Lawn care can be a tax deduction for sole proprietors who regularly meet clients in a home office, such as advertising and marketing, client development, or ordering tools and supplies. If the total amount paid for repairs and maintenance on the property is $10,000 or under, or 2 of the unadjusted basis of the property, lawn care business tax write-offs can help make your taxes work for you.
Landscaping can raise the value of your home by up to 13%, so it would not count as a necessary expense for your property. However, if your lawn care business serves the business’s operation, you can claim a tax deduction. You can write off only a portion of your lawn care, such as if your house covers 2,000 square feet and your home office takes up 200 square feet.
Residential lawn care is not tax-deductible, as personal expenses are generally classified as taxable income. However, lawn care for rental property is considered maintenance or an operating expense and will generally be considered a deductible expense. You can write off up to $2,500 for individual repairs to your property.
Landscaping supplies such as grass seed, weed killer, and pesticides can also be deducted. For rental properties, lawn care expenses are generally considered a legitimate business expense and can be deducted from your rental income.
📹 The FASTEST way to Grow Grass Seed!!
Today I’m going to show you how to pre-germinate your grass seed with test plots to prove how well it works! What’s Covered in …
📹 6 Beginner Mistakes to AVOID When Sowing Grass Seed
I have studied grass seed overseeding and found the top 6 mistakes people make that prevent them from getting great results in …
Great article! I’m definitely going to check out more of your stuff. Two things.. The big news here is that it’s less time you have to baby a patch of dirt. You touched on it with the storm washing seed out which is absolutely true, but also if you have kids or pets, the less time you have to keep them off the grass the better!! Also the real time test would be putting the normal seed on the ground the same day you START soaking seed. That’s really the time savings you’re worried about when it comes to establishing turf before winter, or some other time frame!
I’m a landscaper. I like to pregerminate seed before sowing because clients are always amazed at how fast and full my reseeding works. I’ve had a few people comment on how they can’t get grass to grow like me. Makes you look good. I’m not even a grass guy, more horticulture, but it’s a crowd pleaser for sure
Florida resident here…..I will be seeding our previous St. Augustine lawn with Argentine Bahia seed in the next week or so. So glad that I saw your article BEFORE i simply spread my $40 bag of bahia seed. Makes a lot of sense to pre soak AND add the seed to the milorganite. I’ll will follow up with a another article and let you know how it turned out. Thanks again !!!
I did a pre-germination a different way this past summer and it worked pretty well. I used some homemade compost and mixed grass seed throughout in a bucket. I kept the compost in the bucket wet until I started to see some germination. At that point I spread the compost/seed mix on some areas that I needed to be patched. It came in really nice that way.
Few other law articles on pre germination they soak for 24hrs then after that the submerge seeds enough to get wet then let water drain doing this every 12hrs. Just curious if one method is better than other. Fully submerged changing water every 12 hrs vs fully sumbmerged 24 hrs then change water every 12hrs while fully submerged all time
HOW LONG did it actually take for this particular seed to begin germinating in the bags. If this timing is reliable for that type of seed, one could sew the seed 12 to 24 hours before it pops thus making the seed easier to handle and less fragil. Downside is 36 to 48 hours to sprout vs 24, but not a bad trade off. BTW, I am a soil scientist and conduct many priming and seed germination experiments. this method you learn from your super bowl pro turf friend is spot on. I will go look up the paint strainers. I have been using these small zipper mesh bagss from Dollar Tree 3 for $1.25 but i often do less than a quart of seeds at a atime for my experiments, but the 5 gallon set up is the bomb for larger scale. You pro friend mihght evven hydro seed to apply.
This is NOT* the most efficient way to pre-germinate grass seed! Grass seed that is left in a bucket of water is going to get moldy and germinate much slower. What you WANT* to do is: 1.) Soak the seed in water for 24 hours then drain the water. 2.) Let the seed sit in the bucket for 24 hours with no water. This exposes the seed to air/oxygen which the seed needs. 3.) After this second 24 hour block^^^ soak the seed again for 5-10 minutes then immediately drain the water out. Do not let the seed sit in the water. 4.) Continue steps 2 & 3 until you see germination. Let me know your thoughts. Respectfully, JPD
I am legit in the middle of this rn and ran into a snag… got the seed on water and at the end of day 1 my wife reminds me we’re gone on day 5 (happens to be today). So I knew i couldn’t water the seed for like 24 hours or more, and its going to be hot and sunny… no bueno. Needless to say I don’t have a good irrigation system I can program. Luckily I think i found a workaround… the last few days I’ve had it in a fridge! It’s only about 5 lbs of KBG so it fits in a small bucket, have it sitting on a brick draining into a larger bucket. Actually really successful, so far🤞 . My guess is this is how golf course, sports field superintendents might do it. Open your window to throw it down to 10-15 days (maybe?) as opposed to 4 or 5.
