pre- germinating perennial ryegrass

bigmars – posted 18 December 2004 11:12

i would like to overseed abaseball infield with perennial ryegrass after the temp has gotten very low.i read somewhere about pre germinating seed indoors and then sowing the after it has germinated. if anyone has any info please help.

cohiba – posted 18 December 2004 19:59

bigmars,

I have pregerminated Bentgrass, but never ryegrass. I have seen our ryegrass pregerminate on its own with out us wanting it to. Just add water and it will germinate. We have seen ryegrass germinate in cool temperatures as long as the soil temps are still up. The problem with pregerminating seed is: How do you put it out uniformly once it is germinated. The seed is usually wet. The big question is why would you want to put out immature plants to be unprotected (without roots) for the winter. If you are overseeding a southern grass I would imagine that seeding anytime now will produce plants that could get you through the winter.I have also done dormant seeding of areas, that we tore up in the early winter, and had good results the following spring.

For what its worth………….

ted – posted 19 December 2004 15:00

i think the question is more of what part of the country are you doing your overseeding?