Last fall I put down some "Triangle Blend" fescue seeds in my yard. They're doing well, but I still have some trouble spots. What are the odds of it surviving if I plant some more this week?

I know you normally put fescue down in the fall so that it can get relatively mature before it gets really hot. I just don't want to waste my time and money if it's going to die. My yard is somewhat shaded which should help some.

3/12/2007 4:04:46 PM

go ahead and put out some starter fertilizer now. in a week put out the seed. it should be fine. just be sure to use only starter fertilizer. if you use fertilizer with pre-emergent or any other type of weed killer, it'll also prevent the seed from germinating.

3/12/2007 8:26:22 PM

The rule I always heard is any month with an R is generally ok. If you put it in now and water it nicely, you'll be fine. It'll just be more susceptible to dieing this summer if you don't keep after it with water.

3/12/2007 9:04:04 PM

I'm actually rethinking the Fescue for the back yard. It is pretty shady back there and the stuff I've read over the past couple of days has said that it needs a lot of sunlight. The stuff I planted last fall is doing great in the front yard and side yard though, so no real loss.

What can I put out that would be easier to grow in the shade?

3/13/2007 12:00:08 PM

I thought pretty much all turf needed full sun to flourish. I know some will fare better than others beneath trees, but they do best in the sun.

I'm interested to hear recommendations on this one.

3/13/2007 1:10:32 PM

i read a couple of websites that recommend st. augustine for shady lawns (and that's what's in my yard)

fescue is not the best choice for a shady lawn in the south. i've never seen one do very well around here under shade.

i would try the st. augustine though. plugs (or sod), not seed. it's easy to propagate. limb up some trees if you can. st. augustine LOVES the heat, so you're not really gonna see it green until closer to the summer...and if it's not green enough, just spread some ironite. plus, it makes such a tight web that once it's established you don't have to work too hard against weeds.

[Edited on March 13, 2007 at 1:28 PM. Reason : ]

3/13/2007 1:28:04 PM

St. Augustine or Zoysia for shaded areas. There are some Fescues that work well in the shade.

3/13/2007 1:31:45 PM

I googled St. Augustine. That's what we have at my parent's house. It is very thick and if we ever get a dead spot it's easy to just move a plug and wait for it to fill in. I might go that route.

I really don't want to lay sod. It would take quite a bit of prep work and I don't own a bobcat or a tractor. I guess I could rent one and knock it out in a day, but I really hate laying sod. I was planning on trying to fix the worst spots every year and seeding the whole lawn so that after a few years it would look really nice. I guess a day of labor doesn't sound too bad when you think about it though.

3/13/2007 4:40:46 PM

Sod is some hateful stuff to deal with. Reminds me of pulling tobacco back in the day. I'd rather drink a beer and just wait for the grass to come in.

3/13/2007 5:00:28 PM

^ Think it would take more than one beer... wait... that's a really good plan.

3/13/2007 5:02:07 PM

Grasshopper - you are now seeing the light.

3/13/2007 5:04:38 PM

I did landscaping work one summer during college. You'd think after laying all that sod, building nice brick patios, building in-ground sprinkler systems, etc. that I'd be used to it. Instead it just made me hella lazy when it comes to yard work.

3/13/2007 5:04:46 PM

^^ Ha ha.

3/13/2007 5:05:09 PM

during the warmest months, fescue will brown out if it isnt in the shade unless you water it immensly. i have a bahaia(sp?) lawn. i hate it because it doesn't grow very thick and the seed heads come back one day after mowing it. i overseeded with fescue last fall, but i really need to fertilize this weekend so it will flourish before it gets too hot. on the sod topic, i would go with a tiffway bermuda. Its a warm season grass, but it needs to be mowed at 1 1/2" to 2" which is very difficult to achieve without scalping without a reel mower. As soon as the money tree yeilds again, I will be installing a fence between my front yard and back, rounduping my front yard, tilling it up, and sodding with bermuda (i would sod with zoisia if it wasnt so expensive, it costs double bermuda). then i am going to spray and till my back yard and reseed it. the fence will be there so my neighbors do not have to be reminded of the ugly stages of reseeding the back yard.

[Edited on March 14, 2007 at 8:55 AM. Reason : .]

3/14/2007 8:54:30 AM

^Ugh. Bahia is the worst. We have tons of it down in Brunswick County. I never understood why people wanted that nasty crap in their yard. I flourishes there and is drought-resistant, but you can NEVER mow it enough.

3/14/2007 9:05:20 AM

No one's mentioned Centipede grass? We have that at home, stuff's cool. Creeps along and is pretty hardy. Dunno about shade though.

Also don't see the big deal about sod, I've laid a lot of it over the summers. Just gotta bust up the ground with a clam rake, put down the sod and water the hell out of it. Guess that is a lot of work though, not bad on a good Saturday though.

3/14/2007 11:13:10 AM

centipede and st. augustine are similar.

you can do plugs w/ the st. augustine but seed isn't going to work well if you can even find it.

3/14/2007 11:18:19 AM

Quote :

"i would sod with zoisia if it wasnt so expensive"

buy some Amazoy plugs. i had a buddy do it to his entire yard. he bought an amount according to the sq. ft. of his yard so i can't tell you how many plugs he bought. but i do know it filled in nicely in about 2 years. his yard is now going on 3 years and looks awesome. i will be doing this at my next house.

http://www1.zoysiafarms.com/theamazoystory.html

3/14/2007 8:13:00 PM

i am pretty sure you arent suppse to seed cool season grasses (fescue, bent, bluegrass) in the spring because you dont want them growing too much in the heat as it causes too much stress. this it why you dont fertilize cool season grases during the summer and you haveto really water them like crazy to keep them green.

i beleive that cool season grasses are to be planted around august.

