When is the best time to plant grass (Indianapolis)?

Question

Our year is a mix of areas that are grass, significantly weeds, and just dirt - so should we put down weed killer first? Should we throw down seed now (before winter), or in the spring? We're all for the easiest/least work option that will work out sufficiently

Answer 1

May or early June .......however if you use weed killer you have to wait 2 months before seeding because the amounts of chemicals in the weed killer will kill the Baby grass..........try May end of when temps stay above freezing at nite ........also for success water 2x daily for at least one month to establish new grass! Good luck!

Answer 2

Early September. But that's to late for this year.

It don't pay to kill the weeds this year any more. Most will die any way. New ones will come up from seeds that you can't kill any way.

You will have to either do the whole yard over complete or treat each area a little differently. Not knowing how large you yard is but if it is small treat it all as the whole yard. If its a large yard then treat each area a little differently.

In the spring, I think early April put down some seeds.
in the bare spots (Rake the dirt a little first to loosen it up.)
Cover with straw & keep it moist.

After a couple of weeks when the grass has gotten a good start put down some feed & feed.

Be sure to read the other answers, there were a lot of good points in them.

Answer 3

Weed killer works only on emerging weeds in the spring. Now would just be a waste of money. If you put it down in the spring, you can't plant new seed for awhile (check the bottle for time frame). Why don't you have grass already? Make sure you solve whatever problem you have first like poor drainage, hard clay soil or insufficient sunlight before you try to seed or you'll just be feeding the birds. My advice is to give the grass you have every chance to grow and spread. In the spring, de-thatch the lawn. The machines you can rent work great. You just run them over like a pushmower and they bring all the dead material to the surface so you can remove it easily.Then rent and aerator and run it over the entire lawn. This opens the soil and gives the grass roots room to spread and also exposes more of the root to water and fertilizer. You may need lime if you have acid soil. A home center or your local agricultural co-op can run a soil test for you. Lastly, spread a weed-n-feed type fertilizer. Follow it up during the summer with a straight fertilizer. Water well and by summer you'll have a lawn so lush you'll be mowing it twice a week and kicking yourself for ever doing this in the first place. If you still have bare spots in the fall, turn over the soil in that area to loosen it up then seed. Rake the seed over to bury it. Cover with hay and water well. Come spring the seeds should start to emerge. Do not spread anything with weed killer for several months after you seed. It will also kill new grass.

Answer 4

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RE:
When is the best time to plant grass (Indianapolis)?
Our year is a mix of areas that are grass, significantly weeds, and just dirt - so should we put down weed killer first? Should we throw down seed now (before winter), or in the spring? We're all for the easiest/least work option that will work out sufficiently

Answer 5

You can spray the yard with an over the counter weed killer, that attaches to your hose. You will have to wait a week or two before reseeding. You should then overseed your whole yard. A great tool for doing this is the Garden Weasel. You can sprinkle a nice layer of seed down, and then Weasel it inot the dirt. A mix, of rye, bluegrass and fescue would work very well. After getting all this in, remember that you need to water your whole yard at least 3 times a day for the ofrst week to ten days, in order to let the seeds germinate. By next spring, you'll have a nice, full lawn.

Answer 6

i have had the best luck planting seed this time
of year cooler nights leaves moisture on the ground
to help germinate seeds warmer sun of the day gives
it the rest rake the area to loosen ground spread seed
if needed water in morning and night dont pudle water
just enough to keep it moist and in a few weeks it will grow
just get it done before the first frost good luck i live in illinois
so the weather is about the same

Answer 7

I've planted as late as September.You seem to get better results as the ground does'nt dry up as much & theres not as much predation from birds & rodents.If your bare spots are smaller in proportion to the rest of your yard try laying sod.It 's more expensive then seed but you get faster results.Water it at night & roll it in the day with a barrel roller.This takes about a week to ten days to root.

Answer 8

you should replace the whole lawn, there is a machine that will cut the top 2 to 3 inches of dirt, remove it and put new clean topsoil, re-seed and cover with straw and water, do this in spring, after the last frost. and keep the kids off it, keep it moist. after the grass starts to come up, treat a little with fertilizer and weed control.

Answer 9

In the spring.. in Indiana.. I would prepare the soil in March(late) or April and then plant the grass in april(I think you would not have any additional freezes during that time).. all this UNLESS you planned on planting RYE grass so you can have green during the winter???

Answer 10

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