Growing grass in the shade

Todd – posted 16 August 2003 12:23

Hello,I am at wits end trying to grow grass in my back yard. I live in SE Michigan and have a backyard shaded by Maple, Cherry and Sassafrass (sp?) tress. I have corrected the soil PH to neutral with the use of lime. I have planted a mix of 50% Crossfire II, 30% Manhattan II and 20% Kentucky Bluegrass. This looked great in May, OK in June and now in August it is as thin as my hairline. It appears that it just withers and dies. I mow it at a height of 3 inches. Some parts of the lawn probably get about two to three hours a day of sun at most. I have pruned the tress to a ten to fifteen foot height. The soil is lumpy in places and is a fairly compact mixture of sand and clay. I have an inground sprikler system and I water about three times a week for fifteen minutes on each station. The back yard has an eastern exposure and gets some morning and some afternoon sun. There is moss present in places but it is a greenish yellow color. Does anybody have suggestions that might help, ie fertilizer mix to use, grass types to use etc.. I would apprecaite any suggestions.Thanks,Todd

Will-PCB – posted 16 August 2003 18:33

Todd,

As dumb at this might sound, I have a White Maple from New York in my front yard here in Florida. The tree has been in place for 21 years and is just about 50′ tall with easily a 30′ diameter of coverage. Now I dont think St. Augustine would live well in your area, but I am certain a cultivar of some kind of grass found up there would.

The thing that I did, was to cut the bottom of the tree up to increase the amount of sunlight my grass received (which it sounds like you already did). Then I took an axe at my neighbor’s suggestion and cut the roots of the tree about 10-15′ out from the tree. This simple thing helped my grass tremendously. Not being satisfied with that, I took a pitch fork and loosened up the ground, then applied simple wash sand.

As far as watering, I decreased the amount of water I allowed to all my lawn. If I see wilt in the grass, and if I can stick my finger into the ground and it comes back dry, I water. If neither of those conditions are present, I dont water.

1 year later after trying all this, the dang grass in my shaded area is thicker than any of the grass in the full sun.

Go figure. The old farmer neighbor was right…..God bless his soul.