For a lawn in average condition is it better to seed or fertilize?

Question

Obviously both but that can be costly for 1 acre. I live in southern CT (zone 6 I believe). Also, what time of year would be best to do?

Answer 1

Fertilize.......now! You have the plants, but they are puny due to some problem......perhaps nutrients. If you can pump them full of nutrients, they will naturally begin to fill in the bare areas.

Seeding but not adding nutrients (ferilizer) means even the new plants will starve along with the older ones.

Cool season grasses are tillering right now (sending out new little plants next to them) thus thickening. You can safely add fertilizer for the next few weeks....usually not after Halloween. Go with the "winterizer" formulas which have a slower release nitrogen......you don't want to be dumping ammonium sulfate down now, too quick release.......that would have been better back just before Labor Day.

Answer 2

Best thing to do is a soil test from a good lab... PK and pH
minimum (N is not a reliable value). $6-$8 every 3-5 years
will give you a good idea of how much of what to apply
http://www.ladybug.uconn.edu/factsheets/SoilTestingforLawnsGardens.html
http://www.soiltest.uconn.edu/#testing

Second best thing you can do (after applying lime and fertilizer to the soil test's recommendations -- likely a whole lot less than you think you should apply) is to learn to mow properly for your type of grass, and sharpen the mower blade. Correct mowing heignt and mowing frequency will help the grasses outcompete the weeds, so you can pretty much forgo all those herbicides, except maybe some spot control if you've got some real nasties like purple loosestrife or canada thistle or quackgrass (not crabgrass -- proper mowing and fertilization will control crabgrass very well). Sharp mower blades cut the grass instead of chewing it, increasing likelihood of diseases.
http://www.ladybug.uconn.edu/factsheets/tp_05_lawnconstruction.html
http://www.hort.uconn.edu/ipm/homegrnd/htms/lawnweeds.htm

You can garden cheaper and with less work if you garden with your head first and then with tools and inputs like fertilizer, lime and seed.

With an acre, you might also start working on putting it into a "natural landscape" using native species or species that tolerate your soil conditions and climate without much care. It's not too difficult if you work at it a bit at a time...
http://www.ct-botanical-society.org/garden/index.html

Answer 3

Fertilize and you might consider renting an aerator as this pulls out small plugs of grass leaving more room for healthy roots to grow. Just leave the plugs on the ground as they will disintegrate into the ground after a couple of rainy days. Many lawns don't thrive because they are root bound. By doing these two things your lawn should look better next year.
If you see an improvement next year, keep it up. Aeration can be done anytime and fertilization should be done in spring and fall.
Once things are looking better and you can afford it, over seed the area after adding new topsoil or peat moss to the area first.

Answer 4

I am in agreement with the other poster.

Be sure to keep on a good watering schedule. This is what makes grass beautiful. If you do not keep it watered, nothing is going to help make a pretty lawn. Water is the key. :o)

Answer 5

if the turf is relatively healthy, feed. the previous answer is good advice.