Overseeding with 5 star Fescue
windstrings – posted 06 November 2008 13:51
I currently have Bermuda, but hate the ugly winters here in Central Texas just S of Fort Worth, so I planted Perennial Ryegrass but its only coming up patchy in the shaded areas as the more open areas just get too much sun and too little water even though I’ve driven my water bill to astronomical levels.I have one lot where my house sits that has topsoil, but the other does not and is more of a hard clay.For anyone who knows this ares, there is already plenty of lime in the dirt.
I planted a little “tall Fescue” just along my fenceline last year and it appears to have survived the nasty summer here as its come back and looks pretty nice and green, although clumpy.
So now I’m contemplating overseeding my whole acre (2 – 1/2 acre lots in a residential area) with 5 Star fescue as its supposed to be even more drought tolerant and may provide a better carpeted look for my neighborhood than tall fescue would.
My question is:1. Will it choke out my Bermuda so when summer comes so I will have no grass thats green?2. Is it likely to come in and look good based on what I’ve described?3. Would you not recommend this and why?
tommy – posted 07 November 2008 09:24
Tall fescue and bermuda are not a good mix! If you want tall fescue, you must first kill off the bermuda. Its too late now,(must be done when bermuda is actively growing),so if you want green for the winter, you might consider rye.
windstrings – posted 07 November 2008 09:28
I have very little tall fescue and I don’t really want the tall, only the fine bladed stuff that the 5 star fescue is.
I just want them to coexist because I know the fescue will not be green in the hot of the summer and thats when the bermuda will take over as it takes a while to get going anyway.
I would hope that the fescue would occupy the realestate so that weeds didn’t try to take over in the spring whereas burmuda usually allows that to happen because its still dormant.
tommy – posted 07 November 2008 13:24
If you had weeds in the area last winter, your going to have them again-no matter what type of grass your growing. Most weeds however, are easy to kill with a ‘weed&feed’ product. ‘5 star’ is still a tall fescue variety, even though its lower growing than most other tall fescue’s. The bermuda will still dominate it in the summer, and in the winter you will have clumpy patches of 5 star left over.
windstrings – posted 07 November 2008 15:15
I’ve gotten rid of most of my weeds as my Bermuda has gotten thicker with lots of watering… last spring wasn’t too bad, but I’m sure most of the weeds are opportunistic in nature and wouldn’t have much of a chance if good winter grass was growing in the place of any patches.
I can’t seem to get my Perennial Rye grass to take hold except in small portions of my yard.
Can you suggest a fescue or other grass that may be better?… or will I have to just keep reseeding my fescue every fall?
I was hoping to let it go to seed a few times so it would come back on its own, but I don’t know how successful that would be.
tommy – posted 08 November 2008 00:35
It would be tough to get any kind of decent re-growth by letting the fescue re-seed itself. You might want to try a new kind of tall fescue formula called- ‘Water saver’. It has a little bit of a lateral spread, and would not form clumps in the bermuda. Its a product put out by Barenbrug seed Co. I think Star Nursery has it,(on line).
windstrings – posted 08 November 2008 08:25
They also have this “finer blade” stuff that is supposed to need less water.
I wonder if it would be better?http://www.starnursery.com/show_details.php?root=14&product=1944
windstrings – posted 08 November 2008 08:31
Nevermind, I see you recommended it because its self repairing!
windstrings – posted 08 November 2008 08:40
I can’t seem to find how tall this stuff gets.It is classified as “tall” fescue, but there seems to be so many different type from fine to broad leaf as well and hight differences.
Can’t find any pictures either.
windstrings – posted 08 November 2008 09:50
ok.. I found pictures.. it looks quite nice in the pics…I’ve seen good and bad reviews.It appears to grow up to about 12 inches.
There is some arguement as to whether it is “better” than the other types, but as reviews go, there will always be negatives.
The only negative I found against other types is the price… I cannot find anyone who feels its worse, so it sounds like its a better choice and quite possibly much cheaper when you factor in less watering and less or no overseeding!
Thanks for the suggestion!
windstrings – posted 08 November 2008 17:38
ok, I ordered 125lbs.We will see.. thanks again.
tommy – posted 09 November 2008 20:17
Your welcome. Pretty impressive how much research you did! You would have to really neglect ‘water saver’ for it to get a foot tall!
windstrings – posted 09 November 2008 22:26
Thanks… I’m just a baby to this stuff!And I thought mowing the grass was all it was about! LOL!
I just bought a 32 pin 48″ lawn aerator and been having fun with it… I can only get good plugs around my aerobic septic system discharge. I’ve got a good rain coming tomorrow and I’ll get the whole yard then.That seems to be the very best single thing someone can do for their yard. My yard is definitely compacted as it has never been aerated to my knowledge… but I’ve only been here 2.5 years now.This clay base doesn’t help.
Without changing the topic, suffice it to say it helps on so many levels.I will then put out my seed when it gets here in a few days.
I’m not sure if I should put any fertilizer in with the seed like I did my Rye about 2 months ago.
It seems as long as the nitrogen is not too high it may be ok…. just don’t want to burn it up.
tommy – posted 11 November 2008 22:21
A mild type fertilizer is best for new seed. For large areas its common to see a fertilizer like 15-15-15 used. (somtimes its 16-16-16).
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…
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