I’m seeding KBG this year (actually right now) and I don’t really see the benefit given the six day head start. Maybe it’s still a little bit faster, but it’s a greater time investment and potentially frustrating if you underestimate your spread even by a little bit. I think I’ll just exercise patience.
Am I missing something in my process? I have perennial rye that I’m attempting to pre germinate and it’s been over 7 days without a visible progress. I’m changing the water every 12 hours and keeping the seed fully submerged. But now I’m thinking thinking maybe I was only supposed to fully submerge for 24 hours and then re dunk every 12 just to get the seed wet again but then not keep it in the water? Any thoughts?
This was a widely used practice in the Georgian era for grains. It’s called “chitting” in the old farming books. One method used in England was to put the seed grain into cloth sacks in a small stream where the water flowed over the bags. They hand sowed their fields. You can also use “sheeting” … just spread a frost blanket over the area after sowing the seeds, It retains moisture, doesn’t get too hot, and you can remove it tio water. WARNING: Once you have started the process you can’t stop it – don’t let the seeds dry out. And the white seed sprouts are fragile.
Hi, New subscriber boss. Burning question for you boss. I will not hold you liable (disclaimer). Will it ‘hurt’ my current Kentucky Bluegrass lawn if I over-seed with Turf-Type tall fescue seeds with endophyte (Neotyphodium coenophialum endophyte)? Will this bacteria/fungus kill the Kentucky BlueGrass? Please advise chief, Thx
Just wanted to add a recommendation to this — separate your Seek per K before pre germination. The most difficult and sloppy aspect of pre germing is trying to spread it (you’ll mix it with Milo — 4 times the Milo to the seed) The last thing you want to do is take out your pre germinated seed and drain it — then have to figure out how to separate it per k.. separate it before so you don’t have to do it after! Awesome vid btw — I got 365ss and Quantum Leap KBG to germinate by the morning of day 5
I’ve used this technique on many plants, besides grass. The point about higher germination rates is the key as makes it look like faster germination rates because the rate is so high. Also I just rinse until really wet the seeds everyday rinsing them rather than soak. That may be me rinsing the toxic waste product off. But this is a great article and works with nearly any seed.
NICE! keep the tips coming. I’ve been doing your Nitrogen blitz for past 6weeks and its definitely helping. I’m doing a mixture of SLS 6-0-0 or 16-4-8 along with DEF at 1.25gal each into a 40gal sprayer for my 2 acres of turf every 7 to 10days. We’re still pretty dry but the grass is nice and dark and trying its best to fill in even with limited rainfall here in Central Wisc.
I love the community lawns segment! Great way to give back to your viewers. The biggest benefit of pregermination is the establishment, not so much the speed. In reality, it isn’t much faster considering the germination phase takes a few days before you put it in the ground. However, getting in the ground and rooted really makes the difference.
I soaked my garden seeds this year and didn’t see a difference. As well as soaking my tomato and pepper seeds for starting indoors and didn’t see a difference. But not for a week because it’s said they would drown🤷♀️ But it does show seeds that are viable by them floating, I used two + year old seeds and threw half away and most sprouted that I did except for more than two years old seeds. You said if seeds start sprouting in the bucket to sow immediately. Understand that because they will dry out and die. So mixing them with fertilizer and allowing them to “dry” enough to spread is done how? Anyway was looking for how to sow seeds in a field and cover them but all I find are title how to sow and then show seed drilling. Not the same. And am trying to border my field with grass but have no way of watering without compressing the soil under the weight of a tractor and leaving tracks. 🤦♂️
I think your experiment is misleading. You’re basically allowing the pre-germination to begin the race a few days before the regular seed starts. A better experiment should be starting the pre-germination process at the same time as spreading seed down. This test will most likely have the same timeline since they’re beginning the race at the same time.
