Charlotte lawn question
ilektronik – posted 08 June 2005 06:38
I recently moved down to Charlotte, NC from upstate NY. It seems much more difficult to keeps lawns in good shape down here because the soil doesn’t seem to retain any water. To make matters worse, my front lawn is on a downward slope. The grass type is tall fescue. The grass however seems to always stay yellowish no matter how much I water it. (that could be of course because the water simply rolls down into the street) I have a couple of questions.
What can I do to get my soil to hold moisture better??
Should I opt to go with a different grasss type??
Buck – posted 08 June 2005 07:23
How have you determined that you have a water problem? It could be that you are experiencing the summer wilt that occurs with fescue in your, or any hot, climate. Fescue is a cool season turf and when the hot, humid days of summer arrive in NC, it kind of checks out. Do you have neighbors with fescue that seem to be having much better luck? For a pretty good discussion of fescue, NSCU in Raleigh has posted a lot of their research at: http://www.turffiles.ncsu.edu
Click on Truf Tips and then Tall Fescue.
cking – posted 08 June 2005 15:04
I lived in Chalotte for 15 years and fought an annual battle with fescue every year. A couple of things helped, but did not solve the “summer wilt” problem. Ironite greened the lawn a little, but was a temporary fix. Sustain (a Lesco product) actually showed some promise, but you will need to buy it from a lawn service or directly from Lesco. If your lawn slopes to the south or west and gets a good amount of sun, you may be better off with a different type of grass, maybe bermuda or zoysia.
ilektronik – posted 09 June 2005 05:48
can i simply overseed with zoysia?? will it mix well with the fescue that is there now? when is a good time to seed zoysia?
cking – posted 09 June 2005 07:19
Now is a good time to plant zoysia, but rather than seeding I would recommend plugs – or better yet sod if your lawn is not too large.
ilektronik – posted 09 June 2005 07:39
do I have to kill the existing grass first?
cking – posted 09 June 2005 09:07
I think you can just scalp your lawn rather than trying to kill it. How big is your yard?
ilektronik – posted 09 June 2005 10:18
My lawn is about 1/3 of an acre. However, I would only want to do the front yard, as the back is very shaded. The front yard gets no shade and QUITE a bit of sunlight.
If I scalp the lawn, can I still seed? Or would I have to use plugs?
cking – posted 09 June 2005 10:32
I would highly recommend sod or plugs – seeding an existing lawn with zoysia is tough. With such a small area, it should no be very expensive. Check out http://www.zoysias.com/seeding/ – Good luck.
ilektronik – posted 09 June 2005 10:41
thanks for your help!
ncflynns – posted 18 June 2005 17:36
quote:Originally posted by ilektronik:thanks for your help!
I have left-over emerald zoysia sod from sodding my lawn earlier today…it’s enough to cover approx. 60-75 sq. ft. I’m in NW Charlotte…You’re welcome to it if you could pick it up tomorrow…it would give you a chance to see if you like zoysia. Email if you’re
in*******************@ya***.com
termides – posted 24 July 2005 07:27
How does your lawn look now? I live in SW Charlotte and I am going to switch to Zoysia. I am sick of the Fescue. Where did you purchase the sod? I wonder if it is too late in the year to sod the Zoysia.
cstarks – posted 24 July 2005 16:49
Hello and welcome to Charlotte. I have lived here eleven years, but have lived in the upper South all of my life. If you can tolerate the Fescue until the fall, it will green up nicely then and stay that way all through the winter until next July. It is just a little dormant at the moment.
Switching to Bermuda in Charlotte is like trading a horse for a rabbit. A few people do it, but nearly every yard in my 300 home neighborhood is Fescue. Most of the Fescue yards are gorgeous even right now.
A Bermuda yard is brown/white in the late fall and winter until mid spring. To make it green you will have to overseed with rye each winter.
jenngreg72 – posted 24 July 2005 23:10
Thanks for the advice in this thread. Is it too late in the year to switch over to fescue at this point? We’re renovating an old home outside of Greensboro, and I’d like to start working on the the yard area too.
Otherwise – does anyone know of a good landscaping service in the Greensboro area?Greensboro Landscaping Service
Jenn
Buck – posted 25 July 2005 08:39
Not too late; too early. The time to establish fescue in NC is about mid September. Almost anything you do from now until then will just get cooked in the heat before the root structure develops.
The NC State Ag Department has just about everything you need to know about fescue in NC. Go to: http://www.turffiles.ncsu.edu/Home/Default.aspx
I almost forgot Do Not over water. Floratan /Seville all strains of St. Augustine are suseptible to fungus from over…
I am from the north and it has taken me five yrs to learn and undertand seville lawns. No 1…
To insert an image into a new post, either first upload it using the "+ New" button in the upper…
To insert an image < 2 MB in size in a comment, below "Leave a Reply" click BROWSE.
How do you post pictures...found link to images, but still unable to post pics.