Massachusetts Lawn with Tall Fescue / Need Help!

12 years ago

Hi,

We live in a new one year old home in central Massachusetts and we have tall fescue in our lawn. The lawn soil has a lot of clay and is not the best soil by any means. In the northeast tall fescue is not a desirable grass in a residential lawn. I have been using a weedpuller to remove the tall fescue grass but it is quite time consuming. I was wondering if the tall fescue grass will be squeezed out by the other grasses in the lawn as they fill in? I plan on slice seeding the entire lawn in September and put down a lot more of the common types of grasses used in our area.

Any suggestions on how to remedy the lawn will be greatly appreciated.

Thank You

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (3)

tiemco
12 years ago
I assume you mean you have pasture type or K-31 tall fescue intermixed into your lawn that is primarily bluegrass, perennial rye, fine fescues, or a combination of those grasses. It is wrong to say all tall fescue is undesirable to have in a lawn. Turf type tall fescue produces a very nice turf with the newer cultivars being fine bladed and dark green, and will blend with many cultivars of KBG. If you remove the tall fescue patches, and you have KBG, the KBG should fill in bare areas, but only if your soil is good, and it is well fed. Perennial rye won't spread, and creeping red fescue will take a long time to fill in areas, a lot longer than the weeds will. If the tall fescue is just left by itself, the other grasses won't "squeeze it out". Instead of pulling the TF, you can spot spray any areas with Round-Up. That will kill it and the other grass wherever you spray, leaving a brown spot in 2 weeks. There is a specialty chemical that will selectively remove TF called Certainty. It is pricey, and not the easiest stuff to use as it can harm other grasses if overapplied. It will also kill any turf type tall fescue you might have in your lawn.

