Grass Seed

[nc_mtn]

I put some Lime down on our yard (we have a Hickory tree in it and grass isn't grow too well) the other day. How long should I wait before I try to reseed with grass?

[Bearfootfarm]

There's no need to wait with lime.

The best time to plant will be determined by the species of grass and the temperatures needed for germination

Personally I wouldn't be in a hurry since you could get a late freeze that would kill it.

Lime can take months to have any effect and will last for years if you applied enough

[uncle Will in In.]

If you sow the grass seed right now the freezing and thawing will create enough cover for the seed to germinate when ever the ground temperature warms up enough. Getting it started early will give it a chance to get started before the hot dry weather gets here. It's called frost seeding.

[Paquebot]

It's unlikely that you'll be having any more snow but sowing grass seed on top of a layer of snow is a good way to assure that you have good even coverage. Same for hand spreading lawn fertilizer in early spring.

Martin

[Danaus29]

Your problem probably isn't the ph of the soil. Hickories produce juglone and some popular grasses are not juglone tolerant. Also you have tree roots and shade from the leaves to consider. There aren't many grasses that will compete with tree roots and shade.

[rambler]

The others said it well, just to re-enforce their good advice;

Lime takes a while to break downand actually do it's thing, but it won't 'bother' the seeds while it does that.

Many trees - such as yours - put out slightly toxic substences in their root zone, and you might have to search for a grass species that will sprout & grow in that sort of toxin. It could be a struggle to find.... My wife has worked for a decade to turn a patchy mostly bare weds area under 5 black walnut trees and 5 red cedar trees (both put substances in the soil) into an only fair grassy area. She's done well with what she has to work with there.

--->Paul

[nc_mtn]

Thanks for the help. It has really started to warm up some here so I thought it would be a good time soon to put it down. I'm in the mountains so we may get another snow here, I don't rule it out until after April. I just wanted to try to get something else started to thicken what we have. We moved in almost 4 years ago. Before that the whole area was trees. I've put lime down before but it's a constant thing (adding seed that is). I'm trying each year to get it a little thicker. You can see a "ring" where the tree roots go out. There is some grass there but it's really patchy. The cool thing about the hickory tree is that there are no large branches until pretty high up. This helps with the shade on the grass, and keeps the kids from wanting to climb it. Shade would be nice though in the hot summer...

Thanks again! Now does anyone have solutions to keeping the free range chickens off of it?!?! Every time I pen them back up the 3 yr old 'gets eggs' and leaves the door open.