Last date to seed new lawn in Central Ohio?

sixdogs · Sep 27, 2011

This is sort od a dumb question but when do you suppose is the latest I can put down a new lawn of 75% fescue, 10% KY Blue and 20% perennial rye in Central Ohio? It's a perfect seedbed and I'm using a Brillion seeder. It's Sept 27th now and I figure maybe another couple weeks?
I know this is a ballpark answer but any advice would be helpful. My neighbor has been slow putting down hia lawn and now he needs help. Thanks in advance.

bp fick · Sep 27, 2011

It's a risk, waiting this late. Normally, planting between August 15th through Labor Day yields the best results. Now, the ground has cooled, the sun is getting lower, days shorter and the time it has to establish itself before the frosts come is limited. Yesterday.
Go, go, go. Time is about up.

edit: It seems OSU agrees with me.
http://ohioline.osu.edu/b546/b546_6.html

seymojo536 · Sep 28, 2011

It is risky now, but here's some info for our area. Straight from the horse's mouth. FWIW, I have seeded lawns as late as November with good results. Of course that year I played golf on December 23 in 63 degree weather.

Natural Organic Lawn Care for Ohio

EagleTDL · Sep 28, 2011

Raised in KY, so not too far from ya... Rule of thumb my Granny used (who could stick a stick in the ground and make it grow!), which I still remember, is that for grass seeding any month with an "r" in it, March to November is good. If you get a cold snap in November it might roll it back a bit but what you're planting is a cool-weather grass and it will come right on up. May not grow much in the colder weather, but it will sprout and form roots which is what you're looking for...

Duffster · Sep 28, 2011

It's never to late. But you might be better to wait a bit more now and frost seed it or seed it just before frost.

scoutcub · Oct 9, 2011

sixdogs said:
This is sort od a dumb question but when do you suppose is the latest I can put down a new lawn of 75% fescue, 10% KY Blue and 20% perennial rye in Central Ohio? It's a perfect seedbed and I'm using a Brillion seeder. It's Sept 27th now and I figure maybe another couple weeks?
I know this is a ballpark answer but any advice would be helpful. My neighbor has been slow putting down hia lawn and now he needs help. Thanks in advance.

6Dogs -

Did you get it in? My wife told me this coming week is an indian summer weatherwise, so it might get rooted...I'm 'kinda' in the same boat.....was supposed to return home on the 18th of October, now just extended till the 24th, and wanted to seed some new ground....think I'm outta luck.

Hope it works for you!

sixdogs · Oct 9, 2011

scoutcub said:
6Dogs -

Did you get it in? My wife told me this coming week is an indian summer weatherwise, so it might get rooted...I'm 'kinda' in the same boat.....was supposed to return home on the 18th of October, now just extended till the 24th, and wanted to seed some new ground....think I'm outta luck.

Hope it works for you!

Well, I had two. One with a fescue/ryegrass blend I put in and, after two weeks of damp weather, it looks great. Other lawn needed too much prep work so it won't be ready in time. I did search this a lot and get a lot of opinions of those who it worked for and didn't. Spoke with a few OSU turf people.
My belief is that you can start one of the newer fescue/ryegeass blend lawns that have the new variety bluegrass (10%) lawns up until maybe late-ish October if you feel lucky. Cutoff for me is going to be maybe October 15th or so.

sixdogs · Nov 9, 2011

OK--here's the results from late season planting in a typical to slightly wet/cool year. Grass planted in the mid Sept to end Sept time frame did wonderful and looks like a new lawn should. Planted in the first week of October is still OK but not nearly as thick and lush as earlier grass.
In the second and third week of October my results were not good. Yes, the grass grew just a little bit and really struggled. This may perk up a bit before winter but it's too prone to "washing" in a hard rain or just turning muddy. So, the answer would be to plant grass in central Ohio, or similar location, before the end of the third week of September and at the latest the end of that month. Just my two cents.