I have not been able to reach customer service- always a call back,
which I won't do.
In late April I planted Pennington One Step. I followed
instructions carefully. I'm in the Northeast and the weather was wet
and cool for several weeks. In about 2 weeks the seed emerged. Over
the past few weeks the weather has been dry and sunny, but I have
watered on average 2 hours/day. (At first watering was pretty much
non-stop due to the rain.)
The bottom line is that the resulting grass has still not reached a
cuttable height of 3" in most areas and is extremely uneven. While
there are some fairly lush areas, much of the grass looks short and
almost stunted. I used slightly more seed than was recommended for the
area, but did not seriously overapply. The seed was applied carefully
by hand to achieve reasonable uniformity
(all that could be expected from hand seeding.)
This is far from the first lawn I have seeded. The soil was good
and used for an established lawn over many years which was ruined in
the extremely hot summer of 2010. I turned the bad areas over
carefully, removed all the weeds, and covered with a thin layer of
topsoil before planting.
Could someone please advise me? This lawn needs to be in shape by
July 1. As it is now, the weeds are beating the grass!
Thanks for help.
Frank

On 6/7/2011 2:23 PM, frank1492 wrote:
....
In late April I planted Pennington One Step. I followed
instructions carefully. I'm in the Northeast and the weather was wet
and cool for several weeks. In about 2 weeks the seed emerged. Over
the past few weeks the weather has been dry and sunny, but I have
watered on average 2 hours/day. (At first watering was pretty much
non-stop due to the rain.)
....

I'd venture given the described conditions a fair amount of seed may
have either washed away, gotten buried too deeply or simply drowned as
sprouts given too much water and cool early.

Could someone please advise me? This lawn needs to be in shape by
July 1. As it is now, the weeds are beating the grass!
....

Ain't likely gonna' happen other than slow and gradual improvement

As another said, unless you actually did some soil testing to determine
what the condition of the soil actually is wrt nutrients and acidity,
anything you try w/o doing so is purely a crapshoot and may well do more
harm than good.

I'd still wonder if you're not actually over-watering or at least on too
frequent and shallow a schedule instead of less frequently and more
deeply. It's been, after all, six weeks or so, so you're not talking
still sprouting.

Did you mulch it after seeding? That'll make a big difference in
keeping moist surface initially and help some w/ shading weeds.

--

"frank1492" wrote in message
...
I have not been able to reach customer service- always a call back,
which I won't do.
In late April I planted Pennington One Step. I followed
instructions carefully. I'm in the Northeast and the weather was wet
and cool for several weeks. In about 2 weeks the seed emerged. Over
the past few weeks the weather has been dry and sunny, but I have
watered on average 2 hours/day. (At first watering was pretty much
non-stop due to the rain.)
The bottom line is that the resulting grass has still not reached a
cuttable height of 3" in most areas and is extremely uneven. While
there are some fairly lush areas, much of the grass looks short and
almost stunted. I used slightly more seed than was recommended for the
area, but did not seriously overapply. The seed was applied carefully
by hand to achieve reasonable uniformity
(all that could be expected from hand seeding.)
This is far from the first lawn I have seeded. The soil was good
and used for an established lawn over many years which was ruined in
the extremely hot summer of 2010. I turned the bad areas over
carefully, removed all the weeds, and covered with a thin layer of
topsoil before planting.
Could someone please advise me? This lawn needs to be in shape by
July 1. As it is now, the weeds are beating the grass!
Thanks for help.
Frank

This Pennington sounds like a real gimmick product. I have seen similar
types advertised on TV. It is mostly a mulch (probably ground-up newspapers)
with some fertilizer and some grass seed of unknown type, very overpriced. I
have had good results with spring seeding, and even early winter seeding
with grass starting to grow on the first warm days of spring. I have always
used regular lawn seed, usually a Kentucky type blended with other types,
and have had no problems BUT to expect a lush fully grown lawn by July 1st,
is never going to happen. If the weeds are overtaking the grass, a mowing
will kill most weeds except the ones that are capable of living in a mowed
lawn. It takes time to get a good lawn and these companies are selling a
dream that will not materialize easily.

