Question
Hi,

I asked this question a few days ago, but AllExperts evidently did not process it. This seems to be happening a lot lately.

A friend told me that I should put the grass seed down now , rather than in the Spring so that the coming snow will provide moisture and help drive it into the soil. Is this true? I live in the North East, and my lawn is very shady with a lot of mature Oak and Hickory trees. Thank you, Regards, Ken.

Answer
Question asked and answered, Ken.  Took the better part of the day, too.  Must be the end of the year computer bug that's keeping things from running smoothly.  I have copied my answer and here it is:

*****

Ken, my friend, it is time for a Reality Check.

How much shade we are really talking about here, under your
Oak-and-Hickory canopy?  How much water?  How rich is that 10,000 sq.ft. of soil?  

These answers are THE KEY to whether grass will grow there.  You are asking a question about the timing and method of sowing when the overwhelming problem is footcandles/moisture/nutrients.

Ken, It's like you bought an old car and you had a new engine delivered, and you want to know whether it would run better on the 87 or the 89 Octane?

The short answer to your question is, Yes, you can sow grass now.  In fact, seed sowed now will get a healthy chill this winter, ready for takeoff in the spring.  

In good conscience, I have to point to Reality here.  The Truth.

Let's look to the PhD's at University of Minnesota Extension says about shade grass in general:  "To grow any turf worth having, you need an area that gets roughly 50% sunlight."

Something concerns me about your optimism here.  Do you get a half day of sun - not now, when the deciduous trees are bare, but in the middle of July?  

Note that UofM does allow a little poetic license here: Sun "can be filtered through trees or it could mean several hours of full sun then diffused and/or filtered light."

Now let's discuss your grass choice, "a good shade grass seed."

I hate salespeople.

Their hearts may be in the right place.  I don't think they're dishonest.  But they don't always know what they're talking about.

Good Shade Grass?  There is no such thing.

Almost all the grass sold for residential lawn use has been evolving for hundreds of thousands of years in the bright sunny plains, prairies and savannahs of the world; we really cannot expect them to do well in the shade.

There is grass that will tolerate less sun.  Trouble is, you didn't tell me the name of that GSG.  Fine-leaved Fescues like Creeping Red Fescue and Chewing Fescue are the champions of shade tolerance.  Areas that get minimal shade, or really anything less than 6 hours a day, would be
better off with a nice groundcover.

Please head over to "Choosing the Best Grass" on the Walter Reeves website (http://www.walterreeves.com/lawns/article.phtml?cat=6&id=43) and calculate how much sun you get in the summer, when the leaves are on the trees.  If your lawn is in Partial Shade, it will be struggling under Oaks and Hickories.

If you are getting a good amount of sun, as in, "Partial Shade" -- 8 hours of filtered sun -- you need a grass that can grow in Partial Shade.

Remember, it's NEVER easy to grow grass under the shade of Oaks and Hickories.  Besides the light, and the unknown Jugone factor, there's the matter of moisture.  Rain can't reach under the trunks.

You probably learned way back how to estimate the reach of water-loving roots on a tree.  Most people believe the drip-line lies near the edge of the leaf canopy.  But the roots of a shade tree will extend at least the same distance in all directions as the height of the tree. In sandy soils and with some varieties of tree, the roots might be twice that length.

Because the grass is competing with the trees for moisture, you might have to water the grass after cutting.  Water regularly all spring and summer long.  Make sure water is getting under the trees in significant amounts, on a regular basis.  Come to think of it, make sure snow is
getting down there, too, through the winter.  If the branches are thick and mature, they may interfere with even that.

While you're at it, make sure the area you want to grow all this grass is not completely filled with roots from the trees, with hard, dry, compacted soil that you can barely get a trowel into.  Such soil does not make for happy grass.  After you broadcast, pick up some aged compost
or manure or humus at Home Depot or Whole Foods and sprinkle it over your seed.

Look at some postcard-perfect houses with big, old trees in the landscape, you will most definitely find Pachysandra or other ground cover underfoot.  This is a plant that will really thrive under an old Oak or Hickory tree.

Maples devour all the nutrients and moisture underneath and send roots everywhere.  Oak Trees and others are not as shallow rooted, but most Oaks will emerge in the end into substantial horders of nutrients in a war that grass simply can never win.

Butternut Hickory has a dense root system with a serious taproot that reaches up to 3 feet long in its first year and is 4 feet long by the time it is 2 years old, with lateral roots beginning to spread like wildfire.  Arborists say that by the time it has been growing for 10 years,
the height of a Hickory is around 4 times taller than the ttaproot - but root system is twice as long as the lateral roots.  Hickory leaves score VERY high in Calcium.  The tree itself is praised for its ability to build up soil.  Some people will even tell you that the advantages may ooutweigh the disadvantages.

Disadvantages?

One threat: Juglone!

Oak Tree roots do not produce Juglone  - the toxin produced by Black Walnuts that is legendary for turning an entire hill into a no-man's-grassland as Black Walnuts.

But Black Walnuts are relatives of Hickories.  And both Black Walnut and Hickory DO make Juglone..  The jury is still out as to how grass will grow in Juglone-tainted soil.  Some plants wilt, some yellow, some grow in odd patterns.  And some plants are not affected at all.

This chemical shows up strongest in the root system.  But it's also in the leaves.  So when Calcium-rich Hickory leaves are all over the ground, you probably don't want those leaves on your lawn or in your compost pile.  They may decay into beautiful humus, but the Juglone left behind
may poison anything you try to grow in that soil.  Handle with care.

Finally, don't forget thinning to build a higher tree canopy.  That will allow even more sunlight to reach the ground.  And if there's anything you can't have too much of on the ground, it's sunlight.

Want a second opinion?

Log onto any of your State's Agricultural University web pages (keywords: "My State Horticulture").  Many of them post reports about new grass hybrids as well as other plants, many of them genetically matched to perform well in your area.  I'd check it myself - but you didn't tell me
where you live.

As always, use no bad chemicals in your neck of the woods.  Basic rule of thumb: If God didn't put it in the Garden of Eden, you don't need it at your house, either.

Sorry for the long, long answer.  Some things just have to be said.

Keep me posted.  I'd like to know how your seed turns out next spring.

Happy New Year.