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Shade Tolerant KBG?

14 years ago

My backyard has a number of tall trees on the perimeter, which block the sun at various times in the day throughout the yard. In total however, on a rotating basis the yard gets about 4 hours of sun a day. Can I grow a lawn that is predominently KBG back there, or should I stick to a more share tolerant blend like fine fescue and perennial rye? If I can grow KBG, are there any particular cultivars that are recommended for shade tolerance? In terms of Zone I'm in Northern VA near DC. I'm also new to lawncare, having just bought my first house this past winter. Thanks in advance for any tips!

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Comments (6)

bgtimber75
14 years ago
I wonder if you (and when I say you I really mean me because your situation sounds a lot like mine) could do a combo KBG/creeping red fescue in the hope that the KBG would dominate the sunny areas and the fescue would do the same with the shady areas.

Would the difference in appearance be jarring?
bpgreen
14 years ago
I don't think you'll find a KBG cultivar that does well in shade. I'd go with fine fescues for the shady areas.
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In addition to Midnight being much darker than fescue, it isn't very shade tolerant. I see that your mix is called OKC shade mix. If the area in question has shade issues you should try to get the most shade tolerant KBG you can. I know Bedazzled is a great cultivar, but I am not too sure of it's shade tolerance, but it is an America type grass, which is where you find many of the more shade tolerant cultivars. That being said, I have yet to see in print anything regarding if this cultivar is good in the shade. America is an older variety that is said to be one of the more shade tolerant. Orfeo is a newer one, but Orfeo is an aggressive type, so it might dominate your lawn, especially the sunnier areas, which you might like.
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Camas, never heard of it, probably a common type or older cultivar that isn't used very much. Brooklawn. A shamrock type, average full sun performer, not good in natural shade. Produces high seed yield, so you find it in a lot of blends and mixes because it is cost effective. Midnight, great cultivar, just not in shade. Nu Destiny, another compact midnight. Performs worse in shade than Midnight, and gets a lot of powdery mildew in shade. The fescues used in that shade mix are good fine fescues, but do you know what fine fescue looks like? It doesn't blend very well with dark green KBG. Again Brooklawn isn't the best for shade, and Paragon is only in there for it's quick germination time, but it will fade out in shade. I am familiar with Oligers Seed, and they carry some great cultivars, but their blends are not the most well thought out. Do they sell their seeds separately, or only in mixes? If they do, then you could come up with a better mix for your lawn. They do offer some very good tall fescue cultivars. Have you ever thought of a TF/KBG mix? If you can customize your mix, that would be ideal. If you want to see what TF looks like, go to the link below. In it you will find pictures of my TF lawn taken in June this year. It gets a lot of shade btw, some areas only receiveing a few hours of sun a day. Hope this helps. http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/lawns/msg0621330425292.html
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It could just be a combo of the rainy spring/early summer and high nitrogen. I would wait another season to see if it happens again. You can easily overseed with shade tolerant KBG in those areas, or if the shade is more significant, fine fescue or even PRG or roughstalk bluegrass. I think selective blends of a predominantly KBG lawn for varying conditions are better than one " sun and shade" mix for the whole yard. I sometimes get powdery mildew in shady areas around the foundation or trees but it is never problematic and isn't always present every year.
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Some are overachievers and worse, morning people. I had germination on day 5 in absolutely terrible weather conditions. Some of your seed will be slackers and sit around playing their X-Box, finally getting around to sprouting sometime close to day 30. Cultivars vary in their sprout date as well. If memory servers, and it might not, the Compact-America grasses sprout a little faster while Compact-Midnight group grasses are notoriously slow. It's a great indication that you're providing good sprouting conditions, though, so you know you're doing everything right.
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tiemco
14 years ago
I have been looking into this topic for quite a while now and have compiled a short list of cultivars that the growers claim have good shade tolerance. Here is my list with the growers pdf sheet in parentheses:
America, this is a cultivar that has been around for a while but still tests well in the NTEP and has dark green, fine textured blades (http://www.pickseed.com/usa/Products/PDF/america_ts.pdf).
Nuglade, an improved version of the older Glade, which was a good shade KBG (http://techsheets.simplot.com/Jacklin/nuglade.pdf).
Liberator, another relative of Glade (http://www.mountainviewturf.com/our-products/pdf/seed/kentucky-bluegrass/Liberator.pdf).
Alpine, this one is probably better suited to cooler climates (http://www.sroseed.com/Products/PDF/alpine_TS.pdf).
Orfeo, an aggressive grass that germinates quickly, this one is medium green in color (http://www.sroseed.com/Products/PDF/Orfeo_ts.pdf)
A-34 or Bensun, an older medium green cultivar (http://www.gardnerturf.com/UserFiles/A-34%20Kentucky%20Bluegrass%20Spec%20Sheet%2008.pdf).
There are a few others that have some shade tolerance, Nugget, Touchdown, Bristol, Eclipse, but I don't have pdfs on those. Keep in mind that NTEP also did a shade tolerance test in the 2001-2005 trials. Also keep in mind that shade tolerance is a relative term. Shade tolerant KBG still needs sun, a lot more than more shade tolerant grasses like the fine fescues. Is four hours of sun enough for these KBG's? I can't answer that, the only real way to find out is by growing them in your space and see what happens. Good luck.
jrodriguez90
Original Author
14 years ago
Spent sometime doing research and there are a few cultivars of KBG that are somewhat shade tolerant, so I'm definitely going to give the KBG/Fine Fescue mix a try. I'll probably use all three fine fescues for some species diversity/disease resistance and mix them with 2 or 3 of the shade tolerant KBGs. Probably going to try a 60/40 blend, with fine fescues as the majority.

Unfortuneatly this isn't going to happen until the fall, since I want to do it once and not waste my money trying it now.

Has anyone else tried this blend?
jrodriguez90
Original Author
14 years ago
tiemco - just saw your post. Thanks much! That's great info.

The KBGs I was thinking of using are Award, NuGlade, Moon Shadow, and perhaps America. The downside to America from what I was able to find is that it is has poor traffic tolerance, and since the fine fescues already aren't great in that regard, I want to try to add some KBG that is decent in that respect.
eriocaulon
14 years ago
4 hours is not terrible. I would give it a try... you can always overseed fine fescues later if it doesn't pan out.

The area between my neighbors house and mine gets probably 4-5 hours of direct sun. The KBG initially had powdery mildew yearly, but not since it reached maturity. It also does better in the summer because of the shade!

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