"Use cornmeal at a rate of 20#/1,000 sq. ft. once a month starting in April."

Others have suggested 10#/1,000 sq ft to prevent. 20# to treat an existing outbreak.

"After the germination period, only water my grass when it needs it :)"

This might just be a difference in the use of the term but you want to only water your grass when you need it after it has "established". Germination is pretty much the period between planting the seed and the first signs of it poking through.

"Does anyone know anything about SummerLawn Plus?"

No but I've been seriously thinking about reseeding my front lawn with Black Beauty based on what I've been reading about it. I don't have irrigation in my front lawn so I was looking for something that might not need as much water.

The NTEP results in that PDF show it ranking better than 2 of the seeds in SummerLawn Plus but I couldn't find anything on www.ntep.org in OK.

They sell it at a local garden center and from looking at the shelves, it seems to sell well.I've found some reviews online, including this NYT article and it seems some sod farms use seeds from that company.

You might want to try looking at ntep, or even contact Jonathan Green to ask for info about tests in your area. Just keep in mind it probably will be biased since it's their seed.

 Use cornmeal at a rate of 20#/1,000 sq. ft. once a month starting in April.

Only if you have recurring fungus every month. If all you want to do is prevent fungus, you can use half that much. If you want to do this, you won't need any other fertilizer.

 After the germination period, only water my grass when it needs it :)

Yes, like when it looks dry. Then water it deeply.

 Apply pre-emergents after grass is tall enough to mow a couple of times

At that point it is far too late to affect weed seeds. They will have sprouted along with the grass seed. If you are seeding grass, just forget about preemergents.

 Only fertilize in the cooler months

You can use organic fertilizer any day of the year. It is the synthetic fertilizers that should be limited in the summer. With northern grasses, you could fertilize once on Memorial Day and again on Labor Day and Thanksgiving.

 Apply Nitrogen at a rate of 2-4# per 1,000 sq. ft. per year

No comment. I use organic fertilizer and don't care about nitrogen per se.

 Keep my grass mowed at about 3"

With fescue you can mow at your mower's highest setting. If that is 3 inches, then fine. If it is 6 inches, fine.

I use cornmeal for fungal problems since it's a hassle to find in bulk quantities for me. It's been mid 90's and haven't had rain in 3 weeks, so If I want to keep any of my tall fescue grass I'm gonna have to apply at least 1" of water in the very early morning hours (bought a timer and it's easy). I use pre-m (with Dimension) twice a year (late Feb/late Sept), early for weeds and late for grassy weeds (poa annua, etc).

Around here Memorial day is usually pretty warm, so I don't fertilize after March, then again in Sept and late Nov.

The link might give you a better idea of what the game plan turf management is, and you might want to contact you local university/cty extension for this info also.

Here is a link that might be useful: link

Thank you all so much! I think I have a MUCH better idea about how to go about this next year. I'm going to try the cornmeal next season (10#/1,000 sf/month) and see how that works. I am, as we speak, taking sprinkler output measurements to getter a better handle on how much water is ACTUALLY being used. Jimtnc, I bookmarked that website - good reference!

I still haven't found anyone who has used the SummerLawn Plus seed mix and would love to know more about that. It was developed in North Carolina so I thought, with all you NC people on here, someone may have heard of it. I am also going to check on a mix noob recommended today.

Jimtnc, I'm not clear on whether you DO or DO NOT use cornmeal. Maybe I'm just reading it wrong :)

Yes. I do use cornmeal, but not for fertilizing purposes...just as a immediate control for grass fungal outbreaks.

Also, I've included a link to the national testing site for most grasses. You can locate a testing site closer to you and spin off the data to find out which varieties would best suit your needs.

Here is a link that might be useful: NTEP