Quote :

"(i would sod with zoisia if it wasnt so expensive, it costs double bermuda)."

i dont know about cost but zoysia japonica 'el toro' is a really vigorous/quick to establish cultivar and give great results with plugs, or so i have heard. i like zoysia.

the only thing good about fescue is that it is green in the winter (cool seasion grass) other than that it sucks. but i dont mind dormant (brown grass in the winter; bermuda, zoysia).

ps dont ever ever ever buy kentucky 31 fescue. it is horrible. i know it cheap and thats because its the worst cultivar/variety fescue available

3/14/2007 9:12:00 PM

you can plant fescue in the spring as long as you get it out early enough (i.e. now) and stay on top of watering (1 inch/week). the reason why it's not recommended is people usually don't water enough and the roots don't grow deep enough to survive the hot nc summers. the roots will actually grow shallow searching for more water and the heat will kill it.

3/14/2007 9:28:59 PM

Quote :

"buy some Amazoy plugs."

Is there something that makes these better than any other plug?

3/15/2007 8:29:08 AM

it's just a hybrid zoysia.

3/15/2007 10:36:28 AM

Quote :

"St. Augustine or Zoysia for shaded areas"

3/15/2007 10:45:24 AM

Quote :

"you can plant fescue in the spring as long as you get it out early enough (i.e. now) and stay on top of watering (1 inch/week). the reason why it's not recommended is people usually don't water enough and the roots don't grow deep enough to survive the hot nc summers. the roots will actually grow shallow searching for more water and the heat will kill it."

Now you have me worried about the stuff I planted last fall. I didn't water it as diligently as I should. I guess I'll start running the sprinklers and hold off on cutting it as long as I can (then cut it really tall.)

3/15/2007 11:27:25 AM

National Turfgrass Evaluation Program
http://ntep.org/states/nc1/nc1_raleigh.htm

Amazoy is the same as Meyer Zoysia, apparently. Seems there are some better hybrids based on these tests.

I'm going to try planting some Zoysia plugs in a 13x20 area between my sidewalk and driveway to see how it takes and if I like it. I also read that its better to use 3inch plugs (rather than the 1 inch Amazoy pushes) and to space them about 8 inches apart.

Does anyone know a good local place to buy plugs from?

3/15/2007 12:07:54 PM

Matt, these guys are semi-local and I have done business with them through the company I work for and I was impressed with their service. According to their website, they do plant sprigs.

http://www.mackilweanturffarm.com/

3/15/2007 1:56:39 PM

Quote :

"then cut it really tall"

no, you don't want to do that either. you never want to cut more than a third of the blade off. doing so actually weakens the grass making it suseptible to disease. don't worry about the grass you planted last fall. just water at least an inch per week and keep it mowed. after you mow, inspect several blades of grass. if the ends look like they've been shredded or ripped, then you need to sharpen your blade[s]. also, when watering, don't water shallow or everyday for 15-20 minutes a time. instead, water once a week. it make take several hours per section to water thoroughly (at least an inch per week). take a soup can and mark a line an inch off the bottom and stick it out in the yard when you water so you can get an idea of how long it takes your sprinkler to deliver an inch of water.

3/15/2007 9:18:17 PM

When I said "cut it really tall" I meant to only cut a little bit and leave it really tall. I think we're thinking the same thing.

I've got this tractor thing that slowly drives across my yard over a couple of hours, following the water hose back to the faucet; so when I do water the grass it gets a lot.

3/15/2007 9:36:23 PM

^ok, now i understand what you are saying. i cut fescue no less than 3.5 inches.

3/15/2007 9:44:40 PM

^^that sounds pretty damn cool, where'd you get it? details? does it navigate around obstacles like trees, etc.?

i've got just less than an acre total (maybe 0.5 of grass?) so the sprinkler has to be moved a few times.

i hate yard work to death, and wouldn't have crap if it was up to me. the guy i bought the house from put some SERIOUS cash into the yard/landscaping though (how about 3 good sized japanese maples for example), so i try to keep it up for the sake of investment/resale.

[Edited on March 15, 2007 at 10:28 PM. Reason : .]

3/15/2007 10:26:56 PM

It's one of these:


http://www.epinions.com/content_189243428484

I got it at Home Depot last year for around $70. It runs off the water pressure and some insane gear ratio that allows it to slowly crawl across the yard. There is a little ramp that you put at the faucet end of the water hose. When it runs over the ramp it engages a button that shuts it off.

I stretch out about 200' of water hose so that it snakes around my yard getting all the flower beds, trees, grass, etc. It just drives down the hose for a couple of hours until it gets to the shutoff ramp. You have to make sure you have very smooth curves in the hose. If you have a sharp turn it will jump the hose and go wherever it wants. I once caught mine in my neighbors yard with the hose pulled tight and the wheels digging a trench. It's mad powerful...I think it has VTEK.

[Edited on March 15, 2007 at 10:42 PM. Reason : .]

3/15/2007 10:38:38 PM

lol.

so if i'm understanding correctly, it uses the hose like a track?

sounds like alot of money to shell out by the time you buy enough footage of hose to snake it around. probably better spent torwards my eventual irrigation system. being a plumbing contractor, i have no exscuse not to.

3/15/2007 10:54:18 PM

Yes, it uses the hose like a track. The previous owner of my house left nice hoses on the front and back of the house, so I guess I was lucky there.

3/15/2007 11:01:27 PM

yeah, i've got one too except mine's a fire engine. it does work well.

3/16/2007 9:17:44 AM