Large area grass seeding advise wanted

[SamR]

Hi All
I used this board fairly extensively when researching which tractor to buy and really like all the benefits of getting ereryone's opinions. (Bought the Kubota BX2200)

I have 12 acres here that we bought late last year- the side yard (pronounced "field") was very rough and not at all pleasant to mow. I had a friend hit it with his 150hp Ford and 13' discs and then I went after it with a box blade to take the ridges down and fill in low spots. We got 3-4 days of steady rain, so I disced it again with a 7' disc 2 days in a row, then disced and dragged a cultipacker behind 2 days in a row. I'm ready to seed grass now, but was wondering the best approach. I'll need to seed, then what?

Had considered using the cultipacker alone after seeding, or another friend suggested a roller, still another friend says drag an old mattress spring. It is 100' x 250' so I was hoping to not have to put straw on it. I felt that one of these methods would set the seed into the ground a bit and not have it be exposed to the birds or be washed out easily. The area is fairly flat. Thanks
SamR

 

[W5FL]

I thought you were going to plant seed on the whole 12 acres, but 100 x 250 ft is only about 1/2 acre. I just sprigged coastal on about 7 acres and it is just now coming up. I was going to seed it and found out that the local feed store will mix the seed and fertilizer and put it in the fertilizer spreader at no charge. That is about 1500# fertilizer and 35# seed for 7 acres. That is a little too large a scale for you.

First I used a tiller and tilled the ground in first gear at about 1 mph. Waited for a good rain. Tilled it again at about 1 mph. Waited for it to rain again. Now there was enough moisture to plant. After the sprigger got through, the land was not smooth enough and I drug a 4 1/2 inch heavy wall pipe 8 ft long behind the tractor to smooth it out. That really works well.

Since you are ready to seed the area, it depends on the size of the seeds. If they are small, mix them with corn meal and put them in a hand crank spreader and put them out by walking back and forth about every 20 feet. You can see the corn meal and know where you have done the seeding. You can also mix the seeds with fertilizer, but you have to really do it well and use a larger spreader to put both out at the same time.

I would then drag a 6 ft wide x 10 ft long piece of chain link fence pulled behind your tractor at about 4-5 mph over the area to put about 1/8 to 1/4 inch of cover on the seeds. Wait for a rain or use a traveling (tractor type) sprinkler and soak the area until the grass is ready to mow. Instant yard and very low cost. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif Use the savings to buy another implement. If you have lots of money have them hydromulch the seeds like the highway department does. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[Bird]

Good description and advice, Wen. I have no idea what it costs now, but the last new house I bought in town was in 1977, and I had the yard hydromulched with common Bermuda early in July at about half the cost of buying sod and putting it down myself (I think then it cost about $.07 a square foot). The instructions said to mow and fertilize after 28 days, but my wife and daughters hand watered and kept the yard damp and I had to mow in 21 days; sure made a beautiful lawn./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Bird

 

[W5FL]

I put down 8 pallets of Tif Bermuda sod. Had a nice looking yard the next morning. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

I think I burned about 1/2 of it up with Fertilizer and that little sprinkle that we had instead of a rain last week! /w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif