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how to handle weed killing to grass planting

12 years ago

I've identified half my lawn as japanese stalk grass, so I want to remove that and move to grass that will do well. my lawn goes from small patches of full-ish sun to mostly partial shade and mostly shade areas.

so, my plan for tackling my japanese stalk grass is to let it grow up for the next 2-3 weeks as it's been 2 weeks since I last cut the grass. End of August I'll pull it up and spray treat the remaining lawn blights and plant tall fescue, kentucky bluegrass, and fine fescue throughout the lawn (bluegrass in full, tall fescue in the middle, fine fescue in the shade) in the 2nd-3rd week of September.

Does that sound about right? Can I plant grass in the second week of september? how long do I need to wait until I can plant cool season grass? how long is needed to wait before the spot treating to the planting of new grass?

Does self re-seeding tall fescue exist? I've heard some talk about some hybrids with rhizomes so that I don't need to keep re-seeding. and where is a good place to pick up seed? I live in maryland in the DC metro area if that helps, I'm a bit hesitant to buy over the internet if there is a local place with seed that does well in my area, also I'd like to try and get seed coated with the stuff that helps it hold water.

Thanks for the help!

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Comments (2)

neilaz
12 years ago
I don't know anything about cool season grass (outside of rye in the mild winter areas) but i would think you want to kill the grass then pull it out
Jesse
12 years ago
Yes, if you are talking about hitting it up with glyphosate, then spray first. Spray, then water, then spray again 2 weeds later. Make sure you get gly that is just straight glyphosate - not persistant. Otherwise nothing will grow. If it were me, I wouldn't bother pulling it out at all.

2nd week of Sep. is fine. If it were me, I wouldn't mix the grass types like that unless the areas are divided cleanly by landscaping. It has good potential to look really odd and get clumpy etc. overtime. In fact, I strongly recommend seeding with just one straight mix - whatever it is.

Fescue slowly fills in when it is established but KBG does better. However, KGB doesn't fill in as fast as it's cracked up to. Look up recommended seed cultivars for your area and find a blend that has one or even two of those that are on the list.
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