Straight Midnight II or Blend?? Bestlawn/AJ/others please advise!

16 years ago

I've been doing a lot of thinking about my upcoming renovation. Today, I bought 5 new 50 foot hoses that were on sale just for the project. I already have a bunch of Y splitters and timers so that I can properly water the lawn, even when I'm away at lunch. I can't rent a slit seeder locally, so I'll be core aerating and broadcast spreading the seed.

I realize that Bestlawn and AJ know a lot about Kentucky Bluegrass. The more I ponder my blend, I'm wondering why I really want a blend.

I like the characteristics of the Midnight II seed. It tested very well in my local NTEP testing and is very dark green. I realize that having a different blend might be more disease tolerant, but I still come back to Midnight II alone. It's dark green, slow growing and draught tolerant.

Why shouldn't I just use the straight seed? Has anyone done this? Sorry for all of my questions, I want to do this once and have it look great.

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Comments (5)

bestlawn
16 years ago
I have to say the other selections exhibit the same desirable traits and characteristic that you mention. I don't know about anyone else, Zhotster, but before I can offer an answer, please tell me if you're saying disease potential doesn't really matter.
zhotster
Original Author
16 years ago
I'm not really sure, to tell you the truth. My current lawn is in rough shape, but I don't know if disease caused it, more than likely it was due to lack of watering.

Actually, I may want to plant Blue Velvet, as you mentioned in a blend. It's darker than Midnight II.

I guess I don't know if disease potential really does matter. I do know that wearability isn't that important to me, as the yard doesn't get a lot of traffic.

You had advised of:

20% North Star
40% Blue Velvet
40% Kingfisher

I don't think I want North Star as part of the blend, as I don't want to have to overseed every 2-3 years due to it's dominance.

Does anything else go with Blue Velvet and Kingfisher that will have the properties of Dark Green, slow growing, drought resistant and disease resistant?

I guess since I don't know if I need disease protection, I probably should have it, right?
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bestlawn
16 years ago
This is the thread. Farther down is my suggestion after you mentioned you weren't necessarily interested in high traffic tolerance. You forgot LOL.

Blue Velvet (or MII, your choice)
Kingfisher
Bewitched

It sounds like you have a lot of lawn to cover, so I can understand you don't want to have to overseed often. But, I have to say regular overseeding is always recommended to maintain diversity of the blend and desired traits of each. What happens is shifting as the stronger variety or varieties dominate the weaker one(s) over time. Of this blend, I have no idea which will likely dominate, but shifting happens no matter the blend and happens when there is a mix of other species, such fescue/kbg/ryegrass. Perhaps you never heard of it before, but you also haven't always known of lawn care forums that advise on proper maintenance such as "mow high, water deeply, don't fertilize in summer, overseed regularly, etc." Before you found forums offering advice, you probably didn't know about most of the things you know now. I always suggest overseeding regularly. It just happened to be even more important when it comes to an aggressive type like North Star. As I say, I can understand you don't want to have to overseed so regularly. I still recommend it, but you might choose to do it less often like every 3-4 years or so. But please do it.

Without elaborating on reasons for blending rather than a monostand, let me just say the Midnight types are especially susceptible to powdery mildew. This is a disease most associated with shade conditions, but even if you don't have shade, you likely will experience days of low cloud cover and high humidity. Such days also increase chances of PM. Therefore, it's best to have varieties like Kingfisher and Bewitched to protect the stand on those occasions. If you want the extended explanation, just let me know.
zhotster
Original Author
16 years ago
Mallory, thank you for taking the time to reply, I really appreciate it. You had told me that Bewitched wasn't available until the 2nd week of August, and I decided this weekend that I didn't want to wait that long to get my seed order placed. In addition, at the time, you said that blend may need to come from 3 places. I was out lining up equipment and didn't want to risk not having seed get here in time, so I was anxious to get my seed ordered.

This AM I did order a blend, based on your comments above. I ordered the Magnificent 3, as many others on this site have. I used the Superseedstore to place my order and paid $7.82 per pound for sod quality, plus shipping, for the mix.

Thanks again, I'm glad I have this behind me and look forward to having a solid blend for a long-term great look. I do plan on overseeding and taking care of this lawn, I appreciate the extra advice!
bestlawn
16 years ago
Okay, I'm glad you were able to order a blend you're happy with. Let us know if you need irrigation schedule.

Straight Midnight II or Blend?? Bestlawn/AJ/others please advise!

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Straight Midnight II or Blend?? Bestlawn/AJ/others please advise!

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