Question
jim, i live in the southern part of mn and recently paid a large amt of money to have my new lawn seeded by a professional, they used 100% kentucky blue grass. they did take soil samples and prescriped about $1500 of amendments based on the anyalsis; basically we got a lot of gypsum and 1 other type of amendment that i dont recall. here is my dilemma.we seeded 4 weeks ago and do have some germination going, although we have a ton of weeds; they did hit the area with round up a time or two prior to seeding, however, in many areas we still have bare areas. there method of seeding was slit seeding as they indicated it was superior to hydroseeding since good soil contact was improved by slit seeding. we did have them come out to look at the lawn a few days ago as we were very disappionted with the spotty coverage and the plethera of weeds. they said not to worry; they will fertilize the grass and perhaps apply some type of selective herbicide and that should take care of it as the grass will grow and choke out the weeds; in addition they did indicate not to be too alarmed by the bare spots as grass has the ability to spread itself and will fill in as in matures; although you cant see my yard; to me it looks like i need to just start over, however, is there truth in what they say? do i just need to be patient or what? Lastly, many of my neighbors in our new development went the hydroseed route around the same time we seeded and their lawns have alot more grass and a lot less weeds; i questioned the person who did our lawn as to why ours looked so bad and they indicated that because we have only blue grass and no rye that it would take longer for our lawn to fill compared to my neighbors who probably have a lot of rye; but in the end we would have a much superior lawn; sorry for the length of this question; as you can tell i'm frustated, as we spent about $7000 and really dont have that great of lawn at this point.
any input you can provide would certainly be appreciated!
Sincerely,
Larry

Answer
Hi Larry,

Always get a valid legal contract and several estimates with references with these matters.
An ethical business should not have a problem providing you with these assurances.

A cost of $7Gs should have provided you with an excellent lawn within a few weeks, provided littly more than sufficient watering was accomplished on your part of the deal.  Watering new seed in July-August can be difficult, especially with large areas to keep moist.

Note that IF the old lawn or area was recently treated with a PRE-EMERGENT HERBICIDE chemical, this fact alone may explain the poor germination you are witnessing.  This type of chemical should only be used on establish stands of turf-grass since it inhibits seed sprouting.  Fertilizers called 'Weed-and-Feed' formulas sometimes will have a pre-emergent chemical in them.  You have to wait a certian period when using these chemicals before you can get grass seed started when these chemicals reside in the top-soil.

If a pre-emergent chemical was active in the top-soil, and the seeding service company was un-aware of this fact, then, by law, they may not be responsible for the poor results.  Chemical testing of the soil by a professional testing lab may determine if or not these chemicals are residual in the soil. Such a test may be expensive however ($60-100).

Kentucy Blue grass can not be expected to 'spread to choke-out weeds'.
With cold temperatures, this grass-type will remain green but will not grow much until warmer temperatures return in the spring.

Kentucky Blue grass is considered a 'cool-climate tufted grass type'.  In contrast to the rapidly spreading stoloniferous grasses of warmer climates, it spreads radially by clonal propagation from a central crown. A single seed may generate a 4-6 inch tuft of grass in a single growing season.  This is not a speedy process. Large bare areas should be re-seeded.

If the areas were properly prepared for seeding, the weeds should not be too extensive.
Don't worry about the weeds until the new seed is well-rooted and can hold-up to a couple of mowing events, there will be plenty of time to deal with the weeds later.



KYB is best seeded in the months of Sept-Oct.  Whenever day temperatures rise above 85 degrees F., the cool-climate grasses such as KYB will be heat-stressed.  And it is difficult with summer winds and heat to get ANY grass-type well rooted; even with the best of conditions a seeded lawn will have less dense areas that will need a 'booster seeding'.  I recommend that you only apply seed to areas you can keep well watered and avoid trying to get seed started with large areas to seed UNLESS you have an irrigation/sprinkler system to keep the areas moist but not soggy.  If necessary, you can seed large areas by sub-dividing the areas according to how well you can keep the smaller areas all well watered.  In the heat of summer, you may need to water 2-3 times a day to get the seed going good.

Your lawn-seeding company should re-seed the weak areas if the seed has not 'taken' after a period of 10 days to a couple of weeks. All lawn grasses are easy to grow; add some extra watering and an occasional fertilizing event and they are VERY EASY to grow.  So, you should not  be having the problems you describe provided the weather has cooperated and the seed was viable, IMO.

In summary, I think you may have grounds for litigation if the seeding company cannot soon make good on their work.  If there was no official contract for this, then, I'm sorry to say,...you have probably been another victim of scoundrels. Considering what you paid for the service, you may want to consult with an attorney and waste no time in doing so. Some of these ventures involve fly-by-night gypsies that will be here today and gone tomorrow, leaving a wake of dissatisfied customers.
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With a good fertile-loamy well draining top-soil, best quality hybrid grass type(s), 1-3 inches of water per week, plenty of sun-light, ...almost anyone can have an excellent lawn with a minimum maintenance effort.
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I Hope this has answered your question(s)!

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___ Jim Gibbs,
    Microbiologist/Botanist