Miracle gro 4 in 1 / scarification

ankitgoyale

I hope someone can help me here. I am new to gardening and lawn maintenance. I put down some miracle gro 4 in 1 two weeks ago and then used this scarified yesterday to remove all the dead stuff. The weather is forecast to be quite dry and warm. Did I leave the scarification too late in the year? I have some bare and light brown patches and wonder if I should overseed, but the miracle gro instructions state not to re-seed for at least 8 weeks after the treatment. I am not sure if Ive done the wrong thing here and if should water, overseed or both? Any help would be appreciated

B3

Hasn't 4 in 1 got weedkiller in it? That's probably why you shouldn't re seed yet.

Dovefromabove

Yes the weedkiller element will have a pre-emergent element to prevent the germination of weed seedlings for a while . This will also affect grass seed. 

At the moment I’d just water (give it one good soak rather than little and often)  and don’t cut too short. The roots need protection from the strong sunshine so leave the grass a bit longer at this time of year. 

ankitgoyale

Thanks a lot both. Sorry for the typos.  I scarified yesterday using a machine and wondered whether I had done this too last in the year. The grass was looking quite nice and green before scarifying, having done the miracle gro treatment just less than two weeks ago!

Dovefromabove

I tend to scarify in the autumn to get rid of thatch and aid drainage in the winter, and in March (if there are no frosts forecast) to get rid of moss. 

ankitgoyale

The grass is looking very dry due to the hot weather we are having in south England. How often should I do this deep watering?

Dovefromabove

I never water my lawn ... it’s brown all over at the moment but it’ll green up when we get some rain. 

But you’ve scarified it a bit late so I’m presuming the grass roots are in danger of being baked in the sun, which isn’t good for them. 

I’m not an expert on the more technical aspects of lawncare, but my instinct is that, if the roots are in danger of getting too much sun it’d be sensible to give it a couple of good soakings twice a week ... Id say a couple of hours with a lawn sprinkler in the evenings twice to three times a week until it greens up and the grass has grown over the roots. 

Others may think differently tho ...

Dinnerplatedahlias🌸

I don’t think you’ve scarified too late at all. 

4 in 1 evergreen treatment definitely makes things worse before better. 

We used it twice last year as our lawn was about 60% moss. And this year we only had a few tiny patches of moss left. We reseeded these areas a little early (around 5 week after treatment) but we put down fresh topsoil over the bare areas before doing so which I think helped. 

I’ve been watering the grass most days and can confirm our lawn is now looking fantastic but it’s taken two seasons to get us to this point. 

I certainly would give it as close to 8 weeks as possibly to reseed the full lawn. 

Dovefromabove

When I said ‘scarified it a bit late’  I meant in terms of the weather this year ... if we’d had a normal spring of showers along with the sunshine it would’ve been fine ... this year my lawn in May looked like it usually does in a dry August 🙄 

ankitgoyale

Thanks for the advice. I was a little sad as the grass was looking very lush and green two weeks after the treatment and then I went and scarified. I have attached pictures below.

Dovefromabove

That looks so much better than mine ... all lawns here are brown ... 🙄