How often you should overseed your lawn depends on your turf’s condition. If it’s damaged year after year, then overseed yearly. If your lawn looks healthy and lush, you can overseed once every few years.
While lawn health is the main factor driving how often you should overseed, there are other factors that can influence this such as your grass type, climate, budget, and time.
Factors influencing how often to overseed
Not every lawn needs yearly overseeding. Let’s go over the factors that influence how often you should overseed your lawn.
Lawn conditions
The most important factor is your lawn’s overall condition. If you find that your lawn gets heavily damaged every year, then you’ll need to overseed your lawn annually to help it recover.
You should also overseed more often if you want your lawn to look great year-round. Some homeowners even overseed twice a year because they want a perfect green yard. It’s an expensive venture, especially when it comes to water. Most homeowners won’t need to overseed more than once a year.
If you have a lawn that stays thick and strong, then you may not need to overseed yearly. You can probably overseed once every other year (or even every two to three years).
Type of grass
The type of grass you’re growing in your lawn is another significant factor when it comes to overseeding frequency.
Do you have a warm-season lawn? Warm-season grasses don’t really need to be overseeded often because of their rhizomes (underground stems) and stolons (above-ground stems). Rhizomes and stolons help these grasses spread and fill in bare patches. Bermudagrass is especially good at recovering by itself and oftentimes won’t need overseeding.
So, you should overseed a warm-season lawn when it gets heavily damaged. How often that is will really depend on some of the other factors we’ll cover.
Note: If you have a St. Augustinegrass lawn, you will need to install sod or grass plugs if it needs extensive repair. This species does not come in seed.
On the other hand, cool-season grasses will need more frequent overseeding – about once a year, depending on your lawn’s condition. This is because they don’t spread through rhizomes or stolons like warm-season grasses. The only exceptions are Kentucky bluegrass and creeping fine fescues, but they’re not as prolific as warm-season turf.
Foot traffic
If you use your lawn a lot for parties or if you have kids and pets, then you will likely need to overseed your lawn more often; expect to overseed your lawn once a year. Foot traffic wears down grass over time, so the more you use your lawn, the more damage your grass will have.
Homeowners who admire their lawns from a distance (i.e. those who don’t walk on their lawns) may be able to get away with overseeding every other year.
Pro tip: Consider planting grass suited for high-traffic areas to reduce injury from wear and tear.
Climate
Extreme temperatures can make your lawn thin and patchy, especially if you walk on your grass during these conditions. Extreme temperatures can stress out your grass, and stressed turf gets injured much easier. If you live somewhere with freezing winters or scorching summers, then you may need to overseed your lawn annually.
Budget and time
Lastly, how often you overseed can be influenced by how much money and time you’re willing to spend on your lawn. We already mentioned that some homeowners overseed their lawns twice a year; they do it because they can afford to maintain golfing green-esque yards.
If your lawn doesn’t have any major issues and you don’t want to spend your time and money on maintaining perfect grass, then you don’t need to overseed your lawn often.
Pro tip: If you don’t have the time or energy to overseed your lawn but are willing to spend the money, you can hire a pro to do it for you. The cost of overseeding a lawn professionally is $0.09 to $0.19 per square foot on average.
FAQs about overseeding
How can I reduce how often I need to overseed?
You can reduce how often you need to overseed by checking for underlying issues. If you find yourself overseeding every year (or twice a year), then there might be something wrong with your lawn such as:
- Soil compaction
- Excess thatch
- Lawn pests
- Fungal diseases
- Heavy foot traffic
Solving these issues may reduce how often you need to overseed because it will lead to stronger, healthier grass.
How do you overseed?
The exact process of overseeding will vary depending on how you go about it: traditional overseeding or slice seeding. Here is a simple guide on how to overseed your lawn:
- Prepare your lawn by dethatching, aerating, and amending your soil.
- Mow low and rake debris.
- Spread seed evenly.
- Fertilize your lawn.
- Water the seeds.
When is the best time to overseed your lawn?
The best time to overseed your lawn depends on the type of grass you’re growing:
- Cool-season grass: Overseed during late summer or early fall.
- Warm-season grass: Overseed during late spring to early summer.
Hire a lawn care pro to overseed your yard
Overseeding may need to be an annual maintenance practice for your lawn. If you can’t find the time to overseed your lawn, then you might want to hire a professional to do it for you.
Lawn Love can connect you with pros throughout the country who have the knowledge, skills, and materials to overseed your lawn, fertilize it, and even mow it once it’s long enough. Connect with a Lawn Love pro today.
Main Image Credit: Tomasz Zadja | Adobe Stock Free | License
