Seed day without a water owner is a dust day
We still overseed Matthews HOA common lawns in September because the calendar says so. By week three the seed is tan. Nobody owned the water. The contractor dumped the seed. The board thought the sprinklers would "just run." The clocks were still on a summer cycle that misses the new seed, or the system was off for a backflow test. [Overseeding](/services/overseeding) on Piedmont clay without a named waterer is a donation to the birds.
[Pine Valley](/) will not put seed on a [Matthews](/areas/matthews-nc) HOA strip until the exhibit says who waters, for how many minutes, and who holds the clock.
HOA common turf is not a homeowner hose
A single-family lot can drag a hose. A 200 foot entrance island cannot. If the association has no working irrigation on that island, we write a water truck or we wait. [Lawn care](/services/lawn-care) fertility will not glue dry seed to clay.
Board members change. The person who "usually turns it on" may have moved. We want the current controller location, the lock code path, and a test run the day before seed. If that test fails, seed waits.
[Stallings](/areas/stallings-nc) and Indian Trail associations hit the same miss on parkway strips the town mows. Who waters a town strip? If the answer is nobody, do not seed it.
Heat week after Labor Day cooks a dry germinate
Matthews still has 90 degree days in September. Seed that sits dry for 48 hours is done. A rain that finally comes then washes it to the curb. We would rather delay a week for a working clock than hit a date on the minutes.
[Aeration](/services/aeration) the same day only helps if water follows. Opening the clay and then leaving it is a crust. [Soil conditioning](/services/soil-conditioning) is a different ticket. It is not a substitute for irrigation.
Write the water owner on the work order
Before we seed, we want the HOA contact who owns the clock, a successful test run, and the next 14 day weather. If a separate Bermuda invasion is the real problem, that is [Bermuda suppression](/services/bermudagrass-suppression), not more fescue seed. [Contact](/contact) us. Related notes live on the [blog](/blog).
Entrance islands die in public, not in a backyard
A Matthews entrance island is the first thing the board photographs. Bare seed there is a political problem. We would rather skip a September date than put tan seed in front of the monument sign. Write a 14 day water log. If the clock fails on day three, we stop and fix water. We do not keep seeding hope onto clay.
Indian Trail common strips along a busy road also lose seed to wind and tire dust. Those strips need a named hose or they need to stay as they are until irrigation exists. An HOA minutes item that says "overseed this fall" is not a watering plan.
