If the lawn does not germinate - find causes and remedies

If the lawn does not germinate - find causes and remedies

Causes of non-germinating lawn seeds

  • Wrong time
  • Compacted soil
  • Too dry or too damp
  • Inferior seeds
  • Bird food

Lawn sown at the wrong time

The best time to sow the lawn is September. Then the soil is warm enough and moist enough to allow the seeds to germinate.

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However, the new lawn is often sown in early spring. In spring the ground is still too cold. Lawn seeds only germinate when the soil temperature is at least ten degrees.

The soil is too compact

If the surface of the soil is too firm, the small grass roots will have difficulty taking root. They stay on the surface and die.

This problem can be prevented if the soil is loosened thoroughly before sowing. It is also beneficial to mix in some compost or, in the case of very hard soils, some sand to loosen the surface of the earth.

The soil is too dry or too damp

After sowing, the lawn seeds need sufficient moisture to germinate. If it is very dry, the only thing that helps is to water the area regularly. This should be done very carefully and evenly so that no waterlogging develops.

If it rains heavily for days, the moisture can cause the seeds to rot. Then only another sowing at a later point in time helps.

Inferior seeds

It is worth paying attention to the quality of lawn seeds. Cheap seeds germinate much worse than high quality seeds.

Bird food

Birds love lawn seeds and like to peck at them. To prevent them from doing so, it helps to stretch a net over the newly created lawn.

Tips & Tricks

In practice, it has proven to be useful to rake in the lawn seeds with a rake after sowing. This protects the seeds from bird damage and does not dry out as quickly. Raking in is also a good protection against heavy downpours, which can wash away the seeds.