BIG dilemma - PLEASE HELP!

[BradHardy]

Hi guys, Brad Hardy here. I'm new to the site and thrilled to be a part of a site with such a extensive resource of information.

So on with my dilemma...

My wife and I have just bought a home this past winter and while we love the house, our fondness for the current state of the lawn just isn't there.
The lawn is full patches of dead and or thinning grass. So naturally I plan on spot treatment and an over seeding as the lawn is not very thick. My understanding is that I need to get a crab grass preventer down very soon - (I'd like to do this as soon as possible). By now you may be seeing my problem. Apparently crab grass preventer's will kill new seed, so my question is this:

How do I apply a crab grass preventer and not rule out over seeding and spot treating very soon after applying the crab grass preventer?

Hopefully this is possible, and thank you in advance!

-Brad Hardy

[Kisal]

I'm not sure the crabgrass preventer would bother new grass seed. I filled and planted several large low areas in my yard last year, and I used a pre-emergent fertilizer that contained a crabgrass preventer. My lawn came up beautifully.

I just Googled crabgrass preventer new grass seed and found several products such as I used.

[Charlie MV]

Kisal is probably right but I put out a pre-emergent weed/crabgrass killer this year. I kept it well away from the gardens. The supplier who sells the fertilizer said to wait 60 days to be sure there was no conflict with new seed. It's not a problem for me because I sew Bermuda grass and the soil needs to be 75 or 80 degrees for best germination. I do want to emphasize that we keep a manicured front yard using some chemicals and garden in the back yard with no chemicals. My back yard has a few weedy mixed grass trails between the gardens. This grass gets the same organic help I use in the garden.

[Bestlawn]

Brad, you want use a product called Tupersan (check PBI Gordon). The brand name is Tupersan, but the active ingredient is Siduron. Scotts (and perhaps others) have a combo product with Siduron for fertilizing new seeds and controlling crabgrass at the same time. Other than that, your options are the organic pre-m equivalent corn gluten meal or a different inorganic pre-m product, both of which will kill the sprouts as soon the seeds germinate. If you go with Siduron/Tupersan, be sure to check efficacy. If I recall correctly, it has to applied every 30 days until summer. To be honest, it is best that you don't fertilize this early in the season. Wait to fertilize in May (despite what Scotts tells you), but that means you will have to purchase the Tupersan by itself, and it's pretty expensive.

I can give you an easy-to-follow maintenance schedule for your grass to make it healthy, thick and beautiful. I can also give you seeding instructions. Let me know.

Tell me what type of grass you have.