I'm the guy who's been seeding poa triv in my shady/damp areas. It's filling in great. Some of it was already there but this past winter I dormant seeded some of the thin spots with a blend I purchased from outsidepride.com. It really works well for these areas. I wouldn't have grass there otherwise as the sahde was too dense and soil too wet and compact for fine fescue. I'll post a couple pics when I get a chance. By the way, it is light green compared to the rest of the lawn but it still looks decent there in my opinion. I don't know how long it takes to establish because I really have been just dormant seeding over the past two winters and it fills in about this time each year.

Thanks for the input. Most other grasses just cannot take the wetness. Poa seems to thrive there. I am really wondering about "dark blue" and "dark green" that these other poa triv cultivars claim--it would definitely blend better with my midnight/moonlight kbg if that is the case. That said, I will take a uniform spread of lighter green over barren patches and poa annua seedheads. Dormant seeding seems to be very hit or miss for me--a fall seeding is what I will probably do.

Gryd,
Do you happen to know what poa triv you got from outsidepride? I see they sell Sabre III which is described as dark green and fine textured, but their description seems to talk about a Maximum blend of 3 cultivars.

I was sent a 50/50 mix of Pulsar and Laser from Outside Pride. It wasn't advertised at the time as Sabre but it was supposed to be a three way blend. I looked at the site yesterday and it is confusing. Maybe you should call them first.
I agree that Poa Triv is much better than Poa Annua and the Triv is very competitive, dense, and spreading so it may make it harder for the Annua to grow.

Greg

Thanks Greg.

G,
Good call on outsidepride. The description of a blend is erroneous. They emailed and said it was just Sabre III, which good--supposedly dark green. I am going to mix this with Winterstar from Rose Agriseed. The Sabre III at outsidepride is half the cost of Winterstar... so thanks!

Here is a pic of my damp area poa trivialis. The area closer to the shed are newer cultivars. The lightest green area has been there for a while. My entire backyard was invaded by it until I rounded up last Fall.

{{gwi:88975}}

That newer stuff looks like it would blend in with the rest of your lawn quite well. Thanks for posting the pic.

BTW, are the taller, lighter green blades intermingled with your lawn also poa trivialis?

No. Unfortunately it is some intermediate rye that was contained in the mix I used in that semi-shady area. I wish I didn't use that mix. It was a blend of Tall Fescue, Fine Fescue and a little rye. The fine fescue didn't seem to make it so I dormant seeded that area and it's been coming up. Does anyone know how long it will take that annual rye to die off?

Notes:

Sabre was the recommended best bet for years in Poa Triv. Sabre III must be the latest hybrid. Key ID feature for Poa Triv was always the bright green color--perhaps they have darkened that somewhat over the years. Tall fescues used to be a lot more yellow tinted than they are lately. As for Annual Rye, first heat of summer will cause it to cease foliage production and set seed. Soon after it will disappear. It will not propagate itself successfully by seed in your lawn

Thanks Hortsense.

Here is what DLF says about Sabre III:

SABRE III is the latest generation of improved Poa trivialis from DLF International Seeds' plant breeding program. It was developed to provide golf course superintendents who overseed with a denser and darker green turf. Sabre III has shown improved overall turf quality in comparison to older varieties. Other benefits of overseeding with Sabre III include rapid establishment and a good level of resistance to leaf spot. Sabre III was developed for elite, rapid to establish, easy transitioning winter overseeding turfgrass mixtures. It's also recommended for cool season, shade tolerant, mild climatic zones. It has excellent shade tolerance.

-Dark green color
-Quick establishment
-Very fine texture
-Good cold tolerance

G,
My neighbor had some annual rye in one of his overseed mixes one year. It was there for a year and now is gone. It was awkward though as it grew faster than his rye/kbg mix and popped out sporadically everywhere, similar to yours.

Thanks. Annual Rye is low on the worry list. I'm too busy plucking Poa Annua.

I ran across this thread doing a search and thought it was a good place to report on my luck with poa trivialis in a shady area.

I planted it in the spring in an area that is very shady. I kept it moist. It was looking very nice early on, but, when the heat hit in July (Texas Panhandle upper 90's) it absolutely disappeared. I mean gone.

Now, it might have survived if I had watered it more, but, it certainly wasn't very dry. By more, I mean every day or every other day. Every three days or so wasn't enough.

I was wondering how it did in the other places tried on this thread?

Mine is still going strong. There is one area where it is slightly brown but it will recover with some water. I'm in CT so it's a different environment. For example, the guy across the street has huge patches of Poa Triv in his front lawn which receives a lot of sun. It gets a little brown during heat waves but bounces right back with some water. By the way, CT hits the 90's sometimes but Summer averages here are probably in the 80's.

Thanks for your update gyrd.

Funny how often it gets back to "location, location, location" when it comes to gardening.