How to Overseed a Lawn

Knowing how to overseed a lawn is essential to a well-manicured property. The best time to overseed is in late summer or early fall for cool-season grasses and late spring for warm season grasses.

1. Cut lawn short. Will admit more sunlight, water, and nutrients for new seedlings.
2. Thatch. Ensures good soil to seed contact.
3. Aerate. Further ensures good soil to seed contact.
4. Seed with spreader. If you don’t have a spreader, broadcast seed by hand.
5. Water frequently. Keep soil moist for first 2 weeks. Then reduce frequency and increase duration to help form durable root systems.
6. Delay application of starter fertilizer until 3 weeks. If applied at seeding time, the fertilizer increases growth of existing grass, which may shade out new seedlings.

* Note: Hold off on the pre-emergent weed control. Pre-emergents stop ALL seeds from germinating, including grass seed as well as weeds. Please do not make this mistake.

There is no recommended grass seed for overseeding, other than whatever is best suited for your conditions:

• Warm or cool
• Sunny or shady
• Dry or damp
• Sandy or loamy

Refer to the Chart on Choosing Grass Seed.

Remember, it is vital that you continue with a chemical program to maximize your lawn. If you are too busy to do it yourself, have a company like TruGreen ChemLawn do it. You can sign up online with a Free Lawn Analysis.

Return from How to Overseed a Lawn to Lawn Care Help.