In article
,
Joe wrote:

On Jun 7, 5:10*pm, frank1492 wrote:
I agree, fall is best, but I won't be around then. Also plenty of
people plant in the spring and get serviceable results.

snip

You haven't had any soil test done, so you don't have clue as to the
problem, and for sure there is one. Given your time constraints, the
best way out now is to simply load up on decent sod and get it down
and keep watering and praying. Think about shifting the problem to a
commercial lawn service.

Joe

How will "praying" help? Sounds very illogical, and unscientific. I
mean, even if there were a god, why would he give a rat's ass about
whether someone's new lawn was pretty by a given date?

On Jun 7, 8:51*pm, "EXT" wrote:
"frank1492" wrote in message

...





I have not been able to reach customer service- always a call back,
which I won't do.
* *In late April I planted Pennington One Step. I followed
instructions carefully. I'm in the Northeast and the weather was wet
and cool for several weeks. In about 2 weeks the seed emerged. Over
the past few weeks the weather has been dry and sunny, but I have
watered on average 2 hours/day. (At first watering was pretty much
non-stop due to the rain.)
* The bottom line is that the resulting grass has still not reached a
cuttable height of 3" in most areas and is extremely *uneven. While
there are some fairly lush areas, much of the grass looks short and
almost stunted. I used slightly more seed than was recommended for the
area, but did not seriously overapply. The seed was applied carefully
by hand to achieve reasonable uniformity
(all that could be expected from hand seeding.)
* This is far from the first lawn I have seeded. The soil was good
and used for an established lawn over many years which was ruined in
the extremely hot summer of 2010. I turned the bad areas over
carefully, removed all the weeds, and covered with a thin layer of
topsoil before planting.
* Could someone please advise me? This lawn needs to be in shape by
July 1. As it is now, the weeds are beating the grass!
* Thanks for help.
* * * * * Frank

This Pennington sounds like a real gimmick product. I have seen similar
types advertised on TV. It is mostly a mulch (probably ground-up newspapers)
with some fertilizer and some grass seed of unknown type, very overpriced.. I
have had good results with spring seeding, and even early winter seeding
with grass starting to grow on the first warm days of spring. I have always
used regular lawn seed, usually a Kentucky type blended with other types,
and have had no problems BUT to expect a lush fully grown lawn by July 1st,
is never going to happen. If the weeds are overtaking the grass, a mowing
will kill most weeds except the ones that are capable of living in a mowed
lawn. It takes time to get a good lawn and these companies are selling a
dream that will not materialize easily.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

The one-step type of products can be good for patching some small
areas.
But I agree, they are premium priced and you can save $$ by buying
seed
and fertilizer seperately. If you want the hydraulic mulch as well,
that is
available too.

Hard to say what went wrong here without knowing more. My first
suspicion would be the new topsoil that was used. Often, new topsoil
has PH that is way off. I'd at least test that. Even better, if
there is
an agricultural extension service or similar in the area, for about
$15
they will do a complete soil test. Its also possible heavy rain may
have washed the seed around, leaving some spots with little or none.

At this point, the fertilizer from April is gone. I'd apply starter
fertilizer
now. The watering should have been cut back long ago. Light
watering
to keep it constantly damp should be done for several weeks. Then
you want to start backing off to less frequent watering, but watering
it longer/deeper. By now it should be watered about once every 3 or
4 days, perhaps more frequent if it's real hot.

You should also be able to apply a broadleaf weed killer at this
point.
Ideally, you;d want the grass more established, but it's been 2 months
and if the weeds are overtaking what grass you have, I don't think
you have much to lose.

When I';ve renovated lawns, I did not till up everything, which is a
lot
of work. To start from scratch, I kill everything with Roundup, wait
about a week until it's all dead, then mow it short and rake up the
debris. Then I rent an overseeder. HD or local rental shops have
them. That cuts grooves that give the seed good soil contact and
better chance of success. The remaining amount of debris also
serves as a mulch.

On 6/8/2011 4:45 PM, frank1492 wrote:
This was a sun/shade mixture. I was puzzled by the label on the seed
as to the composition.

Here's why it's important: grass seed takes time to germinate.
Different varieties take different amounts of time. If you know what
you're planting, you know how long it's going to take just to sprout,
at which point you know whether you've got a fighting chance to get
your lawn established in time.

