Just throw down some pre emergent and wait until late august to clean it up. Rake and reseed. These are all matted down dead grass.

 

I would start with trying to rake up some of that dead material. If you overseeded on top of that you aren't going to get ideal germination. How long ago did you overseed?

 

It was about 2.5 weeks ago I tried to reseed. I did rake the grass before I aerated and seeded but then we have a big hail storm and it all seemed to have matted down again. I am researching pre-emergent I can get in my area and will look to apply that after another round of raking. Do you think I should dethatch or would a heavy raking work just as well?

Appreciate the responses.

 

Make a plan for the reno beginning in August. With only 1000 sq ft you should have no problem renovating your lawn. Until then, enjoy summer.

 

Make a plan for the reno beginning in August. With only 1000 sq ft you should have no problem renovating your lawn. Until then, enjoy summer.

^ This. We need to start early in Canada. I would plan to put more seed down no later than the middle of August.

If you are brand new to lawn care, I would suggest a blend of KBG and Perennial Ryegrass.

Pre-emergent is not for sale in Canada (banned by the government), however you can get what you need at Seed World USA - check for Dimension or Prodiamine.

Since you only have 1,000 sf. ft. I would also get glyphosate (also from SW USA) and plan to kill what you have in mid July. Wait one week then scalp you lawn - put your mower as low as it will go. Water for another week then spray glyphosate on anything green that pops up. Plan to be ready to go by the first week of August.

Check out this guide as well - https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=16808

Your other option is to check pricing on sod in your area, depending on how much work you want to put in.

 

You should see germination by 2 weeks. The earliest you will realiably see germination is 3-5 days. If there is nothing there at 2.5 weeks, something went wrong. My guess would be not enough water. Generally, you want to keep the seeds moist during germination. That means something like watering 3x/day or so for 3-10 minutes depending on irrigation.

 

If you are planning to reseed in a couple of months, forget the preemergent. It will prevent your seed from germinating.

 

If you are planning to reseed in a couple of months, forget the preemergent. It will prevent your seed from germinating.

^ +1 Thanks for calling this out. I missed it in my post.

 

I agree with Virginiagal. Skip the preemergent to overseed. Spot treat the weeds. I would water at least two times a day to keep the seeds moist. Keep watering slightly heavier around that area that is dormant. It will come back within 2 weeks.

 

Did you remove the dead grass before the overseed? Do you have dogs?

 

If you are planning to reseed in a couple of months, forget the preemergent. It will prevent your seed from germinating.

Not if you do a light app just to hold off the weeds long enough. The heat and water will pretty much destroy the pre m anyways before its supposed to lose effectiveness.

 

The Prodiamine label says you can reseed 4 months after using the lowest dose on their chart. Preemergent would be an impediment to an August reseeding. I don't know what happened to the lawn (over application of something? disease?) but it seems to be inhospitable to any plant growth. That dead matted down stuff has to come up so that seed will fall on soil on instead of dead leaves. Try mowing as low as your mower will go and bagging the clippings.

 

No need to keep weeds away if you nuke the lawn in 6 weeks. Pre emergent is a wasted app right now. It's June 2nd. The OP is in Canada where pre emergent is banned and can't be purchased quickly. The quickest he would have it is mid to end of next week. Now it's almost the middle of June.

Nuke the lawn in 6 weeks. In the meantime start to understand the basics of lawn care, especially getting irrigation figured out and sourcing grass seed.

 

I agree with Virginiagal. Skip the preemergent to overseed. Spot treat the weeds. I would water at least two times a day to keep the seeds moist. Keep watering slightly heavier around that area that is dormant. It will come back within 2 weeks.

This looks dead, and if the seed hasn't germinated by now it's not likely going to. An August reno is the best bet.

Fallowing could start now however, to make sure whatever weed seeds are in the soil germinate and get killed before the reno.