planting grass - need to cover?

yak651 · Jun 2, 2008

Planted grass seed this weekend, the area is about an acre. Do I need to cover with hay/straw? What is the purpose of this? Keep from drying out? I wanted to get the hay on before watering, but I just had some rain go thru, so I don't want to put it on now, at least until it dries out. How long can I wait before damaging anything? Sorry for all the questions, first time doing this and don't want to waste the approx $500 of seed...

DJFaninTN · Jun 2, 2008

i am planting 5 acres of bermuda as soon as I can get some dry weather to finish tilling.

I was told you can cover it but its better to roll it before you seed. then roll again after you seed.

no real need to cover it and you are most likely to be adding old seed when covering with hay or something like that. I didn't want the weeds to be coming up with the bermuda.

yak651 · Jun 2, 2008

We did run a cultipacker over it after seeding, as shown in the pictures below

ray66v · Jun 2, 2008

You can get away without straw, if it rains a lot, or you can water all of it enough to keep it wet. I like to use the mulch, (the green cellulose material used when hydro seeding), if I don't expect a lot of rain. The mulch stays wet better than the straw. If you have an entire acre, you can rent a straw blower and make short work of it.

Unregistered2013 · Jun 4, 2008

i would definitely do the straw -- no question.

i did three acres last year and used 120 bales of straw (not hay) and it came in great -- was a dry summer, too -- you can't water that much.

before and after --

Highbeam · Jun 4, 2008

I have planted several acres of grass as part of a yeard or just as erosion control and have had excellent (100%) success with simply broadcasting the seed at the right time of year. After last frost. This last 2/3 acre planting was perennial ryegrass and I simply broadcast the seed and "rolled" it in with the tractor tires.

You must have either followed the directions or bought special seed to have spent 500$ on seeds alone. I could see it if the 500$ included lime and fertilizer though.

I tend to prefer the early fall plantings which allow the roots time to develop over winter before really taking off in the spring.

In the rare casees where I've needed to establish grass in the heat of summer I have covered with peat moss which is good since you will be watering it and the peat gets dark when wet and seems to hols the water pretty well.

jinjimbob · Jun 5, 2008

If you just scatter the seed, do you go over it with a rake, so that its half an inch below the surface? I just did this, just followed the instructions.

Highbeam · Jun 5, 2008

No need to cover 1/2" in my experience, just spread it and assure good ground contact with the soil by rolling if possible. The next couple of weeks will be great for germination in the puget sound area with plenty of precip, lots of light, and low temperatures. Birds don't seem to bother the ryegrass seed at all.

When grass naturally reproduces the seeds aren't buried either.