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Home > Archive > Lawn and Garden forum > June 2005 > Seeding a New Lawn - Neat Trick
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Seeding a New Lawn - Neat Trick
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| Winston Smith 2005-06-16, 2:38 pm |
| Has anybody else ever done this?
Last year, I repaired a large portion of my lawn after extensive excavation
work was done on my property. A friend told me to brew a strong tea from 10
teabags and combine it in a five gallon bucket with grass seed and enough
tap water to make it mushy. I filled the bucket up with this mixture and
let it sit overnight in the garage. The next mooring I could see that some
the seeds had already sprouted. I spread the seed by hand, breaking up the
clumps of wet seed as I went. I over seeded this with a little dry seed and
raked it over. I watered it faithfully. In less than a week I had grass
growing!
According to my buddy, the tannic acid in the tea breaks down the hulls of
the seed and allows the germination to begin at a faster rate. I was very
surprised to see how well it actually worked. I was just wondering if this
is common knowledge or am I onto something new here?
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| allegro 2005-06-16, 2:38 pm |
| On 29/05/2005 10:51 AM Winston Smith wrote:
quote:
> Has anybody else ever done this?
>
> Last year, I repaired a large portion of my lawn after extensive excavation
> work was done on my property. A friend told me to brew a strong tea from 10
> teabags and combine it in a five gallon bucket with grass seed and enough
> tap water to make it mushy. I filled the bucket up with this mixture and
> let it sit overnight in the garage. The next mooring I could see that some
> the seeds had already sprouted. I spread the seed by hand, breaking up the
> clumps of wet seed as I went. I over seeded this with a little dry seed and
> raked it over. I watered it faithfully. In less than a week I had grass
> growing!
>
> According to my buddy, the tannic acid in the tea breaks down the hulls of
> the seed and allows the germination to begin at a faster rate. I was very
> surprised to see how well it actually worked. I was just wondering if this
> is common knowledge or am I onto something new here?
>
>
What kind of tea did you use? I may give this a try.
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| Winston Smith 2005-06-16, 2:38 pm |
| Just plain old tea like Lipton or Red Rose tea. Oh, I forgot to mention I
used a "starter seed" also raked in some "starter fertilizer" along with it.
quote:
> What kind of tea did you use? I may give this a try.
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| Steveo 2005-06-16, 2:38 pm |
| "Winston Smith" <smith@nospam.net> wrote:
quote:
> Just plain old tea like Lipton or Red Rose tea. Oh, I forgot to mention
> I used a "starter seed" also
>
What's a starter seed?
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| Winston Smith 2005-06-16, 2:38 pm |
| If I remember correctly it's a mixture of rye, fescue, and some other seeds.
Maybe it's called "landscape mixture". I really can't remember. The bag
is out in my shed. I'll take a look the next time I'm working outside. I'm
obviously not a pro at this. I'm just thankful that I was able to grow some
grass. The tea helped speed up the process and insure some measure of
success. I need all the help I can get.
"Steveo" <moparholic@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:20050529125422.408$h2@newsreader.com...
quote:
> "Winston Smith" <smith@nospam.net> wrote:
> What's a starter seed?
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| G Henslee 2005-06-16, 2:38 pm |
| Winston Smith wrote:
quote:
> If I remember correctly it's a mixture of rye, fescue, and some other seeds.
pasture...
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| - Tom - 2005-06-16, 2:38 pm |
|
"Winston Smith" <smith@nospam.net> wrote in message
news:KFkme.9379$tv3.2535@trnddc06...
quote:
> Has anybody else ever done this?
>
> Last year, I repaired a large portion of my lawn after extensive
> excavation work was done on my property. A friend told me to brew a
> strong tea from 10 teabags and combine it in a five gallon bucket with
> grass seed and enough tap water to make it mushy. I filled the bucket up
> with this mixture and let it sit overnight in the garage. The next
> mooring I could see that some the seeds had already sprouted. I spread
> the seed by hand, breaking up the clumps of wet seed as I went. I over
> seeded this with a little dry seed and raked it over. I watered it
> faithfully. In less than a week I had grass growing!
>
> According to my buddy, the tannic acid in the tea breaks down the hulls of
> the seed and allows the germination to begin at a faster rate. I was very
> surprised to see how well it actually worked. I was just wondering if
> this is common knowledge or am I onto something new here?
>
>
I've never used the tea but I have soaked the seed to get it started. I
did it at work with ~ 40# of athletic turf seed. Soaked it and left it in
the sack, draining, at the end of a work day to get started the next
morning. Supervisor took me off that task to do something else. Returned to
the task the next day and the seed was uselessly entangled with roots.
Once nature gets going there's no stopping it.
--
Tom
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| Winston Smith 2005-06-16, 2:38 pm |
| And what's your point?
"G Henslee" <ghen@cableone.net> wrote in message
news:3fulnnF9fjv3U1@individual.net...
quote:
> Winston Smith wrote:
>
>
> pasture...
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| Suzy O 2005-06-16, 2:38 pm |
| I was suspecting that any liquid, nontoxic, of course, would get germination
going. But as Tom points out, it needs to be planted once it starts to
sprout!
Suzy, Zone 5, Wisconsin
"- Tom -" <octothorpe_@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:Hiqme.5211$Ub.1962@trndny09...
quote:
>
> "Winston Smith" <smith@nospam.net> wrote in message
> news:KFkme.9379$tv3.2535@trnddc06...
>
> I've never used the tea but I have soaked the seed to get it started. I
> did it at work with ~ 40# of athletic turf seed. Soaked it and left it in
> the sack, draining, at the end of a work day to get started the next
> morning. Supervisor took me off that task to do something else. Returned
> to
> the task the next day and the seed was uselessly entangled with roots.
> Once nature gets going there's no stopping it.
>
> --
> Tom
>
>
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