How well does Fescue grown in florida

It doesn't. It wouldn't stand a chance in the FL heat. Fescue is a cool season grass adapted to grow in northern colder states.

Is there a grass that grows in clupms that looks just like fescue in Florida?

Not really, its probably a weed. Here in FL we have about 5 varieties of grass that will grow well.
St.Augustine, Zoysia, Centipede, Bahia and Bermuda

Let me see if this changes your mind. I live in Lehigh Acres, about as far south as Miami.


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I dont know what that is. My guess, its a weed.

Trust me you will never get Fescue to grow anywhere in FL. Tennessee would probably be the furthest south you could consider growing Fescue. Do some research on Fescue, you will see its not even an option for southern states.

What exactly are you looking for in a lawn?

Bill, I know some people growing Fescue in Jacksonville, FL, but the climate there is very different from the climate in Miami/South Florida.

The South Florida heat is relentless, specially at night. Most of the states where Fescue grows are located in the Transition zone, where winters are cold and summers are hot. I don't think the day time heating will kill Fescue, but your night time temperature and humidity will. Miami does not cool off at night like most northen states, not to mention that the heat there is nearly year round. You also have very sandy soils, which will require frequent watering during the summer months just to keep it alive. So irrigation will be a must.

What I suggest you do if you really like the grass is to try it and see how it works; that's if you don't mind spending some $$$ and time. I think it will grow, but short term. Disease will probably get it first, or the lack of water.

Fescue can handle several days of mid to upper 90's to low 100 degree days, but with low humidity and low temperatures at night (between 65 and 70f).

You can mailorder the seed from www.fescue.com

Or www.turf-seed.com (look under cool season grasses)

My guess will be to find the most disease and heat tolerant Tall Fescue blend you can find.

Wait until November before you do anything so it is not so hot, and let us know of your project by posting pictures.

Good day,

Auteck

What are my photos of? Is what I have there fescue? Its definitly not sedge, its not sandburr.

Skoot cat, A weed is defined as something you do not want growing in my yard, since I can not identify it, its not a weed yet. St Aug is a weed in my yard, for example, I spray that stuff to keep it out.

Just to let you know that our low last winter was in the upper twentys and we had about 10 days of frost. Right now our night time low is about 80 and day time its about 95.

-Bill

Bill,

Your pictures are not Fescue, it looks a grassy weed. Fescue does not look like that, here's picture:

Turf type tall fescue lawn at my previous home in Cary, NC:

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Well, if someone can identify what I have, it would be helpful, I would like for this stuff to spread or get seed of it.

I just came from Lowes and they have a pennington sun and shade mix for the south. It has 15% red fescue in it. After looking at a bunch of photos and stuff, thats what I was leaning toward. I dont know what type of red fescue though. Any thoughts?

That could be an annual weed, so I wouldn't count on that.

Why don't you spray roundup on your lawn and seed bermuda grass? If the location is sunny, it should do great.

Have you seen Zoysia? Some types look like Tall Fescue and should do very well in climate. Zeneith Zoysia is by seed and it looks like Fescue.

Here is a link that might be useful: Zenith Zoysia Info

Red fescue is different from tall fescue. It's very fine bladed and can get by in shade and with less water than tall fescue. It doesn't like much nitrogen (maybe half the fertilizer requirements of tall fescue). I wouldn't think it would do well in a lot of heat, but I could be wrong.

As far as the variety goes, make sure you use a named variety (not boreal, which sounds like a named variety, but is unimproved).

I planted zoysia at my sisters and the grass is course, I dont like the feel on my bare feet. Bermuda is nice but requires lots of fert, espicaly when it rains and your soil is sand. Half of my lawn is bahia, I like the look and the feel on the feet. The roots are so tight and intense my slope does not wash away. Im thinking of over seeding with bahia. I want an extreamly low maintenance lawn.
I posted this cause I was hoping someone would say, yes, fescue will grow down here. I might pick up a bag online for $5 and see what happens. At the worst I lost my money or I get a one season lawn.

If you are looking for an "extreamly" low maintenence lawn, then Fescue is not going to work for you at all. I'm up in Raleigh, NC, about 850 miles north of you, zone 7 with all the seasons, and people here think Fescue is high maintenance.....

If you don't like the coarse Zoysia, then get Emerald or Zeon Zoysia; they are very fine bladed and VERY dense. I wouln't call Zoysia low maintenance up here, but maybe in your climate. You can't buy seed, but you can order some plugs online, or you can buy sod. It's a very pretty grass when it's green and growing, you might like it; here's picture:

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The damage you see in the picture was caused by a late hard freeze around May; in Florida, that shouldn't be a problem.

I guess I was just trying to say politly that I would never plant zoysia, its a weed in my lawn.

I think Ill go with an over seed of bahia.

