I think I've finally figured it out!

soonergirl1968

13 years ago

I hope I'm not speaking too soon, but I'm actually SUCCESSFULLY growing fescue in zone 7!! Yea!!

This is the third summer in my house (which sat vacant for 3 years prior to moving in) I have enormous oak trees which shade the entire back yard but I desperately wanted to have grass. I started with absolutely NOTHING, took it all down to the dirt and seeded fescue. Long story short... the first two seasons were not good. The grass would come out great and then about mid-May would be destroyed by brown patch.

I was told by MANY people I couldn't grow fescue here because of the heat, humidity and lack of sun in the yard. I studied & researched everything I could find and chose the most brown-patch resistant seed from the NTEP studies for my area. I have been applying Heritage G every 3-4 weeks since the beginning of April and have been watering much longer but less frequently than previous years. I have also been mowing twice a week and keeping the grass around 3".

I am so excited! I wish I could figure out how to post pictures here! Thanks to all those who offered advice!

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Comments (10)

john_in_sc
13 years ago
That is great news -- quite encouraging for me....

I started with a blank slate late last fall... and nothing much is growing except the sod that the builder set out front....

Literally -- 85% of the seed the builder set out in November germinated last month... and is 3/4" tall right now... I also set out 5-10 lbs of Fescue seed this spring in the hopes I would get *Something* to cover the soil....

I am guessing I am going to have an 80-90% fescue die off this summer... so I am just kinda trying to grit my teeth and not get my hopes up for any of it living till I can buy some "proper" High endophyte turf type seed adapted for this specific area...

Thanks

John
tiemco
13 years ago
Great to hear about your success. I think a big part of it is the monthly applications of Heritage G. From what I have read it is one of the best fungicides available in granular form. I would be careful though, as continuous use of the same fungicide may lead to resistance. It might be a good idea to alternate between some of the other fungicides like T-storm and Eagle F-stop.
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Hi Mary - Another gardener for a cousin, awesome! :-) Hey, the best part about friends, is you get to choose your family! So, maybe we will be family before long. Never can tell :-) I like your name ;-) Carol - I just watered my plants tonight with some left over coffee. My son just gave me a strange look and shook his head while giggling.
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soonergirl1968
Original Author
13 years ago
Thank you! it has been a frustrating and expensive battle! My zoysia in the front yard is beautiful and I've never had ant trouble with bermuda, but this fescue fiasco was something I had never dealt with before.

Good idea about alternating the fungicides! I will have my chemical company order one of the ones you recommended.

After all my research, I ended up seeding with a combination of Rhambler and a new fescue by Lewis Seed (tested as SC-1 but now called LS1000 or something like that.)

I have attempted to add a link to show you how beautifully it is this year. I hope I did it right! :)

How in the heck do you add a picture to your post? lol

Here is a link that might be useful: yard 2010
tiemco
13 years ago
Both good cultivars there. SC-1 was one of the highest scorers on the current NTEP trials. It wasn't available to me last fall, so I went with Faith, Cochise IV, and Firecracker LS. Did you seed this spring? If you have been doing that then that is part of the problem with your disease issues. Fall seeded TTTF will be much hardier for the summer heat and fungal diseases. The fungicides are definitely keeping your lawn green.
soonergirl1968
Original Author
13 years ago
Yeah... I think you're right about the spring seeding. That was one thing I thought I'd change next season. I'm going to seed in October which will keep me from having to water so much in the spring. I'm also going to alternate between fungicides as you recommended earlier. We're already hitting 100 degrees here so I'm tempted to water but am limiting the grass to once a week and it seems to be ok - I just have to water all the beds by hand :) Thanks so much for your input!!
john_in_sc
13 years ago
My guess is that as your fescue matures -- you will be able to wean it off the fungicide applications.... The reading I have done indicates young fescue is fairly susceptible to *Everything* while Older, more mature fescue is pretty tough stuff...

Thanks

John
soonergirl1968
Original Author
13 years ago
I hope you're right, John. Treating a large yard gets pretty expensive! :)
garycinchicago
13 years ago
>"I wish I could figure out how to post pictures here! "

-------------------------------------

Here is a link that might be useful: How to post pictures
soonergirl1968
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks, Gary!! :)
hostalover67
12 years ago
I know this is an old thread, but just wondering, soonergirl, how your fescue made it through the summer?

We have fescue/KBG in midstate SC, and most of it in the sunny areas died last summer. The shady areas did pretty well. The lawn was 2 years old in October, when we re-seeded the dead areas. This year we did pre-emergent and will be doing fungicide also.

I think I've finally figured it out!

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john_in_sc

tiemco

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I think I've finally figured it out!

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john_in_sc

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