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When to Overseed Lawn in Wisconsin

Seeding
4 min read

When you overseed your lawn in Wisconsin, you’ll fill in the bare spots and create a thicker, healthier lawn. The knowledgeable experts at Jonathan Green can help you decide how and when to do it and what type of grass seed to choose.

The Jonathan Green name has represented genetically superior grass seed, innovation, integrity, determination, and a commitment to excellence since 1881. Today, six generations later, we remain committed to producing superior lawn and garden products.

When to Overseed Your Lawn

Overseeding a lawn, which involves adding new seed to an existing lawn, is a great way to achieve a lush and vibrant lawn while keeping crabgrass and weeds at bay, improving the lawn’s thickness and density, and protecting it against damage from insects and diseases.

The ideal time to overseed lawn in Wisconsin is late summer/early fall (August 15th to September 15th), depending on the weather. Soil temperatures are still warm, which promotes optimum seed germination, and cooler air temperatures are better for grass growth. Warm-season weeds are also less active at this time of year.

With the right amount of moisture, fertilizer, and sunlight, your new grass will have several months to establish itself before lower winter temperatures stop its growth.

Not All Grass Seed Mixtures Are Identical

High-quality Jonathan Green Black Beauty® Original Grass Seed are the result of over 100 years of experimenting with turf grass varietals. With improved disease resistance and drought tolerance, Black Beauty redefines what a “green lawn” is supposed to look like!  The leaves have an invisible waxy coating, similar to what you’d find on the skin of an apple, that helps preserve moisture in the leaf and wards off stress from heat, cold, wind and disease.

Prepare Your Soil

Whether you are seeding a brand new lawn or overseeding, the seed you use must make good contact with the soil in order to germinate properly.

If your soil is very hard or compacted, Love Your Soil®  will loosen and aerate it. It will also feed the soil microbes, making the lawn soil more alive and porous, and enhancing root development. The new grass roots will grow much deeper when you spread Love Your Soil®. It can be applied the same day as the grass seed and works best when the soil temperature is 55 degrees Fahrenheit or warmer.

Now it’s time to test the soil pH with a pH tester from your local hardware supply store. The pH should fall within the range of 6.2 to 7.0. You can either raise the soil pH with Mag-I-Cal Plus for Acidic Soil or lower it with Mag-I-Cal Plus for Alkaline Soil.

Our Mag-I-Cal® Plus for Lawns in Alkaline & Hard Soil will help you rapidly balance the soil’s pH and, at the same time, help the lawn grow greener and healthier. It can be used immediately before seeding, but keep checking your soil because more than one application may be required to reach the ideal pH.

After overseeding, you will need to keep the seed bed damp for a few weeks while the seed germinates. Water daily and possibly twice daily (unless it’s raining) until the new grass is two inches high. You should also fertilize with our Veri-Green Starter Fertilizer for Seeding & Sodding to get your new grass plantings off to a fast start.

If you have more questions about when to overseed your lawn in Wisconsin, you can visit us online at JonathanGreen.com. We have lots of information available to help homeowners learn to grow a great lawn and keep it looking healthy year after year. Your nearest local independent retail store is another excellent source for lawn care advice.

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