Sun/shade mixtures are usually a mix of bluegrass(es), fescue, and
ryegrass. In a quality mix, all the grasses are improved (named)
varieties, and the ryegrass is a hybrid perennial ryegrass, which
persists and blends better with the bluegrass. Annual rye is cheap
filler and grass mixes containing it should be avoided, unless you
only are looking for temporary cover.

Germination times:
Common (unnamed) kentucky bluegrass: 30 days
Improved (named) kentucky bluegrass varieties: 21 days
Fescues : 14 days
Ryegrasses - 7-10 days

See, if you seeded in late April, it would have only finished
germinating by mid to late May. That only leaves a few weeks for the
seedlings to become established. And spring weather isn't optimum for
that - the weather is actually working against you (cold soil delays
sprouting, warm winds dry it out faster, heavier rains wash more of it
away, and the weeds are actively growing). It makes it harder to get
the lawn established. Late summer/early fall seeding is when perennial
grasses naturally seed, and the weather is working with you: warm soil
(sprouts faster), cooler winds (doesn't dry out as fast), far fewer
torrential downpours. And you could haven taken care of the weed
situation in the spring, so there'd be fewer weeds around to compete
with the grass seedlings.

You gave it your best shot. If you're lucky, the weather won't be too
dry while you're gone and your new grass will eventually establish,
more or less, while you're gone.

This is excellent and will be preserved. The germination times were
most interesting- this mixture obviously contained mostly grasses with
the longest germination times.
As I noted, there is much I could have done to assure better
germination conditions, but I fell for the hype. Oh how I wish I could
have planted in the fall- and used a slice seeder with a good mixture
of conventional seed and starter fertilizer.
Today, I overseeded with a thin coating of perennial rye grass and
starter fertilizer. I'm sure you will find fault with the use of
perennial rye but I felt I had to do something with the weak spots and
with so little time left it seemed like the only reasonable
alternative. I know PR is frowned upon because of its coarse texture
and the fact that it will be coarse and grow much faster than the
Pennington will obviously be a problem, making the lawn look somewhat
mottled. But I use it quite often (by itself) near the shore on Cape
Cod because of the poor soil and salt.
Thanks again for your advice . Probably should have checked about
the PR before going ahead.
Frank


On Thu, 09 Jun 2011 07:29:35 -0500, Hell Toupee
wrote:

On 6/8/2011 4:45 PM, frank1492 wrote:
This was a sun/shade mixture. I was puzzled by the label on the seed
as to the composition.

Here's why it's important: grass seed takes time to germinate.
Different varieties take different amounts of time. If you know what
you're planting, you know how long it's going to take just to sprout,
at which point you know whether you've got a fighting chance to get
your lawn established in time.

Sun/shade mixtures are usually a mix of bluegrass(es), fescue, and
ryegrass. In a quality mix, all the grasses are improved (named)
varieties, and the ryegrass is a hybrid perennial ryegrass, which
persists and blends better with the bluegrass. Annual rye is cheap
filler and grass mixes containing it should be avoided, unless you
only are looking for temporary cover.

Germination times:
Common (unnamed) kentucky bluegrass: 30 days
Improved (named) kentucky bluegrass varieties: 21 days
Fescues : 14 days
Ryegrasses - 7-10 days

See, if you seeded in late April, it would have only finished
germinating by mid to late May. That only leaves a few weeks for the
seedlings to become established. And spring weather isn't optimum for
that - the weather is actually working against you (cold soil delays
sprouting, warm winds dry it out faster, heavier rains wash more of it
away, and the weeds are actively growing). It makes it harder to get
the lawn established. Late summer/early fall seeding is when perennial
grasses naturally seed, and the weather is working with you: warm soil
(sprouts faster), cooler winds (doesn't dry out as fast), far fewer
torrential downpours. And you could haven taken care of the weed
situation in the spring, so there'd be fewer weeds around to compete
with the grass seedlings.

You gave it your best shot. If you're lucky, the weather won't be too
dry while you're gone and your new grass will eventually establish,
more or less, while you're gone.

"This mixture obviously contained mostly grasses with
the longest germination times." NOTTTTT.
I am stunned! I finally dug the bag out of the trash:
Pennington 1-Step Complete:
5.52% 1G Squared Perennial Ryegrass
4.14% Soprano Perennial Ryegrass
1.38% Ridgeline Kentucky Bluegrass
1.38% Seven Seas Chewings Fescue
1.38% Razor Red Fescue
Something "crop seed' (cant read percentage)
Inert Matter (can't read percentage)
Does this sound good???At least it looks as though my Perennial
Rye overseeding will be right at home. But with all that rye, why so
slow to germinate?


















