, hard, white particles that won't hold moisture. Keep in mind that the use of pet box litter in soil refers to litter not used by pets. Once that litter is in the pet's box, it becomes unsanitary and should not be used.
| Got a question about your lawn, garden, plants, or insects? Write to Dear John, c/o the Roanoke Times & World-News, P.O. Box 2491, Roanoke 24010-2491
\ Gardener's checklist
Jobs for the third week of March:
To manage a lawn that has become bumpy because of worms, rake out the extremely rough spots and reseed if necessary. Also, raise the cutting height on your lawn mower when you start mowing so that the high parts do not get scalped.
Apply pre-emergence crabgrass killers, which may be known as crabgrass preventers, to turf areas now. These chemicals work by killing young plants just as the seeds germinate. Crabgrass is an annual weed, meaning that it must come back from seeds each year. Examples of pre-emergence herbicides are Siduron (Tupersan), which can be used where spring seeding of good grass is planned, Balan, Dacthal, and others.
\ AUTHOR John Arbogast is the agriculture extension agent for Roanoke.
by CNB