Most reliable Grass Seeds

Having recently had variable results with germination, despite care taken, have trawled the net for good, reliable grass seeds. When looking at the reviews, every brand that has five stars will also have one star reviews. I would be grateful for recommendations, since I intend to buy a fairly large quantity ...

Many thanks

 

I’ve just used some Johnsons lawn seed on my recently scarified lawn. I used the Quick Lawn version as it was recommended for sandy soil by a member of staff in my local garden centre. Have a look at the Johnsons lawn seed website for more information as there’s several versions to suit different situations. My seed germinated in 8 days and the bare patches are greening up nicely.

 

Grass seed needs to be ‘fresh’ … it doesn’t ‘keep’ very long at all when on the GC shelves etc, so check the packing date.

Other than that, choosing the right type of grass for your conditions (shady or sunny etc) and sowing when the soil temperature is around 10C and you should be fine.

Oh, and don’t try to sow grass seed where a lawn has been treated within at least 6 months with a ‘weed & feed’ type treatment, as some of these contain a pre-emergent herbicide that’ll prevent germination.

 

I used Miracle Gro Evergreen 4 in 1 on my lawn about 6 weeks ago and it hasn’t affected germination so it must be pre-emergent herbicide free. I don’t usually use it but the lawn had a lot of moss in it this year and it worked well. Too well in fact, hence the need to reseed the bare patches!

 

Boston seeds provide good stuff. But normally fairly large amounts (I was sowing an acre!). Worth checking if they do smaller amounts. Germination was excellent.

 

@Dovefromabove, I found a couple of 'old' boxes of grass seed in the garage recently, do I take it it is no good?

 

Probably noy @Meomye, but worth a try. If it was me I’d try some seed on wet tissue/loo paper to see if it starts to germinate

 

As @Butterfly6 says… you can test a little to see if it germinates … but don’t hold your breath

 

I've just checked up the details on Miracle Gro Evergreen 4 in 1. It advises not to sow new lawn seed within 8 weeks after treatment. My lawn seed ignored this instruction but the 4 in 1 had probably been washed away within 6 weeks due to the incessant rain!

 

Many thanks (to one and all) for your help. I have just bought some fresh (packed in March 2024) Johnsons seeds and will report in due course.

I am particularly interested in Plantminded's "I used Miracle Gro Evergreen 4 in 1 on my lawn about 6 weeks ago and it hasn’t affected germination so it must be pre-emergent herbicide free."

Despite much past advice from this excellent Forum and untold perseverance on our part, we continue having to flight losing battles against Poa Annua which, when removed, leaves extremely unsightly patches – when you start tearing the stuff out, the roots can go down to 8 cm, or more (see attached); there seems to be an infestation of epidemic proportion of the stuff in our neck of the woods (South London). What is the best way of removing these patches: tear them out, or use herbicides?

The conundrum I have never been able to solve relates to the encouraged use of herbicides (late Autumn, etc.) which is irreconcilable with the other constantly given advice of overseeding … this leads to something that has always puzzled me: I once had the entire lawn replaced; they killed the whole thing (presumably with herbicides) and six weeks later they sowed a new lawn which did germinate! How was that possible? … However, come the next May, the Poa Annua battalions were back with vengeful reinforcement … you wonder if seed boxes nowadays don’t contain a fair proportion of the evil stuff? As you can see from the images below, a lot has already been removed, but there is an awful lot more as yet to be removed, it's endless:


Looking forward to your comments

 

Hi @Dovefromabove, can you give an example of one of these W&F ferts that contain a pre-emergent herbicibe? I also have a bit of a problem with Annual Meadow Grass and this might be an answer to stop their seeds germinating in the lawn. I know some American treatments for AMG use a residual type action but they are not available over here in UK.

Regards

Blackstart

 

@blackstart … As far as I’m aware .., and also from a quick Google using << lawn weed and feed pre emergent >> as the search term, the vast majority of combined lawn treatments seem to contain a pre-emergent. Certainly most recommend not over-seeding a treated lawn for at least 6 weeks. I prefer to err on the side of caution. Don’t want to waste seed or my time and energy.

As for poa annua … I can’t think of a herbicide that would eradicate it while leaving the rest of the grass unscathed. Selective herbicides work either on broadleaved or narrow- leaved plants. They do not select on the basis of species.

A programme of regular treatments of a pre-emergent herbicide might be a way forward (I believe poa annua seeds on an approx 6 week cycle but of course this can vary with conditions). However I wouldn’t advise using six-weekly applications of a combined weed and feed treatment as this could result in over feeding your turf leafing to other problems.

 

@LawnAndOrder re your lawn which was killed off and reseeded … I imagine it was killed off with a general herbicide which did not also contain a pre-emergent.

 

@Butterfly6 , @Dovefromabove , Thank you for your replies. I hadn't given a thought to it going off but I reckon you are right and it is too old.

 

@Dovefromabove, many thanks for your informative reply.
Regards
Blackstart