On Thu, 09 Jun 2011 13:22:48 -0400, frank1492
wrote:

This is excellent and will be preserved. The germination times were
most interesting- this mixture obviously contained mostly grasses with
the longest germination times.
As I noted, there is much I could have done to assure better
germination conditions, but I fell for the hype. Oh how I wish I could
have planted in the fall- and used a slice seeder with a good mixture
of conventional seed and starter fertilizer.
Today, I overseeded with a thin coating of perennial rye grass and
starter fertilizer. I'm sure you will find fault with the use of
perennial rye but I felt I had to do something with the weak spots and
with so little time left it seemed like the only reasonable
alternative. I know PR is frowned upon because of its coarse texture
and the fact that it will be coarse and grow much faster than the
Pennington will obviously be a problem, making the lawn look somewhat
mottled. But I use it quite often (by itself) near the shore on Cape
Cod because of the poor soil and salt.
Thanks again for your advice . Probably should have checked about
the PR before going ahead.
Frank


On Thu, 09 Jun 2011 07:29:35 -0500, Hell Toupee
wrote:

On 6/8/2011 4:45 PM, frank1492 wrote:
This was a sun/shade mixture. I was puzzled by the label on the seed
as to the composition.

Here's why it's important: grass seed takes time to germinate.
Different varieties take different amounts of time. If you know what
you're planting, you know how long it's going to take just to sprout,
at which point you know whether you've got a fighting chance to get
your lawn established in time.

Sun/shade mixtures are usually a mix of bluegrass(es), fescue, and
ryegrass. In a quality mix, all the grasses are improved (named)
varieties, and the ryegrass is a hybrid perennial ryegrass, which
persists and blends better with the bluegrass. Annual rye is cheap
filler and grass mixes containing it should be avoided, unless you
only are looking for temporary cover.

Germination times:
Common (unnamed) kentucky bluegrass: 30 days
Improved (named) kentucky bluegrass varieties: 21 days
Fescues : 14 days
Ryegrasses - 7-10 days

See, if you seeded in late April, it would have only finished
germinating by mid to late May. That only leaves a few weeks for the
seedlings to become established. And spring weather isn't optimum for
that - the weather is actually working against you (cold soil delays
sprouting, warm winds dry it out faster, heavier rains wash more of it
away, and the weeds are actively growing). It makes it harder to get
the lawn established. Late summer/early fall seeding is when perennial
grasses naturally seed, and the weather is working with you: warm soil
(sprouts faster), cooler winds (doesn't dry out as fast), far fewer
torrential downpours. And you could haven taken care of the weed
situation in the spring, so there'd be fewer weeds around to compete
with the grass seedlings.

You gave it your best shot. If you're lucky, the weather won't be too
dry while you're gone and your new grass will eventually establish,
more or less, while you're gone.

On Jun 7, 12:23*pm, frank1492 wrote:
I have not been able to reach customer service- always a call back,
which I won't do.
* * In late April I planted Pennington One Step. I followed
instructions carefully. I'm in the Northeast and the weather was wet
and cool for several weeks. In about 2 weeks the seed emerged. Over
the past few weeks the weather has been dry and sunny, but I have
watered on average 2 hours/day. (At first watering was pretty much
non-stop due to the rain.)
* *The bottom line is that the resulting grass has still not reached a
cuttable height of 3" in most areas and is extremely *uneven. While
there are some fairly lush areas, much of the grass looks short and
almost stunted. I used slightly more seed than was recommended for the
area, but did not seriously overapply. The seed was applied carefully
by hand to achieve reasonable uniformity
(all that could be expected from hand seeding.)
* *This is far from the first lawn I have seeded. The soil was good
and used for an established lawn over many years which was ruined in
the extremely hot summer of 2010. I turned the bad areas over
carefully, removed all the weeds, and covered with a thin layer of
topsoil before planting.
* *Could someone please advise me? This lawn needs to be in shape by
July 1. As it is now, the weeds are beating the grass!
* *Thanks for help.
* * * * * *Frank

