Dilemma: Delay overseed another 14-15 days from tomorrow, or skip 3rd Meso treatment for Creeping Bentgrass. What is the potential harm in waiting? Zone 7B Middletown NJ (07748)
So, as previously posted, due to weather, and confusion, I didn't get my 1st application of Meso done until Sept 12th, with a plan to seed this week. I did my front yard with no CB (Creeping Bentgrass) yesterday, so all good there, everything perfectly to plan.
My Issue: For the backyard with large swaths of CB, I just found out last week from Niles that CB needs 3 applications of Meso. If I do second application tomorrow, that puts my final rake out, meso & seeding on Oct 17th. I'm 5 miles from the Atlantic Ocean, so it does stay slightly warmer, slightly longer here, but that still puts me right on the edge, with first frost usually around Nov 21st.
I'm looking for worst case scenario. What is the worst case if I seed on the 17th, but we get a frost on, say Nov 12th, 13th,14th approx 26 days. Will I lose all of the seedlings and have a lot of bare soil where I raked out the CB? and then have a fight with weeds through the spring? or will they resume germinating and growing in the spring while I hit them with pre-emergent and fert.
If so, would I be better off skipping a 3rd meso application, and doing rake out, meso, seeding, and starter fert tomorrow and Sunday? If I do it all this weekend, will all of the CB come back with a vengeance through next year, and put me in the same situation for next fall (with an earlier start date)?
BTW, manual rake out is not getting everything out, so I plan on using a power rake/detatcher. Any thoughts on that?
Thanks for all of your help so far Niles, hopefully this is the last of my questions on this.
Edit: I know you previously said I should be fine through the 21st Niles, but I'm just asking for a what-if worst scenario if an early freeze.