Milorganite says the application rate is 1 lb seed to 4 lbs milorganite. I need 2lbs per 1000 sf on my KBG but if I use the regular spreader setting for milorganite I’ll get the right amount of milorganite but not the full coverage rate on the kbg. I have 10 lbs of KBG so I’ll mix with 40 lbs of milorganite. At the spreader setting for milorganite I will only get about 3000 sf of coverage but I should be getting 5000 sf coverage on KBG. What setting did you use to get good coverage of both?
Hi i live near Toronto ontario canada ..have always used Scotts Turfbuilder 30-0-3 spring,summer,fall but came across TSC FALL FERTILIZER 32-0-10 at 9kg bags,applied 1 bag 2 weeks ago .noticed a bit of improvement,would it be ok to apply a second bag this week ?,regular city lot 55×135 {7500 sq ft).driveway 22×40,,house 30 x46,pool &pool patio 20×55.(approx 4000sq ft area..)so total grass surface area approximately 3500 sq ft,,doesnt say on bag slow release so im assuming it isnt .Current temp for next 2 weeks is around 55F with 3/4days of rain expected in next few days .i dont want to burn the grass,,the bag says application rate 1,13 kg per 100 sq meters and covers 619 sq meters . Appreciate any input or advice thank you Dave
@lawnlife if you are making another experiment can you tell us whether you do the same stuff like, pre-emergent weed killer, scarify/rake, hollow aerate, sand, (+?tenacity), pre-germinated seed in carrier + ?pre starter fertiliser, plus weed killer /tenacity 1month later. Is there any issues with mowing and damage if the grass seeds are pre germ so they have more top growth than root than the ones that were the soil the whole term? Do the reseeded spots last longer with the pre germ? The hypothesis is I think there is a good number of evidence that it’s fast and saves water, but does it last!
Germinate in bucket…germinate in ground…same time, I don’t get it. You are actually doing more work by using the bucket as you have to drain and replace water every 12 hours. Been seeding for over 50 years..never had an issue just letting the ground the seeds going to live in do they work. As long as you prep it right…no issues!
This makes great sense. I have put down seed in the past. If you can put it down in early spring, when rains are still common, and water each time it hasn’t rained for 10 hours, you can get a great return w/o germinating. The thing is, this is nasty weather to work in. Plus I usually need to put down 2X as much seed. I assume this is wash away and something eating seed??? Part of pregerminating is the fertilizer added with the seed. Normal seeding says to put down a harsh fertilizer, the day of. That’s somewhat OK if you wait a week or two of watering before applying seed. Putting down Milorganite (or similar) at the time of seeding can keep from burning sprouts from harsh nitrogen. When pre-sprouting, it’s not necessary to tie off the bag. Stretch a paint strainer, put 3 or 4 lbs into each bucket, and apply water to cover. Every 8 to 12 hours pull the bag out and rinse the bag and bucket, refill and put it back into a dark and warm enclosure. (I used my garage and/or a carboard box outside at approx 70 degrees.) Some will float to the top but most will submerge. The floaters are still in water and maybe dead seed. I’ve had better luck with soaking for 2 or 3 days (depending on seed type) then just thoroughly wetting the seed every 8 to 12 hours afterwards. Some say to continue to put it into a bucket of water, others say that’ll drown your seed. So long as the seed doesn’t completly dry, I don’t think it really matters. In theory, the bucket is mostly there to take away the poisons grass seeds produce.
So i am trying pre germination of Bermuda seed started Tuesday and it is now Saturday and no sprouting no action so i am wondering is this normal I have used an old tshirt as that is what i have at home and thought it would work alright I changed the water every day twice (12hrs) I picked Bermuda as the sales man said once established it is fairly water friendly and it is a warm area grass and our climate in RSA is fairly warm. All i want is all my bald patchy spots to be grassy. I tried just sowing the seed doing all that prep ect but nothing grew😢 Anyone with advice. Should i just be patient or is my seed broken 😢
This looks promising…the only issue I have with it is the test shows both seeds going down on the ground at the same time…I would like to see a test where the non-pre germinated seeds go on the ground the same time the pre-germination process starts…I feel like that would be a better indicator as to which method is superior
I am seeding Bermuda in May, I am going to do a test. Start pre germinating seed say May 15 and Im going to throw down some seed on May 15 as well, I want to see what happens, both will be getting wet at same time. Seeing how much TIME is saved or wasted pre germinating. You are right about pre germ seed being much faster if seeded on same day. The regular seed will have a five day head start.