With regards to your soil. You say you have clay, and a lot of people think this is the case. Mass isn't particularly well known for clay, but I'm sure their are pockets in the state. You should spend the time from now, till you seed to get your soil in better shape. This means having a soil test done (I recommend Logan Labs, $20 basic soil test or you can send it to Umass, which is $5 bucks cheaper). You can also do a jar test to see if you soil is mostly clay. When you get your soil test back, you can then add amendments to correct any imbalances or deficiencies. If you are saying to yourself "I don't need no stinking soil test, my grass grows fine", then you are only fooling yourself. I was the same way, until I did one, and saw how bad my soil really was (back yard pH was below 5). It will save you money in the long run too by not overapplying fertilizers, and amendments.
0
claga
Original Author
12 years ago
Thank You "tiemco" for all of your suggestions. Do you have an address for Logan Labs?
0
Related Discussions
Take it to the Next Level: NC Tall Fescue Lawn Care
Q
Comments (4)
If you are going Organic, you really can not over do your applications. Lawn Restore is a good product, but you can also use Corn Meal or Cracked Corn, Soy Bean Meal and Milorganite (5-2-0 with 4% iron) to give you some diversity. Used Coffee Grounds can be used, if you can find a good source. In the fall, you can mulch mow leaves others throw away curb side and add lots of organic matter for free to your yard. It usually take 3-4 passes to make them disappear. Your neighbors will think you are crazy, but you can not deny the results. I applied 350lbs of organics / 1000 ft2 last year. Hoping to hit 500+ this year. Now for the clay, you can use a soil conditioner and wetting agent to loosen it up. This with the organics will open up the soil over a few years. Humic Acid, Dried Kelp and Black Strap Molasses can help energize the microbes in the soil and get things moving quickly in the spring. NC Agronomic agency soil tests are free and get you in the ball park. Although, once you dial the soil in, you may want to use a lab that gives you more details so you can tweak the other elements in your soil (Boron, Copper, Manganese, Zinc and Iron) Using lime (whether Calcitic or Dolomitic) is important and which one you use will help you with your pH and Calcium to Magnesium ratio (7:1 is what you are shooting for). Calcitic is usually 5x the price, but has 5x the Calcium. S http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/soil/msg0311011017714.html Lastly, NCState as a NTEP testing site for grasses. If you want the best results, using the best grass for this area is key. Typically the big box stores are not the best place. Online you can order exactly what you want. http://www.ntep.org/tf.htm Just read the results for the NC testing center and you can get an idea of which varieties you will want. In the end, you are probably not too far off. Since you enjoy it, adding a few more pieces to your schedule should improve your results.
...See More
Need Help With Kansas Fescue Lawn
Q
Comments (12)
If MickBo lives on the East side of Wichita, I can vouch for him that he has clay soil. Depending on what his builder did when the original landscaping was done, he'll have one two or even three solid, nearly impenetrable layers of clay anywhere from a few inches to a foot below the surface. The topsoil above it will normally be a very heavy soil. This land was all wheat field a few decades ago. Many developers scraped off the few inches of decent topsoil and sold it before starting to build. A couple of years ago I hand-dug a dry well to funnel water away from my patio. I ran into one layer of clay that was approximately three inches thick. I cut out a piece about the size of a dinner plate and left it in the sun for a few days. It became so hard, it was indistinguishable from a piece of limestone. North of here, around Salina, is an area referred to as the "Post Rock Country". There were no trees, so when the first settlers arrived, they made their fence posts out of limestone. I've seen pictures of them cutting the limestone with long two-man saws. I never figured out how that was possible until I had my "post-rock" moment. MickBo, I completely sympathize.
...See More
Help with Tall fescue grass lawn
Q
Comments (1)
Find the exact seed matching the grass variet(ies) you have. If you don't match the seed, then the color or texture will be off in the patched areas. If you don't know the varieties, then take some pictures or take in some grass to a local nursery, preferably family owned and been around a long time. Ask them what it is and if they don't know, ask them for recommendations for seed to match it. Wait until fall to put the seed down. Fall is the best time by far for seeding northern grasses. This is something to think about for every fall. And when I say fall, I'm talking about August to September right after the summer heat breaks in your neighborhood. Farther north that is August. Down toward Tennessee it's September. If you seed in the spring, the 3x per day watering schedule needed to sprout the grass seed will also sprout the crabgrass seed already in your lawn. Fescue seed sprouts in 2 weeks. Crabgrass seed sprouts in 3-5 days. So by the time the fescue starts to sprout, the crabgrass will have a full week head start. Whereas if you wait until fall, the crabgrass seed will not sprout. That gives the new grass 8 months head start on next year's crabgrass.
...See More
some help w/ my tall fescue lawn
Q
Comments (0)
hello - just wanted to share some pics of my tall fescue lawn & get some opinions as to how some thin k it is growing this spring - I am going to mow next weekend for the 1st time & have done some overseeding in the areas in the pics - I am not sure if the area at the side will come back or not we have had a harsh winter here in northeast ohio & this area seems to stay wet all the time - it looked better or normal last summer/fall but I am not sure about this spring - my overseeding seems to be lagging behind also - any help w/ getting things going a little faster - I have put down melorganite & corn meal at easter weekend - any help or comments wou ld be greatly appreciated - thank you
...See More
Related Professionals
Derry Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Bridgetown Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Lyons Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Richmond Heights Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Billerica Landscape Contractors · Caldwell Landscape Contractors · Deerfield Landscape Contractors · Las Vegas Landscape Contractors · Middle River Landscape Contractors · Paramus Landscape Contractors · Waterford Landscape Contractors · Westchester Landscape Contractors · Wilsonville Landscape Contractors · Selma Landscape Contractors · West Covina Swimming Pool Builders
tiemco
12 years ago
www.loganlabs.com

Their site will tell you how to take samples. You can use ziploc bags, and you don't need an account, just send a check with the form, that will set up an account for you.
0

Massachusetts Lawn with Tall Fescue / Need Help!

Comments (3)

tiemco

claga
Original Author

Related Discussions

Related Professionals

tiemco

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Massachusetts Lawn with Tall Fescue / Need Help!

Comments (3)

tiemco

clagaOriginal Author

Related Discussions

Related Professionals

tiemco

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

claga
Original Author