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Very fine, dense, dark grass... What is it?

14 years ago

I have three different types of grass that seem to be growing in my yard. As you can see from the pictures. I am having trouble finding out what the finest one is, and that section of my yard is what I would like my entire yard to be. It feels like you are walking on a pillow. The best I cant guuess is that it might be a creeping red fescue? What do you guys know?!

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Comments (3)

jasonmhorning
Original Author
14 years ago
So I guess I couldn't figure out how to post a picture in the message... maybe this link?

Here is a link that might be useful: My Pictures on Flikr
tiemco
14 years ago
The fine stuff sure looks like one of the fine fescues (creeping red, hard, chewing), but as to identifying which one it is exactly would be impossible from a picture. If you want your whole yard to be like that it's doable, but fine fescues don't tolerate much traffic, but they tolerate the most shade of the major cool season grasses, and don't require much water. They are slow growing, so mowing frequency is low. A lot of the new cultivars make very nice looking lawns, dark color, fine texture, etc. Creeping reds do spread, but not as much as KBG. One cultivar, Intrigue chewing fescue, actually secretes an amino acid that acts as a selective herbicide against a lot of lawn weeds, so if you do plant a fine fescue lawn it might be a good idea to have 30 percent Intrigue for this reason.
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bpgreen
14 years ago
I agree that it's probably fine fescue. There's a mix of fine fescues that I've heard about called Bonny Dunes that is supposed to be pretty good. I think it's a mixture of Chewings, hard and creeping red.

I think the wider bladed grass may be tall fescue. The picture where you have three blades, I think the middle one may be KBG. If you look closely at it, is it somewhat boat shaped?

Fine fescues are pretty low input. They don't need much as much water or as much fertilizer as KBG or tall fescue. In fact, watering and fertilizing them as much as KBG would probably result in a fair amount of thatch. Some fine fescues would suffer and possibly die off with too much water and/or fertilizer.

I think fine fescues are more sensitive to dull mower blades, though (leaf tearing), so make sure you keep the blade sharp.

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