Not trying to discredit you, and I do know pre germination helps speed the process. When doing an experiment try to compare equal times,equal circumstances, equal additives, etc, When you started the pregermination process you should have planted the nonpregerminated seed with the same fertilizer to show the time comparison it can save you.
I have watched about 20 pregermination articles so far and each one says something different as to how this is done. Many say only soak for 24 hrs initially, then keep out 12hrs then soak 12hrs the out 12hrs then soak 12hrs and so on. Others say to just rinse seed 2 or 3 times a day to keep wet, but not to soak more after 24 hrs. Other say soak aound the clock and change water every 12 hrs, like you. I did your method for 7 days now and no pre germination at all. I just overseeded so i hope i didnt drown the seed and kill it.
Do you live in Minnesota? I saw the Vikings sign you have on your front porch. I live near La Crosse WI and we have sandy soil. I was wondering if you would recommend this seed for my area and if it worked in sandy soil? I do Lyme my lawn every year to balance out the PH, but am hesitant using fertilizer because I have a few dogs. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!! Thank you!
My side yard is coming along nicely at week 5 or so with RK’s KBG/PRG (emergence was at day 4!); it’s mowable now and becoming durable – the space is sort of a damp, washout/runoff strip from the neighboring hill behind my backyard, and I’m done wasting seed on it at this point. I think the dampness in this area gave the seed a pre-germination behavior back in August. I’m going to be fall-blitzing it for the next 6 weeks rather than throwing more seed on it and hoping it will grow without all the proper prep-steps. Our NJ grass-growing season slams shut on us right after Oct 31, but this lawn does spread pretty aggressively (it did on my main front lawn) if it’s mowed 2-3 times a week. Your tips have definitely helped out this past season!
Great vids as always Jesse. My background turf grad from umass in golf course management and entomology plant/soil science. Been building and managing golf courses for 22 years. Love your website. All info is on point. Fireball and hatrick I know ppl love from ntep trials. Tshirts hats?! Keep crushing it dude. Shoutout to u and ur family.
I really appreciate you showing us how the different techniques “stack up”. Pretty incredible difference. Have you ever tried pregermination with grass seed that’s coated (to protect from disease)? I’m going to try your technique with a brand called Sta-green I bought at Lowes (Item #762283 |//Model #2149620292). I have the area prepped but waiting until the temp stays in the 50-65 range to get it the best odds.
This doesn’t work for Elite NTEP TTTF (Turf Type Tall Fescue). This fall I did this twice. The first I soaked for 3 days, it germinated 6 days later. The second time, I soaked for 6 days and germination came 5 1/2 days later. Water was changed out approximately every 12 hours and mixed with milorganite as many other articles have done. It must just be a Rye/KBG thing as germination occurred in the same time frame it does without soaking.
it would help more if you did the process correct. you’re not supposed to soak the seed after the first 24 hours. only rinse the seed with water every 12 hours, not let it soak. it’s a messy process and as you have shown, seed can germinate fine without the process. It makes sense on football or sports fields where they actually require fast germination in between games, not so much in a lawn setting.
That seems too much work. Also birds will get into the seed too. I wonder if you put the seed down first & then cover it up with something for a green house effect. When taking an aluminum truck shell off the truck I would place it on the lawn & the grass grew under it faster. I haven’t tried it with seed & no longer have that truck.
Great article! Bloomington Minnesota resident here, I pregerminated my grass seed exactly as you did two weeks ago (Milorganite has instructions on their website). My results are fantastic and I too will continue to use this method, saves, time, seed, and water! I enjoy your informational articles, thank you!
Great article topic, great production, great all around man! Enjoyed this one. Like you said, it’s cool to test, and could be useful if seeding a new area and wanting to avoid washout. Personally I don’t think I’ll do it, but I loved seeing the results and knowing it’s out there as a strategy. Well done.
