Challenging predicament …

ScottyB – posted 27 September 2003 23:07

This is probably going to be a long post, so please bear with me.

I have a small home in the country in SE Georgia (near Statesboro). The house was moved into a grove of oak trees on an old dairy farm. It’s a beautiful site, about an acre overall, but it was basically reclaimed from nature. A lot of clearing was necessary before the house could be moved.

I would like to establish something resembling a lawn, but I am something at a loss at how to go about doing it. The challenge is daunting, and money (or lack thereof) is a significant factor.

Currently, the house is surrounded by patches of sandy dirt, various wild grasses, lots of broadleaf weeds, with common Bermuda grass on the outskirts. The yard about ten yards surrounding the house receives some sun in the middle of the day, but outside of that perimeter is in heavy shade from the trees.

If I had my way, I’d probably lay St. Augustine sod, but with 3000 square feet or more to cover, it is simply not affordable.

Neighbors have contributed some sprigs of St. Augustine grass (Palmetto, I believe), and I purchased a tiny bit of sod and broke it up into plugs to see if I could get something started. Only about half the plugs have survived, and the rest is growing and spreading extremely slowly.

On another side of the house, I experimented with some fescue. I bought a bag of a Pennington mix that was supposed to be appropriate for a mixed sunny and shady lawn in this region. However, after I planted it and did some research (dumb, I know), I found out that a significant amount of the mix was creeping red fescue, which of course, did not survive this area’s steamy summer. The tall fescue in the mix, however, seemed to survive.

Realistically, I’m not necessarily interested in having a gorgeous, perfect lawn. And I don’t have time to impeccably maintain it, either. But I like I said at the beginning, I’d like to have something resembling a lawn. I’d like to come up with a plan to implement gradually.

The challenge is coming up with something economical yet realistic. I know that seeding is most economical way to go, but the amount of heavy shade limits the varieties. Can certain varieties of tall fescue handle the summers here, as well as the shade? I know Bermuda can’t handle the shade. Can centipede handle the shade? And if I seed, do I need to till up everything and do it all at once. Or can I overseed what already exists and hope to choke out most of the weeds eventually by overseeding every year and applying selective herbicides?

Or am I better off buying just a little St. Augustine sod and just adding a little, bit by bit, gradually radiating out from the house?

Help! I need a plan.

william2001 – posted 28 September 2003 19:34

Hi Scotty,

You might take a look here: http://www.georgialawns.com/

I think you’ll have trouble growing any kind of grass in heavy shade. Maybe you could plant some kind of hardy, low maintenance ground cover in those problem areas instead?

I’m in NW Missouri where fescue and bluegrass are popular. I’m more familiar with establishing a cool season grass than a warm one. But, I don’t believe the fescues will do very well in your area, probably would be in dormacy much of the time.

If you completely start over and plan to seed, I would kill all the existing vegetation first with something like Round-Up, then mow as low as you can and remove all the debris. I think it’s important that the seeds make good contact with the soil in order to germinate. Probably best to rent a slit seeder or verticutter to ensure at least most of that seed is going have a chance at germinating and growing.

All of this assumes that you have pretty good soil to start with. Nothing will grow well in dry sterile compacted dirt lacking nutrients and organic matter. Except maybe some weeds.

Maybe not the reply you are looking for but just trying to help.

jr – posted 05 October 2003 17:38

Whatever you do, don’t go tilling up the soil deeply. I am an ISA certified arborist. 90% of the fine absorbing roots of your oak trees are in the upper 12 inches of the soil. Assuming you even could till through them, you certainly don’t want to destroy the root system of the oaks for the sake of some grass. Given that, also take into account that all those roots are sucking up a hell of a lot more water (and fertilizers and other minerals) from the soil than you might imagine. Tree roots far outcompete grass. So successful grass establishment under heavy cover from trees requires additional water and fertlizers. Oftentimes that is the real reason behind poor grass performance, not the shade.