Overseeding with rye grass is common in southwest Louisiana for people who like to keep their lawns with a green cover through the winter. Overseeding with rye grass is one of the many lawn care services that our lawn care company offers.
A dead lawn is an eyesore, even in winter. In any case, there is no reason why you should keep a dead lawn when you have an option to keep it green. Rye grass does not survive in the warm months and therefore you have to replant it every winter.
What is overseeding?
When you plant rye grass in your lawn, it is referred to as overseeding because you will be planting it in a lawn that already has other grass.
You can seed the rye grass on top of your regular lawn grass. That way, when the warm season sets in, the rye, which is a cold season grass dies and the warm season grass starts growing.
When you overseed your lawn with rye grass, you will keep a green lawn throughout the year.
Why you need the assistance of lawn care services for overseeding
While rye grass overseeding sounds so simple, there are some very important things to consider. In fact, you should get assistance from a lawn and landscape maintenance services company lest you do something that will destroy your regular warm season grass.
When you overseed with rye grass for winter, it means you will have to water your lawn throughout winter.
Seeding could be detrimental to the health of your warm season grass. You have to do it just right. You do not need to worry though because part of our lawn care services is to eliminate all guesswork and get everything on your lawn … just right!
Rye grass needs fertilizer to thrive in winter. Again, applying fertilizer without knowledge could hurt your regular grass. This is another reason why you need to involve professional lawn maintenance services. There can be no guesswork when it comes to the health of your lawn.
How often should you apply the rye grass on your lawn? Most of our customers ask us this question. Too much overseeding with rye grass on the lawn can cause the annihilation – literary, of your warm season grass.
The best time to plant your rye grass
Rye grass is a cool season grass. Thus, it is best planted in October or, at least 30 days before the first frost, when the temperatures are not too low.
It is recommended that you seed with rye grass when temperatures are not any lower than 60° F at night. This grass is going to keep green until somewhere in the middle of May when it starts dying because of the high temperatures.
How do you plant rye grass?
The first thing that you have to do is mow the summer grass to create room for the new grass. You also want the rye grass seeds to get into the soil. The best way to prepare the ground for rye grass is to use a power rake to poke the soil.
You cannot plant just any type of rye grass. As we offer lawn care services to our customers, we advise them on the best type of rye grass seed to use. What is good for a desert climate such as you would find in Arizona is different from what you would use in Louisiana.
Another thing that you need to know is how much rye grass seed you should apply in the lawn. Of course, the more the rye grass seeds that you use per square feet, the greener your lawn will be in winter. However, too many rye grass seeds could bring some nasty competition in May as all the rye grass will not have died off.
The recommended seeding is between 5 and 10 pounds of rye grass seed for every 1000 square feet. At seeding time, apply the first fertilizer. You may also apply a second helping of fertilizer in February.
Why you should plant perennial rye grass instead of annual rye grass
It is best that you choose perennial rye grass seed instead of annual rye grass. When the warm season comes, you want your regular lawn grass to come out.
As any lawn maintenance services provider will tell you, rye grass is a serious competitor for soil nutrients and other resources. Your warm grass does not need this kind of competition for nutrients, sunlight and other resources.
Perennial rye grass grows faster, has more robust and greener leaves with a darker color as compared with the annual rye grass. If you get rye grass that is suited for your area, you shall have a green lawn throughout winter.
By the month of May, you should stop watering the lawn so that the rye grass can die. Wait two or three weeks and then start watering again so that your regular lawn grass can start growing.
Keep your rye grass mowed during winter. Overseeding with rye grass means doing some work. You should not worry because we offer grass cutting services to our customers throughout the year.
It is recommended that you keep the rye grass mowed to between 2 and 3 inches in winter. However, a couple of weeks before the last frost comes in Spring, mow down the rye grass to 1 inch.
This should give the warm season grass a chance to start growing while you shock the rye grass to start dying. As soon as more than 50% of your summer grass attains green color, you can apply the first fertilizer for it.
As you can see, overseeding the lawn with rye grass can be daunting. There are so many things to take care of and to know about. These include knowing about watering, applying fertilizer and when to stop watering. That is why you need the help of landscape maintenance services.