This is awesome This was the first year I’ve tried seeding a lawn and we definitely have different elevations. And it is rainy here in the fall in PA. You can see a patch of the lawn where some seed tried to wash away and sat saturated from me watering 2x/day. It’s the best looking spot in the entire yard😂 Will try this next time
You make it look very time consuming & complicated, but I’m presuming you’re just copying all the other youtubers, With rye grass you only need to soak the seeds for 12 hours then drain & dry & you have three days to get them dry enough to sprinkle (dry enough when they don’t stick to each other) that’s easy to do,you can figure that out I’m sure, then just sprinkle as normal just like regular dry seeds, I get germination in two days after sprinkling & I give it it’s first cut in only 8 days from planting & that’s it, a thick lawn in 8 days with minimal work, yer welcome 😉.
1. (1:10) Timing of when to put 2. (2:30) Planting depth of seed – too deep won’t grow, too shallow also won’t grow. Target top quarter inch of soil bed. 3. (3:21) Watering – should be moist, not dry not super muddy. 4. (4:20) Pick the right seed for the soil you have. 5. (5:47) Seed sowing rate 6. (6:46) Preparation 7. (8:42) Rolling or treading on the seed
Hi bud, very informative article. I have been asked to overhaul a lawn that at the moment is heavily weed ridden and stinging nettle infested? You mention to prep the surface and weed kill before laying any seed, is there any industrial strength weedkillers that would work for blitzing a garden in this manner? feeling like it might be a bit of a strenuous job? Look forward to hearing from you
When we moved into our house the back grass was terrible. All weeds not much grass. I got rid of all the weeds and seeded the whole lawn. It’s now all grass but it’s a mix of the nice dark green grass that I seeded and the old light green stuff which doesn’t look good. So the colours look patchy. Will overseeding fix this or should i try and dig out some of the old grass. Thanks.
Good article, thanks. What if we had a digger in, scraping all the old turf away, tilled it all back to just soil with lots of stones in it. … We sprinkled soil fertiliser all over and no weeds are showing. Can we just sprinkle grass seed on top or do we still need to apply weedkiller? – The bottle suggests applying the weedkiller when the weeds are active, but so far we have none …. Thanks. Love from Scotland, X.
Regarding weeds, a product called Tenacity worked great for me and can be used right up to seeding. A little more complicated than most in that you need a surfactant and marker dye along with a good sprayer, the combined cost was $82 on amazon using a bundle with all 3 products for $50 and a cheap but awesome battery powered sprayer. I bought the generic which is identical and worked fine just expect a white lawn until the weeds die off. This product works well on crabgrass, clover and nutsedge and others
Hi I am just getting ready to sow my seed in lawn, I opted on not getting a roller, because there just didn’t seem to be any decent ones out there, alot of very negative reviews for something quite expensive and i may only use it once or twice. So i saw you treading down the soil so looks like that’s my option, this is going to be my steps, 1) put down my seed, 2) lightly rake with a common garden leave rake no fancy one lol, 3) Then trample in the seeds, the area is 7m by 2.5 m, so not massive but a fair amount of trampling lol, 4) final step and this one not sure about, should I just use my common sense here, eg if it’s a wet day or the soil looks quite moist should I hold off with the watering in case I displace the seeds, or should I still lightly water, this is my other worry as I’m tramping in the seeds does this mean I’ll end up with a lawn that’s not level, I did level it it already using a lawn leveller, AKA lute, any advice welcome please, or do you think I’m good, hope you reply.
I’ve just started digging all my grass up (weeds) manually I’m starting to regret it I’m half way of digging up,a pile of mud and weeds,now do I carry on back hurting, I suffer with sciatica not the best thing to have when digging I do about half hour of digging then stop once I do get all the weeds dug up then what
I have just moved into a new build house. The soil is clay and I am going to put grass seed down. I have dug it over then tried my best to break up the lumps of clay into smaller pieces with a spade. But it is still in chunks. I have some sandy top soil to go on top but I’m worried that underneath the layer of sandy soil there will be lots of air pockets. Should I be worried?
Really appreciate your reply. May I ask what did you use in your article? The lawn is level just a few dips that you wouldn’t notice till you walked over it and also we had very bad investigation of leather jackets that left the lawn very lumpy and I want to re- level it. It’s a small garden so would you still recommend soil over sand. Many thanks.
If you tread over the seed isn’t there a danger of compaction? I tried to start a new lawn in mid March. I tilled, raked and put fertiliser in the soil before sowing and treading the seed in, but I must’ve done something wrong because now the soil is like cement. I’m gonna give it another shot this Easter but don’t wanna make the same mistakes.