Life after fescue

larrymcj – posted 21 August 2005 12:23

I live in Chesapeake, VA (near NC border) and we’ve had the most beautiful fescue yard in the neighborhood for several years, but over the past three years, between brown patch disease from all the rain, Nut Grass, and common bermuda problems, I am finally over it.

I’ve tried killing the entire yard with four successive double-doses of professional RoundUp, but within a year the Bermuda finds it way back into the yard.

What grass can I change to (even at the expense of sodding 4000 sq. ft.) that will not be bothered by diseases like brown patch (we have a lot of rain here) and also do a good job of choking out the common bermuda?

LarryMcJ

QWERTY – posted 21 August 2005 15:38

where is bermuda grass coming from? your neighbors? If so, i’d suggest that you put in 6 inches border of some kind into the ground and another 6 inches enforced with mortar. That should do the trick.

As far as using round up, are you sure you used them correctly? Bermuda isn’t something you’d halfassed it with roundup. It’s difficult to get rid of it if you don’t prepare properly.

First, water them well for a couple of weeks. Give the a bit of nitrogen boost to maximize growth (don’t over do it or you’ll burn them). Let them grow to at least 2 inches high, maybe higher the better. Then use Round up. Don’t do anything else till the next day. Water them a bit everyday for a week. Use a LITTLE bit of fast acting nitrogen fertlizer. You should see few remaining bermuda left, use another round up and kill the rest. Water regularly for another week. You should have 100% kill by then. If not, do some spot killing with Round up. Another week, start over with fall fescue.

2 inches cutting height in the fall and winter.

3 inches in the spring and summer to keep bermuda from popping out of nowwhere. Bermuda needs a lot of sun to grow and with 3 inches of cutting height for tall fescue will make it a lot harder for bermuda to take over. Make sure you water fescue as well.

larrymcj – posted 21 August 2005 18:17

The neighbors on both sides have common Bermuda, but I don’t have a problem with it on the perimeters…it’s out in the middle of my yard. I’m convinced I could take out the first foot of dirt in my yard, fill it up with new topsoil and plant Fescue and within two years it would be full of Bermuda.

I’m over it…I just want to get some advice on which of the other grasses I should try, and whether to sod or seed. I’m thinking either St. Augustine or Centipede, but open to any suggestions. I know there are several varieties of St. Augustine, and I’m not sure which would do best here.

Maybe one of the finer bladed Bermuda grasses would work, like Celebration. At least if there was some common Bermuda mixed in it wouldn’t look like crap. And I don’t mind the dead yard during the winter.

LarryMcJ

QWERTY – posted 21 August 2005 19:06

You can always overseed with perennial ryegrasses in the cool weather! You can go with bermuda grasses if you don’t have any shades. They love lots of sun. If you have trees, they won’t look as good. You can try Palmetto SA but you will have to keep the cutting height at 3 inches, even 3.5 to crowd out bermuda. Palmetto is semi-dwarf type so they don’t grow as tall as those commmon SA. Bermuda requires the most amount of nitrogen of all types of grasses to stay green. Beware – they are agressive! If you don’t pay attention, they will invade your flower beds! It’s a pain in the ass. SA is much easier to control. Anyway go to www.lawngrasses.com and you can decide on what variety of bermuda you want. They sell seeds for all kind of varieties. You can try Yukon or Rivera since they’re the most cold tolerant ones. However, they require more work to look good. http://www.bermudagrass.com/info/yukon.html You’d need perfectly level yard to be able to cut low without scalping. That’s why I hate this part. It’s just a lot of work trying to smooth my front yard out in order for my bermuda yard to look nice. I blame it on crappy professional work before I moved into my new house. I just sodded my backyard with Palmetto SA. We’ll see how that goes in 5 years.

larrymcj – posted 21 August 2005 19:41

Thanks, Qwerty. I have the same problem here with a very unlevel yard. I think I may just try the Palmetto SA since at a height of 3″ it wouldn’t matter that the soil was a little bumpy. I don’t notice this with my Fescue cut at 3″.

In the front, I’m willing to have someone come in with a sod cutter and shave the existing grass, then sod with Palmetto SA. I just don’t want to have to wait two years to see some progress.

Larry

Turfmiester – posted 21 August 2005 21:20

Have you thought about spriging in some Seashore Paspalum (Paspalum vaginatum)? It is salt tolerant,can use salt water to kill weeds, can be irrigated with salt water or effluent water, is pretty much disease resistant, and pretty good at being drought tollerant. Read up on it, you just might like what you read. seaisle1.com

larrymcj – posted 22 August 2005 06:09

It sounds interesting, Turfmeister, but from what I read about it at seaisle1.com it can’t be watered with my well water (not enough salt content). It would also have to be mowed at no more than one inch, and my yard is not smooth enough to allow a rotary mower to do this. Thanks so much, anyway.

LarryMcJ