Try rec.gardens

HB

On Jun 9, 1:36*pm, frank1492 wrote:
"This mixture obviously contained mostly grasses with
the longest germination times." NOTTTTT.
* * *I am stunned! I finally dug the bag out of the trash:
Pennington 1-Step Complete:
5.52% 1G Squared Perennial Ryegrass
4.14% Soprano Perennial Ryegrass
1.38% Ridgeline Kentucky Bluegrass
1.38% Seven Seas Chewings Fescue
1.38% Razor Red Fescue
Something "crop seed' (cant read percentage)
Inert Matter (can't read percentage)
* * *Does this sound good???At least it looks as though my Perennial
Rye overseeding will be right at home. But with all that rye, why so
slow to germinate?

Maybe the better question is why so little seed? I guess we know
the answer to that. They can get a premium
price for a convenience product that is only 15% seed. Scotts is
playing this game big time in an even sneakier way. A lot of
their grass product is coated with something to help hold water. Good
idea, except that the 10lb bag is only half seed and many people
never realize it. So, while the bag is priced like other grass seed
that is 100% seed, you're only getting half the actual seed.

My first suspicion would be that something was not right with the
new topsoil that you used. It's not unusual for screened topsoil
to be way off in PH for example. Having started in late April, you
should have decent grass by now. Also, even if it's not very big
yet, it was done germinating weeks ago and you should see
evenly distributed plants, even if still small.





On Thu, 09 Jun 2011 13:22:48 -0400, frank1492
wrote:



This is excellent and will be preserved. The germination times were
most interesting- this mixture obviously contained mostly grasses with
the longest germination times.
* *As I noted, there is much I could have done to assure better
germination conditions, but I fell for the hype. Oh how I wish I could
have planted in the fall- and used a slice seeder with a good mixture
of conventional seed and starter fertilizer.
* *Today, I overseeded with a thin coating of perennial rye grass and
starter fertilizer. I'm sure you will find fault with the use of
perennial rye but I felt I had to do something with the weak spots and
with so little time left it seemed like the only reasonable
alternative. I know PR is frowned upon because of its coarse texture
and the fact that it will be coarse and grow much faster than the
Pennington will obviously be a problem, making the lawn look somewhat
mottled. But I use it quite often (by itself) near the shore on Cape
Cod because of the poor soil and salt.
* Thanks again for your advice . Probably should have checked about
the PR before going ahead.
* Frank

On Thu, 09 Jun 2011 07:29:35 -0500, Hell Toupee
wrote:

On 6/8/2011 4:45 PM, frank1492 wrote:
This was a sun/shade mixture. I was puzzled by the label on the seed
as to the composition.

Here's why it's important: grass seed takes time to germinate.
Different varieties take different amounts of time. If you know what
you're planting, you know how long it's going to take just to sprout,
at which point you know whether you've got a fighting chance to get
your lawn established in time.

Sun/shade mixtures are usually a mix of bluegrass(es), fescue, and
ryegrass. In a *quality mix, all the grasses are improved (named)
varieties, and the ryegrass is a hybrid perennial ryegrass, which
persists and blends better with the bluegrass. Annual rye is cheap
filler and grass mixes containing it should be avoided, unless you
only are looking for temporary cover.

Germination times:
Common (unnamed) kentucky bluegrass: 30 days
Improved (named) kentucky bluegrass varieties: 21 days
Fescues : 14 days
Ryegrasses - 7-10 days

See, if you seeded in late April, it would have only finished
germinating by mid to late May. That only leaves a few weeks for the
seedlings to become established. And spring weather isn't optimum for
that - the weather is actually working against you (cold soil delays
sprouting, warm winds dry it out faster, heavier rains wash more of it
away, and the weeds are actively growing). It makes it harder to get
the lawn established. Late summer/early fall seeding is when perennial
grasses naturally seed, and the weather is working with you: warm soil
(sprouts faster), cooler winds (doesn't dry out as fast), far fewer
torrential downpours. And you could haven taken care of the weed
situation in the spring, so there'd be fewer weeds around to compete
with the grass seedlings.

You gave it your best shot. If you're lucky, the weather won't be too
dry while you're gone and your new grass will eventually establish,
more or less, while you're gone.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -