Emergency --- Today I planted new grass near/under a maple tree. Now the helicopters are starting to fall. Is their a way to protect my new grass from invading seeds? Would it work to put burlap down?
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Where in the world are you? Southern Hemisphere? – Stephie May 19 '18 at 07:06
2 Answers
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Do not worry about the samaras from the maples. Takes a lot to get one of those germinating in your lawn even if you aren't maintaining your lawn correctly.
I hope you can take some time and check out our other question/answers about lawns. We just had a question on baby maples in a lawn this past week. We could help you an awful lot more if we had a bit more information such as; why are you over seeding? What do you do for fertilizer? Have you aerated this past year? How high are you cutting your grass crop? I am assuming that since you have maples you have cool season grasses.
The proper height for a cool season grass is 3 to 3.5 inches, no lower. If your grass were that tall you wouldn't be worried about any weed seeds being able to make it to the soil much less get any sun with 3" of lawn top growth. This is one of the major maintenance tips for these cool season grass lawns. No shorter, ever.
What is your watering, fertilizing, aeration program? Get your mower adjusted so that the grass is cut no lower than 3". Sharp sharp sharp blades. Mow once per week minimum. Water deeply, do not water again until you see the blades of grass in your footprint stay down and then water deeply.
Your rotary lawn mower should easily vacuum them up somewhat. I even do a quick run through pulling weeds to toss on the lawn before mowing. The weeds get sucked up into the bag with the grass clippings to be dumped in the compost pile. Just mowing should suck up most of the maple seeds.
Grass growing under a maple tree is at a disadvantage because it gets so little sun. Careful with fertilizing your lawn that is shaded, use half as much as the rest of the lawn in the sun.
stormy
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I am over seeding cause the liquid weed and feed killed at least a third of my new lawn. (I did wait to apply until after 6 mowings, left at least 3" high) About 8 days after application, the lawn also developed a yellow fungus but ok so far this yr. I usually use the ACE brand 4 step program and live in WI. I applied those protective blankets they sell at Menards but it sounds like I didn't need to do that. Thank you for above info. – Dorothy May 20 '18 at 18:21
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Even though the maple seeds probably will not germinate, won't the blanket keep the maple seeds from sticking in the ground? – Dorothy May 20 '18 at 18:32
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The blanket will kill your grass by blocking the sun. Water. Do you have a gas powered blower? A must have if one has a landscape they aren't subcontracting to others for maintenance. Just blow them off the grass. Those samaras won't blanket your lawn as much as a blanket blanket would blanket your lawn. Grass needs sun. Planting grass where it is shaded is setting your grass up for failure. – stormy May 20 '18 at 23:56
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We need to discuss what you used to kill 1/3 of your lawn. Weed and feed can cause non germination of seeds to include grass seed. Weed and feed should be banned in my opinion. Proper maintenance will cure weed problems. Healthy lawns will out compete weeds. How high do you mow your lawn for instance? – stormy May 21 '18 at 00:07
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How do you water? How do you fertilize? How often do you core aerate? These are musts to know how to do otherwise people reach for the bandaids of pesticide which NEVER NEED to be used. More information. Something more important to learn is in place. – stormy May 21 '18 at 00:09
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You could put a net below the tree. This will help to collect quickly the samaras without damaging the new grass. Especially if the tree is very large, it could cover most of the ground, so shading further the new grass.
Lawnmower will cut and so it will kill the seedlings, long before the seedling could produce wood (so before they could damage the lawnmower) (it is enough to cut grass 2-3 time a year, to control seedlings)
Giacomo Catenazzi
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