When I try to grow new grass in the summer, I sometimes get a gray misty mold on the newly sprouted grass which spreads and kills it. It does not seem to affect established grass. It seems to be more prevalent if it is too damp, especially overnight. While I can control the amount of water I use and when, heavy rain is not under my control, so I'm wondering if there are other steps I can take to avoid this problem. picture attached.
Not sure if this will help you or not, The best time to sew new grass is either end of summer, or, early spring when there is not too much humidity around and the soil is cooler, either just starting to warm up in spring, or, cooling down end of summer,
Prepare the soil by raking to disturb to top of the soil to allow the grass roots to get right down, then lightly trample the area with your feet so you dont have any air pockets left, then gig a very light rake again and sew your seed onto this prepared soil, dont feed or disturb the soil, only when you see the grass grow about half inch, give a sprinckle of water IF you have had no rainfall, I am sure you could get advice from garden center as to anything you could spray on the grass FIRST time you see the slightest area of mould start, but early spring or late summer there will be no humidity till the grass is well up and growing strong, I know here when I plant seeds in my greenhouse and mould is showing, I use what is called Chestnut Compound, it is a powder that you mix with water to spray on the seedlings and this removes the threat of mould spreading, maybe you will have an equivalent potion over your way,
Also, I am not sure if your soil is able to soak up the rain water, if the lawn area soil is too compacted, then the rain water will just sit on the surface and the best way to help this is to go over the area either with a lawn aerator, you can hire these by the hour, OR, stick your garden fork all over the lawn, just stand on the fork till it goes into the soil about 4-6 inches, not at an angle but straight, IF you have a large area of lawn / grass, then I would hire this electric tool as it will do the job in about an hour or so, after I do this each year, I then add LAWN SAND, scatter this by hand and use a stiff broom to sweep it into the lawn and it falls into the holes made by the rake or aerator, this helps heavy rain to soak into the soil and down to the grass roots where it is needed and not laying on the soil surface, but then I get a lot of rainfall here in Scotland and my lawns gets waterlogged very easily, hope this may help you out a bit and some of the suggestions will help you next time you try sewing your grass, hope so, take care and dont give up. WeeNel.