Bahia is a road grass that needs VERY frequent mowing (as much as 3 times per week) to avoid the "V" shape seed heads; are you sure that's what you want instead?

This is what I"M talking about:

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Those seed heads you see in the picture pop up just 2 to 3 days after mowing; yes, they get that tall in just 2 to 3 days.

I dont mind the seed heads, my lawn is already half bahia and you only get the seed heads in the summer months. No matter what grass I go with I will have to mow a few times a week durnig the summer.

Thank you all for your input.

I dont mind the seed heads, my lawn is already half bahia

Well then it sounds like your choice is made by default. Bahia is like Bermuda, once it is in place it is almost impossible to irradiate so goferit you are stuck with it.

Texas Weed wrote: "Bahia is like Bermuda, once it is in place it is almost impossible to irradiate"

That might be true in South Florida because the weather there is very condusive to the growth of warm season grasses, however, the more north you go the less likely it will stand a chance a surviving a couple of applications of roundup.

Up here in Raleigh, 2 applications of Roundup is all you need on average to kill Bahia. Bermuda, however, is another story.

If you're gonna stick with bahia, might as well get improved variety like Argentine. Supposedly nicer looking than common bahia.

Here is a link that might be useful: Aregentine bahia

No one mentioned Saeshore Paspalum. It can be seeded and even tolerates some salt water. I'm not sure if it is low input though. I tried some last year, but planted way to late in the year.

I spread 50# of aregentine bahia last fall. I dont think much of it came up. I think Ill spread another #25 at the end of summer. Seashore Paspalum is a nice grass. I checked prices on seed and it seems a bit pricy. With that, I believe I have some of this stuff in my yard.

As for weed killer, any glyphosphate will take bahia out in one spray, even down here, Ive tried it, wont do that again.

Hmmm...SOOO that what I got Bahaia ! I got it in clumps and I HATE THE StuFF ! Mainly because it grows sooo much faster than my main course of SA. and the seedheads grow tirelessly !
Now wehn I see new young sprouts growing I pull it. Also it clogs up my mower ! My yard looks sooo "piecey"with that stuff
Ok soo thats it for my Bahia experiences...I had good results in my backyard with a centipede -Bermuda mix . the bermuda mixes in the gaps and the centipede does well.

Oh Bill
I went off on a tangent about the Bahia..sorry .Im in JAX Fla. I tried a fescue..Combat Extreme it claimed to be drought resistant and ok for Hot weather. my results : Combat Extreme and JAX turns out to be a non-compat. Those vigorous and pretty young sprouts just couldnt deal with the hot florida sun. they seem to have dried out and withered like straw. I watered 3 times weekly plus we had good rains. the stuff just couldnt hang on. I dont know about the other cultivars that were slower growing though. Im just soo tired of having to babysit SA..Im going back to interspersing LaPrima XD into it.

Ok guys I think you guys don't know how well a very specific TALL FESCUE is for Florida with minimal watering. I played around with different seeds including Bahia which won't grow well in Central Florida without a high amount of water. So I looked a loot around and I really ended up with a Tall Fescue Grass which works great. I use Kentucky 31 Tall Fescue as a grass seed and 5 min at night watering it all it takes for the first 2 week to get it growing like crazy. Once its about 3" high you can reduce the watering to 2-3 times a week with 5 min. It' keeps the water level just right and the grass is still growing green and getting thicker and thicker.

I did also use the exact same methode in New Mexico Albuquerque where I just have to water 10min twice a day to get it growing once full grown reduced it down to 10min at night around 2AM.

Please ensure you water in the middle of the night and don't overwater your lawn. so stay up and watch it if you see your water is running over the sidewalk than you know you overwater your lawn and it can't absorb the water quickly enough. If you notice you do still need more water than do in intervals at night like 5 min at 2Am and another 5 min at 4am. Most modern sprinkler system let you program it that way now. And do try to avoid watering after 4 AM because that water will be hit by the morning sun and won't make it's way to the roots.

I will post in a bit some photos of my lawn here in Central Florida just so you guys see it.

Interesting..... I met a guy at Rural King that gave advice of 50/50 Bahia and rye to place in late fall or winter here in Central Florida. The rye immediately made our yard look like a home in Home and Garden! We are snow birds so we headed north and when we returned our back yard was wonderful, it is in full sun. The rye dies over summer and provides food for the Bahia. Other areas of our yard that were shaded were once again bare. I decided Bahia needed more sun, we water twice weekly after installation. Tried Southern fescue and when we took off north all areas were too good to believe, but returning this year all Southern Fescue is gone. The Bahia in the rear is still great. even purchased some crap Bahia sod from a "Circle T Sod company that had more dirt than grass and it died too after looking pretty good in spring.....I'm done now until we live here full time and I think it is nearly impossible to have great looking grass year round here in Inverness Florida without a ground crew working at it daily......