Temporary Cool-Season Grass

tulsapete – posted 01 January 2008 16:07

This is a cool site, I’m bookmarking it right now!

Anyways, we built a house and finished in late November. The yard is nothing but mud. Is there something besides Annual Rye that I could plant that would be good for a temporary basis until the warm season comes around?

Thanks!

greenman1 – posted 17 January 2008 21:15

Tall fescue could be a good choice if you have consistant wet clay soil depending on where you live. It does well in those conditions. Where do you live. Do you just want a temporary stand till summer.

tulsapete – posted 18 January 2008 08:15

quote:Originally posted by greenman1:Tall fescue could be a good choice if you have consistant wet clay soil depending on where you live. It does well in those conditions. Where do you live. Do you just want a temporary stand till summer.

About 2 miles north of the Arkansas River near Bixby, but close to Broken Arrow.I’m basically wanting to do something temporarily until summer when I can put down Bermuda.

tommy – posted 18 January 2008 10:33

You are going to have problems getting anything to germinate in the cold. The only thing I can think of would be Poa Trivialis. It burns out easily when the heat comes along, so it would be considered temporary for your climate. If you can’t find the seed locally, you can buy it on the web. Try- Outsidepride.com

tommy – posted 18 January 2008 10:38

……..p.s. The poa trivialis is listed under- ‘Maximum rough bluegrass’ on that web site.

tulsapete – posted 18 January 2008 14:28

Cool thanks. I’m still not sure what we’re going to do.

The Oklahoma State University Ag Extension here in Tulsa said it would be fine to put down Bermuda as long as you don’t allow it to get dry at all until it warms up.

Let me ask you, since this is a new house, we have no trees. Would Zoysia work? I love Zoysia, but a lot of people consider it a shade grass, but I thought it was a grass that likes the sun. The house faces the south. One other question I have is regarding water consumption. Which grass needs more water, Bermuda or Zoysia? The cost of water is almost double the cost at our old house just 10 miles away from our new house. So that is a major concern too. Some of these sod guys seem to be full of smoke…What would you do???

That is a cool website!

[This message has been edited by tulsapete (edited 18 January 2008).]

tommy – posted 21 January 2008 19:55

Zoysia would be considered a sun or shade grass…..the Ag extension could probably recommend the best variety for your area. Zoysia usually needs less water than bermuda.

poaannuababy – posted 01 October 2008 19:10

put down some pernnial rye (lolium perene). it will come up in like a week and last all year round. then in the spring mix in some other kind of seed

josedelvecchio – posted 09 December 2008 13:52

I’m with perennial ryegrass too.

potato – posted 29 December 2008 21:36

Eden, which is a tall fescue and bluegrass mix germinates quickly and the is a trick to germinating seed even quicker. Look at bestgrassseed.com for direction to quick germination.